Title: Caveat Emptor
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Josef Kostan/Mick St. John
Fandom: Moonlight
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,629
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.***
"What do you mean, you went out walking on the beach last night?" Mick threw down the paper he'd been desultorily reading, staring at Josef. "After everything that's happened, you went out by yourself? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Josef shrugged, turning to Mick with a frown. "It's not like I can't take care of myself, Mick. I'm four hundred years old. I'm stronger than you are, dammit! I'm not some weak little kid who needs your protection all the time. I can get along fine. Don't worry so much."
Mick wanted to scream at his boyfriend, to get to his feet and pace around the room, railing at Josef until he managed to get some sense into his boyfriend's brain. After everything that had happened with Bartolomy, he couldn't just go out in the dead of night when the fancy took him.
Taking a deep breath, he tried to tamp down on his anger, to calm the frantic pounding of his heart that Josef's words had started. He couldn't carry on a rational conversation with Josef if he was letting anger and worry cloud his judgement.
"Josef, I don't want you to take risks," he said, hoping that his words made sense to his lover. "Not in any way. Especially not so soon after everything that's happened. First Bartolomy coming after you, then that crazy guy with the silver dust. It's all been too much."
Josef shook his head, looking stubborn. "Mick, I know you worry about me, and I'm touched. Really. But I don't want a nursemaid. I don't want a bodyguard, either. I have people around to look out for me -- and that includes you sometimes. But I'm not going to hide away from the world."
Mick sighed, feeling frustrated and at a loss for words. He should have known that Josef would take this kind of an attitude; after all, he'd been used to looking after himself for over four hundred years before they got together. Of course he wouldn't take kindly to being protected.
He'd always put precautions around himself, but all the things that had gone down in the past few weeks had shown him just how vulnerable he could be, even with those safeguards in place. So Mick didn't know why he was being so reckless now.
"Josef, you're my responsibility," he began, standing up and shoving his hands into his pockets. "I want to make sure that you're safe. And I can't do that if you're going to decide to take midnight rambles on a deserted beach by yourself."
Really, that wasn't the only thing that he was worried about. Why had Josef been out walking on the beach alone? Was he thinking about the two of them, turning their relationship over in his mind? Could his lover be regretting his decision to be with a man?
No, he couldn't be. Josef wouldn't think like that. He was secure in their relationship; he wouldn't have some kind of change of heart simply because he'd fallen in love with a man and not a woman. He didn't care that much for society's conventions.
"Your responsibility?" Mick almost recoiled as Josef turned towards him, his eyes flaring with that glow that made his vampiric nature evident. "I'm not your possession, Mick. You don't own me. And you're not responsible for me. I'm responsible for myself."
"I didn't mean it that way," Mick said softly, keeping his hands in his pockets so that Josef wouldn't see how they were trembling. "I just want to protect you, Josef. If anything happened to you .... I'd be lost. I can't stand the thought of losing you."
Josef came over to stand beside him, looking into Mick's face with that searching gaze that had always made Mick feel that the other man was seeing right into the depths of his soul. After what seemed like a long time, he finally spoke again, his voice soft and husky.
"Mick, I know you love me. I know you want to protect me. But you can't be there right by my side every second of every day. And we both need our personal space." Josef reached out to place his hand against Mick's cheek. "It's not that I don't want to be with you. You should know that."
Mick nodded; he did know that, in spite of his momentary fear that Josef could be having second thoughts about their relationship. He should have known that worry was groundless; Josef wasn't going to leave him. They'd been through too much, loved each other too much.
"I do know that," he finally managed to say, reaching up to place one hand over Josef's, his gaze locking with the other man's. "But that doesn't stop me from wanting to keep you safe. I can't be with you all the time, but I'll be there are much as possible."
"I don't want you to think of me as your possession, Mick." Josef's voice was firm, his words not leaving any room for argument. "You don't own me. And you can't control what I do. I don't think of you as being my property, and I don't want to be thought of in that way either."
"You're not my property, Josef. I'd never think that I own you," Mick began, unsure of how to put his feelings into words. "But I'd like to think that I own your heart. Because you own mine. I want to believe that you gave me yours, and that you trust me with it."
"You know I do," Josef said, his voice still soft, but with a slight edge to it. "Still, there's something you need to remember, Mick. If you feel like I'm your possession, remember the old saying. Caveat emptor -- 'let the buyer beware.'"
Mick nodded, swallowing hard at those words. He'd always known that Josef could be dangerous -- but he had also know that the danger his boyfriend could represent would never be leveled at him. But this was still a reminder that Josef couldn't be tamed -- or owned.
This man would love him and be faithful to him for all of eternity. Mick had no doubt of that. But he also knew that Josef was a predator at heart -- and that he couldn't cage this man, no matter how much he wanted to keep his lover safe and protected.
"I'll remember that," he told Josef, his voice sounding thick and strained. "But I don't need to think about it. I don't see you as a possession, Josef. I don't want you to think that I do. I just see you as the man I love, the person who means everything to me."
Pulling Josef close against him, he continued, not taking his eyes from the other man's face. "If I can't protect you, then it's my own failing. And I don't want to lose you because of my own carelessness, and then have to mourn you for the rest of eternity. I can't live like that."
"You won't have to," Josef told him, a slight catch in his voice. He cleared his throat before he spoke again, his voice firmer this time. "Nothing's going to happen to me, Mick. You've got to trust me on that. You've got to stop trying to keep me protected all the time."
Mick nodded reluctantly, wishing that he didn't have to accede to Josef's wishes, but knowing that he had no choice. If he didn't, Josef was very capable of simply doing whatever he wanted to do without telling Mick -- and that could be even more dangerous.
At least if he let Josef know that he was relaxing his vigilance somewhat, then his boyfriend might inform him when he was going out, and when Mick might need to keep an eye on him. It was a slim chance, but i was better than not knowing anything.
"I knew what I was getting when I got involved with you," he said softly, trying to lighten the moment. "I've always known you were dangerous, Josef. And that's never bothered me. I'll jump right into danger along with you. Just let me know when you're ready to make that jump, okay?"
"But that would be telling!" Josef protested, giving Mick that insouciant smile that never failed to melt his heart. "I don't want to spoil the surprise." He winked at his boyfriend, then sobered for a moment, looking entirely serious again. "But okay. I won't do anything stupid. I promise."
"Caveat emptor, indeed!" Mick said with a laugh. "You'll never let me wrap you in cotton wool to protect you, and I shouldn't have expected that. And I don't believe you won't ever do anything stupid. You wouldn't be my Josef if you didn't."
"Your Josef?" his boyfriend asked with raised brows. "Didn't we just have this conversation about me not being a possession?" His voice was mock-severe, but Mick could see the laughter lurking in his eyes, the ghost of a smile that his lover couldn't quite hold back.
"Damn right you're 'my' Josef," Mick told his boyfriend, hugging Josef more firmly against him. "And nobody had better ever question that. Not even you," he murmured, bowing his head to capture Josef's lips in a heady, passionate kiss meant to prove that they belonged to each other.***