Night Laid Plans
by étienneofthewestwind
Disclaimer: I do not own this world. I'm only playing for my own entertainment.
Summary: Toxin Re-watch challenge for Sniper_Voodoo over at Live Journal: The LA sniper case concluded with unfinished business between Ian and Charlie. Ian will see it finished. So while Charlie works, Ian plots...
When Ian watched the surprisingly pretty man lead his brother to a spot close to the sniper's position, he was glad he preferred the muscular type. He could not afford to get distracted over another agent's brother. Still, with brown curls wildly framing his head, brown eyes that shone enthusiastically, and the energy in his movements as he climbed the stairs, Professor Eppes made a delicious treat for the eyes. Ian had enjoyed correcting him on the sniper's firing position. It clearly ruffled the petite man's ego, though the professor had stayed relatively calm and demanded Ian's evidence. And the look on the professor's face when Ian had called his estimate a guess...
The memory alone brought a grin to Ian's face as he stared up at the ceiling of his dark hotel room. Charlie was in a room just down the hall. So close and yet so far, with Eppes rooming with his brother. Ian let a soft growl escape him as he adjusted his pillow. Eppes had subtly blocked every time Ian tried to be alone with Charlie since the LA sniper had nearly shot him. At the time, Ian had chalked it up to the close call and Eppes wanting to assure himself that his brother still lived. Now, after a full evening of the other agent's interference, he wondered if Eppes suspected his intentions and wanted to keep Ian away. Ian sighed and threw his pillow across the room. He knew that he had a rough reputation among some of the Bureau. He tried to ignore it, since it rarely impacted him and arguing would spread the rumors to new ears.
Besides, he would likely just embarrass himself anyway.
While he and Eppes had never been close buddies, Ian had thought that the man knew him better than to listen to any of that rubbish. Of course, Charlie had not been part of the equation when Eppes taught at Quantico.
Well, Eppes was mistaken if he thought he could keep Ian at bay. He would let Eppes have his way for now-the case was important-but his hovering over the professor would only serve to aggravate Charlie. With luck the professor would finally crack the McHugh hunt, and Ian could follow the brothers back to LA before starting his next assignment. If not, well, Ian did have vacation days left, and LA was a good place to burn them. He would just look Charlie up at CalSci while Don was busy at the LA field office.
Ian folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. Sometimes he wondered how that conversation in the loft would have gone if he had caught Charlie at a different moment. The professor had enough of the idealist in him that he could have easily have annoyed Ian. Instead, Ian wound up telling the professor everything he could about sniping. And when Charlie got frustrated with his calculations, he asked Ian for help. Ian smirked as he remembered the feel of Charlie's lips against his…
He surprised himself when he kissed the shorter man, and Charlie had-delightfully-proved more assertive than he appeared when he seized control of the encounter without a word. Ian soon found himself backed up to his motel bed. Firm hands pushed him down to sit on the bed, and he soon had a lapful of mathematician...
Ian chuckled softly to himself. Something about the professor excited him in a way he had not felt in a long time. He enjoyed all their debates and discussions. On the road, Ian frequently found himself remembering Charlie's kisses and touches. He fully intended to experience them again-and more.
That day, Charlie's brain lacked the courtesy to wait until after he screwed Ian to get inspired through its math block.
Ian had felt beyond frustrated. He found it hard to blame Charlie though: the stream of curses that erupted from the professor's mouth indicated that he felt the same way. And Ian could not argue with stopping the deaths as soon as they could.
Even if he wished that he had muted his damned watch as he did while in the field. Surely something else would have triggered 'timeline' in Charlie's mind.
Another good reason to make his move after the brothers finished their business here…
This time, he would catch the professor when he did not have an urgent problem to solve, and they would finish what they started five months ago…
Maybe even grab that dinner they talked about...
Charlie…
Ba-leep!
Ian's eyes snapped open as he sat straight up. Blinking sleep out of his eyes, Ian glanced at the travel clock across the room. Despite his preoccupation with Charlie, he had managed to fall asleep for a couple hours. Shaking his left wrist, which had gone numb, Ian snagged his phone off the nightstand. As he thought, it was the text message alert that woke him:
Knock-knock.
–C
Ian raised an eyebrow. He had given the professor his number during dinner-would have done it in LA if he knew how much Charlie would occupy his mind the past five months-and asked that he call when finished. He rapidly crossed his room and opened his door while flipping on the lights. Sure enough, he found a curly-haired mathematician standing there, a small stack of papers in his hand. "You're missing a shadow," Ian observed happily as Charlie walked into the room without waiting for an invitation.
Charlie threw him a satisfied smirk as he shut the door behind him. "Don's asleep. He'll stay that way if he knows what's good for him." Charlie tilted his head to the side and frowned. "I didn't wake you, did I? That's why I didn't call."
"Nah," Ian shook his head. "I got some sleep earlier, and it wouldn't matter anyway, since I do want to hear what you found."
"Do you really?" Charlie sounded amused as he stepped forward, into Ian's personal space.
"What?" Ian asked as he stepped backwards to better see Charlie's face. It was annoyingly difficult to examine someone's expressions when they were a head shorter and four inches in front of you. "Of course. We've been after McHugh for a while. Admittedly, I've not been on the hunt as long as other agents-"
Charlie chuckled as he pressed forward. "No. Do you really want to hear all about it now, when you can't go anywhere until morning, and we'll have to go over it again with Don? Especially when there's so much unfinished to..." His eyes roamed down Ian's body and back again, dark and hungry. "…Discuss."
Ian's smile threatened to split his face. "Well, when you put it that way..." The back of his leg hit the bed's mattress. Ian blinked in surprise, but grabbed Charlie's waist, pulling him forward as he sat. As Charlie straddled his lap, their mouths met.
The papers fluttered to the floor.