Work Text:
Chipped and Polished
— • • • —
Off your lips I could survive, they satisfy my hunger pain
Should my spirit ever dry, I'd thirst for you; not the rain
I would kill for you, I would die for you, you know I'm good for it
— • • • —
It had been two months since Vaye had been able to walk on her own again, six weeks since she could get a mile in without passing out or throwing up. One month since Vince and Vik had cleared her from physical therapy and released her to her own devices, with biweekly medical checks - for Johnny too. And two weeks since she and Johnny had moved their combined lives out of her shoe-box megabuilding apartment and into the upscale studio unit in the Glen.
The city views were stunning through the floor to ceiling windows, and there were no neighbors on this side of the building to disturb their little slice of peace. Things were quiet, normal, it was a change of pace she was still adjusting to; not having to worry about flatlining on the street, and seeing Johnny alive and walking around like a regular person.
V had accepted Rogue’s offer to step into her shoes and take on the fixer’s old title: ‘Queen of the Afterlife’. It kept her busy enough to stay out of trouble during her recovery, and lined her pockets amply enough that neither she nor Johnny needed to take gigs ever again. It was a good feeling to have finally hit the top. People knew her name and her reputation; though it was never officially confirmed that she had been the one to rip Arasaka HQ apart, the rumors were enough to keep her client list full to bursting.
Johnny had seemed more content than ever before, since the move. He had started working on his music again, and now that his revival was sorted out in the public eye, he could do as he pleased. And even though he still had the freedom to go anywhere else he wanted to, the rockerboy hadn’t left V’s side. Anywhere she went, so did he, no questions asked; and that meant he spent plenty of days in her fixer den strumming out melodies or seated beside her with a protective arm draped around her shoulders. Word quickly spread that the new Queen of the Afterlife had a chrome-armed guard dog, but V made certain to keep his name out of the rumor mill.
They never discussed what they were. If they had a title. Input, output? Mainline? Their friends called them those. Soulmate? That felt too heavy, but closest to the truth after what they had been through. Did it matter? All she knew was that he felt like home and she didn’t want to think about the chance that he might get bored and fuck off to his old ways.
— • • • —
The slate tiled floors of the apartment gleamed in the warm glow of mid-afternoon sun as it filtered through the studio’s wrap-around windows, chasing away the mild chill of California in winter. In the living room, V had just finished applying fresh polish to her fingernails and had propped her feet on the table’s edge to start painting her toes when she heard the shower shut off upstairs.
Not five minutes later and Johnny was trotting down the steps from the loft. Vaye paused her pedicure and angled in her seat on the couch to watch him with hungry eyes, drinking him in greedily. His towel was draped over his still-damp hair but the rest of him was dressed in nothing other than a pair of charcoal sweats that hung so loosely around his hips it should have been fucking criminal. He held the silver cord of her old ‘lucky’ bullet pendant carefully in the fingers of his matching cybernetic arm.
The long jagged scars that crossed the left side of his abdomen and hip only served to accentuate the lean muscle underneath and the Adonis belt that dipped into his waistband. It was impossible for her to tear her eyes away, it always was. He paused at the foot of the stairs to finish drying the long, dark mess of hair that framed his face. She savored the shift of inked skin over his ribs and arm a moment longer before he noticed her staring and shot her a wolfish grin. V flushed immediately and turned back to her half-painted nails. He had no fucking right to make her stomach do flip flops like that still.
Johnny slipped V’s necklace over his head and padded across the room to where she was perched on the edge of the leather couch, half-dressed and brushing black varnish onto her toes with careful strokes. Instead of joining her, he leaned on the back and watched her for a minute. Every small movement was familiar; the flex of her thigh as she angled her foot differently, a downturn at the corner of her mouth when the brush ran dry. The strap of her tank top slipped down one shoulder and instead of fixing it, she shrugged the fabric to hang more comfortably off that arm - like he knew she would. He had her memorized a thousand times over by now, but it didn’t matter, he never got tired of simply looking at her.
The only thing that had really changed was her hair; the merc had let it grow longer in the months since Mikoshi and now sported a few inches of ashy brown roots at the top of her head. She still kept the sides shaved, usually delegating that job to Johnny, but her bangs had gone wild and the rest fell to her shoulder blades these days. It was thrown to one side now to keep it out of her eyes while she worked. He would never understand why she didn't just tie the mess up, but she was fucking stubborn like that.
V’s poppy red eyes flickered up to him and she frowned, “Why are you still way over there?”
“What? You can eye-fuck me but I can’t do the same?” He smirked. Any opportunity to make her blush, he was going to fucking take.
Her neck and cheeks flushed pink and he gave her a lopsided grin before rounding the couch and joining her on the wide leather cushions. He slid the smooth metal of his chrome hand onto her bare thigh and leaned over to kiss the newest scar on her shoulder, stopping short when the sharp scent of acetone hit him. The rockerboy scrunched his nose at the open bottle of black polish sitting on the table and turned it around to read the label.
“Carbon fiber…what the fuck? That why this shit reeks to high heaven?”
V finished her last toe and stuck the brush cap back into the bottle with a shrug, “Prob’ly. It’s also fast-setting, check it out! I just did these ones!” Grinning, she stuck a hand in his face and scratched her thumb over each nail to prove the varnish had, indeed, solidified already.
The rocker raised an eyebrow before lacing his ‘ganic fingers through hers and inspecting the beetle-black paint coating her fingertips. “You’re still gonna chip it,” he said as he kissed her knuckles around a smirk.
Rolling her eyes, she huffed, “Better fuckin’ not, shit cost a small fortune,” then she wiggled her fingers in his and said, “Bet it’d prob’ly look good on you too?” She arched her pierced brows at him.
“Don’t think so, darlin’,” he mumbled against the back of her hand then unlaced their fingers and started peppering kisses down her arm from the underside of her palm. He placed a few extra over the RealSkin along her wrist, chipped not that long ago when she’d had her monowire implants removed. She hissed when he nipped at the arrow-struck ‘Johnny + V’ heart he’d tattooed inside the crook of her forearm so many weeks ago and a bolt of heat shot through her core.
He pressed her palm over the matching heart he’d gotten inked into his chest more recently and tapped his fingers along the back of her hand, “Only one hand to paint. Not the best look. No fuckin’ symmetry.”
“You’ve got toenails,” she quipped back and gave his chest a brief push.
“Yes I do. Preem knowledge of human anatomy.” The rocker gave her a flat look. “I’m not lettin’ you paint any of my damn nails, V.”
“Whatever. You used to be cool,” V teased and pulled her hand away as she hopped up from the couch and padded into the kitchen in search of a drink. If she was going to have to sit through one more of Vince’s exams this afternoon, she was gonna do it with a buzz. Plus, a disapproving lecture from her brother was always entertaining.
Standing on tip-toe, she pulled two square-bottomed glasses off a shelf and deposited them onto the marble counter next to the bottle of Black Label whiskey that took up permanent residence on their bar. She dropped a golf-ball-sized orb of ice into each one and was splashing golden liquor over them when Johnny came up behind her, resting his hands at her waist.
He dipped his head to kiss her neck, keeping his lips on her skin while he spoke, “Oh, V…Drinkin’ before a med check?” She could feel him smirk against her shoulder before he reached over her for his glass.
“It’s not just a med check,” V said as she turned around, her back to the counter now, one hand on his bare chest.
“No? And what makes this one so damn special?” Johnny swirled his whiskey and ran a thumb along the jut of her hip.
The merc grinned up at him, wide enough to crinkle the corners of her eyes, “It’s the last med check! We won’t have to do this shit anymore!”
Weeks of being poked, prodded, tested and quizzed were finally coming to an end. It marked the official conclusion of that chapter of her life, their lives, dealing with the Relic chip and its aftershocks. Things could finally be truly normal moving forward.
“Shit…It is? Finally.” Johnny ran a hand through his hair and raised his glass, a boyish smile playing across his face, “Cheers, then, darlin’. We fuckin’ made it.”
“We fuckin’ made it. Cheers, Johnny,” she laughed, and it all felt a little surreal. To finally be at the end of this road, with him still here, with both of them alive.
The two clinked their glasses together and downed the whiskies in single swallows. They did this in near-perfect sync, like many things. Johnny plucked the empty tumbler from her fingers and set both on the counter, nudging them farther away before grabbing her ass and lifting her onto the bar. A surprised gasp slipped out of her and then his open mouth was on her neck again as he slotted himself between her thighs, capturing her hips with both hands.
On reflex, V combed her fingers up into the hair at the nape of his neck and tried to keep her voice even, feigning disinterest, “Johnny, what’re you doin’?” The heat of his breath on her skin was more intoxicating than any whiskey could ever be.
“Celebratin’,” He said before tugging her earlobe with his teeth, earning a pleasured hiss from his output.
“Vince is gonna be here soon,” that protest had no backbone either. She didn’t even try to sound convincing, because she really didn’t give a shit if they were interrupted - it wouldn’t be the first time.
Johnny’s beard was rough on her neck as he kissed her slowly from jaw to collarbone. “Can stop me any time, darlin’,” he teased, slipping his hands under her shirt and up her sides. The callouses on his right hand made a distracting contrast to the cool metal of his cybernetic one and she arched at his touch.
Scratching her nails into his beard, V lifted his face from her chest and gave him a feral grin before snagging his bottom lip between her teeth. He groaned and pressed against her, locking his mouth over hers as she made a similar noise in response. The sweet burn of whiskey still lingered on their tongues but she was already drunk on him alone.
V fisted a hand in his hair and pulled him back, making him hiss and fix her with a heated scowl. “Upstairs,” the word came out breathy, but it wasn’t a question.
Johnny gave a throaty laugh and drawled,” Yes ma’am,” before scooping her off the counter and throwing her giggling and kicking over his shoulder.
“I can walk, you dick!” V smacked his back half heartedly and he responded by biting her thigh as he started up the stairs, making her yelp. He tightened his grip around her waist while she wiggled on his shoulder, intentionally trying to be pain in the ass.
“Would you stop fuckin' squirmin’,” Johnny said, giving her a spank as he crested the stairs, and the noise she made went straight to his dick. With a few long-legged strides, he crossed to their bed and tossed her into the plush comforter. Her input took a step back to stare at her with obvious hunger, raking his eyes over every inch of her body, stoking the fire in her gut.
Holding his gaze, V slowly lifted her shirt over her head, arching her back when the fabric exposed her tits and Johnny’s dog tags fell against her chest. A throaty groan left him and he surged forward, laying her back against the bed while he placed hot open-mouthed kisses over the swell of her breasts. Her breath hitched and she raked her fingers into his hair when she felt his teeth tug at her nipple before trailing lower along her sternum to the skin beneath his tags, the crescent-shaped scar on her ribs, and down the flat plane of her stomach. At the tug of his fingers on her underwear, she lifted her hips so he could slip the offending piece of clothing off her legs. The black fabric was quickly tossed over the loft railing with a devilish grin.
“Johnny-“ V’s words died on her lips, along with her train of thought, when he pressed her hips into the mattress and buried his head between her thighs. A heated moan rumbled in the back of his throat and the sound pitched her own desire higher. “Fffuck,” she panted and bit her lip, already losing herself to the lapping of his tongue against her core.
The rockerboy wrapped his chrome arm under her ass and angled her hips higher while his tongue dragged torturously slow circles over her clit. He ran his ‘ganic hand up the sensitive scar inside her left leg before sinking two fingers into her center. The motion ripped an obscene moan from her lips as she bucked her hips against the combined rhythm of his hand and tongue. He devoured her like a man starved.
V was quickly reduced to a panting mess under his ministrations. One hand still tangled in the locks of dark hair between her thighs while the other desperately gripped the sheets above her head. The hot coil in her stomach wound tighter, threatening to snap if he kept up his pace.
“Johnny, please,” she whimpered.
Her input pulled away, looking up at her with pupils blown wide into dark pools. A slow grin spread across his face, “Say somethin’, sweetheart?”
V gasped when he nipped the junction of her hip and she whined out another “Please.” Only he could reduce her to fucking begging like this.
“Please what, Vaye?” That time he sank his teeth into the meat of her other thigh and she bit back a moan.
“Would you just fuck me, already,” she whined, fixing him with a heated stare, “Please, Johnny.”
He groaned and soothed over the imprint left by his teeth with a kiss before standing and slipping his sweatpants off his hips. V bit her lip, watching as his cock sprang free and he grabbed a condom from the side table, slipping it on before kissing his way back up her body. His lips found hers again and she moaned into his mouth, tasting herself on his tongue, and impatiently hooking a leg over his hip to grind herself against his erection. A shiver passed between them and she felt him drop his head against her shoulder with a throaty huff.
Holding her by the hip, Johnny slid the head of his cock against her clit before dragging his hard length over her slickness. Her eyes fluttered shut and she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth when he leaned back and teased the tip of his cock at her entrance.
“Vaye…” her name fell from his lips coated in thick desire.
V’s eyes flew open and locked with his, blowing wide as he sank himself inside her with a roll of his hips and a shuddering of breath between them both. He pulled out slowly, his chrome fingers digging into the firm flesh of her ass while his ‘ganic hand held one leg wide before bottoming out inside her again. She arched under him, nails biting into his back and shoulders as he set a languid pace. Her body moved on its own, tipping her hips into his with each thrust, small noises falling from her lips as her orgasm wound tighter.
Desperate fingers tangled into Johnny’s hair pulling him back to her mouth and he kissed her until he couldn’t breathe. He dropped his face into the crook of her neck, steadily losing grip on his control with every thrust into her hot center. She turned her face and he felt her mouth at his throat, nipping down his jugular to his left collarbone where she traced the seam between flesh and chrome with her tongue. A choked moan escaped him when her teeth scraped over the junction at his shoulder and his hips stuttered. She knew every single way to send him over the edge, and he knew when she was tired of being teased and was trying to push him there.
“Honey, if you keep doin’ that,” he panted against her neck, nipping her skin on the last word.
Johnny grabbed her thighs with both hands and spread her wide. His eyes locked with her hungry stare as he pulled his cock out completely and rested himself against her pelvis, rocking slowly to give her the just slightest bit of friction. She tried to move against him but he only tightened his grip and a choked whine slipped from her lips.
A pinging noise sounded from her phone downstairs and they both glanced towards the clock. Vince always texted before he left his place for theirs. Ever since the first time he had interrupted their activities at the old apartment. At the last place that had given them almost fifteen minutes. Here, their grace period was closer to forty.
They shared a heated look before V reached up and fisted the cords of her pendant in one hand, pulling it tight around Johnny’s throat to tug him closer. One hand faltered off her thigh when she cinched the necklace tighter and the groan that slipped out of him was so raw it almost pushed her over the edge on its own. With one leg freed she released the necklace and leveraged herself up, bodily forcing him to roll over so she could straddle his waist. “No more fucking teasing,” she said.
“Fine.” Johnny smirked up at her and palmed her ass with both hands, lifting her slightly before slowly pulling her down and sinking the solid heat of his erection into her center. A filthy moan fell from her lips and she braced a hand against his chest, adjusting the change in position. Then she let out a short throaty laugh, rocked her hips, and bent forward sliding her hand up his neck to force his chin up. He felt her teeth along his pulse point and gripped her waist to hold her still as her tongue lathed over the soon-to-be bite marks. A bit of pressure on his neck and his grip loosened with a groan.
V sat back, keeping her hand firmly around his throat, palm pressed to the center of his collarbones, and started to ride him in earnest. Their breathing picked up in tandem. He reached up to palm her breast with his ‘ganic hand, rolling her nipple briefly before she snatched his wrist away. At the same moment that she sucked his thumb into her mouth, she slid her knees wider and rolled her hips to bottom him out inside of herself. She rose quickly and slammed back down before setting a rocking pace. They moaned together and a weak “fuck” fell from Johnny’s lips.
The rockerboy stared up at her with lust-drunk eyes and pulled his thumb from her mouth. He dropped his hand to her clit and gave a teasing stroke, watching the heat flare in her eyes as she fought to keep her rhythm. A stutter set into her hips with every stroke of his thumb and she tightened her hand around his throat in response, drawing a pleasured hiss from the man beneath her.
V felt him drag his thumb between them, collecting her own wetness, before sliding against her clit with a new pressure that made her orgasm threaten to spill over. A sudden desperation hit them both and Johnny growled and pushed himself into a sitting position. Wrapping his chrome arm around her waist, he flipped them over and drove himself into her core with a shuddered breath. She cried out and tangled a hand at the nape of his neck, the other scratching down his back. All she could do was hold onto him as he pulled her closer to the edge with each stuttering slam of his hips. He bit her collarbone and swallowed the resulting moan, crushing his lips to hers as he felt the edge of her orgasm around his cock.
When his teeth found her throat she bucked beneath him and shattered. Moaning his name, V arched against the mattress, her walls clenching tightly around him as her orgasm hit. The hand in his hair pulled his head back as he pounded into her, chasing his own release with frantic thrusts.
Johnny came suddenly and with a breathy groan, burying himself to the hilt inside her hot center. He lowered himself to his forearms and leaned his forehead against hers, eyes closed. As their breathing steadied, V tipped her face to kiss his nose, then his forehead and cheeks before pressing her lips to his. He sighed through his nose and threaded his 'ganic fingers into her hair, kissing her solid and slow until they were breathless once more, still locked together at the waist.
V scratched her nails along his stubbled jaw and the rockerboy hummed before reluctantly pulling away. He propped his chin in his cybernetic hand and shot a lazy smile down at her, the flush in her cheeks only serving to make her red eyes brighter. “Still my favorite look for ya,” he purred.
She gave a throaty laugh, “What? Just fucked?”
“Mmhm,” he hummed and gave his hips a wicked roll into hers.
“Goddammit, Johnny,” the merc groaned and rolled her eyes, failing to contradict the reflexive arch of her spine and the heat in her voice, “We don’t have time.”
“Yeah, yeah,” He mirrored her eye-roll then sighed dramatically and pressed a kiss between her breasts before rolling to the side. She laughed and kissed his shoulder then slid out of bed and headed for the bathroom with a little extra wiggle in her step, knowing full well his eyes were on her ass.
“Do love watchin’ ya go,” he teased after her and she turned to stick her tongue out and flip him off before closing the door.
[V]
V slipped a cropped tee on and stepped into a pair of shorts before padding out of the bathroom, slowing to a stop a few strides from the bed. Johnny had pulled his sweats back on and stretched out over the cushy comforter. His eyes were closed, one arm folded behind his head, and she would have thought him asleep if not for the drumming of his fingers against the headboard. Watching the steady rise and fall of his chest with the bullet that had killed her resting against his skin, something shifted inside V and she felt everything settle into place with sudden clarity.
It had taken her a gonk amount of time to realize it. That sharp thing that had driven itself like a stake into her chest at the Pistis Sophia had been there long before that morning. It had slipped below her skin the day Johnny had made that stupid promise to Misty to take care of his merc host, and when she had wrapped her arms around his flickering form in the oil fields it had settled deep under her ribs. That feeling had been jagged at the time, edges sharpened on the part of her too afraid to hope for a light at the end of the tunnel.
Now that she had come through the other side, with Johnny at her back, that sharp thing wasn’t sharp at all anymore. It was still lodged in her chest, always would be, but these days it sat comfortable and warm around her heart.
Johnny cracked an amber eye and gave her a lopsided smile, extending his ‘ganic hand her way, “C’mere.”
V took the last few steps to the bed and settled on her side next to the rockerboy. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pressed his lips to the top of her head.
“Johnny…” she trailed off, fighting the nerves that had started to bubble in her gut.
Eyes still closed, he hummed in response while his hand returned to playing silent frets against her skin.
“I…” She faltered and buried her face against his neck, breathing him in. The smell of cloves and whiskey and that distinctly masculine scent that was all his, spurred her forward, “I think…I love you.”
A small laugh rumbled through his chest before he said simply, “I know.”
She snapped her head up and scowled at him, preparing to chew him out for being a dick in light of her confession, “You ass-“
He cut her off, “I love you too, Vaye.” His lips found hers for a slow kiss before he propped his head in his hand and frowned at her, “Did you think…”
V glanced away, “We never talked about it…us.”
“You’re inked into my skin, Vaye. I’m not goin’ anywhere,” he said, matter-of-factly and leaned over her to grab the pack of Morleys from the side table.
She rolled her eyes, “The original one was a bad joke, remember?”
“No, it wasn’t,” he stated, focused too entirely on lighting a smoke. It betrayed his own nerves about the conversation at hand, whether he knew it or not.
“…What?” V couldn’t wrap her head around what he was implying, so she just stared at him while she picked apart those three words.
Johnny gave a gentle tug to his dog tags hanging around her neck and shook his head, “Was never a joke, sweetheart.” He passed her his cigarette before resting his hand over the curve of her waist.
She eyed him while taking a drag before demanding a better answer, “What do you mean?”
“Mean what I just said,” he shrugged dismissively and fell back against the pillows, tucking his hands behind his head, “Wasn’t a joke.”
No way in hell she was about to let him off the hook that easily. V rolled over to straddle his hips and glared down at him through a fresh cloud of smoke. “So you’re tellin’ me you loved me when you were takin’ my body for a joyride?”
To call that evening a ‘bender’ was being gentle, Johnny had been on a warpath of liquor of pills and god knows what else she didn’t remember. He had racked up a few thousand in bar tabs under her name and face, wrecked a klepped car, and had probably gotten someone killed. She had woken up with a new tattoo on her arm and hadn’t been able to stomach a drink for almost a week after that night. The hangover had lasted three days. Her anger had lingered much longer.
Johnny smoothed his hands up her thighs before he plucked the Morley from her lips and took a long drag, “Was the first time you gave me control, V...it felt wrong. Like something had been hollowed outta me. You weren’t in there at all. Wasn’t the same as takin’ over when you’d black out.” A muscle in his jaw flexed and his mouth pulled into a tight line. “I went fuckin’ overboard, I know that…but yeah, yeah…” He held her eyes, “Loved you then, just couldn’t see it yet.”
“Coulda fooled me,” V ghosted her fingertips over the matching tattoo on his chest.
A playful smile tugged at his lips, “Not my fault you were too dense to read between the lines.”
“Fuck you. Not my fault you have shitty handwriting,” her last word was muffled as he closed his mouth over hers again.
[V]
Almost an hour later, Vince was knocking on their door, spilling apologies for his tardiness as Johnny stepped aside to let him in. “Fuckin’ traffic in City Center, man,” he tossed his duffel bag on the floor beside their couch and sat down to dig through it, still complaining, “Buncha suits playin’ goddamn bumper cars over there. That fuckin’ round-about’s the seventh layer of hell.”
Johnny laughed and sat down a few cushions over to light a cigarette, “Shit’s a mess up there, choom. Better off just takin’ the long way.” He watched with a bored expression as the ripper-apprentice pulled out a cyberdeck and a tangle of cables with assorted heads and monitor attachments.
“Where’s Vaye?” Her brother asked, glancing at her input while laying out a blood draw kit.
“Showerin’. Since you were so fuckin’ late,” The rockerboy criticized in good humor and scratched his neck.
Vince caught a glimpse of teeth marks on his collarbone, barely covered by his shirt, and eyed the thin red lines marking the sides of his throat before shooting him a knowing smirk, “You’re welcome.”
Taking a drag from his smoke, Johnny threw an arm over the back of the couch and put his feet up. “Choom, your tardiness was just the icing on the cake,” he teased.
The ripper-apprentice rolled his eyes, held out a small, rubber-lined plastic clamp attached to a cable and demanded, “Finger.”
“Two actually,” his sister’s input smirked.
Vince pinched the bridge of his nose at the lewd joke, “Jesus, Silverhand, just put your goddamn finger in the pulse ox for fuck’s sake.”
Johnny laughed and stuck a black-tipped index finger in the offered pulse oximeter then rested his cheek in his chrome hand, bored.
Vince raised an eyebrow, glancing up from the deck in his hands, “Nice, uh…nails there, Johnny.”
“Y’know,” he shrugged, “figured I’d try somethin’ new.”
“Toes too, man?”
“Yup,” the rockerboy raised an eyebrow, challenging him to question further.
Vince just smiled back at him. Too warm to be condescending, but still with a sense of good humor around it, “She gets what she wants, huh?”
Johnny perked up to watch as V descended the stairs at the back of the room. She had exchanged her cropped tee and shorts for one of his tanks and her favorite maroon joggers, and even with more clothing on he couldn’t look away. Her red eyes met his from across the room and a smile split her face, one he didn’t have any choice but to mirror, “Yeah, guess she does…”