Work Text:
Prompt: Santi (epi 2-14, Harvest), a hockey game and kevlar.
------------------
Charlie gazed happily out at the busy rink, rubbing his hands together to warm them and studying the players circling and skating seemingly random patterns over the ice as they too waited for the game to begin. Until a few months before, the one sport he thought he truly understood was pool, and that only because the role geometry played in the strategy and decision-making intrigued him and made the effort worth it. Just recently he'd also discovered some of the same elements in hockey, however, and he was thoroughly enjoying every match he could manage to get to. Grinning, he turned to his reluctant companion and touched his face, hoping the heat from his hand would restore some of the color the other man seemed to have lost.
"Warm enough?"
"I am, actually." Larry affirmed. "Thanks to your scarf and the new gloves you bought me. I still say they were unnecessary..."
"You didn't own a single pair and the nights in California get cold in the winter. They were totally necessary."
"Charles..."
"Give it up, Lar. I love you and I'm not letting your hands get dry and chapped again. Last year you got a nasty infection when your knuckles started cracking and bleeding."
"True. Physical concerns so often fall by the wayside when my work consumes me..."
"Concerns like nutrition, hydration and human contact." Charlie joked mildly.
"Yes, well... there are simply times when the mind and soul take precedence over the body. You discovered that painful truth after Margaret's death." Larry replied absently, trying to take some interest in the action below him. Charlie sobered, staring down at his feet as he pushed away the difficult memories.
"Yeah... not like I can forget that."
"Charles, I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."
"I know. Hey, did I tell you we heard from Santi last week? Amita did, anyway"
"No, you haven't mentioned it. How are the two of them?"
"Really good. Amita's folks are helping them out long distance... I've been thinking a lot about that case lately. What one of us would do if the situation got that desperate... how far we'd go to get our hands on... whatever the other one needed to live."
Larry frowned and half-turned to get a good look at Charlie's expression.
"You mean because we can never be official... never have the legal rights and benefits afforded other so-called "normal" couples."
"That's part of it. If I was still just an academic the worst we'd probably have to worry about would be illness or accidents, but the work I do with Don... the work I've pulled you into more than a few times... it's gotten so much more public lately."
"You're afraid of reprisals."
"That... and the direct effect of spending so much time up close and personal with guns, explosives and the worst of the criminal element. I'm hoping to die of old age with you by my side, muttering formulas under my breath and fighting a chalk dust cough right up to my last moment."
Larry laughed, kissed his lover softly and entwined their hands.
"That sounds perfectly wonderful to me. Count me in, Charles."
"Yeah, but I worked the probabilities and the longer I keep doing the FBI thing, the worse my odds get... and yours too. Plus... I just don't feel like I'll ever be able to do enough. You know me, Lar. If I'm gonna commit to something I need to see some sign of a purpose... that it's benefiting somebody. Look at the way the system is right now... overloaded, overwhelmed, understaffed."
"I can't disagree, I'm afraid. Have you talked to Don about your concerns?"
"You know he wouldn't understand. Criminal justice is what he was born to do and when he's in hunter mode he's blind to everything else. Getting the bad guys is the priority and in that context I'm not his brother... I'm a resource. He sees me as just one more tool in his bag of tricks. If I can't give him what he needs... I might as well be the invisible man."
"Charles..." Larry admonished gently. "That's a bit unfair, don't you think? Granted he's extremely dedicated to his work, but I find it hard to believe..."
"And that's why I love you." Charlie interrupted, returning the kiss he'd been given earlier. "You have trouble seeing the worst in anyone. Can we watch the game now?"
"I'm sorry."
"Hey, I brought it up. I forgot we're here to have fun."
"You are. I'm here indulging my suddenly sports obsessed lover."
"I didn't hear you saying no when I offered the ticket." Charlie retorted lightly, his spirits brightening more with every moment.
"Love means compromise. You... 'go with the flow', so to speak, when my need for white food raises it's unpleasant head, I go with you to hockey games."
"If I explained what I find fascinating about it, would that help?"
"No guarantees... but I'm willing to listen."
Quietly, so as not to disturb the fans around them too much, Charlie spent much of the game enlightening Larry about his growing enthusiasm for hockey. Midway through the third period, both men decided that cold and hunger had overtaken any interest in what was happening on the ice and they got up to leave. As they stepped from the elevator out into the parking garage, a hard push against his back made Charlie stumble sideways slightly. Confused, he looked to his left to see a petite woman scowling furiously at him and hitching her purse back up onto her shoulder with stiff, sharp movements.
"Ma'am?"
"You... you owe me an apology! Sitting there in public doing... that in front of decent people! You apologize, both of you, right this minute!"
Charlie merely stared at her, confusion and hurt drawing his mobile features down into a dark, uncertain expression. Beside him, Larry was frozen in shock, but he still managed to find his voice before Charlie could.
"Pardon me... but what were we doing?"
"You know perfectly well!" she spat, her face a disturbing mask of anger and repulsion. "I mean... there were children at this game! How dare you act like that?!"
Understanding slowly sank in for Larry, but he very much wished he could've remained ignorant.
"Oh. You're upset that we held hands... and kissed."
"Upset doesn't come *close* to covering it! I can't find the words for how I feel right now!" she hissed. I *want* that apology!"
Larry took a deep breath and held up a hand when Charlie seemed about to speak.
"No, love. It's alright."
"But..."
"I can handle this. Please..."
Charlie nodded, but stepped closer to Larry's side, determined to support him no matter what happened. The other man drew and released one more calming lungful of air then quietly responded to the woman's unreasoning tirade. "Fine, madam. If you insist, I'll give you what you've asked for. I'm deeply sorry that you see this beautiful, wondrous world from such a bleak, subjective point of view. I'm saddened that you don't seem to think any and every kind of genuine love should be acceptable in human eyes the way it is in God's. My biggest regret, however, is knowing you'll never understand that when you do this to people who've never harmed you or anyone... you're the one committing a sin."
Larry turned his back on the woman's stunned expression and began to slowly walk away. Charlie gave her one last glare before following. Once they reached the car, the younger man wrapped his arms around his lover and lifted him off his feet, sighing when he felt himself embraced in turn.
"You're amazing... where did those words come from?"
"I don't really know. I suppose I simply... let my heart speak for me."
"Sounded like it, but next time it might not be so easy. Let's make a policy of instant-getaways from future nut-cases, okay?"
"Hmmm. Not a bad idea, if there weren't so many of them populating the planet. Perhaps Don could get us a discount on a matched pair of bulletproof vests... just in case."
Charlie laughed deeply, squeezed Larry tighter for a moment and finally set him on his feet.
"I'll ask. Do you mind if we get take-out and eat at home instead of going to the restaurant? That little assault has soured me on the general public for tonight."
"I hope it does only last for a few hours. The majority of people don't feel like that, Charlie. I know what I said, but small-minded Neanderthals like her are really few and far between in this day and age and the violent ones are even more rare..."
"Yeah... but they do exist, we can't pretend they don't. That's why God made people like Don, I guess." Charlie conceded with a low sigh. "I can't stop helping him, can I? I can't stop helping to protect other innocent people from getting hurt or killed by crazies that think like her..."
"I don't know. Ultimately, it's up to you. But, if you decide to stay on... I'm buying you a suit of armor made out of Kevlar."
"Whatever you want, Lar... whatever you want."
--------------------------
END.