Through the thick, choking smog of Victorian London a young woman ran with difficulty along the pavement. Every few moments she turned her head to look behind her, eyes wide with fear, for the dark figure she knew was gaining on her. Suddenly there was nowhere else to run, she was trapped. And out of the darkness, a tall form emerged, approaching without mercy, raising his hand as the glint of a blade caught the dim street lighting....

"Too much bloody smoke!" From where he lay, flat out on the edge of the stage, Jonathan threw a wadded ball of notepad paper at the technical crew standing chatting at the side of the stage. Magician and assistant both sighed, frustrated as once again their dry-run of the new 'Jack The Ripper' illusion was aborted. Looking quite dashing in the new outfit wardrobe had found for him, Adam walked over to his consultant, prodding Jonathan's hip with the tip of his shoe. "Ow!" Rubbing his hip, Jonathan scowled up at his employer.

Dropping into a crouch, Adam rested the very real blade of the knife over his friend's stomach, watching the stage lighting reflect off the blade with a fascination that Jonathan considered to be bordering on unhealthy. "Would you like to tell me what exactly is up with you today?"
Jonathan pulled a face, turning away from Adam's regard, embarrassed by his own mood. "It's nothing."
"Right. You've been lying there correcting every detail for three hours."
"That's what you pay me for, Adam! If the details aren't perfect the trick won't work."
"That's no reason to take the heads off the majority of my staff."

Jonathan sighed. He didn't want this conversation and obviously he wasn't wanted around here. Without a word, he sat up and swung his legs off the stage, dropping to the floor and wondering off, heading for the dressing rooms. Unamused, Adam shrugged off the constricting frog coat and followed him.

Slamming the door of his dressing room, surprising Jonathan who'd only just walked in, Adam thrust the tip of the knife blade into the long dressing table below the mirror. "What's all this about, Jonathan?"
"Nothing, I told you."
Adam wasn't falling for it. "Is it Maddy?"
Jonathan shook his head, sinking down into one of the chairs. "Go back to the rehearsal." But Adam had his answer. Slowly, he placed his hands on the arms of the chair and leaned down. "Adam...."
"Ssh." Gently, the illusionist touched his lips to Jonathan's neck, kissing a light path down into the collar of his shirt.
Jonathan's hands came up to grip his shoulders, yet rather than push him away, he held him there, hesitating himself but not in any way trying to stop what was happening. "Adam... here?"
Pulling out of Jonathan's grip, Adam left him for a minute to cross to the door and lock it. "Here."

Swallowing hard, Jonathan stood, meeting him halfway across the dressing room to be enfolded in his lover's arms. He adored the way that Adam held him, the way it made him feel like the most precious thing on Earth. As for Adam, Jonathan's kiss was one of the most erotic things he had ever experienced; intoxicating, incredibly passionate yet at the same time almost unbearably soft.

Adam's fingers went to work on shirt buttons, exposing Jonathan's chest, allowing him to slide his arms across naked skin. Jonathan moaned into Adam's mouth, his own hands working to pull the shirt from the back of his lover's trousers, actively seeking warm flesh. When Adam's mouth left his to roam over his neck and shoulders, Jonathan pressed his palms flat against Adam's stomach, fingers playing with the light hairs there, thumbs dipping down the front of his trousers to brush over the tip of a trapped erection. His actions provoked an answering hum from low in Adam's throat, and the sound gave Jonathan the confidence to unfasten the top button and reach down to stroke the cock awaiting him.

Fighting to keep his concentration, Adam used his hand to slip Jonathan's shirt off his left shoulder, kissing and nipping along the collar bone. Slowly, Jonathan shifted one hand to Adam's hip, pulling him closer. Adam made another low sound of pleasured excitement, wrapping his arms suddenly around his lover and lifting him, seating him up on the dressing surface. Jonathan laughed, arms going around Adam's neck to draw the talented mouth back to where it belonged.

Breathing hard, Adam lowered his mouth to Jonathan's chest, circling of one his nipples with the tip of his tongue. He sealed his lips over the tight flesh, sucking lightly at first, then applying more pressure, feeling Jonathan's fingers combing through his hair in a silent plea for more. As before, Adam replaced his lips with his teeth, biting down very gently on the sensitive bud. Jonathan cried out, back arching. "More." He didn't know how else to ask, this was something no lover had ever given him a chance to find out about before. Adam complied willingly, closing his front teeth carefully over the pink flesh.

Jonathan muffled his own scream by biting into the back of his own hand. "Adam.... God, Adam...." The American raised his head, tangling his fingers into his lover's curly hair.
"Is that good?" His open expression and the rough tone of his voice sent a slight shiver across Jonathan's exposed skin.
"So good...." Adam grinned and moved to the other nipple, slowly letting Jonathan find his own limits, listening to and starting to learn the sounds his lover made and what they meant. There was more, so much more Adam could show him, and he desperately wanted to. But not here.

Jonathan was clawing his back now, the sensations of Adam's teeth upon him becoming more than he knew how to cope with. Adam lifted his head, kissing the invitingly open mouth, brushing his hands over Jonathan's hair trying to calm him slightly. "Ssh. It's all right."
"Oh, God...."
Wrapping his arms around his lover, Adam tucked Jonathan's head into the crook of his shoulder, soothing him, understanding the terrible need that they were awakening in someone who barely knew himself. "I'll show you more, I promise, but not here, not now." Adam felt a nod before Jonathan lifted his head, dropping it back against the mirror behind him. Muddy brown eyes locked with his own and before he knew it, his mouth was being plundered again.

Back somewhere they both knew well, Adam reached between them to unfasten Jonathan's flies while Jonathan returned the favour. Each freed the other's erection, Adam's hand coming up to hold them firmly together while Jonathan wrapped his own hand around on the other side, linking his fingers through his lover's. Together they hurriedly drove one another to almost simultaneous orgasms; Jonathan's completion firing Adam's.

Cleaned up and dressed, Adam and Jonathan attempted to make themselves appear as if they hadn't just had sex in Adam's dressing room. They stole a final kiss before unlocking the door and stepping back into real life.

Lying flat out on the edge of the stage, Jonathan could only guess what was happening beside him. The fake fog they were trying to create had all but obliterated the scenery and was starting to escape out over the front row of seats. Jonathan couldn't have cared less. His body was still dazed by the spontaneous sex and his nipples still stung with the exquisite pressure Adam had exerted on them. At that moment he wouldn't have cared, couldn't even have moved, if the scenery had collapsed around them.