Hello, peeps! So, I haven't been on here for a very long time, and that is because I have sort of transitioned to Ao3... BUT! I wrote a story for you guys! The title is based off of one of Aristotle's quotes: "The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances." I absolutely hope you enjoy it!

Mac hated being undercover. Yeah, sure, maybe the royalty gigs were a little fun, but the undercover work he was doing right now was horrid.

He was a terrorist. Plain and simple (at least for other people), he made bombs and was looking for hire. The former bomb maker that worked there, well, there is nothing to be discussed. Literally. The bomb he messed up on is the one that Mac was sent to retrieve.

And the worst part? He is completely and utterly solo. No person on the entire Earth except Matilda Webber knows he is undercover. And she can't even communicate with him; the searches for The Association are too extensive.

That is how he got here. Standing in front of a bomb, a big one at that, light shining on it from the window. He was wearing a very uncomfortable camouflage uniform (if you can even call it that). His hair, oh, his beautiful, gorgeous, blonde hair, had been dyed and put up. Call it a requirement of the terrorist group.

The only warning he got was the slight movement of the light from the window before he collapsed. A burning hot pain was felt in his shoulder before he even saw the blood on his tan shirt.

Uh-oh. That might be Phoenix. His suspicions were confirmed when he glanced out of the window and saw a familiar face in one of the TAC uniforms. I can't let them know one of them shot me! Mac quickly got his go-bag that was in that room and used the first-aid supplies (Hey, you never know when you will get shot) to patch the wound. It worked, so he shoved his new clothes on, putting the bloody uniform in his bag. He quickly got his coat on as a Phoenix agent entered the room. But not just any…

"Hey, Jack," Mac said, doing his best to sound normal.

Jack looked completely and utterly baffled, "Did I shoot you?"

Mac did his best to mirror Jack's confused expression, "Did you wake up this morning asking that to random people?"

Jack tilted his head, shifting the rifle in his arms, "If you weren't in here before, then who was?"

"I was in here, like, 5 seconds before you came in. I have no clue what you are talking about," Mac replied, hoping his partner would believe him.

Jack only responded with a huff and jogged out of the door, probably looking for the person he shot. Mac let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding and sat down on one of the chairs. Jack didn't even know the bomb was a bomb.

Before Mac could call Matty to give a quick run over of what happened, Jack came in, breathing hard from running, "Dude. What is with your hair?"

Mac smiled, "I have gone through, like, 8 haircuts these past few weeks. I wanted to try a different style."

Jack lifted his eyebrows, a disbelieving look on his face, "Now, brother, I understand that you wanted to change your hair, but dying it 50 different colors?"

Mac exhaled loudly, still grinning, "Don't you have a person to catch?"

The older agent rolled his eyes and went out of the room, hopefully permanently so Mac could get the phone call to Matty over with.

"What's up, blondie? How did it go?" Matty asked.

Mac debated what to tell her, then settled on the truth, "I didn't know the raid was happening and Jack, well, um, he sort of, kind of, shot me."

He could practically feel Matty's facial expression of disbelief over the phone, "How does your partner of forever manage to shoot you?"

Mac whispered over the phone, "He didn't know it was me because of the covertness of this op."

Matty's voice went softer, "Oh, Blondie. An agent can take you here to Phoenix and I will have a medic check you out secretly. I promise it will be unknown to every single person except the doctor and me."

Mac contemplated this, "How quick can it be?"

Matty sighed, probably glad Mac was actually considering this, "20 minutes, tops. I will have Jack busy with cleaning this terrorist group up."

Mac thought of what would happen if Jack found out as a result of his makeshift bandage not holding and quickly made his decision, "Deal."

Over the phone, Matty sounded relieved, probably afraid he would've said no, "Alright, McLauer can bring you here."

Matty smiled, friends with that agent, "Alright. Bye, Matty. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Matty replied, then ended the call.

Mac quickly got his bag and hurried to Penn McLauer. He was an agent who always accepted Mac, including his genius brain. Jack even liked him; they were good shooting buddies.

He found the agent outside of the building, "Matty call you?"

Penn smiled at him, "Yeah. Follow me."

They got into his car and started for Phoenix in companionable silence, McLauer periodically looking at Mac.

By the time they got to Phoenix, the blood had stained a good part of his shirt. Penn noticed this, "You okay?"

Mac grimaced when he got out of the vehicle, "Looks worse than it is."

McLauer shot him a doubtful look, "Sure. That is why Angus MacGyver, a man known for hating medical, wants to go there."

Mac just playfully rolled his eyes and went inside to his boss, Matilda Webber. She was found in the War Room, probably already giving the full rundown of what happened to the doctor that would be treating Mac.

The young man, probably still in his 20s, looks at Mac, "I take it you are Angus MacGyver?"

Mac chuckles, looking down at his blood-stained shirt, "How'd you guess?"

The man smiles and stands up, looking at Matty, "I will take good care of him. Besides, from what I can see right now, I do not believe it is life-threatening."

Matty smiled warmly, "Alright. See you in 20, blondie."

The former EOD tech nodded and left with the medic. The trip was quiet, save for Mac's harsh breathing, getting worse by the second. As soon as they were in the med bay, the man had Mac laying down on the exam table. Compared to other doctors, Mac observed that he did not poke and prod as much. And, when he did, was very gentle. He sort of reminded the agent of Jack.

"Alright, the rest of this will take about 25 minutes. I need to make sure there is no infection and then suture the wound. It will take 15 minutes for 15 ccs of lidocaine to work so you don't feel as much, but be aware that the anesthesia does not reach into the deep layers of the skin. Do you understand this?" the doctor said, clearly enthusiastic to explain what he was doing.

Mac, the genius he is, already knew this but still played along, "Yes. That is so interesting. I love when people tell me why they are shoving needles in me before shoving the needles in me."

The medic smiled, "The Golden Rule, man."

After long strings of conversation about medical stuff and actually doing the medical stuff, the doctor was done. Surprisingly, when Mac turned down the medicine for pain, the doctor was okay with it, knowing Jack would notice his wooziness.

Mac stood up, his chest numb from lidocaine, "Thank you, doctor. I really appreciate it. See you later?"

The doctor smiled, "Yes. Ms. Webber said that if this arrangement worked this time, I could stay. As a result of this visit, I can permanently be your specific doctor. So honestly, I should be thanking you."

Mac nodded and shook the man's hand, walking out of medical to find McLauer in the waiting room, "Ready to go?"

The agent stood up from a very uncomfortable looking chair and stretched, "Yep, definitely. Phoenix should invest in better waiting room chairs."

Mac agreed with this, "Definitely. Is Dalton done?"

McLauer nodded, "Yeah. I heard from Matty that he is waiting at your house for you. Ready to face him?"

Mac exhaled, "As ready as I can be."

The two left the building and Mac was dropped off at his house. Jack was definitely inside; his precious car was parked outside.

As he entered the house, Jack rose from the couch, "Where the hell have you been? I come back to the room to talk to you again, and you weren't there. Not one person knew where you went. So, where were you?"

Mac bit his lower lip, a helpful distraction for him, "I had a debrief with Matty."

Jack looked frustrated, "You mean the one I had with Matty over the phone?"

It was suddenly very hot in the room, Mac sweating profusely. His vision was blacking at the edges, but he still saw anger shift to concern in Jack's face like a light switch. He was about to say something, but he was enveloped into darkness before he could.

"Matty, why didn't you tell me this? What? No, I had the right to know. Yeah? I am his brother. I am not responding to that. Bye."

Mac woke up to the sound of jumbled words coming from- Jack? He tried to lift his head up from his lying position, but Jack saw the movement.

"No, no. Lay down, brother." Jack said, clearer now than before.

"What happened?" Mac's voice was rough and scratchy. He had no idea why.

Jack walked over to him after getting a water, "You collapsed is what happened. You had me scared as hell. Don't do that again."

Mac took a sip of the water, "Matty told you?"

Jack huffed, "The only thing she told me is that you got injured. She said that you should tell me how, but only when you are ready."

Mac was uncomfortable. He had no shirt on, the bandage showing fully. He decided to pick at loose string from the top of his jean pants. It wouldn't budge. His hands were too sweaty to pull it off. If only he had-

"Hey, genius. Can you hear me now?" Apparently, Jack had talked, concern etched into every word.

Mac did his best to reassure his partner, "Yeah, I'm good. Sorry."

Jack nodded, "Okay. What do you want to watch?"

Mac rolled his eyes, "Is that even a question?"

Jack beamed, "Die Hard it is. Yippee Ki Yay-"

Mac cut him off, "Mother function."

Jack looked quizzical, "What?"

Mac got his nerd face on, "Mother function. The mother function of a linear function is y=x. The mother function of an absolute value function is y=|x|."

Jack looked like his car had been crashed, "Dude. Don't ruin Die Hard. It is Die Hard, man."

Mac smiled, sitting up and laying on Jack's shoulder, watching the movie. The younger agent could feel the other's heartbeat. No matter what happens tonight, that will be there.

Halfway through the movie, Mac whispered to his partner, "Promise you won't guilt trip yourself."

At Jack's tensing up and nod, Mac continued, "I was undercover for The Association. I was in the room. Okay?"

Jack's exhale was shaky, "Okay. I love you, brother."

Mac leaned back on Jack's shoulder, "I love you too, man."

His pulse was still there. Everything would be okay.

Thank you for reading; I hope you liked it! Comments are greatly appreciated. Bye! :-)