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Dark and cold or bright and warm
There are innumerable bars in the city. Some of them, Mike is familiar with; the ones between the Dollhouse and home are well known to him by now and he to them. Some of them he hasn't met yet, simply by virtue of rarely going into the parts of the city where they are. And one of them he won't go back to, though the glass and the blood are long cleaned up and the bullet is picked out of the wall.
The one he's heading toward isn't really any of these, not entirely new to him but not close enough to be all that familiar, not exactly upscale but also not the kind of dim, smoky dive that he usually goes to when left to his own devices.
He doesn't know what this is about. He feels like he should. Because it's definitely about something.
Meet me at the corner of Haight and Beacon at 9.
It's a cold night and not as crowded as it had been in early fall, and Neil's the only one standing on the corner. Mike moves closer, not hurried, allowing himself the intervening time to just... look. Because naked or clothed, that's another thing he's not anywhere near tired of.
When he stops he looks from Neil to the bar and back again, one eyebrow slightly raised. "Hi."
The one he's heading toward isn't really any of these, not entirely new to him but not close enough to be all that familiar, not exactly upscale but also not the kind of dim, smoky dive that he usually goes to when left to his own devices.
He doesn't know what this is about. He feels like he should. Because it's definitely about something.
Meet me at the corner of Haight and Beacon at 9.
It's a cold night and not as crowded as it had been in early fall, and Neil's the only one standing on the corner. Mike moves closer, not hurried, allowing himself the intervening time to just... look. Because naked or clothed, that's another thing he's not anywhere near tired of.
When he stops he looks from Neil to the bar and back again, one eyebrow slightly raised. "Hi."
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He looks down at their joined hands again and pulls in a breath. "It's funny you pull me out here tonight. I been thinking about Tom. A lot."
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"Yeah," I murmur, my eyes following his to our joined hands, my heart clinching tight in my chest.
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He looks up again, finally meets Neil's gaze. It's not hard, not really. But it's almost enough to pull the breath out of him.
"I loved him - I love him - more than I'm ever gonna know how to handle. Forever. But you... You said something about soulmates once. I'm pretty sure that sounds like bullshit, but... I don't think I ever had to explain anything to you. You know me. It's like you always have."
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"You really gotta say all that shit when we're in a fuckin' bar?" I laugh, turning to look at him with a grin I don't even have any control over.
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"You rather I go down on one knee on the beach or some shit?"
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"I miss him like fuckin' crazy," I admit, "I've never known anybody else like him." He could make me angrier than just about anyone ever could, and could turn around and make me happy like just about nobody else.
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His fingers linger on Neil's face, one fingertip finding the scar again and tracing a small fraction of its length.
"I know. Me too." Half a smile tugs at his mouth. "But I gotta think we'll see him again, y'know?"
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He finally reaches for his beer but doesn't immediately drink, watching the light turn the color of honey in the glass. "And somewhere none of us probably ever left."
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"And maybe some universe, I'm there in the Realm, with you."
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He picks up his beer and finally takes a sip. He doesn't remember what he ordered, but it's good. "So what would this be, anyway? Two years? Three? It's three, right?"
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But. "Feels longer. Dunno why."