Knight:
He lay in bed in his room, knowing that his lover was at his own bachelor pad, having fun with Xaemos. He didn’t want to deny his lover to have fun – he also knew that Mal wanted him to go over there to have fun with him.
But he couldn’t.
He didn’t need sex like Mal – and like Xaemos – seemed to. Maybe those two were more compatible. Sometimes just being in the same room with Mal, watching him work a crowd, watching him just breathe was enough for him. Thinking of his lover, he was already at half-mast, and all he had to do was think of him riding him, or giving it to him, and he would be fully ready.
But instead he thought of him having sex with another man, and that, surprisingly, hardened him. He always loved to watch him have sex with Scott.
Instead he got up, went down to the training room downstairs in the apartment complex, and lifted weights. Then he took another shower and went back home, still to an empty apartment. He sighed. He was going to be sleeping alone tonight.
Maybe, he thought, it was a good thing.
Later that night, though, he felt someone crawl into bed with him. He reached over and touched an arm, murmuring, “Have fun?” at the same time as Mal said, “Why didn’t you come back?”
He knew the reason, and he admitted it to Mal in a sense, “Can’t keep up wi’ you guys.”
“It’s not a race.”
He didn’t reply To me it is but he just pulled Mal’s arm across his chest and kissed his hand – he smelled clean, of a shower, and that made him smile. He didn’t want to smell another man in his bed, and Mal took that to heart. He snuggled into his lover, closed his eyes, and fell asleep again, contented.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Red
It was a Saturday, and he watched his fiance juggle the books.
With Jax’s infusion – which was off the books – they could be back in the black in mere moments. Red had been keeping an ear and an eye out for secret labs. He shouldn’t have reported the one he found in Canada just a month ago; but then, he didn’t know that Carlos would fuck up things and turn everything that Brixl had going into junk.
He had talked to Mandy that morning, while Brixl was still sleeping. She said that she would be happy to search out all his old buddies from the 252nd, especially the two men he had relations with. Of course, they had all lied and lived a double life in the military; but he was going to be the first one to actually come out, at least as far as he knew.
Mandy would also prepare an invitation, and demanded that Red get an email address so she could send pictures of the invitations. “We’re keeping this low key,” he kept telling her, but she would have none of it. She would set up everything for them.
Then came the hot question, “Did you tell mom and dad?”
No. He was tempted to just spring the whole thing on them. If they saw the love between the two of them, wouldn’t that be enough for his mother to change her mind? His father, surprisingly enough, would accept it – that he knew. But his mother and Lizbeth…they would make his father miserable.
“Not yet,” was his answer, and the phone went silent.
“If you need me to be there when you do…”
“Maybe Memorial Day weekend, we’ll go up and tell them.”
Red, normally the calm one, normally the one who could go through any crisis and be the rock of stability, was nervous at this. He knew Brix wouldn’t flaunt their relationship. But Red wanted to. Red realized he would have to tone it down.
Red walked over to Brix and sat next to him, thigh to thigh. “You’re looking worried.”
“We’re still in the red,” he said, and then smiled at Red. “But it’s looking better.”
“I heard that the city is looking for a bid for a garage for their bikes for a year’s contract,” Red said offhandedly. “Want me to get one of the bid forms?”
Brix shook his head, “That would be too much work. And the police?”
Red frowned, thinking how that would look to the gangs. “Yeah, bad idea.”
Brix took Red’s hand in his own and entwined his fingers, “But thanks for thinking of it.”
Red smiled, and realized he wanted to kiss his fiance, to kiss everything away – the books, the worry, everything. But this was real life and he wasn’t going to be winning the lottery any time soon. Instead, he did kiss his fiance, a gentle, loving kiss. “Hungry?”
“Starving,” Brixl said. So Red got up and made one of the few things he knew how to make: fried eggs and toast.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim
He was getting used to the pain.
At least he could walk this morning, albeit like something had stretched him out from the inside, which it did. He didn’t mind being carried around the apartment in Valentin’s strong arms, knowing that to Val, he was as light as a bag full of feathers.
He read the paper as Valentin made breakfast. This was a habit of his, to try and find out if he could be useful somewhere in Vibora Bay, and if he could find a job. He really should see Black Mask, but he didn’t want to work under someone; he wanted to work on his own. He didn’t want to have to explain his powers. He wanted a no-questions-asked person to work with.
The paper reported the Black Fang had been seen a lot in Vibora Bay, and was supposedly gearing up for something big. Jim could use his shadows to try and follow the creature, and see where it was going…
Val set a breakfast in front of him, a hearty one that would keep him until at least noon. The painkillers were kicking in, so Jim sat a little more comfortably.
Val sat next to him and started to feed him. Jim smiled, loving the attention. He scooted onto Val’s lap, paper forgotten, and wrapped his arm around Val’s broad back, resting his head on Val’s shoulder. Val continued to feed him, holding Jim in the crook of his arm.
While there, Jim felt protected, that even Old Nick couldn’t get to him there. He knew his guard was down, but he didn’t care–
A plate fell from the top of the heap in the kitchen and crashed to the floor, making Jim jump off of Val’s lap, and Val look up with a raised eyebrow. He didn’t jump at the sound – in fact, he didn’t move.
“Hm,” Val said, in his low, deep, Russian voice, and got up from the bench to see what had happened. Jim suspected that when he let his guard down, part of his concentration that he used for the power of the sigils in the apartment had also gone down, and some darkness had pushed the plate. Though logically it could be explained as a mouse, Jim suspected differently.
Jim always suspected differently.