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You found him standing in the water - his back to yours as he stared at the setting sun. The sky was sprayed with beautiful hues of pinks and blues, far too perfect for the creeping Death Star that had entered the atmosphere.
It took you a while to find him after your comms broke during your escape, but there he was. Quiet. So unlike the Wrecker that you knew and loved - the man whose smile kept you going even on your darkest days. Whose laughter was warm enough to thaw your cold bones into liquid adoration, overflowing past the seams when he’d pepper your skin with kisses and whisper words of promises in your ears.
But there he was. Facing the horizon, hands loosely hanging at his sides. You didn’t need to see his face to know that there was dejection in his usually grinning face. Shoulders wilting, you could tell that the flower had begun to wither.
So you approached him carefully, striding into the warm waters with splashing steps. The cuts and knicks on your skin burned at the salt but you pushed through it. Shakily reaching out your hand, you took his large palm in your own and gave it a squeeze.
“Wrecker.”
He didn’t look at you at first. He seemed mesmerized by the setting sun and you didn’t blame him. The sky had truly become a painting in its final moments - a last hurrah of beauty before it would become nothing more than a few grains of dust in the infinite universe.
Perhaps that is why you felt little fear knowing the Death Star brought the end to your doorstep. Grains of dust in an infinite universe… that is what you were and that is what you would always be. If there was a time to die, you knew that now was possibly the best scenario - caught on a beautiful planet with the man you loved more than life itself.
You had relayed the information needed from the communications tower and you had completed your mission. There was nothing more perfect about dying while glowing with love.
When you called his name again, soft and delicate in the salty breeze, he finally dipped his chin to look at you. Glossy amber eyes met your own and you felt your heart shatter.
“Oh, sweetheart,” you murmured, perching on the tips of your toes to cup his cheeks and swipe your thumbs underneath his eyes.
“I talked to Hunter.”
You couldn’t help the sudden swell of tears that trickled down your cheeks. Tucking your quivering lip between your teeth, you squeezed Wrecker’s hand tightly.
“Told him not to come,” he said softly, shaking his head. “They’d get hurt. Omega was so angry… She’s never yelled at me before…”
“She’ll be okay, Wrecker,” you tried to assure him, though you knew the words were empty promises. “She’s not a little girl anymore. She’s angry because she’s scared but once she understands, she’ll see you as a hero.”
Wrecker chuckled, eyes clenching shut as he shook his head from side to side.
“There you go again,” he mumbled, cracking a slight smile. “Knowin’ just what to say to make me feel better.”
You did, but it was a two-way street. Where Wrecker eased your mind with kisses and love, you eased his with sense and reason. Balanced - two opposite colors that blended so perfectly together. The watercolor blend of pinks and blues on the setting sky.
And because you knew him so well, you had little hesitation when you kissed his palm, murmuring, “Dance with me,” against his calloused, ashy hands.
He cupped your cheek, swiping his thumb across your cheekbone with a veiled expression of love. The tears dripped from the corners of his eyes when he dipped his chin, curling his lips in a sad smile.
He took your hand in his own, the other looping around your waist, pulling you to his chest with a splash of water around your waist. You pressed your palm to his chest, arching your face for him to press a kiss on your forehead.
As tousled hair met the sea breeze, as your cheeks took a pink glow and Wrecker’s face softened with affection, you began to dance together. A simple sway in the waters, side to side to the music of the ocean. The sky saw you two as its muse, even when the flash of red suddenly broke the beautifully painted sunset; even as the ground vibrated with a rumble that sent waves splashing against your clothes.
There was no music. No sweet serenade towards death. Your ballad lay in the waves beating against the sandy shores; the sound of Wrecker’s deep-chested chuckle when he spun you before drawing you into a hug.
Wrapped in his embrace, in the thick arms that saved you from innumerable blaster fire, you sighed with peace and did your best to loop your arms around his chest though your fingers barely managed to reach his back.
You held him as tightly as you could, burying your face in the comforting smell of his armor and that sweet, sweet feeling of him as he kissed the top of your head. You continued to sway, souls dancing together as the sky began to crack and the ocean turned hot.
But you didn’t care about that. You didn’t care that the ground was fracturing under your feet because, in that sweet moment when his hand laced through your hair to gently arch your head towards him, when his lips touched yours with enough softness to turn your heart to mush, you knew that it was perfect.
So you giggled.
You giggled into his lips and almost instantly, he smiled. You giggled as he gave you a final spin, his eyes brightening when you threw your head back and laughed. That was his music, that was his final wish granted - to hear you laugh in the face of death, glowing with enough blinding love to steal the show, filling him with a delightful peace even as death caressed you both in its cold embrace.
But he didn’t care about that. He was gazing at you, devouring your beauty, your joy, your pure and shameless love. His arms wrapped around your waist, sweeping you off of your feet in more ways than one. Your arms looped his neck, your face still riddled with enough peace and love to make his heart warm, abandoning all traces of fear and sadness that once clouded those beautiful amber eyes.
When he kissed you, the sky blazed in triumph. The same warmth blossoming in your chest suddenly bristled over your skin and you loved it. You loved the feeling of his hand against the small of your back, pinning you to his chest with the fierceness of a possessive lover; the fire of a thousands suns burning in your dancing lips and beating hearts.
He grinned into the kiss, swinging you around in a final fit of laughter as the love that burned between you two smoldered the planet’s surface. Your names, painted in the galaxy as star-crossed lovers - even in your final, beautiful moment.
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