Josef was indeed still sitting at his desk when Mick arrived. This had not been done on purpose, there were simply some extra pieces of paperwork to be filed, reports to be read, that kind of thing. He preferred to work late in the evenings than early in the mornings, for obvious reasons. Now the markets were closed for the day, the tie had been removed, and the top buttons of his shirt were undone. A glass of scotch, ever present, remained on the desk, a slightly reddish hue emanating from it both because of the soft light, and the blood within it.
He could hear the complaints of the security staff a couple of floors below, and stood to grab another glass for Mick, well aware that he would be arriving at any moment. Josef pretended to look angry and surprised when he barrelled through the door and started pacing in front of the desk.
"Wow. That took you just under two hours. I wasn't expecting to hear from you for days."
Mick scowled in his direction, but his pacing did not slow.
"Shut up, Josef."
"But if you're not here to talk, what are you here for?" Josef demanded, a sliver of amusement in his tone. He liked making Mick irritable; he'd get a crease under his eyes that could only be described as cute. The pacing stopped suddenly as Mick moved to lean against the bookcase. This was as far away as he could get without leaving the room.
"If I knew, I would tell you." He murmured, apparently deep in thought. He had planned to question Josef when he arrived, but now no queries seemed to form in his mind.
"Have you spoken to Beth?" Josef suggested.
"Kind of."
"And how did that go?"
"Badly."
Josef sighed. It was like getting blood from a stone. He knew Mick wasn't really a man of many words, but this was ridiculous.
"Are we leaving?" He asked, unable to keep from sounding hopeful. He had been waiting for this moment for almost a year now, ever since he had decided that Mick needed to know how he felt. The time had never seemed quite right before now.
"Well, I am." While they had been talking, Mick slowly stepped closer toward the desk, like he was approaching a dangerous animal. He swiped the drink off of the top and dropped heavily into the chair, exhausted. After rubbing his eyes gently, he finally looked Josef in the face. "But there are some things you need to answer before I consider whether or not you're coming with me."
"Fine. Ask away."
"What the fuck was that earlier, Josef?" Mick sat upright now, attentive. Somehow, he hadn't been expecting to given much information. But then, Josef did suggest no holds barred. This was the one question that had been anticipated by the older vampire. He paused for a few seconds looking as though he was simply choosing the right words, but then put it off.
"Which part, the suggestion of leaving or the kissing?" He answered instead.
"Both."
"Well, the suggestion of leaving came only from experience, Mick. I've got over three hundred years on you, don't forget. I've come to learn when the best time is to skip town. This thing with you and Beth is one of those times.
"As for the kissing, I thought I'd made myself quite clear, but apparently I did not. I kissed you because I think I love you, and I wanted to make sure. At the same time, I decided it was pertinent to let you know that I think I love you, and also try and see if you felt even a little bit the same. And considering that you kissed me back -" He held up a hand as Mick opened his mouth to protest, "- I'd say that, whether or not you are willing to admit it, you do. Feel something, I mean."
There was silence once more as Mick tried to mount some kind of defence, but he couldn't. The fact remained that he had kissed back. And he had no way of explaining that to himself, let alone to someone else. He decided to change tack.
"Since when did you think you loved me?"
"About ten years ago. I couldn't believe it myself, for a long time. And I tried to deny it for longer. I surrounded myself with women, to see if I could get over you, or convince my affections to change. But they didn't, and they haven't. There is no other man but you." He smiled thinly, as if it was funny to him.
Mick sat back in his chair, dumbfounded. For a decade, Josef had had feelings for him. What was worse was that Mick had not seemed to notice. What had been so important for all of that time that he couldn't see his best friend carrying this torch for him? He felt like he was the most self-centred person in the entire universe. How could he have missed it?
"Josef, I'm sorry." He mumbled into his glass. Suddenly he was unable to look his friend in the eyes.
"It doesn't matter. The point is, you know now. What are you going to do about it? Have I ruined things between us forever?" He tried to make light of the situation with a sarcastic, theatrical tone, but Mick could hear the fear in Josef's voice. He worried that he'd said to much, that he'd lost a friend by admitting how he really felt.
"Of course you haven't." He replied. "You can't get rid of me that easily. But I genuinely don't know what to do. Last I checked I was attracted to women, and then you kiss me and -"
"You felt something." Josef finished, quietly triumphant.
"I felt something." Mick repeated. He settled back into the silence once more, eyebrows knitting together as he considered the position he now found himself in. But Josef could not wait.
"Was it a good something?" Again, he tried to make light of everything, but didn't quite pull it off. He quickly raised his glass of scotch to his mouth and took a sip in order to prevent himself from saying anything more.
"It was a different something, that's for sure." Mick muttered thoughtfully. Josef lost his patience. Flashing around the desk, he took Mick's face in his hands, and kissed him again.
If Josef had thought the earlier kisses were good, he was seriously underestimating Mick's capabilities. There was little resistance as his lips were parted by Josef's tongue, and quickly it descended into something more. He pushed Mick roughly backward, sending him, and the chair, crashing to the floor in a tangle of limbs.
For a fleeting moment Mick thought of Beth, and realised that the taste of Josef lips was not only better, but also felt right. He knew that he didn't have to hold himself back anymore, and that in itself felt better than anything he'd had with Beth. What he was doing now, with Josef, felt like coming home. Like he'd been away for so long he didn't even realise it was home until he got there. He paused for a second, his lips finding their way toward Josef's ear.
"This is a good something." He whispered, smiling slightly for the first time in what felt like an age. He was answered with a growl of desire; a low feral growl that only made Mick want him more. Wherever Josef's hands went, his skin felt like it was burning. He pulled him down further until Josef was pressed against Mick's heated body. They moved together for a moment lost in one another's touch, aware of nothing else.
There was a timid knock on the door, and they flew guiltily apart. As Mick struggled to right the fallen furniture, Josef redressed himself and absently tried to recall how he had become undressed as he headed slowly toward his office door, fully prepared to rip the head off whoever stood on the other side of it. Wrenching it open, he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Beth."