Revenge of the Ex - Ch.5
He’s a bit shaken after his run-in with Alan Jordan, the artist with a flair for sin and an apparent foot in the drug business. He can only image how the man came to lose his mind.
Chuck downs the rest of his champagne and slips the delicate glass onto the tray of a passing waiter before diving head first into the sea of patrons. He finds his handlers near the bar with Ercolino and an elderly couple, Mitchell hovering close beside them with a somewhat perplexed expression drawn out across his face. The criminal’s eyes fall on Jordan (who is currently hassling some poor and unsuspecting young woman) but he doesn’t mention the man as he averts his gaze to Chuck and sidles up beside him.
“How is he, Charles?”
There really is only one way to describe him, “Insane.”
“Is that so?” the man laughs, keeping his voice low enough to avoid drawing any attention to their conversation, “What did he say?”
“...I think he was talking about the blur between virtue and vice.”
“I take it he was trying to explain his art?”
Well...that’s not exactly true but adultery is the last thing Chuck wants to discuss with Mitchell, least of all with Casey standing only three feet away. “...Yeah. Something like that.”
“What was it then? Murder? Theft?” Mitchell’s eyes focus on Chuck’s for a moment. He wonders if he’s really blushing (just like Jordan said he was). Whether or not he is, Mitchell takes note of something in his body language and pushes the boundary a little further, “Lust, perhaps?”
Chuck wishes he still had that champagne. It was so much easier evading a conversation when his mouth was already occupied.
Mitchell’s smiling gently now. There’s a glint in his eye that can be read in so many ways...Chuck really doesn’t want to interpret any of them. He just can’t find it in himself to look away.
“Or was it love?” Mitchell asks quietly, “Love that doesn’t quite suit the natural laws?”
Chuck doesn’t know whether he’s referring to homosexual relations or adultery-he really doesn’t care. He’s caught off guard by the soft look he’s getting from Mitchell, the tall, dark-haired man that fell in love with him naturally enough. Chuck didn’t have to seduce him. Chuck wasn’t rich or famous and Mitchell knew that when they met. It can’t be right.
He’ll never stop wondering what the man saw in him that day.
“Mike, it’s almost seven,” Ercolino interrupts politely. Chuck’s silently grateful for him. “I believe Jordan said he wanted to introduce us to one of his old friends."
Mitchell nods. The elderly couple keeps chatting with his handlers and he wonders if they’re secretly working with the seemingly harmless old fellow so he can run his business smoothly. The two of them don’t give Casey or Sarah a chance to ‘formally’ ask Ercolino what he’s talking about but Chuck knows the government has cameras and microphones hooked up throughout the building. There’s nothing much Jordan can do without either the NSA or the CIA knowing.
Mitchell squeezes Chuck’s hand gently and follows Ercolino into the crowd. Chuck keeps his eyes trained on the man’s back until he disappears into the masses, and then it’s Casey that draws his attention away as he turns around to find the man staring at him.
There’s a blend of several emotions in his eyes.
-1-Casey-1-
Chuck isn’t a cheater.
People in general aren’t cheaters-usually, their hearts only wander astray when they’re not being emotionally fulfilled. Hey, sex is great and all that but it really only plays a small role in adultery.
Chuck is an exceptionally emotional individual and that’s how Casey can imagine even a small lose in a relationship being a blow to the gut for him. He pined over Jill for who knows how many years and Sarah’s on-again-off-again mixed signals probably messed with the poor kid’s head for a while. Casey likes to think of himself as attractive but he knows Chuck’s ordeal with Sarah and Mitchell played a big part in opening his mind to a same-sex relationship.
Chuck doesn’t understand how easy it is for people to manipulate him.
Which is exactly what Mitchell’s trying to do.
Casey knows the man has genuine feelings for Chuck. He knows the man isn’t going to stop trying to win the kid over-and it certainly doesn’t help that Mitchell can see how open and sensitive Chuck really is. Casey isn’t nearly as emotive as the kid but he knows he should probably to try to lighten up a bit. Mitchell will use it as a weapon against him if he doesn’t.
Casey tries to ignore the look Mitchell gives the kid before he leaves with Ercolino. He didn’t catch their conversation but he did catch the way Mitchell stared at him...the way Chuck was a little nervous and scared and almost...heartbroken. It was a dirty trick; Mitchell shouldn’t have pinned the kid like that but, hey, Mitchell probably learned Seduction 101 on his own when Chuck still was enjoying recess in elementary.
When Chuck says he loves Casey, Casey has no doubt the kid is telling the truth. But Chuck’s still a little broken over the incident with Mitchell and Casey isn’t exactly the most tender guy in the world...Chuck’s in a vulnerable position.
There’s something about this mission that just sucks...
The kid is obviously startled to see Casey watching him. His eyes dart to the ground briefly, shoulder’s slouching. He looks a little guilty.
Casey can’t shake the feeling that he should be the one feeling guilty.
“How’d it go?” Casey asks after taking a step back from Ercolino’s Chatty Cathys and a second step to the side to speak with Bartowski. “Did you flash on Jordan?”
“No,” he murmurs, “I got nothing on him.”
“What did Mitchell say to you?”
“He wanted to know what Jordan told me,” Chuck smiles faintly, “and the artist told me that I was doomed to have an affair-that I should probably stop fighting the inevitable.”
Something solid and cold hits rock bottom in his gut and he almost freezes on the spot. He tries to sound level when he speaks next but he voice still manages to sound a little heavy. “An affair?”
“Yeah,” He grins, and either the kid’s playing with him or Chuck doesn’t notice his guarded tone. He realizes it’s the former of the two when the kid looks into his eyes and smiles a little harder. “An affair behind my fiancé’s back. Wanna help?”
Honestly, he’d love to.
Sarah laughs a little loudly-a cue to the end of her conversation with the elderly couple as the man and woman wander off to bother someone else. Her smile’s a little strained when she turns to join them but she relaxes visibly when Chuck offers her one of his trademark grins.
“I hate gossip,” she sighs.
“But I thought all girls loved it?”
“Only the dull ones.”
Chuck laughs.
“But really-what’s happening?”
Chuck shrugs. He pauses to glance over his shoulder but there’s nothing interesting happening in the background. Some of the paintings are bizarre but all the real action is going on behind closed doors with Jordan and his band of merry men. “I don’t know. This guy is nuts...”
“What else is new?”
“But he likes meddling in other people’s business...” Chuck turns back to face her, obviously worrying over something in his mind, “I don’t know...He’s really open and blatant. If his paintings are anything to judge by, I think he would’ve slipped up on his drug secret sometime before now.”
“Could be a facade,” Casey grumbles, “Or he could be fresh meat in the game. According to Mitchell, Ercolino never mentioned how long Jordan’s been in the business.”
“So...now what?”
“We wait. It’s too early to tell.”
Chuck almost rolls his eyes, “What should we do in the meantime...?”
-2-Chuck-2-
Chuck isn’t opposed to office work. Actually, that’s probably what he’s most suited for. Give him a computer and a cup of coffee any day and he’ll be ready to do just about anything.
Albeit, having Mitchell in the room is just a little distracting...
Well, maybe not a ‘little’ but it certainly is distracting.
He misses the Castle. A bit. It was cozy and cool-and right below the Orange Orange. Being able to sample free yogurt any hour of the day was a bonus he was willing to exploit liberally but it’s probably for the best that he lays off the frozen dessert for a while. After all, he wouldn’t want to lose his chiselled physique.
...Yeah right.
Chuck chews on his bottom lip absently, trying to think of a better word for ‘find’ as he taps away at the keyboard. Sarah gave him a couple of files earlier to fill out from a previous mission and left him in the boardroom at the mercy of Seto, Clark and Mitchell as she and Casey slipped away to speak with the General in private. In the back of his mind, he knows they’re talking about him.
He wishes that at least Casey would’ve stayed behind.
Mitchell makes sure to sit across from him. And stares. A lot. And it isn’t even the staring so much as his unabashed shamelessness about it that bothers Chuck. When he catches the man in the act, Mitchell steals an extra second or two before returning to his work, even going so far as to wink at him once before leaving Chuck in his peace.
The first time it happens, Chuck slouches down a little in hopes of hiding behind his laptop screen-but then Seto notices, and getting the eye from Seto is, by far, worse than getting the eye from Mitchell. Seto could melt iron with those eyes.
He’s not joking.
The second time, he gives Mitchell this narrow-eyed half sneer that might’ve worked if Clark hadn’t looked up just then. She grins, visibly trying not to laugh, and Mitchell returns to his work looking smugger than usual.
Chuck doesn’t do anything the third time...or the fourth or the fifth. He loses count after the seventh and doesn’t even bother to look up at him after then. It isn’t until he volunteers to go with Clark to get some coffee that Mitchell gives up on trying to steal his attention.
“He’s relentless, isn’t he?”
Yes-relentless. That’s exactly the word he’s looking for. “Can’t we just lock him up?”
Clark walks with him to the end of the hall and presses the button for the elevator. “So long as he’s working, he doesn’t have to go back to his holding cell. Seto or I have to be with him at all times though.”
“Isn’t he some sort of rich ex-assassin? What if he snaps?”
“And what do you think Seto is?” Clark asks, obvious excitement in her eyes, “Seto could kill him if she wanted to and she has the clearance to do it if he goes back on his word.”
“Is she a ninja?”
Clark laughs just as the elevator bings and they step inside. She presses the lobby button. “Even better. But I wouldn’t worry about Mitchell. He’s a smart man. He’ll want his freedom.”
Of course-collect two dollars at the Pass-and-Go. Have fun in the Bahamas.
“But I know he’s holding back,” Clark continues. The atmosphere would be a little more serious if not for the elevator music in the background. “Which was why we were wondering if you would weasel it out of him...”
Chuck pauses, “...How, exactly?”
“He’s smitten with you,” Clark points out, “And he’s been playing little mind games with you all day. It’s obvious he’s willing to give a little if you-”
“No,” he says. And really-no. He knows exactly where this is going.
“But-”
“He’s an insane killer!”
Clark looks confused, “Who isn’t?”
“Yeah-but this guy knows we know he’s an insane killer. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of trying to seduce him?”
“Some men are just that weak.”
“Yes-and some men are just cruel enough to make you think you can get something from them,” Chuck mutters, hoping that that somehow made sense, “He’s just messing with us.”
“But the report said you were the one that worked on him in the last mission.”
“I didn’t actually sleep with him,” Chuck replies, sounding a little wounded, “I’m not that easy.”
Clark, suddenly, looks a little apologetic, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...”
“It’s okay,” he murmurs, “It’s just...there’s a lot you can get sometimes with playing hard to get.”
“Is that the game plan, then?” She asks-just as the elevator doors slide open. Casey is standing there with Sarah on his left.
Chuck pauses for a moment. “Yeah...”
Maybe playing hard to get would work...
A/N: Sorry for the shortness. And the lateness. Between midterms and lab reports, I haven’t had much time to write. I wanted to update my evil!Casey mini-series but my old laptop died on me *sob*. Now I have to re-invent the whole installation...
Next chapter: (Revenge of the Ex - Ch.6)
Previous Chapters:
(Revenge of the Ex - Ch.1)
(Revenge of the Ex - Ch. 2)
(Revenge of the Ex - Ch.3)
(Revenge of the Ex - Ch.4)