#poly!crue

White flowers. Everywhere.

Sprouting from the grey dusty earth like fresh fallen snow close to pelting the earth, yet reaching for the horizon in the same breath.

Some are tall, some are short, some can't seem to decide what direction they want to take and grow in both ways at once. 

No matter how they grow though there is one thing that remains universal to every single one of the tens of thousands of white blossoms. They are all unearthly beautiful.

And growing in the exact same place the corn field use to be yesterday.

“Oh, weird.” Tommy exclaims when he steps outside of the screen door, tilting his hat up slightly with his thumb and forefinger in a vain attempt to see further out over the achers of flowers.

“What's going on t-bone? - Oh lord.”

Mick is hot on Tommy's heels outside to their, or he supposes what use to be their corn maze.

Tommy and Mick's remarks must have been loud enough to be heard from the kitchen because Nikki follows them out shortly after.

“What's going on out he- holy shit!”

Nikki curses dumbly and stands next to his frozen awe struck bandmates. They stay put for a long while simply looking at the rows and rows of fresh flora that seemingly appeared out of thin air overnight, before Nikki decided that he was ready to pipe up.

“What are those things?”

Nikki asks conviction in his voice like the innocent little saplings held him at gun point.

“Flowers.”

Mick answers intelligently earning him a patented Sixx glare.

“No shit, but what are they doing in here, last time I checked we didn't grow flowers out here.”

Nikki spits out, annoyed by the older man's nonchalance over something that could potentially be a threat. Mick simply shrugged not in any mood to get into a tussle with one of his lovers this early.

“Why the fuck are all of you guys outside? Oh….woah.”

Vince, always last to the party comes stumbling out of their screen door with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, small droplets of water cascading down his soft upper body all the way down to be absorbed by the towel.

“Did I miss a memo or something, this is supposed to happen right?”

Vince questions nobody in particular, but Tommy, who has been totally incapacitated by shock before seems to deem he is the one who ought to answer.

“No clue, but I'm not gonna let that stop me from running in them, yoink-!”

“HEY! TOMMY YOU BASTARD GET BACK HERE!” 

Tommy takes off into the field of knee length flowers, Vince's damp towel in hand, the nude man in question following him yelling expletives as he tries to catch up to the drummer and take his modesty item back, all this does is make Tommy laugh that he can't catch up and give Nikki and Mick an excellent look at the blondes behind.

Mick happily takes advantage, while Nikki seems to nervously hover at his side. Mick decides that little fucker and the other cows can wait fifteen more minutes to be fed and he sits down on the porch swing. Nikki doesn't follow like he usually would.

“I don't like them running around in that shit before I've had a look at it to see if I can find it somewhere in my greenhouse book…” Nikki mutters then bites his lip.

Mick waves his concern off.

“Should be a'ight.”

Mick sighs, not taking his eyes off the commotion Tommy and Vince are making in their new flower beds, Vince has managed to secure Tommy somehow but Tommy didn't seem to have very stable footing when Vince made a grab for him which just made them both fall into the snow white beauties.

“How can you be so calm about this?, That stuff could be poisonous for all we know.”

Mick wants to brush off Nikki's concern outright and tell him not to be such a worry wort, but one look at his lovers concerned face makes him take pause. Nikki had requested that he try and be more mindful of the things he said as he wasn't use to doing so in the living world and take into account how they might make them feel beforehand, while Nikki and the others knew he didn't mean it in a rude kind of way he did have the habit of being blunt and he had to work on that lest he catch one of the guys in a particularly sensitive mood and hurt them, he still wasn't perfect but he was trying.

Mick takes a deep breath in.

“Hon, nothing that spawns inside is dangerous, I don't think you gotta think to much of it.”

Mick tries to sooth and smooth out his voice in a way that Nikki knows he's being genuine. He sees the back of Nikki's shoulders tense harder then relax then tense again.

“But what if one of us brought something in by mistake last time we went on patrol, we could have trudged in some invasive species from outside by mistake.”

Nikki is back to panicking and Mick doesn't care for one of his lovers being in distress, but he's not usually so good with the words, however with his very vocal and auditory boyfriend he knows they'll have to do.

“If that's the case, then we'll figure it out, we always do, there's no point in stressing something that hasn't happened yet, all you can do at this very moment in time in go have a look in your book in the greenhouse, you can't do anything else in this moment in time so calm down, stop stressing, one step at a time yeah? And besides if this thing were dangerous don't you think it would've killed those idiots rolling around in it by now, things here ain't this intelligent, you know that, they'd have gone for the kill by now, or if it is poison like you said, then we just won't try and eat em.”

Mick has to take in another gulp of air after his long reassuring speech, he truly hopes that it was enough to sway his distressed bassist.

He knows he's won when Nikki let's out a deep world weary sigh.

“You're right, I know you are, sorry I just worry ya know- I don't like when this place does its fucking changing around thing, puts me on edge.”

Mick hushes Nikki gently and nods in understanding.

“I get it, don't worry.” He says softly, he swears he can see the dark haired man tear up for a moment but Nikki snaps his head in the opposite direction too quick for Mick to tell if it was a trick of the light.

“Great. I'm gonna go get my book.” Nikki walks away so quickly he practically leaves a dust cloud behind him, his intense emotion apparently does not grant Tommy any mercy as he passes the two men who have finally come out of the mysterious flower field, he gives a swift hard smack to Tommy's ass, leading the younger man to yelp loudly.

Mick can't make out what Nikki is saying from so far away but judging from the kicked puppy look on Tommy's face it's most definitely a reprimand for his impulsiveness.

“Fuck, now I gotta shower again.” Vince grumbles as he passes Mick on the porch, white flower petals caught in his hair and dirt turned mud plastered on his back and chest, he doesn't even bother with the towel anymore, just walks with the towel slung over his shoulder like a prize.

Mick allows himself a small glance downwards at the blonde's body before focusing on Tommy who follows behind Vince a bit less enthusiastically than before after Nikki's scolding.

Mick decides he ought to get up now, little fucker was bound to have noticed their absence, he stops Tommy in his tracks before he can pass him and head inside with their singer.

“Woah there, you can lick your wounds later, being hurt for the consequences of your own actions doesn't get you a free pass, the opposite, you're feeding fucker today.”

Mick doesn't wait for a response already making his way down their rickety porch steps. He better fix them at some point.

He hears Tommy grumble from behind but not the usual argument that would follow, so Nikki obviously treated him well enough. Works for him. He makes his way to the barn, giving one last glance at their field full of snowy blossoms.

They really were pretty.

                            ________

“They're called Dendrophylax lindenii, or ghost orchids.”

Nikki says as he gently thumbs one of the white petals from the knee length blooms. They've all pretty much wrapped up their chores for the day, and it's beginning to move into what they consider evening, Tommy and Vince after their frolicking in the fields this morning don't seem to have any interest in revisiting them so soon, at least Vince doesn't, Tommy is most likely hiding from Nikki.

“Well it’s good to know this place has got a sense of humor.” Mick mutters next to Nikki, trying to glance over the taller man's shoulder at the page he's on in their plant book.

“Yeah, as long as we're not the punchline.” Nikki huffs as he turns a few pages further before Mick can get a good look at the page he was at before.

“Totally harmless apparently, which is good news for Tommy because if he died and took Vince down with him I'd have killed him again.”

While not technically possible with the way Nikki says it, Mick is inclined to believe he'd have done just that.

“Technically, Vince didn't have to run in after him, I mean, we've all seen each other naked, not like it's a big deal.”

Mick plays devil's advocate, possibly because he feels bad for making Tommy deal with little fucker earlier that day and possibly because Vince showered out all the hot water after his second rinse.

Nikki doesn't seem to be listening, too busy thumbing the petal open to get a clearer view of the bud without harming the flower. The bassist looked pensive, like he had something more to say so Mick didn't speak up again.

“Ya know, I did think these looked familiar in the back of my mind this morning, I just couldn't figure out why…”

Nikki breathes the sentence out like it would shatter into a million pieces if he said it any louder.

“..and you do now? Where you recognize them from now I mean?”

Mick questions tentatively.

“Courtney had a few of them.”

Ah. Well that made this a bit awkward. After they'd all agreed on their little arrangement and then later got into a fully fledged relationship, their wives had become a bit of a taboo subject. It wasn't that they never thought of them at all, at least Mick did, he missed Seriana so bad it ached sometimes, but they'd likely never see them again so there was no use in pressing on an issue that would yield no results.

“Yeah?” Mick mutters for lack of anything better to say.

Nikki nods and that misty eyed look from earlier this morning seems to return, then suddenly this is juxtaposed by a small chuckle.

“Yeah, we actually had these at our wedding, they're considered some of the rarest flowers out there in fact, I totally forgot about them until now…”

Mick doesn't say anything in return, and he doesn't think Nikki wants him to, he just stands next to his bassist simply being present should Nikki need him. 

He knows this isn't how they all thought things were going to turn out and it's been an adjustment for everyone but he'd figured they were all happy here, he was at least, maybe he'd thought wrong, he seemed to do that a lot apparently.

When the silence stretches a bit too long and the river of tears in Nikki's eyes become a bit too thick and threaten to fall, Mick knows this probably isn't the right move but he tries to lighten the mood with a joke.

“That's a bummer, sorry they remind you of when you actually had to pretend to enjoy the part of the wedding where you don't get to kiss your wife.”

The joke is a long shot he knows, but he was suffocating in the silence which is really unlike him usually, he blames Tommy for giving him his foot in mouth disease.

Shockingly, he manages to get a giggle from Nikki.

“Speak for yourself, I actually really enjoy weddings.” 

Mick fake gags at Nikki's sentiment earning him a louder giggle, well that was good at least they weren't steering towards tears anymore.

“It's true! It's just the thought of declaring that someone is mine in front of everyone that we know, forever, till death do us part…”

The last part seems to carry a heavier meaning with where they were right now, Mick feels his own heart sting a bit at the words.

“But what about the dancing, the months of planning beforehand, and the inevitable small talk you have to make with like 400 relatives you didn't even know you had?”

Mick says once again attempting to steer the conversation to a brighter place.

“Okay not all of it is fun, I'm big enough to admit that, but man you can't tell me you hate every part of a wedding, I mean the cake eating, the afterparty, the wedding night?”

Nikki blathers on about these things with a certain fondness in his voice that he doesn't get often and Mick has to admit that he'd enjoyed some of those things at his own wedding too, but he wouldn't let Nikki have the satisfaction of him agreeing.

“Nah, I hate weddings, never gonna change.”

Nikki shakes his head and chuckles, he finally lets go of the petal.

“Whatever old man, I personally wouldn't mind doing it all over again.”

Nikki states, his tone sounding much more clear than before. Mick counts this as a win.

                          _______

He's in his workshop when Tommy places a very well arranged set of ghost orchids on his already, very cluttered workspace table.

“They're beautiful, thank you.”

Mick hums as Tommy leans down to catch his lips in a quick kiss, however a quick kiss for them is never really quick, Tommy's lips are soft and full on his thin red lips, his mouth moves with Mick's not against him, and he's nice and firm, a solid presence against Mick's pale skin, warm and inviting always, they only break apart because they must at some point otherwise they'd stay here all day.

“Made it just for you old man, thought it might brighten up your messy cave .” Tommy grins as he sets his ass down on Mick's increasingly lessening worktable. Mick gives him a pointed look.

“Hey, I know where everything is.” Mick defends. 

“Shit dude, you might be the only one.” Tommy jokes as he gestures to the admittedly messy room around them, screws lay strewn about on the other counters, hammers and drills sit outside of their designated and very obvious pockets where they belong on the wall, and half finished projects of his cover the floor like a mine field.

But honestly he could care less about what the other guys thought about his space, or should he say what Tommy thought of this space, Nikki and Vince wouldn't dare to set foot in a place Mick had claimed as his own. Tommy had no such reservations of course.

Mick puffed out air through his nose, but decided that this was a petty thing to even fight back on, it's not like Tommy was lying anyway. Instead he turned his attention back to the floral arrangement.

“I didn't know you were capable of this.” Mick snips back at Tommy.

Tommy snorts a laugh, “Aw come on Mr. Mars now your reading me real low, come on I use to make Brit flower arrangements every other day.”

Mick's body locks up at the mention of Tommy's wife. Unlike Nikki though when Mick studied Tommy after the mentioning of the love he'd never see again, nothing but fondness and joy seem to escape his features, Mick narrows his eyes subtly at the younger man's face to see if he might have missed a trace of meheloncoly but all that earns him is a snort from Tommy.

“What?”

Mick shrugs at the giggled out question.

“Dunno, just weird, you haven't mentioned Brittney a lot after we all, ya know…”

Tommy hums seemingly unbothered and smiles down at Mick warmly from his spot perched on the table.

“Yeah,well don't get me twisted, I loved brit, but I'm with you guys now and that's enough for me.”

He says this like it's the most casual thing ever, and Mick feels the tiniest smoldering of pride in his chest that he quickly stomps out like a cigarette. It wasn't his place to feel proud that Tommy liked them now and wasn't with his wife, given the opportunity he's sure Tommy would much rather be sleeping with his hot young video star wife then his old guy self.

Mick smiles up at Tommy, small and genuine despite himself.

“Yeah, for me too.”

Tommy grins Cheshire cat wide and slowly leans down for another kiss, this time tongue comes into play, Tommy licks his way into his mouth, grazing the point on the roof of his mouth and then heading to meet Mick's tongue dead on. It's warm and electric and very sloppy, a thin string of spittle connects their lips together even as they break apart and they're both breathing heavily by the end of it.

“Delicious as always marsman, I'll leave ya too it then.”

Tommy purrs as he jumps off of Mick's work station with a flourish, Mick blushes and rolls his eyes.

“Since when do you leave when I want you too.”

Mick's smile is almost just as wide, always feeling giddy after a kiss from Tommy.

“Don't get used to it.” Tommy exclaims over his shoulder as he makes his way back out of Mick's shed, leaving the door open behind him, Mick knows that they live on a farm now but Tommy certainly wasn't raised in a barn, he has no clue why the drummer refuses to close the door behind him.

Mick rolls his eyes again fondly and goes back to working on fixing the chicken coop fence.

However even after Tommy has left Mick couldn't shake the feeling that there was something left unsaid on Tommy's part, something that itches the back of his mind.

                            _____

“That should do it.” Mick sighs, wiping the damp sweat from his forehead, Vince follows suit, wiping his face with his sleeve.

“Yeah, looks good.” Vince compliments them both on a job well done.

Him and Vince had just set up the new chicken coop fence Mick had been working on a few days ago, and not to toot his own horn but it looked great, much better then the old one that had been constructed by the purgatory itself he could only assume.

Mick gives a strong nod of agreement at Vince's statement. Because he knew his work looked good.

Vince decides to sit down, turning his back to the fence they'd  just set up looking, inward at their little home and in turn at the field of white orchids.

Vince is oddly quiet today. Not that his golden haired lover and he particularly needed any words to work with each other smoothly like him and Nikki, and he wasn't an unstoppable chatter box like Tommy but still, he'd have at least said something more of interest by now.

Mick knows not to push though, not with Vince anyway, he'd tell him when he was ready no need to disturb his thought process. Mick goes to sit next to the singer, making himself comfortable in the dirt next to him.

They stay like that for an indeterminate amount of time, just sitting, the sounds of the chickens behind them and the whistle of the room temperature wind creating a nice comfortable white noise.

“If these flowers appeared, inside the barrier, does that mean we could get some more animals in here at some point?”

Vince breaks the silence so suddenly Mick nearly jumps out of his skin.

“Possible, though I gotta say that in all the time I've been here the animals have always been the same.”

Vince doesn't look at him when he talks, just continues to stare out at the flowers, he's not sure how to read the expression on Vince's face. Mick once again waits for Vince to speak first.

They sit for another few minutes in silence.

“Rain's horses back home would've loved this field.” Vince says 

Mick does jump this time. What is with everyone this week, they don't mention any of their past marriages for years (at least what they considered years) and now suddenly all of them do so in quick succession to each other in the span of a few days? Mick hums agreeing, despite never really having known Rain very well, in fact he hadn't lived more than a hop, skip and a jump away from Vince all those years ago, but he'd never made the time to go visit.

He regrets that now.

Vince sighs deeply. “Nevermind, forget I said anything.” Vince mutters as he heaves himself up onto his feet again, then holds out a hand to hoist Mick up.

He feels ashamed at the fact that this conversation didn't conclude in a nice comfortable manner, he knows he can't always win 'em all but he feels like as the older one he should always have the answers and his stomach turns when he comes out on the bottom this time.

He accepts the hand held out to him and lets the singer pull him up, when he's back on his feet Vince doesn't let go of his hand, Mick knows by now what Vince is asking so even as terribly as this conversation had gone Vince still wants him to hold his hand.

Mick squeezes his palm, like that will make it right somehow, like that would fix that they didn't have horses, like it would fix the fact that they were stuck here forever. Vince squeezes his hand in return as they make their way up the dusty road that they came from. He knows what Mick is trying to convey, and he's grateful for the small comfort.

                             _____   

Being caught in an endless purgatory with little resources could really make a man long for his living days where things like the internet gave him all the answers he was looking for and then some. Mick often finds himself listing the things he would have loved to Google if given the chance. Like how to fix a screen door from claw marks, how to repair an old 1960s model TV and why am I attracted to idiots.

On top of the list today was how to fucking forge a ring. In caps. Because he feels like screaming. Either he's really stupid or this is impossible and he's leaning towards the latter.

His workshop at this point is covered in little pieces of scrap metal plates that he'd tried to melt down into something vaguely moldable, half finished attempts that he decides are flops before he's even finished them and other loose coins from all different centuries and bits and bobs he still plans on melting down into something usable.

So basically where his workshop once looked like a tornado had hit it, now it looked like…..two tornados had hit it.

Fuck he was too tired to think of a good comparison right now.

He's made about 10 rings for all of his lovers each at this point, and while they were all passable in theory, they all lacked that polish of what made a gorgeous ring special. Fuck, maybe he was going about this all wrong.

Mick pulls his moldy protective gloves off and sets then down on his cluttered work space table, he heaves a heavy sigh as he slumps down in his chair, his face feels hot from standing next to the makeshift woodfire oven for so long. He closes his eyes in a moment of self reflection and desperation, just needing a small reprieve.

Why aren't any of these single silver rings doing it for him? He picks up the most recent one he had finished with sweaty hands, a simple circular hammered piece of metal that went all the way round and fit on his finger just fine, sure it could maybe be filed a little around the edges but there wasn't anything wrong with it per say, so why can't he even fathom the idea of giving this to one of his bandmates.

Because they're not special enough.

He tosses the small silver ring aside uncaringly. Fuck, fuck, fuck, they weren't special enough. He wants to gag at the sentiment, when did he get so damn emotionally inclined, maybe Nikki's weird therapy talk thing had finally rubbed off on him.

Mick sighs again, no he knew it wasn't that, he needed to get out of this mindset that showing his regard for others was a bad thing, his father, long dead by now himself, wasn't here to softly scowld him for crying in Sunday school because Timothy Addams told him his hair was stupid, all his adult male friends weren't here to laugh at him asking to be excused from a room because he felt uncomfortable being there at the party any longer, and there certainly wasn't the whole of the 80s music industry watching him at this very moment to call him out on his “girly” behavior.

No, his bandmates were here, his friends and his boyfriends and he cared about them and they did too.

That's why he was even going through the trouble of this whole ring making thing, he wanted to propose.

Mick cracks his neck an audible pop escaping it, as he let his thoughts pass through his head clearly.

He loves his boyfriends and he wants to make them his husbands, so he would propose ... .but he couldn't do that without a ring now could he.

Maybe the request was a bit redundant, it's not really like they were going anywhere anytime soon, and they were all already six feet under so till death do us part isn't really accurate anymore, till second death do us part? Fuck with his luck not even, he's sure God has set it up in a way where these assholes never leave his side.

So why is he worried? Mick opens his eyes then, realization setting in. Why was he worried, he literally had all the time in the world to do this, he'd been rushing it before, trying to smelt out rings like he was a black smith in an old western film, but he'd of done so because his lovers, well Nikki and Vince anyway, had been so down in the dumps about their old lady friends recently and he'd just figured that they couldn't be sad about an old marriage when they were about to have a new one. But that might not be the way to go here, he always hated any of his work when he didn't give it time to come to him naturally.

So why would this be any different?

Mick's choice has been made before he gets up to go back inside the house for supper. He wasn't in any rush here, he could take his time and let the ideas for his lovers rings come to him organically. 

He had time.

                              ____ 

“Hey, check it out, that rock looks like a dick!”

Tommy exclaims a few weeks later as he and Mick make their way up an unfamiliar foot path beyond the barrier, looking for possible supplies.

“Hey, check it out, that grown man looks like a 12 year old making a dick joke.”

Mick snips back for no reason in particular other than he knows it will make Tommy laugh, and it does, he breaks out in a fit of giggles as Mick makes his way to stand next to the younger man and glance into the small creek that Tommy had said held the phallic geode.

“Well, what do ya know?” Mick hums, the small stone really does look like a dick, the slow running water of the tiny river barrels over the rock, and looks like it has for many years now with how smooth it looks, hell with the nature of this place the pebble was probably older than all of them combined.

Tommy bends down, tongue stuck out between his lips with the effort of bending down and grabbing the pebble from its place among the river bed, pulling it out with a triumphant noise.

It's smaller then Mick had realized at first, the water must have magnified it to an extent but now between Tommy's fingers reveals it's true form of miniscule. 

Another thing that was weird here was water, it was like a fucking funhouse mirror here, any reflective service not within the barrier was like though, which reminded him-

Mick waved to their grey smiling reflections.

“What's up guys?” Mick asks their shadow versions as they'd been dubbed by Tommy years ago. 

Shadow Mick gives Mick a swift nod, yellow eyes slitting like an annoyed cat, Shadow Tommy who's usually quite happy to see his real counterparts, looks miffed now, lips pouting and arms crossed, his body turned to the side and his nose in the air. What's eating him, Mick thinks for a split second before remembering.

“Tom, I think shadow you wants an apology, you rippled his surface to take out the dick rock.” Mick says casually. Tommy suddenly seems quite upset.

“Oh shit,sorry little dude, forgot about you for a second there.” Tommy chuckles nervously, this only seems to irk shadow Tommy further, his pout deepening and his lion's tail flickering behind him in an irritated fashion. Real Tommy whines displeased that his shadow buddy was upset with him, Mick wants to laugh but he bites his lip as he watches Tommy attempt to plead for his reflections forgiveness.

Mick is about to tell Tommy to leave him and that things would be okay tomorrow again, when suddenly the tiny cock rock is put into the palm of his hand by Tommy so he can go down on his knees to grovel at shadow Tommy's ‘feet’.

Mick zones out the rest of the conversation as he takes a second to really study the rock, it's smooth, likely from being shaved down by the stream for how many eons, and resembles a pearl if a slightly odd shaped one. Then the thought comes to him uninhibited.

This would be the perfect stone for Tommy's ring. Just as the thought finishes processing Mick gets the odd pickling sensation of someone or more accurately that something was watching him. He looks up quickly catching shadow Mick's eyes, the slit eyes of his mirror counterpart blink at him, his eyelids closing one at a time at their own pace, first his left one then the right one follows two seconds later, when they're both open again his cat like pupils are blown wide and his shadow counterpart grins at him feral like, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

Real Mick raises a brow at him unsure what shadow Mick has noticed.

The guitarists mimic then holds up his clawed hand to Mick and mimes slipping something onto his finger, then points at his Tommy, giggling inaudibly behind his paw.

Mick glares and kicks grey sand into his and Tommy's reflections.

Fucking snitch.

Real Tommy gives a confused sounding half yelp as his begging is cut short by the dusty residue now covering the surface of the water.

“What the fuck Mick? I was talking there.”

Now his Tommy pouts like his shadow counterpart had been.

“They'll be back, and you know it, and besides now shadow Tommy will be pissed at me, not you, so you're welcome.” Mick grunts, as he subtly puts the small dick rock in his pocket.

Tommy humphs but gets up and dusts off his brown chaps and black shirt.

“Now come on, let's try and find something of actual use before it gets dark out here, our little shadow pals are only ever this friendly in the day, when they pop out of the water they ain't so personalble.” Mick grumbles as he starts to trail off back down the path to more of their previously explored territory.

                             _____

After the flowers had come and Nikki had determined that they weren't dangerous many theories had been bounced around as to why they had appeared in the first place. There were many possible explanations of course but Nikki had decided that it was this place's version of a change of season as if this place ever got over or under room temperature.

And they'd all landed on this new season being this place's version of spring. Which of course meant spring cleaning.

Mick had tried to somehow escape the onslaught of new chores Nikki had decided needed taking care of immediately with no luck unfortunately, hiding in his workshop had been no help, his bassist had sent for him the second he'd gone missing that morning and when he didn't come out Nikki had for the first time ever set foot in his workplace.

And with the way he looked at the place when he came in,it was likely to be his last time too. He sneered at the untidy mess of projects and covered countertops and the random pieces of scrap metal everywhere. Mick is suddenly glad the one thing he did put away was the work in progress rings.

“I should burn this place down, but it looks like it already has been and you just kinda built the new workshop around the rumble.” Nikki snips as he leans heavily against the shop's doorframe, the red handkerchief that's usually tied around his neck, has now made its way onto his head to hold his long black hair out of his face.

“You'd have to figure out how to actually successfully start a fire first.” Mick cuts back, not looking up from where he's working on his old school revolver, he can feel Nikki roll his eyes.

“Come on old man, you're helping me clean the house.” Nikki's voice barkers no argument. Mick groans miserably going boneless in his chair, his face hitting the table.

“Oh,  it's not so bad,don't be so dramatic, you're helping me clean the communal areas, you don't have to clean up this pig's sty of yours as much as I think it should be condemned.”

Mick sighs, but slowly pulls himself up from his chair and drags himself over to Nikki, Mick wants to wipe the satisfied looked right off the fuckers face, but he figures that would just get him more time on his knees doing something like scrubbing the fridge or whatever dumb thing Nikki has concocted for him to do, so he resists.

They make their way up the beaten path from Mick's workshop back down to the house, grey dust billowing in their wake, when they make it up the porch steps and Mick can't hear Tommy and Vince arguing, he raises an eyebrow in shock.

“Where's dumb and dumber?” Mick asks as he follows Nikki in through the screen door.

“I gave them barn cleaning duty, figured they wouldn't cause as much damage out there and the place could definitely use a bit of tlc.”

Nikki says, going to the kitchen counter and handing Mick a damp rag from it.

“You wipe down all the surfaces, I'll worry about the floors.” Nikki mumbles not looking at Mick's face but rather down at the horribly dirty floor. It doesn't escape Mick's notice that he's been given the easiest job, just wipe some dirt off some counters and tables. Even all these years later without his AS Nikki still makes sure that whatever task he gives Mick doesn't strain him.

That realization makes Mick work with no complaint. He isn't sure for how long he's been wiping down surfaces, long enough to have graduated to the upper floor of the house, and for his rag to nearly be unrecognizable with grey mud.

He'd never realized they'd had so many hallway side tables, seriously what were even in half of these drawers. Wait no, he's decently sure he's never seen this hallway table in any configuration of their hallway. The hallway changed all the time but after being here for as long as he had you'd start to see patterns in the changes, the hallway usually had three distinct versions of themselves that broke off into their own subsections. But he's certain he's never seen a white side table in their hall, he'd definitely have noticed that with the others having a distinct black color.

Curious, Mick opens the single drawer of the white wood carved side table. Inside he finds a few curiosities, a few handgun bullets but no handgun, a dead flashlight, a ballpoint pen with half its ink missing and a horseshoe.

Mick grabs the horseshoe out of the drawer so quick it shakes a bit on impact, he shoves it into his back pocket for safe keeping, and decides that he's done spring cleaning today, he walks down the hall for longer than 20 minutes he's sure, before the staircase appears abruptly and he makes a beeline down it, almost walking a hole into the now clean wooden floors in his excitement to get started on his blonde lovers ring.

He is stopped in his tracks however when he spots Nikki sitting down on the porch swing, seated on the edge of the pillow like he didn't plan on staying there long but judging from how he was leaning his chin on the top of the broom handle, he'd already stayed longer than planned.

And when Mick looked out to see what Nikki was so enraptured by he knew exactly why he was caught up here. 

“Are they….spitting on the flowers?”

Mick asked confused, walking over to stand next to Nikki whose narrow eyed glare doesn't snap up from the scene.

“It looks like it.” He hums, in a tone Mick could only describe as disappointed.

“....huh.” Mick says intelligently as he watches Tommy hack up another thick globe of spit in the distance, and instead of cringing like he expects Vince to he merely looks interested at the ground where Tommy's dna likely lays on the grey dirt.

“Okay, well I've had enough of this, I've decided I don't wanna know.” Nikki says firmly as he gets up and takes hold of his broom by the middle of the handle, he brushes past Mick but not before leaning down and brushing his lips softly to Mick's, Nikki was always so gentle with him when they kissed like Mick might break if he wasn't, his bassists lips are chapped but soft and his beard itches Mick's own chin.

“You finish wiping everything down?” Nikki asks when he pulls away already at the screen door.

“Pretty much.” Mick mumbles still a bit dazed from the soft kiss, he hasn't always been used to such careful treatment. Nikki hums, satisfied and heads on inside. Mick watches him leave and when he can't see Nikki anymore he turns back around to watch what his other lovers are doing from afar. Still just spitting, Mick is very tempted to just walk away to his workshop, but he sighs and makes his way down to where the boys are, someone has to make sure that their not angering a restless demon God.

He starts to make out their conversation as he gets closer.

“Dude that is so weird, why does it do that?” Vince asks when Tommy is done hacking up a string of saliva. Mick clears his throat and the singer and drummer both snap their heads up at him like children caught with their spit in the cookie jar.

“.....okay I'll bite, what are you idiots doing?” 

He already regrets asking but Tommy pulls him over to stand next to them.

“Look at this old man!” When Tommy brings him round to their side he's surprised to find, not the usual pure white orchids but yellow and pink ones too, all consintrated in the area they spat in. 

“Spit on one of em!” Tommy exclaims happily like encouraging Mick to take another piece of cake at a party.

“Why?” Mick glanced at Tommy behind him and tries to shake off Tommy's hands from his shoulders.

“You're gonna wanna spit on these man.”

Vince says too, which ultimately convinces Mick that this might be important,Tommy makes up dumb shit all the time, Vince isn'tso inclined to do so at least not with Mick, so with a deep sigh he gathers saliva in his mouth, then spits it out onto the orchids in front of him. The flower in front of him twitches then slowly from the bud to the point of the petal turns a deep midnight blue. Tommy ahh's at the pretty color and Vince chuckles.

“Pay up ,Tom I was right, I knew his would be blue.” Mick is still too caught up in shock to question this bet they had placed on him.

“I swear things get weirder and weirder every day.” Mick mumbles so only he can hear it.

“It's cool though right!?” Tommy practically vibrates behind him, his grip on Mick's shoulders almost painful, Mick grunts, it certainly isn't the strangest thing that's ever happened here but he thinks he's a bit over stimulated from the consistency of weird shit happening that he's never dealt with before here, so out of energy to give a further reaction he just puffs a quick. “It's a'ight.” Under his breath.

“Couldn't believe it, when me and Vince finished up in the barn I hacked up a huge loogie then when it touched the flower it turned piss fucking yellow dude.” Tommy cheers, Vince rolls his eyes at the description and if Mick had the brainpower right now he would too.

“The pink flowers are mine, in case you were wondering.” Vince adds to Tommy's stupid comment, shoving his hands in the back pocket of his jeans. Which makes Mick's back pocket burn with the weight of the horseshoe.

Mick gently pulls free from Tommy's hands and turns so he's face to face with his boys.

“I'm gonna go to my shop now, I'm a little…tired.” While he's been trying to be more emotionally open with the guy's and receive the comfort he needs when he needs it, he still hasn't quite figured out how to stop feeling embarrassed when he feels overwhelmed and needs to excuse himself for a bit, it makes him feel a bit shitty that he couldn't just deal with and process something on the spot.

Tommy's grin softens as he waves Mick off, and Vince is quick to put a hand on his shoulder and give a gentle squeeze, reassuring.

“Have fun of man, I'm gonna see how many more of these flowers I can have yellow by the end of the day.” Tommy says as Mick turns around to walk up the beaten path again, he can't see Vince but he knows the singer is smiling at Tommy's silly idea and was likely going to watch as the drummer made a fool of himself.

“Just don't dehydrate.” Mick throws over his shoulder, his younger lovers only chuckling in response.

Now to get to work on the ring, that should also help him process in his own way.

                               ____

Mick stares down at the two rings in his hand. Tommy's is made from melted down iron for the wedding band part, with the pearl like dick stone smelted on top. Vince's wedding band was made up from the horseshoes metal with a nice looking pinkish stone he'd found on one of their walks recently. He holds the two rings, one in each hand, satisfied with his work.

He had two completed rings and no idea what he was going to do for the third. He didn't really know how to make Nikki's ring special in a way that he'd appreciate.

Nikki, always the problem child, Mick thinks wryly as he sets the two finished rings back down on his workshop table, covering them with a greasy dirty rag that he's sure no one would look under.

He feels stress and discomfort bubble up in his stomach at not having the perfect plan for his bassist.

Suddenly an idea strikes him, he opens one of his drawers and pulls it out.

Is it a bit overkill, maybe, is this absolutely something Nikki would swoon over, also maybe. It's his best shot at this point, so he sets out to make the last one.

                               ____

Vince had been the easiest to propose to, because like with everything they didn't have to say anything to understand each other.

Mick had taken the ring from his pocket, bent on one knee right there in the middle of a patrol at their favorite abandoned tree house, and waited for Vince to either take it or refuse it.

He took it, no words, only soft butterfly kisses and then real kisses.

Tommy hadn't been much more difficult, he didn't even get a chance to go down on one knee before the ring was taken out of his hand, put on the workshop's table and enthusiastic yeses where muttered into his hair as he was hugged close by the drummer then kissed within an inch of his life.

They weren't the ones he were worried about, not that he didn't love them all the same but his other two boyfriends, sorry fiance's, were a bit less intimidating then his bassist, so he knew he had to go about Nikki's proposal in a different way.

                             _____

“Aw Mick, you didn't have to go through all this trouble for me.” Nikki says sweetly as Mick leads him outside to the centre of their field of orchids, Mick's favorite checkered porch swing blanket lays there, squishing a few of their flowers and acting as a picnic blanket, on top of the blanket is a basket filled with homemade bread and butter, unfortunately the cellar didn't materialize anything fancy, so his own lemonade would have to do, a pitcher filled with it sat right next to the basket and Tommy and Vince (who he'd asked to keep their own proposals a secret from Nikki) were on patrol, so the perfect set up.

“I wanted to, I know we've all been a bit on edge lately with something changing inside the barrier and all and I figured it might be nice if we took a load off, just the two of us.” 

Mick guided Nikki to sit down with a hand on his lower back, nudging him to take a seat on the soft fleece.

“Thanks, that's really nice of you, I'm gonna be honest I'm really tempted to ask what do you want.” Nikki chuckles, and Mick feels his nervousness melt away slowly as the familiarity of his lover reminds him why he's here in the first place.

“Hey now, I'm a thoughtful boyfriend, setting  up a picnic for us and here I am being accused of wanting something in return.” Mick sits with wide uncrowded legs grinning at his lover, and using his arms as pillars to lean on, Nikki sits in much the same way  smirking in return.

“You gotta understand my concern Mr.Mars, I mean I am dealing with the pimp of Mötley crüe aren't I?” Nikki tilts his head to the side in mock innocence and purrs out the honey coated words.

“Oh please, if anyone should be concerned it's me, ain't it, famous playboy rockstar Nikki sixx, interested in me? Now that's cause for suspicion, you're after my money ain't you darling.” His clear blue eyes meet the seaglass green of Nikki's intensely as they stare each other down and grin.

Nikki scoffs as he shoves Mick to the side a bit with his arm, “Yeah,all 18 cents of it.” 

Mick laughs and protects his arm from further attack. “Okay, okay pour this broke old man of yours some lemonade wouldn't you?” Nikki rolls his eyes playfully but takes out glasses from the picnic basket and pours them both a glass from the pitcher. The glasses are a bit mismatched, Nikki has a wine glass and Mick just brought out his coffee mug for himself, they don't really have much in the way of glassware (clean glassware at least).

He takes his mug from Nikki and they drink in relative peace, in no rush to do anything more.

Nikki's ring burns a hole in Mick's pocket the longer he sits on it, he can feel it firm and annoying in his back pocket.

Mick takes a swig of his lemonade and promises himself he'll start his speech he'd practiced all night after his next sip and before long his drink is empty and he still hasn't said anything. He taps his fingers on his empty mug nervously, then decides that what he needs to be comfortable is a change of position, he shifts so he's sitting criss crossed. No, that didn't feel any better either.

“Spit it out Mick.” Nikki says suddenly with a raised brow.

“I didn't even-” Mick starts but is cut off.

“You didn't have to, I love you old man but you're a terrible actor, something's obviously up I mean the nice picnic, you're stiff posture the sweat pouring from you, so what is it.” Nikki questions, more directly this time than earliers joke. Mick takes a deep breath.

“Okay, you caught me, I do got something to tell ya, kinda serious..” Nikki's face morphs from curious to morbid, he sets his wine glass of lemonade down and before Mick can continue Nikki interrupts.

“I understand.” Nikki doesn't look Mick in the eyes anymore.

“You do?” Mick is confused, how could he know? Was he not pulling this off as well as he thought he was. 

“If you want to break up with me I understand I'm a lot to deal with and I promise I won't hold it against you or anything-” Mick feels his heart drop as Nikki continues to talk.

Break up? With Nikki? Has Nikki not been here the past 6 years, wasn't he the one bonding with him, wasn't he the one who he'd stayed awake holding all night and promising not to leave? Why would Nikki still have this insecurity when he could so clearly see how much Mick cared for him? Hadn't he been clear enough? Scratch that wasn't Nikki here six seconds ago when they'd been flirting back and forth, where was this coming from?

Mick was so lost in his own thoughts he didn't notice Nikki finishing up his little speech before the black haired bassist was already getting up to leave. Mick grabs his arm.

“Nikki, wait-!” Nikki rips his arm from Mick's hands. “I don't need your pity, it's fine Mick I get it, just let go of me.” Nikki still isn't looking at him.

“Nikki, don't walk away you don't understand-” Mick raises his voice slightly. Nikki's head suddenly snaps to his, and when Mick catches sight of the wet tear stained eyes his heart sinks.

“No, the worst part is I do understand, I'm a naggy bitch all the time and I've hurt you so much in so many ways you didn't deserve and then I apparently didn't stop because now this is all over and I just..” Nikki breaks down into ugly sobs,not even able to finish his thoughts, Mick has had enough at this point. He goes to speak but Nikki is quicker to the punch.

“Ya know this was nice of you, making it so easy on me, I mean fuck you even set up a little picnic for me too let me down gently-!” Mick grabs Nikki by the face and pulls him into a fierce kiss, he bites at Nikki's chapped bottom lip and sweetly licks his way into the bassist's mouth, he's in control of the kiss, for once sailing Nikki to where he wants him guiding him with soft hands in his messy hair and a mouth begging to communicate with feeling alone rather than words.

But it's a testament to how far he's come as a lover when he can swallow his instincts to communicate everything through action and realize that that wasn't going to be enough for his lover. He needs to hear it.

Mick pulls away as slowly as he can like Nikki is a frightened animal who would run at the first sight of sudden movement. Mick's hands move from Nikki's hair to his panting tear streaked face.

“I know this is gonna be hard for you but shut the fuck up for a second a'ight? I didn't bring ya out here to break up with you, quite the contrary, I was here to ask you if you wanted to marry me, I had it all planned out if you'd just given me a second to work up the nerve instead of flying off the handle you'd have known that.” Mick can't contain himself, once one thing is out everything comes out with it. Nikki stands stock still, frozen.

“I love you Nikki, I do, I know I don't say it much, and I'm bad with words and I sometimes fail at reading your emotions, but when I tell you that you are it for me your are it, got that?, I would never leave you Nikki, I am not your father, that man isn't worth even a smidge of the dirt under your nails, do you understand me?” Mick isn't aiming for anger but that's what bubbles under his tone, he's wanted to say this for so long. When he's done he's panting too.

They stand there for a second watching each other with wild eyes. Mick remembers the ring, and looks down to his back pocket pulling out Nikki's ring from his back pocket.

Simple black metal, unassuming.

Mick gets down on one knee shakily, he hasn't worked up the courage to stare into the green of the other half of himself.

He just holds up the ring.

“Nikki sixx, will you do me the great dishonor of marrying me, till afterlife pass?”

Mick held his breath, kneeling his head down with closed eyes, this was the moment of truth.

He feels hesitant fingers take the ring from his own fingers.

“.....Where did you get this?” Nikki's words are cotton on eggshells. Mick snaps his head up, seeing the shock in Nikki's gorgeous face.

“Made it.” Mick grunts out. Nikki somehow looks more shocked.

“This is what you've been working on…what's this on the inside?” Nikki asks, holding the ring like the most precious thing in the world. He reads the words engraved on the inside.

I love you.

Nikki looks at Mick, his face absolutely touched.

“Because I can't always say it, but I want you to know it, that's why I engraved it myself, so I could constantly press the words to your skin.”

All the cards are on the table now. It's gone quiet again.

Then suddenly he's being shoved onto their picnic blanket and kissed in a ferocious frenzy of tongue and gentle tongue, their kisses are so open mouthed that Mick can taste Nikki's tears as they drip from his eyes and into the connected mouth.

And if Mick starts crying too he knows Nikki won't tell. They break apart only for short breaths between them and dive back in sporadically. Between sloppy kisses Mick gets his answer, as if this wasn't answer enough.

“Yes, yes Mr.Mars I will marry you.” He sighs out the word in a hoarse voice, he then holds out the ring for Mick to slip on his finger. And he does.

Admittedly it's a bit of a snug fit. Mick feels his face heat in embarrassment.

“Ah shit, I used my own finger as a reference, of course it's ain't gonna fit you, sorry Hon, give it here, I'll have it altered. Nikki who'd been staring at his hand in awed wonder suddenly presses his closed fist with the ring to his chest.

“Nope, sorry this is mine now and I say it's perfect.” Nikki seems convinced, Mick is not.

“Come on nik, that can't possibly be comfortable.” Mick said, knowing the answer but Nikki brings him back in for another round of sloppy makeouts.

They get back into the rhythm of before, Mick's hands end up in Nikki's hair again as Nikki strandles his lap, grinding down on Mick desperately, like he might disappear. Nikki's hands feel like they're everywhere, on his cheek, on his waist on his clothed cock, they pinch and poke and prod at every spot Mick is sensitive to, pulling out soft groans from him. Another place Nikki loves to make Mick vocal is in bed.

Their kiss deepens and they roll around, this time completely off of the blanket and straight into the orchids. Nikki is still on top, his clever fingers working Mick's fly and pants button down one handed as he fishes Mick's half hard dick out, his thumb sweeping over the slick head, collecting pre-cum to make the upstroke to the head smooth and enjoyable, the cool metal of Nikki's new ring adding a cool contrast to Nikki's hot skin Mick was unfamiliar with, but it sent goosebumps fluttering up his back.

“Fuck..Nikki..” Mick moans softly bucking his hips up into Nikki's warm calloused palm that grew slicker with Mick's dripping dick.

“Shh, baby let me take care of you.” Nikki breathes into his ear then bites the lobe between his teeth.

Nikki pulls away then, only for a moment to pull his own slick cock out of his jeans, already fully hard just from a bit of grinding and working Mick up to this point, his head his a bright red, needy and dripping, much like Mick himself.

Neither of them would last very long. Mick glances down to the mess between them, their both wet and ready with their own pre-cum, Mick is a tiny bit smaller than Nikki, but here mashed between their warm panting bodies you'd never notice.

Nikki takes both of them in his hand at once,and they both gasp at the same time, like a bunch of virgins. He starts slow, root to tip, then a twisting flourish with his wrist as he's coming up to the top that speaks of practice that no virgin would have.

Mick cries out when Nikki picks up the pace, his fingernails digging into Nikki's scalp in a no doubt painful way, Nikki grunts.

Then there's a moment where they finally stop kissing and needing and groping and look each other in the eyes.

Blue meets green, and each other's colors are all they know as they tip over the edge of oblivion together.

Nikki collapsed on top of Mick, spent and satiated. 

“I love you Mick.” Nikki sniffles out, resting his head in the crook of Mick's neck, Mick shivers at the feeling of the cooling cum stuck between their bodies, but can't be bothered to care with his gorgeous boyfriend, no, fiance, on top of him, fuck he's gonna have to get use to that.

Mick puts up a finger and traces the cool metal of Nikki's ring. 

“Read the ring baby, you know.” Mick whispers into Nikki's ear beside him, which earns him a deep passionate kiss.

“Okay, let's go clean up.” Nikki says when he's decided that they've been stuck in the afterglow too long, Mick wants to disagree but then he feels pain in his back and agrees to get up, taking Nikki's offered hand.

“Hey Nik-”

“Yeah, I see it.”

Nikki answers Mick's embarrassed query, also with blushing cheeks, when they look down at the place where they'd made love the flowers surrounding the area are a deep violet.

Well there'd be no lying to Vince and Tommy about what they'd done.

There would be no lying to his fiance's faces . Mick felt joy pour into his like fresh rain water into an orchid. 

I think it's difficult to answer the pronouns & sexuality question when 1st we're already realitybending to make the ship happen, and 2nd beyond they wouldn't be caught dead having pronouns or identifying as anything. Also why the individual relationships graph is all unlabeled. Anyway so.

I think they'd pretty much all fuck with being called it to some extent (im not projecting shut up), given the part they tended to play up, to appear scary and cool in the media, on stage, etc. I think it works with Mick's alien shtick, it works with Nikki and Tommy's wild partying habits, it even works a little with Vince's similar party aura as like, a kink thing, though less for him than the others. A kink thing for all of them really.

My personal opinion on their orientations is that it's not gay if it's in a band. At a certain point, with the obligations and limitations of it (touring, working together, making ART together, etc), being contractually stuck together for years, also denotes of and builds close relationships that can't necessarily fit a strictly emotional and interpersonal model. It's like buddy movies cop duos, it's always gay but not gay as long as it's on the clock. So while I do think there's some genuine bisexuality in the mix for some of them, I think the preexisting relationships trumps the dick-first approach to dating they have. Also see: every individual relationship is unlabeled. These bitches are not communicating godbless.

Honestly this chart isn't strictly about one or another way they could live a polycrue scenario, it's not a domestic AU, it's not a full queerplatonic reading, it's not a realistic drama about how it'll never work cuz they are the way they are, etc. We're assuming it happened in the first place, and it's not TOO far from the real setting otherwise. No idea if I make sense, but yknow. you see the vision.