Chapter Text
“What happened to you?” Adeline asks, staring down at her coffee, steam rising off it. Her lipstick is fresh but her eye make up is last night’s. Easy smokey eye or something.
Slade looks her over, the way her hair drapes over her shoulder, she’s hunched, contemplative. Her fingers are long and thin, her nails sharp and painted. She’s almost… soft. Sad, maybe. He doesn’t know. He never knows anymore.
But her eyes are sharp when she looks up from her mug at him. The muscle in her jaw twitches. “When did you become-” she cuts herself off with a scoff, shaking her head, lips pressed into a thin line.
“Have you finally run out of shit to call me? Heinous might be a good fit. Or try repulsive- no, that one’s done to death.” His voice is level, calculated. It's not bored so much as it's measured and careful. Planned.
“That,” Adeline snarls, showing just as much teeth as he does her. “When did you become this bitter
creature
? Who
are
you?” She spits the word like poison.
Staring across the breakfast table at her, he doesn’t answer. He flips the paper he's reading to straighten it.
He doesn’t have a good answer. He’s a monster. So is she. And they both know it. But what happened to either of them to drive them to this? Maybe she wasn’t attentive enough. Maybe he was too often absent. Maybe they were two people high on the thrill of everything they ever wanted in such a convenient place, such a pretty face, that they didn’t stop to know each other deeper than that fleeting fulfillment- some metaphorical quickie under the bleachers, except it cascaded out into their entire lives.
Neither of them are good people, not with the way they rip each other to shreds with a look, and certainly not with the way they loved like dying stars, burning brighter and hotter, collapsing in on themselves and leaving behind nothing but hungry black holes.
Souls barren and claws like glass, sharp and fragile, desperate and starving. Once upon a time there might have been some happiness, and maybe not. Maybe, as grim as Grimm may be, it never was anything more than fantasy. Nothing more than horrible macabre twisted into something that looked gentle, almost innocent .
And maybe there just aren’t enough metaphors and prose to quite describe the way two people turn from lovers to strangers.
###
He lays on the hardwood floor with the box fan roaring beside him. Sweat clings to his skin, leaves slick streaks on the floor when he moves. He’s miserable, in just his boxers. She’s agitated, her hair pulled up into a bun off her back and shoulders. He rolls onto his side and she rubs an ice cube along her neck. It won’t really do either of them any good but god are they desperate for some kind of relief.
She heaves a sigh, and he peeks an eye at her. They’re both grouchy and tired, the heat too draining and unforgiving.
When Adeline gets up, she crouches over him and Slade squints more at her, cracked lips pulling when he croaks, “What?”
She reaches to push a lock of hair off his forehead and he turns his face away from her, “I swear, it’s too fucking hot.”
Her hand travels his body regardless, the swell of his breasts, the jut of his hips, the dip of his-
Swatting her hand away, he growls an annoyed sound and all she can do is huff a soft laugh, “Come shower with me. Cool off.”
He’s tired, but the idea sounds too good. She helps tug him up off the floor and the cool water of the shower is just what they needed. Sure, the air conditioner is still going to be broken when they’re done, but for now, the only heat is their kissing and the weak but relieved laughs caught between them.
###
“Who is she?”
Adams snickers next to him at how breathless he sounds. Slade can hear it in his voice too, but he can’t help it. He’s staring.
“Her name is Adeline Kane.”
Slade simply stares across the field at her. She stands with perfect posture, bright eyes, and an eager smile. She’s happy to be here. She’s ready to get started. She looks like she’s not new to this either. Slade doesn’t know what to do with himself.
Adams elbows him hard in the ribs and he turns his face quickly to scowl at him.
“Don’t gawk. She’s going to be training you.”
Slade gawks. Not at Adeline, but at Adams instead. And then, yeah, back at Adeline.
“She’s- no.”
“That’s why she’s here. She's the specialist in a number of tactics she helped develop. Pretty impressive if you ask me.” Adams explains, “So I’d figure out quick where you’ve left your respect for commanding officers.” His tone is pointed but teasing, seeing as Adams also outranks Slade, but Slade has little to no authoritative respect for him either.
Slade watches her salute and relax her shoulders a little, turning to survey- and her eyes lock on him. Slade stares harder, like a deer caught in headlights- she’s beautiful?
Adeline takes two steps and Slade runs for it.
##
Teeth dig hard into the thick muscle of his shoulder, nerves fire and his arm jerks- he bares his teeth in a snarl, “You’re a rotten bitch, you know that?”
Her hand snatches his chin so that when she pulls back, she can dig her painted nails into the softness of the hollow of his cheeks, “And you’re a heartless bastard,” glee dripping in her voice.
The mirth in Slade’s voice isn’t lost in any of it when he shows Adeline more teeth, like some animal, like some beast, “And you wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The way her hips snap hard, driving her cock farther into him, deep enough to make his lungs ache, his own blunt nails carve into her back and his thick thighs wrap close, keeping her as deep as he can. She can call him disgusting and he’ll call her frigid, and then her cock will rock against the back of his cunt, stars blooming behind his eyes, teeth marring deep bruises, and they’ll have some kind of peace in their war.
##
“Marry me,” Slade whispers against her hair. She smells like his soap again. She has her own soap, but if she insists on smelling like him, well, he’s not going to tell her no. It sparks a fire in his gut anyway.
Pulling back, brows knit but a smile across her painted lips, “What?”
His hands cup the curves of her jaw, thumbs pulling gently at her cheeks. She relaxes a little under his hands.
“When this is over, when we’re done with all this bullshit, marry me.”
Closing her eyes, Adeline turns her face a little so she can kiss the soft meat of his thumb where it meets his palm, holding his wrist as she does.
“No ring- not even down on one knee,” she chides playfully, smirking for him.
He raises a brow, a smirk on his own lips, “Is that a no?” He knows it’s unconventional, but right now… right now he needs to ask. He needs to know if she would stay with him. His chest is tight, his heart hammering like a bird trapped, frantic and scared.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. When this is over, yes.”
Kissing her feels good. Being close to her feels right. Her soft skin and her calloused hands- they match his-
“Major.”
Slade looks up to the doctor in his scrubs, then down at his fiance-
his fiance
- and nods, letting her follow him into the room.
Things aren’t the same after that.