The Kill

“Is it because you kill well?”

Dorien blinks slowly, feigning confusion, shock at the question and buying time. He tilts his head to the side, and asked: “How do you define that? Killing well?”

“Efficiently. Emotionally distant, above it.”

He wants to say: “They didn’t have much of a choice.”

He wants to say: “They were in no position to fight back.”

He wants to say: “Not entirely emotionally distant. I still feel.”

He wants to say: “I get the job done though.”

He wants to say: “Yes. I can.”

The other man isn’t suggesting a fight takes place. He specifically said ‘going in for the kill’, which implies the fight is already done, that he won. The correct – the real – answer then is ‘yes’. Oh, he could argue and say he takes no joy from it, that he doesn’t have some sort of negative effect towards it. He could say a lot of things, which would pretty the statement up, layer on excuse after excuse.

That’s what they are though, excuses.

Dorien can lie about a lot of things, can twist the truth, and can dance around the subject like a world class champion if he needs to, but… Some things don’t deserve that sort of treatment.

Never lie about the important things.

He settles with, “I haven’t killed recently.” It’s true, and he’s not entirely ignoring the original question. He’s answering it, in a sense. The yes is inherent in the admission that he has killed; hopefully Wil will catch it.

A fact, just as Wil called it, is neither a compliment nor an insult. Someone could argue until they’re blue in the face about it, to try and make it seem like less of a truth, but Dorien knows when he doesn’t need to waste his breath.

Instead he leans forward; telling Wil there’s nothing to apologize for, because there isn’t. It’s a fact, a truth, and the redhead finds he has no problem with Wil pointing it out when they’re alone like this.

He continues to lean forward, and kisses the other man.

This is nice.