July 17, 1998
517 W 135th St,
Harlem, New York City
9:42 AM
Heru
{Twenty two days}
[You will have to leave him.]
How about we live in the moment? Can you do that?
No
{No}
'Sure'
Heru lay on the floor, the blanket underneath him as he propped his head in his hand, watching Wade sleep. They hadn't left the apartment since taking care of Bradley and instead had spent the past 38 hours watching movies, playing varoius sex games and video games and just generally enjoying each other's company. After everything that had happened with Infano, he'd been desperate to feel anything beyond the cold grief and hate and he'd buried himself in Wade, literally and figuratively, savoring his warmth. They had both welcomed the distraction eagerly and it had been most effective. The apartment was a mess, the coffee table a pile of splinters after Wade had thrown Heru on to it. There were several more holes in the walls, Wade hadn't held anything back and things had gotten a bit more aggressive than either of them had intended. He smiled at the memories and chewed his lip ring as he watched his chest rise and fall.
"Not the unicorn!" Wade shouted, sitting up abruptly and startling himself awake.
"Bad dream?" Heru asked, half amused and reached out with his free hand to rub his back. It took him a minute to wake up, Yellow and White flashing around him and Heru crawled over to bury his head in his lap. He rolled onto his back and looked up at him, smiling when Wade's gaze focused on him and he smiled.
"Morning sweetcheeks," he gave him a crooked smile before his eyes widened and he hastily got to his feet, "gotta empty the hose!" he shouted as he disappeared into the bathroom and Heru's head thumped to the floor. He headed into the kitchen and stared into the fridge, having no idea what to make him for breakfast with the limited groceries. He had never learned to cook properly and had no desire to learn. Maybe in another couple hundred years he would blow a century in Italy. He shut the door and leaned against the table as he stared at the Wall of DoucheTM. Wade came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, breath minty fresh as he kissed him good morning.
"What did you want to do today?" he asked him, watching as he began pulling various leftovers out of the fridge to eat.
"Well as much as I would love a repeat of yesterday, I think I should be looking into this whole Zion shindig. I haven't had a chance to go through Bradley's calendar yet but I just need to sort out when and where the shipment is coming in," Wade said, opening a carton of noodles and searching the sink for the fork. He rinsed it off before digging in.
Should we tell him anything?
'Like what?'
{Same rules apply, even if it's not fixed.}
[They must make their own decisions without your influence.]
"Do you want help?" he asked, focusing on the wall and all the information hidden in the memos and emails and other numerous files and not on the voices in his head.
"You able to help?" he questioned, leaning against the table beside him and also looking at the wall.
Yes.
'No'
But technically...
"In a limited capacity. Where are the pictures of the calendar?" he asked, looking around and expecting to see them printed off somewhere.
"On my phone, I got a bit distracted before I could look into it," he nodded towards the broken coffee table and the small black object among the splinters. Heru went and picked it up, opening up the gallery as he walked back and started flipping through them.
"Well Starsky, I can at least confirm things for you. I can't give you the information straight up but I can definitely help you find it," he said, ignoring the voices as they shouted in complaint. He found the date he wanted and handed the phone over. The calendar date was marked only with a series of numbers that without the full knowledge of Bradley's personal code, would have been overlooked, "August eighth is when they arrive in the country. If you can find anything about a shipment coming in that day, you'll find the location and time. The last four digits of the shipment invoice will match the first four numbers there." It was the most that he could tell him. The fact that Wade had accepted the role he'd had to play in Infano hadn't changed the fact that he still wasn't supposed to get involved, nor did it mean he could suddenly just tell him everything. He had the next few weeks off, the only remaining souls to reap in the time period would be when Wade intercepted the shipment of mutants. He would help where he could, so many parts of the events were still in flux and far more flexible than Infano which would provide him with the opportunity to… lend a guiding hand.
[You're splitting hairs]
Pot. Kettle.
"Thanks," he took the phone and looked at the numbers, his brow creasing. He set the carton down and walked over to the wall, looking for something.
"You recognize it?" Heru asked curiously and Wade nodded.
"Vaguely," he sighed and turned around, "I was pretty sure I've seen an invoice with this number but fuck if I know, I've looked at so many damn papers in the last month I can't keep any of it straight," he picked up his carton of noodles and began shovelling them into his mouth again, glowering at the wall.
"I'm sorry I can't be more helpful, it's actually really frustrating," he said apologetically.
"I know snookums," he waved a hand dismissively, "I get it, I was right about you from the start. You really are a Peeping Tom, you watch it all but you don't touch any of it," he summarized elegantly and Heru snorted.
"Finally, someone who sees the true voyeuristic nature of Death, I knew you got me," he drawled and Wade laughed.
"I always knew Death was a kinky bitch," he said with a wink and turned back to the wall, Heru grinned.
[You annoy me]
"Here, let me help you look. I at least know what I'm looking for," he offered, grabbing a stack of memos all dealing with Ponoa Dry Cleaning.
They spent the day going through every invoice they had. Heru grew increasingly frustrated, the voices a constant reminder that he needed to refrain from just telling Wade everything which became more difficult the longer it took. Future was especially unhelpful while also providing an unending commentary of the futility of maintaining a relationship. He ignored them but found it absolutely infuriating to be going through the charade of looking for information he already knew.
"Here!" Wade shouted triumphantly, holding up a sheet of paper and Heru looked up from the pile he had been going through on the floor behind the couch.
"Really?" he sighed with relief, "thank fuck."
"It's a shipment coming in from Moscow for Orion Operations and Co.," he read, "There isn't much information here but at least we know which pier it's coming in to," he handed him the slip of paper. Heru read over it, nodding before handing it back.
'Final-fucking-ly'
"So now what?" he asked, watching him as he started digging through more papers, "what's your next move?"
"I wanna know how many people are being shipped and what kind of security were looking at," he said, "I'm guessing that there's going to be an insane amount of protection going on, especially since they know someone's hacked them, but trying to traffic this many people isn't easy and they're not just going to change their dates, so I'm not worried about them moving it," he started pulling out everything to do with Orion.
"True," he leaned against the couch and grabbed the mermaid and started packing a bowl.
"I'll also want to go get the lay of the land, do a whole scouting-" he paused and looked up at Heru, "shit, when did I get so... dare I say, almost like someone who thinks things through?" he asked, a slightly horrified look on his face. Heru scoffed as he drew in a deep lungful of smoke.
"Gods beware, Deadpool is maturing," he remarked and Wade grinned.
"Never," he threw the papers over his head and dove across the floor to climb into his lap and loom over him, "how about we say fuck this for today and you live up to your end of the agreement?" he suggested and Heru stared blankly up at him.
"My end of the agreement?" he echoed, confused.
"If you want me to stay here," he answered, leaning in to nip at his neck, "you promised me there would be bed shopping."
"Riiiight," he squirmed under him, the bong still held in one hand as he turned his head to give him more access, "do you wanna do that now…. 'Cus you're giving me some other ideas…"
"Now!" he shouted determinedly, pushing away and jumping to his feet, he hand held out, "let's take those ideas and test out some beds!"
July 17, 1998
517 W 135th St,
Harlem, New York City
4:42 PM
Wade
"Ooooh how about this one?" Heru called as he walked over to a large canopy bed. They'd made it to Ikea and had been walking around for half an hour looking for a bed frame. The black wood posts of the canopy were a striking contrast to the white sheer curtains that hung all around the bed and Wade raised a brow.
"I didn't realize you were such a princess," he smirked and folded his arms across his chest. It wasn't that he hated it, it just wasn't the kind of bed he would get for himself. He had just planned on getting a basic frame and cared far more about the comfort level of the mattress than the aesthetics of the frame but Heru had argued that if he was going to bother with getting one, it had to be nice.
"That's an excellent choice!" a salesman said as he noticed them, Heru stood with one arm wrapped around a pillar watching Wade while the man approached, "this beauty is the Royal Kahala Canopy bed. It's very minimalistic while still bringing that regal imperial energy to any bedroom," he prattled on a little longer about its materials, the costs and the amazing deal they just happen to have currently. Wade rolled his eyes and looked at Heru, he sighed heavily.
"Ok so everything he just said," Heru said, letting go of the post and he stood with his backside against the frame, his hands reaching out to both posts at the foot, "but also… picture you strapped to each post, spread eagle and at my mercy," he said with a wicked grin that spread to Wade's face, "or!" he eagerly grabbed one post and leaned his weight against it, "me strung up and at your mercy," he bit his lip, the look in his eyes making him want to pin him right then and there.
"Um," the salesman cleared his throat and looked exceptionally awkward.
"We'll take it," Wade said, not taking his eyes off Heru who grinned.
"Start a cart, Squire! We need to find a mattress and box spring now," Heru draped his arms around Wade's neck and looked at the salesman and grinned.
"Yea ok," the salesman grumbled, muttering "fucking faggots" under his breath. Wade stiffened, anger boiling down his spine but Heru's hand on his chest kept him from knocking the asshole out.
"Don't worry, he's just jealous," he said and turned back to the salesman and raised his voice, "maybe if he's lucky we'll invite him for a turn and see just how deep that homophobia goes," he purred, his eyes black and cold. The salesman's lips twitched but not wanting to risk his biggest sale of the month, he mumbled an apology before walking away to get their frame from the back. Satisfied, Heru turned back to Wade and kissed his chin.
"Rel turned me onto canopy beds and I've always said if I was going to bother getting another bed, it'd have to be a canopy or it just isn't worth it but you get to pick the mattress 'cus I don't give a shit," he said and pulled him forwards by his hand. He watched him skip towards the long row of beds and turn around, biting his lip and looking way too seductive for a public place, "how about we test some of these out?" he purred.
[Think about baseball, isn't that what they always say?]
Heru's ass in tight baseball pants.
[Quick!]
{Dead puppies}
[Wow…]
Effective… for a couple seconds.
Wade grinned and jumped onto one of the beds, his body bouncing as he settled in. Heru jumped on beside him and the two laid on their backs, staring up at the ceiling.
"This is awful," Wade said after a minute and Heru climbed off.
"Alright Goldilocks, let's find the one that's juuuuust right," he said before moving onto the next.
[He isn't leaving right?]
{Why would he leave?}
[After Zion I mean]
"Don't talk about that, I don't want to think about it," Wade said aloud to them, not looking at Heru. He tried to ignore the boxes, his chest a mixture of pain and warmth as he turned to watch him. Heru jumped onto another bed and got on all fours, wiggled his ass at him and grinned from over his shoulder.
"Hop on cowboy," he drawled and Wade stared at his ass, grinning.
"Excellent idea, must test how it is on the knees," he agreed, jumping up behind him and grabbing his waist.
"Ahem," the salesman had returned, his face a mask of disgust and annoyance as he looked at them, "please sirs, this is a family store." Heru buried his face in the bed, laughing as Wade's grip on his hips tightened.
"We're just trying to start one," Wade said in a pained voice, placing a hand to his heart and looking at the salesman with wide, tear filled eyes, which were completely missed from behind his mask. Heru shook against him with laughter, which certainly didn't help matters in his pants.
"Please behave appropriately or I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said firmly, giving Wade a nervous, disgusted look before walking away, Wade sighed heavily.
"Spoil sport," he grumbled and Heru pulled away, reached up and pulled him down onto the bed and kissed him.
"Oh ignore him, he has no sense of humor and guessing by the way he was eyeing your sweet ass, he hasn't gotten off in awhile," he said as he pulled away, grinning. Wade snorted. He was wearing his usual jeans, t-shirt, hoodie, gloves and mask but Heru had pulled it up to expose his mouth for kisses before they'd even made it to the store. He hadn't bothered to pull it back down, the kisses and air were worth the few stares he'd earned. When he was with him, he would almost forget that he looked like a monster but there was always at least one person to remind him he looked like a puff pastry gone wrong.
"How's this one?" Heru asked, interrupting his thoughts and he rolled around dramatically.
"Put on the list of possibles," he answered and rolled off, holding a hand out to Heru who grabbed it and pulled himself up.
"Alrighty," he hopped onto Wade's back like a monkey, "onwards!" Wade grinned and walked over to another bed. He pulled Heru off and tossed him onto it. He squealed in delight and bounced across it, rolling to a stop and ignoring the stares from the other shoppers, Wade jumped onto the bed, causing Heru to bounce again.
"This is terrible," he said almost immediately, sinking too far into the mattress and feeling like he was slowly drowning in a marshmallow.
"It does seem too squishy," he agreed and climbed off. They tried out several more, earning a few giggles from some of the shoppers when Heru shoved him off one bed and onto the floor.
"How about this one?" Heru asked, falling backwards onto a nice thick mattress with memory foam, "It seems like it's between the first one and the third one."
"Hmm," Wade laid down and rolled a bit, "good firmness," he agreed, "adequate bounce and squish," he sat up and looked behind him, "and the memory foam is a nice touch."
"Is this the one baby?" he asked, climbing upwards to snuggle in beside him, Wade wrapped his arm around him, "shall I tell our Closeted Salesman to wrap it up?"
"This is where we'll start our family," Wade joked, making Heru grin. He rolled off the bed and waved over the salesman and Wade sat up, sitting on the edge, "I think there are a few other essentials we should probably pick up too."
"Like what?" he stood in front of him and ran his hands over the back of his mask.
"Like a dresser… some cutlery would be nice too, although I'm not complaining. Eating cereal with a fork has enlightened me to the perfect balance of milk and cereal but I think we could handle expanding our options," he smirked.
They spent the rest of the afternoon picking out a few more pieces of furniture including a new coffee table and an actual entertainment stand. Heru had insisted that he buy a gun cabinet and he ended up getting two that would hold the majority of his weapons. By the time they got home, Wade was wondering where they were going to fit everything in the tiny bachelor apartment. The king sized bed alone was bound to take up half the place.
The furniture was delivered the following morning and Wade had been right to be concerned about fitting everything in the place. They managed to fit everything in, barely, and the previously empty and echoey apartment was packed full. They spent a couple days going between planning their attack on the Zion shipment and completing Wade's shopping list of essentials like clothing, food, and dishware. He hated that he had to repurchase everything and lamented the loss of his favorite cast iron skillet but it was also a lot of fun replacing it all with Heru. For a moment, it almost felt like everything was normal and that they were actually building a life together. He could almost fool himself into thinking the looming termination date wasn't casting a giant shadow across them. There wasn't room in the apartment for the giant elephant. He almost brought it up a few times, but chickened out at the last second, too afraid that he'd tell him they'd never see each other again. Heru had made a point to mention that Wade could continue living in the apartment after everything, but he'd strategically left out where he would be in the picture.
"I think we've officially gotten everything you need," Heru said, climbing into his lap after putting away the last of the new dishes.
"I think so," he agreed and slid his hands down to his waist, "how about we get out of here?"
"And go where?" he questioned, cupping the back of Wade's head with his hands.
"I still owe Weasel some money, I was thinking of going to pay him a visit," he suggested and Heru nodded.
"Sure, I'm sure he'd like a visit from his favorite merc," he said smiling.
"Come with me?" he offered with mild hesitation.
[Whoa introducing him to the family?]
{Weasel is family?}
[He's the closest we have to it.]
"Yea, if you want me to come I'd be happy to meet the infamous Weasel," he grinned and rolled off his lap.
"I do," he watched as he undressed, "I want you to meet him. He gave me the verbal ass kicking I needed after everything happened with the school and made me realize I was being a fucking idiot," he explained, admiring the show as Heru stood naked while deciding on what to wear.
"That's where you went after?" he asked, his tone curious but hesitant. They hadn't talked about Infano, there wasn't anything left to say but it was still a painful memory for both and not one either of them wanted to bring up.
"Yea, I ended up there and kind of drank the bar dry. He helped me get some perspective," he grabbed his mask and gloves and pulled them on, "thought it'd be a nice idea to introduce you." Heru finished dressing and turned around, shrugging his leather jacket onto his shoulders.
"Let's do it."
July 20, 1998
Somewhere in a not so friendly neighborhood, New York City
8:51 PM
Heru
Heru walked down the alley with Wade, his hands stuffed in his coat pockets, listening to Wade tell him the story of how he met Weasel. He listened but his mind was also preoccupied with the voices and thoughts of the future. He was looking forward to meeting Weasel and seeing Margaret's. It was a major part of Wade's life and he knew that Weasel and the other mercs were the closest thing he had to a family but in a way, that made it worse. He was in essence, bringing him home to meet the family, and that was not something that Heru had ever experienced or considered a part of his reality. He had not been the kind of guy someone brought home to meet their parents when he had been alive and he was even less so as a reaper. As a result, he was riddled with anxiety.
They came to a halt just outside an unmarked back door in a dimly lit alley. Garbage lined the walls and by all appearances it was just a dead end alley.
"Ready?" Wade asked, flashing him a grin from under his mask and opening the door. He'd worn civvies again, his mask rolled down to cover his scars.
"Lead on jellybean," he said with a grin, swallowing the rising panic. Noise erupted from the open door.
{There's no point in even telling you how stupid this is, is there?}
Nope.
Heru followed him inside, and his hands clenched into fists in his pocket, he took in the sight. There were numerous 'villains' everywhere, laughing and talking loudly as they drank, played pool and darts. There was a ruckus in the corner as two people had a scuffle, no one paid them any attention. Heru followed Wade as they weaved through the tables towards the bar.
"Weas!" Wade shouted happily and a sandy haired man looked up from behind the bar, large round glasses hiding a set of tired green eyes.
"Wade," he acknowledged, his eyes landing on Heru and sharply assessing him.
'He's interesting'
"Weas, I wanna introduce you to my honey," Wade said, draping an arm around Heru and pulling him forward, "Heru this is Weasel, Weasel meet Heru," he introduced and Heru fumbled with his face, attempting to form a smile.
"Hi," he managed, Weasel's cold gaze unflinching as he dried a mug with a dirty towel.
"So you're Death huh?" he said after the silence had grown uncomfortable.
"Uh, kind of?" Heru sat down on one of the stools, "more like an agent of Death," he patted the stool next to him and Wade sat down.
"Two glasses of your finest barkeep!" Wade ordered with a grin and Weasel scowled.
"You still owe me a grand for your last visit," he complained and Wade sighed dramatically.
"Yea, yea," he pulled out a wad of cash, counted it and handed it over, "here, and again, sorry about before."
"Forget about it," Weasel took the cash and pocketed it before digging a bottle of rye out from under the counter and poured them two glasses.
The night turned out to be a lot of fun and for a while, Heru relaxed enough to actually enjoy it. They played several rounds of pool with Outlaw and Domino until Wade got tired of continuously losing. They instigated a fight when things had grown too quiet and Heru had sat back and just watched, not wanting to touch anyone but he enjoyed the show nevertheless. Margaret's became a regular outing and they ended up going back almost nightly, spending their afternoons planning and their evenings having fun. Wade took him to all of his favorite spots in the city and they returned to Dave and Busters a couple times to see who the better dancer truly was. There were a couple of days where Heru had almost felt like he was alive again. It was the closest thing he'd come to a routine in years. The weeks passed in a wild mixture of rapidly flying by while simultaneously dragging and he savored every moment knowing that it would end all too soon. They both made a point not to bring up the fact that their relationship had an expiration date and avoided talking about what would happen after Zion.
It doesn't have to end.
[Of course it does]
We could make it work
{It wouldn't be fair to him}
Heru lay next to him on the bed, the soft glow of the street lights casting shadows across Wade's sleeping face. It was supposed to be his last night with him and he had savored every mundane moment of the last three weeks. He didn't want it to end and he wished he could slow down time so that he could stay there forever, content to just exist in that moment.