Surprise.

Mm explicit stuff ahead. I've just had this chapter sitting around collecting dust, so why not randomly finish it while I've got plenty of other things to do? ;)

I'm so sorry to have kept you all waiting.

Is anyone still reading?

(If you are confused, the part right at the beginning in italics is supposed to be from our Operator's dear perspective. Enjoy.)

The three most important ones were slipping away. Out, fleeting from his grasp.

Despite all the times he had breached them into the other space. Despite all of the conditioning he had put them through.

They should have learned.

But now his proxies were splintering off, his valuable treasures floating farther and farther away.

The original proxy had failed in his mission. The others remain crucial.

Of the two that rebelled - that fought against him - one was still easily recoverable.

The other, however, was carcinogenic. He was infecting the third one who held all of the potential - the one who was truly vital to the excursion's success.

Frustration. Anger. These human emotions meant nearly nothing to Him. And yet, He thought He could feel the beginnings of them. This meant several things. However, most of them were trivial.

What mattered was His new plan.

Recuperate the first. Use him to take the second. The third will most certainly follow.

It was time to reach out, with His spindling fibers. Reach out and claim, with His darkness.

Then watch them all fall.

After all - The Ark was awaiting.

OOO

Tim flipped through the pages of a newspaper absentmindedly, his legs dangling off the edge of the apartment's couch. Jay was at the table eating some crackers while fiddling with some old tapes. He would go through each one of them, checking the labels and sometimes writing new ones, then put them back away. Organized by known times of occurrence, of course. It was just busy-work though. Jay and Tim both knew this. Tim would glance back and forth and listen as Jay emitted purposeless sighs.

That was just it. They were purposeless. Nothing had happened in two months. Nothing.

No threatening calls from Alex. No supernatural visits made by the Operator or Hoodie. No new tapes.

So what were they now? What were they doing? If not partners, then lovers? Tim's chest squirmed with uncertainty.

If they really were free, then what was the problem? They should be happy, they should be living their lives as normal humans! They defeated the darkness that was holding them back, after all. No more coughing, no more pills, no more going weeks without a full night's sleep.

Tim knew that the mask had not returned for him. No, he was better now, that's for certain. He was slowly leaving the broken child within him behind. For good this time. After all, he had someone with him now. Company. He was no longer alone. Tim's gaze rested on Jay, whose eyebrows were now knitted together.

"Huh..." Jay stared off into space for a moment, eyes darkening.

A flash of panic flitted through Tim's system.

"What? What is it? Did you find something we missed?"

"Mmh...no," Jay got up slowly, and shook his head. "I just got a bad feeling. Or something."

Tim frowned.

"A bad feeling? That's not good, Jay."

"Yeah, well, it was probably nothing after all." A forced laugh, then, "Everything's fine."

Tim folded his newspaper and put it aside. Everything was not fine. They were missing something. They could both feel it, somehow. They were still being restrained by something, and it was eating away at their minds. It needed to end. For sure. But how?

Tim groaned in frustration and pinched the bridge of his nose. He stood up and walked over to Jay, who was still looking around with a distanced expression. Things were going to change soon, and he didn't want them to. However meaningless his actions felt to him right now, he did not think he could live if he was separated from Jay again. Tim took on a pained expression as he drew in close to his camera man. He lifted up the other's chin with a finger beneath the jaw.

"Jay, right now...You're only allowed to think of me. Forget the rest..."

Jay's eyes flickered back into focus as Tim pressed his lips against his own. Tim relished the familiar softness as though he were never going to feel it again. Don't think like that Tim, he reminded himself quickly. His arm reached around and pulled the smaller man closer by the small of his back. There's absolutely no reason to. You're being paranoid. Enjoy this while you can. Tim held the other man close, their fronts pressing together, warmth beginning to seep through their shirts. Jay began to kiss back shyly - he was always this way - and Tim bit down lightly on his lip in response.

Jay made a weak noise and Tim could feel him growing heavier in his arms. He spun him around quickly and pushed them both into his own bedroom - Jay's was farther down the hall. They stopped just before the bed, toes curling into the soft carpet. Tim's hands slid down to gently squeeze Jay's hips, then grazed upwards, taking the other's shirt with him. Jay raised his arms in dazed compliance as Tim worked steadily at undressing him. Jay blinked suddenly when he was pushed onto the bed, pants promptly being tugged off.

"Uh w-wait, you too Tim-"

Tim let out a muffled noise as Jay slip his hands under his shirt. Just touching a little. Growing impatient he shed his upper layers and pressed his palm down onto Jay's chest. Watches as the folds in the sheets blossomed beneath his head. Watching the way the other man's cheeks grew flushed as he undid the button of his pants. Tim pressed short kisses into the juncture of Jay's neck and shoulder, eliciting short pants and words of frustration from the camera man struggled to get Tim's pants off.

"Ah-"

Jay let out an alarmed yelp when Tim dug his fingers sharply into the soft ridges of his hips, pushing him deeper into the bed. The smaller man squirmed as his chest was peppered with kisses and gentle bites. Jay's hands clutched at the bed sheets as Tim pressed a finger to his opening. Jay's eyes widened a measure, the raccoon-marks beneath them fading just a shade.

"'S'gonna be a bit rough tonight, Jay..." Tim rasped into Jay's neck.

Jay let out a strangled moan as Tim immediately added another finger. His chest was rising and falling and his head was filled with anticipation and fear. Meanwhile Tim's hands brushed his sides, the softness of his inner thigh, the slight curve of his backside where it met the bed. Tim's fingers worked slowly, smoothly. Tim always knew exactly what to do. Jay raised his mouth up to place an airy kiss on the bigger man's lips.

"That's okay - ah-" A third finger, and Tim studies Jay's face for a moment. He leans over and slips his tongue gently into the camera man's gasping mouth, and kisses him slowly. He eases open the smaller man's legs and positions himself between them.

Breaking away from each other momentarily, they appreciate the hushed noises of their breath. Jay holds on to Tim's arms, and shifts himself forward a little until he can feel Tim pressing into him. Jay feels his own nervous pants. He feels the other man's heat against him. Jay looks up with such a startling look of want that he thinks he can almost see it himself. Tim grins and bends low before he presses in slightly, feeling Jay's heat engulf him. He only pushes in the head before he withdraws again, earning a whine from the body below him.

Tim thrusts back in to the hilt, quickly. He watches the way Jay throws his head back in open-mouthed silence, how the minute muscles in his abdomen strain and ripple. Humming in satisfaction, Tim begins to move his hips slowly, cruelly, without much rhythm. The sounds Jay is making are pleasing. He emits a muffled groan and grinds a little deeper into the writing man beneath him.

I mean I definitely don't have time for this.

But this fic started because I didn't have time for it. So... ;)