On a very calming night, unlike the week that stood behind them, even the month before that, did two very exhausted Group 935 members sit together in a silent solidarity to whatever peace they had just recently attained in the last hour or so. Their time together was sometimes strange and awkward.
Nights were never, under their normal circumstances, anywhere near normal. Considering how to normalcy of life had come and gone throughout their time together, Tank and Nikolai had founded a strange friendship between the two of them that not many people could understand, let alone the only other two people that existed in their immediate vicinity. Their friendship was certainly something different.
They were the types who found more solace in their differences than in what they had in common. There were times where they would share memories from their childhoods and learn new things about each other, things that not many people would bring up willfully. Subjects such as Nikolai's laments of life and Tank's belief of the greater good.
Those times together, however, were suddenly becoming a thing of the past, as the night watch slowly became more threatening during the last two weeks. The watches shifted between the four estranged men, switching off two people for two parts of the night, which then established smaller teams of two. Like the famous saying goes; Divide and Conquer.
The night was young, unlike the four of them. Time passed by much more slowly than anyone could have told. Since it was first shift of the night, Tank and Nikolai were called up to be on watch while the remaining two slept for the few hours they had at their disposal. Of course, there needed to be ways to keep from passing out at a single yawn.
They had tested out different maneuvers and found one method was effective. Simple enough, it was what they had already been doing, speaking for as much of the night as they could handle as they keep each other awake. Basically, the buddy system for night guard. Usually it is enough to keep the two parties awake. But as of recently, they didn't need the buddy system.
Every night they spent awake was another night where they would be unsure of the outcome. The best they could do was expect the unexpected and hope for the best.
Smiling at one another, the beginning of the silence ensued. For some reason, this was how their last few night watches have started lately. After a bit of I me passed, only then would words be exchanged.
"You should smile every once in awhile, Tank." Said the one who scowled every other minute of the day. Ironically, smiling at his own statement.
"Aren't you one to talk, big guy. You don't smile for jack shit," Nikolai couldn't help himself from snickering. "Don't ever do that again by the way."
The noise! So sudden! The groans of the undead echo throughout the dungeon the area!
"What the hell was that?" Tank's eyes surveyed the surrounding area while Nikolai prepared himself for the worst to come. He stood up and went over to where they had left their guns before they had gotten together. "I'm afraid this will be the third night in a row where we will have to end our time together prematurely," Grabbing a machine gun, he walks back over to his friend with his typical scowl back to gracing his face.
"Holy shit! They're coming from everywhere!" Tank froze in place, his vision darted from one corner of the room to the other.
"I know this, I have two eyes, Tank." Nikolai quickly took his position behind his friend.
"I don't appreciate the sarcasm."
"You seem afraid." Nikolai quickly took out his knife and took out the zombies trying to surround his frightened American friend.
He turned to face him, with fresh blood stained on his clothes and grinned at Tank. "Don't forget, i'm here to protect you." But his expression had a different look to it and seemed...off.
"Thank you. I just froze back there and I don't know why.." Tank sighed in relief, but naturally questioning his brief decision to take no actions.
"No matter what happens Tank, I would never let anything bad happen to you." Nikolai smiled through the blood staining his lips, slightly red and trying to hide away his face.
"Are you okay?" Tank continued to look at him as he tried to avoid eye contact with him.
"Yes of course, do not worry yourself." Nikolai couldn't help but feel happy, knowing that he had cared to ask. Tank, on the other hand, felt something was still amiss.
"Are you sure? 'Cause you're acting
weird as hell." Tank narrowed his eyes at Nikolai as he attempted to explain what was on his mind.
"Tank, I have question for you." Nikolai just stood in front of Tank, surrounded by the undead and blood staining almost every part of the floor beneath the two of them. However, when he looked up from the terribly bloody area, he couldn't keep the secret hidden away from Tank any longer and knew he must confess.
"Well, are you gonna ask me or what?" Tank started to sense the energy in the room, noticing how quickly the awkwardness crept in the area around them.
"I am afraid to ask you," Nikolai slowly walked towards Tank, trapping him against the stonewall behind them. He placed his hands on both sides of the wall. "Perhaps I can show you instead."
"What do you think you're doing there, Nikolai?" Tanks voice started to shake as he began to realize what had been on his mind.
"You know exactly what I want." Nikolai closed in on Tank in their corner.
"What's your malfunction?" Tank looked away and tried to hide the fact that his cheeks had turned a few shades of red. Nikolai took his chin in hand and tilted up to face his desperate eyes. The innocence fled from his expression before he bent in closer and whispered to his fearful friend.
"You are so very sweet for showing your concern for me," Nikolai went as far as stroking the other man's cheek and felt his own reddening. "However, I have only eyes for you and sometimes it is hard to even think of anything else."
Without wasting another moment, Nikolai pressed his lips against Tank's will, holding him by the waist with his other hand still on his cheek. To his surprise, he gained a very intimate response. It was desperate and loving, and Nikolai felt every part of it from Tank's side, even feeling his own shoulder being pressed so the man could reach him.
Even so, it would be very unlikely he would admit anything to his face.
He pulled himself away slowly and grinned at this unexpected response.
"You are powerless over me, Tank," Nikolai's husky voice sent chills down Tank's body. "No need to be so estranged." However, Tank wasn't ready to give himself up that easily though. He realized it would take a little while before he could crack the shell of this man.
"Maybe it is time to be honest." Nikolai took hold of both his hands and flashed a quick soft, inviting smile.
"I was only giving you my thanks for saving me." Tank was unamused by his own bullshit, as well as his comrade's. "Maybe I got a little carried away."
"Oh really?" Nikolai was starting to become frustrated with Tank. He tightened his grip on Tank's hands tighter, making him flinch. "I can give pain as much as I can give you pleasure." Nikolai was more than serious, attempting his very best to get the man before him to surrender himself to their feelings.
"This isn't right, maybe you should just leave me alone." He tried to pull away from him but couldn't get free from his hands, making him feel submissive.
"I can tell that this will be fun." Nikolai took his hand and traced a finger up his Tank's shirt, feeling everything on his way, from his muscles up to his collar bone.
"What the fu—" Tank started to feel something he knew he shouldn't have. Nikolai's hand slid back out from under his shirt and went down from his hip past his waistline. Tank tried to struggle and get out from under him. Instead, he managed to release an ungodly moan that stemmed from all this attention to his body.
"Do not fight me Tank," Nikolai pressed his lips onto Tank's neck, pulling him into his close embrace with the other arm. "Neither of us deserve to be lonely."
"N-Nikolai, please don't do this." At this point, Tank found himself breathing heavy with the most flushed and glazed over expression he had ever found himself with.
His lips lifted from Tank's neck and curled into a smile as he stared down at the flushed young man.
"How could you mean such a thing?" Nikolai whispered, amused with the blush on his face.
"Just let me go." He quietly responded with an averted gaze, irritated with anguish. It was hard for him to hide the fact that his face had a certain scarlet tinge to it.
"Mm, I could. But looking at how you react to me," Nikolai disregarded that last statement and took it as a sign of Tank's ultimate submission. "I think I should keep going." A hint of extra determination followed the intoxicating man.
Tank, feeling himself fight these emotions, longed to go through with them almost as much as his body tried to go against them. Every small touch made him want to fight less and less. But, he also had to think about his pride.
"You have such a sweet taste, Tank." Nikolai's fingers brushed against his cheek as he slowly bent towards his face and stopped, feeling the heat radiating from Tank's cheeks.
Nikolai bit Tank's bottom lip, slowly tempting his lips with his tongue while stroking his cheek. A small groan mixed with a whimper left his throat out of fear and even more of want. Tank could not feel any other part of his body, until his arms instinctively wrapped around Nikolai's neck to bring them closer together.
Nikolai's tongue roughly slid past his lips, while his hands slowly made it past the edge of his shirt. His hands trailed down to his waistline, slowly running them down to the edges of the underwear that fit so tightly around his buttocks.
Tank knew fighting his feelings would not do him anymore good. A strange warmth wrapped itself around his body and he allowed himself to give into the lust-filled emotions he had kept so well to himself.
"I like the way you try to thank me." Nikolai left a subtle kiss on his cheek and pulled Tank into a tight embrace. His lips trailed down from his cheek, down to his collarbone, and back to his neck. He bit down as hard as he possibly could, eliciting the loudest moan to come out of Tank Dempsey since they met.
Tank let more smaller moans leave his mouth and dug his nails into his neck, pulling him closer to his wanting body. Breathless and horny, Nikolai pushed his hips into Tank's, watching as his body trembled out of want beneath him.
Instead of being the way he was before, so intimidated and in denial, it seemed he was enjoying himself.
And Nikolai didn't want to have it any other way.
Tank forced his lips onto Nikolai's and moved his own hands down to his waist, gently grabbing onto his hips. This had caught him by surprise, but nevertheless putting him much more in his strange bliss.
"Ah, my Tank," Nikolai called out softly. "I couldn't be happier that you are in my life." Nikolai pulled away from their kiss and pressed his forehead against Tank's.
"You're too cute, Niki." Tank couldn't help himself from hiding the smile that spanned across his face in order to cover up the fact that he was blushing.
What a way to thank a man.