Title: Listen To Love
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Josef Kostan/Mick St. John
Fandom: Moonlight
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,736
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.

***

"Why do you always feel like you have to look over your shoulder?" Mick sighed as Josef cast a furtive look around them for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. "There's nobody following us. We'd both sense it if there was."

Josef sighed, then shrugged. "I guess I'm just used to being wary whenever I go out. It's not like I stay in the penthouse all the time, but I've learned the value of being careful when I'm in public and exposed to anybody who might hold a grudge."

Mick could understand that; over the four centuries that he'd been a vampire, Josef had probably done a lot that would make people hold grudges against him, especially when he'd first turned. But weren't most of the vampires from that time period gone by now?

"You don't think anybody from the time you turned is still after you, do you?" he asked, his question accompanied by a worried frown. "I didn't think there were many of them still left. There's Lance, but he's never seemed to have it in for you."

"He doesn't," Josef said, his voice tight and controlled. "That's because I was never stupid enough to get myself involved with anything he did in any way. I was friends with Coraline, and that's as far as it went. Being crazy enough to interfere in his business is your province."

"What was I supposed to do, Josef?" Mick asked with a sigh. "He was going to kill Coraline. And he'd have taken the compound -- which I would have done anything to keep. All I wanted then was to be human again. I didn't know how things would turn out."

"I warned you, didn't I?" Josef demanded. "I told you to stay away from him, and to stay away from her. I told you to keep out of it, that whatever was going on was between them. And I told you that being human again was a mistake that you'd regret."

Mick couldn't answer; he knew that his boyfriend was right. Josef had told him all of those things, and as it turned out, he wished that he would have listened to the older, wiser vampire. But since when had he ever wanted to listen when he was set on a course of action?

Josef sighed, moving closer to him and taking his hand. "I know you well enough to know that you never want to listen to reason, especially when you make up your mind about something. I just keep telling myself that I have to be here when you need me."

"You have to be here for me?" Mick asked, raising an eyebrow in question. "I thought you wanted to be." He was only half-joking; he'd wondered about Josef's motivations for turning him again when he'd asked for it. Maybe now he'd get a few answers to some of his questions.

His boyfriend had told him a lot about his life in earlier centuries, but Mick still wanted to know more. He knew better than to push Josef for those answers, though. The other vampire was very closed about his past, and Mick couldn't blame him for that.

From what Josef had already told him, Mick knew that he was ashamed of some things he'd done, which was surprising in itself. Josef wasn't one to have any shame about what he was; he loved being a vampire, and he embraced the life wholeheartedly.

He never held back the fact that he killed people, and that he tapped his blood directly from the vein. But he also had a softer side that Mick was sure no one was allowed to see, a side that was closer to human than he'd ever thought Josef could be.

He'd seen that side for the first time when Josef had opened a door to his more recent past with Sarah. Mick had realized then that the man he'd always thought was so cold and aloof had inward wounds that would never be visible, wounds hidden by his protective armor.

Yet Josef had let him see those wounds -- and when he'd looked into those incredible dark eyes over the bed that Josef's lost love lay in, he'd seen into the other man's soul. Maybe that was when he'd first fallen in love with Josef.

No, he'd loved this man long before that, Mick told himself. He just hadn't wanted to admit it. He hadn't wanted to let himself believe that the love of his life was another man -- someone who he hadn't thought could love him as anything more than a good friend.

But he had been wrong. Josef had felt more for him than friendship; he just hadn't let it show. Mick didn't know if that was out of some deep-seated fear of rejection, or because of what had happened to him when he was human. He was only glad that they had finally become one.

He wanted answers to all of his questions about Josef's past, but he knew that he couldn't get them all at once. In spite of their relationship and the love they had for each other, that part of his past was still a subject that Josef avoided.

"I do want to be," Josef said softly, bringing Mick's thoughts back to the present. "If I didn't want to be here for you, would I be sleeping with you? Would I have admitted that I love you? I don't think so. I'd still be pretending that we were just friends."

"You were always there for me, even when we thought that there was nothing between us but friendship," Mick said slowly, a realization dawning in his mind. "That's because you knew how you felt about me way before I did, didn't you?"

Josef laughed, glancing at him as they walked along. "Of course I did. I knew from the first time I saw you, even though I didn't want to admit it to myself. I didn't want to think that I could fall in love with a man, not after my last night as a human."

Mick squeezed his lover's hand in sympathy; he didn't blame Josef for feeling that way. After what had been done to him, and his subsequent turning, he was surprised that Josef had ever been able to let himself be physically close to another man.

And yet Josef had been attracted to him. He'd been human when that attraction had started; he couldn't help but feel gratified that someone like Josef had fallen for him even though there had appeared to be an insurmountable barrier between them at the time.

Josef had known when they'd first met that the two of them were destined to be more than just friends. There had been some attraction between them that had been undeniable, even though he himself had been so infatuated with Coraline that he hadn't realized it.

Maybe that was the only answer he needed for now, he told himself with an inward sigh. He knew that Josef loved him and wanted to be with him for the rest of their lives -- which could be a very, very long time indeed. And that was really all he needed to know.

But he had one more question to ask before he let the subject drop. "Josef .... did you know that we were destined to be together when we first met, even though I was with Coraline then?" he asked softly, wishing that he didn't have to ask.

Josef sighed, stopping in his tracks and shoving his hands into his pockets. He didn't look directly at Mick for several long moments; then, when their eyes met, it was as though neither of them could look away. Mick almost held his breath, waiting for Josef to speak.

"Yes," the other vampire said, his voice barely audible. "I don't know how, but I knew that you were going to be the love of my life. I could feel it. Don't ask me how, Mick. And don't ask me why, because I don't know. But I'm glad I listened to that feeling."

"So am I," Mick told him, slipping his arms around Josef's waist and pulling the other man close to him. "I'd never have thought that I'd fall in love with a man, but I don't regret a second of it. And I intend to be with you for a long time to come."

"You said that to Coraline, too, didn't you?" Josef whispered. "About being with her for a long time. And it didn't happen. So don't make promises you might not be able to keep, Mick. Just live in the here and now. And enjoy the time you have. You don't know if it'll last."

"I'll make it last," Mick murmured, closing his eyes and inhaling the scent of Josef's hair. "I'll hold back time if I have to, if it'll give me longer with you." He knew that he was talking like a crazy person, but he didn't care. At the moment, he meant every word he said.

He didn't need any answers. Not now. All he needed was to be with Josef -- now and for the rest of his life, however long that might be. He had time to get his answers. And he had the rest of their lives to ask any questions he needed to ask.

Josef slowly raised his head, letting out a soft laugh and pulling away from Mick. "We don't want people to see us out here in a compromising position," he murmured, taking his boyfriend's hand and twining their fingers together. "It might ruin our reputations."

Mick laughed aloud as the two of them resumed their stroll down the sidewalk, squeezing his lover's hand. He had the only answer to any question that he needed tonight -- the fact that Josef had chosen to listen to love, and even though it had taken a while, that love had finally managed to bring them together.

***