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“It’s not. Talk to me, please .”

“You and I both shot at each other with the intent to wound or kill. I understand why he did it. He wanted to protect you. And you were both working for Galapol then, trying to stop me from killing anymore.”

Niko squeezed his eyes shut, remembering both times he’d tried—and failed—to convince Zann to side with them both and work against Honeybliss instead of Elliott. In the end, though, his brother’s hands had been tied. But they weren’t tied anymore.

“This is your…” Niko trailed off, searching for the right word.

Home felt like a stretch when describing the sprawling, featureless halls of the facility.

Yet, that was exactly what Elliott had called it twice now.

Not just his home, but theirs. “Home. This is someone I know you don’t trust. But he is my brother.

He’s my family. He might be my only family left now.

” The idea left him breathless. “I’ve already fucked up and gotten my father taken by them.

I can stop it from happening to Zann too.

In the end, though, I want your honest and full consent.

If you don’t want him here, I’ll respect it.

But if you do, I’ll make sure he… uh, behaves, I guess. ”

“It’s fine, Niko. Really, it is. You’ve given everything to help me and I want to do the same for you.

I want to show up for you too. If you trust your brother to be here, then I accept.

Though, I won’t promise we’ll be friends.

” He hesitated, and Niko could see how much he had to force himself to push out the next words.

“Your father and Loolae, too. They can stay here once we liberate them. So long as word doesn’t get out, no one will ever find them here. ”

“We’ll take care of each other, okay? I won’t let anything happen to you,” Niko said, looking up at him.

He ran his thumb along the back of Elliott’s hand, tracing its contours.

The idea of having everyone he loved—Zann, Oliver, Loolae, Elliott—here in one place, together and alive, filled Niko with a quiet, shyly blossoming hope.

Even if it meant having them all exist in this oppressive, abandoned mining facility.

He just missed them, profoundly.

He wouldn’t trade Elliott for anything in the galaxy, but the steep cost of being at his side had been a stunning sort of isolation. “You’ll be alright, Elliott. I’ll make sure of it.”

Elliott smiled, though he looked tired. “So will you.” He yawned. “I’m going to get back to it. I’m narrowing down who would be most likely to have the audacity, manpower, and ties to Galapol to get through their supposed watch of your father. If they’re not staging the whole thing.”

“How long have you been researching?” Niko asked.

Elliott glanced at the clock. “Five and a half hours.”

Niko winced. “Take a break with me, okay?”

Elliott looked uncomfortable. He hesitated. “I don’t know. I really want to get back to this. I’d hate to waste a moment we can’t spare.”

“Yeah, but you need to take care of yourself, too. Just for a bit. Dinner and a nap with me. I’ll wake you after an hour.”

“I guess I could do that.” Elliott didn’t sound convinced.

“Come on.”

They went to the cafeteria, where Niko began making tinga de pollo.

He’d originally wanted Elliott to relax while he cooked, but a glance out from the kitchen to the table he’d sat at revealed he was taking the opportunity to get right back to researching, a dozen holograms spread in the air before him.

Niko called him into the kitchen with the excuse that he could use help processing the vegetables.

They ate in contemplative silence, Elliott thanking him for the meal, then returned to the bedroom, where he held Niko as he drifted off to sleep, their bodies pressed together.

Glimpses of things they could do whispered through Niko’s mind—Elliott leaning in to kiss the back of his neck, buried wholly inside him as Niko lay face down on the bed, clutching the sheets tightly.

The low moans Elliott would likely make in response.

Niko felt himself grow hard, but the other man had already drifted off to sleep, his breathing growing shallow and slack against the back of Niko’s shoulder.

Niko didn’t want to wake him, especially after all he’d done for him in his hours of dedicated, tireless research. Instead, he leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on Elliott’s hand, then closed his eyes.

The gesture had woken him regardless, it seemed. Elliott shifted to wrap around Niko tighter, burying his face in the crook of his neck in a way that elicited a chill of pleasure.

“I love you, Niko.”

The words left Niko breathless, goosebumps prickling along his skin in the surprise and delight of hearing them.

Warmth trickled through him like sunlight glimmering on the surface of water.

For a moment, he forgot about anything outside of Elliott.

He craned his neck to look back over his shoulder at him.

Elliott looked at him sleepily, then leaned forward and met him in a kiss.

Then he moved to Niko’s neck and shoulder, his lips brushing softly against them, his breath warm on his skin.

Niko’s own breaths were coming in quiet, shallow gasps now.

He wanted it so badly, wanted what he’d envisioned with him. Maybe now more than ever before.

“Do—” Niko started, barely murmuring. There was something he wanted to say, something he wanted to request. He wanted what he’d pictured.

He wanted to feel Elliott within him, made a part of him.

But even now, something sharp inside him snagged and kept him from putting it exactly into words.

Instead, he wandered. “Do you want to…?”

Elliott responded with more attentive kisses to Niko’s neck and jaw.

He was quite obviously waking up again now.

He combed his fingertips through Niko’s messy hair and then down his side to rest along his hip in a way that drove him wild.

Niko turned over to lie flat on his belly, his backside exposed for the taking now, all in offering to Elliott.

He hoped what he couldn’t say in words was clear enough through actions.

Elliott rolled over slightly so that he was lying on top of Niko now.

The pressure and weight of him was dizzying and delicious.

Niko heard him fumble through the bedside table drawer where they kept the lubrication, his erection and need pushing against Niko now, straining against the fabric of his pants.

He leaned in and ran his hand along Niko’s side and back, then bent down to kiss him along the neck again.

Everywhere he touched bloomed with life, with sensation, like a painter gifting streaks of vibrant color to an empty canvas.

“Please, Elliott.”

“I’ll take care of you,” Elliott murmured in his ear, voice dark, liquid, and lovely. He rocked his hips, needy erection grinding against Niko. “Lover. My Niko.”

Elliott pulled Niko’s pants and boxers down just enough to expose what was needed, then did the same to himself. Once he’d prepped them, he slid inside easily and Niko let out a soft, involuntary moan. He’d wanted this so badly.

Elliott buried his face in Niko’s shoulder, leaving warm, sensuous kisses along it.

He ran his hands along Niko, light as a dream.

This wasn’t vulgar. It wasn’t fucking. It was something else.

Making love, maybe. Only Elliott’s breathing and the soft sounds of their joining filled the quiet room, until, with an electric thrill of both excitement and affection, Niko heard his breaths turn into low, lovely moans. They were his favorite sound.

Niko couldn’t help the few soft sounds that escaped himself as well, so given to the moment. He wanted this forever with him, wanted it to never end.

But as all things, it was eventually over, Elliott sighing into Niko’s mouth as they came together. Once they’d cleaned up, Elliott wrapped around him again, leaving quiet kisses along Niko’s shoulder.

“I wanted to tell you for a long time,” Elliott said, his words already hazy at the edges again with fatigue, “how much I’ve loved you.”

Despite every harrowing thing that lay waiting for him beyond the shelter of Elliott’s warm embrace, as he drifted off to sleep, Niko felt a peace he had never known before.

He was home.