#*marco

Warm hands and long fingers, best at many things,  tender touches being one of them. Right now, one of those long-fingered hands is running over heavily scarred and marred tan skin, feeling the imperfections forced onto that skin over decades. Marco’s head rises each time Chen takes a breath, allowing him to hear the very wind whistling into his lungs, and feel the hard muscle of Chen’s chest expand and contract under his sensitive fingertips. Marco lets his lips lightly brush against the skin under his neck, causing the man under him to hitch his breath. A small smile tugs at his lips; to think, the one truly dangerous enemy he has is also his lover… a dangerous paradox.

    But Marco doesn’t want to think about that. He’d rather focus on feeling Chen’s marked skin under his fingers, the rough, unnatural edges of the scars tugging at his skin. When his hand dips lower, over his abdominal muscles and further towards his bellybutton, Chen catches his hand gently with his, holding it against the lightly dusted patch of dark hair leading even further downwards. Marco looks up from marveling at all the scars on Chen’s torso, helped by the hand gently resting under his chin. A soft, warm expression is waiting on him, along with a gentle but hesitant smile. “Are you ready?”

    Marco doesn’t give a verbal answer, just a nod. Chen’s too smooth but utterly gentle hands slide down his emaciated but healing body, all the way down to his protruding hip bones. Marco reaches for the bottle of lubricant on the nightstand, applying more on to Chen’s shaft than what Chen’s fingers had already pressed inside of him just minutes prior. Then, he holds Chen’s member upright as he’s guided onto it; a less awkward position than it could be, Marco notes in his mind, given that Chen had suggested they use pillows to give his hips some lift to combat Marco’s long legs. He can’t suppress the mixed moan and laugh as Chen begins to enter him, his shaft hot and filling once his backside meets scarred hips. Chen’s breath hitches when he’s fully inside, his dark eyes fluttering and his lids heavy. Marco catches his own lower lip between his teeth as he slowly starts to grind himself against Chen’s hips, running his hands over the powerful thighs behind him as he gets himself into a better position, using them to support his weight.

    Moments tick by with Marco very aware of how Chen’s eyes are roaming his skin, light catching the sweat beginning to flow through his skin. He can hear the complimentary words and slowly disjointing phrases Chen has for him; a different kind of whispered sweet nothings, one based entirely on his ability to see into his boyfriend’s mind rather than have to lean in close and feel his breath against his ear and cheek. Letting his breath hiss out through his teeth softly, Marco pauses his movements so he can switch to leaning over Chen, their faces closer and his hands finding a new balance just below where Chen’s elbows are. Once he gets his balance back, Marco starts moving his hips against Chen’s again, this time lifting and sinking onto him slowly. A hard coil is beginning to settle into his stomach and back, encased in heat. He can tell Chen feels something similar; even without reading his mind, as he can feel the heat radiating off of the man under him. Marco smiles softly, a bit painful due to his chapped lips, before moving to where he can kiss Chen. A panted groan passes his lips when Chen’s tongue runs across his lower lip, asking for entrance. It doesn’t help that one of those imperfectly perfect hands has drifted up to his nap, pushing into his hair but cradling his head. The kiss is deep, a bit messy, causing the heat pooling into Marco’s abdomen to spur his hips’ rising and falling into a faster movement, nearly causing Chen to slip from him a few times. Later, he’ll consider they used too much lubricant, but right now, the only thing that matters is this. The heat soaking into his skin from Chen. The taste of Chen’s mouth and the feel of his tongue dancing with his, their teeth teasing each others lips. And not to forget the entirety of Chen’s hips beginning to meet his strokes, but not hard enough for their skin to make much noise as they come together.

It's mostly quiet in my apartment. With the light of dawn just beginning to peek through and color the sky a mix of dark pinks and purples, Marco and Chen are still asleep. Too many nightmares made me creep from our bed around an hour ago, looking for some relief in a cup of coffee and peering out the living room window, watching the world slowly scitter to life below. It's ironic to be here, in this nice, almost posh apartment when only one street down houses my fake store and real home. But only Marco knows about that.

“I thought I felt you get up earlier.” My head swivels around and I see Marco exiting the hallway leading from the bedroom and bathroom, still dressed in one of Chen’s t-shirts and a pair of boxers, mirroring me. A soft smile pulls at his lips as he starts to walk towards me.

“Yeah, I couldn't sleep. What're you doing up?” He awkwardly settles into the chair across from me, one of his pale arms laying across the thick glass top of the table to balance him. Without thinking about it, my hand near immediately reaches over to intertwine with one of his, bringing a soft laugh from him. I'd like to think my face didn't turn blood red from it.

“Without weight on his other side, Chen tried to roll over. Didn't go so well.” He takes a sip of my coffee before cracking the window some and reaching for where his cigarettes lay partially hidden by the newspapers on the window sill.

“Legs?”

“Legs.” We both laugh, mine being a little breathless from the little bolts shooting through my arm as he rubs his thumb over mine. His touches always do that, for some damned reason. He taps a cigarette out, regulars, pulls it between his lips, then tosses the pack back on top of the yellowing papers to reach for his lighter. After he lights it, the room goes quiet again, but not silent. The early morning traffic are finally appearing, and I can hear him as he takes drags on his cigarette.

My eyes are busy looking over his slowly filling out body. It wasn't that visible till he sat down, but now that the warm wind filtering in through the window blows Chen’s snatched shirt against his frame, I can see where his ribs have become less visible, his body finally trying to make a resurgence to some semblance of healthy with mine and Chen’s help. I had noticed it last night, but hadn't given it much thought, my hands were too busy… No, I shouldn't be thinking of that so early in the morning-

“Your hands were too busy what?” My eyes snap up from their observing of his waist to his lone green eye. There's warmth and a sparkle of mischief waiting for me there, as well as him lightly biting the inside of his lower lip to try to keep his smile from widening. A mental hand lightly runs over my mind as my thoughts scramble and my face heats up.

“Uh-hm, they were… Um…” He lightly squeezes my hand, no doubt hearing the scrambling my mind is doing. As if to tease further, he openly shares a small piece of his memories, of the sensation of my hands running over his chest, his stomach, lower…

“You're turning red, Carrie.” He snubs out his cigarette in the small glass dolphin ashtray in the center of the table, then reaches over to tuck one of my out of place short brown curls behind my right ear. I turn my head and lightly kiss his palm, earning his fingers trailing across my cheek gently. As his hand reaches his side of the table again, we both look towards the bedroom as soft taps begin making their way towards the living room. Spoon emerges a few minutes later, shaking his entire body free of sleep. His nails softly scratch across the hardwood floor as he stretches, letting out a whine as he does so. I laugh before turning back to Marco, who's doing the same.

“Do you want to walk him while I make breakfast?”

“Hmm.” He hums softly, looking between me and Spoon, then bending to pet him as he comes over for love. “We could both walk him and I can try to help you cook when we get back. Chen probably will be up by the time we get back.”

“Mmm, sounds better than my idea.” I stand quicker than he does, mainly to give him a peck on the forehead, over his good eye. He smiles as he fully stands, his gangly legs in all their glory. He puts his hand on my lower back as we quietly make our way to the bedroom to put on some pants and to grab Spoon’s leash. And take the risk of waking Chen by kissing him before we leave.

[CHRISTOPHER] *whistles as he walks in*

 [MARCO] Chris, you missed a really important meeting with Dirk, Rob and I. Did something come up?

[CHRISTOPHER] *sarcastically* Oh, right. My bad.

[MARCO] *pinches temple, getting frustrated* So, you just came in late without letting us know?

[MARCO] Dude. Do you know how close we are to launching Phase I of this project? I need all hands on deck and to show up for meetings.

[CHRISTOPHER] Are you being for real? You aren't my boss, so you can't tell me what to do, Marco.

Why do you care?

[MARCO] No, but I'm leading this project and Dirk told this team to respect my leadership as I lead this project.

All I'm asking, is to show up and do your part.

[CHRISTOPHER] Well, I'm here so what do you want from me?

[MARCO] We'll talk to Dirk about that.

[CHRISTOPHER] What the hell Marco? How dare you tattle to Dirk!

[MARCO] I don't know what to tell you, Chris. *walks further away*

[CHRISTOPHER] You can't do this to me, Marco! *follows Marco*

[NATE] Good lord. What is wrong with him?

[OWEN] I can't fucking stand him! He's gotten so much worse over the past year. Just when you think he wouldn't stoop any lower, he does. Oh what satisfaction it would give me to somehow hand his own ass to him and make his life just as difficult as he makes ours. Guys?

[IVAN] As much as I would love to make the guy's life difficult, he comes from a powerful family with a lot of influence. Too much influence to do anything that could piss him off.

[ROB] Do you really think he would stoop that low?

[IVAN] Absolutely.