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Carter was too lost in thought to really notice it when he started shivering, wrapped in the old blanket Zolf had forced him to take despite how much he hadn’t wanted to carry the extra weight. It might’ve been offsetting the cold ever so slightly, but it wasn’t stopping his teeth from chattering.
“Endure elements isn’t a thing anymore,” Zolf had said, “I don’t think that’s really sunk in for you, so just take it and thank me later.”
“It’s kind of cold, isn’t it?” Edward said, and Carter heaved a sigh. “Do you think we should huddle together for warmth or something? I’ve been told I run hot.”
Carter looked at him, at his face, at his hair that stayed light and fluffy even in the chilled air and at his lips that should have been blue but were instead an inviting dark pink. Carter knew that if he kissed them they’d be warm and soft like the first pair to ever touch his had been, like that ranger in Prague’s, or like Barnes’s had been on the vengeance.
“Yeah,” Carter released a resigned sigh and rolled his eyes, more at himself than at Edward’s suggestion, “I guess we should.”
He meant it too, for the warmth, and the warmth only. Pretty as Ed was, Carter was just about done putting himself out there just to be reminded how unwanted he was. His friends were his friends, and they were great, but now he was in the middle of nowhere in freezing weather because long-distance travel was a bitch-and-a-half and he’d been the only one willing to go. He’d been the only one who was fit for long-distance travel on horseback, and also unattached. Besides Ed, of course, but Ed had another reason to go. He knew the contact.
Carter let Ed do the work, and he seemed happy to. He shuffled closer to Carter, slowly raised his blanket covered arms and wrapped them around Carter, tugging him closer and closer until he stopped shivering. Once he did, Carter found himself relaxing, leaning into Ed, suddenly quite aware of how exhausted he was.
Ed really was exceptionally warm, and once he’d moved a little closer, Carter got greedy. His nose brushed Ed’s jawline and the heat was such a stark contrast that he buried his face in Ed’s neck without waiting for invitation. Ed had no objections, it seemed, he held Carter tighter, and got close enough to rest his chin gently on his shoulder.
“Once you’re warmed up we’ll lie down and go to sleep,” Ed suggested. Carter murmured an incoherent agreement, because right now he’d follow Ed’s body heat no matter where it went. The man was a walking endure elements spell. He was positively magical.
Carter didn’t know if he felt warm down to his bones or too tired to stay upright first, but one quickly followed the other regardless, and he found himself wordlessly pulling away from Ed to lie down. In the moments they were apart he felt the cold sink back in, as he rolled over and as he lay his head down on the pillow which felt icy against his cheek and ear. It shocked the sleep from him, but the moment Ed wrapped his arms around him from behind and pressed tight against him, he began to relax again.
He was a little more awake than he had been before, and now Ed was essentially spooning him, holding him so close and so tight that Carter couldn’t help but wonder…
“Hey, Ed,” he said.
“Ngh?” Ed grunted in a way that shouldn’t have been pretty, but was.
“You know, there’s a way we could make this even hotter,” he took off his glove, wove his fingers between Ed’s, and rubbed the back of his hand with his thumb.
Ed was quiet and still for a moment, then removed his hand from Carter’s.
“Go to sleep, Howard,” was all he said, and Carter wasn’t sure if he just didn’t know what Carter was implying, or if this was yet another rejection. Given his track record, it was probably the latter.
“A'right,” Carter sighed, internally cursing himself for bothering to try yet again, even though he’d sworn to himself he wouldn’t. This was the last straw, though. No way in hell he was going to embarrass himself again. The world was messed up, he had a job to do, and it was time to focus on that.
***
Damascus was doing okay compared to how London and Paris had been during his time there. It made sense, as they’d been a bit further from the heart of it, and it was nice to end up in a place that hadn’t been half-demolished by blue-veined creeps and plant monsters. Carter didn’t have a clue what the history in the area was, but on the whole the city seemed to be handling itself okay.
The city wasn’t their goal, though. The target was a destroyed underground factory that was, according to Azu, Hamid, and Wilde, if still reasonably accessible despite some flooding, full of adamantine and other high-end resources that could be sold to people who still had the means to buy, which would help in purchasing more basic supply for rebuilding. Apparently Azu and Hamid had been there in person, but due to some unspoken trauma, didn’t want to go back. Instead, Hamid had drawn them a map, and Ed was going to introduce him to an old colleague to help him scout out the place and find out if it was worth hiring an excavation team.
“I’m gonna miss you, Howard,” Ed said as the approached city hall. Once Ed introduced Carter to his new partner, he'd be meeting up with his old mentor and returning to Paris to continue his work with what was left of Apollo's people.
“Really?” Carter was surprised and delighted by this news. “You going to think of me as you fall asleep?”
“Not like that,” Ed shook his head, and Carter grinned but internally an unwelcome bitter voice said something like of course not, never like that. He shook himself free of the thought and kept his bright smile.
“I guess I’ll miss you to,” he turned his back to the door to city hall and fell against it, “especially the cuddling,” he wiggled his eyebrows as he pushed the door open with his back, and then held it so Ed could go inside just ahead of him.
“Anyway, what kind of person meets up for a job at city hall?” Carter went on. “It feels uncomfortably official.”
“Tjelvar!” Ed called out something in another language— or maybe a name? Probably a name, and then was power-walking through the modestly sized and decorated entryway. Carter hesitated enough to need to jog to catch up with him, and there were so many people that he couldn’t tell who Ed was gunning for until they stopped in front of him.
“Edward, there you are, you’re late,” the orc said to him, tall and grey and somehow not threatening at all despite their height, width and the deep scarred wound through his lip. Maybe it was the glasses, or the accent.
“Really? I forgot when we were supposed to be here,” Ed said, not sounding bothered, “anyway, this is Howard Carter.”
“Of course, from the letter,” the orc stepped up beside Ed to hold out his hand for Carter to shake, “Tjelvar Stornsnasson, archaeologist, recently reinstated.”
“Good to meet you,” Carter shook his hand, and didn’t think about how small his felt inside it.
“Pleasure’s all mine, I’m sure,” Tjelvar released his hand, which was good, because Carter wasn’t sure he could have gotten it back if he hadn’t, “now that we’re all here, we can see about finalizing this permit,” he was holding a thin stack of papers and tapped the back of his knuckle against it.
“If you’ll follow me, I have us set up with someone,” he then turned to head in the direction of one of the booths. Carter hesitated for a moment as it sunk in that he’d been more or less sticking around the same group of people for nearly three years, and now here was someone new that he’d been partnered with and would have to figure out how to get along with.
Maybe a clean slate or a welcome retreat, maybe a disaster and he’d want to go back to his friends in a week. Either way, there was no turning back now.