Title: Primary

Pairing: Mick/Josef

Rating: low level NC17

Warnings: Contains low level explicit descriptions of sex acts occurring between consenting adult males (Josef & Mick)

Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary: Missing scene from Episode 10, Sleeping Beauty. How much would Mick have really cared if Josef had have died.

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The further we go, and older we grow, the more we know, the less we show.

"Your office - your office is not a safe place." Mick's expression fell incredulous, hands gesturing in disbelief, voice frustrated. "This... I'm going to bed."

"And what am I supposed to do?"

Split time moment of hesitation, eyes averted, breath hitched.

"Why don't you…tidy up?"

Mick began to ascend the stairs. Head turned briefly towards Mick's retreating form; Josef struggled not to look, to not let Mick see the emotion reflected in his eyes, his longing evident.

"Are you coming or not?" Mick paused at the top of the staircase, expression and voice uncertain, head tilted upwards, staring at the ceiling, not bothering to look back and see if Josef had accepted his invitation.

Upstairs, bodies pressed together, lips trailed heated caresses over soft skin. Hands clutched at cloth covered angles of flesh and musculature. Fingers fumbled urgently with rows of buttons and tugged at lines of zippers.

"Don't you ever do this to me again, Josef." Mick pinned Josef against the wall, breath fanning hot against Josef's neck, hands still working to remove layers of clothing. "Christ, I thought you were dead."

"Would you have really cared if I was?"

Silence, another heated covering of kisses.

"Mick?"

"You don't need to ask me that, Josef."

Mick was right. Josef didn't need to ask, he'd heard Mick's exchange with Beth out in the hallway, the tears Mick had shed.

"And what about Beth?" Josef's voice quietened, forehead rested against Mick's, breath synchronising, drawing in Mick's scent. "Do I need to ask you about her?"

"Beth…Beth makes me feel…" The words caught in Mick's throat. He swallowed, an audible sound, struggling for expression. "She makes me feel normal."

"Define normal for me, Mick."

Josef ducked away from Mick's embrace then, stepping to one side and folding his arms across his chest, stance and expression a defiant challenge.

"I can tell you what isn't normal." Mick gestured in pointed frustration. "Us, what we are, what we do." He slashed a fingernail across Josef's exposed chest, drawing blood. "That," Mick stabbed a finger towards the healing wound, "is not normal."

"Of course it's not 'normal', Mick." Josef snapped the words, mouth set in a determined line. "We're not human. And just personally I'm pretty damn happy about that. I happen to be rather fond of Immortality."

"Yeah? Well I'm not. I'm not fond of any of this, Josef. I'm not fond of being what I am; I'm not fond of us and what we do. And I certainly don't expect you to understand any of that." Mick's voice bore a note of disgust; eyes averted and body turned away.

Josef knew Mick didn't think him capable of a normal range of feelings, had always known that, and accepted it. Nevertheless Mick's words cut razor sharp.

Mick felt hands gripping his shoulders then, fingers digging hard into flesh and bone. And then he was being lifted up and thrown across the hall, spine and skull cracking against the bricks and plaster of the wall on the opposite side.

Josef descended on him, and then stopped short, turning to walk away instead.

"Wait." Mick's hand snatched the hem of Josef's pants, a hint of panic creeping into his voice. "Please, don't go."

Josef hesitated, still poised to leave. And then he let out a resigned breath and sat down next to Mick, resting back against the wall behind, one hand reaching out to trace circles over the small of Mick's back.

Mick shifted closer, moving into Josef's space, and rested his head on Josef's shoulder.

"Can we stop this?" Mick snorted a laugh, eyebrows arched briefly, and then turned his face towards Josef's, expression searching.

"Why would we want to do that, Mick?" Josef's hand shifted to the side of Mick's face, fingers stroking the line of Mick's jaw.

It was a point Josef was forcing Mick to consider, and Mick found himself without answer. He pressed his lips against Josef's, needing to silence the conversation then. Physicality felt familiar, safe. It was the talking Mick couldn't get a handle on, discussions about the two of them, what did it all really mean. Even though most of the time it was he who initiated the discussions, and then backed away.

The kiss was different this time, tender, less urgent. Remaining layers of clothing were shed, hands explored boundaries of flesh. Mick gripped Josef's shoulders, exerting pressure, pushing him back to lie on the carpeted floor beneath them.

Mick shifted to lie on top of Josef, one arm hooked under Josef's thighs, pressing Josef's legs back against his chest. A hurried coating of saliva, and Mick was thrusting himself into Josef's body, his face buried against Josef's shoulder.

Josef clung to Mick's neck and snarled heated commands in Mick's ear, all the while thinking how every time Mick withdrew, and plunged back into him, it felt like a note of goodbye.

And then Mick was crying out and sinking his fangs into Josef's neck, body shaking, muscles stretched taut and then slackening with release as his orgasm ripped through him. And Josef was falling with him, his own fangs biting hard into the top of Mick's shoulder, semen spilling onto his abdomen as he dug his nails into the flesh of Mick's back and growled his way through his own release.

Both drawn out and sated, they lay there together, Josef's hand stroking the back of Mick's neck, fingers entwining through tendrils of Mick's hair, dampened with sweat. And for a moment, just for a moment, the words were on the tip of Josef's tongue, hovering at the edge of his lips. And then the moment was gone.

"I should probably try and get some sleep." Mick drew an unnecessary breath, swallowing back his rising sense of awkward discomfort, and then withdrew himself from Josef's body. He'd never known how to feel after sex with Josef, never knew how he was supposed to act or what he was supposed to say, or do. "Why don't you...go and watch TV, or something."

"Sure." Josef tried to throw a reassuring smile in Mick's direction.

Breath catching in his throat, Josef watched as Mick got to his feet, and then started to walk away.

"Josef, I…" Mick hesitated when he reached the door to his Freezer room, turning back to face Josef, inner struggle evident in his expression. "I would've cared if you had died, I really would have. I..." Mick averted his eyes, staring down at the ground for a moment. "I just would have cared, ok?"

"Ok." Josef nodded his understanding.

An awkward glance, a depth of emotion read in each others eyes, passed between them. And then Mick turned away for a final time.

"It's now, or it's going to be never."

Realisation dawned on Josef then. Knowing what he had to do, he waited until he heard the soft click of Mick's Freezer lid as it closed shut, and then collected his clothes, tangled with Mick's still left there, from the hallway floor. Hurriedly redressing, he headed downstairs, and then walked out the door.

Into the still night air, and onto a facilitation of destiny.