A/N: I am so grateful for the reviews and the views. It's great to know I'm not alone in the August/Sasha pit. Enjoy! ;)
Sasha's hands stopped moving over his bandages and she looked at him again. He smiled at her uncertainly and she couldn't help the small lump that had wormed its way into her throat. She smiled back warmly and leaned her face in closer to his,
"I think I'd like that, too."
He raised his hand to her cheek, and she felt color flood into her cheeks. He swept a rough finger pad across her chin and wiped it on his jeans.
"You had some blood on your face," He cleared his throat and looked back down at his arm, "thanks for cleaning me up."
"Oh, you're welcome." She drew her face back from his and followed his gaze to the bandages.
"Damn, looks like I didn't stop the bleeding." Sasha observed the bright red patch that had bloomed across his wrappings.
"It's the adrenaline." He shrugged his shoulders dismissively.
Or it's your blood pressure, Cassanova. She thought.
"Sure it is." Sasha giggled. When he left the side of his face exposed to her, she moved her chair closer and placed her lips against his cheek.
Sasha got up from her seat to return the first aid kit to back under the bar. He was probably smiling like an idiot. The idea of turning this tough as nails brawler into a kitten made her quite proud of herself. Then again, he might have been having the same effect on her. That idea made her stomach do a little flip-flop, and she swallowed hard before looking back up at him from across the room.
"I'm glad you're okay, Sash." He said, finally looking over to her. She knew that look. She had him in the palm of her hand.
"Me too, Augie." He cringed, making Sasha laugh out loud.
"No good?" He shook his head, "Noted."
She nudged the bartender with her boot and he groaned. Most of the people in the fight had made it out intact. Luckily there wasn't too much damage to the building itself; however, a fair amount of shell casings would have to be swept up and quite a few glasses would probably need replacing.
"Your man over here is going to be okay, I think they just knocked him out."
"Good," He got up stiffly and strolled over to the stairs, "would you mind switching the sign off on your way out? Not that I want you to leave, just when you do…"
"I get it, dude." Sasha joined him at the base of the stairs.
"I'm just going to go upstairs. Dumbass left his shit up there probably." He sighed and started up the stairs.
Sasha grabbed her gun from the table and shifted on her feet awkwardly, "I think I'm going to go?"
"Okay. That's fine." August paused at the landing and Sasha walked up behind him. He squinted at her,
"Aren't you going to go?" He asked uncertainly.
He wanted her around, so she figured she would indulge him, "I think so, but I can help you clean up around here if you want." She didn't know exactly what she was doing. She felt slightly out of control and she liked it.
"Yeah, we should start upstairs I guess." He reached his hand out and flipped off the switch on the wall. The bar went dark, and she followed August's backlit form into the warm orange glow that was pouring down from the attic. Sasha was suddenly very aware of what she was doing.
Please don't live here. Please don't live here. The rational part of her brain chanted furiously.
He reached the top of the stairs before she did and he turned around, "I knew it. Should really find me some smarter clients." August turned to a table and chairs in the corner and picked through a bag sitting there. He sat down in one of the chairs and pulled another out for Sasha.
She looked around the attic, surveying her surroundings carefully. A few bare bulbs were littered across the vaulted ceiling, and a single window sat on the far wall. There was a privacy curtain blocking off part of the room and Sasha could see the end of a mattress poking out from the side closest to her. She turned back to where August was seated, looking at the wall behind him to see gun advertisements with small strings of lights draped over them. Under these were several rough sketches of guns she had never seen before.
"Oh, you noticed those?" He stopped what he was doing and gestured to them with a magazine.
"Yeah, what are they?" Sasha stooped down to look at a drawing for one that had the words 'super badass gun mk 2 [change name]' penned under it in messy handwriting. She rolled her eyes.
"Um, they're gun designs? They're so rough, just ignore them." He seemed to be uncertain what they were himself, clearly flustered that anyone had seen them in the first place.
"No, no these are great, how do you come up with them?" Her gaze strayed to other sketches of skags and bullymongs, and finally to another full-color one of a Pandoran sunset.
"Honestly? It's just throwing together different things I like onto a gun and hoping it works," he noticed her looking at the sunset picture, "I also draw stuff I see when I go out on jobs."
"Wow," She breathed, "I see this, and I forget that Pandora wants to kill me."
"Wouldn't that be something," August set his magazine down and leaned back in his chair, "that's why I don't draw people."
"Yeah. If they're not trying to shoot you, they're trying to stab you in the back…figuratively and literally." She felt a pang of guilt in her stomach when he grunted approvingly.
"Exactly. You understand." He drawled, clearly exhausted by the fire fight downstairs. She figured it was time to go, or at least part of her did.
Sasha faked a yawn, "I suppose I can get out of here if you don't need any more help." She began to walk towards the stairs and August rose from his seat.
"Wait, Sasha?" She turned around near the table, the pit of her stomach dropping through to the floor.
"Yes?" He was so close to her that she could feel the heat radiating off of his body. She felt the strangest compulsion to reach her hand out and touch him and run her hand down the side of his face. Sasha made up excuses in her head, convincing herself she only wanted to do that for him. His angular features cast strange shadows against his cheeks in the warm glow of the room. She saw his Adam's apple bob before he spoke slowly,
"Thanks for being here today, you really helped me out of a bad situation."
"Anytime…" Sasha trailed off and angled her head up to look into his face.
The look was back. It was a look that could make her feel like the only one in the room (present circumstances not withstanding), and above all it was a look that warmed her from head to toe. It was also a look that set off every alarm in her body. He placed a hand on her shoulder and the other under her chin. Everything inside of her head was screaming, but she angled her head up instinctively and closed her eyes.
She was taken aback at how gently he pressed their lips together. He drew both of his hands up to her face and she sighed against his mouth.
Any part of her brain that told her this was a terrible idea had been shut off. She leaned into his chest, looping her arms around his neck. He pulled away and she opened her eyes.
"Hey." He chuckled and Sasha smiled up at him. He smelled like gunpowder and the outdoors, a scent that Sasha started to believe that she could get used to.
"Hi yourself."
Sasha pushed her palm against his chest and walked them back to the chair he had been sitting in before. She shoved him back one last time so he was sitting again, and walked herself so his legs were between hers. He grabbed her hips and pulled her onto his lap. The chair groaned under their weight and they both laughed. She looked into his eyes in the low light and placed her hands on his shoulders. When she readjusted her hips against him, a low growl rumbled from deep in his chest. He looked up at her from half-lidded eyes and she leaned in to kiss him again. He kept up the rhythm from before, rotating her hips against his. She sighed against his lips again and leaned in to deepen the kiss.
This was not how she normally handled anything, but she couldn't deny how good it felt to know she was wanted in that moment. It was just…whatever this was, right? Nothing more, nothing less.
She drew back from the kiss and he was panting against her neck.
"Hey." Sasha swallowed and August laughed. Their faces were so close and her head was spinning. Her lips felt puffy and there was a heat building up deep in her belly. They stilled their hips and she pushed her hands underneath the fabric of his vest.
"Is this okay?" She looked down at him cautiously, feeling his hear fluttering against her thumbs.
"Yeah…" He mumbled and shrugged his vest off onto the floor, careful to not disturb his bandages. She could feel her own heart mimicking his excited rhythm. She moved his hands from her hips and to the zipper on her jacket,
"This is okay too, August." He shivered when he heard her sigh his name. She felt like it took him forever too remove her jacket, and the zipper echoed loudly in the empty room. He laughed nervously when she was only sitting before him in her white tank top. Sasha removed her goggles from around her neck and took her headband with them. Their lips met again, and this time Sasha was rougher against August's mouth.
One of his arms came to loop around her waist and he gripped the other against her thigh. He stood up with her in his arms and she hooked her legs around his hips. August stilled his mouth against hers and pulled away. She felt absolutely drunk in his presence. His eyes were smoldering as they looked into hers,
"We can move this somewhere else, Sasha." She loved the way he said her name just then, and the way his bright blue eyes hungrily roved over her. She tightened her legs around his middle and breathed out her answer,
"I'd like that." The surprised look on his face faded to a smile as he began walking them towards the privacy curtain.