After the fires before the flood, my sweet baby, I need fresh blood

[47redbirds]

Mike is a number of things. Secretive, oddly retentive about the chore wheel, Brigg's second-in-command, and smart as a whip. He also trusts Billy. Maybe not implicitly, but he does. It's been a while since Billy's first task, and while he still stays by Mike's side for the most part, the crew's beginning to respect him, too. Not just Johnny--Jakes had made a point to shake his hand after a particularly hairy getaway between him and the Chechens.

Mike starts drinking with Billy after a good run. He's damn good at pool and can hold his beer for someone who looks so straight-laced, even with scruff. Boy-band or not, the only personal thing that wound up causing a stir outside what they do is Mike punching someone in The Drop because they were harassing a girl. For a criminal, he's oddly well put together.

It's one o'clock in the morning when Mike texts him. It's nothing but an address to a motel and a room number, but when Mike texts it's mandatory Billy shows up. Another exercise, maybe. Another deal. The whole Graceland group had been very careful with Mike--most of the stuff he was a part in he either never got to actually see the transaction or it was far too minor. Not all the heat is off of him, it seems, but he's trusted. Mike trusts him enough to send him the text. It's the room to the corner, and it's run down and shitty. When Mike opens the door, it looks like he hasn't slept in days despite the fact that Billy was asked to get him out of bed since Paige wasn't there. He's also smoking, which is both disconcerting and never seen before.

There's something else, though, and it's not just his hair pushed back from his face. The white tank top he's wearing is spattered with red liquid, as is his chin. His hands are covered, even the one holding the cigarette while he exhales and lets the other in. It's blood.

Once Mike closes the door, it's immediately apparent why: there's a girl in the bathtub, the tiles covered as someone stabbed her more than a few times, and on the bed a man. What is probably a man judging from the fact that he's naked--his face has been mangled, it seems, by a rather large number of bullets to the face as well as a champagne bottle.

Mike takes another drag of the cigarette.

"Thanks for meeting me here."

Comments

[heroeswork]

Billy let himself be pushed back onto the bed, sitting down easily. He smiles up at Mike, watching him. And seeing the other go for his belt, that smile faltered. Just twelve hours before he'd been so utterly convinced that Mike was straight. And then Mike's words from the last night flit through his mind. When they were on the dock. And Billy worried suddenly that Mike wasn't doing this for himself.

So Billy reached out and took Mike by the hands. To stop him before he could undo anything more than his belt. His smile returned and he tugged Mike closer. "You need to rest," was all he said.

[47redbirds]

Mike's face didn't exactly fall, but he certainly looked confused. Not uncertain, but confused.

"That's the last thing I need to do," He states, still smiling, now uncertain of himself but trying not to show it. What did Billy mean, rest? It was bad enough he was taking time out of what he was doing to help relieve some stress, so to speak, between the two of them.

"Did I.. Say something?"

[heroeswork]

Billy shook his head, drawing Mike closer. He slid his hands over the other's hips, gazing up at him looking a little worried. It felt strange, after the last twelve or so hours, to be doing this. To be so close and so comfortable. For Mike to worry that mere words would put Billy off.

"You didn't sleep at all last night," he said, "You need rest far more than you need strenuous activities."

[47redbirds]

"I slept fine," He protests, still looking confused more than anything. For some reason, someone noticing that seems to genuinely puzzle him.

"I'm fine," He repeated, because he knows that look. It's the same look Paige gives him when he's got his head too far into something. His shoulders slacken, not quite defeated but not exactly ready to give up. "If I wanted someone to mom me I would have called Briggs."

[heroeswork]

Billy fixed Mike with a firm look. Had he paid attention to nothing? The way Billy was always willing to jump in and lend a hand? Always stepping in to take care of others? If anyone was "momming" anyone in this house it was him. Truly and without hesitation. Mike should have expected this. Besides, he wasn't buying for a second that Mike slept at all. He'd seen the way he and Briggs dragged themselves into the kitchen that morning. They looked like they'd been run over.

He grabbed a firmer hold of Mike's hips to drag him down onto the bed beside him. And in the same move twisted so he would straddle the other's lap so he couldn't get up again.

"Just try to rest," Billy suggested, his hands moving over Mike's shoulders. "Give it fifteen, twenty minutes. Then we'll see where we go from there." He fixed Mike with a pleading, imploring look.

[47redbirds]

This is nice. Someone's weight is on top of him, and it's a different kind of weight from Paige--and yeah, maybe Mike's aware that Billy mothers everyone, but he chooses to believe he can change that. Or was going to, until those hands move to his shoulders.

They haven't even decided what to do. Or if this is a bad idea. Mike purposely avoids that topic, too, and firm, rough hands that betray what he really is rest on Billy's hips, thumbs finding the other's hip bone and stroking, curious.

"You really know how to box someone in," He comments, not exactly protesting but still getting used to this. Billy and Mike were so hot and cold lately that it seemed like forever ago that the incident had happened.

"I'll do what you want, but you gotta help me take down the guys that killed Whistler."

[heroeswork]

"I will," Billy promised. His hands moved up over Mike's neck, fingers curling around the back. His thumbs caressed over the other's jaw, leaning so close their foreheads nearly touched. "After you get some sleep."

Billy had a ploy in mind that went beyond just getting Mike to rest. His first was that he knew what that exhaustion was like. Mike might not think he was tired because he was pushing himself away from it. But the moment he let himself relax, it was like to claim him completely. The second was what happened when two people slept together. Genuinely fell asleep beside each other, holding each other. The subtle and warm trust that was created in such a state.

[47redbirds]

"Fine," He says softly. "Ten minutes." Ten minutes and Billy would either leave him alone or they could do... Whatever.

The problem is, as Mike adjusted and tried to gently push Billy off of him so he could lay down, is that Mike wasn't really sure what he wanted from all of this. Billy was attractive, competent. But was this still his own guilt? Did he genuinely like the guy?

...And what about that nagging voice that tells him that Billy's somehow wrong? That he has to be careful, especially around him?

"Ten," He repeats, trying to push that voice away. He doesn't need it. Not bothering him, not now. Not now that he's with Billy. He'll fill Paige in, but Mike has the feeling Paige will just laugh and ask if she can join in.

[heroeswork]

Billy moved so Mike could lie down. He moved off of Mike's lap and kicked off his sandals. "Fifteen," he stressed, "And we can do what ever it is you want after. Completely your choice." That is, assuming, Mike was even still awake by that point.

Billy moved to tug down the covers, so they could get properly cozy. "I'll even stay right here with you. Just to make sure you don't try to sneak off to work." He gave a wink and a smile, just to ensure Mike knew that wasn't the only reason he was sticking around.

[47redbirds]

"Ten," He says softly, and as Billy winks Mike smiles. He's all boyish charm, looking more like a teenager being asked to prom than someone who's killed quite a few people in his lifetime for little reason.

"And there's no way I'd sneak off if it's just ten minutes." he's yawning his sentence already, closing his eyes. He would, though. Sneak off or at least sit up and ponder even more about work. His plans. It's a good thing, for the moment, Billy is even teasing about that. "Just.... ten." He's already nodding off completely.

[heroeswork]

Billy can't help the warm smile that spreads over his face. The ruthless killer as easy to coax into a nap as a child. He crawls in beside Mike, settling down under the blankets. A hand comes up to stroke Mike's cheek as asserts the time again. "Alright," Billy concedes, "Just ten." Knowing Mike would be dead asleep before they got even close.

Billy himself felt sleep tugging at him, and couldn't deny that feeling of warmth as he watched Mike. One thing he hadn't accounted for, however, was that the effect he was hoping to have on Mike would happen to him as well. Not only the drag of sleep, but the subtle effects of falling sleep together.

[47redbirds]

It's not ten minutes. Ten minutes turns into a solid hour, which turns into two and by the half-hour mark of the third is when he finally wakes up. He doesn't jolt out of bed, either, which is odd when Mike has a lot on his mind.

He had dreamed. Mike dreams a lot of things, but none of them particularly pleasant, especially not when he'd killed a man a day prior. For some reason, he finds himself dreaming not of the blood or the body, but of Billy and him surfing. Mike didn't even like to surf but it was still oddly calming. The rest of the Graceland gang was there except Briggs, and no one could remember why.

Mike has somehow slung his leg over the other, oddly intimate, and was facing Billy as his blue eyes open, groggy and weary.

His headache is gone, thought. And that's when he lifts his head up and shifts his weight, trying to figure out what time it is.

[heroeswork]

Even before he'd fallen asleep, Billy had wrapped an arm around Mike's torso, drawing him closer. But in their sleep, he'd tangled himself completely around the other man. He hadn't expected to fall quite so deeply asleep himself, since he'd managed to squeeze in a few hours. But listening to Mike's slow rise and fall of breath, he was lulled into deep slumber as well.

For possibly the first time since he'd he'd taken on this job, he slept without awful dreams. There were pleasant snippets, but those slipped away from him even before he woke, leaving his sleep quiet and restful.

It wasn't until Mike stirred that he even started to wake. Slowly piecing consciousness together. He made an incoherent sound, a vague question, as one eye slowly opened. The other would have, as well, but his face was more or less buried in the pillow. He muttered something that between the pillow and his semi-consciousness was difficult to understand but was meant to be "So much for ten minutes." He curled his arm tighter around Mike, pulling him closer.

[47redbirds]

Mike frowns, finally finding the clock. Immediately he groans, and for a second he thinks he's channeling Johnny by his first thought being 'I want to sleep in' rather than 'I want to chase a clue.' Then again, with the daily stress of the household's lives, most of them either slept in light spurts or just lay practically comatose for over 10 hours.

"This is your fault," He accused, though judging by his small smile on his face and sleepy eyes, he actually doesn't mind as much as he thought he would. Alarming. Or would be, if he cared at the moment. He was wrapped around Billy, or rather Billy had been wrapped around him, or something like that. The point was they were close and Mike had to barely talk so the other could be heard. It was nice, resting his voice. It was nice resting period.

"I think it's around dinner time...Ugh." That would mean going downstairs and dealing with people. Right now, all he wants to do is lay in bed and do pretty much nothing. Even though he definitely, definitely should.

[heroeswork]

Billy's smile grew at the accusation, broad and warm and completely unapologetic. The smile of a man who knew exactly what he was doing, even if he got caught in his own trap. "Might've been intentional..." he murmured.

He shifted, moving more onto his side so he could nuzzle closer to Mike. Dinner could wait. Because dinner meant moving out from under the covers. And after the night before, and the roller coaster of his thoughts since he'd woken up, the warm bliss beneath the blankets was quite possibly the best feeling in the world right then. "I'll buy everyone pizza," he offered, tucking his head against Mike's shoulder.

[47redbirds]

"You gotta tell Briggs that," Mike murmured, bringing his body away from the other just enough so he had room to rub at his eyes and yawn rather loudly. He even left his belt on, if undone, not realizing at all how he'd actually just knock himself out.

"Shit," And suddenly he sits up, or at least, half-attempts to. He doesn't get very far, mostly because of Billy, and thumps back down with a thunk that sounds oddly hollow for someone build like him.

"I actually have stuff I need to do, too." More like 'wanted to be there in case people fucked up,' but that was fairly obvious knowing Mike's personality. He doesn't hover per se, he...

No, no he hovers. He definitely hovers.

[heroeswork]

Billy reached up to run his fingers through Mike's hair as the other dropped back down. He just smiled, letting Mike making his complaint. "What exactly do you gotta do, hm?" He raised both eyebrows. "Apart from staring at a map until you go cross-eyed?"

Billy's fingers trailed down Mike's neck and over his chest. "I'm guessing you already know the details inside and out. The answers'll come to you, I have no doubt of that."

In that Billy realized that maybe this wasn't just about helping Mike find the answers. If he kept the other distracted there might not be more bloodshed for a little while. If he kept Mike off track for a little bit, his team could hopefully use his report to find whoever killed Whistler. Handle it legally and without murder.

[47redbirds]

billy talking to him link this, giving him some sense if normalcy.... It was nice. Really nice. Mike doesn't bother to hide his smile.

"We should go on a date," he says suddenly. "A real, honest to god date. Whenever your next day off is, I'll pick you up at eight. Flowers and shit, you know."

[heroeswork]

The suddenness of the proclamation made Billy blink. A date? That was a rather sudden and extreme leap to make. And not at all what he'd been prepared for. Had his ploy for the nap and the subtle effects been stronger than he'd planned? He just wanted Mike to feel something good after everything with the night before. Was he so starved for such things that he automatically leaped to such dramatic things?

"Won't the bossman be troubled, losing his bodyguard and chauffeur for a whole night?" He meant it as a joke, but also to sidestep the need to tell Mike to slow down. One step at a time. Mostly, Billy didn't want to get too involved and have to break Mike's heart when this all came crashing down.

[47redbirds]

"I'm not a fucking prophet," Mike states, but he's not actually angry at the other. It's more of a resigned tone, eyes closing for a few moments. Billy was right. He needed to step away from it.

"Sometimes I think this house is burning," He says quietly. "And it's up to Briggs and I to keep putting out the fires." That much was true, no matter which way you looked at it--for as much of a family as there were, there was an incredible tone of drama. Almost too much in Mike's opinion, even though sometimes Mike started it himself.

He pats the other's cheek before forcing himself to sit up, yawning.

"Which is what I have to do. I figure soon enough you're going to get caught in some form of crossfire, too."

[heroeswork]

A small smile formed on Billy's lips, soft and warm. Objectively, he knew he shouldn't be touched by those words. That he just needed to fake it, to get into Mike's good graces, to get closer to Briggs. All for the mission. But the way he felt, it felt far too real.

Billy sat up as well, leaning back against the headboard. "And if I do," he said reassuringly, "I can handle myself. It wouldn't be my first time being in the crossfire. Literally or metaphorically."

His hand came up to take Mike by the chin as he leaned over to kiss him. Soft and gentle.

[47redbirds]

Mike looks surprised, if only for a brief moment, but he kisses back with the same sort of odd tenderness the other had. Whatever they had now, it was strange, but it worked.

For now.

He's waiting until it blows up in his face, just like everything else. "I hope so," He mumbles, and it takes him a few more seconds before he's stood up. Not going to take that advice, it seems, and he stretches languidly before moving to the door.

"You coming?"

[heroeswork]

Billy watched Mike get up, not budging from his spot on the bed. He had to admit that the view was certainly nice, and found his thoughts wandering. To what the view might look like without so much in the way of clothes. It was almost strange to think of such things so casually after all they'd been through so very recently. But he liked to think he could let those things roll off him like water off a duck's back. He certainly wasn't just forcing them down and forgetting them. Not even a little.

"Might be better if I wait a bit. Wouldn't want to raise any suspicions before we've...consummated anything, would we?" His eyebrows lifted suggestively, but his tone was almost teasing.

[47redbirds]

"Sure, sure, but I'm fairly certain after everything you've done? No one gives a shit who you fuck." It's meant to be nice and casual--Mike smiles, widely, and sort of half-waves since the other says he's not going to be moving.

He leaves, but not without a faint smile at his bed.

Yeah. He can get used to this.

[heroeswork]

Billy was so accustomed to seizing opportunities when he saw them that he leaped on this one before he thought it through completely. It was clear to him that Mike wanted it. Between the kiss out on the peer and everything in the bedroom before they slept. He read the situation and ran with it, trying to tell himself his own feelings had nothing to do with it.

"Hey," he says as Mike starts to step out the door. "They might not care, but they still talk. Might as well make whatever rumors they're gonna cook up at least somewhat based in reality." He folded his arms behind his head, giving a suggestive wink.