Title: Steady
Author:
dirty_diana Rating: PG
Word count: 600
Summary: Missing scene for Immortal Iron Fist #2. I used basic canon from the high 20s of New Avengers, which may or may not make sense. This is terribly late, but I felt bad about bailing on this challenge twice in a row, so thought I would post something anyway.
Prompt: Marvel comics, Luke Cage/Danny Rand - fuckbuddies - "He's not a lover/He's not a one night stand/He's someone inbetween/To lend the occasional hand" from Pansy Division's "Fuck Buddy"
*
When Luke sees Danny's number on the screen of his phone, he almost doesn't answer. Luke's got enough bullshit to deal with right now, with his family and his team and trying to not get himself arrested.
The world's twisted and upside down, but Danny still calls in the middle of the night.
"I need you," Danny says, and Luke doesn't catch on that he means that literally until Danny passes out mid-sentence.
What Danny considers an emergency and what normal folks consider an emergency don't always come out to the same thing. Luke picks Danny up off the floor, and calls him names under his breath. Then watches while the nurse patches him up, stitch by stitch.
The cramped room in the makeshift clinic stinks of antiseptic. Luke hates to be the one to tell Danny that Misty is using the Heroes for Hire name again, for all the wrong reasons.
"Good thing you're out of the fight," Luke says. "Surrounded by your lawyers, up in that tower."
Danny's eyes fog over, and for a second Luke thinks he's going to pass out again. Luke can see it, always, Danny choosing not to get mad, mentally dropping into a defensive stance without moving a muscle. The crouching tiger shit.
It's always been like this, though. Danny worried that Luke thought he was just trying the slums on for size. Which was exactly what Luke did think, sometimes.
Danny reaches out from the bed, and gently brushes Luke's cheek with his curled fist. Rough, warm skin. "You're an asshole."
"At least didn't just put my giant feet in a nest full of Hydra."
Just like old times. Danny's hand closes in the fabric of Luke's shirt, and then he kisses him, hard.
Sweet motherfucking Christmas.
"You've got a concussion, fool," Luke says, and Danny grins.
"Doesn't hurt a bit," he answers, and that's probably true. Danny doesn't have the good sense to feel pain, sometimes. This is like exactly like old times, give or take a bruise or two. Getting his ass kicked always made Danny feverish, jonesing for a fuck and a fresh fight. Luke only ever wants it after a job well done and a case closed. God knows that's next to never, and in between they circle each other, hover and linger, just like this.
Luke still can't do this, can't walk through Strange's front door reeking of Danny Rand. Jessica will sniff him out before he gets his jacket off.
Skrull or not.
"That's what you get for marrying a private eye," Danny says. Danny makes jokes like that when the stakes aren't his. And sometimes when they are.
"Shut up." Luke puts one knee on the bed, hearing the springs creak and settle, until he's steady. His hand rests on Danny's hand, on Danny's chest, fingers laced. Danny stays perfectly still. Danny trusts him, which is more than Luke can say for everyone else that he knows right now.
"You know I almost didn't come get you tonight, right?"
"Bullshit," Danny murmurs, body twisting under his, just enough to make Luke's grip tighten, wanting more. "You always show. Just like I always come get you."
Just like old times.
Ain't that the truth.
~fin.