So the plan had to go on in its original form.
Clover slipped his slender fingers into Boar’s hand. Any time Clover graced Boar with such tender gestures, Boar’s heart skipped a beat, and he felt fifteen again, making out with a friend in the backyard of their church.
“I trust you,” Clover said, but his brows were still pulled into a frown.
Boar exhaled, uncomfortable with how sweaty his hands felt, but when he parked the car behind Tank’s vehicle, he could at least close his eyes and take a deep breath to deal with the mounting stress.
“You need to. That’s the only way out of this mess. I’ll… do whatever it takes to free you from that bastard,” Boar said, watching the van stop behind them in the rearview mirror.
Clover wore a neon blue T-shirt so that he’d be easy to spot, but the shade only made him look paler. “I just… if something bad did happen… I want you to know this,” he squeezed Boar’s hand, “matters to me. Even if what we have is unconventional, it’s more important to me than any other relationship I’ve had.”
Boar’s chest sank, creating a heavy sensation that made him want to pull Clover into his arms and then take him away to the depths of the woods, where he’d never be in danger again.
But when he squeezed Clover’s hand more tightly, the sudden knock on the window made Boar stiffen. Pyro peeked inside, his eyebrows up. But they weren’t done with their private conversation yet.
Boar swallowed and urged his lover away with a gesture, his heart picking up its pace. He didn’t want to discuss this with anyone else listening, no matter how important Pyro was in his life.
Clover leaned in for a kiss, but couldn’t reach well, so he climbed out of the seat and into Boar’s lap. His weight was glorious, and when he wrapped his arms around Boar, sending his minty cologne into Boar’s nose, Boar squeezed him tight. So sweet, so lovely, so sexy. An ideal partner for them, wrapped in perfect pale skin.
And despite his earlier request for Clover to trust them, Boar rubbed his face against Clover’s neck and asked, “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
Clover kissed Boar’s ear, as if he wasn’t the one who needed the emotional support but the one to provide it. “I don’t want to. But I have to. I don’t want to be hostage to fear all my life.”
Boar shut his eyes, ignoring their friends, who hung out together just a couple of meters away. In this moment, he only wanted to feel Clover’s touch one more time despite believing in the success of Tank’s plan. He didn’t even want to think about the consequences of failure.
“You can still change your mind. We could take you across the border to Canada. Visit you there,” Boar whispered, even though having to part from Clover felt as painful as the perspective of not seeing Pyro for months would have.
Clover’s grip tightened around his neck in an instant. “No. I don’t want to be on my own. I don’t want to be away from you. What’s the point of running my whole life? I would never be able to be honest with anyone again. What we have is special, and I will do everything to protect it.”
Boar took a deep breath and settled his hands on Clover’s hips, longing to force him into safety against all reason. “I love you.”
Clover backed away far enough to meet Boar’s gaze. “I love you too. So I need you to think about yourself if things get out of hand, okay?” he asked and slid his fingers into Boar’s beard before meeting his lips in a soft kiss.
Boar’s breath caught, and he glanced at the empty road, embarrassed that his worry had been so obvious that Clover decided to soothe it when he was the one in danger. “They won’t,” he said without thinking and tightened his arms around Clover as the need to hold him and feel his exact shape became impossible to resist.
Clover cocked his head, a playful smile back on his lips. “You’re so tense, babe.”
Boar scowled, though the honesty of Clover’s confession made him loosen up the tiniest bit. “That’s because I’m worried. I know we’re going to succeed, but when I think about you out there, my mind comes up with the stupidest scenarios. I know I’m the best sniper, so it makes sense for me to protect you at a distance, but that means I won’t be with you. That’s what makes me nervous,” he said, shuddering. The possibility that they’d have to let those bastards take Clover in order to find the man behind it all was high, and the stakes the prospect brought with it had him breaking in cold sweat.