The corners of his eyes creased slightly as he smirked, and those hazy eyes took a gentler turn. Tucker leaned in, and Wash waited until he was looking him in the eye before moving his lips again. Slow. Deliberate.

I love you.

He always would. After everything they'd endured, this was not going to be the thing that broke them apart. It would not be the thing that defined them as unworthy of one another. It was a stray bullet in a firefight and no one's fault, save maybe Temple's.