Sebastian watched Natasha's hand move to her waist, where she kept a pistol. She drew it and aimed at him, but didn't dare pull the trigger. He wondered whether she was pretending again, whether she genuinely didn't want to hurt him, or whether she was afraid of ending up like Fury.
The gunshot had sobered him up instantly. Fury stared at his hand, then at the pistol on the floor, as though trying to understand what the fuck had just happened.
Anyone who tried to cause trouble inside his shop would have it thrown right back at them. Fury had been hit by his own bullet.
"Cat got your tongue?" Sebastian asked.
"You just threatened to fund terrorists. Do you have any idea what you're getting yourself into?"
"You started making threats. I defended myself. Your prices just went up to four times the original amount," Sebastian informed him.
Fury looked down at the floor, probably wondering whether making an enemy of Sebastian was worth it. Blood dripped from his hand onto the tiles. Sebastian could only think about what a pain in the ass it would be to clean up.
"We have a deal, but I want your weapons sold exclusively to SHIELD. That means you'll have to close your shop."
"No. I can give you exclusive rights to one weapon for…" Sebastian had no idea what price to name. "Five hundred million a year. If you stop paying, that weapon goes on sale to the public." He said it as though the number were perfectly outrageous.
He had thousands of weapons available for sale. There was no way SHIELD could afford exclusive rights to all of them.
"One hundred million per weapon."
"Five hundred and fifty million." Sebastian was actually raising his price.
Fury fell silent. He knew Sebastian wasn't going to give him an inch.
"Fine. I accept. And I don't want you selling weapons to terrorists."
"I'll sell to anyone whose paperwork is in order. If you don't want someone buying from me, make sure they can't get the permits." Sebastian shrugged.
Sebastian watched Fury nod. The director had conceded far more than he'd expected. Apparently, he valued Sebastian's weapons that highly.
"Good. We have a deal." Fury extended his uninjured hand.
"Aren't you going to apologize for shooting at me?" Sebastian took the offered hand and gave it a light squeeze. Fury met his gaze. Clearly, no apology was coming. "Okay, okay. You'll pay five times the regular price for every weapon. Besides, I fucked your wife. It's only fair."
"We're not—"
"Here. This is my weapons catalog. Some items might take me a while to prepare. Contact me when you're ready to place an order."
"I want Natasha to stay here and work for you. She'll be the liaison between your shop and SHIELD."
'Aren't you giving up a little too much, Fury? Or are you just hoping she'll put a bullet in my head whenever you tell her to?' Sebastian wondered.
"No. Send me another agent, and bring a formal offer." He tossed the catalog to Fury, who caught it with his wounded hand, only to drop it on the floor with a curse.
It was an enormous book containing thousands of weapons. And it wasn't even complete. There were still things Sebastian hadn't included, especially the magical weapons.
As for why he wouldn't take Natasha back? Because she'd pointed a gun at him.
Maybe she hadn't fired because she was afraid of the shop's defenses. Keeping her close while he was trying to figure her out was one thing. Now that Fury had actually tried to shoot him, things were different. Natasha wasn't someone he could trust. Maybe she couldn't kill him inside the shop, but what about outside?
That was all. It had absolutely nothing to do with being bitter. Yes, yes. That was definitely it.
"And you're saying it didn't hurt?" Deadpool asked, stroking Sebastian's back.
He wasn't wearing his red spandex, just ordinary clothes. Sebastian barely glanced at him. The man was ugly as fuck. His face looked like ground meat, and just seeing it was painful. Yet he was smiling at Sebastian with genuine kindness.
"Why would it hurt? I always knew it would end this way," Sebastian said, pouring himself another drink. He didn't even know what kind of liquor it was anymore.
"Come on, your poor little heart is broken. Daddy Deadpool's going to get a needle and stitch it right back together." Deadpool began stroking his hair.
Then his hand slid down Sebastian's back, almost reaching his ass. Sebastian slapped it away. Wade pouted.
"Nothing's brooooooken," Sebastian protested, pouring himself another glass.
"Oh, come on. She fucked you and dumped you. Just used your body for fun, then sold everything she knew about you to her bosses to complete her mission. That's pretty miserable." Deadpool picked up a chimichanga. "Maybe she wouldn't have left if you'd cooked for her."
Deadpool's voice had become background noise to Sebastian. He had bigger problems than Natasha right now. Staying alive, for one. If SHIELD tried to kill him outside the shop, they had a very good chance of succeeding.
He looked at Deadpool and his utterly fucked-up face. Wade had an incredible healing factor. Sebastian had seen it firsthand: once, someone had cut off Wade's arm, and it had grown right back. He was practically immortal.
Whenever Sebastian got hurt and Deadpool happened to be nearby, he'd touch Wade and temporarily copy a fraction of his healing ability. The effect was weak and short-lived. To obtain a permanent version, he needed much longer contact.
"Wade." Sebastian touched his face. Deadpool nuzzled into his palm like a cat.
"Yes, Sebby?" Wade asked in the voice of an excited teenage girl.
"You're ugly as fuck."
Wade's mouth formed a perfect O.
"I came here to comfort you after some skank kicked you to the curb, and this is how you repay me?" He buried his face in his hands.
Sebastian was grateful he didn't have to look at it anymore.
"Listen to me."
"This is why she dumped you! You're such an asshole!" Wade wailed through fake sobs.
Now it was Sebastian's turn to gape.
"Remember when I told you I could fix that fucked-up face of yours?" he asked.
His Divine Restoration could heal Wade. The ability only needed physical contact to work. It was the same way he'd erased the scar on Natasha's body. He wondered whether she'd noticed.
The reason he wanted to heal Deadpool was so he could use Divine Copy. That ability allowed Sebastian to copy someone else's powers. The only drawback was that it required prolonged physical contact.
"I remember." Deadpool finished wiping away his crocodile tears. "I already told you, Vanessa taught me to love myself just the way I am." He suddenly brightened at the mention of Vanessa. "Natalia taught you how to fuck and run."
"Fuck you, Wade." Sebastian slumped onto the table. "I want to copy your regeneration." Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe sheer desperation, but he'd just admitted his real reason.
"Fine. But I have one condition," Deadpool said.
"I want you to feel me up." Wade rolled his shoulders seductively.
If Natasha had done that, it would've been sexy as hell. But Deadpool? Sebastian had to fight to keep the disgust off his face.
"I'm not touching your junk."
"Just a little."
"No."
"I'll suck your dick."
"No."
"You'll give me a ninety-percent discount."
"Deal."
"I said nine hundred percent."
Sebastian held out his hand, and Deadpool shook it. He'd just reached an agreement with SHIELD, so he doubted he'd go bankrupt over this. Though he had absolutely no idea how a nine-hundred-percent discount was supposed to work.
* * *
"Did you really have to strip, Wade?" Sebastian asked. "And what's that bulge?" A rather considerable tent had appeared in Deadpool's pink boxers.
"Wanna see?" Wade bit his lip.
Sebastian shook his head and fixed his gaze on a random spot on the wall.
His hands were resting against Deadpool's chest. The feel of Wade's flesh was horrible, but Sebastian was used to it by now. Unfortunately.
"No." He smacked Wade's hand away when the mercenary tried to guide it down from his chest toward his stomach.
"Can you at least massage my nipples?"
Sebastian couldn't even tell where the nipples were in all that ground meat. He simply shook his head.
* * *
Two hours later, Deadpool's skin was beginning to look more like actual human skin than… whatever the hell it had looked like before.
"Can I jer—"
"No," Sebastian interrupted.
"Can I jerk you off?"
It was the most demanding day Sebastian's patience had ever endured.