[One of the greatest benefits of their link is the fact that Max can also feel all of Michael's emotions, the twists and turns that fly around in his heart and the beats that tear upwards and down. Max is already familiar with his lover's patterns and before he feels it inwardly, he can tell if and when he's got to head Michael off at the pass. There's a narrow road that they've got to travel together, and Max's got the dealer's hand of cards and he's making sure to stack the deck in his favor this time around.

There's no way in hell he's gonna let Michael slip out of this one. They have their place here in this world, and they've fought their own wars to get here. Everything about them fits and max knows that even space and time itself has fucking blessed this union. So, he's going to keep his hand on Michael's thigh, and pull it in closer to his own as they talk.

Leaning back against the couch, he gives up on the rest of dinner and winds his arms around Michael as they talk, wanting to hold the man of his life up against his body. It was always so hard to go too long without this feeling. ]

I know that you will always make me feel good. I'm looking forward to a good edge. No one has done that for me before. It will be infuriating pleasure I'm sure. The pain will be nice. I'm looking forward to that a lot. I want to spell out our marks. What do you think we should use. There's a lot of different iconology out there. I mean we could use something alien, or something related to love, or personal marks. Did you have thoughts?