* DELIVERANCE

DELIVERANCE "LIV" MAYHEW. Half-Blood. Twenty-Seven years old. Auror Officer. Central Squad. Kind of a hot mess. RIP. "take me to church, i'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies." POINTS: 520 Active Cases: –– Nightmare Man In North Dakota.

[deliverancemayhew]

marleighmcmahon​:

Liv’s instinct, presented with all the facts, feels like a good one; they’d been thinking pretty much the same thing themself, that while it was possible Xander Cain had wanted to disappear, it was just as likely that they’d been caught up in something bigger than they knew and that this re-appearance was a last-ditch attempt at trying to get out of it before they got in any deeper. They’re about to say as much, to Liv, when the auror in front of them cuts in, speaking up before they have a chance to fully formulate their thoughts. 

     “Right,” de la Cruz says, voice veering from the rehearsed professionalism with which he’d delivered his whole spiel about the case and back towards that annoyed, clipped tone he’d taken earlier, like he’s offended by Liv’s suggestion somehow. “That was my first thought as well, when we got the report. That they were trying to get our attention, or someone’s attention, looking to be found. It made me wonder if maybe they were coerced into leaving, and when they were still in New York it was one thing, but the move out this far has them worried.”

It’s a solid theory, but it also sounds like something de la Cruz is pulling out of his ass, instead of some well-formulated theory he’d been thinking over since he first got the report, like he’s taken Liv’s idea and run with it just to sound like it had been his idea before Liv had even gotten involved. Christ, was a piece of shit.

     “I had thought,” he goes on, barreling ahead without waiting for a reply, “that a good next step might be to—”

      “Sure, thanks for your time Officer,” they say, cutting him off and nodding in his direction. “This has all been very enlightening, but I think it’d be best if we not waste any more time talking when we should be out looking. What do you think, Liv, let’s talk to the guy from the club, see if he saw them? Maybe he’ll have something we can go on, get a feeling for how Cain looked, signs of distress or anything like that, or whoever they might have been talking to.” 

De la Cruz looks put out, isn’t even trying to hide it as he looks between Marleigh and Liv, clearly offended at having been shrugged off here, but he’s not here to solve the case with them, just here to give them the background they needed, which, as far as Marleigh’s concerned, he’s already done. 

Liv thinks that wildly, he might have actually gotten good at reading Marleigh in the few months that they’ve been getting to know each other better. You get that way, about people you’ve slept with and people you’ve poured your heart out to, Liv has learned. They have a way of becoming fixed in your mind, so that you notice their face moving in specific ways. He thinks that Marleigh likes his idea, that they’re on the same page here. It’s always a good feeling. when you get that impression on a case. 

Of course, de la Cruz does that thing he always does in the end. He sticks his nose in and acts like he’s god’s fucking gift to the profession as a whole. The change in his tone is an obvious one, not so professional as he had been before. Liv wonders if seeing him there has shaken him, has reminded them of the rocky path they both walked back in the Academy. The biting things they might have said to one another, that Liv can hardly remember now in the grand scope of things. The way they’d slept together, because frankly Liv was easy, and he was starting to realize now that he usually slept with men who were kind of mean to him. It’s almost amusing, the way that de la Cruz can pull it all off, can make it seem like this is something he’s been thinking about for a very long time indeed. Maybe he has, but there’s a slight look in his eye like he’s just annoyed Liv said it first, like he’s annoyed that Liv is there at all. 

And Liv doesn’t actually give a fuck about who said what when, who had what idea first. It’s all about the case, in the end, that’s always been his view of things. He thinks that de la Cruz means to keep going, to lay out the correct course of action for them to take here. But Marleigh doesn’t let them get very far with it. Liv has to suppress his slightly savage grin at the way that Marleigh does it. 

He tears his eyes away from de la Cruz and looks back at Marleigh again, nods his head. “Seems good to me, boss. We should see if we can track down the chick too, while we’re there. Don’t know what this whole White Serpent thing is really about, but i’d put money on her knowing more than anyone else about it in that club. Cain might have even been there to see her.” He says, and its a casual kind of assurance. He doesn’t spare much of a glance for Julián as he straightens up for them to move out, even though he can feel the eyes on both him and Marleigh. He pushes himself away from where he had settled when de la Cruz first launched in to his overview of the case, not really wasting any time. 

Except. Liv is kind of a dick, and he can’t quite reign in the savage edge that sometimes got him in to trouble back when he was still on a normal squad, like de la Cruz was now. “Thank’s for the help.” He says, with a sharp little grin, before they head out the door. “I’ll call to tell you all about it when we solve it for you.” 

And then they say their real goodbye, they head out of the department headquarters and back on to the street, Liv shaking his head when they finally get back in to fresh air. “Well, Officer de la Cruz sure was delightful as always.” He says, half a joke, as he looks at Marleigh. 

[deliverancemayhew]

aurorbishop​:

The conversation with Marco wasn’t the most illuminating, which doesn’t really surprise them after their conversation with the store clerk. Everything about this case seemed to be pointing back to Katie and her own experience. Whatever was going on here seemed to both start and end with the young witch. If the tape was cursed, or haunted, or whatever in the hell it was, it seemed to focus solely on Katie Chen, now it was only a matter of figuring out why and how. 

Rolling their eyes at Liv’s flirtatious smile, they take hold of his arm, silently agreeing to his suggestion. Within a few seconds they find themselves outside Katie Chen’s home, a one story ranch style house in the middle of what seemed to be a fairly quiet cul de sac, from what Harlow could tell. 

 “So I guess we just interview her, figure out as much as we can about this tape, then have ourselves a movie night later?” They ask, as they look over to Liv. “And before you say it no, that’s not my way of asking you out, jackass.” 

Liv seemed to be having an absolute ball with this concealment of his, and they’re secretly pleased with it. Liv needed a light case, something fun where he had the chance to goof off for a bit. Rory seemed to always have a knack of picking just the right concealments for the right occasions- or deliberately the wrong ones. They’re just glad Rory’s expertise favored the former on this case, instead of the latter. 

Walking up the short path up to the home’s front door, they give Liv a quick look to make sure he was ready before they give the door a knock, and wait for Katie Chen or someone else in the home to answer. 

The one story house on the quiet street appears before them in what seems like no time at all. This was where their victim lived, where an innocent night had turned into something chilling and scary for her. All Katie Chen had wanted to do was watch a movie, rented from the same video store that everyone seemed to go to. It was such an ordinary thing, so mundane. A no-maj curiosity in a world where wixen kind were getting more and more fixated on those things. And Katie was a no-maj born, like Liv, so she would be well used to things like this. She would never even consider that something magical or mystical might be laying inside a VHS tape. It should never have been scary, and it makes Liv want to figure it out for her. The tape could be cursed, this could be malicious, or Katie could be haunted by something that no one understands.

It’s why he’s glad he’s here with Harlow, really. This, the most trusted of friendships, the person he trusts himself the most to lean on. With Camden and Marleigh, he always feels guilty somehow, but Harlow has seen him fall apart and understands him better than most people. The same never really comes when he’s around them, as if scared off by their personality and their steadfast friendship. They don’t always talk about the serious stuff, they don’t always have to, but it doesn’t break them when they do. if it were anyone else, after the conversation they’d had about therapy and damage and being broken, Liv thinks he would feel strange and awkward, but that can never sink in around Harlow.

Harlow looks over at them as they speak, and Liv has his mouth half open to make some kind of joke about it before Harlow gets there first, shutting it down. So Liv grins and rolls his eyes. “Whatever you say, boss. We all know you’d wanna bang this if it wasn’t me.” He shakes his head, half laughing.

It’s easy to follow Harlow up the path to Katie’s home, the building where this all went down and the girl who might have all of the answers that they need. Harlow knocks on the door, and they settle in and wait for Katie to come along and answer it. She doesn’t keep them waiting long. A young girl pulls the door open to greet them, and Liv already has that professional smile in place when she does, ready to get this going.

“Hi,” She says, a little shy with it all. “Can I help you?”

“We’re with MACUSA.” Liv fills in for her. “Central Squad. We’re here about your little problem with the tape.” His voice is a casual and well practiced thing, even with the slightly alien changes that come from the concealment he’s still wearing. He doesn’t mind the sound of it, his words through different vocal cords, the strangeness of a new body having disappeared almost instantly, yet still leaving him slightly off step with the world. “I know you already talked to the local aurors when you handed in the tape, but how would you feel about sharing your experience with us again, Ms. Chen?”

[deliverancemayhew]

snowbaron​:

It feels like she’s seeing a side of Deliverance that she had never considered might even be there. It’s nothing against him in particular, it’s just that she genuinely rarely gives her coworkers thought outside of work, outside of what she sees in the office, or on cases. They’ve been deskmates for a long while, but that doesn’t mean all that much in terms of knowing him better than anyone else in the office for her. All it’s meant is that sometimes she’ll talk to him slightly more than someone else, since there’s the element of convenience not having to get up to ask for something. But she thinks that she could’ve made some guesses about him, just from what she had seen in the office, and this is not something she ever could have guessed she would find.

Now that they’re both settling into the idea that they’re both here, and here for very similar reasons, it feels a little easier to relax, and it seems like he’s relaxing, too. And it’s clear as day that this sort of thing isn’t necessarily normal for Liv, but that that makes it all the more meaningful. Or maybe it’s more meaningful and that’s what it’s not normal. Either way, it feels a little like looking back at a strange, unexpected reflection of herself, because she feels that, too. Everything she’s ended up finding with Becker is different, and new, and important in a way other people rarely managed to feel for her.

The playing field she hadn’t even realized she was stepping onto feels even, but more than that, the idea of this connection, no matter how bizarre and unexpected it is, isn’t one she minds. In fact, she likes the idea of someone knowing, and understanding, and she thinks maybe that might be something Liv could use, too, much more than her, given the consequences of someone else realizing what he has with Camden. So she lets herself move forward to sit down on the stool at the island counter, lets herself smile as she shakes her head. “I think you’re right, I owe you big time for this one,” she laughs.  “Oh, god, stop, I don’t even want to know. If you call Becker Old Man Savage, though, I’m not gonna defend you from more embarrassment. I’m lucky I haven’t run into Camden while here, yet. But I can only assume what I would get is less of a sex talk, and more of a you’re sinning talk, right? Despite what you’re apparently up to.”

.

There should be a strangeness that comes in having worked together for such a long while and yet knowing next to nothing about each other. They share a desk, but they haven’t gotten cozy about it, not like some of the others have. Marleigh and HQ act like their married, just because they spend all day looking at each other. Whenever he glances over at the french one and the nerdy one, they seem like they’re on the brink of something pretty intense, all smiles and quiet conversations, passing notes back and forth. He thinks its a side effect of the fact that Liv and Baron are more similar than most people know. They don’t make much of an effort with people at work. It’s why there are only three people in the office that Liv knows anything about -- he’s never wanted to put himself out there, never found them interesting enough to waste his time on, when he was pretty sure most of them would hate him given the chance. Baron, in her turn, always seemed more focused on work than anything else. 

They shared a desk. They talked a little. But this might be the first real conversation they had ever had, definitely the first one outside of the bounds of their stations. 

It’s strange, but he thinks he might like her already, that he might have been foolish to not think Baron Snow was overly worth his time. She always seemed so wrapped up in her own drama, in the weight of the family name that Liv didn’t give two shits about. But now she was wrapped up in his drama too, in the complex journey of getting close to a Savage brother, the thrill of spending your nights with one. They were in each others orbit in a way now that would be hard to ignore and hard to shake off, and instead of being scared of it Liv was almost relieved. Becker and Camden weren’t the same type of creature, no matter what some people thought, but it was nice to know that someone else was in almost the same boat as he was, wrapped up in a complex relationship with a complex man that most people thought was creepy. Maybe Baron and Liv would have to understand each other better now, simply because they understood each others circumstances. 

He finds himself laughing when she takes her seat on the stool and reacts to his little comment about Becker. Old Man Savage. Maybe it wasn’t fair. He didn’t seem that old, but Liv knew he had to be. Camden was much much older than he looked, and Becker was his older brother, so... something had to be going on there, something that Liv honestly didn’t care enough about to dive too deeply in to. It wasn’t his place to pry, anyway. “Okay, okay.” He laughs, and wrinkles his nose up at her own returning joke about Camden. “Oh, we’re not doing nearly as much sinnin’ as I normally would.” He says, because it feels true in the grand scope of things. “But I’d still count my blessings that you haven’t run in to him in the middle of the night. I always got the idea that the Savage Brothers weren’t super good at lettin’ people in and sharing.”

[deliverancemayhew]

savagexcamden​:

It feels right to have him sitting across from him, which is a funny thought to have, but one he doesn’t mind one bit. If it’s not Becker, if it can’t be the one person he has relied on for his entire life, the man who’s given up so much, and done so much to make sure he was safe, that he could keep living, then it feels right for it to be the person who had somehow crept his way into another version of that in Camden’s life. Because it does feel like a layer of protection, to be sitting with Liv. He feels less exposed to the world, sitting with someone who knows him so wholly, someone who knows him better than any other person in this room, now that Becker has an office to close himself away in. Having Liv has made him realize just how lonely the world feels when he lets himself think about it, when he’s not with Becker. There’s always been a separation between himself and the rest of the world, even before his transformation, but perhaps there doesn’t need to be. Liv makes him want to try, makes him want to discover all the things that he might have missed, too wrapped up in salvation to realize the world on earth kept turning all the while.

And maybe there’s something a little possessive in how he looks back at Liv, as he makes himself comfortable in the seat across from him. Camden likes to be able to look at him, keep him in his line of sight. He likes to have him close enough that they can touch, or even just knowing that he’s close enough to touch, in this case. He says the Atlas act suits him, but around Liv he feels much lighter than he usually does, somehow, despite the dangers there. That’s a danger in and of itself he knows, and he’s well aware that if they’re going to sit here, so close, they’re going to have to be much more careful than they have been. Sneaking off to do what they did in the training room can’t happen, as much as the very thought makes him shift a little, a rush of want washing over him. Liv says he needs someone to keep him on his toes, and isn’t that exactly what he always does? He’s lead him to so many things he never even considered for himself, expanded his universe in a way he hadn’t realized he wanted.

“I don’t think I’m anything that could be considered a good influence anymore,” he says with a little laugh, a private, knowing thing. He tries not to let his thoughts stray, as he looks at Liv, but it’s difficult, especially sitting so close. He can smell him, smell his blood, and it makes that desperate hunger twist in his core. It’s a gentle thing, though, something aching with need not just for nourishment, but for everything else Liv provides, and with an ache to give him so much back, too. Because it is a give and take, equal, even if those who know about this might not believe it. He’s noticed, though, the way Liv clings, the way he’s a little desperate for him, but this is a good thing, he thinks, because it keeps him from so much harm, so many things that aren’t good, from all the people and things that made him believe he didn’t deserve good, couldn’t be a good thing in the first place. And all Camden wants is for Liv to know just how good he is. Apparently, Liv’s thinking about that, too, albeit in a different way, a way that makes his smirk grow.

“A rewards program. Hm, you might have a good idea there. I’m sure I can think of a few things we can do, if you get your work done… if you’re good during the day,” he hums, voice low. Under the desk he moves his foot, lets the toe of his shoe skirt across Liv’s shin, teasing. All of it’s teasing, because he knows firsthand how good of an auror Liv is, the work he does impressive and skilled. He raises an eyebrow, though, as Liv goes on, calls him inspector. He likes the way it sounds on Liv’s tongue, likes the way most everything sounds there. “I was a priest for twenty years. I’m not easily distracted from my work.” A lie, especially when it comes to Liv. “You best be on good behavior, I’d hate for you to miss out on any of the incentives I’m thinking about, Officer Mayhew.”

.

Deliverance feels strangely settled, as he always does, when he settles in to Camden’s presence. Oh, his blood sings with electricity. His skin tingles with a desperate kind of longing for Camden to touch him. He feels warmed by every slight glance. But behind all of that, he feels settled. He feels perfectly at ease, even in the way that his heart frequently wants to beat its way out of his chest. It’s a sensation like something is settling in to place in his life, like there are good things that have been waiting for him out there, past the abyss, and he’s just had to be patient until they came to him. Maybe Camden is something good. Maybe Camden is something that he’ll be allowed to keep for longer than most things stay with him. He’d like that. He’d like to be able to stay with Camden for a very long time, he’d like to keep Camden as the soft and steadfast center of his own little universe. Bright. Beautiful. So perfectly all-encompassing in all of the best ways.

The way that Camden looks at him, that little posessive edge, drives the point home even further. Makes Liv feel shivery and full of longing, makes Liv impatient for the end of the day. But at the same time, he doesn’t feel the desperate need to rush just now. He’s not scared anymore that the next time he gets to kiss Camden will be the last time, he’s fairly sure that Camden will let him do it tonight, will let him do it again the next day, will indulge him in gentle kisses, the rougher ones that follow, the passion that builds up between them until they’re the only creatures that exist in the world. He feels himself smile, a returned posessive little twinkle in his own eyes. He knows that they’re walking a fine line there –– the world can think that Camden and Liv have become some strange kind of friends, at large its even okay if Liv has a silly crush, he imagines. Some people can know that they’re sleeping together, fewer still can know about the darker things that pass between them. They still need to be on their very best behaviour, to be as subtle as they can manage. The last thing they need is for someone higher up in the ranks to take too much of an interest in the specific ways that Camden and Liv go bump in the night.

A soft chuckle escapes him, his grin widening just a little bit, a warm sound. He never used to be able to do things like that, didn’t think that he had such warm and soft things in his arsenal. Bright, happy, pleased to be here in the warm glow of Camden’s attention. He arches an eyebrow as he considers it. It was true that very little that Liv and Camden had done together could be seen as good. And Liv knew people would call Camden a bad influence for it all. Marleigh thought Liv was being taken advantage of, and they didn’t even know the ways that Liv had lied to protect the thing sthey had done wrong on their case in Kansas City. “Maybe.” He allows, with a wry smile, “But I won’t hold that against you.” And he feels warm in it, feels happier than he should even with all the things that he should be feeling ashamed of instead. He just can’t bring himself to feel like any of it is wrong. He just can’t make himself believe that any of this is a sin. It feels too pure for that, hes too wrapped up in how good it all is. 

He feels himself growing warmer, almost afriad that his cheeks might flush a little bit at the way that Camden talks, at the way that their feet touch under the table. He feels perfectly connected somehow, perfectly attatched. And he never wants to let go. Camden asks him to be good, and it makes him want to shiver, it makes him feel a little fuzzy around the edges. They’re flirting, and its strange. And he loves it. But it makes him go back slightly on what he thought before, makes him feel impatient for the next moment he can get his reward for being on good behaviour. He can’t wait for all the new ways that Camden might let himself be touched, might touch Liv in return. He reigns himself in from the way that he wants to reach out and touch Camden now, do something silly instead. He keeps his voice casual instead, and smiles softly when he speaks. “I hope one of those rewards is dinner.” He says, a little wry. “I don’t know about you, but I’m downright starving.” 

[deliverancemayhew]

savagexcamden​:

The smile on Liv’s lips makes him feel a little warm. It’s a distracting thing, Liv’s smile, something that he doesn’t give far enough, but something that Camden feels lucky to have seen so much of, in those private moments, just the two of them. It makes him want to reach forward and take Liv’s hand, intertwine their fingers; it makes him want to pull him down and press their lips together. He lets a small smile slip over his lips as Liv greets him, and makes his intentions here perfectly clear, all while teasing. “I was a little lonely. Apparently the weight of the world transferred with the title. And here I was thinking my brother’s Atlas act was a personality quirk all these years,” he jokes wryly, leaning back in his seat to look at Liv, to appreciate a little, a small indulgence in the absence of touch.

Maybe this is the sort of thing that he should put a stop to before it can happen. If there’s anyone who’s been wondering if something was going on, this would all but confirm the suspicions to anyone with eyes. They’ve been playing with fire since things changed with them, and it turned into something much, much bigger than he thinks either of them could have fully anticipated. Nothing they’ve done has been any more obvious than any of the many, many others who seem to have broken the fraternization rule, but the implication of them doing so is much more dangerous, of course. Even if lies could be told, arguments made that they were doing nothing worse than the same as everyone else in the office, he’s well aware that that wouldn’t be what would happen. No, too many people would like to see him out of the office, and several of those people knew for a fact that he was breaking another set of his own rules with Liv. So it’s dangerous, to do this, no matter how harmless it feels.

There are easy excuses, though, and Camden’s brain is already making a list of them, in case anyone does say something, because he has no intention of trying to dissuade Liv from doing this. The easiest excuse being that Snow wanted to sit alone, but liked her current desk, and so Liv had moved. That feels like this right excuse here, if someone were bold enough to say something to his face, because he knows that she would agree that was the reason, even without either of them having to say anything, although he’s fairly certain Liv likely did tell her. The idea of using her as an excuse, too, only feels fair, when he’s well aware of where she’s been spending her nights, and that she knows where Liv’s been spending his. It’s a strange thought to consider that even in the absence of Becker sitting across from him, there are other people in this room who would do similar things, if not for the same reasons.

So he lets himself enjoy the sight of Liv setting his files down, setting his mug down, and making himself comfortable at Becker’s old desk. And it does feel like a layer of protection, in a different way, Liv sitting there across from him. But also the thought of being able to look over at him throughout the day, the thought of going about something as utterly ordinary and boring as work side by side in this way is nice, which is a strange realization. He likes the idea of doing more ordinary things with Liv, though, just like when he had taken him to the bar, something so utterly average and normal. That’s the thing, after all, even the most ordinary of things feels enormously important, and earth shattering with Liv.

“Are you going to keep me company?” he asks, voice quiet, a hint of a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth, as he sets down what he had been working on. He leans forward a little, so that no one can hear his words. “I think that’s something I could get used to, looking up and seeing you. Although, I’m not sure this seating arrangement will be very good for your productivity, Deliverance.”

.

That same old thrill rises to the surface again and again, when Liv talks to Camden. It was always there, quiet, in the background, but now it’s something that he can’t ignore, a feeling he can’t shake. A little thrill, a warm flush, his blood singing out to the person who treats him with such reverance and such want, as if he’s something holy that should be held close. Camden Savage seems to value him in ways that no one else can, and Liv wants to hoard the feeling close forever. He feels warm and right here, across from the man, finally back in his line of sight, finally safe under his steadfast protection. This one person who has vowed with the utmost sincerity never to hurt Liv, who has inspired Liv to believe in such a promise for the first time in his long life. Safety, it was a novel concept, but he liked the way it felt. He lets out a soft hum, making himself comfortable there as Camden looks at him, “You make a good Atlas.” He says, quiet, for only Camden to hear. “It suits you.” 

He’s not sure how they’ll justify this, if people ask questions. But he’s sure there are a thousand answers they could give that have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they’re fucking, with the fact that Camden Savage is drinking his blood on a regular basis. There were so many reasons that they could substitute in, but Liv was trusting Camden to come up with them, to excuse Liv’s presence here with some kind of casual grace, to make it all okay. Because he can tell, in a way, that Camden likes him here. He seems to like it when Liv is close, he seems to like it when he can look at Liv, when they can inhabit each other’s space. Maybe Liv is just projecting, but he feels better when he can look at Camden, when he knows that their eyes can meet and he can feel perfectly protected in the knowledge that Camden is there, that what they have between them is good and true, no matter what everybody else says.

That’s the plan,” He says, low and soft. “You need someone to keep you on your toes.” And he didn’t like the idea of Camden getting lonely over here, all on his own, with no brother to lean on and no one to act as a blockaid for the rest of the office. He’s been finding himself shadowing Camden lately, mirroring him in ways that he can’t control. It’s the magnetic pull of what they have, that has him leaning forward just a little bit, resting his elbow on the desk in front of him so he can listen to what Camden says, the words that slip out of his mouth and in to the air, something special just for Liv. The smirk was special too, wonderful in the way that it made LIv feel. LIke something singular. LIke something worthwhile, like something other than the failure he usually thought he was. He smirks back at Camden, too, a savage and sharp grin that cuts across his face, something soft and almost like a laugh escaping him as he goes. “Hey, maybe you’ll be a good influence on me.” He says, quieter still, with an arched eyebrow. “We could set up some kind of rewards program, see just how productive I get with the right incentive.” 

In reality, it feels like he’s gotten more work done than ever in the last few months, needing a distraction from Camden, this man who filled his every thought most of the day. He thought Baron would kill him, eventually, if he didn’t find other things to focus on between his bouts of staring at the back of Camden’s head –– so he had worked instead, gone through files and cases as if it was something he felt a great deal of passion for, as if it was something he was really and truely good at. People had been telling him he could be, lately. That he could be one of the greats if he tried hard enough. He didn’t know if he believed them, but he was getting better at trying to imagine a future for himself, lately.

He smirks a little more savagely, and the desks around them aren’t even all that full, but he keeps his voice low as he looks at Camden. “Unless you’re too scared I’ll be distracting. But I promise I’ll be on my very best behaviour, Inspector.” 

[marleighmcmahon]

                    x. @deliverancemayhew​

[deliverancemayhew]

savagexcamden​:

morning, sometime after the promotions, central squad offices / @deliverancemayhew​

It feels a whole lot like the changes that have been going on in their lives have suddenly, and unceremoniously bled over into work. It’s the sort of thing that would have made him think someone high up had realized what was going on, if he didn’t know better that if that was the case he would’ve been getting a very different sort of talk, not a promotion, too. They’ve settled into as close to normal again as it could be, with both of them conveniently not bringing up the elephants, plural, in their respective rooms, but there’s no denying the way things just feel different, in a way they never have before, knowing things are decidedly different. Becker deserves it, the promotion––he deserved it a long time ago, in Camden’s eyes––but that doesn’t feel like what the hollow feeling in his chest is about, coming in, sitting down across from no one, Becker heading past it, around the corner

Maybe it should be a relief in a small way, that now they won’t have to spend the work hours ignoring everything they’re not talking about while sitting across from each other trying to concentrate on work, too, but really it just makes Camden feel anxious. It’s been decades, after all, of the same routine, and no matter how much their routine outside of the office has changed, a constant, even at some times tense, has been nice, reliable. Safe. It’s kept him feeling safe, he realizes. And now it’s gone. He feels strangely exposed sitting at the desk without him, but it feels like more than just Becker moving to an office, leaving Camden alone out in the open. It feels like a message from God, or the universe, or whatever divine spirit might be looking on, amused, that you reap what you sow. 

It makes him worry about what else he might end up reaping.

But the worry lessens, something loosening in his chest, when he looks up and Liv is at the edge of the desk. “Officer Mayhew, good morning, do you want to sit?” he says, raising an eyebrow as he looks up at him. It’s hard to temper the small smile that threatens to slip over his lips, but he tries, although he’s not sure how much it matters just now, if Liv is doing this, because he thinks that he can read the intention well enough on his face; he’s gotten rather good at reading him.

.

It’s hard not to feel like he’s stepped through some kind of looking glass into a world that doesn’t belong to him –– everything has changed so much over the last few weeks, it seems like the landscape of the world is shifting so much faster than Liv could ever undertand or comprehend. He’s changed from something lonely and broken and despicable into something else, into something more worthwhole, into something that can be saved somehow from the damnation that he’s always been courting. He feels lighter lately. He feels less broken. He feels like something bright and worthy, like something or someone that happiness might want to make a home in. And it’s all because of Camden. 

Camden. This glorious man who might be the most important thing in the universe. Liv is too intense about it, maybe, and he might realise that someday. But right now, all he wants to do is get lost in it, get lost in the way he feels about Camden. Camden took him and made him something better, made him something softer and less prone to sin. All he really wants to do lately is be with him, touch him and look at him and listen to the low sound of his voice, the way it changes when they’re alone together, the way his eyes seem to gleam with something unnameable when he’s looking at Liv. He feels like he could drown in those eyes, like they could burn him alive with their intensity. 

It’s an addictive thing, the way it makes him feel. The way that Camden makes him feel. 

He’s been plagued with this idea, since the last round of promotions swept through the office. Becker Savage had moved up in the world, and it meant that the desk across from Camden would be empty, it meant that he’d have no one to share with. Liv has spent weeks now gazing over Baron’s shoulder, letting his eyes rest with heavy longing on Camden, on the expanse of his back and the cut of his hair. All he’s been able to do is yearn for him, daydream about being able to reach out and touch him soon, or hoping with some kind of desperation that Camden would glance over his shoulder so that Liv could get a look at his face, his eyes, the soft expanse of his lips. And if he did glance back, Liv would feel flushed and embarrassed and a little needy with it all. 

It’s just that... Liv wants to be close to him. Liv wants to feel wrapped up in this little world of theres, even when they aren’t really allowed to have it. He wants to be able to glance up and give Camden a soft, shy smile. Just every now and then. He wants to be able to lean forward and talk to him in quiet whispers about utterly ordinary things, about work and the people around them, about the cases that they’re working on. 

He wants to be surrounded by Camden, all day, every day, possibly for the rest of his life. Because no one else matters. Because he doesn’t want Camden to look at anyone else, not ever, not for as long as Liv has blood in his veins. So he stands there at the corner of the desks until Camden looks up at him, until he can slip that sweet shy smile in to place. He has a bundle of case files in his arms, as he does it, and he feels bright when Camden sees him. “Inspector Savage.” He greets, a little teasing lilt in his voice, as he takes the offered seat across from Camden, pleased already with the way it feels to finally be facing him here. He sets his files down, he sets his favourite mug down, and he visibly makes himself comfortable. “You looked pretty lonely for a minute there. Feeling the weight of the world, with your new fancy title?” 

[deliverancemayhew]

marleighmcmahon​:

Marleigh’s not sure what he’s expecting from Julián de la Cruz as they and Liv make their way into the Milwaukee headquarters. From the way his voice had sounded when they talked, he’s half expecting a Becker Savage type and half expecting an over-confident teenager, and it turns out when they get up to what must be the desk he’s working out of that they’d been half right on both counts: the guy can’t be  much older than Liv’s age, but he’s wearing a suit, pressed and clearly expensive, much like the watch on his wrist and his dragonhide shoes, his face way too serious even for something like this. 

They give the guy a little half-wave as they approach, ready to introduce themself, half wondering if they’re what he expected having talked to them, but Liv steps in before they can, with a long time no see that Marleigh isn’t expecting.

     “Mayhew,” the guy says, and it’s clear he’s trying to sound professional and it’s also clear he looks really fucking surprised as he looks from Marleigh over to Liv, trying to mask the shock and recognition on his face and not doing a great job of it, a brief little face journey that brings an amused grin to Marleigh’s own face. Because this guy clearly knows Liv, and clearly has some complicated feelings about that—ones Liv might not have mentioned to them but, from the look on his face, he’s all too pleased about. 

     “You two know each other, then?” they say,  glancing between them, still amused, but he’s not gonna let something like this go unremarked upon just in case it’s going to get in the way of anything. If Liv wants to be smug, they don’t mind, he can be smug all he wants, but they don’t have enough time or space for there to be an elephant in the room this whole case. “That’s not gonna be a problem, is it?”

     “No,” de la Cruz answers, almost too quickly, his voice sharp and terse. “No problem. We were at the Academy together at the same time. Good to see you, Mayhew. I didn’t realize you were with Central Squad now. Congratulations.” 

He doesn’t sound happy about it, his voice straining a little against the clipped professionalism he’s clearly trying to convey. Jealousy? Rivalry? Before Marleigh can overthink it, though, Julián de la Cruz is opening up a pretty over-stuffed case file on the desk, starting into his overview of the work he’s been doing on this case, clearly something he’s been putting a hefty amount of time into since the kid was reported missing.

It probably isn’t fair, the small little burst of amusement that Liv feels when he sees the look on Julián’s face. That look in his eyes, that little spark, the complicated mess of it all. It’s fun, it’s funny, because Liv hasn’t done much thinking about him over the years and he doesn’t think that Julián has done much thinking about him either, but he doesn’t think the other man is going to be happy that Liv of all people is taking over his case. 

He looks surprised to see Liv here. He looks like he’s remembering the feral beast of a thing that Liv had been at the academy –– he’s mellowed out, over the years, something which might seem funny to those people who know him best now, who know he’s still a hell of a mess when it comes down to it, who know he’s more broken than not most of the time, a damaged and weary soul. Julián is sitting there, in that suit of his, looking like he wants to be so much better than everyone else. Liv feels a little strange, in his brightly coloured shirt and his ratty jacket, like he’s still half the punk stupid kid he was back in the good old days.

He smirks a little bit, pleased with it despite himself, and glances at Marleigh with an arched eyebrow. “For the last two years, yeah. God knows why they decided to pluck me out.” He says, because he thinks that will be even more annoying than anything else, to someone like de la Cruz. Liv wonders how fun it would be to fuck with him more extensively, but he moves and he pulls out the files, and Liv remembers that he’s supposed to be doing a good job here, that they all have bigger things to worry about than the past. 

Julián opens the file, as thick and heavy as it seems, and starts to outline the case to them. The way that Xander disappeared, how many days it took for someone to notice that they were gone, all the ways that Julián and the New York division looked for them out there in the world, out there in a city that he and Marleigh had been having fun in just a few days ago, like normal friends who lived in a normal world. That was where Xander seemed to disappear into nothingness, to step into a reality where no one knew them and no one could find them. Xander had gotten caught up with the wrong crowd, gotten tangled in things they shouldn’t have. It was a running theory that Xander had disappeared because they wanted to, because it was a world they wanted to join in the fullest sense. It was possible, distantly, that Xander just didn’t want to go home at all, that they wanted to disappear forever. 

“It seems weird to me,” Liv says, after a long moment. “That they’d be wearing a recognisable face at all if they really didn’t want to be found.” Their friends had said that their talent was powerful, that they could honestly probably look like anyone they chose. They were a true shape-changer, there were very few limitations with them. “They could have disappeared forever, could have looked like anyone. It seems like whatever’s happening here, they wanted to be seen in that club.” 

He glances at Marleigh after he says it, caring more about what Marleigh thinks than anything else. They’re the lead here, they’re the boss, they’re who really matters when it comes down to it. “Maybe its some kind of cry for help?”

[deliverancemayhew]

marleighmcmahon​:

They let their hands run easy along the shelf, reading over titles familiar and unfamiliar. They don’t know what kind of poetry Liv likes, really, but they don’t much care, because they know what kind of poetry they like, and if he’s asking for recommendations, then feel like it’s their job today to be honest, to share a part of themself while Liv gets used to the idea of sharing a part of himself, a little more willingly than he’d been able to in Midville when everything he’d shared had been forced out of him against his will. 

They pick a few, all over the place, Audre Lorde, C. P. Cavafy, Edna St. Vincent Millay. Their hands hover over a volume of Mary Oliver, hesitant for a moment—it’s almost too personal, when they realize which collection it is, The House of Light, a tattered used copy of which  had been sitting on their bedside table the week Margot died, and they’d found a few lines in it that had meant a lot to them, that week, and the weeks that came after. It feels a little cheesy, maybe, a little trite, but after a moment they pick it out anyway, open it up to the right poem, run their hand over the page, over the words. They have to shift Liv 2.0 under their arm a little to do it, and they make a quick note to grab a bag, in a minute or two, so they don’t have to keep trying to juggle books when they still only have one arm that is actually useful.

     “This is one of my favorites,” they say, and it’s soft, a little quiet. They’re not the kind who likes to read poetry out loud; it sounds cheap, and awkward in their mouth. But they’re trying to do better at this whole opening-up thing. That’s what all this is about, really, making sure Liv knows they’re not going anywhere. 

     “I don’t know exactly what a prayer is,” they start, about halfway through the poem, the part that had hit them in the gut so hard when they read it for the first time. “I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?”

They’re quiet, for a moment, eyes skimming over the words again, and then they shrug, passing the small stack of books over to Liv to check out. “She’s a lesbian, too, which is pretty cool if you ask me.” 

Strangely, Liv gets stuck on this idea. In another world, it might have been easy to fall in love with Marleigh McMahon. Liv is a damaged thing, he wasn’t made for love, he wasn’t made for much of anything except for sin and pain and everything else the universe wanted to load up on to his shoulders, a heavy weight it hoped would drag him down and drown him in his own shame. He’s never wanted to love people, because it meant he would get hurt, it meant it would be even more difficult when they pulled away from him in the end. 

He watches as they explore the shelves, as they pull books down one by one, all things that they’ve read and loved before. This is the way that Liv has felt closest to them, this whole time, even when they were touching each other, even when they were having sex. He’s pathetic, probably, because books make him feel soft and seen, make him believe that he’s about to get a window into Marleigh’s soul. They’re letting him see them, here, in a way more open and honest than Liv is used to, than he’s ever deserved before. 

Listening to Marleigh read poetry, with well loved reverence. It makes him think that it would have been easy to fall in love with them. If they had met in different places. If they didn’t have other people. If Camden hadn’t been the first person to recite poetry to him and make him feel soft and torn open with the importance of it. He remembers the words that Camden had recited to him from memory, and wonders at how beautiful it all is, how beautiful it is when people do this. And he’s lost in the words that Mareligh speaks, reads aloud to him, and it makes him want to devour every poem there is. 

He feels breathless with it, looking at them. And he takes the books from Marleigh, cradles them as if they’re the most important thing he’s ever touched, looks at Marleigh with softness in his eyes because they’re a wonderful thing, they’re soft and they’ve done nothing but accept Liv, nothing but make him feel good, nothing but make him feel like. he deserves this kindness. 

“You have good taste.” He says, slow. “And the lesbian thing. Always a perk.” He says, with a nod, and it sounds far too soft. “You’ve created a monster. I’m gonna buy way too much shit here.” He shakes his head, feeling vulnerable with it, feeling warm. He scans his eyes around, thoughtful. “I should find something for you, too. We can start a book club.” 

Not much of a club if its just the two of them. But what would they do? Invite Camden? The thought makes Liv smile, a quiet little private thing, as he looks at the shelves and scans through until he finds Tennyson, finds In Memoriam and runs his fingers over the cover of it, plucks it from the shelf and adds it to his own pile. That’s not something he wants to share, but it is something that he wants to take home, to carry as he considers if he should tell Marleigh everything that’s happened since the last time they...didn’t talk about Camden. Marleigh had been so worried about him, he knows it. And he doesn’t know how to bring it up now, even when he wants to share it so badly. He shakes his head, shfits around. Finds something more his taste that he thinks Marleigh might like anyway. 

“What do you think of Coleridge? Kubla Khan, that’s one of my favourites.” He says, as he shifts his stack so he can pull a book of poems down and find the right one, taking only a moment.  He doesn’t need to read it, he knows every word, but it’s nice to look at them before he closes it again and hands it to Marleigh. “For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise. Seems like something you’d be in to.” 

[deliverancemayhew]

snowbaron​:

At least he nearly laughs at her poor attempt at a joke, and that makes it all feel slightly less awkward, even if she’s pretty sure nothing’s going to dispel the awkwardness completely, given they’re both standing here in their, what, kind-of-not-really-boyfriends’ kitchen, in their shirts, knowing full well what, or who, each other had been doing very recently. She feels vulnerable in a way she usually doesn’t, having someone else see her like this. It feels comfortable to be in this house, to let her guard down here, enough to walk around in the middle of the night with no pants and no wand. It just feels comfortable to be with Becker, to be open, and a little soft, to laugh, and tease, and everything else she never really does with anyone.

And the thing is, Baron can tell even just from a few words that it’s the same for Liv with Camden. Before she had realized it was him, he had looked so relaxed here, at ease with his place in a way he never really seems in the office. She knows the answer to her question even before he goes on with that little smirk, because she feels it herself, in a different way, with a different Savage. Maybe they just both have this affect on people, but only people willing to look past the surface, people willing to see and understand. People a little like them. She wonders how many nights they’ve both been here at the same time before, without realizing it. 

With some of the initial shock gone, and with the acknowledgement that they don’t have anything to worry about from her, her mind now goes to the fact that it feels suddenly like her and Liv share something between them now, a deeper connection than she ever could’ve guessed she might end up with with her deskmate. Because he now knows something that only one other person outside of this house knows, and she now knows a secret that could change several lives, one of which has become increasingly important to her. And they both know that none of this can’t leave this house. There’s a level of trust there, that she had never really considered needing to have with Liv, and yet now there it is, in an instant.

But also maybe it’s just the fact that apparently they’re screwing a set of brothers, which feels weirdly like suddenly being related. She lets out a little laugh, shaking her head. “Okay, I don’t need to know how good you are with it. Just that you are good with it,” she says, as a little smile of her own slips over her lips. 

“Oh. Yeah, I’m very okay with my Savage set up. I’m not just… it’s not just spending the night with him,” she says, because she wants him to know it’s more for her, too. 

She pauses, takes a sip of her water, and then keeps going, words just spilling out. Because it’s nice to be able to talk about this thing that’s becoming so important to her. “I’m pretty sure you’re the whole reason we were even able to start this thing. Camden was with you the night of the Scotland mission, wasn’t he? So in a way, you got me laid for the first time in too long.  Maybe if they stop fighting like twelve year olds we could all have dinner together someday, Camden can just watch us eat. Beck makes really great pasta.”

.

It feels like everything about him has been revealed to Baron, just with a glance of her eyes over him. He knows himself pretty well, and he’s no great mystery. He has depths and hidden chapters, but the basics of him and his persoanlity are easy to see with a glance. Baron has stumbled across a page that wasn’t supposed to be in his book, a relationship that they’ve been keeping carefully hoarded for themselves. Liv and Camden, Camden and Liv, all the rules that they break for this strange and grand thing, this almost-relationship that they’ve stumbled in to somehow. Baron looks at him and it seems like she see’s him now, clearer than she ever has before. 

She sees him. But he sees her too. He’s reading her book right back at her. 

And its pretty good to make her laugh. That’s not something he’s ever really done before. That’s not something he ever thought he’d get to. He always got the idea that he wasn’t really Baron’s style, that she never really thought all that much about Liv. But he’s not sure if thats true, or if its just the way that he thinks everyone kind of hates him, unless they tell him differently. She’s smiling at him nw, so maybe he’s not such a lost cause, maybe Baron is someone that he can be friendly with. He’d make her life a living hell if she ever let slip to anyone higher up the ranks about him and Cam, but right now she’s good. She won’t do it, anyway. She likes her Savage too much, and he’s pretty sure Becker would do worse than make her life hell if she hurt Camden.

And she makes him laugh too, because thats really fucking weird to think about. Him being the reason she’s fucking Becker Savage. Or whatever else they’re doing. Dating in a different sense than seems possible for him and Camden. He leans against the counter, sips his own water, and smiles despite himself. “Gee. You’re welcome. I think that means you owe me a favour.” He says, because if it really has been a while since she got laid, she definitely owes him one. He finds himself shaking his head, laughing again. “Fuck, Snow. Only if you promise that Old Man Savage isn’t gonna give me the vampire sex talk again.” He shakes his head, still mortified by that particular memory. “Last time I was in here with another person. I’m sure you can imagine how terrible that experience was.” 

[deliverancemayhew]

marleighmcmahon​:

Liv, Liv, Liv. This case—a missing teenager, some shady underground crime shit—isn’t any less dangerous than the last one they want on, but they think it’s a pretty safe bet that it won’t be as specifically dangerous to either of them as the last one they went on together, as Midville had been by no fault of their own. It seems like it’d be a hard fucking thing for a case to be worse for Liv than Midville had been, and so it’s a low bar, but it’s one they’re determined to meet here, not just for the missing kid they’re trying to find, but for Liv, too. Liv, who has been doing pretty well lately but who seems about one bad day from combusting at any given time all the same. 

They show up on time to find that he’s early, lounging against the front of the building and smoking like he’s got all the time in the world, and there’s something funny about it, the forced nonchalance, the way he seems to want to act like he doesn’t care all that much but clearly cared enough to show up a good few minutes early if the state of his cigarette is anything to go off of. There’s something a little wound-up inside him, hidden beneath the cool exterior, which seems at this point like it’s just how Liv is, and leaves Marleigh wondering if it’s just Liv or if there’s something personal about this case that Liv’s not telling them, too.

They hope, by this point, he’d be smart enough to just tell them, if that was the case. He’s got no choice here but to trust that he took their words to heart, last time, that he’ll let them know if something’s up.

    “Yeah, I talked to this de la Cruz guy, he said he’d meet up with us here and help us go over everything he’s got from the New York case, get us up to speed. Real cheerful motherfucker, that one, sounded like he’d rather die than talk to me for a second longer, but I got him to agree at least. You might wanna do the talking, though, you speak stick-up-your-ass better than I do.” 

He can almost feel a hint of suspicion in the air. Like Marleigh thinks he’s acting like a weirdo, like they’re already worried that he’s going to fuck this up somehow. But Liv is determined not to, determined to do everything in his power to make this case run smoothly, to prove to Marleigh that they can trust him. Trust him with the job, trust him to be a good friend, trust him not to ruin everything he touches. 

Liv has to trust himself, as well, probably, to get through it all in one peace. But he’s been working on that lately, with Camden’s voice in his head playing like a mantra, reminding him that he isn’t always a fuck up, telling him that most of  the time he’s pretty good. That’s something he holds on to like a lifeline, and its something that Marleigh has expressed to them in small ways as well, so it all feels compounded here alongside his hope that it’s true. He wants to prove that he’s worth it all, every nice touch and nice word and small moment of dedication. He wants to prove that they aren’t wasting their time with him when they could be dealing with someone better, working with someone better, who deserved their time and their second chances more than Liv did. 

He can’t help but smile a little bit when Marleigh brings up de la Cruz, apparently waiting for them inside to go over the case files with them, hand over whatever information that he had. It didn’t sound like he had changed much at all since Liv knew him at the academy. Real cheerful motherfucker, stick up his ass. 

“Yeah,” He huffs out with a breath. It couldn’t be called laughter, but it sounds decidedly amused despite himself. “I’m real good with guys like that. Sure he’s gonna be pleased as punch to meet me.” 

And it’s easy then to think that this part of the case is going to be more funny than anything else. He was taking this seriously. A missing kid from Xander Cain’s background was obviously in danger, if they had gotten caught up with criminals in all of the wrong ways, if it had already been two weeks since their disappearance. Liv would like this to go well, would like to be able to bring Xander home to their mother if that was something they were interested in. He was taking it seriously, but he kind of couldn’t wait to see the guys face when he walked in to the room. He shifts away from their spot, starts walking toward the door of the division offices, glancing over his shoulder and wondering if he should tell Marleigh about what happened back at the academy, the exact nature of what their relationship had been.

Nah. He couldn’t see de la Cruz being too openly weird about it. And if he was, which would be great, then it would be all the funnier to hit Marleigh with it later. He pulls open the door and holds it for them with a grin. “After you, boss.” He says, indulging in a little wink as Marleigh steps through and in to the offices.

It’s easy to find where de la Cruz is set up, and Liv gives him a savage smirk when he finally sees the guy. What a fucking prick, he can’t help but think. He doesn’t look particularly happy to see them, but Liv is taking some kind of sick pleasure in stealing his case. “Long time no see, de la Cruz.” He greets, with a wry kind of amusement. 

[deliverancemayhew]

aurorbishop​:

Harlow had half a mind to skip over Marco completely after the clerk points him out. He was far too loud and far too enthusiastic for their liking, but they figure Liv was in the right for exploring the lead further. As much as they didn’t think Marco had anything of use for them, it still wouldn’t hurt to talk to the no-maj. 

“Awesome,” they smile, as they step up to stand beside Liv. “Could you talk to us a little about your last rental? What the movie was, how you enjoyed it, and so forth.” 

“Oh yeah! It was that one with the Fresh Prince and like they’re all these aliens, but most are good aliens, you know? And he and that one old guy from The Fugitive are these secret agents who are protecting the world from the bad aliens. Who really like sugar water. It was dope, man.” He grins as he looks between the two of them, seemingly waiting for the next question. 

Harlow can only understand about half of what he’s saying, but even then it sounds like he’s actually watched the film, which according to the case file he hadn’t. 

“Did you watch it all in one sitting?” They ask. 

“Oh, well, so I didn’t watch it that time, but I checked it out the weekend before, and watched it then. I rented it again, because I wanted to show it off to my boys, but we ended up just playing Resident Evil 2, after Cool Larry here brought it,” he replies. 

“Dude, that game is tight, I had to,” Cool Larry speaks up from Marco’s side. 

They still feel like they’re lost in the woods with the conversation going on in front of them, but at the very least they feel like they have a handle on Marco’s side to this little story. Marco hadn’t watched the movie the weekend before Katie Chen had her incident with the tape, but he had the week before. 

“Do you know if it was the same tape, or a different one?” They ask, wanting to wrap this up sooner rather than later with these two. 

“Oh, I’m pretty sure it was the same? The label was peeling up in the corner so that’s how I could tell.” 

Liv has to fight the urge to roll his eyes the entire tie that Marco and Cool Larry are talking to them, to each other. This was all such a waste of time, but it couldn’t be said that Liv and Harlow had cut any corners, and at least it was a vaguely amusing moment to look back on later, when this case had been solved. Liv would be making fun of Marco in his head for weeks to come, and he got the distinct impression that it was lucky the guy was so hot. It probably got him through a lot in life. 

It wasn’t exactly the most illuminating conversation, and it hadn’t really told them anything important, but at least they knew now that Marco hadn’t even watched the tape the last time that he rented it, that he wouldn’t know if it had been tampered with or broken in some way, or if the curse was present on his version before Katie rented it herself. It told them, at the very least, where they didn’t need to look. Liv was one hundred percent certain that Marco wasn’t some kind of secret wix mastermind, hell bent on cursing VHS tapes from Blockbuster just to fuck with some people.

He smiles, and nods his head when they answer Harlow’s question. “Awesome.” He says, still fake and shoddily excited. “Well, that was super helpful for us, boys. And...we have your number on file with the store, so you’ll like, totally be hearing from us soon about that rental prize.” 

“Dude, nice!!” Marco enthuses, as Liv is already starting to walk away, giving Harlow an amused look and starting to make their way out of the store together so that they can move on to the next spot. 

“Well, that was as illuminating as I expected.” He says, with a wry kind of smile, finally giving in to the urge to roll his eyes about it all. He kind of loved this, despite having to talk to stupid people. It was nice to be here with Harlow, to not worry about what exactly the lead auror on the case was thinking about him. He wouldn’t get in trouble here, with them beside him, he wouldn’t have to worry about being judged or messing up too badly, revealing too much or not enough in the grand scheme of things. They would work this case together and do it well, and at the end of the day they’d go home and still just be Harlow and Liv. 

He glances at them, giving them a decidedly flirty smile when he looks at them, just for the fun of it, because its hilarious for Harlow to think that they’re hot. “What do you say boss, wanna take me on a side along to our next witness?”

[deliverancemayhew]

savagexcamden​:

All of this is new territory for him, and he thinks that maybe it should be more difficult to give into so much, but Liv makes everything so simple, just easy, and good. He spent his life before his transformation following a vow that kept him from even considering this sort of thing, and he had never truly been tempted to break it, even despite the single slip up when he was a young man. Even after, he had kept it, without a thought, already convinced enough of his own damnation without a soul that there was no reason to make it worse by piling sins on top of it, but also it had never truly been something he had much interest in. Until Liv. Somehow, without realizing it had been happening, Liv changed so much of his life, almost as if only once he was allowed things like holding his hand, kissing him, that night of the party, did he realize what he was missing without. He never thought he needed anything like this, but now he’s not really sure how he managed to survive so long without it.

Because even beyond the pure desire behind it all, his body’s need for Liv, not just for his sweet, sweet blood, but for all of him, to kiss and touch him, it’s a wholly new experience to be wanted by someone without a sense of obligation attached in some way. He’s not used to anyone besides Becker wanting to spend time with him, wanting to keep him around, and he had never really thought he needed anyone else, but maybe that hadn’t been fair to either of them, to think that they could be all either of them needed. It could be the haze of pleasure that he’s been catapulted into, or it could be how wrapped up in Liv he’s been since that night when they had finally let this become something other than what they had convinced themselves it had to be to be good, but he can’t see how this could be seen as a bad thing, how any of this could be a sin. Because he trusts Liv wholly, with every part of himself. He’s seen so much, and still here he is, touching him like he’s something human, and breakable, something to be treasured and cared for, touching him unlike anyone else has touched him.

Just now, though, the thing on the front of his mind is all that Liv has suggested, all he’s promised for later. And the idea of it, even knowing they’ll have to wait hours to have it, is enough to make the desire an even greater problem here. Thinking of Liv taking him in his mouth, doing all of the things that he knows full well he’s done dozens and dozens of times, but this being something different, something a little holy. How many times has Liv already been on his knees for him, after all. Kneeling there, asking for forgiveness, Camden leaning over and taking his sin from him, swallowing it down. If that was penance, then the thought of this feels something like communion, something for him to give Liv, even while Liv gives him so much in return. He lets his thumb rub over Liv’s lip, pressing forward just slightly, considering what it will be like with something else there in it’s place. Liv repeats the word, reverent, a little breathless, and it’s decided, even as Liv goes on, insists he’s good on his knees, that he’ll show him, even as Liv’s hands move down his chest to rest on his belt, the question in the gesture as he kisses him again.

When he pulls back slightly, just enough to say what he wants, tugging slightly at his belt, but not moving to do anything else yet, Camden lets out a shaky breath. He lets his hand fall from Liv’s lips, down to his shoulder, then slowly down his arm, until his hand rests on Liv’s wrist, keeping his hand where it is. “I believe that. You’re always good, Deliverance,” he hums, leaning forward, pressing a kiss to his jaw. He considers his words, sorely tempted to say damn where they are, damn the worry of being caught, and just give into it, because, God, does he always want Liv, too, and the thought of his hands on him now, here, when he’s thinking of so much already, that alone nearly does it for him. He should be the one with the self control, here, but it’s been harder and harder to be the so-called responsible one, when it all feels so good. And they’re alone, after all, the door is locked, the sound is muffled, and he’s not naive enough to think they would be the first to do something like this at work. 

But more than that, he wants it, he wants Liv to touch him. “I don’t think I would have come down here at all, if I was going to deny you what you want, Liv. You can touch me,” he agrees, before he can think too much more about it. Just something quick, a little relief for a few more minutes, then they can hold on for the rest of the day, make it through, with something to think about. He leans forward to catch Liv’s lips in a kiss again, full of need, messy and imprecise, as his other hand moved to Liv’s leg, to his thigh. “And maybe tonight, I’ll touch you.” 

It feels like his blood is singing for Camden, calling out to him. It’s egging him on, and he feels more desperate than he ever has before as he sits there with his hands on Camden. It’s never felt like this with anyone else, he’s never wanted anything so badly as he wans a simple touch. It feels frantic, like something he’ll never be able to shake, like something he’ll never recover from. The pull of Camden is something more powerful than anything else in the universe, like he’s the sun and Liv is supposed to just revolve around him –– Liv would be okay with that, that would be a universe he was happy to live in if the choice was his, if he could make the decision. Maybe its stupid, maybe its too soon and this thing between them is too uncertain, but Liv is sure in everything that he feels, in the faith that he’s never going to want to let this go. He may not fully be able to think straight in moments like this, but it feels safe and perfect when his world narrows down and all he can think about is Camden.

He still feels shivery with it all, with the way that Camden looks at him, the way he touches him. His hand falling away from that spot near Liv’s lips, disappointing, until it rests on his wrist and keeps his hands where they are, so tantilisingly close to being exactly where he wants them. He feels like he’s a step away from full out begging, like he would do anything just to convince Camden to let him do what he wants to do, to let him make him feel so damn good. It’s a feeling only heightened by the words that Camden dangles out in front of him. You’re always good, Deliverance. It sparks that same shakey feeling of hope in his chest, intoxicating in the way that it mingles with the lust that always seems to grow and blossom inside him when Camden is around. Liv wants to be good, and Camden is always telling him that he is, always reminding him that he doesn’t desevre the pain he’s lived. A needy little breath punches its way out of him when Camden presses a kiss to his jaw, the delicate skin there, so close and yet so far away from where Liv usually wants his mouth, the way he longs for those lips to ghost over the favoured scars on his neck, Camden’s subtle marks of some kind of ownership over him. 

He can feel the way that Camden is maybe debating it, weighing the options in his mind. He could tell Liv no, tell him to let this go and get back to work, and Liv would listen to him. He wouldn’t argue, because he’d know deep down that Camden was right, that Camden is always right, always the perfect hand to guide Liv with, always the perfect voice of reason. Liv should honestly be taking every word that comes out of Camden’s mouth as gospel truth, because he must be as infallable as a God. So if he told Liv that they shouldn’t do this hear, Liv would listen. Maybe he’s going to. Maybe he’ll say no, maybe he’ll tell Liv that patience is a virtue, that there are only a few short hours before they can leave work and Camden can take him home so they can do all of this in private. It would be the right thing to do. But Liv is so damn glad that he choses the other option, because he doesn’t know how he could get through today if he didn’t get to touch Camden. He lets out a breathless laugh, happy and excited, and whispers a quick “Thank you,” against Camden’s lips right before he gets caught in another kiss. 

His fingers feel awkward and fumbling with excitement when he starts to unbuckle Camden’s belt, thrilled and flushed with the warmth of how much he wants this, how badly he wants to feel Camden against him. Their messy kiss lingers, and Liv lets out another soft sound when Camden pulls away from it, shakey with the idea of Camden returning the favour when they get home. It makes him feel warm with anticipation, as if he really might die before the end of the day after all. But if that’s whats promised to him for just getting through it, he’ll make sure he survives. “Yes, please.” He says, catching Camden in another frantic kiss, too rushed. It’s somehow even more intense than before, and Liv doesn’t waste any more time with fucking around. He finishes unbuckling the belt, tugs Camden a little closer, and takes the second he needs to undo the zipper. It’s easy then to get lost it it, the hot rush he feels when he slides his hand over Camdne’s stomach again, down into his pants to wrap around him. He pulls away from the kiss, as he touches Camden, because for a desperate moment all he wants to do is look in his eyes. It feels so soft. He feels like he might know what it’s like, when you fall in love. Because he might be starting to do it now, just with the way that Camden looks here as Liv is touching him. “Better hurry, though.” He says, because he doesn’t think this will actually take long. “We’re on company time, and all that.” 

[deliverancemayhew]

early morning, outside the auror headquarters in Milwaukee / @marleighmcmahon​

Liv had actually been surprised when he saw the case file on his desk before he left work yesterday, another case, another case with Marleigh McMahon. He had been surprised, but he had been kind of grateful too. It was easier to spend time around Marleigh these days, it was easier to work with them when he didn’t have to hide a single thing, when they had become one of the few people who knew every inch of him, all the pain in his past and every fucked up thing he thought about himself now. They knew that Liv was fucked up and broken, they knew that he deserved so much pain, but they liked him anyway and they actually wanted to be his friend. They were letting Liv cling on to them, even when it must have been occasionally annoying. 

Liv is excited that they’re working together again, because he’s determined to redeem himself for what happened in Midville, for the way that he had shut down and almost fulshed the entire case down the drain with his own fear and panic. Marleigh had a lot of slack to pick up during the latter half of that case, and Liv wanted to prove himself somehow, wanted to show Marleigh that he could get through this and actually be helpful, actually do his job and do it well enough to deserve his rank and his position. 

There were, of course, reasons to be worried about this case. It seemed unlikely that everything would be chill and cool with a kid who had been missing for more than two weeks already. Especailly someone from an apparently high risk position in life, getting wrapped up in things too big to understand. And there was the auror from New York to think of –– Deliverance almost hadn’t recognised the name, until the last second. Julián de la Cruz. That fucking prick. He’d been a snarky fuck back at the academy, and they’d gotten wrapped up in each other in ways that Liv almost hoped he wouldn’t have to explain to Marleigh. 

It seems like there isn’t much time to waste, and Liv makes plans with Marleigh to meet outside the Milwaukee division office first thing in the morning. That’s where Liv is now, waiting outside the doors and down the street a little bit, absentmindedly smoking as he waits for Marleigh to appear. He runs through the case over and over again in his head, and he’s just stubbing out the cigarette when he hears the pop of an apparition and shifts to look at Marleigh, shooting them a brief grin and raising a hand in a greeting. “I’ll never fuckin’ get used to this bright and early thing, boss.” He says, with a shake of his head, and takes a step closer to them so they can quickly go over stuff before they head out from here. “So, what’s the plan? Get the run down and then hit the streets to look for our missing kid?” 

[theaurorfileshq]

[deliverancemayhew]

theaurorfileshq​:

– Missing Metamorphmagus in Milwaukee

CASE LEVEL: Three

POINTS REQUIRED: Four Hundred Fifty 

OVERVIEW:

Two weeks ago a nineteen year old Metamorphmagus named Xander Cain was reported missing from New York City. Their mother reported them missing after not hearing from them for six days, telling local aurors that it wasn’t strange for Xander to forget to contact her for days at a time, but that that when she checked in with their roommates it became clear that Xander hadn’t come home for many days, leaving all of their belongings in their room. Xander’s roommates informed their mother that Xander had recently fallen in with a bad crowd, having joined a group of several other Metamorphmagi who were reportedly involved in some kind of organised crime ring.

The New York Auror Division has been investigating the missing persons case for the last two weeks, but there have been few leads that could point them in the direction of Xander. Two days ago, someone matching Xander’s description was spotted in Milwaukee at a club frequented by Metamorphmagi and a known hot-spot for smugglers and other low-grade criminals. Their roommate confirmed their identity based on a white ink tattoo of a snake on their arm, which the roommate said does not change when they metamorph themself. After their identity was confirmed the case was passed up to MACUSA and to the Central Squad. An auror from the New York Division will be available throughout the case to assist with the investigation.

PERSONS OF INTEREST:

Arlo Branwell: The owner of a wixen club in Milwaukee called ‘Mimic’, Arlo is familiar with nearly every Metamorphmagus that comes through the area. If Xander came through the city, Arlo Branwell is likely to have noticed their presence or be aware of where they went next. 

Julián de la Cruz: an auror officer with the New York Division, de la Cruz has come along as a consultant on the case. An ambitious young auror from a prominent family, he is likely to be less than pleased with the case being taken over by Squad aurors and out of his hands. 

Addison Knight: A Metamorphmagus with a white serpent tattoo which ties them to the crime ring that Xander Cain may have been a part of. Addison is based out of Milwaukee and may know what’s going on with Xander. 

CHIEF’S NOTES:

Picking up a missing persons case already two weeks old puts us in an extremely precarious position. If Xander was in fact at this club, they could be in extreme danger if a smuggling ring got a hold of them. Please keep your telekits on you at all times, and let me know if you need anything. 

- Acting Chief Langer

CASE STATUS: TAKEN

| RPG HOME | PLOT | WANTED CONNECTIONS | OPEN CASES |

[deliverancemayhew]

savagexcamden​:

“You’re a horrible influence,” he mutters, the hum of a laugh in his voice, smiling into the kiss. It’s a nice thing, to be able to tease, to be able to smile, and draw those little laughs from Liv, sounds he’s never really heard from him anywhere else but when they’re alone. It’s intoxicating, all in all, every single part of it. It only makes him wish even more that they were allowed to have each other in public, that there wasn’t so much danger even to this, that they could talk, and hold hands, joke, and kiss like everyone else, without worrying that their whole lives might be ruined because of it. But for now, they have this, and it feels only fair to get lost in it, for a few stolen moments.

He can feel the heat twisting in his stomach, the need curling up there, in its now familiar home, as Liv kisses him, runs his hands down his chest, and pulls his shirt up, hands running over skin. Liv’s hands are warm, and soft, and send a chill down his spine. Warmth isn’t something he’s felt in a long, long time, his own skin cold, and unchanging, no blood of his own running through his veins. It feels like an approximation of warmth, after he feeds, with Liv’s or Becker’s blood running through his veins, the feeling only lasting for a few hours as the venom takes over and he’s back to the cold reminder of his lack of life. He’s spend so many years used to the cold, that it’s still a shock, every time he feels Liv’s warm hands on him, touching him, making it feel like maybe some of his warmth can be Camden’s for a moment, as long as they keep touching. Liv’s hands make him feel as alive as Liv’s blood, as his kisses, as every other part of him does. He can’t help the little noise that he lets out, caught between their lips, as Liv’s hands touch his chest. And it is easy to forget about work just now, standing like this.

Even easier to forget when Liv pulls back slightly from the kiss, breathes those words against his lips, describes what he’s thinking about. It makes him take in a breath, to be reminded of all of those touches out loud. He hasn’t stopped thinking about it, since it happened, hasn’t stopped thinking about doing it again. He wants it, too, wants exactly what Liv says. He wants for him to touch him, to do it over and over again, to find all the ways he can draw his pleasure out. And he thinks he might like to touch Liv, too. That’s an idea that sends an even more intense wave of heat through him, desire nearly overwhelming. Liv kisses him again, and it’s a little desperate, a little obscene, and he can feel the problem he’s already nursing, between the feeling of Liv’s hands, his lips, and all of his words. 

Camden’s own hand dip to Liv’s lower back, pulling him a little forward where he sits on the table, so that they’re more fully pressed together. He knows what he wants here, but he knows he can’t take it where they are. But the feeling of standing there between Liv’s knees, his hands on his chest, it’s a good start, for what might come later. When Liv speaks again, it’s easy to let those worries go, though. His hands, his mouth, and any other way, too. It’s an idea he’s been thinking of, one that he’s considered just as greatly as he’s thought about the feeling of Liv’s hands touching him. Liv taking him in his mouth, the completely new pleasure of that. The idea of it feels holy, in a way that he’s sure their former nightmare man would have had a field day with, if he had thought of it like that before then. It feels like a big step, but a step he thinks he would like to take with Liv, only Liv.

“Liv,” he breathes, pausing to swallow, try to focus a little, focus on Liv’s breathing, in the absence of his own, focus on his touch, remember himself, so that he doesn’t let himself get too far here, in the middle of work, even in a stolen, private moment. It’s hard, though, when he’s thinking about that. He brings a hand to Liv’s chin, thumb tracing along his bottom lip, gently parting his lips. “There’s something a bit holy about the idea of your mouth, Liv. You know I like how you look on your knees. Maybe that’s something we should try. Later.”

He feels breathless, he feels warm and frantic and so deeply Camden’s that it makes him feel more safe than anything else, safe in his arms. He shouldn’t feel safe here, he knows that much. He should be scared that despite their precautions, they’ll get caught. He should be scared that some of the people that already know will decide that Camden is too dangerous and report him for what they’re doing here. And god, Liv thinks he would kill someone if they did that, that he would fall apart at the seams and never manage to put himself back together again. He doesn’t know what he’ll do anymore without Camden in his life, and he couldn’t stand the idea of Camden being locked away for all of the things that Liv wanted him to do, because of all the things that Liv begged him for on bended knee.

Liv feels himself whine softly when Camden rests a hand on the small of his back, when Camden pulls him a little bit closer, pulls him forward so that their bodies are pressed together. He can tell that Camden wants him, that they want each other here in all of those perfect and intimate ways. Liv wishes that they day would go faster, that they could leave this place and go home together, so that he could make Camden feel as good as he deserves. He deserves all the pleasure in this world, and Liv wants to give it to him. Liv wants it so badly. He wants it so badly that he’s almost blind with it, uncaring of the rest of the world around them and all the people who would tell him that it was wrong. They’re past any intervention here, no one could make them see something that wasn’t true. They know that Camden is good for them, good to them, and they never want to let him go. All they want to do is be here, tucked so closely against him, breathing the same air and confessing all of his wants into the air against Camden’s lips. 

He has asked, in his own small ways, for the things that he wants the most. The things that he wants to do to Camden if he’s given the chance. He wants to get his mouth on Camden, to taste every single inch of his sin. He wants to taste the glory of his flesh, he wants to make Camden feel better than he even knows how. Liv is good with his mouth, he’s had a lot of practice. He’d like to show Camden, if Camden wants that too. And then Camden sighs out his name, and Liv feels another spike of wanting in his chest, in his gut. Camden swallows, and focuses on him, and Liv feels so powerful somehow in the moment. Camden’s skin isn’t exactly warm under his hands, but its perfect and present and Liv feels like he’s holding the entire world in his palms. This wonderful and intense man in front of him is the entire world.

He feels breathless when Camden touches him, his thumb running under Liv’s lip, his lips parting just slightly under the gentle pressure. His breath hitches just a little bit with how much he wants. He wants, he wants, he wants. He wants to take Camden’s fingers in to his mouth, get them wet, put on a show and tease Camden until he can’t say no anymore, until he can’t wait any longer. He wants Camden to fuck him already, but he knows they’re a long way off from that. So he wants Camden in his mouth instead. Wants to taste him, wants to drive him crazy. And his mind almost short-circuts when Camden says it. 

“Holy,” He gasps, in reply. And he thinks about himself on his knees, the way he could fall on to them here for Camden if he wanted that. He would gladly worship at that alter, if Camden allowed him to, with the dedication and bliss of a true believer. It would taste better than anything else, feel better than salvation. He feels like he could cry from how badly he wants Camden right now. And his hands move over Camden’s skin, down until they rest on that solid belt of his, shivers at the feel of it under his hands. “I’m good on my knees.” He says, breathless, a tease. “You’ll see. You’ll see later. I’ll show you.” And he kisses Camden again, frantic, desperate and needy and so wanting that it hurts. “I just want to touch you.” He sighs, against his lips, tugging a little at his belt but not going any further, because work, they’re at work. “I know I shouldn’t, but I always want you.” 

[deliverancemayhew]

marleighmcmahon​:

The transformation on Liv’s face, from a playful grin to a sort of unselfconscious, all encompassing smile, is kind of a magical thing, kind of the greatest expression they’ve ever seen him make, kind of the thing they think he’d hate if they pointed out, the thing they don’t want to spoil by saying anything that’d make him scowl again. There had already been something so easy and light about him today, but the sight of the store, over-stuffed with books, seems to bring it out in full force. His face is softer, his voice is softer; like a completely different person, somehow, except also not at all.

     “Uh, yeah, some,” they answer, grinning back a little, free hand automatically coming up to rub at their chest as he mentions the tattoo. “I’m not, like, a poetry expert or anything. Haven’t done a ton of reading since I started the whole auror thing. But when I was a teenager I used to come sit in places like this and read shit without buying anything for as long as I could get away with it, especially when the weather would get cold. And I read a lot when I was getting clean. Poetry was good for that, it kinda fucked with my attention span for a while there, so anything short was good. Ginsberg, O’Hara, all them. Got really into some short stories, too.” 

They know where the poetry section is, know where most of the sections here are even though it’s hard to tell without delving right into the depths of the store, since the shelves are only labeled right at the end of each one, so they nudge Liv’s shoulder, guiding him a little further into the store and in the direction of the shelves and shelves of poetry, which seems to be what he wants to check out most. 

     “And plays. I used to read a ton of plays. I’ve read, like, one since I started working for MACUSA, but it was fucking worth it, this Kushner play that came out a few years back. Maybe we can pick you up a copy, if you want.” 

Everything feels easier here, closer to Liv’s comfort zone. And his eyes track their hand as it moves up to touch the spot over the tattoo, this intimate thing that Liv knows about because they liked him enough to show it to him, because he was somehow worthy of Marleigh wanting to have sex with him, once upon a time. He can see it so clearly, when Marleigh talks about it. Marleigh as a teenager, practically a kid, coming to bookstores just so that there was somewhere warm and safe and semi-interesting he could go. Reading had been a refuge for Liv as well. An escape plan, when there was nowhere else to go. Worlds that he could get lost in, beauttiful words that described the world in ways he could neve rmanage on his own. 

Marleigh and him aren’t the same. They’re different to each other, they have different interests and different stories. But they’re the same too. Sometimes Marleigh says shit and he feels it right in his gut. Sometimes Marleigh says shit and Liv remembers everything that they had told him out in Midville. It’s an intimacy he can’t esacpe. Knowing those parts of their story, them knowing so many parts of his. 

Liv smiles a little more when Marleigh nudges his shoulder, lets them guide him into the depths of the store, around shelves and toward the things that he apparently wants to see the most, more than anything else. He hums softly, glancing over at them. “I like plays too. Kushner is good.” He nods, happy, because he feels a whole new level of connection right now, becuase he feels like Marleigh is someone that he trusts more than anything, more than most people who come in to his life. An equal to Harlow, in that special place in his heart, and one of the only three people who have ever learned the dark and gritty details of his past. 

They reach a poetry section, and Liv feels like a straving man as he runs his fingers over some of the books, eyes a little wide with wonder. “Any reccomendations, other than that, from your old years of experience? I’m real easy, you know. I like pretty much anything.”