What didn't he want to do? He'd be lying if he said he hadn't imagined everything under the sun already. He tilted his head and frowned at the sudden realization that he'd been thinking of their future together. When had he ever done that before for anyone else? Every other time, even with Ven, he'd just taken what was given to him and lived in the moment and never allowed himself to want anything more.

"Sorry," he laughed as he came back to the present, to Theo waiting lovingly and expectantly. "I...just realized I've never had this conversation with anyone in my life. But you've got me thinking about things I've never really let myself want." What he didn't say was that a part of it scared him. How would he, free man and wanderer and rogue, cope with being locked down and tied to another's fate? Theo clearly didn't want him sleeping with anyone else. Was this going to feel like another prison? But that was for way down the road. That wasn't for now. He shook the thought from his mind and tried earnestly to answer.

"Let's see. When you're no longer engaged? Rub it in her face, of course. I'm not above kicking someone like that when they're down, and I think she needs a little humbling. After that...find a way to line this up so you're free when the bastard kicks it. After that, though...I think I want to see you how you were at the night market. I think I want to get into a little trouble together. And maybe show you why traveling isn't all it's cracked up to be," he added with another little laugh. "Can't tell you how done I was with sleeping on the ground after months of it. Hard to romanticize the notion when you wake up shivering and covered in bugs. But maybe that's a thing you should learn for yourself."

Jin lead them back up the little side staircase and towards the flat where he had found the amazing buns. A quick lick of his lips gave him the satisfactory residual taste of remaining crumbs and he smiled thinking how soon they'd be able to eat more of them. Whoever had made the little treats sure knew what they were doing!

"A little more, Necklace." He said gently, giving her a motherly pat on the arm, "Just a few more stairs."

Man, when had he become so nice? Most people would just ignore her and move on with their life, but he? He was going to help her find food and make sure she was all safe like and taken care of. Lil mama Jin. The good luck master who could pick up all the ladies....literally!

"Your foot alright?" he asked, still not even noticing the blood that was on his own face. It was hard to tell if he didn't notice or simply didn't care. Perhaps it was a bit of both, or perhaps he was just so used to it given his line of work.

"Work." Most people would argue that what he did wasn't work, but he disagreed. They clearly didn't know how difficult it was to steal from people or to find a way to get stuff for free. It was hard!

"Here we are!" he pushed open the door and brought his new ward inside only to deposit her onto the kitchen chair as if this was actually his house and not someone elses. Then he rummaged through the cabinets and pulled out two chipped dishes which he filled with the remaining sticky buns and set on in front of her.

"Go ahead, eat up!" he insisted.

The moment they entered the walls of the Mtetezi compound, they were set upon by concerned family, friends, brothers, sisters, nearly everyone who had been waiting with baited breath for the two warriors to return. They had been gone much longer than Jelani had expected and the look of relief that washed over anxious faces was so intense it could have set the very air on fire. Their mounts were taken, though Pyla insisted on doing everything herself, and people followed behind to make the process as easy as possible.

No one asked questions. They knew better than to accost newly returned Mtetezi. No. Protocol insisted that rest was needed to receive the most accurate accounts and a full tribunal would be summoned with the Elders for the next day. Nothing would be rushed, especially not with the state of Pyla. They knew something bad had happened, that much was abundantly clear, but their sisters had returned – their leader had returned!

"Jelani..." a quiet word in her ear brought her back from the bustle, "You gave us all a fright."

"I know, Kaz." She muttered to the man who stood by her side, his hand taking the reins from her fingers. He didn't say anything else, but she knew he wanted to ask what had happened and his concern was palpable against the waning desert sun. She was so tired....she wanted to melt into him as they did on occasion, but now was not the time for creature comforts and they both understood that. Perhaps one day they would marry, or at the very least decide to have children, but for now....

For now she was the leader of the Mtetezi and she had a duty to others, not to herself.

"Check on Pyla, please?" she asked him instead, taking a step back as the camel shifted closer to him. Already others were coming in to unload the saddle bags and beg the grooming process.

"I will." He bowed with one hand against his chest.

And then she left him. There was too much to do. Jelani did not exist, only her position. Jelani couldn't exist anymore, not while her sisters were being kidnapped and traded for sport. Not while the dreams of impending doom continued to plague her....

"Yasmina," she caught the arm of one of the Mtetezi warriors who was standing guard. The woman quickly pressed her fist to her chest and bowed.

"Jelani."

"The crypt is sealed?"

"Yes. No movement."

Jelani nodded and let out the tiniest sighs.

Then she went back to her room and began cross-referencing the names on the list she had acquired and the list of her missing sisters.

---

Kaz put away the camel and then made his way to the barracks where the Mtetezi warriors were housed. It didn't take him long to find Pyla's room though he paused when he heard the shouting. He understood how she must be feeling and shifted uncomfortably on his prosthetic leg before rapping smartly against her door and waiting for it to open.

"As if I don't stare at you training with every available opportunity you adorable, perfect man. Do you know every time I look you up and down and imagine you as you are now, my heart begins to race and I feel suddenly flushed and weak-kneed? This is the effect you have on me, my Jack. I feel like I'm drowning in your ocean of radiance. And I am a willing victim. Never you fear that," he said with a small grin and another soothing kiss.

Theo kept his touches light and tender as he took in all of Fletcher's words. Giving things up and wanting things to be over so others could continue.  A future. Their future. He hadn't really considered it until then. Wanted it of course. But it was a forbidden, hidden thing kept buried beneath the locked doors of his heart's vault. It was not a thing he dared dream of. But here was this amazing, beautiful man being so bold as to dream it for them both. A man who wanted to fall more in love with him. A man that like himself danced around saying the actual words but all the same all but screamed it for the stars to hear.

"...What is something you'd like to do together once this is all over and I'm no longer engaged?"

Fletcher grumbled and came as close as he ever did to a pout. "But I like all that. I want all that. You know it's been ages since anyone's done that thing you do like you're imagining me without a shirt? At least be a little bad, won't you? When there's no one around but the two of us?"

He bit his lip as he gazed down at his love. "I can't wait for this to be over for you," he added quietly. "This is living. This, here. And I hate the thought of giving it up for the sake of being careful." He leaned down and planted a kiss on Theo's lips: a tender one that spoke of his hopes for the future. "Everyone's a puzzle," he replied as he drew away. "Everyone has secrets and inner workings that they keep close. You do. I do. So I'll never have you all figured out, no. But I've seen enough to know that anything else I learn about you will just make me love you more."

"I assumed it was an insult, that you called me it because I am noble and soft-handed without hardship. I did not think you actually meant it because you found me pretty. It is a welcome surprise that you do."

He made a soft concerned face and gave Fletcher's shoulder a squeeze. "I am the incautious one. I tease you and crave you and challenge you in broad daylight in public when I should not. Your eyes are not the only ones that linger. I will be good. We will make sure we do not get sloppy in our excitement to be close. That is all."

Theo settled back into the bed more and looked up at Fletcher curiously. "Have you figured me all out now? Or am I still your puzzle?"

"Oh, no, I never said it was," he smirked as he drew away. "Just said I can be. We'll save wild for a day when it's just the two of us here. And I see you joking, Pretty Boy, but you did. I've been calling you that in my head since the first day I arrived. I've been trying to figure you out for just as long. So smoke on that, hmm?"

Fletch thought a little more on what he'd said. About being cautious. Not being too greedy. He craved Theo like a drug. The last thing he wanted was less of the man. His smile began to wilt. "What part of it's not careful, anyways?"

"This...was you wild?" He grinned with a rarer seen confidence. "I enjoy your wild, my heart. We just must continue with care. I would not want to lose this with you because we got too greedy too fast."

Theo smoothed his hand over Fletcher's chest, feeling the man's heartbeat pulsing against his fingertips. "I find myself becoming that man the more I bask in your presence, the more I find a safe harbor in your embrace."

A sly grin curled his lips then as he pulled Fletcher in by the back of the neck for another kiss. "Did I not turn your head then when we first met?"

Fletch blinked like he'd been spoken to in another language. He shifted to prop himself up on one elbow. "Well, yeah. I mean...I suppose. I just know I can get a little wild is all." Even though Theo now had some idea of what he meant by it, he still looked sheepish at the thought. "Just trying not to scare you. As for the rest...it's not everyone's cup of tea. Certainly something I'd prefer not to be on the receiving end of, so...if you don't like it either, then you don't. We can set it aside. This right here was all I wanted: just not having to hold back for once. Just...telling you how much you drive me wild. The rest — it'll happen when it happens."

His tired and satisfied smile returned. "Speak for yourself. Do you know how bloody hard it is for me not to stare at you when I'm on the job? You're just so..." Fletch released Theo's hand and reached up to brush his fingers over the man's shoulder. There was no word powerful enough to do him any justice. "When you were reading today. I think I'll have that in my mind forever. Just you. No one else's expectations. Just...you. Happy. I'm...I...I'm so shit at this, Theo," he chuckled. "You're beautiful. You'd turn my head if you were a stranger. But I guess I'm trying to say that...the man I'm desperate for is the one I saw earlier."

He petted his lover's face, loving the feel of stubble beneath his fingertips as he offered quiet reassurance. "I know. I swore off too and then in you came barreling into my life and I feel pulled like the current to your shore. No escape. And no desire to try."

Theo tilted his head though at the reassurance returned to him. Something Fletcher kept saying gave him pause. "You know you're not bad for having desires that do not match my own? Any more than if I had desires at a time you didn't I am not bad? We say stop, we stop no matter what stage."

He cupped the other man's chin and gave it a tweak. "I cannot imagine making you wait much longer. If this is how this feels...I could easily be made content under your mastery. Just...you know it is not because of you? It is entirely me. You are deeply attractive and charming and I feel safe with you. I know when I am ready it will be with you. And I've never imagined that before with anyone."