Title: Pleasures of Living
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Josef Kostan/Mick St. John
Fandom: Moonlight
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,672
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 being in places like this," Josef said, looking around with a shudder. "I know we're undead, but being here in a morgue gives me the creeps. So many dead bodies around. I'm waiting for a zombie attack or something, just like in the movies."
"You've seen too many horror films with the lights out," Mick told him, checking the number he'd been given and striding over to one of the cold storage areas to pull out the slab that the body was lying on. He pulled back the sheet, wincing as he did so.
This young man shouldn't have had to die. It had been murder, plain and simple, even though it hadn't looked so simple at first. The poison used to kill him had been barely detectable; if Mick hadn't insisted on having the autopsy results checked, they might never have known.
But he had, and the case had gone from accidental death to homicide. Because he was the one who had made the discovery, he'd become the first detective working the case, and he was determined to find the killer and bring them to justice.
Maybe he shouldn't have brought Josef here with him; he knew that morgues made his boyfriend uneasy, in spite of the fact that he himself was technically dead. Mick could understand that; places like this were all too apt to remind anyone of their own mortality.
Morgues didn't really bother him; he spent too much time in them due to his job for the places to really have much of an effect. He didn't see the corpses there as just being dead people; he saw them as people whose past he had to unravel to find out why they were there.
With Josef, it was different. His boyfriend had never had the kind of job he did; he wasn't used to viewing dead bodies as anything other than either dead people -- or food. Mick didn't blame him for feeling ill at ease in a place like this.
"I'll only be a minute, if you want to wait outside," he murmured, nodding to Josef. His boyfriend didn't say a word; he only nodded to acknowledge that he'd heard Mick's words, exiting the morgue as quickly as the two of them had entered a few minutes ago.
It didn't take Mick much longer to get what he'd come for; the autopsy report was lying on the desk where he'd been told that he would find it, and reading through it only took a few minutes. When he left the morgue, Josef was leaning against the wall, waiting for him.
"Thanks for being patient," he told his boyfriend as the two of them headed down the corridor towards the door that led out to the parking lot. "I know you don't like coming along to places like this, but it's part of my job. It's not like I can avoid morgues all the time."
"I don't mind all that much," Josef said, sounding defensive. "I just don't like those places. They remind me that even vampires have a shelf life. We're not impervious to death, Mick. People who believe in us as some kind of myth might think so, but you know better."
"Yeah, I do." Mick almost wanted to glance behind them at the doors to the morgue as he spoke, but he didn't. "But remember, if anything happens to us, we won't end up in a place like that. Can't you just imagine what coroners who don't believe in vamps would say?"
Josef let out a laugh that had no mirth in it; the sound was dry and sharp, grating on Mick's ears. "Yeah, I can," he said, shaking his head. "It would start some kind of panic once people knew there were dead guys with fangs in the morgues."
"The goth crowd would be happy about it, but it would spell disaster for the whole vamp community," Mick said, sighing. "I hope something like that never happens. If it does, we'll probably be in the thick of it because of my job. You do realize that, don't you?"
"Yeah, but I can live with that. As long as neither of us is one of the vamps who end up on the slabs," Josef said with a sigh. "I worry about that, y'know. Both of us have been hunted enough to know that we can't ever feel like we're completely safe."
"I'm not going to let anybody get to you, Josef." Mick pushed open the doors that led to the parking lot, waiting until he and Josef were both a few feet away from them before he turned and slid an arm around the other man's waist, stopping in his tracks and drawing Josef close to him.
"You don't have to worry about becoming just a body on a slab," he whispered, brushing Josef's hair back from his face. "I won't let that happen to you. Just like you wouldn't let it happen to me. We're going to spend eternity together, Josef. Death isn't an option."
"Not for a long time, anyway," Josef answered, catching Mick's hand in his and bringing his lover's fingers to his lips. Mick closed his eyes as those soft, warm lips caressed his fingertips, a tingle of desire moving down his spine. This wasn't the time or the place.
If he had his way, the two of them would be in Josef's bed, naked -- and he would be inside Josef, making love to him, looking down at his beautiful boyfriend squirming and moaning under him, whispering his name, begging for more ....
Mick closed his eyes, fighting down the desire that threatened to flare higher and higher within him. "Do you know what you do to me when you touch me like that?" he murmured, bowing his head to brush his lover's lips with his own. "I'm on fire here."
"Not nearly as much as I am," Josef replied, moving closer to him and grinding his crotch against Mick's. He didn't seem to care if anyone could see them; Mick cast a furtive glance around the parking lot, but it was fairly late at night and the place was deserted.
"You want to get me back to the penthouse, don't you?" Josef whispered into his ear, that voice soft and seductive. "You want to strip off my clothes and make love to me for the rest of the night -- and not just in our bed. On the floor, on the couch, in the shower ...."
"If you're trying to give me ideas, you're doing it the right way," Mick murmured, feeling a laugh bubbling up inside him. He loved it when Josef was like this; his boyfriend had gone from being somewhat grim when they were in the morgue to being in a playful mood.
He couldn't resist Josef when his lover was like this. There was something about the combination of that smile, those beautiful eyes, that gorgeous face, that drove Mick over the edge and brought out the primal, erotic side of his nature as nothing else could.
"That's the intention," Josef answered, tilting his head to the side and regarding Mick with sparkling dark eyes. "I'd give you a hand job right here if I didn't think that we might be interrupted. And if we weren't so close to what we left behind us," he added, glancing at the doors.
"Don't think about that now," Mick told him, placing a hand on Josef's cheek. "I shouldn't have brought you here tonight, babe. I know how places like this unsettle you. I won't do it again. I just .... wanted to be with you for a while, even though I had to get this done."
"I know." Josef smiled at him, stepping back slightly and taking his hand. "I wanted to come along with you. It's not often that I get to see my boyfriend the detective in action," he said with a laugh. "Even though going to morgues isn't my idea of a really fun day."
"Mine either!" Mick said, laughing along with Josef. "But it's part of my job. And I want to get to the bottom of this case, Josef. That kid didn't have to die. I want to find out who killed him -- and bring them to justice. I'll do it, even if it takes me a while."
"You've always been the kind of guy who couldn't stand injustice," Josef said softly, nodding. "It's one of the things that draws me to you, Mick. You're a white knight in shining armor, do you know that? It's one of your more endearing qualities. At least for me."
Mick could only smile at those words, sliding an arm around his boyfriend's waist as they headed out to his car. He couldn't wait to get back home; he'd worked on this case enough for tonight, and it would still be there on the next day, and the days ahead of him.
Right now, all he wanted to do was get to Josef's penthouse and do what his boyfriend had said -- strip off his clothes and make love to him until Josef was crying out for more, to slide into that tight warmth and feel those arms wrapping around his shoulders, pulling him closer ....
Clearing his throat, Mick reached to open the car door for Josef. He was ready to be at home now, the two of them together in bed, leaving the smell and feel and memory of the morgue behind them. It was time to stop thinking about death -- and to revel in the pleasures of living.***