(Untitled)

[singlesoledjest]

Mercutio is watching breakdancers with fascination, sprawling on the steps of the statue in Krakow's central square. He approves of this kind of dancing, fast and athletic and fun

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[_to_the_bone]

Twilight, and Jack, quiet and tearstained, slides arms around Mercutio from behind and holds on for dear life.

[singlesoledjest]

Mercutio doesn't jump, and he can't see the tearstains yet, so he rests a hand on Jack's, stroking slow circles with his thumb.

"God gi' good e'en. Dost think I could do that?"

He gestures at a breakdancer.

[_to_the_bone]

"Um," he says, and shrugs and holds tighter.

"Maybe?"

[singlesoledjest]

He tilts his head back against Jack's shoulder.

"I shall experiment. How was the Bar?"

[_to_the_bone]

"Horrible."

He kisses Mercutio's ear, because it's close and he cares for him very much and Mercutio is the only thing there is right now that isn't going absolutely crazy.

[singlesoledjest]

Eyebrows raise. Something's off, more than just the word he drops - tone or pacing or inflection, something which scraped across Mercutio's ear.

He sits up and turns around, and sees the traces of old tears. "Jack?"

[_to_the_bone]

"Aye."

Face in Mercutio's chest, arms around his waist, regardless of who sees.

"Things have been terrible."

[singlesoledjest]

"Tell me."

He winds his arms around Jack, frowning.

[_to_the_bone]

"Just. Things."

He shakes his head.

"Salvatore said I deserved it."

[singlesoledjest]

"I doubt it. Th'art a good man."

He strokes the nape of Jack's neck.

"But I cannot tell if I do not know what happened."

[_to_the_bone]

"Everything at once. Parker is hurting, I did not tell you, it is a lot of why I have been ducking out. Suddenly afraid of touching. I am trying. Lethe is still all heart broken, Styx is gone too long, and Patrick Bateman is possibly the only situation I have going well but is still overwhelming."

He sighs.

"It does not matter any more. He has said he is quit of me again and he must mean it, this time. Maybe Frost will let me put the scars away?"

[singlesoledjest]

Pause.

"None of that is your fault, and Styx being gone too long is not even to do with you. But. Bateman."

He's frowning very heavily now.

"And... I do not think thou should'st put the scars away. But I know thou and I do not converge on this point."

[_to_the_bone]

"That was the worst of it. He began all treating me like a child again and warning me most sanctimoniously. As though I could not know of such things. As though I had never felt it. As though I had never caused pain or tasted blood."

He shakes his head.

"And I was angry. So when I told him Fiyero had scared me, and that he had hurt me, he said I deserved it. Does this make me wrong, somehow?"

[singlesoledjest]

"I shall not do the same, then."

Slight, slight laugh, and he rests his cheek on Jack's hair.

"But may I be sanctimonious for one moment? And Santino is a fool. A dangerous, stupid, pea-brained fool."

[_to_the_bone]

"I know he is dangerous," Jack tells him, preemptively.

"I know just how and just how much. Frost watches like a hawk and if he tries to hold me too tight I will slip away, like snow through the air."

[singlesoledjest]

"Just. His mind is broken."

Mercutio shakes his head.

"If danger comes from him, it will not come from any predictable direction, and even Lord Frost may miss the signs."

Soft kiss to Jack's forehead.

"So. There is my sanctimonious warning. And I... wish I could help."