Fic: Masquerade, Chapter 3/12 (CSI Miami, Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko)
Title: Masquerade, Chapter 3/12
Pairing: Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko
Rating: PG
Genre: AU
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
CSI Miami Main List
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
“Wake up.”
Eric tried to force his eyes open. Every part of his body seemed reluctant to have anything to do with his brain. He was sore all over in the most pleasant way, every desire to move wiped out by exhaustion. He managed to focus his eyes on the face hovering above him.
“Chad?”
“Wake up, we’re closing in ten minutes.”
“I… what… where…” Eric pulled the covers up as if he expected the masked man to appear from somewhere.
“He left a while ago and asked me to let you sleep till we close.” Chad placed the plastic box containing his clothes onto the bed. “Take your time, we’ll be here a while cleaning the place.”
“Thanks.
Eric pulled his jeans from the box, but something on the nightstand caught his attention. He had a vague mental image of knocking the bottles down from the nightstand at some point. Now all the bottles were placed in a neat row, organised by size. Next to them was a small note.
He picked it up and observed the block letters.
Wednesday 19:30. Ask for the purple mask.
Eric read the note over and over again. There was no way to identify the man by his handwriting, which obviously was the reason to write it with block letters. The paper had the logo of the club in a corner and it had been torn from a larger sheet. Finally he folded it and slipped it to the pocket of his jeans. He got dressed as quickly as his exhausted limbs allowed, and staggered out of the room.
The hallway seemed ten times longer than it had when he had arrived, but he reached the main area and gave Chad a little smile.
“I’m going now.”
“You want me to call you a cab?”
“I got a car.” Eric leaned heavily against the bar counter. “I’ve haven’t drunk that much, and it was ages ago…”
“You look ready to keel over. Just leave your car here and pick it up tomorrow-”
“Tomorrow...” Eric repeated and glanced down, but he wasn’t wearing a watch. “What time is it?”
“I should have said today. Almost three in the morning.”
“Right…” Eric pulled his keys from his coat pocket. “I`ll be fine. Thanks for everything.”
He made it to the front door of the club, but then his wobbly legs forced him to sit down on the doorstep. His lower half protested immediately when he sat on his sore rear end, but he was too hazy to mind. He took out his phone and rolled down the list of people to call for a ride.
Horatio. Calling your boss for a ride back after getting you brains fucked out in a seedy club? Probably not the wisest move.
Calleigh. Values her beauty sleep and doesn’t like to be woken up even when it`s about work.
Cooper. Three AM in a Sunday morning, he’ll probably be sleeping off his own night out on the town.
Wolfe. He’ll be bitchy as hell for being woken up, but he’ll probably come just to get some blackmail material.
At that moment a little bit of future blackmail didn’t seem very daunting. Eric dialled the number and a minute later a grouchy voice answered.
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He had almost dozed off again when the car stopped in front of the club. Ryan got out and walked closer. Eric looked up and got a nasty glare. Ryan looked unusually rumpled in his jeans and a brown mocha jacket. A bright orange T-shirt kept peeking from under the jacket, making Eric slightly nauseous. The colour and the bright streetlights were too much and he pressed his eyes shut.
“Get up or I’ll leave you there.”
Ryan grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up to his own two feet. Slowly he managed to guide the wobbly CSI to the car. Eric nestled against the backrest of the seat, while Ryan got on the drivers seat and started the car. The anticipated bitching started almost immediately.
“First you bring your ladies to the lab so you can break up with them, now you’re getting wasted in a gay club, where you can get off without even showing your face. You’re starting to sound like that media tycoon’s girl, who got killed last month. Partying till you get raped and killed-”
“How did you know it was a gay club?”
“There was a poster outside the door.”
“You got a problem with that?”
“No.” Ryan stated and glared at the road ahead. “I have a problem with people who have no idea what they want, so instead they try everything just to see what makes them tick. Pick something and focus on it.”
“You mean someone.”
“No, I mean something. I don’t mean work. I have no idea how anyone who can be focused on work, can be so out of touch off duty.”
“I’m not out of touch-”
“How long have you waiting in the same pattern? One nigh stands, maybe few weeks, and then the stories circle around the lab.”
“You’re loving this…” Eric accused. He pulled the collar of his coat higher. “Go ahead, laugh. That’s why you came here in the first place.”
At first Ryan didn’t say anything. Instead he drove the car to the edge of the road and stopped the motor.
“You think I came here to gloat?”
“Well, what else-”
“Listen, Delko. Teasing is one thing, and you’ve done enough of that to give me a right to do the same to you for the next twenty years. But that’s totally different than making people really feel bad, and you should know that. I don’t do that.”
“Why not?” Eric’s voice was low and foggy. The combination of alcohol and exhaustion was making it hard for him to focus. “Come on, admit it… you hate me.”
“I don’t.” Ryan stated, slamming his hands against the steering wheel. “You haven’t given me much of a reason to like you, but I don’t hate you.” His statement was followed by an awkward silence. Ryan re-started the car and guided them back to the road.
Both men remained silent for the rest of the drive. When they reached Eric’s apartment building, Ryan pulled him up from the car without a word. Eric went along with it, letting himself be dragged into the building, into the elevator and to the door of his apartment.
Ryan propped him against the wall and started patting his coat pockets. He fished out the keys, opened the door and grabbed Eric once again, leading him inside. The first sign of life came when he tried to assist Eric straight to the bedroom.
“I need coffee…”
“You need sleep. You can have coffee in the morning. Or later in the morning.”
“Now…” Eric tried to switch their course by pulling Ryan to the direction of the kitchen with his whole bodyweight. Ryan had to grasp the wall for support, but he managed to stay still.
“Try that again and you’ll craw to the kitchen and then to bed all alone because I’ll dump you right here.”
“Fine…”
Eric’s normal pigheadedness seemed to be mellowing, he was simply too tired to fight or let his temper flare the way it had in the car. He was hardly even aware of being hauled into the bedroom. He leaned against Ryan and his head rolled onto the man’s shoulder. His nose met Ryan’s collarbone just above the neckline of the T-shirt. The warm skin felt soft and warm against and he nuzzled closer. The warmth of the skin seemed to pull him closer, his stubbly cheek pressing against the man’s neck.
He did not expect Ryan to turn his head to face him. He reacted instinctually and closed the remaining small gap between their lips. Ryan froze, but didn’t pull away. Instead he removed his arm from it’s position on Eric’s waist and let gravity do it’s duty.
Eric fell on the bed. The sudden move made his stomach turn, and he had to close his eyes, waiting for the world to stop twirling. Sleep took over.
When he woke up at noon, he was alone. On the nightstand was a glass of water and few painkillers. He swallowed them and scrambled up on his wobbly feet. A quick inspection of the apartment confirmed what he already knew. Ryan had left.
Chapter 4/12