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She hated the warehouse complex. They all did. It reminded them too much of Teresa's hideout, too much of the arena. In fact, Ace hated this entire part of the industrial area of the city. It was where it was safest, after being cordoned off by the rebels, but she still hated it. And right now she was in the underground bunker of Warehouse B, pushing her way through wounded rebel soldiers into the east wing.
It was quieter down this corridor, but not for long. Along the passage and down to the left was where those Nuns had set up the makeshift orphanage, for all the kids of the revolution. She could hear the muffled crying from where she was.
She stopped in the corridor, leaning back against the wall and dropping her head to rest against it, sighing. She didn't even know why she was down here. Active soldiers, like herself, were supposed to remain in Warehouse A, or in it's bunker. And as one of Sam Wilson's hand selected special operatives team, she was supposed to be there as much as possible, in case they were needed for a raid.
Without the Suit and Shield they'd passed onto her, Ace blended into any of the others down here. She was just as dirty, just as tired, just as bloody. Without the suit and Sam's encouragement, she could fall back into the shadows, find somewhere to curl up and sleep among the refugees, which, for some reason, she preferred. She preferred being down here with the children, the sick and the wounded to being up in Warehouse A with Sam and Eli and Fukes pouring over maps and battle plans.
When the path forked into a 'T', Ace went right, heading in the opposite direction to the Orphanage, in the direction of the old boiler room. At one point, this part of the complex had been a maintenance level, so was fitted with boiler rooms and maintenance kits. After the war had officially begun, the rebels took it over and started digging, making a second underground level, the level below the one she was on.
As she passed various locked rooms she tested the handles, rattling them a couple of times before moving on in search of somewhere isolated. It was difficult to find, for most people, and if you were lucky to find one of the old offices to sleep in instead of a corridor, you'd often end up sharing with ten or fifteen other people. She didn't want that.
Ace kept walking, peeking through windows into empty offices and moving through the dark maze of the complex in silence. As she passed various people, a few recognized her, gave her grim smiles or inclined their heads in recognition. A couple of people shifted away uncomfortably, turned their faces, hugged their kids a little closer. She couldn't exactly blame them. Not after everything she'd done in the past three years, for Hydra. Not after how jumpy she, Jill and Fukes had been after Sam had rescued them. Especially Jill.
She went down, into the level the rebels had dug out after they'd taken over the industrial area of the city. It was even darker here, and colder too, which she hadn't thought possible. The path was lit by tiny lamps hanging from the ceiling every ten feet, casting an eerie glow around the narrow corridors, sending people's faces into deep shadow, deepening scars and hollowing out their cheeks. The people on the second level looked worse, somehow, than those on the level above them. They looked half-dead.
She kept going, even though the corridors here were narrower and more winding, and it was easier to get lost. She felt her way down the corridors, heading down a slight slope towards where she knew more construction work was going on. Sam and Eli, after complaints of severe overcrowding, had ordered another level to be dug out below the second level. Work had only recently started on it, so nothing was finished, and most civilians stayed away from it. They'd been warned that it was too dangerous, that it was too dark. Ace, on the other hand, was beyond caring, so when she came to the barrier someone had left out at the makeshift steps down, she hopped it and carried on.
It was virtually pitch black after she turned the first corner, with only one dim lamp in the middle of the corridor to light her way. She passed by the indentations in the wall to mark where turn off corridors were to be made, continued walking towards the end, when she heard a voice.
"You shouldn't be down here, you know."
She flinched at the sudden noise, but recognized it instantly, spinning around to find the source of the voice. "Fukes."
He'd been lurking in one of the alcoves that was yet to turn into a proper offshoot corridor, and when he stepped out she could see the faint smile on his face. "Evening, Harrigan."
"You shouldn't be down here either, you know." She chided, and he shrugged.
"It's quiet. Which is why you're here, I assume?"
"Pretty much."
There was a pause where neither of them did anything, and then he beckoned her with one finger. "Follow me."
She followed him back the way she'd come, and he led her back up to the second level of the complex. They wound back through the corridors, Ace keep tucked up close to Fukes. He kept making left turns, and for a few minutes, she thought they must have been lost. But then he stopped, so abruptly she nearly walked straight into his back. He glanced back over his shoulder at her, and then jerked his thumb in the direction of a pretty tiny looking corridor.
"Through there?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
He nodded and turned, slipping through it. She followed, and they turned right into another, small corridor, that turned right and then ended abruptly. Ace walked all the way to the end, pressing her hand against the wall. Whoever had dug this out had hit a wall, or the foundations to a building, which was obviously why it was never continued. "This is neat."
"It's safer than sleeping in a construction site." He stepped a little closer. "I'd rather not have to dig your body out of rubble tomorrow morning."
"Well, thanks."
"No problem." There was a silence while they both avoided the other's gaze, until Fukes motioned to the graze on the side of her cheek. "How did you get that?"
She pressed two fingers to it gently, wincing a little when she touched the raw flesh. "I must have gotten it on the raid this morning."
"You should be more careful." He said earnestly. "Let me take a look at it."
"It's nothing, it's fine."
He'd already pulled his rucksack off, and was rummaging through for a bottle of water and a cloth. "You don't want to get dirt in it, Harrigan."
"Fukes, I said I'm fine." She protested as he straightened up, wetting the cloth. "There isn't enough water to go around anyway, just leave -"
He tossed the bottle back into his back without looking, catching her chin with his free hand and stopping her. "Did I ever tell you anything about my time in the Resistance?"
"No."
"Well, there was this guy, probably not a lot older than Jill. Died of blood poisoning a couple of weeks after I joined. You know why?" He wiped around the graze, forcefully at first, and then more gently when she hissed in pain. "He didn't keep his wounds clean. So just let me clean this, okay?"
"I'm fine." She mumbled as he continued to wipe, every so often peering at it in the darkness. He pulled the cloth away and threw it into his bag as well, stroking his thumb underneath the graze to wipe away water that had gathered there.
Ace became suddenly incredibly aware of how close they'd become. Her back was against the wall behind her, and he was only inches from her. She could feel the heat radiating off his body, even through the layers of combat gear and fatigues the two were both wearing. She could hear his breathing, louder than normal. Could see his chest rise and fall, a little faster than it ordinarily would do. In the darkness his pupils were blown wide, expanded so far that there was just a sliver of blue around them. Keeping eye contact with him was difficult, so she instead she lowered her gaze, focusing on his slightly parted lips. They were chapped and dry from weeks of living on a small bottle of water a day, and there was a cut just to the left of his mouth. She focused on that, because it was easier than focusing on how fervently he was staring at her.
He was still holding her chin between forefinger and thumb, and as she continued to refuse to look at him, he squeezed, just a little, increasing the pressure just barely. "Look at me, Harrigan?"
Slowly, she brought herself to meet his gaze again. He was still staring at her with that same intensity. "I want to kiss you."
Given the situation, she probably should have seen that coming, but it surprised her nonetheless. The breath hitched in her throat, and she had to swallow hard a couple of times. "I uh..."
His eyes had slipped closed, and he was leaning in. "Do you think... It would be alright..." His lips ghosted over hers so lightly she barely felt them. "If I kissed you?"
"I don't think I'd complain." She admitted, and he smiled, just a little, before leaning in again. It was surprisingly gentle, and when he cupped her jaw with one hand and the back of her head with the other, he ended up pushing her back up against the wall just a little more.
Her hands slid up the front of his fatigues without her telling them to, and she looped her arms around his neck tightly as the kiss got rougher. Fukes coaxed her mouth open a little more with each kiss, and then his tongue grazed against hers, pushed into her mouth. He caught her lower lip between his and tugged, ever so gently, before pulling back a few inches, breathing heavily.
"Fukes." She inhaled slowly, shakily, looking up at him. "That was..."
"Don't." He interrupted, grabbing her face with both hands and kissing her again, more roughly this time. Now it was all teeth and tongues, harsh gasps when one or either of them nipped a little too hard at the other's lips, soft moans into each other's mouths. Her fingers raked through his hair, tangling into the ends, tugging a little when he nudged her head back so he could kiss up the column of her throat, his hands dropping to her waist. She arched her neck, pushing it towards him, her eyes rolling back when he scraped his teeth along the junction where her neck met her jaw.
"Fuck, Fukes." She hissed, clawing at the back of his fatigues with one hand. He grinned against her skin, fingers fiddling with the buttons of her own clothes.
"Careful, Harrigan." He teased. "Don't want to wake the neighbours."
Her head was resting against the wall, and she was staring straight up at the ceiling when he opened up her jacket, pushing it off her shoulders. She helped him get it off, before balling it up and throwing it on his back with his things. Underneath she was just wearing a tank top, which he pulled over her head too, dipping his head to kiss her collarbone. Ace threaded her fingers into his hair again, biting her lip as he kissed to the hollow at the base of her neck, nipping gently at the skin there. "Your jacket."
He raised his head. "Hm?"
"Your jacket, Fukes." She unbuttoned his jacket quickly, faster than he'd managed to deal with hers, and slid it from his shoulders and down his arms. He tossed it to one side before kissing her again, reaching for her belt. He managed to tug her pants down pretty quickly after that, tugging at the fabric of her underwear.
"Nothing sexy." She murmured, pausing and waiting for him to make the next move.
"Looks fine to me." He slid his hand past the fabric, smirking when she gasped and gripped onto his arm, sinking her nails into his bicep. "Oh... easy, there..."
"Fuck you." She snapped, her voice becoming strained when he thrusted two fingers sharply upwards. "Fukes."
"I know." He removed his hand, not being able to resist brushing his lips against her ear and whispering how totally soaking wet she was. "Exited, Harrigan?"
"I can kill you with my eyes closed." She reminded him, reaching for his belt. He cupped the back of her head with one hand, kissing her again as she pushed the pants to his fatigues past his hips, stroking one hand along the almost painfully tented fabric of his boxers.
"I don't doubt that." Now it was his turn to gasp, clamp his lips shut and groan past them, his eyebrows knitting together. "Alright, that's enough."
"Enough of what?" She asked coyly, batting his hand away easily when he tried to reach down to move her hands away from him. Instead, he grabbed her arms, using them to push her back against the wall again, enjoying hearing her laugh. It wasn't a noise he heard often enough.
"Enough of that." He muttered, before pressing his lips to hers, swallowing her moans as he slid into her. Her nails dug crescent moons into his back and shoulders as he moved closer, gripping her ass with one hand and steadying himself against the wall with the other. Their kisses lingered for longer now, until he began thrusting, slowly at first and then faster and faster. She threw her head back against the wall behind her, swallowing hard and squeezing her eyes tightly shut.
Fukes wrapped both arms around her, pulling her in even closer. She moaned his name, scratched her nails up and down his back, swore loudly as his hips rolled between her legs. Fukes felt one of her hands disentangle from his hair, and saw it drop between her legs. A variety of curse words spilled from her lips, and her grip on his hair tightened as she whimpered. Fukes' rhythm dropped, and he buried his face into the crook of her neck as he felt her tighten around him.
He came just after her, moaning something incomprehensible into her skin, slamming his hand into the wall again to steady himself. The only sound in the dark corridor was their heavy breathing, and as he moved, pulling out, she shuddered. He murmured her name, and her eyes flickered open. It took a moment, but she managed to look at him. "You okay?"
She nodded, bending down and reaching for her tanktop, pulling it back over herself before doing up her pants. He pulled on the jacket for his fatigues, only bothering to button it up halfway before collapsing on the floor, exhausted. She pulled on her own jacket, and for a moment, looked like she was contemplating leaving him there, but instead she turned and joined him on the floor, curling up to his side. He wrapped one arm around her, drawing her in closer.
"That was good." She said eventually.
"It really was." He closed his eyes, listening as her breathing evened out, and she fell asleep quickly. He lay awake for an hour more, replaying those ten minutes over and over in his head. Thinking about how good it had felt to experience something - although not entirely romantic or loving - completely human. There had been an urgency, a need, a desperation they'd both sated.
Somewhere outside, more bombs fell, and the sound of machine gun fire started again. It was faint, but it was there, a constant reminder of the war they were fighting. Of the horror, the carnage, the loss. Fukes returned to reality again, regretfully easing himself away from Ace and slipping out of the corridor, returning to Warehouse A to make plans for the next attack with Eli and Sam.