"One of these days, you're gonna die with AC/DC blasting and I won't be surprised," Geek grumbled as he rolled his eyes as soon as he realized what music he was hearing from the other end.
"I thought you like AC/DC?" the man asked, grunting as he tried to get comfortable. "You said you liked 'Hell's Bells',"
"I liked 'Hell's Bells' but I'm still a big Alice Cooper fan," Geek answered matter-of-factly which made the other man chuckle.
"You should’ve told me! I'll make sure to listen to him next time," Rapid Fire groaned, the sound of gunshot in the background. "I thought you'd like AC/DC today."
"Alice Cooper all the way," Geek muttered before telling him to vacate the building immediately and make his way to the building over where the rest of his clothes will be waiting for him in the agreed location.
"Do you like strawberries or mangoes?" The agent heard the question go through the comms after almost an hour of silence. Geek did offer getting him a different car but Rapid Fire insisted on hitching a ride with their target - whatever that means.
"Are you already on location?"
"I am. They are selling these cute cakes I think you'd like. So, strawberries or mangoes?"
Agent Geek muted his mic and took a deep breath, rolling his eyes when one of the staff glanced at him. He should remind Rapid Fire that their conversation is heard by everybody during these missions for security purposes.
"Eyes on the prize, Rapid Fire," Geek chose to say instead, ignoring the grumble from the other line.
"I do - have my eyes on the prize. It's either strawberry or mango," he whined, like the child Geek knows he is.
"Mangoes are not yet in season where that place usually gets them," Geek responded, sighing when he heard a small but triumphant sound from the other end of the line.
Rapid Fire got back to their office in one piece, unfortunately for Geek, and with a gigantic smile on his face as he presented him with a box of the cakes in question.
"You really shouldn't have," Geek deadpanned, not daring to get anywhere near the thing if not for his cat who went ahead and got curious for him anyway.
"How could I not? I heard someone from Equipment said you like sweets,"
"A rumor that I tell you isn't true." Geek said before walking away, carrying with him Rapid Fire's tea but the other man's not about to tell him that. He specifically got an identical mug for this very reason.
If Geek let out a tiny squeak of delight upon eating the cakes he was given, nobody has to know.
"Please tell me you're not fucking this up," Geek groaned over the comms as he began to furiously type on his laptop.
"I'm not fucking this up," the voice obediently said as gunshots were heard in the background. "Maybe a little."
"You're fucking it up big time - to your left," Geek said and watched the tiny white dot go left on his map. "I refuse to handle any more missions with you."
"Geek! I can't work this well with others!" they all heard the whine from the other end of the line. "You can ask them. They know how I mess things up more if it's not you - I think I was shot," the man said and Geek could only groan, sending commands to agents nearby to intercept the escalating situation.
"You think?!" he half-shouted, sending as many agents as he could to help out. "Do you think you could drive?"
"I think so. But I'll bleed in the car," he heard Rapid Fire grunt. Geek only groaned frustratedly before sending an automated car his way, the destination right back to the headquarters where he alerted the medical staff to be on standby.
"You can stop moping now," Geek jumped a little at the sudden voice next to him. He was seated outside the infirmary and, well, he isn't waiting to know if Rapid Fire is okay of course. He's just - he's not yet required to do anything so, he's being a good colleague.
"I wasn't,"
"Sure. And I'm not Agent Doctor, working in the infirmary," the other man said, rolling his eyes. "He's sleeping the meds off but you can visit him anytime," the man said. "Actually, I'm pretty sure his body is immune to the medication we give at this point. You should just go inside and see if he's playing dead or not." the man said before walking away, not waiting for Geek's response. Not that he had any but still.
Geek has never been to the infirmary. He never really had the reason to seeing that he works in the headquarters all the time. Or from a remote area. He is pretty smart - if the code name isn't a dead giveaway - but make him hold a gun and he's as good as an ice cream cone. So, to not waste what talent he's got, he's holed up in the headquarters - the voice in an agent's ear.
He wasn't officially assigned Rapid Fire but they often work together. Mostly, Rapid Fire requests for him or other quartermasters reject working with him. Rapid Fire has a habit of, let's say, going astray every now and then. Geek himself is a stickler to plans but he understands why Rapid Fire goes off script every now and then - which he also justifies in front of their superiors even without Geek's help but Geek could help if needed - and for a quartermaster, it could be pretty stressful.
This is why Geek has a backup plan for the backup plan all the time because if he doesn't, well.
The room was quite dark save for the lamp next to Rapid Fire.
"Are you dead yet?" Geek asked, opting to sit on the farthest seat possible.
"Unfortunately," came the quiet reply. Geek didn't move.
For all the successful missions completed, and a few botched up ones - although if asked, the two of them would deny ever botching any missions - Geek started getting the feeling that Rapid Fire has just stopped caring.
He doesn't care if he lives or dies. No matter how valuable he is to the organization, he treats himself like an expendable and puts himself in situations that more often than not makes Geek want to pull on his hair out of frustration.
"Well, you'll live to see another day," Geek answered.
"I asked them to not assign you to anybody while I'm recovering," Rapid Fire said quietly. In that empty room, his words carried more than what they should. "I got you stressed out today. You deserve to rest."
"Hope you also told them to take my ‘break’ from YOUR paycheck," Geek chuckled.
"Of course I did. The kids must never run out of food," Rapid Fire chuckled before it was followed by a pained groan. Geek decided to make his way to the bed and look at Rapid Fire try to hide the pain with a smile. "Still handsome, huh?"
"You look like shit," Geek answered instead, a hand hovering over his bruised hand, frowning at the bandage on his forehead.
"It's not as bad as it looks," Rapid Fire said. "The shot was only skin level."
"Do you want me to be happy it didn't damage any organs?" Geek asked. Rapid Fire looked at him confused. "That never should've happened in the first place! If I - "
"You did your job wonderfully, Geek," Rapid Fire immediately said, cutting him.
He reached for his hand and held it tightly. Geek frowned but the bruised man only shook his head and tugged, silently asking him to come closer and so Geek did.
"If it was someone else in my ears earlier, I would've died. They would've let me die and laugh it off as Rapid Fire being careless and doing whatever he wants," he began, gently caressing. "But it was you. You always get me home. No matter how stupid I am out there, you always find a way to get me home." he smiled, albeit pained.
Geek closed the door gently so as to not disturb the sleeping man. After their little chat, Rapid Fire admitted to finally feeling tiredness catch up to him.
"I'm sure you're bent on making my life a living hell," Geek murmured, watching the rest of the staff leave their stations after a very long 32 hours which felt like 50 after the whole mess Rapid Fire put himself in and that stray agent that had to be put down. "Scope is a perfectly capable quartermaster, if not better than me."
"I told you I only work well with you," Rapid Fire said. Geek only snorted in response, watching the white dot traverse a very familiar path to the headquarters.
"Do you have plans tonight?" Geek heard over the line. He could go home now - the job's done. For that long a time in this mission, all he wants to do now is go home and sleep. But Rapid Fire is still on the way and he wanted to make sure -
"I was planning on trying on that gadget I made. The one I told you the other day?"
"Ah, the poison pen. I remember. Sounds promising!"
"I know but you're never using it," Geek frowned, glaring at the white dot on the big screen. "You always accidentally set your pens off in your pocket. The ink is supposed to be deadly on contact."
They are making small talk now while Rapid Fire drove down familiar streets like any other worker in an office. They have taken to having small talks after every mission - when Rapid Fire is not being rushed into medical bay after being shot or stabbed - and at first Geek found it tedious.
The first time they talked after a mission was because Rapid Fire asked him not to go yet. It has been a long day and he has been itching to go back to his lab but the man asked him with such defeated tone that Geek felt bad for even thinking of ignoring him. It was awkward at first but they got into a rhythm. Soon, Geek is openly telling him about his latest inventions or Rapid Fire is telling him about his vacation plans since Field Agents get long vacations after each mission.
"Can't you just put a cap on it? I really wanna try it," he heard the man and could picture his pout while he drove.
"I'm not sacrificing aesthetics because one lousy agent asked me to use pen caps instead," Geek laughed, already thinking of the cap design in his head. He should probably make variations anyway. A fountain pen would look very out of place in missions in the slums.
"Please?"
"No," Geek continued, watching the white dot, smiling at it.
"We should go out for dinner tonight. My treat," Rapid Fire said while Geek began packing up. The white dot has already made its way in the location of their office but Rapid Fire still hasn't removed his ear piece. He only lets Geek remove any listening devices on him because of 'trust issues' Geek isn't sure stemmed from where. So here they are, Rapid Fire already standing by the door of the monitoring room while Geek places his laptop inside his bag.
"You are literally looking at me right now, Rapid Fire. Do I look like I'm in the mood to go out?"
Geek is wearing his pajamas because they called him out of nowhere. It was supposed to be his vacation - and he was in the vacation mood with a mug of tea in front of him, two of his cats cuddled on his lap, a book in one hand - when Scope, who was handling Rapid Fire, called him in a hurry and told him it's a matter of life and death. Of course he had to come in and upon arriving, he was informed that Rapid Fire was causing too much of a mess and so Geek had to come in blind and use whatever he could at his disposal.
Fortunately, as soon as he was connected, Rapid Fire began going back to the script. That stray agent might've added a couple of hours to it all but it's fine. It's all done now. It's the cleaning department's problem now.
"What are you talking about? You look fine," Rapid Fire smiled.
"Only you would think that,"
"I think you look fine even when you're wearing your fluffy kitty slippers." the other chuckled.
In the lab where Geek began removing any devices attached to the other man, he suddenly felt watched but he dared not look at the other man.
"I know this nice place - "
"I am not going to some fancy place dressed like this!" Geek exclaimed, obviously tired of his incessant asking.
"You're dressed well enough,"
"I'm dressed for a midnight trip to Burger King because my lover uploaded a picture of them kissing someone else on Instagram and I am a sad fool who could only cry," Geek said, storing away the last of the devices before reaching out for the detector he made. "And I know you don't like Burger King. I heard you tell Bullet."
"What are we doing here?" Geek asked when he said where Rapid Fire was driving to.
"I am the person who drives you to Burger King because your lover is having an affair," Rapid Fire shrugged, turning the engine off. "And I told Bullet I didn't like Burger King because I wanted him to avoid fast food. He's too hyper even without the junk food in his system." Rapid Fire said before getting out, looking at Geek through the window.
Rapid Fire opened the door for him like a gentleman and had the same order as him and found them a booth away from the other patrons that late at night.
"I would suggest eating in the car so you could cry while at it but I don't think you're into that," he said.
"I've done worse," Geek shrugged.
Geek got around to telling him about his heartbreaks and the things he's done because of it. Nothing wild outside of getting drunk at home, really, but it has become a fond memory. Something he is proud of himself for because he doesn't really have any embarrassing stories to tell. Proves just how in control of himself he is.
The same cannot be said for Rapid Fire, however. Where Geek drank and cried and kept to himself, he kept his head leveled and made sure to inflict some pain on the other person so they knew how hurt he was.
"Of course, if I broke it off, I would do nothing. It's me who hurt them after all. But if I was hurt - "
"I get it. Hell hath no fury like a Rapid Fire scorned," Geek chuckled.
They talked a lot. What Geek found to be a tedious task at first, he found something he actually enjoyed. Rapid Fire was witty and knew when he needed to talk and when to give him the floor. He listened and he responded and he remembers.
He remembers everything Geek has ever told him before. Even the ones he has forgotten himself.
"Because it's you," he simply said when Geek pointed it out.
Their night ended earlier than Geek would've liked. He was nice enough to drive him home and even walked him to the door.
"I hope we can do this again in the near future," Rapid Fire said as he was looking for his keys.
Geek paused and watched the taller man look everywhere but him. Logic dictates Rapid Fire is nervous but common sense says he has no reason to be. Then Geek figured out he was also nervous. In the face of this uncertain man, he was nervous himself and he didn't know what he must do suddenly.
So he stopped thinking and just let the moment take him with its flow.
"I enjoyed tonight," he said.
"Can I drop by tomorrow? Maybe for breakfast?" Rapid Fire asked and Geek nodded. "Great! If you have requests..."
"Call me by my name if you're making me breakfast tomorrow," Geek said and felt the tip of his ears heat up. But he ignored that and looked at Rapid Fire head on.
Something in his features softened and Geek would even say seemed fond. Rapid Fire reached out and caressed his cheek with the back of his hand.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Kei," he said and Kei closed his eyes, smiling.
"Be here early, Yuya,"