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“Our Father, who art in heaven…”
“Why did we even have to bring him?” Ryo muttered, rolling his eyes as he did his best to tune out the priest’s softly spoken prayer. It was mostly under his breath, but the night air was still and sound traveled easily, so he knew Junno could hear him as well as the priest, even if the other man was currently nestled up in the tree behind him, most likely staring off into the dark foliage that surrounded them.
“You know why,” Junno replied, shifting just enough in his perch to peer down through the gloom to look at Ryo. A smirk curved his lips as he stared at the slightly sweaty nape of the other man’s neck, the completely inappropriate part of him wanting to lean down and taste it. “This… whatever or whoever we’ve been commissioned to find is supposedly a demon. A priest could come in handy.”
Snorting at the smirk he could practically hear in Junno’s words, Ryo twisted to look up at the other man, grinning widely, moonlight reflecting off his teeth to make him look a little like the Cheshire cat; a vicious and cruel Cheshire cat. “You don’t really believe that, do you? I thought you of all people had more sense than that.”
Slipping silently down from the branch he’d been sitting on, Junno settled next to Ryo, gun laid across his lap. “I don’t know. All I can tell you is that those pictures they showed us… I don’t know many men who could stomach doing that, even if they had the strength to do so.”
Ryo fell silent at that, Junno’s unusually solemn words evoking something in him that made it hard to be flippant. He remembered all too clearly the pictures that had been shown to them of soldiers – or what had been left of them – who had been sent to this jungle in order to bring back the survivors of this civilian plane crash. It had been gruesome enough to turn even his stomach, and even just thinking about it now made a shiver run up his spine.
He’d never been one for fanciful thinking, but it was all too easy right now to imagine that something more than human had been responsible for the deaths of those soldiers.
“Hey… we can do this. We’ve been through worse, right?” Junno said softly, nudging Ryo’s side with his elbow, laughing softly when the other man shot him a glare.
“Oh shut up,” Ryo grumbled, though he didn’t bother trying to elbow Junno back, instead he settled comfortably against his side, hands on his gun. He’d never been the superstitious type, but the trees around them were far too silent for anything good to happen. There weren’t any sounds of wildlife at all, and that was a big warning sign for anyone who had any common sense. Falling silent himself and moving only to reach for his night vision goggles, Ryo wondered how they were expected to be able to sleep out here when he couldn’t stop thinking about the pictures of those soldiers.
Even with his goggles showing nothing in the surrounding jungle, Ryo remained tense, Junno’s side warm against his own. He had to admit that it was a little easier to be out here with the other man by his side, but he was beginning to regret even taking this assignment. It was altogether too creepy.
Sliding one hand off of his gun and reaching for Junno’s, he tangled their fingers together. If he was going to die in the middle of the night, flayed alive by whatever the hell was out here, then he was going to do it holding his lover’s hand, no matter what anyone else with them thought about it.
“I’m beginning to think a little prayer wouldn’t go amiss here,” Junno said softly, voice serious for once.
“Words I’d never thought I’d hear you say,” Ryo replied, amusement returning just a little bit at the thought of either of them on their knees praying. The only things he enjoyed being on his knees for were sex and shooting, so he wasn’t sure he was in a hurry to add praying to that list.
“Darling, we’re in a jungle with a priest, some mercenaries, and someone or some thing that killed an entire group of well trained soldiers. I think I’m willing to do just about anything if it means us getting out of here in one piece,” Junno said, keeping his voice as quiet as he could, mouth brushing the edge of Ryo’s ear.
Doing his best to ignore the flare of heat that settled in his belly when Junno’s low voice curled around him in the dark – the timing of such feelings completely inappropriate – Ryo found himself smiling a little. “Always the opportunistic mercenary, even if it’s just for your life.”
“Just for my life? I’m wounded.”
“No you’re not, now be quiet, this place is creeping me out,” Ryo said, voice hushed. The dead silence was almost oppressive, and as the night dragged on, every fibre of Ryo’s being prayed for sunrise. He felt like his skin was practically crawling as he sat there in the dark.
The primal part of him had its hackles raised, and he felt like a beast barely leashed. They hadn’t even lit a fire for fear that whatever was among the trees with them would find them that much easier. With at least a half a day’s walk still to where the plane had gone down, every minute they spent in this place had Ryo wishing they weren’t the best of the best, because then they would have been safe at home instead of out here.
“I can’t wait until morning,” he eventually muttered, though he made sure to keep his voice low. “It can’t come soon enough.”
Not for the first time that night, Junno silently agreed with his partner, straightening a little and settling his gun more comfortably in his free hand. There was no way in hell he was going to die in a jungle. It was a promise he’d made to himself years ago, and not one he was going to break now.
“You and me both, darling. You and me both…”
“Don’t… move…”
Teeth clenched tight and voice nothing more than a guttural whisper, Ryo stood as still as he could, finger uselessly on the trigger of his now empty gun, his free hand holding a knife so long and wide that it could easily have passed as a sword.
They’d woken up still alive that morning, but things had very quickly gone downhill since then.
Making it to the site of the plane crash had been too easy, and it had put both Ryo and Junno on high alert the entire time. Every primal instinct they possessed was warning them that something was coming, even if they didn’t have any clue what the fuck that something was.
Now, with everyone dead except the two of them, Ryo could feel every muscle in his body trembling with a deeply engrained fear that was present in all of nature’s wild animals when they were faced with something larger and more predatory than themselves. At the same time, underneath that fear was a hot coil of excitement that reminded him just why he loved his job, no matter how dangerous it could be.
The creature standing in front of him was like nothing he’d ever seen before, and that made him more wary than scared right now. Facing something that resembled a combination of more than a few prehistoric animals that most children shrieked in fright at when presented with their likenesses in museums left Ryo feeling a bubble of disbelief underneath his wary fear.
It was all too surreal, and yet the desiccated corpses that were all that was left of the other mercenaries and the ill-fated priest were a sharp reminder of just how real this situation was.
Now, with the beast between them and the helicopter they’d landed in – that was their only way out of this jungle – Ryo was ready to do whatever he had to in order to get them both out of here alive. The sheer size of the creature and the fact that none of them had seen hide nor hair of it since arriving in the jungle led Ryo to conclude that it was the only one of it’s kind in this area.
If it was alone, as he imagined, it had to be fast for it to be able to slaughter four seasoned mercenaries without getting injured in the process. That conclusion made Ryo’s stomach clench in fear, and a little bit of worry. He was small and fast, but this thing had killed off everyone so far, and he wasn’t so stupid as to believe he was invincible.
“I hate spiders,” Junno said, voice barely audible, but definitely shaky as it pulled Ryo out of his worrying thoughts. Staring at the thing in front of them, Junno was doing his best to not make visual connections to the one living creature he was genuinely terrified of. Unfortunately, when it was shuffling back and forth in front of them on multiple spindly legs, its body heavy and overlarge, and more than one set of eyes staring at them from amidst it’s hairy face, Junno was having a very hard time not making that connection.
Tightening his grip on his large knife, Ryo allowed himself to drift, separating his mind and body and slipping into the instinctive animalistic mode that had saved his life more than once, as well as made him one of the best hunters in a rather small pool of people who hunted other people down for money. Dead or alive.
Feeling every ridge of his knife’s hilt against his palm, Ryo concentrated on the feel of warm metal against his skin instead of thinking about what would happen if he screwed this up. That was not an option right now, and he pushed such thoughts from his mind as he let out a shrieking cry and advanced on the monster, using his slight stature and greater speed to his advantage as he dove to the ground beneath it and stabbed upwards with his knife.
The flesh of its underbelly was soft and tender, the opposite of the hard exo-skeleton that made up its back and legs. Ryo’s knife tore through skin and fat easily, splitting it open and letting out a hot gush of blood that poured down over him. It was bitter as it dripped into his open mouth, but Ryo didn’t stop to give that a second thought. No sooner had he plunged his knife in deep did he pull it out to stab it back in, gleefully doing his best to tear the creature to shreds with his bare hands, much like it had treated everyone else it had come across.
Each pained cry that the creature let out was like beautiful music to Ryo’s ears, and he couldn’t help but let out a vicious laugh when he heard the soft popping noise of Junno’s silenced gun adding to the bloodshed.
When the creature finally lay still and dead on the ground, Ryo was panting heavily, thick and pungent smelling blood covering almost every inch of his skin and clothing. Had he the presence of mind to even think about what he looked like right now, he was sure he might scare even himself, eyes wild and skin and clothes dripping thick blood.
“You alright, Ryo?” Junno called out, voice mostly calm, but a little bit of fear still in the undercurrent.
Exhaling shakily, Ryo came back to himself at the sound of Junno’s voice, his body trembling with the high of his kill. With nothing on him that wasn’t soaked in blood, It was impossible to clean his knife, so he walked to the helicopter and pulled open the heavy side door to jam his knife into one of the seats, keeping it safe for now.
“I’m fine.”
It was impossible to tell if he was cut at all when adrenaline was keeping any pain at bay, and he was covered in so much of the creature’s blood that he couldn’t even begin to tell if any of it was his.
“Are you sure?” Junno asked again, closing the space between, gun still in his hand as he reached for Ryo and pulled him close. “You look a mess.”
“I’m fine,” Ryo replied, rapid pulse tripping a little when Junno pulls him close. He’d never really been able to separate his bloodlust and well… his regular lust, so the feel of Junno’s body against his own when his heart was still pounding from the kill was enough to have his cock hardening rapidly.
“… you are such a pervert,” Junno said, laughing softly and leaning in to kiss Ryo hard, the taste of the creature’s blood bitter on Ryo’s lips. It was all too easy to push the smaller man back against the side of the helicopter with a dull thud, and use the silencer of his gun to sneak under the waistband of blood covered khaki pants.
Unable to deny Junno’s words when he was fighting to kiss back as soon as he felt the other man’s lips on his own, Ryo felt his belly tighten with lust at the feel of warm metal slipping under his pants. The reckless part of him wanted to feel the smooth metal of Junno’s gun against his cock, wanted to rub against it until he came, but the rest of him wanted to feel skin against skin.
“Pervert,” was all Junno could say, through hard kisses and his urge to laugh as he felt Ryo squirming against both him and his gun; shifting his grip so that he could grab at the other man’s ass and lift up to be groin to groin, a soft moan slipped free at the feel of Ryo’s body hard against his own.
Knowing they had absolutely nothing on them to have penetrative sex – because really, who brought lube and condoms to a potentially deadly mission in the jungle – Junno was more than happy to rub against Ryo, pressing him into the side of the helicopter and listening to the high needy whimpers that slipped free of the other man’s mouth.
From the high of a recent kill and the relief of surviving this ridiculous mission – even if they hadn’t managed to find any of the plane crash victims alive – it didn't take long before Ryo was coming, body shuddering as he spilled inside his pants.
Licking the harsh pants of air and the almost pained sounds Ryo was making as he continued to move against him in search of his own release, Junno eventually dropped his gun to the ground and settled both hands on Ryo’s ass in an attempt to hold him even closer.
Biting down hard on Ryo’s lip when he finally came, the loud yelp that Ryo made from the pain had him grinning wickedly as he leaned against him, catching his breath before setting Ryo down on his feet.
“You are such an asshole.”
“Probably, but you like it,” Junno said, still smiling as he bent down to pick up his gun, grimacing a little at the fact that it was now covered in blood, as was the front of his own clothes. Tucking it back into his holster after engaging the safety, he turned his gaze back towards the helicopter, looking it over to make sure it was still in good flight condition. There didn’t seem to be any damage to it at all, but one thing occurred to him after a long moment of thought.
“… Ryo… do you know how to fly this thing? Because I sure as hell don’t.”
“… fuck.”
Standing there staring at the utterly useless piece of machinery, before turning to look back at the jungle behind them and the sun still high in the sky, they both wondered how far of a walk it was back to civilization.
“I am never taking a job outside the city again,” Ryo grumbled as he pulled his knife from the helicopter seat and they started walking.
“You say that every time something like this happens.”
“Yeah… but I mean it this time,” Ryo replied, though there was a distinct lack of conviction in his voice. He knew that if the job was tempting enough – or the promise of pay high enough – it wouldn’t matter to him what the location was. He loved his work, after all, especially when he got to kill things.
Junno just laughed, ignoring the mess on their clothes and throwing an arm around Ryo’s shoulders as they walked. The fact that Ryo could be a vicious little bitch was one of the things he loved best about him. It made life that much more interesting, especially during work.
And besides, he never had to worry about Ryo lying to him. Cutting his throat if he pissed him off? Sure. But not lying.
“I love you, you know,” Junno said after thinking about how lucky he was for a long while.
“Shut up.”
Junno grinned. That was close enough to a returned sentiment in Ryo-speak.