Dreams had never been Rep’s friend. Even with the guys he was still sometimes thrown into creeping nightmares of missions past or further back to his childhood. Asleep was the only place he was ever truly alone.

The city stretched before him, not quite Vegas, not quite the Glasgow skyline, a starless sky overhead with ancient soot blackened stone intermingling with sleek glass and metal. Neon was reflected in unnatural ways from rain drenched streets and faceless people, too far away to be more than ants milled about their business. It was nauseatingly high, an unreal shifting distance below him as he peeked over the edge. He pulled back hurriedly – it was too high – and turned on his heel to go back inside.

As he turned he stopped in his tracks, faced with himself.

No, not himself. His other self, a man dressed in an expensive and seductively tailored blue suit, fur draped across him as effortlessly as if it was his own, radiating a feline sort of smugness that made him feel as elegant as a newborn foal.

“Sup?” he purred.

“What the ******** are you doing here?”

“I came with you man, my world’s gone forever. And I guess eventually I will be too.” He didn’t seem fazed by this prospect, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. The smell of expensive smoke curling around him made Rep want to fall off the wagon again.

“And what does that have to do with me?” he snapped.

“You, my dour faced man, are my only hope. You let me stay, I get to live on, in a fashion, alongside my Ace.”

“And if I say no?”

“If you say no then I will vanish forever, as if I never existed. And he will be alone.” Another shallow exhale. “I’m no gonnae beg ye. You know what it feels like. Would you want me to take mercy on you if it wis the other way roon?”

As much as he resented this other him, this gaudy, flamboyant affront to everything that he stood for, a man who cheated with permission, who lived a life of relatively safe luxury and wielded power beyond what he could hope for, he couldn’t consign him to oblivion.

“I’m no as lucky as you think” the not-him said. “I had everything I could ever want. Except them. Except time. That’s all I want. ”

“It’s all any of us want.” he replied bitterly. He had no time either. Sure, his Harrison and Jordan were always by his side, but all of their numbers were up, they had no kingdom, no penthouse, no personal army.

“What do you say then?”

He turned his back on that other him.

“You know the answer. You are me as much as I am you. I wouldn’t leave him alone.” He remembered hands closed on fabric, words traced on his skin that he could still almost feel. Longer drawn out memories, echoes of his own.

The other him closed the distance with a jingle of gold and slung his arms around his waist, it was a bizarre feeling. He purred in his ear and the luxuriant furs tickled his neck.

“Maybe one day you’ll loosen up. Maybe you’ll have all of this.”

He looked out at the glittering skyline. “No.” he said grimly.

“I’ll have more.”

“Now ******** off before I change my mind.”