Page 69 of Set Fire to This Cardhouse

Undeterred, Mike grins. “That’s okay. You still want to fuck me.”

“It’s definitely high on the list.” Toby trails his hand down Mike’s side, then shakes his head. “Okay, move. We need to be on that flight, and I don’t put out before the first date.”

“Experience would suggest otherwise,” Mike says, still grinning, but he finally takes a step back and gives Toby some room. The sudden lack of full-body contact makes Toby shiver, and he almost reaches for Mike again, then stops himself.

They really need to leave.

***

It isn’t until Toby hears the telltale sound of the plane stretching almost beyond endurance that it starts to register: they made it. They completed the job; they’re on the way back; they’re alive. Toby’s fingernail is a worthy sacrifice to the gods of dumb luck.

“What are you smirking about?” Mike asks, voice pitched low as he tilts towards Toby. Outside the window, the ground is rapidly shrinking away.

“I’m not smirking,” Toby says. “It’s too plebeian for me.”

“Is that so.”

“It is entirely possible, however, that I’m smiling to myself at the thought of being alive.”

“Perfectly good reason.”

It’s not a question, so Toby sees no need to reply.

The plane shudders as it breaks through a layer of feathery, nearly translucent clouds, the engine’s hum a comfortable buzz in Toby’s stomach. He may not stop smiling anytime soon.

Next to him, Mike pulls off his sweater. It leaves him in a thin T-shirt that looks soft to the touch, a sliver of his tattoos exposed. Toby wants to spend his time exploring every swirl of ink until he knows them by heart. He’s jolted out of his distracted contemplation when Mike twines their fingers together, draping the sweater over their laced hands even though it will be obvious to anyone who cares to look.

Leaning slightly into him, Toby snorts. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You could have died today,” Mike tells him, quite seriously. “You did lose a fingernail, plus there’s that bruised rib you didn’t tell me about. If you think I didn’t notice how you flinched when I touched your chest? Think again.” His thumb runs along Toby’s index finger, gently caressing. “And I distinctly remember that someone raised the issue of a candlelight dinner. It wasn’t me, so you’re in no position to judge, Bas.”

Right after dropping the name, he watches Toby closely as though he’s waiting for a reprimand.

“Oh, please.” Toby smiles and shakes his head. “I can blame a near-death experience, whereas you? You’re just naturally ridiculous.” He doesn’t attempt to pull away though, prefers to study Mike’s face that looks open and content in the sunlight forcing its way through the plane window.

In the end, it really isn’t that complicated. Maybe it never was.

“You know what?” Toby rubs his thumb over the smooth inside of Mike’s wrist, eliciting a most satisfying shiver from Mike. “Come home with me—I’m done caring. I’ll call Liu when we land, and we can have dinner tomorrow night, or the day after or whenever, really. Five days a week, for all I care. But first, I’d like some time alone: you, me, and a bed. Couch works, too. Floor, if necessary. That all right with you?”

Mike’s fingers tighten around Toby’s hand, his eyes dark. “You have to ask?”

“Rumor has it that’s the polite thing to do.”

“Sure, I’ll come home with you.” Mike grins, sudden and wide, his body turned fully towards Toby. “Took you long enough to ask.”

“Trust me, I’m gonna make up for it.” It’s possible that Toby is grinning. Some might even say he’s beaming at Mike like an idiot. As long as Mike keeps looking at him with that strange half-smile, Toby can’t be held responsible.

***

Mike freezes. That’s the first sign that something is wrong.

Toby stops in his tracks, dismissing his suitcase as it rides past him on the baggage belt, and turns slowly.

He knows them. They’re from the Agency, often referred to as the Misconducters because internal investigations of potentially rogue behavior land on their desks.

The pictures, shit. All those pictures that would have been taken at the scene, maybe even a video of Mike running the van off the road. They caused a public disturbance without immediately obvious cause, and sometimes there are agents who cave under the stress and go on a killing spree.

This is not one of those times.

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