Fic(s): -repeats itself + -belongs to the victor
Title: -repeats itself
Author: nevcolleil
Fandom: Chuck/Traveler
Pairing: pre-Bryce!Jay/Tyler
Rating: PG
Word Count: 500
Summary: For the ‘History‘ prompt at . This is a crossover between Matt Bomer’s 2007 project, Traveler, and Chuck but you hopefully don’t have to have seen that to understand this. (Bryce) Jay has a new mission - to remain detached from his roommate while pretending to be his friend. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t do as well at this aspect of his job as others.
AO3
It’s not the first time that he’s had to lie to someone he calls a friend or to live a double life.
Still, he didn’t enjoy it the last time and he doesn’t like it any better this time.
And the frivolous need to speak the truth grows every day. After he finds out that one of his roommates is also a spy, it becomes especially bad.
“We’re on the same side. It wouldn’t be like telling a civilian.” He plays with the idea in his head often. But occasionally, like now, he talks about it with Sarah.
“Yeah, you’re right. It’d be worse. He’s NSA, Jay. The NSA and the CIA have never played nice together.”
Maybe. No, definitely. Sarah is right.
Telling Will isn’t Jay’s first choice, anyway. It’s keeping the truth from Tyler that weighs on his conscience. If Tyler found out, from someone else, that not one but both of his best friends have been lying to him, since day one… It would gut him. And Jay loves Will. Or. Who he believes Will to be. But he can’t trust him. Jay’s lies aren’t meant to hurt Tyler; what if Will’s are? Jay follows orders but he won’t take an innocent life (though, granted, he reserves the right to judge ‘innocent’ from ‘guilty’). Will might not have Jay’s issues with killing.
And Tyler reminds Jay of Chuck. Tyler and Chuck are as opposite as two fellow Cubs fans can get, but they would like each other, Jay is sure. It’s hard enough, knowing Chuck is out there - hating Jay after the way he left things. Jay doesn’t like to think about giving Tyler reason to hate him too.
Or, worse, of Tyler not surviving long enough to hate him.
“Just don’t do anything stupid,” Sarah cautions. Jay just manages not to laugh every time she does. If Jay didn’t always do something stupid under these circumstances, he wouldn’t even be here. He wouldn’t have been given this mission.
“I mean it. Tyler might not even be why Will is here. He could just be laying low, like you. Establishing an alias.”
Or Will could be poised to strike at Tyler, as a means of getting at Tyler’s father Carlton. And at Jay.
Jay thinks that Tyler is his punishment for Chuck. He wouldn’t hand Chuck over to Project Omaha. So they sent him here - to sit back and watch Will scam Tyler? To effectively hand Tyler over to the NSA by doing nothing to stop them. To watch Tyler get hurt.
Jay thinks he is supposed to “learn” from his “mistakes” here in New Haven.
He thinks that someone somewhere is going to end up disappointed. Jay’s gone to two Ivy League Universities so far - Stanford, in Palo Alto, California, and Yale - and he still hasn’t grasped certain concepts the CIA apparently believes he would find useful.
Either Jay isn’t a very good student... Or he doesn’t see friendship as a mistake.
[end.]
Title: -belongs to the victor
Author: nevcolleil
Fandom: Chuck
Pairing: Chuck/Shaw
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 500
Summary: Another for the ‘History‘ prompt. It's only natural that, after months, they would turn to one another for... something.
AO3
“Don’t tell me you’re surprised, Chuck.”
“Yes. Yes, actually… Considering our history… I think this is a pretty surprising turn of events.”
He and Shaw have been trying to kill each other for years. In Chuck’s case, he actually did kill Shaw once. Shaw’s come awfully close to killing Chuck a number of times, and he killed Chuck’s dad-
Which Chuck is not going to think about because he doesn’t think he could bear this if he did.
“We’ve been here for a month, Chuck. It’s only natural that eventually we turned to each other for comfort.”
Chuck laughs. At least, it’s supposed to be a laugh that comes out of him - he sounds too sad and borderline hysterical to really be laughing.
“Right. Well. I’m not comforted.”
Shaw chuckles. “Fair enough. Release, then. An escape from the monotony and dreariness of our current living conditions.”
Chuck doesn’t like that description of what’s just happened - though he can’t pinpoint why. Shaw’s words are clinical and detached, but it’s not like there’s any sort of romantic or sentimental spin that could be put on the rough fuck they’ve just had on the floor of their small cell.
Chuck doesn’t want there to be. It’s bad enough that - when he woke to Shaw’s whisper in his ear, Shaw’s hand down his pants - Chuck went along with everything Shaw did to him. Hell. Chuck did a few things himself, gave as good as he got.
“We’re going to be outta here any day now, Shaw. When somebody comes for us-”
“Us, Chuck? Nobody’s coming for me. And you… I’m sure Casey and Sarah and the CIA are driving themselves crazy to get to you, but think about it. You and I are Intersects. And we haven’t managed to break out of here yet. What are the chances, do you think, that any of them is going to have better luck breaking in?”
Chuck swallows. He doesn’t think about it. He doesn’t think that he’s going to live out the rest of his days the way he has the last twenty-nine and a half. Doesn’t think that Shaw’s is going to be the last quasi-friendly face he ever sees; that Shaw’s is going to be the last touch he ever receives that doesn’t leave him ill with pain afterwards…
“Breathe, Chuck,” Shaw says, repeatedly, and eventually Chuck’s harsh breathing quiets enough for him to hear. Shaw’s hand finds him in the dark, rubs at the back of his neck the way Chuck always likes when he’s stressed out or tired. He hates that Shaw is right.
But there it is: comfort. Chuck can feel his pulse slowing as Shaw soothes him.
He almost wishes Shaw’s efforts would fail, no matter how embarrassing a panic attack right now might feel.
“Relax. We’ll get out of here. Until we do…”
Until they do - if they do this - they’ll be trading today’s aloneness for tomorrow’s regret.
Chuck hopes it’s a bargain.
[end.]
Author: nevcolleil
Fandom: Chuck/Traveler
Pairing: pre-Bryce!Jay/Tyler
Rating: PG
Word Count: 500
Summary: For the ‘History‘ prompt at . This is a crossover between Matt Bomer’s 2007 project, Traveler, and Chuck but you hopefully don’t have to have seen that to understand this. (Bryce) Jay has a new mission - to remain detached from his roommate while pretending to be his friend. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t do as well at this aspect of his job as others.
AO3
It’s not the first time that he’s had to lie to someone he calls a friend or to live a double life.
Still, he didn’t enjoy it the last time and he doesn’t like it any better this time.
And the frivolous need to speak the truth grows every day. After he finds out that one of his roommates is also a spy, it becomes especially bad.
“We’re on the same side. It wouldn’t be like telling a civilian.” He plays with the idea in his head often. But occasionally, like now, he talks about it with Sarah.
“Yeah, you’re right. It’d be worse. He’s NSA, Jay. The NSA and the CIA have never played nice together.”
Maybe. No, definitely. Sarah is right.
Telling Will isn’t Jay’s first choice, anyway. It’s keeping the truth from Tyler that weighs on his conscience. If Tyler found out, from someone else, that not one but both of his best friends have been lying to him, since day one… It would gut him. And Jay loves Will. Or. Who he believes Will to be. But he can’t trust him. Jay’s lies aren’t meant to hurt Tyler; what if Will’s are? Jay follows orders but he won’t take an innocent life (though, granted, he reserves the right to judge ‘innocent’ from ‘guilty’). Will might not have Jay’s issues with killing.
And Tyler reminds Jay of Chuck. Tyler and Chuck are as opposite as two fellow Cubs fans can get, but they would like each other, Jay is sure. It’s hard enough, knowing Chuck is out there - hating Jay after the way he left things. Jay doesn’t like to think about giving Tyler reason to hate him too.
Or, worse, of Tyler not surviving long enough to hate him.
“Just don’t do anything stupid,” Sarah cautions. Jay just manages not to laugh every time she does. If Jay didn’t always do something stupid under these circumstances, he wouldn’t even be here. He wouldn’t have been given this mission.
“I mean it. Tyler might not even be why Will is here. He could just be laying low, like you. Establishing an alias.”
Or Will could be poised to strike at Tyler, as a means of getting at Tyler’s father Carlton. And at Jay.
Jay thinks that Tyler is his punishment for Chuck. He wouldn’t hand Chuck over to Project Omaha. So they sent him here - to sit back and watch Will scam Tyler? To effectively hand Tyler over to the NSA by doing nothing to stop them. To watch Tyler get hurt.
Jay thinks he is supposed to “learn” from his “mistakes” here in New Haven.
He thinks that someone somewhere is going to end up disappointed. Jay’s gone to two Ivy League Universities so far - Stanford, in Palo Alto, California, and Yale - and he still hasn’t grasped certain concepts the CIA apparently believes he would find useful.
Either Jay isn’t a very good student... Or he doesn’t see friendship as a mistake.
[end.]
Title: -belongs to the victor
Author: nevcolleil
Fandom: Chuck
Pairing: Chuck/Shaw
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 500
Summary: Another for the ‘History‘ prompt. It's only natural that, after months, they would turn to one another for... something.
AO3
“Don’t tell me you’re surprised, Chuck.”
“Yes. Yes, actually… Considering our history… I think this is a pretty surprising turn of events.”
He and Shaw have been trying to kill each other for years. In Chuck’s case, he actually did kill Shaw once. Shaw’s come awfully close to killing Chuck a number of times, and he killed Chuck’s dad-
Which Chuck is not going to think about because he doesn’t think he could bear this if he did.
“We’ve been here for a month, Chuck. It’s only natural that eventually we turned to each other for comfort.”
Chuck laughs. At least, it’s supposed to be a laugh that comes out of him - he sounds too sad and borderline hysterical to really be laughing.
“Right. Well. I’m not comforted.”
Shaw chuckles. “Fair enough. Release, then. An escape from the monotony and dreariness of our current living conditions.”
Chuck doesn’t like that description of what’s just happened - though he can’t pinpoint why. Shaw’s words are clinical and detached, but it’s not like there’s any sort of romantic or sentimental spin that could be put on the rough fuck they’ve just had on the floor of their small cell.
Chuck doesn’t want there to be. It’s bad enough that - when he woke to Shaw’s whisper in his ear, Shaw’s hand down his pants - Chuck went along with everything Shaw did to him. Hell. Chuck did a few things himself, gave as good as he got.
“We’re going to be outta here any day now, Shaw. When somebody comes for us-”
“Us, Chuck? Nobody’s coming for me. And you… I’m sure Casey and Sarah and the CIA are driving themselves crazy to get to you, but think about it. You and I are Intersects. And we haven’t managed to break out of here yet. What are the chances, do you think, that any of them is going to have better luck breaking in?”
Chuck swallows. He doesn’t think about it. He doesn’t think that he’s going to live out the rest of his days the way he has the last twenty-nine and a half. Doesn’t think that Shaw’s is going to be the last quasi-friendly face he ever sees; that Shaw’s is going to be the last touch he ever receives that doesn’t leave him ill with pain afterwards…
“Breathe, Chuck,” Shaw says, repeatedly, and eventually Chuck’s harsh breathing quiets enough for him to hear. Shaw’s hand finds him in the dark, rubs at the back of his neck the way Chuck always likes when he’s stressed out or tired. He hates that Shaw is right.
But there it is: comfort. Chuck can feel his pulse slowing as Shaw soothes him.
He almost wishes Shaw’s efforts would fail, no matter how embarrassing a panic attack right now might feel.
“Relax. We’ll get out of here. Until we do…”
Until they do - if they do this - they’ll be trading today’s aloneness for tomorrow’s regret.
Chuck hopes it’s a bargain.
[end.]