HSM: WIP Amnesty Secret Agent Man
Fandom: HSM
Pairing: Ryan/Chad UST
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 5,581
Spoilers: n/a
Warnings: n/a
Author's Note: WIP Amnesty.
Disclaimer: HSM belongs to Disney and Ortega.
Summary: Spy AU!
Secret Agent Man
“Ryan Evans? No way, man!”
It had been a long night, and Chad Danforth had meandered up to the open bar in search of a scotch, neat. His former classmate had just been an added bonus.
“Danforth?” Ryan asked, raising an eyebrow.
Chad sat down on the stool next to Ryan. “How’s it going? I haven’t seen you in ages, and I have to say, I did not expect to see you here of all places. What brings you to DC?”
“Business,” Ryan said dryly, taking a sip of his… whatever that was. It was classy but a little on the pink side. Maybe it was a cosmo. Chad had lost track of girl drinks around the time he had lost track of girls. Plus, his bartending days were long abandoned, last seen during his final semester of graduate work.
“Just business? That’s what brings you to some hoity-toity charity black tie affair?”
Ryan raised his eyebrow again.
“Right, right. All this ‘be seen’ stuff that you Evans’ have. So what are you up to these days? And how long has your hair been brown?”
The bartender approached him. “What’ll you have?” She sounded bored. It was nearing the end of the night, and there had been very little excitement. Not even any good gossip. Chad was on the lookout for both: that’s what he was being paid for.
He made of show of looking at her nametag. “I’ll have a scotch, Melinda. Neat.”
She smiled thinly at him before turning around to prepare his drink. Chad understood how she felt. He and she had been partners for long enough that they were able to read each other’s body language even when acting. Although, her lack of enthusiasm was not an act.
Their target did not show, which was rather rude of her. They had spent well over six hours scouring the premises and not even one of the target’s known associates had shown.
“I’m an actor. The hair change was for a role.” Ryan spoke to his drink, not to Chad.
“You really don’t feel like talking, do you?”
“No.”
Chad shrugged and thanked Melinda for his drink. “C’mon, Evans. Tonight has been the ultimate in boredom. You have to have some funny anecdote or something. You used to be really good at stuff like that.”
“Chad, what are you even doing here?”
“Business,” Chad said in a perfect imitation of Ryan’s tone.
Ryan gave him a leveling glare. “It was nice to see you, Danforth,” he said robotically. “I should be heading out. I have an a.m. flight tomorrow.”
“If you’re ever in town again, look me up.” Chad offered Ryan a business card. It had fake information on it, but it would eventually put Ryan in contact with him.
Ryan took it and put it in his jacket pocket. He gave Chad a tight smile before heading out.
“You look hot in a tux, Evans!” Chad called after him.
Ryan froze momentarily before strutting out into the thinning crowd.
“Looks like it’s just you and me, Melinda,” Chad observed sardonically, enunciating every syllable of her name.
“I’m not your type,” she said flatly in a tone that clearly stated that Chad was in a world of hurt when the event was over with, because it’s Lin, not Melinda, you bastard, and Chad was going to be the bartender next time, god damn it!
“He’s a former classmate of mine. We went to high school together. Our ten year reunion was a couple of years ago; maybe I should have gone, you know, if I hadn’t been elsewhere. He tell you anything interesting?”
“He didn’t have to: it was in the news rags about a year ago.”
“I don’t read that girly stuff. What’d it say?”
“He broke his leg in three to five places - depending on which source you read - and it didn’t heal properly. It cut his dancing career short, and he lost the malpractice suit. He’s been down on his luck since.”
“That doesn’t explain what he would be doing in DC at a charity function for MS.”
She gave Chad a look that clearly said he should stop being so paranoid. “I’m going to announce last call.”
Chad nodded and downed his scotch. “I’ll see you later.”
: : : :
Melinda sat at the desk in her hotel room as Chad sat on the couch.
“Do you think we were fed false information?” Chad mused.
“I doubt it. The Colonel would have intercepted. I think the target was tipped off.”
Chad tugged at his tie. “I really hate it when that happens.”
Melinda sighed empathetically. “Me too.”
“So what did Ryan actually tell you about himself?” Chad asked eagerly.
“Why? Is he an ex-boyfriend or something?”
“Former friend. I disappeared from all records before we could do anything else.”
“He didn’t talk to me other than ordering and other pleasantries.”
“And he really did all that stuff you said?” It didn’t make any sense. Ryan was rich before he was born. There was no way that not being able to work this late in his life mattered. Maybe it was that he couldn’t do what he loved to do. Chad equated it to not being able to play basketball anymore. Yeah, it would suck, but life would go on. Besides, it’s not like Chad played basketball for his paycheck.
Ryan had acting and singing to fall back on, just like Chad had track and baseball.
And Ryan hadn’t limped when he left.
“Yeah. When was the last time you watched the news?”
“I don’t watch that celebrity watch crap.”
“And now you want me to tell you everything about your ex? I don’t think so, hon. Use a computer once and a while.”
“Hey now. You know I’ve been away.”
“And you think I’ve had nothing to do while you were gone?” She raised a sarcastic eyebrow.
Chad rolled his eyes. Women always felt the need to sass him. Men too, for that matter, but for the past seven years he’d had women partners. He spent the majority of his time with women, and his brief rendezvous’ with men hadn’t required much talking.
“You want to contact the Colonel or do you want me to?” he asked.
She gave him an unimpressed look.
“Fine, together. I was hoping that maybe one of us would sleep tonight. I’m going to the bathroom. Be back.”
Melinda booted up her computer and was in contact with the Colonel when Chad returned.
“Colonel,” Chad greeted. His tone was clipped and professional.
“I trust you and Agent Hill have neutralized the target?”
Chad and Melinda exchanged a look, and Melinda answered. “Ma’am, the target failed to show.”
The Colonel pursed her lips. “This is unfortunate. The NSA is also after this target, and they have proposed a collaboration. Agent Hill, you are to be reassigned. Report to your rendezvous at 0800 local tomorrow. Agent Danforth, you will also be reassigned. Report to your rendezvous at 0800 local tomorrow.”
The video stream went dead.
“Well, that sucks,” Chad stated. “I hope that you’re the one to cooperate with the NSA. They kinda have a grudge against me.” You blow up one embassy and you’re blacklisted forever. In all fairness, it was his last option.
Melinda gave him a scrutinizing look.
“That story is beyond classified, Lin. Sorry. It was nice working with you, though.”
“You too, Chad.”
: : : :
Unfortunately for Chad, his rendezvous point was in San Francisco. Not anywhere under three thousand miles away. He had needed to commit several speeding violations on his way to the military base just to land in San Francisco by 0800 local.
He didn’t even have a change of clothes. But he did have a five hour flight to review his new partner’s case file. He had everything but a name and an agency. The agent had been in the public eye until a serious injury. The government then covered up the recovery and turned her into an agent. Hand-to-hand was her specialty. Apparently she was good at her job considering all the places she had been and the jobs she had done, and she had a mouth on her as bad as Chad’s own. That was going to be interesting.
He made it with four minutes to spare, but his contact was already waiting for him in an abandoned warehouse on the Wharf.
Chad took a deep breath. This was his NSA contact. He was going to be forced into a partnership with some NSA bitch who had undoubtedly read his files about the embassy in Kosovo and would hold it over his head in a superior fashion.
“Agent Danforth,” he greeted.
“Agent Lee,” Chad said stoically.
“Your new partner is to arrive shortly.”
“She didn’t come with you?”
“He,” Lee corrected.
Chad raised his eyebrows. “My first male partner? Why?”
“The NSA felt that it might inhibit certain impulses.”
Chad bit his tongue to keep from saying something foul.
“He needed to ‘freshen up,’ I believe his words were.”
Great. The NSA was going to stick Chad with some prima donna who was probably worse than all of his previous female partners. That was karma, he supposed.
Ryan Evans entered the building wearing skinny jeans, a very tight t-shirt, and a leather jacket that must have been made for him, judging by the way it clung in all the right places.
“Him?!” Chad shouted. “He’s my punishment?!”
“I never said anything about punishment, Agent Danforth. Agent Evans is highly trained and overly qualified to do his job as well as your own.” Lee had a superior tone to his voice that mocked Chad in ways that made him want to commit several illegal acts. “He has been fully briefed on the situation and will hinder any questionable behavior on your part.”
The smirk Ryan gave him had the same tone as Lee’s voice.
That was when Chad decided that the universe hated him.
“We need to have a long chat, Evans,” Chad declared.
“Hopefully that chat will include your orders,” Lee said and handed Chad a thumb drive.
Chad scoffed. “Yeah. That might come up.”
“They warned me about that mouth of yours, Danforth.” Ryan was smirking at him again and then sized him up. “Among other things.”
Chad snorted. “Thanks, Lee. I think we can take it from here.”
Lee nodded and headed out.
Ryan peered at Chad. “Do you have an apartment around here?”
“Aren’t you forward? Didn’t you look that up as well?”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Montara. I’ll meet you there.”
: : : :
Ryan had made himself at home in Chad’s apartment when he arrived.
“What took you so long?” Ryan asked. Chad was starting to hate that superior tone. He hadn’t heard it in years, and it still bothered him.
“There’s no food in the house, so I stopped off at the market.” Chad dropped a grocery bag and a messenger bag on the kitchen counter.
Ryan raised an eyebrow.
“So NSA, huh?”
“So CIA, huh?” Ryan parroted back. “I always wondered why you suddenly stopped returning my calls. I thought that we had been on our way to a healthy relationship.”
Chad frowned. “Relationship?” He shook his head. “I thought you were an actor.”
“I was until I broke my leg.”
“But that was, what? Two years ago?”
“Yes.”
“And what role would the hair play?”
“Blond is too recognizable. Did you know that you have five CIA bugs and two NSA bugs in your apartment?”
“Five? No, it’s six. You missed one. I know this is hard for you to believe, Evans, but I am good at my job.”
“According to the NSA, you’re a loose cannon.”
“I’m sure you’ve read that file. I doubt it comes as any surprise to you.”
“Not really.”
“What’s with the leather?” Chad couldn’t resist asking.
Ryan’s expression closed off. “It was a gift.”
Chad nodded. He knew the kind: it was from a partner killed in the line of duty.
“Do you want a beer?” Chad offered.
“It’s nine in the morning,” Ryan pointed out.
Chad shrugged. “That’s the only drink I have to offer other than water. I don’t even have instant coffee.”
“Water’s fine.”
“Since you’ve already made yourself at home, why don’t you boot up my computer, and I’ll grab you some water.”
: : : :
“So,” Chad said but didn’t follow it up. He set a glass of water next to Ryan’s elbow and peered over his shoulder at the computer.
“The drive?” Ryan prompted and held out his hand.
Chad dug the thumb drive out of his pocket and placed it in Ryan’s hand.
Once connected to the computer, a detailed outline of the target popped up. He already knew most of it. Her codename was Sunbird: her real name was unknown. She was allegedly from Tobago, and she must have received a college education to be as advanced as she was with chemistry. She was the inventor and distributor of a new narcotic known on the streets of the US as “Dove’s Wings” and abroad as “Cu.” It was an aerosol, taken like a breath spray. It was a highbrow drug, and pricey to boot, with devastating side effects up to and including death. She had supposedly been in DC for the MS function to deal to those who had MS: it supposedly gave the user unsurpassed clarity and rumored existentialist experiences.
This information was accompanied by a fuzzy headshot taken through a security camera over a year ago. She could have been an entirely different person by now, different hair, different face, different build even. But she couldn’t change her skin tone: it was several shades darker than Chad’s own.
It didn’t make sense. His specialty was cybernetics with a bit of dabbling in forensics, and he had read that Ryan’s specialty was hand-to-hand.
“Why isn’t the DEA in on this?” Chad mused. “They don’t have a grudge against me like your people.”
“They spent near a billion in taxpayer’s money to repair your collateral damage,” Ryan reminded him. “I’d hold a grudge if that were my money.”
“But why the NSA and not the DEA? That doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m sure there’s some classified reason why the DEA’s not working this with us.” Ryan sounded professional and insightful. His voice was still as light as it was all those years ago, but it wasn’t the same. There was some twist in his voice that upturned Chad’s sense of the way the universe should be.
“You don’t walk with a limp,” Chad blurted.
Ryan turned fully around to peer at him. “Right.”
“Shouldn’t you have a limp if you had an injury that didn’t heal correctly?”
“Not necessarily. The official report says neurological damage, so that could be anything.”
“Huh. Sunbird’s rumored to be on her way to us: San Francisco’s the next step on her world tour. Why would she skip Miami and New York and LA?”
“She has a new partner,” Ryan explained.
“Why isn’t that in the report?”
Ryan dug another thumb drive out of his own pocket. “Because it’s on this.”
“Were you planning to share that?”
“Eventually.”
“Nice to see you’re still as insufferable as you were back then.” Chad smiled fondly.
“You’re not the only one with a mouth on you. There is a reason we’ve been partnered.”
“Are we supposed to sass ourselves into oblivion so we know what it’s like or some such nonsense?”
“The government version of poetic justice, I suppose.” Ryan shrugged as he opened the NSA file on Sunbird’s accomplice.
Her codename was Jewel, real name Cindra Pokkar. She attended the University of Arizona but was kicked out in 2008 as a second semester sophomore for creating a meth lab. She started dealing to college students and was arrested several times. She then traveled the world and eventually met Sunbird.
“Her codename is Jewel?” Chad scrutinized her picture. “She looks familiar.”
“She should. We went to school with her. Cindra Pokkar.”
“I never had a class with her.”
“She graduated the year before us. She, uh, was a soprano in the drama club.”
“Sharpay turned her to the dark side or something?”
Ryan growled at him. Full out growled. “Don’t you dare fucking talk about my sister like that again.”
“Dude. What - I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
“No. Don’t talk about my sister like that again. Just - just don’t.”
“Alright. I won’t.” Chad frowned. He would look up any files on Sharpay later, because something had to have happened to her. Something unpleasant. He changed the subject. “Pokkar’s why we’re both on this?”
“I would assume so.”
“Will Pokkar meet up with Sunbird in San Francisco? Because otherwise, it doesn’t matter if we went to high school with her.”
“Yeah. After Sunbird distributes, the two of them are rumored to be heading on a tour of Australasia. So we may be in contact with the ASIS.”
Chad hummed thoughtfully and dug a copy of The San Francisco Chronicle out of the grocery bag.
He dropped the paper in front of Ryan.
“I’ve worked with the ASIS before, but let’s make sure it doesn’t come to that.”
Ryan picked up the paper. The main headline was about an earthquake that had happened yesterday in the north, but in the entertainment section was a list of charity events: Cancer of all types, HIV/AIDS, Heart disease, natural disasters, Alzheimer’s, and Autism.
“It could be either Alzheimer’s or Autism,” Ryan reasoned. “Alzheimer’s is on the 15th and Autism’s on the 17th.”
“Good thing they’re not on the same night.”
“I’m just worried about the distribution she could squeeze in between now and then.”
“Or if it’s another no-show like in DC - I assume that’s why you were there.”
Ryan gave him a bland look. “Of course.”
“Business,” Chad cited, adopting Ryan’s tone.
“It was.” Ryan shrugged.
“You weren’t very chatty.”
“No,” he agreed.
“And you’re not very chatty now, either.”
“No,” Ryan repeated.
“Any reason for that, or am I gonna have to go dumpster diving through your files?”
“I’d prefer if you didn’t. And if you remember, I was never very chatty.”
“You were also really spacey.” Chad shrugged. “Scroll down.” Ryan did so, and Chad read. “This is our cover?” His voice squeaked.
“Not man enough for the challenge?” Ryan taunted. “I’m sure you’ve had to do the same with many of your female partners.”
“No, it’s… That’s really open for the government. And, well. I haven’t seen you or heard from you in years, and now we’re supposed to have been together for those years, and if it weren’t for the government, I don’t know, maybe we could have. It’s like some weird parallel universe of what might have been.”
“I don’t recall you being so sentimental.”
Chad blushed.
Ryan smiled cheekily. “My stuff is already in your bedroom.”
“That’s presumptuous of you.”
Ryan made kissy faces at him.
“I don’t recall you being so immature.”
“It’s a gift, really.”
Chad sighed. “Let’s get our facts straight, then. You read them out while I put the groceries away.”
“Sure.”
“Actually, do you want an omelet? I have some cheese and ham if you’d like.”
“I’m fine, thanks. I ate before we met.”
“Your loss. I happen to make a mean omelet.”
“You can make me breakfast in bed tomorrow.”
“Oh, hell no. This is a relationship where both participants are equal. I’m drawing that line right now.”
“I think it would be romantic.”
“It would be - if we were in an actual relationship.”
“So. We met as undergrads at Berkley our junior year in a core Econ class. We continued at Berkley on the graduate level. You were a Computer Science Ph. D candidate. I suppose I should call you doctor, then. And I was a Political Science major who then earned a law degree concentrating in constitutional law. We had a brief courting period followed by a serious relationship.
“I’m currently a lawyer for the ACLU, and you are a higher up for Hewlett-Packard overseeing the SPI Dynamics. We have a house out on Lake Tahoe, and we both love to ski. In fact we’ve been around the world skiing.”
Chad waved a spatula at Ryan. “I’ve never been skiing before. Well, recreational skiing. Can we change that to SCUBA diving? We could have a house, I don’t know, on one of the keys down in Florida.”
“I think it would be best if we stuck to what our bosses gave us.”
“I’ve never done that, and it’s kept me alive so far. It’s all about being creative. Improv. I’m sure you’re familiar. What with the acting and all.”
“There’s no need for hostilities, Danforth.”
“Call me ‘Chad,’ lover boy,” he said dryly. “I doubt if we’ve been in a relationship for about ten years you’d be calling me by my last name. I was thinking our house could be on Key Largo, right on the water - Buttonwood Sound.”
“Have you been that person before?”
“Sure.”
“Really?”
“If I didn’t have this job, I would have a house down there.”
“Ah.”
“What else?” Chad asked. He flipped his omelet onto a plate and dug into it with gusto. “And how are we gonna deal with people recognizing you as, well, you?”
“That is easy, and one of the main reasons for the hair change: I can easily say that everybody always confuses us, but I would love to be an actor like that, and continue to wax on about the lifestyles of the rich and famous. It’s an old hat by now.”
“Speaking of which, where are your hats? That was, like, the thing that made you, you.”
“I don’t wear them anymore, except for special projects.”
“Huh. Okay,” Chad said, not believing it for a moment.
“Other things to know. Oh, I like this one. I’ve been after you to make me an honest man, ring and all.”
“Please tell me that you’re paraphrasing.”
“Yeah.” Ryan held up his left hand and wiggled his fingers. “But I see no bling on this finger. I’m not going to put out until I have a ring.”
“I doubt our relationship would have lasted ten days if you didn’t put out.”
“Are you calling me a harlot?” Ryan said, scandalized.
“Yup.” Chad smiled lazily around a forkful of egg.
“For that I’m sleeping on the couch tonight,” Ryan said indignantly.
“Good. More room for me in my bed.”
“No such luck. I follow my orders, even if that means crawling into your bed.”
“You make it sound like a chore.”
“It is my job, and I’m being paid for it… Oh, my God. I am a harlot.” Ryan gasped theatrically.
“My little government whore,” Chad said fondly.
Ryan scoffed. “Nothing about me is little.”
Chad raised his eyebrows condescendingly, but changed the subject. “So what’s your new name?”
“Brian Stevens. It’s easy enough to remember, and if you slip up, it won’t make much of a difference.”
“That wasn’t your name in DC,” Chad accused.
“Sunbird had failed to show, and you were going to be my partner.”
Chad narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “And my name?”
“You’re staying with Chad.”
“Easy enough.”
“You’re going to be Chad Danforth from Albuquerque, New Mexico, graduate of East High class of 2006.”
“I think I can handle that.”
“I should hope so.”
“So where was our first date?”
“It was a study date at the library to study for our midterms in March 2009.”
“Romantic,” Chad said in a deadpan.
“Afterwards we grabbed a late dinner at a café, and we went back to your apartment. You can fill in the rest however you’d like.”
“No innuendo there. So what’s the sex like?”
“No one’s going to ask that question.”
“I just did.”
“Fine. If it weren’t for the sex, I’d have left you years ago.”
“Oh, that’s encouraging. It doesn’t really fit with the making you an honest man part, though.”
“We have an active love life, and I’m secretly planning an extravagant anniversary celebration at our house on Key Largo,” Ryan supplied dully.
“So we do have a house in the Keys.”
“Why not?” Ryan shrugged.
“Cool.”
“Right. We have three days between now and the Alzheimer’s function. Do you want to take Berkley or Stanford?”
“I’ll take Stanford. I’m familiar with that campus, being an alum and all.”
“You’re a Berkley alum,” Ryan reminded him.
“You too, so you shouldn’t have any difficulty there.” Chad smiled ironically. “We’ll meet back here for dinner.”
“I’ll bring back some take out if you’d like.”
“Here,” Chad handed Ryan his cell phone. “Call me when you’ve finished the recon.”
Ryan took the phone and handed Chad his own. “Done.”
: : : :
Chad sunk down onto his bed. Stanford had been a dead-end and a waste of his time. The kids had no idea about the drug, let alone what it could do. Chad sincerely hoped that it would stay that way.
Ryan had yet to contact him, and Chad hoped that was a good thing.
He stared at Ryan’s bag, tucked into a corner by his closet.
There were about three hours before the dinner hour, well, what Chad considered the dinner hour. If he was lucky, he could catch a few hours of sleep before he had to start sharing his life with Ryan Evans.
: : : :
There was someone in the room. Chad dug his 9mill out from under his pillow and had the safety off and aimed before his eyes were even open.
“It’s just me, Danforth.”
Chad opened his eyes, sighed, and lowered his gun. Ryan’s hands were up in surrender. “Evans.”
“There’s lo mein in the kitchen.”
“Sorry. It’s, uh, been a while since I’ve lived with someone.”
“I understand why,” Ryan said dryly.
Chad chuckled darkly and put the safety back on before shoving it back under his pillow, and he followed Ryan to the kitchen. “What time is it?”
“Quarter after nine.”
“Cool. You find anything?” Chad asked as he snagged a pair of chopsticks and a carton of lo mein.
“No. Nothing. You?”
“Nothing.”
“Do you think Sunbird hasn’t circulated Cu this far north of LA?”
“I don’t think that’s it. Kids from LA do go to those schools.”
“Firsthand knowledge?”
“First boyfriend,” Chad mumbled around his chopsticks.
“Are you blushing?”
Chad raised his eyebrows but didn’t answer.
“Anyway, I think this will be the first time Sunbird will attempt to circulate in San Francisco.”
“You had a lead to suggest that?”
“A friend of a friend of someone down in LA mentioned that she had heard of a drug like Cu. She also gave me her phone number, myspace account, facebook account, and MSN messenger name. I think she wanted something, but it was too subtle for me to grasp.”
“I would have asked her if she had a brother.”
“I did ask her about her ex-boyfriend. She said that he was out of the picture.” Ryan snorted. “I asked for his phone number, and she slapped me.”
“Ouch.”
“Before the violence, she said that I should call her tomorrow to see if she was able to contact that friend of a friend about Cu.”
“Good. I had a whole lot of nothing. Not even a maybe.”
“Well, at least one of us will be earning his keep.”
“You are totally sleeping on the couch tonight.”
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to draw your weapon on me when I use the bathroom in the middle of the night?”
“Are you going to give me a reason to?”
“You’ve changed since college.”
“I’d imagine so. That was a long time ago.”
“How would you react if I told you that your confidence was sexy?”
“I’d probably say that last night I told you that you were hot in a tux.”
“But I am hot in my tux.”
“And my confidence is sexy.”
“You’re still as cocksure as you were.”
“Let’s not talk about what I was, okay? Let’s talk about how we’re going to deal with Sunbird.”
Ryan eyed him warily. “Do you have more information on her?”
“No.”
“Then what should we discuss? I’m going to follow up the one lead we have tomorrow.”
“Let me see how you are hand-to-hand.”
“You’d have to have read my file about that.”
“I did, but in order to assess how well we’ll work together, I want to see you in action.”
Ryan smirked.
: : : :
The government had created a home gym in Chad’s apartment with mats, weights, and treadmill. Chad called it the grind room. One wall was covered in mirrors, so that on the off chance that Chad was working with a partner, he would be able to familiarize himself with her - or his - moves from two sides.
It took Chad approximately thirty minutes to pin Ryan to the mat, and it took Ryan approximately a second to reverse their positions.
Ryan smirked down at Chad. Their chests fought against each other as they both gasped for breath.
“You’re good, Evans,” Chad conceded.
“I know,” Ryan said smugly.
“So now that you’ve proved it, what are you going to do?” Chad challenged.
“I intend to gloat.”
“And if I wanted something out of the deal?”
“I’ll make you wait until we were no longer working together.”
“No benefits from sharing a bed,” Chad grumbled, and Ryan climbed off of him.
“Keep it in your pants, Danforth.”
“I am perfectly capable of controlling myself,” Chad scoffed as he sat up. “I was just pointing out that I shouldn’t have to.”
“I have not shown an interest, in case you’re forgetting.”
“We’ve been flirting since last night, and you said my confidence was sexy.”
“That’s a fact, not an interest.”
Chad leaned against the wall. “Seems like an interest from where I’m standing.”
Ryan sighed. “You were right. What you said earlier: if it weren’t for our jobs, we could have had something. We could be who we’re portraying as our cover. But the thing is… we’re not those people. And we’re not the same people we were. It’s not going to happen.”
“The Romans had - ”
“Chad, I know about the Romans. Maybe when we’re no longer partners.”
“I’ll hold you to that. But now, I want a shower, and tomorrow I want you to teach me that no-handed cartwheel you did.”
: : : :
Going to sleep for the night was awkward. Even more so when they both went for the same side of Chad’s queen-sized bed. Once they had settled who would sleep on which side, Ryan mocked Chad because he had a queen-sized bed.
“Was the king-sized too much or were you letting your culture shine through?”
“Ryan, shut the hell up,” Chad sighed. “It’s a queen because that’s what the government bought. In the morning, let me know if you felt the pea, princess.”
Ryan grumbled. “If you’re my prince, I might as well sleep on the couch tonight.”
“Good. It’ll save me the headache in the morning. Jesus, after all these years you’re still a drama queen.”
“King,” Ryan retorted.
“Whatever. Let me sleep.”
Chad was on the cusp of sleep when Ryan mumbled, “Do I at least get a kiss goodnight?”
Chad groaned. “No.”
Ryan was silent for long enough that Chad assumed he had gone to sleep. He started to drift off, when Ryan said, “If we’ve been together for almost ten years, we should have minor PDAs and such.”
“We’re not in public. Now shut the fuck up.”
“I was - ”
Chad delivered a sharp kick to Ryan’s side, just above his kidney.
“That was uncalled for.”
“You tell me ‘no’ earlier, and now you’re saying ‘yes.’ All the while, I’m trying to sleep.”
“You want something that’s real. I’m talking about acting.”
Chad threw his blankets off. “I’m going to sleep on the couch. Good night, Evans,” he said sharply.
: : : :
Chad woke up with a sore back and sore temper after he remembered why he was sleeping on his couch. He hmphed as he cracked his back and resisted the urge to flop back down on the couch. The NSA hated him, and this was probably going to go on for all eternity unless Chad could one-up them at their own game - or Ryan’s game.
He pried himself off the couch and into the bathroom. Ryan barely responded as Chad passed.
~~~Stuff happens~~~
Taylor gave him a wry look, then took him aside. “Chad, honey, that man is Ryan Evan’s doppelganger. Do you love him or Ryan?”
“I love him, Tay, I really do.”
She put her hands on her hips. “When was the last time you even saw Ryan?”
“Last time work brought me to DC,” Chad grumbled, not seeing Taylor’s point.
“Brian seems nice, Chad, and I don’t want you to hurt him because he’s not who you want him to be.”
“He’s everything I want him to be,” Chad growled, temper thinning. Thankfully, Ryan saved him.
“Chad, I need to talk with you. It’s urgent.”
~~~More Stuff Happens~~~
How this ends: Taylor works for the DEA. She realizes that Brian is actually Ryan. She files away that information. The three of them close the case. Taylor then chews out Chad. Chad and Ryan part ways with a whole bunch of UST still in place.
Pairing: Ryan/Chad UST
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 5,581
Spoilers: n/a
Warnings: n/a
Author's Note: WIP Amnesty.
Disclaimer: HSM belongs to Disney and Ortega.
Summary: Spy AU!
Secret Agent Man
“Ryan Evans? No way, man!”
It had been a long night, and Chad Danforth had meandered up to the open bar in search of a scotch, neat. His former classmate had just been an added bonus.
“Danforth?” Ryan asked, raising an eyebrow.
Chad sat down on the stool next to Ryan. “How’s it going? I haven’t seen you in ages, and I have to say, I did not expect to see you here of all places. What brings you to DC?”
“Business,” Ryan said dryly, taking a sip of his… whatever that was. It was classy but a little on the pink side. Maybe it was a cosmo. Chad had lost track of girl drinks around the time he had lost track of girls. Plus, his bartending days were long abandoned, last seen during his final semester of graduate work.
“Just business? That’s what brings you to some hoity-toity charity black tie affair?”
Ryan raised his eyebrow again.
“Right, right. All this ‘be seen’ stuff that you Evans’ have. So what are you up to these days? And how long has your hair been brown?”
The bartender approached him. “What’ll you have?” She sounded bored. It was nearing the end of the night, and there had been very little excitement. Not even any good gossip. Chad was on the lookout for both: that’s what he was being paid for.
He made of show of looking at her nametag. “I’ll have a scotch, Melinda. Neat.”
She smiled thinly at him before turning around to prepare his drink. Chad understood how she felt. He and she had been partners for long enough that they were able to read each other’s body language even when acting. Although, her lack of enthusiasm was not an act.
Their target did not show, which was rather rude of her. They had spent well over six hours scouring the premises and not even one of the target’s known associates had shown.
“I’m an actor. The hair change was for a role.” Ryan spoke to his drink, not to Chad.
“You really don’t feel like talking, do you?”
“No.”
Chad shrugged and thanked Melinda for his drink. “C’mon, Evans. Tonight has been the ultimate in boredom. You have to have some funny anecdote or something. You used to be really good at stuff like that.”
“Chad, what are you even doing here?”
“Business,” Chad said in a perfect imitation of Ryan’s tone.
Ryan gave him a leveling glare. “It was nice to see you, Danforth,” he said robotically. “I should be heading out. I have an a.m. flight tomorrow.”
“If you’re ever in town again, look me up.” Chad offered Ryan a business card. It had fake information on it, but it would eventually put Ryan in contact with him.
Ryan took it and put it in his jacket pocket. He gave Chad a tight smile before heading out.
“You look hot in a tux, Evans!” Chad called after him.
Ryan froze momentarily before strutting out into the thinning crowd.
“Looks like it’s just you and me, Melinda,” Chad observed sardonically, enunciating every syllable of her name.
“I’m not your type,” she said flatly in a tone that clearly stated that Chad was in a world of hurt when the event was over with, because it’s Lin, not Melinda, you bastard, and Chad was going to be the bartender next time, god damn it!
“He’s a former classmate of mine. We went to high school together. Our ten year reunion was a couple of years ago; maybe I should have gone, you know, if I hadn’t been elsewhere. He tell you anything interesting?”
“He didn’t have to: it was in the news rags about a year ago.”
“I don’t read that girly stuff. What’d it say?”
“He broke his leg in three to five places - depending on which source you read - and it didn’t heal properly. It cut his dancing career short, and he lost the malpractice suit. He’s been down on his luck since.”
“That doesn’t explain what he would be doing in DC at a charity function for MS.”
She gave Chad a look that clearly said he should stop being so paranoid. “I’m going to announce last call.”
Chad nodded and downed his scotch. “I’ll see you later.”
: : : :
Melinda sat at the desk in her hotel room as Chad sat on the couch.
“Do you think we were fed false information?” Chad mused.
“I doubt it. The Colonel would have intercepted. I think the target was tipped off.”
Chad tugged at his tie. “I really hate it when that happens.”
Melinda sighed empathetically. “Me too.”
“So what did Ryan actually tell you about himself?” Chad asked eagerly.
“Why? Is he an ex-boyfriend or something?”
“Former friend. I disappeared from all records before we could do anything else.”
“He didn’t talk to me other than ordering and other pleasantries.”
“And he really did all that stuff you said?” It didn’t make any sense. Ryan was rich before he was born. There was no way that not being able to work this late in his life mattered. Maybe it was that he couldn’t do what he loved to do. Chad equated it to not being able to play basketball anymore. Yeah, it would suck, but life would go on. Besides, it’s not like Chad played basketball for his paycheck.
Ryan had acting and singing to fall back on, just like Chad had track and baseball.
And Ryan hadn’t limped when he left.
“Yeah. When was the last time you watched the news?”
“I don’t watch that celebrity watch crap.”
“And now you want me to tell you everything about your ex? I don’t think so, hon. Use a computer once and a while.”
“Hey now. You know I’ve been away.”
“And you think I’ve had nothing to do while you were gone?” She raised a sarcastic eyebrow.
Chad rolled his eyes. Women always felt the need to sass him. Men too, for that matter, but for the past seven years he’d had women partners. He spent the majority of his time with women, and his brief rendezvous’ with men hadn’t required much talking.
“You want to contact the Colonel or do you want me to?” he asked.
She gave him an unimpressed look.
“Fine, together. I was hoping that maybe one of us would sleep tonight. I’m going to the bathroom. Be back.”
Melinda booted up her computer and was in contact with the Colonel when Chad returned.
“Colonel,” Chad greeted. His tone was clipped and professional.
“I trust you and Agent Hill have neutralized the target?”
Chad and Melinda exchanged a look, and Melinda answered. “Ma’am, the target failed to show.”
The Colonel pursed her lips. “This is unfortunate. The NSA is also after this target, and they have proposed a collaboration. Agent Hill, you are to be reassigned. Report to your rendezvous at 0800 local tomorrow. Agent Danforth, you will also be reassigned. Report to your rendezvous at 0800 local tomorrow.”
The video stream went dead.
“Well, that sucks,” Chad stated. “I hope that you’re the one to cooperate with the NSA. They kinda have a grudge against me.” You blow up one embassy and you’re blacklisted forever. In all fairness, it was his last option.
Melinda gave him a scrutinizing look.
“That story is beyond classified, Lin. Sorry. It was nice working with you, though.”
“You too, Chad.”
: : : :
Unfortunately for Chad, his rendezvous point was in San Francisco. Not anywhere under three thousand miles away. He had needed to commit several speeding violations on his way to the military base just to land in San Francisco by 0800 local.
He didn’t even have a change of clothes. But he did have a five hour flight to review his new partner’s case file. He had everything but a name and an agency. The agent had been in the public eye until a serious injury. The government then covered up the recovery and turned her into an agent. Hand-to-hand was her specialty. Apparently she was good at her job considering all the places she had been and the jobs she had done, and she had a mouth on her as bad as Chad’s own. That was going to be interesting.
He made it with four minutes to spare, but his contact was already waiting for him in an abandoned warehouse on the Wharf.
Chad took a deep breath. This was his NSA contact. He was going to be forced into a partnership with some NSA bitch who had undoubtedly read his files about the embassy in Kosovo and would hold it over his head in a superior fashion.
“Agent Danforth,” he greeted.
“Agent Lee,” Chad said stoically.
“Your new partner is to arrive shortly.”
“She didn’t come with you?”
“He,” Lee corrected.
Chad raised his eyebrows. “My first male partner? Why?”
“The NSA felt that it might inhibit certain impulses.”
Chad bit his tongue to keep from saying something foul.
“He needed to ‘freshen up,’ I believe his words were.”
Great. The NSA was going to stick Chad with some prima donna who was probably worse than all of his previous female partners. That was karma, he supposed.
Ryan Evans entered the building wearing skinny jeans, a very tight t-shirt, and a leather jacket that must have been made for him, judging by the way it clung in all the right places.
“Him?!” Chad shouted. “He’s my punishment?!”
“I never said anything about punishment, Agent Danforth. Agent Evans is highly trained and overly qualified to do his job as well as your own.” Lee had a superior tone to his voice that mocked Chad in ways that made him want to commit several illegal acts. “He has been fully briefed on the situation and will hinder any questionable behavior on your part.”
The smirk Ryan gave him had the same tone as Lee’s voice.
That was when Chad decided that the universe hated him.
“We need to have a long chat, Evans,” Chad declared.
“Hopefully that chat will include your orders,” Lee said and handed Chad a thumb drive.
Chad scoffed. “Yeah. That might come up.”
“They warned me about that mouth of yours, Danforth.” Ryan was smirking at him again and then sized him up. “Among other things.”
Chad snorted. “Thanks, Lee. I think we can take it from here.”
Lee nodded and headed out.
Ryan peered at Chad. “Do you have an apartment around here?”
“Aren’t you forward? Didn’t you look that up as well?”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Montara. I’ll meet you there.”
: : : :
Ryan had made himself at home in Chad’s apartment when he arrived.
“What took you so long?” Ryan asked. Chad was starting to hate that superior tone. He hadn’t heard it in years, and it still bothered him.
“There’s no food in the house, so I stopped off at the market.” Chad dropped a grocery bag and a messenger bag on the kitchen counter.
Ryan raised an eyebrow.
“So NSA, huh?”
“So CIA, huh?” Ryan parroted back. “I always wondered why you suddenly stopped returning my calls. I thought that we had been on our way to a healthy relationship.”
Chad frowned. “Relationship?” He shook his head. “I thought you were an actor.”
“I was until I broke my leg.”
“But that was, what? Two years ago?”
“Yes.”
“And what role would the hair play?”
“Blond is too recognizable. Did you know that you have five CIA bugs and two NSA bugs in your apartment?”
“Five? No, it’s six. You missed one. I know this is hard for you to believe, Evans, but I am good at my job.”
“According to the NSA, you’re a loose cannon.”
“I’m sure you’ve read that file. I doubt it comes as any surprise to you.”
“Not really.”
“What’s with the leather?” Chad couldn’t resist asking.
Ryan’s expression closed off. “It was a gift.”
Chad nodded. He knew the kind: it was from a partner killed in the line of duty.
“Do you want a beer?” Chad offered.
“It’s nine in the morning,” Ryan pointed out.
Chad shrugged. “That’s the only drink I have to offer other than water. I don’t even have instant coffee.”
“Water’s fine.”
“Since you’ve already made yourself at home, why don’t you boot up my computer, and I’ll grab you some water.”
: : : :
“So,” Chad said but didn’t follow it up. He set a glass of water next to Ryan’s elbow and peered over his shoulder at the computer.
“The drive?” Ryan prompted and held out his hand.
Chad dug the thumb drive out of his pocket and placed it in Ryan’s hand.
Once connected to the computer, a detailed outline of the target popped up. He already knew most of it. Her codename was Sunbird: her real name was unknown. She was allegedly from Tobago, and she must have received a college education to be as advanced as she was with chemistry. She was the inventor and distributor of a new narcotic known on the streets of the US as “Dove’s Wings” and abroad as “Cu.” It was an aerosol, taken like a breath spray. It was a highbrow drug, and pricey to boot, with devastating side effects up to and including death. She had supposedly been in DC for the MS function to deal to those who had MS: it supposedly gave the user unsurpassed clarity and rumored existentialist experiences.
This information was accompanied by a fuzzy headshot taken through a security camera over a year ago. She could have been an entirely different person by now, different hair, different face, different build even. But she couldn’t change her skin tone: it was several shades darker than Chad’s own.
It didn’t make sense. His specialty was cybernetics with a bit of dabbling in forensics, and he had read that Ryan’s specialty was hand-to-hand.
“Why isn’t the DEA in on this?” Chad mused. “They don’t have a grudge against me like your people.”
“They spent near a billion in taxpayer’s money to repair your collateral damage,” Ryan reminded him. “I’d hold a grudge if that were my money.”
“But why the NSA and not the DEA? That doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m sure there’s some classified reason why the DEA’s not working this with us.” Ryan sounded professional and insightful. His voice was still as light as it was all those years ago, but it wasn’t the same. There was some twist in his voice that upturned Chad’s sense of the way the universe should be.
“You don’t walk with a limp,” Chad blurted.
Ryan turned fully around to peer at him. “Right.”
“Shouldn’t you have a limp if you had an injury that didn’t heal correctly?”
“Not necessarily. The official report says neurological damage, so that could be anything.”
“Huh. Sunbird’s rumored to be on her way to us: San Francisco’s the next step on her world tour. Why would she skip Miami and New York and LA?”
“She has a new partner,” Ryan explained.
“Why isn’t that in the report?”
Ryan dug another thumb drive out of his own pocket. “Because it’s on this.”
“Were you planning to share that?”
“Eventually.”
“Nice to see you’re still as insufferable as you were back then.” Chad smiled fondly.
“You’re not the only one with a mouth on you. There is a reason we’ve been partnered.”
“Are we supposed to sass ourselves into oblivion so we know what it’s like or some such nonsense?”
“The government version of poetic justice, I suppose.” Ryan shrugged as he opened the NSA file on Sunbird’s accomplice.
Her codename was Jewel, real name Cindra Pokkar. She attended the University of Arizona but was kicked out in 2008 as a second semester sophomore for creating a meth lab. She started dealing to college students and was arrested several times. She then traveled the world and eventually met Sunbird.
“Her codename is Jewel?” Chad scrutinized her picture. “She looks familiar.”
“She should. We went to school with her. Cindra Pokkar.”
“I never had a class with her.”
“She graduated the year before us. She, uh, was a soprano in the drama club.”
“Sharpay turned her to the dark side or something?”
Ryan growled at him. Full out growled. “Don’t you dare fucking talk about my sister like that again.”
“Dude. What - I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
“No. Don’t talk about my sister like that again. Just - just don’t.”
“Alright. I won’t.” Chad frowned. He would look up any files on Sharpay later, because something had to have happened to her. Something unpleasant. He changed the subject. “Pokkar’s why we’re both on this?”
“I would assume so.”
“Will Pokkar meet up with Sunbird in San Francisco? Because otherwise, it doesn’t matter if we went to high school with her.”
“Yeah. After Sunbird distributes, the two of them are rumored to be heading on a tour of Australasia. So we may be in contact with the ASIS.”
Chad hummed thoughtfully and dug a copy of The San Francisco Chronicle out of the grocery bag.
He dropped the paper in front of Ryan.
“I’ve worked with the ASIS before, but let’s make sure it doesn’t come to that.”
Ryan picked up the paper. The main headline was about an earthquake that had happened yesterday in the north, but in the entertainment section was a list of charity events: Cancer of all types, HIV/AIDS, Heart disease, natural disasters, Alzheimer’s, and Autism.
“It could be either Alzheimer’s or Autism,” Ryan reasoned. “Alzheimer’s is on the 15th and Autism’s on the 17th.”
“Good thing they’re not on the same night.”
“I’m just worried about the distribution she could squeeze in between now and then.”
“Or if it’s another no-show like in DC - I assume that’s why you were there.”
Ryan gave him a bland look. “Of course.”
“Business,” Chad cited, adopting Ryan’s tone.
“It was.” Ryan shrugged.
“You weren’t very chatty.”
“No,” he agreed.
“And you’re not very chatty now, either.”
“No,” Ryan repeated.
“Any reason for that, or am I gonna have to go dumpster diving through your files?”
“I’d prefer if you didn’t. And if you remember, I was never very chatty.”
“You were also really spacey.” Chad shrugged. “Scroll down.” Ryan did so, and Chad read. “This is our cover?” His voice squeaked.
“Not man enough for the challenge?” Ryan taunted. “I’m sure you’ve had to do the same with many of your female partners.”
“No, it’s… That’s really open for the government. And, well. I haven’t seen you or heard from you in years, and now we’re supposed to have been together for those years, and if it weren’t for the government, I don’t know, maybe we could have. It’s like some weird parallel universe of what might have been.”
“I don’t recall you being so sentimental.”
Chad blushed.
Ryan smiled cheekily. “My stuff is already in your bedroom.”
“That’s presumptuous of you.”
Ryan made kissy faces at him.
“I don’t recall you being so immature.”
“It’s a gift, really.”
Chad sighed. “Let’s get our facts straight, then. You read them out while I put the groceries away.”
“Sure.”
“Actually, do you want an omelet? I have some cheese and ham if you’d like.”
“I’m fine, thanks. I ate before we met.”
“Your loss. I happen to make a mean omelet.”
“You can make me breakfast in bed tomorrow.”
“Oh, hell no. This is a relationship where both participants are equal. I’m drawing that line right now.”
“I think it would be romantic.”
“It would be - if we were in an actual relationship.”
“So. We met as undergrads at Berkley our junior year in a core Econ class. We continued at Berkley on the graduate level. You were a Computer Science Ph. D candidate. I suppose I should call you doctor, then. And I was a Political Science major who then earned a law degree concentrating in constitutional law. We had a brief courting period followed by a serious relationship.
“I’m currently a lawyer for the ACLU, and you are a higher up for Hewlett-Packard overseeing the SPI Dynamics. We have a house out on Lake Tahoe, and we both love to ski. In fact we’ve been around the world skiing.”
Chad waved a spatula at Ryan. “I’ve never been skiing before. Well, recreational skiing. Can we change that to SCUBA diving? We could have a house, I don’t know, on one of the keys down in Florida.”
“I think it would be best if we stuck to what our bosses gave us.”
“I’ve never done that, and it’s kept me alive so far. It’s all about being creative. Improv. I’m sure you’re familiar. What with the acting and all.”
“There’s no need for hostilities, Danforth.”
“Call me ‘Chad,’ lover boy,” he said dryly. “I doubt if we’ve been in a relationship for about ten years you’d be calling me by my last name. I was thinking our house could be on Key Largo, right on the water - Buttonwood Sound.”
“Have you been that person before?”
“Sure.”
“Really?”
“If I didn’t have this job, I would have a house down there.”
“Ah.”
“What else?” Chad asked. He flipped his omelet onto a plate and dug into it with gusto. “And how are we gonna deal with people recognizing you as, well, you?”
“That is easy, and one of the main reasons for the hair change: I can easily say that everybody always confuses us, but I would love to be an actor like that, and continue to wax on about the lifestyles of the rich and famous. It’s an old hat by now.”
“Speaking of which, where are your hats? That was, like, the thing that made you, you.”
“I don’t wear them anymore, except for special projects.”
“Huh. Okay,” Chad said, not believing it for a moment.
“Other things to know. Oh, I like this one. I’ve been after you to make me an honest man, ring and all.”
“Please tell me that you’re paraphrasing.”
“Yeah.” Ryan held up his left hand and wiggled his fingers. “But I see no bling on this finger. I’m not going to put out until I have a ring.”
“I doubt our relationship would have lasted ten days if you didn’t put out.”
“Are you calling me a harlot?” Ryan said, scandalized.
“Yup.” Chad smiled lazily around a forkful of egg.
“For that I’m sleeping on the couch tonight,” Ryan said indignantly.
“Good. More room for me in my bed.”
“No such luck. I follow my orders, even if that means crawling into your bed.”
“You make it sound like a chore.”
“It is my job, and I’m being paid for it… Oh, my God. I am a harlot.” Ryan gasped theatrically.
“My little government whore,” Chad said fondly.
Ryan scoffed. “Nothing about me is little.”
Chad raised his eyebrows condescendingly, but changed the subject. “So what’s your new name?”
“Brian Stevens. It’s easy enough to remember, and if you slip up, it won’t make much of a difference.”
“That wasn’t your name in DC,” Chad accused.
“Sunbird had failed to show, and you were going to be my partner.”
Chad narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “And my name?”
“You’re staying with Chad.”
“Easy enough.”
“You’re going to be Chad Danforth from Albuquerque, New Mexico, graduate of East High class of 2006.”
“I think I can handle that.”
“I should hope so.”
“So where was our first date?”
“It was a study date at the library to study for our midterms in March 2009.”
“Romantic,” Chad said in a deadpan.
“Afterwards we grabbed a late dinner at a café, and we went back to your apartment. You can fill in the rest however you’d like.”
“No innuendo there. So what’s the sex like?”
“No one’s going to ask that question.”
“I just did.”
“Fine. If it weren’t for the sex, I’d have left you years ago.”
“Oh, that’s encouraging. It doesn’t really fit with the making you an honest man part, though.”
“We have an active love life, and I’m secretly planning an extravagant anniversary celebration at our house on Key Largo,” Ryan supplied dully.
“So we do have a house in the Keys.”
“Why not?” Ryan shrugged.
“Cool.”
“Right. We have three days between now and the Alzheimer’s function. Do you want to take Berkley or Stanford?”
“I’ll take Stanford. I’m familiar with that campus, being an alum and all.”
“You’re a Berkley alum,” Ryan reminded him.
“You too, so you shouldn’t have any difficulty there.” Chad smiled ironically. “We’ll meet back here for dinner.”
“I’ll bring back some take out if you’d like.”
“Here,” Chad handed Ryan his cell phone. “Call me when you’ve finished the recon.”
Ryan took the phone and handed Chad his own. “Done.”
: : : :
Chad sunk down onto his bed. Stanford had been a dead-end and a waste of his time. The kids had no idea about the drug, let alone what it could do. Chad sincerely hoped that it would stay that way.
Ryan had yet to contact him, and Chad hoped that was a good thing.
He stared at Ryan’s bag, tucked into a corner by his closet.
There were about three hours before the dinner hour, well, what Chad considered the dinner hour. If he was lucky, he could catch a few hours of sleep before he had to start sharing his life with Ryan Evans.
: : : :
There was someone in the room. Chad dug his 9mill out from under his pillow and had the safety off and aimed before his eyes were even open.
“It’s just me, Danforth.”
Chad opened his eyes, sighed, and lowered his gun. Ryan’s hands were up in surrender. “Evans.”
“There’s lo mein in the kitchen.”
“Sorry. It’s, uh, been a while since I’ve lived with someone.”
“I understand why,” Ryan said dryly.
Chad chuckled darkly and put the safety back on before shoving it back under his pillow, and he followed Ryan to the kitchen. “What time is it?”
“Quarter after nine.”
“Cool. You find anything?” Chad asked as he snagged a pair of chopsticks and a carton of lo mein.
“No. Nothing. You?”
“Nothing.”
“Do you think Sunbird hasn’t circulated Cu this far north of LA?”
“I don’t think that’s it. Kids from LA do go to those schools.”
“Firsthand knowledge?”
“First boyfriend,” Chad mumbled around his chopsticks.
“Are you blushing?”
Chad raised his eyebrows but didn’t answer.
“Anyway, I think this will be the first time Sunbird will attempt to circulate in San Francisco.”
“You had a lead to suggest that?”
“A friend of a friend of someone down in LA mentioned that she had heard of a drug like Cu. She also gave me her phone number, myspace account, facebook account, and MSN messenger name. I think she wanted something, but it was too subtle for me to grasp.”
“I would have asked her if she had a brother.”
“I did ask her about her ex-boyfriend. She said that he was out of the picture.” Ryan snorted. “I asked for his phone number, and she slapped me.”
“Ouch.”
“Before the violence, she said that I should call her tomorrow to see if she was able to contact that friend of a friend about Cu.”
“Good. I had a whole lot of nothing. Not even a maybe.”
“Well, at least one of us will be earning his keep.”
“You are totally sleeping on the couch tonight.”
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to draw your weapon on me when I use the bathroom in the middle of the night?”
“Are you going to give me a reason to?”
“You’ve changed since college.”
“I’d imagine so. That was a long time ago.”
“How would you react if I told you that your confidence was sexy?”
“I’d probably say that last night I told you that you were hot in a tux.”
“But I am hot in my tux.”
“And my confidence is sexy.”
“You’re still as cocksure as you were.”
“Let’s not talk about what I was, okay? Let’s talk about how we’re going to deal with Sunbird.”
Ryan eyed him warily. “Do you have more information on her?”
“No.”
“Then what should we discuss? I’m going to follow up the one lead we have tomorrow.”
“Let me see how you are hand-to-hand.”
“You’d have to have read my file about that.”
“I did, but in order to assess how well we’ll work together, I want to see you in action.”
Ryan smirked.
: : : :
The government had created a home gym in Chad’s apartment with mats, weights, and treadmill. Chad called it the grind room. One wall was covered in mirrors, so that on the off chance that Chad was working with a partner, he would be able to familiarize himself with her - or his - moves from two sides.
It took Chad approximately thirty minutes to pin Ryan to the mat, and it took Ryan approximately a second to reverse their positions.
Ryan smirked down at Chad. Their chests fought against each other as they both gasped for breath.
“You’re good, Evans,” Chad conceded.
“I know,” Ryan said smugly.
“So now that you’ve proved it, what are you going to do?” Chad challenged.
“I intend to gloat.”
“And if I wanted something out of the deal?”
“I’ll make you wait until we were no longer working together.”
“No benefits from sharing a bed,” Chad grumbled, and Ryan climbed off of him.
“Keep it in your pants, Danforth.”
“I am perfectly capable of controlling myself,” Chad scoffed as he sat up. “I was just pointing out that I shouldn’t have to.”
“I have not shown an interest, in case you’re forgetting.”
“We’ve been flirting since last night, and you said my confidence was sexy.”
“That’s a fact, not an interest.”
Chad leaned against the wall. “Seems like an interest from where I’m standing.”
Ryan sighed. “You were right. What you said earlier: if it weren’t for our jobs, we could have had something. We could be who we’re portraying as our cover. But the thing is… we’re not those people. And we’re not the same people we were. It’s not going to happen.”
“The Romans had - ”
“Chad, I know about the Romans. Maybe when we’re no longer partners.”
“I’ll hold you to that. But now, I want a shower, and tomorrow I want you to teach me that no-handed cartwheel you did.”
: : : :
Going to sleep for the night was awkward. Even more so when they both went for the same side of Chad’s queen-sized bed. Once they had settled who would sleep on which side, Ryan mocked Chad because he had a queen-sized bed.
“Was the king-sized too much or were you letting your culture shine through?”
“Ryan, shut the hell up,” Chad sighed. “It’s a queen because that’s what the government bought. In the morning, let me know if you felt the pea, princess.”
Ryan grumbled. “If you’re my prince, I might as well sleep on the couch tonight.”
“Good. It’ll save me the headache in the morning. Jesus, after all these years you’re still a drama queen.”
“King,” Ryan retorted.
“Whatever. Let me sleep.”
Chad was on the cusp of sleep when Ryan mumbled, “Do I at least get a kiss goodnight?”
Chad groaned. “No.”
Ryan was silent for long enough that Chad assumed he had gone to sleep. He started to drift off, when Ryan said, “If we’ve been together for almost ten years, we should have minor PDAs and such.”
“We’re not in public. Now shut the fuck up.”
“I was - ”
Chad delivered a sharp kick to Ryan’s side, just above his kidney.
“That was uncalled for.”
“You tell me ‘no’ earlier, and now you’re saying ‘yes.’ All the while, I’m trying to sleep.”
“You want something that’s real. I’m talking about acting.”
Chad threw his blankets off. “I’m going to sleep on the couch. Good night, Evans,” he said sharply.
: : : :
Chad woke up with a sore back and sore temper after he remembered why he was sleeping on his couch. He hmphed as he cracked his back and resisted the urge to flop back down on the couch. The NSA hated him, and this was probably going to go on for all eternity unless Chad could one-up them at their own game - or Ryan’s game.
He pried himself off the couch and into the bathroom. Ryan barely responded as Chad passed.
~~~Stuff happens~~~
Taylor gave him a wry look, then took him aside. “Chad, honey, that man is Ryan Evan’s doppelganger. Do you love him or Ryan?”
“I love him, Tay, I really do.”
She put her hands on her hips. “When was the last time you even saw Ryan?”
“Last time work brought me to DC,” Chad grumbled, not seeing Taylor’s point.
“Brian seems nice, Chad, and I don’t want you to hurt him because he’s not who you want him to be.”
“He’s everything I want him to be,” Chad growled, temper thinning. Thankfully, Ryan saved him.
“Chad, I need to talk with you. It’s urgent.”
~~~More Stuff Happens~~~
How this ends: Taylor works for the DEA. She realizes that Brian is actually Ryan. She files away that information. The three of them close the case. Taylor then chews out Chad. Chad and Ryan part ways with a whole bunch of UST still in place.