Part 10

Over the next few months, Tahk and River are sent on missions all over the world. River wished he’d had his brother Parthenon’s ability for languages. He was picking up a little bit, studying conversation books during long flights with Tahk asleep and purring on his shoulder.

During these times, they were never left alone. Someone was with them to the airport, then someone picked them up from the airport and any time they spent alone was accounted for there was no chance for them to sneak away and explore the things they so desperately wanted.

Sometimes, they would sneak into the bathroom for a few short moments of privacy, but nothing too serious. Sometimes on the planes, Tahk would have them share a blanket and touch his legs underneath it, but both feared getting caught and didn’t let it go too far. It was getting quite ridiculous.

Along with their stagnant physical relationship, the two were finding changes in themselves as they continued on these missions, taking lives, destroying research and weapons. The people that put their assignments together had made it a priority to keep them clear of the dirtier jobs, like having to kill children or anything of that sort; but still, they found the growing amount of blood on their hands was taking a toll.

River was having trouble sleeping at night, thinking of the face of the first man he’d ever killed with his throwing knife, the soldier at the Russian base. The workers he’d killed with a sense of detachment, throwing in a gas can, but that man, River had pulled the knife from his head as he’d left the room. He’d seen the man’s blood, wiped it away without a care. What kind of person did that?

But then he looked down at Tahk, purring while listening to the silence channel on his headset, and couldn’t help thinking killing those people was worth it. He was protecting people and he got to be with Tahk. That was what was important.

“Are we almost there?” Tahk mumbled and River nodded, “We land soon.”

This last mission had been to China, taking out a man making deals with Kim Jong Il and giving him American security information he’d gotten off a corrupted agent they’d also taken care of. It had been a particularly gruesome job, Tahk going into his half-panther form and decapitating the man with a strong swipe of his paw.

Now they were returning to the facility. He hoped it was for some much needed rest.

“I don’t want to go back,” Tahk murmured into his chest, causing an odd vibrating sensation, “I want to be alone with you for more than five minutes. I want to stop thinking about killing people for a little while. I think I’ve forgotten what it feels like to be truly relaxed and I want to feel it again.”

River blinked, “So let’s sneak away,” he whispered.

Tahk pulled away from me and stared, “What?”

River shrugged, “They won’t give us another assignment for at least two days. We could just sneak away and go to a hotel for the night then go back tomorrow.”

“Do you think we could get away with it?” Tahk asked.

“Probably not, but we’ll try our damnedest.”

When the plane landed, Tahk and River grabbed our carry-ons, the only baggage they had with them, and got off the plane. They knew the driver would be down by the baggage claim and would escort them to the limo where Cossack would be waiting inside, expecting a mission briefing. That was the drill. Not today.

They walked down to the baggage claim and River spotted the driver. He walked up to him and grinned, “Change of plans. Tell Cossack we’re taking a night off and we’ll be back tomorrow.”

The driver gaped. “But what-”

“We’re going,” Tahk asserted, “And if he asks why you didn’t try to stop us, just ask him, does he really think you could?”

And with that they walked away, River wrapping an arm around Tahk’s shorter shoulders.

“We should have done this a looooong time ago,” he whispered.

They’d lain on the hotel bed, paid for with cash saved up from mission expenses, kissing languidly for a while before Tahk pulled back. “Do you know how to have sex?” he whispered.

River frowned, “I know how it’s supposed to go with a girl, but I’m pretty sure it’s different with a guy.”

Tahk frowned, “We should find out how to do it,” he said, “I don’t want to do it wrong and have it go terrible.”

“How do we find out how to do it right?” River asked, “Go to a book store?”

And that was what came to be River and Tahk’s first date. They went to the mall and got frozen coffee drinks and went to the bookstore, then a gag-gift store that happened to sell flavored lubricants and animal-print condoms, then a clothing store where Tahk bought some new clothes, then a lingerie store where River bought Tahk more new clothes. Eventually, they made it back to their hotel room, happy and smiling and carrying dinner from KFC. They never let them eat things this unhealthy at the facility and they were quite excited about it. River hadn’t had fast food in two years.

“Do you think we’re doing ok?” River asked, “You know, since this is our first time out by ourselves, I don’t want us doing things terribly wrong so they stop us from ever doing it again.”

“Well,” started Tahk, “We haven’t done anything to get us noticed in public and we haven’t spent an obscene amount of money, plus I made sure no one around us was suspicious. I think for our first time out alone, we’re doing fine. Give me my macaroni and cheese!”

They ate until they felt bloated and gross, then they laid on the bed laughing at low-quality TV commercials for a few hours before the kissing started again.

“Do you want to try it?” Tahk asked, “Do you want to do the things the book said?”

River grinned, “Let’s just… take it slow. I mean, we have the book, but we should just do things how we want to do them, yeah?”

Tahk kissed him soundly and whispered, “I want to do the thing where I put your… you in my mouth.”

And with that, anything resembling cohesive thought deserted River’s brain.

River and Tahk woke the next morning to loud, angry banging on their hotel room door. River disentangled himself from the many appendages Tahk had wrapped around him and pulled on his worn jeans that he liked to wear on plane rides before he opened the door, safety chain in place.

Cossack stood glaring at him, an armada of soldiers in civilian garb at his back, “So did you get your little act of rebellion out of your system?”

River grinned, “I got a lot of things out of my system. Was there something you needed?”

“Hurry and get your things together,” Cossack growled, “You two are in for a very bad day.”

River grinned, “Do your worst.”