Work Text:
You want time to stop, but it doesn’t. It keeps marching on, rolling over everything in its path. And because you’re timeless, you struggle to find a way to fit into the fabric of it all. There are others around you (Josef) who seem to do this seamlessly, and you’re in awe of that. For you, it’s… difficult, at best.
XXX
Nobody came with him; no one knew he was there. It wasn’t the first funeral service he’d watched from afar; unfortunately, it wouldn’t be the last. Only after everyone was long gone did Mick approach closer, sitting on a bench that overlooked the fresh grave.
He was surprised by the presence that came and sat down next to him, although he made a point not to show it. He waited for the other to speak.
“Sorry about Bobby,” Josef offered, sounding sincere. “I know you two were close, back in the day.”
Back in the day when Mick tried to blend in, before he’d cut himself off from the human world. The world he was now starting to fit back into again. Maybe that’s what was setting off all these conflicting feelings in him again.
“Just another in a never-ending long line,” Mick admitted bitterly.
“Did you ever wonder why I mostly stuck to my own kind?” Josef surprised him by asking. When Mick looked at him he continued. “It makes things easier that way.”
“I thought it was because you don’t believe the farmer should fraternize with the food?” Mick teased, although he let it be known through his expression that he recognized and was grateful for the gift of honesty he’d received from his very private friend.
“There’s a cucumber joke in there somewhere,” Josef mused.
Mick ignored the quip. “You were right; Beth has no idea, does she?” He was referring to the conversation they’d had back at the Fitzgerald townhouse in New York, when Josef had broached the topic that her love for Mick shouldn’t be the only reason Beth chose to join the undead. “What’s in store for her. I’ve still got so many secrets from her myself, how do I get her to understand the consequences of being with me?”
“I was not quite myself when I said that,” Josef pointed out with a bit of discomfort. “Actually I think it’s the opposite: it’s the turner, not the turnee, who needs to have motives other than love.”
“That would preclude me turning Beth then, wouldn’t it?” Mick challenged.
“You always make things so much more complicated than they need to be, Mick. I just meant that some people aren’t cut out to be vampires. I’ve always believed Beth will adjust well and make a great vamp.”
Not ready for that subject yet, Mick veered back to the topic of mortality again. “How do the other vamps do it, the ones who do keep strong ties to mortals?”
“That’s more a question for Shane than me,” Josef admitted. “He’s got that amazing knack of caring but being able to let go when it’s time.”
“Shane’s not my best friend, you are.”
“Aww, Mick!" Josef exclaimed, throwing his arms around the other vamp in an exaggeratedly enthusiastic hug.
Mick’s hands flailed, mock-seriously trying to knock away the embrace. “Get off me!”
“So, you’re gonna sit here and brood all day, I suppose,” Josef asked when they’d regained their composure.
“You wanna go do something?” Mick ventured, surprised at himself for the question.
“Like what?” Josef sounded interested. Mick was reminded how long it was since they’d ‘hung out’ together, just the two of them. Had to admit ever since he’d given up the partying, they didn’t have as much common ground as before. Maybe that’s why Josef was always trying to corrupt him.
“I guess we don’t have much in common anymore,” Mick admitted out loud.
Josef gave Mick an arched eyebrow, and it was almost as if Mick could read his thoughts. Surely if they really had nothing in common, they wouldn’t spend so much time in each other’s company.
“I’ve got two tickets to the Super Bowl this year,” Josef told him smugly.
Just like that, things slid back into perspective for Mick. Everyone had their own likes and dislikes, no one was completely compatible. “As long as you don’t go making any huge, stupid bets,” Mick told him. “You brooded for weeks!”
“I don’t brood!” Josef sputtered indignantly. “That’s your gig.” Mick gave him a pointed look. “Well, maybe just about money,” he conceded.
“Money is like humans, Josef,” Mick told him. “It comes and goes. Detach with love.”
“So says the man who got rich off my investment knowledge and enjoys the things money can buy.”
“It can’t buy love, Josef.”
Predictably, Josef began to sing in his ear. “I’ll buy you a diamond ring my friend, if it makes you feel all right; I’ll get you anything my friend if it makes you feel all right; ‘cause I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love…”
As they left the cemetery, arms slung around each other companionably, Mick realized Josef had succeeded at what was most likely his master plan all along – to distract Mick from brooding. Of course, that involved striding in and turning the conversation around so that it was about him.
“The world doesn’t actually revolve around you, you know,” Mick told him mildly.
“Yes it does Mick,” Josef refuted. “And the sooner you realize that, the better for you.”
Mick shook his head in exasperation but realized he wouldn’t have Josef any other way.
If anyone had seen them if would have seemed an odd, irreverent sight: two men walking through a graveyard with their arms around each other, loudly singing a Beatles tune.
“Can’t buy me love, everybody tells me so, can't buy me love, no no no no…”
The end
1/23/10