Title: What We Do in the Mountains

Author: OpheliacAngel

Pairing: Fine/Ford

Genres: Romance/Hurt/Comfort

Rating: Mature

Summary: It's a slightly less disastrous mission than Fine expected, given Ford's still breathing.

Or: Experienced mountaineer Rick Ford falls off a mountain and Fine is left to pick up the pieces.

A/N: Written for Yuletide Madness for winterhill. I loved your snippet in your letter and I hope this is sort of okay.

"Fuck it," Fine says as he strips himself of his clothes and presses himself up tightly against an almost completely naked Ford, if not for the boxers that Fine refused to remove. Ford's been in and out for the past hour and while Fine could blame him for his little to no experience on mountains, which he claimed and still claims otherwise in his occasional incoherent mumblings, he decides that Ford has more than suffered enough for his misjudgment and general idiocy. So Fine's just sitting on the cold floor, trying to rub some warmth back into Ford so that he doesn't freeze to death because not only will his ass be on the line if he doesn't come back with Ford alive, but there's also that pesky fact that he will never forgive himself if he lets something happen to his partner.

So yes, he sucks it up and grumbles all he wants about how cold he is too and how his hands are aching from all this rubbing, but he doesn't stop. He'll rub Ford's abused, icicle limbs until he can't feel his own hands anymore. He'll keep shaking Ford awake and keep talking about stupid shit and keep Ford alive until backup gets here.

Ford would do the same for him.

"Fuck it," he says as he presses his gloved hands to Ford's freezing cheeks and presses his mouth against Ford's, breathing hopefully warm air into his lungs. Ford eventually splutters and pulls away, coughing weakly into the crook of his arm.

"F'ne? What'ya playin' at?"

"You fell off a mountain, Ford." I watched you. You fell off a mountain with no coat on and no gloves and fucking sneakers. You fell off a mountain and I had to go down and find your ass and bring you here. And now here we are, you fucking idiot.

"Not a half bad kisser, ya know?" Ford mumbles, head listing to the side again.

Jesus, someone shoot Fine now. "This would be a really good time for backup to come," he mumbles under his breath. He slips a hand under Ford's chin and holds his head up, slapping his cheek to get him to open his eyes again. Ford does, grinning up at him.

"Fuck it," Fine says again. "Fuck it fuck it fuck it." He kisses Ford again, hissing at his freezing lips. It's not the best kiss ever, considering Ford's too weak to do much more than breathe into Fine's mouth, but it seems to take both their minds off the cold and their current situation. Here they are huddling for warmth and Fine's looking down at Rick and unable to ignore the way his eyelashes frame his eyes and the soft curve of his mouth and the muscle under his hands as he holds Ford upright and tries to lean the agent against him. Maybe Ford won't remember this, and he is sorta hoping for that.

It wouldn't be a shame if he did though.

"Fell off a mountain, huh?"

"Idiot," Fine bites back. His hand holds the back of Rick's head, thumb rubbing small circles there. Ford's starting to tremble in his arms which means the body heat's working. Fine can't conceal his relief, smiling in satisfaction yet pulling his partner closer. He doesn't even slap Ford's hand away when it snakes around to his back and fingers burrow just underneath the waistband of his boxers, seeking warmth and probably something else too, or complain when he nuzzles his head in the crook of Fine's neck. The something else is a given when his partner's half erection brushes against Fine's leg, but Fine doesn't know what's more distracting when Ford starts sloppily kissing his neck. He decides to ignore both.

"This reminds me of the time where I…."

"Shut up and get warm already."

Ford gives him that at least.

They won't talk about this ever again. Ford will talk and say that once he got lost in the mountains with no clothes on and fought five polar bears, then crawled his way through the snow and across the ice to take down his target. Fine will bite into his apple 'cause healthy eating and all to keep up his figure, letting Ford talk all he wants, watching in entirely discreet fascination as Ford works over his audience so effortlessly. Yeah, the most goddamn fascinating man in the world.

He doesn't care though because Ford's all his away from prying eyes. They never talk about that mission because they don't have to. Ford kisses him in the mornings and insults Fine's tie and asks him what the hell kinda tragedy he's got for himself today. Fine tells him to shut it multiple times and picks the tie Ford's railing against the most that day and smiles because he knows Rick, inside and out, not that he wants to but he does and it isn't half bad.

The chocolate chip cookies Rick bakes for him on Sunday afternoons make it all that much more worthwhile.

FIN