Saracen & Dexter

When Saracen woke up, the first thing he noticed was that he was hooked up to a giant machine. The second was that he had a visitor.

Dexter Vex gave him a tired smile. "Oh good. You're awake."

He tried to sit up, but Dexter was there, pushing him back. "Woah. Easy there, tiger. You've got a lot of internal bleeding from when Darquesse threw that wall on you."

Saracen groaned and lay back. Now that Dexter mentioned it, he was feeling awfully sore. "Where is she?"

"She's gone," Dexter said, running his hand through his hair. "She tore up my insides pretty good, but that's all patched up now." He coughed, and Saracen raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything.

"Where's everyone else?" he asked instead, looking around him. The Medical wing was busy; teeming with injured sorcerers and doctors. He couldn't see anyone he knew.

"Donegan and Gracious are somewhere round here, being treated for a lot of broken bones and some fractured skulls," he said, looking somewhere behind Saracen. "Tanith is getting patched up from her fight with the Black Cleaver." His mouth twisted slightly as he said, "Maybe you should say hello."

"What?" he looked at Dexter. "What do you mean?"

Now he refused to look at him, looking down at his bed sheets. "Well, we've just almost been killed. Maybe you would want to… rekindle the old flame."

Saracen stared at him incredulously. "You must have hit your head during the fighting. Tanith's just found out that Ghastly is dead. Would I really come onto her after a shock like that?"

"You've done it before," Dexter muttered sulkily, glancing away.

Saracen laughed, and then winced when his chest groaned in protest. "If I didn't know you better, Vex, I'd say that you were jealous."

He blushed. "Not jealous," was all Saracen caught.

"You idiot," he said gently, holding out his hand for Dexter to take. When the other man just stared at it, he rolled his eyes. "Are you going to take it or wait for it to fall off?"

He blushed again and took the hand offered. "I-I'm sorry. It's just – coming to close to losing you –" he swallowed hard.

Saracen blinked back the tears that threatened to spill over, and gave the hand he was holding a squeeze. "I know. And now it's all over-"

"I want to be with you," Dexter interrupted. He blushed furiously but maintained his eye contact with Saracen. "I'm sorry, that sounded stupid. But it was a now or never thing, you know?"

He couldn't speak for a moment. Several different emotions pulsed through him: astonishment, hope, joy, eagerness. A smile broke across his face as the realisation of what Dexter Vex, his long-time secret crush, had just told him.

"When I've been patched up," he said softly. "I'll be taking you to dinner."

Dexter stopped breathing for a moment. "Really?"

Saracen nodded. "Somewhere not too fancy. Maybe for a-"

The end of his sentence was cut off by rough lips being pressed to his. A hand cupped his cheek. He tasted like ashes and smelled like smoke. It was beautiful.

He pulled away and looked down at him. "Dinner sounds nice," he murmured, a smile playing around his lips.

Saracen was speechless. That didn't happen very often.

Dexter stood up and took his hand again. "I'll have to find China and fill her in on my side of the story. Which, admittedly, isn't much, because I was possessed by a Remnant for a few days. But still, protocol and all that jazz."

He looked up at him and smiled. "Go get 'em, tiger."

He chuckled and leant in for another chaste kiss. "I'll be back soon."

He began to walk away, but a thought seemed to strike him and he turned back to Saracen.

"Will you tell me what you're power is now?"

"Oh. Yeah, sure."

He perked up. "Really?"

"I know things."

Dexter rolled his eyes, but smiled all the same. "I hate you!" he called as he walked away.

Saracen just grinned. For some strange reason, the phrase I hate to see him go, but I love to watch him leave drifted through his mind as he watched Dexter's hips sway as he weaved his way through the people on the ward. He blushed.