And Again: The Reunion
By P'al Kwai
Ratings: NC-17 for language, and m/m slash. If any of this offends you, PLEASE do not read.
Pairing: B White/ E Exley
Disclaimer: I don't own LAC characters. Characters are owned by James Ellroy, with contributions from Brian Hegeland and Curtis Hanson. No infringement intended.
Summary: Takes place about a year after the movie.
Feedback: PLEASE, I'd love to hear from you.
Author's Notes: This is the first fic in a series. Hopefully there will be many more, but it depends on my Muse and the Muse of my co-author. Not betaed, so please forgive any and all mistakes in advance.
Dedication: Title, courtesy of Thunderhead.
{} denotes thoughts ** denotes emphasis
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And Again, The Reunion
"Captain, you wanted to see me?" Lieutenant Ed Exley stood respectfully in the doorway of his commander's office.
"Exley. Yes. Come in. Shut the door." The Homicide Captain waved Exley in, then motioned for him to sit down. "I'm assigning you a new partner." Blunt and to-the-point, the Captain didn't have time to waste.
{Partner? He knows I shouldn't have a partner?} "Sir, considering what's been happening...to my partners, I thought we agreed that..."
"Exley. A special request was made. He wants you as his partner, and we...we want to..." Breaking off, the Captain gave Exley a sour stare. "We want to keep him happy."
"Who?"
"Who do you think? Who would we need to keep happy. Need to keep quiet.. Your partner in crime...Bud White."
"White!" Speechless with shock for a moment. "White's on disability. He's living in Arizona..."
"That son-of-a-bitch isn't human. Doctors cleared him for active duty. And he wants to return to the force. Wants his old job back. Wants you as his partner. Now..." Leaning forward, closing the gap between him and Exley. "I don't have to tell you that we got White to agree to go along with the...the..." Sitting back in his chair, the Captain gave Exley a meaningful look.
{The cover up. Why don't you just say it?} Exley stared back, trying not to show any emotion. "But Sir, did you tell him what happened to my last two partners?"
"Exley." A disgusted sigh, as the Captain began going through the stack of papers on his desk. "If you want to talk White out of his demand, be my guest. Whatever you two come up with is fine with me."
**
Ringing the doorbell, Exley braced himself. The last place he wanted to be now was here. Here, at Bud's new home. With Lynn there. The two of them, domestic and happy. But it was urgent that he talk to Bud, before the poor guy found himself embroiled in another snake pit.
Door opened to reveal White...a slimmer White. But despite the weight loss, he still had a ‘tough guy look.' Muscular. The battle scar on his face, courtesy of Dudley Smith, giving him a even more dangerous, hard air.
"Exley." White showed no surprise at seeing him at his doorstep. "Just in time. I need some help moving some furniture."
"White." Stilted and awkward, Exley felt unsure of himself. Not an unfamiliar emotion for him when dealing with Bud White. Stepping inside the house, Ed was surprised to see it almost empty. A few scattered boxes, but almost no furniture to speak of, except a mattress and box spring standing on end against one of the living room walls. There was no sign of another person in the house. {Lynn must still be coming with the furniture.}
"Help me with the bed." Voice, quiet and low.
Divesting himself of his sport coat, Ed moved over to grab one end of the box spring. "White, I need to speak with you. The Cap told me that you were coming back on active duty, and that you had requested me as your partner. Us being partners is not a good..."
"Now the mattress." White interrupted him. The house was small, so the bedroom was mere feet from the living room. Exley wasn't even sure why White had asked him to help, as White, with his strength, could have carried both box spring and mattress in by himself.
"As I was saying..." Ed struggled with the mattress, as he tried to set it down. Its weight wasn't the problem; it was its floppiness. "As I was saying, you need to go back and tell Cap that you've changed your mind about wanting me as your partner."
"But I haven't." White looked up at Ed, while straightening the mattress.
"White..."{Tell him the truth? No! The last thing this poor guy needs is to get in the middle of my troubles.} "We wouldn't make good partners. You know that. We're too different. We wouldn't work well together."
"Exley. How can you say that? Together we solved the Night Owl murders, the murder of Matt Reynolds, the murder of Jack Vincennes, and *Captain* Smith's crime syndicate."
Hands on hips, Exley was taken aback. He could swear that White had a almost teasing tone about him. That he wasn't taking anything Ed said seriously. "Yeah, and it almost killed you." Trying a different tact. "Listen. I prefer to work alone. I don't want a partner. Now..."
"Exley, your golden tongue won't work on me. So just shut-up. I've made up my mind...*partner*."
"But why?" Ed was totally baffled.
"Why?" Advancing on Ed slowly, like a predator stalking his prey. "As partners, no one will question us being together so much. Having to spend nights together." Voice now a whisper. "It's for you really, since you're looking to move up. I know you don't want gossip and rumor to perhaps, damage your chances of a promotion. Me. I don't give a flying fuck."
Exley found himself backing up. Cornered. "What the hell are you talking about?" Trying to be forceful. Trying to act ignorant.
"You know what I'm talking about...Ed." Body pressed up against Exley's. Hands on the wall on either side of his head. "Been thinking about you Exley. Been thinking about you *a lot*. Been thinking about how you'd feel.. And I'm tired of just thinking about it."
Ed could feel White's breath on his cheek. Like a gentle touch. Feeling a stirring in his body, he also had had such thoughts. Too many of them. "White...I..I.."
"You talk too much Exley. Try using your mouth for something else for a change." Mouth coming down hard on the man he had pinned to the wall. Tongue demanding entrance. He wanted submission. Total submission.
Groaning, Ed could feel himself hardening. Couldn't deny his desires. Couldn't deny the magnetism of the man in front of him. Breaking his mouth away. "White...Bud...let me...let me." Fumbling with the zipper, dropping to his knees. Stroking. Caressing. Licking. Tasting. Tasting the saltiness. Tasting him.
Running his tongue around the head and then the shaft. Licking pre-cum that oozed from the slit of the cockhead. Gently caressing the ball-sac that hung down. Feeling White's legs tremble, Ed began to take the head and several inches of the stalk in his mouth. Sucking deeply, causing White to buck his hips, pushing himself in further.
Groaning, White had to use all his self-control not to cum in the hot mouth that engulfed him. Gritting his teeth, he pushed Exley away from him. "No! Not yet. I want to cum inside you." Pulling his t-shirt over his head, he growled a short command at the man on his knees before him. "Strip boy.. I can't wait any more."
Clothes off, White was frenzied with impatience. Pushing the smaller man on his knees on the bed. Reaching around with a strong, sure hand, gripping, sliding back and forth over Ed's pulsing cock, and with one finger of the other hand, he gently probed and massaged the other man's sphincter muscle.
The past year of Exley's life had been filled with loneliness, stress and isolation. Sex was a release. The experienced hand of a man, a man who had been invading his thoughts for the last year, brought him to a climax faster than he would have liked. Moaning deep in his throat, his cum shot out in strong spasms onto Bud's hand, and the mattress beneath him.
Bud could wait no longer. Using the cum on his hand as a lubricant, he smeared it over his own hardened cock, and then pushing one finger into Exley, then two, three, and finally four fingers. Opening him up, preparing him.
One arm around a slim waist, the other placing the head of his cock at Ed's entrance, Bud positioned himself. Self-control at an end, restraint no longer an option, he slammed his cock and hips into the man beneath him.
Squirming in pain, Ed instinctively tried to pull away, but was held fast by strong hands on his hips. "You ok, baby?" A whisper in his ear. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to relax, concentrating on accepting the cock inside him. The burning and pain started to fade, as his body began to adjust.
Bud's head was throbbing from the tremendous energy he was exerting in holding himself back. Brain telling him to pound away, to take what was his.. "Relax, kid, relax." One hand massaged a shoulder, while the other massaged the hole around his cock. Feeling the tension leave the smaller man's body, he began to gently move in and out, savoring the feel of Exley around him.
The pain was turning to pleasure for Ed, as he could feel Bud's cock in him, moving back and forth across his sensitive prostate. Groaning, he began to thrust himself back against the bigger man, matching him stroke for stroke.
Feeling Ed moving against him was the last straw. Bud couldn't hold back any longer, as he began to furiously pump harder and faster, burying himself in deeper and deeper. "Jesus, you are so fuckin' tight. Christ, boy, I'm gonna cum." Thrusting all the way in, stilling his hips as he emptied himself completely into the slim body beneath him. Totally drained, inertia setting in, the two men collapsed on the bed, still joined together.
Breathing heavily, Ed reveled in the sensation of having White on top of him, White's softening cock still inside him, White's cum running out of him.
Moments passed as the two men allowed their heart rates to return to normal.. "I came here to talk to you. I wasn't expecting anything like this." Inane drivel, but Ed felt like he had to say something, anything, as the man who lay next to him was being his usual muted self, not saying a word.
"Get used to it. I plan to do this quite often." A strong arm wrapped around him. Another whisper in his ear. "...partner. You see why being partners...is a necessary..."
"Bud." Ed crashed back to reality. "I don't want...we can't be...us being partners is *not* a good idea. We'll talk to Cap tomorrow. There's plenty of cops who remember you, respect you. I'm sure that a good match for you can..."
"Exley." Voice now tinged with impatience. "The subject is CLOSED. If you have to keep flapping your jaw, then talk about something else."
Body stiffening, Ed wasn't used to being spoken to in such a tone. "White! You seem to forget that..." Breaking away from the other man, rolling off the bed, looking for pants, shirt. It was hard to have a facade of righteous indignation when one was naked. "You seem to forget that I'm your superior officer."
Laying on the bed, hands behind his head, Bud smirked, enjoying the view of a nude Exley scrambling for his clothes. "You gonna constantly be holding that over my head? Well, got some news for you buddy. After a near death experience, things like ‘superior officers', rules and regulations' don't mean a whole hell-of-a-lot to me."
"When did they ever." Exley mumbled under his breath, while zipping up his trousers. But still, glancing at the prone body before him, he found himself quickly looking away. Guilt flared through him. It was always there, like a small flame that never could be extinguished. And the visual proof fueled the flame.
The scars. Those ugly scars marring Bud's face, chest, and left arm.. Bud, coming to the Victory Motel even though he knew it was a set-up. Bud, pushing him out of the way of Dudley's 38. Bud, jaw wired shut, crippled, being driven to Arizona by Lynn, while Ed received his second Medal of Valor. But in truth who had really been the hero?
Closing his eyes for a moment, Ed knew what he had to do. He had to put as much distance between himself and Bud White. For Bud's sake. For Lynn's sake. Putting as much false anger and disgust that he could muster. "And that's the problem, Bud. What you consider right and just is..."
"WHAT'S JUST?" Getting up off the bed, undisturbed that he was naked. "And why don't you tell me, *Lieutenant* Edmund Exley, about justice?" White's notorious short fuse had been lit.
Seeing the look in Bud's eyes, Ed knew that he was close to getting what he wanted. He needed Bud to lose it. {Just another little push.} "Justice is *not* planting guns on unarmed suspects, it's not playing Russian Roulette with a..."
"Goddamn son-of-a-bitch!" Pushing Ed up against the wall so hard that Ed's teeth rattled. "You weren't complaining about my definition of justice when I was beating the truth out of District Attorney Loew. When I was giving you that *push* that saved your ass."
White's breath on his cheek again. But this time, it was no gentle caress. Pausing for just a moment, Ed knew he had Bud where he wanted him. {Just another little lie. And he won't come within 10 feet of me. He'll be safe.} Steeling himself, looking White in the eye, pretending not to be intimidated. "You're a mindless thug, White. And I *don't* want a partner like that."
A small shove was sufficient to move the stunned White. Grabbing his sports coat on the way out, Exley could feel a wetness on his face. It wouldn't be until he got into his car, that he realized that it was his own tears.
****
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