Marcus Hamilton fic: In the Shadows (R)
Feb. 14th, 2008 11:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
toxic_cornTitle: In the Shadows
Author: toxic_corn
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Joss is Boss, I own nothing.
Pairing: Het
Fandoms: Angel/The Unit though it's okay if you haven't seen the Unit; I've only seen snippets of one episode after all.
Summary: On Valentine's Day, Marcus is looking for more than flowers and candy.
Notes: For the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
bigbadinarmani Valentine's Challenge. Takes place a few years after How the Mighty Have Fallen. Basically, it still plays with the idea that Angel didn't kill Marcus, only the super-power part of him that Wolfram & Hart fueled. So he's just an average joe. A really, really hot average joe with a dark past.
In the Shadows
“He was in some elite squad,” she says. It takes Marcus a moment to realize she’s speaking to him. Shse has this way about her, that even laying in his arms after he’s given her body the ultimate satisfaction, she speaks as if to herself. Like he’s not there.
He knows she’s talking about her ex so he listens closely.
“He went out on some mission. I don’t really know the details but he got hurt. Bad. I couldn’t deal so I fucked his best friend then came back here.” There’s something in her tone that surprises him. Not self-loathing though he senses that emotion isn’t entirely alien to her. It’s acceptance. She knows she’s done wrong, has beaten herself up over it, but somewhere along the line she figured out she had to live with herself and in order to do that, she had to let a few things go.
He respects that. And in a lot of ways he envies her for it.
She stirs and twists out of his arms, sliding out from under the covers. At the foot of the bed, Isaiah raises his head but lowers it with resignation, sharing a quick glance with him.
“I have work tomorrow,” she says out of habit though he’s long-since stopped asking her to stay.
Trying to break their pattern, he offers up a token protest. “Come on. Tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day.”
That makes her pause and she looks at him incredulously. “You care about that shit?”
He can’t lie to her. “Not really.”
She nods and continues dressing. Isaiah sighs and he nudges the dog with his foot. Hey, I tried. I can’t make her stay.
That isn’t exactly true. He has it in his power, even without the wolf, ram, and hart to keep her right here with him. But his recently returned mortality, humanity, and conscience won’t let him. Those are all over-taxed enough as it is over past deeds without adding any current guilt. Especially if he were to hurt her.
“’Night, Marcus,” she says, swinging her purse over her shoulder.
“Goodnight, Crystal.”
She leaves without a kiss and he can’t fall asleep.
~*~
He’s destroyed families. Killed those begging for their lives without so much as a second thought. Snapped countless necks and backs. And he’d enjoyed it.
Now he sees their faces in his mind, expressions twisted in horror and agony and he comes back to himself, whining low in his throat with Isaiah licking his face to comfort him.
This can’t go on.
~*~
He sits in the corner booth of the diner, not in Crystal’s section. She moves gracefully from table to table, taking orders and refilling coffee mugs and delivering plates full of food bursting with calories. She smiles all the while and he knows it’s not put on. She enjoys her work, enjoys losing herself in it and he knows what that’s like. The difference is her work is honest.
He takes a sip of his coffee. She’s been through darkness but found her way out again. The occasional shadow crosses her path. Marcus is that shadow.
She was made for the light. It suits her.
~*~
He waits outside for her after closing time. It’s her night to close and she takes her time, making sure to remember everything. But even with the time she takes, she’s taking too long.
Marcus goes inside and there’s a masked man at the till, holding a knife on her. He’s ordering her to empty the safe and she’s frightened as she explains that the manager’s already emptied the safe. But the man won’t hear it.
Even without super-human strength, it doesn’t take much effort to grab the man’s arm and twist it behind his back. Marcus takes the knife and jams it hard up and between the man’s ribs. He takes the knife out again and blood splatters on the countertop.
Her lips are quivering; she’s frightened. Even after he’s saved her.
He reached out and traces a heart in the blood. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
This breaks her paralysis and she runs away crying.
~*~
Her door is locked to him. He can’t get in so he has to resort to what he’d promised himself he’d never do: lie to her.
“Ms. Burns, it’s the police. We’ve gotten your report, could you open the door?”
She doesn’t recognize his disguised voice and opens the door. Terror widens her eyes and she skips back several steps as he fills the doorway.
“Go away,” she says. “Please don’t hurt me.”
She runs for the phone and he follows after her. She’s pushed 9 and 1 when he says, “Help me.”
She pauses.
“Please.” His voice breaks. “Help me.” He falls to his knees and his shoulders shake with the force of his sobs. Tired. So tired all of a sudden.
A minute passes and tentative little hands smooth down his back and cup the back of his head. His face is pressed into her flat stomach. She croons to him that he’ll be all right.
He thinks maybe a thin ray of light has made it’s way through the darkness and feels a dusty bit of hope.
The End
Author: toxic_corn
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Joss is Boss, I own nothing.
Pairing: Het
Fandoms: Angel/The Unit though it's okay if you haven't seen the Unit; I've only seen snippets of one episode after all.
Summary: On Valentine's Day, Marcus is looking for more than flowers and candy.
Notes: For the
bigbadinarmani Valentine's Challenge. Takes place a few years after How the Mighty Have Fallen. Basically, it still plays with the idea that Angel didn't kill Marcus, only the super-power part of him that Wolfram & Hart fueled. So he's just an average joe. A really, really hot average joe with a dark past.In the Shadows
“He was in some elite squad,” she says. It takes Marcus a moment to realize she’s speaking to him. Shse has this way about her, that even laying in his arms after he’s given her body the ultimate satisfaction, she speaks as if to herself. Like he’s not there.
He knows she’s talking about her ex so he listens closely.
“He went out on some mission. I don’t really know the details but he got hurt. Bad. I couldn’t deal so I fucked his best friend then came back here.” There’s something in her tone that surprises him. Not self-loathing though he senses that emotion isn’t entirely alien to her. It’s acceptance. She knows she’s done wrong, has beaten herself up over it, but somewhere along the line she figured out she had to live with herself and in order to do that, she had to let a few things go.
He respects that. And in a lot of ways he envies her for it.
She stirs and twists out of his arms, sliding out from under the covers. At the foot of the bed, Isaiah raises his head but lowers it with resignation, sharing a quick glance with him.
“I have work tomorrow,” she says out of habit though he’s long-since stopped asking her to stay.
Trying to break their pattern, he offers up a token protest. “Come on. Tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day.”
That makes her pause and she looks at him incredulously. “You care about that shit?”
He can’t lie to her. “Not really.”
She nods and continues dressing. Isaiah sighs and he nudges the dog with his foot. Hey, I tried. I can’t make her stay.
That isn’t exactly true. He has it in his power, even without the wolf, ram, and hart to keep her right here with him. But his recently returned mortality, humanity, and conscience won’t let him. Those are all over-taxed enough as it is over past deeds without adding any current guilt. Especially if he were to hurt her.
“’Night, Marcus,” she says, swinging her purse over her shoulder.
“Goodnight, Crystal.”
She leaves without a kiss and he can’t fall asleep.
He’s destroyed families. Killed those begging for their lives without so much as a second thought. Snapped countless necks and backs. And he’d enjoyed it.
Now he sees their faces in his mind, expressions twisted in horror and agony and he comes back to himself, whining low in his throat with Isaiah licking his face to comfort him.
This can’t go on.
He sits in the corner booth of the diner, not in Crystal’s section. She moves gracefully from table to table, taking orders and refilling coffee mugs and delivering plates full of food bursting with calories. She smiles all the while and he knows it’s not put on. She enjoys her work, enjoys losing herself in it and he knows what that’s like. The difference is her work is honest.
He takes a sip of his coffee. She’s been through darkness but found her way out again. The occasional shadow crosses her path. Marcus is that shadow.
She was made for the light. It suits her.
He waits outside for her after closing time. It’s her night to close and she takes her time, making sure to remember everything. But even with the time she takes, she’s taking too long.
Marcus goes inside and there’s a masked man at the till, holding a knife on her. He’s ordering her to empty the safe and she’s frightened as she explains that the manager’s already emptied the safe. But the man won’t hear it.
Even without super-human strength, it doesn’t take much effort to grab the man’s arm and twist it behind his back. Marcus takes the knife and jams it hard up and between the man’s ribs. He takes the knife out again and blood splatters on the countertop.
Her lips are quivering; she’s frightened. Even after he’s saved her.
He reached out and traces a heart in the blood. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
This breaks her paralysis and she runs away crying.
Her door is locked to him. He can’t get in so he has to resort to what he’d promised himself he’d never do: lie to her.
“Ms. Burns, it’s the police. We’ve gotten your report, could you open the door?”
She doesn’t recognize his disguised voice and opens the door. Terror widens her eyes and she skips back several steps as he fills the doorway.
“Go away,” she says. “Please don’t hurt me.”
She runs for the phone and he follows after her. She’s pushed 9 and 1 when he says, “Help me.”
She pauses.
“Please.” His voice breaks. “Help me.” He falls to his knees and his shoulders shake with the force of his sobs. Tired. So tired all of a sudden.
A minute passes and tentative little hands smooth down his back and cup the back of his head. His face is pressed into her flat stomach. She croons to him that he’ll be all right.
He thinks maybe a thin ray of light has made it’s way through the darkness and feels a dusty bit of hope.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-02-14 07:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-14 08:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-14 08:07 pm (UTC)....poor Marcus :(
no subject
Date: 2008-02-14 08:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-14 08:56 pm (UTC)Nice and creepy yet with heart ans hope there at the end. A+
*commences dancing, though only a little, cuz it was deep fic* \0\ /0/ \0\ /0/
no subject
Date: 2008-02-14 09:24 pm (UTC)A deep dance to go with deep fic? \0/ Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-14 09:01 pm (UTC)This was really good, Tox. Really really good.
Man. He repents so believably! And that heart in the blood... sheer brilliance, dude.
*hugs you*
no subject
Date: 2008-02-14 09:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-15 10:31 pm (UTC)So cute! Is he still working as an ice cream man? ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-16 01:14 am (UTC)I think he gave up the glamorous ice cream man lifestyle. He's between jobs right now.