Provenance
Title: Provenance
Pairing: Josef/Mick'
Rating: NC17
Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Josef arrives at one of Mick & Coraline's affairs in a less than favourable mood. Things take an interesting turn from there.
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Neither one of them were sure when the mood had changed, exactly. It seemed one minute they were at each other’s throats, the next they were up against a wall, kissing like their immortality depended on it.
The night had started out well enough. Coraline had decided to throw a party, “a chance for old acquaintances to catch up”, she had said. Mick knew it was little more than an excuse to curry favour with the Vampire community; nevertheless he had been pleased to discover Josef Kostan would be attending. The last few times they’d met he’d gotten the impression there was a lot more he could learn from the older Vampire than Coraline would ever be willing to teach. And that would have been fine, if Josef hadn’t arrived in an uncharacteristically dark mood.
“How are those training fangs of yours, St John, still blunt from lack of use?” A cocky smile set in place Josef had started in on Mick almost as soon as he’d stepped foot inside the door. Mick had fetched Josef a glass of Scotch on arrival, now he found that same glass being tilted mockingly in his direction. “You should be careful, people will start to talk. There’s nothing worse than an impotent Vampire, my friend.”
Mick had tried to ignore Josef’s censure at first, laughing in the appropriate places, and trying to project an image of good natured acceptance. Eventually he’d had enough.
“You are still a guest in my house, you know,” Mick had waited for an opportune moment, and cornered Josef discretely then.
“Well I certainly wouldn’t want to tread on your image of domestic bliss, Mick,” Josef had thrown back, before turning heel and storming off.
Against his better judgement Mick had gone after Josef. He caught up with him outside, in an alleyway adjoining the house.
“What the hell’s gotten into you?” Mick had almost seemed bewildered as he grabbed Josef by the arm. “I thought you liked me?”
“Well you thought wrong.” Josef had shaken Mick off, only to find his arm held once more in Mick’s vice like grip. He’d paused a moment, and then warned Mick, in a low voice, to let go. For a split second Mick had hesitated, before doing as he was told.
“Yeah, well fuck you then.” Josef had only been a few steps away, when Mick had called out, his voice ladened with bitterness. Too late, Mick had realised his mistake. He should have just let Josef walk away; instead he’d only succeeded in pulling the tiger’s tail. Before he’d known what was happening Mick had found himself sprawled out on the ground, flat on his back, and desperate to fend off a series of lightning fast blows. He’d fought back on instinct, somehow managing to gain the upper hand just long enough to scramble to his feet. He hadn’t been expecting what happened next.
One minute they’d been engaged in a knockdown, drag out fight. The next Josef had rushed Mick against a wall, and pressed his lips against Mick’s own.
“What the hell just happened?” Mick asked as they separated long enough to take stock of the situation. Things had shifted, and Mick found his equilibrium knocked off balance.
“Slip of the tongue?” Josef cocked his head, and remarked cheekily.
“Very funny,” Mick pursed his lips, and looked genuinely annoyed for a second. And then he was shifting his weight nervously from one foot to the other, “Hey, if Coraline catches us…” Mick left the remainder of his sentence unspoken. Deep down, he admitted, he was enjoying being the apparent centre of Josef’s attention.
“If Coraline catches us?” Josef circled Mick then, stopping to lean elegantly against the same wall where only moments ago his tongue had been jammed halfway down Mick’s throat. “And what exactly do you suppose we’re going to be doing, Mick?”
Mick swallowed a rising tide of nervous anticipation, and tried to respond casually. “I don’t know, whatever it was you were planning to do when you decided we were going to play tonsil hockey.”
“And you were up for that were you, right here in this alleyway?” Josef arched one eyebrow, and pretended to look highly amused at the situation, before shifting closer and draping his arms around Mick’s neck, his chin rested against Mick’s shoulder.
“At least it beats you trying to kick my ass for no apparent reason,” Mick tried to respond with far more confidence than he felt.
“Fine,” Josef took a few steps away, and then turned, his hand extended for Mick to take, “Come on then, are you coming out not?”
Mick accepted Josef’s preferred hand in his. “Where?”
“My place.”
They headed for Josef’s car; Mick hesitated as he climbed into the passenger seat.
“Coraline’s going to wonder where I’ve got to.”
“Trust me, Mick,” Josef gunned the engine, and threw the car into drive; “Coraline won’t care.”
Mick watched out the window as streets flew by, Josef seemingly intent on breaking the land-speed record as they drove the short distance to his place.
“So what exactly are we going back to your place for?”
“Well I thought we might play a nice game of Scrabble, Mick,” Josef quipped.
“This isn’t funny,” Mick started to protest, only to have Josef interject.
“On the contrary, Mick, this is hilarious. If I’d known you were going to be this easy, I would have tried seducing you months ago.”
“Oh, so that’s what that was back there,” Mick commented drily, as they pulled into Josef’s driveway.
“No, that was foreplay.”
Josef didn’t miss a beat. He lead Mick inside, slipped Mick’s jacket from his shoulder, offered his hospitality, “If you need anything, just ask.”
“Yeah, sure,” Mick nodded his understanding as he settled in on Josef’s Italian leather couch, easier said than done with Josef straddling his lap.
“Why did you come here, Mick?” Josef leant back, and regarded Mick with a sudden quizzical look.
“I don’t know,” Mick shrugged, and tried to ignore the fact that Josef had begun to move against him long enough to give a suitable answer. “You fascinate me, I guess.”
It was the best he could come up with, considering the circumstances. At least it prevented him for having to delve deeper.
“You kind of bore me,” Mick heard Josef mentioning casually to him then. Mick snorted a brief laugh, and let the remark slide. It was fast becoming apparent that Josef’s acid tongued witticisms were little more than a cover.
Josef leant forward then, brushed his lips lightly against Mick’s own, teasing for a moment, before deepening the kiss. His hands went to either side of Mick’s waist, holding Mick steady as his movements quickened.
Mick groaned, and instinctively dug his fingers into the couch. His erection, lined up with Josef’s own, strained painfully against the front of his jeans. He tried to alert Josef to this fact, thinking it would be so much easier with the both of them stripped naked, and found he didn’t need to bother; Josef’s hands were already tugging at the back of his shirt.
“Why don’t we go somewhere a little more comfortable?” They separated as Josef stood up, and waited for Mick to follow suit. Stumbling through corridors and doorways then, they headed towards the bedroom, tangled in each other’s embrace, and shedding clothing along the way.
“Okay, is now a good time to admit I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing,” Mick laughed nervously as Josef placed a hand in the centre of his chest, and pushed him back on the king size bed in the middle of the room. Everything it seemed was opulence with Josef; Mick had just enough time to take in the splendour of the room, with its silk curtains, and satin sheets, before Josef crawled catlike along the mattress to join him.
“You’re lucky I have experience enough for both of us then, aren’t you?” Josef nipped at the pulse point in Mick’s throat, and then shifted lower, his lips and tongue tracing the length of Mick’s torso.
“Jesus,” Mick drew in a sharp breath, and tensed when Josef suddenly hooked his legs over his shoulders, and pressed his tongue against Mick’s areshole.
Josef paused just long enough to raise his head. “Relax, you might enjoy yourself.”
“I am relaxed,” Mick dug his fingers into the mattress, and arched upwards, “perfectly relaxed. This is relaxing, this is very…”
“Mick,” Josef shot Mick a pointed look, and then buried his head back between Mick’s legs; his mouth on Mick’s cock then, his tongue against Mick’s hole replaced by a saliva coated finger. Mick groaned, and gripped the top of Josef’s skull, hips pumping, his cock buried deep in Josef’s throat. And Josef let it happen, let his mouth be fucked that way, a freehand placed under Mick’s buttocks, encouraging him to thrust. Josef curled his finger inside Mick’s arse, gauged Mick’s response, before adding another, revelling in the way Mick jolted every time he pressed against that electric spot.
Give it time; Mick figured he had all of thirty seconds before he was coming harder than he could have ever imagined.
The pace slowed a little, allowing Mick’s arousal level to drop. Josef slid his way back up along Mick’s body, reclaimed Mick’s mouth for his own, his fingers still penetrating, his other hand caressing now, stroking its way over planes and angles of musculature.
“Has anyone ever told you how magnificent you are?” Josef posed a rhetorical question as he teased another response from Mick’s body with his fingers. Josef’s own erection was lined up against Mick’s thigh. He shifted position slightly, affording himself more leverage as he began to ride up against him.
And then he was instructing Mick to turn over. Lying on his stomach now, Mick felt something warm and viscous being drizzled between the cheeks of his arse.
“So, ah, your gay then I take it?” Mick had no idea why he felt the sudden need to make conversation then. “Not that it matters, you know. I met plenty of gay guys when I had my band.”
“I’m not gay, Mick,” Josef worked some of the lubricant into Mick’s arse with his fingers, and then slicked his cock with a coating of the same, “I just don’t subscribe to the same sexual standards as humans do, most vampires don’t, you’ll understand more the longer you’re undead.”
Mick thought he understood then. He’d already spent long nights ruminating over the people he’d already lost, and those that would inevitably follow. Anything that eased that sense of despair could be seen as a welcome relief. Coraline didn’t seem to feel the same loneliness he did, Mick had a feeling it was different with Josef. More and more he was beginning to understand exactly what it was that had drawn him here in the first place.
Josef slipped a hand under Mick’s hips, encircled Mick’s own length with his fingers, whispered to Mick to relax as he thrust into him; the fingers of one hand entwined with Mick’s own, their mouths scraped together in an awkward kiss. Mick voiced his approval as Josef withdrew just enough to thrust into him again. He arched his back, tilted his hips up more then. His pulse rate quickened as Josef stepped up the pace, his hand gripping the back of Mick’s neck now, shoving him face down on the mattress. The room felt electric then, the heady scent of perspiration hanging in the air; Mick’s groans of approval grew louder, took on an animalistic edge as the vampire began to take over.
Josef’s breath fanned hot on the back of Mick’s neck, and he was falling then, flying apart at the seams and Josef there with him. Fangs slicing into each other’s flesh and the taste of copper washing over their tongues as they came together in a mess of blood and semen.
“You know I was hoping I could push you into doing something tonight that would have made me hate you,” Josef finally admitted, as he withdrew from Mick, and lay alongside.
“Why? I thought we were friends?” Mick was taken aback by Josef’s revelation.
“We are,” Josef stretched out a hand, and pretended to inspect his fingernails, trying to affect a casual air. “But you’re Coraline’s, and maybe I want more than just friendship with you, Mick.”
“Isn’t that what just happened?” Mick turned on his side, propped himself up on one arm, “us having sex, I mean. I wouldn’t exactly call that staying within the boundaries of friendship.”
“And I wouldn’t call it love.”
“Oh.” Mick’s eyes widened at the realisation. He stared at Josef slack jawed for a few seconds, until Josef snappily suggested that he might like to close his mouth.
“Maybe I might feel the same way, did you ever stop and think of that?” Mick challenged Josef then. Josef took a moment to study Mick’s expression, and then shook his head.
“I’m sure you’ll break my heart one day, Mick, but I don’t think you’re quite ready for that just yet.”
Mick wanted to ask Josef how he knew, how could he be so certain he wasn’t ready, whatever ready meant. “Then what was tonight about then?” He asked instead. “Us having sex like that.”
Josef gave a dismissive shrug, affecting a cavalier attitude. “Maybe I figured we’d just get it out the way, save any awkwardness hanging over our heads.”
“So, wait,” Mick looked at Josef, incredulous then. “Your idea of not having any awkwardness between us is to try and pick a fight, then turn around and come onto me, drag me back here, have sex with me, and start dropping bombshells?”
“I never said it was a fool proof plan, Mick,” Josef was on his feet, hunting from items of discarded clothing as Mick did the same.
“Josef, come on,” Mick stumbled as he pulled on his jeans, and socks, hurrying to keep up with Josef’s s whirlwind of activity, “you can’t just…”
“Then come away with me, Mick,” Josef stopped in his tracks, and issued Mick with a calm challenge. “Right now, leave Coraline, and come away with me.”
Mick shook his head, “I can’t. It doesn’t work that way.”
“Exactly.”
Josef reached out a hand, and caressed the side of Mick’s face. Mick wasn’t quite ready to let the conversation go, as they both finished redressing. He shifted his weight a little uncertainly from one foot to the other, tracked an imaginary spot on the ground with his shoe. “I thought my life was over forever the night Coraline turned me, until I met you.”
“This isn’t an ending, Mick.” Josef shifted into Mick’s space then, drew his arms around Mick’s neck.
“No?” Mick snorted a weak laugh, “What do you call it then?”
“Why don’t we just call it provenance.”
Josef rested his forehead against Mick’s own, swayed with him to the sound of an imaginary tune. Mick closed his eyes. Provenance, it signified something solid. He would return to life with Coraline soon, but still there’d always be provenance.
There was tenderness in the kiss they exchanged then, an unspoken connection that passed between them. It was the promise of a new beginning, a point of origin where Mick could pin his hopes.
“Sure, I like the sound of that.” Mick smiled his contentment.
Pairing: Josef/Mick'
Rating: NC17
Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Josef arrives at one of Mick & Coraline's affairs in a less than favourable mood. Things take an interesting turn from there.
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Neither one of them were sure when the mood had changed, exactly. It seemed one minute they were at each other’s throats, the next they were up against a wall, kissing like their immortality depended on it.
The night had started out well enough. Coraline had decided to throw a party, “a chance for old acquaintances to catch up”, she had said. Mick knew it was little more than an excuse to curry favour with the Vampire community; nevertheless he had been pleased to discover Josef Kostan would be attending. The last few times they’d met he’d gotten the impression there was a lot more he could learn from the older Vampire than Coraline would ever be willing to teach. And that would have been fine, if Josef hadn’t arrived in an uncharacteristically dark mood.
“How are those training fangs of yours, St John, still blunt from lack of use?” A cocky smile set in place Josef had started in on Mick almost as soon as he’d stepped foot inside the door. Mick had fetched Josef a glass of Scotch on arrival, now he found that same glass being tilted mockingly in his direction. “You should be careful, people will start to talk. There’s nothing worse than an impotent Vampire, my friend.”
Mick had tried to ignore Josef’s censure at first, laughing in the appropriate places, and trying to project an image of good natured acceptance. Eventually he’d had enough.
“You are still a guest in my house, you know,” Mick had waited for an opportune moment, and cornered Josef discretely then.
“Well I certainly wouldn’t want to tread on your image of domestic bliss, Mick,” Josef had thrown back, before turning heel and storming off.
Against his better judgement Mick had gone after Josef. He caught up with him outside, in an alleyway adjoining the house.
“What the hell’s gotten into you?” Mick had almost seemed bewildered as he grabbed Josef by the arm. “I thought you liked me?”
“Well you thought wrong.” Josef had shaken Mick off, only to find his arm held once more in Mick’s vice like grip. He’d paused a moment, and then warned Mick, in a low voice, to let go. For a split second Mick had hesitated, before doing as he was told.
“Yeah, well fuck you then.” Josef had only been a few steps away, when Mick had called out, his voice ladened with bitterness. Too late, Mick had realised his mistake. He should have just let Josef walk away; instead he’d only succeeded in pulling the tiger’s tail. Before he’d known what was happening Mick had found himself sprawled out on the ground, flat on his back, and desperate to fend off a series of lightning fast blows. He’d fought back on instinct, somehow managing to gain the upper hand just long enough to scramble to his feet. He hadn’t been expecting what happened next.
One minute they’d been engaged in a knockdown, drag out fight. The next Josef had rushed Mick against a wall, and pressed his lips against Mick’s own.
“What the hell just happened?” Mick asked as they separated long enough to take stock of the situation. Things had shifted, and Mick found his equilibrium knocked off balance.
“Slip of the tongue?” Josef cocked his head, and remarked cheekily.
“Very funny,” Mick pursed his lips, and looked genuinely annoyed for a second. And then he was shifting his weight nervously from one foot to the other, “Hey, if Coraline catches us…” Mick left the remainder of his sentence unspoken. Deep down, he admitted, he was enjoying being the apparent centre of Josef’s attention.
“If Coraline catches us?” Josef circled Mick then, stopping to lean elegantly against the same wall where only moments ago his tongue had been jammed halfway down Mick’s throat. “And what exactly do you suppose we’re going to be doing, Mick?”
Mick swallowed a rising tide of nervous anticipation, and tried to respond casually. “I don’t know, whatever it was you were planning to do when you decided we were going to play tonsil hockey.”
“And you were up for that were you, right here in this alleyway?” Josef arched one eyebrow, and pretended to look highly amused at the situation, before shifting closer and draping his arms around Mick’s neck, his chin rested against Mick’s shoulder.
“At least it beats you trying to kick my ass for no apparent reason,” Mick tried to respond with far more confidence than he felt.
“Fine,” Josef took a few steps away, and then turned, his hand extended for Mick to take, “Come on then, are you coming out not?”
Mick accepted Josef’s preferred hand in his. “Where?”
“My place.”
They headed for Josef’s car; Mick hesitated as he climbed into the passenger seat.
“Coraline’s going to wonder where I’ve got to.”
“Trust me, Mick,” Josef gunned the engine, and threw the car into drive; “Coraline won’t care.”
Mick watched out the window as streets flew by, Josef seemingly intent on breaking the land-speed record as they drove the short distance to his place.
“So what exactly are we going back to your place for?”
“Well I thought we might play a nice game of Scrabble, Mick,” Josef quipped.
“This isn’t funny,” Mick started to protest, only to have Josef interject.
“On the contrary, Mick, this is hilarious. If I’d known you were going to be this easy, I would have tried seducing you months ago.”
“Oh, so that’s what that was back there,” Mick commented drily, as they pulled into Josef’s driveway.
“No, that was foreplay.”
Josef didn’t miss a beat. He lead Mick inside, slipped Mick’s jacket from his shoulder, offered his hospitality, “If you need anything, just ask.”
“Yeah, sure,” Mick nodded his understanding as he settled in on Josef’s Italian leather couch, easier said than done with Josef straddling his lap.
“Why did you come here, Mick?” Josef leant back, and regarded Mick with a sudden quizzical look.
“I don’t know,” Mick shrugged, and tried to ignore the fact that Josef had begun to move against him long enough to give a suitable answer. “You fascinate me, I guess.”
It was the best he could come up with, considering the circumstances. At least it prevented him for having to delve deeper.
“You kind of bore me,” Mick heard Josef mentioning casually to him then. Mick snorted a brief laugh, and let the remark slide. It was fast becoming apparent that Josef’s acid tongued witticisms were little more than a cover.
Josef leant forward then, brushed his lips lightly against Mick’s own, teasing for a moment, before deepening the kiss. His hands went to either side of Mick’s waist, holding Mick steady as his movements quickened.
Mick groaned, and instinctively dug his fingers into the couch. His erection, lined up with Josef’s own, strained painfully against the front of his jeans. He tried to alert Josef to this fact, thinking it would be so much easier with the both of them stripped naked, and found he didn’t need to bother; Josef’s hands were already tugging at the back of his shirt.
“Why don’t we go somewhere a little more comfortable?” They separated as Josef stood up, and waited for Mick to follow suit. Stumbling through corridors and doorways then, they headed towards the bedroom, tangled in each other’s embrace, and shedding clothing along the way.
“Okay, is now a good time to admit I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing,” Mick laughed nervously as Josef placed a hand in the centre of his chest, and pushed him back on the king size bed in the middle of the room. Everything it seemed was opulence with Josef; Mick had just enough time to take in the splendour of the room, with its silk curtains, and satin sheets, before Josef crawled catlike along the mattress to join him.
“You’re lucky I have experience enough for both of us then, aren’t you?” Josef nipped at the pulse point in Mick’s throat, and then shifted lower, his lips and tongue tracing the length of Mick’s torso.
“Jesus,” Mick drew in a sharp breath, and tensed when Josef suddenly hooked his legs over his shoulders, and pressed his tongue against Mick’s areshole.
Josef paused just long enough to raise his head. “Relax, you might enjoy yourself.”
“I am relaxed,” Mick dug his fingers into the mattress, and arched upwards, “perfectly relaxed. This is relaxing, this is very…”
“Mick,” Josef shot Mick a pointed look, and then buried his head back between Mick’s legs; his mouth on Mick’s cock then, his tongue against Mick’s hole replaced by a saliva coated finger. Mick groaned, and gripped the top of Josef’s skull, hips pumping, his cock buried deep in Josef’s throat. And Josef let it happen, let his mouth be fucked that way, a freehand placed under Mick’s buttocks, encouraging him to thrust. Josef curled his finger inside Mick’s arse, gauged Mick’s response, before adding another, revelling in the way Mick jolted every time he pressed against that electric spot.
Give it time; Mick figured he had all of thirty seconds before he was coming harder than he could have ever imagined.
The pace slowed a little, allowing Mick’s arousal level to drop. Josef slid his way back up along Mick’s body, reclaimed Mick’s mouth for his own, his fingers still penetrating, his other hand caressing now, stroking its way over planes and angles of musculature.
“Has anyone ever told you how magnificent you are?” Josef posed a rhetorical question as he teased another response from Mick’s body with his fingers. Josef’s own erection was lined up against Mick’s thigh. He shifted position slightly, affording himself more leverage as he began to ride up against him.
And then he was instructing Mick to turn over. Lying on his stomach now, Mick felt something warm and viscous being drizzled between the cheeks of his arse.
“So, ah, your gay then I take it?” Mick had no idea why he felt the sudden need to make conversation then. “Not that it matters, you know. I met plenty of gay guys when I had my band.”
“I’m not gay, Mick,” Josef worked some of the lubricant into Mick’s arse with his fingers, and then slicked his cock with a coating of the same, “I just don’t subscribe to the same sexual standards as humans do, most vampires don’t, you’ll understand more the longer you’re undead.”
Mick thought he understood then. He’d already spent long nights ruminating over the people he’d already lost, and those that would inevitably follow. Anything that eased that sense of despair could be seen as a welcome relief. Coraline didn’t seem to feel the same loneliness he did, Mick had a feeling it was different with Josef. More and more he was beginning to understand exactly what it was that had drawn him here in the first place.
Josef slipped a hand under Mick’s hips, encircled Mick’s own length with his fingers, whispered to Mick to relax as he thrust into him; the fingers of one hand entwined with Mick’s own, their mouths scraped together in an awkward kiss. Mick voiced his approval as Josef withdrew just enough to thrust into him again. He arched his back, tilted his hips up more then. His pulse rate quickened as Josef stepped up the pace, his hand gripping the back of Mick’s neck now, shoving him face down on the mattress. The room felt electric then, the heady scent of perspiration hanging in the air; Mick’s groans of approval grew louder, took on an animalistic edge as the vampire began to take over.
Josef’s breath fanned hot on the back of Mick’s neck, and he was falling then, flying apart at the seams and Josef there with him. Fangs slicing into each other’s flesh and the taste of copper washing over their tongues as they came together in a mess of blood and semen.
“You know I was hoping I could push you into doing something tonight that would have made me hate you,” Josef finally admitted, as he withdrew from Mick, and lay alongside.
“Why? I thought we were friends?” Mick was taken aback by Josef’s revelation.
“We are,” Josef stretched out a hand, and pretended to inspect his fingernails, trying to affect a casual air. “But you’re Coraline’s, and maybe I want more than just friendship with you, Mick.”
“Isn’t that what just happened?” Mick turned on his side, propped himself up on one arm, “us having sex, I mean. I wouldn’t exactly call that staying within the boundaries of friendship.”
“And I wouldn’t call it love.”
“Oh.” Mick’s eyes widened at the realisation. He stared at Josef slack jawed for a few seconds, until Josef snappily suggested that he might like to close his mouth.
“Maybe I might feel the same way, did you ever stop and think of that?” Mick challenged Josef then. Josef took a moment to study Mick’s expression, and then shook his head.
“I’m sure you’ll break my heart one day, Mick, but I don’t think you’re quite ready for that just yet.”
Mick wanted to ask Josef how he knew, how could he be so certain he wasn’t ready, whatever ready meant. “Then what was tonight about then?” He asked instead. “Us having sex like that.”
Josef gave a dismissive shrug, affecting a cavalier attitude. “Maybe I figured we’d just get it out the way, save any awkwardness hanging over our heads.”
“So, wait,” Mick looked at Josef, incredulous then. “Your idea of not having any awkwardness between us is to try and pick a fight, then turn around and come onto me, drag me back here, have sex with me, and start dropping bombshells?”
“I never said it was a fool proof plan, Mick,” Josef was on his feet, hunting from items of discarded clothing as Mick did the same.
“Josef, come on,” Mick stumbled as he pulled on his jeans, and socks, hurrying to keep up with Josef’s s whirlwind of activity, “you can’t just…”
“Then come away with me, Mick,” Josef stopped in his tracks, and issued Mick with a calm challenge. “Right now, leave Coraline, and come away with me.”
Mick shook his head, “I can’t. It doesn’t work that way.”
“Exactly.”
Josef reached out a hand, and caressed the side of Mick’s face. Mick wasn’t quite ready to let the conversation go, as they both finished redressing. He shifted his weight a little uncertainly from one foot to the other, tracked an imaginary spot on the ground with his shoe. “I thought my life was over forever the night Coraline turned me, until I met you.”
“This isn’t an ending, Mick.” Josef shifted into Mick’s space then, drew his arms around Mick’s neck.
“No?” Mick snorted a weak laugh, “What do you call it then?”
“Why don’t we just call it provenance.”
Josef rested his forehead against Mick’s own, swayed with him to the sound of an imaginary tune. Mick closed his eyes. Provenance, it signified something solid. He would return to life with Coraline soon, but still there’d always be provenance.
There was tenderness in the kiss they exchanged then, an unspoken connection that passed between them. It was the promise of a new beginning, a point of origin where Mick could pin his hopes.
“Sure, I like the sound of that.” Mick smiled his contentment.