Title: I Woke Up in Love This Morning
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Josef Kostan/Mick St. John
Fandom: Moonlight
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,832
Author's Note: Inspired by the Partridge Family song of the same title. My muses take inspiration from very odd places.
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.

***

Mick blinked as the bright light of early morning sunshine streamed into his bedroom. He didn't usually wake up this late; he was much more likely to be getting up at the crack of sunset rather than dawn. But he'd been keeping odd hours for the past few days.

He liked getting up in the early morning hours; that was one thing he missed about his human existence. He had always liked watching the sun come up, and even though he didn't have to avoid being in the sun, seeing it rise wasn't something he did very often now.

But there was something different about this particular morning. He hadn't spent the night with his lover last night, but Josef had wandered in and out of his dreams -- Josef smiling, Josef holding out a hand to him, Josef moaning his name when they made love.

He'd awakened with the thought of Josef in his mind, the image of his beautiful lover in his heart. And he had the feeling that Josef's image would stay with him for the rest of the day and night -- or however long it would be until he saw the other man again.

Josef had been on his mind when he'd gone to sleep last night; he'd found himself wishing that he was at his boyfriend's penthouse apartment, holding Josef in his arms, kissing him touching him, making love to him, instead of here, alone in his own domain.

Why didn't the two of them live together? he asked himself with a frown. There was nothing to keep them from that -- well, nothing except the fact that he felt uncomfortable in Josef's penthouse. It wasn't the sort of place he could live permanently.

Josef would never understand that; he hadn't been born to a life of wealth and privilege when he was a human, but he'd gotten used to it over the centuries that he'd been a vampire. He couldn't believe that Mick wouldn't want all of the material advantages he could have.

But Mick wanted to cling to his own apartment; he'd made it into a haven, a home where he felt safe. He didn't want to let it go in favor of a more luxurious place, even if that penthouse did have the definite advantage of being the home of the man he loved.

Still, it would be nice to wake up in the same place where Josef was every morning -- or evening, or whatever time he happened to wake up on any particular day, he reflected. Just knowing that Josef was in the same apartment with him would let him rest easier.

Ever since the recent attack on his boyfriend, he'd been more than usually attuned to the other man. He could tell when Josef was upset or angry, or feeling any other strong emotion -- even if they were all the way across the city from each other.

He'd heard of that sort of thing happening before -- two preternatural creatures so attuned to each other that they literally knew what was happening with each other, no matter how far apart they might be. But he'd never thought that it would happen to him.

But why should he be surprised that it had? he asked himself, a smile spreading across his face. He and Josef had that kind of relationship; they had from the beginning. He'd always been able to tell when there was something amiss with the other man.

He wouldn't have gone to that abandoned building two nights ago if he hadn't sensed that there was something wrong. At the time, he hadn't realized that it was Josef who needed him; but if he'd opened his senses more, he was sure that he would have known.

Had he woken up with Josef on his mind because he'd fallen asleep wishing that he was holding his lover in his arms, rather than being here in his own home, sleeping alone? Or was it because Josef had such a strong hold on his heart?

He wanted to think that it was because the two of them belonged together. He had been Josef's destiny from the moment he was born; the other man had waited so long to find someone who would love him eternally, and Mick was that person.

Going into the kitchen, he took a bag of blood from the refrigerator, inserting a straw into the top of it and sucking at it absently. He didn't have his mind on the sustenance; he was still thinking of Josef, wondering just what his boyfriend was doing at this very moment.

Had he gone to sleep sometime early this morning, and was even now encased in ice, dreaming of Mick? Or had he slept through the darker hours, knowing that Mick was doing the same? Could he even now be stretching and waking to the dawn of a new day?

Mick had to smile at the image that slowly formed in his mind's eye -- Josef, naked in the huge bed, kicking back the luxurious silken covers and swinging those long legs out of bed, getting up to head for the bathroom and turn on the shower.

Josef bending over, giving Mick a wonderful view of that luscious ass -- and himself moving behind the other man, wrapping his arms around Josef's slender waist and turning off the shower taps, leading Josef back to the bedroom and pushing him down on those silk sheets .....

Mick sighed softly, draining the last of the blood from the bag and tossing it into the wastebasket. His thoughts turned to the coming day; there really wasn't much for him to do. The case he was working on had stalled; and he was more interested in exploring another one.

He wanted to know who had so boldly attacked Josef a few nights ago. Who would have had the strength -- and the anger -- to overpower Josef, or surprise him for long enough to be able to drive a stake into his chest? Josef was stronger than most vampires out there.

As the thought settled into his mind, there was a knock on the door; Mick frowned, looking towards the front of his apartment. Who could possibly be there? No one came to see him this early -- unless it was something to do with one of his cases. Maybe there'd been a break.

He headed for the door, pulling it open without bothering to see who was on the other side. He couldn't feel any sense of danger; if he had, then he would have been more careful. But nothing came to his senses, not even the feeling of anyone masking some malevolence.

To his surprise, Josef was standing there, his head tilted to one side, hands on his hips. "Took you long enough to answer the door," he remarked, raising one eyebrow in question. "Your reflexes are slow when you first get up. You should work on that."

"What are you doing here?" Mick demanded, closing the door and making sure that it was locked before he turned to face his boyfriend. "You shouldn't be walking around on your own after what happened to you two nights ago. It's too dangerous."

"Mick, it's broad daylight," Josef drawled, sprawling over the couch and waving a hand in the air. "Nobody's going to attack me while the sun's out and I'm walking down the street in full view of anybody in the vicinity. Don't worry so much."

Mick opened his mouth to protest, then decided against it. No matter what he said, Josef would wave his concerns aside. Instead, he reverted to his original question. "Like I asked, what are you doing here? It's not like you to be up so early, unless you've got a business meeting."

"Something weird happened to me," Josef told him, his voice softening, lowering a bit. Mick could tell that he was about to impart something that he thought was very important, just from his tone. "I woke up in love this morning. Went to sleep with you on my mind."

Those were almost the very words he'd said to himself this morning when he'd woken up. Mick's jaw dropped; he sat there staring at Josef, unable to utter a word. How could it be that the two of them were so perfectly on the same wavelength?

"From the look on your face, I'm guessing that you were thinking the same thing," Josef said softly, his gaze locking with Mick's. "What, you didn't realize that the two of us are more attuned to each other because of our emotional bond? I thought you knew that would happen."

"I'd heard about it, but I didn't think it was actually true," Mick muttered, feeling stupid and at a loss for words. "Yet another thing that Coraline didn't tell me -- and since I didn't believe it was anything more than a legend, I didn't bother to ask you about it."

"Well, you know now," Josef pointed out with a smile. "And what's the problem? I thought you'd be glad to know that we can kind of keep tabs on each other, even when we don't know exactly where the other one is or what they're doing. I figured you'd consider it a way to keep me safe."

"As if you needed anybody to keep you safe!" Mick scoffed, laughing and shaking his head. "You're stronger than me, and you damn well know it. But I appreciate the vote of confidence," he added, his voice turning soft and husky. "More than you know."

Josef didn't answer; he simply leaned toward Mick and brushed his lips across his lover's mouth. As a flame leaped to life within him, Mick reached for the other man, pulling Josef into his arms and holding the other man close, intensifying their kiss.

Josef's fingers were twining through his hair, that slender body warm and pliant in his arms. Mick swept away all thoughts of leaving the apartment for quite a while -- he had all the inducement he needed to stay put today right here next to him.

If he hadn't realized that he'd woken up in love this morning, he certainly would after the day was done, he told himself, a smile curving his lips. He intended to spend the day in the bedroom with his boyfriend -- and fall asleep with Josef not only on his mind, but also in his arms.

***