Fic: Licence To Kill
Title: Licence to Kill
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Leo Messi/David Villa
Word Count: 5750
Disclaimer: This is not real.
Summary: Written ages ago on the kinkmeme for a Spy AU prompt with “David as the spy and Leo as the clueless civilian he has to protect”.
Notes: I’ve just cleaned it up a little bit. (There’s more here and here, but these parts are unedited). All of my spy knowledge comes from James Bond, as does the title.
The picture of the kid he receives in the file on the way over is nothing like the kid he actually sees when he gets to the hospital. He’s pretty clueless too, sitting on the hospital gurney, right side of his face a pulpy mess of purple, his lip split, and he’s staring through David like he’s not even in the room. He’s not talking to the police, he’s not really talking to anyone, but David ducks his head, tries to find his eyes beneath the bruises.
“We’ve got you covered now, Leo, you’ll be safe with us,” David says, though he’s never good with words. He hates this age, still young, but old enough to know the danger they’re in.
“I don’t need protecting,” Leo says, and David looks down, sees his hand wrapped tight around something, a sliver chain, probably a rosary. The other hand is broken, the fingers in a splint. “I don’t know anything.”
“You really don’t have a choice in the matter, either you come with me by choice, or I’ll drag you to my car.” David checks in on his phone, doesn’t bother looking up, but eventually Leo pulls himself off of the bed, grabs the paper bag of painkillers and follows David out of the room.
~*~
Sometime being a spy is actually pretty boring, it’s not like David is James Bond. He hates assignments like these, ones where he has to play babysitter and bodyguard, whilst his colleagues get to do the actual spy work.
“It’s not like it’s me they’re after,” Leo says again, as David drives them back to a safe-house. It’s just an apartment for them to use for the time being, until everything is sorted. “I don’t need this.”
David prefers the little kids to this, the ones that are so terrified that they keep their mouths shut. He can deal with crying children, but not twenty-something’s that should know better.
“Do you think they’ll stop now they’ve done you over with some knuckledusters? You know too much, they’ll kill you next time, and I’m not allowed to let that happen.” David grips the steering wheel, looks into the rear view mirror to glare at Leo.
Leo doesn’t speak again, David sees him rest his head against the window, and he doesn’t make a move until they pull up at the apartment.
~*~
David doesn’t need very much sleep, he’s not sure if he’s always been that way or if it was beaten into him during training, so he gets up around five-thirty most days. Usually he’d hit the gym, but that isn’t a viable option at the moment. He thinks about signing up for Pilates when this assignment is over, just so he has one way of keeping his body active in a situation like this.
He doesn’t empathise with those under his protection much; those feelings act as a buffer stopping him from doing his job. He’s become robotic with his emotions and it can be hard, but most of the time he’s able to compartmentalise his life.
This mess, Leo’s situation, is actually all to do with his roommate. He’d been working for a crime ring, bottom of the pile stuff - no high flier - but he’d plenty of contacts and information that could make him millions, and so Sergio started selling the information for a price. But then he got caught and did a runner, from the men that he once worked for, and who were now trying to kill him. Leo got in the way, said the wrong things to the wrong people and now he has a broken body and is stuck with high level protection. Sergio is still missing.
“If you find him and he’s alive, will he go to prison?” Leo asks over breakfast. David’s drinking coffee, ignoring Leo as he flicks through his PDA.
“I think we need to take it one step at a time,” David answers. Leo’s face looks worse than it did yesterday, his cheek is fractured and he walks with a stiff limp. David’s seen far worse damage done by knuckledusters though; they can turn someone into soup, Leo should be counting his blessings.
“I don’t know how much you do or don’t know about what Sergio was getting up to, but the people that attacked you aren’t just a street gang. It wasn’t just to scare you; they want you dead and they want him to pay for whatever he was doing.”
“Why didn’t they just kill him?” Leo presses, but David takes a deep breath, keeps himself level headed. “Why are they after me as well?”
“They know that he cares about you; it’ll hurt him more if you get messed up, they probably think you know something as well. Though eventually they’ll want him gone too,” David puts his coffee cup down and exits his emails. Leo’s staring at him, he looks scared, and a little lost. David hates seeing innocent people caught up in such messy shit, but that doesn’t mean he cares. “He’ll probably go to prison, he might be extradited. I don’t know. It depends on various things, but I’m not a cop.”
“He was stressed; I thought it was just work getting to him. I had no idea,” Leo says after a while, he rests his head on his arms and David gets up, leaves him to his thoughts.
~*~
Leo wants to go for a walk. He doesn’t want David to come.
“I don’t even know where I am, so how are they going to?” Leo says when he sees David stand up from the couch.
“Don’t base other people’s intelligence on your stupidity.” David takes a gun from his bag, attaches it to his holster and looks up to see Leo’s eyes widening in fear.
“Maybe I should stay inside, I don’t want to cause any more trouble.” Leo takes a step back, away from the door and away from David.
“I’m ready now. Nothing will happen.” David opens the door, grabs Leo by his good hand and pulls him outside of the apartment.
David is good at his job now. He knows what to look out for. He lets his eyes scan ahead, from side to side, keeps Leo close, who swears under his breath at every noise. They’re in a park, its late morning, so there’s only mothers and babies, a few dog walkers and a jogger or two.
I’ve never done anything really bad in my life,” Leo says as they sit on a park bench. He has his hood up, says he doesn’t want anybody to see his face. “Kun is stupid, but he’s never done anything bad, not really. This has to be a mistake. Now I get beaten up by the fucking mafia, he’s missing and I’m in some city that I don’t even know.”
“Calm down,” David presses a firm hand on Leo’s shoulder, waits until his breathing has slowed to an even pace. “It wasn’t the mafia that attacked you.”
“Just as bad,” Leo says, though he tilts his head back now, squints up at the sun. David watches him, wonders how young he looks beneath the bruises. “I thought I could keep him out of trouble.”
“You’ve known each other a long time?” David asks, though he doesn’t care. He doesn’t need to know details; the thoughts and feelings of whomever he’s guarding have nothing to do with him. He is just there to keep him alive.
“Since we were kids. I don’t think you understand what this means to me.”
David doesn’t look up. He can’t be bothered with this kind of moping. “Sure I do.” He doesn’t, but Leo doesn’t need to know that.
~*~
“I want to go home,” Leo announces three days into their time in the safe-house. David would like the same thing too, it’s so mundane. He likes to use the skills he’s learnt, not watch some kid mope about the house. “I have important things to do.”
David snorts, “You work in a supermarket. The only person who would actually be missing you right now is MIA himself.” David watches Leo’s eyes narrow, wonders if he’ll storm off into his bedroom, but he doesn’t. Instead, he joins David on the sofa, goes to pick up the glock on the coffee table before David bats his hands away. “Don’t touch the gun. Don’t touch any of the weapons. Leave that to me.”
Leo sits back, stares at David. “What happens if you die protecting me?”
David looks up from his laptop. “Then I’ll be replaced.”
“But isn’t your life more important than mine? Nobody would miss me. I feel like you’re probably pretty valuable.”
“My job is to protect you. I wouldn’t be doing a very good job if I end up dead. I will not die, you will not die. We just have to wait it out,” David says eventually, though Leo is still staring at him with curiosity.
David goes back to reading the notes on his laptop, but tenses up when he sees Leo leaning over the coffee table, picking up David’s watch from the glass. It’s expensive and not all that easy to replace either. He really wishes Leo had something else to do with his time. “Can you blow people up with this? Isn’t that what proper spies do?”
David sighs, snatches to watch out of Leo’s hand and slips it into his pocket. He stares at Leo, sees his eyebrows raise beneath the purple of his skin. “Do you get all your knowledge from TV? James Bond isn’t real, you idiot.”
“I’m trying to be nice,” Leo says, “You don’t ever talk about anything.”
“My job isn’t to be your friend,” David replies, looking back around at Leo again. “I have a job to do.”
“I thought they’d teach you some fucking social skills in spy school,” Leo snaps back, but he doesn’t leave, just picks at the cast on his hand, his body sliding down the couch until his feet are up on the coffee table. David really hates seeing people slouched like that, but he doesn’t say anything, decides to check in at HQ instead; find out if his boss has any leads.
~*~
There have been no real leads. The police are as useless as they’ve always been, but other agents have come up with nothing but dead ends as well. Sergio is still missing, and they have no one to place at the scene of Leo’s beating. They know who’s behind it, but no proof or solid evidence.
David’s tying his sneakers up when he sees Leo shuffle into the room. He does that a lot; shuffling. David stands, completely immune to Leo’s glare. He feels like he probably needs to make amends though, mostly because living with Leo is giving him a constant headache. “We’re going for a run, I can’t stay cooped up in here any longer.”
“I don’t run,” Leo deadpans, falling onto the sofa. He’s small and doesn’t put up much of a fight, so it doesn’t take much for David to hoist him off the chair by the wrist. “I nearly had my legs broken too, remember.”
“If I go somewhere, you go somewhere. We’ll take it slow, don’t worry.” David drawls, pushing Leo in the direction of his bedroom, telling him to change out of his jeans.
He only takes one weapon, his pistol, down the back of his sweatpants. They go slow, and Leo huffs under his breath. He does that a lot too. His bruises are a sallow yellow, mottled red, but they’re clearing up and it seems to be the only thing that he doesn’t complain about.
They’ve only been gone half an hour when David realises something is wrong, Leo’s dragging his legs anyway, but David puts out a hand; goes into spy mode, eyes tracing, head constantly moving. He hisses at Leo, tells him to get down, but when he doesn’t, and he suddenly sees a movement from behind the trees, he throws himself in front of Leo, whips his pistol out and starts firing with expert precision.
Every step he makes, he’s sure to keep Leo directly behind him. David isn’t even aware of anything apart from protecting him, shooting at the danger, and averting a crisis. He has a mission, and he’ll do whatever it takes to complete it.
As he watches the body fall to the ground, a dog walker screams, but he holds his hands up, grapples at the badge in his back pocket, tells her he’s with the police (it’s easier than explaining that he’s a secret agent - no one ever believes that).
He’s still in mission mode, phones his boss, and tells her to send back-up. He still scans the place, but it feels safer. David can tell instinctively that there’s no one else tracking him. Not right at this moment anyway.
Leo stares at him, ghost-pale, like he’s only just realised that people really do want him dead. He looks scared, like David is going to turn his gun on him any second. David makes a point of putting the safety guard on, slipping it back down his pants. Leo then grabs him by the elbow, squeezes hard but doesn’t let go.
“Fuck,” Leo says, he’s staring at the body on the ground, so David pulls him away so that they swap places. So that all he can see is David, all he can focus on is David. Leo palms the front of his shirt and it makes David jump, he’s not used to feeling skin so close to his own. He never normally leaves the house without his vest. And he doesn’t mind touching people, but they’re not allowed to feel him like this, their hand so close to where his heart beats. It feels strange, vulnerability is no longer a word he associates with himself, but it’s a sensation close to that. “Fuck me, fuck. Oh fuck.”
“Stop swearing,” David says, and it’s not the first time he’s done so, he’s always hated that word and it gives them both something to focus on, but Leo’s shaking, looking close to vomiting so David’s not sure he’s even paying much attention. He finally manages to push his hand away, allows Leo to grip his hand instead. “You’re fine, you’re safe.”
Leo doesn’t really calm down, but he allows David to pull him away from the scene, walks with a vague expression on his face all the way back to the apartment, his hand wrapped tight around David’s arm the whole time.
~*~
David doesn’t make a habit of saying no to his boss, so when his Superior calls him up at two am, tells him he has a job on, a file he needs to extract from a man going simply by ‘Kaka’, he knows he has to do what he’s told.
He dresses, holsters up, kicks open Leo’s bedroom door and tells him to wake up. He wants to leave him here, but he can’t. Leo is under his watch, under his care for the time being, so he has to be within a safe distance of him at all times. He has a feeling Leo would go wandering if left in the apartment by himself.
“Fuck off; it’s the middle of the night.” Leo rubs at his eyes, shirks off the hand David holds out for him, but can’t resist when David grips him by the elbow and yanks him out of the bed. “Where are we going? Have they found me?”
“No. I have a job on, but you can’t stay here by yourself,” David says, giving Leo enough time to slip on some shoes and a jacket before he’s marching them out of the room.
“Holy fuck,” Leo says when they make it to the car lot. David’s had his favourite car brought over a few days ago. Silver, sleek and touch sensitive, it purrs beneath his fingers.
“Stop swearing and get in.” David opens the door for Leo. They swivel upwards; David found they give him more time to make a swift exit if needs be. He waits for Leo to scramble into the seat before smoothly climbing into the driver’s seat. The car welcomes him in, and as he wraps his fingers around the wheel, the engine starts automatically. Leo starts swearing again.
The car is tapped into David’s every sense, the reaction time so quick that any damage is minimal. It also means he can drive faster without worrying too much. David looks over, sees Leo gripping tightly to the side of the seat, his knuckles white.
It feels so good to be out on a proper run again, doing what he’s trained his body and mind for, he’s almost on autopilot. The car’s linked up to head office via the SatNav and he hears a clear voice over the speakers announcing his arrival. David finds a place to pull over and the engine quietens.
He moves to get out but Leo grabs his wrist, squeezes tightly. “You’re not leaving me in an empty car park in the middle of the night. I thought you were supposed to be making sure I wasn’t killed.” He sounds scared and David forgets sometimes, that other humans fear death so much.
“I’m locking you in; the car only opens under my touch. It’s bulletproof, bomb proof; it’s built to withstand a lot. You’ll be safe here, I won’t be long, and it’s only a simple file extraction.” David says, gently prying Leo’s fingers from his wrist. “Nothing is gonna happen, but there’s an iPod in the glove compartment, if that makes you feel better.”
Leo stares at him a good while, minutes that David knows he’s wasting by not acting out his mission, but he knows never to leave a civilian in an agitated state. “Don’t get killed, or I’ll be fucked.”
David smiles, gives Leo’s forearm a gentle squeeze before walking out of the car lot. He tucks his hand into his trouser pocket and feels the leather handle of his switchblade.
He’s in and out in about twenty minutes. Kaka was pliant enough, giving him the information he needed after a little bit of goading. He hands over the file and David gives him a warning, tells him to choose his allegiances more wisely next time.
“All you have is Stevie Wonder,” Leo mutters when David slides back into the car. He pulls the buds out of his ears in distaste before looking David up and down. “Talk about the blind leading the blind.”
“Hey,” David warns, hooking the freshly stolen USB up to headquarters’ database and uploading the file onto the main system. He can tell it’s encrypted, but that’s for another agent to deal with. He’s never been too good with codes. “Stop being rude.”
“If you say so,” Leo says, but he fidgets in his seat until he’s slouching, head against the blacked-out window. “Take me home now; I want to go back to bed.”
~*~
“Am I stuck with you for life?” Leo says the next morning. David had thought they were getting somewhere after last night’s jaunt out, but Leo’s back to staring solemnly beneath his bruised face, cursing at every opportunity.
“I hope not,” David says, but he’s writing last night’s report up and not paying him all that much attention. After a few long seconds he decides to be a little more forthcoming, a bit more pleasant. “It’s just until things get sorted out.”
“I hope things get sorted out soon, then.” Leo sits down next to him; David feels his eyes peering at his computer screen. He hates it when people watch him work. He slams the laptop lid shut. “Kun’s probably dead, right?”
David thinks about lying, about covering things up, because Leo already looks miserable as hell. He thinks it’ll be worse in the long run. “Stats show us that most fugitives on the run from the type of gang he’s on the run from generally don’t last longer than five days.” It’s been three weeks since Sergio was caught out by the men he’d once worked for. “More often than not they die by their own hands, it’s like the pressure gets too much.”
David looks up when Leo doesn’t reply, but wishes he hadn’t because Leo’s just blinking heavily, shoulders slumping even more than usual. David doesn’t really have a relationship with anyone, doesn’t care for anyone enough to be effected by their afflictions, but he can’t stop himself reaching out, squeezing Leo’s hand gently.
“This is his entire fucking fault,” Leo finally says, pulling his hand away as he stands, wandering back off into his bedroom.
~*~
They find Sergio’s body a week later. David tells Leo that he was strangled, it’s easier that way. Leo stands there, in the kitchen, and blinks, taking the letter that David hands him. They’d found it in Sergio’s possession addressed to Leo, tucked inside his jacket.
“Nobody has read it, but if it contains anything you think we should know, you have to tell us,” David says, but Leo’s already drifting off with the letter. David hears his door shut softly. He makes himself a sandwich, watches some daytime TV. He’d rather be down the gym or out for a run, but he knows it’s not a good idea to leave civilians on their own in times like these.
Eventually, Leo slides back into the room, letter in hand. David looks up from his place on the sofa, doesn’t say a word as Leo takes a seat next to him. Leo doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, so David goes back to reading the notes on a previous mission.
“I saw his computer once; he had names of some of the men he worked for…the ones that attacked me. He’d listed all the things they’d done, the people they’d killed… I didn’t think anything of it at the time.” Leo’s voice is quiet, gentler than he’s ever heard. “I didn’t want to think about it.”
“So you know who attacked you? You could name them if you had to?” David asks, something at the back of his mind tells him he should back off, be nicer, but that’s not his job.
Leo glances at him quickly before looking away, “I don’t want to give evidence or anything, and I don’t want to go to court. If they didn’t want to kill me before, they’ll do it for sure.”
“That’s not going to happen, it doesn’t work like that,” David says, but Leo doesn’t seem to be listening, is shaking his head from side to side. “There’s the witness protection programme, you won’t see them face to face.”
“It doesn’t matter because I’m not going to talk,” Leo replies, and David doesn’t really know what to say. He briefly thinks about calling in his boss, asking her to send over some kind of shrink, but doubts Leo would be all that receptive to the idea.
David doesn’t want to argue, he is neither Leo’s lawyer nor a cop, and it’s really not his place. He stares down, at the creased paper in Leo’s hand, tries for a different angle. “Is there anything in the letter we should know?”
“He just says sorry in the letter. Sorry for leaving me alone, for making me deal with everything,” Leo says, tucking the letter into his pocket.
“Everything?”
“He’s always getting in trouble, and I’m always left to pick up the pieces. Now he’s gone and got himself killed and I’m the one having to pay for his own fucking idiocy.” David still doesn’t speak, mostly because he’s long past the point of actually knowing what to say. He finds actions far easier than words. “I’m paying for his sins like I’m his fucking Saint. You should just hand me over already. Just let them kill me.”
David thinks this is a little melodramatic; a little over the top, but then Leo has been through a lot. He took that beating for Kun, and David doesn’t think Leo really understood how deep in shit Sergio was, so he should probably cut him some slack at this point.
“He’s all I had,” Leo says, and he rubs the cuff of his sleeve across the side of his face, chokes on a breathy laugh. “We only ever had each other, but now he’s gone. What am I supposed to do?”
David doesn’t have the answers. Wonders why he’s been given this as a mission, because there’s been hardly any excitement and everyone knows he’s one of the best agents when under pressure. He’s never been into all this emotional stuff. “You’ll go into proper witness protection in a few days. Maybe you should try focusing on becoming someone else; it might take your mind off Sergio.”
David thinks this is maybe not the correct thing to have said, because Leo’s eyes are wet, but the rest of his face is stone cold.
“Fuck you David, you should’ve been protecting him not me.” Leo storms out, back into his room and David is left thinking that that could’ve gone a little better. He decides to call up his boss, see when witness protection can come and do their job instead of him, he’s had enough now.
Leo doesn’t come out of his room for the rest of the day. David gets a message from a fellow agent, alerting him that he’s on his way to Madeira to take down a long-time antagonist of theirs. He’s so jealous that he allows it to fester in his chest all day. It’s a good job Leo doesn’t want to talk to him; David’s scared of what he might say.
~*~
David gets a call from his boss the next morning; he listens to her talk, smooth and clear in his ear, as he simultaneously tries to do up the buttons of his shirt. He feels eyes on him, looks up and sees Leo sitting on the kitchen table, swinging his legs and staring at him, face vacant of any expression.
“Good news, the witness protection guys are sending someone round later to pick you up. Do whatever it is they do. You get your new life; I get my old one back.”
Leo studies him for a while, picks at the scab on his nearly healed lip. “Are they going to force me to stand up in court?”
David swings a tie around his neck, knots it without breaking eye contact. “They can’t make you do anything. These guys though, it’s not just Sergio they killed, there’s others. You are the most solid piece of evidence; you’d be saving more lives, avenging more than just your best friend.”
“I work in a supermarket; I don’t want to be someone’s hero, that’s not who I am,” Leo says with a laugh, but he looks down at his feet. David turns his back for a moment, finds his cufflinks. He’s got good at fitting them now, after all these years. “I won’t ever be able to contact my family, will I?”
“I’m sorry.” David shakes his head. There’s not much else he can say, he doesn’t see his own family much, but he can’t ever imagine being told he’ll never get to see them again.
But Leo just pulls a face, “I haven’t seen them in years. They won’t send me back to Argentina, will they? It’s not home anymore.”
David can’t help but smile a little, because he thinks he’s learned more about Leo in these last few minutes than he has their entire time together. Then he remembers who he is, who Leo is, and realises that he shouldn’t be smiling at all, it’s not his job to bond, to be nice.
“You should get ready,” David says again, brushing his hands down his body, smoothing away any creases that could’ve settled. “They’ll be here soon.”
It’s a little bit of a relief to see that when the two officers come to see Leo, he responds to them in the exact haughty manner he showed David when they first met. David leaves them to it, packs his personal belongings up, and takes them down to his car.
When he goes back up to the apartment the two officers are standing in the kitchen, talking quietly, looking through folders, pulling out forms. David makes his way down the small hallway, to Leo’s open door.
“Hey,” he says, letting himself in. He sits down next to Leo. “Everything alright?”
“I have to change my name and everything,” Leo mumbles. He sits up, pushes his hand down the pocket of his jeans. He pulls out a silver rosary, the one he was holding in his hand at the hospital when they first met. “Can you make sure Kun has this with him, when they bury him or whatever they do? He gave it to me when I turned fifteen, but he should have it back now, I think he might need it more than me.”
David takes the bracelet without a word, and goes to get up and leave the room when Leo starts talking again.
“I used to be a really nice person before all this. I’m sorry that I’ve been kind of a dick. It’s just that last month I had a shitty apartment and a shitty job but a really great friend. Now I don’t have any of that, I guess it’s kind of affected my personality,” Leo says, scratching the side of his head. David thinks this might be some kind of heart-to-heart, he’s never been involved in something like that before; it’s not really his thing.
“This isn’t in my job description,” David replies, waving his hand around the room. “I don’t like this kind of work, I like being out on my own, where the action is. It’s satisfying.”
“You did kill that man when we went for a run,” Leo responds, like he’s trying to find a way in which their month together was at all exciting. “And that file extraction, I kind of assumed you killed that person too.”
David had forgotten all about Kaka, about taking Leo out in his car in the middle of the night. He smiles, remembering Leo passed out against the window, how much younger he looked when sleeping. “No, I didn’t kill him, just threatened to.”
David suddenly, without much thought, unclips his watch from his wrist, turns it over in his hands a few times. “This watch doesn’t blow things up, but look,” he pulls the small pin out from the side of the clock face. He watches as Leo bends down close, noticing that the pin was covered in a filmy glaze. “It’s soaked in a poison. Push this pin into the skin of any one after you, and they’ll be dead in ten seconds.”
“Well fuck,” Leo says. He looks up at David, smiles brightly. “I guess this does make you a proper spy.”
“Take it,” David says, and it’s like his mouth his speaking without letting his brain know, because he’s not like this and he doesn’t even really like Leo. But he doesn’t stop himself wrapping it around Leo’s wrist, clipping it in place. “Don’t break it; this is a one of a kind.”
Leo looks down at the watch; it looks too expensive, too glitzy on him, but he nods his gratitude anyway. “Will you come and see me?”
“The whole point of witness protection is that no one knows who or where you are.” David laughs, thinks this is maybe the first time they’ve bonded, even after all the time they’ve spent together.
“You don’t want to kill me. If you’re as good at your job as you think you are, you’ll find away. I don’t mind being on my own, I’m used to that, but I don’t want to start a new life completely alienated from everything.”
David thinks about it. He thinks about how many rules he’ll be breaking, how much trouble he’ll cause when people find out (they always find out) he’s breached protocol. But then he sees Leo, who he kind of disliked until thirty minutes ago, and who he’s starting to worry that’ll he’ll start to miss.
“Maybe,” he says slowly, but Leo bursts into a smile and he can’t help but return it. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Maybe then I might testify. Maybe,” Leo shrugs as he stands. “If you come and see me.”
“You’re bartering with me, over this? Do you know what happens to people who try to blackmail spies?” David says, but he can’t help but laugh, lets Leo know he’s joking. Part of him wishes he’d let this happen sooner, back around the time when Leo touched his chest after he’d assassinated the man in the park.
Leo shrugs, and he looks almost happy. David doesn’t think he’s ever been the person to be described as chirpy, but there’s a look on his face that David hasn’t seen the entire time they’ve been stuck together. “I know you’ll say yes so it doesn’t matter.”
David squeezes Leo’s shoulder, opens his mouth to speak, when his PDA starts vibrating violently in his pocket. He sneaks his hand around it, flicks open the screen and smiles, feels relief flood through him.
There’s a short message of gratitude towards him on completing this mission, and an email attachment. It tells him nothing more than that he is to be at the Madrid airport by the end of the day. He will be briefed there and then on the next part in his mission.
“Leo, I have to go,” David says, but he smiles affectionately towards Leo, who raises an eyebrow and gives a lazy nod of the head. David thinks he should say more, offer some kind of pleasantry or affectionate hug. But that’s not who he’s ever been, it wouldn’t feel right. Instead he pats the side of Leo’s face gently, where the bruises are now nothing more than grey shadows.
“Good luck!” he hears Leo say as he bolts to the door, and he turns around one final time. “And I best fucking see you soon.”
“Once I see your name on the witness list to this case, I’ll be back,” David says, and then he’s gone. One life saved; time to move on.
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Leo Messi/David Villa
Word Count: 5750
Disclaimer: This is not real.
Summary: Written ages ago on the kinkmeme for a Spy AU prompt with “David as the spy and Leo as the clueless civilian he has to protect”.
Notes: I’ve just cleaned it up a little bit. (There’s more here and here, but these parts are unedited). All of my spy knowledge comes from James Bond, as does the title.
The picture of the kid he receives in the file on the way over is nothing like the kid he actually sees when he gets to the hospital. He’s pretty clueless too, sitting on the hospital gurney, right side of his face a pulpy mess of purple, his lip split, and he’s staring through David like he’s not even in the room. He’s not talking to the police, he’s not really talking to anyone, but David ducks his head, tries to find his eyes beneath the bruises.
“We’ve got you covered now, Leo, you’ll be safe with us,” David says, though he’s never good with words. He hates this age, still young, but old enough to know the danger they’re in.
“I don’t need protecting,” Leo says, and David looks down, sees his hand wrapped tight around something, a sliver chain, probably a rosary. The other hand is broken, the fingers in a splint. “I don’t know anything.”
“You really don’t have a choice in the matter, either you come with me by choice, or I’ll drag you to my car.” David checks in on his phone, doesn’t bother looking up, but eventually Leo pulls himself off of the bed, grabs the paper bag of painkillers and follows David out of the room.
~*~
Sometime being a spy is actually pretty boring, it’s not like David is James Bond. He hates assignments like these, ones where he has to play babysitter and bodyguard, whilst his colleagues get to do the actual spy work.
“It’s not like it’s me they’re after,” Leo says again, as David drives them back to a safe-house. It’s just an apartment for them to use for the time being, until everything is sorted. “I don’t need this.”
David prefers the little kids to this, the ones that are so terrified that they keep their mouths shut. He can deal with crying children, but not twenty-something’s that should know better.
“Do you think they’ll stop now they’ve done you over with some knuckledusters? You know too much, they’ll kill you next time, and I’m not allowed to let that happen.” David grips the steering wheel, looks into the rear view mirror to glare at Leo.
Leo doesn’t speak again, David sees him rest his head against the window, and he doesn’t make a move until they pull up at the apartment.
~*~
David doesn’t need very much sleep, he’s not sure if he’s always been that way or if it was beaten into him during training, so he gets up around five-thirty most days. Usually he’d hit the gym, but that isn’t a viable option at the moment. He thinks about signing up for Pilates when this assignment is over, just so he has one way of keeping his body active in a situation like this.
He doesn’t empathise with those under his protection much; those feelings act as a buffer stopping him from doing his job. He’s become robotic with his emotions and it can be hard, but most of the time he’s able to compartmentalise his life.
This mess, Leo’s situation, is actually all to do with his roommate. He’d been working for a crime ring, bottom of the pile stuff - no high flier - but he’d plenty of contacts and information that could make him millions, and so Sergio started selling the information for a price. But then he got caught and did a runner, from the men that he once worked for, and who were now trying to kill him. Leo got in the way, said the wrong things to the wrong people and now he has a broken body and is stuck with high level protection. Sergio is still missing.
“If you find him and he’s alive, will he go to prison?” Leo asks over breakfast. David’s drinking coffee, ignoring Leo as he flicks through his PDA.
“I think we need to take it one step at a time,” David answers. Leo’s face looks worse than it did yesterday, his cheek is fractured and he walks with a stiff limp. David’s seen far worse damage done by knuckledusters though; they can turn someone into soup, Leo should be counting his blessings.
“I don’t know how much you do or don’t know about what Sergio was getting up to, but the people that attacked you aren’t just a street gang. It wasn’t just to scare you; they want you dead and they want him to pay for whatever he was doing.”
“Why didn’t they just kill him?” Leo presses, but David takes a deep breath, keeps himself level headed. “Why are they after me as well?”
“They know that he cares about you; it’ll hurt him more if you get messed up, they probably think you know something as well. Though eventually they’ll want him gone too,” David puts his coffee cup down and exits his emails. Leo’s staring at him, he looks scared, and a little lost. David hates seeing innocent people caught up in such messy shit, but that doesn’t mean he cares. “He’ll probably go to prison, he might be extradited. I don’t know. It depends on various things, but I’m not a cop.”
“He was stressed; I thought it was just work getting to him. I had no idea,” Leo says after a while, he rests his head on his arms and David gets up, leaves him to his thoughts.
~*~
Leo wants to go for a walk. He doesn’t want David to come.
“I don’t even know where I am, so how are they going to?” Leo says when he sees David stand up from the couch.
“Don’t base other people’s intelligence on your stupidity.” David takes a gun from his bag, attaches it to his holster and looks up to see Leo’s eyes widening in fear.
“Maybe I should stay inside, I don’t want to cause any more trouble.” Leo takes a step back, away from the door and away from David.
“I’m ready now. Nothing will happen.” David opens the door, grabs Leo by his good hand and pulls him outside of the apartment.
David is good at his job now. He knows what to look out for. He lets his eyes scan ahead, from side to side, keeps Leo close, who swears under his breath at every noise. They’re in a park, its late morning, so there’s only mothers and babies, a few dog walkers and a jogger or two.
I’ve never done anything really bad in my life,” Leo says as they sit on a park bench. He has his hood up, says he doesn’t want anybody to see his face. “Kun is stupid, but he’s never done anything bad, not really. This has to be a mistake. Now I get beaten up by the fucking mafia, he’s missing and I’m in some city that I don’t even know.”
“Calm down,” David presses a firm hand on Leo’s shoulder, waits until his breathing has slowed to an even pace. “It wasn’t the mafia that attacked you.”
“Just as bad,” Leo says, though he tilts his head back now, squints up at the sun. David watches him, wonders how young he looks beneath the bruises. “I thought I could keep him out of trouble.”
“You’ve known each other a long time?” David asks, though he doesn’t care. He doesn’t need to know details; the thoughts and feelings of whomever he’s guarding have nothing to do with him. He is just there to keep him alive.
“Since we were kids. I don’t think you understand what this means to me.”
David doesn’t look up. He can’t be bothered with this kind of moping. “Sure I do.” He doesn’t, but Leo doesn’t need to know that.
~*~
“I want to go home,” Leo announces three days into their time in the safe-house. David would like the same thing too, it’s so mundane. He likes to use the skills he’s learnt, not watch some kid mope about the house. “I have important things to do.”
David snorts, “You work in a supermarket. The only person who would actually be missing you right now is MIA himself.” David watches Leo’s eyes narrow, wonders if he’ll storm off into his bedroom, but he doesn’t. Instead, he joins David on the sofa, goes to pick up the glock on the coffee table before David bats his hands away. “Don’t touch the gun. Don’t touch any of the weapons. Leave that to me.”
Leo sits back, stares at David. “What happens if you die protecting me?”
David looks up from his laptop. “Then I’ll be replaced.”
“But isn’t your life more important than mine? Nobody would miss me. I feel like you’re probably pretty valuable.”
“My job is to protect you. I wouldn’t be doing a very good job if I end up dead. I will not die, you will not die. We just have to wait it out,” David says eventually, though Leo is still staring at him with curiosity.
David goes back to reading the notes on his laptop, but tenses up when he sees Leo leaning over the coffee table, picking up David’s watch from the glass. It’s expensive and not all that easy to replace either. He really wishes Leo had something else to do with his time. “Can you blow people up with this? Isn’t that what proper spies do?”
David sighs, snatches to watch out of Leo’s hand and slips it into his pocket. He stares at Leo, sees his eyebrows raise beneath the purple of his skin. “Do you get all your knowledge from TV? James Bond isn’t real, you idiot.”
“I’m trying to be nice,” Leo says, “You don’t ever talk about anything.”
“My job isn’t to be your friend,” David replies, looking back around at Leo again. “I have a job to do.”
“I thought they’d teach you some fucking social skills in spy school,” Leo snaps back, but he doesn’t leave, just picks at the cast on his hand, his body sliding down the couch until his feet are up on the coffee table. David really hates seeing people slouched like that, but he doesn’t say anything, decides to check in at HQ instead; find out if his boss has any leads.
~*~
There have been no real leads. The police are as useless as they’ve always been, but other agents have come up with nothing but dead ends as well. Sergio is still missing, and they have no one to place at the scene of Leo’s beating. They know who’s behind it, but no proof or solid evidence.
David’s tying his sneakers up when he sees Leo shuffle into the room. He does that a lot; shuffling. David stands, completely immune to Leo’s glare. He feels like he probably needs to make amends though, mostly because living with Leo is giving him a constant headache. “We’re going for a run, I can’t stay cooped up in here any longer.”
“I don’t run,” Leo deadpans, falling onto the sofa. He’s small and doesn’t put up much of a fight, so it doesn’t take much for David to hoist him off the chair by the wrist. “I nearly had my legs broken too, remember.”
“If I go somewhere, you go somewhere. We’ll take it slow, don’t worry.” David drawls, pushing Leo in the direction of his bedroom, telling him to change out of his jeans.
He only takes one weapon, his pistol, down the back of his sweatpants. They go slow, and Leo huffs under his breath. He does that a lot too. His bruises are a sallow yellow, mottled red, but they’re clearing up and it seems to be the only thing that he doesn’t complain about.
They’ve only been gone half an hour when David realises something is wrong, Leo’s dragging his legs anyway, but David puts out a hand; goes into spy mode, eyes tracing, head constantly moving. He hisses at Leo, tells him to get down, but when he doesn’t, and he suddenly sees a movement from behind the trees, he throws himself in front of Leo, whips his pistol out and starts firing with expert precision.
Every step he makes, he’s sure to keep Leo directly behind him. David isn’t even aware of anything apart from protecting him, shooting at the danger, and averting a crisis. He has a mission, and he’ll do whatever it takes to complete it.
As he watches the body fall to the ground, a dog walker screams, but he holds his hands up, grapples at the badge in his back pocket, tells her he’s with the police (it’s easier than explaining that he’s a secret agent - no one ever believes that).
He’s still in mission mode, phones his boss, and tells her to send back-up. He still scans the place, but it feels safer. David can tell instinctively that there’s no one else tracking him. Not right at this moment anyway.
Leo stares at him, ghost-pale, like he’s only just realised that people really do want him dead. He looks scared, like David is going to turn his gun on him any second. David makes a point of putting the safety guard on, slipping it back down his pants. Leo then grabs him by the elbow, squeezes hard but doesn’t let go.
“Fuck,” Leo says, he’s staring at the body on the ground, so David pulls him away so that they swap places. So that all he can see is David, all he can focus on is David. Leo palms the front of his shirt and it makes David jump, he’s not used to feeling skin so close to his own. He never normally leaves the house without his vest. And he doesn’t mind touching people, but they’re not allowed to feel him like this, their hand so close to where his heart beats. It feels strange, vulnerability is no longer a word he associates with himself, but it’s a sensation close to that. “Fuck me, fuck. Oh fuck.”
“Stop swearing,” David says, and it’s not the first time he’s done so, he’s always hated that word and it gives them both something to focus on, but Leo’s shaking, looking close to vomiting so David’s not sure he’s even paying much attention. He finally manages to push his hand away, allows Leo to grip his hand instead. “You’re fine, you’re safe.”
Leo doesn’t really calm down, but he allows David to pull him away from the scene, walks with a vague expression on his face all the way back to the apartment, his hand wrapped tight around David’s arm the whole time.
~*~
David doesn’t make a habit of saying no to his boss, so when his Superior calls him up at two am, tells him he has a job on, a file he needs to extract from a man going simply by ‘Kaka’, he knows he has to do what he’s told.
He dresses, holsters up, kicks open Leo’s bedroom door and tells him to wake up. He wants to leave him here, but he can’t. Leo is under his watch, under his care for the time being, so he has to be within a safe distance of him at all times. He has a feeling Leo would go wandering if left in the apartment by himself.
“Fuck off; it’s the middle of the night.” Leo rubs at his eyes, shirks off the hand David holds out for him, but can’t resist when David grips him by the elbow and yanks him out of the bed. “Where are we going? Have they found me?”
“No. I have a job on, but you can’t stay here by yourself,” David says, giving Leo enough time to slip on some shoes and a jacket before he’s marching them out of the room.
“Holy fuck,” Leo says when they make it to the car lot. David’s had his favourite car brought over a few days ago. Silver, sleek and touch sensitive, it purrs beneath his fingers.
“Stop swearing and get in.” David opens the door for Leo. They swivel upwards; David found they give him more time to make a swift exit if needs be. He waits for Leo to scramble into the seat before smoothly climbing into the driver’s seat. The car welcomes him in, and as he wraps his fingers around the wheel, the engine starts automatically. Leo starts swearing again.
The car is tapped into David’s every sense, the reaction time so quick that any damage is minimal. It also means he can drive faster without worrying too much. David looks over, sees Leo gripping tightly to the side of the seat, his knuckles white.
It feels so good to be out on a proper run again, doing what he’s trained his body and mind for, he’s almost on autopilot. The car’s linked up to head office via the SatNav and he hears a clear voice over the speakers announcing his arrival. David finds a place to pull over and the engine quietens.
He moves to get out but Leo grabs his wrist, squeezes tightly. “You’re not leaving me in an empty car park in the middle of the night. I thought you were supposed to be making sure I wasn’t killed.” He sounds scared and David forgets sometimes, that other humans fear death so much.
“I’m locking you in; the car only opens under my touch. It’s bulletproof, bomb proof; it’s built to withstand a lot. You’ll be safe here, I won’t be long, and it’s only a simple file extraction.” David says, gently prying Leo’s fingers from his wrist. “Nothing is gonna happen, but there’s an iPod in the glove compartment, if that makes you feel better.”
Leo stares at him a good while, minutes that David knows he’s wasting by not acting out his mission, but he knows never to leave a civilian in an agitated state. “Don’t get killed, or I’ll be fucked.”
David smiles, gives Leo’s forearm a gentle squeeze before walking out of the car lot. He tucks his hand into his trouser pocket and feels the leather handle of his switchblade.
He’s in and out in about twenty minutes. Kaka was pliant enough, giving him the information he needed after a little bit of goading. He hands over the file and David gives him a warning, tells him to choose his allegiances more wisely next time.
“All you have is Stevie Wonder,” Leo mutters when David slides back into the car. He pulls the buds out of his ears in distaste before looking David up and down. “Talk about the blind leading the blind.”
“Hey,” David warns, hooking the freshly stolen USB up to headquarters’ database and uploading the file onto the main system. He can tell it’s encrypted, but that’s for another agent to deal with. He’s never been too good with codes. “Stop being rude.”
“If you say so,” Leo says, but he fidgets in his seat until he’s slouching, head against the blacked-out window. “Take me home now; I want to go back to bed.”
~*~
“Am I stuck with you for life?” Leo says the next morning. David had thought they were getting somewhere after last night’s jaunt out, but Leo’s back to staring solemnly beneath his bruised face, cursing at every opportunity.
“I hope not,” David says, but he’s writing last night’s report up and not paying him all that much attention. After a few long seconds he decides to be a little more forthcoming, a bit more pleasant. “It’s just until things get sorted out.”
“I hope things get sorted out soon, then.” Leo sits down next to him; David feels his eyes peering at his computer screen. He hates it when people watch him work. He slams the laptop lid shut. “Kun’s probably dead, right?”
David thinks about lying, about covering things up, because Leo already looks miserable as hell. He thinks it’ll be worse in the long run. “Stats show us that most fugitives on the run from the type of gang he’s on the run from generally don’t last longer than five days.” It’s been three weeks since Sergio was caught out by the men he’d once worked for. “More often than not they die by their own hands, it’s like the pressure gets too much.”
David looks up when Leo doesn’t reply, but wishes he hadn’t because Leo’s just blinking heavily, shoulders slumping even more than usual. David doesn’t really have a relationship with anyone, doesn’t care for anyone enough to be effected by their afflictions, but he can’t stop himself reaching out, squeezing Leo’s hand gently.
“This is his entire fucking fault,” Leo finally says, pulling his hand away as he stands, wandering back off into his bedroom.
~*~
They find Sergio’s body a week later. David tells Leo that he was strangled, it’s easier that way. Leo stands there, in the kitchen, and blinks, taking the letter that David hands him. They’d found it in Sergio’s possession addressed to Leo, tucked inside his jacket.
“Nobody has read it, but if it contains anything you think we should know, you have to tell us,” David says, but Leo’s already drifting off with the letter. David hears his door shut softly. He makes himself a sandwich, watches some daytime TV. He’d rather be down the gym or out for a run, but he knows it’s not a good idea to leave civilians on their own in times like these.
Eventually, Leo slides back into the room, letter in hand. David looks up from his place on the sofa, doesn’t say a word as Leo takes a seat next to him. Leo doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, so David goes back to reading the notes on a previous mission.
“I saw his computer once; he had names of some of the men he worked for…the ones that attacked me. He’d listed all the things they’d done, the people they’d killed… I didn’t think anything of it at the time.” Leo’s voice is quiet, gentler than he’s ever heard. “I didn’t want to think about it.”
“So you know who attacked you? You could name them if you had to?” David asks, something at the back of his mind tells him he should back off, be nicer, but that’s not his job.
Leo glances at him quickly before looking away, “I don’t want to give evidence or anything, and I don’t want to go to court. If they didn’t want to kill me before, they’ll do it for sure.”
“That’s not going to happen, it doesn’t work like that,” David says, but Leo doesn’t seem to be listening, is shaking his head from side to side. “There’s the witness protection programme, you won’t see them face to face.”
“It doesn’t matter because I’m not going to talk,” Leo replies, and David doesn’t really know what to say. He briefly thinks about calling in his boss, asking her to send over some kind of shrink, but doubts Leo would be all that receptive to the idea.
David doesn’t want to argue, he is neither Leo’s lawyer nor a cop, and it’s really not his place. He stares down, at the creased paper in Leo’s hand, tries for a different angle. “Is there anything in the letter we should know?”
“He just says sorry in the letter. Sorry for leaving me alone, for making me deal with everything,” Leo says, tucking the letter into his pocket.
“Everything?”
“He’s always getting in trouble, and I’m always left to pick up the pieces. Now he’s gone and got himself killed and I’m the one having to pay for his own fucking idiocy.” David still doesn’t speak, mostly because he’s long past the point of actually knowing what to say. He finds actions far easier than words. “I’m paying for his sins like I’m his fucking Saint. You should just hand me over already. Just let them kill me.”
David thinks this is a little melodramatic; a little over the top, but then Leo has been through a lot. He took that beating for Kun, and David doesn’t think Leo really understood how deep in shit Sergio was, so he should probably cut him some slack at this point.
“He’s all I had,” Leo says, and he rubs the cuff of his sleeve across the side of his face, chokes on a breathy laugh. “We only ever had each other, but now he’s gone. What am I supposed to do?”
David doesn’t have the answers. Wonders why he’s been given this as a mission, because there’s been hardly any excitement and everyone knows he’s one of the best agents when under pressure. He’s never been into all this emotional stuff. “You’ll go into proper witness protection in a few days. Maybe you should try focusing on becoming someone else; it might take your mind off Sergio.”
David thinks this is maybe not the correct thing to have said, because Leo’s eyes are wet, but the rest of his face is stone cold.
“Fuck you David, you should’ve been protecting him not me.” Leo storms out, back into his room and David is left thinking that that could’ve gone a little better. He decides to call up his boss, see when witness protection can come and do their job instead of him, he’s had enough now.
Leo doesn’t come out of his room for the rest of the day. David gets a message from a fellow agent, alerting him that he’s on his way to Madeira to take down a long-time antagonist of theirs. He’s so jealous that he allows it to fester in his chest all day. It’s a good job Leo doesn’t want to talk to him; David’s scared of what he might say.
~*~
David gets a call from his boss the next morning; he listens to her talk, smooth and clear in his ear, as he simultaneously tries to do up the buttons of his shirt. He feels eyes on him, looks up and sees Leo sitting on the kitchen table, swinging his legs and staring at him, face vacant of any expression.
“Good news, the witness protection guys are sending someone round later to pick you up. Do whatever it is they do. You get your new life; I get my old one back.”
Leo studies him for a while, picks at the scab on his nearly healed lip. “Are they going to force me to stand up in court?”
David swings a tie around his neck, knots it without breaking eye contact. “They can’t make you do anything. These guys though, it’s not just Sergio they killed, there’s others. You are the most solid piece of evidence; you’d be saving more lives, avenging more than just your best friend.”
“I work in a supermarket; I don’t want to be someone’s hero, that’s not who I am,” Leo says with a laugh, but he looks down at his feet. David turns his back for a moment, finds his cufflinks. He’s got good at fitting them now, after all these years. “I won’t ever be able to contact my family, will I?”
“I’m sorry.” David shakes his head. There’s not much else he can say, he doesn’t see his own family much, but he can’t ever imagine being told he’ll never get to see them again.
But Leo just pulls a face, “I haven’t seen them in years. They won’t send me back to Argentina, will they? It’s not home anymore.”
David can’t help but smile a little, because he thinks he’s learned more about Leo in these last few minutes than he has their entire time together. Then he remembers who he is, who Leo is, and realises that he shouldn’t be smiling at all, it’s not his job to bond, to be nice.
“You should get ready,” David says again, brushing his hands down his body, smoothing away any creases that could’ve settled. “They’ll be here soon.”
It’s a little bit of a relief to see that when the two officers come to see Leo, he responds to them in the exact haughty manner he showed David when they first met. David leaves them to it, packs his personal belongings up, and takes them down to his car.
When he goes back up to the apartment the two officers are standing in the kitchen, talking quietly, looking through folders, pulling out forms. David makes his way down the small hallway, to Leo’s open door.
“Hey,” he says, letting himself in. He sits down next to Leo. “Everything alright?”
“I have to change my name and everything,” Leo mumbles. He sits up, pushes his hand down the pocket of his jeans. He pulls out a silver rosary, the one he was holding in his hand at the hospital when they first met. “Can you make sure Kun has this with him, when they bury him or whatever they do? He gave it to me when I turned fifteen, but he should have it back now, I think he might need it more than me.”
David takes the bracelet without a word, and goes to get up and leave the room when Leo starts talking again.
“I used to be a really nice person before all this. I’m sorry that I’ve been kind of a dick. It’s just that last month I had a shitty apartment and a shitty job but a really great friend. Now I don’t have any of that, I guess it’s kind of affected my personality,” Leo says, scratching the side of his head. David thinks this might be some kind of heart-to-heart, he’s never been involved in something like that before; it’s not really his thing.
“This isn’t in my job description,” David replies, waving his hand around the room. “I don’t like this kind of work, I like being out on my own, where the action is. It’s satisfying.”
“You did kill that man when we went for a run,” Leo responds, like he’s trying to find a way in which their month together was at all exciting. “And that file extraction, I kind of assumed you killed that person too.”
David had forgotten all about Kaka, about taking Leo out in his car in the middle of the night. He smiles, remembering Leo passed out against the window, how much younger he looked when sleeping. “No, I didn’t kill him, just threatened to.”
David suddenly, without much thought, unclips his watch from his wrist, turns it over in his hands a few times. “This watch doesn’t blow things up, but look,” he pulls the small pin out from the side of the clock face. He watches as Leo bends down close, noticing that the pin was covered in a filmy glaze. “It’s soaked in a poison. Push this pin into the skin of any one after you, and they’ll be dead in ten seconds.”
“Well fuck,” Leo says. He looks up at David, smiles brightly. “I guess this does make you a proper spy.”
“Take it,” David says, and it’s like his mouth his speaking without letting his brain know, because he’s not like this and he doesn’t even really like Leo. But he doesn’t stop himself wrapping it around Leo’s wrist, clipping it in place. “Don’t break it; this is a one of a kind.”
Leo looks down at the watch; it looks too expensive, too glitzy on him, but he nods his gratitude anyway. “Will you come and see me?”
“The whole point of witness protection is that no one knows who or where you are.” David laughs, thinks this is maybe the first time they’ve bonded, even after all the time they’ve spent together.
“You don’t want to kill me. If you’re as good at your job as you think you are, you’ll find away. I don’t mind being on my own, I’m used to that, but I don’t want to start a new life completely alienated from everything.”
David thinks about it. He thinks about how many rules he’ll be breaking, how much trouble he’ll cause when people find out (they always find out) he’s breached protocol. But then he sees Leo, who he kind of disliked until thirty minutes ago, and who he’s starting to worry that’ll he’ll start to miss.
“Maybe,” he says slowly, but Leo bursts into a smile and he can’t help but return it. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Maybe then I might testify. Maybe,” Leo shrugs as he stands. “If you come and see me.”
“You’re bartering with me, over this? Do you know what happens to people who try to blackmail spies?” David says, but he can’t help but laugh, lets Leo know he’s joking. Part of him wishes he’d let this happen sooner, back around the time when Leo touched his chest after he’d assassinated the man in the park.
Leo shrugs, and he looks almost happy. David doesn’t think he’s ever been the person to be described as chirpy, but there’s a look on his face that David hasn’t seen the entire time they’ve been stuck together. “I know you’ll say yes so it doesn’t matter.”
David squeezes Leo’s shoulder, opens his mouth to speak, when his PDA starts vibrating violently in his pocket. He sneaks his hand around it, flicks open the screen and smiles, feels relief flood through him.
There’s a short message of gratitude towards him on completing this mission, and an email attachment. It tells him nothing more than that he is to be at the Madrid airport by the end of the day. He will be briefed there and then on the next part in his mission.
“Leo, I have to go,” David says, but he smiles affectionately towards Leo, who raises an eyebrow and gives a lazy nod of the head. David thinks he should say more, offer some kind of pleasantry or affectionate hug. But that’s not who he’s ever been, it wouldn’t feel right. Instead he pats the side of Leo’s face gently, where the bruises are now nothing more than grey shadows.
“Good luck!” he hears Leo say as he bolts to the door, and he turns around one final time. “And I best fucking see you soon.”
“Once I see your name on the witness list to this case, I’ll be back,” David says, and then he’s gone. One life saved; time to move on.