But I could see for miles, miles, miles
In the end the anger is directed--finally and completely and as it always should have been—inward.
He knows what he’s hearing before he’s even really conscious of it. He lies in his bed in the dark, that fucking wall so near his head, and it’s very faint but he can hear it and he knows its source. He knows those sounds.
It’s a distant memory now, but he knows what Neil sounds like when he comes.
He lies there in the dark and he feels fury roiling through him and transmuting into misery so deep it literally shakes him, wrenches at his muscles, and through it all he’s achingly, shamefully hard. He fists his hands in the sheets. Doesn’t drop them below his waist, where he wants them, because it would mean a few seconds of relief and he can’t allow himself that. This is torture, and it’s his torture, and he thinks that it’s exactly what he fucking deserves.
But all at once he thinks of Sam, all that weight on his shoulders, the way he doesn’t seem to want to let it go, and Neil’s hollow eyes. I don’t even know where to fuckin’ start.
And somewhere in that darkness something breaks open.
The next couple of days are a blur.
He isn’t drinking—at least, not much. But he also isn’t really home. Somewhere in there, he remembers staggering back and sleeping for a few fractured hours before he leaves again. He doesn’t want to see Neil. He’s not ready. Later he remembers the park at sunset, approaching the burn scar of the World Tree at last, making a long, slow circuit around still-charred ground. The ashes have been blown and washed away. He can still see that spike of green in the midst of all the death, small and defiant. He goes no closer. It’s enough to know that it’s still there, but it’s not his. It doesn’t need him.
This is about need. This is about needing.
It feels like time is twisting in on itself. It feels like some giant hand has hit rewind and he’s being swept along with the blur as everything loops backward. And at the same time he knows he has a choice. That he chose this. That there was never an excuse, that all of this has been his choice: Death and pain and evil, and once he chose something else, and now he can make that choice again.
So he stands at Neil’s door and knocks, and it’s firm but it’s not pounding. The terror feels burned out of him. So does the rage. What’s left is desire so intense it makes his hands shake. The desire is what’s done the burning.
When fighting and running are off the table, you give up. You surrender. You lay down your arms.
He knows what he’s hearing before he’s even really conscious of it. He lies in his bed in the dark, that fucking wall so near his head, and it’s very faint but he can hear it and he knows its source. He knows those sounds.
It’s a distant memory now, but he knows what Neil sounds like when he comes.
He lies there in the dark and he feels fury roiling through him and transmuting into misery so deep it literally shakes him, wrenches at his muscles, and through it all he’s achingly, shamefully hard. He fists his hands in the sheets. Doesn’t drop them below his waist, where he wants them, because it would mean a few seconds of relief and he can’t allow himself that. This is torture, and it’s his torture, and he thinks that it’s exactly what he fucking deserves.
But all at once he thinks of Sam, all that weight on his shoulders, the way he doesn’t seem to want to let it go, and Neil’s hollow eyes. I don’t even know where to fuckin’ start.
And somewhere in that darkness something breaks open.
The next couple of days are a blur.
He isn’t drinking—at least, not much. But he also isn’t really home. Somewhere in there, he remembers staggering back and sleeping for a few fractured hours before he leaves again. He doesn’t want to see Neil. He’s not ready. Later he remembers the park at sunset, approaching the burn scar of the World Tree at last, making a long, slow circuit around still-charred ground. The ashes have been blown and washed away. He can still see that spike of green in the midst of all the death, small and defiant. He goes no closer. It’s enough to know that it’s still there, but it’s not his. It doesn’t need him.
This is about need. This is about needing.
It feels like time is twisting in on itself. It feels like some giant hand has hit rewind and he’s being swept along with the blur as everything loops backward. And at the same time he knows he has a choice. That he chose this. That there was never an excuse, that all of this has been his choice: Death and pain and evil, and once he chose something else, and now he can make that choice again.
So he stands at Neil’s door and knocks, and it’s firm but it’s not pounding. The terror feels burned out of him. So does the rage. What’s left is desire so intense it makes his hands shake. The desire is what’s done the burning.
When fighting and running are off the table, you give up. You surrender. You lay down your arms.
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"I love you. Mike, God. I fucking need you, you dumb fuck."
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"Sticks and stones," he breathes, and laughs shakily. "Fuck."
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Stupid as it sounds, I can't remember the last time I felt this whole.
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"Almost forgot how fucking good we are at this."
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That was part of the problem of moving on, not being able to forget what it was like with him, with Tom, when everything just fit.
Moving against him, my hips starting to stutter, I pull him down for another kiss, muffling a moan against his lips.
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There's so much he wants to see.
"Already forgot how fucking beautiful you are when you're coming," he murmurs. "Why don't you remind me."
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I don't really know what I look like, when I come, but I do know I keep my eyes open the whole time, whining low in my throat and splattering his hand and our stomachs.
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Then he's letting out a heavy breath, pulling out with a shudder and sliding down Neil's body. His hand is sticky, Neil's belly is sticky, and for the second time tonight he's licking Neil's come off his skin in long, broad strokes of his tongue.
It feels like a little taste of that first submission all over again. And the truth is that he doesn't want to waste any of it.
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"Mike, Jesus," I laugh helplessly, slipping a hand into his hair and dragging him up for a messy kiss.
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Fuck it, it all feels worth it.
He nuzzles at Neil's jaw, still tasting come and sweat. "You're fucking amazing."
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"I missed you," I murmur, and I don't even really mean the person he was, on the island. It goes deeper than that, and I'm pretty sure I won't need to explain.
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He rolls a little more, half back on top of Neil's body and staring down at him, one hand reaching up to comb his fingers back through Neil's slightly damp hair.
"I can't share you with anyone," he says softly, but there's steel under it. It's not a demand, just a fact.
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"Am I supposed to be sharin' you?" I ask, arching a brow, my fingertips drifting over the healing puncture wounds on his throat.
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"You think that's what that is?"
But it's a fair question.
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And he smiles. "Why're you so sure about that?"
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"He's not a threat, but you're threatened by who, exactly?"
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He manages a faint smile. "I'm threatened by fucking everyone, Neil. I'm a fucking headcase."
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My lips still against his skin, I murmur, "You don't wanna share me? What does that mean? Tell me."
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"And it means what it fucking means. I want you. All of you. What I did to you tonight, I wanna be the only lucky motherfucker who gets to do that."
He raises his head slightly, eyes dark. "The one guy I woulda made an exception for... he's not here."
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"Mike, I would've stayed fuckin' celibate after you were gone, waiting for both of you, goin' outta my fuckin' mind. But... you know me."
I got turned into a girl and got drunk and stupid, is pretty much what happened. And it was all kind of downhill from there.
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He turns a little more, lips against Neil's temple. "Anyway, you know I never woulda wanted that. For you. That's not what it's about."
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In her absence, he still wants to make stuff grow.
"I know, that's not what I meant. I'm just sayin', I'm yours. I've always been."
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Only let me follow you wherever you go and I'll ask for nothing else.
But he's too greedy for that. Even for Tom, he was too greedy.
He lets out a slow breath, listening to his own heartbeat in his ears. "I mean it. I'll stop going to him if you want me to."
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"No, I just... I need to tell you somethin', though," I say, shifting back a little so I can get a better look at his face. "I don't really remember how much I told you, 'bout Eames, but he's not really in the energy business like her first told me."
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