Archive of Our Own

'So, Darlings,' Buddy Aurinko began, tucking a strand of her fiery hair behind her ear with a manicured finger. She looked across the table at the pair of them, eyes warm with a tenderness Juno suspected might be a lure. 'You might already know why I've asked to have this private chat with you today.'

Juno wracked his brains. The last few jobs had gone off without a hitch. He'd stopped stealing Jet's cereal and blaming it on Rita. He'd even made a conscious effort not to antagonise Vespa in the past couple of days. There was nothing he could think of - unless.

'Is there something wrong, Captain?' Nureyev's voice was smooth as velvet and alluring as always. Which might, actually, be part of the problem. Juno twitched as Peter rested a nimble-fingered hand on his leg under the table. He hadn't even noticed he'd been jigging it up and down nervously until the gentle pressure made him stop.

'Not a problem, as such, no.' Buddy pursed her lips in thought, surveying the two of them evenly. 'First of all, I'd like to stress that everyone in the family is very happy for you both.' A wave of nausea ran through Juno's stomach. Peter's hand squeezed his knee.

'Thank you.' Nureyev said, smile sanguine and, honestly, so lovely that Juno forced himself to look away.

'However,' Buddy held up a finger, 'It has been brought to my attention that things might be more comfortable for everyone on board if you could attempt to exercise a little more discretion when it comes to your . . . Intimate activities.' She laughed a short, dry laugh that did nothing to stop the creeping heat Juno felt spreading up from his chest. 'Or, any discretion at all, actually.' Juno Steel, ex-Private Eye, had not experienced such mortification in a long time. Buddy had a glint of amusement in the amber iris of her human eye that Juno would honestly rather die than stare at. To his right, Peter remained unable to be flustered by anyone except Juno himself.

'Our apologies, Cap-'

'-That everything?' Juno cut him off with a strangled half-snarl.

'Yes, dear.'

He rose to his feet without further permission, dark skin glowing, unable to look anywhere except at the door as he stomped away. As he made his escape, he heard Buddy sigh indulgently.

'Comfort him would you, Pete, darling?' She instructed, 'Quietly, if you can.'

It would be less embarrassing if they could honestly feign ignorance. But the pair had developed enough respect (and self-preservation) not to lie to Buddy Aurinko. And Juno knew exactly what she was talking about.

. 1 .
 

Juno let out a huff of exertion as he pulled himself clear of the floor. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his face but he fought the burn in his arms, lowering himself back to floor in a controlled dip.

The gym had been Vespa's idea. She needed (a lot of) physiotherapy and there was a spare cubicle on the Carte Blanche that was practically begging for use. Plus, Vespa tended to get whatever she wanted. Juno wondered if Buddy and Vespa's relationship had always been like that: Buddy doting over her partner's every whim, or whether it was a side effect of the ache of being apart for so long. Probably rude to ask, Juno figured. The gym had been a good addition to the ship for Juno too. He'd not set foot in a gym since the day he no longer had a wedding dress to fit into but he'd got back into a rhythm pretty quickly, enjoying the burn in his muscles. And the way Peter looked at him when he was flushed and sweaty from his work-outs.

Juno adjusted his grip on the bars and readied himself for another pull-up. He grunted as he cleared the floor, ignoring the electronic hiss of the door as it slid open. If it were Vespa, he wouldn't want her thinking she'd been able to distract him. He untwisted his ankles and dropped carefully to the floor.

'I hoped I'd find you in here.' A voice like silk commented. Juno refused to give him the satisfaction of looking over his shoulder. He could feel that smirk and the lingering gaze all over his body. And wasn't it a good job that Juno was wearing the leggings that really showed off his ass?

'I didn't think the gym was really your scene, Nureyev.' He lifted himself back up, secretly pleased that the movement looked fluid and easy.

'Oh,' Peter laughed, low and rumbling, 'I'm not here to exercise.' Juno lowered himself to the floor and finally looked over his shoulder towards the door. Peter had changed from the paisley suit he'd been pottering around the ship in all day to a silk gown that hung open at the neck, revealing a tempting milky slither of chest. Juno swallowed. He could just about smell Peter's cologne over the smell of sweat and it made his mouth dry.

Buddy had made a comment the other day. One of her throwaway pieces of wisdom that has a tendency roll around in the heads of the people who needed to hear it. We should all hope to fall in love with someone who brings out the best in us. Since then, Juno had been trying not to make things too easy for Peter, knowing that the man simply thrived when given a challenge. The thief hardly benefited from a pushover and when Juno pushed Peter, he pushed back.

So, instead of wrapping things up and dragging the man to his bedroom, Juno wiped his hands on his T-shirt and grabbed the bar. Peter's chuckle floated around to Juno's left, as his smirking face came into view. With Juno in a pull-up position, the height difference was almost eliminated and Peter took advantage of this by ghosting a kiss over Juno's lips. His laugh deepened into something happy and amused as Juno, forgetting himself, strained forwards for another. Juno blushed and tried the disguise the movement as him lowering himself back down. Peter stared down at him, pupils starting to swallow up his pale irises, and inhaled deeply.

'How long do you think you can hold yourself up there?' He asked, eyebrows tilted in genuine curiosity. Something hot and needy uncoiled itself in Juno's groin, like a serpent raising its head from slumber and hissing in satisfaction. Juno wet his lips.

'How long do you want me to hold myself up?' He countered. The fox-grin, sly and sharp-toothed, spread across Peter's lips as Juno lifted himself up with a hard exhale. He crowded closer, bracketing Juno's body between his own and the metal pole that held the bar in place. 'Don't get sweat on your pretty thing.' Juno huffed out through gritted teeth. In truth, holding himself up for any real amount of time was going to be a challenge.

'Oh, do you like it?' Peter's breath tickled Juno's ear, cooling the sweat that was running down the back of his neck. Juno whined as Peter bent his head to nip at his pulse point, the pleasure a perfect counterpoint to the scream in his arms and shoulders.

His arms had begun to shake by the time Peter wound that smirking mouth down to the strip of skin between his top and his leggings. He moaned low in his throat - half in pain at the exhausted tremble in his muscles, half in pain at the torturous glide of Peter's tongue against his skin - as The Thief finally dropped to his knees and his hands slid to Juno's waistband.

'Nur-' He swallowed the rest of Peter's name with a start as they were interrupted by the familiar buzz of pressurised air. The door opened and Juno looked down to see Peter's mouth drop open in shock, lipstick ever so slightly smudged. Juno's arms chose that moment to completely give up on him and he fell from the bar and collapsed onto Peter with a surprised yell. 

'I-' Jet Siquliak trailed off, deep voice more musical than Juno had ever heard it. The pain and adrenaline coursing through his veins were a wonderful buffer against the embarrassment of getting caught in a compromising position and Juno felt a laugh bubble up in his throat, escaping as an unlady-like snort. 'Was not meant to see that. I will return. Later.' Juno heard the thud of his boots as The Big Guy turned on his heel and slipped down to his knees in front of Peter, snorts turning to relieved giggles.

'Oh, man.'

Peter caught his chin with one long finger, pinning him in place with the heat in his eyes. '53 seconds.' He said with a smirk.

'Pfft. Could have gone longer.'

'So you always say.'

. 2 .

A midnight snack. That's all Juno had wanted. A few handfuls of Jet's cereal, washed down with a swig of that fizzy shit Peter had claimed was the taste of his early twenties in the Outer Rim? Perfect. He hadn't expected to find the man himself in the kitchen already, his hair mussed from the way he accidentally finger-combs the gel out of it when concentrating, a vision against the reflective black cupboard doors. He hadn't expected to end up on his knees on the cold panelled floor, one of Peter's hands buried in his thick curls while the other artfully guided his cup of tea to his mouth for a dainty sip.

'Good, Juno.' For all the Plutonian honey in Peter's fragrant tea, his voice was wrecked. Juno's face burned, eyes watering with the effort of not gagging as Peter drove the head of his cock into the back of his throat with slow, deliberate rolls of his hips. The yellow chiffon of Peter's skirt made a plastic creak in Juno's hands as he clenched and relaxed his fists, trying not to coat the thing in spit and precome. And, God, it felt good to be good for Nureyev.

He looked up as Peter's hand slipped from his hair to wrap around the base of his cock. Peter's eyes locked on to his remaining dark one and he took initiative to suck hard on the spit-slick intrusion in his mouth as Peter slipped the length of it out with a shaky breath. Nureyev's lips curled up into a smile as Juno gulped for air, trying to relieve the burn in his lungs, to slow his hammering heart, and he rubbed the sensitive and ruddy tip of his cock against Juno's bottom lip.

He opened his mouth but whatever his was going to say was forgotten as a crescendo of footsteps made the pair of them jump and a gruff voice murmured an amiable: 'Ransom.'

'Vespa!' Peter cried out, smoothing his skirt down over his erection with a fluid movement as Juno sat on the floor, concealed by the countertops, frozen and dumbstruck. It was one thing for Jet to walk in on them, but Vespa? 'Fancy seeing you here.'

'Alright?' She sounded puzzled, almost suspicious. That was Vespa's MO for Peter Ransom, it seemed to Juno. She clearly liked his thief more than she barely-tolerated the ex-detective, but she acted like she knew she couldn't trust him. 'Buddy wanted some water.'

'Oh! Ah! Lovely. I'll - ah, no! Allow me!' Juno watched through the blurry reflection on the cupboard door in front of him as Vespa's green head made a move to come round the counter before shrugging and handing over a cup. He kept his eyes on her as Peter glided over to the sink. A frosty feeling, needle-sharp and anxious, began to spread through his chest as the warped outline of Vespa's head shook once, twice before fixing in place. As if she were staring right at his own reflection. 'Right, well!' Peter tactically stood right in front of Juno as he handed the water over, shielding his reflection from Vespa's pointed gaze. 'There you go.'

'Right. Thanks.' Vespa made it to the doorway before she spoke again, a thread of dark humour in her gravelly tones. 'Hey, Steel,' Fuck, Juno thought. 'If you like the floor so much you should try sweeping it sometime.'

. 3 .

'Oh, hello.' Nureyev's greeting was like stepping onto a fresh blanket of snow for the first time. Hesitant, excited, and ultimately beautiful. Juno smiled at him from the door. The thief had excused himself from the Family Meeting hours ago, citing the need to get up to date with the blueprints of the bank they were going to break into the day after next. He'd holed himself up in the computer room, the blue light flickering onto his skin making him look ghostly pale, surrounded by sheets and sheets of discarded paper as he attempted to draw the floor plan from memory. He turned to face Juno, eyes roaming over his body, clearly trying to determine whether the ex-detective was friend or foe to his concentration. Juno smiled wider, affecting an air of innocence and not really caring if Peter saw straight through it. Peter raised a hand as Juno took a step forward, somehow both frazzled and imperious at once. 'You can only come in if you promise to behave.'

'I always behave, don't know what you're talking about.' the door slid shut behind Juno as he strode over to the large screen in front of Nureyev before twisting and attempting to deposit himself on the man's lap. Right on top of Rita's incredibly expensive keyboard.

'Juno!' Peter cried, shoving him up abruptly. There was a glint of iron in Nureyev's eyes that signalled Juno would have a hard time getting what he wanted right now. 'See, this is what I'm talking about.' He huffed, 'Sit over there.'

'The other side of the room? No way!' Juno plucked the keyboard out of Nureyev's graceful hands and positioned himself carefully over Peter's lap so that his back was supported by one of Peter's arms and his legs hung over the armrest of the chair. Peter sighed, long-suffering and, perhaps genuinely a little put out, but leaned in to bury his nose in Juno's hair for a second and accepted the feather-light kiss that Juno planted on the soft skin of his cheek.

Juno returned the keyboard to the man who actually knew how to use it and nestled in, tucking his curls underneath Peter’s chin. He focused on the delicate rise and fall of Peter’s chest instead of the swirling chaos of memories and buried emotion that reminded him that he used to do this with Diamond: get all clingy and needy and desperate. He felt it catch him anyway, that fear that if he forced himself on Peter too much then the Disappearing Thief was going to show Juno his best vanishing act yet. Like Diamond had done.

'I'll go if you genuinely don't want me here.' He choked out. Peter paused in his scribbling, arm going tight around Juno's shoulders.

'Make no mistake, Juno. Any room is vastly improved by your presence. I just need to work for a while.'

I'm working. That's what Diamond had always said too. And Sarah Steel, now he thought about it, ice in his belly and a cry trapped in his throat. Not now, Little Monsters, can't you see I'm working?

Peter tipped his pointy chin to rest his head in the dark cloud of Juno's hair and sighed contentedly, the sound exactly what Juno needed to hear to pull him from his anxious melancholy. He smiled slightly, letting himself relax back into the cradle of Peter's arm and chest. His eye flickered shut against the persistent artificial light from the computer. It was nice.

Several minutes passed in a contented quiet, the only sounds being the tide of their breathing, the barely-perceptible buzz of the computers and Peter's scratchy doodling. Peter inhaled deeply, throwing a sheet of paper to the floor and rocking Juno forwards so he could reach out and pass him another one.

'You've been using my shampoo, haven't you?' Peter commented quietly, tapping a few commands into the keyboard to adjust the view on the screen. Or, that's what Juno thought he was doing. Computers were still a mystery.

'So what if I have?' He shot back, immediately defensive.

'And the rest of them call me The Thief.' He chuckled.

Peter was less still after that. He leant back so that Juno was mostly supported on his chest and let his non-dominant hand loose on a thoughtless wander. Down Juno's arm to play with the callouses on his fingertips, smoothing up his wrist, skittering over the scars on his shoulder. Juno imagined his path as a trail of light on his skin, watching as the hair stood up to crave more touch as Peter's fingers skipped away. He exhaled shakily as Peter's hand slid up the side of his neck. Last night, that same move had been a precursor to Peter pressing down firmly on his trachea and Juno had seen stars as he came. He didn't dare check the expression on Peter's face so, instead, struggled to decide whether it would be hotter if Peter were smirking at the memory or hiding behind a mask of unaffected focus. He shuffled in Peter's lap and caught the hitch in the taller man's breathing as the side of his thigh rubbed up against Peter's crotch. Unaffected, my ass.

Juno grabbed Peter's shirt to steady himself as the man leant forward to free his arm. Those long fingers were relentless, though, and the minute Juno was settled back against his chest, Peter slipped two of them past his lips. Juno ran his tongue along the blunt edge of his manicured nails, tasting the unpleasant tang of ink but sucking down on them anyway. He hummed encouragingly, trying to swallow the digits until they pushed into the back of his tongue and Peter let slip a half-growled 'Juno'. Which, of course, was exactly the second that Rita chose to enter the Computer Room.

'Hi, Mr Steel! H-!' She froze. Her new glasses made her eyes look even larger than normal, magnifying the embarrassed shock of catching her boss sucking on his boyfriend's fingers like some common- Come on, Steel! Think! Peter's fingers fell out of his mouth with a disconcertingly loud POP. Smooth.

'Hey, Rita!' He coughed, shifting so he wasn't obviously melted against Nureyev's chest. 'I realise that was a really weird thing to walk in on . . .'

'Uhuh.' She nodded. One small hand was resting on the doorframe as if she were ready to launch herself out of the room any second. Juno was seconds away from a decent lie. Come ON, say something!

'BUT,' He stalled.

'Rita, I am so terribly sorry.' Peter cut him off, features arranged into a perfect moue of self-pity. 'It's all my fault. You see, I found the bag of Triple X Super Flame Spice-Crazy Turtle Milk chips under this seat and I ate them all! Every last one.' He sighed, 'It's so hard to perform sustained computer work without a good snack.' Rita's face shifted from shock to absolute sympathy. 'And then Juno came in and he couldn't believe that the snack could be tasty enough for me to devour the whole bag and so I insisted he tasted the remaining flavour powder on my fingers.'

'For the record-' Juno started.

'Oh well, of course you can't be locking yourself away in here without a decent snack Mr -' Rita still stumbled over his name. 'Did you like it, Boss?'

'As I was going to say-'

'He loved it.' Peter's beam was traitorous. Rita clapped excitedly.

'Yes! I knew it! I knew it! I always told ya, boss: the minute you try these snacks you're gonna regret ever giving me hell about getting crumbs everywhere. Oh, oh OH! You wait right there, I'm gonna get you some more!' She ran from the pair of them, heels clip clopping all the way down the corridor. Peter fixed Juno with a smug smile and Juno balanced on the edge of kissing it off his lips and giving the man a solid thump in the gut. God knows, he deserved both.

'Do you know what the funniest part is, Juno, dear?' For a second he was all Duke Rose, pompous and waiting for the universe to wipe that self-satisfied grin off his face.

'What?' Juno snarled, his arousal hot enough to confuse itself into anger.

'In order to keep up the ruse, there's another bag of those revolting snacks under the chair that need eating as well.' Peter laughed, cheeks flushed and pretty with the addition of colour, 'I do hope you're hungry.'

. 4 .

Juno planted a palm on the slippery tile of the shower cubicle and reached up and around his back with the other one. His fingers found Nureyev's wet hair and pulled hard until the taller man took the hint and sunk his teeth into the muscle of Juno's shoulders. He hissed loudly as the sudden sharp pain brought the pleasure of Peter's thrusts into clearer focus. Peter pulled back minutely to lathe his tongue over the blooming bruise he'd created on Juno's skin and timed his next bite with a particularly vicious snap of his hips. If it weren't for his hand on the wall, Juno would have hit the deck. He moaned, volume ill-advisably loud over the rush of shower-water. Nureyev was a genius. A master of - something. Juno squeezed his eye shut tight until he saw colourful flashes of light. He thought he might die.

One of Peter's infuriatingly dextrous hands squeezed Juno's hip tight before slipping round to take him in hand, nimble fingers doing something incredible that Juno wouldn't be able to recreate if he tried. He was so close, balanced on the delicious precipice of wanting this to last forever and knowing just how good it would feel to tip over into orgasm. Juno Steel was never very good at waiting. But, he was trying to learn.

As if reading his mind, Peter crowded even closer, hand on Juno's dick coming to splay across his chest as he bent him further forward, grunting quietly as he made his thrusts slow and, oh god, deep.

Juno swallowed a loud curse which was just as well because, as he did so, there came a loud knock on the bathroom door.

'Juno?' It was Buddy. Peter stilled inside him. Juno panted, unable to twist far enough around to meet Peter's eyes and get a read on how he should play this. Fuck.

'Yeah?' He shouted. Maybe she just wanted to tell him to hurry up, or that there was a meeting later. But, no, Buddy Aurinko didn't make a habit of shouting through doors without a good reason. Her voice was muffled and distant but clear.

'Juno, have you seen Pete? I need to speak to him but I can't find him anywhere.'

Juno felt Peter fold himself forwards across his back. His lips were curved into a shit-eating grin where he pressed them against Juno's skin. Without warning, he started to move again, the slide of him perfect enough to startle a loud gasp from Juno.

'What?' Juno choked. He reached back to grab onto Nureyev's hipbone. Not exactly telling him to stop. Peter continued his slow grind and Juno bit into his forearm to keep from moaning. Sometimes, the Universe loved a joke at Juno's expense and this was just another one of them.

'Peter Ransom, dear. Where is he?'

'How am I meant to know?' Juno shouted, breathless. Peter chuckled against the back of his neck and the vibration of it made Juno's toes curl. 'He's not exactly in he - ah - here with me, is he?' Juno accidentally ended his sarcastic question with a poorly timed grunt. There was a moment of silence from the other side of the door. Juno could imagine Buddy fixing her hands on her hips with that flat, unimpressed look on her face. He'd barely noticed Peter's hand shifting back to his dick but the first gentle pull almost took him right over the edge, he covered his mouth and bit his tongue hard.

'Well,' Buddy's voice finally floated through the door, 'When you next see him, whenever that might be, please let him know I've been looking for him.'

With the door shut, it was impossible to really tell if Buddy had moved away from the door. Nureyev didn't seem to care.

'Wonderfully done, my love.' His whispered voice curled into Juno's ear like inhaled smoke. The praise, always unexpected, made him feel weak at the knees. One of Nureyev's wiry arms wrapped around Juno's chest and the lady let himself fall into it. Let himself be taken. The combination of Peter's hand and the perfect pressure inside him was too much to withstand. Juno bowed his head, hand tight across his open mouth, and screamed as he came. Peter wasn't far behind him, teeth sinking back into Juno's shoulder as his hips snapped erratically and he groaned out his pleasure into a bruise.

'Fuck.' Juno sighed, marble-mouthed and a little dizzy. He lifted his head slowly as Peter pulled out. The arm across his chest tightened to tug him back against Nureyev's chest and he went willingly, twisting to press an open-mouthed kiss to the pale column of Peter's neck.

'Goodness.' Nureyev agreed.

. 5 .

Juno's head smacked back against the wall in the cramped closet they'd deposited themselves in once Buddy had announced that the job was successfully done and they had some free time to blend in with the crowd until Jet could swing by with Ruby to pick them up. The sparkles faded from his vision, body alight with the kind of bone-deep pleasure that Nureyev usually saw fit to bestow. He could hear something, but his brain was too muddled to focus on anything but the blooming love bite on Nureyev's neck, an irregular mark spotted with burst capillaries like purpling stars in a scarlet sky. He grabbed Nureyev's arm, trying to pull him down to taste that mark again.

In response, Peter smiled a little lopsidedly, more teeth than anything else, and pressed him back against the wall for a firm, brief kiss. Juno made a soft, bereft sound as he pulled away.

'My comms, Juno.' Peter cleared his throat loudly before pressing a button on his device. That explained what the noise was, at least.

'Where are you?' Vespa Ilkay's voice hissed out from the comms. Juno could just make out Rita in the background, enthusiastically reassuring The Big Guy that she was sure they'd be there in a minute.

'We'll be right there, Vespa. Thank you for your patience.'

Thank you for your patience. Juno snorted as Nureyev ended the call and pulled him down for one last, messy kiss.

'Well, Dr Silver, shall we?' The Thief's mask slipped back into place flawlessly. Horrible Mecurian accent and all.

'You know just how to tempt a lady, Dr Silver.'

+ 1 +

Juno was giving him doe-eyes again.

It had been happening almost daily since their talking to from the Captain. Every time they were alone together, Juno would flutter his eyelashes, coquettish and distracting before remembering himself with a clench of his jaw. Peter had no intention of putting his lady in an awkward position. But looking at Juno still made his heart race like he was a teenager again, blood rushing to parts of his body that weren't particularly useful for planning a heist.

In truth, there was no need for Juno to be physically present for this, Peter was beyond capable of inputting their proposed route into the Ruby 7 alone. Still, it was nice to have an audience. Juno Steel did tend to make him feel . . . Competent. He looked through the wonder of a car's windscreen and caught Juno staring back at him from his lounged out position on Ruby's bonnet. He felt a smile slide onto his lips.

'What do you think, Ruby, does the Detective deserve some attention?'

'Not a detective.' The detective drawled, looking up at the ceiling of the garage with a tiny pout. Ruby whistled enthusiastically and she opened the door for him with an adorable little whoomph. He stepped out, heels clicking imposingly on the floor. Juno, apparently, was refusing to give him the satisfaction of checking him out as he approached but Peter saw his Adam's apple bob and that was all he needed to see. He stepped up to the side of Ruby's bonnet, bracketing Juno's legs with his own and planted his hands on Juno's hips, thumbs rubbing circles into the prominent bumps of his pelvis. 'Nureyev.' Juno warned, brown eye finally swinging to meet Peter's. 'We can't.'

'Cant, Juno?' Peter murmured as he leant forwards to ghost his lips over Juno's. 'Or shouldn't?' He stroked a hand up underneath the hem of Juno's T-shirt and felt the lady shiver a little at the drag of his fingernails.

'Shouldn't?' Juno drew the word out as though tasting it. His eyebrow was quirked adorably over his eyepatch. 'What if we get caught?' Peter turned his head, looking into the inside of the Ruby 7.

'What do you think, Ruby? Are we going to get caught?' The car whistled a low note, an obvious no. Peter grinned as Juno fought off his own smile. He let out a high-pitched mmph as Juno's hand fisted in the lace ties at the neck of his top to pull him down into an open mouthed kiss. Once, in one of their many long discussions about their past and potential future, Juno had said that he'd wanted that first kiss they shared - him as Rex Glass, Juno as Juno Steel, Private Eye - to never end but, when it inevitably did, he felt like he got everything he deserved. Peter still didn't know how to express, with Juno's back arching up underneath him like their hearts were magnetised, that he never felt like he deserved this. Juno was -

'You're gorgeous.' He broke off the kiss to whisper. Juno squirmed and God, he did look so delicious when trying to decide whether or not to do the moral thing.

'Shut up and kiss me, Nureyev.'

They wasted little time after that. Juno knew exactly which pocket Nureyev kept the lube in these days and how to avoid the blade of the plasma cutter to get at it. Within minutes, Peter had his short but well-muscled legs over his shoulders, two long fingers stretching him out carefully whilst kissing the breathy moans from his open mouth.

'Hah - ah! Nureyev!' Juno tried to latch down on his neck but Peter pulled just out of reach. The point was to disguise the fact that they'd had sex when they were meant to be working, after all. He crooked his fingers inside Juno and grinned as the lady beneath him cursed. 'Fuck, I'm ready, just - ah - fuck.'

Nureyev stepped back with a smirk, admiring the way that Juno held his legs up and open for him.

'Look at you.' He murmured, letting his voice slide deep into the suggestive bass he used when he needed to direct a client towards the bedroom. Juno's face twisted into scowl. 'Ruby, tell him.' The car let out a long wolf-whistle and Juno squirmed even more, bare ass sticking to the emerald bonnet.

'Stop.' He hissed as Peter rolled down a condom, slicked himself up and crowded between Juno's legs again. He leant forward and met Juno half way for a searing kiss, hands in Peter's hair, around his neck, nails tracing the lines of his shoulder blades. Peter nudged his entrance with the tip of his cock. 'Do it.' Juno demanded with a hoarse whisper. 'You can tease me later, just - fuck - do it.' What a lovely thought. Now that Juno had repeatedly proven that he wasn't, in fact, going to up and leave in the night, Peter was letting himself plan ahead. He could think up something delightfully cruel for Juno this evening. But, the detective was right, they shouldn't waste time if they genuinely didn’t want to get caught. He could imagine how much of a glimpse of the Unnatural Disaster they might get if Jet Siquiliak caught them using the Ruby 7 like a brothel bed. 'Nureyev!' Juno groaned, desperately trying to grind his hips closer to Peter.

'Apologies, Juno. I got a little side-tracked thinking about how much I'm allowed to tease you later.' Peter lined himself up.

'Oh, wonderf-' Juno lost it as Peter slipped inside him with one slow movement. His fingers clenched and unclenched on the paintwork, white teeth sunk deep into his full bottom lip. Peter bit back his own growl of pleasure as his cock was enveloped in Juno's slick heat. He rocked his hips experimentally and pushed at Juno's legs to fold his surprisingly supple lover over until he could lean forward and take over the role of biting Juno's lips. They moaned into each other's mouths as Peter set up a fast paced rhythm and Juno tilted his hips up off the car until each thrust made him melt.

'What the-?' Juno gasped as the Ruby 7's engines purred to life underneath them, a constant rumble that clearly worked somehow for the ex-detective. Peter felt it too, when he thrust forwards his balls dragged across the car and the vibrations from the engine made him laugh into his quiet groan. The car gave an undeniably cheeky whistle. 'This car is too - ugh - sentient.' Juno panted. Peter chuckled again between his own rapid breaths, and the Ruby's engines quieted with a low disappointed note from inside the car. 'Oh for-' Juno's eye squeezed shut as the vibrations disappeared. 'I didn't fucking say stop.'

'Shh, Juno.' Peter reminded him, 'I thought you were shy?'

'I'll give you fucking-'

Peter didn't let him finish his sentence. Instead, he clamped a pale hand over Juno's mouth, pausing to delight in the way his pupil dilated wide in his beautiful brown eye. He used his other hand to gather up Juno's wrists, holding them tight in a long-fingered grip. Juno was much stronger than him, really, but that just made the way he let Peter pin his hands above his head even sweeter. He could fight it if he didn't like it so much. Juno tried to speak, voice muffled by Peter's hand.

'I know, Juno.' He grinned, showing all his teeth, 'I am rather good.' Juno groaned again. Peter tutted. 'Now, if I take my hand away from your mouth, do you promise to stay quiet?' Juno nodded, head sliding against the warm metal. 'Are you sure, Juno? I would hate for us to get caught.' Juno's eye fluttered closed. Ah, how interesting. Perhaps, Juno didn't mind the idea of that quite as much as he made out. He nodded and Peter squeezed his face before letting go. He reached for the discarded packet of lube on the windscreen and Juno watched him, mouth open but silent, reach down between his legs to touch him in time with the thrusts of his hips. Juno clenched tighter around him, every thrust pulling Peter closer to finishing inside that hot, wet hole.

Juno's lips twitched up into his own flickering smile as he watched Peter's face carefully. He did something that caused himself to tighten around Nureyev's cock - hard - and that flickering smile morphed into a dirty grin as Peter's face contorted despite himself. Whatever it was, Juno did it again and a shower of sparks exploded in Peter's groin. He was so close but there was no way he was going to let himself come before Juno. He responded by digging his nails into Juno's wrists, sharpening his thrusts until he was pounding into Juno with wet slaps that could only just be heard over the hum of the engine.

'Oh, God! Juno!' He whispered into the side of Juno's knee, planting a kiss to an old scar there. Juno's mouth fell open into a perfect, wordless scream and Peter managed to hold on long enough, through the perfect agony of feeling Juno clench down on him in spasms, to watch Juno peak through his orgasm before he let go himself, shuddering as he came.

Juno wouldn't admit it, but he needed Peter in the aftermath. Getting his pants back on his heavy legs had been a challenge but it was worth it when he let Peter gather him up in his arms, wobbling slightly in his heels, and carry him to the passenger seat of the Ruby 7. That was how Jet found them, Juno leaning heavily into Peter's side as The Thief inputted coordinates and suggested speeds into the car's system.

'Hello.' Peter greeted him warmly. Juno, who he was fairly sure had just been dozing off on his shoulder, stirred and tipped his fingers up in a lazy salute.

'Big Guy.' He yawned.

'I came to check on your progress.' Always straightforward, Jet Siquiliak. Peter couldn't imagine being that consistent.

'I'm fine. Ruby is wonderful, as always. Juno hasn't touched anything.'

'That is ideal.' Jet nodded. And left.

It was several minutes later that Juno startled Peter from his difficult interpretation of a decoded star-map with a loud, rich laugh.

'What is it?' Nureyev didn't bother to keep the fondness out of his voice. Juno tilted his head towards the windscreen and Peter's mouth fell open as he spotted it. A little packet of lubricant tucked under Ruby's windscreen wipers like a parking ticket. 'Oh. Oh no,' He chuckled, 'Do you think Jet saw?'

'Dunno.' Juno's grin held all the mischief he'd lost in his twenties. It made Peter's heart ache to see it. 'Shall we leave it there? See how long until someone notices?'

- 1 -

'Well?' Vespa hopped from one foot to the other as Jet made his way over to the counter, stilled only when Buddy placed a hand on the small of her back. Of all of them, she was the one Jet was most uneasy to disappoint. Still.

'Not engaging in sexual activity. Juno was asleep.'

'Goddamnit.' Vespa hissed.

'Thank you, darling.' Buddy crowed, painted red lips curving into a winner's grin. 'Vespa, you're on garbage duty.'

'But-!'

'No buts, dear, you made the bet.' Their Captain clapped her hands together, clearly thrilled that, for once, Juno Steel wasn't disobeying a clear instruction. Jet gave the playfully arguing couple a wide berth as he open his cupboard door, plucking out his box of cereal with one of his huge hands.

Now, that is strange, he thought, peering into the bottom of the box and daring to glance over at Buddy and Vespa, I swear I had more left than that.