No One's Born Broken

[abrightboy]

For tinstar.



Gil came and went. Dani came and went. Ainsley came and then left with their mother, who refused to even hear him out about telling the truth. He stared through the window at the motionless man in the bed for some indeterminate amount of time, his hand clutching his phone in his pocket.

Finally he let his eyes leave the figure through the window and he took his phone out of his pocket. He stared at that for a long moment, then scrolled through his contacts until one name rolled onto the screen: Raylan Givens.

He looked through the window, then looked at the name. Then he pressed it.

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[tinstar]

Now that he wasn't dead tired, Raylan was much more clearly able to hear the door open and shut, and still it took him several seconds to stir with a deep breath. Pushing up a little, Raylan looked over his shoulder, registered Malcolm and grunted as he rolled himself over, boots hanging unevenly off the bed.

"You're back," he observed, one hand lazily lifting to gesture him over. "C'mere."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm couldn't help the visible relief that ebbed tension out of him as he saw Raylan there, as Raylan registered him there, as he beckoned Malcolm over.

Malcolm went more than willingly, kicking off his shoes before stepping up onto the platform and crawling onto the bed next to Raylan. Malcolm put an arm around him, just to feel his solidity and tipped his face closed to Raylan's face just to feel his breath.

"You're still here," he finally replied.

[tinstar]

Raylan kept his hand up, only moving it so Malcolm could crawl up onto him before wrapping his arms around his shoulders, holding him silently as his lips turned to rest on Malcolm's forehead.

"Told ya I wasn't leavin' without sayin' goodbye," he murmured, hand rubbing gently over Malcolm's shoulder. "Missed ya. How'd the case go?"

[abrightboy]

He leaned into Raylan's touch everywhere it lit on him, his eyes fluttering closed for a moment.

"I know. I was just... worried I'd be late or something would happen and you'd have to go..."

The hand moving over his shoulder did a lot to dispel lingering tension and his voice trailed off. He smiled at the question, his eyes opening, practically sparkling with morbid delight. "The killer is a necrophiliac trained in professional embalming. The victim was embalmed. He'd been dead for three days and he looked so lifelike sitting on his couch that JT thought the homeowner was intruding on the crime scene. But he was the crime scene!" he rambled. "And there's a major convention here in New York tomorrow for funeral directors so we're going to go and see if we can figure out whose passion for making dead people look lifelike is a little too much."

[tinstar]

"I'd have waited," Raylan promised softly. If it was anyone else, Raylan might choose differently but he didn't want Malcolm coming home to an empty and dark apartment when he was promised otherwise. Raylan would have rescheduled his fight or just bought another ticket - something. Malcolm was an exception to the rules.

The telling got raised eyebrows, and an impressed hum. "That's some extraordinary work, if he looked that good. Are you excited because it's a funeral directors convention or that you get to go?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm laughed lightly and largely at himself.

"I'm excited because this scenario never occurred to me. Someone got into a career in embalming because they really love giving dead people some semblance of life, because they find it easier to be close to dead people than living people. And have gotten to the point of killing to achieve it." His eyes widened again as he realized something. "Oh! I bet they can't work in the field for some reason. Maybe they lost their licence for, um, lavishing a corpse with too much attention. And now they can only be near dead bodies if they make them."

He paused, his eyes finding Raylan's face. "Wow, you probably don't want to talk about weird murderers right now, right?"

Right now when he had to leave so soon. Too soon. But Raylan had been right before; they had to do the work. He couldn't stay.

Malcolm's hand slid back from around Raylan's ribs to slide up and then down his chest, straightening the line of his buttons with a little tug, his expression sobering.

"My father is still alive. The longer he survives, the better chance that he'll survive... He hasn't regained consciousness, though."

[tinstar]

He could only laugh at the rambling stories that Malcolm pulled out, weaving around the possibilities. Raylan was still grinning as he looked down to meet Malcolm's gaze. "I can't seem to find the wherewithal to mind, the way you talk about it."

But his face sombered along with Malcolm's and he nodded softly at the end. "If he's made it this long, I think he's a tough son-of-a-bitch to stubborn to die." His hand paused to squeeze on Malcolm's shoulder. "My bets are on his wakin' up but if he doesn't... All you've gotta do is give me a call. I'll find a way to come up here.. Be with you as much as I can..

Either way darlin', you're not in this alone. Whatever happens, okay?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm pressed a kiss to his mouth and then another and then one more before curling closer to him, his hand grasping Raylan's shirt tightly.

"I'll come down when this is over. I think I'll need to just... get out for a little while, either way."

[tinstar]

Raylan met each one, smile inching up incrementally. He loved the hand in his shirt and how endlessly happy Malcolm seemed to just see him and have him there.

"Good. Do it. I know you're in a spot right now, but I am selfish lookin' forward to havin' you more easily in my arms. I know it hasn't been two months but absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder, it just hurts." It hurt to have to go back to the way he was before, to not have any arms he trusted to fall into, to not have anyone he could show his heart to.

"An apartment for two or three months is better than me livin' above a bar and I need a place to be with you." To be with him, no masks, no worries, no stringent rules only he followed.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm didn't think anything could beat Raylan telling him that he loved him, but that blunt confession went straight to his heart.

He slid his arm around Raylan's neck, kissing him a lot more intently. Like he got life from it. When it broke, he stayed close, lingering there in his space.

"In psychology they talk about the unique adaptability that humans have," he explained softly. "They say we can adapt to anything. But it doesn't get easier being away from you. It gets harder and harder."

His voice broke a little on the last word. Everything going on was Too Much. He took a deep, steadying breath.

[tinstar]

The sudden kiss had Raylan pushing and pulling Malcolm's weight on top of him because one arm and a kiss, however intense, wasn't enough, even as he met the kiss with equal fervor. God he hated that he had to leave; that he couldn't have this every night. He was already missing Malcolm in advance and that realization was a towering one.

Raylan was prepping for the dry spell coming.

"It's all these stupid brilliant promises we've been talking about," Raylan whispered, hand coming up to slide up and around Malcolm's jaw. "We just gotta make it til then. Temper in the fire or some shit."

That's how he normally took it; nothing was going to kill him that wasn't going to Kill him like the job risked his life, but Malcolm Bright had demanded and gotten some secret part of Raylan Givens. He'd hurt a lot over his life; this was the first time he'd admitted it out loud since he was small.

[abrightboy]

As Malcolm found himself on top of Raylan, his pinned arm freed, he slid it up to grasp Raylan's shoulder.

"It's not like we can't talk," Malcolm conceded, kissing Raylan's cheekbone and the corner of his mouth and his jaw. "We can make it."

He lifted his head to look into Raylan's face. "I wanted to come to the airport with you, but I don't know if it's a good idea," he confessed. "Everything has just..." He made a helpless gesture with one hand before grasping Raylan's shoulder again. "So much right now. ...And I think I might be too emotional. I don't... I'll embarrass you," he admitted uncomfortably.

[tinstar]

He could only hum short sounds at each of Malcolm's kiss, hands slipping around and up Malcolm's back while the other secured him against Raylan at the waist. Yeah, they'd make it, but it would suck.

Hazel eyes focused on Malcolm's face as he pulled back and the further he got, the stronger the urge to shake his head that Raylan caved too before Malcolm got too far into it.

"No. It's probably better if you don't. I came to help, not add more crap to your plate." He wanted to end this on the highest note that he could and one hand came back up to grip Malcolm's neck gently. "If you slept like anyone else, I'd slip out then, but that escape route isn't a viable option," he murmured before pulling Malcolm down into a kiss. "I've still got an hour, but not much else and I plan on taking advantage of it," he said, kissing Malcolm again more deeply than before as his off hand fisted into the back of Malcolm's otherwise pressed shirt.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm put his whole heart in that kiss, humming against Raylan's mouth before it broke.

"You always help," he gasped breathlessly, shifting his weight to start unbuttoning Raylan's shirt with needful, fumbling fingers. "Being near you is the cure for everything bad."

[tinstar]

The way the kiss heated and the gasp that Malcolm gave as the kiss broke sent Raylan's blood back to fiery need that would quickly build up in his everything as the grasp at the small of Malcolm's back tugged his shirt free of his pants so he could get a hand under it and onto his skin. The intoxicating pull of Malcolm's words only made him want to lose himself in touching and worshiping this oddly fractured profiler that had turned his world upside down.

The sooner that Malcolm was down with him permanently, the better.

Raylan didn't bother answering, he just arched up to capture Malcolm's lips again as his off hand roamed over Malcolm's ass, hips lifting into him.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm kissed Raylan back hungrily, pushing blindly at the shirt to push it off his shoulders, reaching between them to tug at Raylan's undershirt. He wanted to feel Raylan's skin against his skin.

[tinstar]

Raylan pushed up against Malcolm so he could pull off his top shirt and let Malcolm peel his undershirt off, eager hands coming to tug and pull Malcolm's tie loose before he broke the kiss with a roll of his head so he could half eyeball Malcolm's buttons. One hand came around to clumsily work the buttons loose so he could push Malcolm's shirt off his shoulders, just as eager to get them furiously naked and together again.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm tossed his shirt away, along with Raylan's undershirt, leaning down to kiss him, sliding his hands over Raylan's shoulders.

Straddling his hips, Malcolm slid his hands down Raylan's chest as he sat up and paused.

"...Is this a bullet hole?" he asked, running his finger over a divot there.

[tinstar]

He hummed a rough note into the kiss as Malcolm's hands spread over his shoulders, his own moving across and around Malcolm's ribs as he sat up, only to settle briefly on his hips. His fingers had started to tug Malcolm's belt loose when the smaller man paused and fingered a familiar dent in his chest.

He bent his head to look down before letting it fall back. "Yeah. About a year, year and a half old now. Got unlucky.." Malcolm was sharp and well versed enough to deduce what Raylan might have suffered for it, so Raylan didn't bother elaborating. Pity and sympathy wasn't something he was used to, and that wouldn't ever change.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss there, before continuing along the lean lines of his body to reach his belt, tugging it open, then his button and fly so he could start shimmying his pants down over his hips.

He knew how 'unlucky' could go. He'd been recently stabbed.

[tinstar]

The kiss was sweet; more than, and plenty to convey all Malcolm needed it to. Raylan's fingers continued their task, tugging Malcolm's belt and button open before Malcolm was scooting back out of his reach. As his pants were being shimmied down, he was hastily toeing and kicking off his boots to make shucking his pants off easier.

Malcolm was crazy if he thought that Raylan was going to not reach for him back as soon as his pants were off.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm pushed his own pants off while he was there, then slid back up Raylan's body, his hand trailing up Raylan's ribs, eager to kiss him again now that they were properly entwined, skin to skin, his other hand threading up into Raylan's hair. As the kiss broke, he smiled warmly - happily - almost right against his mouth before kissing him again.

Everything was manageable when Raylan was with him. Everything.

[tinstar]

He breathed out a little moan of satisfaction as Malcolm slid up against him again, just as eager to meet that kiss and wrap him back into the security of Raylan's arms. Raylan leaned into him as his hair was invaded and smiled back at the smile he felt against him, humming again as he sank back into the bed, bringing Malcolm with him.

Raylan's hands spread up over his thighs and hips, pulling him close as he breathed him in and enjoyed the warmth of skin. But the more they kissed, the more he was stirred and he hitched a rough sound as their cocks rubbed together, soliciting another lift of his hips.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm also gasped at that friction and, after another very thorough kiss, tore himself away from Raylan to rummage in the bedside table for lube. He practically pounced back into Raylan's arms, the tube clutched in his hand, for a heated kiss.

[tinstar]

Raylan's everything followed Malcolm for a moment as he tore himself away and readily accepted the near pounce back onto him with a spread of his smile as he met the new kiss just as hungrily. He spread his hands up Malcolm's back pinning him momentarily against his chest before he relented, hands moving again over and down Malcolm's frame to grab his ass as they kissed.

Not in any rush, Raylan was taking his time and letting Malcolm drive the speed at which they moved.