"Say a Prayer"
Leo Fitz wasn't a religious man; he never had been. He was a man of science, who'd had the notion of soulmates… well, the opposite of being drummed into his head. As soon as his semi-homophobic parents saw where his soulmark was placed, they decided that soulmateship should be discouraged in the household. Fitz decided that he liked boys fairly early on in his life, and his father left not long after that, reinforcing the idea that Fate's suggestions were just that: suggestions. So he filled his life with science. It was exact, it was predictable, it was solid.
He needed that more than he needed a 'true love'. Someone would come along some day; he just needed to be patient, and choose for himself when he was ready.
In the meantime, there was SHIELD. Dear, dear sweet science and SHIELD. Jemma, Mack, Skye, Hunter, Coulson… They all needed him, or so they said. No mythical other half of his soul. And as long as he never met his soulmate – not that a few words on his skin meant anything, of course – then he wouldn't die anytime soon. Admittedly, when he thought he was going to die to save Jemma, or when HYDRA was attacking SHIELD, he'd had a couple of moments when he'd regretted not believing. Then he reminded himself that his soulmate hadn't been there to save him, which meant that soulmateship really was just a load of rubbish like his parents had taught him.
Fitz didn't believe in higher powers, and he sure as hell never prayed. Wouldn't want to tempt fate, eh? In fact, he'd pretty much forgotten his words. It's not like they were in the ideal place, barely visible even in the buff. So he sat, waiting for Hunter and Mike to return from a dead drop while Coulson watched through binoculars nearby. As far as he was aware, 'real' SHIELD still didn't know their location, and they were wearing glasses, so they were disguised.
…In hindsight, a pair of glasses wasn't the best disguise in the world. He imagined it was supposed to be refuge in audacity. HYDRA wouldn't be expecting them to go out looking like themselves, right? On the other hand, HYDRA had been in SHIELD for decades. They'd know to be prepared for anything.
"Ridiculous," he muttered.
"Quiet on the comms, Fitz," Coulson said. Fitz suppressed a sigh, slumping forward, and covered his face with his hands. He rubbed his cheeks, his eyes, and then pressed his fists together as he stared ahead.
"Saying your prayers, boy?" he heard, before a hand went around his throat. A soft voice, a calloused palm, and an extremely sharp nail against his jugular vein.
"No," he said. Whose nails were that sharp? He felt warm breath on his neck, then ear.
"Then you'll definitely want to."
Fitz tried to turn his head. "Why's that?" he asked calmly, his mind racing. How could he get help?
…Idiot. The comm. unit.
"Because you work for SHIELD," he replied. At least Fitz was pretty sure it was male.
"Are you HYDRA, or is there some other… other…"
"Other what?"
"Um… uh, reason. Motive? To kill me?"
"Having trouble with your words, are you?"
Funny how the mind works; because that cleared Fitz's mind.
Words.
"It's you," he whispered.
"Hmm?"
"Soulmate."
The grip eased up, and Fitz turned his head. He met a pair of ice cold eyes examining him, prominent sideburns, and… were those fangs? No, just very long teeth for a human being, if this even was a human.
"You said 'No'," the man said.
"You asked if I was saying my prayers," Fitz said. He raised a hand and grabbed onto the man's arm. "Who are you?"
"Victor Creed. Also called Sabretooth."
"I'm Fitz. Leo Fitz, but… but people call me Fitz."
"Well." Creed lowered his lethal hand, and instead wrapped his arm around the front of Fitz's body. Coulson was swearing over the comms, but Fitz tuned it out easily, frozen in place. "Show me your words."
Fitz felt his cheeks flare up. "N-not in public. I'd be… uh…" He tried to find the word.
"Arrested?" Creed said.
"Yeah, that's it."
"Hmm." Creed looked him up and down again, a feral smile coming to his face. "I wouldn't want that. You'd better come with me."
"A-actually, my friends… my co-workers, they n-need me." Fitz tried to stand up, but Creed's powerful arm kept him in place. "Please let me go?"
"But how would I find you again?" Creed cooed. Actually cooed. Fitz blinked.
"You came here to kill me," he said.
"Not at first. Tort… I mean extract information out of you." My God, his teeth were longer than Fitz initially thought.
"So you won't kill me?" he clarified.
"My own soulmate? Not at all." In an instant, Creed had rounded the park bench and hauled Fitz to his feet. "But I'm taking you with me."
"No, I can't," Fitz said, even though he was clearly outmatched. "Please, C-Creed—"
"Victor to you, my sweet morsel," Creed said, another sharp nail trailing down Fitz's neck. He swallowed hard.
"SHIELD needs me, b-believe it or not. And… and soulmateship is rubbish."
Creed paused. "What?"
"M-my parents told me it was rubbish. Hell, when Dad walked out that was a pretty clear d-demonstration that they were right."
"Parents are wrong all the time," Creed said. Well, that was sure as hell true, considering Skye's nutcase of a father. "You smell so sweet, I just wanna eat you all up."
"Please don't," Fitz said weakly. Creed chuckled; it was a chilling sound.
"Not literally," he said. Fitz hissed when it felt like his skin was punctured, but he didn't feel any blood. "Hush, sweetness. I'd never hurt you."
"Fitz, we're coming," Coulson said softly.
"There's something big going on," Fitz said. "Big bad. HYDRA's involved. Are… are you with HYDRA? If you are, this ends here an' now, soulmate or no soulmate."
"I'm a mercenary," Creed said.
"You're a mercenary?"
"And my client wants information only SHIELD has," he continued. "Names. Places. Weaknesses."
"Another enemy?" Fitz muttered. "Just what we need. L-listen, uh, Victor, it's really a terrible time for us to meet—"
"Not if you need my help."
"…You'd help us?"
"Wait," Coulson said. He was talking to the others. Probably. Hopefully.
"Well, what if telling my client what you know ended with you getting hurt?" Creed said, switching his attention to the other side of Fitz's neck. "I can't risk that."
"Oh." Fitz blushed even more, and he listed towards his soulmate. "You haven't even seen my soulmark yet."
Creed bent close enough to inhale deeply, and Fitz's toes curled. "You're sweet enough for me to want you even if we're not soulmates, kitten."
"Kitten?!"
"Let me come with you, if you won't go with me," Creed said. He pulled Fitz up against his body with his free hand. "I'll fight your enemies for you. Won't let them anywhere near you, as long as I have my say."
"T-thank you," Fitz said, and he carefully placed his hands on Creed's chest. That… that was solid, diamond-hard muscle under that shirt. Goddamn. "Christ, you're…"
"Looking forward to seein' your soulmark," Creed murmured, and he nuzzled the flesh behind Fitz's ear, before nipping the fleshy lobe. "If it's where I think it is, I wanna be buried so deep inside you that you'll feel me forever, and not just `cause we'll bond."
"We w-will?"
Creed growled. "Now tell your buddies to back off, baby. You're safer with me than anyone else."
"Sir, it's fine," Fitz said in the direction of his top shirt button. "You can approach."
"Is he coming with us?" the director asked. Fitz shivered as Creed held him tightly, almost like a vice; he'd never felt so safe in all his life.
"Yeah," he said. "He'll be joining us." He smiled, and burrowed his nose in the V of Creed's shirt. "HYDRA doesn't stand a chance."
"Good to know," Hunter remarked.
While he waited for the others to arrive, Fitz turned his head to rest his ear against the skin over Creed's heart.
"What are you?" he whispered. "You can't possibly be fully human."
"Heard of the X gene?"
"I'm an engineer, but I think I might've—"
"I'm a mutant."
"…Definitely heard of mutants. Professor something…"
"Xavier," Creed growled.
"Not a fan?" Fitz asked. He was hoping that Creed hadn't noticed his 'positive' reaction to the vibration of the growl echoing through his chest.
"You could say that."
"Well, you'll like Coulson," Fitz said. "Director Coulson. And Hunter and Mike. I hope you do, anyway. They're three of my best friends. Jemma and Ma… uh, Jemma is my first best friend, so I hope you'll like her, too. They're basically my family, SHIELD is. When it fell… I can't tell you how much it hurt."
"Did anyone hurt you?"
Fitz nodded, although it ended with him being pinned even tighter. Ah. So he wasn't the only one… reacting to the situation. "A traitor. A mole in our team. I nearly drowned. Simmons… Jemma, she saved my life."
"I like her already," Creed said, and Fitz chuckled. "And I owe her one."
"We saved each other, but she didn't let me die, so, uh…" He noticed the others approaching, and tried to pull back. "Let go. The others—"
"Can wait," he said. "I've waited all your life. My life, too, which started in the nineteenth century, so it's been a hell of a long time."
"Nineteenth…?"
"Not giving you my exact date of birth yet," Creed said, and he winked. Fitz grinned, and allowed his soulmate to hold him for another minute. When he was finally relinquished, he caught hold of Creed's hand and led him to the others.
"This is my soulmate, Victor Creed," he said.
"Thought you didn't believe in the idea of soulmates," Hunter said, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm sure he can persuade me effectively," Fitz said, mentally kicking himself at the double entendre when the other men smirked. "Y' know what I mean!"
"He… does that a lot," Coulson said, and he held out his hand. Creed shook it. "Mr. Creed, it's great to meet you. Any soulmate of Fitz is an ally of ours. I hope." Creed nodded shortly, and Fitz continued the introductions. Then they stood awkwardly for about five seconds.
"Dead drop completed," Mike said, breaking the silence.
"Let's go back to the motel," Coulson said. "There's a lot more to do before we can return to base, or wherever we end up going."
"Sounds up in the air," Creed said, frowning. Fitz pressed against his side to soothe him.
"Uncertain times," he murmured. "We're lucky to have you on board."
"We're lucky to have Fitz," Coulson added, drawing Creed's attention. "He's one of our greatest assets. An actual rocket scientist, genius IQ…" He trailed off. "You're a lucky guy, Mr. Creed."
"You can call me Sabretooth," Creed said, and he displayed his teeth. Then he waved one of his sharp-tipped hands. Fitz wondered what those nails would feel like on his hips, and bit his bottom lip at the thought.
"Sabretooth," Coulson said. "Welcome aboard. Now, let's get going."
The other three went ahead, while Fitz and Creed trailed behind.
"We haven't even kissed yet," Creed said.
"I… I don't want to," Fitz said. "Not in public. That's… that's something between us, not the whole world."
"What d'you like in the bedroom?"
It only took a few seconds to work out what 'in the bedroom' meant, 'bed' being the emphasis here.
"I wouldn't know," he said. "But we're supposed to be compatible, so I suppose whatever you like."
Creed's eyes turned more yellow for a moment, but they snapped back to normal the next, so Fitz dismissed it as a trick of the light. Or the X gene.
"You'll love what I like," he said. "I guarantee it."
"G-good," Fitz said, and he hoped his stiffie wasn't obvious. "I look forward to, uh…"
"I'm gonna pop your cherry so hard you won't sit for a week," Creed said roughly.
"Oh my God…" He wasn't religious, but… maybe there was a higher power at work, because just the idea was delicious, and he didn't know why.
"Your soulmate," Creed corrected. "We're gonna have so much fun. You'll see."
"You'd… you'd better make good on your promise, when the time comes," Fitz said, trying (and likely failing) to sound stern. Creed chuckled, so he'd probably failed.
"If our writing matches, whatever I do to you will rock your world," he said.
Fitz hoped his legs wouldn't fail until they were sitting in the van, because it would be terribly embarrassing to fall over before they got there.
I don't know how I came up with this twisted, twisted idea, and I DO plan to write Fitz/Logan at some point. But I love writing helpless!Fitz with strong, sinister soulmates. Must be a kink. Huh.
Please review!