Jason really should have been more careful.
Considering everything that had happened in the last nine hours and how much adrenaline he had pumping through his body, no one should have been able to get the jump on him.
And still the fucker managed it.
Before he knew what had hit him the Iraqi had swung that damn pole, knocking him off balance, before landing a strong punch to the side of his face, sending him reeling backwards into the wall, and though he would never admit to it, seeing stars.
The older man shoved Jason against the stone wall, small dusty particles wafting into the air from the impact and falling on the two men, before brining his own gun up to press across his throat. The marine pushed with all of his strength against the cold metal and was able to make some headway, but before he decided what his next move was he found himself the recipient of another head spinning punch to his face.
The gun dropped uselessly to the floor with a loud clatter that echoed in the empty tunnels. Jason's brain hadn't even caught up with what was happening before the other man had brought the metal pole up to his throat and was pushing with such force that his airway was quickly becoming compromised. His mouth opened widely as he desperately tried to get oxygen into his lungs, only able to make quiet gasping noises as further pressure was placed on his trachea.
I'm desperation Jason shot out his leg blindly, trying to get the Iraqi away from him. His foot made contact with the other man but it clearly wasn't forceful enough to fully dislodge the attack. He briefly got respite and was able to suck a lung full of air in before the pole was back against his neck, pressing insistently.
Jason gritted his teeth and looked into the face of the other man and found that the Iraqi's eyes were not full of hate as he had anticipated, but were a strange mixture of angry, sad and frightened. He looked like he wanted to be doing anything but this.
Eventually the lack of oxygen was becoming apparent and Jason's white knuckled grip on the weapon loosened, his gasps ceased and his eyes began to roll back in his head, his vision dimming. He could even feel his heart slowing, becoming bradycardic as his body welcomed the end.
When he was sure that he would pass out in the next few seconds Jason managed to choke out a few words, his voice barely understandable.
"Stop…please…"
It was then that the pressure eased, but didn't disappear entirely. Jason was able to cough and splutter for a few seconds, greedily taking in as much air as possible, his chest heaving and burning while his eyes watered.
He turned his attention back to the other man once he felt he wasn't going to loose consciousness and found a peculiar expression gracing the other's features.
He still looked a little angry, but there was a hint of regret and concern underneath in his expression. The large brown eyes flickered over Jason's face, lingering on his eyes and his mouth, before settling on his neck, which he was certain was blossoming a beautiful bruise already.
At that point Jason should have tried to salvage and defuse the situation, in order to save his own hide mostly, but he'd always had a bad habit of digging himself deeper into trouble and this situation was no exception.
"Fuck you! Fucking asshole!" He spat, forcefully yanking the pole to the side in an attempt to disarm the other man, which to his surprise, worked. The metal hit the floor next to his gun and Jason tried to bend down and grab the firearm, but before he had made it very far he found himself shoved back against the wall, both of the Iraqi's hands bunched in his blue shirt and the scarf wrapped around his neck.
The other man looked really pissed off now and was breathing heavily, wafts of warm breath caressing Jason's face.
"Fucking jarhead, you don't know when to quit." he hissed in Jason's face, his whole body pressed up against the marine.
Jason was pretty certain that he was going to be killed now and had already sent his prayers to baby Jesus asking that it be over quickly, but rather than fingers wrapping around his throat Jason let out a surprised grunt when instead, a pair of warm lips pressed desperately against his.
The kiss was hard and messy, it was all tongues and teeth, aggressive with pent up adrenaline and emotion. Once Jason's brain had caught up he realised that he was kissing the enemy, but when the other man's smell of sweat, dust and warmth was invading his nostrils, and his firm body covered every inch of Jason's the marine really couldn't give a shit.
The older man's hands wandered over Jason's body, one coming to rest on the side of his neck and the other against his cheek. Their tongues battled for dominance and Jason bit the other's lip a little too hard, but soon soothed it with a flick of his tongue.
The marine grabbed handfuls of the other's green uniform in his fists, one at the waist and one at the shoulder before pulling him even closer, their bodies aligned perfectly.
After a minute they both pulled away a few inches, looking into each other's faces, their cheeks flushed, their chests heaving, lips glistening.
"My name is Jason. Not jarhead…"
A chuckle then erupted from the Iraqi's throat, deep and rumbling.
He leaned forward and placed his lips against Jason's ear, brushing the sensitive skin with every word.
"Well Jason, then it's only fair that you call me Salim."
With that his lips latched onto Jason's neck and began kissing and biting with enough pressure to sting in a very pleasant way. The marine let out an embarrassingly high pitched moan at the attention and let his eyes close and his moth fall open.
"Salim…fuck…"
"Are you normally so eloquent?" He teased, nibbling on the marines jawline.
"Shut the fuck up!"
With that Jason grabbed Salim by the neck and forced their lips back together in a bruising kiss, their hands scrambling for purchase on the other man's form.
Jason could feel a stirring in his groin, a heavy lightning sensation signalling his arousal and he fleetingly felt a flash of shame for his reaction before he registered a rapid hardening against his hip from inside the other man's trousers. He was pretty sure that Salim didn't have a gun in his pocket.
The older man's hand trailed down Jason's chest and down to the front of his fatigues where they came to rest over his crotch, applying gentle pressure over the tented area.
"Ah!" Jason breathed, his head falling backwards to gently hit the wall.
Salim made a deep "hmm" noise in response to this, the sound vibrating in his throat, before he smiled at Jason, a mischievous look in his eyes.
"May I?" To emphasise his question Salim applied a little more pressure to Jason's hard member and flicked his thumb against the zipper of the trousers impatiently.
The marine nodded in agreement.
"Yes. God yes." Came the breathless response.
Salim smile widened indulgently and he wasted no time in undoing Jason's trousers and plunging his hand into his underwear, wrapping his fingers around Jason's hard cock.
The younger man's knees almost buckled at the sensation of Salim's hand around him. It had been a long time since anyone had touched him there, besides his own hand of course and he found that the sensation was only heightened by the godawful night they'd already had and the emotions that came with it.
Salim began stroking Jason's cock firmly, feeling him harden even further under his attention, the smallest droplet of precum collecting at the top, barely visible in the dim lighting of the corridor. He flicked his thumb over the head and bit his lip at the full body shudder that went through the younger man.
Jason breathlessly reunited their lips in a searing kiss, half because he wanted to, and half to swallow the slightly embarrassing noises coming from his own mouth.
It was then that the pressure and warmth from Salim's hand disappeared and Jason found himself mewling-
Godammn mewling! He was a fucking marine for God's sake -
at the loss of sensation. But this feeling was soon replaced by elation as Salim instead reached for the flies of his own uniform, releasing his own straining cock from its confines.
Jason immediately curled his fingers around Salim and began to stoke him earnestly, kissing the older man like their lives depended on it, swallowing the grunts and groans that came from the Iraqi's lips.
Soon Salim's hand retuned to the younger man's cock and they stroked each other in tandem. It didn't take long before both men were sweaty, moaning and leaning heavily against each other and the wall to keep themselves upright.
Jason could feel the tightening in his groin that indicated his impending release and could hardly bear to tear his lips from Salim's to choke out a few words.
"Salim. I'm gonna -"
The older man once again pressed his lips to Jason's ear, his voice gravelly, deep and heavy with arousal when he spoke.
"Come for me Jason…"
With an almost pained cry Jason felt his release wash over him, with Salim following a few seconds later with a low grunt into the other man's neck.
Both men panted into each other's necks, clinging to the other man, trying to control their breathing while they came down from their high. Jason could feel his face burning from exertion and the mixed evidence of their activities cooling and becoming sticky on their hands and clothing.
It was a minute or two before Jason worked up the courage to look Salim in the eye.
Neither man quite knew how to proceed from this point. We're they still enemies, friends, casual acquaintances, something more?
'Who the fuck knows' Jason thought.
Salim glanced at the younger man's lips and slowly lent forward to capture his mouth in a gentle kiss, all previous heat gone from the activity, leaving behind something sweet.
It was at this point that Jason came to his senses. His heart pounded and his thoughts raced, panic rising in his chest.
He broke their kiss and pushed Salim away, ignoring the slightly hurt expression that found its way onto the older man's features. He then quickly tucked himself back into his trousers and picked up his gun. He took a few deep, steadying breaths, licked his lips, tasing the remnants of Salim left in his mouth, before standing up straight and attempting to speak, but luck was not on his side and Salim got there first.
"Jason, I -"
"Let's get a move on. We've already wasted enough time. If you want to come with me then stay close and hurry the fuck up."
Jason then hastily walked away, leaving a bewildered Salim staring after him. Neither of them quite knew what had just happened between them or what repercussions their actions might have.
Salim said a quick whispered prayer to the sky and dejectedly trailed after the marine, unsure if he was making the right decision, unsure if he had made any good decisions that day.
After 'the incident' as Jason was referring to it in his head, the hellish night continued, despite Salim's few fractured attempts to discuss what had happened between them, which Jason quickly shut down. Him and Salim made their way through the darkened halls, eventually coming to the lift.
Once they hit rock bottom and were in the belly of the beast they both opened up to each other. Salim told him about his son and his plan to go to university, a sorrowful look taking residence on his features, and Jason reluctantly shared the story of the woman at the checkpoint. He didn't even flinch when Salim put a hand on his shoulder while trying to comfort him.
Eventually they were attacked by the vampires and Salim ended up with a sizeable gash across his chest, before they were rescued by the rest of the group.
Later on when presented with the dilemma of leaving Salim or going to help him Jason found that there was no contest, he would help the other man and get him home to see his son. Whatever was going on between the two of them, it had to sit on the back burner? But Jason wouldn't let Salim's son become an orphan.
"Did you seriously just throw that thing at me?!"
"I did."
Salim gave a wide grin and chuckle, incidentally the same smile he gave in response to the indecent noises falling from Jason's mouth when he had his hands wrapped around his cock.
Jason felt his breath catch in his throat and a flutter in his stomach at that smile and he found he wanted nothing more than to cover that smile with his own lips. That smile was just for him.
Eventually all five of them made it to the surface alive, all broken, dirty and sweaty, but alive, even the eclipse and resulting fight didn't claim any of them, but they had a long wait ahead of them as air support was fucking miles away.
"I need to see my boy." Salim uttered, slowly, painfully getting up from the ground where he has slumped after the fight. He picked up his trusty metal pole. "A souvenir." Before walking out of the hut.
Jason quickly stood and followed after the older man.
"Salim, wait!"
Both men came to stand outside the hut facing each other, in the sunshine, away from the others.
"Good luck brother. You wish Zain a happy birthday from me."
"Thank you Jason."
For a few seconds neither of the men knew what to say. They both wanted to address what had transpired in the tunnels, but didn't quite know how to do that.
Jason spoke first, reluctantly, his accent even thicker than usual due to his nervousness.
"Salim. I don't really know what happened between us down there or what it means, " he paused, trying to gather his thoughts into a coherent sentence, looking down at his hands. "It's not the sort of thing I would normally do, but I -"
Salim cut him off gently, waving his hand and shaking his head.
"It's okay Jason, I understand, I didn't meant to make you uncomfortable -"
"I liked it." The younger man admitted with a blush dusting his cheekbones.
For a split second Salim stood there with his mouth half open, like a fish, a look of surprise on his face at Jason's confession, which quickly turned into a gentle smile.
"So did I."
Both men moved a little closer to each other, the sun shining on the sides of their faces, a welcome warmth after the night they'd had. Jason took a deep breath before speaking, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.
"I don't know what this is, but I do know that I don't want this to be goodbye."
"Me neither Jason. If I could take you home with me right now I would. But we both have things to take care of first." Salim reached up as he was talking and rested his hand on the juncture where the younger man's neck met his shoulder, loving the way that Jason's eyes drifted shut at the gentle touch.
The marine nodded. "I know"
Suddenly Jason started rummaging around in his ammo pouches and for some reason managed to procure a pen. He grabbed Salim's hand and quickly scrawled a phone number and address on the back of it.
"Why do you even have that in there?" The older man asked with a chuckle, shaking his head.
Jason didn't answer and instead handed the pen to Salim, who quickly wrote down his details on Jason's hand.
"I guess you need to go, see your son." Jason muttered looking down at the ink now sitting on his skin. "Be safe, please"
Salim nodded, before moving towards Jason, placing one hand on either side of the younger man's face and pulling him into a gentle kiss. Neither of them fought for dominance or power, instead they just both enjoyed the last contact they might have for a while.
Who knows how long Jason would be held by the American's after the house of ashes, and who knows how long before they would see each other.
Salim gave Jason one last kiss, his lips lingering over the other man's before pulling away. The younger man gave a small sound of disappointment at the loss of contact, and instead kept a hold of Salim's hand.
"Make sure you return to me Jason." Salim started to back away, his heart aching from having to do this. He squeezed Jason's hand within his own and brought it up to his lips, kissing the young man's knuckles.
Jason nodded. "I will. You can count on it."
And with that Salim turned and walked away into the sunrise, dust kicking up under his footfalls and sweat running down his neck.
Jason watched from the doorway to the hut, a sudden empty feeling in his chest. He took a deep breath and looked down wistfully at the letters and numbers written on his hand.
He would see Salim again. He knew it, and they would be able to explore this thing between them, whatever it was.
But for now he had to wait for air support to come and pick them up.
Thank you so much for reading. I might continue this story if the inspiration strikes.