『Chapter Sixty-One』
『the talk of underlining feelings』

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When morning came, they had come up with a plan. A plan which Jace slightly hated. A plan which involved Rocket, Jace, Kain, Adrian, Nebula, and Groot to stay behind. A plan where Rocket and Jace stayed to repair the ship. A plan where they would have to babysit Adrian and Nebula in hopes that they wouldn't straight up murder each other given the chance. A plan where Jace would be staring at Kain in hopes to get some—okay maybe that's not part of the others plans but it is his own plan! Either way Jace knew that this would be a long few days—or however long.

A part of him hated the thought that they were splitting up, but he knew that someone had to stay behind while Gamora, Drax, and Peter went off with Ego. Jace hadn't found the courage within himself to actually talk to Peter about how much he didn't like Ego and thought it odd that he'd appeared all of a sudden. He knew that it was coming out of a place of jealousy in some capacity. If Ego was Peter's father, then Jace at least wanted Peter to know what that feeling is like to have a father in his life.

Currently, Jace was sat on the table—which surprisingly didn't break throughout the crash and under Jace's weight—with Kain between his legs. Jace had ended up wrapping his legs around Kain, giving him a grin when the prince turned slightly to look at him. His arms were around Kain's chest, making the prince lean into him more. He'd observed the movement from outside their broken ship with a small hum before he ended up kissing Kain's neck every so often, and there were a few times where he'd managed to hear Kain slip up which resulted in him clasping his hand around his mouth. Of course, Jace grinned like a child at that though Kain groaned at him slightly.

"You're so annoying!" Kain muttered, going to pull away.

Jace pouted. "Am not, I'm just enjoying hugging you."

Kain somewhat scoffed, moving out of Jace's grasp and turned to face him. "No, you want more. Not now, Jace."

"Okay." Jace nodded, though he was pouting when Kain moved out of his touch. "Later?"

Kain nodded, placing a small kiss on his lips. "Later." He cleared his throat. "You okay with this? With staying behind while Peter goes? I know you care for Peter a lot."

"Yeah." Jace smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine with it. Peter needs his biological father, plus he's learning where he comes from, and I don't think he needs me breathing down his neck worried that I might do something stupid or whatever."

He didn't want to admit that he was afraid that at some point Jace might feel the need to tell Peter his thoughts and thought that it was best if he did stay back. As much as Jace wanted to join Jace and the others, he knew that he was needed more with the ship, to at least fix it in some capacity.

Before Kain could respond, Peter had called out Jace's name. "Jace! Can I talk to you for a minute."

Jace slid from the table, parting from Kain with a small smile before walking over to Peter—who looked ready to go, he was in his long red leather jacket, his Walkman at his hip and bag in hand. "What do you need? Dating advice on how to get together with Gamora?" He somewhat grinned, though it dropped when he noticed the look on Peter's face. "What? What is it?"

"Just keep safe, no self-sacrificing bullcrap while I'm away. Look after yourself, Jace." Peter said. "I'll be back before you know it, we'll just see what Ego wants and then we'll be back." Jace nodded, looking down. "Hey," Peter placed a hand on Jace's shoulder, "I'll be fine. Though I know that it's probably not about that, but just remember that your father's in here," he then pointed towards Jace's chest. "Look after yourself, don't get stabbed again, and make sure that Adrian and Nebula don't kill each other."

Jace nodded as he let out a small laugh. A part of Jace relaxed slightly, it was as if Peter could read his mind when it came to most of his worries. "I'll do my best. But same goes for you, dumbass, be safe and be careful."

Peter just gave him a small nod as the two then stood there in silence for a moment before they then gave each other a small hug before they then went their own ways. Jace went back to Kain while Peter had gone out of the broken Benatar. Rocket had already began to repair the ship which made Jace groan internally knowing that it would take them ages to finish sorting out the ship.

"You're leaving me hear with that fox?!" Nebula yelled towards Gamora. She was sat down, sat on something that Jace wasn't too sure on.

"He's not a fox." Gamora said, sorting out her bag which was slung over her shoulder. She looked towards both Jace and Rocket. "Shoot her if she does anything suspicious." Rocket grumbled. "Or if you feel like it. And you, Jace, make sure that he doesn't do anything stupid."

Both Rocket and Jace let out a small, "Okay," before going back to what they were doing. The pair of them knew the 'he' that Gamora was referring to, knowing that either Nebula or Adrian could cause them some form of trouble either way. Gamora knelt down in front of a sad baby Groot, who didn't want the others to leave them where they were.

"Hey," Gamora mumbled, "It'll be just a couple of days. We'll be back before Rocket and Jace's finished fixing the ship."

Jace looked towards Kain with a slight grin knowing that they'd have a few days without three of them. It was only a little bit of time before they would have some time to themselves, despite the fact that they'd have Rocket, Nebula, and Adrian with them still. Kain managed to catch Jace's eye before giving him a small smile before walking over to him and kissed him. Jace noticed Adrian, who kept looking between the pair which had caused Jace to somewhat smirk to himself.

For a brief moment, Jace wondered whether or not he should talk to Adrian more about why he was looking at the pair of them though decided against it.

"What if the Sovereign come?" Drax asked.

"There's no way for them to know we're here. Let's go." Peter spoke.

"I'm uncertain about parting ways," Drax mumbled. 

"God, you're like an old woman," Peter commented. Both men slowly made their way out of the Benatar. Jace hadn't realised that Peter had come back into the ship, even if it was brief.

"Because I'm wise?" Drax asked. Jace shot Drax a look at that just as the man walked out of the ship, before he shook his head, not wanting to comment on that.

Gamora stared at the man. "Why do you have so much luggage?"

"I don't want Groot playing with my things." Drax stated, as if it was the most obvious thing.

Peter just about made it to the edge of the broken ship before staring back in. His eyes drifted to Jace and Kain—who looked lost in their own world before his eyes drifted back to Rocket.

"I hope daddy isn't as big of a dick as you, orphan boy," Rocket said, somewhat harshly.

Peter almost didn't respond somewhat taken back by what the raccoon said. "What is your goal here? To get everybody to hate you? Because it's working."

With that, Peter, Gamora, and Drax had walked towards Ego and his ship, leaving the rest where they were. There was something about the way which Ego's ship left which stirred a wave of feelings within Jace as he watched the ship leave Berhert's surface. Jace tried to shake it off but there was just something off about the situation as a whole, yet he didn't want to revisit those thoughts.

Kain ended up dragging him away from where they made camp before trying to get to know what was going on through Jace's mind. Yet even so, that didn't go to the prince's plan and had ended up with him pinned between a tree and Jace. Kain's arms were wrapped around Jace's neck though a hand ran through Jace's hair, grasping at strands whenever the half-breed bit down.

They'd stayed like that for a few moments with Kain gasping whenever Jace left his mark on the prince's neck. Kain ended up rolling his head back to rest against the tree behind him, feeling the way which Jace's body was pressed against him and the way which his hands roamed his body. Jace's kisses on Kain's neck moved to his jaw before going to his lips. Kain's hand stayed tangled in Jace's hair, his eyes were closed, he hummed into the kiss as he brought the hand wrapped around his neck to Jace's cheek.

Jace pulled away, resting his forehead against Kain's. A slight grin was on his lips when he felt Kain's thumb run circles into his check. Jace could feel the way which Kain's lips would brush against his every so often which would cause Jace to make out with Kain over and over till they were out of breath. There was a part of Jace that wanted nothing more than to continue, and yet there was something that stopped him, the look that was on Kain's face was enough to make Jace pause even for a moment. 

"Jace," Kain breathed when they pulled away. His arms were latched around Jace as he then rested his head against Jace's chest. "About Adrian, I know that you said that everyone needs kindness in their life, but I've seen the way that he looks at you. He's confused yet he looks at you like you're his world or something." He shook his head slightly. "I'm probably being paranoid about all of this, but—uh—I guess my main question is that what is your honest opinion on him? Like is there something there which could cause a slight problem between us?" He then groaned, hitting his head against Jace. "Shit, that sounds fucked. I didn't mean for that to sound weird or anything."

Jace couldn't help but smile, as if this was the most amusing thing that he'd ever heard. A part of him found it amusing that Kain would be worried about whatever was happening between himself and Adrian. And yet, at the same time, Jace couldn't blame him, he'd noticed the looks, he'd noticed the way that Adrian looked at both himself and Kain. And yet, all Jace could do was smile, though he was aware of what Kain meant, the thought that Kain was worried about it was enough to make his insides warm.

"Kain, its fine." Jace assured. "And I've seen the look, the confused yet the 'I want you' kinda look—the look that you used to have and such. I want to help him, I honestly do, there's just something about him which makes me want to help. It sounds fucked; I know it does considering all that he's done. My honest opinion on him is that there's something else about him, which is almost longing, like—I don't know—hopefully, friendship, I'm confused about it all at the moment. There's not going to be a problem between us, I can promise you that, there never will be. A part of me is telling me that I want him the way that I want you, but I know that I don't want that at least. I want a friendship with him, nothing more."

Kain nodded. Jace took note of the odd look in Kain's eyes as if the doubt was still there. "Can I be one-hundred-percent honest with you? No judging, just brutal say what's on my mind?"

"Of course. I'll never judge you because I care about your opinions and all."

"I feel the same." Kain blurted out. "I know that it's a bit fucked considering what happened, but he seems like this lost puppy or something. I've seen the way which he's clingy with you, almost following you around like he doesn't know what to do with himself, but there's just something about him which makes me wanna—I don't know—want him? But as a friend, you know?"

Jace nodded, an odd sense of relief went through him. "Of course. And if you're worried about what happened still, then its fine, don't worry about it. Though, I will say that if you're uncomfortable with how he is with me then please tell me because I want to make sure that you're comfortable and such, like I'm fine with how he is—I know that sounds weird, but you know that I can be quite cuddly anyway."

Kain shook his head slightly. "No, no, it's fine. It's just odd you know, seeing this feared assassin-hitman person being this clingy with you. You know, considering you're his target and all. And I'm aware on how cuddly you are, I'd always find you hugging one of my siblings because they asked you for one and neither of you would let go of each other."

Jace somewhat laughed at the memory. "Yeah. So, befriend the hitman? If anything changes, tell each other, okay? If things do change then we promise each other right here, right now that the other can't get pissed about it."

Kain gave him an odd look and a part of Jace cursed at himself. "How do you mean, 'if anything changes'?"

"Like I don't know," Jace shrugged, "feelings? If one of us falls for him. I mean, he's attractive as hell, his eyes are stunning, and I mean that's just an observation. Ugh, that sounds—" He cut himself off, shaking his head slightly. "What I mean is that I can notice the way that you look at him, I'm not judging or planning to, but if you want to admit shit then I promise I won't get jealous or anything. And of course—"

"Stop talking." Kain cut in, shaking his head. "You're an absolute idiot Jace. But if you're trying to say that if we feel like our feelings are changing then communication between us, then of course. I want us to have an honest relationship with each other. And if you're worried about the way that I've been looking at him, then don't worry, I'm trying to work him out without—you know—speaking to him. Has anything gone on between you and Adrian which is the reason why you've brought it up?"

Jace smiled, though he shook his head slightly. "No, nothing's happened. Just trying to let him know that he can open up to me, that I'm more than willing to help him. Basically, letting him know that he doesn't have to close himself off, I want to be one of the few people he talks to, to get a better understanding of him. He seems lost and maybe I wanna be the person who helps him if you know what I mean."

"Yes?" Kain spoke somewhat confused. "I think I know what you mean." He then shook his head. "Come on, mister, you're meant to be helping with the Benatar."

Jace groaned as Kain dragged him back to the Benatar. "Fuck me, I can't be bothered."

Kain gave him a look as a smirk made its way to his lips. "Maybe I will, but let's just sort this out first and then we can do what you like later. We have a couple of days before we see the others again. Or however long it'll take you and Rocket to work on the ship"

"Fine." Jace pouted.

"Jace! Where are you, you fucking turd?!" Rocket yelled once they got closer.

Jace groaned. "Rocket, what do you need?"

Rocket grumbled something under his breath, something which Jace couldn't quite get. All Jace could think about was how grumpy Rocket was being—okay the raccoon was always grumpy, but there seemed to be something more. Jace didn't want to push it, knowing that Rocket wasn't one to admit anything. Though, there was a part of Jace that didn't like the way of which Rocket spoke to Peter before he left, and as much as Jace wanted to say something about it, he knew that he wouldn't get any form of response. 

Both Jace and Kain made it to the broken ship, Kain had gone in and had preoccupied himself with Groot—who got distracted by Kain's many rings. Jace somewhat smiled at the sight, a part of him thought that Kain was good with children and would make a good father in the future, he just hoped that he was a part of that. Adrian had been handcuffed and watched Kain with a look which almost seemed too loving. Jace should be uncomfortable with that look, and a small part of him was, but he couldn't help but think that it was right for someone to look at Kain in that way, especially Adrian.

"Set up the perimeter, just in case of company," Rocket informed. "We'll focus on the Benatar once this is all set, can bet you a thousand units that someone attacks us."

"Sure," Jace shrugged. "Bet. What's the plan anyway if someone does come?"

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Ah, I'm sorry with how long it took me to update for this book, but this chapter took me a while to get done!!

Also I noticed that some of you said that you were team Kacdrian,,,,,and i just wanted to ask what has been your favourite moment between the three so far? Or moment between Kain and Jace?

(24/01/25 i am so sorry on how long it took me to actually get this chapter edited. i swear to god, my laptop is being a little bitch. shout out to my university computer from which this chapter was written on)