Billy chuckled again and then stole another kiss. And another one because he could. His fingers slide over the bandage on Marcus' shoulder and he traces around the edge of it, wondering if it still hurts.
"We can," Marcus confirmed, his expression softening with each kiss until
he leaned forward and took one back from Billy. Noticing the fingers on his
shoulder, he said softly, "You can take that off. It should be closed by
now."
It wouldn't be hard to relocate to the sunny state, and it wasn't somewhere
he settled before. "Where in California were you from?" Regardless,
relocating would take a while, and it might be a good idea for them to get
used to the idea of them being a pair before making such a big step. Marcus
was ready to jump in with both feet once decided, but he couldn't say the
same on Billy's behalf.
Billy's whole face lights up when he's told he can go back to California, as if Marcus has just given him the best gift of his life. He's careful when he peels the bandage from Marcus' back and, sure enough, the injury is closed over. His touch is gentle over the skin that had been torn open the day before. "That's amazing.
"I don't think I'd want to go to the same area; too many bad memories. But somewhere near the beach." It's probably rushed and there's no way of even knowing if they're going to last but there's no harm in putting it out there now. Even if it does just assure Marcus that Billy is really in for this.
Marcus' shoulder where the injury was remained scabbed and puckered in the
circular scarring matching the bottle stabbing, but the skin was closed
over in new growth. In a few more days it would be just scars that would
fade back to nothing in subsequent weeks. It was part of his continued
healing, and clear proof that Marcus wasn't lying about his immortality.
Marcus smiled again, indulging in Billy's happiness as a substitute for his
own. "Sure, we can look into Los Angeles if you like. No one would care
what we do there."
"Is it like this with every injury? Or does the time vary depending on the extensiveness of it?" Billy's own healing time was that of a normal human but his ability to withstand injury was a lot higher, his pain tolerance higher too. It meant he could go a lot longer before his body gave up on him; the thing that had ultimately kept him alive after the Mind Flayer.
"It definitely depends," Marcus said, not seeming to mind talking about
this now that it was out in the open. "Like a stabbing is different from having to regenerate something completely, and whether it's mortally wounding or just an inconvenience would factor in as well. For example, if I need to grow out a new body, it'll be a rough few months instead of days." But realizing that this might be a bit macabre for early morning conversation in a budding relationship, Marcus stopped himself.
"City gives anonymity, especially in one where everyone is trying to be
something they're not. They won't care about two guys living together... assuming that's what you want?" It was a fast move, but Marcus didn't do things half way.
"You can regrow your whole body?" Billy is both terrified by the implication and impressed by the ability. Of course, then it seems to click in his mind that for Marcus to know that, he'd have had to grow his body back at some point. "Wait... The fact that you've needed to..." He shivers.
"Of course that's what I'd want. The whole point of moving to the city would be so we could be together."
Marcus hesitated over how much to tell Billy when he drew his conclusions,
astute in his observations as he was proving to be. It wasn't something
most people would want to talk about, but if they were to start something,
it was such a big part of Marcus that perhaps Billy should know.
"I... Have been trying to end my curse for a while now. I've exhausted all
the ways I know how to." In short, he was suicidal, to the extremes. His
last attempts had been a few decades ago though, during the great wars when
new ways to kill had been abundant but disappointing.
"Unlikely I'll find anything in your lifetime though," he said quickly, in
case Billy was afraid Marcus would die on him.
The words cause a pain to spread through Billy's chest as he realises what Marcus isn't quite saying; the older man wanted to die and it broke his heart. He's unsure how to answer so he just presses a gentle kiss to Marcus' lips, brushing a hand over his face.
"How old are you, Marcus?" Just how long had he been forced to exist, always losing the people he cared about?
"Since the beginning of man," he said softly after the light kisses. His
thumbs fidgeted with light circles on Billy's hip bones. "Old enough to
recall the rise and fall of Babylon."
Marcus' gaze was full of hesitation as he looked back at Billy, playing
over the idea of revealing his God given name. It wasn't that he was
ashamed of it, but there were such associations with it that he didn't want
it to scare off this new relationship he decided to start. It was a risk as
it was with all that he was revealing about himself.
Billy's eyes widen in surprise at the realisation of just how old Marcus actually is and things slide into place and it makes sense that he'd try desperately to take his own life after living that long. He also realises that that would make this just a blip in his own life and he hopes he can make it worth it.
"I'm not going anywhere." A beat. "I mean, I'm probably gonna have to go pee soon but I'm not leaving."
Billy wasn't the most eloquent, but he did have a way of bringing a very
slight smile to Marcus' face with his choice of words. "Why don't you go on
ahead. I'll start up something for breakfast..." He looked at the time, it
was far later than he thought, "or brunch. Any requests?" Because Marcus
likely knew how to make it, and it didn't matter to him what they ate.
But they were rather comfortable in bed like this, so despite telling Billy
to go on, he didn't exactly let go of the younger man for him to do so.
Billy makes no move to get up even though he actually does need to pee and the idea of food is appealing. Instead he relaxes further into Marcus' hold, stealing kisses and peppering more across his face and jaw.
"Bacon. Eggs. Coffee." They could go out but that involves clothes and exposing themselves to the public and Billy has no intention of doing either right now, especially when here he has Marcus all to himself.
"Things I do happen to have in my fridge," Marcus replied, making no secret
that he was enjoying the attention from Billy. He seemed to revel under
every little touch of caress, and wasn't afraid to reciprocate with his own
little kisses back.
This possibly lasted another ten minutes before Marcus finally released
Billy. "Go, before our brunch becomes lunch."
"Yeah? It's like you know me so well already." With one last kiss, Billy climbs off Marcus' lap and heads to the bathroom. There's the tell tale ache of a good night and he smiles, winking at Marcus before he leaves the room.
He finds him in the kitchen and takes a seat at the same place he's sat the night before. "So are some of these rocks the same age as you?"
"I'm not as old as the Earth, only mankind," he said. The coffee was
already brewing by the time Billy sat down. Marcus just started taking out
the eggs. "But I did collect them from places I've been... Each represents
a chapter in my life, I suppose." And there were a lot of them.
"How do you want your eggs?" He got the rest of the things out for bacon
and even some potatoes that he could fry up with their meal.
"So... Yes? Do you have a favourite?" Which is not a question he ever expected to ask anyone, let alone someone who wasn't a child. But they were clearly important and relevant and Billy wasn't about to mock them.
"Not really.... They're mostly of the recent millennia. Some obtained as a
remnant of the past." Marcus chuckled as he started scrambling the eggs,
adding in the milk and tricks to make them incredibly fluffy. "Can you
imagine lugging around a rock collection in ancient Rome? Or even across
the great desert."
He split the portions on two plates before working on the bacon. "Coffee's
ready. Get yours how you want it."
"I mean, you've still lugged them around, haven't you?" Billy stands and makes himself his coffee, stirring in a sugar and some milk. "How do you have yours?" It'd be easy enough for him to make that too seeing Marcus is cooking them breakfast.
"Are you insane? No. I think this started in medieval times.
Transportation, and collecting possessions got a little easier by then. I
don't have a lot of things from my earlier days." There simply weren't any
storage spaces back then, and Marcus moved around too often to put down
roots where he could hold stuff.
"Oh, just pour one out, I take it black." A few more minutes and he was
done, carrying two heaping plates of eggs and bacon for each of them.
"Hey, I don't know what you were doing." Aside from trying to end his curse and, therefore, his life. That thought sparks an idea in Billy's mind but he sets about pouring the man a coffee and then coming back around to take his same seat, taking a deep sniff of the smell of bacon.
"Smells great. Coffee." He waits until Marcus is sitting as well, taking a bite out of a piece of bacon. "Has your name always been Marcus? I'm assuming the last name changes, but have you always kept your first name?"
"It has been for a long while," Marcus said, sidestepping answering the
question when he hadn't come up with an answer for himself yet. "It's
easier when I don't have to remember which one it is now."
"Thanks." He took the coffee and sipped the hot brew. "Started in Ancient
Greece, and it kind of stuck since. Seems like forever now."
"Do you usually try and keep a name that matches well with the time?" He figures that Marcus will tell him what other names he's used and what name he was given at birth if he wants to. He's already been so open with him this morning that Billy isn't willing to push it any further.
"It would be less suspicious," Marcus explained, "I tried not to draw
attention to myself too much... as I'm sure you understand." Marcus looked
up from his food at Billy. Knowing that the boy had powers made him as much
as Marcus was a specimen to be studied in a lab somewhere by the curious or
the heartless.
"They all kind of blended together," Marcus admitted as he resumed eating.
"It's less the time period as the various locations, countries. I traveled
quite a bit, been to all the places that a man could walk to in Euroasia
before they invented transportation to the Americas."
"What? Afraid you'll end up in the history books or something? Oh my god, what if you're in a history book somewhere!" He smiles, eyes wide and a forkful of eggs half way to his mouth. "I... feel like I know what you mean but I never had to worry about that." In fact, the runner of the lab that knew about him had been the ones making sure no one else knew about him.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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"I'd love to go home to California."
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"We can," Marcus confirmed, his expression softening with each kiss until he leaned forward and took one back from Billy. Noticing the fingers on his shoulder, he said softly, "You can take that off. It should be closed by now."
It wouldn't be hard to relocate to the sunny state, and it wasn't somewhere he settled before. "Where in California were you from?" Regardless, relocating would take a while, and it might be a good idea for them to get used to the idea of them being a pair before making such a big step. Marcus was ready to jump in with both feet once decided, but he couldn't say the same on Billy's behalf.
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"I don't think I'd want to go to the same area; too many bad memories. But somewhere near the beach." It's probably rushed and there's no way of even knowing if they're going to last but there's no harm in putting it out there now. Even if it does just assure Marcus that Billy is really in for this.
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Marcus' shoulder where the injury was remained scabbed and puckered in the circular scarring matching the bottle stabbing, but the skin was closed over in new growth. In a few more days it would be just scars that would fade back to nothing in subsequent weeks. It was part of his continued healing, and clear proof that Marcus wasn't lying about his immortality.
Marcus smiled again, indulging in Billy's happiness as a substitute for his own. "Sure, we can look into Los Angeles if you like. No one would care what we do there."
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"Yeah? You'd wanna live in the city?"
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"It definitely depends," Marcus said, not seeming to mind talking about this now that it was out in the open. "Like a stabbing is different from having to regenerate something completely, and whether it's mortally wounding or just an inconvenience would factor in as well. For example, if I need to grow out a new body, it'll be a rough few months instead of days." But realizing that this might be a bit macabre for early morning conversation in a budding relationship, Marcus stopped himself.
"City gives anonymity, especially in one where everyone is trying to be something they're not. They won't care about two guys living together... assuming that's what you want?" It was a fast move, but Marcus didn't do things half way.
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"Of course that's what I'd want. The whole point of moving to the city would be so we could be together."
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Marcus hesitated over how much to tell Billy when he drew his conclusions, astute in his observations as he was proving to be. It wasn't something most people would want to talk about, but if they were to start something, it was such a big part of Marcus that perhaps Billy should know.
"I... Have been trying to end my curse for a while now. I've exhausted all the ways I know how to." In short, he was suicidal, to the extremes. His last attempts had been a few decades ago though, during the great wars when new ways to kill had been abundant but disappointing.
"Unlikely I'll find anything in your lifetime though," he said quickly, in case Billy was afraid Marcus would die on him.
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"How old are you, Marcus?" Just how long had he been forced to exist, always losing the people he cared about?
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"Since the beginning of man," he said softly after the light kisses. His thumbs fidgeted with light circles on Billy's hip bones. "Old enough to recall the rise and fall of Babylon."
Marcus' gaze was full of hesitation as he looked back at Billy, playing over the idea of revealing his God given name. It wasn't that he was ashamed of it, but there were such associations with it that he didn't want it to scare off this new relationship he decided to start. It was a risk as it was with all that he was revealing about himself.
"Is that okay with you?"
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"I'm not going anywhere." A beat. "I mean, I'm probably gonna have to go pee soon but I'm not leaving."
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Billy wasn't the most eloquent, but he did have a way of bringing a very slight smile to Marcus' face with his choice of words. "Why don't you go on ahead. I'll start up something for breakfast..." He looked at the time, it was far later than he thought, "or brunch. Any requests?" Because Marcus likely knew how to make it, and it didn't matter to him what they ate.
But they were rather comfortable in bed like this, so despite telling Billy to go on, he didn't exactly let go of the younger man for him to do so.
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"Bacon. Eggs. Coffee." They could go out but that involves clothes and exposing themselves to the public and Billy has no intention of doing either right now, especially when here he has Marcus all to himself.
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"Things I do happen to have in my fridge," Marcus replied, making no secret that he was enjoying the attention from Billy. He seemed to revel under every little touch of caress, and wasn't afraid to reciprocate with his own little kisses back.
This possibly lasted another ten minutes before Marcus finally released Billy. "Go, before our brunch becomes lunch."
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He finds him in the kitchen and takes a seat at the same place he's sat the night before. "So are some of these rocks the same age as you?"
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"I'm not as old as the Earth, only mankind," he said. The coffee was already brewing by the time Billy sat down. Marcus just started taking out the eggs. "But I did collect them from places I've been... Each represents a chapter in my life, I suppose." And there were a lot of them.
"How do you want your eggs?" He got the rest of the things out for bacon and even some potatoes that he could fry up with their meal.
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"I'll have them however you cook them."
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"Not really.... They're mostly of the recent millennia. Some obtained as a remnant of the past." Marcus chuckled as he started scrambling the eggs, adding in the milk and tricks to make them incredibly fluffy. "Can you imagine lugging around a rock collection in ancient Rome? Or even across the great desert."
He split the portions on two plates before working on the bacon. "Coffee's ready. Get yours how you want it."
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"Are you insane? No. I think this started in medieval times. Transportation, and collecting possessions got a little easier by then. I don't have a lot of things from my earlier days." There simply weren't any storage spaces back then, and Marcus moved around too often to put down roots where he could hold stuff.
"Oh, just pour one out, I take it black." A few more minutes and he was done, carrying two heaping plates of eggs and bacon for each of them.
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"Smells great. Coffee." He waits until Marcus is sitting as well, taking a bite out of a piece of bacon. "Has your name always been Marcus? I'm assuming the last name changes, but have you always kept your first name?"
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"It has been for a long while," Marcus said, sidestepping answering the question when he hadn't come up with an answer for himself yet. "It's easier when I don't have to remember which one it is now."
"Thanks." He took the coffee and sipped the hot brew. "Started in Ancient Greece, and it kind of stuck since. Seems like forever now."
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"What time period has been your favourite?"
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"It would be less suspicious," Marcus explained, "I tried not to draw attention to myself too much... as I'm sure you understand." Marcus looked up from his food at Billy. Knowing that the boy had powers made him as much as Marcus was a specimen to be studied in a lab somewhere by the curious or the heartless.
"They all kind of blended together," Marcus admitted as he resumed eating. "It's less the time period as the various locations, countries. I traveled quite a bit, been to all the places that a man could walk to in Euroasia before they invented transportation to the Americas."
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"Okay, so what was your favourite location?"
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