gunsforhire | The Ai, the Thief and Recovery

Entry tags:

The Ai, the Thief and Recovery

Who: Agent Washington (Native), Agent York (Native) and Sigma Ai
What: First meet, coffee and trickery
Where: The Green Fairy
When: Midday
Warnings: Tricks and lies and the possible exposure of both

York is well aware of his habit of being late for things, so he sets in his mind that he's meeting Sigma and Wash at ten to twelve and is rather pleased when he makes it there at five to. He's the first one there so he leans back against the wall and waits for his friend and boyfriend to show up.

This is going to be fun. Ever since Sigma agreed to the facade, he's been grinning every time he thinks about it. That's going to have to stop. If they're going to fool Wash, Sigma's not the only who's going to have to pretend. Fortunately, being caring and protective over him isn't going to be hard to do. It's keeping a straight face that will be the hard part, but he'll give it his best shot.

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He's compared Sigma's eyes to fire before, but now he feels like he really could be burned by that gaze. 'I'm not sure. I was thinking after your finals.'

"Because there's not a chance in the world that I would want to know, or accidentally figure it out?"

Why wait? It's not as if the news would have made York any more distracting than he already is.

'Of course there was a chance, you're not stupid. And after all the drama that went down with Delta and Omega, I wasn't sure what your reaction would be.' He'd often imagined different scenarios in his head.

"I told you I didn't care. I admitted that I had considered the mercenary life. I gave you an opening and you didn't take it."

'I didn't take it because I was more focused on trying to convince you away from merc life. I thought if you knew I was one, you'd have another reason to consider it.'

"Well congratulations. You've successfully pushed me away."

He focuses on the tabletop, the airlock, anywhere but York's face now.

It takes everything to not flinch, but he can't stop the cold feeling that settles in the pit of his stomache. He's going to lose him.

'I didn't want to get you involved.'

"You didn't realize something like this was inevitable? I thought you were smarter than that."

He has to force his voice not to soften at that last part, because until now, everything has been so perfect. Until now, he has cared so deeply for the kind, intelligent man he met in the park. Now, he can't bring himself to care.

'I didn't think something like this would happen,' he says, sighing as he looks outside at the remains of the fight, having to turn his head to do so as it's on his left.

'Our gun fights so rarely make it into public area that the chances of one happening right here were tiny. I thought I had more time, that I could tell you properly.'

"Too late now," he says.

He can't do this. He can't keep not looking at York, not when he doesn't know what to do with this anger. He could punch him for this--no. No, he couldn't.

No wonder Omega punches so many walls.

'Yeah,' he sighs. 'Yeah, I guess it is.'

He runs his hand through his hiar, rubs his eye. The cold knot only gets tighter.

'I'm sorry. If that counts for anything.'

"I don't know."

That's what it comes down to, really. He doesn't know how to feel. Except perhaps shaken by the whole ordeal.

That's better than outright "no" at least.

'Are you okay?' he asks, his tone more gentle as he sees Sigma shudder slightly. 'That was... violent.'

"Should I be?" He asks. "Can I be? Or is something else going to come up in a month that I don't know about?"

He looks York right in the eyes. Realizes he's staring right at the scar. That's not what he meant. He flinches away, which is possibly even worse.

"I can't do this now." He stands. "Enjoy coffee with your mercenary friend."

If the knot in his gut is cold, it's nothing compared to the ice that suddenly floods his veins when Sigma flinches a second after he looks at York's blind eye. Guess it really was too much to hope that someone wouldn't care about it, especially after they guessed the cause.

'There's always going to be things you don't know, Sigma,' he points out quietly. 'And there's different reasons I don't tell you.' Safety, personal, unnecessary...

'His name is Wash.'

"That's not what I--"

What does York expect him to do, apologize?

"Forget it," he says. "Enjoy coffee with Wash. I have to go."

He wasn't expecting an apology. He just wanted Sigma to know that they're not just mercenaries. Although that's probably the main word Sigma's using to mentally describe them now.

'Is this... over?' It hurts to ask, but he needs to know.

He could say yes, just to show how angry he is. But if he does, it's over. And beneath that raw, corrosive anger, he feels his heart break at the thought.

"I need time," he says instead.

'Okay.' His throat closes against the word, but he gets it out.

It's not a yes. There's still a chance. A small one, but it's all he has to hold onto.

Everybody's all taken care of. That is, everybody but Sigma. Wash knows it wasn't his fault that the gunfight happened, but he still feels partially responsible for all this. After all, it was his idea in the first place to even do this.

He hesitantly approaches Sigma and York.

"I'm really sorry about that, Sigma."

"Thanks," he says. To Wash, really, but he looks back at York, this time without flinching.

York doesn't stand, just watches the two of them and manages to meet Sigma's when he looks over.

Wash shifts his weight from one foot to the other, which he does when he's nervous. And he's nervous as can be right now. He's not sure what's going on between those two, but whatever it is, it doesn't look good.

"You should probably know that we're mercenaries. I mean, you've probably figured that out but. Yeah. Just wanted to be transparent about that, I guess. Also, I'm not good at martial arts, that's more of York's thing. He's better and hand to hand. The stuff about the cats was completely true, though."

"You really are a cat lady-in-training?" he asks, making a weak attempt at humor.

"Thank you. For your honesty."

How badly would it go if he hugged Sigma right now? Probably very badly.

'I really am a locksmith,' he says, standing up slowly. 'Or I was. But I'm still qualified.'

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