Pairing: Mitchell Linn x Dorian
Author's Note: Merry Christmas everyone! Originally this was not going to be my Christmas fic but I started writing the second half like this past weekend so I decided to sprinkle a bit of Christmas in it.
It was a delicate thing. He had known it would be from the start.
They weren’t lovers. They weren’t exactly friends either. But Mitchell didn’t care if it was something in between, not when he could hold Dorian like this. Not when he could take all that weight off his shoulders, even if it was just for the night.
“So…Realization…” Dorian murmured into Mitchell’s shoulder.
“What about it?” Mitchell whispered back.
Dorian remained silent for a few minutes, shifting slightly in Mitchell’s arms. “Do you want to…?”
“I don’t know. It’s…It’s a big change but…”
“Imagine all the places we could go. The food we could eat.”
Dorian pulled away, nose brushing against Mitchell’s. “We?”
“But of course? You think I’m going to let you go? After all the pinning I did?”
“Mitch…we’re not exactly….”
Mitchell looked Dorian up and down, taking in how he was laying on top of him, an inch between their lips. He bit his tongue, suppressing an unimpressed quirk of his brow. “I know…I know. But I just…I’m not going to lose you.”
“But what if…What if I don’t want to jet around the world? Hell, I don’t even know if I want to become human.”
“I’m not saying I won’t…It’s just a lot to take in. And human or not, do you really think there is anything else I’m fit to do?”
“I don’t want to do anything different.” Dorian’s tone was sharp, on the verge of a shout. He rolled off of Mitchell and onto the other side of the bed. Letting out a heavy sigh, he began again. “Look…I don’t want to lead you on if this isn’t going to go anywhere. We have a future to think about now and I don’t know how to be part of the one you’re imagining.”
How did they always end up here? In this weird awkward space of thick air, feeling miles apart when right beside each other, leaving Mitchell starving for…something.
“We don’t know what the future holds Dorian. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get out there and not like it.”
Dorian grunted, this time pushing himself off the bed.
“Dorian, please.” With no response, no stop, he shot up, gripping Dorian’s sleeve. “Look. You’re right, we’ve got futures to think about now. But I want you in it Dorian. And if I have to sacrifice some of that “jet setting” then I will. Again, there are so many unknowns. Maybe I’ll want to stay right here in town and open up a restaurant.”
Fingers curled together. “Let’s not quit just as we began. We’ll see where this goes and go from there. And if we don’t last,” Mitchell smiled softly, giving Dorian’s hand a squeeze. “I’m sure it will still be a wonderful experience.”
“You agreed to try this, so again, let’s not quit prematurely. When we get out there and start living our human lives, then we can decide.”
Dorian turned away so Mitchell couldn’t read him, but the silence that hung was telling enough.
So the restaurant idea didn’t quite pan out and Mitchell found himself back on the road again. Not as often as he used to back when he was doing his world-wide food tour, but just the right amount to satisfy that hunger for new sights, new tastes, and his next target.
He had a home now. A home of his very own. Well…mostly. And a home required tending to.
He wasn’t supposed to get back until the next day, but he gathered enough material to hammer out a couple articles and feel like he did something, so he switched up his flight. Last minute wasn’t so ideal, but as a successful critic of critics, he could splurge for Christmas. Especially if it was for a certain someone.
Even after almost half a day of travel, Mitchell couldn’t wipe the smile off his face if he even tried. And it only grew as he approached the door before him. Apparently that certain someone wasn’t so cheery given the muffled grumbles that met Mitchell’s knock. It was kind of late.
“Mitch…” his name slipped from Dorian’s lips in a breath. How Mitchell missed hearing his name doused in that voice.
He didn’t get a chance to reply as Dorian pulled him close by the waist. Mitchell instinctively threw his arms around Dorian’s neck.
“I missed you,” Mitchell whispered.
Dorian just squeezed him tighter, nose finding its familiar spot in Mitchell’s neck. “You weren’t supposed to be back yet.”
“I got an early flight. Consider it an early Christmas present.”
After another moment of hugging, Dorian finally pulled back a bit, tugging Mitchell across the threshold by his waist. Noses bumped into each other in the stumble. Dorian led him down the small hallway, right to the bedroom. He smirked. “Getting right down to business are we?”
“Mind out of the gutter, love.”
“I’m only teasing. I’m too tired for something like that. There will be plenty of time later, right?”
Dorian raised a brow in warning, though his own smirk tickled at the one corner of his mouth. “Mitchell.”
“Oh, the full name. I’m really in for it now.”
And that was when Dorian finally broke with a snort, mouth cracking into a wide grin, wider than any Mitchell had seen on him before. They crashed onto the bed in a fit of laughter. Mitchell reached for the corner of Dorian’s mouth, thumb caressing the skin there. “You seem so much happier as a human.”
“I don’t remember you ever smiling this much. Or at least this big and relaxed.”
Dorian’s gaze shifted to the ceiling, a strange look in his eye yet his smile didn’t fade. “I may still be a ‘bouncer' or whatever you wish to call it, but I’m not the only one with that duty and I can actually take that hat off for a couple days at a time.”
“And here you were thinking of not becoming human.”
“Well once everyone was gone…No one was left to protect besides the human. But we were on different planes so…I couldn’t actually do much if they didn’t lock me. I was more of use out in the world. And I couldn’t keep Skylar trapped like that either.”
Mitchell pressed an approving kiss to his cheek. And for a moment, they just laid there. Letting the quiet settle over them and where their bodies touched, feelings filled up the space in place of words. All this lulling Dorian into a light dozing, but eventually Mitchell couldn’t help himself.
“I hate to say it,” he whispered, “But I told you so.”
Dorian cracked an eye open to stare at his lover. “About what?”
“That this was worth trying.”
“Okay. Maybe those weren’t my exact words, but it had similar meanings.”
Mitchell propped himself up by his elbow, resting his cheek in his hand. “You better. It’s the only reason we are laying here like this now.”
“Okay, okay. You were right and everything worked out.”
Mitchell leaned down, capturing Dorian’s lips in a short and sweet kiss. “I love you.”
Dorian grinned even wider. “I love you too, Mitch.”
