WK short: Shed a Little Light
Author: Mice
Email: just_us_mice@yahoo.com
Category: XF/LGM slash, Doggett/Byers 
Rating: R for a few dirty words
Summary: Doggett and Jimmy Bond have a chat
Archive: Basement, Lone Slasher, Countermeasures, XFMU, 
WWOMB, LGM Fanfic Bunker, Glass Onion, FHSA, WWOMB, all 
others ask.
Website: Mice's Hole in the Wall -- 
http://www.inkpress.org/~mice
Spoilers: Do they even have those anymore? JTS does NOT 
exist.
Disclaimer: We deserve 'em more than CC does. They still 
belong to him, though.
Author's Notes: This was written for an opening line 
challenge on the DoggettSlash list. The required opening line 
is Doggett's first line. It's a story in the Well Kept 
Series, set about a month after WK3: Metal & Bone, which is a 
story I'm working on but haven't finished yet. It follows the 
short Not Your Average Mikado.

LONE GUNMEN OFFICES
TAKOMA PARK, MARYLAND
EVENING

"Come hell or high water, I'm gonna make you love me," 
Doggett muttered to himself as he watched Byers with the 
other Gunmen. 

The trio were hacking again, at his request. This time it was 
relatively simple. No supersoldiers, no mutants, no strange 
occult involvements. It was a relief. He'd had enough of the 
spooky weird shit lately. All he really wanted this time was 
the dirt on Kersh's most recent evaluation of the X Files 
division for the Bureau. The Deputy Director had been tight 
lipped about the whole thing. This wasn't unusual, but he'd 
had another run-in with the man last week over a case, and he 
was worried that Kersh would use the quarterly evaluation to 
vent his frustrations.

Doggett shook off his anxiety, letting his eyes wander over 
his lover. It had taken a while, but he felt he was finally 
close to breaking through the barriers Byers kept around 
himself. They'd been slowly and carefully cultivating a trust 
between them, and the shy, quiet man had been opening up more 
lately.

He resisted an urge to walk over and run a hand through 
Byers' dark hair. When they were playing it was his right, 
but at the moment they weren't. Byers was working and didn't 
generally care for distractions when he was so tightly 
focused on a task.

Jimmy Bond came over and sat next to him. The boy wasn't much 
use for this sort of work. Doggett wasn't entirely sure why 
the guys kept the kid around at all, actually. He seemed to 
get them into more trouble than he was worth most of the 
time.

"You love him, don't you?" Jimmy asked.

Doggett looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, his heart 
skipping a beat in his surprise. He'd never said anything 
about it to anyone. He hadn't even really said anything to 
Byers about it, letting silence cover his feelings. The 
thought of talking about it was a little disturbing, but he 
didn't reckon it would kill him. He nodded. "Yeah."

"He's a great guy," Jimmy said softly. "I'm glad he's got 
you. Seems like it's helped a lot."

"Oh?"

Jimmy nodded, looking over at Byers. "He seems happier now 
than when I first met him. He smiles more than he used to. It 
always seemed like he was really sad before, but he never 
wanted to say anything about it."

Doggett thought about it. He'd always taken Byers' quietness 
for granted, thought of it as part of the man's inherent 
shyness. He knew about his lover's paranoia and fears, but 
Doggett had also seen the man smile and laugh with him, seen 
the sharp sense of humor and desert-dry wit under the 
buttoned down exterior. He hadn't thought his own presence 
might have made Byers a happier man.

"You sure about that?" Doggett asked.

"Yeah," Jimmy said. "I think you've been really good for him. 
He needed somebody like you. You're real steady, reliable."

Doggett tilted his head. "You do?"

Jimmy grinned. "Yeah. I mean, he's real close to the guys and 
all, but he always seemed real lonely to me. Sometimes I 
think he was a little jealous about Langly and Mr. Skinner, 
but he hasn't seemed that way since you started seeing him."

Doggett was beginning to appreciate why the guys might 
actually want Jimmy around. The kid was a good judge of 
character. If he wasn't quite so... innocent in other ways, 
he might have made a good profiler. "How do you know this 
stuff, anyway? Johnny been talkin' to you?"

Jimmy shook his head. "Nah. I just listen. I watch a lot. You 
can see a lot sometimes when people don't think about you 
being there. I see the way you guys act together. After 
everybody got back from that supersoldier thing a month or so 
ago, you were acting different. You look at him different."

Doggett considered what Jimmy said. That mess had been a 
turning point for him. He probably had been acting 
differently since then. Of course, getting hospitalized did 
tend to shift your perspective on certain things. Byers had 
been there for him, was there when he'd first come around. 
The relief he'd felt at seeing Byers when he opened his eyes 
had given a very sharp focus to the shift in his feelings for 
his sub.

Uncertainty had become love. It was a feeling he hoped Byers 
would return, but he doubted it would be soon. Doggett knew 
Byers still had a lot of things to sort out, and the 
foundation for their trust was only now really beginning to 
solidify.

"You think he..." Doggett started but couldn't finish the 
question.

Jimmy looked at him and smiled. "Not yet," he said, "but I 
think he will."

Langly straightened up in his chair and turned, waving them 
over. "Hey dude, we got your report."

Doggett and Jimmy rose and went over to the computers. 

Byers turned. "AD Skinner's comments are appended to Kersh's 
report. I don't think there'll be a problem."

Doggett breathed his relief and smiled at Byers. The bearded 
man returned it with a tiny smile of his own. Doggett let the 
fingers of one hand comb through Byers' soft, red-brown hair. 
"Thanks," he said. He leaned to look over Byers' shoulder, 
slipping a hand gently down the slender, jacket-clad back. 
His hand caressed Byers' back slowly as he read.

It didn't take long to determine that Byers was right. Kersh 
was somewhat negative, as usual, but there wasn't anything in 
the report to suggest that the division was in imminent 
danger of being shut down. It had been worrying Doggett.

A few moments later, Doggett put a hand on Byers' shoulder. 
Byers looked up at him again. "Come have some coffee?" Byers 
asked.

Doggett nodded, grateful for a little privacy with his lover.

"Get me a cup too," Frohike said.

"Me too," Langly added.

"I'll get some," Jimmy said. Doggett and Jimmy shared a quick 
look, and Jimmy smiled at him. "You guys go sit down."

"Thanks, Jimmy," Byers said.

Doggett slipped an arm around Byers' shoulders as he stood. 
They walked over to the couch in the office together and sat 
close, Doggett's arm still around him. They shifted their 
weight a little, and Byers leaned into Doggett, slipping down 
a bit so that his head rested on Doggett's shoulder.

Doggett sighed and rested his chin on Byers' head. "You wanna 
come over tonight?" he asked. "Stay at my place?"

Byers' head shifted. "What did you have in mind?"

"Just bein' together for the night. Maybe have a little fun, 
but I'm not in the mood for anything complicated. I'd just 
like your company."

Byers' hand slipped to Doggett's leg. His fingers traced 
along the inside of the thigh, close to Doggett's shaft. 
"Sounds nice," he said. "I'm done with everything I had to do 
for this week's issue. The guys don't need me until about 
mid-day tomorrow."

"Tease," Doggett said. He kissed the top of Byers' head.

He felt rather than heard Byers chuckle.

"You had dinner yet?"

Byers shook his head. "Frohike probably won't start on it for 
another half hour or so. Did you want to stay, or what?"

"Nah, I'll take you out." Doggett put his hand on Byers' as 
it roamed between his legs. "I thought you didn't like the 
guys watchin' when we did stuff like this."

"They're not," Byers said, gesturing toward his friends. 
Langly and Frohike were both absorbed in the screen again, 
and the coffee that Jimmy had delivered to them.

"Don't tease me like that, or I'll bend you over the couch 
and fuck you right here," Doggett growled, grinning. "I bet 
Langly'd love the show."

Byers' hand stopped, and he looked up at Doggett, blushing. 
"I don't even want to think about that," he said. There was 
an odd look in his beautiful blue eyes for just an instant, 
but it passed before Doggett could identify it. 

Doggett leaned down slightly and kissed him. It was soft and 
warm, comforting and stirring as their tongues caressed. Both 
of them made low, rumbling sounds and they wrapped their arms 
around each other.

When they came up for air, two mugs sat on the coffee table 
in front of them. Byers looked over at his roommates, but 
none of them were looking in their direction. Doggett 
chuckled, knowing they were deliberately being ignored for 
Byers' sake. Now and then the guys could put aside their 
teasing, if they really wanted to.

"Maybe I should just have you for dinner," Doggett said, 
smirking.

Byers' half smile appeared again. "Tempting," he said, "but I 
think I'm actually in the mood for Japanese."

"So I'll have you raw," Doggett said.

Byers chuckled. "You're an evil man." 

"I don't notice you objectin'."

Byers' hand was in Doggett's lap again. "I'm not. But I'd 
like actual food to be on the agenda too. Better now than 
later. I don't know any all night Japanese places." His eyes 
sparkled. "But maybe you can tell me what you'd like to do 
after dinner..."

Doggett laughed as his body responded to his lover's hand. 
"If I start on that, we're not gonna make it further than 
your bedroom," he said. "And I'd really rather do that kind 
of thing at my place. The walls here are too damn thin." He 
winked at Byers. "Let's blow this pop stand and feed you. 
After that, I'm gonna give you an ass full of what you're 
playin' with."

Byers blushed scarlet but grinned. "Now there's a promise I 
can live with," he said, quiet.

Doggett stood, and Byers got to his feet too.

"Thought you two were gonna have coffee?" Langly said.

"Changed our minds," Doggett said. "Don't expect him back 
before noon tomorrow."

"Lucky bastard," Frohike muttered.

"If you'd get a girlfriend --" Langly started. 

Frohike swatted him. "Shut up, punk."

"Doohickey."

Byers grinned as he and Doggett headed for the door. 
Doggett's hand slid to Byers' ass. Yeah. Being in love wasn't 
such a bad thing. He'd find a way to make Byers love him. 
Maybe it would be easier than he thought.

~~End~~