Brick Walls
For Their Sins
by elfin
"You don't know what the fuck you're talking about so just stay out of it!"
Robbie watched, mouth gaping open, as his puritan boss stormed out of
the office. Glancing around he caught Jackie staring at him.
"I guess that's it then," she suggested with the hint of a smile.
And for a moment he almost agreed, almost let it go. The he thought better of it.
"Not this time," he muttered decisively and followed Jardine out.
He found Michael in his favourite sulking spot - just around the corner
from the station's back yard - leaning against the wall. Hands
thrust deep into the depths of his pockets, head dropped back against
the bricks, one leg bent at the knee, foot-tapping against the wall.
Stressed out, fed up, and dealing with all this alone.
Some of Robbie's anger faded. But not all of it.
He rounded the corner, walking across Michael to stand on his other side.
"Damn it, Mike, don't walk away from me." He inwardly cringed at
his own choice of words but let them have their impact anyway.
Hard blue eyes nailed him. "Robbie. Please. Let it
go." Not a request despite the plea - it was an order.
"I can't! This is tearing you apart. Whatever it is, it can't be worth losing yourself over."
"And what the hell would you know about that, aye?" Michael demanded
through gritted teeth. "You don't have a conscience, Rob!
You just breeze through life, trampling people underfoot and never
thinking about the consequences. Well, I wish I was like
you. I wish I could do that but I can't."
Robbie let the insults and accusations wash over him. Michael
wasn't a cruel man but he had very few natural defences once the
emotional burners were breached. Later he'd take it all back with
an unconditional apology, because he always did.
"What's going on, Mike? What did you do?"
"Stay out of this!"
"No! For God's sake, don't think you have to deal with this
alone. You've your whole team behind you. Jackie and Stuart
would walk bare foot over hot coals for you and I'm cra-." He
broke off, suddenly aware of what he'd been about to confess.
Michael was sneering at him. "You're what, Rob? Crazy enough just to follow them?"
Robbie backed off, anger gone. "No."
"Then what?"
"Nothing."
The change in Michael was as predictable as it was fantastic.
Robbie knew it was a tactic he should have used earlier. The move
from professional to personal; the slow, curious smile that shaped the
full mouth, the softening of his gaze that spoke volumes about the
man's desperate need for affection.
"What is it?" Michael asked quietly, voice full of amused curiosity.
Robbie played it for all it was worth, knowing how much the moment of
admission was going to cost him. Michael was wrong in that Robbie
did consider the consequences, he just usually dismissed them as more
obstacles in the way of progress.
He scratched the back of his neck, turning his face into the crook of his arm feigning coy amusement.
"It's nothing."
But Michael wouldn't let it go, a character trait Robbie was counting on.
"Rob? What were you going to say?"
"It's not important."
Michael's smile was wider now, genuine, and Robbie was fast melting under its warmth.
"Tell me."
He sighed, just this side of dramatically. "I'm... crazy about you."
Instead of the expected anger, Michael's beautifully innocent expression turned to disbelief at Robbie's words.
"Me?"
It was Rob's turn to smile. "Aye, you."
"Why me?"
He almost laughed, relief burning through him. He'd assumed his boss would have punched him for his declaration.
"Why not you?"
"Well, for one thing, I'm the wrong sex."
Robbie leaned in just a little, making their conversation completely private although there was no one around to overhear.
"On the contrary, I think you're the right sex and a bloody good specimen of it."
Those blue eyes were sizing him up now and Robbie suddenly realised
that what had started as an attempt to draw Michael out of his morose
mood had unintentionally become something much more serious. He
swallowed, the realisation followed hot on the heels by sharp arousal.
"Are you serious?" Michael asked him eventually.
Robbie met the defensive gaze dead-on.
"Very. Why? Are you interested?" He couldn't believe he'd dared ask.
Michael chuckled, reached out and snagged his wrist, drawing his hand
forward to brush it intimately, shockingly, against his clothed
erection.
"Undeniably," he murmured in reply.
Unable to believe that this had got him exactly what he wanted, Robbie jumped the last hurdle.
"Your place or mine?"
And Michael grinned. "I'll be round after work."
~
Tie and jacket a distant memory, Michael was let in to Robbie's flat at
just gone nine. Almost immediately, Robbie found himself pinned
back against the wall of his hallway with his boss' tongue down his
throat.
They stripped each other of the clothes that were in the way with the
enthusiasm of two horny teenagers, breaking the mouth to mouth only
when it was absolutely necessary. Obscenely they clawed for one
another's dicks, grips gentle but skilfully firm, jerking and grunting
their way to desperate orgasms.
Afterwards, they regarded one another firstly with wary suspicion, then
slowly with a mutual admiration which had transmuted into affection by
the time they'd shared a Chinese takeaway and had sex for a second time
on the sofa.
Finally Michael took the empties and dropped them into trash in the kitchen.
"I'd better go," he said with a touch of regret.
Robbie heard it, shook his head and reached out his hand. Cautiously he rubbed Michael's fingers through his own.
"Stay?"
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. Unless you're going to feed me some line about not being able to because you're my boss."
Michael smiled at him. "A bit late for that, don't you think?"
Robbie nodded triumphantly. "Definitely."
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