The night was bitter cold, the kind of cold that seeps through your clothing no matter how much you wear and chills you to your bones, the kind of cold where you wanted to curl up in front of a fire place with someone warm and a blanket, the kind of cold that no one ever expects from a place like California.

Billie Joe pulled his jacket tighter around himself, though it didn't do much to block out the freezing wind. He ducked his head down and took a bite from his cream cheese smothered bagel, worked it through his teeth for a moment then swallowed the chewy goodness and washed it down with a drink of nearly scalding hot coffee. He'd tried to concentrate on things like this - eating, the weather - mediocre things, for the last two and a half months. If he concentrated hard enough on these things, maybe he could forget about Tim. It had only worked in small amounts, but tonight the only thing on his mind was the biting cold and the bagel he was eating.

Maybe these were the reasons, or maybe it was the cloud cover and lack of street lights, that he didn't notice a darkly-clad figure ahead of him duck into an alley. Whatever the reason, he didn't notice that, nor did he notice when said figure darted out from it's hiding place and grabbed him. He tried to get a glimpse of his attacker as they pulled him back against their chest and shoved a cloth reeking of chloroform over his nose and mouth, but all he caught was a tattooed arm before everything started to blur.

Billie Joe, once he woke up, had no idea where he was. He could only remember pleasantly walking down the street, munching on his bagel, and now he was here. It was completely dark, but not the sort of dark that comes from no lighting - the sort of dark that happens when there's a thick strap of black cloth tied over one's eyes. Billie tried to move but found he was bound to a chair, a very uncomfortable one at that, by the wrists, the ankles, and the chest. He could tell he at least had use of his mouth, but that in itself was useless because his throat was so parched.

The room smelled faintly of stale cigarette smoke, like a bar. He was so used to the smell after playing shows for as long as he had that he barely noticed it. He sniffed a few times to see if he could get any other hints of where he was, and after that failed he just listened intently. No noise, none, whatsoever, not even faint electrical humming that can usually be heard in the quietest house. No sounds from cars on a street either. As Billie Joe regained more and more conciousness, he began to get more and more nervous.

Licking his lips, Billie Joe attempted to speak again. "Hello?," he rasped. Stupid, yes, but it was all he could think of to say. It didn't come out as a word, anyway. It came out as a sickly sounding sort of growl, and it hurt his throat. This provoked another noise, though, from somewhere in the smoke-scented room. A slight scuffling of some sort. He tilted his head, trying to find the direction of the noise. A moment later something cold was pressed to his lower lip and it took him a second to realize it was a glass. Whoever was holding it tipped it upward and cool water ran into his mouth, dripping down his chin as he drank from it.

After a moment the glass was taken away and Billie Joe became more aware of a hideous headache that had formed in the wake of his sore throat. 'If it's not one thing it's another,' he thought to himself. Fleetingly he wondered if he had been injured at all. He wasn't particularly sore except for his head, and that could be for any number of reasons, so he deduced that the other person in the room wasn't an attacker, only a kidnapper. That didn't exactly help his nerves, and neither did the fact that the room had fallen silent again.

"Uhm...hello?," Billie Joe started lamely, trying to keep his voice from shaking. There was no response. "Where are we? Who are you?" Still no answer. He fidgeted in the chair, as much as he could being so tightly bound. "Look, if you're a fan or something, you didn't have to do this...I'm not a rock star or anything." Piercing silence again. This was getting worrisome. "Just...let me go," he continued weakly, his voice sort of cracking.

He tried to play along for a while, probably no longer than ten minutes, but ten minutes of sightless silence was quite unnerving. Finally he dropped his head in defeat. "Please just let me go," he whispered, wondering how long they'd keep him here. No one even knew he was gone. He let his eyes close behind the blindfold and a tear slipped out, making a trail down his cheek.

A thumb brushed the tear away, surprising Billie and causing him to jerk his head up. In a second the touch was gone and he waited for the eerie feeling of being alone but knowing he wasn't to overtake him again. This time, however, it didn't come - because shortly after the thumb was replaced by a soft pair of lips on his cheek. He tried to pull his head back but was unsuccessful since he was already tied to the chair back and sitting up straight.

The lips removed themselves and the next few moments were, once again, completely quiet. He was left with a feeling of inexistance again, so he started to talk. "Look, if you let me go now I won't press charges. I...," he trailed off as the lips touched his neck, feather soft. He wasn't even aware the other person had moved. Swallowing, he went on as his unknown captor continued to kiss his neck softly. "I won't tell anyone. You won't have to go to jail or anything, just let me go." The mouth had now moved to the other side of his neck and was repeating it's treatment.

Billie Joe was starting to get very nervous, almost on the verge of hysteria. His mind was running through tons of terrible scenarios as he tried to force his voice to remain calm. "I...I don't know who you are, or...why you did this," he stammered, barely being able to ignore hands running smoothly over his chest. "I can give you whatever you want...just..." the hands removed themselves, as did the mouth, and Billie dropped his head. "...just please don't hurt me," he whispered. He'd never felt so alone in his life, nor as terrified.

He heard movement in front of him, then a hand gently forced his face back upwards. Not sure what he had expected, he flinched, but the kidnapper just pressed their lips to Billie Joe's very lightly. As his captor's lips moved under his own, Billie's eyes slid shut. Despite the overwhelming terror of the situation, the kiss he was recieving was the most reassuring, sweetest, softest one he could ever remember taking part in. Finally reacting, he leaned forward as much as the bindings would allow and kissed back, not breaking the gentle nature of what was going on. His captor moaned then ran a hand into his hair, over the cloth of the blindfold. Billie breathed in deeply, then the scent that he'd inhaled hit him and he jerked back violently.

"Tim?," Billie asked in an astonished voice. It didn't make sense...Tim wouldn't have needed to kidnap him, and furthermore, Tim was never this careful with him in their existence together. But the scent was so familiar...not to mention that the whole bondage theme fit. There was a long period of silence that made Billie doubt his assumption, but then the hands returned to his chest as his captor stepped behind him again, and he felt warm breath on his ear as they leaned down.

"I'm sorry, Billie Joe. I needed you to listen," a familiar, but shakey voice, told him. "I knew if I came there...I knew what you'd think I wanted." Billie found that even if he wasn't bound to the chair and blindfolded, he wouldn't be able to move or blink anyway. It was Tim? Timothy Lockwood Armstrong? That was the person who'd just kissed him so sweetly? That was his kidnapper?

His own response surprised him. "Yeh, this is a real fucking great way to earn my trust," he scoffed angrily, any hint of nervousness gone from his voice. Tim, however, didn't move from where he was behind Billie as he continued, just pulled back a bit.

"I thought trust was an obligatory part of love," Tim's slightly scratchy voice retorted, putting the emphasis on 'love' almost mockingly. Billie Joe didn't reply, waiting for Tim to say something else. After a long wait, he did. "You do love me, right? That is what you said?," Tim asked, his voice giving nothing away about how he felt about the knowledge.

Billie debated his answer for a moment. Finally, deciding he was tied to chair at Tim's mercy anyway, he might as well be truthful. Suddenly he felt like those guys you see in movies getting interrogated. "Yes," he murmured, dropping his head. Once again he felt Tim lean down.

"Yes what, Billie Joe?," he whispered, then kissed his neck. Billie fought to keep his eyes open as Tim's tongue traced a small circle over his skin. Why was he being so damn gentle? It was so unlike his usual behavior that it was unnerving.

"Yes, I love fucking love you!," Billie answered, attempting in vain to pull away from Tim's soft kisses. He couldn't let himself get distracted now, Tim was quite obviously doing something wrong and he should by all rights be mad as hell.

"You sure had an interesting way of coming to that point," Tim told him flatly, stepping back from him and once again becoming invisible to Billie. He felt anger rise up in him again.

"What, you think it was easy telling you?," he shouted back blindly. "Christ! You come around like 3 times a year and don't even stay long enough to talk!"

"Lose my phone number?," Tim queried calmly. Billie sputtered for a minute and Tim continued. "Forgot where I live?" Billie felt Tim's hands on each of his arms, leaning closer, and found he still had no response. "You could have asked."

"Asked?," he replied in a meek voice, expecting another one of those spookily nice kisses now that he could feel Tim's breath on his lips. Instead, Tim pushed away from him and Billie heard him walk back a few paces.

"Yes, asked, Billie Joe," Tim stated, his tone still irritatingly calm, as if he were explaining something to a child. "You were mad cuz I never stay, but you never bothered to ask me to. I'm not a mind-reader."

Billie Joe opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He closed his mouth again quietly. Tim was absolutely right. He'd never said a word about anything. Tim chuckled mirthlessly somewhere nearby.

"Don't you just hate being wrong, Billie Joe?," he said. "How was I supposed to know if you wanted more than sex? You never told me."

Once again failing for any good argument, Billie sighed heavily. "Do you think you could untie me now?," he asked exasperatedly. His request was met with the sound of flesh hitting something solid as Tim punched a wall.

"And there you fucking go again! Always about what I can do for you!," Tim yelled at him, definately pissed now. "Did you ever stop to think about how I felt leaving in the middle of the night because I wasn't sure if you wanted me there in the morning? Or showing up after a few months not even knowing if you were still interested? No! You fucking didn't, did you? Because it's just about your feelings." Tim's voice dropped as he leaned close to Billie Joe again. "You say you love me, Billie Joe? I'm calling bullshit. You don't love anyone but yourself." Only then did Tim kiss him again, except this time it was decidedly familiar to both of them, Tim's lips very nearly bruising his own in the few seconds that it lasted.

The outburst was followed by the sound of a door slamming. Tim had left again. Only this time, Billie Joe had quite a bit to think about.

With all the thoughts that ran through his head, Billie Joe couldn't have pinpointed the amount of time it took for Tim to come back. It could have been ten minutes, it could have been an hour. He had been so quick to assume that since Tim was in charge of their physical relationship that he would also be in charge of their emotional relationship, if one existed. He saw the fault now, what Tim had said was true. It suddenly boggled his mind that Tim came back at all after the first time, he knew that he himself certainly wouldn't have had the strength or willpower to do it if he were in Tim's position. Lost in these and other thoughts, he barely registered the sound of the door before the blindfold was lifted, rather carefully, from his face.

Billie's eyes took a moment to adjust to the light in the room, though dim as it was, and when they finally did he looked up at Tim. The other man was standing over him with his jaw set, concentrated on what he was doing - which was cutting the duct tape that held Billie Joe's wrists to the arms of the chair. Once this was done he tossed the everyday kitchen knife he used into Billie's lap, presumably so he could cut his own ankles free, and turned away silently.

After disengaging the rest of his binds, Billie Joe looked up to see Tim standing, his back towards him and arms crossed, looking out the window. It was night time, which either meant that Billie had slept through a whole day in that uncomfortable position or that only a few hours had passed since he had been 'kidnapped'. The aching in Billie Joe's limbs as he stood up suggested to him that it was the former of the two options. He watched Tim's sillhouette a moment longer before speaking.

"Tim...," he started, not sure what to say or if he even should say anything. His brain screamed at him to just leave, run away from the psychopath who had kidnapped him and get the hell out of California, as far away from Tim Armstrong as possible. However, Billie Joe still believed he was in love with said psychopath, and if he was smart he'd be teaching math classes instead of playing punk rock, so he stayed.

Tim's voice broke the awkward silence. "The validity of what you said as I left last time wasn't lost on me," he said in monotone, once again calm or at least faking it really well. "In fact it bugged me a lot. It ate at me for the last two months. I was almost convinced that I was the selfish one, that it was my fault that pointless sex was all we had together, and that I had hurt you. Do you know how that made me feel?" He paused momentarily, awaiting a reply.

Billie Joe took a step towards Tim. "Probably...about the same way I feel right now," he suggested, hoping his voice was as apologetic as he needed it to be. Tim turned around to look at him.

"Everyone noticed how weird I was acting, how withdrawn. Lars even went so far as to ask me if I'd started doing drugs again. So I told him." He paused again, not for a response this time, but to smirk at the look of surprise on Billie's face. "Yeah, that's right, I told Lars. And you know what he said to me? He said that every relationship, emotional or physical or whatever, every relationship is a two-way street. If I was fucking you, you were fucking me just as hard, Billie Joe. So don't go trying to make me feel guilty for your inability to communicate."

Billie Joe blanced at this accusation, and only then did he realize how true to form it was. Maybe he was bad at communicating, after all. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and looked down at the floor. "Tim, I'm...I'm sorry," he told him hopelessly.

"Sorry?," Tim repeated, raising an eyebrow. "You're sorry. Fuck you, Billie Joe. That's not enough." He turned back towards the window, now leaning against the cold glass and staring out at the night. Billie remained silent, and Tim inevitably began to talk again. "I treated you like shit, I know it. I thought you liked it that way. If I had known you wanted me to be less violent, I would've; if I had known you wanted me to stay, I would've. I'd have done anything you wanted me to, Billie, and I did. I even left when you asked." Tim's voice dropped quite noticably when he finished.

Taking all this in quietly, Billie ran his hands through his hair and sighed inwardly. "God, I'm fucking blind," he muttered, more to himself than to Tim. He should've seen all this before - Tim was only playing into what he enjoyed, that had been obvious all along. Now he couldn't imagine how much it had hurt Tim when he'd forced him to leave after telling him he loved him. How would he have felt, if the situations were reversed? Like shit.

"I'm not going to ask you to leave, because I'd never do that," Tim stated, still looking at the floor. "But I'm not going to keep you here if you don't want to stay." He was quiet, but his tone held a touch of finality. Billie Joe knew that if he walked out now, this would be the last meeting with Tim he'd have of any sort. Definitavely, he returned to the chair he'd spent the last God-knows-how-many hours in and leaned back. Tim looked up at him almost questioningly then moved to sit on the side of his bed, facing Billie Joe.

They sat, quietly watching each other, for a long time. "I don't know what would make you understand how guilty I felt after leaving the last time. I didn't want to, but I had to, because you asked me. You've always been in control here, even if you don't know it and it doesn't seem like it," Tim told him quietly after the silence. "I don't know what else to say to make you understand."

Billie looked at his hands, which were folded in his lap. He swallowed hard before replying. "So don't tell me - show me."

The request communicated everything Tim needed to know concisely, and he reached out to take one of Billie's hands in his own as he stood up. Billie followed suit and once they were both standing, Tim released his hand. In almost a replay of before, he touched Billie's chin and made him look up. Only this time, Billie wasn't blindfolded, and he could see the sincerity in Tim's eyes as he leaned in and pressed their lips together gently.

Billie leaned into the kiss as Tim's arms slid around his waist to pull him closer. Their tongues moved softly over each other and Tim's thumb was rubbing small, deft circles through the material of Billie Joe's t-shirt. It was the complete extreme opposite of the way they usually were together but neither was complaining. Tim moved back against the bed and sat down, not breaking the kiss, and pulled Billie Joe onto his lap.

Tim's hands slipped under the other man's shirt and pulled it upwards, their lips finally parting as he moved it over his head and discarded it somewhere on the floor. Billie tipped his head down and planted soft kisses in a line down the side of Tim's neck, pausing to trace his collarbone with his tongue before pulling Tim's shirt off as well. He pressed him back onto the bed before continuing his mouth's course, sliding down his chest to lap at his right nipple then suck on it gently. Tim moaned, barely audible, and ran a hand through Billie Joe's hair.

As the other man started to slide lower, his hands moving to unbuckle Tim's belt, he grasped Billie Joe's shoulders lightly and guided him back up to kiss him softly. Tim forced him gently onto his back and shook his head, not saying anything before he started to tenderly move his lips across Billie Joe's neck and chest. Billie let his eyes slip shut, his hands sweeping over Tim's shoulders and down his back, and he moaned at the gentle touches. Tim stradled Billie Joe's hips and pressed himself into him very lightly, his mouth still moving over the other man's torso.

"Billie Joe...," Tim started breathlessly, but was cut off as Billie Joe wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and brought his head back to kiss him, more feverishly this time. With his other hand he pulled Tim's pelvis towards his own, grinding upwards roughly and enjoying the soft growl from the back of Tim's throat that reverberated inside his own mouth. Tim's hands snaked down to unbuckle Billie Joe's belt as quickly as he could manage.

Tim pulled away from the kiss, flicking his tongue gently across Billie's lower lip before once again moving his mouth to his neck. His kisses were almost infuriatingly sweet as they trailed over Billie's chest but he just held onto Tim and tilted his head back. All the while Billie continued to lift his hips up to rub across Tim's, elated with the contact. Tim pulled away from the rhythm, his fingertips slipping inside Billie's pants to his thighs before pulling them off. He moved down the other man's body until his tongue was tracing the waistline of his boxers, before pulling those off as well.

Pressing a kiss against Billie's stomach, right above his cock, Tim let his hands drift to the his hips. He sat up a bit and took just the head of Billie's dick into his mouth, sucking on it very softly before his lips descended frustratingly slowly. Billie didn't object though, just grazed his hands over Tim's back and up to his shoulders as his breathing became more labored. Tim moved his mouth back up the length, increasing the pace a tiny bit with each movement. Each stroke becoming faster, each time making Billie squirm more and each moan becoming louder.

"Oh...fuck...Tim!," Billie called out, arching his back and burying himself in Tim's mouth as the tension in the pit of his stomach exploded. Tim's hands moved soothingly over Billie Joe's thighs as he came. After a moment, Billie collapsed back onto the bed exhaustedly and Tim crawled back up his body.

Tim teased Billie's lower lip with his tongue again before kissing him, Billie reacting slowly but effecient enough for the sweet kiss. Laying down next to him, Tim put an arm over Billie's chest and pulled him closer then rubbed his side softly. Once recovered, Billie leaned up to kiss Tim again, his hands drifting towards his belt until Tim pushed them away and broke the kiss.

"Nah, you need to rest," Tim told him, shaking his head slightly. Billie furrowed his brow in disappointment, and Tim grinned at him. "Really. Do you have any idea how long you were tied up?"

"No," Billie conceded, then nuzzled Tim's neck tiredly. "I guess it probably was a while though." Tim nodded in response, sliding an arm behind Billie Joe's shoulders and pulling him to his chest.

"Yeh, a long time," he remarked, tracing small, indiscernable designs on Billie's shoulders as his eyes slipped close.

"Tim?," Billie asked quietly after a space of contented silence. Tim responded with a questioned 'mmm' noise, not bothering to open his eyes. "You want me to stay?," Billie continued almost hestiantly.

Tim turned his head a bit to look at the other man, opening only one eye. "Is that what you want?"

Billie Joe nodded, not able to keep a small smile from his face. Tim smiled as well and kissed Billie Joe briefly, then reached down to pull a blanket over the both of them. Billie rolled over and nestled against Tim's chest, still smiling.

"We're okay now, right?," Tim whispered quietly. Billie Joe stopped himself from answering too quickly, and actually thought for a second.

"I don't think we have the option of being 'okay', but...," he trailed off, sounding thoughtful, as if there was something bugging him.

"But...what?," Tim asked curiously.

"Well...I never got to finish my bagel."