"That's why I keptyouat arm's length. And then you walked into my life covered in blood and bruises and started mouthing off, and arm's length stopped being far enough."
"Zain. "
"If something happens to you in that building, I will not be a functioning human being. I will be a weapon. And weapons don't save people, Seth. They destroy things."
Seth crossed the small room. Stood in front of him. Close enough to touch, not touching.
"Then don't be a weapon," Seth said. "Be the man who pulled me out of a cage. The man who taught me how to throw a punch. The man who held me after I killed someone and didn't let go until I stopped shaking." His voice was steady and his eyes were fierce and his hands, his damaged, capable, killing hands, came up to rest on Zain's chest. "I'm not Rodriguez. I'm not going to betray you. And I'm not going to die in that building."
"You can't promise that."
"No. But I can promise that if you try to leave me behind, I'll follow you anyway, and then we'll both be in danger becauseI won't have comms or backup." The corner of his mouth twitched. "So you can be scaredwithme, or you can be scared without me. Those are your options."
Zain looked at him. This impossible man who'd been half-dead on a warehouse floor a few weeks ago and was now standing in an armory full of weapons and telling Zain, with absolute certainty, that he'd march into hell uninvited if that's what it took.
"You're the most infuriating person I've ever met," Zain said.
"I know."
"And you're going to get us both killed."
"Probably."
"And I… " He stopped. Something massive was pressing against the inside of his chest, something with weight and warmth and the terrifying, undeniable quality of permanence. He couldn't say it. Not yet. Maybe not for a long time. But Seth's hands were on his chest and Seth's eyes were on his face and the truth of the thing filled the room like displaced air.
He kissed him instead.
Not gentle. Not rough. Something in between. The kiss of a man who'd lost the argument and found something better in its place. Seth made a sound against his mouth, surprise, relief, want, and then they were against the wall, Zain's hands in Seth's hair, Seth's hands pulling at his shirt, and the argument dissolved into the only language that had ever been honest between them.
"Armory," Seth gasped, pulling back. "Really?"
"You started it."
"Youinfuriatedme."
"Mutual."
Seth's hands found Zain's belt. Zain caught his wrists. Pinned them to the wall above his head, one-handed, and Seth grinned up at him, bright and reckless and completely unrepentant.
"You going to hold me here all night or are you going to do something about it?"
"I'm thinking."
"You're always thinking. That's the problem." Seth rolled his hips against Zain's. Deliberate. Filthy. The friction dragged a sound out of Zain that he'd never made in his life. "Stop thinking."
"You're impossible."
"You love it."
Zain kissed him again. Harder this time. His free hand slid under Seth's shirt, up the flat plane of his stomach, and Seth arched into the touch like a live wire grounding itself. Zain's thumb found his nipple. Pressed. Seth bit Zain's lower lip.
"Careful," Zain said against his mouth.
"Or what?"
"Or I'll put that mouth to better use."
Seth's eyes went dark. His breath came faster. "Promise?"
