Emerald: Rewriting History

After the reception, the museum slowly emptied out except for security personnel. Tobin was still on a high. He loved to wander the deserted building, and now he hoped it would calm him a little. Pierce followed along, mostly silently, until they got to the Egyptian room. The centerpiece of this collection was a display including an actual burial chamber completely reconstructed in the center of the room, which visitors could enter and experience the inside of a genuine pyramid, including the original if faded wall and ceiling murals.

"Remember the first time we came here together?" Pierce asked, his voice soft and wistful.

"What about it?" Tobin knew exactly what Pierce meant and he didn't particularly want to be reminded. He recalled it every time he entered this room.

"Didn't you once say something about fucking in a pyramid?" A corner of Pierce's mouth lifted.

"Yeah, I said something like that." Tobin wished Pierce would stop rehashing their past. It was killing him to remember the good times, and he wouldn't play this game with Pierce. Not again.

"Well?" Pierce's expression turned hopeful.

"Turned out it wasn't as good as I expected." Tobin kept his voice even, though his chest ached with the effort.

"You did it then?" Was that disappointment, or maybe even hurt in Pierce's voice?

"Twice." Tobin lied.

"Oh." Pierce's veneer of suave sophistication and playfulness seemed to have thoroughly cracked and he sounded as awful as Tobin felt. Truth was, Tobin had never been in the pyramid with anyone, but every time he saw it, he recalled that conversation he and Pierce had years ago. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and attempted to gather his thoughts.

Pierce turned from the pyramid's entrance and wandered over to the next display, leaning down to examine a collection of scarabs. He kept his back to Tobin.

"I think it would be amazing with you, Pierce..." Tobin's voice was little more than a whisper but in the empty museum it echoed and he hoped Pierce couldn't hear the pain.

Pierce's head shot up, but he didn't turn toward Tobin.

Tobin bit his lip. What he said had been the absolute truth, only now he couldn't back down on the earlier lie.

"Still interested?" Tobin hoped he didn't sound like he was pleading. He pulled his phone from a pocket and punched in the code that locked down the room and the doors slid shut with an echoing clang. No one could enter until he released them. He turned off the cameras with another code.

Seeming startled by the shutting doors, Pierce rotated slowly, a thoughtful look on his face, until Tobin held out a beckoning hand. As soon as Pierce's fingers touched his, Tobin pulled him close. Damn how good Pierce smelled. Always had. It had taken years to get the smell of him out of Tobin's memory so he could be around other men wearing Pierce's favorite colognes and not think of him. And in barely twenty-four hours, it had all come undone.

Pulling each other's jackets off, they kissed, mouths at first eager and seeking, but then slowed, savoring each other, and the poignancy of this moment, long delayed. Tobin backed Pierce against the side of the pyramid, kissing him deeply while hands strayed under Pierce's shirt, fingers seeking skin, caressing, pinching, possessing.