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The boreal forest was his favourite place for hunting. Or, at least, his favourite place on Earth.
The circumstances had a lot to do with this preference.
A long time ago, hunting was just part of his job: his specialty. He was capable of finding any creature in any star system in record time. It had a special meaning for him, because it made up for all the faults of his genome, but that was in another life altogether.
Now everything was different. Now he hunted just for the fun of it.
Once a year, Stinger would go deep into the woods of the boreal forest and do some weird shit to disguise his scent on the way.
He had, up until now, rolled in mud, then flowers, brawled with a bear and even bathed in the freezing water of a lake so he could then climb up a mountain (naked) until he found a good spot to set up the camp and wait for Caine to find him.
Caine, on his part, would wait until midnight to start the chase. In the meantime, Kiza would prepare to go to her tersie friend’s house to spend the night. She liked to mumble something about male mating rituals just before leaving, knowing pretty well that Cain was perfectly capable of listening to her comments while he prepared his own gear.
And it was, of course, tersie gear.
‘Aegis and Skyjacker technology are forbidden,” Stinger had said the first time he proposed the chase, never mind that their advanced equipment was old and mostly broken, “and besides,” his old commander added looking at the soldier, “you are Caine Wise, the legion’s legend… you don’t need any gadgets.”
Caine just laughed. That first year it had taken him a little bit over an hour to find the cave where Stinger was still taking the mud and the petals of some red flowers out of his hair.
With every hunt Caine improved his time and knowledge of the woods, putting more pressure to Stinger’s creativity and to his own lycantant senses.
And so, this year, Stinger took the longest trip to date. He climbed trees, crossed rivers and walked through cliffs only to end up at the top of the highest mountain there was, just three minutes before midnight.
Then the clock started ticking.
Stinger started setting the tent, but waited for the fire: he didn’t want to help Caine out.
It was a nuisance to have to deal with the tersie’s archaic technologie. Every single little fucking piece had to be arranged by hand and everything was messy and noisy… but he was resigned for long time that this would be as good as it gets.
Seven minutes later, when he finished, (because he was still a bee splice and speed and precision were his damn specialty) he laid on the ground and let himself admire the nature around him. The wind was cold but he had endured a lot worse during his years as a legionnaire. The sound of the leaves and branches moving was relaxing, along with the soft noises the creatures made around him. This wasn’t what he had planned for his and his daughter’s life, but it wasn’t so bad being in that godforsaken planet. At least Caine had managed to escape and find them and Kiza was happy befriending the locals.
Maybe she didn’t miss her old life as much as he thought.
“Found you”
Stinger sat up and found Caine coming through the trees. He was wearing only a pair of black jeans and his (tersie standard, not-flying) boots. He carried a dead deer on his bared shoulders, but looked as fresh as if he didn’t just have crossed an entire forest, in extreme cold (for this planet’s standards) to find him. There was not a trace of sweat or scratches on his exposed chest.
Stinger looked down at his watch (Kiza had given it to him a few years ago so he could finally throw out that old piece of trash he called shieve and please dad just try and blend in already).
He marked that Caine had only gained 2 minutes from last years chase.
“I’m disappointed”, said the man with a sigh.
“Come on, I brought dinner,” Caine complained passing the dead deer over his head to let it down by the tent.
“And now I just have to prepare it. Thank you very much,” groaned the man as he rose from the ground to start the fire. Caine took his place on the grass and extended his arms while looking at the sky.
“This is a nice spot,”
“Is the closest we’ll ever get to home,” Stinger said. It came out of his mouth without thinking, but it felt wrong for some reason. He pushed the feeling aside and send a glance in Caine’s direction, “Where the hell is your shirt?”
“I lost it.” he said simply, pulling his lips to the right just enough to form a little smirk.
“How convenient,” Stinger said as he finished lighting up the fire and then he walked towards Caine. The man fell by the hunter’s side, and they looked up at the starry sky together.
Silence fell between them, allowing the voices of the boreal forest sing around them. they blended with the soft crackling of the fire and the warm was a welcomed change for both prey and hunter. Stinger let himself get lost into them one more time. The wind, the leaves, the branches. The birds, the insects, the wolves. With the Earth on his back and his old home far, far away in front of him, and then Stinger felt a shiver when Caine’s fingers found his hand and caressed it.
“You miss it, right?” Caine’s voice came out as a whisper Stinger could barely recognize.
“Yes… and no.” the man tried to be honest but he was aware that his feelings were a mess.
Caine’s fingers interlocked with his as he took a deep breath.
“Liar.”
“I’m serious..” Stinger turned his head so Caine could see it in his eyes, instead of trying to do a shitty guess by listening to his rising heart or sensing the change of his mood in the air, “I’m happy here even though life’s so… simple… but I was also happy up there too, you know?
“You can always go back,” Caine made an effort to sound calm, but Stinger knew he too well and recognized the tiny twitch at the corner of his lips and the fast glimpse those blue eyes took down to Stinger’s mouth. Caine would never blurt out the way he felt: he was used to shut down what was in his heart if it would favor the greater good, be it a morally questionable mission or, in this case, his ex commander’s wishes.
But he often forgot that Stinger’s greatest wish was for his best friend and dear daughter to be safe and, if the universe allowed it, also happy.
“Kiza would kill me if I leave you here…” he said instead. He also couldn’t blurt out his feelings with ease, but he had other ways to show what he meant.
“You’re right,” Caine said with a genuine smile. He might have taken the hint or maybe he still monitored Stinger’s mood through his pheromones, but either way the ex soldier’s body relaxed visibly before adding, “You know that’s because I’m her favourite dad, right?”
Stinger laughed loudly and then took Caine by the neck, feeling the mark of his splicer under his fingers, before pulling the man towards him so they could finally kiss.
“That’s just... because... you spoil... her… asshole” Stinger muttered, without letting go of Caine and another shiver ran through his body when he felt Caine’s lips smiling against his, always kissing.
Caine growled with pleasure and pushed himself up with one hand to take his place over Stinger’s body. The hunter took his prey’s hands against the ground and then looked down at him with shining eyes.
That’s when Stinger realized why he had felt so weird a moment before… having Caine straddle him made the stars behind the splice look tiny and dull while the body above his was warm and hungry for him.
Stinger missed the stars but now he had the cabin and the woods and that spot at the top of the mountain.
He had Caine back into his life and that was reason enough to stay in that backwater planet forever.