Archive of Our Own

He's on Frank's couch, in the tech lab, and he's just finished a mission - a tiring one for both of them. Frank's still winding down from it, and Adam just... falls asleep, right there on the sofa.

Frank hasn't said the words before. Their... relationship? Maybe? Whatever it is, it's still so new that neither of them has really put a name to it. And neither of them has really confessed, either, even if that word makes Frank feel like a silly schoolchild with a crush.

But looking at Adam there, eyeshields retracted... He looks soft, vulnerable, his long lashes brushing his cheeks. He never takes those shades off.

Except, recently, around Frank.

Frank can't help it, can't resist the temptation. He leans down, drops the lightest of kisses on Adam's cheek, and murmurs the words into his ear.

When he leans back, Adam's eyes are open. For a brief moment, Frank thinks that everyone who's ever tried to claim augments are somehow inhuman is an idiot - the look in Adam's eyes, the warmth, is the most human thing he's ever seen.

Then Adam is kissing him, and Frank's not thinking about anything other than that.

The first time Adam tells Frank he loves him isn't nearly as prosaic, but it's no worse for it. They're together in Adam's apartment, tangled up on the couch. A movie's on in the background - Frank's not sure what, and it doesn't really matter. They've been swapping kisses all evening, slow and lazy and with no plans to go any further, just basking in being around each other, safe and calm, for once no upcoming missions or crises to handle.

Frank leans over Adam to dip his hand into the bowl of popcorn, and Adam leans up to brush a kiss against the corner of Frank's lips.

"Love you," he murmurs, sounding almost shy, and Frank abandons the popcorn in favour of Adam.

The last time Frank tells Adam he loves him is when Adam leaves for a mission. It's meant to be a normal one - something simple, straightforward. Just a little bit of corporate espionage on some tiny aug company that's in the middle of collapsing; Sarif wants to know if it's worth a buyout.

It's routine by now. Adam goes to the VTOL, Faridah waves at Frank from the pilot's seat. Before Adam leaves, Frank kisses him goodbye, murmurs that he loves him. It's probably unnecessary, but given their jobs, given the danger they both get into at times, especially Adam...

Neither of them ever expects it to actually be the last time. It's just in case.

The last time Adam tells Frank he loves him, he's bleeding out and pinned down by a few dozen armed hostiles. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide. Nothing Frank can do to help him.

He's in pain. Frank can hear it in his voice, see it in his vitals. Frank is helpless, useless, and Adam's trying to reassure him.

"Adam," Frank interrupts, voice breaking, "don't - we'll get you out of there, just - just hold on. You have to hold on for me, Adam, please."

This wasn't supposed to happen. It was meant to be simple, straightforward. But the information Sarif gave Adam was bad, the blueprints Frank hacked were wrong, and at every turn Adam's walked into a trap, and even Adam fucking Jensen isn't invincible.

"Francis..." Adam's voice is gentle, and Frank shakes his head furiously, tears blurring his vision even as he swipes them away.

"No," Frank says, stabbing at buttons on his keyboard as though that will somehow help, trying everything, anything, to get Adam out of there, to keep him safe. "Adam, don't -"

"It's okay," Adam says, and how is he so calm, so kind, when Frank's this close to sobbing and Adam is - Adam is - no -

"Don't," Frank says again, barely able to get the word out, and Adam's vitals are falling, his heartrate slowing -

"Don't listen to it," Adam murmurs, and it's the closest Frank's ever heard him to begging. "Don't do that to yourself, Francis. Okay?"

Frank can't even speak through the tears that are running freely down his face now, can't think, can't do anything but shake his head futilely, desperately. He knows what Adam is asking, and he won't do it, he can't. He won't let Adam - Frank won't let him be alone, not for this. Even if it's going to haunt Frank for the rest of his fucking days.

Adam must guess as much, because he sighs, the sound little more than a faint crackle of static.

"I'm sorry, Francis," he says, his voice quiet. Weak. "...I love you. Okay? I love you, Francis Pritchard. And I'm sorry."

And then - nothing.

The infolink is dead. Blocked. Frank can't get through, no matter what he does.

All he has left is the screen with Adam's vitals.

And then, as he watches - he doesn't even have that.

He's gone.

Adam is gone.