Chapter Text
Yoru pretended to be arrogant and even aloof at times, but he acknowledged the importance of his teammates - without them, he’d be dead out there on the field, and without him, they’d be in a lot of trouble. So he paid attention to the little things about the team, both on and off the field. Cypher’s annoyance at his disappearances, both on camera and in person. The way Jett would tense her stance before leaping into the air and shooting a man in the head. Killjoy’s inane pleasure at him acknowledging her bot. Phoenix’s gleeful smiles when Yoru let him plan their combat engagement and it succeeded (thought not without his intercession - the man was more flashy than brilliant). Sage’s reaction to "Sky Children"’s OVA release date (he slid an extra ticket onto her desk a day later - he wasn’t about to see it alone).
All of this took time to observe and build up valuable rapport so Yoru could feel nearly included over the weeks he integrated himself into the Valorant Protocol headquarters. It was day in, day out of wake-up calls, training at a floating range, shooting contests with the other gun duelists, fighting Breach for the shower after combat missions, and surreptitiously decorating Skye’s room with flowers again and again as “thank-yous” for showing him the ropes (she was really starting to hate him).
Astra’s arrival moved him from Newbie to Newbie #2: Introduce the Recruit to all the stuff or Viper might actually bite his head off. Then KAYO arrived and removed him completely from newbie status. The robot was weird as all hell. It had an incredibly functioning AI and was created by a different Killjoy, but it lacked manners, and that got on Yoru’s nerves, so he avoided it. But also? Talking weird robot that Brimstone looked at while trying not to cry? Weird. Whatever. Maybe he thought it was his son like Killjoy was his metaphorical daughter or something. Not his problem. Astra had to handle the new newbie and he had to handle pretending he didn’t see the weird looks Killjoy, Brimstone, and KAYO all shared.
Then the problem arrived.
////
Yoru noticed Brimstone’s reluctance as he introduced the Valorant Protocol to agent Chamber. The veteran had crinkled his eyes in a way that did not suggest friendliness and reminded him of the time Phoenix and Jett had set the kitchen on fire - the American seemed like he did not want to be there, be a witness, or anywhere near the situation. He had mentioned on their comms earlier that codename “Deadeye” would be arriving at base soon, but the Japanese hadn’t given it much thought, seeing that he was trying to avoid dying at his counterpart’s hands in the middle of Bind. After they had cleared the site, defused the spike, and packed it up into the VLT/R, he noticed the slight strain in their commander’s neck as he craned his head to watch their arrival at headquarters.
“Good evening, distinguished guests,” Chamber had said before bowing slightly at the waist. “I will be at your service. Let us get along.”
////
Chamber, their French weapons designer on loan. Chamber, the key to unlocking the path to Earth-2. Chamber, the teleporting site sentinel. Chamber, the most annoying new team member yet. Nothing he did inclined Yoru to like the man, and it didn’t help Yoru already was a loner who tried to work on his own when without a directive. Nor did it help this man also had teleportation technology - it irked him to no end that someone else besides the damn ghost could move instantaneously.
No, he was more than bothered. He was annoyed.
Not even Breach annoyed him this much, and that man blew concussed him in the range multiple times a week.
It wasn’t just Yoru. Cypher was upset due to the lack or information he could dig up on Chamber. Viper was upset because she disagreed with him on almost anything. Brimstone, their group leader, was upset, for reasons none of the younger recruits were privy to. Even Sage seemed mildly annoyed with Chamber out of combat (during battle, she was nothing if calm). And they still had to cooperate with the smug asshole, as beings beyond Yoru’s paygrade deemed it important that this man and his information were added to their team.
So be it. Yoru could cooperate on the field with him and ignore him outside of missions. It could be a challenge for himself, he supposed. Except Chamber barely used his assigned personnel room at the headquarters. Chamber didn’t eat with them, even after combat missions. Chamber had hobbies that involved sequestering himself in his room or off-base. Chamber was so goddamn easy to avoid when he wanted to make himself scarce.
And during the times Chamber deemed to bring his presence about headquarters, Yoru could barely avoid him. Chamber would be waiting for Yoru to finish showering so he was the first person he saw as he slammed the door open, towel around his waist because he forgot his pants again. Chamber grabbed the coffee pot just as Yoru had tossed back a questionable number of espresso shots no matter how much he varied the time he entered the kitchen in the morning. He always made eye contact, as if the Frenchman had some agenda involving staring deep into Yoru’s eyes before he teleported out of the kitchen and away from his problems.
Even during practice Yoru could not escape the specter of Chamber. He had gorgeous guns that shot well, looked good, and sounded better than their standard VP weaponry. Chamber had a shot as good as his own (definitely not better, the only one who could be better than himself was KAY/O, the weird freaking robot).
Chamber was everywhere and nowhere. Chamber was annoying and bothering and it made him so hot with rage he could barely stop from seething when they rode next to each other in the VLT/R transports.
It was about three weeks into this nonsense that Yoru lost his mind just a little. He had been talking to Sage about "Sky Children"’s “Elemental Redux” arc when Chamber walked into the kitchen. He grabbed coffee from the pot Jett had made earlier (at 2000 hours) and quietly sat down beside Sage in the middle of Yoru’s tirade on the show’s character Cricket’s poorly designed house. The gleam in the Frenchman’s eyes as he listened made him pause just as he was about to confirm that yes, Cricket was probably homosexual, but it wasn’t really necessary to paint his entire bedroom in bright rainbow. He couldn’t bring himself to start his next sentence, which may or may not have been about the sexual revolution of Japan and its over-stereotyping of its populace.
“Yoru? You stopped talking,” Sage tried to check on him, not realizing that Chamber was right there. The bane of his existence was looking at him like a sly cat watched a mouse when it was full and planning its next meal, and she thought he could keep talking about homosexual imagery in Japanese media? Pathetic.
“Yes, it seems I forgot what I was talking about,” Yoru deadpanned. Sage furrowed her brow and tried to bring up his previous point only for Chamber to cut in for her.
“You mentioned the socioeconomic state of Cricket’s house and the color of something, but did not mention the something else.”
“I was going to ask about Sage how much she knew about the LGBT+ legislature of Japan but someone sat in on a conversation he was not a part of,” Yoru cooly replied.
“I keep up with the show,” Chamber stated. “My favorite character is Katy.”
Yoru spat incredulously. “You watch "Sky Children"?!”
“Oui. Is quite a good show. A little pandering, like you mentioned, but the story itself has its merits.”
“Then what about Sting’s redemption arc?” Yoru asked, redirecting his anger from the Japanese media conglomerates to the man who faced him now. Sage realized Yoru was no longer going to talk about Cricket or any other interesting anecdotes about his character and finished her mug.
“Is it redemption if all you do is go from killing objectively bad people to morally grey creatures?”
Yoru huffed and sat up in his chair. “Of course not. It’s called that officially but it does nothing to redeem him for his actual crime of killing Silas’ father.” He realized Sage had left the room about now. “You know what, Chamber? Let’s take this somewhere else,” Yoru growled.
“Agreed. Shall we talk more in my room? I would hate to prevent others from using the kitchen in fear of interrupting our riveting conversation.”
“Come, come.”
He got up from the table, pushed his chair under it, and motioned for Yoru to follow him down the hallway. During their short stint down the hall, Yoru counted no less than 4 others (Skye, Breach, Jett, and Phoenix) playing what appeared to be beer pong in the recreation room with a staggering amount of Welch’s Concord Grape Juice scattered around them. The ping pong table sat sadly in the middle of a women versus men’s match as Astra watched. He longed to sit on the opposite couch, pretending to ignore the revelry while making quiet conversation with Astra about it. Instead, he had chosen to make this evening about privately dealin with Chamber and his issues with him.
So many doors lined the hall across from the communal areas - agents enlisted, with room for more to come. After pacing past their leads’ rooms and his own, Yoru realized that perhaps this was a waste of his evening - discussing "Sky Children" and making his problems with Chamber apparent. It was petty; it was almost childish.
They finally arrived and stood in the doorway of Chamber’s room, where Yoru began to regret his choices in coming here. This man had transformed a gray Spartan standard set up into a lush paradise of whites and creams. He hated it. The desk was light and modern and sleek and covered in what were probably neatly organized design plans. The floor held a shoe rack (of course he had designer sneakers) and a luscious white rug.
(Yoru definitely had not turned his room blue and black out of spite or from a long held-over teenage emo phase nor had he done it because his entire color scheme was blue and black. He just happened to carry over a lot of rift with him, that was all.)
“It’s quite nice, ou non? I brought a little bit of home here with me.” They stepped into the room, door closing behind them. “It sure is,” he bitingly replied. Yoru remembered he came here to argue with stupid Chamber about something. His mind fluctuated between thoughts as he tried to process what was happening to him. He hated Chamber. He didn’t remember why anymore, amidst the organized sea of white that was room 18. It drowned out a lot of his brain’s previous thoughts, including “Cricket was sensationalized as a pandering hero” and “I have personal problems with Chamber”.
“Must you study my room some more, or shall we fuck?” Chamber’s voice snapped him out of his staring.
“What?” Yoru blinked hard. “What did you just say?” He turned his head to look at him, poised as perfectly as possible. He hated it, he thought. The perfect posture, the way he held his shoulders back as if he had nothing to hide and everything to give.
“I asked if you want to partake in sexual intercourse.”
“I thought we came here to discuss,” Yoru scrambled for his mental path to this room. “"Sky Children". I thought your opinions were wrong and you said we shouldn’t take up the kitchen for that.”
Chamber locked eyes with Yoru. Were he a teenager still, he might have squirmed under his gaze. “I have seen you looking at me. Hunger, I thought. You are, what is the word, you are… attractive? Devious? I thought you were too shy so I brought you here to open up. Again, shall we fuck, or is "Sky Children" part of your extended foreplay?”
“I no longer do men.” Yoru’s cheeks heated up. His mouth felt drier than usual. Chamber smiled warmly in response to his blush. “Ah, so you have had bad experience. Would you be so kind as to let me show you some things then?”
Yoru hated Chamber, especially in this infuriating moment. He was angered by his confidence, the tilt of his head as he asked a question, poised for an answer. His face was hot and if Chamber got any closer he would rip his clothes - Oh, that’s how it was.
The things his body had been telling him made sense all at once.
The realization washed over him like chilled water, but it did nothing to cool his blood broiling in his body. He could figure out the angry part later. Maybe even kiss it out of his stupid annoying (handsome) face. For now, he had an opportunity and he was going to take it. He hesitated as he processed the revelation before stepping closer, a silent invitation. He was swept into the same space Chamber’s body occupied, a firm arm pressing him into Chamber’s chest.
“Say the word and I will stop, mon loup (a).” A nod from him and suddenly, his lips were captured into a hungry kiss. Yoru had no complaints about the kiss or the sudden lack of space around him. The tenderness of being held, the movement of lips against his own, the tongue - no complaints at all. Everything was warm and all of a sudden, he felt like he needed Chamber now. He let his hands wander, pulling at the edge of Chamber’s suit. There was skin under there and it had to be out. He couldn’t get the buttons undone while being pressed this close, but as he tried to pull back to undo it, he felt Chamber lift him up and place him on the bed.
“Shirt off,” the Frenchman ordered as he started pulling off his suit. Clothes were scattered on the floor as fast as humanly possible - shoes cast off, followed by a tie and vest come undone, dress shirt tumbling to the ground, mingled with Yoru’s jacket. As he slid out of his t-shirt, his mind experienced a moment of sober thought - would his scars scare Chamber off? He didn’t think anyone but Sage would know of his physical status, but now he was filled with fear.
Chamber did not seem to notice nor care about Yoru’s chest, instead choosing to lean over and put his arms on either side of where he was seated on the bed. Positioned over Yoru, Chamber lowered himself to kiss him again, and relief washed over Yoru as the last of his coherent thoughts left his head. Chamber took his time, lavishing each bit of his exposed skin, but Yoru was impatient for more. He growled and pushed his hips up, grinded himself against Chamber. He felt up the other’s legs and tried to pry his stupid fancy belt off, but Chamber stopped his hands.
“Patience, mon amour (b),” he said and stepped back. His sudden absence of heat as he got off Yoru made him want to whine, but it was quickly replaced by the sensation of his pants being shrugged off and tossed away. Soft, light touches dusted his underwear, and he swore Chamber was grinning like a cat as he slowly teased off his briefs. “I’m going to kill you,” Yoru panted out. “Get on with whatever nonsense you are about.”
There was a moment of panic he would never admit to as his briefs came off and he thought about the fact he did not warn Chamber about his bottom parts (the same voice in his head whispered liar deceiver you’ll never be a man).
No matter how much time he spent in the Rift, he could not make it mold him the way he wanted it to. His voice could change, his height could be stretched and body proportions manipulated, but something as drastic as his sex organs he had yet to figure out if it was even possible. He looked into the void and it looked straight back, and here he was, vulnerable, delicate, exposed on display, at a pivotal point of gender and identity. Shame and fear threatened to swallow him whole, and again, Chamber’s smooth voice quieted the panic in his head.
“Is it okay if I lick this?”
Yoru was hit with the whiplash of the train of thought abruptly coming to a halt. He was also in the process of losing his mind with impatience. “Yes!” he barked out. “Please,” he added, almost whining.
Yoru hated how he squeaked whenever someone went down on him, but his high-pitched exclamations only egged Chamber on. He felt hands cup his butt and pull him closer as the tongue delved deeper into him. It was all he could do to gasp and try not to moan as loud as physically possible - he had no idea how thick the walls were, and he really didn’t need to find out tonight. He had no idea how much time passed as Chamber made it his task to explore every nook and cranny of Yoru’s vagina, but he knew that it was an incredible way to pass time. He never wanted another person to eat him out, he thought. This was on another level. Heat built up inside of him, and he felt himself clench up, demanding presence inside of himself before his vision exploded.
The high of the orgasm left him gasping for air. All Yoru could see was fuzzy colors streaked across the night sky, which he swore hadn’t been there earlier. He blinked away darkness and stars that faded away into the pale ceiling of the room he was in. Yoru remembered where he was and looked down his body.
There was the image of Chamber, kneeling before him at the foot of the bed. Sweaty, nearly breathless, gorgeous Chamber. Yoru felt like a god being worshiped, but he needed more of Chamber. “Come up here,” he tried to speak, but it came out in the wrong language, garbled and weak in his post-orgasm brain.
“いれてほしい (1),” he sputtered out. Chamber had the audacity to laugh, covered in his cum and sweat. “がまんできない, 弱虫 (2),” he tried again, but Chamber got the message regardless and climbed onto the bed. Hed hovered over him for just a moment, and then Yoru was drowning in Chamber. He was all over him, touching him, breathing him in, and he hadn’t even stuck his dick inside of him yet. And just as he thought that, his voice purred from above him, “Ready?” and he could barely nod his affirmation, so sunk into the sea that he was, and then Chamber was everywhere at once.
He found himself tensing up with each thrust and curled his legs around Chamber’s back - this only encouraged him, moving them from the slow movements of the tide into the rapid crashing of the waves. “J'aime quand tu fais ça (c),” Chamber muttered into his neck. He had no fucking clue what the man was saying, and yet it turned him on even more. The room, the stupid decorations, all of it could stuff themselves for all he could care. He was in heaven, ascending beyond, or perhaps the idol on the altar.
Yoru found himself biting down on Chamber’s shoulder, unable to let himself scream as he came again, followed by the slowing of Chamber’s hips until they thrust one final time before the man collapsed into him, panting.
They lay there, two quivering lovers beyond words before Chamber rolled off and quietly got up to clean them up. Yoru was so worn out he could barely move, even as he felt a gentle warm cloth clean the juices off of him. Darkness overtook his vision, and Yoru knocked out before Chamber could even pull the blanket over them.
////
The bed beneath his face was soft, and the comforter thick and puffy and warm. With his eyes still closed, Yoru knew he had shifted from the world of dreams to waking life because he could feel the rift calling in his body. Low, pulsating music played from the speaker on the nightstand, reminding him he was not in his own room. The bed next to him was empty but nearly warm, as if its other occupant had just left. Chamber had probably gotten up before him, and if he had woken up around the time his alarm usually did, it was 0730 hours and he needed to get up and dress. He shifted to throw the blanket off and froze as he sat up, realizing he was naked.
Ah. That had happened. It had taken him all of opening his eyes, feeling a thinner blanket, and finding his clothes missing to realize that he had slept with Chamber. Last night.
Yoru peered around the room and yes, he was still irked by how much the man differed from himself, but it was from a quieter place in his head. The fuck had helped in some regard, but the personal differences - he would figure that out later.
He had slept with a team member. which was not explicitly disallowed but was probably frowned upon. Brimstone had tried to speak about some non-fraternization clause before everyone had found Jett and Sage making out in the kitchen, so maybe having the second-in-command break it made the whole point moot.
Amidst his naked musings, Chamber returned to the room, wearing a button-down shirt and slacks. His suit was thrown over the chair, and he had a tie set on his desk.
“You are up. Did my music wake you?”
He shook his head. Chamber stepped up next to him and offered him his clothes from yesterday. “They are not clean, my apologies, but you should be able to go next door and get new ones. Not many people are up yet still.”
“Being kicked out this early? I was expecting morning cuddles,” Yoru responded sarcastically. He threw on his clothes quickly, brushed his hair out of his face so it wasn’t blocking his eyes, and left without looking back.
He went about his day like normal, eating a quiet breakfast before training with Sage and Jett in the morning, sparring with Skye after lunch, and stopping Phoenix from burning the kitchen down before dinner could start. Cypher and Breach returned from a mission, loudly bickering down the hallway from the carrier. Omen creeped around the common room before perching himself on the plastic garden chair that might have been requisitioned from the greenhouse (Yoru did not know nor care, but if Skye hadn’t said anything then it was probably fine). Yoru slipped into spaces, ate food, and avoided Chamber like the plague. It was, all in all, an average day at the headquarters.
And then he found himself before Chamber’s door a few hours after dinner, knuckle raised and ready to hit the wood in front of him. He had showered - his hair was flat against his head instead of stuck up with all the product he put on in the morning. He felt self-conscious, wondering if this could happen more than once. Maybe it was a one-time thing, to fuck a fellow employee in a moment of loose morals and fantasy-fulfillment. Maybe he was a one-night stand and this was all for naught. All the same, he had been pulled here by something in his gut that coiled inside and threated to swallow him whole. He swallowed, breathed in, and prepared to knock.
Chamber opened the door before he could even make contact with the wood and beckoned for Yoru to enter, and he sealed his fate by following him in.
////
It felt as if nothing had changed on the field for Yoru. It still peeved him that Chamber teleported around the fields they held down and that his shot was so good and that his guns were so damn flashy. But he didn’t let it get to him in combat - his team’s lives were at stake. There was no room for rivalry between teammates on the field. Off of it, there was plenty of petty growling on the VLT/R and jostling in the hallways and fights over the coffee machine. Yoru had some reputation to hold up, after all.
He did find himself waking up on soft white sheets more often. And snapping at Chamber less in the common spaces. If anything, he would just drag him to the practice range and duel until he got his fury out or they ended up in bed again. Chamber found a stupid amount of trinkets and flowers on his desk and said nothing about it. Brimstone was still on edge around Chamber, but Yoru had little complaints about the man. Even if he held secrets, he fucked very well, and that was good enough for him. He didn’t have time for games played by people who thought they had time for it - he was here to save the world then go home.
After a few nights spent with Chamber, Yoru was pretty sure Astra had seen him do the walk of shame at least once, but she had the peace of mind to not mention it at all. Brimstone and Viper didn’t seem to care at least, and whatever Cypher saw on his creepy cameras Yoru would choose to ignore.
Sage, however, had taken him on a walk after breakfast one cold Saturday morning and made a point to mention all the places she could conveniently push a Frenchman off the Range and make it seem like an accident. She had also pointed out some of the better spots to hide if he was looking for a quick fuck or a make-out session, and he tried to not think about Jett and Sage going down on each other in the rafters of the training grounds.
It was good to have someone who would willingly kill a teammate for you, at least, but he did not need that much detail about how much other people fucked in the Range.