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“You? Reading for fun? No way I believe that shit.” [break][break]

Despite how it sounded, Damien’s voice was hollow and soft, lacking in the usual joking cadence that would follow such a statement. Because truly, he felt for Frank. Even the little glimpses he shared really did seem like hell. And it made him think.[break][break]

“...you’re not gonna go back, right? You’re gonna stay clean this time?”[break][break]

Damien’s hands shifted so that they gripped Frank’s forearms where they wrapped around him — gently at first, then tightening. A glimpse of the anxiety building within him.[break][break]

This is what he was fucking afraid of. Why he was so fucking angry when Frank showed up again. Because he’d mourned the loss already, dealt with the aftermath.[break][break]

Now he was supposed to do it all over again?[break][break]

He couldn’t. I can’t lose you a second time…

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Damien laid in silence for a long while. [break][break]

Processing. Remembering.[break][break]

The arrest had happened so quickly. Frank was free one second, locked up the next. No time to settle anything... or say goodbye.[break][break]

When Frank's sentence had been communicated to the public - ten fucking years - Damien had felt something inside him crumble into pieces. The sudden absence of someone who had been such an integral part of his life had been absolutely devastating, for a bunch of reasons. [break][break]

Sure, Frank's money was gone now, but that had only been a surface level concern. Deep down, Damien's heart ached to lose someone whom he loved so dearly.[break][break]

Like hell he'd ever admit that shit though.[break][break]

But now Frank was here. Flesh and blood and real, holding Damien in his arms as if no time had passed. No absence, no heartache.[break][break]

"...What was prison like?" Damien asked, tucking his head under Frank's chin. He nestled in closer, still enjoying the skin-on-skin contact between their bodies.[break][break]

Unspoken, but on his mind, "Did you have someone else in there?

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Most of the time Damien didn't give two fucks about much either. Casual wasn't the word he'd use to describe himself, though. Uncaringly cynical, maybe? Just fucking tired of the world's bullshit?[break][break]

Tired of Frank's bullshit for sure. He wanted answers. Clarification. Explanations. [break][break]

An apology? Yeah, a fucking apology too.[break][break]

"Start from the beginning." Damien answered quietly, as meek as Frank had seen him in the last twenty-four hours. [break][break]

"The arrest."

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Damien was a slight man. He'd always been that way: lean muscle, thin frame, just below average height. [break][break]

So when Frank pulled him close, it was like being completely enveloped in a cradle of comforting warmth. Damien could feel the other man's chest hair tickling his upper back, the rough calluses on the hands that drew him in, hot breath at his neck. It sent shivers throughout his body, which Frank may or may not have felt as well. It was frustrating and wonderful all at once.[break][break]

"I'm... free." There he went again, so fucking nonchalant. [break][break]

What the fuck is with this guy - showing up here, barely saying a few sentences before fucking my brains out, and then acting like no time has passed? [break][break]

"...Frank." Damien started, unfurling from the bedding a bit so that he could be better heard. "I need you to run me through what happened."[break][break]

He shifted a little, leaned his head to the side so that they'd make eye contact.[break][break]

"It was hell when you left. So please... stop acting so damn casual."

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Friends helped each other.[break][break]

Damien was thinking over that right now, actually.[break][break]

What was Frank Caffey to him? They'd been close, once. More than anyone else in his fucked up life, Damien had felt Frank was the only person he could turn to and rely on completely.[break][break]

But then he got locked up. And things got even more fucked up. Damien couldn't make end's meet anymore, had to join ROCKET to feed the family. Got shipped off to bumfuck Hoenn. Just — shitty turn of event after shitty turn of event.[break][break]

"...Mhm." He mumbled into the sheet, yet found himself scooting closer into the crook of Frank's body. Whatever the fuck they were, the contact was nice, at least. The warmth. The feeling of being wanted.[break][break]

"Jus'... a lil' sore, I guess."

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While Frank Caffey may have felt better than he had in the last three years, DAMIEN RUSSO's body was more sore than it had been in a long, long while. [break][break]

His pale skin was mottled in bite marks and hickeys and sticky with sweat and other fluids. And fuck was he tired. It felt like he'd only just gone to bed.[break][break]

Something shifted on the mattress beside him, goading him out of his half-sleep. As Damien began to grumble awake, flashes of the night they shared together resurfaced in his mind:[break][break]

[break]

[break]

[break]

God, he could die right here and be happy to end it all. At least it would save him the embarrassment of having to see Frank Caffey's smug fucking face. Speaking of, a soft kiss to his shoulder told Damien the bastard was awake too. [break][break]

He refused to look at him. Only shifted a little more into his pillow, drawing the comforter around him.

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Fuck it. [break][break]

If he had to endure this shitty life, Damien figured he might as well get fucked every once in awhile to compensate. And if Frank was good for anything, it was that.[break][break]

They could talk later. About prison, about ROCKET. Where they stood in the aftermath of all that had happened.[break][break]

For now, Damien chose to give in to his repressed need. When Frank kissed him, harder this time, he matched that intensity. His fingers bunched around the sides of the other man's sweater, pulling him closer.[break][break]

Damien wasn't ready to withdraw when he eventually felt Frank take his hands. The kiss had been too fleeting, it wasn't enough. He needed more.[break][break]

Once Damien saw where he was being led, however, he felt a little more appeased. Another tug on his collar and it was almost like they'd been transported back in time.[break][break]

"I know." It was always the same thing with Frank.[break][break]

"I lied, by the way. I don't have work later."[break][break]

Frank's fingers slipped off the leather, giving Damien the flexibility to pull his monotone hair into a ponytail.[break][break]

"So I hope you slept on the plane."[break][break]

With one hand square on his chest, he pushed Frank onto the bed. [break][break]

"We're gonna be up for awhile."[break][break]

DAMIEN RUSSO fell to his knees.[break][break]

Fuck it.

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Their foreheads pressed together and, this time, Damien didn't flinch at the touch. He didn't shy away when Frank stepped closer, either. In fact, if anything, he found himself pressing his face deeper into the palms of the other man's hands.[break][break]

The dam of anger had burst open and flooded Damien's senses, but now.. the tide had evened and mellowed out. In its wake was left the profound loneliness and desire that he'd buried deep down for so, so long.[break][break]

"I just want to forget... for a little while." He confessed, averting his eyes.[break][break]

Frank leaned in then, brushing a tender kiss against his mouth. It tasted like iron and aching need.[break][break]

"Francis..." Damien whispered the words against the other man's lips. "You're a fucking asshole."[break][break]

"...But I missed you."

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He pushed on Frank's chest, fists balled and slamming against it, willing him away, even though he knew it was a futile struggle. Damien was just so fucking mad at everything. [break][break]

He'd been holding it in for three fucking years. All the anger and resentment and bitterness at their fucked situation.[break][break]

He missed Unova. The old neighborhood. Home. His fucking family. All of it.[break][break]

The last three years had been so fucking tumultuous and... lonely.[break][break]

His strength waned. Slowly, his fists unfurled. His arms fell to his sides.[break][break]

Damien withered into Frank's hands, his anger now simmered over. What was left was simple weariness.[break][break]

"... I joined Rocket."

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The collar.[break][break]

He'd never really taken it off. Even when he did, it was never for long.[break][break]

It was a piece of Frank that kept Damien connected to the man, even when he was in prison. Three fucking years...[break][break]

Why did he still have it? Why did he still wear it?[break][break]

Out of habit? Or something more? [break][break]

God, fucking Frank and his stupid fucking gorgeous face and goddamn sexy voice and his fucking ridiculously tempting lips........ NO, fuck this guy![break][break]

Unfortunately for Frank, Damien wasn't about to give in just yet. He leaned in for a kiss, and was met with teeth. So much for a biteless bark.[break][break]

"Fuck you, man. You have no right to say shit like that to me."[break][break]

Damien swallowed hard, pulling back, his skin rubbing against the tightened leather where Frank yanked him closer. [break][break]

He didn't look away now, though. His icy-blue eyes pierced into Frank, flames of anger and outrage glinting brightly as he stared daggers into the taller man.[break][break]

"You have no idea what I've fucking been through since you got locked up. So stop fucking acting like nothing's changed."

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What the fuck was he doing? [break][break]

Every step following in Frank's shadow felt heavy, like lead had filled his boots. From the lobby to the elevator to the hallway to the hotel room. Heavier and heavier and heavier, until he barely made it through the door.[break][break]

When it clicked! closed behind him, Damien pressed his back to it.[break][break]

The sane parts of him screamed for him to go back, to not cross this line again. Three years had changed him. He was different now. Independent... he didn't need that kind of attention from Frank anymore. [break][break]

But then he felt the soft touch to his hair, the fond strokes. Damien flinched again, but not as hard this time. He could feel himself start to give in...[break][break]

And then Frank balled his hair into his fist, yanking roughly, demanding things he had no fucking right to demand. [break][break]

Something in Damien finally snapped.[break][break]

Get on my KNEES? Are you fucking kidding me??[break][break]

"FUCK you, Frank!" He grabbed at his wrist with one hand, pushed Frank hard with the other.[break][break]

"You think we can just go back to how things were? HUH? Fuck no!"

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Fuuuck, he was so fucking close. Close enough that Damien felt hot breath at his ear. In fact, despite the cold, everything was hot now.[break][break]

Frank's voice plied goosebumps onto Damien's skin, made the back of his neck and head prickle with a euphoric sensation. [break][break]

He hadn't felt so exposed in a long time. So goddamn vulnerable. Fucking Frank, he always knew where to apply the pressure. [break][break]

"I..." I can't. I won't. I don't want to do this again.[break][break]

When Frank let go and turned toward the hotel entrance, Damien didn't immediately follow. He hesitated, knowing that his decision here would determine the dynamic of whatever post-prison relationship they had.[break][break]

His hand curled upward, hovering near the edge of his turtleneck.[break][break]

"...Fine."[break][break]

There was no turning back now.

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Cold winter air nipped at exposed skin as Damien exited the cab. He pulled his collar up against the chill, tugged his coat a little closer around him. And then he started to walk.[break][break]

That had been the end for him. He'd done what had been asked: picked the fucker up from the airport. As far as Damien was concerned, that was the last favor he was ever going to do for Frank Caffey.[break][break]

A hard grip at his wrist yanked Damien back; it caught him off-guard, the strength of it. The sudden proximity. How Frank smiled even as pain shot up Damien's arm.[break][break]

How DARE he fucking touch me.[break][break]

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Frank?" He practically yelled, spitting venom with every word.[break][break]

"Let go, you motherfucking—" The hand at his collar made him flinch, and then immediately freeze in place.[break][break]

The anger that was present just moments before quieted momentarily. Damien looked away, still furious, but now there was something else in his expression.[break][break]

"...Let go, Frank. We can't do this here." Already he could feel prying eyes from the hotel, from passersby on the street.

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