Fic: Watcher, Chapter 1 (CSI Miami, Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko)
Title: Watcher, Chapter 1
Pairing: Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko (eventually)
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
CSI Miami Main List
The first time was purely accidental.
At least that’s what Eric later told himself. He had forgotten his usual routine of pulling down the blinds in the kitchen and living room. He had repeated the same routine practically every night ever since he had moved into the apartment. The windows of his second story apartment were facing the neighbouring building, only a narrow alley between them, and as lovely as Ms. Hofstadt was, he didn’t have any desire to see her trying to shove herself into her supportive undergarments with her equally geriatric companion.
When Ms. Hofstadt had moved to a retirement home, the new neighbour had moved in almost immediately. Eric had seen the moving van on the street, but he hadn’t seen the new neighbour. A heat wave and a crime wave had both hit Miami simultaneously, and the crime lab kept everyone working overtime. Eric still hadn’t quite shaken the habit of keeping the blinds down and that was usually his first move after he got home, despite the fact that the new neighbour hadn`t seemed to settle in yet, and spent the nights somewhere else.
Another thing he later told himself was: It was the heat waves fault. He would have remembered the blinds if he hadn’t gone straight into the bathroom to take a cold shower and scrub off days worth of dried sweat.
Eric came out of the bathroom, wrapped up in a well-worn bathrobe and walked into the kitchen. The lights were turned on in the opposite apartment and he looked up to see the new neighbour walking into his bedroom, pulling off his clothes as he went along. He left behind a trail of clothes and opened one of the closets obviously looking for something. After a while of rummaging he pulled out a bright blue towel.
Eric did mean to close the blinds, but curiosity won. He still hadn’t seen the man’s face, just his back. He seemed to be quite tall, well muscled, and something in his posture and body language practically screamed “athlete” or possibly “personal trainer”.
Eric nodded his head as his overheated mind analysed the evidence.
The man was startled and he hurried out of the bedroom, wrapping the towel around his waist. Eric followed him to the living room window, but kept the lights down. He waited in the shadows for the man to give him more clues about himself. Part of Eric felt like a little kid solving a puzzle. The man had obviously heard his phone ring, he pulled a cellphone from the backpack that had been left on the couch. He flipped it open and a wide smile appeared on his face.
Eric used the opportunity to take a better look at him. Late twenties, maybe early thirties. Shaved head, that might have been a personal style choice or simply an effort to adapt to the warm and humid weather. Eric’s eyes slid down the man’s body, observing the trimmed muscles under the smooth dark skin. Everything seemed to support his earlier assumptions.
The man was talking enthusiastically, accompanying his words with large hand gestures. His towel was beginning to slide down and Eric held his breath. The man had paused to listen the person on the phone, and started laughed heartily, his whole body practically vibrating with laughter.
The towel hit the floor.
“Well, hello…” Eric grinned. The man didn’t seemed to care about walking around naked in his living room, he bent down to pick up the towel, but didn’t wrap it on his waist again. A small voice that sounded suspiciously like Calleigh was about to start a lecture on how people should be left alone to do what they want in the privacy of their own homes. Eric silenced the voice and licked is lips. The man had bent down to write something on a pad. He straightened his back, nodded to emphasise his words and ended the call.
Eric waited for him to continue his way to take a shower, but the man didn’t move. He stood still for a minute, then he took few steps closer to the window. His eyes nailed Eric on the spot. He was looking at him in the eye.
Eric froze. He couldn’t see him, Eric was almost sure of that. That didn’t seem to matter to the man looking at him. He looked Eric straight in the eyes and tilted his eyebrow in a questioning gesture. A small smirk was curling his lips.
He turned and walked out of the living room. Eric let out a small sigh of relief. He pulled the blinds down and slumped down on the couch.
---------------------------------------
After that night Eric gave up his routine. He left the blinds up.
The next morning he casually checked the neighbour’s name from the mail boxes.
C. Taylor. Eric saw him several times during the following weeks, never during the daylight hours. Taylor seemed to work even long days, often coming home after Eric. After few days Eric gave up his own homecoming routines to follow his neighbour’s routine. The scene repeated itself day after day. The man came in, usually carrying a gym bag, and stripped for shower. He seemed to know each and every time when Eric was watching, and nailed him with an amused glance. Eric would have felt embarrassed, but that would have made his new hobby feel more creepy than it already was.
He never saw anyone else in the apartment. Taylor either spent the evening lounging on the couch and watching the TV, or got dressed and stayed the night way. Eric had seen him few times in the early hours of the morning, coming home to pick up his gym bag and then leaving again.
Eric had drawn few more conclusions of his neighbour. Taylor was most likely seeing someone and sometimes stayed for the night. He had considered the possibility that it wasn’t too serious, since he had never taken his date to his home.
Three weeks after the first eye contact, Eric had to trash his earlier theories. He was waiting in living room the TV offering a wide selection of reruns, crap, and news. Taylor walked into his own apartment, but this time he wasn’t alone. Now there was two people shedding clothes on the floor. Eric walked closer to the window, abandoning the theoretical cover of the darkness. Taylor’s hands were wrapped around a shorter man, pulling their bodies together and kissing him.
A series of emotions went through Eric. Slight disappointment, excitement, curiosity… He moved on to watch the couple from the kitchen window as the two men staggered into the bedroom. The other man pushed Taylor down onto the bed and climbed on him, straddling his thighs.
The dim light of the bedroom illuminated the man’s face just enough. Eric gasped and a flash of recognition almost knocked him down. His overexcited mind had hoped he would get to see a good show, even if he couldn’t get the man himself.
But he never would have believed one of his co-workers would be the other leading man.
Chapter 2