So, okay. I had *intended* this to be a smut piece between Slade and Oliver, only my interest in this pairing/fandom has been waning and directed to other areas (Harry Potter again _) and I *really* wanted to finish out the fic, but also had kinda wanted to do something for a while with Oliver/Slade/Shado and I could never really work up a porny plot in my head for it so...I compromised. And this is the result. Which I kinda like, in a mild fluffy way. So, I apologize to the readers who would have liked to read my smutty take on this OT3, but my interest/inspiration wouldn't cooperate aaaaaaand this is what you get. ^_^"
Slade stepped into the plane, tensing for a moment when Oliver suddenly appeared in front of him to wrap his arms around Slade's neck. He relaxed into the kiss Oliver pulled him into, humming softly into his mouth.
He'd been hunting in the forest for hours, stalking through the deceptive calm of the island's vast jungle. But there had been nothing in the wide perimeter he'd traversed around the plane. No boars and no mercenaries, just the cries of birds and bugs, all too small for Slade's time.
So he'd come back "home" to the plane. Right now, he wasn't regretting that choice.
Slowly, Slade pulled out of the gentle kiss. "Now that was a nice welcome," he murmured, still close enough that his lips brushed teasingly against Oliver's. He glanced around the plane, smoothly avoiding the younger man's attempts to draw him back into a kiss. "How long has Shado been gone?"
"Ah, I guess a while?" Oliver's eyes went unfocused as he thought for a moment, his face slightly scrunching up in confusion. Like a puppy trying to figure something out. The look was adorable (not that Slade would ever voice that thought where Oliver could hear it). "Not really sure where she went. She just kinda grabbed her bow and walked off."
"And what were you doing?" Slade asked as he stepped back from Oliver and started removing his gear.
It was hot in the plane.
It was hot outside of the plane too, but at least here there was some relative shelter from enemy sight and, frankly, he was eager to be rid of the cumbersome gear that made him sweat and chafe more than he had to. He stripped off his undershirt too, for good measure, tossing it over the wreck of a chair for it to dry.
"Um, not much?" The blond let his gaze slide over Slade's bare chest in lazy possessive sweeps. It was no secret that Oliver admired Slade's tone, his muscle, his sheer masculinity - he'd complimented Slade's body countless times, usually when he was high on pleasure- but an admiring gaze always made the older man want to preen a little, to show off and invite those eyes to caress him further, usually in the hope that hands would soon follow the paths their eyes had taken.
"Not much?"
"I may have slept in later than I'd planned."
"Shocking." Slade shook his head in bemusement.
He and Shado both usually itched to move, unable to really sit still for long unless they were bone-tired after hunting or a grueling workout. Oliver, on the other hand, still ran on instincts long bred from his former life of luxury; the only early morning the kid had likely seen was when he'd been out partying too long. Oliver had trouble trying to keep up with him and Shado simply for the fact that prying him out of bed was a chore in itself and, with how bitchy the kid could get, sometimes the chore wasn't worth the effort - though it did make their training sessions that much more satisfying when Slade got to knock the whiny brat flat on his ass.
"So no luck out there?"
"No, didn't see a goddamn thing. Shouldn't be a problem for another day or two, but I don't want to get lazy," he said pointedly, a playful smirk pulling at his lips, stretching wider when it got the intended reaction as Oliver scowled at him. The kid was fun to poke at, even if it was easy.
"The traps have nothing either," Shado said, stepping into the plane from behind him.
The suddenness of her arrival nearly startled Slade. Unlike Oliver, she was naturally quiet and well-suited to their half-hunted lifestyle. She didn't stomp around like a drunken elephant, alerting the whole jungle to their position. Unfortunately, she had made it something of a goal to sneak up on him, trying to get a reaction from him. It worked more often that he cared for, but the bubble of laughter and the lightness in her eyes would usually sooth his anger and even bring a smile to his own face from time to time.
Like it did now.
Out of nowhere, there was a huge crack of thunder.
It sounded distant enough, but the extended rumble of it told of an angry storm nearby, and if the increased cloud-cover on Slade's return trip was any indication, it wouldn't be long until they had rain coming down on them. Slade wasn't worried. He had long figured out where the weak spots were in the plane and had the equipment arranged to avoid water damage from the places that leaked, it was that they would have little choice but to sit tight until the weather broke. The rain here tended to be cold and getting sick was dangerous. They would be stuck in the plane for who knew how long - not that they never spent hours in the plane, but being unable to leave made Slade edgy and bitchy enough to rival Oliver on his bad days.
And that was saying something.
Both Oliver and Shado groaned faintly at the sound of the incoming storm. They didn't like when it rained either.
"Well, I guess it's plan B for now," Oliver sighed.
"Plan B?" Shado frowned at him in confusion, her eyes darting over to Slade to see if he understood Oliver's meaning.
He didn't.
With a bigger smile than Slade thought Oliver ought to have - already his mood was souring - Oliver snagged each of his companions by a hand and dragged them over to their "beds". Plopping down onto the ground, he leaned back onto his elbows, grinning up at them as though he'd just had a brilliant idea. Slade, though, wasn't so sure.
Slade and Shado exchanged a look.
"You want to fuck?" Slade asked. It wasn't unusual. He and Oliver had been on the island for a while and had managed to become lovers, Shado eventually joining them once the men had figured out what words were and how to use them to express their desires, and there were few days when sex wasn't used to pass the time.
But it was hot, a storm was coming, and Slade's nerves were dancing in a way that made it hard for him to relax enough to allow the mindless intimacy that sex provided. Rainstorms made him feel cornered.
"Actually, I want to nap. Or cuddle. Whichever."
"You just don't want to get out of bed," Shado laughed before settling down on top of her sleeping area next to Oliver. It was already snug against Oliver's. All of them slept close together, but never had they done so during the day. It was lazy and dangerous and-
"Slade?" Oliver prompted, his lip puffing out into a hopeful pout, his blue eyes big and pleading.
Goddammit.
The little voice of paranoia in the back of his head let him know that this was a stupid idea, the enemy could ambush them at any moment-
Slade ignored it.
Letting out an aggrieved sigh, he grumbled as he gracelessly settled down on Oliver's other side, grousing all the while about how silly this was. Oliver just grinned at him. It made something tighten in his chest that Slade refused to look at too closely. Not yet, not here at least, while they were still on the island. Then it would make all of this, whatever he was feeling, too…real.
"I think this is a great idea," Shado murmured her words half-muffled into the shoulder she was pressed against, having snuggled flush up against Oliver's side.
"It's still hot," Slade said, his own bickering reply lacking the intended bite now that the heat and lying down were dragging him into something of a lull. Little by little, he found himself relaxing, his paranoia be damned.
Thunder cracked again, rumbling louder, closer, and though Slade tensed up at the unexpected sound, a hand clasped his - Oliver's - their fingers interlaced and Oliver gave a comforting squeeze that made Slade relax again despite his paranoia.
"Yeah, it is," Oliver slurred. His head lolled over to rest against Slade's shoulder, the soft strands tickling as he shifted until finally his eyes drifted shut into a light doze.
It was a few more minutes before Slade drifted off to sleep along with his lovers, wondering absently at the healing powers of heat and thunderstorms.
Thank you for reading, hope you liked it! Comments appreciated. You can find me at collared-fantasies on tumblr if you're interested...