Text Overflow: It's just a flesh wound

[tinstar]

[Continued from: here]

[Raylan took advantage of having several hours to bring his hotel room back into something resembling tidiness, as well as taking a shower and grabbing a nap - Sleep wasn't something anyone got a lot of around Malcolm Whitly, but he'd long learned how to live and work on smaller amounts of sleep.

Dressed but with his button up open and no shoes on his feet, Raylan answered the door with a pull of a smile.] Managed to make it one piece I see. C'mon in. [ He shut the door behind him as he continued.] Flight okay?

Comments

[tinstar]

[Good. Raylan smiled back up at the ceiling, softly so. He should have expected the return question but he didn't. Still - Raylan couldn't wrap it up and tuck it away and he wasn't ready to get up just yet. Once they did, this bubble of.. he wasn't sure what to quantify it as, but it would burst and they'd be back to waiting for the next chance to just exist next to each other.

He took a long few moments and deep breath before even starting to try to answer. He wasn't like Malcolm; he didn't try to understand these things most of the time, but New York haunted him, playing on a reel in the back of his mind as he tried to even start to take it apart.]

I had a way to escape it all...

When I called in New York, it was for the job. You're a good asset. Then you invited me in and I said yes because it'd be rude not to.. and I enjoyed our time together when you were down here. [They were already tentative friends, in Raylan's mind.]

I knew you liked me. Wasn't sure how far that went but, I could tell that.. After your mother and getting a little too drunk and pissed at that Gala, all I could think about was Quarles holding that knife to your throat.. [And Malcolm knew how that had turned out. He'd killed a man to save Malcolm and he'd needed, somehow, to revel in the life worth saving.]

I don't know why I took that chance. [He didn't know if there was a blunt, succinct way to say all of this and he already felt like he'd been talking too long.] But taking the first one made all the rest easier.

[Everything that had led to here had been chances, one after the other.]

[abrightboy]

[His mother. God, she'd been so out of line; she could have ruined everything. He'd been worried she'd freak Raylan out and he wouldn't even want to be friends anymore.

Malcolm had almost forgotten the knife to his throat, even with the pale red line remaining to remind him in the right light at the bathroom mirror. He got himself into situations like that sometimes. They didn't seem to touch his trauma. They were just side-effects of what he did. But he was starting to see that that moment had affected Raylan much more profoundly. Feelings he'd denied to even himself brought into sharp relief at the imminent sudden end of a life and what to do with them.

He'd lifted his head at 'Wasn't sure how far that went' and watched it all play out on Raylan's face. Malcolm learned a lot more from people's eyes and the creases of their brows and every little stress reaction in their faces than he did from their words.

He rolled a little towards Raylan, scooting up a bit so their faces were close together, his hand moving from Raylan's chest to ghost lightly along his cheek. He lifted his eyes to Raylan's eyes.]

It surprised me when you did. [Until the moment Raylan pulled him into that kiss in the hallway, he wouldn't have guessed it could happen.] But it was a good surprise.

[tinstar]

[The faint pinch between Raylan's eyebrows eased a fraction but didn't vanish completely as he shifted his head the slight bit to be looking at Malcolm straight on. As much as he wanted this to be easy, for both their sakes, it wasn't. He wasn't.]

Why'd you really fly down here? [Speaking of surprises.

Not stupid enough to assume he knew, Raylan could only guess. He wanted to hear it from Malcolm anyway - there wasn't a better way to beat back doubts than verifying, and Malcolm hadn't lied to him yet.]

[abrightboy]

You invited me. [Matter-of-factly, but he could only hold the straight face for half a second and he laughed lightly at himself.] Okay. What I told you was true. About not wanting to tell anyone at home that I was injured at all, much less worried about the injury. I really don't want them to start telling me to wait in the car again. But.... [He reached up and threaded his fingers through Raylan's hair.] When you joked that I should come down here, I jumped on it because I wanted to see you again.

[tinstar]

[Always a sucker for levity, Raylan couldn't stop his face from breaking into a huffed smile as he rolled his eyes, and it lingered there as Malcolm continued. He knew Malcolm was smart enough that, if he really had to, he could have figured out how to tend to the wound himself, the highly motivated learner that he was and the exception to that wasn't missed.

Raylan took another deep breath as his head moved into Malcolm's hand a little. Yes, he liked that touch.]

If you hadn't, I don't know if I'd ever have come to New York again. [Said with a grateful note because Raylan knew how he was. He was a runner, and had been since he was a kid.] Something about you and.. where you come from, how New York is.. lets me do this. You're not stained with the bullshit of Kentucky. The religion, the phobia.. the Toxic Masculinity. [Malcolm had been right when he said that it was a poison on the place.]

[abrightboy]

[Oh, that pleased him. He smiled, running his fingers slowly through Raylan's hair again.]

Does that mean you will come back to New York now? Because if you won't, I'll have to come back to Kentucky again, [a teasing warning; he's not just going to give you up at this point, Raylan Givens.] and we've seen how much I don't thrive among the people here. [He'd pointed out the Raylan the first time he came to Kentucky that he was used to getting shit from a certain type of men for coming across as effete. He was an intellectual, he dressed nicely - a little too nicely for some tastes; the fact that he couldn't shut up to save his own life in most situations did not help him ingratiate himself with people who decidedly did not want to be known. He'd learned a lesson in the bar that morning, but it was too late to be applied in this town. He knew Raylan wouldn't let him get hurt if he could help it, but he didn't want to put Raylan in that position.] Though I do like your backyard. You can't just go and shoot bottles in New York City.

[tinstar]

[The subtle tonal threat had his smile spreading at the playful challenge underneath it.]

I suppose it does. [If Raylan had his way, he'd spare Malcolm all the uglinesses of Harlan County and where he came from.] But no more Galas. [He cautioned with a finger.]

The space out here is pretty nice. S'why I like Miami. You can get outta town in an hour and get a whole lotta nothin'. Lotta swamp land too, though I avoid those parts unless I have to. But I'm sure New York has something worth it, beyond you. Bet they have batting cages too.

[abrightboy]

No more Galas. [A promise.] But I'm sure there are batting cages. Baseball is popular in New York. Gil loves it. [He ran his fingers through Raylan's hair again.] We'll find something to do that you'll enjoy. Maybe we can go to a baseball game. Yankee Stadium? I've never been to one.

[tinstar]

[Raylan's smile got broader, more like a little boy lighting up at an idea.]

I'd like that. I've always wanted to see a game in Yankee Stadium.

[He rubbed his hand down Malcolm's side and up again as his stomach rumbled.]

C'mon. I hear some fried chicken and warm beer calling my name.