He found himself bound to the bedposts. Not a position that he was unfamiliar with, but somehow it felt completely different these days. The man standing at the end of the bed was… very much unlike any other he'd ever been with. He was… intelligent, not as intelligent as Scotty but, close enough that they sometimes drove each other crazy butting heads with their genius. He was twisted. It was highly possible that he was even more twisted than Raven, which should be a scary thought for anyone. He was also more human. He had this… comfort level with himself that Scotty had never been able to reach. He was one of the few people who truly lived by their beliefs. He understood and appreciated his emotions and wasn't afraid to show any of them at any given moment.

The strike to his chest by the leather whip made his back arch at the pain. His eyes closed for a moment savoring the feeling then slowly opened as his head rose slightly so that he could look into the blue eyes of his captor. "You are supposed to be paying attention, bird boy," Sean snarled softly making goose bumps rise on Scotty's arms. "If I am boring you I can leave you to your thoughts." Scotty let his head fall back down flexing his hands as he considered his response. "I'm not bored and you know it, Freddy. My mind was just wandering over… some things." Freddy, as in the freak from Nightmare on Elm Street, was Scotty's nickname, because he joked that Sean was just a serial killer in the making.

Sean crossed his arms letting the whip hang freely and glared at the bound man. "I am sorry that my… technique was so lacking that you didn't have anything better to do than daydream." Scott sighed and tried to sit up as best as he could. "Quit the melodrama, Sean. If you must know I was thinking about you, ya damn redneck drama queen." Sean smiled happily now bouncing and Scott had to shake his head grinning like a fool. Drive him nuts he may, but Scott couldn't deny he was crazy about him even if he wanted to… which by the way he didn't.

Sean dropped the whip and tossed himself onto the bed making them both bounce wildly and Scott sighed glaring at his lover. Sean rolled onto his side resting his head on one hand and bending one leg at the knee so that his foot rested on the underside of the other knee propping it up in the air. Scott turned his head glaring at Sean and tugged on his restraints in the hopes that it would inspire Sean to let him loose, but the man just ignored him smiling goofily. "What were ya thinkin' 'bout me Scotty?" Sean asked bouncing the bed as he lay on his side.

Scott rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the question but the puppy dog eyes he was getting from the other man was too much for him to resist. "If you must know I was thinking about how smart you are," Scott admitted grudgingly making Sean bounce even more. "You think I'm smart?" He practically squealed and Scott grunted wondering when Shannon Moore had invaded their bed. "Well, not as smart as I am of course, but yes I think you are smart."

Sean thought about that momentarily before nodding satisfied. "What else were you thinking about me?" Scott batted his eyelashes innocently and said, "I was thinking that you were more twisted than me." Of course Sean took that as a compliment grinning goofily and Scotty had to chuckle. How could he not love a man who could out-Raven Raven? That thought though made him frown realizing what he'd just admitted to himself. He'd never said that word before… love. He'd been avoiding it. He'd sensed it lurking there in the background but stubbornly he'd refused to let it step forward. Like all things though of strong will it had found away and snuck forward when he'd least expected it.

"What are you frowning about now Scotty?" Sean asked and again Scotty was pulled back to the present. Quietly he studied the man next to him and carefully considered lying, but then decided that he had no urge to. Scotty was a lot of things and lazy was just one of them. He made it a rule never to do anything he didn't have to. After all why waste energy on meaningless things when you can save it for the things that really mean something. "I was thinking that I love you more than life itself."

Scotty watched Sean blink as if confused then slowly his face changed revealing a rare moment of shyness. Sean looked down at the bed for a moment then slowly looked up with an expression of hope on his face that Scotty had never seen before. "You mean it Scotty? You really mean it?" Scotty silently wondered at the look thinking it was as if Sean was afraid to believe that he had really heard the words. "Do I ever say things that I don't mean?" Sean shook his head slowly and Scotty could tell that there was something on his mind, but for once the big man wasn't talking.

Sean reached over and released the binds around Scotty's wrists before standing and moving off the bed. Sitting up Scotty cocked his head to one side wondering what was going on in his head. Sean wasn't one for hiding his words any more than he hid his feelings. That was one of the things that had drawn Scotty to the other man was the fact that he knew he would always know where he stood with him. There was no hidden plot or manipulation. What you saw with Sean O'Haire was what was really going on. "What is it Sean?"

Scotty was not normally a man that sat and waited for things to happen, but this was a situation that he had never been in with Sean and if he had learned anything about his lover it was that the unknown was not always something you ran unto without thinking. "I never thought you would say it." The explanation was to say the least unexpected. While it was true he had never said the words before he thought that he had managed to show Sean just how he felt about him. "Why would you think that?"

Sean turned slowly and Scotty's breath caught in his chest as he saw the pain and anxiety on his face. "Every day Scotty, every day I tell you I love you a million different times. It's the first thing I say to you when you wake up and it's the last thing I say to you before we go to sleep. When we are apart I call you at least a dozen times and sometimes for no other reason than to tell you that I love you. But no once have you said you loved me. I've waited to hear it so long that I gave up."

Scotty stood slowly and crossed the room to loop his arms around Sean's waist. "I won't tell you that I have never loved anyone before because we both know that it is not the truth. I loved Steven more than anything in the world and I had an obsession for Jeff that will probably go unrivaled through the annals of history, but never in my life have I been with a man that I couldn't wait to see what he would do tomorrow. I have never been with a man that I trusted with my every mood and thought. And I have never been with a man that I felt like I could just be me with. I love you Sean and I will always love you Sean. Please don't ever think I don't again."

Sean smiled big bouncing happily then pointed to the bed. "Get your ass to the bed bitch! So I can beat you senseless and show you how much I love you!" Scotty chuckled and moved back to the bed happy and content knowing that his life had gotten the stability he had always longed for.

The End!