Title: To Take Arms Against a Sea of Troubles Snippet

Author: MJ Gage

Fandom: HBO' oridginal series Oz

Pairing: Miguel Alvarez & Ryan O'Reily

Rating: NC-17

Status: Interlude between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2

Archive: PEJA for the WWOMB and Shug for EmCity.

Series/Sequel: This is part of my "To Take Arms" story

Summary: Set in a mythic fourth season of Oz. Alvarez is out of the Psyc. ward.

He and O'Reily bond.

To Take Arms Against A Sea Of Troubles: Snippet

by MJ

Ryan O'Reily looked down at the Emerald City, appraising the players in the commons area and searching for the object of his latest obsession. Keeping an eye on the game, trying to anticipate next week's star players, he reflectively began to hunt for his younger brother. He remembered Cyril was in a far better place.

The only flower in a sea of dull green and gray caught his eye. A red matador appeared culling the bulls, sizing them up and rejecting the weak ones. Miguel Alvarez.

Ryan's eyes, like every other bull's in room, were immediately drawn and tracking the matador's progress. Alvarez slowly made his way in O'Reily's direction. Talking to a cluster of men, one hand resting on his stomach, the other on a man's shoulder, he leaned in with some cocky comment.

The group laughed and Alvarez looked up, catching his roommate watching. He waved and winked. After a few more comments, he broke away from the group.

O'Reily watched him strut across the floor, pausing to tease a few of the men in his path. Full of confidence. Alvarez was back. V The terrified and hallucinating boy Ryan found in the mental ward gone. Demons banished, the self-assured and brazen man O'Reily encountered his first year in Oz restored. He sauntered up the stairs. Ryan took the time to appraise his ally's form.

He no longer resembled a pale hollow ghost. His sleeveless sweatshirt revealed sculpted arms. An equally muscled abdomen pecked out between the shirt and pants. Brown eyes sparkled with life.

Preoccupied, Ryan didn't realize Adebisi was behind him until he felt the hand on his ass. "Any time you're ready for a real man, white boy."

O'Reily didn't even bother to reply. He merely stared the man down.

Adebisi removed his hand and brought his face close to O'Reily's "You so pretty, you only fuck pretty boys? You need to add some real color to your diet O'Reily." Adebisi patted his cheek and turned to Alvarez; "Too much white food is bad for you." He backed away from the Irish man. O'Reily continued to ignore him and smiled at his approaching playmate.

"Yo Ryan, man we got to do something about Adebisi. He's always checking out your ass."

"Yeah, I know. He's been doing that since I got here." Ryan turned away from bull pen down below. "That's not why we have to take care of him. He's in the way. He's got too much of the tit trade."

"Yeah, I know that. What's wrong, babe? You don't want a jealous boyfriend?" O'Reily turned from the pit. Facing his companion, he smiled, "Nah, it's a waste of your time."

"What - wanting to keep you all to myself?"

Alvarez placed himself next to O'Reily.

From the pit and the co.'s desk, it appeared he was standing beside O'Reily. Alvarez pressed up against him, his groin skinning Ryan's ass and his hand tugging on Ryan's hip.

O'Reily tilted back towards Alvarez and looked at the African drug addict. He felt the same old mixture of admiration of the large man's ambition and disgust at the gang leader's lack of control. No one could trust Adebisi; no one ever knew what he was going to do next. He doubted Simon even knew. Alvarez was a sure bet. His gato would always back him up, it always pays to pick up strays. "No use worrying about something that's never going to happen."

"I know, I just wanted to get a reaction from you, Dulce." Miguel lightly ran his fingers up and down Ryan's back.

O'Reily knew no one could see, but he moved away anyway. He tried to restrain the reactions Alvarez's touch always produced in his body. "You want to do that, think of a way to take Adebisi down. Without..."

"I know man, without being able to trace it back to us."

Ryan hid his smile. Miguel was smart and a quick learner. He felt the welcomed thrill of a well-made plan turning out perfectly. He knew he made the right choice when he went after the handsome Latino. Beauty, brains, and moves, Alvarez had it all. Sure he was fucked up, for a while there, but that only made it easier for O'Reily to move in. Now he had a partner for life.

"Yeah. We need to be careful. I have to think about this."

Alvarez moved in closer, rubbing his chest across O'Reily's back, his hand just brushing across Ryan's hips. "I know something that always helps you think." He leaned up to whisper in Ryan's in ear.

O'Reily willed himself not to shudder. He wanted Alvarez as bad as Alvarez wanted him. The sex was invariably great. One of the better lessons in this partnership was the longer Miguel simmered the more spectacular the sex. If Alvarez was challenged, he used all of his formidable talents in seduction. The more disinterested Ryan appeared, the more he prolonged the pace, and the more creative Miguel became.

O'Reily spent the whole day thinking about the morning's inconveniently interrupted activities. Miguel was still wearing the same red shirt that started Ryan thinking about how delicious he looked. How entertaining it would be to peel that red flag off and lick his way down the delicious chest.

Unfortunately, 800 men were waiting for O'Reily to make their breakfast. After eight hours of fantasizing, he wanted to see what Alvarez came up with.

"Yeah. What?"

Alvarez smiled and began tracing the veins on Ryan's arm. He appreciated a challenge. "Want to hear me purr?"

O'Reily adored it when Miguel got cocky. "I don't know, Gato. We got time for that?"

"About sixty years or so. If you can wait that long."

"What are you going to give me for my wait?"

"I'll make you purr."

"Never happen."

"Give me a chance, Amante, I'm good. Muy beuno."

"Prove it kid. But...."

"I know, not out here. Not where everyone can see."

Ryan swallowed and leaned into the caress. "Not where the hacks can see. I don't want to be stopped again." Thanks to McManus and his unforgiving grudges, Alvarez and O'Reily had just returned from their second all-expenses-paid month long vacation in the hole. Neither was interested in a third curse in less then six months.

They were both extremely interested in persuing the activities that had earned them the sabbatical in the first place though. O'Reily and Alvarez quickly adjourned to their favorite abandoned storage area.

Alvarez had been brewing as long as O'Reily had. He knew the sleeveless red sweatshirt set O'Reily on fire. He wore it on purpose.

He forgot Ryan needed to leave extra early when he was responsible for the breakfast shift. Alvarez was in no mood to be creative. Artistry went out the window after endless hours of frustration. All day the two men had been in each other's sights without the possibility of physical contact.

He couldn't control himself. He adored the feel of O'Reily's skin; the smooth silky surface and the delicate shivers that encompassed Ryan's whole body as Miguel ran his fingers across it. Still uncomfortable being in a same sex relationship, Ryan was unwillingly responsive. Miguel knew it would often take less than a look to seduce Ryan, but Ryan tried to deny his body's responses to Miguel. He would hold it all in until Miguel had exhausted every trick he knew.

Normally Miguel didn't mind. It was like a game and plotting new moves kept his imagination going during the monotony of prison life.

His daylong impatience won out and he let his desire set the pace. He followed the trail of his hands with his lips and tongue. It worked after only a few minutes.

O'Reily, hugging the wall for support, was moaning his name repeatedly. "Miguel.

Gato." Low and rumbling, it was starting to sound like a purr.

Miguel wondered if he could make good on his threat to make Ryan purr. He decided to experiment. He ran his hands down Ryan's torso as he licked up towards his neck. The moans started increasingly to rumble.

Miguel found the spot on Ryan's neck that always set him off. He bit down as his hands slid under Ryan's pants.

He jerked forward in Miguel's arms, "Gato."

Deeper at the back of his throat. O'Reily was close to purring. After months of practice Miguel could tell Ryan was also close to orgasm.

Miguel loosened Ryan's trousers, letting them fall towards the floor. At the same time he traveled southward, nipping and kissing the whole way; zig zaging to return to particularly responsive sites. Finally, on his knees he paused to look up at his lover's face. Ryan's head was pressed into the wall and his eyes fluttered between open and closed. His lips were red and puffy from his efforts to bite the moans back. Miguel smiled, he was right. "Let it go, Dulce." And he swallowed Ryan whole.

After a day on the edge and Miguel's expert playing of the game, Ryan took one look at his lover and let it go. "Gato," he purred.

Miguel swallowed and licked Ryan clean. He slid up Ryan's body. "I told you I could make you purr."

END INTERLUDE