This is the 5th story set in the Park Avenue verse and it is based on Kaboom and Kabust, which means this story CONTAINS SLASH, but it is not explicit. I also want to note that this story will be short compared to the others at least chapter wise (2-3 chapters total) because it is to more or less build on to the series pairing wise.

And finally, the Park Avenue verse has it's own ask blog on tumblr run by yours truly, you can check it out by visiting my profile where I have a direct link to it.


Chapter One:

An Explosive Affair

"Dance away, while the bullets fly/You know they come so close/I'll bet they put something in the air tonight/just to light your face…."

Rico let out a groan and attempted to pry Julien off his chest so he could turn off his phone alarm. "Julien," he whispered, wincing as he untangled their legs finding that they were more or less stuck together. Of course Julien wasn't making it any easier seeming to curl closer to him, which really didn't seem possible given that the man was already laying on top of him. He had first hesitated upon agreeing to stay the night knowing this was exactly what would happen.

"Hmm, can't you stay longer?" Julien muttered finally rolling over to let Rico get up, he knew it wasn't a big deal, but he couldn't help but wish that just once they could sleep in and wake up to each other. He rubbed at his eyes as the lamp on the nightstand was turned on. Once his eyes adjusted Julien let out whistle as he was greeted by the sight of Rico pulling black boxer briefs over his ass which was a sight worth waking up for.

"I wish." Rico shook his head all too used to Julien's antics and briefly debated whether or not he could stay a bit longer. But he knew that it was too risky and didn't want to chance losing the already small amounts of time they got to be together when Skipper ordered him to 'take care of the crybaby's problems.' It was funny to think that he and Julien had even managed to form a tentative friendship and even funnier that it grew steadily over the last few weeks into something else.

"One day," Julien smiled fondly as he got out of bed and found Rico's t-shirt as the man pulled on his pants. "We're still having dinner tonight right?"

"Wouldn't miss it." Rico replied giving Julien a quick kiss as he took the shirt from his hands, "Go back to sleep."

"No shower?" Julien's offer wasn't serious, it was far too early and he was ready to go back to sleep, but it was a fun idea to entertain.

"Next time-promise."

"As your king, I shall hold you to that or have your head." Julien teased, stealing another kiss before slipping back into the still warm bed already growing tired. He wasn't used to getting up at 3 in the morning, but he would do it for Rico, especially when only a few minutes later the light was turned off and he felt lips brush his cheek.

Rico left quietly, slipping through the front door of their base ten minutes later. A part of him was already regretting leaving, as was expected given he felt that way every time Julien convinced him to stay for the night or at least part of it. Something that Julien wanted to happen more and more often and while Rico wanted the same, he knew Skipper wouldn't react well to his relationship with Julien. It was a small detail that irritated him to no end since he felt happy with Julien and had someone to return his affections and give him attention. Which was all that he really wanted or at least part of what really wanted, but he didn't dare think about that for too long.

Instead he focused on making it up stairs to his room and praying that Kowalski was still asleep, that was often a gamble, given that both of them had a hard time sleeping. So far Rico had gotten lucky (in more than one sense) and had been able to slip out and in without notice, but there was that gnawing feeling in the back of his mind that his luck wouldn't hold out for much longer.

"Rico?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin hearing Kowalski call his name just as he closed the door to his side of the divided room. "Sorry, couldn't sleep, went for a walk," the lie came smoothly as he saw Kowalski wrapped in his blue robe with concern written on his face.

"Did you want to talk about it?"

"No, just restless." Rico winced internally seeing a brief flash of what seemed to be hurt cross his friend's face. He hated lying to Kowalski, but he didn't know what would happen if he told him the truth. He already feared what would happen if Skipper caught wind of his trysts with Julien.

"O-oh okay, well goodnight then." Kowalski stumbled over his reply taken by surprise, normally if Rico couldn't sleep it was because something was bothering him, not a case of being restless. He retreated back to his room, just catching Rico's soft 'Night' before he was out of earshot.

As Kowalski slipped out of his robe he recalled that he had been on the thin line between being awake and asleep when he noticed that it had been oddly silent. He hadn't even realized that he had fallen asleep before can finished getting ready for bed Rico hours ago. But a bolt of fear had run down his spine at the silence and in seconds he had rushed out of bed and tripped through the doorway only to find Rico's bed empty. He had just put on his robe to see if Rico had gone up to either the rooftop or his studio when the younger man had slipped through his bedroom door.

Actually, now that he thought about it, he wasn't even certain if he had seen Rico since they had cleaned up after dinner and went their separate ways for some well-deserved downtime. Was it possible that with all the excitement that had happened over the last few weeks Rico had slipped from his notice? That thought made Kowalski cringe, it wasn't something that he liked to have happen, especially after the younger man's OD several months ago. Perhaps that was the reason Rico hadn't felt the need to talk to him when he came in, which Kowalski could admit hurt since he was the one person Rico was willing to be open with.

If that was the case, then it made sense that Rico hadn't even interrupted him once when he had been working in the lab earlier. Unless Rico had come in-but he had been too busy to notice or too worried about Skipper kicking his ass if he spend any more of the budget on lime gelatin.

Then again maybe the younger man was simply taking advantage of their first bout of free time in what had to have been weeks.

Whatever the case was it made Kowalski's stomach turn sour and he laid awake listening to Rico's even breathing turn into snoring until he heard Skipper get up. He waited a good twenty minutes before deciding to start his day as well.

Skipper was just pouring his first cup of coffee when Kowalski entered the kitchen.

"Well aren't you up early."

"I couldn't sleep."

"Not bringing a cube of Jell-O to life is not something to lose sleep over." Skipper couldn't help but comment as he reached into the cabinet to get out another mug for Kowalski who was getting creamer out of the fridge. He'd be lying if said that Kowalski wasn't looking a little worse for wear, noticing the beginning of dark circles under the younger man's eyes.

"It wasn't that, I woke up and didn't hear any snoring so when I got up to see if he was okay, I caught him sneaking back into his room." Kowalski practically spat the last few words of the sentence out as if he had bit into something sour.

"So? He broke curfew to get some tail, wouldn't be the first time he's done it and it's not the first time anyone on this team has done it."

Kowalski frowned at the pointed look Skipper was giving him, "It's not that Skipper. Rico said that he couldn't sleep and went for a walk, normally if Rico has something troubling him he comes to me."

"Maybe he wants to work out his problems instead of running to you every time or it's not something he's ready to share yet." Skipper kept his voice even as he filed away that small tidbit of information.

"How can you be so calm about this? Is Rico dealing with things on his own not the reason we nearly lost him?"

"I understand your concern, but Rico seems happier than he has been in a long time and if this is only the first time you've caught him coming in late then I wouldn't worry about it yet."

"But Skipper-"

"Let it go for now, Rico is allowed to associate and be friends with people other than you. If you're so worried about it, then keep an eye on him and talk to him instead of waiting for him to talk to you."

Kowalski huffed in irritation but accepted the fresh cup of coffee from his commanding officer, "I suppose you have a point."

"Don't take that tone with me, I know how bad Rico's OD threw you, and believe me, it hit me just as hard…"

"But-" Kowalski knew it was coming as he added the creamer to his coffee.

"But, we can't over analyze his every action and dictate his every action or instead of talking him down from the edge, we'll push him right off of it." Skipper passed Kowalski a spoon and slid the sugar bowl towards him just as he turned from putting the creamer away.

"I'm sorry Skipper, I don't know what got into me." Kowalski felt sheepish as he added sugar to his coffee and stirred it. He knew exactly what happened but he wasn't sure how to put it into words.

"No need to apologize, you woke up to a quiet room and it scared you. In my opinion as both your commanding officer and your friend, I don't think Rico's the only one who would benefit from talking to someone every once in a while."

Kowalski felt himself bristle and he threw the spoon into the sink with more force than necessary, "yeah well, there are quite a few things I'm not ready to share myself."

"I never said you had to talk to me about it, and to be honest I wouldn't be the best choice."

"If it gives you some peace of mind, Skipper, you wouldn't be my first choice and you wouldn't be my second." Kowalski bit the inside of his cheek, it was too easy to make a jab at Skipper and he really couldn't afford to get reported for insubordination.

"You walk a fine line, Kowalski." Skipper gave the taller man a knowing look but couldn't help but grin, if Kowalski didn't give him some attitude then something was seriously wrong somewhere in the universe.

As they at the dining table, Skipper flipped through reports hoping that it looked like he was doing something. The new information did bother him, but as he had told Kowalski earlier, Rico had seemed happier than he had been in some time. He had made the decision to give the team a little talk, maybe give Rico an open opportunity to come clean about whatever Kowalski thought he was hiding (if he was hiding anything.) He wanted to call Kowalski out on his jealousy just like wanted to sit both Rico and Kowalski down and get to the bottom of their relationship. He hadn't given it much thought, even when Marlene had asked about it, but then he couldn't help but notice how close the two were and wanted to know where the line was.

"Morning Skippa, K'walski." Private greeted as he came down the stairs and frowned slightly when he noticed a lack of noise from the kitchen and saw a box of cereal next to a gallon of milk on the table. "Is Rico not up?"

"Rumor has it that he had a late night and snuck in early this morning." Skipper responded and looked up in time to see Private's eyes go wide.

"And you're letting him sleep in?" The youngest member of the team sounded scandalized.

"I figured I'd cut him some slack, it's one of the most normal things he's done in months, or at least Rico's normal."

"But the last time I broke curfew you made me stay up and clean the bathroom with a toothbrush!"

"And when Rico broke curfew last, I gave him an equally horrible punishment, but I've decided to let it slide this time, just like I've let you get away with breaking curfew a few times."

"Skipper, if I may interject, I think this is less about Rico getting to sleep in and more about Private not waking up to a hot breakfast being served." Kowalski cut in to the growing tension.

"Getting spoiled are we Private? If you want a hot breakfast I'm sure I could find a few MREs in storage."

Private made a face before speaking, "I'll think I'll just stick to cereal this morning."

"You can always step up to kitchen duty for the day." Skipper couldn't help but chuckle at Private's expression.

"Cereal's fine."

It wasn't long before Rico came down the stairs looking worse for wear, he didn't even acknowledge the other three at the table heading straight for the kitchen.

Skipper fought the urge to sigh when Kowalski and Private turned to look at him with concern clear on their faces. It was as if they had forgotten what it was like to stay out past curfew and sneak in, only to get 2 or 3 hours of sleep. A few minutes later Rico returned with coffee and let out a grunt of acknowledgement.

"Late night Rico?" Skipper asked and received another grunt and nod of the head that he knew meant yes. "Well I'm surprised you didn't sleep in longer."

Rico stared down at the mug in his hands as he answered with a soft, "couldn't."

Skipper met Kowalski's eyes from across the table, the man's expression far from humble. It wasn't any hard evidence but it seemed Kowalski was determined to prove that something was up.

"Alright I'm just going to get this out of the way because it's a speech that is long overdue. As much as I hate having secrets on the team, especially after that Mr. Tux fiasco, I'm guilty of having a few things that I'm not ready to be exactly open about. Clearly considering everything that happened in Demark with Frankie," Skipper noticed that he had their attention, but no one seemed twitchy...yet. "However, if it is something that will endanger the team or anyone else I care about, I will come clean. I expect each and every one of you to do the same. We can't function as a team if we hide detrimental secrets. Which leads me to ask that if you need to come clean about something, this would be a golden opportunity for you to do so."

Skipper was met by silence and he looked over each of his men. Kowalski seemed to be irritated judging by the way his jaw was clenched, Private wasn't spilling his guts, and Rico just took another drink of coffee.