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"Hope you like steak," Marcus said, deciding to having gone with the easier choices. He could make nice authentic cuisine from most parts of the world, but it was probably a safer choice to go with something an American boy would be comfortable with.
"Steak is good. Steak and booze is a great way to end the day."
Marcus grabbed some potatoes and vegetables to be their sides, and figured the rest he got at home already. These he threw into the basket Hargrove carried for him. "Grab anything you want to add," he said on their way to the check out. "Last chance to grab beers if you want any," he said as they went down the fresh produce section.
"Anything else we need?"
"Nope, that's all," Marcus said, paying with a credit card made to his new name. It was a good identity that he had set up, a reason why he became the Sinnerman in the first place, for those unbeatable connections.
"Let's get rolling and I'll have dinner started."
Marcus' new place was just a simple bungalow with rustic decor. Most of his furniture came with the place when he bought it, with very few personal touches around except a very large, and very encompassing rock collection. They were on nearly every surface, windowsills, banisters, shelves. "Come right in," he said, "Thanks for carrying the stuff."
He whistles when he walks in; his own place is far less decorated -for reasons that he doesn't want to look into- and he likes it. "Nice place. You have a thing for rocks, huh?" Billy places the groceries down on the bench and leans against it, smirking at the other man.
"They're unchanging, and survive through time better than anything the world has seen. I've picked them up from places I've been to," Marcus said as he indicated for where to put the groceries.
"Take a seat, dinner shouldn't take too long." Even one handed he handled the cooking easily, not asking for help much. It was simple, steak and baked potatoes with a side of vegetables with a little spice.
"Thanks," Marcus noted when he saw the beer. "Food should be ready soon." He was finishing up with the steaks as he spoke, the sides already done and plated, cooked to perfection and with some secret traditional recipes that seemed simple but he picked up over the years. "Medium rare alright for your steaks?" he asked as he started on the second one. Just a few minutes and that should be done as well.
If the man doesn't bail the moment Billy tells his story because he thinks the blond is a nut case.
"Sounds perfect."
True to his words, for was served in a few minutes and two large portions were set on the table. "Eat up, there's more sides of you want seconds," he said, settling down across from Billy. He already cut up his own portion, making it easier to rest eat with one hand.
"So..." Marcus said as they got settled with their beers and food. "You wanna tell me what happened here?"
With a loud sigh and after swallowing his food, Billy gets ready to start the story.
"It started in 1983 when a kid went missing and another kid showed up. Y'know that closed down lab? They were... into some dangerous shit and they opened a portal to an alternate dimension and let something out..." Billy goes through what he's been told about what happened to Will and Elle and Nancy's friend B-something and then everything that happened the following year with Will and the Mind Flayer.
He's already several beers in when he gets to the part about himself and it's far harder to tell that part, admitting to all the lives he'd ended and how he'd tried to kill several kids as well.
"When I came to, I was in hospital, the gate was closed and the monster was gone. And that's how I ended up with powers. Some of them were from El the rest... from him."
Whether Marcus believed it or not, it was clear to him that Billy did, and it affected the young man. Part way through the telling he got up to grab two tumblers and poured them two shots of whiskey, figuring the kid needed something stronger than just beer.
"So let me get it straight," he said when Billy was done and looking guilty like he was personally responsible for killing those people. "There was a dimensional portal that opened to an alternate world where a thing... mind flayer, came through and hitched a ride inside of you to make you its killing puppet. Does that sound about right?" Marcus still couldn't be certain that it wasn't some sort of mass hallucination from a government project or hypnosis, but one thing was certain, Billy could move things with his mind. And with all that he had seen in life, he wasn't ready to completely dismiss his story either.
He placed his empty beer bottle on the table between them. "Can you move this?" he asked, less afraid and more curious by what happened.
Billy arches a brow at him and then, without breaking eye contact, the glass bottle moves across the counter and stops at the edge, never falling. He wipes the blood from his nose and smiles. "There's more I can do than just that. I can read minds, see memories, I'm super strong and super durable. A lot of it is mind stuff which I got from El because of the link we had at the time.
"And now you'll know why I could believe that you can't die."
Marcus' eyes broke the eye contact to follow the bottle across the table, ready to catch the bottle when it stopped by itself. When he looked up again, he frowned slightly when he saw his partner bleeding again, and handed him a box of kleenex on the table.
But something else Billy said caught his attention much more than the parlor trick did. "You can read minds... Memories?" Which would be incredibly troublesome if that was the case. Perhaps he picked the wrong little town for his hideaway, and fate definitely had a horrible sense of humor that he partnered up with a super powered mind reader. "How's that work?"
Depending on the answer, Marcus might need to cut his losses, disappear again in another town, another state. And he was starting to like Hargrove. It was like fate was kicking him in the nuts for even thinking about trying again.
"It's a whole thing. It requires white noise and some real concentration." He smiles. "Don't worry, I can't read your mind so your sexy thoughts about me are completely safe. Unless you wanna share them with me." It's a tease and Billy smirks. "I mean, if people project I can sorta pick things up and I can sorta reach out and skim top level thoughts, but to really delve in, I need to really concentrate."
It was a relief to hear that this wasn't a read-at-will situation, and Marcus wasn't actually in danger of having his immortal secrets, plus those of a criminal mastermind, discovered by a twenty something year old youth. It was bad enough that Billy seemed utmost convinced that Marcus' one single slip at an unintended moment was his secret truth. But, he suppose it was an equal exchange of sorts, he now knew something superhuman about Billy as well.
"Sexy thoughts about you, huh," Marcus said with a partially amused raised eyebrow and crossing his arms over the table. He pushed the plates out of the way. It wasn't the first time Billy dropped the hints, but the first time Marcus responded to them. "What makes you think I even swing that way? And aren't I a little too old for you?"
"Everyone swings my way." Oh yeah, there he is. "Nah, you're in my ideal age group. Unless you are actually immortal and are a lot older than I thought you were."
"You're either too drunk, or I'm not drunk enough," Marcus said with a slight smirk, referring to the conversation they were having currently. But he did invite Billy over, and the kid had been trying to drop hints from practically day one of them working together.
"So you like experienced older guys, is that it?" he taunted, refilling their shot glasses when they were empty.
"You forgot attractive."
That got another pair of raised eyebrows where Marcus clearly thought they had differing views on the matter. The ideal changed between the eras and civilizations, although he supposed by the current day standards, he wasn't too shabby.
"No, but things could get incredibly awkward at work if this doesn't work out," Marcus warned, but it meant he was considering it. He really shouldn't get mixed up with where he worked just because it might force him to move again, but he had been lonely for a long while, and Billy seemed the most interesting guy he met in a while. Not to mention the kid was definitely interested.
"If only," Marcus answered, almost envying that zest that only a mortal could enjoy. If Billy wasn't drinking, he was, and he downed his whiskey shot before pouring another. He never was a huge fan of beer.
"But it's good, go live your life with all you can experience and no regrets. There's only, what, a handful of decades for it."
Snorting, Billy drinks more of his beer. "Oh, I have a lot of regrets but flirting with you isn't one of them."
"I'm just not the getting close kind of guy," Marcus said, although he did pause in pouring his next shot with the bottle lifted. "And it takes more than that to get me drunk, Hargrove."
He finished pouring but capped the bottle, taking his time with this drink. He had enough in him to get to that nice mellow stage, not yet drunk but the harshness of life had its sharp edges dampened. "You can call it ptsd, from my overseas tours. I've had my fair share brushes... I guess it affects people differently."
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