Catching

A Word: Found a dead kink meme. Found a dead prompt. Wrote a fic.

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"No," Benji said. No, he stated the single word, declared it aloud as the solid fact that it was. In fact, it could even use a clarifier. "Hell no!"

"Benji," Brandt's voice echoed weirdly. Coming through the ear piece and floating up from below Benji. "You can't hold on forever."

"Yes I can," Benji immediately protested even as the warning twinge in his fingers called him a rotten liar. He could feel himself loosing his grip by the second. His sweaty right hand slipping agonizingly slowly away from the bar he'd managed to grab in the terrifying seconds after he'd been tossed out the window. His left clutched at the smooth concrete that made up the building's facade. His shoes scrabbling uselessly because there really was no other grip to be found. "Ethan'll be here soon. I can hold out until then."

Benji heard the frustrated sound Brandt made through the radio, an the creak of metal as he shifted his own weight below him with his ears. It was a miracle that Benji could hear anything really over the frantic pounding of his own heart as a tremor in his fingers made him slip further. Benji made a noise that probably was a squeak and went very still. Forcing his fingers to hold on even as he knew he wasn't going to last another minute.

"Benji," Brandt's voice sounded soothing and steady in his ear, and Benji was a little embarrassed to recognize the tone the man used to calm panicked civilians enough to make them do what he wanted them to do. "Benji, trust me. I'll catch you."

"Really? That's, that's great! You're only three floors below me and-" Benji gasped as his entire hand spasmed, fingers sliding further down and off the bar. Any further and he'd only be holding on by his fingertips, and Benji had no illusion as to how long he'd be able to last like that. Five seconds would be optimistic.

There was no way Ethan was getting into the still occupied by hostiles room in time to pull Benji up. Not even Jane would be able to help him, and she was already in the room. Beating on someone who was stupid enough to keep getting back up from the sounds of it.

Benji closed his eyes and swallowed down past the tangle of panic and fear. "Promise?"

"I'll catch you," Brandt sounded sure and confident enough for the both of them.

Benji didn't open his eyes or say anything as he let go. The immediate aching cramp in his hand lost as he fell for a terrifying eternity. Teeth clenched against the reflexive scream that wanted out.

He stopped with a jerk that was painful and immediately drowned out by the pain as he swung and smacked head first into the concrete wall. "Fuck!"

Brandt grunted and Benji felt two vice-like hands tighten. One around his shoulder and another around his left arm. Benji flailed his free arm as he was dragged up. Ignoring the ache in his right hand that wouldn't let him get a good enough grip on the railing to help Brandt haul him into safety.

"Kick your legs up!" Brandt gritted out, as he reached further down. Grabbing Benji's belt and using it to pull him over the rail in three jerky pulls.

"Yeah, I'm-" Benji toppled over onto the solid ground of the balcony in an ungraceful tangle of limbs that he would have been deeply embarrassed by if he weren't so painfully thankful for his fall not ending another fifty feet further down on the ground. That would have been a much messier and more embarrassing end to the night.

Benji let himself lie there for several long seconds, aching and sore, before rolling over and opening his eyes.

"Got him," Brandt said into the open line to Jane and Ethan. The one which was now transmitting the faint sounds of a fight showing Ethan had finally reached the room.

He grinned down at Benji from a crouch that was far too easy looking for the suit he was wearing. Eyes crinkling with amusement and the cloth of his trousers pulling tight across his body. Sadly, Benji found that he could only partially blame the leftover adrenaline from almost dying for his urge to kiss the man. "At least you weren't jumping into an oven."

"I caught you," Benji protested and used sitting up and checking his body for damage as an excuse to put some distance between them, because madness and bad ideas laid in wait for him if his mind continued it's current train of thought. His right hand was going to be useless until he got some time to work the kinks out of it, and his head would b fine with some aspirin. A little bruised but still fine.

Brandt hooked an unasked for hand under Benji's arm and helped pull him to his feet. Which, alright. Benji wavered on gaining his feet. His knees wobbling enough that he probably needed the help, and the supporting arm around his back to keep from falling on his face. Or worse, falling over the railing.

"And I caught you," Brandt replied in a soft voice that did nothing to lead Benji's thoughts away from madness. Especially not when he looked up and caught himself far too close to the man's ridiculous eyes.

"Um," Benji reached and groped for something to say to that. Some joke or task to push them apart. Some witty joke to make the amusement come back and chase away the soft look in Brandt's eyes. Something that would make sense of the situation because it really felt like they were going to kiss.

"Stop that! Stop that right now," Ethan's voice cracked across the line. Impatient and a little out of breath. "We have a mission to finish."

"I don't-" Benji looked away feeling his face heat up as Brandt moved away without comment. Disappearing into the room they'd used to set up for the operation. "I've no idea what you're talking about."

Benji could hear the arched eyebrow in Ethan's voice, "We have the data. Grab everything and meet us at the rendezvous."

Brandt was storing the gear quickly and efficiently when Benji entered. His computers were untouched, and Benji automatically began closing the programs open on them.

"Don't be late," Ethan said before shutting the link down. His usual admonishment, but the warning that crackled through it was pointed and new.

Benji choked on a protest. Making a garbled stream of noise that drew a smile out of Brandt, and a sharp laugh from Jane who couldn't resist getting her own in before disconnecting. "Just remember how thin the walls are there. I will make you pay if you wake me up."

Benji tore out the earbud and threw it in the case with his main laptop. Muttering a vague stream of curses about his teammates as he coiled up the cables he hadn't needed this time. He could feel the burn of a blush from the tips of his ears all the way down his neck.

"Ready?" Brandt asked as Benji closed the case. He stood by the door, loaded down with a few duffel bags of gear and a crooked smile that said he wasn't at all bothered by Ethan or Jane's teasing.

Benji glared at the man before grabbing the cases left for him and following Brandt out the door. Making a fuss about it wouldn't be the smart thing to do after all. Their window of escape was rapidly closing, and it wouldn't be too much longer before someone made it past all the roadblocks he'd set up before hand and contact the authorities. A couple of men trying to leave with suspicious baggage would be noticed immediately by the police.

"She's wrong though," Brandt said as the elevator doors closed and it started to move down.

"About what?" Benji asked, juggling the cases to reach his phone. Bringing up the security camera feeds he was still rerouting just to be sure they weren't on them.

"The walls being thin," Brandt said just as the doors opened up on the short hallway that led to the side exit. "They're pretty thick, and she won't hear anything if we leave your room empty and go to mine."

Benji almost let the elevator doors close on him, and had to jog to catch up to Brandt who was putting the last bag into the carefully nondescript car that'd been prepared for this mission. Benji carefully placed the touchier tech in the spaces Brandt had left between the bags and slid into the passenger seat. The faint wail of a siren chased them out of the parking lot, but they were long gone by the time the police arrived.

"What about Ethan?" Benji finally managed to say after several minutes of trying to find something to say.

"Ethan," Brandt smiled again, with more than a touch of cruelty, "can just deal with it."

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