Breaking Stalemate

Chapter Five: Stalemate Broken

--

Eventually the tears eased enough that he could see what was around him. There were a lot of trees for such a small area. They were very tall and leafy, and they cast long, dark shadows now that it was starting to get dark.

Fury felt very alone.

“Urf.”

Fury blinked up in surprise, and then, in spite of himself, he almost grinned.

“Hayate!”

The dog gave a joyful bark and bounded onto his lap, all muddy paws and enthusiastic licks. Fury sighed.

“Not now, boy. I’m not in the mood for games, I…” his voice wavered, and Hayate whimpered. Fury frowned.

“How did you get all the way out here anyway?”

“Urf.”

“Ah, of course.”

Great, now he was having conversations with a dog.

“Oh Hayate,” he said sadly, and he could hear his voice breaking up again, “what have I done?”

“Grwl? Urf! Urfurfurf.”

“Fury…”

And that wasn’t Hayate. Fury sprang off the seat, and Hayate fell to the ground. Growling, he ran back to hide behind Havoc.

“Good boy,” Havoc scratched the dog behind the ears but didn’t shift his gaze from Fury’s face, “You found him. Heel.”

Fury realised in horror that they’d used Hayate to find him. Of course. How stupid was he?

“Sir, I’m sorry, I…”

But there was no explanation, not for what he felt. Fury backed away, reached the edges of the crisscrossed shadows and froze. Afraid of what was behind him, afraid to face what was in front of him.

“You shouldn’t have run.” Havoc told him.

Fury nodded miserably.

Havoc bit his lip.

“Did you mean that…what you said back there?” he spoke slowly. Fury couldn’t reply, his throat was tight.

“Fury?”

“Yes, but I’m so sorry. Hawkeye ordered me to tell you, that’s why…I was never going to tell you. I’m sorry.”

He snuck a glance at the Lieutenants face, and saw only surprise.

Havoc pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Fury, I’m not yelling at you across the park. Come here.”

Fury obeyed, feeling sicker with every step he took. Havoc put a hand on his shoulder, and it felt electric. Fury kept telling himself it was only so he couldn’t run away again.

“But you won’t even look at me, I don’t understand.”

It was Fury’s turn to look surprised.

“I don’t, because I can’t.” Well, that was a great explanation. But when he went into more detail the words flowed out as if they wouldn’t stop.

“Because you’re always there, you’re always so good to me and I wanted you to stop. It just makes it hard. When you touch me I can’t stop thinking about it, Havoc. And I know,I know it doesn’t mean anything, but sometimes…sometimes I forget.”

He was saying too much. He should shut up, shut up, shut up. Fury pulled his face right down, as far away from the light as he could. This was terrible.

“Fury.”

Fury looked up again reluctantly, but Havoc looked relieved now.

“You want me to be less ambiguous?”

Fury considered this.

“Yes. Yes. That’s it exactly.” Fury almost felt better. The man was wonderful.

Havoc grinned.

“I can do that.”

Fury flattened the palm of his hand against Fury’s jaw, nudged his head back up, and kissed him.

--

Minutes passed, and Fury broke off, gasping for breath and looking up at Havoc like he was some sort of angel.

Havoc couldn’t stop yet. He kissed Fury’s forehead, his nose, his jawline. He could still taste salt. Aww hell, he’d never wanted to be the one to make Fury cry.

“Are you still not sure how I feel?” he murmured in Fury’s ear. The younger man reached out and wrapped his arms around Havoc’s shoulders tightly.

“You…you…no…you don’t, you can’t.”

“I can, and I do.” Havoc said simply, hugging him back like he had done a hundred times before. Fury whimpered.

“And now it’s dark.” Havoc added, stroking Fury’s back, “So can I take you home?”

“I…uh…yes?” Fury ventured. His voice was a little too high. Havoc grinned harder and jerked his thumb over his shoulder to where his car was parked nearby. What had just happened still hadn’t sunk in, but Fury got the feeling that maybe he’d have all the time in the world to get used to it.

For the second time, Havoc’s fingers found Fury’s in the near-darkness.

“It’s gonna be okay.”

--

The next day Hawkeye passed Havoc’s office just after lunchtime. She stuck her head in the door.

“Better?”

Havoc gaped at her.

“Huh?”

She smiled.

“Good.” She lifted an armload of documents onto his table, “Now can you get back to your paperwork?”

--

owari.

--

a/n: Thus endeth the generic fic.

The way the ending is written is a bit…different from my usual stuff, but oh well, I can’t get too predictable, right? And I had to had to HAD TO do the conversation between Fury and Hayate. It’s just an image that’s been haunting my brain. Go figure.

Kloudy: THERE YA GO! If I don’t hear from you before Christmas HAVE A GOOD CHRISTMAS. If you get a chance to get near the internet I will definitely have an Xmas drabble or two posted on Christmas Eve.

fireun: so…I didn’t kill off Havoc. Good came from it. Are you happy? Aaaand, Spades manages to write another absolutely predictable fic.

Dejiko Mew Mew: makes your heart beat faster? Maybe I should tone down my writing…I don’t want to be responsible for giving you a heart attack. Not before you finish that fic, anyway :P.