These Violent Delights

by Micah Nemerever

Paul never asked where the nickname came from, because it didn’t matter—what mattered was that Julian had given it to him unbidden.

that there was a difference between the law and what was just,

Perhaps that would have to be another self-improvement project for the journal—observing how grown men spoke and behaved around each other so that he could mimic it more effectively.

The snap of cruelty didn’t surprise him. He’d been expecting it all along. Everything about Julian was shaded with the threat of it—even his affection felt dangerous, as if it might curdle at any moment into derision.

“You’re so certain,” he said distantly. “Incomplete evidence, inferences clearly rooted in bias—not your best work. And here I was, doing everything I could to help you stay certain, because I thought I’d finally found a way to love you and have you even notice I was doing it.”

“How sick is that?” he said. “I’m just as much of a monster as you are.”