Aiden slept a lot over the next couple of days. Sometimes Jordi was there and sometimes he wasn't. More often than not Aiden could convince the other man to sit with him, at least for a little while. At some stage Jordi left their hideout to acquire new clothing for them both. Aiden smiled when he noticed that Jordi had taken his comment to heart and had replaced his designer suit with a new white one. The shirt was still black, and Aiden secretly missed the red on grey, but it was still an improvement. Jordi really hadn't seemed like Jordi without his usual flair. When he had come to San Francisco the black on black had almost made it seem as though he was in mourning.
And perhaps he had been. Perhaps he was in mourning for the death of his and Aiden's relationship. Not that it was dead. Far from it, if the tenderness that Jordi showed Aiden in those days of recovery was any indication.
Neither of them actually said the word 'sorry', or at least not with actual words. It would take a miracle for that to happen, but Jordi said it a thousand ways; in the gentle way he helped Aiden get to his feet and make it to the bathroom, in the way he would gently brush Aiden's hair back from his forehead when he thought that Aiden was asleep. Aiden didn't say sorry either, but he allowed Jordi his touches, and when he was feeling up to it gave Jordi some of his own in return. Sometimes when Jordi was sitting there with Aiden they would even entwine their fingers, holding onto each other's hands tightly until Aiden fell asleep once more.
There was one time when, in that hazy, dreamlike place halfway between being asleep and awake, Aiden had felt the press of Jordi's lips against his forehead.
"I'll see you soon babe," Jordi whispered. Or at least, that's what Aiden had thought he had whispered. He wasn't even sure that what was happening was real, or whether it was just part of a particularly sweet dream that his sleeping brain had come up with. He liked it, whatever it was.
"Wish me luck," Jordi, or dream-Jordi muttered.
There was silence for a moment, and then another kiss, this one feather-light against Aiden's lips.
Aiden smiled. He wanted to say something; perhaps to actually wish Jordi luck, but his sleep-hazed brain couldn't get his mouth or throat to move in the right way, and he was just so comfortable, and everything was so perfect, and he drifted back to sleep before he could do anything else.
When Aiden next woke there was no sign of Jordi. He had no way of knowing how long he had been asleep, or whether the kisses and what he now realized had been a farewell had actually occurred. A quick search around the container did not reveal any sign of a note that might explain where Jordi had gone or when he might be back.
When Aiden checked his phone he discovered one new message. He had grown so used to automatically deleting any message he received from Jordi that he almost deleted this one as well, but he stopped himself just in time.
When he opened it he didn't find much in the way of an explanation.
"Taking care of something," the message said. "Hopefully I won't be too long. Rest up."
That was it.
Aiden had no idea what could be so important that Jordi had to abandon Aiden to immediately take care of it. Surely he hadn't found employment in San Francisco already?
Aiden had absolutely no idea what counted as being 'not too long' in Jordi's book either. He assumed that Jordi would be back that night though, and he tried to settle back down and not worry too much. He was sure that whatever Jordi was up to, he was more than capable of handling it by himself.
There was still no sign of Jordi the next time Aiden woke up, and no new messages from him either. Aiden found it a lot harder to settle this time, and soon began pacing around the small container. Eventually it grew to be too stifling, and for the first time since he had been injured, he put on his shoes and socks and left the container, in desperate need of fresh air.
When outside he wished that he had some sort of spare fabric to hand that he might be able to use as a mask, but everything in the container was new and reasonably expensive. Jordi had thrown everything else out. Aiden knew that he wasn't nearly as easily recognized in San Francisco as he had been in Chicago, but he still felt open and vulnerable.
He needn't have worried. The container that Jordi had set them up in was hidden beneath an overpass, and while plenty of people were passing by on the busy road above, the only person that might have seen Aiden as he stumbled into the light of day was a destitute and probably homeless old man that seemed more interested in picking through a pile of refuse that had gathered in a nearby ditch than he was in Aiden.
Aiden began to walk, although he was careful not to stray too far from the container. He had been in San Francisco for a while, but the area that he was in now was an unfamiliar one. There wasn't much in the way of civilization nearby. Their hideout was positioned halfway between a small industrial area and a patch of rocky, untamed woodlands. When Aiden climbed a nearby hill to get a better lay of the land he spotted San Francisco bay just a few blocks away. After he spotted a couple of only vaguely familiar landmarks he realized that they were probably somewhere to the north of Oakland; far enough away from Anton Bagdonov and his Bratva buddies that Aiden probably didn't have to worry about them finding him.
Still, he couldn't help but worry. He knew that Jordi would be able to handle himself. Jordi was a professional after all, but Jordi had also been gone for almost an entire day. How long, Aiden asked himself once more, was 'not too long'?
He couldn't help but remember that half-awake moment, when Jordi had leaned down and placed a kiss on Aiden's forehead.
'Wish me luck.' Those had been Jordi's words. At least, Aiden was reasonably sure that had been it. He wasn't sure that 'wish me luck' inspired much in the way of confidence. If Jordi thought he needed a bit of extra luck, then perhaps whatever job he had taken was more difficult than Aiden had originally thought.
He returned to the safety of the container after only spending a little more than an hour outside. His explorations had tired him out much more quickly than he had anticipated, and by the time he returned to the container he was so exhausted that he fell face forward onto the bed and fell asleep almost immediately.
On the next day, or at least the next time Aiden woke up, there was still no sign of Jordi.
The other man had left plenty of food and other supplies for Aiden. The hacker wasn't sure that he could bring himself to eat much more than an oat bar, and even that didn't sit too well in his stomach. After some struggling he even managed to change his own bandages, although he did need an extra painkiller after that, and the process itself had taken a long time.
Aiden really was beginning to worry over Jordi's fate, and, once the bandage had been changed and Aiden was resting once more, he stepped outside of the shipping container once more and called the other man's number.
It rang a few times, but Jordi did not pick up.
Aiden told himself that didn't mean much. If the other man was on a job then he probably couldn't answer.
Or, and this was the first time he had thought this since Jordi's abrupt disappearance, maybe Jordi was just giving Aiden a taste of his own medicine. After all, Aiden had disappeared and had refused to answer any phone calls or messages from Jordi. Aiden couldn't even blame Jordi if that was what he was doing. Aiden deserved it after all. He only hoped that it wouldn't be three months before he heard from Jordi again.
Aiden took a deep breath and sent Jordi a quick text message.
'Where are you?'
Aiden waited a few minutes for a reply. When he didn't receive one he sat down on the nearest patch of relatively clean and flat looking ground and just watched the sun set over the bay. He was sure that he would hear back from Jordi. He had to. If Jordi didn't return then he didn't know what he would do; not rest until he found out what had happened to him, probably.
When Aiden's phone rang nearly an hour later, he had been so deep in thought that the sound made him jump. When he saw the caller ID, Aiden, who felt far more comfortable and at peace when he had his phone in his hand than in his pocket, actually fumbled and almost dropped it.
"Jordi!" Aiden cried out as soon as he answered the phone.
"Hey, I didn't wake you did I?" Jordi asked. Later Aiden would reflect that it was an uncharacteristically thoughtful thing for Jordi to say, but at that particular moment Aiden's mind was far too occupied with being angry at Jordi to worry about something so small.
"Where are you?" Aiden asked. He managed to stop himself from yelling the question, but only just.
"That's a surprise," Jordi replied cryptically. "You uh… How are you doing? You think you're up to walking a few blocks by yourself?"
"Sure," Aiden replied, even though he was full of questions that he wanted to ask Jordi. Where had the other man been? What the hell was he playing at? Did he really think three days counted as 'not too long'?
"There's a secluded stretch of shore a bit north of our little hideout," Jordi continued. "Meet me there in a few minutes?"
"Okay?" Aiden conceded, not exactly sure what it was that he was agreeing to or whether he should actually be agreeing to it.
With that Jordi ended the call, and Aiden was left staring at the phone and wondering exactly what it was that Jordi was planning.
Aiden took the time to clean himself up a little, and made the trek to the shoreline. It was the furthest he had walked since he had been injured, but he found himself itching to move, and with the help of a painkiller he made it to the shoreline without too much trouble.
Jordi wasn't there when Aiden showed up, or at least, not at first.
He had been waiting on the shoreline for only a couple of minutes when he spotted a large yacht heading straight for him. Aiden squinted, but there was no sign of anyone on board. It had to be Jordi though, didn't it?
The boat drew closer to Aiden and the shore. Aiden stood there and waited for the boat to slow down, but it didn't, and it was only when it started to get very close to dry land that Aiden realized the yacht wasn't going to stop until it beached itself. In fact it probably would have knocked Aiden over if he hadn't run to the side as it approached.
The boat shuddered and stopped only when the first few feet of its bow was wedged firmly in the sand and rubble of the San Francisco bay shoreline.
Aiden heard a familiar voice cursing from somewhere within the depths of the vehicle, and then Jordi emerged, slowly and confidently, his hair and suit both in perfect condition except for the few specks of blood that had made their way onto Jordi's face. Jordi did not look at all out of control, and certainly not like a man who had just seconds earlier been cursing the very expensive boat that he had just beached.
"Hi," Jordi said, leaning on the side of the boat and sending one of his Cheshire cat grins in Aiden's direction.
"You're on a boat," Aiden remarked.
"Yeah," Jordi replied. "Bet you never thought I'd be here. What? Don't give me that fucking look Pearce. That's how the fucking joke goes, right?"
Aiden couldn't help but smile, less because of the outdated joke, and more because of how flustered Jordi seemed by his own making it, and, more than any of it, the fact that Jordi was still alive and looked to be completely unharmed.
Jordi swung a ladder down over the side of the yacht. Rather than use all of the rungs however he simply stepped onto the second highest rung and then jumped down onto the gravelly sand below.
He began to stride towards Aiden, his suit and hair and stance and everything about him completely flawless, even the specks of blood, and he was unharmed and Aiden wasn't sure that he had ever found Jordi more attractive than he did in that moment. He was half-tempted to run up to Jordi, wrap his arms around the other man's shoulders and kiss him senseless. Perhaps, if they were anyone other than Aiden Pearce and Jordi Chin, then he would have.
"You asshole," Aiden said instead as Jordi drew close. "Where the fuck were you?"
"Taking care of your Bratva problem. This little beauty here," Jordi said, pointing at the now thoroughly beached boat behind him, "used to belong to one Anton Bagdonov."
"Used to?" Aiden asked.
"Yeah," Jordi said. He began to walk towards the boat, and Aiden fell in line behind him.
"Anton Bagdonov isn't exactly alive anymore," Jordi announced, sending Aiden another wide grin.
"You didn't," Aiden muttered.
There was no way that Jordi had just happened to be hired to kill the man who had shot Aiden; the odds of that happening were almost non-existent; which meant that Jordi had gone after Anton Bagdonov as revenge for what he had done to Aiden. Because this was Jordi, Aiden suspected that the gesture was actually far more selfish than it appeared at first glance, but nevertheless Aiden found that he was touched.
"I did," Jordi replied, still grinning and obviously very pleased with himself. "His body's somewhere out there in the middle of the bay, along with all of the other Bratva assholes I killed, but I did make sure to leave some rather spectacular security footage for the Bratva to discover later."
Aiden stared at Jordi, not sure what he was supposed to say in response to that, and mildly appalled by the fact that he very much wanted to take a look at that security footage. It had been far too long since he had watched Jordi work.
"Yeah, figured I'd send the Bratva a little message," Jordi said. "No-one messes with me."
There was a pause; a few seconds of silence in which neither of them said anything, but a thousand unspoken thoughts passed through the air. After all, the Bratva hadn't messed with Jordi. Not exactly.
Jordi cleared his throat.
"Or those I care about," he added, spitting the words out quickly as though they tasted bad in his mouth.
Aiden smiled regardless.
"So, I have a boat, at least for the time being," he said. "You want me to show you around?"
"Sure," Aiden said, shrugging and trying to look as though he was not as touched by what Jordi had done to the Bratva as he really was.
The yacht was even bigger on the inside than it had looked on the outside. Not only were there several spacious bedrooms and a full bar, but it soon became clear that the Bratva had been running an entire operation off it. The tech on board put Anton Bagdonov's little workshop in the industrial park to shame, and after only a moment in Anton's rooms, Aiden realized that Jordi had probably both discovered and dismantled the heart of Project Streamer.
"Jesus Christ Jordi," Aiden muttered as he tried to get Bagdonov's computer back up and running. "What the hell did you do?"
"Fucked if I know," Jordi shrugged. "I left the hacking and stuff up to the other guy."
"You needed help? Jordi Chin, are you losing your edge?"
"He was one of the local bleeding heart hacktivists," Jordi continued, ignoring Aiden's jab. "He stopped whatever operation Anton was running. I'm assuming you were going after the shit-stain for the same reason as he was?"
"Project Streamer?"
"Fucked if I know," Jordi replied, gesturing to what had once been Bagdonov's set-up. "But they were piggybacking off the Streamer servers when I ran into this Dedsec kid, so yeah… Probably."
Aiden frowned down at what was left of Bagdonov's computer. Between Jordi's hacker friend frying the system and Jordi smashing half of it with, by the looks of things, Bagdonov's face, there wasn't really much of the machine left. He wasn't sure if even he would be able to access whatever data was leftover.
Oh well. It wasn't as though his investigation into Project Streamer had been anything but busywork. Whatever it was, it had been dealt with, although Aiden made a mental note to contact the San Francisco Dedsec cell, if only to satisfy his curiosity and thank them for putting up with what had undoubtedly been Jordi at his worst.
Jordi had made himself comfortable leaning up against a patch of wall that was miraculously undamaged and completely free of blood. He seemed to be waiting for something.
Aiden approached him and rubbed away the small splash of blood that he had spotted earlier. Jordi's eyes went wide.
"Blood?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Probably Anton's," Jordi said with a shrug.
Aiden leaned in and pressed a kiss to the spot he had just cleaned. Jordi rolled his eyes as Aiden pulled back, but did not protest.
Aiden took up a patch of blank wall next to Jordi and pulled out his phone. The one security camera in the room looked to have been destroyed, but while the camera itself was no longer functional, Aiden was able to use its connection to the ship's onboard security system to access the footage it had recorded before being destroyed.
It only took a little bit of searching to find the clip of Jordi 'taking care' of Anton. Aiden watched the footage closely as Jordi slipped into the room, completely unseen. He could have taken Anton Bagdonov out instantly and silently without his target ever knowing Jordi was there. It was what Jordi would have usually done.
Instead Aiden watched as Jordi hoisted Bagdonov from his chair and threw him across the room. Bagdonov attempted to fight back, but he didn't stand a chance. Jordi pummeled the man, kicking him and punching him and slamming him against nearby surfaces.
Jordi wanted Anton Bagdonov to be scared before he died. He wanted him to hurt. What Aiden was watching wasn't professional at all. This was personal.
And Jordi had done it all because Bagdonov had hurt Aiden.
"Oh my god Jordi," Aiden said, trying not to smile as, in the video, Jordi turned around and fired one perfectly aimed shot at the camera. Jordi was ever the showman. "You do know that you're a violent psychopath, right?"
"But you love me anyway, right Pearce?"
"Yeah," Aiden replied without even thinking about it.
The admission took Aiden by surprise, and judging by the stunned look that appeared on Jordi's face, he wasn't the only one. The fixer stared at Aiden with wide eyes for a moment, before he shook his head and a wide grin appeared on his face.
"You fucking asshole," Jordi said.
Aiden waited for him to follow that up with a reminder that neither of them were supposed to talk about their feelings, but it never came. Instead the fixer reached out and grabbed Aiden's hand. With both of Jordi's hands cupped possessively around Aiden's own he brought Aiden's hand up to his mouth and pressed a gentle kiss to Aiden's knuckles.
The gesture surprised Aiden even more than his own admission of love had. He wondered if this was the closest thing to a confession of love that he would ever receive from Jordi, and felt his face grow flushed at the thought.
"What the fuck was that?" Aiden asked as Jordi let go of his hand. Despite his words he couldn't help but smile at the other man as he spoke.
"I don't know," Jordi said with a shrug. "You were being an idiot so it was either do that sort of sappy bullshit or throw you overboard."
"That doesn't make any sense," Aiden scoffed.
"Neither do you," Jordi immediately replied. "Neither does our relationship. Neither does the fact that for some reason the two of us are standing in a big-ass boat run aground in the San Francisco bay area when there was a perfectly good penthouse apartment in Chicago with our names on it."
"That place did not have our names on it," Aiden pointed out. "We didn't…"
"My point is," Jordi interrupted Aiden by placing a finger on his mouth. "We're both fucking idiots who probably deserve each other."
Aiden stared at Jordi for a moment, his green eyes meeting Jordi's black ones. Then, still keeping eye contact with Jordi, Aiden pressed his lips against Jordi's finger in a brief kiss. He watched Jordi's eyes widen, before he hastily pulled his finger away.
"I guess we do," Aiden conceded.
"What?" Jordi asked, sounding as though the unexpected kiss to his finger had left him more than a little distracted.
"We deserve each other," Aiden concluded.
That brought a smile from Jordi; and not the usual, wide Cheshire cat grin, but something far softer and more sincere. Aiden admired the sight for a few moments, before clearing his throat.
"So what now?" he asked Jordi. "You've dealt with Anton Bagdonov. What's next for the great and unbelievably irritating Jordi Chin?"
"I don't know," Jordi replied. "I don't really have any jobs lined up, so I suppose it depends on you. Any more Bratva assholes on your shit list that we need to take care of?"
"I don't know what I'm going to do," Aiden conceded. "Since leaving Chicago I've sort of just been taking things one step at a time."
"Now that's an idea I can get behind," Jordi said. "You think you'll go back to Chicago?"
"I don't know," Aiden replied.
"You know," Jordi began, "with this baby we could probably go wherever the fuck we wanted."
He thumped the wall beside him. Aiden couldn't help but smile again.
"Sure," the hacker conceded. "If you can get a few extra people to help us push her back into the water and to serve as a proper crew."
"What, you think the two of us can't handle her by ourselves?" Jordi asked.
"I can't pilot a ship this big," Aiden said, "and judging by the fact that you ran her aground, neither can you."
"Point taken," Jordi said with a shrug. "You know, we could just stay in San Francisco for a while."
"We could," Aiden conceded.
"You do need to rest up."
"I do, and I want to pay the local Dedsec group a visit."
"Yeah? You know, we could even stay on this boat if we wanted. It even comes with a whole party's worth of booze and shitty finger food."
"Might be a bit conspicuous," Aiden objected. "Someone's bound to spot it and report it eventually."
"Yeah, you're probably right. We should probably find another penthouse to stay in."
"I'm sure I could um… 'acquire' another one, at least for a few days."
"I'm sure one of the assholes on this boat had a nice penthouse apartment that we could borrow. You know, seeing as they're not going to need it anymore," Jordi said. That familiar shit-eating grin was back, and Aiden for one was glad to see it.
"Sure."
"Although… it would be a shame to let this boat go," Jordi added, gesturing to their surrounds as he did, "without having sex in it at least once."
Aiden rolled his eyes at the other man.
"What is it with you and having sex in places where you've killed someone?" he asked Jordi.
Jordi shrugged.
"Come on. This is a pretty nice place," he said, leaning closer to Aiden so that their lips were less than an inch apart. "If you ignore the blood stains and the faint whiff of death and seawater."
"It is pretty nice," Aiden conceded, feeling the other man's breath against his lips as he spoke.
"Wait until you see the bedroom," Jordi said.
Aiden had expected Jordi's lips to press against his own, and he found himself closing his eyes in preparation. Instead Jordi pulled back completely, dragging Aiden along behind him as he stormed through the boat, or what was left of it.
"Jordi?" Aiden asked as they passed through a particularly bloody hallway. "Did you kill every single person on board?"
"What? No, just the Bratva goons, and half of their corpses were the work of my Dedsec buddy. Most of the civilians had enough of a self-preservation instinct to head for the lifeboats as soon as I told them Anton was dead and that I was taking over."
"Of course that wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that you threatened to kill them if they didn't?" Aiden suggested.
"It might have," Jordi conceded. Aiden wondered if perhaps he was beginning to know the fixer and his habits a little too well.
"Well, here we are," Jordi said, opening the door on a bedroom that was quite elaborate and beautiful considering they were still on board a boat. "It's not a penthouse apartment, but I think it will do for a night or two."
Aiden was inclined to agree, but before he could think of what to say Jordi was entwining their fingers in a way that was quite distracting, and leaning in close, and then of course they were kissing, and this kiss was sudden and glorious and Aiden found himself moaning into it almost as soon as it began.
Their hands and fingers stayed entwined between them, and they traded kiss after kiss, keeping their lips locked together more often than not, as Jordi slowly dragged Aiden over to the bed.
Aiden wondered whether he should have taken a painkiller or two before allowing Jordi to drag him to the bedroom. After all, they were usually pretty rough when having sex, and Aiden doubted that his injured chest would be able to support him throughout an entire session with Jordi without at least some pain.
He tensed, preparing himself for the inevitable clashing of limbs and mouths as they fell into bed together, but it never came. Instead Jordi pulled back from the kiss, sat down on the side of the bed and then, very gently, pulled Aiden down into his lap.
His arms came to wrap around Aiden's torso, low enough that they would not disturb Aiden's bullet wound, and pulled him close. His mouth descended on Aiden's neck, planting kiss after kiss there, before roaming to seek out his chin and ear as well.
Aiden gasped and ground against Jordi's lap. Jordi's lips continued to dance over Aiden's skin, kisses soft and gentle and loving. His hands snaked beneath the white cotton of Aiden's shirt, moving up and tracing the curve of Aiden's back, but stopping before they reached the edge of Aiden's bandages. They then began a slow trek back down, where they dipped beneath the edge of Aiden's trousers, snuck into his underwear and gently caressed Aiden's rear.
Aiden wrapped his arms around Jordi's shoulders, moaned and whimpered and rocked in Jordi's lap. Before long he was so hard that it hurt. This wasn't a type of intimacy that he was used to, and definitely not something that he had thought he might enjoy with Jordi one day. Jordi was being so soft and gentle with Aiden, as though he was a priceless, precious thing that might break if Jordi wasn't careful.
Aiden could feel Jordi through their pants, his cock just as hard and erect as Aiden's was, both of them already aching to be free of their trousers. Aiden whimpered and arched his neck, trying to give Jordi easier access. Jordi took it, kissing and licking at Aiden's neck and even biting, although even the bites that he placed there were more gentle scraps of teeth on skin rather than anything that might leave a mark.
Jordi pulled back and stared up at Aiden, looking at the hacker as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing. In that moment, seeing his own lust and wonder and need and yes, even love, no matter how fiercely Jordi might deny it, reflected back in the other man's gaze, Aiden found that he could actually believe that Jordi thought he was as precious and perfect as his touches might lead Aiden to think.
"Aiden," Jordi gasped. It sounded strange, almost alien to hear his first name coming from Jordi's lips.
It was always 'Pearce, Pearce, Pearce' with him, as though the formality of Aiden's last name was necessary to keep their professional relationship from devolving into the ugly mess of emotions and mutual need that it now was.
Perhaps this downward spiral; this compromise between the two of them had been inevitable from the start. Perhaps Jordi had been aware of the electric, unspoken potential between the two of them long before Aiden had. Perhaps he had known about it even before The Incident, but unlike Aiden he had been smart enough to leave it alone; to ignore it, at least until he had not been able to ignore it anymore, and with one inappropriate touch and one proposition, had started to break down the wall between them.
"Jordi," Aiden whispered, and then they were kissing again, the kiss deeper but just as gentle and loving as it had been before.
Jordi's hands roamed down, his fingers drifting over Aiden's stomach in a gentle caress, before he reached the bulge that had formed in the front of Aiden's pants. He groped Aiden through the fabric a couple of times.
Aiden pulled back from the kiss with a cry. He then found himself arching up into the other man's hand, desperate for more.
"Jordi," Aiden breathed the other man's name again, but this time it came out half-strangled and desperate.
Jordi grinned at Aiden for a moment, and then leaned in, capturing Aiden's mouth once more.
"Hey babe," Jordi whispered as he pulled back from the kiss. "Do you want to have some fun?"
"Yes?" Aiden replied, wondering what the fuck Jordi was on. Of course he wanted to 'have some fun' with Jordi. Wasn't that the whole point of this?
"Good," Jordi murmured, his lips caressing Aiden's own in the ghost of a kiss.
His hand massaged the rapidly forming erection in Aiden's pants, and any confusion Aiden might have felt at Jordi's earlier actions swiftly fled to be replaced with nothing but lust and need and somewhere behind all of it, love, and the simple relief he felt at everything seeming to be back to normal as far as his relationship with Jordi was concerned.
Aiden reached for Jordi's belt and began to unbuckle it. He had gotten as far as starting to pull Jordi's now unzipped pants down before one of Jordi's hands moved to grab hold of one of Aiden's. He had just been about to wrap it around Jordi's erection, but for some reason Jordi had gently but firmly put a stop to that.
Jordi pulled back from what had been a strangely deep but slow kiss.
"Not yet," Jordi murmured, his voice deep and broken from lust.
Aiden wondered what Jordi was planning, or whether he was planning anything about this at all. Whatever was going on, Jordi wanted to take things a little slower this time, and Aiden was more than happy to do just that.
Jordi moved Aiden's hand up to rest on Jordi's chest, right near his heart. Aiden ran his hand over the other man's still-clothed form, his fingers sneaking beneath the rich fabric of Jordi's jacket, and the thumb moving to toy with one of his buttons. Jordi let out a sigh of encouragement, and then, together, they shrugged off Jordi's jacket.
Aiden moved his hand to the top button of Jordi's shirt, and glanced up at him, wordlessly asking whether the other man would be fine with Aiden beginning to undress him. Jordi tipped his head in a subtle gesture that was probably supposed to be a nod and then leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to Aiden's cheek.
Aiden started to undo the other man's shirt, slowly, one button at a time, the seconds or minutes between each one peppered with kisses and gentle caresses.
Eventually Jordi's shirt was removed, and then Aiden's, and still they kissed and caressed as though they had all the time in the world.
Jordi's arms moved to wrap around Aiden's back once more, cradling him and pulling him closer.
"Lay down babe," Jordi whispered against Aiden's lips.
Aiden nodded, and let Jordi guide him so that he was laying down on the bed. It was luxuriously soft, and Aiden felt himself sink into a pile of soft blankets and even softer pillows. All the while he found himself completely absorbed by the sight of the man hovering over him; a man who continued to stare down at Aiden and touch him as though he was something precious.
Jordi removed his own pants; the process swifter and far more efficient than any of their other touches or movements had been, and then turned his attention back to Aiden, that dark, meaningful gaze landing on the hacker once more.
Aiden felt pinned to the bed by that gaze, and he was completely unable to look away as Jordi started to undo Aiden's pants and then pull them down. He still held Jordi's gaze as Jordi leaned down and then, incredibly deliberate in his eye contact, grabbed the rim of Aiden's boxers in his teeth and pulled them down.
Aiden's eyes slammed shut then. He was no longer able to hold eye contact with Jordi. Not when he was pulling moves like that. The move with Jordi's teeth and Aiden's boxers had been one that Jordi had pulled on him during their first night together by the river, and it was one that had featured far too heavily in Aiden's fantasies of the other man ever since.
By the time Aiden next felt capable of opening his eyes once more Jordi had flung Aiden's underwear to some unknown corner of the room.
It wasn't just Aiden's either. Aiden caught a glimpse of Jordi's cock, just as naked and erect as Aiden's own now, before Jordi was leaning back down, his mouth about to descend on…
Oh god. Aiden's eyes slammed shut once more as Jordi's lips wrapped around the tip of Aiden's cock. The pleasure was almost too much by itself after missing Jordi for so long. He wasn't sure that he could watch Jordi sucking him off as well; not if he wanted to last any longer than a couple of minutes.
If Jordi's movements were any indication then he wanted to take his time as well. When he started to move his mouth up and down Aiden's cock it was at a pace that was almost infuriatingly, torturously slow. Before long Aiden was moaning and begging and squirming.
His eyes finally opened, and he looked down at Jordi, their eyes meeting for a moment right before Jordi took every inch of Aiden's cock inside of his mouth in one slow, steady movement that had Aiden cursing and having to focus far too hard on not coming right then and there.
Jordi placed a hand on Aiden's stomach, gentle but firm in an effort to calm him. Aiden had forgotten all about his own injuries, but it was clear that Jordi hadn't. Jordi didn't move at all for a while; just knelt there with Aiden's cock almost completely engulfed in his mouth as he waited for Aiden to still, and then, when Aiden's breathing had reached a pace that was a little closer to being healthy and normal, Jordi resumed bobbing up and down on Aiden's cock.
It was all so good; so perfectly pleasurable that Aiden barely noticed Jordi's hands shifting, guiding Aiden's hips up a little, at least until he felt a couple of Jordi's fingers pushing inside of his rear.
Aiden squirmed, unable to stay still while Jordi was doing so much to him. Jordi's two fingers curled inside him, finding that particular spot inside of Aiden so quickly and with such precision that Aiden screamed and bucked up into Jordi's mouth.
Jordi let out an appreciative hum that sent a small wave of vibrations through Aiden's cock and had him letting out a groan that sounded almost as desperate as the scream had.
Jordi pulled off Aiden's cock and grinned up at him as the two fingers inside of Aiden continued to massage Aiden's prostate.
"Careful babe," Jordi said, sounding like he was only half joking. "Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself, would we?"
Not that Jordi showed any signs at all of stopping what he was doing to Aiden. His mouth returned to Aiden's cock, where he began sucking the tip so hard that Aiden was sure he wasn't going to last much longer.
It all seemed so perfect and so familiar, as though he was made for Jordi to do this to him. Although, perhaps it was something else as well. It seemed a little too close to some of Aiden's fantasies for it to be a complete coincidence.
When Aiden realized what was happening he felt like an idiot.
"This is…" Aiden didn't realize he had said the words aloud until Jordi looked up at him, at the surprise and wonder on his face and pulled off Aiden's cock. The fingers inside of him stilled as well, and Aiden let out a groan of disappointment.
"What?" Jordi asked him. "You were saying something, and it didn't sound like it was going to be 'this is the best fucking feeling in the world. Oh please don't stop what you're doing Jordi.'"
"This is just like The Incident," Aiden said.
"The Incident?" Jordi asked, clearly confused, and Aiden immediately cursed his own stupidity. Why the hell had he actually referred to it as The Incident, as though Jordi was going to have any clue in the world what he was talking about?
"That first night, by the river in Chicago," Aiden explained. "You're doing the same things. We're even near water."
Jordi grinned up at Aiden, and Aiden realized that the replication of that night had been completely deliberate.
"Got a much better bed this time though," Jordi pointed out.
Aiden wondered why Jordi might be inspired to do such a thing.
"A new beginning?" Aiden asked.
"More like an attempt to improve the old one."
"I wasn't aware that anything about it needed improving," Aiden said. No, as far as he was concerned that night had, in retrospect, been absolutely perfect. He considered telling Jordi that Aiden's thoughts had lingered on The Incident for weeks after, his mind replaying the events over and over.
"How about the fact that this time I don't feel like I'm pushing you into anything?" Jordi replied, and Aiden realized that the other man sounded quite serious about the whole thing. Had Jordi actually been worried about that the first time? He hadn't gone away thinking that he had forced Aiden, had he? All right, so perhaps Aiden had taken some convincing, perhaps Jordi had pressured him a little, but…
"I'm glad you pushed," Aiden said.
"Damn it Pearce," Jordi muttered. "You shouldn't say shit like that. Asshole."
Aiden wasn't entirely sure what Jordi's problem was with what he had just said, but at that moment he couldn't really care, as long as Jordi continued what he had been doing.
"You going to continue?" Aiden asked, threading one hand through Jordi's hair and trying to gently guide the other man back down to where Aiden's cock was now desperately seeking attention.
"Only if you want me to," Jordi replied.
"Please?" Aiden tried. After all, that was what Jordi had been looking for on that first night by the river.
That was all it took. Aiden could see the sharp inhale of air and the arousal that shot through Jordi's body at the sound of that one, simple word.
"You got it," Jordi said. Then, with a wink, he was leaning back down to take Aiden in mouth again.
Aiden couldn't remember much about the head that Jordi had given him on that first night; just that it had been mind-blowingly good. It couldn't have been this good though, and Jordi couldn't have been this skilled, otherwise there would have been no way that Aiden would have been able to stay as quiet as he had, or resist pursuing Jordi with the hopes of another hook-up for as long as he had. Perhaps it was just that stupid part of his brain that had fallen in love with Jordi speaking, or perhaps it was just the fact that with the exception of that one, violent encounter in the hotel, Aiden hadn't slept with Jordi in months, but whatever it was, Aiden was in heaven at that moment.
Jordi's fingers slipped back inside Aiden, and within seconds they had found that sweet spot inside Aiden again and were stroking it mercilessly.
Aiden let out a scream as Jordi's fingers crooked just right. Jordi hummed happily as he continued to bob up and down on Aiden's cock, the vibrations adding to what was already an almost overwhelming amount of pleasure.
"Oh god… no," Aiden murmured as Jordi continued to suck and swallow. "Jordi… Mmmm…. I'm not… I'm not supposed to come yet. That's not… That's not how it went."
Oh god. He was so close. Between Jordi's mouth and Jordi's fingers Aiden knew that he would lose himself at any second. He held onto it though. He couldn't. Not yet.
Just when Aiden was sure he couldn't take any more without coming, Jordi pulled off Aiden's cock. He grinned up at Aiden and Aiden's heart seemed to thud even more powerfully within his chest than it had before.
Jordi kissed the side of Aiden's cock and then shuffled himself up the bed, his body touching Aiden's own in a disappointingly small number of places. Aiden found that he couldn't do much more than stare at the other man.
"So remind me Pearce," Jordi said, rolling his shoulders and licking his lips in a way that put Aiden in mind of some sort of predatory big cat on the prowl, ready to strike. "What came next?"
Aiden swallowed, finding his throat unexpectedly dry.
"You…" he murmured, feeling himself flush as he tried to speak. "You fucked me."
"That's a bit vague, isn't it?" Jordi asked. "Besides, 'fuck' seems like such a crude word for what's about to happen here."
Aiden was half tempted to say something like 'hurry up and stick your fucking dick in my ass' just to piss Jordi off. Perhaps the Aiden Pearce of a year ago would have done precisely that. Not now though.
"Make love to me?" Aiden tried instead, because he was feeling particularly brave.
If he didn't know any better, Aiden would have guessed that his words actually managed to take Jordi's breath away. The other man froze and just stared, wide-eyed at Aiden for a moment, until Aiden reached up to run his fingers through the other man's hair once more.
"That's… um…" Jordi fumbled, his tongue darting out to moisten his lips for a moment. Oh god. It seemed like he really was speechless. That was definitely a new phenomenon as far as Jordi went.
"That's not actually any more specific than the last one was," Jordi said. The sincere smile that he sent beaming down at Aiden let the hacker know however that the comment had nevertheless been appreciated.
"Jordi," Aiden growled.
"Yes?" Jordi replied, grinning like an idiot.
Aiden beckoned for Jordi to come closer. As Jordi leaned down Aiden pushed himself up a little so that he could whisper right into Jordi's ear.
"If I remember correctly," Aiden began. "What happens next is…"
"Yes?"
"What happens next is you push inside me so slowly that it's torture for both of us, inch by inch, until you're all the way inside me."
This time Aiden definitely heard the other man's breath hitch.
"And then you make love to me, slow and deep, until the both of us lose our minds and I beg for more."
"Jesus fucking Christ Pearce," Jordi gasped.
Aiden grinned triumphantly and then lay back down on the bed.
"So, are you going to get to that or are you all talk?" he asked, delighting in how flustered he had managed to make Jordi.
Jordi stared down at Aiden, chest heaving, his eyes even darker than normal with blatant lust and need.
He leaned down, capturing Aiden's mouth in a brief, bruising kiss that was the roughest out of any touches that he had given Aiden that day, before pulling back.
"I am going to make you feel so good they're going to hear your screams back in Chicago," Jordi promised.
This time it was Aiden who suddenly found it difficult to regulate his breathing. He could remember the last time; could remember falling apart in Jordi's hands, moaning and begging and barely recognizing himself as he pleaded for the other man, and that had been before Aiden had fallen in love with him.
He hadn't recovered when he felt Jordi pressing inside of him. It was just the tip at first. He moved just as slowly as he had promised, and was even more gentle than Aiden had expected.
As Jordi moved Aiden quickly found himself torn. The first time that they had slept together he had mostly lain there beneath Jordi and let the other man metaphorically pull him to pieces. This time however he wanted to reach out; to pull Jordi close and never let go. He craved intimacy, but at the same time he found himself already strangely invested in the scenario that Jordi had set up.
At the end of the next slow thrust Jordi whimpered, letting Aiden know that the other man was just as affected by all of this as Aiden was. He almost collapsed on top of Aiden, but caught his own weight in time, and leaned down to mouth hungrily at the skin on Aiden's neck.
That was it. Aiden couldn't take it anymore. Accuracy be damned. He needed to be closer to Jordi. This was supposed to be The Incident but done better, and better meant more Jordi, meant more touching, meant being closer and actually allowing himself to love this infuriating man. Aiden wrapped his arms tightly around Jordi and held him close. He spread his legs wider, welcoming Jordi inside and moaned when Jordi took advantage of the new position to push, slowly and carefully, deeper inside Aiden.
Together they set up a pace that was slow and careful. Despite how desperate Aiden was for more, he knew that Jordi was being mindful of Aiden's injury, probably more mindful than Aiden himself was, and that was enough to touch him, to give him hope that maybe Jordi was just as in love as Aiden was.
Jordi seemed to focus almost entirely on Aiden as well; on hitting Aiden's prostate and giving him as much pleasure as possible. Whenever Aiden asked for a kiss, either verbally or with hungry lips that chased after Jordi's own or a tilted neck that exposed skin that was just begging for Jordi's mouth to descend upon it, Jordi responded eagerly, devouring Aiden's screams and leaving kiss after tender kiss all over Aiden's face and neck and shoulders.
By the end of it Aiden could barely breath; could barely think. There was nothing but Jordi's touches and Jordi's kisses, and those dark, dark eyes that stared right down into Aiden's soul whenever they weren't closed in pleasure. Aiden felt as though he was drowning; in Jordi's eyes and in the pleasure Jordi was giving him. It was all too much; too perfect, and he soon realized he was crying.
"Pearce, babe," Jordi whispered, leaning down to kiss the tears away. "You all right? I'm not hurting you am I?"
He stilled inside Aiden, at least for a moment, and Aiden cried out in desperation.
"Oh god Jordi," Aiden begged. "Don't stop. Please don't stop. Please, just keep…"
He clutched at Jordi, pulling him down for another kiss. Jordi seemed to get the message and made himself at home inside of Aiden's mouth and body once more.
When they both came it was not with the loud, wordless scream that Aiden had let out the first time. Instead he merely let out a whimper that was quickly smothered by Jordi's lips. Aiden's orgasm was less a climax and more a slow, gentle release from the almost overwhelming pleasure that he had been drowning in up until then, and it was still incredible, far more amazing than it had any right to be.
As he came down he was vaguely aware of Jordi burying his head in Aiden's neck, of his hips stuttering and his breath catching.
"Pearce," he murmured into the crook of Aiden's neck. "Oh fuck… Pearce."
Jordi clutched onto Aiden like a lifeline, and even though he never said the words, Aiden heard them in the way Jordi held onto him, in the way his lips had pressed so gently against Aiden's skin. He had missed this just as much as Aiden had; had missed making love (because there was no denying that was what this was now), had missed the way that their bodies fit together so well. Aiden wondered if maybe, like him, Jordi had missed simply being around each other.
It was stupid and frustrating but Aiden was just so happy and comfortable like this.
They stayed there for a long time, limbs intertwined and sweat and the evidence of their lovemaking smeared over their skin. Aiden didn't mind. In fact he wasn't sure that he ever wanted to leave this moment.
"Stay with me this time," Aiden pleaded as he clung to Jordi with all of his might.
"Only if you stay as well," Jordi murmured, one hand clasping onto Aiden's rear possessively, the other wrapped around his shoulders, the combined effect being that Aiden was pressed quite comfortably against the other man's side.
"I'm not going anywhere this time," Aiden promised. "Not without you."
Jordi let out a short, quiet laugh in response to that; the sort of laugh that didn't suggest amusement at all.
"What sort of co-dependent bullshit is this?" Jordi asked as his thumb ran over the bandage on Aiden's chest.
"How the fuck should I know?" Aiden replied. "You're the one who followed me here and then insisted on going after Anton Bagdonov."
"Well yeah," Jordi immediately replied. "I lost a perfectly good suit because of that asshole, not to mention the time I spent fucking nursing you back to health. Don't even start me on the amount of bullshit I had to go through to actually find the guy."
Aiden almost opened his mouth to accuse Jordi of being in love with him again, but then Jordi's words came back to him. 'I don't talk about my feelings and you don't talk about your feelings. That's the only fucking way that this is going to work.' Aiden wasn't entirely sure that was true, but nevertheless he suppressed both the comment he wanted to make and that small, irritating part of him that just wanted to open up and say that cursed L-word for real, damn the consequences.
Because he was in love with Jordi Chin. It still seemed stupid to him and he was convinced that he had the worst taste in men in the world. How else could he explain why he felt so absolutely safe and comfortable, lying there in the arms of a psychopath in a boat on which had been practically bathed in blood? It was perfect bliss, and before long he found himself relaxing completely, nuzzling into Jordi as he slipped into sleep's sweet embrace.
"And of course you're fucking falling asleep," Jordi said, albeit with a smile still on his face. "What is it with you falling asleep right after we have sex? Do I wear you out that much Pearce?"
"I'm comfortable," Aiden said against Jordi's skin, although he had a feeling the words were completely indecipherable. He was comfortable though. The most comfortable and secure and relaxed that he had felt for a very, very long time.
"Yeah, of course you are," Jordi said, and it sounded at least a little like a complaint.
"Besides," Aiden murmured, "that's how this went the first time. Have to replicate every little bit…"
"Just let me…" Jordi muttered, as he shifted a little beneath Aiden, moving one arm so that it was no longer pinned by Aiden's body and wrapped it loosely around Aiden's bare shoulders instead. One of his legs shifted as well, entwining with Aiden's own in a different position than before.
Jordi repositioned them so that Aiden's head was tucked beneath Jordi's own, placed a brief kiss on Aiden's forehead, and then seemed to settle.
"Right," he said, seemingly content with his work. "I'm comfortable now too. Sleep away Pearce."
It was another one of those rare moments in which Jordi sounded completely sincere and nearly as content as Aiden felt. He found himself smiling softly as he relaxed against the other man's body. He had forgotten how nicely the two of them fit together.
"I love you…" Aiden murmured as his eyes closed once more.
Perhaps it was just his imagination. More than likely it was just a dream, but right before Aiden drifted off to sleep he swore he could feel Jordi's lips pressing another gentle kiss to his forehead.
"Yeah, yeah," Jordi muttered. "Me too you asshole."