by Amy B
"My last ditch attempt at a normal life."
"You were raised in a Hong Kong crime family. What the hell do
you know about 'normal'?"
"That's exactly the point. I wanted to learn."
"So you think marrying a woman you barely know and can't possibly love
is going to get you a normal life? Let me tell you something.
Normal's not all it's cracked up to be. I was raised in a 'normal'
family and look how messed up I am."
"But at least, you know."
"I know that sticking my hand in fire is going to burn too, but I didn't
have to do it to find out."
"It's not the same thing at all."
"It is if you get so caught up in trying to force love, that you miss
an opportunity for the real thing. I know you tried to convince yourself
that you were in love with Claire because you wanted to be. Putting
aside the fact that she's a criminal, what if you had married her and then
realized that not only are you not in love with her, you're in love with
someone else? You'd be stuck."
"Someone else... like Li Ann?"
"Maybe. Or someone else you've known and bonded with..."
"Bonded with? The only other person that description remotely
fits is... um... well, you."
Victor smiles and looks down at his hands. "Yeah? Well..."
Mac snorts. "Yeah. Well. What are you getting at, Victor?"
"I'm not getting at anything."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are. You're trying to tell me that I have more of a
shot at loving you than I have with a beautiful woman like Claire?"
"When you put it that way, it makes me sound incredibly vain."
"You, vain? Ha!"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know how you are."
"No, Mac, apparently I don't."
"You're self-deprecating, which makes me want to either hit you or give
you a hug."
"Hm. I'm glad you're able to restrain yourself."
"Yeah, well, it's not all that difficult. I think of all your
irritating habits until the urge to hug you goes away."
"Then why don't you hit me?"
"The Director wouldn't like it, and while I'm not afraid of you, I am
afraid of her."
"Any smart man would be."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Don't get too used to it."
"Don't worry. I won't. I'm sure there's some reason for
this show of concern and goodwill..."
"It's not a show. I really am concerned about you. You're
on a course of self-destruction."
"Excuse me? Did you say destruction?"
"That's probably an overstatement. I should have said self-deception."
"Hey, I'm not deceiving anyone, least of all myself."
"Fine. Then admit that you didn't really love Claire."
"I loved Claire."
"No, admit it—you wanted to love her."
"I loved her."
"Mac..."
"I wanted to love her."
"And..."
"I wanted... I didn't... I hate you."
"No, you don't."
"No. I don't. But I do hate it when you're right—not that
it happens often. You get smug and insufferable, or rather more so."
"Oh? So I become like you, eh?"
"Ha ha, very funny. What am I supposed to do now? Just give
up on women on the off chance that something might happen with... with
you? Oh, please..."
"Hey, maybe it does, maybe it doesn't."
"What 'it'?"
"You know, it. Us."
"There's no us."
"Well, there could be if you'd stop arguing for a minute."
"Me? I'm not arguing."
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not. You're just talking nonsense."
"It's not nonsense. It makes a lot of sense if you think about
it. We both have lousy luck with women—"
"Okay, I'll give you that point, Victor."
"We work well together and get along when Li Ann's not around."
"Yeah, that's kind of odd, isn't it?"
"Odd, but true."
"Why is that, do you think?"
"Hmm... If I can't have her, I don't want you to?"
"Do you still want her?"
"Who wouldn't? Do you?"
"As you said, who wouldn't?"
They look at each other for a long moment, then both say, "Nahhhh."
"She's pretty high maintenance, Mac."
"Sometimes it's worth it."
"Yeah..."
"But sometimes it's just tiring."
"Yeah, but it could be worse..."
"The Director?"
"Exactly. And what about Jackie, eh?"
"I don't know if that body is worth... all the rest of her."
Victor considers this with a salacious gleam in his eyes, then sighs
and shakes his head. "No, you're probably right."
"So...?"
"So. You and I are better suited."
"Why?"
"Well, lots of reasons."
"Oh yeah? Name three."
"We could borrow each other's clothes."
"What are we—teenage girls? I wouldn't wear your clothes anyway.
You have no style. Try again."
"We can drink beer, talk about sports, and all that guy stuff."
"I know nothing about hockey, and I'm not interested in learning."
"Hockey is the best sport in the world. It combines grace and
skill with power and violence. It's... it's noble."
"If you start singing "It's Hockey Night in Canada", I'm going to throw
up."
"You're a snob."
"You're the Canadian equivalent of a redneck."
"I want you."
Mac nods. "My place, yours, or neutral ground?"
"Neutral. Preferably somewhere without Agency cameras."
"Is there such a place?"
"There must be... somewhere in this city."
"A hotel?"
"All the nice ones probably have Agency spies working in them."
"Cheap motel?"
"Hmm... That could work."
"You've got something in mind? From your days in Vice?"
"Yeah. The Heartbreak Hotel."
"You have got to be joking."
"Nope. It's a real place and I know the owner."
"What did you bust him for?"
"I didn't, but I helped bring down a prostitution ring that was using
his place.—along with a half dozen others. He was one of the few
owners not in on the racket. He was very grateful and told me that
anytime I needed a place to hide to come to him and he'd fix me up."
"I don't know... Will we really have privacy there?"
"It's worth a try, right?"
"I want you. Let's go."
"Vic... Victor, this place is... Well, it's almost psychedelic."
"Yeah, it does kinda make your eyes water. Who knew there were
that many shades of pink?"
"And that they could be so bright?"
"I'm sorry, Mac. Is this killing the mood?"
"No... We'll just have to focus on something else. Like..."
"The giant mirror over the bed?"
"That ought to do it. Now strip for me."
"Um... okay, if you will."
"Slow down, Victor. Your pants are not on fire."
"Heh heh. Well, it almost feels like it. You've been working
out, haven't you?"
"Yeah, you— What the... What do you think you're going to do with
that?"
"What?? Oh, this? Well, use it, of course. Don't you
want it?"
"Well, I guess we'll need it, but it's really... big, isn't it?"
"It's too big, isn't it?"
"No... it's fine, really."
"I know we won't need this much tonight, but the drug store was
having a sale so..."
"That's my Vic, thrifty to the core even when buying lubricant."
"..."
"..."
"Am I?"
"Are you what—thrifty? It would seem so."
"No, am I... yours? Mmm, do that again."
"This?"
"Ahhh, yesss."
"Yes."
"What??"
"Yes, you are mine, now roll over so I can show you."
"Uh, Mac..."
"Come on, Vic, roll over. I'm ready to fuck you."
"But I was planning on fucking you."
'You...? Oh, no. No, no, no, I am a top. I do the fucking."
"So do I."
"Well, somebody's going to have to be on the bottom."
"It's not going to be me."
"Not me either."
"Well... damn. What are we going to do now?"
They look at each other, smile, and say together, "Blowjobs!"
"..."
"... mmm..."
"...uhmph..."
"... "
"ahhh..."
"..."
"What was that??"
"sssllllrrrpop What was what?"
"That whistling noise."
"What?"
"Victor, you sounded like you sprang a leak."
"You're nuts."
"No... hmmm, ahh... okay whatever. OH YES!"
"..."
"..."
"So Mac..."
"So Victor..."
"That was pretty good, eh?"
"Oh, yeah. The mirror certainly adds something..."
"Mmm hm, I liked watching you suck me off. You looked so hot."
"My favorite part was watching you come. You're so removed from
the world... it's beautiful."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Mmmm, Victor... hold on a minute. I want to tell you something."
"What? I'm trying to seduce you here!"
"I wanted to tell you—you're doing a damn good job of it—no, I wanted
to tell you that you were right."
"I know. You love me, don't you?"
"Maybe, but you don't have to look so smug about it."
"Same goes, Mac, same goes."
"I knew it all along. Now you can seduce me."
"My pleasure."
"Ha. Mine too."
hat was that thing with Claire?"
