Trust me
The cold spray of water was painful, not unlike tiny cold needles prickling his overheated skin. Jäger winced. He didn't even want to think about the torture of drying up. It had been Monika's idea to sunbathe in the balcony. After all, they still had one more day before returning to the base, and the weather in Italy was so nice. So Jäger kept her company, his towel next to Monika's, and he'd fallen asleep under the unforgiving glare of the sun. Now he looked like a giant lobster and the mere idea of having anything touch his reddened back made him want to scream.
Jäger went back to the room fresh from the shower, just in his underwear and with droplets of water still on his skin. He knew Elias wanted to go visit someplace, and Monika already had her camera ready to go, and Dominic was getting antsy after doing nothing all morning long. Therefore he was surprised to see Bandit sitting sprawled on his bed and sipping a slushy. Jäger assumed Elias and Monika would have dragged Dominic with them.
"I know I repeat it too much, but you really look like scheiße." Bandit put the iced drink on the nightstand. "Been boiled?"
"That's how it feels like," Jäger sighed. He sat on the bed as well, wishing to lie down but his sunburnt skin would not appreciate it.
"You ever heard of sunscreen?" Bandit took another sip through the straw. The condensation droplets on the surface of the cup made it look incredibly inviting and cold.
Jäger looked at Bandit with his best murder glare. He had put on sunscreen, of course. Just not enough it seemed. However Bandit wasn't cowed in the slightest, in fact he was smiling amused at Jäger's attempt of intimidation.
"Here, hold this." Bandit pressed the cold plastic cup into his hand and got up. "One moment."
He watched Dominic go to rifle through Monika's suitcase, searching who knows what. Jäger couldn't help himself and took a sip of Bandit's beverage. Oh dear god, it was lemon slushy, the absolute best. He hadn't realized he was thirsty until he started drinking. Bandit came back holding a tube of lotion like it was a trophy.
"I knew she had something with aloe vera." Bandit took the cup from his hands and patted the bed for him to lie down. Jäger hesitated.
"It will just hurt more, your hands are rough." Not as rough as his own though, engineer work wasn't kind on the hands. Neither was their lifestyle of training and fighting.
"Trust me." Bandit scooted further to the side, leaving room for Jäger to lie down on the bed by his side.
Feeling slightly apprehensive, Jäger flopped face down on the bed. He knew Bandit wouldn't hurt him on purpose, but he still wasn't convinced this would not irritate his already abused skin. A squirt of the smelly lotion landed on his back, and it was blissfully cool. The feeling of Bandit's cold hands gently rubbing it over him was even better. Okay, he took it all back, this was fantastic and it did make the burning in his skin subside a bit. The fresh sensation it left on him was fucking magic.
Bandit took a break from rubbing the lotion on him to take a sip from his drink, and then he pressed a kiss on Jäger's nape. The contrast of Bandit's cool lips and his beard tickling him tore a moan out of Jäger, who tried to muffle it against the pillow. Bandit had a bad habit of doing that when he wanted to distract him. It was the same tactic he used when Jäger had been working for too many hours on a project, not going out of the workshop not even to eat or sleep. Then Bandit would eventually show up, acting casual to hide his worry, and he would steal Jäger's attention with kisses and filthy promises until he dragged him away from his spot on the workbench.
A sudden commotion of loud italian curses and yelling on the street had Bandit snickering, and Jäger suddenly realised why he had decided to stay in the room instead of going with Elias and Monika. He pushed himself up on his elbows and looked up at Bandit, not entirely surprised. "You used me as an alibi!"
Bandit's snickering got a lot worse. It had a certain contagious quality to it and Jäger ended up giggling too. He collapsed half on top of Bandit, pushing him down on the mattress as their laughter dying down gradually. It was a nice feeling, the closeness and lying on top of Bandit's chest. Jäger decided he didn't care why Bandit stayed, he rather liked that he was here with him. Bandit's hand had quietly moved down and was playing with the waistband of his boxers, caressing the skin under it with the pad of his fingers. It was relaxing, and Jäger found himself getting more comfortable as he cuddled up to his team mate, his head resting on the other opertator's chest. Besides, this way his back wasn't in contact with any kind of surface and that had been his goal since the start. It took him less than ten minutes to fall asleep like that.
A couple hours later, when Blitz and IQ came back, they found a very much awake Bandit lying still to not wake up Jäger, who was drooling on his shirt as he slept. Bandit watched in horror as IQ cooed over them while she took out her phone, snapping a picture of the unusual scene. Meanwhile, Blitz hiccupped from laughter watching Bandit's horrified expression.
"Knew you were a softie deep down," Blitz told him between guffaws.
"If that picture leaves this room I will kill you both!" Bandit hissed. He would have looked much more menacing if he wasn't still cuddling a half naked Jäger while whispering his threat in order to not wake him up.
IQ smiled sweetly at him, too sweetly, and snapped another picture. "The girls will love this."
In that moment Bandit knew he was screwed, cause he preferred to stay and endure the teasing rather than get up to chase IQ and risk waking Jäger. He closed his eyes as the realization hit him. He had it really bad for his team mate.