Eric
ERIC
Monday morning rolled around, and entered the precinct with a distinct feeling of unease. After the intense night at the bar on Friday, Blaine had remained silent the whole weekend. Every time heard his phone go off or thought someone was at the door, he went tense and broke into a light sweat. None of them had been Blaine, but he had been dreading his return to work.
David was eyeing him as he came through the door. The usual book in his hand was missing, replaced by a lighter and a can of lighter fluid.
“What?” demanded at the man’s scrutiny.
“What, what?” David asked innocently.
“You’re the one staring,” told him.
“I’m just looking. I’m supposed to be watching the front door, remember?”
“Right, and instead, you’re staring me down and playing with a lighter.”
“Refilling.”
“Whatever. Since when do you smoke?”
“I don’t,” David told him, flipping the lighter open and lighting it. “I just like having one on me. Always have.”
“Ugh, don’t let anyone else hear you say that. The last thing we need is rumors of a firebug in our precinct,” told him.
David’s eyes widened, face losing a shade or two of color. “Shit.”
smirked at him. “Yeah, exactly.”
Smug in his victory, he left David to stare at him as he walked to his office. He wasn’t too proud to admit to a wash of relief at finding it empty. It meant there would be time before he had to face Blaine.
Didn’t stop him from jerking in alarm when his phone buzzed in his pocket, though. Wincing at his overblown reaction, he pulled his phone out to see a message from Sean.
Why is Blaine asking to talk to me?
frowned at his phone.
I have no idea. You ask him.
Pretty sure you should be asking.
Why?
Because.
No. Fuck off.
You’re his partner.
And he’s asking you. Go away.
He tossed his phone on his desk, ignoring the next buzz. There was no way in hell he would argue with his brother. wasn’t even entirely sure how Blaine had gotten Sean’s number. Then again, he could remember Blaine’s talent for getting into places he shouldn’t and knowing things he had no business knowing.
snorted, shaking his head as he remembered all the times Blaine had picked ’s pocket just to irritate him. He would spend several minutes cursing up a storm about whatever he lost, only to turn around and find it placed right in front of him. Meanwhile, Blaine would look innocent to all save ’s sharp eye, who would catch the gleam of amusement in his friend’s face.
He jerked in surprise when a tall, steaming cup was placed in front of him. The rich smell of coffee filled his nose as he whirled around.
“Morning,” Blaine said, walking toward his desk.
said nothing, watching Blaine warily as the man plopped down behind his desk and powered up his computer. Blaine looked more relaxed than before, though couldn’t quite say how he knew. There might have been a looseness to his shoulders, and his movements didn’t seem nearly as quick and precise. It had occurred to that he might be seeing shadows where there weren’t any, but that didn’t stop his suspicious evaluation.
Blaine looked up, blinking slowly. “What?”
felt his cheeks warm, turning to face his desk again. “Nothing.”
“Planning on drinking your coffee? Stuff is too expensive to let it go cold.”
looked down at the cup, frowning when he spotted Mithril’s label. Now the man was bringing him expensive coffee? He shot his partner another suspicious look before taking a drink, unable to help the low sound of pleasure at the bitter, rich taste of the coffee.
Blaine shifted in his seat, and felt the heat return to his cheeks. The memory of Friday night rushed back in complete clarity. could almost feel the press of Blaine’s hard body behind him, hips grinding tightly against his ass, and his hand wrapped around him.
Not caring about his thoughts for the moment, he turned and shot a dirty look at Blaine.
“What?” Blaine asked, the picture of pure innocence.
huffed and, once more, forced himself to look at his screen. Thankfully, there seemed to be something waiting for him in the urgent messages. He’d already told Blaine what happened on Friday wasn’t an invitation for something more.
Sure, Blaine had made a few good points, well, several good points. certainly hadn’t had any counterargument to throw back in his face. In fact, the only thing he’d thrown was himself. He still wasn’t sure how to explain that other than hormones, alcohol, and the intense emotions bouncing between them in the narrow alley.
With an inward cringe, he also had to admit that he’d never seen Blaine that worked up before. Blaine never raised his voice, and he’d been shouting in the alley, his voice low and booming. had felt the vibrations in his toes. He wasn’t sure what it said about him that he’d found it oddly attractive.
“Huh,” Blaine grunted.
looked up, blinking. He’d been staring at the message in front of him without really seeing it. “Uh, what?”
“You’ve got it open. Weren’t you reading the message?” Blaine asked.
The wry tone almost had flushing again, but he kept the reaction at bay. “Was making a grocery list in my head. Forgot to go this weekend.”
Blaine made a faint noise of understanding, though would swear there was amusement under it. “The report on the gadgets came back.”
straightened, focusing on the message in front of him. “Let’s see here.”
Blaine waved a hand at him obligingly. “Be my guest. I tried reading the thing, and it made less sense than when the corps accidentally sent me a list of medical supplies.”
“Why did the corps send you a list of medical supplies?”
“I said it was an accident.”
“Since you weren’t medical, that’s one hell of an accident.”
“Not when it was supposed to go to my CO instead. Handy to know the treatments for uh...things.”
tore his gaze away to raise a brow at Blaine. “Things?”
“Classified, dangerous things.”
“Right.”
He really didn’t want to know.
“Seems like,” said, reading over the analysis, “most of the parts of these little gadgets are plastic.”
“Smart, that would melt like ice in fire,” Blaine said.
nodded. “But you still need metal bits. Helps with structural integrity and getting some of that oomph you need.”
“With the right tools, you could get all the bits and bobs you need from anywhere and build it at home,” Blaine pointed out.
“True,” drew out, tapping at the keyboard.
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ somewhere in there.”
smirked. “But our little firestarter is fond of a very particular type of metal.”
“That being?—”
pulled up the name and frowned at it. “A very long name for a specific type of alloy. But apparently, everyone calls it ‘Rice Metal.’ It’s not used for anything but specialty goods.”
“Rice metal?”
“Comes in little cylinders that can be melted down and used in molds or hammered out if someone wants. Apparently, cuts down on waste.”
“Ah, shaped like rice.”
“That’s the one.”
“Which means our arsonist is stealing it, or they’re specially ordering it.”
nodded. “And because our decent computers can actually run the fucking fancy programs they installed on them, I can make it do the busywork for everyone.”
Blaine snorted. “I noticed the chief didn’t include anyone else in this alert.”
“Because he likes me,” said smugly.
“Or he was trying to keep you busy for the day.”
“Rude.”
Blaine only chuckled as set the program running to start searching within specific parameters. They would need to find the places that had ordered that material, though he was leaning more toward the private than the business orders. He took a moment to fire his thoughts off to Morgan, knowing they would probably need a warrant to get the company to hand over the information. Otherwise, he could punch everything else in.
“Well?” Blaine asked.
snorted. “Please. Weren’t you paying attention in your training? This isn’t going to pop up overnight and be in our hands. We’ll be lucky if we can do anything this week. If Morgan’s feeling feisty, he might have what we need tomorrow, but?—”
Blaine slumped back in his seat. “I guess that means we sit around and do nothing all day again. Great.”
’s eyes flickered thoughtfully to the computer. “We could always continue combing through the other files we have. There’s bound to be something we missed that might be useful later.”
He didn’t bother to hide his grin as Blaine groaned, thumping his head back against the wall behind him. His partner hated paperwork with a passion that went beyond the average officer’s dislike. Despite having always been the one pegged for being restless, it was Blaine who had a hard time sitting still. So long as ’s mind was occupied, he was content to be left alone. Blaine had to be moving, and a restless Blaine was an irritating force of nature.
“If you need to work off some energy, there’s always the gym downstairs,” told him.
Blaine eyed him. “Uh-huh. You going to find yourself down there again after I get out of the shower?”
froze, mouth working soundlessly as he tried to find the words. He had avoided going to the precinct’s gym the last time because he’d appreciated having a couple of hours to slack off. He’d gone downstairs to find Blaine when he thought the man had been gone long enough. had sat in the stacks of the records room, trying to work up the nerve to ask his partner if he wanted to get a few drinks.
For friendly reasons.
“I was not ,” began hotly, glaring at Blaine, “down there for anything other than to give you a friendly invitation.”
“Never said you weren’t.”
“You are insinuating.”
“I don’t insinuate , you know that.”
“How could I? I haven’t known you for eight years.”
Blaine’s lips turned down, though his gaze stayed bright. “I’m pretty sure I made myself clear on Friday. None of that.”
huffed, turning his attention away from Blaine. Yeah, his partner had definitely made himself clear, and in more than one way. could still feel Blaine’s mouth on his, and a shiver ran down his back at the memory of the man’s possessive grip on his waist. For all his independence and refusal to bow to authority, had always loved the silent but powerful possessiveness Blaine had over him when they were alone.
And it should piss him off that it obviously hadn’t gone away. He was supposed to be keeping Blaine at arm’s length, not jumping him in a goddamn alley. But there he’d been, literally panting with need while Blaine had driven him out of his mind with want and pleasure.
“Oh, to be in your head right now,” Blaine all but purred.
“Go fuck yourself,” growled.
“I haven’t mastered that particular trick.”
He was not going to start imagining what that would look like.
motioned sourly toward the door. “Go, get rid of...whatever you have going on right now. You might want to slack on your work to go sweat all over the place, but I’m going to do my job.”
Blaine pushed himself up from his desk, smirking now. “Of course. I wouldn’t want you to be distracted.”
“I am not distracted for the reason you think,” said.
“Of course. You’re just...thinking hard about the case.”
“Yes!”
“Not about what we did.”
“Shut your goddamn mouth.”
“Or what I said.”
“I swear to all things in this world that are good and pure, I will end you, Blaine.”
Blaine stopped at the door, expression turning serious. “I meant what I said, by the way. All of it. Think on that while you’re ‘working,’ will you?”
snatched up the empty Styrofoam cup from his desk and hurled it as best he could at Blaine. “Fuck off!”
Blaine was already gone, though, and the cup hit the ground just past the door. It fluttered pathetically, rolling to a stop at the feet of Officer Cochran. David squinted down at the cup and then looked over to where Blaine was walking away.
“He seems...amused,” David said, squinting.
“Because he’s an ass,” huffed. “What the hell do you want, David?”
David’s gaze continued to linger on Blaine, the bastard’s laughter still echoing down the hallway. screwed up his eyes, trying very hard to stay in his chair and not try to find another, far more reliable projectile to launch at Blaine.
“Huh,” David finally grunted.
“Oh, sweet baby Jesus, what ?” barked.
“How’d he do it?” David asked.
rubbed his forehead. He knew he was going to end up with a headache soon. “Do what?”
“Finally, get you to stop being so...you.”
narrowed his eyes. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just insult me because the nearest thing I have to throw is a stapler.”
“Damn. Looks like I lost the bet.”
“What bet?” practically screeched.
“Whether you guys would actually become partners or end up in the hospital.”
“Fuck my life,” muttered.
It wasn’t like he and Blaine were okay . Blaine might have given him a lot to think about, that was for sure, and not just the hot and heavy something that had gone down outside the bar. He could remember Blaine trying to talk to him, trying to explain, back when he’d announced he’d signed up for the military. only wished he could remember the man’s words.
The one thing that stuck with him, though, was the mention of letters. The calls he could dismiss, he’d been forced to change his number after Blaine had left, not because of Blaine but because had gotten royally drunk a week after Blaine had shipped out and dropped his phone in a lake. The damn thing was probably still at the bottom, along with all the pictures he would have forced himself to delete eventually.
David was still standing there.
“Do you have a reason to stand in my office like an ugly statue?” asked him.
David jerked back to life. “Oh, right. Your brother.”
turned quickly. “What about him?”
David reached into his pockets. “He’s left a few messages for you. Apparently, you’re not answering your phone?”
’s expression fell flat. “You’re kidding.”
David held out a few scraps of paper clutched between grease-smeared fingers. “Nope.”
wrinkled his nose. “Christ, Cochran, wash your fucking hands.”
“Ah, sorry. Was doing a little car maintenance before I came in.”
rolled his eyes, taking the papers and shooing David off. “Fine, fine. You’ve delivered your news. Go wash your hands.”
Sure enough, the messages from his brother were a continuation of their conversation.
If you don’t stop me, I’ll figure it out myself .
Answer your phone. Or I’ll call him myself.
They continued in the same tone until finally…
Already texted him back. I’m sure it’ll be a good chat.
“Unbelievable,” growled.
David shook his head as he walked off. “Ugh, tell me about it. I can’t believe I lost the bet. And I can’t believe the chief won.”
almost spilled out of his chair as he whirled around to screech indignantly out the door. “He what ?”