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“I’m so proud of you,” Mordant told Pink in bed a few hours later. They were curled around each other, finally winding down from the adrenaline high of the gig and the post-gig drama. It had been quite low-key, all things considered, at least by the time Mordant had got there.
Malcolm had still been lying groaning on the floor and Pink had been talking to security. Mordant had gone straight up beside him and slid an arm around his waist. Pink had leaned in and turned to face him within the circle of his arms.
“What happened? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Just...” He waved at the man on the floor. “As you can see. Malcolm’s here.” He’d been shivering faintly inside Mordant’s embrace.
“We’ve got him now, don’t worry,” the security guy had said, clearly realising how off-balance Pink actually was. “The police will be here before too long. Why don’t you go and get a cup of tea and I’ll give you a shout when they get here?” He watched his colleague uncurl Malcolm from the ground and get some handcuffs on him. “He’s not going anywhere.”
Mordant had shepherded him off to the Green Room and made them both cups of tea with lots of sugar—probably one of the reasons they were still awake, actually—and explained to the rest of the band what had happened.
“Sorry to bring my drama to work,” Pink had mumbled into his mug, not meeting anyone’s eye.
Mordant had been about to speak up, say something reassuring; but Lindy got there first. “Don’t apologise,” she said, sitting down beside him on the ratty chaise longue. “You’re not the one who’s doing the crazy stalker stuff.” She put her hand on his arm. “We’re a team, the lot of us. You’re part of it—you would be even if you and Mordant weren’t...” she hesitated, “...whatever you are.”
“Boyfriends,” supplied Mordant helpfully, sitting on the other side of Pink, sliding an arm around him and moving close, so they were pressed gently together. “We are, in fact, boyfriends. You can stop walking round it on pins now, Lind.”
Heggarty snorted something from over by the kettle. It sounded like about time. But Mordant could have been mistaken.
A couple of Malcolm’s ex-colleagues had turned up and taken Malcolm away shortly after that. They weren’t wildly happy that he’d impersonated a police officer to get into the venue. Neither was the venue itself.
Pink had said he was going to make an appointment with a solicitor tomorrow to talk about ways to get Malcolm to leave him alone. He still had the letter that had come to Cornwall and he could get his old landlord to explain about having to change the locks.
“It feels kind of weird to have it all out there for people to know about,” he said, winding his legs around Mordant’s under the duvet. “But I really can’t be doing with him turning up at work and behaving like a nutter.”
“Exactly,” Mordant said. “Whatever you want to do, I’ll back you up, if you want me to. Just tell me what you need me to do. You did really well this evening.”
Pink sighed and snuggled closer. “I didn’t really do anything other than knee him in the balls,” he said. “I should have done it twelve months ago. Nothing to be proud of there.”
“Yeah, no. You know all the statistics about coercive control and domestic abuse. You know why people stay. Don’t put yourself down.”
Mordant pulled him in, dropping a kiss on top of his head. Pink rolled over on top of him and wriggled so he was propped over Mordant on his elbows. He stared down, his changeable eyes more grey than blue in the dim light.
“I think I’m falling in love with you,” he said quietly. “Is that okay?”
Jesus. He was so brave. How could he put himself out there like that? Mordant bit his lip.
“I know it’s soon. I know there’s been lots of adrenaline rushing round and I know you might not feel the same way.” He swallowed. “I wanted to tell you, though.”
Mordant reached up and pushed his wayward fringe behind his ear, letting his fingers linger there on the perfect curl of the shell. He traced down Pink’s nose, his eyebrows, his lips. They parted slightly at his touch and Pink’s eyes flickered shut and open again.
“Say something, please,” he muttered. “Don’t just stare at me and grin like an idiot.”
Mordant didn’t realise he had been.
He lifted his head a little bit and brushed his mouth over Pink’s. “It’s not that soon,” he said quietly. “Not if I feel it too.” He swallowed. It seemed hard to get the words out. They were too important. “I’ve been hung up on you since the first night we met, at that awful pub. I was really scared that if I got to know you better I’d fall hard and... you know. It makes everything complicated if you’re shagging someone at work.” He swallowed again, out of words.
“Here we are, though,” Pink said, equally softly. He paused. “I could get a different gig,” he said, finally. “If that would make it easier?”
Mordant was shaking his head before he’d even finished speaking. “Yeah, no,” he said. “That’s not going to work for me. I want to be together.”
Pink laughed. “Well,” he said. “Here we are then, I guess. If it all goes bad, I can always move, at that point.”
He could. It was true.
“I don’t want that to happen,” said Mordant. “I want this.”
He rolled them over and reversed their positions. Pink was warm and welcoming underneath him, their legs tangled, cocks half hard and slip-sliding together as they moved. Pink groaned. “Yeah,” he said. “Please.” He opened his legs and wrapped them around Mordant’s waist.
Mordant couldn’t stifle a grunt. It felt really good. He bent his head and kissed Pink, keeping him pinned with the weight of his body. Pink stretched his hands over his head, under the pillows, arching his hips and rutting against Mordant, but otherwise not touching him at all. Mordant could work with that. He stretched out his own arms, linked his fingers with Pink’s, and pushed down, holding him still. Then he ground their hips together and Pink gasped into his mouth.
Everything went quite quickly from playful and sensual to frantic and hot. Pink’s thighs were long and strong and wrapped tightly around him, ankles locked. Mordant kissed him, dark and heated and wet, thrusting with his tongue in the same rhythm as he was grinding their cocks together, filling Pink’s mouth so Pink’s gasps and moans were stifled.
He transferred both Pink’s wrists to one hand, keeping his arms stretched out, pinned above him, and propped himself up on his elbow. Pink watched his face, eyes heavy-lidded with want, the tight press of his legs loosening, lying splayed under him. Mordant used his free hand to tease at one of the hard points of his nipples, then decided he wanted to taste. He sucked and nipped and licked. Pink arched, breathing heavily. Mordant moved to the other one, laving it with the same attention. He pressed his free hand just above Pink’s cock, holding him down as he tried to move.
“You stay still,” he told him in a low voice. He sounded wrecked, even to himself. “You get what I give you, all right?”
Pink moaned.
“Say it out loud,” Mordant told him.
“I get what you give me,” Pink repeated obediently, breathlessly.
“What are your colours?” Mordant asked him. It was a ritual now.
“Green is good, orange is wait, red for stop,” Pink said.
“Good, well done,” Mordant murmured. He slid up the bed a bit without moving either of his hands and started kissing him again.
