Dark Side Of The Moon (15/19)

[narya86]

Title: Dark Side Of The Moon
Chapters: 15/19 ( Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 )
Authors: narya86 & tetila
Pairing: Daniel Agger/Fernando Torres
Rating: Overall NC-17.
Disclaimer: More fiction probably isn't possible. We just borrowed the names of certain people... ;)
Summary: The first demon had died under Fernando’s hands when he had been nine. Daniel had always tried to stay away from Hunters, for obvious reasons.
A/N: So, where is everyone? Somehow we got the feeling that lots of people kind of went into semi-hiatus? Are you still there? That said, this chapter contains a quote of Hermann Hesse.



Chapter 15

I’m coming, I’m coming home to you
I’m alive, I’m a mess
I can’t wait to get home to you
To get warm, warm and undressed

There’ve been changes beyond my dreams
Everybody wants me to sing
There’ve been changes beyond my grasp
Things I’m sinking in

So keep me in your bed all day
Nothing heals me like you do

~ Heather Nova ~

***

Fernando hadn’t felt like this in weeks, months. Years maybe. Awake, quick, light on his feet, and there wasn’t even the smallest part in him that doubted that these two vampires didn’t stand any chance.

Granted, they weren’t bad. And obviously thought they had a shot at killing a Hunter, especially since in their world it had probably made the rounds that he hadn’t really been at his best those last few weeks. But that trust Fernando needed in himself, in his abilities… he could feel it seeping back into him. And it had him keeping even two of them at bay with ease.

The third one that had just appeared around the corner behind his companions… well he’d deal with that one too.

That vampire whirled around and attacked him with a kick that he dodged easily, and grabbing the creature’s leg he punched him again, sending him hard into the other two vampires. Fernando couldn’t remember the last time it had felt this easy. Bending down he grabbed a piece of wood from a broken pallet on the ground, swinging it hard at the one vampire that came running towards him. The makeshift stake found its target. As the vampire turned to dust he almost simultaneously blocked a punch and a kick - when a voice spoke up over the sounds of the fight.

“Need any help?”

And Fernando couldn’t help but smirk at how casual Dan was sounding. “I think I can manage,” he replied as he ducked a blow, catching Dan’s eyes for a short moment. Fernando knew Dan had been watching him fight, those vampires at least, and the other man had probably wanted him to know it too. And he didn’t know if he should be annoyed or if he should allow that giddily pleased feeling to take over.

Fernando caught a punch with his hand but already saw the second vampire jumping into his back, lunging, and he quickly twisted his body to evade having his enemy in his back - only that the vampire never even reached him. And when the Hunter glanced to the side, kicking at the kneecaps of the one in front of him, he saw him sprawled on his back, Dan over him. An enraged, surprised, fearful growl, the sound of a neck snapping, and with Fernando plunging the makeshift stake into his current opponent’s heart, his own quickened breaths suddenly were the only sounds remaining in the dark back alley.

Fernando looked down at the dust on his shoes before he turned his gaze up to find Dan’s, grinning. “Now that was disappointingly easy.”

“Maybe you should just call it a day then,” the dark-haired returned, catching the piece of wood and dusting the vampire at his feet before straightening, the corners of his mouth twitching.

“What are you doing here, Danny?” Fernando ignored Dan’s comment for now as he worked hard to suppress the smile threatening to spread on his lips, arms crossing in front of his chest.

“I was around,” Dan answered with a small shrug, hands in the pockets of his trousers, never letting his eyes stray from Fernando.

That dark blue shirt really looked good on Dan, Fernando thought randomly as he slowly took a few steps towards him, stopping when there were only a few inches of space between them. “Really? What a coincidence.”

Dan tilted his head a little, eyes attentive, his hands still in his pockets. “Maybe I wanted to see how you were doing too.”

Fernando’s eyes left Daniel’s and dropped down to the other man’s lips, following the motions as they formed around the words. “Maybe we really should… call it a day.”

The lips his eyes were fixed on curved into a soft smile, and for a moment it was all he could see. “Seems I really came by at the right moment then.”

Fernando felt an answering smile tugging on his own lips, feeling completely, wonderfully at ease, and even though it was such a new situation for him, it also felt familiar and just… good. “You’re not going to make a habit out of following me when I hunt, are you?”

And even though the Hunter had his eyebrow raised at Dan, the dark-haired refused to look guilty. “That’s forbidden, huh?”

“I suppose I can overlook it once… or twice,” the blond bit his lower lip around a grin. If he was honest with himself he had already wanted to finish patrol as quickly as possible anyway because he had known that Dan was waiting for him to come over for the night.

And before he had a chance to answer, Fernando closed the flimsy space between them in a gentle kiss.

Finally.

They didn’t move for a moment and Fernando let his eyes drift shut, concentrating solely on the lips on his, the soft touch, something he was learning to become familiar with. Then he heard cloth rustling and felt warm hands cupping his face and for a moment he felt as safe as in his own bed when he drifted off to sleep wrapped up in Dan’s arms. Knowing he was watched over.

“Come home with me?” Dan muttered into the soft kiss and Fernando smiled, knowing that there was only one answer to that.

“Yes.”

***

The air was dry and warm against his face as he watched the soft breeze playing with the green leaves of the tree he was lying under, the sunbeams shimmered through them like golden cobwebs and once or twice he could see the blue sky peek at him. A hand playing gently with his hair brought his attention back to the deep voice reading to him.

“I have experienced on my body and on my soul that I needed sin very much, I needed lust, the desire for possessions, vanity, and needed the most shameful despair, in order to learn how to give up all resistance…”

The chest his head was resting on rumbled gently under his ear, rising and falling in a calm rhythm, and Fernando tried to listen to the words and the sense they were weaving. But his thoughts were straying time and time again, lulled into a comfortable state of sleepiness by the afternoon sun, the warm air, the body he was resting against between the two long legs, the old, thick stem of the tree as their backrest.

“… in order to learn how to love the world, in order to stop comparing it to some world I wished, I imagined, some kind of perfection I had made up, but to leave it as it is and to love it and to enjoy being a part of it.”

He didn’t even remember anymore what title the book had that Dan held in his hand, and it wasn’t that important, really. They were not exactly doing this for educational sakes. This was just them spending time together, them being together, and it was so different from everything he knew.

Dan stopped for a moment to turn the page and Fernando let his thumb caress Dan’s knee through the material of his jeans.

His sleeping pattern had gotten a lot better lately even though Dan had indeed not taken any energy from him anymore. Fernando’s nights were still restless more often than not, but Dan was always there to wake him up with gentle hands and soothing words before it got too bad, and even though it was still branded into his memory, the terrors of his sleep were slowly losing their hold on him. At least he wasn’t afraid of closing his eyes anymore.

When Dan started to read again and Fernando felt his voice vibrating in the expanse of the chest his head was resting on, he closed his eyes. A few children were playing football somewhere nearby, their joyous cries reminding him of how he used to love having a ball on his feet. Years and years ago. Between two paragraphs Dan dropped a fleeting kiss onto his hair. And between listening to his voice and breathing in his scent, Fernando drifted off to sleep without even noticing.

***

The air outside was blissfully cool in contrast to the humid nightclub, and Dan let a deep, slow breath fill his lungs after he had brought that girl back inside to her friends. Now he just wanted to go back to Fernando’s apartment where the Hunter was hopefully already waiting, ask him how patrol was, maybe watch him talk to Nate for a while before lying down with him to accompany him through the night.

His nightmares were getting better and less frequent all the time, but that didn’t mean they were completely gone. Sometimes Dan still had to wake him when he grew restless in his sleep, sometimes Fernando still awoke with a strangled gasp and wide eyes. And still the improvement in the Hunter’s condition was almost dramatic, in the absolutely most positive sense. And simply for that Dan was grateful. It made him feel that somehow they really had done the right thing.

The way from the club he had been in to Fernando’s apartment wasn’t too long, and he only had a few more streets to go when his senses picked up something Dan couldn’t immediately place. It did make him turn though, attention focussed, and his instincts had his body in the highest state of alarm just as two loud bangs shot through the night air.

***

The clock showed 02:46, exactly six minutes later from the last time Fernando had checked, and without even realising it he was starting to feel an uneasiness creep up on him that wouldn’t leave him.

Dan was late.

Sure they hadn’t agreed on an exact time, but the last few nights it always had been two o’clock on the stroke when Dan had knocked on his door. Damn it.

“Dan, where are you?” he whispered and pushed himself away from the window where he had tried to observe the streets.

It was another four ridiculously long minutes before finally, finally his doorbell rang. Fernando breathed out in relief and jumped up from the couch, and when he opened the door it was with a smile.

But Dan was paler than he was used to, his skin glistening with a thin layer of sweat. And he was leaning heavily against the doorframe.

Fernando’s arms automatically shot out to catch Dan’s weight as the other man slid over the threshold and into his arms. “Fuck Dan, what happened to you?!” he asked while he slowly helped Dan to the couch, noticing how stiff and immobile his usually so agile movements seemed to be. And when the dark-haired let himself fall down onto the cushion and his jacket fell open, Fernando saw the red stains seeping through the white fabric of Dan’s shirt, freezing him to the spot.

Fuck, this shouldn’t happen. Dan was too fast and too strong for something like that, how could anything…?

“I need your help,” Dan was saying through gritted teeth, grimacing and then taking a few quick, panted breaths. The hand he raised to his midsection trembled and he seemed to have trouble moving it, curling his fingers enough to draw his shirt up.

What he revealed were two punctured wounds on his side and stomach, blood lazily pouring from them, seeping into his jeans.

“You have to… get them out…”

Bullets, Fernando realised as he knelt down to carefully inspect the two wounds, his heart skipping a beat. “What? Dan, I don’t know how,” he replied, his voice frenetically breaking. In all his time as a Hunter he had never gotten shot, thank God, but for the first time in his life he now felt something like regret about it. Not knowing anything about this. His fingers were shaking as he touched the broken skin on Dan’s stomach, trying to see something trough all the blood. “I don’t know how,” Fernando helplessly repeated again.

“Don’t care… just, please hurry,” Dan groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. “They’re steel bullets… iron… so hard to move…” He broke off, gasping for breath, and suddenly Fernando understood. The particles of iron spreading from the bullets through his system were paralyzing him.

“Right.” Fernando determinedly whispered under his breath. “Right. I’ll get some stuff. Don’t move.”

He found the first aid kit in the bathroom under the sink. If he remembered it correctly it should hold a pair of tweezers and some disinfectant. Hastily he opened it and threw the contents into the sink, sighing in relief when he found both on the bottom. Fernando took them and a bunch of bandages before he ran back to Dan. “Will this work?” he asked Dan, holding up the tweezers.

“Sure,” Dan answered without even looking, hiding half of his face in the crook of his arm, his voice strained just like his movements. “Just… get them out… I’ll be alright once they’re out…”

Right, Fernando thought to himself again as he knelt down between Daniel’s legs, soothingly running his hand over his jean-clad thigh before he took the tweezers, swallowing heavily while he pressed their tip into the wound, searching. The painful hissing sound Dan made then let him wince in sympathy, but he forced himself to go on until he had found what he was looking for, and with a last hard twist he pulled the first bullet from Dan’s stomach.

There was a string of soft curses coming over Dan’s lips and the muscles in his upper body were contracting and quivering. But after another shudder he lay still again, so pale. “Nando…”

Fernando let the bullet fall to the floor and looked down at his blood smeared hands. Red, like any human’s, he realised, before he turned his gaze back to Dan at the unfamiliar use of his name. The dark-haired man’s face was contorted with pain, eyes closed as he seemed to wait for Fernando to pull out the second bullet.

“Hey,” he called for Dan’s attention and when he didn’t receive it he rose a bit on his knees while putting his hand on the other man’s cheek, leaving red strains on pale skin. “You’ll be fine. You hear me?”

Hazy green-brown eyes focussed on him, locking gaze with his and swallowing heavily before he nodded. His voice was reduced to a coarse whisper. “Yes. Just… please, get it out…”

“Of course,” Fernando replied softly before he hurriedly took the tweezers up again. It took him a few more seconds to pull the second bullet out, apologizing when Daniel couldn’t suppress another hissed scream. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he chanted while he quickly disinfected and bandaged the wounds, hoping this would stop the bleeding.

When he took a quick glance at Dan’s face he saw how he had his eyes closed again, breathing raggedly, skin still pale, still covered with sweat. But when Fernando’s trembling fingers finished bandaging, he thought Dan’s breathing had already calmed just a little.

For a moment he just sat there between Dan’s legs and looked at him, the room silent except for Daniel’s shallow breathing. There was nothing more he could do except for one thing and he wasn’t sure if the other man would like that offer. But he wanted nothing more than to help him, and he hated feeling this useless.

“Dan,” he asked quietly, waiting a second before he continued, “Dan, I want you to take some energy from me.”

“What?” was the slightly shaky reply and Dan’s eyes fluttered open to lock with his again. “But we said we didn’t… wouldn’t…”

“I know, I know,” he interrupted him, moving up to lean into Dan’s space again, taking the hand that had clenched in his couch cushions, soothingly running is thumb over the knuckles. “But you need it. Please, for me?”

Dan took his time with the answer, taking a few more deep breaths, staring at him unwaveringly. For a few moments neither of them moved. But then Dan relaxed back into the cushions, seemingly all his muscles going slack, his eyelids fluttering. “Okay… okay.”

“Okay,” Fernando echoed, his heart beating a bit faster as he bent down, carefully avoiding putting pressure on Dan’s wounds, to close the space between their faces with a soft kiss, gently licking and nipping at the other man’s lips for entrance.

The usually so warm lips were cool in comparison but opened without hesitation, welcoming the breathless kiss thankfully. Almost immediately Fernando felt that familiar tingle, feeding on his frayed nerves and still rapidly beating heart, and he let it, let himself remember the shock he had felt just moments ago, brought it back into his mind and tried to channel it and give it to the man he was kissing.

A hand was finally finding his hip, slipped under his shirt, the touch not as gentle as he was used to, more rigid, and then Dan broke their kiss a few times to utter words. “I can’t… closer… need you to touch me…”

Fernando didn’t hesitate. He broke their kiss to lean back and pull his shirt over his head, throwing it behind him onto the coffee table where it slipped from the edges and to the ground, before he went back to kissing Dan again, his fingers working to help him out of his jacket and shirt.

The second their upper bodies moulded against each other Fernando couldn’t help but gasp out loudly as it felt like fire running through his veins, shaking him throughout, down to his bones. It wasn’t quite the same as when they had sex, the feeling of falling of another quality but no less intoxicating. And only the memory of why they were doing this was preventing Fernando from trying to press even closer, just not wanting to hurt Dan any more.

Earlier than he would have thought, though, the feeling lessened, slowly fading to a warm glow before the barriers between them were back up again and all that remained in their kiss was exactly that, no more. But no less either.

And Fernando finally broke it with a last small kiss and nip, before he rested his forehead on Dan’s, waiting for his breathing and heart to slow down to normal speed again. “Are you alright?” he asked softly, watching Dan’s eyes for any indication of discomfort or pain.

They had cleared, and the skin against his felt just a little warmer, more like it used to. And there was a small, tired smile on Dan’s lips before he answered, “I will be. Just have to get the iron out of my system.” He closed the small distance between them again to press their lips together for a brief, soft kiss before adding, “Thank you.”

Seeing Dan smile felt like a huge weight being lifted from his shoulders and he couldn’t help but laugh out brokenly while hiding his face in Dan’s neck and shoulder.

The familiar scent reminding him that right now, everything was alright.

***

When Fernando entered the headquarters the next evening, it was with his thoughts still back at home. In his bed to be more precise, where Dan was still lying, where they had stayed for the entire night and day, resting, talking, dozing, letting the shock wear off. They had crawled into it as soon as Dan’s movements hadn’t been as stiff anymore, when his skin had started not to look as ghostly, when the only pain that remained had been of the two wounds.

Fernando had never felt such an urge not to let go.

Only later had it dawned on him to ask how this could even have happened. Dan had been silent for a moment before saying he just hadn’t been careful enough. And not to worry about it. And no matter how much Fernando had protested, he had remained gently adamant about it.

So he had stopped asking after a while, but he didn’t stop wondering. What had happened? And if it was some creature Dan thought he couldn’t handle? But there were bullets. What kind of supernatural being used bullets? A creature that decided to play it safe if it ever met Fernando? This was all just too fucked up, he thought as the door of the elevator opened and he walked into the headquarters. Juanita was sitting on the edge of her desk talking animatedly with Tonio and Alejandro.

“Hey guys.”

“Hi Fernando,” they answered almost simultaneously, their heads all turned to him. “Everything alright?” Juanita added with a smile. It hadn’t been only Nate that had noticed the turn for the better he had taken recently.

Fernando just smiled at them with a nod before he grabbed the office chair and sat down. “Slow night?”

“Nothing reported yet,” she nodded, quickly glancing at her screen for confirmation. “Just the iron creature making an appearance again.”

At first he didn’t understand what she meant by that, but when he realised she was talking about Dan, a cold shiver cursed through him. “What?”

“You already forgot how we talked about Tinkerbelle?” Alejandro had his eyebrow drawn up at him, an amused little grin on his face.

“Oh yeah, him… I remember.” Fernando forced a wry smile on his face, laughing hollowly while he tried to control his racing thoughts. So they were talking about Dan. He always had hoped his team would have forgotten about him by the time he stopped reporting about him. “What…” Fernando coughed slightly. “What happened?”

“I was at one of the clubs last night,” Tonio spoke up now, shrugging a little. “And there was this guy that… I don’t know how to explain it. There was just something off about him. Didn’t seem completely human, even though it was so subtle that I wondered if my mind was playing tricks on me. So as he went outside with this girl I followed them just to make sure… and then I saw these… moving tattoos. And I remembered what you had told us.”

“He had a girl with him?” was the only thing that came from his mouth before he realised that this probably shouldn’t be the first question from a Hunter. He almost felt a bit shaky and sick at the thought of Dan with someone else, and it surprised himself.

“Exactly how that first time you told us about,” Tonio nodded. “I remembered how you said that iron was effective against it, and that my gun had steel bullets…”

“You shot him.”

Fernando couldn’t believe this was happening. What had Dan wanted with the girl? Fuck her? No he wouldn’t, would he? And at the same time he remembered last night vividly, the fear he had felt when he had seen Daniel lying in his own blood.

“Are you fucking crazy?” he finally snapped at Tonio. “You should know better, Tonio, this isn’t your responsibility! What if something had gone wrong?” Fernando knew Dan could’ve killed Tonio single-handedly if he had wanted. If it wasn’t for the steel bullets.

All three of his team members were watching him in surprise at his outburst, Tonio being the first one to find his words again. “Oh come on, Fernando, you know I know what I’m doing if I ever decide to intervene.”

“You just got lucky,” he replied sharply. Angry at Tonio for hurting Dan, and maybe angry at Dan for fooling around with that girl. “Next time just walk away.”

“What the hell is this about?” Tonio shot back, his expression somewhere between bewildered and angry. “You’ve never had a problem with this before.”

You never shot Dan before, he thought helplessly, biting his tongue to hold himself back from actually saying it out loud. “It’s just dangerous, for fuck’s sake.”

Tonio was already opening his mouth again, but before he could say anything more Juanita was interrupting him with a calming tone. “You’re right, Fernando, I’m sure Tonio knows that. And he’s going to be careful,” she added, pointedly looking at Tonio who rolled his eyes.

“Not like I think I really killed it anyway.”

But you could have!

“I’ll go and make a round, maybe I can track it.” Fernando ignored Tonio’s sullen look and grabbed his gear lying on one of the tables before he stepped into the elevator without any further word to his team. Only when the doors had closed he allowed himself to release a shaky breath, leaning his forehead heavily against the cold metal before him.

Fuck.

***

It was calming to have his face buried in the pillows that smelled so much like Fernando, to have his eyes closed and be suspended in a wonderfully soothing state of weightlessness. It helped him take his mind off his still hurting body, to concentrate his energies on the healing wounds and the last traces of iron that he was still fighting with.

Dan didn’t know what time it was when his ears picked up the sound of the front door being unlocked, but if Fernando’s usual time of coming home was anything to go by it had to be around 2 or 3 o’clock in the middle of the night. So he slowly rolled around onto his back and sat up.

He found Fernando in the kitchen, standing in front of the open fridge as he seemed to search for something to put onto the slice of bread that lay waiting on a plate beside him. The moment Fernando finally closed the fridge and turned, their eyes met and Dan saw the blond freeze as a frown appeared on his face.

“Hey,” he greeted softly, trying to judge where the tension in Fernando’s shoulders and features was coming from. “Are you okay?”

The blond tilted his head sideways, looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face before he answered. “Are you fucking other people?”

The question hit Dan so much out of the blue that for a moment he could only blink. “What?”

Fernando violently threw the cheese he was holding onto the counter, barely missing the water bottle standing there. “Yeah, how about that girl? Remember, the one you were fooling around with before Tonio perforated your body!”

“Wait, hold on, slow down,” Dan tried to calm Fernando, his head spinning confusedly. “One, I’m not ‘fucking other people’. Two, who’s Tonio?”

The Hunter scowled in annoyance and Dan could see another outburst forming in the way Fernando tensed and raised his shoulders. “As if you don’t know. You knew everything about me after our first meeting.” Then something like betrayal flickered over Fernando’s face. “He saw your moving symbols when you were with that girl.”

And at that it all came together in Dan’s head and he understood. He had suspected that the guy that had shot him had maybe been in Fernando’s team, and that was why he had kept silent about it. But maybe he should have known too that Fernando would hear what had happened. Dan sighed.

“Tonio, alright. I didn’t know the names of any of your team members, and I certainly didn’t know everything about you after our first meeting,” he tried to explain as calmly as possible. “Just the word that was on the street. And I still need energy to live, you know that.”

His words didn’t seem to have the calming effect Dan had hoped for as Fernando’s words only got louder. “You could’ve taken it from me instead taking one of your sluts!”

“That’s enough,” Dan cut Fernando off right after the last word, his voice sharp, anger creeping into it. “We agreed that I wouldn’t.”

The blond though didn’t seem to hear him. “But I didn’t agree on you fucking around, did I! Was she any good? Did she taste really good?”

“Oh my God, Fernando!” Dan exclaimed in disbelief, throwing his hands into the air before wincing at the sharp pain it sent through his wounds. “Would you stop behaving like a child!”

He saw how Fernando opened his mouth soundlessly for a few seconds and his face began to flush an angry red. He had never been good at hiding his emotions, and it seldom had been as obvious as in that moment. “Oh well sorry, maybe it has to do with the fact that I’m six-fucking-hundred years younger than you and you’re the first person I ever got jealous over!”

They stared at each other after that, the loud words hanging between them, having left them both speechless. The sounds of Fernando’s harsh breathing were all that penetrated the silence now stretching where the shouted admission had been before.

The Hunter struggled to keep the emotion from his face and turned away, but it only made Dan instinctively reach out for him. At first Fernando tried to shrug the hand on his wrist off, but when Dan persistently came back, stepped between him and the kitchen counters and drew him close, the resistance suddenly crumbled.

Relief surged through him when Fernando’s arms sneaked around him, holding him tightly as he buried his face against his neck. The Hunter’s nose was cold on his skin and Dan felt him taking deep breaths, his body completely relaxing against his own. He raised a hand, fingertips gently and calmingly stroking the back of Fernando’s neck right below the tips of his blond hair while they stood there like this, allowing themselves to calm down.

“You don’t have to be jealous, you know,” Dan finally muttered next to Fernando’s ear even though he could tell pretty easily that this wasn’t really what had worked the young man up so much.

“How can I not be? You feed on sexual energy,” Fernando mumbled, his word vibrating against the skin of his neck.

“Let’s make a deal then,” Dan countered quietly, lips brushing the blond hairs over Fernando’s temple, a soft smile tugging on them. “I only take all other kinds of energy from other people whenever I can… and come back to you for the sexual energy.”

Finally Dan felt a smile forming against his neck. “I taste better anyway.”

The smile on his own lips widened and he raised his hand to take Fernando’s face into it, tipping it up until he could mould their lips together in an indulgent kiss before he replied.

“Like looking into the sun when all -”

“- your eyes have ever seen is the moon,” the blond interrupted and smiled shyly at him. “So you have told me.” After a moment he leaned in again and placed a gentle kiss on the corner of his mouth, so soft Dan almost couldn’t feel the touch.

“You remember that,” he said quietly, more a statement than a question.

“Always did.” Fernando’s eyes were bright and open wide as he looked back at him, and he had to bite back a smile.

“Well… now that this is settled, I’ll leave you to your midnight snack - and go back to bed.”

It was almost comical how Fernando’s face fell and his mouth opened in a disbelieving ‘o’, but already a moment later Dan saw a small smirk appearing and the brown eyes twinkling mischievously. “How about we get you some midnight snack instead?” he teased, and Dan couldn’t help leaning in to steal a quick kiss before he turned, answering over his shoulder, “Don’t forget I’m an injured man!”

There was a soft chuckle behind him, playful, promising.

“I’ll be gentle.”

***

Books were scattered on the table around him, most of them old, hundreds of years even, with dark leather bindings and squiggly lettering. Fernando had his head pillowed on his bent arm while he carefully turned the page of an old book on elves, one he had found in some corner - he hadn’t exactly asked Alejandro or Felipe. They weren’t in yet, and he had been early, but he had wanted to do this, and preferably without too many questions.

After a few hours of searching for books, skipping through them, reading here and there he had found what Alejandro had told him about elves, and some of those Dan had told him as well. There were few rumours in the books, and even less facts.

With a small yawn Fernando read through another page of vague rumours.

… a peculiar characteristic that they seem to be unable to lie…

Right, Dan had said that. Still almost unbelievable, but seemingly true.

… those who discover the elf’s real name hold power over it…

And that definitely didn’t sound like a particularly enjoyable attribute, and it was another thing that surprised him. Had it ever happened to Dan? Should he ask him about it?

… legends and even reports from all parts of Europe document iron being used to incapacitate elves of all types. Any iron will do, but the purer and older the better…

Fernando knew that already and had seen how it had affected Dan. The memory still sent a cold shiver through him, and he quickly pushed the thought away and continued reading.

… salt is another protective substance and many herbs and plants are helpful against certain types of elves. Caraway seeds, toadflax, yarrow and rowan…

Salt? At least when it came to dark elves that wasn’t true. Concerning the herbs, he didn’t know how half of those even looked.

… early Irish elf lore sometimes speculates about the existence of a ritual that enables an elf to turn a human into one of its own kind…

Wait, what? Fernando raised his head from where it had rested, his attention definitely captured. He reread the same paragraph again and continued further down, hoping to find some details. But there weren’t any. Just that one sentence.

Slowly Fernando sank back in his stool, eyes hefted onto those words.

It could be wrong, just a myth lost or distorted in time. Maybe it didn’t even apply to dark elves. Maybe Dan wouldn’t be able to anyway since he was only half elf. Maybe it really had been just a superstitious rumour.

But what, he wondered, what if it was true?

***

Warm hands were resting on his thighs, slowly wandering upwards until they had reached the juncture between hip and leg, thumbs swiping gently over his hip bones. Fernando flexed his fingers in the pillow his head was resting on and tried to breathe deeply, legs tightening instinctively around Dan’s hips. His gaze was wandering over the figure kneeling on the bed, from the strong shoulders over the bare chest, the almost healed remains of the shot wounds, the muscles rippling in the stomach, the subtle V drawing his eyes down to where their bodies were connected, and the sight alone sent a shudder through him.

A strangled moan escaped Fernando as he felt another wave of arousal burning and spreading like wildfire in every fibre of his body and he just let himself be fucked, yielding, arching and twisting against the delicious, tender invasion inside him.

What aroused him most though was to see how the simple tightening of muscles would evoke that look on Dan’s face, arousal, need, pure want, a large crack in his composure, and he could watch it all from where he was lying on the bed and in Dan’s lap. He was highly aware of Dan’s fingers on his hips almost burning into his skin, warm, so hot, and they were holding him tight, keeping him at a deliciously slow, measured pace as Fernando went almost boneless when Dan, thick and pulsing, hit just the right spot inside him.

A hand was pressed to his abdomen, warm and so very gentle, and from where Dan’s palm and fingers met his skin the familiar tingle was suddenly being ignited, and Fernando felt his breath hitching. The look in Dan’s eyes was soft, affectionate, and he didn’t bend down but the caress of his hand and in turn Fernando’s legs tightening even more around his hips were, right then, just as good as a kiss.

That was when they appeared. And he fought the urge to close his eyes at the soaring ecstasy rushing from all corners of his body and gathering where Dan’s hands were placed. Swirling shadows on pale skin, like liquid inked tattoos. Shapes that curled and danced around the curves of Dan’s body, almost caressing. Beautiful.

To clearly see them like this for the first time, the visible evidence of what he felt running through him, already was almost enough, had every muscle in him tightening. But the soft moan coming from Dan’s lips, the way his hips shot forward, and simply the look on his face as he came was the last push he had needed.

They collapsed in a tangle of sweaty limps on the bed, and Fernando felt breathless and empty, but so good, satisfied and just… content. They took only a moment to recover, but even before their limbs had stopped shaking, Dan wrapped his arms around him, Fernando raised both hands to cup his face in them, and then their lips finally, finally met for a kiss.

***

It was a warm, sunny afternoon in early August and Fernando was amusedly watching Dan who tried to skip from shadow to shadow as they were walking down the streets. He was obviously avoiding the sun and once again Fernando felt a huge surge of affection for the other man because he knew Dan was only here for him. So he let himself be led by the dark-haired man, not minding the little detours they were doing.

“We’re here.”

Dan stopped in his stride and the first thing Fernando noticed when he turned his attention back to his surroundings were the colours. Hundreds and hundreds of different colours and Fernando had a hard time choosing what to look at first. The smell of roasted almonds and candyfloss clung in the air and he heard the faint sounds of people screaming in the distance, but he knew those weren’t screams out of fear, they sounded cheerful and playful.

“Don’t tell me you really didn’t know the Verbena was this week?” Dan tore him out of his wide-eyed observation, and when Fernando looked at him the gaze on Dan’s face was mildly amused.

Fernando only shook his head. “I forgot.”

He didn’t really know what to say. The only times when he had been at the Verbena de la Paloma that was held yearly in La Latina was when he did the extra rounds at patrol and he couldn’t remember any other way. A smile abruptly spread on his face. “Can we ride the Ferris wheel?” he asked playfully, excitement bubbling up in his chest.

They really were at a fun fair. He had hours to spare, could do whatever he wanted for the afternoon. And oh, he would.

“Of course,” Dan smiled and shrugged. He reached for Fernando’s hand, slowly entwining their fingers as if not completely sure if Fernando was alright with that, here where everyone could see them. “That’s why we’re here. Whatever you want.”

Fernando looked down at their clasped hands and smiled softly. The situation felt so normal, he felt normal, like they were your average couple on the streets. He squeezed Dan’s hand lightly, reassuring him.

“Thank you,” Fernando whispered and quickly placed a short kiss on Daniel’s smiling lips.

At first they only strolled around between the people, and Fernando relished being part of the crowd, just one of many, and even the glances their clasped hands received sometimes didn’t bother him at all. He took in hungrily the stalls with jewellery, with clothes, with toys, with ice cream or hot dogs or churros, with popcorn or candy - what a myriad of candy. Fernando suddenly felt like a child, or at least he supposed it was the same feeling that was displayed on the faces of the children running around. He’d never had that before.

In the end they simply walked over the site of the festivities for hours and Fernando ate candy until he was feeling queasy. When the sun began to sink, they finally entered one of the small capsules on the Ferris wheel that slowly took them up to where the red sunbeams still touched their faces.

Fernando could only stare at the different coloured lights and at the people on the ground, seemingly small and walking around like little ants. He felt Dan move against him, running his hand down his arm before stopping to entwine their fingers again and the warmth of the other man’s body made Fernando turn his gaze back towards him. He found Dan’s face right next to him, their noses were almost touching and Fernando was highly aware of their proximity, of Dan’s scent and the last sunrays reflecting in the copper streaks in his hair.

“Like it?” Dan muttered with a small smile, bending his head just a little so that their foreheads touched.

“It’s wonderful,” he whispered and tilted his head forward to catch Dan’s lips with his own, humming contently when the man drew his hand down Fernando’s side, letting it come to rest right there.

“You know,” he replied between two pecks, “you should enjoy the view while we’re up here. You can always kiss me when we’re down.”

Fernando pouted playfully against Dan’s lips but didn’t protest, only shifted his body so that Dan could still hold him in his arms while they watched the last rays of the sun disappear below the horizon, its red mixing with the cool blue of the approaching night.

***

It was quiet as they lay in bed, the night at its darkest and most silent. The body behind him warm, the arm around him reassuring, and the gentle rise and fall of Dan’s chest against his back gave the illusion of him being asleep.

Fernando was tired but sleep didn’t come easily as the happenings of the day were still fresh in his mind. He felt incredibly warm and comfortable, the fear of falling asleep almost completely eased from his mind. Right now, in this very moment he could actually say he was happy.

Happy…

It was a concept he hadn’t thought about for so long. Maybe ever. But right now, there wasn’t anything he’d want to change. No place he’d rather be, nothing he’d rather do, no one he’d rather be with. And Fernando was so thankful that Dan gave him moments like this, even after all he had put him through.

But here they were - and Fernando was happy. Because from the moment he had woken up that morning to this moment right then there was nothing, nothing at all he would want to change.

When his powers had awakened in him, this had been the one thing he had sworn to himself: he wouldn’t die before he had a perfect day.

“I love you,” Dan’s whispered voice broke the silence right next to his ear, so quiet he might have imagined it.

Fernando closed his eyes, finally ready to sleep.

With the realisation that he’d had it: his perfect day.

***

Can’t close my eyes
They’re wide awake
Every hair on my body
Has got a thing for this place
Oh empty my heart
I’ve got to make room for this feeling
So much bigger than me

It couldn’t be any more beautiful - I can’t take it in

All that I wanted - all that I ever needed
All that I wonder - so beautiful

~ Imogen Heap ~

~ TBC in Chapter 16 ~