Snuff

~March, 2011.~1

'Hey, James.' Lee rubs his face and has to blink twice when he walks into the kitchen that morning to find James making pancakes. He can't remember the last time he woke up to find James doing anything other than chain smoking, can't remember the last time he didn't share the cigarettes with James and James's mouth didn't wind up all over Lee's body, three-day stubble burning over Lee's chest and thighs. He can't remember the last time James wasn't crying about the injustice, doesn't recall a time when James did anything but protest that the downtown precinct weren't doing enough and that they hadn't hunted long enough for the killer. 2

'Hi, Lee.' James smiles, an adorable, genuine smile. Lee has to grin back and tilt his head to the side to register that James actually looks happy. 'I found this recipe for vegan pancakes, and I was just up kind of early so I was gonna bring them to you in bed, but we can eat in here, it's all good.' He abandons the sizzling pan for a moment, bounds over to Lee and leans up on his heels to kiss him, holding Lee's hips lightly as he does. 'Do vegans eat honey? Because, if you don't, it's all good, we'll eat them with lemon.' 3

'Well, I don't,' Lee answers, and he can't resist capturing another kiss from James because he tastes so good when he's happy. He echoes, 'It's all good?' 4

James nods, his smile less happy but soft and accepting. He turns back to his pancakes and flips them, beaming at his own accomplishment. 'I'm okay, I think.' He pauses and says thoughtfully to Lee, still with a lingering smile, 'Lee, do you think Bradley would - I don't know, do you think he would mind?' 5

'I think he'd be happy to see you happy,' Lee purrs, taps James on the ass and says, 'And he was never the jealous type, anyway.' Of course he's expected to say that, really, because James should be happy and if Lee is honest, James is a little bit of a cock slut. Nobody spends the night with someone else when they find out their boyfriend's body has been found, nobody gives head during the funeral service. But, Lee supposes, James did used to be a nobody. 6


~June, 2010.~7

James is on his knees, head bobbing up and down in Lee's lap, when the doorbell goes off. Usually they'd just ignore it (interrupt sex just because someone was at the door? who were they, Ethan and Mike?) but there was a distinct air of threat, of foreboding, that made James pull away, panting, a scared light in his eyes and a blush to his cheeks, saying, 'Shit, shit, Lee, please get the door, I don't want to get - I have to - ' 8

Lee fists his hand into James's hair, nearly pulls him back down but instead gives him a crushing kiss and sits back to tuck himself into his pants, says, 'Go wash your face a little, yeah?' as the doorbell rings again. 9

Lee climbs to his feet as James scampers to the bathroom to make himself look less flustered. He takes a deep breath, composes himself just a little more than necessary and walks to the front door, swinging it open. The two plainclothes detectives are the two he's dealt with before, when James has burst into tears and become too much of a babbling wreck for them to understand anything. They're Tyler and Carling, and they've been heading Bradley's case for the last six months. 10

By the solemn expressions on their faces, they've had a breakthrough. Lee tilts his head in acknowledgement and says, 'Come in, James is just in the bathroom. Take a seat.' Carling says they'd prefer to stand as they go into the living room, and when James enters, they both duck their heads. It's almost like they're ashamed to be the bearers of such bad news, but then again, it can't be the most enjoyable job. 11

James sort of just hovers there in this awkward standoff with them until Tyler suggests, 'Let's take a seat.' So they do, James sat as far away as possible from them on the couch. Lee stands with his arms folded (the outsider) and Tyler says in a soft Southern drawl, 'I'm sorry that there's no easy for me to tell you this,' and James is in tears before the sentence is even finished. 'We found Bradley's body at the landfill.' 12

James chokes out, 'Oh god. What - what happened to him? Don't like - don't fuck with me, tell me what happened to him!' 13

There's a pause, and Tyler looks to Carling for support. Carling takes the lead, 'We now know this is a serious homicide investigation. We - ' There's an awkward pause, and Lee can tell Carling is trying (most likely to no avail) to find a way to soften the blow. Lee already knows what he's going to say. 'The body appears to be in several pieces. We were alerted when a worker at the landfill found a severed arm. We identified him by his tattoo.' 14

James covers his mouth. He looks a little sick. 'I - have you - how - ' 15

Gently, Tyler interjects, 'We're still carrying out an extensive search for the rest of the body.' 16


~February, 2010.~17

It shouldn't be as arousing as it is, but nonetheless, when Lee passes the guest room and glances through the just-open door to see James curled up on the bed, crying, one hand down his pants and the other balled in the sheets, saying Bradley's name repeatedly in something between moans and sobs... Well, it turns Lee on. 18

He watches for as long as he can manage, stroking himself through the front of his yellow jeans, but James starts biting his lip and gasping with his eyes wide, Lee pushes the bedroom door open softly. James jumps and lets out an entirely different gasp, backing himself up against the headboard and apologising profusely, sobbing about how it was Lee's house and he really shouldn't be feeling the need to be jacking off when his boyfriend was fucking missing - 19

James goes quiet when Lee climbs onto the end of the bed, stops crying, maybe looks a little scared. He bites his lip again, and Lee crawls close enough to James to just tug down those slacks a little. He leans in, and kisses James, and tells him, 'I miss Bradley too, you know' and for some reason that's enough of a reason for James to give in, to kiss Lee back, and it isn't the most romantic first time - a hurried hand job when they were both halfway there anyway - but Lee was never into romance anyway. Bradley knew that. 20


~20th November, 2009.~21

They're all sat around in Lee's office at work, huddled together in chairs and on Lee's sofa and the floor, when James hangs up the phone, slides off the desk and says sadly, 'His parents haven't seen him, either.' 22

'When did you say you last saw him, Mike?' Lee speaks up from his place on the floor, leaning back against Greta's legs. Mike looks up and frowns. Lee says, 'Last time I saw him, he was with you, where did he go after that?' Lying like this shouldn't be so easy. It's kind of sickening, and because it's sickening, Lee has to try and think of all the unattractive things like Mike's ass to stop himself enjoying this all too much. 23

'Your party,' Mike says. He's only frowning because he's said this a million times before, to James, to all the bands and friends and family when he did the rounds asking if anyone knew where Bradley was. 'Then he left, I didn't see him leave with anyone or anything. You know that.' 24

David lifts his head from Adam's shoulder and says softly, 'Guys, maybe it's time to talk to the police. We can't find him by ourselves.' 25

James bites his lip hard, so hard that Lee can see the marks when he finally nods and sighs, picking the phone back up. He hesitates and says, 'It was such a stupid argument we had. I - I can't believe he'd disappear like this.' But then he begrudgingly dials 911, and he reports Bradley Houseman missing. 26

When he's done, Spencer offers, 'Do you want to stay at mine tonight? I wouldn't want to be on my own right now, so...'27

James starts biting his lip again, and Lee can see he's trying to politely shoot it down. Lee says, 'There's probably too much around your place that reminds him of Bradley, Spence. It's not good for him. Do you want to stay at mine instead, James?'28

James nods and smiles, obviously glad that someone is so understanding.29


~5th November, 2009.~30

Lee sends a text to James from Bradley's phone, saying, I can't do this anymore. I need some out time. Give me a couple of weeks. Don't call. He wipes it over after he's sent the message, even though that's pretty unnecessary, because he proceeds to take it apart and snap it into as many small pieces as he can before he burns it on the wood fire in his lounge. 31

Lee collects the electric knife from the kitchen (he mostly uses it on tofurkey and such when he has it) and wanders down to the basement, sighing to Bradley, 'I think I'll wear your clothes, you know. So I don't get your blood all over mine.' 32

Bradley's eyes are closed, his head tilted at a sloppy, uncomfortable-looking angle. His body is starting to take on that dirty, unclean color, the disgusting beginnings of decay. Lee is well aware that soon Bradley's body is going to start to smell and rot, and he plans to use the table Bradley is tied to at some point again in the future so he really doesn't want bodily fluids (that aren't semen) all over it. 33

He strips down and puts his clothes into a safe place, finds a thick black bin bag and changes into Bradley's clothes, which are usefully already piled beside the table. Lee unties the bonds from Bradley's wrists and informs him, 'Don't be getting greedy now. I love these bonds. I used them on Mike once, did you know that?' He points to a camera in the corner of the basement. 'There's video evidence if you don't believe me.' He pauses, lets out a low moan, saying, 'God, I still haven't watched our tape, Bren. I'm gonna miss you whenever I watch that, I think. Definitely some of the tightest ass I've ever had.' 34

He starts up the electric knife. 35


~28th October, 2009.~36

Lee's walking to the nearest bar to finish his task of getting wasted when he sees Bradley sat outside a closed convenience store, pouting, tear streaks down his face. He looks very cold, and very sad, so Lee says unhelpfully, 'Your argument with Jaywhore ruined my party, Bradders.' 37

Bradley sniffs, 'Sorry,' then bitches, 'You're right, James's a fucking whore. I know he's fucking Mike and he won't admit it! I mean, I could forgive him, he just needs to be honest with me!' 38

Lee is drunk and horny and even despite this he gets off on pretty people crying, so because he's now decided his new task is to get into Bradley's pants, he says, 'Yeah, to be honest, I always thought they had a thing going on.' Even though he knows James is a faithful boyfriend, even though he knows Mike is really fucking Ethan. 39

'Oh my god, really?' Bradley is drunk too, and Lee plans on taking advantage of this. Drunk, upset people enjoy rebound sex, and Lee knows this all too well. Bradley stands up, hugging himself. 40

Lee milks it, he purrs, 'You deserve so much better than him, Bradley. You deserve someone who's going to treat you right, not someone who's going to fuck Mike.' As he talks he slips an suggestive arm around Bradley's waist and guides them back in the direction of Lee's house, continuing to compliment and build Bradley's ego. 41

It's in Lee's hallway that Bradley breaks, kissing Lee hard and saying, 'You care, don't you? Fuck me, Lee, make me feel good, I know you want to.' 42

He leads Bradley down to the basement because it just feels appropriate, and ties Bradley loosely to the table naked, talking dirty at such a constant rate that Bradley has no chance to say no. It feels good, feels sexy to be having this kind of sex, the kind of sex that would stay in Bradley's mind forever. 43

He's on the verge of orgasm when Bradley finally, finally bursts into tears again, goes on about how much he misses and loves James and deserves to be hurt for fucking Lee because it's not going to help anyone and - 'I'll hurt you, baby,' Lee whispers when he comes, pulling out and finding the switchblade. He crawls on top of Bradley, he tells him, 'I'll punish you for being such a dirty little whore.' 44

He cuts Bradley, and at first Bradley just cries out with no objections. By the fifth cut Lee is hard again, licking Bradley's blood from his fingers and smearing it over both their chests, using it as additional lubricant. 45

He continues to cut and fuck Bradley long past the moment his heart stops. When Lee is finally done, he kisses Bradley's still-warm lips. He remembers how he did this to Elisa, only she survived, she just went a little bit crazy and just stopped talking to everyone. 46

It's then he also remembers the camera, and he turns and smiles up at it. He kisses Bradley again and whispers to him, 'Well, I guess I just made my big break into snuff.'