Fic: How They Didn`t Meet (CSI Miami, Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko)
Title: How They Didn’t Meet
Pair: Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko
Fandom: CSI Miami
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Summary: Their first meeting under very different circumstances. (AU)
CSI Miami Main List
Eric knew he was in trouble right away. He opened his eyes and saw a ceiling filled with plastic stars. He did a quick check on himself and everything seemed to be in working order, except his hands and mouth.
They were tied to the headboards with two colorful things that looked like scarves, and he was gagged with some fabric that had turned soggy.
The covers had fallen to the floor, leaving him naked and panicking. On the opposite wall, the gigantic Titanic movie poster was looking down on him. Few more things in the bedroom make him sigh in relief: Dangerous maniacs don’t normally have an arsenal of pink stuffed animals in their equally pink lairs.
The sense of relief didn’t last long when he heard muted voices coming from the other side of the door. Someone knocked on it, and Eric decided to throw caution to the wind. Whoever it was, he could help Eric out of his bounds and that was about as far as he was willing to think about it. He shut out the little voice nagging about his wallet, keys and badge. All the things he shouldn’t loose, no matter how good the one nighter was.
“Are you there?” The voice yelled through the door.
Eric tried to mumble through his gag, but it didn’t help much.
“Yeah right, it’s your turn. Every fourth morning, it shouldn’t be that difficult.”
Eric mumbled again.
“I don’t care how decent or indecent you are in there, it’s your morning and we have rules for a reason.” The door was pulled open and a young man walked in. He was taking deep sips from a huge coffee mug and his eyes were almost closed with enjoyment.
Eric took a quick look at him. The guy looked quite young, sleep tousled mop of dark hair , and dressed in a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt.
He didn’t really look like a maniac, who would send his assistant to lure in unsuspecting victims. He look more like a harmless student, and the sense of relief returned. Eric tried mumbling through the gag once more.
“That’s no excuse-” The guy finally looked up from his coffee. His eyes went wide and a faint blush rushed up to his cheeks. “Oh… Sorry, I thought you were Eve. I’ll leave you to finish… whatever you’re doing.”
He was almost out the door, but Eric’s panicky mumbling stopped him. He turned back, keeping his eyes carefully above Eric’s waist.
“You… Do you know when she’s coming back?”
Eric almost wanted to scream at the man, but the gag made it just as impossible as normal talking.
“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” The guy finally realized he was talking to someone, who couldn’t talk at all. He pulled the soggy gag out of Eric’s mouth. “Better?”
“I’ll be a lot better when I’m home, get me out of these things!”
“Stop wriggling.” He leaned down and tried to unravel the knots, but they were pulled too tight. “I can’t get them open.”
“Well, cut them off!”
“These?” Something between amusement and horror showed up on the young man’s face. “She got these from her mom, and she’s always expected to wear these when she goes home.”
“I don’t care!”
“Are you always so inconsiderate to your bedmates?”
“I’m not inconsiderate, I’m tied up!” Eric yelled. He took a calming breath and tried to think rationally. “Do you know where she went?”
“I didn’t even know she was gone. Shouldn`t you know where she went?”
“I wasn’t even awake!”
“Okay, wait a sec.” The guy walked across the room to the small desk and after brief rummaging, he pulled out a pink daily planner. “She had an early class at the university, after that a study date and three tutoring sessions in the library.”
“Does she do this all the time? Leave guys here like this?”
“You’re the first one, but I did meet some of her friends coming out of here in the morning covered in candle wax, so consider yourself lucky.”
“Lucky?!” Eric was too out of steam to start another rant. “Just get me out of here.”
“Do you mind if I do something first?”
Eric eyed him suspiciously, mapping out the cute face under the messy hair. If they had met under other circumstances, he probably would have made some flirty remark about taking advantage of a bound and naked man, but at that moment he wasn’t in the mood for any more bondage games or even jokes about them.
“Do what?”
“This.” The guy lifted the blankets from the floor and covered Eric’s lower half with it. While he was at it, he picked up Eric’s clothes and organized them in a neat stack on the foot of the bed. “There. I always think more clearly when things are organized.”
That comment sent Eric back to his earlier topic of concern.
“Is all my stuff still there? Check the pockets.”
The guy gave him a long look, but pulled the folded jeans from the stack and pulled out the contents of the pockets.
“One leather wallet, two sets of keys and…” He flipped Eric’s badge open, examined it for a moment and then closed it again. “-and one badge.”
“At least there’s that silver lining.”
“You got a problem holding on to your things?”
“I just wanted to be sure. If she had taken my badge or keys, I’d be in trouble.”
“Yeah.” Guy checked his watch. “Are you on duty?”
“Day off. I don’t go out like that if I gotta be somewhere in the morning.”
“Good policy.” He paused and then added. “Eric.”
“I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but it wouldn’t really be true.”
“I know, but it’s nicer to have a name than just think of you as that naked guy in bed. I’m Ryan, by the way.”
“You’re Ryan and she was Eve, I remember that much.”
“Yeah, we’re all roomies. There’s me, Eve, Ben and Sandra. We met at the university.”
“Can I take a stab in the dark?” Eric gave his ties a frustrated tug. “Eve’s majoring in psychology?”
“No, theology. I’m majoring in chemistry. It was Eve’s turn to get the coffee running, that’s why I-” Ryan took a step forward and then grimaced. He lifted his bare feet, peeling off the used condom he had stepped on and tossed it into the trashcan. “This is so disgusting… I’ve talked to her about this, but she never listens.”
“You’ve talked about it?”
“Yeah, and I told her that I can help her if she doesn’t know how to do it. Sometimes I think I should call her mom and ask her to come here to show her girl how it’s done.”
“Her mom!” Eric yelped.
“And Sandra’s been talking to her about it too, and Ben…” The guy sighed heavely like a disapproving parent. “We’ve been thinking we should have a house meeting and lay out the law for her, this can’t go on like this.”
“Are you serious?!”
“Yeah, I mean Ben and Sandra both do it at least once a week, and I do it usually every other day.”
“Every other day?”
“Well, sometimes every day if I got some free time. I’m the only one who remembers to buy the supplies anyway. Eve just always says she’ll get on with it, and does nothing. She just puts pesticide in all her nooks and hopes that will keep them away-”
“Wait a minute! What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that she never cleans up after herself and thinks someone will just come in afterwards and do it for her. What did you think I was talking about?”
“I was thinking that… this gotta be the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had.”
“That’s totally possible.” Ryan agreed and gave him a little grin. “Actually…” He snapped his fingers and rushed to the door. “I got an idea.”
Eric tried not to yell after him. He hadn’t heard from the other two roomies, so they were probably either already gone or still sleeping. Either way, he wasn’t too fond of being left alone in his current state.
“I found it!” Ryan walked back into the room holding a knitting needle in his hand. “Sandra’s really into knitting, last Christmas everyone she knows got a homemade doily.” He crouched down next to the bed. “Hold still.” He wiggled the tip of the knitting needle into the knot and started moving it to loosen it up. Little by little the knot gave in and he could pull it open.
Eric stretched his arm, trying to get the circulation going again.
“Thanks, my whole arm was going numb.”
Ryan didn’t respond. He had moved to the other side of the bed and was working on the other hand, biting down on his bottom lip in deep concentration. After a few moments of wiggling he pulled the knot open.
“There you go, Houdini.”
“Thanks again.” Eric got himself sitting up on the bed and stretched his limbs. “What time is it?”
“Almost eight. Do you want me to…” He gestured vaguely at Eric’s clothes, keeping his eyes firmly above the shoulders. “…give you some privacy?”
“Why bother? You’ve already seen it all.” Eric grabbed his boxers and pulled them on. “Is there any more of that coffee?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you gonna offer me some of that?”
“If you ask nicely.”
“I’ve just had a morning straight from the last circle of Hell, gimme a break. Besides, you already got a free peepshow, that’s gotta be worth a cup of coffee.”
“It wasn’t that impressive.”
“Some people would pay good money to see me like that.”
“Name one.”
Eric grunted, rubbing his wrists, and gave the guy a frustrated glare.
“I’ve never offered, I think it would be just borderline legal.”
“Depends on whether or not it includes touching or just watching.” Ryan commented and took a sip from his coffee. “Anyway, I got the morning off, so I guess I can supervise your coffee.”
“I can drink it all by myself, thanks.”
“No, we have a policy, that we don’t leave night guests alone in here. One of Eve’s guests left with half of our cutlery in his pockets. They weren’t worth anything, but we don’t really wanna replace them again.”
“I promise I’ll keep my hands where you can see them at all times.” Eric promised in a mock serious tone. "So are you gonna be a good host and give me some coffee or not?”
“Follow me.” Ryan turned to leave. He paused at the door and let a small grin take over his face. “Maybe a dollar.”
“What?”
“Your fee. If your really going to do peepshows like that for money.”
“I’m worth more then a lousy buck!” Eric protested, but couldn’t help laughing. Ryan’s grin developed quickly into fit of laughter and they both laughed and giggled uncontrollably like two happy maniacs.
“Coffee?” Ryan finally couched through his giggles.
“Lead the way.”