Hunted

The interview was all over, but even leaving that adorable Carlos with a hug and a kiss, Leandor was still in a bad mood. That threat had really thrown him for a loop. How dare someone take the liberty to play with him like that? What gave them that right? If he knew who did it, he'd surely have had them strung up as soon as he could. Jumping to conclusions was probably not right, but if Zach really had something to do with it, he had to know. Didn't think that Bible humper would have that kind of cowardly nerve.

The cafe wasn't as busy, but there was no sign of the man he was there to see. Had Bradley remembered to pass on the message? Leandor had told Bradley to ask Zach to meet him there at 10 pm and it was only five to. Perhaps the man was just very punctual. With an annoyed sigh, Leandor walked over to a table near the center of the room, sitting so he could face the door. He was sure his legs were sweating a river under those vinyl pants, but at least he got quite a few compliments on his way there. That was almost enough to make sitting there in them bearable, but not quite.

Barely a minute passed before he spotted the religious freak entering. Feeling his anger rising, he immediately stood up and crossed his arms as he strolled over to meet the guy near the door. "Have you had a good day, Mr. Holier-than-thou?"

Stopping just barely inside the door, Zach crossed his arms. As he glared into Leandor's eyes, he shook his head in contempt. "How could you? Have you no shame? I didn't exactly think you were an angel, but to sink this low..." He spat out the last words with a grimace, a fair bit more agitated than Leandor had seen that man before.

Wait a minute. What was that supposed to mean? Leandor scoffed at the man, and took an insulted step back. "Believe me, I've sunk plenty lower than anything you can falsely accuse me of. But I didn't come here to be belittled and patronized by you. I want to know why on Earth you would actually get someone to threaten me away from you? Are you really so narcissistic that you think I had any intention of coming here again before you pulled a stunt like that?" He clenched his fist, resisting the urge to backhand the jerk. "Who did you get to peep on me, huh?"

The redhead quirked a confused brow. "What is this, mind games? I haven't gotten anyone to threaten you. I'd much rather you came to me than scarring kids like that." He let out an angry sigh as he moved over towards the nearest table, still with his eyes on Leandor.

"Excuse me?" He laughed indignantly as he followed the man, but took a moment to stop and think. He probably had scarred a lot of young men, but had no idea how that was any of Zach's business. "First of all, I don't make a habit of scarring kids. Never anyone below the age of 15... Second of all, I did come to you! What the hell do you think I'm doing here? I was going to make some calls and have someone else deal with this, but I wanted to hear it myself. If you didn't have them threaten me, who did? Who else would tell me to stay away from you?"

After thinking for a bit, Zach shrugged. "Maybe someone else got angry at you?" He swallowed, then suddenly seemed to think of something. "No, that's not it. I didn't show anybody your note. Which means," he raised an accusing finger, "you're just taking me for a fool, aren't you?!"

"I'm sure you're perfectly capable of making a fool of yourself without my help." Leandor eyed the man a little while before decidedly taking the bait to ask the question. "What note? What are you blabbering about, fool?"

The smirk the redhead flashed implied he was rather impressed with himself. "I didn't bring the original. But I've got a photocopy..." He carefully pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket, then handed it over. "Leaving this at the crime scene wasn't a particularly good idea..."

He barely had a chance to look at it before he found himself bursting into a fit of laughter. The blond had to lean over with his palms on the table surface for balance to avoid doubling over. After about a minute when he finally calmed down, he wiped the moisture from his eyes and shook his head. "You're a funny guy. I wouldn't expect you to go this far, but come on! I can point out a few things wrong with this note." He laughed again as he read over it again. "For starters, that's not how you spell my name. I didn't really think that was the correct spelling for your name either, but I suppose you'd know better than me. Last, but certainly not least, I'm a journalist for crying out loud! Don't you think I'd be a tad more creative than this shit?"

Scowling and seeming more than a bit offended, Zach sat down with an annoyed sigh. "Well, the pornography you put on seemed to fit your sinful tastes..." Zach muttered, then leant back. After a deep breath, his voice was calmer and steadier. "You misspelled my name, yes. Think your little spelling mistake will relieve you of all suspicion, do you?"

"Pornography?" Leandor quirked an inquisitive brow and finally took a seat, despite his uncomfortable pants. The mention of porn made the situation all the more interesting. If Zach wasn't faking this whole thing, then he was hoping anyone with the nerve to frame him would be a bit creative. "What kind of porn was it? Did you bring any of it?"

The last question obviously infuriated the redhead, who immediately raised his voice, more or less shouting at him. "Listen up, you sinful creep. This is not funny! Putting on homosexual pornography in front of the children is unforgivable! The poor Mrs. Jennings probably won't even sleep tonight. How can anyone be so cruel?"

"I may be a sinful creep, but I've got more class than that." Leandor rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, looking away. "I don't know what happened, but it wasn't something I did. If I wanted to make an attack on you, I'd target you. The innocence of the young is something that I value a lot more than people think, and I would never do anything to steal that from them with such vulgarity. I'm sorry for whatever may have happened, Zach, but you are seriously mistaken about me."

Zach regarded him in silence for a while. His eyes studied his face, then wandered over his body, not without a hint of disagreement at his choice of clothing. As his attention finally settled on the notepad, he smirked, then snatched the paper on the table. "Show me your notepad."

Was he insane? Wouldn't be a surprise. Leandor laughed, this time much more sarcastic about it, but upon realizing the man was serious, he rolled his eyes and plucked the pad out of his belt. "Fine, but if you even think of selling my material to another newspaper, I'll so hit you." That said, he tossed it onto the table.

Flickering through the pages much too fast to read anything, Zach eventually nodded and laid the paper next to the blond's notes. He studied the texts closely for a while, until finally making up his mind. "Okay. It's not your handwriting." With that, he pushed both back across the table, then quirked a curious brow. "So, assuming for a second that it's not someone who you asked to do this, who would?"

"Well, judging by the fact that it seems to be an attempt to get us away from each other, or against each other, it would probably be somebody who feels threatened by the fact that we would actually know one another." He took the notepad and tucked it back into his pants. He smiled at Zach and shook his head. "But I haven't a clue. There are plenty of reasons for people to hate me, but I don't know anyone who does... Maybe you just have an enemy who is afraid I'll give you good press. Either way, it doesn't sound like anything we'll be able to solve right this minute, so let's talk about something more interesting. You know, I've been reading your favourite book."

With a thoughtful expression, the redhead considered him for a while. Just as the silence started to get uncomfortable, he finally responded dryly. "You have? I see. Feeling any enlightenment?"

"Probably not the kind you have in mind." Leandor leaned forward on the table - mostly to try to get comfortable in those pants. "But I was thinking about it. And please do not take what I say as an attack because I mean it with all due respect. Let's say God created a man named Lance and Lance was gay, but he knew the Bible said it was wrong. So this man suppresses it and spends the rest of his life denying it and trying to be someone who he isn't. Wouldn't that be an affront to God to reject the way the Lord meant for him to be?"

Zach gazed blankly at him for a minute, as if the variation on the topic was completely unexpected. Eventually he shrugged. "If God created Lance gay, he considered that Lance would be strong enough to carry the burden. It can be hard to understand the purpose of certain things in life, but the Lord works in mysterious ways."

Leandor nodded. "Exactly. There's no telling why God would create Lance that way, so isn't it arrogant for people to assume that God meant for it to be a burden? What if he meant for - in that particular case - it to be a gift. Perhaps God didn't mean for it to be overcome, and instead wanted it to be permanent. A part of who 'Lance' is." He paused and looked into Zach's eyes, wondering if he had to get personal before he made the man understand what he was trying to say. "From what I have been told about this deity you worship, wouldn't he be more inclined to forgive and accept someone who accepts what he gives them rather than someone who denies it?"

"I don't know what you've heard, but God is forgiving. It is important that you try, and that you pray. As long as Lance is a devoted Christian, perhaps he'd be forgiven either way." Zach scratched his head for a bit, as if he was making an effort to think the issues through. "When the Lord's ways are too mysterious, there's guidance in the Holy Book. It makes it clear in the New Testament, Paul's letters in fact, that homosexuality is wrong. If Lance carries the burden by trying to overcome it, he honours God's words, and the Lord would surely reward him for that."

"Zach, I'm talking to you, not the Bible. Maybe God made Lance gay, not to burden or test him, but because he had another purpose for Lance. By denying and trying to pray it away, he would never live up to the full potential that God wanted for him." He got up and stretched his arms. "For a minute, consider that without cancelling it out with religious cliches, please... Will you do me a favour and walk me to my car? I've been a bit spooked since that threat."

Pondering what was said for a bit, Zach eventually gave a curious smirk. Pushing to his feet, he nodded amicably. "Sure, I could. Want to tell me more about what happened?"

"It's not really a big thing. They simply called me up as I was leaving, commented on my pants, which I had just changed into, and then threatened my life, telling me you didn't want a desperate fairy like me chasing you around." He started strolling out the door to the outside. It was a beautiful night, and after knowing it really wasn't Zach trying to scare him off, he was able to breathe a little easier. Just some pervert that was too cowardly to own up to the threat. "I certainly hope they just saw into my living-room. The idea of a grown man seeing me get dressed is terribly disturbing." He supressed a shudder.

"Indeed." The redhead nodded slowly, then followed him in silence. He cast the occasional glance around, whether that was out of a desire to see if anyone was watching, or if he was looking for someone in particular.

Finally making it to his car, he unlocked the driver's door and opened it. Before climbing in, he turned to look insistently into the other man's eyes. "I'll keep reading the Bible, and maybe I'll even listen next time I go to church on one condition: You think seriously about what I said." Without thinking, he leaned over and pressed his lips to Zach's in a tender kiss. As soon as he realized what he was doing, he pulled back and cleared his throat as he moved to climb into his car. Had to save face somehow; kissing a grown man was definitely very confusing to him, and he bet the other was just as bewildered... At least he hoped there wasn't too much anger. "Oh look, now Lance has something new to talk about in the confessional... My shrink is going to love this. What the fuck is wrong with me?"

~~~~~

This is a collab, written together with Chlover. You can find her author profile here: http://original.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=26260