#like yeah the courier delivered the package but in the end that���s a job

[vagrantblvrd]

Jerevinwood agency AU?

Anon, you get me.

Because reasons, Jeremy’s a college/art school student who works as a bike messenger/courier to cover his bills.

One day his boss gives him this package to deliver, okay. Nothing special about it, he does this all the damn time, but it’s been a weird day in the city.Some kind of commotion making people nervous – some might even call it a ruckus – and everyone’s picking up on it. Acting real damn weird, like Jeremy doesn’t even know.

His boss tells him to be careful – gets real insistent about it before he lets Jeremy get on with the delivery.

And Jeremy, okay.

Didn’t bother to gather with the other bike messengers/couriers around the TV in the break room with the breaking news story on the Ruckus going on. (Had a school project and couldn't get in touch with his partner for it, so that’s a headache and a half, and anyway, he’s the only one not freaking out about delivering packages with the whole !!! going on in the city, so.)

He notices more police cars and emergency vehicles on the roads than usual as he goes to the address on the package,  but doesn’t think too much about it. (There’s always some kind of Ruckus going on somewhere.)

Jeremy does get a little concerned when he realizes his destination is this sketchy looking neighborhood, the kind of motel you see on the news all the time, you know? Someone discovering a dead body and the police being all “We’ve got this!!1!” when they do not, in fact, have this.

So.

He sits on his bike across the street looking up at the motel sign – flickering neon and burned out letters, overgrown patches of grass and shrubbery and the whatnot. Cars that look like they’ve been abandoned in the parking lot, some of the rooms have boarded up windows and overall the kind of place where unsuspecting people (like him) end up on the news as another sad story.

But hey, he’s got a delivery to make and the promise of a bonus if he does it because apparently the customer was insistent?

So.

Yeah.

Jeremy gets his ass in gear and goes up to the motel room and knocks on the door – and it slooowly swings open after the first knock. (Creepy, and not at all ominous.)

When he gets inside – well, look.

He’s not going to say it looks like s crime scene, but. It kind of looks like a crime scene.Furniture knocked over and blood every-goddamned-where.

TV turned to some shopping network or infomercial channel, and Jeremy makes the mistake of taking a look around. (Someone could be hurt, what with the blood and all, and also Jeremy’s an idiot.)

The bathroom looks like someone was murdered there, because blood? (But mainly the body in the tub, wrapped up in the shower curtain someone ripped don and ohfuckohfuckohfuck.)

Jeremy turns right the hell around to leave, but there’s a guy standing behind him?

Tall and broad shouldered and most likely the murderer. (Because blood, and also the gun he’s holding on Jeremy???)

“Okay, I’ll admit it,” the guy says when they ed up staring at each other for a long, awkward moment. “It doesn’t look great for me.”

Jeremy is just -

“Yeah, no,” Jeremy agrees, wondering what’s going to happen to his cats now, because he doesn’t have a Will or anything, you know?

Kind of young to think about that. (Maybe Matt will take his cats in? That would be nice of him.)

The guy seems nice enough for a murderer. Not foaming at the mouth and babbling about something crazy or over the top creepy? But, again, the whole thing about the dead body in the tub and also gun, and also, also, Jeremy seeing all of this?

The guy doesn’t murder Jeremy right away, which is nice of him? (Unless he’s the sort to play with his victims first, in which case Jeremy is out of luck.)

The guy escorts Jeremy out of the bathroom and tells him to sit at the tiny little table in one corner of the room while he goes through Jeremy’s messenger bag.

Gets all quiet as he opens the package Jeremy was supposed to deliver, and Jeremy, okay.

He’s watching this guy, notices he’s hurt. Bandages all over, a few he’s bled through in places. Looks kind of pale – not in a “didn’t get enough sun” kind of way and more of a “yikes, that’s a lot of blood that’s no longer in your body where it belongs” kind of way.

Still dangerous, though, even without the gun. (He just has that look about him?)

“So, uh,” Jeremy says, because the guys still rifling through his stuff, keeps going back to the content of the package Jeremy was supposed to deliver. “What’s going on?”

The guy looks up like he’s forgotten Jeremy was there.

“I beg your pardon?”

Jeremy, okay.“The, uh. Everything going on here?” Jeremy asks, gesturing around at everything.

And the guy, he makes this face as he sits down on the edge of the bed. Looks tired.

“A really bad day,” he says, running a hand over his face before he looks back at Jeremy, corner of his mouth pulled up in this wry little smile. “For both of us, it looks like.”

Not sounding great for Jeremy, but the guy has a point, so there’s that.

The guy asks Jeremy where he got the package, and Jeremy is like, ??? but also tells him his boss gave it to him to deliver, because that’s how his job works?

They’re a small company, twenty people tops out of the holiday season and maybe a handful more then. Nothing big or exciting, and all that.

The guy is like HMMMM and Jeremy is like ???

The guy sighs, starts to say something but that’s when the shooting starts.

Well, no.

That’s when they hear screeching tires outside and the guy snaps into action, scoops Jeremy’s stuff – including the package – back into his bag and tosses it to Jeremy as he shoves him towards the bathroom. Slings it over his shoulders, grabs Jeremy and drags him back to the bathroom.

Pushes him towards the window which is conveniently big enough for them to squeeze through. It lets out into a small alley, and the guy pulls Jeremy along with him as gunfire breaks out behind them.

Jeremy gets slammed into the wall as someone runs tries to cut them off, hears more gunfire -the guy shooting back and what the hell did he get into here?

“Come on, they’re not going to give up easily,” the guy says when the shooting stops, and Jeremy tries not to look when they run past the body of the guy who just tried to kill them.

More shooty shoots, running and hiding and Jeremy having no fucking clue whats going on. Why the guy doesn’t just leave him behind or kill him himself and all that.

Considers trying to escape, but when the people chasing them tries to kill Jeremy too, he decides to stick with only asshole who seems in any way invested in keeping Jeremy alive.

Absolutely saves his life by warning him when someone’s about to get the jump on them and shrugs when the guy gives him a look afterward like he didn’t think Jeremy would do something like that?

“I don’t know who you are, or what’s going on, but you aren’t actively trying to kill me, so I’m going to do what I can to keep that trend going, okay?”

The guy laughs, this surprisingly dorky little thing as he admits that’s as good a reason as anything, so you know.

Eventually they get to this quiet little neighborhood. All nicely kept streets and hedges and whatever else, and the guy gets them inside through the back way. (Because they’re a mess, alright? The guy looks like he’s been through a shredder and Jeremy’s looking like shit too – got a bullet graze and covered in muck and the whatnot during their Daring Escape portion of things.)

“Safe house,” the guy says, when he gets them inside a quaint little apartment.

Boring furniture and bland everything, but most of all safe. (For the moment, anyway.)

Jeremy’s not sure he can trust the guy, but he’s the safest option right now.

There’s the obligatory tending to one another’s injuries scene, in which Jeremy cleans and re-bandages the guy's older injuries. (Looks like he got shot, and given their recent madcap adventures, it checks out.)

The guy doesn’t seem as worried about keeping an eye on Jeremy now – that bit where they saved each other’s lives earlier and also, Jeremy’s in too deep now, so there’s that.

After a little poking around they find food. Nothing gourmet because it’s all boxed and canned stuff, but hey it’s food and they’re too hungry to be picky about it. (Jeremy flashes Ryan this little grin, tells him he makes this dish that’s to die for (hahaha) because college/art student and the whatnot, and Ryan is charmed.)

Jeremy goes about cooking for them while the guy looks over the package Jeremy was supposed to deliver.

Seems to think about it for a moment before he decides what the hell and tells Jeremy what it is.

Government secrets or some such, typical spy thriller movie fare where it cannot be allowed to fall into the Wrong Hands, no matter the cost and so forth.

Tells Jeremy the guy in the motel room was an undercover agent he was meeting with who turned out to be a traitor, and Ryan had to kill him in self-defense and the whatnot. That Ryan waited for Jeremy to arrive with the package and didn’t plan on getting him involved.

Was going to leave him somewhere safe – he stresses the safe part, that he was absolutely NOT going to kill Jeremy because wow, rude - until Ryan got the package to people he trusted. (Didn’t want to have fend off cops  and the whatnot when Jeremy inevitably went to them or they found him, and would make sure that everyone involved knew Jeremy was in the wrong place at the wrong time and the like, but then the shooting started, so. Sorry???)

Jeremy is just like, well shit when he hears all that, because that’s gonna put a damper on him living through this mess. (But hey, thanks for not being an asshole???)

He plates the food and sits down and the guy looks at him for a long moment and sighs, introduces himself as Ryan and sorry you got caught up in this.

Jeremy is just like, yeah, okay, so now what do they do?

Ryan looks at him for a long moment because this Jeremy guy is taking this situation better than most people would, and that’s a bit alarming. (Jeremy’s just like, oh, man. You have no idea, okay.)

They have their lovely little dinner while planning their next move and it’s probably the best part of either of their day, okay. (Ryan is worried about keeping Jeremy alive on top of everything else and Jeremy is just like. Worried. Because everything, but also Ryan who looks like shit and picking at his food and just. He was right about it being a bad day for them both.)

Ryan tells Jeremy about his partner at the agency, one of the only people he knows he can trust without question, and if anything goes wrong to find him. (Jeremy is just like REALLY??? to himself because from what Ryan’s said the traitor agent used to be someone he counted in that group, but okay. Reassures Ryan that he will totally do that if something happens like neither of them grasp the whole foreshadowing thing at this stage of events. Also, there’s something in the way Ryan says “partner” that seems a little off? That, and the unwavering trust in him and so on and Jeremy is like oh.)

Afterwards, Jeremy insists on keeping first watch because he’s not the one who got shot and Ryan really does look like shit - “Thanks???”

Ryan doesn’t sleep well, too on edge for that, bu he does get some rest. Enough that Jeremy doesn’t feel terrible about getting a little sleep of his own when he goes off to the tiny bedroom -

Or he wouldn’t, but the there’s more shooting.

Too many guys this time and they both know it. Ryan gets this look to his face as he shoves the package at Jeremy and tells him to run, to find

And Jeremy, okay.

Jeremy does not want to leave Ryan to die just to buy him time to escape, but the whole thing about this being bigger than either of them and all the typical cliches. (Because DRAMA.)

Jeremy runs, tries not to think about the gunshots behind them or the way they just stop.

Runs and runs and runs, gets to main streets and hops a bus.

Early, early morning and first bus of the day and all. Just a few riders on at this hour and Jeremy makes up some excuse to the startled bus driver. (Jeremy is out of breath and slightly panicky and probably sending up red flags everywhere.)

So he babbles something about oversleeping and missing the bus. That his boss will fire him he’s late again and other little lies until the bus driver is less  likely to call the cops on him. Gives him this look when Jeremy scrambles for correct change and – feeling charitable or just wanting to get back on schedule takes what he has and tells Jeremy to take a seat.

Jeremy does, watches police cars and the whatnot scream past the bus as they pull back in traffic and tries not to feel guilty even though he never asked for any of this.

Has these phone numbers Ryan gave him – just in case, and wow, ALL the guilt – and he uses his phone to call the one for Ryan’s partner and gets the guy’s voicemail.

Which, you know.

Great???

He leaves a vague message, pretends he’s from a delivery service – irony! - and has a package and so on. Mentions trying to get in contact with Ryan but no luck so a call back would be great?

And then he thinks about this address Ryan gave him. Place where Ryan was supposed to meet his partner, and even though Jeremy has a Bad Feeling about things, he doesn’t know where else he can go. (Still, he makes a stop before he heads to the address, makes a few phone calls, just in case.)

It’s another safe house or whatever, and Jeremy checks the area out before getting too close. Isn’t really sure he could pick out a trained agent in the wild, but it seems safe so he goes in.

Finds some guy who seems nice enough. All polite manners and sympathetic to Jeremy’s situation and for a moment – one brief moment – Jeremy thinks it’s over, that Ryan’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain and all that.

Because hey!

This guy says he’s Ryan’s partner and seems to check out – says the right things and whatnot – and just when Jeremy’s about to hand the package over Jeremy realizes it’s a trap.

It’s not an obvious sort of thing, nothing blatant, but Jeremy suddenly knows this is one of the baddies. Couldn’t say why, for the life of him. There’s no outward sign of anything being off, but Jeremy knows, okay.

And Ryan okay.

Odd guy to start with, but Jeremy figure that went along with being a fucking secret agent/spy.

Told Jeremy about his partner, used British slang every once in a while, or what Jeremy assumes was British slang even though some of it was suspect, and this guy -

Credible enough British accent, not that Jeremy’s an expert. Seems believable, and Jeremy tests him, uses some of the slang he heard Ryan use and the guy goes along with it. Is even amused that Jeremy’s using it, and Jeremy makes something up and acts like it’s something he picked up from Ryan.

The guy goes along with that too, and Jeremy is like, well fuck.

Realizes there have to be more baddies around this guy pretending to be Ryan’s partner is a trained agent/spy and Jeremy’s a delivery guy working toward an art degree.

Looks at this guy who’s waiting for Jeremy to hand the package over and tells him to go fuck himself, because Jeremy.

The whole Bad Guy Realizes He’s Been Found Out bit where he drops the act and the accent and asks how the hell Jeremy figure it out.

Jeremy doesn’t play that little game, though. Refuses to tell him anything and the guy is just just like, ah, okay then.

Tells Jeremy how refreshing it is to find someone with actual backbone these days and blah blah blah as he calls the minions in to escort Jeremy to a car waiting outside. (Wants to go the baddie HQ to squeeze information on the the package’s whereabouts after Jeremy lets him know he stashed it somewhere safe before meeting with him, because even Jeremy’s not dumb enough to bring it with him.)

And then!

Someone takes a shot at the baddie – misses because the asshole moves at the last moment or what have you.

Jeremy makes his escape while the baddies are dealing with the shooter – catches the guy guarding him by surprise and makes a break for it.

Ends up leading the handful of baddies after him on thrilling chase – through alleys and the whatnot, Takes it up to the rooftops when someone tries to cut him off with a car. Hops up a fire escape and puts his former gymnastics training and brief dabbling in parkour to use and manages to get away because he makes jumps no sane person – trained agent or not – would ever take.

Runs and runs and runs and oh dear God has he bee doing a lot of that recently until he gets somewhere  safe-ish.

It’s getting late and he doesn’t know where the hell to go now.

Definitely doesn’t want to get his friends caught up in all of this and goes to another seedy motel to think.

And then he’s just like, now what???

Could go to the cops, but for Plot Reasons it’s risky, so he just sits in the dingy little motel room wondering what the hell he’s going to do now, right? Because he’s just a college/art student who works as a bike messenger/delivery guy and this is way above his pay grade.

He doesn’t mean to fall asleep, but it’s been a hell of a day – couple of days? - and he’s fucking tired, okay.

Wakes up again in the middle of the night – not sure why – but when he gets up to freshen up and use the bathroom there’s movement out of the corner of his eye.

Starts to turn, but someone tells him not to.

Another British accent and this tone to his voice – nowhere near joking around – and Jeremy listens when the guy tells him to hold his hands up and all that.

Has to squint against the light when the guy turns them on.

Jeremy’s still half-asleep, too damn tired for more of this secret agent/spy shit and has to pee, so he’s like.

“Look, if you’re going to kill me, could it wait until after I pee?”

And the guy – Gavin, of course – is like ??? and lets him use the bathroom because he’s not a monster.  (Also, there are no windows in this one, or anything he could use as a weapon Gavin can’t handle, so.)

Jeremy comes back out and just looks at Gavin, waiting for whatever happens next.

Gavin is just like, “You look like you’ve had an interesting time of it lately,” which, yes.

Jeremy is totes unimpressed with Gavin, and Gavin is like, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ because what can you do, right?

They sit down and have a little chat and Jeremy doesn’t trust Gavin – look, aside from Ryan he’s got no reason to trust any of these assholes, and also Ryan trusted that other agent who shot him and so on and so on.

Gavin realizes Jeremy doesn’t trust him and is fine with that – because hey, he’s not sure he trusts Jeremy either- but they’re both working towards the same goal and that’s enough for him.

Jeremy won’t tell Gavin where he hid the package and Gavin’s waiting to hear back from his people – the baddies have fouled things up so badly the good guys are scrambling to untangle everything and the pool of people Gavin trusts is painfully small at the moment.

Gavin convinces Jeremy they should move – if Gavin managed to find him it’s a good bet the baddies will too – so they go off on a ~adventure looking for a better place to hide out for the time being.

Awkward hiding out in another safe house for the two of them. Gavin insists the only people who know about it are him and Ryan, and now Jeremy. (Jeremy winces at that because ouch, and Gavin gets this look to him because oh, yeah.)

Gavin asks how Jeremy even got involved in this mess and Jeremy still doesn’t trust him, right, but figures it won’t hurt to give him a summary of recent events because why not???

Gavin just stares at him after he’s done talking, and Jeremy is like what? oddly defensive, and Gavin mumbles something about Jeremy deserving a damn good tip after all this and Jeremy is just.

God, he doesn’t even know, and it’s one of the most random things he’s heard since this all started and he starts laughing like an idiot.

It’s not even that funny, but he can’t help it and when he gets himself under control again Gavin’s got this odd little smile on his face and things are the teensiest bit less awkward for both of them?

Jeremy doesn’t quite trust Gavin but it’s not like he has a lot of choice in the matter at the moment. They go to get the package, and of course that’s when the baddies show up again and they have to run for it before they can.

Gavin listening to Jeremy bitch about it during their high-speed car chase and is like, oh, man, same? (While Jeremy and Ryan were having wacky funtime adventures (only not) Gavin was doing much the same, but from within their agency?

Showed up in the motel room fresh from an attempt to kill him after he asked one too many questions about what was going on with the dead agent and Ryan. Why everyone was so convinced Ryan was the traitor and realized there was a conspiracy afoot and so on.)

The baddies force the two of them down to the docks or somewhere suitable for the Final Showdown with the prerequisite cat and mouse game?

Gavin leads most of the baddies away because of course the trained agent will be the one with the Important Thing, and Jeremy’s supposed to sneak away, but the baddies are on top of things this time and they both get caught.

Have this moment where the head baddie shows up and monologues at them, Gavin bored with it because really and Jeremy is like.

“Oh my God, really???”

It’s your usual selling government secrets for fun and profit scheme, become disgustingly rich and move to some tropical paradise to live a life of luxury or what have you and it’s just.

All of this because the guy feels he’s owed that kind of life after working for the agency his whole life.

Something, something, something, he’s going to retire in a few years and what will he have to show for it? A gold watch and a shitty pension? He’s sacrificed so much for his agency, his country, and that’s what he gets for it?

And then he looks at Gavin, appeals to him one last time because he does like him. Liked Ryan too, but that stubborn bastard wouldn’t listen to reason, but maybe Gavin will?

If Gavin helps him, he’ll make sure Gavin’s adequately rewarded and they can brush all this pleasantness aside and so on.

Points out if things hadn’t gotten out of hand the way they did, Gavin would have been in his place later on down the road. Staring retirement in the face and nothing to show for it. This way he can retire early, live a good life wherever he pleases and no need to kill himself for an ungrateful agency. A country not his own.

Gavin thinks about it, and then he thinks about it some more. Aware of Jeremy watching him, the other minions watching all this.

“You make a good point,” he says, and ignores the betrayed look from Jeremy as he joins the baddie.

Cozies up to him, tells him where Jeremy hid the package while Jeremy is resigned because why in the world would he have expected anything else at this point. (He doesn’t know Gavin at all, but he’s still disappointed because Ryan had so much trust in him and now this, and really, it’s been a really shitty couple of days for him, all told.)

The baddie put the three of them in a car to go get the package, Gavin up front with head baddie and Jeremy in the backseat with one of the minions.

They get to the place where Jeremy hid the package, some little rental locker at the bus station and Jeremy quietly seething as the baddie checks it over, Gavin right there with him.

He thinks about making a break for it, grabbing the package and running, but there are too many baddies and they’d probably kill him before he got too far. (Cover it up, make him out to be a threat and then the truth about the conspiracy dies with him. God knows the baddie would deal with whatever loose strings are left, even the ones he wouldn’t know about since Gavin’s on his side now, so.)

He bides his time, knows there’s not a lot left now.

Plays nice while they go to a warehouse somewhere to hand the contents of the package over to the buyer, or maybe an intermediary.

The baddie puts Gavin in charge of Jeremy while they wait for whoever to arrive, and there’s a lot of time for Jeremy to scowl at Gavin, make these cutting little remarks that Gavin ignores. Gives Jeremy this look after a particularly cutting one involving Ryan and his trust in Gavin and Gavin -

“Yes, well. That was the point, wasn’t it?”

Jeremy has no idea what to say to that, so he doesn’t say anything at all, and Gavin doesn’t seem interested in talking to him either, so.

He struggles with his cuffs, hands behind his back and all that. Likes to think he’s still flexible enough to get out of them if these assholes would just give him some fucking privacy, okay, but no such luck.

The baddie comes in a little while later with a couple of goons, knows something happened but not what. (Not that he cares)

Wants Gavin with him when the buyer gets there and oh, yes, take care of Jeremy as some sort of test of his newfound loyalty or what have you. (Maybe this is entertainment for the baddie, what does Jeremy know, you know?)

Jeremy looks at Gavin, expecting him to be “This could have been avoided if you’d just cooperated with us,” or something along those lines, maybe a little gloating because baddie, right?

But Gavin is just looking at him.

No expression on his face at all, as he moves behind Jeremy – small mercies he guesses? Or maybe Gavin doesn’t feel good about murdering him and this is for him instead. Make him feel better about things.

The baddie doesn’t seem impressed with that move, probably wanted more of a show, so you know, he can totally go to hell.

He hears Gavin draw his gun, the room suddenly so damn quiet. Hears the muffled cough from one of the goons, soft scrape of his shoes on the cement as he shifts. Noises outside the room, this quiet exhale from behind him -

And then a gunshot.

And another and another.

The first takes out the goon with the douchebag sunglasses, the second is for the one with a cough – half turned away so less of a threat.

The third is for the baddie, but he was running after the first shot. Must have seen Gavin shift his aim, who knows.

Gavin’s snarled swearing as he drops something into Jeremy’s hands before giving chase and Jeremy sits there in shock because he’s not dead???

And the his brain kicks into gear when he realizes Gavin gave him the keys to his handcuffs and wastes no more time getting them off.

Doesn’t look too closely at the goons while he loots their bodies for anything useful. Takes a gun and ammo, knives, and then he’s following after Gavin against his better judgment.

Knows Gavin must have been trying to make the baddie think he’d fallen for his recruitment speech to gain his trust and so on, but not entirely sure they’re still on the same side, you know? That speech was pretty fucking convincing, and hey, he doesn’t really know Gavin, but.

Gavin didn’t kill him when he could have – no reason not to, anyway. Not like they’re BFFs or anything, and he gave Jeremy the handcuff keys, right. (Also, he’s the only one around here who won’t shoot Jeremy on sight – probably – so that’s a thing.)

Can hear shouting and yelling, gunshots and the like. Tries not to draw attention as he follows Gavin – and gets sidetracked when he starts to pass by some goons. Hears them complaining about having to guard the package while the others get to see the “action” regarding the cat and mouse game going on with Gavin and the baddie – standing orders and whatnot.

Jeremy, okay.

Not an action hero, but he’s got a checkered past – of course he does – all these youthful indiscretions and picking up the oddest skills and whatnot.

Distracts the guards with a thrown rock or whatever – and sneaks past them to get the package easily enough. (Figures better safe than sorry, and also, he’s gone this long trying to keep it out of the Wrong Hands, might as well keep on keeping on with that if he can.)

It’s not until he’s sneaking back out of the room that he runs into trouble, some noise or something giving him away and then he’s running. (Again.)

Deeper into the warehouse, and ends up running into Gavin who is “Are you mental?” because Jeremy absolutely should have gotten the hell away when he had the chance right?

But no, no, the little idiot waves the package at him and gestures behind him where the guard goons are presumably chasing him and dear God, why.

Hide and seek for a while longer – Gavin gets shot shoving Jeremy out of the way and the two of them bickering like idiots when Jeremy refuses to leave him behind.

Classic “I’ll just slow you down” and so on that Jeremy is absolutely not having because no, idiot.

(He already did that with Ryan and that was one time too many, okay.)

They get caught, because of course they do.

Baddie gloating and so fucking smug about this – he always knew it was going to come down to this, you know.

Oh, sure, Ryan and Gavin liked to play at being wildcards at the agency, bucked the rules a time or two. Balked at orders they felt were wrong and all that – but in the end they’re just too good to think outside the box.

Blinded loyalty and so on and so forth, Jeremy’s not really listening because it’s clear the asshole loves the sound of his voice and Gavin’s kind of bleeding all over him???

When the baddie realizes he’s lost their attention he gets angry about it, decides to be efficient and put them down himself -

So of course that’s when the cavalry arrives.

Ryan and Gavin’s people having sorted things out on their end enough to organize a rescue, track Gavin and Jeremy all the way down here and save the day.

Gavin laughing at the ridiculousness of it all as Jeremy drags him to cover and they wait it out. (Jeremy shooting him this look because either he’s snapped of the blood loss is getting to him???)

And then!

The shooting trails off and someone knocks - knocks on their cover because manners.

Jeremy pokes his head out and it’s this tall lanky guy and someone beside him who bears an uncanny resemblance to the lanky guy?

All cheerful smiles and hello how are you’s, and goodness, that’s quite the blood trail you left! :DDDDDDDDDD

Gavin poking his head out and telling Jeremy it’s okay, Trevor’s always like that and he’d really like to see about not bleeding anymore if it’s alright with everyone?

It is!They get taken to a hospital or private clinic somewhere where Geoff and Burnie are. Both of whom look like they’re no longer acquainted with sleep because it’s been a hell of a week. (Couple of days, whichever.)

Gavin gets whisked off to surgery because he’s got a few bullets in him and Jeremy gets stitched up and the like while Geoff and Burnie just kind of stare at him?

“Oh, uh. Here,” Jeremy says, and hands them this battered package that everyone’s been so keen to get their hands on?

Geoff hands it off to Trevor and Alfredo who scurry off to get it to people who’ll know what to do with it and Jeremy’s left with these two weirdos still staring at him???

Pretty obvious there’s going to be a lot of Question sin Jeremy’s future and so on – and oh, man, he’s going to have a lot of explaining to do to his boss, because yikes.

Geoff and Burnie decide to hold off on that for now, and they end up waiting around for Gavin to get out of surgery. Someone bringing food and coffee to them because Jeremy’s stomach grumbles somewhere in there and the other two can’t even remember the last time they ate.

When Gavin gets out of surgery he gets taken to a private room to recover and – surprise surprise – Ryan’s there!

All drugged up and super out of and all these machines beeping and chirping and whatnot around him.

Gavin’s kind of out of it too but he has this moment of “Oh, thank God, you silly bastard,” and everyone in the room who isn’t drugged to the gills on painkillers/whatever politely pretend they don’t notice the way his voice cracked or the tears and whatnot.

Ryan just gives him this dumb, goofy smile and seems thrilled to see Jeremy again, all “You!” because drugs and also Ryan.

Jeremy is just, okay, way too tired and exhausted for all the FEELS he is experiencing, so he is likewise “You!” and everyone else is just ??? at these idiots.

Geoff and Burnie get chased out to let the three of the rest (and get some rest themselves while others continue sorting out this clusterfuck.)

And then!

Jeremy is kind of just there watching Gavin and Ryan sleep, wondering what’s going to happen to him now. He’s pretty sure his friends and family think he’s dead or who knows what by now, and God only knows what’s happened to his cat. (He asked someone earlier, but he’s pretty sure they thought he was a crazy person so no real help there.)

Gavin wakes up a few hours before Ryan does and he apologizes for not telling Jeremy about his Brilliant Plan of pretending to turn traitor, right. Didn’t know how good of an actor Jeremy was and couldn't take the risk of tipping the baddie off early and so on and Jeremy is just.

“No, I get it,” and also “You still kind of suck,” and “Hey, glad you’re not dead,” because you know.

Gavin tells him the same and they trade small talk and whatnot waiting on Ryan to wake up - “He’s always like this,” Gavin tells Jeremy, fondness and worry and FEELS and Jeremy is like oh> this whole “partner” thing is mutual?

Which is good to know, because then he can just nip those FEELS he has for the two of them right in the bud, okay. (Totally that thing about feeling attraction in highly emotional moments or however that goes. He thinks he read something about that somewhere???)

When Ryan does wake up he has this dopey smile on his face as Gavin bitches about him being an idiot and so on. Keeps shooting looks at Jeremy like “Can you believe this guy?” like Jeremy won’t bitch at him for the exact same things.

They get another day of small talk and the like before Geoff and Burnie come in to debrief themselves

Jeremy asks if maybe he shouldn't be there for this, what with the Top Sekrit nature of a lot of this? But considering Jeremy almost died a million times thanks to this conspiracy/whatever they're willing to make an exception. (Also, they know where he lives, so keep that in mind, Mr. Dooley.)

Ryan and Gavin taking turns telling their part of things before Jeremy got involved, and then Jeremy’s like “Uh, so my boss gave me this package…”

They finish up a few hours later, everyone tired and kind of stunned about the things they’ve learned about (Gavin is watching Ryan and vice versa and Geoff looks so fucking done with both of them. Burnie is likewise done with ALL these idiots because fucking hell you guys.)

They tell Jeremy they need to keep him around for another day – injuries and follow-up questions and the hospital/clinic is their HQ away from HQ because the two geniuses laid up in hospital beds? But after that he’s free to go home and all that. (They’ll be contacting him later for other things, but yes.)

Ryan and Gavin too tired/injured to make a big fuss about things – and besides, Jeremy’s a civilian, right? He’ll probably be glad to see the last of them for a while so they send the remainder of their time together telling him the most ridiculous stories about past missions or agency shenanigans and he tells them about his less eventful life.

Winces a little when he does because it’s just so lame in comparison to theirs, but they’re eager to hear all about his dumb cats or Matt or everyone else in his life and he’s like FEELs. (But they’re super sekrit government agents/spies and he’s just a delivery guy and they’ll probably be glad to see the last of him, so.)

Jeremy goes home and finds out Geoff and Burnie smoothed everything over with his boss and whatnot. Gave them some line about helping out with a matter of national security, you understand that we can’t divulge the details and all, what with everything being highly classified and such.

He goes back to work and it’s kind of hilarious how everyone obviously wants to ask him what happened but are too freaked out not to? (Geoff and Burnie made one hell of an impression it seems.)

School starts up again and he gets busy with that, has a major project that has him cutting back on his work hours to deal with it – it’s a huge part of his grade and he’s got a ~Vision for it.

And then one day while he's working on it – covered in paint and whatever else – his doorbell rings.

He’s a total mess, hasn't slept properly in over a week between classes and this project, his apartment’s a mess and his cats have tracked paint and God knows what all over the place.

Point is, he looks like a total disaster when he answers the door. Thinks it’s Matt or one of his other terrible friends and is ready to yell at them for something or other -

“Ah, did we catch you at a bad time?”

It’s Ryan and Gavin.

Both of them in street clothes rather than the suits they were wearing when he first met them.

Normal people clothes and they look really, really nice.

(Although not being covered in blood and/or desperate to keep some asshole from destroying the world or whatever is helping with that.)

Jeremy is just like, “Oh, hey,” and “No! No, you didn’t, it’s fine” and “What?”

Which has Gavin and Ryan laughing at him and pointing out the mess of a human being he is at the moment, and he’s like “Oh, right, that.”

Invites them in while he babbles about his project and so on.

Would offer them something to drink or eat, but he hasn't been shopping in a while and what can he do for them???

And now, okay,

Now they get allover awkward as they update him on the whole mess he got tangles up in, tell him someone will be along soon in an official capacity and all that. But the two of them were just concerned about how he was doing and the like, and also happened to be in the area???

Jeremy is pretty sure that last part is a lie, but he’s glad to see them again and they end up talking, okay.  Small talk and the like, and then they ask about his project and he goes a little more into detail about that.

Someone has the bright idea of getting something to eat since it’s getting late and Gavin insists Ryan pay - “Hey!” - since he's the one who dragged Jeremy into this mess. (“That’s not how it happened?” “Ryan, please, you know how you are.”)

So Jeremy gets cleaned up and they go to this quaint little cafe somewhere nearby, have a lovely little dinner. (Jeremy realizes to his horror he hasn’t done as good of a job at shutting down his FEELS for the two of them as he thought???)

Ryan and Gavin seemingly oblivious as he is just like OH NO and makes some flimsy excuse about needing to finish his project but its been nice!!1!

And then!

He buries himself in his art project and school, gets more hours at work and everything’s great! Really!

Except you know, when Geoff and the Twins stop by his place a few weeks later with more papers to sign and these court dates or whatever he’ll need to mark down on his calendar.

And Geoff just looking at him, this little smile on his face as he comments on Jeremy being impressive with the whole Not Dying thing he did among other things, has he ever thought of becoming a sekrit government agent/spy?

Jeremy laughing until he realizes Geoff’s serious and the Twins leave to let the two of them talk about it some more, but not before smirking at him because creepy motherfuckers.

“Uh...”

“No, really, with the right training you could become a good agent.”

Jeremy is pretty sure he would not, but okay.

Geoff hands him a card and tells him give him a call if he reconsiders and that should be that, right?

But no.

Because Jeremy’s got school and work and after a bit it just seems…he doesn’t want to say it’s not important anymore because it’s not that, just.

Something is lacking.

Still, he’s got another term left before he graduates and he sticks with it because he doesn’t know what else to do, really.

Gets his degree and has that panicky moment of Now What that lasts for a while until he’s out for a walk and happens to pass by that quaint little cafe where he had dinner with Ryan and Gavin.

His heart is still fucked up over them even though he doesn’t really know them, okay. Just got aught up in this DRAMA with them and all confused over attraction and the whatnot, because brains are dumb.

Goes home and pulls out the card Geoff gave him because look, okay.

He’s still note sure he’d make a good agent, and the whole situation was outright terrifying at times?

But it’s not like he really knows what he wants to do now, okay.

He’s got his art degree and some options open to him, places he could work his way up to doing something incredible, but -

It doesn’t quite feel right?

He sleeps on it, thinks about it while he goes about life.

Matt keeps giving him these looks and his other coworkers are all kind of awkward around him now. (he really wants to know what Geoff and Burnie did to make them look at him the way they are.)

eventually he figures he might as well call Geoff, see what’s what with that offer of his.

Finds out that he’d have to go through academy training – as much as Geoff would love to pull strings for him, he also doesn’t want to get Jeremy killed by not making sure he’s got the basics down. And then when (if Jeremy amends in his head) he does graduate he’d be assigned to some senior agent(s) and the whatnot.

There’s something in the way he says that that has Jeremy being like OH NO because it’s either going to be Ryan and Gavin or the fucking Twins. (Pls, no.)

Jeremy thinks about it some more, and in the meantime notices how his life doesn’t quite fit right anymore, all these little things that feel off.

So he tells Geoff he’ll do it, okay. Go through the academy and the whatnot and Geoff is like >:DDDD because he knows a good agent when he sees one okay.

Jeremy does exceedingly well at the academy. Has to deal with a few blowhards and assholes but he just grins and bears it. (Tries not to be a smug little shit when Geoff or Burnie stop by to observe the cadets/candidates and are like “NICE WORK DOOLEY” but this is Jeremy so you can imagine how well that goes.)

And then!

When he graduates Ryan and Gavin are in the crowd, sidle up to him afterwards and offer him these congratulations and hint strongly that they’re going to be training him (shocker, really) and they’re all.

Awkward?

Shy?

Something, and watching them now Jeremy suddenly realizes they’re flirting with him? Or. Something approaching flirting with him . That apparently they also were that time they stopped by to check on him and have dinner and oh fucking hell, how long has this been going on without him realizing? (Rhetorical, and also he'd rather not know how stupid he’s been???)

“Hey, so,” Jeremy says, totally smooth and all. “Matt and the others were talking me out to dinner to celebrate, do you want to come?”

It’s not the best invitation and also a mistake because Matt will figure this shit out like whoa, but also Jeremy would really like to talk to them again???

They’re like, “Oh, no, we wouldn’t want to intrude” and so on, but Jeremy insists and really, they’re not trying that hard to get out of it.Matt absolutely figures shit out within the first half hour and Jeremy has to buy him drinks to keep him from telling the most embarrassing stories about Jeremy.

Later on, they drop him off at his place and there's this Potential in the air that has Jeremy all stupidly hopeful because look, okay.

He may or may not have gone over the agency's official line on workplace romances and whatnot and nothing in it prohibits them, and also! Loopholes like you wouldn’t believe, which after getting to know Geoff and Burnie a little better during his time in the academy when they'd stop by to chat? Explains a lot, okay. (Like, not just these two idiots who are totally a Thing, but also their personal views on that kind of thing and look, don’t fucking judge.)

Anyway.

They’re going to be working together in the future and who even knows what will happen with that???

(The three of them totally do become a thing after a while. Go through all this mutual pining and awkward flirting and multiple betting pools Jack and Michael organize. Missions where one of them is badly injured or presumed dead – because DRAMA – until finally, finally, they’re forced to confront their feelings for one another and everyone in the agency is like FINALLY because it’s been years by that point okay, and all three of you are idiots. But also, like. Congrats!!1! :DDDDDDDDDDDDD)

[fucknofortunato]

[Writing Prompt] My Fantasy Fantasy pt 1

Prompt: You have suddenly been inserted as one of the characters in the Lord of the Rings series. Who are you and do you change anything about how your character acted in the books or movies? Note: I really don’t like writing fanfiction anymore, so I’m taking heavy liberties with this one’s guidelines. Also, little ashamed to admit I’m honestly not that savvy with the LotR’s story despite having watched the films. Haven’t read the books yet

Vandrew Avi was feeling pretty down on his luck lately. There wasn’t an aspect of his life he currently felt great about and his 25th birthday was quickly approaching. Having just finished another shift at his soul-crushing desk job, Vandrew found himself in the usual spot in his usual seat: Breakdown Solo. A small bar/restaurant that served the locals but managed to keep a dive bar atmosphere to just the bar top area.

“White Russian please. Easy on the Vodka, heavy on the Kahlua.” A small guffaw made him turn his head, “If you’re gonna order from the bar you should be ordering actual drinks.”

Sitting two seats down from him was an man he guessed to be in his fifties or so. Had a real gruff look to him and nasty scar running from his cheek down to his neck.

“I get drunk after a few and enjoy the drink alright too. I’m not Russian to get drunk,” Vandrew replied. Another guffaw, the patron amused by the short quip. “You like bowling?” “Not really. I’m not good at it, just can’t seem to pin down the strategy.” This time the laugh kinda startled Vandrew. Oh yeah, he thought to himself. I guess that was a pun. The bartender laid out a napkin and set his drink on it. Throwing cash on the bar, he thanked her before trying the drink. A small grimace hidden by a forced smile. There’s always too much vodka. “So, what are you doing drinking out here and telling puns?” “Heh. I just kinda use puns to gauge new people’s humor. Just here trying to make the best of a long day. Well, long week really. Or life I guess.” “You sound like you need some more excitement! What do you do for work?” “I just do some simple mind-numbing computer stuff. It’s okay at times. Some of the co-workers are fun to talk to.” “Wouldn’t you like to travel though?” the old man asked with an auspicious grin.

Vandrew sat up and gave his full attention to the man now. Something was wrong here, because he would love to travel. Yet, there was just something here that seemed to imply that the old man knew exactly that.

“Yeah... But I don’t think I’m able to afford or find any jobs that let me do that,” Vandrew hesitantly replied. “How about being a private courier?” “You mean like deliveries for people they don’t want to publicly hire for?” “I mean exactly that. Deliveries for people that are willing to just pay you directly and see to it that the overworked postal people don’t bumble their goods.” “I looked at stuff like that forever ago, but I just couldn’t figure out how to get into it,” Vandrew said, looking back into his glass before taking a solemn sip. “I could use a courier tonight. In fact, I’m looking for someone to fill the position that my previous hire just emptied,” replied the man leaning forward and retrieving something from his coat. “Uh... I don’t know about that. Seems like I might be transporting illegal items or something considering I’m not allowed to look. Cause I’m not allowed to look right?” “Oh you can look, it’s not pre-packaged or anything,” the man said withdrawing a brown cloth.

The man held the item up to Vandrew and let the cloth fall from it, revealing a strange golden star-like dodecahedron. Within the center, there was a ruby etched with strange lettering and covered by connecting golden grid lines.

“You...you’d trust me with delivering that? That looks incredible expensive,” Vandrew said admiring the jewelry. It looked just a bit bigger than a baseball. “Of course. You’ll want to get paid and earn that new job. Consider tonight a test. I’ll pay you two hundred dollars now and when the client receives this item, he’ll give you four hundred more.”

Vandrew almost choked on his white russian. THAT’S LIKE TWO WEEKS WORTH OF MY PAYCHECKS!! he thought to himself with twisted delight and curiousity.

“That’s like two weeks worth of my paychecks!” he proceeded to blurt out as well. “Think about that will ya,” said the old man. “One night and you’re already good for two weeks.” “Well hot damn, man! Where do I have to take it?” he asked eagerly. The older man chuckled to himself as he stood up from his seat. Reaching back into his coat, he pulled out a business card and handed it to Vandrew. “My number is on the back if you run into any trouble. Her door is usually unlocked, so let yourself in if she’s not answering. You’re welcome to wait for her to get home, she’ll be expecting you.” “Unlocked...?” he said to himself as he looked over the card. “Sounds like someone could rob her unless she’s got an a-door-ing public.”

Vandrew looked up smiling but saw the old man must have been swift, for he was nowhere to be seen. Looking around, he instead found the ruby-star and the two hundred dollars in the seat next to him. Beaming a smile, he held up the ten twenty-dollar-bills to his face. Looking back to the bar, he placed a tip next to his drink and then went to find some food.

-

Back in his car, Vandrew plugged the address into his phone.

Hey, that’s actually not too far from here, he thought to himself. Should be about a two hour drive, tops. Gonna be pretty sleepy on the way back though...

It was already pretty late but the idea of getting to travel so much and being financial stable was already filling his head with dreams. The road seemed to drag on and on as he went along highways and back routes, avoiding the tolls and blasting his music. It was mostly strange remixes of popular songs and synths or 80′s-esque film music. It was kind of an ironic enjoyment because he wouldn’t normally listen to the actual song as much but he couldn’t help but sing along with this one. “Bout to have a party... Let’s get it started... Go ahead shake your butt...”

“Oh my got...” he muttered, letting it hang in the air. Vandrew parked his car next to a keypad staring at the big archway gate, green metal bars with some symbol in the center. Behind the gate laid the rest of the road and an old mansion, though it seemed smaller than he thought a mansion would look. Looking over the card he found the five digit code and punched it into the keypad. “I guess that’s why she leaves the door unlocked.”

Having parked his car, he approached the doorway with the ruby-star in hand, wrapped in the brown cloth. Vandrew knocked upon the door nervously and kept looking around at the grounds. It was pretty late at night and he wasn’t feeling super aware of himself. Unsure of if he knocked hard enough, he tried knocking again, pretty hard and for a little longer than he felt was normal.

“Oh wait a sec,” he said to himself as he realized this was a pretty big house. Looking around the door for a moment he found the doorbell, “Ah, there we go.”

The chimes of the doorbell could be heard faintly outside the door. About two minutes went by before he decided to stop being awkward and try opening the door. Instead, the handle only turned halfway and he heard the click of a lock holding it in place.

“Oh man! You gotta be kidding me!” he blurted aloud. Quickly his mind raced, thinking about why someone would trick him into coming out to someone’s house with some expensive looking jewelry. “Hold on hold on, don’t freak out just yet,” he tried to reassure himself. “He had the code right? Oh no, he had the code! Maybe I was just to test it?” Fumbling with his pocket he pulled out the business card. “Oh gotjam, what if I call him and it’s just a setup to let him actually rob the place or something?”

In a panic, Vandrew tried the door again and knocked as he held the door knob. Suddenly, he felt the door knob give way and the door slid ajar. Tripping over himself and hitting the door twice, he regained himself in the entrance to the home. “Yeah...okay...”

Curiosity and determination overtook his paranoid senses and he shut the door before beginning to explore. There were some really old paintings on the wall, covered with dust and some having tears. Little podiums were throughout the hall with odd busts and vases upon them. Eventually, his path came to an end at a large room with a fireplace. The fire was lit and crackling, so he assumed this must be where he was supposed to wait. The room was also strangely decorated. Aside from the big sofa chair near the fireplace and the table next to it, this room seemed like it had not been touched in some time.

An old rug was spread across the floor in a design of red and tan with little dashes of blue here and there. Really ties the room together, Vandrew thought to himself as he crossed it. A deer head was above the fireplace but there was something off about it that he couldn’t put his finger on. The antlers seemed pretty big and the branches far apart but he honestly didn’t know enough about deer to tell if this was unique. The rest of the room just didn’t appeal to him at all once he realized what was on the far wall from the sofa.

A large sign hung at the top that read “CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON“ in large golden letters. Below it were several racks of weapons upon the wall, divided into odd categories. At the top, hanging horizontally like a gun, sat a large oaken staff, seemingly made of twisted branches with a big crystal in the end grasped by the roots. Everything else was hung from the handle, with the weapon’s ‘dangerous’ end pointing towards the floor. Starting at the left there was a rack of 4 daggers, a rack of two swords, a rack of one large battle axe, a rack of a bow and 5 arrows, and lastly, a large rack containing a multitude of knives, maces, bows, and swords but all in a twisted black metal.

“This looks...familiar...” Vandrew said to himself. Speaking to himself was a habit he developed for whenever he felt out of place or unsafe. “Well, she’s got some cool weapons. That battleaxe looks pretty neat,” he said reaching for it. “But wait a sec,” cutting himself off and pulling back his hand. “That’s pretty heavy. If I did need to defend myself, I can’t let them see I’m not that strong off the bat...” His eyes scanned back over to the daggers. “Yeah that seems neat...”

Vandrew reached out with both hands for two daggers. His right hand pulled one off before the left and just before the left could grip the other, he heard the wall make a large clicking sound. Instinctually, he flinched and gripped the second dagger but it didn’t budge from the wall. His hand slid off causing him to jump a second time and rear up the dagger in a defensive way. Looking around, he saw a mirror nearby and caught a glimpse of himself. A gangly kid holding a dagger upside down like some kind of wannabe ninja. This image also made it dawn on him that he would have to get really close to stab someone with this. “Oh god,” he said, putting the dagger back out of fear from the wall and the feeling that he couldn’t really defend himself with it. The prongs holding up the blade pushed away and he heard the clicking again.

“Damn, she is protective of her stuff,” Vandrew wondered aloud, realizing that the wall somehow locked everything into place once of the items was taken. Back at the swords he reached out and grabbed the one with a gold and black hilt. The walls clicked and locked everything into place as he held the heavy blade aloft, looking at the craftsmanship. He whistled in awe, realizing this blade was the real deal. Despite it weighing his arm a bit, he practiced swinging it around a bit, trying to do some sword tricks. It devolved into the true purpose of what he was doing, which was playing with a weapon. Yet, as what is prone to happen to those who play with weapons and things they don’t understand, he ended up nicking his leg and cutting a small slashed hole into his jeans.

“Ow, damn it!” he said,bending down to clutch his wound. The sword remained aloft, gripped in his right hand. “Well, it doesn’t look too bad. Jeez, that’s a real clean cut too... I think.” Sighing and placing the blade on the table, he sat in the chair and began to wait. “Shoot,” he said aloud eyes widening. “What was I doing, I could have totally broken this lady’s stuff. That’d suck to come out here to get paid only to have to pay someone else...”

About a half hour went by before he started to slump in the chair, phone barely held in his hand. The ruby-star sat on the table as well and as he struggled to see things clearly, he almost thought he saw the cloth glowing red from within. Then his eyes finally gave up the fight to stay awake.