Sequel to Quiet
Main Characters: Vin Tanner, Chris Larabee, Chris/Vin
Category: Slash (explicit)
Author's Notes: Thanks to Sassyinkpen and Spikedluv for the betas. Y'all make a great beta-ing team. :D
Vin looked up at the sky, bright with a river of stars, and felt his heartbeat slow in his chest. He rested his hand on Chris's belly as it rose and fell with harsh, panted breaths. It seemed like he could almost still hear his own moans and cries echoing off the bluff behind him. Each one wrung out of him by the man lying next to him.He trailed a finger of his free hand through the mess of come streaked over his own stomach and chest, lost in wonder. He never knew anything could be so good as him and Chris together. Never knew anyone could make him feel so good that he needed to shout it out. They'd come out to the desert just so Chris could hear him cry out like he never could in town. It had been hard at first, letting the cries go, but each of his moans seemed to drive Chris like spurs to his flank. Harder, faster, better than Vin ever thought it could be, until he forgot about being shamed by the noise.
But even through it all, even through the most powerful joining he'd ever known, Chris was silent. The more Vin shouted, the harder Chris rode him. And the harder Chris rode him, the quieter Chris got, his normally full lips pressed into a thin white line.
Chris breathed deep and stretched, rousing out of the laziness he always fell into after they lay together. When Vin was sure Chris was awake, he asked, "You always been so quiet when you're...?" He let the last word fall off, hoping Chris would know his meaning. He generally did, and Vin didn't know the right word to use anyhow. Didn't know what exactly Chris thought they were doing...sporting, fucking, loving. He knew what he wanted it to be, but he'd learned there wasn’t any sense putting much thought into what he wanted. He weren't likely to get it in any case.
He heard Chris lick his lips, wetting his mouth sounded like, but he didn't turn to look. After a moment, Chris said, "Reckon. Maybe less so a while ago. Why?"
Vin wiped his hand off on the bedroll next to his hip and folded his arm under his head. "Just wonderin'. When you was man and wife with Sarah, you didn't have nothing to hide. Thought you might have made a little noise then." He felt the muscles of Chris's stomach tense under his hand and schooled his face quiet, hiding a grimace. He shouldn't have mentioned Sarah, not with them naked next to each other, a puddle of their come mixed up on his belly.
Chris rolled away from him, rising to his feet graceful as a cat. He stood at the edge of the firelight, staring out into the darkness. The orange light glowed on his skin, highlighting the shape of his muscles. He looked powerful and strong, golden in the dark night. Vin could hardly tear his eyes away. After a while, Chris said, voice so quiet Vin had to strain to hear it over the soft crackle of the fire, "I guess I got used to being quiet when Adam was a baby and we didn't want to wake him. Haven't needed to change that since they died."
Vin nodded, silent, unable to think of an answer to that. He grabbed his bandanna and wiped off his stomach with it, then rose to his feet. He looked around for his long johns, wondering where they'd been thrown in their haste to get skin to skin with each other as soon as dark settled in. Finally found them in a shadowed hollow a few feet away from the fire.
"Guess not," Vin said after a bit. His voice was as soft as he could make it and he didn't think Chris'd hear him. Maybe even hoped he wouldn't.
He pulled on his drawers, not caring enough about the sand trapped inside to shake them out. It didn't matter none, anyway. He gathered up the rest of his clothes into a bundle and walked to Chris's side. They stood together, silent, for a few minutes. Vin watched an owl circling out in the distance as it pulled in its wings and swooped down fast and hard. The faint shrill screech of terror from the owl's prey set his skin on edge and he started pulling on his pants, wanting the cover. He was normally as comfortable in the desert as other men were in their own homes, but the night felt over-bright and watchful.
Chris finally noticed what he was doing as he was buckling his gun belt. "Getting dressed so soon?" he asked. "I was hoping we'd have another round or two before morning. Opportunities like this don't come around all that often."
Vin knew that was true. They'd waited weeks for the chance to spend a night alone together out of town. For the chance for Vin to be able to cry out all the pleasure in his heart and body. Because Chris had wanted to hear it and Vin wanted to be able to let it go. He shrugged one shoulder. "Just felt too bare, maybe," he said, buckling the strap of his holster around his thigh.
Chris came up behind him and wrapped his arms around Vin's chest. "I like you bare, Tanner. Bare and in my arms."
Even through his clothes, Vin could feel Chris's cock getting hard against his ass. Part of him wanted to press back into it, to feel the heat and hardness against him. He shrugged. "I like it too. Just was hopin'..." He stopped himself before he said anything stupid. Stupider. "Don't matter none. I'll keep watch for a while. You sleep."
But Chris didn't let him go. If anything he held Vin tighter, one arm slipping lower, so Vin was held to Chris at chest and hips. "What were you hoping for?" his voice was soft, but there was as much focused intention in it as was in the hunting owl.
Vin froze. "Said it don't matter," he said, tensing his muscles, prepared to break Chris's hold, no matter how kindly it was meant.
Before he could move, Chris spoke, his voice low and right in Vin's ear, "What you want matters to me, Vin. It always will." Vin looked over his shoulder at Chris, but he could just see his yellow hair, bleached by starlight and gilt by firelight. "If you want me to make noise, I can try and do that. At least when we're out here. It just doesn't come naturally to me anymore."
Vin turned in Chris's arms, touched at the heart by the offer. He put his hand on Chris's hip, the skin smooth like a polished rock and warm, and shook his head. "That ain't important to me. I just..." He cocked his head and studied Chris's face, finding only tenderness there. "I just don't want to feel no different from how you do."
"Different?" Chris asked, confusion all on his face.
"About this," Vin said, hoping Chris would know what he meant by that, because he wasn't going to say any more.
Chris lowered his head and kissed Vin, surprising him with the gentleness of it. Their kisses were usually hard and deep, passion unbridled. But this was tender and Vin was overwhelmed by the brush of lips that set his skin to tingling and his cock to hardening. Chris's tongue, soft and sweet, licked across his lips and into his mouth tasting gently, almost delicately. Vin moaned and tangled his tongue with Chris's. Chris pulled away, his eyes hazy and his mouth soft.
Vin tried to gather his wits back together, but Chris started to slowly strip him, taking off again all the clothes Vin'd just put on. The outer layers, coat and hat and gun belt were removed quickly. After they were gone, dropped to the ground at their feet, Chris guided Vin back to their bedroll by the fire. He took his time taking off Vin's shirt and trousers, his fingers trailing over each bit of skin as it came visible. He kissed the scar on Vin's shoulder, from a fall when he was a boy, the one on his side from when he was shot by a bounty long before he met Chris. Old wounds, old scars, but Chris touched each of them like they were still fresh and he wanted to take the hurt away.
No one'd ever touched Vin like that, so careful and thorough, before. It seemed like Chris was giving shape to his muscle and bone and skin, pulling him out of nothing but the desert breezes. It felt almost too good to bear, gentle as it was, and Vin gripped Chris's upper arms, stilling him. Chris looked up at him with a gentle smile and said, "It's okay. Let me do this."
Vin dropped his head back and let go of Chris's arms with a moan. Chris ran his fingers lightly down the insides of Vin's thighs, finding another scar there. Vin spread his legs, making room, making welcome. Chris kissed that scar and Vin gasped, groaned. Chris raised his head at the strangled sound, eyebrow raised.
Vin touched his cheek when their eyes met and Chris quirked a little smile at him, then dropped his head and kissed Vin's stomach, following the line of hair down toward Vin's cock with a hundred tiny kisses. Vin groaned again, and he gripped the bedroll to keep himself from flying apart with how good it all was.
Even that grip wasn't enough when, Chris licked across the head of Vin's cock, slick and soft. Vin bucked and shouted, "Oh Lord, Chris!" and came so hard he feared he'd bust something. His vision went grey and he was only distantly aware of Chris rubbing off against his leg, coming with a silent puff of breath over his skin.
Vin came back to himself with his fingers tangled in Chris's hair, Chris's head on his chest. He stretched with a contented moan. Roused, Chris wiped them off with the nearest thing to hand, his own shirt looked like, and lay back down on his side next to Vin, head propped up on one hand.
"Is that how you feel?" Chris asked, their eyes locked. The night darkened Chris's eyes, but Vin knew the green of them just fine. They were concerned now, soft and kind. Hardly no one ever saw them that way, and just seeing the tenderness in them made Vin feel...loved. He blinked, finally seeing clearly Chris's hidden heart. A heart as well hid as a fawn in dense cover.
Vin smiled and nodded. "Yeah. That's...that's real close." He ran his fingers up Chris's spine, finally wrapping a hand around the back of his neck, offering strength and support. Offering his own love. All he had to give. Chris rested his head back into Vin's hands, accepting the gift. "I ain't playin', Chris," Vin said, voice unsteady. "This ain't just sportin' to scratch an itch for me. I aim to be with you and no one else for a mighty long time. That gonna sit okay with you?"
Chris smiled, looking away over Vin's shoulder at the stars. Bashful, seemed like, though Vin had trouble crediting that. Vin ran a thumb over Chris's lip, caressing softly, and Chris looked back up, meeting his eyes. "Yeah, Vin, that's going to sit real well with me."
**End**