"Mr. Tuesti's sent an exploratory party of a couple of drones down today," Nero said, his smile clearly visible despite the respirator. "He wants me to move the elevator tomorrow."
Now that he knew where it was, it wasn't unusual for Nero to appear in Max's living room now and again. He'd only surprised her roommate once, but he'd taken it in stride. Max's little apartment was a safer haven than Veld and Vincent's house had been, requiring fewer rules to be followed. Max was glad to see him when he appeared after a text to ask if he might visit.
"That's so awesome!" She smiled, and squeezed him in a brief hug. Nero tensed under her arms, and she mentally kicked herself for forgetting he wasn't the touchy-feely type.
He might have flinched, but his smile had not faltered. "I'm super excited," he went on. "You're going to love them. Weiss talks big, but he's actually really nice, and I know you and Rosso are going to get along great!"
"I'm looking forward to meeting them," Max smiled.
"This'll be so much easier," he continued. "Azul and Argento know how this Surface thing works and they speak Deepground, so less will get lost in translation."
Max was struggling not to giggle. "Well, I think you've done pretty well on your own so far."
Beneath his mask, Nero colored slightly. "Aw, I dunno…"
"No really," Max insisted. "You've made a lot of progress, most of it on your own."
"Veld and Vincent helped," Nero shrugged modestly. "So did you."
"Yeah how's that going?" Max asked. "Last I saw things looked a little rocky."
"Well, Veld and I are okay, but Vincent's still acting weird."
"Eh," Max shrugged, "that's Vince's default setting. He proudly broods to the beat of his own drum."
That made Nero laugh. It wasn't something he did often. The noise shot through his respirator short and sharp, ending in a feedback squeal that made them both wince.
"Sorry," he apologized.
"Forget it," Max waved the apology away. "Sit down, make yourself at home. You want some coffee or cocoa or something?"
"Sure," he agreed, a slight smile evident behind his mask. There was uncertainty lingering in his golden eyes, however. He perched on the edge of the couch, fidgeting slightly. "When you grabbed me earlier… Does that mean you want more than coffee? Or is 'coffee' code for something? I'm not sure how that works up here."
"Code?" Max frowned, and then burst out laughing. "Oh! Oh Gaia. No. I'm sorry! I shouldn't have jumped all over you, huh?"
He still looked perplexed, maybe a little hurt. She touched his hand, light as a whisper.
"Nero, I didn't mean to be...well, flip about it. I really like you a lot. Hey, look."
She pulled a chain out from under her sweater. Dangling on it was the ring he'd dug out of the wall in the mako cave, no longer broken.
"I had a jeweler fix it for me so I could keep it on here," she said. "I know it's not any kind of promise or anything, just a gift. But you were generous and sweet, and I really appreciate that, and…"
She glanced at the door. No sign of Dalton.
"To be honest….I have no objections to getting, well, cozy. Friendlier. You're a great guy. So, well. We can just hang out and...see what happens from there?"
Nero nodded, still turning this information over in his head. "Okay. Sorry, I wasn't trying to be creepy. I must seem really stupid…" A pause. "Why would old jewelry be a promise?"
"Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know." Max sat on the sofa next to him. "Well, up here, when people get engaged...erm, when they make a promise to be committed to just one person, sometimes the man buys the woman a special ring to mark their promise. Then when they get married, they both wear rings to signify that they're married so other people won't hit on them."
She rolled her eyes. "It doesn't always work out, and some people don't respect what the rings mean, but you get the idea. Not every ring is a promise, though. It can just be a gift between friends.
"Wow. Yeah. Okay. I just thought it was pretty and that you would like it," Nero said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. About sixty per cent of that had made sense. It sounded interesting, as did the idea of being bonded to just one person. At least, that was what he assumed 'married' meant. No one had been married in Deepground that he'd been aware of.
"None of that is- was- really a thing in Deepground. All we had were JOEs, JANEs, and Mothers, but you don't want to hear about that."
"Now that's where you're wrong, actually. I want to hear about everything. But not all at once. I'm not trying to be creepy, either."
She tucked the ring and its chain back under her top. "This reminds me, we got those emerald earrings from the cave, too, and I offered to pierce your ears. We can still do that if you want."
"Rosso always wanted earrings," he remarked, "but they weren't practical for fighting. I wouldn't mind."
"I know, you men always have to be macho and all that, pretend nothing hurts. Anyway, you can take your earrings out before battle, right? Assuming they ever let you back in the simulator. Or if you do join the Turks and you go on a mission somewhere."
"I guess."
Max frowned. "Look, if you don't want them, that's cool too. Don't let me twist your arm, okay?"
Nero shifted and looked away, clearly uncomfortable.
"What?" she asked gently.
"I'm...really bad at decisions like this," Nero confessed. "Military strategy is one thing, but the weirdest stuff could land you in hot water. You always had to have the right answer and...I don't know what the right answer is for this."
"Oh my gods Nero, I'm sorry!" Max leaned over to hug him, checked herself, and held back again. "The right answer is whatever you want. Forget about it. It's not important."
"Sorry," Nero apologized, "I know it's stupid…"
"No!" Max insisted. "No, it's...it's okay, really. Just tell me when I get too pushy. You are totally allowed." Rather than hug him, she scooted a bit closer and leaned against him a little. Surprisingly, Nero blushed.
"So...you know that's more or less what passes for a hug in Deepground?"
Max blinked. "What? This?" She allowed more of her weight to rest against his arm.
"Yeah." Nero leaned back a little. "I guess it's not too forward up here but…"
Awkwardly, he wound one arm around her shoulders and lightly squeezed. Something deep inside her squealed with delight.
"Not at all," she assured him. "I meant what I said earlier. About getting cozy. Unless you don't want to! The only right answer here is what you want. What your heart and your gut and...other things are telling you."
That made him snicker a bit, his cheekbones staining a darker shade of gray.
"I couldn't," he said quietly. "It's not that I don't want to, it's just… It'd be a bad idea."
"Why?" Max pressed gently.
"Well, for one thing, I've got Jenova in my system," Nero began. "And I know from personal experience that Jenova and women don't mix. More than half of the Mothers..." He trailed off awkwardly. "You don't want to hear about that. It's just a bad idea. That's all."
"I know about Jenova. Heard about that since I was a kid." Max stayed where she was, against his arm; if this was all he'd had in Deepground, at least he'd had some affection. That was a start.
"I'm not ready to have kids anyway," she said. "So if we feel like messing around, well, we'll need protection. Not sure the standard issue stuff is going to be enough, though."
"Yeah, no," Nero agreed, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "The jokes are true. I don't want to accidentally poison you or worse. Also, I'm worried I might…Well… I'm worried I might shadow you somewhere weird. It kinda happened once already..." The last sentence was mumbled, rendered as barely discernible static by his respirator.
"Really? When was this?"
"Forever ago," he said, too embarrassed to meet her eyes. "It was my first time to report, and I was nervous, and I may have accidentally warped a Mother into a broom closet. She was okay," he hastened to add, "but the Restrictors kicked me off the Breeding Program after that."
Max couldn't quite suppress a snicker at the thought of a naked woman being transported into a broom closet. "Okay, that sounds a little...unfair? I mean, you didn't do it on purpose. How old were you?"
"Well, Mothers are valuable," Nero explained. "Deepground's kinda low on females because of the Jenova thing." He paused as he thought about the second half of her remark. "Thirteen. I remember because they made me wait an extra year. Weiss started at twelve and I remember thinking it wasn't fair."
Okay, there were just a whole lot of things wrong with that-but none of it was Nero's fault. He certainly wouldn't have been the first thirteen-year-old to have sex.
"That's...awfully young," she said, trying to be diplomatic. "And Weiss was twelve? Wow. But I guess with all the mako and Jenova and everything, you guys all grew up pretty fast, huh?"
"Yeah, puberty kinda hit us like a truck somewhere around nine or ten," Nero shrugged. "I looked like I was about fifteen when I was twelve." He briefly looked up, golden eyes flicking to meet hers before he had to look away again.
"It's just...a thing you do in Deepground," he tried to explain. "There's none of the emotional stuff like up here. A lot of times- doesn't matter if you're a Mother, or a JANE, or a JOE- you don't get a lot of say in what happens to your body, so you don't treat it like a huge deal."
"Okay, well." Where to begin? Max thought about it for a few moments. "Here, you absolutely get a say in it. Not that everyone respects that principle all the time, but it's the ideal. You have the right to say 'no', anytime, to anyone. People do it for all kinds of reasons - love, lust, even sometimes when they hate each other, if you can believe that. But it should always be your choice.
"Oh, and most places have a legal age for consent. You can get in major trouble if you sleep with someone who's legally underage, even if they wanted to. You're the adult, so it's on you to make certain your partner's of age. And respect a 'no' if you get one."
Nero nodded. "Yeah, Azul told us 'you ask once, and if they say no, you take your business elsewhere'. After the...broom closet incident, I never bothered to ask."
A pause. "...I don't actually know how old I am."
"Oh. I never thought of that!" He'd just told her he looked older than he was. She peered more closely at him. "I'm twenty. Age of consent in Midgar is sixteen. Do you think you're at least that old?"
"Oh yeah," he agreed. "Three years after that mess, Weiss accidentally broke my arm again, and that was ages ago. So yeah, I'm probably at least as old as you are, or close to it."
Well, that was a relief. At least she wasn't going to be accused of corrupting a minor. Max grinned. "Good. So if I kiss you...oh, wait. I can't." Damn respirator.
Nero blinked. "Kiss? Me? Seriously?" He seemed caught somewhere between intrigue and alarm. He glanced around the room as if afraid her roommate might show up at any moment. No, it wasn't Dalton he was worried about. The shadow tableaux of the Restrictors, and the fatal punishment of the lovers they'd caught came vividly to mind.
"We shouldn't," he began, voice halting. "Not here- and yeah, this thing makes it hard." He tapped the side of his mask. He said the next words slowly, as if unsure he was processing all this correctly. "We could...go to the cave? If you want? We don't have to."
Was that a come-on? Max studied what she could see of his face. He really was sweet, a bit shy, and not at all demanding or pushy. Probably the nicest guy she knew, and in the short time she'd known him, she'd gotten very fond of him. She made a decision.
"Sure, I'll come with you. Hang on a second."
She hadn't been kidding about standard protection, and she knew he wasn't either. However, Dalton's last crush had been a SOLDIER, and there was a box of SOLDIER First Class-grade condoms still around somewhere. She checked the bathroom cabinet. Yes!
Stuffing a few into her pocket, she returned to the living room and winked at Nero.
"I'm ready!"
"Okay." Taking her hand in his, he pulled her into shadow. Rather than lead her down a tunnel of pure darkness, the shadows swirled around them and then vanished just as quickly. The familiar dim purple light of the mako pool rippled in friendly waves over the surface of the cavern walls.
There was an awkward pause as he stood there, holding tightly onto her hand. It took him a moment to meet her eyes.
"Are you sure?" he repeated, searching her face. Even though they were miles below the surface of the earth, hidden from even the most determined of snoops, fear lingered in his expression, in his stance.
"I'm positive," said Max. She touched his face lightly, her fingertips skimming the edge of his respirator. "You're beautiful, inside as well as out. You have a good heart. So. If you're as sure as I am, let's get in the pool, okay?"
Behind his mask, his cheeks flushed dark gray. "Okay."
Nero didn't wait, his suit disappearing in a wave of shadow, and diving right in. Max hurried out of her own clothes, reflexively crossing her arms over herself as she crossed the few feet of smooth stone floor to the edge of the pool. The dark mako lapped cool, but not cold against her skin. Nero floated just below the surface, looking up at her like a water demon out of a fairy tale. No demon had ever had such an innocent, open expression. Without his mask, it was easy to see the eerie resemblance to Vincent. Nero's features were softer, somehow, than those of the senior Turk.
Max fought the urge to hold her breath as she ducked under the surface. The first breath was always awkward, instinct and reason struggling briefly before her body realized that it was not actually going to suffocate. Nero drifted a few feet away, the soft glow of the mako making his pale skin white and luminous. Not metaphorically white, but actually white. The white of marble, or the moon. He might not think much of his own appearance, but he had an unearthly beauty unlike anything or anyone else.
Uncrossing her arms, she swam over to him. His eyes swept over her once, not lingering on anything in particular. It was a little odd to not have a guy stare at her tits, especially when they were right there in front of him. Nero genuinely didn't seem to care, and smiled, eyes on her face. Max let her eyes wander a bit more, taking in the damage to his hands and the blistered skin that ran halfway up his forearms. A dark gray flush crept up his neck and into his cheeks as she put her arms around him, more color staining his chest and shoulders. He seemed to be at a loss as to what to do next, which made sense. Leaning in, Max touched her lips to his, letting her hands travel down his torso.
Nero might be new at this, but he was a quick study. At first he only copied her, mimicking the kisses and caresses she gave to him. After a moment, it was Nero doing the exploring, trying to find her weak spots, to see what made her sigh and shiver under his touch.
"Is this okay?" he breathed, his words warm against the side of her neck.
"Yes," she gasped, light-headed. Not to be outdone, she reached and grinned at his sharp intake of breath.
"Max…"
She had to help him with the protection she'd pillaged from Dalton's stash. Nero was a bit perplexed at first, had blushed furiously, and both had dissolved into giggles. Max had expected the moment of awkwardness to kill the mood. Instead, it had quite the opposite effect.
The weird part was, prior to this, he had never shown any interest in her body at all, not the way she was accustomed to, anyway. Nero didn't care if she was naked or covered head to toe. So far as she knew, he liked her, but had only the most nebulous concept of romantic love. Max was big enough to admit her own motivations, but still wondered about his. It wasn't that she thought he would cheat on her, or even tell tales in the locker room. She knew beyond doubt he would never do either.
What is this to you? she wondered, even as he pulled her close against him and she wrapped her legs around his waist. I know it's more than just a good time…
Reassured that he wasn't going to poison her, some of Nero's hesitation left him. He tried to be gentle, tried to start slow, but there was an urgency in his movements, as if he were afraid he'd run out of time. There were no Restrictors here. No one was likely to barge in on them with the possible exception of Vincent.
"Easy big guy," she soothed, cradling his jaw in one hand. "Don't rush…" Stretching, she kissed the corner of his mouth and felt the muscles of his face soften. He'd been clenching his teeth. Max stroked a hand over his hair, disturbing a small cloud of shadow as she did so.
The scraps of darkness felt like strips of velvet against her skin, warmer than the mako and sinfully soft. Nero manipulated the shadows like extra hands, using them to hold her close, as well as to screen them from view, though there was no one to see them. He might have warped his first hapless partner into a broom closet, but Max had no fear of the same thing happening to her. The shadows shifted and Max gasped. Closing her eyes, she held on. Her questions could wait.
Whether it was Nero's shadows, or she'd closed her eyes, Max wasn't entirely sure. The blackness cleared, the silence softened only by their breathing. The shadows were gone, only Nero's two arms holding her tightly against him. It took her a moment to realize those arms were trembling.
"...Nero?"
His face hidden in her neck, she did not immediately make out what he was saying.
"Don't disappear," he whispered, voice has shaky as his arms. "Don't disappear on me…"
"You didn't disappear me," she assured him, stretching for a kiss. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."
"No… I mean…" he lifted his head to look at her, golden eyes large and frightened in the low light. He swallowed hard, searched for words, his attention drawn inward. And then it clicked. He'd lost so many people; his brother and sister, his foster parents, hell his entire world was now at the bottom of a crater beneath fifteen feet of dark mako
"Nero," Max told him, cupping his cheek with one hand and lifting his face to look at her. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here for as long as you need me. Even if this doesn't work out long-term, we'll still be friends. I want to keep you in my life. I'm not. going. anywhere."
She caught her breath as Nero's arms tightened around her.
"Good."