Page 8 of Nothing Special X: The Last Stand

“Oh shit.” He jabbed at the window. “What are they doing? See! I told you! There’s some mechanical shit happening.”

A cluster of men were moving, lifting and shifting things in and out of the underside of the plane.

Ruxs sighed. “Those aren’t mechanics. They’re the guys who load the luggage and people’s pets and shit. There’s nothing wrong with the plane.”

Green tried to breathe slower.

He couldn’t.

He kept staring anyway, waiting for smoke, sparks, a premonition, or the tiniest sign that would justify him turning around.

Ruxs stepped in front of him and cupped his warm hands against his cheeks.

The joking was gone, there was no grinning, taunting, or smartass comments. Just that hard, steady look he gave him when he was telling him he had him.

Then he kissed him.

It wasn’t soft or pretty. It was firm and grounding, cutting through the doubt and noise in his head. Enough to make his surrounding narrow down to Ruxs’ mouth, hands, and his heat.

When Ruxs pulled back, he kept his hands on Green’s jaw, thumbs stroking along his cheekbones.

“You can do this,” Ruxs said quietly.

He grabbed fistfuls of Ruxs’s sweatshirt, needing more to hold on to.

“I’m right here with you,” Ruxs said. “You’re not doing this alone.”

Green swallowed hard.

“You’re fierce as hell, and you know it. If anything happened, you’d be the first motherfucker on that plane trying to save everybody else.”

That was the humiliating part.

If the plane did go down, if something failed, if the cabin filled with smoke or a terrorist tried to break into the cockpit, he knew exactly what he’d do.

He’d fight. He’d help. He’d shove his fear down like he did on missions, long enough to drag people out, hold pressure on wounds or break something open with his bare hands.

Ruxs leaned in until their foreheads touched. “This is just another kind of danger for you to conquer. And I’m with you.”

Green held on tighter.

He shut his eyes for a long second. His breathing was still rough, his chest still tight, but Ruxs was close enough for it to no longer paralyze him.

When he opened his eyes again, Ruxs gave him that crooked grin, the one that always managed to sneak under his armor.

“Hey,” he whispered. “I promise to put your mask on first before I put on mine.”

Damn him, that got through. He didn’t laugh, not really, but it did make his mouth twitch.

“You fuckin’ bastard,” he huffed.

Ruxs took his hand and led him towards the jet bridge.

“Come on, handsome. Let’s go wreak havoc on the West Coast.”

Xander Vale

Stage 8 didn’t feel safe anymore.