Mirko unzipped the body bag from the inside, and the sunlight from the windows in the back of the truck touched his face; he had the odd fancy that he was breathing fresh, unspoiled air- it was the inside of a truck, it wasn't that fresh- and then Palermo was on him, arms thrown about his neck. The embrace was almost suffocating, but the scent of him was so welcome Mirko felt something rise within him, tears and laughter both at once. A laughter that bubbled up from deep within his gut, from the place he hadn't thought he'd feel for a very long time.
Palermo pressed kisses to the back of his head, jittery and seemingly desperate, and Mirko relaxed as those kisses traveled over his forehead, the bridge of his nose, his cheek. The roads of Madrid were passing by quickly outside the truck, in all their noonday colours. Mirko thought the day looked nothing if not hopeful.
"I love you too," Mirko said, what he had wanted to do when they had been separated, when they had seemingly lost the war for good. "I love you too, Palermo."
"Martín," Mirko was corrected, the voice soft in his ear. "I told you that."
"Martín," Mirko agreed. "I love you, Martín."
Martín seemed shy of saying the words aloud now- but Mirko knew that about him, under his posturing and his callousness and his cruelty there was something remarkably fragile. Martín loosened his grip and kissed Mirko's lips instead, at first sweetly and then more fiercely. Mirko could feel him trembling, his heartbeat hard and fast in his chest where the knuckles of Mirko's hand brushed against him.
"You thought you could get away from me in there, hmm?" Martín purred, a pyretic imitation of his usual playfulness. "Getting trapped under that thing without my permission…"
"No," Mirko knew Martín was only flirting, but he didn't have the faculty to respond in kind. "Not away from you, no."
Martín laughed, a slightly maniacal sound, but there was a warmth to it that Mirko did not think he had heard before.
Martín turned to look out the window, eyes flickering back and forth across the landscape, and Mirko knew what he was thinking without his having to say: we did it.
They had done it. Now would come the peace.
