A/N: Are you ready to get smooshy? 'Cause it's getting smooshy up in here! Only a little. I had to throw the poor guy a bone, he was certainly pitching enough of them.

Thanks for the lovely comments! They make my day. :)

Roland and Brick could tell there was a change in the air between the other two vault hunters. Mordecai was more aggressively solicitous, and Lilith was suddenly almost shy around him, a sight neither of the burly men thought they'd ever see.

"Do you think they finally fucked?" Roland wondered to Brick as they climbed into a runner later that day, off to see what Tannis required of them.

"Nah, not yet," the berserker replied thoughtfully, looking back at the pair. As usual they were arguing over who was the better gunner and who should drive, but there was a subtle change to their body language.

"But they will." Brick turned back to the soldier. "I dunno what you said to him yesterday, but it looks like it worked."

.

"How many did you get?" Lilith asked, walking in step with Mordecai out of the depths of Earl's scrapyard. The cantankerous old man had paid them to clean his yard of bandits once again.

"Dunno. Twenty? Thirty? I wasn't payin' attention. You?"

"At least forty," she grinned. "They were pretty flammable."

"Forty? Man, I gotta change guns."

"Why, worried you can't keep up with me?" she teased.

"I know I can. I can keep up just fine."

Lilith fell silent, blushing again. Mordecai smirked.

"You have a dirty mind, Lil."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she protested.

"Uh huh."

"Shut up."

Neither of them said anything as they approached Earl's shack. Mordecai's ECHO crackled to life and Marcus came on the line.

"Hey, Vault Hunter. Your order came in."

"Already?" Mordecai held a hand up to his ear to indicate he was receiving a transmission and Lilith nodded, heading over to the old man to claim their bounty.

"A shipment was already coming in, so they added it. Good service when you shop from me." The weapons dealer bragged.

"Yeah." Mordecai rolled his eyes. "Did they follow my special instructions?"

"What, you talking in code? Yeah, they wrapped it up. Real nice. Looks expensive. Of course, it is expensive," he laughed, probably thinking of his percentage.

"Yeah. I'll be there later." He broke the connection.

"Who was that?" Lilith asked, holding out his portion of the money.

"Nobody important. You mind goin' back alone? I've got some business in New Haven."

"Sure, go for it. Is it just me, or are you being mysterious?"

"I'm always mysterious. It's part'a my charm."

"You keep telling yourself that, Scruffy. It might even come true someday, if you wish hard enough."

"Whadda you think, Blood? Am I a handsome, mysterious man?"

Bloodwing chittered, which came as no surprise to Mordecai as he had trained the bird to respond to this and a few other similar statements many years ago.

"Handsome, too? The ego on you, Mordy. I'm surprised that poor bird can stand you."

"He's got taste, is all." He reached up and stroked the bird's feathers.

"Yeah, he's got taste all right. I'm pretty sure I saw him eating rotting eyeballs the other day."

"Got a lot of nutrients, eyeballs. All kinds of balls, really."

Lilith made a noise of amused disgust. Mordecai laughed and activated the fast travel station.

"See ya later, Lil," he said, and disappeared in a flash of purple light.

.

He strolled into Marcus' store, greeting the arms dealer civilly enough. The man got on his nerves, but it was best not to antagonize him lest he raise prices even higher.

"Well well, if it isn't the big spender."

Mordecai closed his eyes for a moment before responding. "So have you got it?"

"You're one of my best customers, vault hunter. Would I lie?"

"Probably, if there was profit in it," Mordecai thought.

"So…?" he said out loud.

"Patience isn't a virtue of yours, eh? Here you go, my friend. Hope you like it, but remember,"

"Yeah, yeah. No refunds. I know the drill."

Marcus reached under the counter and slid a small package across to the hunter. It was wrapped in matte black paper with the Maliwan company's logo printed in mirror-like silver across the lower half of the top. A silver ribbon with a line of black running through the center tied across the center to form an elegantly understated bow. Mordecai reached for it.

"Ah, ah, ah," Marcus singsonged and put a large hand on the box. "First, the rest of the cash."

"Fine." He reached into his pack and extracted several thousand dollars to hand to the eager merchant.

"Wonderful, wonderful." He said, counting the stack of bills and releasing the box. "Happy to do business with you any time."

Mordecai took the box and carefully stowed it away. He nodded at Marcus and strode out of the shop, heading for Scooter's. A frisson of nervous excitement ran through him. For better or worse, it was going to happen tonight. He was going to tell her.

.

He drove up to the camp to find Lilith alone, sitting on a rock and reading a book. Perfect. He parked and she looked up at him, nodding acknowledgement before sticking her nose back in the book. Bloodwing chattered for permission to hunt, and his master dismissed him with a scritch and a signal.

"Hey, Lil." He said, sitting next to the rock and against the side of her leg.

"Hey," she responded distantly, still reading.

"What'cha readin'?"

"A book, genius."

"You don't say." He looked up at her.

"Aren't you going to go to the circle and try to get yourself killed or something?" she looked down at him.

"Nah. Not today. I'd rather be with you."

"With me?" Lilith said incredulously, putting her thumb in the book to mark her place. "What did I do to deserve that?"

"I just don't want you to finish your book too fast."

"Ah, so you're doing me a favor, is that it? Very altruistic."

"You know me, chica. Always thinkin' of other people."

She laughed, nudging him in the shoulder with her leg. He hissed in sudden pain.

"Shit, oh shit. I forgot about your stitches," Lilith slid off the rock to kneel next to him, book forgotten as she put her hand on his good shoulder and took his hand without thinking.

"Maybe I should play with axes more often," he teased, lips quirking upward.

Blushing for what had to be the thousandth time that day, Lilith started to pull away. Mordecai held her hand firmly and reached up to take the other. Her hands were so soft and small inside of his. Even the leather of her partial gloves was soft.

"You're blushin' an awful lot lately, chica," he drawled with The Voice. "Somethin' on your mind?"

"Yeah. I thought you were colorblind." She retorted weakly.

"Only red and green, didja think the goggles were for style? More importantly…didja think I didn't notice?"

"What, my sunburn?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, your sunburn that comes and goes. In fact, I wonder if I could give you a little sunburn doing this," he released one of her hands so that he could touch her cheek, softly stroking it with his fingertips.

"Mordecai," she whispered.

"Mmhmm?"

"Can I see your face? Your eyes?"

"You've seen me plenty of times, what's so important now?" he slowly slid his fingers down her neck. She stopped his hand with hers.

"I want to know if you're making fun of me. I can't tell with that thing on."

"I would never do that to you. Ever." His voice changed from seductive to shocked.

"Please, then?"

He squeezed the hand that he was still holding and released it so he could fiddle with the back of his hooded mask and goggles. Fifteen seconds later he was peeling it off and blinking in the strong light. He placed it on the rock behind them on top of Lilith's book.

"Can I hold your hands again?"

She reached out, looking into his eyes as he took her hands in his once again.

"Why would you think I'd make fun of you, Lil?"

"It's happened before, okay? I don't want to talk about it."

"You started it," he pointed out. Concern was written all over his face.

"I shouldn't have."

"You, uh, you have had boyfriends, right? You've talked about 'em."

She laughed. "Are you asking me if I'm a virgin? No such luck, Scruffy."

He looked at her pointedly.

"Fine. I'm awkward, I know. They were all dicks, if you must know. Some of them just wanted sex, and I did too so I didn't care. A couple of them," she paused and looked away. Mordecai squeezed her hands and waited for her to speak, rubbing a thumb across her palm.

"A couple of them I really cared about. I found out I was just a trophy to one, and the other," she looked back at him and gave a small, sad smile. "The other was my first, and I'd had a crush on him since grade school. He lost a bet and had to fuck the freak girl. So maybe I have trust issues. And maybe I care about you."

"C'mere, Lil."

Mordecai released her hands and held out his arm for her to lay against. She looked at him for a second or two before making up her mind and sitting against him. He held her gently and she snuggled in closer. He took her hand again.

"D'you know how long I've loved you?" he said quietly, brushing against her hair with his lips.

"Love me?" she repeated.

"Yeah, love you. Seems like everyone knows but you, chica."

She twisted slightly to look up at him. He let everything he felt for her show on his face. Now was not the time to have any guards up, and all he wanted to do was take her pain away.

"I hoped. Sometimes I thought maybe. You're such a sarcastic bastard though, I couldn't tell. You're my best friend. I didn't want to make a move because-"

He interrupted. "Because you didn't want to ruin things. Me too. I realized last night that I had to take a chance."

"Also, Roland yelled at you."

"Shit, did the whole damn town hear?"

"No," she laughed, "Brick told me that Roland had a bone to pick with you, but not what. I tried to get him to wait until you were at least done bleeding, but you know him."

Mordecai grumbled something about assholes not minding their own business and Lilith laughed again, raising their hands to kiss his. He fought against the urge to pull her onto his lap.

"I'm glad he did. I didn't know how to tell you that I love you, too."

This time, the sniper did pull the siren onto his lap, ignoring the pain from his stitches. She put her arms around his neck and their lips met for the first time. A rush of pleasure swept over him as he felt the softness of her beautiful lips, and tasted her. Their tongues got acquainted with each other and she buried her hand into his dreadlocked hair.

His hand slipped down to her hips, caressing her exposed midriff. She gasped at the contact, goosebumps breaking out over her skin despite the heat of the day. He smiled even as they kissed, and she broke off to mock glare at him.

"Cocky bastard. Next thing I know you'll be feeling me up, is that it?"

He laughed his deep, throaty laugh and noticed for the first time that the sound made her breath catch. Good to know.

"Are you askin' me to stop?" he smiled, eyes dancing.

"I really wish you wouldn't," she said, and straddled him.

He made a noise somewhere between a moan and a needy mewl. "Don't, Lil. Please."

"What? Did I hurt you?" she scrambled off.

His eyes were squeezed shut.

"Mordecai?"

"I can't believe I'm sayin' this," he sighed, "You have any idea how shitty it is to live with blue balls all the time?"

"I promise that won't be a problem," Lilith nearly purred into his ear.

"Damn it. Don't, okay?"

"Why the fuck not?" she pulled away and demanded.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. "At the risk of soundin' really fuckin' sentimental, I want it to be better than this."

"Better than what? This is fine. Seriously. Sand is awesome. I love sand. And look, a rock! Rocks are sexy, Mordy, come on."

He snorted. "Nice to know you're into it, chica. I'm serious, though. I wanna give you everything you deserve, not a quick fuck with sand up our assholes. And these fuckin' stitches are gonna hamper my technique."

"Yeah…don't care. Very sweet and all, but how often do we get time alone when we aren't working?"

"We'll make time. It'll be worth it."

"This is an ego thing, isn't it, Scruffy?"

"No," he feigned hurt, "definitely, maybe, at least forty percent not an ego thing."

"Good to know you care."

"I do." He touched her cheek.

"Fine." She sat next to him, legs crossed. "So now what, do I go back to reading and try to pretend this didn't happen?"

"Actually, I have somethin' for you. Ordered it yesterday and it's already in."

"You got me a present? What for?"

"I wanted to, and you need it."

"Is it a microwave?"

"Do you still have that popcorn?" he was amused.

"There's got to be a way to cook that shit on this planet. I refuse to give up."

"Maybe that's what's in the vault. Loot, riches, and a cafeteria."

"That's what I dream of every night."

"Not me?"

"Got to work on that ego problem, Mordy. It's threatening to get bigger than you."

"Don't knock it 'til you've tried it."

"Need I remind you that I'd be trying it right now if you'd let me have my way?"

"Nope."

He reached into his pack and pulled out the wrapped box. Lilith took it, a puzzled look on her face.

"What's this? From Maliwan? Wait, Maliwan gift wraps?"

"For a modest fee. Or so Marcus claims. He prob'ly just pocketed it."

"I'm scared to open it."

"It won't bite. You know how you were sayin' you didn't have any corrosive worth a shit?"

Her eyes widened. "You didn't."

"Find out."

She carefully removed the ribbon and paper, hands shaking. Under the paper was a box, white with the Maliwan label emblazoned in black. A small white card fell out of the wrappings. She took it in her hand and read aloud.

"'Congratulations Customer, on your new ownership of Maliwan's top of the line RX300 series Pestilent Defiler-'" she nearly dropped the card and box. "Mordecai, holy fuck! I mean, holy fuck! What the..holy fuck!"

"Read the rest," he laughed at her. "I take it you approve?"

"Holy fuck," she repeated helplessly, and continued to read. "Our company applauds your commitment to murder with elegance, and looks forward to serving you in the future.' Uh, at the bottom it says, 'Note from Purchasing Customer: I always want to protect you, but I know you can take care of yourself. Think of me when you're melting faces off. All my love, Mordecai"

She began to cry, clutching the box and burying her face on the uninjured side of his chest. He kissed the top of her head, grinning.

"Shh, Lil, shh. You haven't even opened the box yet, come on. I'm dyin' to see it."

"Th- thank you." She sniffed. "I don't know what to say. Holy fuck. Thank you."

"You're welcome. C'mon, open it!"

She carefully lifted the lid of the box. The inside was lined in black velvet and the revolver sat nestled inside a perfectly shaped indentation. Blue metal gleamed in the bright sun and the green accents indicative of the weapon's corrosive nature glowed with their own light. Inscribed on the barrel in elegant script were the words "Give sick". She stroked it, awestruck.

"Is that a 3.7 scope?" she finally managed.

"4.2," he replied.

"Holy fuck." They said together.

"Ass." Lilith laughed.

Roland's voice crackled over their ECHOs. "Just got done talking to Tannis. Hold onto your shorts kids, we're going up against the Lance tomorrow. Oh, and me and Brick are picking up a couple buckets of fried rakk, so don't eat."

"Guess you'll get to use that thing tomorrow, huh?"

"Hell yeah! I can't wait." She smiled wickedly, imagining the carnage.

"You are so beautiful when you're bloodthirsty," Mordecai said, reaching for her.

"You're not so bad yourself, Scruffy." She kissed him.

.

The new couple were still in each other's arms when Brick and Roland's runner came streaking into view. They separated and stood with a final kiss and tried to look innocent as their friends drew closer.

"Did I just see what I thought I saw?" Brick bellowed.

"I saw it too!" Roland yelled back.

"About god damn time!" Brick shouted as Roland parked with a flashy skid.

Mordecai took Lilith's hand and she looked up at him with a smile.

"Got that right," he murmured so that only Lilith could hear.

.

I worked in my favorite gun, and I am very pleased with myself. :) I may or may not have it tattooed on my actual body (with Lilith holding it, natch). That is how much I love this gun. Love it.