Famous Last Words- Epilogue
Title: Famous Last Words
Author: jendavis
Fandom/ Pairing The Losers (comic 'verse, with some help from the movie), eventual Jensen/Cougar
Rating: R overall
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue, don't take this too seriously.
Summary: Cougar was bleeding all over the bomb in his lap, the last time Jensen saw him. But that was then.
A/N: Lookie! It's finally done!
Link to Master List & Previous Chapters
Jensen opens his eyes- still has eyes to open, but he's not thinking about that yet, because all he can see is Cougar, lying curled on the concrete next to him. He's disoriented, pushing himself up and cocking his head sideways- Vámonos- before reaching down for Jensen's hand.
They're in a parking garage, and the minivan on the level beneath them is familiar, and though he can't remember seeing it before, he's the one opening the rear passenger side door and reaching forward to get the front door, letting Cougar in to rummage through the glove box.
Jensen already knows he's going to find the keys, just like he knows that the sedan parked two spots down has a busted exhaust system.
He's seen all of this, he knows it, but it doesn't all fit in his brain, for some reason, and he wasn't supposed to be seeing anything ever again, anyhow.
And now Cougar's pushing him into the driver's seat and telling him to go before the authorities lock it all down.
When he turns out towards the highway, Jensen gets his first and last look at the churned dirt at the edge of a parking lot, bright under the already massing news van spotlights.
---
It's three stolen wallets and ten minutes hotwiring a new car at two thirty in the morning while Cougar's inside, procuring shoes and clothes that don't scream "escaped test subject," and then it's another two hours before they even see the lights of Chicago on the horizon ahead.
They still haven't talked about any of this, but they've got cash, now, they can get a hotel room and just sleep until the panic wears off.
---
The news agencies have been running with a story about a gas main going up and dragging the lab down into a previously unknown cave system, but it's three weeks before Jensen's got a real working theory. The DOD chatter seems to be that an explosive nuclear device with modified tritium had detonated, encountering an electrical field strong enough to replicate it's own gravity.
And the only reason they got out of there, Jensen guesses, is that the shockwave destabilized the containment field a split second before it had reached their cell, and Cougar had dragged him out on instinct alone.
He's not the type to believe in miracles, but Cougar's lounging in the chair across from him, picking at his food while watching the bogus story on the news, grinning, and hell, it's close enough for Jensen.
---
Cougar spends most of his time stretched out over whatever southern city they've landed in this week, watching the area around their hotel for intruders. Jensen hasn't been able to find any online, either, and it's a little too soon to say for sure, but it's starting to feel a little anticlimactic.
Still, though, over the course of weeks, Jensen eventually suffers Cougar's increasing restlessness enough to follow him out into the streets again, where there are normal people doing normal things, and they catch a beer in some shitty bar that's showing the Cowboys trouncing the Vikings. Jensen's halfway through his third or fourth, rambling about ninjas fighting when he catches Cougar laughing and realizes- holy shit- they're on a date.
Of sorts.
Maybe.
Jensen's not sure.
Whatever it is, though, it's enough to ease away the space between them. First it's Cougar's leg pressed experimentally against his own at the bar, then it's his hand low on Cougar's back as they head back to the hotel, and then it's both of them, standing too close, waiting for the other one to do something, first.
He's never been all that patient, but all he needs to do is shift his weight before Cougar's moving, too, pressing their mouths together before either of them- well, Jensen- can say anything to fuck this up.
Cougar shrugs his hands away violently when Jensen digs into his shoulders, but he doesn't seem to mind those same fingers carding through to tug at his hair. He actually seems to take it as a suggestion, mirroring the action to wrestle Jensen's face down closer, and Jensen's going to get a kink in his neck if they stay too long like this, but already, Cougars easing his grip, biting the side of his chin before cocking his head to look at him.
They kiss some more, slower now, just because they don't know what to do next. It's all starts and stops with them, maybe, but it's not something they need to talk about.
---
Jensen's just tall enough to make this awkward, so Cougar takes a breath before stepping him back towards the bed, momentarily, at least, more fixated on correcting the height difference than anything else.
When he catches on- and it takes a moment, but it happens- Jensen starts pulling him forward by his belt. Cougar's not sure who hits the mattress first, honestly. The friction of Jensen's thigh is distracting, pushed between his own like this, and Jensen's hands are moving into his back pockets.
Cougar manages to smooth a hand down his side and tugs at his waistband; curling his fingers down behind the fabric elicits a startled jerk, and Jensen's laugh against his mouth as he drags him closer, grinding back against him.
His hair gets caught in the collar of his shirt when Jensen tugs it over his head, so he's not all that careful when it's his turn to strip Jensen's off, and he's too busy trying to maneuver around Jensen's traveling hands to be efficient, anyway. Eventually, though, there's skin against his own and a fumbling at his belt.
Jensen's movements are slow, hesitant now, but the flush spreading over his skin could be from the exertion as much as anything. Cougar's a little relieved that he's got no idea what he looks like right now, but it's probably not far off.
"You good?" Jensen's going still, though, and it's confirmation enough.
---
Cougar blinks, dazed, before answering, and his smile's a little wild as his eyes lose their certainty, and he's winding up to ask Jensen the same thing, or worse, spout some line about how they don't have to do this, which is such total bullshit. So Jensen moves, fast, kisses him hard, just in case Cougar thought he was about to get the last word in or something.
The mechanics aren't all that different than what he's used to, belt, button, zipper, but the shape of him through the fabric is a little novel, and if the awkward scrabbling of fingers at his own fly is any indication, he's not the only one noticing.
Fighting off jeans and boots- socks, too- there's finally nothing left but a sudden quick pain at the back of his skull when he bangs his head against the wall, but it's forgotten quickly enough when Cougar's chest slides smoothly against his own and his thumb finds the hollow underneath his hipbone.
---
His fingers slide down, low, and Cougar catches at Jensen's mouth when they curl around his length. The skin shifts under his fingers in a way that he should've expected, and he strokes up again. The move is more bravado than actual confidence, but he figures he's getting by. Jensen's mouth is going slack and his hands won't stop trying to insinuate themselves in the small spaces between them, manic, even for Jensen.
If they're going to freak about this, it's going to come later, but Cougar's got proof of concept, dragging his palm over Jensen's crown before wrapping around him again, a little tighter this time.
Jensen's staring at him, eyes so far blown that he probably can't even see, breathing short.
---
His head still hurts from where he hit it against the headboard, and he tries to focus on the sensation, now, tries to stave off the inevitable for reasons that he's miles away from knowing.
Cougar's found his stride. He's watching him coming apart, and he's got to know that if he'd just ease back an inch, make space, Jensen could do for him, too, a lot more efficiently than he's managing now- but his wrist just doesn't twist that far and-
Cougar's mouth is open, and the muscles in his chest twitch when Jensen manages to gain the tiniest leverage, and his breath stutters for just an instant, the most gorgeous thing, and-
Fuck.
Cougar's kissing him through it, his smug grin not quite jiving with the near-blown pupils and heated skin when he pulls back enough to let Jensen breathe. He's close, and more importantly, is finally shifting so Jensen can drag him down with him.
---
"Just so you know, we already had the morning after conversation, and you already know that I love you and you love me and Barney can fuck off to whatever kinky fucktard furry convention he wants," Jensen mumbles into the side of Cougar's neck, after. "So when we wake up, I'm just going to try sucking you off instead. And get breakfast."
Cougar doesn't know for certain that either of them are awake at that point, and he'll have to ask who the hell Barney is in the morning,
He doesn't think he's going to have to ask much of anything else, though.
---
It takes Jensen three weeks to lay the groundwork for the hack on the stock exchange, and it's another month before it takes any effect. When it does, though, it takes less than the span of one trading day for the FTC to come in and halt trading on Goliath's plummeting stock.
They're bankrupt, but the FTC investigation is going to have to wait until after the ongoing UN tribunal, which is slated to still be going strong eleventy billion years from now.
Still, though, Jensen wonders if they can get tickets. He'd kind of like to watch the show.
---
They're sitting on the patio, halfway through their beers when the waiter comes out to take their order, and Cougar's rolling his eyes at Jensen's indecisiveness.
After months spent trying to get this close, of circling carefully and watching to make sure nobody else is, it's a relief that to finally lay eyes on them, but Aisha tells herself it doesn't matter.
Because if it does, then visual confirmation isn't nearly enough, and this wouldn't be about covering her tracks, anymore. It would be about them, and if they didn't shoot her on sight, they'd probably want her to apologize, and she's just not feeling it. She's not up to explaining shit to them, either.
Like how Stegler's motives had never been her own, or that she'd been in Tokyo when Stratenfield took out his family. She hadn't killed them, but it hadn't mean she'd felt anything about them, either, or that she wouldn't have gone that far had she thought it useful.
They hadn't needed half a billion dollars in particle research to get Cougar, and they hadn't needed to kill his family. All they'd needed was Jensen, and they'd had him. And far as she's concerned, shutting off the containment field before escaping had cleared any debt she might've accrued. But this isn't about making amends.
This is about keeping her own ass clear of Goliath's attention, same as it's always been, and this, here, is closure enough for her.
Aisha pulls her molecules back in until she's solid again, real, until she can feel the roof of the office tower beneath her feet, and she glances over the ledge in their direction again, but from this height, it's too far down to see.
And if anyone's looking up, scanning for her presence, they won't see her, either.
---
The End.
Author: jendavis
Fandom/ Pairing The Losers (comic 'verse, with some help from the movie), eventual Jensen/Cougar
Rating: R overall
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue, don't take this too seriously.
Summary: Cougar was bleeding all over the bomb in his lap, the last time Jensen saw him. But that was then.
A/N: Lookie! It's finally done!
Link to Master List & Previous Chapters
Jensen opens his eyes- still has eyes to open, but he's not thinking about that yet, because all he can see is Cougar, lying curled on the concrete next to him. He's disoriented, pushing himself up and cocking his head sideways- Vámonos- before reaching down for Jensen's hand.
They're in a parking garage, and the minivan on the level beneath them is familiar, and though he can't remember seeing it before, he's the one opening the rear passenger side door and reaching forward to get the front door, letting Cougar in to rummage through the glove box.
Jensen already knows he's going to find the keys, just like he knows that the sedan parked two spots down has a busted exhaust system.
He's seen all of this, he knows it, but it doesn't all fit in his brain, for some reason, and he wasn't supposed to be seeing anything ever again, anyhow.
And now Cougar's pushing him into the driver's seat and telling him to go before the authorities lock it all down.
When he turns out towards the highway, Jensen gets his first and last look at the churned dirt at the edge of a parking lot, bright under the already massing news van spotlights.
---
It's three stolen wallets and ten minutes hotwiring a new car at two thirty in the morning while Cougar's inside, procuring shoes and clothes that don't scream "escaped test subject," and then it's another two hours before they even see the lights of Chicago on the horizon ahead.
They still haven't talked about any of this, but they've got cash, now, they can get a hotel room and just sleep until the panic wears off.
---
The news agencies have been running with a story about a gas main going up and dragging the lab down into a previously unknown cave system, but it's three weeks before Jensen's got a real working theory. The DOD chatter seems to be that an explosive nuclear device with modified tritium had detonated, encountering an electrical field strong enough to replicate it's own gravity.
And the only reason they got out of there, Jensen guesses, is that the shockwave destabilized the containment field a split second before it had reached their cell, and Cougar had dragged him out on instinct alone.
He's not the type to believe in miracles, but Cougar's lounging in the chair across from him, picking at his food while watching the bogus story on the news, grinning, and hell, it's close enough for Jensen.
---
Cougar spends most of his time stretched out over whatever southern city they've landed in this week, watching the area around their hotel for intruders. Jensen hasn't been able to find any online, either, and it's a little too soon to say for sure, but it's starting to feel a little anticlimactic.
Still, though, over the course of weeks, Jensen eventually suffers Cougar's increasing restlessness enough to follow him out into the streets again, where there are normal people doing normal things, and they catch a beer in some shitty bar that's showing the Cowboys trouncing the Vikings. Jensen's halfway through his third or fourth, rambling about ninjas fighting when he catches Cougar laughing and realizes- holy shit- they're on a date.
Of sorts.
Maybe.
Jensen's not sure.
Whatever it is, though, it's enough to ease away the space between them. First it's Cougar's leg pressed experimentally against his own at the bar, then it's his hand low on Cougar's back as they head back to the hotel, and then it's both of them, standing too close, waiting for the other one to do something, first.
He's never been all that patient, but all he needs to do is shift his weight before Cougar's moving, too, pressing their mouths together before either of them- well, Jensen- can say anything to fuck this up.
Cougar shrugs his hands away violently when Jensen digs into his shoulders, but he doesn't seem to mind those same fingers carding through to tug at his hair. He actually seems to take it as a suggestion, mirroring the action to wrestle Jensen's face down closer, and Jensen's going to get a kink in his neck if they stay too long like this, but already, Cougars easing his grip, biting the side of his chin before cocking his head to look at him.
They kiss some more, slower now, just because they don't know what to do next. It's all starts and stops with them, maybe, but it's not something they need to talk about.
---
Jensen's just tall enough to make this awkward, so Cougar takes a breath before stepping him back towards the bed, momentarily, at least, more fixated on correcting the height difference than anything else.
When he catches on- and it takes a moment, but it happens- Jensen starts pulling him forward by his belt. Cougar's not sure who hits the mattress first, honestly. The friction of Jensen's thigh is distracting, pushed between his own like this, and Jensen's hands are moving into his back pockets.
Cougar manages to smooth a hand down his side and tugs at his waistband; curling his fingers down behind the fabric elicits a startled jerk, and Jensen's laugh against his mouth as he drags him closer, grinding back against him.
His hair gets caught in the collar of his shirt when Jensen tugs it over his head, so he's not all that careful when it's his turn to strip Jensen's off, and he's too busy trying to maneuver around Jensen's traveling hands to be efficient, anyway. Eventually, though, there's skin against his own and a fumbling at his belt.
Jensen's movements are slow, hesitant now, but the flush spreading over his skin could be from the exertion as much as anything. Cougar's a little relieved that he's got no idea what he looks like right now, but it's probably not far off.
"You good?" Jensen's going still, though, and it's confirmation enough.
---
Cougar blinks, dazed, before answering, and his smile's a little wild as his eyes lose their certainty, and he's winding up to ask Jensen the same thing, or worse, spout some line about how they don't have to do this, which is such total bullshit. So Jensen moves, fast, kisses him hard, just in case Cougar thought he was about to get the last word in or something.
The mechanics aren't all that different than what he's used to, belt, button, zipper, but the shape of him through the fabric is a little novel, and if the awkward scrabbling of fingers at his own fly is any indication, he's not the only one noticing.
Fighting off jeans and boots- socks, too- there's finally nothing left but a sudden quick pain at the back of his skull when he bangs his head against the wall, but it's forgotten quickly enough when Cougar's chest slides smoothly against his own and his thumb finds the hollow underneath his hipbone.
---
His fingers slide down, low, and Cougar catches at Jensen's mouth when they curl around his length. The skin shifts under his fingers in a way that he should've expected, and he strokes up again. The move is more bravado than actual confidence, but he figures he's getting by. Jensen's mouth is going slack and his hands won't stop trying to insinuate themselves in the small spaces between them, manic, even for Jensen.
If they're going to freak about this, it's going to come later, but Cougar's got proof of concept, dragging his palm over Jensen's crown before wrapping around him again, a little tighter this time.
Jensen's staring at him, eyes so far blown that he probably can't even see, breathing short.
---
His head still hurts from where he hit it against the headboard, and he tries to focus on the sensation, now, tries to stave off the inevitable for reasons that he's miles away from knowing.
Cougar's found his stride. He's watching him coming apart, and he's got to know that if he'd just ease back an inch, make space, Jensen could do for him, too, a lot more efficiently than he's managing now- but his wrist just doesn't twist that far and-
Cougar's mouth is open, and the muscles in his chest twitch when Jensen manages to gain the tiniest leverage, and his breath stutters for just an instant, the most gorgeous thing, and-
Fuck.
Cougar's kissing him through it, his smug grin not quite jiving with the near-blown pupils and heated skin when he pulls back enough to let Jensen breathe. He's close, and more importantly, is finally shifting so Jensen can drag him down with him.
---
"Just so you know, we already had the morning after conversation, and you already know that I love you and you love me and Barney can fuck off to whatever kinky fucktard furry convention he wants," Jensen mumbles into the side of Cougar's neck, after. "So when we wake up, I'm just going to try sucking you off instead. And get breakfast."
Cougar doesn't know for certain that either of them are awake at that point, and he'll have to ask who the hell Barney is in the morning,
He doesn't think he's going to have to ask much of anything else, though.
---
It takes Jensen three weeks to lay the groundwork for the hack on the stock exchange, and it's another month before it takes any effect. When it does, though, it takes less than the span of one trading day for the FTC to come in and halt trading on Goliath's plummeting stock.
They're bankrupt, but the FTC investigation is going to have to wait until after the ongoing UN tribunal, which is slated to still be going strong eleventy billion years from now.
Still, though, Jensen wonders if they can get tickets. He'd kind of like to watch the show.
---
They're sitting on the patio, halfway through their beers when the waiter comes out to take their order, and Cougar's rolling his eyes at Jensen's indecisiveness.
After months spent trying to get this close, of circling carefully and watching to make sure nobody else is, it's a relief that to finally lay eyes on them, but Aisha tells herself it doesn't matter.
Because if it does, then visual confirmation isn't nearly enough, and this wouldn't be about covering her tracks, anymore. It would be about them, and if they didn't shoot her on sight, they'd probably want her to apologize, and she's just not feeling it. She's not up to explaining shit to them, either.
Like how Stegler's motives had never been her own, or that she'd been in Tokyo when Stratenfield took out his family. She hadn't killed them, but it hadn't mean she'd felt anything about them, either, or that she wouldn't have gone that far had she thought it useful.
They hadn't needed half a billion dollars in particle research to get Cougar, and they hadn't needed to kill his family. All they'd needed was Jensen, and they'd had him. And far as she's concerned, shutting off the containment field before escaping had cleared any debt she might've accrued. But this isn't about making amends.
This is about keeping her own ass clear of Goliath's attention, same as it's always been, and this, here, is closure enough for her.
Aisha pulls her molecules back in until she's solid again, real, until she can feel the roof of the office tower beneath her feet, and she glances over the ledge in their direction again, but from this height, it's too far down to see.
And if anyone's looking up, scanning for her presence, they won't see her, either.
---
The End.