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Capable wants to experience the War Boys’ world – Nux’s world – so she can understand them better. But it’s still frightening when she enters the huge cavern packed full of War Boys and older War Pups cheering as several of them fight. Nux’s arm around her is a comfort. She’s grateful all over again for his miraculous survival.
The crowd parts to admit them without taking notice of them. Only one or two War Boys look at her curiously, but the presence of a Wife in their most private place is of less interest than the sudden reversal of roles between the combatants. There’s cheering from one section and groans and curses from another, and Capable realizes the War Boys are wagering on the fights. Little things like scraps found out in the Wasteland that can’t be put to a use anyone’s thought of yet, extra tools, even a live lizard. It’s oddly heartening. As violent as this is, this is theirs. The vehicles they work so hard on belong to the Citadel, and they themselves are branded with Joe’s mark the same as her, a reminder that until recently they were unwitting slaves, but this energy and excitement is theirs alone.
Nux gets them to the front of the crowd and protectively positions himself behind her, crossing his arms around her and hugging her to his chest. She smiles as she feels him rest his chin on the top of her head. She forgets sometimes just how tall he is.
He shouts encouragement at a short War Boy getting pummeled, but he also cheers when the War Boy doing the pummeling lands a blow so hard that Capable hears his opponent’s ribs crack. She winces and tampers down her instinct to put a stop to this.
“Who are we cheering for?” she asks Nux.
“Both of them,” Nux says. He plants a casual kiss on her cheek.
Capable loves touching him and being touched by him. She’d always known it couldn’t just be pain and humiliation between women and men, that there had to be something better. She’d dreamed of it even when she’d had nothing on which to base her dreams. She interlaces her fingers with Nux’s, driven by a need to get closer to him, a need she first felt when she saw him alone and in distress like her. It’s a need that is only ever really satisfied when they’re finished making love, but she’s content with this for now.
A new pair of War Boys step into the clearing. These two are older than the previous pair, both powerfully built and heavily scarred. Capable can tell immediately that this fight is going to be especially brutal.
“How badly do boys get hurt? Are there rules?” she asks worriedly.
“Not too bad. Nobody’s died since Scrotus got sent away to Gas Town.”
“And the rules?” Capable persists.
“No using weapons of any kind on another War Boy. But that goes all the time, not just in here.”
One of the War Boys about to fight notices Nux and jeers, “Traitor! Come here and let me kick your ass.”
Capable stiffens, afraid that Nux will let himself be goaded into a fight. She can bear watching other Boys fight, but she doesn’t want Nux to get hurt.
Fortunately Nux doesn’t take the challenge seriously. “Keep dreaming, Slit. In your dreams is the only time you’ve ever beaten me.”
So this is Slit. Nux has mentioned him. This is his former friend and war partner. “Mean and ugly,” Nux had replied when she’d asked him what Slit was like, but she’d heard the affection beneath the words. But it must be a peculiarly War Boy sort of affection because Slit does indeed appear to be mean and ugly.
“Shiny breeder,” Slit comments, leering at her. “Almost chrome enough to be worth traitoring Immortan.”
His opponent takes his gaze off him to glance at Capable, and Slit’s fist strikes him in the side of the head. Capable has to wonder whether he intentionally used her to distract the other War Boy.
Though she can’t see him, Capable can feel the change in Nux. He’s no longer relaxed and she’s certain he’s no longer in his customary slouch. His arms around her feel different too. It feels possessive, as if he’s no longer holding her just to have her close but rather to signal to others that she’s his. Capable expects to be distressed by it, but she’s not. It puts her on edge, but not in a way that feels bad. It’s more like she’s in an increased state of readiness. She can feel her body reacting, becoming aroused despite the lack of overt stimulation.
As Capable is processing all this, Slit and the other War Boy are punching and stomping and even biting each other without mercy. Nux is shouting excitedly along with the rest of the crowd. Capable wonders whether he’s cheering for or against his friend. Probably both.
She realizes suddenly that these fights serve a purpose other than keeping the Boys entertained and keeping them in fighting shape. Fighting provides them with an outlet for their excess energy, an important thing when most of them are highly aggressive young men with no sexual release but what they find with each other. Capable gropes behind her, checking to be sure she feels what she thinks she feels. It’s not an object in his pocket that’s shifted. Nux is hard.
He kisses her neck, then bites her gently. “Capable,” he sighs.
“Let’s find somewhere private,” she suggests.
They don’t make it up to her – their – bedroom. Nux finds them a shadowy corner and begins kissing her more aggressively than he ever has before. Usually he’s almost hesitant when he touches her, like he’s afraid he’ll damage her. Capable is enjoying it. She has no doubt whatsoever that Nux will stop immediately if it becomes more than she can handle.
So when he breaks away from her and takes out his cock and begins stroking it frantically, telling her, “Let me take the edge off first,” Capable is almost insulted. She’s not that delicate.
She forces his hand to be still. “No,” she says. “You’re not doing that. I want you like this.”
“You sure?”
Capable unties her skirt and bares herself. Nux’s gaze fixes onto that part of her immediately. He looks almost predatory. If he’d been like this the first time, she would probably have been too afraid to go through with it. But she knows him, and loves him, and most importantly, she trusts him. She slips her hand between her legs and feels how slippery wet she is.
She touches her moistened finger to his lips. “I’m sure.”
Nux has reached the limit of his control. He lifts her up and braces her against the wall and slides inside her. Capable can only hold onto him while he pounds into her. It seems he’s been restraining himself a great deal all the previous times they’ve made love. She worries about his health all the time, though she tries not to let it darken the time they do have together. But now she’s reminded how strong he is.
It feels good, but the way their bodies are angled prevents her from having any expectation of an orgasm. She doesn’t mind. She likes being able to give Nux something he clearly needs but never asked for.
“Capable,” he groans. “Capable Capable Capable.”
She loves it when he’s like this, loves being the one to make him like this. She doubts he could remember a word about Immortan Joe and his live-die-live again mantra.
“Capable, you didn’t come,” he says, several long moments later.
“It’s all right.” She kisses the tip of his oddly scarred nose.
He shakes his head. “It’s not alright.”
Before Capable can explain that it gives her a different kind of satisfaction, Nux drops to his knees and begins licking her cunt. He’s done this before, but never after they’ve taken a wild ride together. As good as it feels, she misses the sensation of having him inside her.
“Fingers too,” she says.
Nux obligingly slides two fingers into her, his tongue never once pausing.
It doesn’t take long.
“Oh,” Capable exclaims softly.
“Witnessed,” Nux says, smiling up at her. He wipes his mouth by rubbing his face on the inside of her thigh before standing.
“I’m so happy we have each other,” Capable says.
“Me too,” Nux says.
They just hold each for a moment. Then Capable takes Nux’s hand and leads him back the way they came. “Let’s check on your mean and ugly friend and make sure he wasn’t beaten too badly.”