Title: A Time For Us
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Josef Kostan/Mick St. John
Fandom: Moonlight
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,775
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.

***

"How did you feel when you realized that you were in love with me?" Josef asked Mick, turning to look at his boyfriend across the expanse of his palatial living room. "I mean, did you feel breathless, or dizzy, or like somebody sucker-punched you in the gut?"

"All three," Mick answered with a laugh. "No, seriously, I did. It kind of hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks to figure out that I was in love with a man -- and then I realized that I'd been in love with you since we first met, I just hadn't wanted to admit it."

"It was hard for me to admit, too," Josef told him, moving back across the room to sit down on the couch next to his boyfriend. "Especially with what happened to me before I was turned. But you can't deny the kind of attraction we have, Mick."

"No, you can't," Mick said softly, leaning over to brush his lips against Josef's. "It might have been hard for both of us to admit our real feelings, but we found each other eventually, thank goodness. If we hadn't, I don't want to think what we'd both be doing now."

"You'd probably still be with that selfish blob who doesn't care about anything other than having everyone's attention focused on her -- and I'd more than likely still be angsting over a woman who was lost to me decades ago," Josef mused, looking thoughtful. "Not fun."

Mick shuddered at the thought, slipping an arm around Josef's waist and pulling the other man close to him. "I don't even want to think about that. I can't believe that I wanted to spend my life with her at one point. Shows how dumb I can be, doesn't it?"

"No dumber than me, hanging onto someone in the hope that some miracle would happen to bring her back," Josef said softly, shaking his head. "We've both made mistakes in the past, but we can put them down to experience now, and get on with our lives."

"I wonder what's going to happen in those lives?" Mick mused, holding up the glass of ruby liquid that Josef had handed him when he sat down, then lifting to his lips and draining it. "Too bad neither one of us has a crystal ball."

"Are you so sure we need one?" Josef asked, arching one brow in question. "I don't think we do. We both know that we're going to live forever. And we both know that we'll be with each other. What more do we need? I'm pretty happy just being sure of that."

"Are you so sure?" This time it was Mick's turn to raise an eyebrow, an almost cynical expression on his handsome features. "A lot can happen in eternity, Josef. Hell, I thought I'd be with Coraline for that long. And look at how wrong I was."

"You thought you'd be with her even when you didn't know what she was, and you thought you'd just have the normal human life span," Josef objected, a slight frown between his brows. "All of that changed when she turned you, didn't it?"

"Yeah," Mick admitted with a sigh. "When I became immortal -- or as good as being immortal, I guess -- then I figured out that it wasn't what I wanted out of life. All I wanted was to be human again. Still do, in a lot of ways. But I can live with this now."

"If you were human, then I'd want you to be one of us again," Josef told him, his voice husky. It took Mick a few moments to realize that his words about wanting to be human again had cut Josef to the bone, and he could understand why.

The last words that Josef had said to him before he'd turned Mick for the second time were 'forgive me" -- and Mick had nodded when their eyes met, telling Josef without words that he was already forgiven for what he was going to do. He couldn't take that back.

And he did forgive Josef. He'd only done what Mick had requested that he do; and if Mick was completely honest with himself, he didn't regret the decision. His only regret was that he'd made that decision because of someone who didn't deserve that kind of sacrifice.

She was behind him now, a part of his past that made him wince. She had never been right for him, but it had taken him a long time to see that. This man was where his future lay, and he hadn't meant to hurt Josef by intimating that he didn't want them to be together.

"I didn't mean it that way," he said softly, hoping that Josef believed him. "It's not that I don't appreciate being what I am, especially since you're the one who turned me. I just .... wish I'd done it for better reasons at the time than I did."

Josef sighed, nodding in agreement. "I'll be honest -- I wish you'd done it for me instead of her," he said, not looking at Mick as he raised his own glass of blood to his lips and tossed it back. "She didn't deserve it. But it was what you wanted, so I couldn't say no."

"And it was what you wanted, too, wasn't it?" Mick asked gently, wanting to hear the truth from Josef. "I know you always wanted me to become a vampire again after that compound of Coraline's turned me back to being human. You missed me being a vamp."

When the other man's eyes met his again, Mick almost gasped at the naked honesty he saw in their depths. "Damn right I did," Josef whispered, reaching out a hand to stroke Mick's cheek. "I wanted you back. I wanted to feel like you were a part of what I am."

"And now I am -- and you're the one who made it happen," Mick said with a smile. "There's still a part of me that's always going to miss being human, Josef. But if being with you means that I have to embrace being a vampire, then I do. With open arms, and no regrets."

"Our time is finally here, Mick." Josef's voice was soft, a little choked. "I've waited for this for so long, and there were times when I didn't think it would ever happen. "It's time for you and me to be together, without anything from the past getting in our way."

"I always knew that our time would come someday, even when I was still trying to get used to the idea of loving a man," Mick told him. "But there was still a part of me that kind of doubted you and I could ever be together without a lot of complications."

"There aren't any complications now," Josef whispered, his gaze still riveted on Mick's face. "We've been together for a while, and nothing's happened to screw things up. We've had our ups and downs, but we're both still adjusting to the feelings we have for each other."

"I guess you're right about that," Mick conceded. "We might have been together for a while now, but it's still hard to get used to the idea that I'm in love with a man, and that I'm going to spend the rest of my life with him. Especially when that man is my best friend."

"You'd prefer to be with somebody who wasn't your friend, and all you had in common was sex?" Josef asked with a laugh, wrinkling his nose. "Even though I have to admit, the sex is great. Never thought I'd say that about sex with a man, but there you go."

"After what you went through the night you were turned, I don't doubt it," Mick murmured, pulling Josef closer against his body. "You've endured a lot in your lifetime, Josef, before and after you became what we are. But that's over now. I want to make your life happy."

"You do," Josef said softly, resting his head against Mick's shoulder. "You make me happy just by being here. Loving be. Being a part of my life. Letting me know that you care about me, and that you don't hold it against me for turning you again."

"I forgave you for that before you did it," Mick told him, stroking his hair. "I asked you to do it, remember? For the wrong reasons, but I can't regret doing it. Not now. Not since we're together, and I know I couldn't have been with you if I was still human."

"So you'd rather be with me than be human again?" Josef lifted his head, blinking in surprise. "I never thought I'd hear you say that, Mick. I know how much you care about me -- but I know how much your humanity means to you, too. That's saying a lot."

"It's way past time for me to get over that whole obsession with being human again," Mick told the other man, leaning forward to brush a kiss across Josef's lips. "This is finally a time for us, Josef. I'm with you now, and I'm happy with who and what I am. That's all there is to say."

Mick wasn't quite sure, but he almost thought he could catch a glimmer in Josef's eyes, one that reminded him suspiciously of tears. But he knew that Josef would never admit to that, so he wasn't going to mention it to the other man.

But still, he could hold that close to him, the satisfaction of knowing that he touched Josef's heart, and that his boyfriend cared enough about him to admit things that he'd never tell another living soul. That wasn't easy for Josef to do -- and it wasn't easy for him, either.

Their time had indeed come -- and Mick was more than ready for it. He'd closed the door on his past, made peace with his regrets, and he was ready to walk into a whole new life with the man he loved. He was actually looking forward to seeing just what that life had in store -- for both of them.

***