Sulphur, Fire Opal

[auguris]

Name: auguris
Story: Ghost Sight
Colors: Sulphur 15: Jealousy; Fire Opal 1: Desire
Supplies and Styles: n/a
Word Count: 1188
Rating: R
Warnings: Alcohol, swearing
Summary: How Mitchell and Cagri met.

Here he was again: standing in the corner of the room, drinking alone, watching his ex-boyfriend dramatically flirt with a guy Mitchell had made a pass at earlier in the evening. Harper was so over him, and he was so over Harper, but still they performed this sick mundane ritual with no end and no reward.

It would be funny if it were happening to someone else.

"This isn't your sort of place."

Mitchell turned to snap something undoubtably scathingly clever, but whatever it originally was -- and it would have been good -- slipped into a far less remarkable, "Huh."

Mitchell was on the taller side of average, but he had to tilt his head up to meet the man's eyes. Dirty-blond hair, maybe -- it was hard to tell in the dim lighting -- bright blue eyes, sharp cheekbones, a jaw that could break a man's fist -- and then the jerk smiled, and Mitchell took a quick sip of his scotch to hide his shudder. From the look on the guy's face, it didn't work.

Then the glamour shifted.

A mundane wouldn't have noticed the split-second change, the flat teeth suddenly sharpening, the white going out of his eyes, tanned white skin turning grey, blond hair growing darker and longer. Mitchell barely noticed, wouldn't have noticed if the man hadn't purposely caught his attention -- and the man, the kernan, noticed he noticed, shifted his position against the wall, looked ready to run.

Mitchell took in a deep breath and let it out. "Not your usual place, either. Slumming in mundaneville?"

The kernan adjusted his posture minutely. "I like to pretend I'm cultured."

Mitchell barked a laugh. "That's better than my reason."

The kernan's left eyebrow lifted. Actually, his glamour's left eyebrow lifted. Mitchell wondered if he could actually do it. "Which is?"

Mitchell nodded towards Harper. "Following my ex around like... like a metaphor for someone sad and pathetic." Wait, what was he saying? To a kernan? The vodka was talking, had to be.

The kernan grinned. "I'm Cagri."

"Mitchell." He let himself relax; he was in a club, having a few drinks, talking to yes, okay, a kernan. But Cagri was alone, and Mitchell was... technically alone, too. The only wizard in the room, at least.

Cagri leaned in close enough that Mitchell could smell the mint on his breath. "Mitchell, would you like to make your ex very, very jealous?"

He didn't bother trying to hide the shudder that time. The kernan could smell it on him anyway. "Hells yes."

Cagri gently gripped Mitchell's chin, chuckling as their lips met. Mitchell felt something tug at his senses, some sort of energy feedback that flooded his magic and made every muscle in his body tense in anticipation. Cagri pulled back, eyes wide. He brushed his thumb across Mitchell's mouth and Mitchell parted his lips, taking in a deep breath and searching for his lost words.

Cagri pulled him back in, mashing their lips together and shoving his tongue in Mitchell's mouth and it happened again, an all-over tingle that reached into his brain and his magic and his groin. Mitchell grabbed Cagri by the hips and writhed against him; Cagri wrapped one arm around Mitchell, the other hand fisted in his hair. Everything else fell away: the club, the music, the lighting, Harper and his flirty attention-grab, even the blessed vodka turned into nothing but heat and electricity and this yes this and Mitchell didn't care what the hells was happening.

Breathing won out over filthy desperation and Mitchell forced their bodies apart, gasping and shuddering. Cagri leaned against the wall, now for support instead of posturing.

"Lady and her lover," Mitchell swore. "What just... how..."

"How did our peoples have time for fighting," Cagri hissed, his eyes shut tight. "Waste of fucking time--"

"Whoa, hey, Mitch, are you okay?"

Mitchell blinked before turning to Harper. He had left what's-his-name on the other side of the room, arms crossed and shaking his head. Some distant part of Mitchell's brain found a bitter satisfaction in that.

"Uh. Yes? Very much so?" His voice broke into ragged, harsh notes that he valiantly failed to clear his throat of. "Kind of busy, here."

"Okay, yeah, sure, I get that, clear as a bell, but man, uh, I think he's. You know." Harper waved his hand uncertainly. "One of those. You know."

Mitchell snarled as he laughed. "Harper, I'm one of those you know." He mimicked the gesture. "That, if you'll take a moment to recall, is why you dumped me."

Harper frowned. "No it isn't."

"It's on the top of the list and you fucking know it. Go away." Harper didn't move. "Did the shitty music in this shitty club that I shittily followed you to make you deaf? Go. Away."

Harper's frown deepened. "I just... I'm not sure you're okay. You met this guy five minutes ago and you're kind of in his lap. While standing up. You know what I mean."

Mitchell looked at Cagri. The kernan's glamour was shimmering in and out of view, definitely obvious enough for a mundane to notice. Especially a mundane like Harper, who made a point of noticing, instead of politely and sometimes fearfully ignoring the less-mundane aspects of their reality. It was no secret that kernen and wizards weren't on the best of terms.

"Yeah. I'm okay. Sorry." He forced himself to put space between himself and Cagri. "It's fine. I just...we got caught up in something I'm not really sure how to explain." He smiled weakly. "Thanks for... checking, I guess."

Harper shrugged a shoulder. "Hey, no problem. Don't want you to get eaten or whev." He turned too fast to see Mitchell roll his eyes. Or possibly didn't care anymore.

"We don't eat people," Cagri muttered, pushing himself off the wall.

"I don't turn people into toads, either, but good luck convincing him of that." Which wasn't entirely fair. Or true. "Are you okay? What just happened?"

Cagri grinned. "I have no idea. Want to come back to my place and try to figure it out?"

Mitchell hesitated long enough that Cagri's grin slipped. "I... don't normally do that."

Cagri pulled the eyebrow-raise again. "Do you normally have brief make-out sessions that make you feel like your magic just pulled you inside out in an impossibly good way?"

Not how Mitchell would have described it, but: "Not... ever. At all."

The grin came back. "Then...?"

Mitchell laughed as he said, "Then I'll give you my number."

Cagri sighed, throwing his hand across his forehead. "Rejected. Twice!"

"Sort of rejected. Once." Mitchell pulled a business card out of his back pocket, failing to straighten it before handing it over.

"Mitchell Pathing. Paranormal journalist." Cagri tucked the card into his jeans. Not his pocket. His jeans. Mitchell stared a little too long. "Am I going to find myself in the news?"

"Only if I want the whole of Grimm Tower to come crashing down on me."

Cagri chuckled. "That would be unwise." He cocked his head. "Will you at least allow me to buy you a drink? Away from the eyes of your ex-pet?"

'Pet' bothered him a little, but on the other hand, it was Harper. Harper could go fuck himself. "I'd really like that, actually."

Cagri slipped an arm around his waist. "'Actually'. As if that is supposed to surprise me."

Comments

[bookblather]

Welp. They seem like two birds of a feather. And also Mitchell's relationship with Harper seems deeply unhealthy.

[auguris]

There is nothing abut Harper & Mitchell together that goes well. Nothing.

Thanks for reading!

[isana]

Damn. I hope Mitchell has better luck with Cagri than he did with Harper.

[auguris]

Oh, he does. This takes place a few years before my last piece, and they're still together.

Thanks for commenting!

[clare_dragonfly]

Oh, I like this very much. Great characters, and I'm really intrigued by the world.

[auguris]

Thank you!

[kay_brooke]

Well, that was interesting. Maybe it's the bias of seeing him through the main character's eyes, but I think Mitchell was successful in making Harper jealous. Seriously, that didn't sound like a good relationship at all and I hope Mitchell can get over it.

[auguris]

Oh, he was. He wasn't lying about being worried, but he wouldn't even have noticed if he'd been minding his own business. Yeah, by the time their relationship ended it was basically a crater.

Thank you!