#manilio

A cute little slice of home life between a psychic and a weretiger.

Manfred wished that they’d just shut up, the ghosts were making his headache but it was a dull one he was mostly use to before the level rose to a scream that made him want to claw his own head open just to make it stop, he didn’t even realise he was digging his nails into his scalp until firm hands settled over his own.

He sighed in immediate relief, turning to see Emilio and melting into the man’s chest, breathing in the wild scent that always clung to the reverend but was strongest after the full moon and feeling the extreme heat the were’s body generated. In the space of a few minutes the headache was gone and the ghosts were quiet.

“Hey.” Emilio just smiled at him, looking younger and more relaxed, strong arms curling around the psychic while arms curled around his shoulders, their lips pressing together in chaste kiss.

Pulling back the psychic absently traced his lover’s scars, almost sighing at the look in his eyes, the extra weight he seemed to carry on his shoulders.

“Anything you can tell me?” Manfred asked gently, expecting the head shake, he knew that there would always be secrets that Emilio couldn’t tell him, because they weren’t his own and he’d sworn to keep them.

Their lips met in another kiss and the gypsy found himself once again thinking that this, what they had, was the last kind of relationship he ever thought he’d have. To be honest he never though he’d have one at all, always on the move, never stopping, other then a few short months in New Orleans.

No this wasn't the turbulent mess of emotions that he’d always thought of, this was a simple, quiet ease. It was total acceptance that made you feel warm, not a spark or fireworks but a constant slow burning fire that could continue for eternity, where the love wouldn’t die, merely change if anything.

The kiss grew, slowly becoming deeper, more passionate, only to be interrupted by the buzz of the timer.

The Gypsy groaned while the weretiger chuckled. Another unexpected thing, the domesticity. Manfred never thought he’d be cooking dinner like a good house wife and waiting for his lover to come back home from work. And he certainly never expected breakfast in bed or those perfect days in sweet silence with nothing but the radio for background noise where they’d curl up and read, sometimes they’d end up talking about everything and nothing but not once had Manfred ever worried about saying something, or doing anything, with Emilio it was all so easy.

After dinner Manfred let himself be lead around the room in an easy waltz, loving the way the other’s eyes lit up, chasing away the shadows that lay in the deep brown.

It was a normal night that ended with them sound asleep after something a little less relaxed and Emilio wrapped around the gypsy, acting as a living space heater as always.

Manfred Bernardo/Emilio Sheehan

Contains Explicit Content After Read More Link

Contains Spoilers For Both Episode 7 and 8 (Angel's Heart and Last Temptation Of Midnight)

And all my stories for Midnight Texas can be found on Archive of Our Own Here:

http://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAngelsCryInBlood 

Something good came out of that demon. For all it tried and helped to destroy, it set something amazing into motion. I'm not ready to go down with the ship but I will try to keep it afloat.

A/N: I reject your reality and substitute my own. Also known as Creek and Manfred were never together.

Emilio felt worn, his tiger was angry and growling, he could feel it in a way he never could before, it had never been this close to the surface outside of the full moon. He was about to trudge home when a firm hand curled around his arm and Manfred smiled at him, guiding the Reverend to the small blue house.

It appeared the weretiger didn’t have a choice but to sit when he was gently pushed onto the couch and it garnered a small, dry, chuckle from the exhausted man of the cloth. Soon enough the psychic returned with a glass jar filled with a light green cream.

“Nothing works better then Fiji’s healing paste.” The Gypsy smiled but the Rev felt a flash of guilt remembering when Manfred got that, for the slashes down his side that his were-self had inflicted.

Manfred laughed at the startled noise the older man made when he suddenly had a psychic straddling his lap, leaning in to apply the thin, cream like paste to the other’s wound before breathing in deeply, letting what little magic he could for now well up in his chest before he let it escape, sinking into the wound making it disappear, leaving unblemished skin behind.

His fingertips gently brushed over the slightly furrowed brow before tracing the scars by his dark brown eyes and down on to the others cheek.

It was like the air was charged with static and neither of them knew who started the kiss, only that it sent fire burning through their veins, that Manfred loved it when the weretiger picked him up as if he weighed nothing and dropped him on the bed, half removing, half tearing their clothes off.

A look at Manfred and Emilio through Olivia's eyes.

Olivia at first thought it was strange. The Reverend and the Conman, together in a relationship but after a while she realised she was looking at it the wrong way.

Her and Manfred worked as siblings because of their past, the abuse in different forms, the isolation they both went through and the things they’ve seen and done, a killer and a conman. It took her longer to realise that the psychic and the weretiger were a perfect match, they made scenes, it was just a little harder to see.

The tiger seeked solitude and quiet but the human need contact while psychic spent his whole life bombarded by cold dead spirits that screamed and shouted.

To begin with she had no doubt that all they wanted was the quiet companionship they both craved.

It was all quiet, there was no loud declarations, no obvious signs that screamed they were together. It was all subtle, almost private even though they weren’t hiding anything. It was sitting ever so slightly closer, always finding them next to each other.

There was more contact as well, little brushes, slight clasping of hands on shoulders and arms.

When Olivia finally realised the pair had been together for a month, they hadn’t been hiding it, they just hadn’t thought to make it a big deal.

The more Olivia thought on it, the more it all made scenes. They weren’t burning chemistry and PDA’s, they were a steady simmer and quiet moments. She was sure they would last and she couldn’t be happier for them. Though she did tease Manfred like crazy before he decided to bite back by letting her know good the tiger was in bed, in extreme detail, she struggled to look Emilio in the eye for over a week.

It swirled through Manfred's head the same as the ghost's voices, why was he still alive with just a few scars on his side when the tiger could have so easily killed him? One day in the church he started to get his answer, sort of.

Slash!

Spoilers!

Episode 2: Bad Moon Rising

Episode 6: Blinded By The Light

Relationship: Manfred Bernardo/Rev. Emilio Sheehan

On AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11982111

Like all my stories for Midnight, Texas

Churches, when one saw the dead they became a perfect refuge, completely calming and sometimes, there was an energy that soothed and calmed the soul, here in Midnight, it was perfect.

With Creek gone after, everything, with Connor, the small blue house had seemed emptier then ever and it stung, she had just upped and left without a word, leaving a sharp sting behind, and a very pissed off Olivia who was half way to planning tracking the girl down and breaking a few bones.

Manfred sighed and leaned back in the bench, he thought about following her, or just leaving all together but he couldn’t, there was something that pulled him here, different from the energy the town gave off, and that was before he even got into the reasons to stay or to leave.

Reasons to stay:

Good friends that accept him for who he is.

His house was dead proof (and wasn’t that a novelty that hadn’t worn off)

And then there was the fact that he would never be alone again

Reasons to leave:

Midnight was turning into a hellmouth.

Yep, that summed it all up, Manfred nearly laughed at that, but the truth was he couldn’t leave his friends, Joe had already risked so much for them revealing who he was, Lem was dealing with the hunger and then there was the Rev.

His hand drifted to his ribs, gently pushing against the clean, thin scars that had healed extremely quickly between Madonna’s stitching and a little help from Fiji. He still wondered why he was alive. The tiger had been right there, so close and so easily able to take him down and rip him apart, so why the hell hadn’t it?

He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, the Rev was right there, crouched besides him, shooting a guilty look at the Gypsy’s ribs, trying to hide behind the brim of his wide hat.

Manfred all but ripped the thing off his head and whacked him with it. The elder man blinked at him in surprise while the younger placed the bloody thing on the bench besides him before gripping the pastors chin, ensuring he had his full attention.

“I have told you a dozen times, it was not your fault and I don’t blame you, and if I here one more apology I’m going to get Olivia to punch you.”

Emilio opened his mouth to speak but closed it, chuckling slightly before speaking again.

“I could have killed you.” The same thought that had plagued Manfred’s mind though in a very different context. The psychic sighed and without thought moved his hand to brush through the others hair, completely absent in the movement that felt so natural.

“Yeah, and you should have, I was the perfect target and yet you didn’t, I’m still here.”

Their eyes locked, brown burning into brown, one with a comforting surety while the other warred with guilt. Neither were sure how or even why it happened, but they moved closer, lips gently melding, moving softly in a tentative dance that came as naturally as breathing.

Manfred felt a firm hand cup his neck as their tongues began to dance, smooth and easy, lead by instinct, the same as when they pulled away, moving to brush their cheeks together. It was Manfred though who pressed their foreheads together, marvelling at the Rev’s eyes, they were a burning gold, enchanting and hypnotic, filled with something primal that seemed to reel him in, the prey caught in the predators gaze.

Manfred’s phone buzzed in his pocket making them both jump in the silence. It seemed Olivia was dealing with a ghostly problem and needed his help. Words failed him, he couldn’t explain or say anything, instead the psychic brushed their cheeks together and left, something tight in his chest that he couldn’t explain.

The next day was the full moon and Manfred felt that pull again, drifting out on to the porch, a beer in his hand when he heard the clink and snap of chains.

Before he knew it there was a tiger right before him yet there was no fear, he just stood, walking slowly towards the vast creature and kneeling before it, looking into the hypnotic, golden gaze. The tiger came closer until in was right in front of the human before rubbing their cheeks together, a greeting and a claim as the human let his arms curl around the animal’s neck, breathing in the wild sent and relaxing with it.

“Manfred?” Olivia’s soft voice caught his attention and he looked up a little to see her and Lemuel stood on the street.

“We’re good, I’ll shout if we need you.” Olivia nodded her head and they retreated, a little weary but if they could avoid hurting the Rev in any way, they would.

It was a testament to the Gypsy now being a Midnighter that spending the night under the stars with a tiger curled around him wasn’t strange in the slightest, if fact it was down right comfortable. He spoke softly for most of the night, fingers absently working their way through thick, smooth fur. He told the were’ about his past, the things he’d done regardless of whether or not he was proud of them, the people he knew from the asshole he’d dated in high school to his black ops cousin Lizzy who was more terrifying then Olivia and just as loveable.

They only moved when the sun began to peak over the horizon, the tiger returning to it’s den to take human form once more.

Manfred made his way inside, feeling incredibly cold and unable to sleep even though he was exhausted, he was drifting in a haze until a warm body wrapped around him and he finally managed to fall asleep in the other man’s arms, feeling the deep, to warm breaths against the base of his neck.

The Gypsy woke up feeling like he’d left the heating on, but he couldn’t bring himself to pull out of the strong arms that held him in place and managed to roll over. Manfred had always thought of Emilio as being ruggedly handsome, but now, while in a relaxed sleep with some of the solemness gone he looked even more so.

Brown eyes opened, a hint of gold still shining there as he searched the psychic features.

“I can’t explain this.” Emilio spoke softly, hand moving to rest firmly on the human’s side.

“Neither can I.” Came the reply. “But I don’t think I need to.” Manfred licked his lips as he waited, almost going boneless when a small soft smile appeared on the elders features before chapped lips closed over his own, not everything needed explaining, they just needed living.

It was easy enough though for people to notice the difference. Manfred found his headaches to be less, Emilio’s calm presence and strength soothing him while the tiger no longer hungered on the full moon, his mind as sane as Manfred’s those nights.

The Reverend became more social, gravitating around the Gypsy, a golden glow in his eyes, subtle, but there.

“So.” Olivia was walking besides the psychic as they hunted yet another creature. “What’s with you and the Rev?” She asked, smirking slightly, Manfred could hear it even as he kept shinning his torch around the warehouse.

“We’re not sure, there’s just this pull, I need to be close, it’s like, he balances me.” He tried to explain but nothing quite worked. Balance was the closest thing he could get but it was more in some ways.

“I know what you mean.” She said, a smile in her voice now. “That’s how I was with Lem, we never fully understood it but...”