Title: Life of the Party
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Josef Kostan/Mick St. John
Fandom: Moonlight
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,622
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.

***


"I really hate parties," Josef grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets as he and Mick left the crowded room they'd been in for the past hour and moved outside into the moonlit garden. "Too many people. What a fucking crush. I'd rather be at home."

"Is this the Josef Kostan I know?" Mick asked, his voice tinged with laughter. "This isn't like you. You've always been the life of every party you've gone to. I've watched you mingle and schmooze with every person in a room. Why do you hate going to parties all of a sudden?"

"I used to be like that," Josef corrected him, sidestepping a man hurrying into the oppressive warmth of the house. "That was when I was always looking for the next conquest. Or at least looking for a quick and easy dinner. That's all changed now."

"Not completely," Mick said, shaking his head. "You still get your blood straight from tapping the vein, not the way I do. You'll always be looking for dinner, Josef. Even when all you do is take a little of their blood, you're not going to stop hunting."

Josef shrugged, sighing and nodding in agreement. "Okay, I'll give you that. But I don't even hunt in the same way any more. I used to think that some of the people I took blood from might end up being more to me than just a meal. I don't see anybody like that now."

"I know you don't," Mick said, his tone softening. "I agree, you've changed a lot since we got together." He personally liked the changes in Josef; his boyfriend seemed softer, more approachable; he'd let down the walls that he'd spent so many decades building up around himself.

At least he'd done that with Mick. With others .... Mick sighed inwardly, glancing around him. Josef was still just as guarded and closed off from other people as he'd always been. But then, that shouldn't surprise him. Josef had learned that it was the safest way to live.

Would he want the man he loved to change that much? Mick didn't think so. He loved Josef exactly the way he was; he didn't have to change at all if he didn't want to. Mick might not approve of some of the things he did, but they wouldn't make him stop loving Josef.

Wasn't that part of what being in love was, anyway? Accepting someone exactly as they were? He should probably feel guilty that he hadn't been able to do that with Coraline, then. But those revelations had been too much for anyone to be expected to accept all at once.

"Why are we here, anyway?" Josef asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. "I know it's supposed to be a celebration -- but of what? I kind of ignored that part of the invitation when you said we were going to a party and I had to be ready when you got there."

Mick sighed, wanting to shake his head and admonish his boyfriend but not having the heart to do so. He hadn't particularly wanted to be here, either, but he'd thought that he could get some information that he needed for a case if he worked the room and listened.

That hadn't worked as well as he'd thought it would. Either people hadn't been talking in hushed voices as they usually did, or there just wasn't anyone here who knew about the things he was trying to discover. Either way, they hadn't really needed to be here.

"It's a party for one of the richest men in the city, Josef," he explained patiently, wondering why the other man hadn't known about this. He was usually on top of events like this -- but as he'd said, being with Mick had changed some of his habits a great deal.

Before they had become a couple, Josef would have come here just out of boredom, to scope out new sources of blood. He was, after all, a predator first and foremost. But Mick liked to think that the more dangerous side of his boyfriend was becoming tamer.

Did he really want that? he asked himself, startled at the thought. Did he want Josef to change that much, to become tame and complacent? Did he want to feel responsible for turning the man he loved into such a different person that there wasn't a trace of the original Josef left?

No, of course not. He'd fallen in love with Josef for who and what he was; it didn't matter to Mick that his boyfriend wasn't one of the tamer varieties of their species. Part of what he loved about Josef was that feeling of danger that always seemed to surround him.

But that danger had to be tempered with common sense, he told himself. Josef usually knew how to do that, but there were times when he let his hunger get the better of him. He was working on that, but Mick was sure that the primitive urge to feed would never be completely gone.

It wasn't entirely out of his own system, either, if he was honest with himself. He had to hold himself back from humans at times, especially when he was angry or frustrated. And in Josef's case, that was even harder to do, as he'd always indulged that frustration.

"I know that," Josef grumbled, jerking Mick's thoughts back to the present moment. "I just didn't want to come. I used to go to all these parties, and I was always bored stiff at them. The only reason I'm here is because you asked me to come with you. Why is that?"

"Because I thought I'd get some information that could help with the case I'm working on," Mick told him with a soft sigh, looking around them with a frown. "But that's a washout. Either nobody's talking, or nobody here knows anything that I should know."

"I'd vote for the second option," Josef told him, raising an eyebrow. "You know humans. They always talk. Especially if it's got something to do with scandal. If nobody's talking, it's because they don't know. Or because there's nothing to talk about."

"I think you're right." Mick glanced around them again before moving closer to Josef and slipping an arm around his lover's waist. "This isn't a celebration as far as I'm concerned. It's a useless party that neither one of us wants to be at."

"You're right about that." Josef looked at him from beneath those long dark lashes, a small smile starting to curve his lips. "Exactly what are you thinking? That we should make our excuses as politely as we can, and then cut and run?"

"Who said anything about making excuses?" Mick said, grimacing. He didn't really want to go back into that warm room; the crush of people was unbearable, and he'd already decided that he wasn't going to learn anything here tonight, anyway.

No, all he wanted to do was to go home -- either to his apartment or Josef's penthouse, where the two of them could be alone together. He wanted to strip off his boyfriend's tuxedo and take him to bed, and make love to him until they fell asleep as the dawn broke outside the windows.

Josef nodded, his smile widening into a grin, the first genuine smile that Mick had seen from him since the evening had started. His boyfriend was obviously as anxious to get out of here as he was -- and Mick could tell that Josef's thoughts echoed his own.

"So let's get the hell out of here," Josef whispered, offering Mick his arm as the two of them strode down the path that led out of the garden and around to the front of the house. "I've got a pretty good idea of where we'll be heading, and I'm ready to get there. Now."

"I don't know .... it's a shame to leave such a big celebration behind us without mingling a little more," Mick said, turning back as though he was having second thoughts. He wasn't, of course, but he couldn't resist teasing Josef, just a little.

"Oh no, you don't," Josef told him firmly, shaking his head and taking a few steps, nearly dragging Mick along with him. "I'm not going back in there. Let's just go home and enjoy the rest of the evening, and forget that we ever had to deal with any of this."

Mick laughed at the tone of his boyfriend's voice, letting himself be pulled towards the front of the house where they'd left Josef's car. "Okay, okay. I was just kidding! I'm just as ready as you are to get back home and enjoy the rest of the night."

"Then let's get to it," Josef said softly as they approached the car. He pulled out his keys, unlocking the driver's side door and flashing his insouciant grin at Mick as they got in. "You've got no idea just what might be in store for you tonight."

"I'm waiting with bated breath," Mick told him as he got into the car, barely able to buckle his seat belt before Josef backed out of their parking place and stepped on the gas, whisking them away from the party and on their way home before anyone had realized they were gone.

***