It was Friday, and it had been a long day at work in the Biotechnica office that day and all you wanted to do was relax and have a drink. Jayla decided she wanted to meet at Afterlife and have a night out and even though you knew better you accepted the invite. Now as you sat at the bar alone with the bartender, Claire wondering if you were ever going to order something and reading the text messages on your holo.

"Omg I'm so sorry I forgot my mother invited me out to get some new hardware put in!" Jayla's first message. You rolled your eyes as you typed back, typical, you knew better but you came anyway and exactly what you thought would happen, happened.

"Whatever, fuck off don't bother asking again, sick of your shit!" It felt better than it should when you hit send and then blocked her number.

"You gonna order something or what?" asked Claire sounding almost impatient. At that point you decided to just make the most of your situation.

"You know what yeah, give me a Johnny Silverhand."

"You got it sweetheart." You watched as Claire quickly put the drink together and slid over the glass to you. You sent her the payment and she walked to her next customer. You took a look at the drink and pick it up breathing it in before taking a bit of it off the top. The burn was what you were hoping for and once the initial fire pass you downed the whole glass and sat it on the counter. The music was loud and for a Friday night the bar wasn't particularly busy. It wasn't long before you noticed a guy at the end of the bar. You watched him for awhile and it quickly became clear that he was there alone. He sat with his back to the bar, and you thought you could see him looking through his holo. You couldn't really see his face, but his posture said he was probably having a bad day. Claire finished with another customer, and you beckoned her over. "Ready for another round?"

"Actually ya, just a shot of whisky," you smiled as you spoke and leaned in, "You know that guy?" You nodded to the guy at the end of the bar with the curls. "Looks like he's having a rough go. Figured I'd by him some liquid happiness of his choice?"

"Oh, that's V, good guy, comes here a lot. Enjoys a good shot of whiskey now and then." You looked at him again for a few seconds as Claire spoke.

"Send him on me and give me one too." Claire shrugged as you sent payment through before pouring the two shots. She passed you the first one and walked over to V with the second and got his attention. You watched as she passed him the shot and beckoned to you. As he looked at you, you finally got a good look at him, and he was one of the most beautiful men you had ever seen. Your heart fluttered a bit when he raised his glass to you, you raised yours in return and took the shot. V did the same, sitting the glass down on the bar hard, he looked over at you like he expected something to come next. You got up off your chair and walked over to him, as you walked over the look on his face wasn't particularly inviting but he didn't seem to show any malice. "Mind if I join you?" you asked.

"Sure, but I'm assuming you're here to talk business?" His voice was much gruffer than you expected it to be he sounded a lot more hardened than you thought someone so young should sound.

"Business? What do you mean?" You were confused as to what he was talking about.

"Come on choom, this is Afterlife, don't nobody buy a guy like me a drink to just start up a conversation?" V crossed his arms as you leaned on the bar. "Did Wakako send you?" The name he mentioned was familiar to you but not enough to know what he meant.

"Maybe I just thought I saw someone who looked like they had a rough day and decided to try and do something that might cheer them up," you shrugged your shoulders as you spoke and V just looked at you, the expression on his face told you he didn't necessarily believe you.

"You gotta be fuckin kiddin me? This is Night City, that shit ain't been my experience, some Corpo don't just walk up to a merc and buy him a drink to have a conversation." You signalled Claire for another round of shots and looked at V. The fact he was a merc was a little unsettling, you had heard the stories about the Afterlife underbelly but never felt the need to get mixed up in it. Claire sat the shots down next to you and you held one up to V and smiled at him. "I don't fucken believe this, alright whatever, I'll bite." V took the other shot and you both downed it at the same time.

"Had no idea you were a merc, don't much care, thought you were cute, here we are…" Both of you sat the glasses back on the table, V smirked at you a bit. "Pretty obvious you don't wanna be left alone, what brought you out tonight?" You pried a bit.

"You first." V seemed to relax a bit relaxing his stance.

"Completely uninteresting," you laughed, "Rough week at work. Bitch from work that I don't really like invited me out. I came here pretty much knowing she would find a reason to bail, but because of said long week, I came anyway. She bailed on me, I noticed you and well," you smiled at him. V looked at you for a few seconds.

"You really don't know who I am?" he asked.

"I know your name's V, but that's just from Claire over here, other than that just the cute guy at the bar." V smirked at you calling him cute. "Well maybe a little more than cute. You want a beer?" You weren't really used to being this forward but were pretty sure it wasn't the alcohol talking.

"Sure." You could see that V had relaxed his shoulders and was letting his mercenary senses shut down at least for the minute.

"Claire two Brosephs please." Claire walked had been serving another customer but brought you the drinks pretty quickly. You winked at her as you transferred payment and gave her a tip. "Thanks for being so attentive." You and V both took a sip from the beer, it was a little harsher than you were hoping for, but you went with it. "Alright your turn."

"Ah yeah, well…" V started and scratched the back of his head. He looked around and you could tell he was hesitant to talk.

"Come on let's get a better table." You picked up your beer and took a few steps away from the bar. V looked at you and you could tell he was reluctant to follow. "Look man if you don't wanna talk about it we ain't gotta."

"Nah it's just a little weird ya know." You smiled at V and grabbed his beer before walking away. He followed you across the dancefloor passed Rogue's table and over to the quieter tables. You sat your drinks at the table and leaned against the wall. V leaned in on the table and took a sip of his beer. "Do you mind if we don't? At least not right now…" You leaned against the wall and took a sip of your beer; it didn't taste any better. "Hey, do you even like that stuff?" It must have shown on your face, V looked at you and smiled that charming smile as you smirked and looked at the bottle.

"Yeah, not at all what I thought," you laughed. A women walked by, and you passed her the beer. "Here on the house." She gave you a strange look but took it and kept walking. V laughed as she walked away. "I just wanted to talk to you more to be honest." You leaned in on the table with your arms folded in front of you. "Tell me something about you."

"Uh like what?" V looked puzzled.

"Anything you want." You looked at V trying not to seem too anxious as he took another drink of his beer.

"Alright, well…" V paused in thought, "I grew up in Night City, over in the Heywood District. The gangs were my parents. Had it pretty rough for a while." V took a sip of his beer. "Last couple months had been pretty good to me though mostly."

"Mostly?" You couldn't tell by looking at V that he was a street kid but small signals in his style started to reveal themselves. His bandana and choice to show off his mid drift were a bit of a give away.

"I lost my best friend doin' a job and went through some shit to get where I am now, I've been pretty successful as a merc."

"Successful…" You spoke the word knowing what he meant, he had probably killed a good deal of people. "I don't have anything to worry about do I?" You regretted the question almost as soon as it left your lips, but it was too late now. V's expression changed slightly, and he was quiet. "Not gonna take me in the bathroom and stick me huh?" You decided to try and joke your way out of the situation.

"Nah I'm not like that."

"Well damn… am I wasting my money here or what?" You took a step back and crossed your arms. V looked to the side then at you and laughed. You smiled at him and leaned back on the table closer to him than before. He looked down at his hands for a second before making eye contact with you. "You good?"

"Yeah, I'm good." He smiled at you again and walked around the table and rested your elbow on the edge.

"Good." Feeling brave you reached out and took his hand running a thumb across his modded knuckles. "What mods this? Don't think I've seen it before."

"Oh uh, guerilla arms mod. Pretty neat stuff," V looked at his arms as he spoke, "Good for giving someone a good what-for. Or rippin a turret off its access." V spoke the last sentence quietly, but you still heard him. You could tell he was trying to be funny.

"Holy shit are you serious? You've done something like that before?" You were impressed but were beginning to realize that this kid was serious.

"Well yeah," V scratched the back of his head with his free hand and smirked at you again. "What you've never ripped a turret off its base before?" He laughed and you did too as you pushed on his chest playfully.

"The hell do you think?" You leaned back on the table and heard a yell behind you. You looked just in time to see a couple of Tyger Claws break out into a fight.

"Fuckin Tyger Claws." V went to stand up and move toward them as they scuffled. A couple of the bar's bouncers walked up to the fight and started to break it up. You put your arm around V's waist and stopped him his skin warm against your hand.

"Hey, come on, let's get some air," V looked at you for a second and then to the fight. "Come on V, let's go." V relaxed and you walked away from your table and through the bar to the exit. Claire nodded at both of you as you left. As you walked out of the bar and into the parking lot the warm air and smell of Night City hit you in the face as it usually did.

"Hey thanks for pullin me outta there," said V as you walked over to your black Caliburn.

"They're not worth it and I didn't want the night to end just when it was gettin' good," you smiled back at him. V watched from the door as you walked over to the car.

"Shit is that yours?" You looked back at him and smiled as the radio turned on. "Done pretty well for yourself." V walked over and sat on the back trunk of the vehicle.

"You could say that." Radio Vexelstrom started playing from the car radio and you stood over in front of V. He smiled at you, and you took another step closer to him. "So, what other kinda mods you had put in?" You asked.

"Well, I've got a few over the last couple months… ocular system, skeletal, and got some light nervous system work done," said V looking himself over.

"Really …" you paused and winked at him, "anything else."

"You know I think I know what you're asking and let's just say no modifications necessary," V laughed.

"Good to know." You ran the tips of your fingers playfully up his outer thigh.

"Yeah, let's just say I knew a guy once… there was some burning and more screaming than anyone would be comfortable with given the situation." V paused and kept his smile and didn't seem to mind your touch. "You had any mods done? I know you can afford it." V tapped the back of the car lightly.

"I've had a couple put in, mainly immune system stuff cus of my job, a detoxifier," You shrugged your shoulders. "Other than that, just a bio monitor."

"Cool, so just some light necessities. Nothing wrong with that." V looked at the door to the bar and then back at you. "Shit, wish I brought my drink with me." You looked at your Holo and it was only 11:30.

"You wanna go to another place? Night's still young." You took a step back and crossed your arms. "Dark Matter's nice this time of night, you ever been?"

"Yeah, I been there once or twice." V stood up off the back of the car. "And we can go but I'm driving." He smirked at you as he walked around to the passenger's seat and opened it for you.

"I'm cool with that," You smiled at him and took the invitation. He shut the door and walked around the front of the car to get in the driver's seat. You gave him the key and he started the engine and revved it a couple times.

"Damn choom always wanted to drive one of these things."

"Just be careful its peppier than you think." V backed the car out of the parking lot and got on the road to Dark Matter. The song on the radio began to play Makes Me Feel Better and V began to move his head to the music. He noticed you watching him, and he winked at you continuing to bob his head and even sing along a little bit with the song. He rolled the window down a bit and the wind caught his hair as he hit a patch of open road and floored the gas.

"Holy shit choom I love this car," he laughed. You smiled as he laughed genuinely glad that he was having fun it was a stark contrast to the V you first approached a little over an hour ago. It wasn't long when you were pulling into a parking spot along the road close to Dark Matter. V shut the car off and you both got out of the vehicle. "You were right that thing can fly off the handle if you're not careful. Wouldn't mind puttin it through its paces later."

"Hey, we'll see how the night goes." The two of you crossed the street and walked up to the elevator that would take you to the club.

"Which floor is it again?" asked V as you stepped into the elevator. You leaned on the elevator panel as it scanned for your authorization.

"Thirty-five." You pushed the button, and the elevator began moving. "So, you have been here then?"

"Yeah, came to help out a friend once, it was when Us Cracks was in town a few months ago," said V leaning back against the wall with his leg up.

"Us Cracks huh?" You smirked at him.

"Yeah, not my thing either," he smiled.

"Oh, thank god. I can't take that bubble gum shit." You laughed as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. You stepped off the elevator first and the bouncer nodded you in with V following.

"Hey, they're nice girls, did a job for one of them, paid well," said V as you sat down at the table. The bar itself wasn't busy as you expected it wouldn't be. The music was low and the crowd that was there was fairly subdued, just the environment you were hoping for.

"I'm sure they're good enough people," You looked over at the bar. "Want something to drink?"

"Yeah sure," V leaned forward on the table with a satisfied look on his face and seemed to scan the room.

"Anything specific?" You took a step back from the table and waited for a response.

"Shot a whisky and something to sip on." V winked at you, you smiled and turned toward the bar. You went to the bar and ordered the shot and a couple of martinis and as you leaned on the bar waiting you looked over at V, his back was too you, but he met your glance with a smile. He had been looking at you as well and wasn't trying to hide it. The bartender sat the drinks down in front of you and you picked up the martinis in one hand the shot in the other and walked back to the table. V greeted you as you sat them down taking the shot right away. He picked up the martini as you took your seat and looked it over.

"Fancy," he said taking a small sip. "Good shit though." You held up your glass to him and he tapped his to yours in a small toast. "To chance encounters." He said with a smile as you took a sip.

"Good toast." You sat your glass down on the table and looked around the room before looking back at V who was looking at you with a bit of a glazed over look on his face, he was staring. "Like what you see?"

"Yeah, I think I do." V took another sip of his drink and adjusted his position on his seat.

"Good," You leaned on the table getting a more personal position.

"You know I've never really been around people like you before," he said.

"How do you mean?" you smiled at him.

"I don't know, I know I don't really know a lot about you but," V paused and looked down at his drink, "It's been awhile since I've had someone show interest that didn't want something from me." V rested his elbows on the table and meshed his hands together just covering his chin. "The friend I told you I lost, well him and his girlfriend are probably the last people I would say were my friends just to be my friends. I didn't need to do anything for them to make that happen." The expression on V's face changed as he spoke, you see a certain sadness seeping its way into him.

"You don't have to…"

"I think back over the last few months even the last dude I really fell for, a rock star of all things," V went on. "Like the idiot I was. When the time came, and I told him I needed to leave the city the bastard said he couldn't because of his career. He said he regretted it but that he wouldn't leave here." You didn't know what to say so you just stayed quiet as V continued to talk. "He could have a fucken career from anywhere in the country if he really wanted to, bastard has the money to make it work. His manager screwed him over so its not like his business was tied here." V wiped at his eyes, and you could feel your heart sink in your chest. "I mean I've got Panam and the Aldecaldos, they've done a lot for me, but that's only recently and that's not the same as this…"

"It's his loss, V," you said quietly and put your hand on his forearm. He leaned back a bit but didn't break away from your touch.

"I'm sorry, I, I didn't mean to kill the mood," he said. "Just when I told you I was here, it was with him that night."

"Well hell we can leave if you want," you said standing up from the table. "I didn't mean to put all that back into your head, V."

"It's not your fault, it just started flowing, we don't have to leave," he said looking up at you and forcing a smile. "I guess I just really needed someone to talk to." You smiled at him and touched his face running your index finger along his jawline he stayed silent and just stared at you. "I don't want to leave." You felt V put his arms around your waist and pull you in. Part of you was shocked and started to feel like you might be taking advantage of his fragility, but you didn't pull away as he put his cheek to your chest. Instead, you ran a comforting hand through his curls and both of you stayed quiet.

"You good?" you asked quietly breaking the silence admittingly not wanting whatever this was to end.

"Sure uh, yeah, I'm good." V''s arms loosened around you, and he looked up at you; for the first time you noticed his eyes were a shade of violet. "Could use some air though, this place has a deck, doesn't it?"

"It has a hotel too, if you two wanna get a room," said one of the women patrons at a nearby table. You rolled your eyes but smiled at V as he stood up.

"You know just a couple days ago I probably woulda burned her out over that," said V. "Now I can see its just not worth the time." He smiled at you as he downed what was left of his drink and passed you yours. You shrugged and downed yours before heading to the elevator that would take you to the rooftop deck. As you approached one of the bouncers was standing at the entrance.

"Rooftop bar's currently closed gentlemen," he said holding his hand out to stop you.

"I bet its not," you said as you transferred a substantial sum of eddies to him.

"I like a person who knows how this works," said the bouncer.

"I like a bouncer who keeps the rooftop closed until we come back down," you perked an eyebrow at him as he stepped aside.
"You got it boss." The two of you walked into the elevator and it began to move on its own.

"How much you give him?" asked V.

"Only four hundred." V smiled at you and shook his head just as the elevator opened out onto the rooftop bar. You stepped off the elevator and looked around, it almost looked as though everyone had just dropped what they were doing and left. You had never been there when it was empty before, but it was your favourite spot in town to see the city from. "Come on there's a good spot over here." You took V's hand and led him to a spot by the balcony. You came to a table by the railing that overlooked the city. You put your hands on the railing and V stood near you and leaned against it sideways looking out over the city. "I think this is the tallest building in the city," you said taking in the view for a few seconds before looking at V. He stayed quiet but looked happy as he looked over the city, the warm wind blew moving his curls slightly when he looked at you.

"You didn't bring me up here to an empty bar just to look at the city, did you?" he asked giving you his best charming smile and taking a step closer to you. You felt your heart flutter as he seemed to look right into you.

"Well, no, but…" you paused, still not able to shake the feeling that you might be taking advantage of someone in a fragile state.

"But what?"

"Look V, I like you there's no doubt about that… but after what you said about people only wanting something from you…" you paused and looked at him not sure what you were about to say would piss him off. "I just wanna make sure you want to do this, I don't wanna take advantage of you." V looked at you for a second expressionless and took another step closer. He was so close to you his scent filled your nose, a natural spice mixed with mint and smokie undertones.

"Just shut up and fucking kiss me." V's expression turned seductive as he spoke and leaned back against the railing, his eyes inviting you in. Without hesitation you took his invite positioning yourself in front of him and placing your hand on the back of his neck pulling him into you. As your lips touched his, the hairs from his beard tickled your upper lip slightly. He put his hand on the back of your head, he pulled back briefly and licked your top lip before kissing you again slow and passionate. He playfully bit your top lip before locking in with you again he pushed his tongue into your mouth and danced around yours. You used your free hand to run over his bare stomach and reached around pulling his hips into you. Neither of you were containing your arousal, you could feel his manhood brush up against your leg and you were sure he could tell you were excited, the heat from your body had to be telling him along with your aggressiveness. You pulled back and looked at him for a second staring into his eyes, he stared back at you.

"Since I saw you tonight, I thought, man that guy is beautiful, and at first I thought it would be just another boy I'd maybe get to this point with," you said quietly your breath fluttering.

"Oh ya, and now?" V's eyes looked away and then back to you.

"I don't know exactly, its strange. Like after tonight, I kinda think I wanna stay around…" V's smile faltered but he pulled you back into another kiss before kissing along your neck, he breathed into your ear and nibbled your neck.

"Why don't we get the hell outta here?" said V pulling you in closer. The wind and the sound of his voice sent chills through your whole body. "I know a place where the view's better." You didn't say anything just nodded your head letting V take you by the hand and lead you to the elevator. He hit the button and the door opened and the two of you stepped in. He hit the button to start the descent and pushed you to the wall leaning in on you and kissing your neck lightly. He pulled back and smiled as the door opened, taking your hand again and leading you through Dark Matter to the last elevator down. You stayed quiet letting him take control of the situation, you found yourself walking out of the elevator toward the car. You had no idea where he'd take you at this point, but you didn't really care, you were just along for the ride. You made it across the street and got in the car. "Better use the autonav, I don't think either of us should be driving." V sat in the passenger's side.

"Sure," you used your link to connect to Rayfield's Autonav feature and the car started. "Where we going?"

"Hey Rayfield take us to the Dam Viewpoint Data Term," said V leaning over and adjusting the radio. The autonav began to operate and the car was on its way. V crawled into the back seat. "Care to join me?" he asked.

"Fucken hell I do." You looked back and crawled over the seat and into the back with him. Lizzy Wizzy's Delicate Weapon began playing on the radio as V took off his shirt. All you could do was look at him as his shirt dropped to the seat beside him and he began to straddle you as the car drove. The tattoos that covered his upper body were intriguingly beautiful, solid geometrics on his chest and leading to the flowers that covered his shoulders. He leaned forward and gripped the back seat on either side of your head as he looked down at you. You ran your hands up his sides before cupping his face and pulling him into a kiss. He grinded himself up and down on you as you kissed, and your hands made their back down his body gripping his firm glutes. You couldn't help but think of the appropriateness of the song playing, delicate weapon was a perfect description for a man like V. His softer than expected personality and his delicate touch made him just that. He pulled back and looked at you for a second seduction in his eyes. He reached his hands under your shirt and pulled it off over your head he began to kiss your upper chest before making his way into another kiss, everything about him assaulting your senses. Before long the song changed on the radio and Night City by REL began playing. You relaxed back in the seat as V kissed your neck leaning your head back looking out the back window as the skyscrapers and buildings passed by. The neon lights of the city glaring at their brightest against the 2 AM night sky. The bristles of V's beard tickled your neck, and you nuzzled your face into his pushing back against him, kissing and lightly nibbling your way up his neck before running your tongue around his earlobe. He shivered and pulled away caught off guard at first.

"Never felt that before." He smiled at you just as the car began to park itself.

"Arrived, Dam Viewpoint Data Term." The Rayfield autonav spoke as the car shifted to an idle.

"We're here," he leaned in and kissed you one more time, "Come on." He grabbed his shirt from the seat not bothering to put it on and you did the same as he crawled out through the passenger's side. You followed him and shut the door, turning the car off remotely. "Come on the spots over here." V walked ahead of you; you could tell he was excited to show you what he was taking you to. The two of you walked about thirty feet from the car and V hopped up on the concrete ledge of the damn barrier. He gave you his hand and pulled you up before jumping down onto a dirt ledge on the other side of the traffic guard. There was a bit of an outcropping with about fifteen feet of space to sit down on. You followed V down the ledge and took one final drop to get to the look off spot. "See I told you, best view in the city, right?" He dropped his jacket to the ground and spread his arms out as if he was unveiling it to you. He was right the view was impressive, you could see all the brightest lights in the city from here. The three ad towers that always lit up the sky, most of the main apartment buildings H4, H3, H6, and H7, and a view of the big Ferris Wheel that lit up the old fair grounds.

"Whatever brought you up here?" you asked wondering how V ever would have come to this place to begin with.

"Just a place I ended up one night I needed to be alone, found myself in a bad spot and got off the data term here. Sat here all night and just looked out over the city." V walked back over close to the rock ledge that you jumped down from and sat on the ground. You dropped your shirt on the ground next to him and sat down in front of him. "Where did we leave off?" You smiled at him, and he smiled back as you leaned in and kissed him again. "Yeah, right there," he whispered

You balanced yourself on one hand as the other crawled up V's leg stomach and chest. He grabbed your shirt and his jacket with one of his hands and pulled it behind him before laying back on the ground pulling you down on top of him. You grinded on him as he wrapped his legs around you as the two of you kissed passionately for several minutes. V's hands managed to find their way all over your body before undoing your belt and reaching into your underwear to start massaging you. The heat from the excitement caused you to break out into a sweat but the cool night wind gave you chills as it blew sending a mixture of sensations through your body. You kissed him on the lips briefly then began kissing your way down his body stopping at his navel. You looked up at him and V gave you a look of passion as you began to run a hand down between his legs and started massaging him over his clothing. He reached down and began to undo his belt when he stopped for a second and looked at you.

"Everything alright?" you asked before kissing his navel.

"Shit not right now." V tensed up and quickly sat up right putting his hand to his head. "Ah shit." You sat up to him quickly and touched his face to try and get him to look at you.

"V what's wrong?!" As he looked up at you, you could see blood running from his nose. "Oh shit, your bleeding." You grabbed your shirt and held it up to wipe his nose on. "Has this happened before what do I do?" V let out a cry in pain and tried to stand. You quickly did up your pants and stood when he almost fell over. He shook his head and opened his eyes wide.

"It's never been this bad before?" V leaned on you and took into a coughing fit that lasted far longer than you were comfortable with.

"Come on V, talk to me." He had obviously been through this before, so he had to know how to deal with it. "What do I do?" V held his hand up to his mouth and coughed out a bit of blood. "Should I jack into your biomon? Will that tell me what's wrong?"

"No, it'll stop I'm okay." The coughing stopped but V moved his head around and winced in pain.

"Let's at least go back to the car." You started to take him back to the car when his legs seemed to give out on him.

"Fuck," he cried in pain as he fell.

"Jesus V," you bent down and picked him up to take him back to the bus stop, you climbed up the rocks and back the way you had come with him writhing in your arms. You helped him to sit down on the concrete behind the terminal seats and he sat with his head in his hands. You stood up thinking he could probably use some water, you had some in the car. He grabbed your hand.

"Please don't leave me here!" he cried through the pain.

"I'm not leaving you; I've got some water in the car I'm gonna get you I'll be right back, I promise." V hesitated but let go of your arm and you hurried to the car, got the water, and came back. He didn't lift his head from his hands, but you sat down beside him and rested a hand on his back, so he knew you were there. "It's okay." You could feel his body jolt and jump in pain, not sure what else you could do at this point you just waited with him, this lasted for half an hour before he started to calm down.

"Holy fuck, it's finally stopping…" You passed him the water and he took a sip before returning to his position. "Everything is spinning."

"Do you want me to take you home?" You leaned in and put an arm around him, his skin was cold to touch his body probably reacting to whatever this was.

"No, I wanna stay, please."

"Wanna tell me what this is? Do you need to go to a hospital or something?" you asked.

"Remember when I told you I got some bad news a few nights ago?" he asked.

"Yes." You continued to rub his back hoping to bring some sort of comfort.

"Well, I found out that I'm dying…" Your heart sank in your chest, and you could almost feel tears in your eyes instantly as V bared it all to you. "There's nothing anyone can do about it."

"How… how long do you have?" you asked collecting yourself and taking a deep breath.

"Maybe six months." You pulled him out of his slump and got him to look at you before putting your arms around him.

"I'm so sorry V." The two of you sat in silence for several long seconds you could feel V calming down in your arms and you didn't want to let go. "Sure you don't wanna go home?"

"Fuck no, I never thought I'd have another night like this, I don't wanna cut it short." He pulled back to look at you. "I'm sorry I ruined the mood." He paused. "Please can we just stay here?"

"Of course, whatever you wanna do V." You watched as he stood up slowly and turned to walk back to the rock face. "You okay to walk?"

"Yeah, the dizziness is gone, just a bit of a headache." V started to walk back, and you stood to follow him.

"Hey, let me get a blanket out of the car." V stopped and watched you walk to the car; you grabbed a blanket and a couple more bottles of water from the trunk before walking back to him. "You may want to wash your face too." He had dropped the shirt you gave him to stop the blood and it was now dried to his nose and upper lip.

"Oh shit, yeah sorry." He touched his upper lip and looked at his hand. The two of you walked back to the rock face and you set the blanket on the ground as V went off to the high grass and washed his face with the bottle of water. You sat on the blanket, and he walked back over to you he dried his face on the edge of the blanket and sat down in front of you between your legs.

"Feel better?" you asked putting your arm around him and pulling him closer.

"Yeah, its goin away, typically only lasts a few minutes once the convulsions stop." You could feel V relax in your arms and the tension leave his body. "Remember when I said I was gonna be leaving town in a few days."

"Of course, I've held on to everything you said tonight. You know that," You ran your hand through his hair over his bandana and he looked back at you.

"Don't suppose you wanna go on a road trip for a few months?" You were taken back by the question; it was completely unexpected. V turned his attention back to the view of the city. "I mean, I don't really wanna spend these last few months alone, you know." Your breath jumped a bit as you exhaled considering the offer. V looked down at the ground and moved his foot around on the blanket. "Forget it."

"Sure, I'll come." As the words left your mouth you weren't sure you'd meant it, but you were damn sure you were going to follow this boy wherever he needed you to go.

"Really, you mean that?" He looked back at you the neon lights of the city reflecting in his violet eyes only solidifying what you said.

"Sure as shit not gonna leave you after all this…" You knew you could just take leave from work. Your position at Biotechnica would be almost impossible to fill and you knew you could strong arm them into a year off if you needed to, but you didn't need to tell V any of that right now. You leaned in and kissed his cheek. He closed his eyes as the warmth of your lips caressed his cheek and let out a soft sigh of relief.

"Mind if I lay down, my head's still hurting," he asked.

"Yeah, go ahead." V slowly moved into a position with his head resting in your lap. You slowly ran a comforting hand through his curls and could feel him relax. You ran your hand down his back his skin had returned to normal temperature. With him laying like this you got a closer look at his back tattoo. "Mind if I ask why all the flowers?"

"It's kind of embarrassing actually," he said quietly.

"Come on now, out with it." You spoke playfully.

"Well, you know you've never seen a flower garden in Heywood," V paused, "Well when I was younger, I always wanted a flower garden. I just never had anywhere to put it. Once I got old enough, my skin became my garden, so I covered it in flowers."

"V, you've got to be the sweetest mercenary out there. Like have I been grossly misinformed about mercenaries or are you really this beautiful of a soul?" You danced your finger tracing the outline of the flower on his back. V stayed quiet you could tell he was a little embarrassed about it. "It's a beautiful tattoo."

"Thanks," V laughed a little at your mercenary comment and fell silent. The two of you sat quiet as you ran your hand up and down his back. "That feels good." He broke the silence.

"Oh yeah?" You leaned forward and looked at him he looked back at you and smiled before closing his eyes. You began rubbing his back with both hands doing your best to give him an actual massage even though you were in an awkward position. "By the way I really love your eye color, is that a mod too? I thought they were blue until we were at Dark Matter."

"It was genetics actually," V shifted under your hands trying to get you a better vantage point for the back rub. You could tell as he spoke that whatever that episode was had taken a lot out of him and that he was tired. "At least that's what the doctors said. I had brown eyes until I was a teenager, then they started to turn once I turned fifteen. By the time I was seventeen, they were completely changed. I still think it was something in the water." The two of you went silent again and sat listening to the sounds of the city in the distance. The cars and traffic but also the wind and sound of the water falling from the damn, the sounds of a couple strangers talking at the Data Term. You looked down at V after a few minutes and realized that he had drifted off to sleep. You smiled and sat back against the rock wall behind you running your hand gently through his hair, he stayed asleep as you relaxed against the stone wall and watched as his back heaved up and down as he slept. You checked your holo and it was shortly after three and you had one hell of a night, you were beginning to realize how tired you were, so you closed your eyes and continued to run your hand through his hair as you sat there, it didn't take long for you to fall asleep as well.

The next morning you opened your eyes and were in the same position as when you fell asleep. V hadn't moved and the sun was just getting into the sky, you holo told you it was 6AM, and you knew you weren't going to sleep much more than that here. You felt a slight chill as the cool morning wind blew and you realized you were still only wearing your pants. You pulled the blanket up around your shoulders as best you could, and you thought about the change of cloths you had in the car trunk. It wasn't important right now as you really had nothing else to do today and were enjoying what you had gotten yourself into. You ran your hand over V's shoulder his skin cool but not cold, he breathed gently, and you decided to let him sleep a while longer. It wouldn't be long before the morning traffic heading up here would likely wake him up anyway. When he woke up you decided you were going to ask him what the plan was to leave the city. You pulled up your holo and sent off some messages to your boss they would see on Monday morning telling them that you'd need to be off due to an emergency that came up. You'd wait for the follow up to tell them how long. Another look at V made you think about the fact he was dying; he was so young you couldn't imagine what could possibly be killing him that looked like what you saw the night before. Cancer was commonplace in Night City but was usually treatable and he didn't have any of the usual signs. You shifted a bit in your spot, and V lifted his head taking a deep breath he raised up a bit looking around a bit before looking back at you a small smile cracked his lips.

"Morning," he said and rolled to be on his back.

"Hey, how ya feel?" you asked resting one hand on his chest before caressing his face.

"I feel good." He sat up a bit to kiss you before laying back down and putting his arms behind his head and letting out a grunt. "Thanks for last night hey." He looked at you then glanced over back at the city.

"Anytime." You sat with your hands folded on your lap looking out at the city. "So, you really want me to come with you, huh?"

"Having second thoughts?" V looked back at you.

"Are you kidding I've already sent the message to my boss telling them I need to be out," you laughed to yourself a bit, "Didn't tell them how long yet, but they'll let me go."

"Then hell yeah I want you to come. Panam'll love you." He sat up from his position and sat beside you.

"You mentioned her last night, the Aldecaldos right?" you said looking over at him and bending your legs a bit to get the blood flowing again.

"Yeah, in another day we're getting outta Night City, taken a convoy just waitin on Mitch to repair the Basilisk before we leave."

"Jesus, you don't do anything small do you," you laughed, and he smiled at you.

"In the next few months, I'm not gonna do anything small," he looked at you and smiled, "You think you can handle that?"

"I'll be okay."

"Great." V patted you on the shoulder and stood up then pulled you to your feet and into another small kiss.

"You're so fuckin charming," you laughed. "How about we grab some chow, find a place indoors to rest our heads and you fill me in on how you got to where you are a bit."

"Are you kiddin? I don't even know your name I'm not gonna go eat with you." V turned his head a sarcastic smart-ass smile forming on his face.

"Oh, that's the line huh?" Sarcasm dripped from your words like thick oil.

"Hey man gotta have standards," he joked.

"It's Shay. Now let's go." V grabbed his jacket and the blanket and the two of you went back to the car. You went to breakfast that morning at one of the vendors in front of H8 where V's apartment was. He told you everything, about Soulkiller, Johnny Silverhand, and about how the Aldecaldos had become his family recently and what they went through with Arasaka. Of course, you had heard the news reports about Arasaka the day after it happened and wouldn't have believed it if he didn't show you the information he had collected on the company and some of the footage of his fight with Adam Smasher. For maybe the next year this was going to be your life and you were okay with that.