Really Bordering on Unpleasant

Arkady stayed there with Victor until the sun rose and Victor stood up and smiled, grimaced, and Arkady grabbed onto his hand and stood.

And they moved in silence. Getting gone once again. Arkady made a point of bumping into Victor from time to time.

He flicked out a coil and yanked the car keys into his hand. Victor growled.

"Red-"

"Hush cat. I'm driving. You sleep." Arkady said. Victor opened his mouth to speak but he closed it with a snap and a curt nod. Arkady smiled, he called that victory.

Luckily he knew how to drive a stick shift.

Victor slapped the radio off with a snarl and got as comfortable as he could in the passenger seat. Soon enough Arkady heard the snorts and purrs that Victor made when he slept. The big blonde stretched out like a cat in the sunshine in the small seat. Arkady reached out and set his hand on Victor's head. Gentle, tangling with the rough hair.

"I'm sorry cat. I don't know what has happened to you. But I am sorry.." Arkady shakes his head and focuses back on the narrow backwoods road.

He glances at the map Victor had scribbled out while he drove. It would be easier with Victor awake but Arkady dared not wake him. After the nightmares,

They came upon a small town, and with the car needing gas and Victor still dozing Arkady stopped for a while. First the gas. And he stood and stared, he now realized that he didn't know how to gas up a car…not in America at least. He'd never needed to.

"Hey sweetie, you need help?" Arkady turned, prepared for a fight but no. Only a small woman. Middle age he thought but he didn't know. She seemed nice.

Arkady didn't trust her. He glanced inside the car to Victor, but he was still asleep. Truly loved a cat nap that one. Arkady saw Victor frown and then snort and roll over again. And he smiled.

"I...maybe." He said. He looked up and down the woman. Flexed his wrists and prepared to unleash the coils in his arms.

"Well I'm guessing from the accent you've got that you aren't from around here. Let me show you how." She said, and she gently moved past Arkady and did it for him. "I'm Sheila by the way. You heading north?" She asked. Arkady stepped closer to the door. He didn't want to answer so he didn't. "Right, none of my business. Well here you go. And happy travels." She said with a shrug. And she turned to leave.

"I-" Arkady cleared his throat. "Thank you." He said. Sheila smiled and waved. On her way to her own car nearby.

"Welcome! Hope I see you again fellow traveler." She said, Arkady waved, small and hesitant. He got back into the car and looked over at Victor. Awake now. Looking at Sheila through the windshield.

"Good morning cat." Arkady said, Victor growled and stretched out again. His head landing on one of his arms tossed over the armrester. Arkady leaned closer and put his hand over Victor's. "Good dreams?"

"Y'naked." Victor mumbled, still half asleep and yawning. "Coils round my throat," he finished. Arkady grinned.

"Nightmares or wet dreams, no in between?" Arkady said. Victor laughed, and he flicked his tongue out. Arkady chuckled at the rough feel of Victor licking his hand. "Have to drive now." Victor nuzzled against Arkady's hand as he pulled it away.

They drove for a little while, until Arkady had to stop by the side of the road and figure where they were again. Victor leaned over his shoulder.

"Gotta ditch the car. We walk across the border, overnight and we're hidden." He said. Arkady nodded and gathered his things.

It started to rain when they set out. Arkady frowned at it. But he saw Victor's grin.

He wanted to kiss him.

He really did.

He didn't.

It was barely past noon, the sun broke through the rain in spurts. That early fall storm. The kind with the sun on your back, and a pouring monster to your front. And as the day went on both sides fought. Rain and then sun and then rain and then both all at once.

One of those days, Arkady fought to keep his long hair out of his face. But it stuck to his cheeks and his forehead anyway. Victor found it funny. Not that he was faring any better.

Arkady smelled something, sensed something really, and he stopped. He started to speak but Victor's eyes lit up, and he pulled Arkady behind a tree with a shhh.

Arkady looked around the tree, he felt Victor pressed against his back and looking around the tree as well.

A bear lumbered across the path they had been on. Two cubs stumbling behind her. Arkady had to admit it was sort of...cute. Even if he hasn't liked bears ever since he met Ursa Major. The bitch.

Victor leaned closer and Arkady felt his breath ruffling his half dried hair. He ooked over his shoulder and found Victor with that dumb smirking grin on his face. The cat who ate the canary really. The mother bear lumbered by. She paid them no mind and continued on with her cubs.

Arkady stared at Victor, and he still really wanted to kiss him…

He turned around fully to Victor's surprise and grabbed onto his shirt.

And he kissed him.

Victor reached out to hold Arkady's face, he didn't hesitate to respond. To move his mouth against Red's in such a delicious way. Arkady moved his hands from their fisted grip in Victor's shirt collar to his waist and he pulled, no yanked, him closer.

And then Victor wheezed and arkady tasted blood.

He tasted blood, he felt it. A ragged hole not too far from his hand that pierced Victor's chest. Arkady heard him struggle to breath, it had to be through his lung. Arkady pulled away and heard another almost silent gunshot.

He dropped to the ground and into the bushes nearby. He pulled Victor with him, Arkady took a split second to look him over. On the edge of blacking out, lungs still healing. And growling out a low rumble.

"Cat, we have to go." Arkady held Victor's head with one hand. The other tense and ready, the tip of his coil already peeking out of his skin. He can carry Victor yes, but he doesn't know where to go-

Arkady grimaced as another gunshot passed by. He crouched lower. He glanced at Victor, more lucid now. More healed. Arkady lashed out his coil and ripped into the first of many many armed men. Shield agents maybe. Sickle possibly. It could be anyone. A lot of people wanted them both dead.

Arkady smiled at the thought, a twisted sort of success in that.

He felt Victor sit up and grab onto his arm. Arkady leaned closer and listened. Victor's voice was still rough,

"Northwest, we can lose them in the mountains. Caves and valleys and cliffs. Easy." Victor said. Arkady nodded and he stood, victor followed him.

A bullet ripped through Arkady's shoulder but without a flinch or a sound, he lashed out. He relieved one agent of his head, a grab and a twist and a squeeze. He heard Victor move behind him and he followed. They disappeared into the woods. Victor reached out and pulled Arkady in front of him. Arkady glanced over his shoulder and Victor pounced. Ripped the throat out of an agent before she could scream. Victor pulled her gun from her hands and he stood. He rained bullets down on anything that moved as Arkady lashed out again and again. Arkady slid to a stop on the edge of a cliff.

Victor pushed him.

They both tumbled down the rocks and rolled to a stop at the bottom of a shallow valley.

It took them seconds to stand and run. And they worked in a perfect tandem. Their silence was a gift, no words and barely any sound from the surrounding woods. One second a snap of a twig to their left, a gunshot on their right, the heat of a bullet past Victor's head.

Arkady had holes in his chest that matched Victor's before he knew it, Victor healed in seconds. Flesh wounds to him. Pumped full of lead as he slammed a hand into a man's chest and pulled his organs out.

Arkady turned his back to Victor and wrapped his coils tight around another. Choking him out and all of the sudden draining draining draining and he healed himself. Arkady dropped the empty husk with a frown. And he turned on the other agents coming at him. The woods were a wonderful gift really. An advantage that Victor and Arkady used to separate everyone. Separate and kill.

Arkady left a trail of drained bodies, they fueled him. He healed faster than Victor now. And he attacked with a wide smile and a laugh. Arkady felt Victor grab onto his hand and pull him. And they ran again. Shoulder to shoulder and hands clenched together as they flew through the woods with Victor in the lead by mere inches.

They saw less and less people. And the gunfire faded out, Arkady heard distant Russian and he knew, or made an educated guess. It had to be Sickle. He ran faster then. He never wanted to fall into their hands again. And he never wanted Victor near them either. He overtook Victor, and farther away they went. they twisted and doubled back and turned.

Arkady yanked Victor to a stop and inside a cave. Pushed back from view and deep enough to hide them.

Arkady yanked Victor against him again and this time when he tasted blood on his fangs he smiled. Victor laughed and moved against him. Like they hadn't been interrupted at all. The post fight haze of adrenaline and joy. Roaming hands and the press of Victor's tongue against his mouth until he opened to him with a sound like a whine. Victor's hand found its way to Arkady's ass and squeezed. Arkady gasped and slapped Victor's shoulder. Victor only laughed.

They tumbled to the floor at some point and Arkady moved on top of Victor. Arkady pulled away with a rough pant and a wide smile. Victor's eyes still closed and those brilliant sabretooth fangs out in his smile. Arkady kissed the corner of his mouth again and slid off him. Half on Victor and half on the floor. Victor huffed.

"Why'd ya stop." He said. Arkady waved his hand at Victor.

"Were not fucking in a cave."

"Why not!?"

"Never again."

Victor growled. He rolled onto his side and yanked Arkady into another kiss, he moved down to his neck and before Red could complain again he bit down hard-

"Cat!" Arkady said. He's not going to admit that it excited him. "Off. Off you beast!" Arkady smiled as he spoke. No venom or pushing behind his words and he was content to let Victor ignore them. "We should go." Arkady said. He listened, he could still hear the sounds of black ops bullshit in the distance.

Victor dragged one of his claws down the side of Arkady's neck, just on the edge of digging into skin, and spoke with a growl.

"Kill anyone who comes anywhere near here, don't worry Red." He mumbled. Arkady laughed and flicked a coil out of his left hand to wrap around Victor's wrist. But he didn't pull his hand away.

"Even you can be overtaken cat. We should keep going." Arkady said. He felt Victor pull against his hold on his wrist.

"Fine, since ya wanna be a frail about it." Victor said. Arkady let him go and stood, he moved closer to the mouth of the cave.

"One of us has to think with his brain and not his dick Victor." He whispered. He felt Victor close behind him, "for now at least." He heard Victor laugh at that and wrap his arms around him from behind.

Arkady turned his head to look at him, eyebrow raised and fighting not to smile.

"Cat, this isn't the time-"

All the sudden Victor yanked them to the ground. Arkady turned to peek out of the cave, the both of them hidden behind a few rocks on the edge. They saw as more of the Sickle agents ran by. One slowed down, glanced in their direction, both men waited. Silent and still, prepared to fight.

"That's a big gun." Victor whispered. And it was, Arkady could bet it didn't shoot bullets. Probably something worse.

"No shit." Arkady whispered back. They both went silent when the agent took a step in their direction. Arkady felt Victor tense and start to move, but he stopped him and jumped at the agent. He snapped his coils out. Stopped the man before he could scream. His gun turned towards him but Arkady was unbothered. He kept draining the man. Yanked him closer and wrapped a hand around his neck as he watched him go unconscious. Arkady noticed his hand moving and reached out to push the gun away. Thankfully when it went off in a burst of light, that totally wasn't bullets, it wasn't pointed at his chest anymore. Arkady bit down on his tongue to hold back any noise, a smile split his face. He saw about half his shoulder missing, still smoking. He stared at it for a moment. As it started to heal. His bones and muscles stitching back together. The body on the ground moved and Arkady snapped his head to the side to see Victor dragging it into the bushes.

"You alright Red?" He said.

"Time to go." Arkady said. This time Victor nodded without complaint.

Victor insisted on leading, something about Arkady still not being fully healed, and Arkady let him. Before long They heard nothing else, but still they kept walking in silence. Changing directions and losing anyone still following.

They stopped after the sun had gone down and Arkady put a hand on Victor's arm.

"Where are we going?" He said. Victor grunted and looked over at him.

"Got a place. Stashed away out in the wild. Works to hide out in for a while. After the heats off ya we can skip town and head to Madripoor." Victor said. Arkady nodded, and he let go of Victor's arm only to grab his hand and lace their fingers together. He started walking again and pulled Victor with him before he could say anything about it.

Thankfully Victor didn't pull away.

They continued through the night, until Victor pulled them through an almost invisible path up the side of a valley. And before Arkady had really been able to notice it they were in front of a small building. It was properly hidden. A good view of the surrounding area, Victor let go of his hand and pushed the door open. Arkady took a second to follow him.

---------------

Victor's little safehouse was old. Old and small. He didn't remember how he got it, or if he built it. The memories were long gone now and he didn't care enough to sort through to find out. All he knew is that the place was safe and hidden. And it'd serve to hide them until they could catch a plane to Madripoor. Victor walked through and checked the place out, as he glanced in the only bedroom with a smile he thought. He could always call Mystique of course. She could get them hidden in Madripoor and more or less safe within a day. But she always got jealous when Arkady was around. Victor almost laughed.

"You know Victor, a man could be convinced you planned for there to only be one bed." He heard Red say behind him. Victor spun around with a wolfish smile.

"I plead the fifth Red." He stepped past him towards the 'kitchen'. More of a wall of cabinets and a wood stove. He heard Arkady follow him. He smelled the sharp scent of metal, Arkady's coils, and didn't stop him when he felt one wrap tight around his wrist. He reached out and dug his claws in. He couldn't cut it, the metal too strong, but he had learned a good few years ago now that Arkady's coils felt sensation like any other limb. The floor creaked as Arkady's moved closer.

Victor continued to ignore him as he looked through to see the status of his food stores.

Arkady spun him around by his wrist and yanked his hand towards him, Victor chuckled and leaned oh so close.

"Got somethin to say Red?" Victor said. Arkady hummed,

"You're sleeping on the floor," He said. Victor frowned and felt Arkady let go.

"Wait a damn second-" Victor mumbled, he went after him and reached out to grab Arkady's arm. But he dodged and Victor growled. He tackled him and saw Arkady smiling up at him. On the floor looking far more comfortable than he should with sabretooth crouched above him, Victor's mane of curly hair almost covering his face. "That's bullshit and you know it." Arkady did not respond and Victor growled. "Red-"

There was a crack of thunder loud enough to make Victor's ears ring and he sat up to glance out the window, the half on half off storm all day finally breaking in the night. It was pouring buckets already.

Victor didn't have a chance to stop him when Arkady flipped them over and straddled his hips.

"How about a drink my friend?" Arkady said. Victor laughed. A rumbling laugh, not unlike the thunder outside.

"You ain't callin me a friend when you're sitting on me like that." Victor said. Arkady just stood with a laugh. He walked back towards the kitchen with a certain sway to his walk. Victor wasn't ashamed to stare.

There wasn't much alcohol, that at least reminded Victor of the last time he was here.

Not that there was much to remember, something or another setting him off, showing up here covered in blood, and drinking until he couldn't stand up. Which took a whole lot of alcohol.

A whole lot.

But there was some that Victor could sniff out and they bargained who got what.

Eventually the both of them settled on the large bed. In silence. For now.

"20 questions?" Victor said. He saw Arkady nod and Victor took another drink before he spoke again. Fuck he didn't realize how much he missed canadian whiskey, no wonder the runt was always carrying it around.

"Least favorite color." Victor said. Arkady seemed surprised but Victor cut him off before he could say some smart remark. "Just answer the question Red."

"Orange. I hate orange. It never goes with anything. Too bright. Ugly." Arkady said with a shake of his head. Victor snorted.

"My fuckin costume's orange but thanks." He said. Arkady smiled.

"You pull it off." Arkady paused to think of his own question. "When was the last time you were naked in public?"

Victor froze for a second and sat up more to turn from facing the wall to facing Arkady.

"You have no damn chill."

"Answer the question cat. I'm waiting."

Victor opened and shut his mouth a couple times, took another long drink, and sighed.

"Two weeks ago. For the record I didn't start the fight. I just made the mistake of being in New York in the middle of spider-bitch and goblin fighting again." He paused to take another drink of the bottle in his hand. "I got lit on fire. I healed but my clothes didn't. End of story." He said. Arkady grinned. "You're way too proud of yourself. Fine, first time you had sex."

"You've heard this story!" Arkady said.

"But it's so good Red, you're gonna deprive me of that story?"

Arkady frowned and put his hand under one of the blankets, he pulled it up and tossed it over Victor's head. And then started talking.

"One of the first times I wasn't completely monitored during a mission. And I accidentally got invited to a threesome. And just rolled with it. Happy?"

Victor was cackling, and he pulled the blanket around his shoulders. Arkady finished off his bottle and leaned down to set it on the floor.

"Never playing this game with you again." He mumbled.

"Aw don't pout red. Your secret's safe with me." Victor said. Arkady just frowned. And then his expression oh so slowly twisted into a smile.

"Last thing you masturbated too." Arkady said.

"No. Fucking. Chill." Victor growled. But he half-smiled and dropped his bottle on the floor where it no doubt shattered. "You."

Arkady stopped at that. He just blinked for a second and then laughed.

"You have to tell the truth Victor, those are the rules." He said.

"I am." Victor moved closer, on all fours and getting in Arkady's personal space. "When you were on the news last. Serial killer in custody, it said." His face was almost touching Arkady's now. Arkady felt himself start to blush and he really can't remember the last time he did that. "The picture they showed, you in chains. Still smiling too. Just did something to me." Victor put a hand on Arkady's knee and slid it up towards his hip. "I've always loved seein you all tied up. It's real pretty ya know that?" Victor said. Arkady took a second to respond.

"That is… not what I expected you to say."

"Gotta tell the truth right?" Victor slid his hand higher, up under Arkady's shirt. He felt Victor press his thumb against Arkady's side, he had to be drawing blood.

And Arkady couldn't find a single part of him that minded.

Arkady reached out and pressed his mouth against Victor's without warning. It didn't take long for Victor to react.

A growl and a push, Arkady landing on his back with a huff and his head almost hanging off the side of the bed. and Victor reaching up to tangle a hand in his hair and tilting his head to deepen the kiss.

At some point Arkady's shirt ended up bunched up around his neck and he pulled away long enough to pull it off. Victor took the chance to do the same and they dove back in. Arkady put a hand on Victor's neck and slid a coil out and around his neck. When Victor didn't fight or pull away he squeezed tighter. And Victor pulled away and wheezed. But he was smiling, and still so so close. Arkady could feel his breath on his mouth. Victor reached down and slid his hand into Arkady's waistband, just a bit. More of a tease than a touch, his claws dragged against his skin. Just on the side of cutting him. Arkady used his coil to push Victor's head up more and sat up on his elbow to press a kiss under Victor's chin. Victor purred, really purred, for a second. And arkady did it again, moved lower on his neck just above his coils and bit down. The sound victor made was well worth the awkward angle.

And then the light went out, with a particularly loud roll of thunder. Arkady stopped for just a moment with a breathless laugh.

Victor sat up more and Arkady's coil slid off his neck.

"I think the generator broke." Victor said, and he laughed.

Their laughter mixed with the sound of the relentless rain hitting the roof, and Victor dropped his head down against Arkady's neck with a deep chuckle.

Something in Arkady fluttered, he wanted to think it wasn't anything emotional. Maybe he's having a heart attack?

But then Victor nuzzled his face closer and licked up the side of Arkady's neck with another low roll of laughter, and that flutter in his chest happened again.