Work Text:
The sound of the gear was getting louder, a cloud of thin dessert sand rose up around him, until a motorcycle appeared and positioned itself a few meters away from him. The man, wearing a black leather jacket didn’t get off the motorcycle, He stood there, with his hands on the clutch, stopping the engine.
His appearance made the horse nervous, and it tried to run away until the other man there calmed it down, giving it some food he took from the saddlebags. Finally, the one in the motorcycle spoke.
‘So, 2+2…’
‘Yeah, it equals 5’.
‘It worked out then’.
‘Everything went as we planned’ He finally left the horse and turned to meet the other man. He took a few steps, placing himself right in front of the motorcycle. John started the engine and made a faint to accelerate. But the motorcycle didn’t move, and neither did Ocelot.
‘Uh’ John smiled.
‘That’s an old trick, one doesn’t stumble over the same stone twice y’know?’
His smile grew wider, looking around the place with a melancholic gaze. A big, empty dessert. The sun got down and the night surrounded them. Still, beautiful colours could be seen reflected into the clouds and some mountains. Ocelot finally approached him, his spurs were the only thing that made a sound there.
‘Old trick, huh, perhaps I’m the one who got old’.
‘We all got old, Snake’.
John broke the distance between them, placing one hand on Ocelot’s side, making him come closer. With the other hand, he reached Adam’s hair, fidgeting with some strands
‘It looks good on you, I like it long, I don’t know about the moustache though’.
Adam raised an eyebrow.
‘I like the moustache. But I thought you were gonna say it’s gray, last time you had the chance to look at it was…’
‘Blonde and short’ John lowered his hand and caressed his cheek with his thumb
‘And I looked younger’
‘So did I. You seem to care too much about that. Shouldn't I be the one worried about those things? Having wasted so much time… I missed too many things don’t you think’ John said, frowning.
He looked straight to Adam eyes, trying to find him in them once again. He hasn’t changed that much, but he looks older, way older than the last time he left him. He didn’t care about that at all, not like anyone else would have. He was rather pragmatic, and at least he was alive, and so were the few people that he used to care about. He sighed.
Ocelot opened his mouth, but then closed it.
He really didn’t know what to say, he couldn’t even imagine how that felt. He looked down to the ground, and up again. He was greeted with John’s eye and a sudden shudder crossed his whole body. He couldn’t bear it anymore, and so, he embraced fiercely that man like no one could have ever done. That took John by surprise as they both stumbled a bit. John responded by wrapping his arms around him, cupping Adam’s head with his hand and resting it to his shoulder.
They could have spent a lifetime like that. Adam breathed his scent, same as it ever was, raw but yet so familiar. They’ve missed each other so much, but what was a couple of days for John, has been an eternity for Adam. Longing in blue hospital chairs, waiting for a signal.
Building a new empire with Kazuhira has been a pain in the arse, but they kept each other distracted, in a way. But whatever Kaz felt was a different story. The same with Eva, wherever she’s now.
He was the one to break the hug, though resting his palms over John’s shoulders. Suddenly he backed up a bit, taking off in one motion his right leather glove, and grabbing it with his left hand. His now bare hand found its place in John’s face, caressing with a single finger his front hair, his nose, his good eye and finally resting his whole cold hand in his cheek, cupping as much as he could. John closed his eye at that moment, and smiled. It was the same smile he saw the first time they said they would meet again. And they did.