Do you miss me? Who: Ronnie & Mikey What: A talk When: December 22 Rating: Mid - mentions of the stalker Status: Complete
I miss you
Do you miss me? I miss you.
It didn’t matter what he responded with, the texts never ceased and the author didn’t seem fazed at all. Had he known who the anonymous sender was he would’ve done more...something…
At work he was jumpy. Nesryn teased him about it at first but then she seemed to figure it out and put up with him being grumpy and unlike his usual cheerful self. Any time the door rustled in the hinge or a horn honked outside he nearly jumped out of his skin.
The windows in their trailer had drawn curtains.
Whomever the author was seemed to be following him. They’d sent pictures, a few of him out and about in public.
Somewhere in the trailer his phone vibrated. Ronnie had just set it down out of frustration and walked away.
“Babe?” Mikey called out as he came through the door. “You here?” He’d tried texting Ronnie to see if he’d wanted Mikey to pick up anything at the store on his way home, but the message had been unread -- something that made Mikey feel a tingle of worry on the back of his neck.
He knew it was that… whoever it was who was getting weird with Ronnie.
Even though he figured Ronnie was just not checking his phone, he still skipped the store to get home a little sooner. The trailer smelled familiar enough, at least.
Relief always came upon hearing the tones in Mikey’s voice. On a good day it promised more sunshine, on a bad one a light at the end upon weathering the storm. He was in the bedroom sitting on the edge of their mattress when he heard the term of endearment which caused him to look up and over at the door.
Already the paranoia and fear was melting away.
From the sink in the bathroom a soft vibration was completed but he ignored it and made a beeline for the hallway instead.
“Hey!” He called, trying his best to get out of that down mood and be happier. It wasn’t in his nature to be down or depressed and he didn’t like it at all.
“Hey yourself,” Mikey replied, feeling a familiar grin spread over his face and the slight tension in his shoulders drop as Ronnie came down the hallway. He wrapped his arms around the slighter man, burying his face in Ronnie’s shoulder. “Glad you’re okay. Missed you.”
He could feel Ronnie stiffen a little in his arms, and he frowned. “Shit,” he said, quietly. “Sorry.”
Ronnie’s hands gripped at Mikey’s shirt. He clutched the fabric, burying his face against his partner’s frame. Safe. This felt safe and he felt better here like this. A deep breath would be taken and then he leaned backward, looking up.
“Why? Don’t be,” he murmured. Leaning up, he caught the cougar by the mouth and offered a sweet kiss.
“I, uh, if you texted I don’t think I got it. Dunno where my phone went.” It was his turn to look apologetic. For so long they'd checked in, he had gotten used to communicating with Mikey, and lately it was silence from him and the vibration of his cell filled with words from a stranger.
Mikey frowned a little. “Yeah,” he said, “I… I figured?” He shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe… I don’t know. Maybe keep it on silent, but have it close? I’d rather you be able to get in touch with me than me being able to get in touch with you.”
He shrugged again. “Not like… you know. Just in case.”
The stalker had just been… well… creepy so far, but Mikey couldn’t help but think of what would happen if things moved beyond that.
Ronnie only nodded. He just wanted the whole thing to stop, to go back to normal and not worry about it. Like Mikey, he wasn’t sure if the mystery person would ever do any more than just text. He hoped not.
He stayed close to Mikey. His phone could be recovered later - it buzzed again from the bathroom sink but he couldn’t hear it from where they were standing.
“You need anything?” He inquired. All of this felt so selfish, he wanted to shift the focus for a bit.
Mikey shrugged. “I know you don’t…” he paused. “Maybe we plan on spending a good hour or two with customer support on Saturday, see if we can get some blocks or filters or something? I think having some sort of plan helps.” He kissed Ronnie lightly. “I don’t wanna make this a whole thing, where this is all we talk about, but I do want to, you know, feel useful?”
He kissed Ronnie again. “Other than that, I’m all about takin’ your mind off things. You wanna go for a hike? Talk about something else you wanna chew over? Kick my ass in Mario? Hold me down and fuck me boneless?” He laughed, his smile curling playfully into his cheek.
A laugh erupted from him. It was more his usual sound, playful and confident while humble and soft. “Can we do all of those things?” The idea itself tickled him. Honestly he didn’t care what they did as long as they did it together. Being close or wrapped up in each other was always a favorite though.
As if to hone the point he leaned up to press his mouth against Mikey’s. The tiniest sound mimicking a purr left.
If there really was a way to block the anonymous person he would be glad to know what it was and how to do it.
Mikey’s grin widened as he wrapped his arms around Ronnie. “Sounds like we got ourselves a game plan,” he said. “Walk and talk, Mario, and then you show me what a fuckin’ stud you are.”
There was a trailhead not far from their trailer -- Mikey enjoyed ‘stretching his legs’ on it after work, as there were enough places he could go off road and few enough hikers to make transforming easy and safe.
Mikey kept hold of Ronnie’s hand as they drove to the trailhead in his truck, looking over at Ronnie as they parked, and leaning over to kiss his cheek before swinging out of the cab. “C’mon,” he said, “let’s get those legs movin.” This stalking business had shrunk their world a little -- he figured Ronnie could use some fresh air.
“Hell yeah!” Ronnie chirped. He was already in a much better mood. Off to get his shoes he didn’t even hear the buzz from the mobile in the sink, too eager to get on their adventure.
Warm between his coat and the heater in the truck, he snuggled in and kept hold of Mikey’s hand. Dark eyes would turn to the window and through a crystal reflection swept the horizon.
Though as the vehicle paused he turned to look over at his love and was rewarded with that kiss. He felt as warm on the inside as he did on the outside, “I can’t wait.”
He let go long enough to climb out of the cab. And then he was moving along at Mikey’s side as they trekked the length of the trail.
“Man, it’s so nice out here.”
“Oh, dude, I should show you,” Mikey replied with an enthusiastic grin, “I found some chanterelle mushrooms up here last spring -- I should see if I can sniff ‘em out again once it warms up again.” He swung their joined hands between them.
“All sortsa stuff out here,” he added. “I mean, like, no end of stuff to smell. There’s chokecherries, and elderberries, I remember once there was this squirrel drunk off his ass on fermented elderberries.”
“Yeah?” He inquired, intrigued. “That’s awesome! I wish I had a sense of smell like that to be able to track stuff down. Man, that’s so cool.” He didn’t know the ability’s perks to that extent and his nose had ever been that good.
“It’s so cool that you know all of these types of berries, too.” His hand settled against Mikey’s and he held the limb proudly.
“I mean,” Mikey replied, “It’s mostly just smelling stuff, you know?”
He paused, looking over at Ronnie as they walked. “You still… you know… thinkin’ bout turning?” He asked. He and Ronnie’d talked about giving it a month or so to see if Ronnie still felt the same way.
“Yeah but to actually be able to know something by smell...that is so cool. Like...amazingly cool.” Being a cat or a dog was something he thought about once in a while and had since he was little.
And then when the topic of changing was brought up, Ronnie quieted and thought about it. He reflected back on the time that Derek had offered Rose the gift of immortality. He could remember the conversation, how his mother looked and the way she politely turned his best friend down.
He knew he didn’t feel the same way she did; while Rose had been dying of cancer she was strong in her faith and at the time she wasn’t interested in sacrificing her good worlds on Earth for the chance to live forever.
“Yeah,” Ronnie said, finally. He kept walking along. “I still wanna.”
“Yeah?” Mikey replied, a small smile curling up at the corner. “What’ve you been thinking about, you know, when it comes to why?”
He ducked his head a little. “I mean, I know it’s be beyond cool to have you to run around with, and to share that part of me with, like… you have no idea, but it can’t… it shouldn’t be for me, you know? It should be for you.”
Ronnie nodded.
He had wanted time to think about the transformation mostly because he didn’t want it to feel obligatory or selfish. When it had been proposed he did think it was cool. That never changed, but with the time to consider the pros and cons he found more pure reasons to want to evolve.
“Nah, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way but I don’t do everything for you. I want to do things with you, I love you, and I don’t want you to ever feel like this — the cougar thing, is why I’m interested in you. I think it would be good for protection. I want to be able to defend myself or get away if I need to if there’s a point where I can’t get to you or reach out,” he explained slowly, trying to find the right words.
“I know I’m a cool dude,” he added, laughing, “but being a cougar would give me a little bit more peace of mind. I can also help protect our place, keep it safe. Nobody is gonna fuck with two of us.”
Then he squeezed Mikey’s hand. “Sharing that experience with you, like smelling stuff and running around, that sounds like a lot of fun. Like bonding on a deeper level, you know?” He didn’t want to put the expectation on it that if they did go with this then they were stuck with each other or anything because of it.
“Yeah,” Mikey replied. “I just…” he paused, and bit his lip. “I want it to be a good thing, you know? I love what I am, I think it’s awesome, and I want to share it with you.” He looked over at Ronnie. “We gotta talk to Cian,” he added. “I think… I think he’ll have more to say about what it’s like being human and then… not being human? What he misses? I don’t know. But I think that’s the next step.”
“Of course,” Ronnie replied, nodding. That made sense. He felt as if Cian was the cougar in charge in a way, or at least a guiding point with experience. “I feel that. Let’s chat with him about it and get a feel for it. It can’t be much different from being a vampire, right? Except for like the obvious differences, sun, blood, you get it.”
Whatever being born versus a direct change consisted of, he didn’t know. But he suspected Cian would tell him.
“Yeah,” Mikey said, leaning over to kiss Ronnie, before wrinkling his nose. “I mean, sort of?” He laughed. “Not… really? They’re both weird.” He laughed again. “And so are you, so… fitting?” He shook his head. “Weirdo,” he added.