Yeah, I know I have a problem...this is the last you'll see of the goddamned OC, I swear. Don't like smut, then don't read this.

One year of fending off advances. One year of hiding behind her tiger just to make the others leave her alone. Not that it didn't work, not many people are willing to go toe to toe with a 700 plus pound mass of furry muscle, but it never stopped them from trying when it wasn't there. General interest in serious flirting died down, now most of them did it as just friendly banter, and nothing was really meant by it anymore. Tamer was just one of the guys now, and that suited her just fine.

Unless the Sniper was involved.

That man stood out to her. Maybe it was his accent or the strange, dusty scent he always seemed to give off, but maybe it was something else. He never made it a secret that he used to hunt big game in the Outback, his history of that was a big part of who he was. He was one hundred percent hunter, through and through, and his job with RED just gave him access to the most dangerous prey of all: human beings. Hell, Tamer had personally squared off with the BLU Sniper many times, sometimes with a bullet through her skull, sometimes hanging him by the neck from his nest with her whip until he choked to death. Those chokings took significantly less time when she decided to replace her typical braided leather cord with a thick chain, but that was another story.

Tamer was a hunter too. Not in the most literal sense of the word, like Sniper, but more in the sense that she had to be in order to earn mastery over her precious tiger. Without the fire and power of a predator in herself, she would never have been able to hold control over the massive beast she loved so much. In a way, she had become very much like the animal she cared for. Perhaps this was a side effect of growing up around massive cats like Raj, or maybe she was just naturally more animal-like in her behavior and demeanor. Sure she could put on a face and interact fine with other humans, but she always felt more comfortable setting her reason aside and letting instinct take over. It was part of why she was so good at her job.

So if Sniper was a big game hunter, and Tamer was an alpha predator, what was the bizarre connection she felt with him?

Sniper felt it too, and it made him uneasy around the Indian. After one of the longest battles the Aussie could remember, RED team had lost the day and all the RED mercs were dealing with the loss in their own way. Sniper managed to retreat to the showers to escape Soldier's lecture, and to cleanse himself of the day's grime. The sound of running water told him he wasn't alone in the public shower room, but he didn't bother looking to see who else had managed to avoid getting their ears yelled off. The Sniper claimed an empty shower stall and let the water run over his lean, sweat covered body, turning up the heat as high as he could tolerate. It stung a bit at first, but he soon got used to the sensation and began the slow process of scrubbing himself. After several minutes of this, he let the hot water rise him off until his fingers were pruney before turning it off and leaning out from behind the shower curtain to grab his towel.

He was not prepared to see Tamer standing not two stalls down from him, ass naked, cocoa skin glistening from her own shower and the residual steam. Her back was to him, and she was wringing out her long midnight hair, the dripping water forming a small stream that ran down her claw-scarred shoulders, over the multitude of criss-crossing marks of her back, around her firm-looking, relatively unmarked buttocks and down her smooth, freshly shaved legs. He had hardly expected his fellow mercenary's body to be spotless, even Scout had his scars, but actually seeing the Tamer's bare body and the marks it bore that proved how hard she had worked to become the best at what she did made him swallow some rapidly building saliva. The way the muscles in her back and arms stretched as she twisted her hair to rid it of excess moisture made her scars dance enticingly, and it was all the Aussie could do to not release a predatory growl. He didn't know what he would do if she turned around, was her front just as imperfect? Sniper managed to shake himself to him senses, grab his towel, and pull back inside his own stall before the Tamer could turn to notice him. He heard her humming a tune he couldn't identify as she dried the rest of her body and he resolved to do the same for himself.

Much to his chagrin, he discovered a familiar stiffness had found its way to his nethers, a stiffness he knew had been caused by witnessing the full presence of a war-scarred nymph. Sniper returned to the task of drying himself quickly. He would have to remedy this problem the moment he got back to his van.

The memory of Tamer's body fueled Sniper's dreams for several days. He could barely look at her anymore, let alone say two words to the girl. No…no she wasn't a girl. She was at least a decade younger than he was, but she was no girl. Mere girls didn't have scar riddled, skin that stretched taught over muscles like that. She didn't have an hourglass figure, her curves were much more subtle. He struggled to keep his thoughts about her professional, but his own mind was betraying him more and more as he tried harder and harder. Eventually, a most peculiar thought came to him.

You're a hunter, you've caught prizes bigger than her, she shouldn't be much different.

This thought instantly made him disgusted at himself. She was a woman, not a trophy! How dare he think of her as a challenge to be conquered instead of as a person worthy of respect! He knew he wouldn't be able to contain himself much longer if his own thoughts were taking him places he didn't want to go. He had to talk to her. Now.

He found her in the training room doing vertical sit-ups from a metal pole several feet off the ground. When she saw him enter, she stopped counting her progress and hung upside down by her legs, staring at him. Sniper couldn't help but freeze when their eyes met. It was as if she knew that he had come here specifically to speak with her. He made no attempt to pretend otherwise and took long fast strides towards her, stopping right in front of her upside-down face with her long black braid swinging from the back of her head. His expression was stern and unchanging as he looked her right in the eyes and said:

"We need to talk."

The Tamer blinked at him twice before doing one last sit-up to grab the pole she hung from with her hands and unhook her legs from it. She let their weight fall backwards, and Sniper just barely managed to avoid getting kicked in the head when she stretched them out and let go of the bar, her body rotating in midair just enough to let her land on her feet. Her legs bent again to absorb the shock of the landing while her arms shot out to the sides to maintain her balance. She rose slowly to allow her blood to flow in its normal way again and prevent dizziness while she turned around to speak to the man a good head taller than her.

"Is this about why you've been avoiding me the past few weeks?" She asked, almost innocently.

"Yes…" Sniper mumbled, unsure of how to continue. Fuck it, just tell her. He told himself as he took a deep breath. "Look, that one day we lost a while ago…I was trying to relax afterwards an'…well I was in the showers an'…"

Tamer raised an eyebrow at him. Sniper gave an exasperated sigh, there was no way he could say this tactfully.

"I saw you in the shower." He blurted, instantly regretting it. Both of Tamer's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but she didn't make any sounds of shock. This confused the older man a bit.

"How much did you see?" she asked, genuinely curious. The Aussie's face began to redden quite a bit.

"…Just your backside…you were wringing out yer hair an' I was reaching for my towel when I saw you an' I just-"

"Oh, is that all?"

This was hardly the reaction the Sniper expected. She wasn't yelling at him, slapping him, or even calling him a pervert.

"You…yer not mad?" he asked. Tamer shrugged.

"I've worked in show business for half my life," she said simply. "Modesty isn't exactly a big concern in a crowded dressing room."

Sniper was absolutely flustered. Her explanation made enough sense, people in the circus wore costumes and costumes meant dressing rooms that were more than likely packed with performers in a hurry to get dressed, but he was still utterly baffled that he was getting off this easy. He had never before met a woman who wasn't shy about showing her body and at the same time didn't work the streets. Maybe Tamer was just very comfortable with her body image, or maybe she trusted Sniper a lot more than she should. Either way, he had apparently been worrying himself stupid over nothing for the last two weeks and now he just felt foolish. The Sniper was just about to turn and leave when Tamer's hand reached up to grab his shoulder.

"Hey, it really isn't that big a deal yeah?" She said, trying to be comforting. "Does it really bother you that much?"

Sniper felt his cheeks grow warm when he turned to look in her eyes again. He quietly swallowed before speaking again.

"I…I haven't been able to stop thinkin' 'bout ya since then…" he quietly admitted. He didn't enjoy feeling like an awkward teen talking to his crush for the first time. "You're always on my mind before I go to sleep at night…"

The Tamer pursed her lips in thought. Sniper had no idea how she would react now. She still hadn't slapped him or yelled, so that was good at least, but at the same time it made him feel uneasy, not knowing what was going through her mind. He kept his eyes locked on her face, looking for any kind of sign that would hint at what she was thinking. As her own eyes twitched back and forth, clearly showing that some of her gears were turning very frantically, her noticed the skin on her cheeks was darkening ever so slightly. He didn't know for sure, but from what he could tell of her sudden nervous posture, he guessed that she was beginning to blush as well. After several long moments, her gaze met his again, a nervous determination glinting in her dark brown depths.

"I…I've wanted to…I mean…" she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, desperate for the right words. She was having an awkward teen-crush moment too. "Listen just…meetmeinmyroomafterdinnerok?" No sooner had she rushed out her last few words, did she rush out of the training room, leaving behind a bewildered Sniper who stood there watching the door she slammed for several minutes long after the sound of it stopped echoing from the walls.

It had been at least an hour after dinner had ended, but the Tamer still hadn't left the rec room the rest of the team was hanging out in. Sniper was staring blankly out the window, not looking at the scenery outside so much as the reflection of his card playing teammates. Tamer had been suckered into a round of poker that Spy was cleaning up in, and she clearly wasn't happy about it. Her frustration eventually reached its peak and she folded, nearly toppling over the chair as she got up and rushed off muttering about letting her tiger outside. Spy, Scout, Demoman and Heavy exchanged confused and worried looks at her display. Tamer had lost at poker before but had never been this upset about it. Sniper went after her with the excuse that he wanted to find out what was bothering her.

A curious Scout picked up the cards she had left behind and his eyes widened. He showed it to the others and they also gaped. Three Aces. It was a good hand.

Sniper's pace slowed considerably as he approached Tamer's room. He had never really been in there before, but he had never been invited either. He got occasional glances inside when passing by, and knew that it was a mess, but it wasn't nearly as bad (or as smelly) as Scout's. He knocked softly and just barely heard a 'come in' before he cautiously opened the door and peaked inside.

He saw Tamer fidgeting nervously at the desk in the corner of her room, feet bare and fingers drumming the hard wood. Her bandanna lay somewhere on the floor among the various ragged toys that belonged to her tiger, and her hair was undone from its braid, hanging in wavy tresses down her back. She didn't look at him as he shut the door behind him and the Sniper swallowed nervously. He could easily guess why his only female coworker had asked him to come here so late at night, but if she was really as nervous as she looked, he was starting to have second thoughts. He approached her slowly and hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder. The sudden contact made her freeze in place. Sniper could feel heat already radiating from her melanin rich skin, but for all he knew, that could also have been nerves. He knelt next to her and looked up at her from his lower position.

"Oi sheila, ye don' have to do this if you don' want to." He told her slowly and calmly. She didn't look directly at him, but he saw her blink once, then twice, then felt her shoulders rise and fall with a great sigh. The heat from her skin never faded.

"No, I really think I do…" she replied, her voice low and tainted with…lust? Without warning, the Tamer turned her head to finally face Sniper, and he saw a flood of primal emotions flowing in her dark brown eyes before she took his face in her hands and crushed his mouth against her own. The Sniper was surprised by her sudden movement, but did not resist her advance and let her tangle her fingers in his hair, loving the pressure she was putting on his lips. This contact was telling him everything he needed about what she was feeling at that very moment. He could tell that she had been wanting to do this for some time now, how she had been holding back her feelings for the sake of her job, and how she had finally had enough and decided fuck this fucking job, I want you to fuck me!

She pulled back after a few seconds to let them both breathe and to let Sniper decide what to do next. Her position was already made clear, now what about him? Those basic instincts that had already consumed the Tamer were starting to take their toll on Sniper as well. The events that followed this point were not going to be gentle. He pressed his face against hers again and used her brief moment of shock to force her lips apart with his tongue and examine every nook and cranny of her heated mouth. Her own tongue made a valiant effort to fight back against the invader, but it was ultimately overpowered and made to submit to the Sniper.

With Tamer's tongue only putting up the slightest resistance, Sniper used his to navigate the grooves of her teeth. The sensation sent visible shivers through the young woman and Sniper growled in approval at her reaction. As he continued exploring, he stood up and pulled Tamer's smaller body with him, one hand pushing at the small of her back and forcing her body flat against his, the other tightly grabbing her ass. With her own crotch pressed firmly against his, Tamer could feel his erection grow even though several layers of clothing separated them. Her eyes widened as she felt the sheer size of him pressing against her, and she felt her underwear dampen at the prospect of more contact with it.

The hand on her ass moved down to her thigh and pulled her leg up to wrap around his hip. The hint came through loud and clear as Tamer jumped off of her other leg to completely encircle Sniper with her legs and she gasped as she felt his cloth covered bulge rub against her dampening crotch. Sniper opened his eyes just enough so that he could find his way to her bed, (which had been reassembled into a proper bed as opposed to just a mattress and blankets on the floor,) and he carried her there, falling on top of her without once breaking contact between their lips. He moaned and growled as he dry-humped her crotch, and he heard her doing the same. His patience for the clothing obstructing his pleasure was rapidly growing thin and he broke away from her mouth just long enough to yank down her pants and underwear in one tug. The cloth was very wet, and he took a moment to marvel at how slick Tamer's most sensitive and private place had become.

"My God sheila, you really want this don'tcha?" He growled with a smirk, his free hand teasingly tracing the area around the darkening skin. Tamer moaned and swore at him, bucking her hips in the hopes that his fingers would slip inside her. They didn't. His grin became wider and more sinister.

"Ah ah ah, not jus' yet luv…" His tracing hand forced her hips down against the mattress with enough strength to keep them from moving again. Whimpers of disappointment came from his victim and he chuckled darkly while his free hand worked to pull up her shirt and bra. Neither article came off, but they were moved just enough to reveal Tamer's breasts as they heaved with her increasingly husky breaths. Sniper inhaled sharply as he was confronted with the side of her he had been denied the pleasure of seeing weeks ago. The taut skin of her stomach and chest wasn't nearly as marred as her back had been, but there were still signs of previous injury. More ancient lashing marks from failed attempts at new whip tricks crossed each other unevenly over her belly, the milk chocolate skin tainted by something darker, sweeter, and very, very sensitive.

He slowly moved his fingers along her scars, watching her write and hearing her keen like a she-fox in heat. Eventually, his calloused fingers settled around her left nipple, tracing around it until it was hard and then gave it a tweak that sent her back into an arch. Or it would have if Sniper's right hand wasn't busy keeping her hips planted on the mattress.

"Sni…Sni…please…" she moaned, breathlessly trying to say his name.

"Please what luv?" he asked with an evil grin. He tossed his hat and glasses aside, he wasn't going to need them anymore. Through sheer force of will, Tamer managed to force her eyes open and look into her lover's eyes. They were a very faded brown, nearly grey, and they were oozing with lust. She lost sight of them again when he lowered his head and took her unattended nipple into his mouth, rolling his tongue around it several times before tweaking it with his teeth. This made Tamer yelp and she hopelessly tried to buck her hips again, but with her lower half pinned uselessly, the force instead made Sniper take more of her breast into his mouth. She gasped and started babbling in Hindi, he couldn't understand a word of what she was saying, but that didn't stop him from teasing her entrance with his fingers again. She gasped and panted and writhed beneath him, her motions making him harder and harder all the while.

He rewarded her writhing by finally inserting one finger inside her and she cried out with the pleasure of it. Her walls closed around his digit tightly as he slowly moved it in and out, in and out. It was agonizing.

Sniper released her breast from his mouth so he could watch her face as he fucked her with his finger. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her expression was contorted with the tortuous pleasure he was giving her. His finger hooked and massaged her silken walls, the tip of his finger running over every inch as if he were painting them. Soon enough, one finger became two, and her eyes shot open at the new invasion. Sniper chuckled darkly and quickly pushed in a third finger only seconds after the second. Tamer accepted the change with another yelping gasp and her muscles began to push against the intruding fingers.

"Hush now luv, just relax…" he whispered to her huskily. Tamer did her best to comply, but the tightening heat in her gut was building much faster than she ever remembered it doing before. The three fingers worked her entrance slowly, but with purpose, scissoring inside her to make sure she was ready for the next stage. She was just about to climax right there and then when the fingers suddenly withdrew and she whined in disappointment. The sound of a zipper being undone snapped her to attention though, but before she could open her eyes to see what was happening, the Sniper's rough hands grabbed her and flipped her onto her stomach, legs still hanging off the bed. Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening, and the only thought in her mind was, oh my god YES!

Sniper discarded his vest and shirt before he freed his great, pulsing cock from his pants. Tamer's only warning was Sniper leaning over her back and whispering 'here it comes sheila,' before the whole damn length of him was shoved inside her all at once. She cried out loudly as he buried himself inside her completely, her orgasm making her clench his member like a warm, wet vice. He hissed at the sensation and fought to control himself while her warm juices squirted around him.

"Dammit sheila you're so tight…" he growled. He knew she was just about ready for him, but he had no idea she was this ready. He was nowhere near done with her though, he was going to draw this out as long as he could, and it would just be that much easier now that she had already come once. Sniper built up his pace slowly, easily sliding in and out of Tamer with the juice of her first climax. Each movement he made elicited a sweet moan from her, more than once a moan of his name, and each time she said it, he would pick up the pace ever so slightly.

He paused his movements for a brief moment to lean back and admire Tamer's scar riddled flesh again. His fingers were still wet from their time inside the young woman and he ran them along the pale marks, mapping a route from her neck to her ass. She shivered underneath him and pushed her rear against Sniper with a grunt. She clearly wasn't pleased that he had stopped moving inside her. Sniper responded by pulling out entirely, smirking at her disappointed whimper, before roughly turning her onto her back and slamming in again. She cried out in ecstasy, the muscles of her face paralyzed in an 'O.' This would do for an apology.

The Aussie quickly picked up his pace, eager to make up for the lost seconds. He leaned down to close her frozen moth with more moan-filled kisses while he thrusted with increasing force. It felt like hours for the both of them, until eventually Sniper lost any hold on his self-control and just took Tamer's hips in an iron grip before pounding away at her without mercy, his scratchy, stubble covered face buried in the woman's neck.

Tamer didn't have a choice in the matter, but she had long since stopped caring about getting hurt and was drowning in the ecstasy of the moment. The mighty hunter was at last claiming his prize, the Tamer was being tamed and she wouldn't have it any other way. His grunts of her name made her cries even louder and she soon exploded around him again. With her senses overwhelmed entirely, she froze in place while Sniper continued thrusting until he too reached his peak and was overcome with bliss as his hot seed filled her. When he was done, he all but collapsed on top of the Tamer. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he realized that the spent Tamer was all but unmoving. She was barely even conscious and her vision was filled with stars. Using a good portion of his rapidly draining strength, the Sniper managed to pull himself out of her and lift her lower half onto the bed.

One weak hand raised itself ever so slightly from the not-as-soft-as-she-would-have-liked bed and twitched in a way that beckoned the sharpshooter closer. Sniper didn't have the energy or the heart to just leave her like this. He lazily kicked off his own shoes and tucked himself back inside his trousers before lying next to his exhausted lover, covering them both with the thin blanket, its normal whiteness tainted orange by clinging tiger fur. She snuggled close to his chest while he lowered her shirt and bra back over hers. Their eyes met again, both tired with traces of the animalistic desire slowly fading to give way to sleep.

Tamer sighed contentedly against her mate. She wasn't sure why she was thinking of him in that way, but the word just seemed to oddly fit. The details of where this new relationship would go could wait until morning or whenever, for the moment, she was content to rest.

Sniper wrapped his arms around the rapidly fading Indian, glad to be rid of the burning need that had been, to his surprise, mutual. He had all but forgotten the last time he shared a bed with the warmth of another person. He would have preferred to be in his camper, but that would just have to wait until the next time. Then again, there would be the chance of waking up with his Tamer in his arms, and her tiger on his roof again…

Nah, 's worth it.

Yup. This was totally necessary. Just remember, Pyro gets off on flames.