Title: Burning Time
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Josef Kostan/Mick St. John
Fandom: Moonlight
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,837
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Josef Kostan or Mick St. John, unfortunately. Please do not sue.***
"I hate the sun," Josef complained, raising his hand to shade his eyes. "Vampires shouldn't go out in the daytime. It's one of the few things I like about the old myths and misconceptions, painting us as malevolent creatures of the night."
"You really want to be thought of as a malevolent creature? Something that humans have to be terrified of to the point where they'd kill you on sight?" Mick raised his brows, questioning Josef's words. "That's pretty hypocritical, considering what you do for a living."
"Hey, I'm a hedge fund trader," Josef shot back, flashing Mick that crooked smile that always made his heart melt. "I'm as much of a bloodsucker as you can get -- literally and figuratively. But to answer your question, I guess it's a good thing I don't have humans coming after me."
"If you did, then you'd be living in a crypt and not have a penthouse, enough money to buy Manhattan, and the chance to live it up," Mick retorted, shaking his head. "You should love humans, Josef. Without them, you wouldn't have half of what you do."
"You're right about that," Josef admitted, pulling his sunglasses out of his pocket and slipping them on, sighing in relief as they afforded his sensitive eyes protection from the glaring sun. "That's better. I was starting to feel like I was being blinded."
"I've been under the sun out in the desert, with no way to get to any blood," Mick reminded him, throwing a glance at his boyfriend as they walked along. "And the blood I took wasn't what I wanted. It still makes me sick to think that her blood was in me."
"Relax, Mick. That was a while back, and whatever blood you took from her has been out of your system for a long time," Josef assured him. "Our bodies might not work like a human body does, but they don't keep recycling the same blood."
"I bet you've got worse tales of being under the sun than I do," Mick said, wondering if this was the right time for him to start this kind of a conversation. Josef didn't like talking about his past, but he seemed more at ease today than he usually was when they were outside.
What if he could get Josef to open up? His heart quickened at the thought -- he'd always wanted to know more about Josef's past, and if coming out here into the sun could somehow loosen his boyfriend's tongue, maybe they should do it more often.
Josef shrugged, sounding nonchalant when he spoke -- but Mick could hear the tenseness underlying his words. "I've had some pretty close calls. I've had to take the blood of people that I normally wouldn't want to walk on the same side of the street with."
"Like who?" Mick asked before he could stop himself. "If you don't want to talk about it now, then we don't have to," he hastened to add, looking around worriedly. But there was no one near; the park that they were strolling through was fairly empty.
There were people walking around, but none too near them -- and the only two that were anywhere close were far enough away not to overhear. Besides, they both had their cell phones glued to their ears; there was no way they were paying attention to what two strangers were saying.
He shouldn't think that, Mick cautioned himself. In his line of work, he knew better than anyone else that appearances could be deceiving. People who looked completely innocuous could, in fact, be the most dangerous people he and Josef might encounter.
Josef sighed, heading for one of the park benches and sitting down in the shade of a tree that arched over it. "You don't really want to hear about some of the times I've had to face being out in the sun, Mick," he said, his voice low, barely audible.
"They must have been pretty bad, to make you look like that," Mick ventured, unsure of what to say. He didn't want to make Josef talk about anything that he didn't want to, but at the same time, he was always curious to hear more about his boyfriend's past.
"Imagine what it's like to be out in the burning sun with nowhere to go, no shade, no water to pour over yourself to cool off, no ice to burrow into -- and no blood anywhere," Josef whispered, a shudder going through his body. "That's happened to me before."
"Where were you?" Mick couldn't help asking the question; he didn't want Josef to be forced into reliving a memory that was obviously unpleasant, but at the same time, he couldn't help wanting to know more, now that the other man had begun speaking about his past.
"In a deserted town in southern California, if you can believe that," Josef said with a short laugh. "It was a long time ago, Mick, and it's something I don't like to think about. It taught me the folly of ever being anywhere that I couldn't get to ice, or shade -- or blood."
"And not to have people around you that you might be able to trust, I'm guessing?" Mick could tell by the sound of Josef's voice that he had gotten into that situation through misplaced trust; he might be wrong, but he wanted to find out just what had caused something like that to happen.
"Yeah, you got that right." Josef's words were almost a snort. "Never go into a place like that with others, unless you're absolutely sure you can trust them in every way. Especially if they aren't vampires. I was a fool at the time. I really should have known better."
"You live and learn," Mick told him, knowing that the words wouldn't do much good, but feeling that he should say something anyway. "And you got through it okay, right? I mean, you're here, not out there in the desert, nothing but a pile of ash under the burning sun."
"Yeah, I lived through it," Josef said, his voice dry. "It was a nightmare. I've really hated the sun ever since then, even though I go out in it when I have to. Or when my gorgeous boyfriend asks me to hang out with him and he wants to go out in it," he added, looking over at Mick.
"If I'd known how much you dislike the sun, I wouldn't have asked you to come outside with me," Mick told him, taking Josef's hand in his and sliding closer to his lover on the park bench. "I just thought it was a nice day that we could enjoy together."
"A nice day." Josef couldn't keep the smirk off his face -- or out of his voice. "We're vampires, Mick. We shouldn't be noticing things like whether or not it's a 'nice day.' I should be in my office, making money, doing what all good corporate bloodsuckers do."
"You are not a bloodsucker," Mick protested, then laughed and shook his head when he realized just what he'd said. "Okay, okay. In some ways, you are. But you're not the kind of person who cheats people, like so many humans in your business."
Josef shrugged, then sighed. "I guess there might be some hope for me after all, huh?" he asked, looking down at their entwined hands. "I've got more than enough to last a dozen human lifetimes. I don't need to cheat people. I'd rather make my money honestly."
"Hedge fund trading is honest?" Mick inquired, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Maybe that's why you were stuck out there under the burning sun, Josef. As a warning to change what you do, or this could be the reward you get for it. Sounds like you took that warning to heart."
His boyfriend laughed, looking at him with raised brows. "You don't really think that, do you?" he asked, his tone bemused. "That wasn't a warning, Mick. It was a bad situation that I got into because I didn't use my own good sense. Entirely my fault."
"Are you ever going to tell me about it one day?" Mick inquired, wondering if he should ask that question. Josef didn't seem to be in a bad mood now, but he knew how quickly his lover's mercurial moods could change, and he didn't want to push Josef into anger.
But the other man only shrugged and let out a soft laugh. "Maybe. Maybe not," he said, with a negligent wave of his hand. "It's not something I like talking about. But I've been able to tell you about more things in my past than I've ever told anybody. So we'll see."
Mick nodded, knowing that was all he would get from Josef today. Still, it was yet another window into his boyfriend's murky past, a past that he was always curious to know more about. A past that he was sure would make him shudder at times, but one that he wanted to hear.
He knew that Josef had survived a great deal -- including some truly frightening burning times, when not only their kind, but people who were accused of witchcraft faced the flames as well. But Josef would never talk about that. Mick didn't really blame him.
What would he have done if he lived in that time? Would he have been able to deal with the burning time in the way that Josef had? Or would he have simply run as fast and as far as he could, rather than using his ingenuity to hide himself until the dangers had passed?
If he had that kind of a past, he'd probably want to forget it, too -- especially as hard as Josef had worked to pull himself up from nothing. He had every right to be able to enjoy what his work had done for him -- and he had eternity to enjoy the fruits of that labor.
"Can we go back home now?" Josef asked, getting to his feet. "This sun is really getting to me. I need to get into the shade -- and I don't mean just the shade from a tree. I need good cold air-conditioning and a glass of some B negative. Quick."
"Your wish is my command," Mick told his boyfriend, getting to his feet and heading out of the park with Josef by his side. The sun was hot today, he thought, glancing up at the sky. But fortunately, they would be safely inside long before they felt a burn.***