Brendon thinks it's all terribly romantic--one of those awful, penny-dreadful romances playing out before their eyes,

"'Course, it's a pity that one of them's a moron, but you can't have everything."

("You can't decide he's a moron just because he doesn't want to fuck me."

"I can't?"

"For one thing, it's Elisa he's all over. Some people actually do ( Read more... )

Elisa's giving Ryan a hard time again. They're in a bit of a lull, an odd moment when the three of them are free, and she's decided to use it as an opportunity to get under Ryan's skin. Kevin doesn't understand the impulse; he's perfectly content to leave everyone their shields, whatever it takes to get by, but Elisa seems to take Ryan's ( Read more... )

Mike's gazing at Kevin across the room, Kevin who's on the clock and who's been studiously ignoring Mike all night, so he's surprised to turn and see Ryan sitting next to him.

"What the hell, Ross? Do you not make noise when you walk?"

"It's bad enough for him, with Nick working here," Ryan says, apropos of nothing, and Ryan's always struck Mike as a ( Read more... )

There’s a long, if not entirely noble, tradition of farm families dragging their sons to the city when they reach a certain age, ostensibly to sell their wares but more sincerely to Make Men of their boys. The thing is, is that in these small villages, most of these boys will grow up, marry early, and then remain broadly faithful for the rest of ( Read more... )

"Right," said Brendon to the little crowd that was pressed up around the small hearth fire for warmth. "Your basic snatch is all about nonchalance and confidence. Mr Carden, if you would be so kind?"

Mike smoothed over his giggles as best he could as he came up to stand where Brendon was pointing.

"Okay, Mike, you're the average clueless gent. Just ( Read more... )

Mike thinks maybe he doesn't quite understand. They're excited, they're talking about it like it's just a day out, even though Nick was almost caught lifting a handful of scarves for resale when cash was short last week, and if he'd been a few seconds slower, it might be him standing in line to make his way up to the block.

Joe's reminding Nick to ( Read more... )

It occurs to Kevin sometimes that some people might call it kind of creepy the way he trails Mike home each time Mike comes to see him, but he just wants him to get home safely.

"No," Ryan had said the other day, "The creepy part isn't that you're keeping him from getting knifed, the creepy part is that he doesn't know about it because you're always ( Read more... )

It's just another morning of what's almost shockingly quickly become routine--dropping by The Hangar, meeting Brendon, Ryan and Kevin and in a move that feels almost absurdly akin to a double-date, usually stopping at a street-vendor's for a handful of chestnuts or fresh-baked rolls (Mike treats when they'll let him because he can, he's got more to ( Read more... )

Ryan scoffs at him. "So why are you telling us this?" He tugged at the cuff of his jacket. "We know this already." He nodded towards the city, the cleaner streets and the men with money. "They don't. And they'll never listen to us."

Ryan's words stay with Mike as he creeps home, slips inside, dusts the mud off his boots so the housekeeper won't ( Read more... )

It's been a long night and a customer got a little too rough earlier and Kevin pulled a knife, and that had gotten messy, and now it's morning and the sun's creeping out and all Kevin wants to do is go to bed, be dead to the world for a while.  But Mike's really excited about something, one of those things he's been picking out of law books at his ( Read more... )