His expression softens all the more with the other man’s obvious desperation, with the quiet little “please,” and Faraday exhales quietly through his lips. Vasquez gets no arguments from Faraday that things today had completely gone to hell, but he hardly agrees with the man that his life is shitty. Difficult, sure. Complicated, he’ll grant that. But shitty? Hardly. And Faraday feels he’s something of an authority on the subject, considering how much time he’s spent at Vasquez’s side.

But arguing won’t get them anywhere. Vasquez clearly needs doing, not saying, and it’s a sentiment Faraday understands all too well.

“Easy, darlin’,” Faraday breathes. He rocks forward, capturing Vasquez’s lips briefly, heated and sharp with promise. “Relax. I’ve got you.”

He pulls away after that, turning to Jack and making quick work of unsaddling him. Faraday may be impatient as hell, but there are still a few basic things he understands needs taking care of. His saddle falls to the dirt with a heavy thud, and he spreads his saddle blanket on the ground after that.

“I’m not fuckin’ you,” Faraday says at length, firmly, doffing his hat and tossing it atop his saddle. There’s a wry lilt to his voice as he continues. “We’re in the middle of nowhere on the side of a road with no shortage of wild animals lurkin’ around. It’s unsanitary.”

He closes the space between them again, hooking his forefinger around the knot of the wild rag Vasquez had borrowed from him earlier in the day. He tugs the other man closer for another sharp kiss, his free hand curling a little possessively around the hinge of Vasquez’s jaw. He pulls back just enough to leave a whisper of space between them, and when he speaks, his lips still brush against Vasquez’s.

“I’ll give you the next best thing, though,” he offers, and one corner of his mouth tugs upward in a smirk. “Lie down ‘fore I change my mind.”