Title: A Different View
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Josef Kostan/Mick St. John
Fandom: Moonlight
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,149
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 don't like being in places like this, Mick." Josef's tone was annoyed, but Mick could swear that he heard a trace of uneasiness, even fear, under those words. "There's too much silver here. And there are too many things with really sharp edges."

"Nobody else is here, Josef." Mick tried to keep his tone calm, even though he couldn't help feeling more than a little uneasy himself. He hadn't really noticed the silver until Josef had pointed it out, but now, he felt as though he had to keep every sense unnaturally alert.

It would be far too easy for someone to sneak up on one or both of them in this place and take off their heads with one clean stroke of any of the sharpened cleavers. Being in a factory where meat was butchered and processed might not be a good idea.

But he had to be here, Mick told himself for at least the tenth time. The case he was working on involved this place, and he had to investigate. He couldn't turn down a case that could threaten the whole vampire community simply because he was wary of one single place.

He'd brought Josef with him because he hadn't wanted to come here alone, but maybe that hadn't been the best idea. Not only was Josef even more wary of being here than he himself was, but he'd put the man he loved in a dangerous situation by bringing him here.

Why had he thought that having Josef with him would ease his mind? It didn't, not at all. It only made him feel that he needed to watch out for his boyfriend as well as pick up clues, and remain preternaturally alert for any sound in the place.

Smooth move, Mick, he admonished himself. He couldn't help but notice that Josef was sticking close by him, instead of satisfying his natural curiosity about places he'd never been before and roaming around the room in search of something interesting.

It wasn't like Josef to do that. Mick could tell that the other vampire felt uncomfortable, and he wished with all his heart that he hadn't told Josef he was coming here. It would have been better for him not to know just what Mick was doing, much less to be in the middle of it.

Mick closed his eyes, letting his senses radiate outward in all directions. He didn't feel any danger in the immediate vicinity, but it was still a good idea to stay wary. He didn't know if he was being set up or not -- which was another reason why it had been stupid to bring Josef here.

Slowly, carefully, he entered the room in front of him -- and gasped as he saw what was piled on the large, utilitarian table there. A silver cleaver, shining brightly in the dim light -- and a stack of meat that looked as if it had been freshly cut.

"That's how humans think we always perceive them, you know," Josef said quietly, making Mick jump. He'd been so focused on going into that room and see what would await them there that he hadn't known his boyfriend was right behind him.

"I don't see them in that light," he sighed, letting himself relax. There was no danger, even though the sight of the cleaver made him nervous. It was sharp enough to take off both of their heads, and they were both all too aware of that fact. "I've always taken a different view. You know that."

"That doesn't make any difference to them," Josef replied calmly. "You know damn well that if most of the human race knew what you are, the one thing they'd want to do is kill you before you could do the same to them. That's the way they think."

"Not all of them!" Mick shot back, getting annoying with his boyfriend. He knew that Josef was nervous about being being, but that didn't mean that he had to start ranting about the shortcomings of the human race. "This isn't the time, Josef."

Josef sighed, nodding and falling silent for a few moments as Mick looked around the room, poking into cabinets and assuring himself that there was nothing to find here. "Okay. But look at that meat piled on the table. Next to a fucking cleaver. What do you think that says?"

"It says that this is a place where meat gets cut and wrapped and sent out to stores to be sold." Mick shrugged, trying to affect an air of nonchalance. "So what? That happens in hundreds of places across this country every day."

"That's not what I mean." Josef pointed at the stack of red meat, then looked pointedly at his boyfriend. "The human race thinks that you look at them as being that stack of meat. So that's what they want to turn you into. It's a classic case of 'do unto others.'"

"Will you stop it?" Mick wanted to grab Josef and drag him out of here, take him back to his penthouse and then come back to finish his investigation on his own. "I know your views on humans. And in spite of what you're saying, I know you don't hate them."

"No, I don't hate them. In fact, I'm really fond of some of them." Josef sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "But you have a romanticized view of the human race, Mick. I'm a lot more cynical -- but I'm also a hell of a lot more realistic."

Mick didn't know what to say; he knew that Josef was right. He did have an overly romanticized way of looking at humans -- because he wanted his humanity back so badly. But he'd had it once -- and had given it up for all of the wrong reasons.

Those reasons had seemed right at the time, he told himself. But they hadn't been. Still, maybe he'd made the right choice. After all, he was with Josef now -- and he knew that he was where he belonged, no matter what anyone else might think of the two of them.

"Let's get out of here," he finally said, knowing that there wasn't much more to find. Taking Josef's hand, he led his boyfriend out of the room without glancing at the meat and the cleaver. He'd feel much better once they left this place -- and those objects -- as far behind as they could.

***