I have an absolute critical-limit mass of Drabbles and One-Shots littering my computer.

Most of them I can't/won't post right now because they're involved with Amitai's future work.

Some of them, however, I can post.

This is based vaguely in Amitai's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy universe.

It is also the vaguely first one-shot in a trilogy of loosely-connected one-shots.

Between Jobs

"No thanks, I've got a boyfriend."

Was James Sprintz's new catchphrase.

Almost no-one believed him any more.
By now it was kind of an in-joke that he was only pretending to be gay in order to keep back the hordes of gold-digging females at his school.. and having a 'long distance' boyfriend to keep away the handful of males that might try their luck.

James didn't care what they thought, though. When they laughed and asked him about the mysterious 'Alex' (he never gave a last name.. Alex was a spy after all) he'd wax lyrical about his ripped body, his quiet manner, his razor-sharp wit..the way his hair felt, the way it brushed his eyes, those little side-glances he'd give him that made him just wanna do him right then and there...

Often James found himself preaching to a rapidly-disappearing group.. with none but the hard-core slash-fanatic girls wanting the grisly details of his 'fictitious' relationship.

One or two people had suspicions, of course. It was hard to fake the goofy smile James would sometimes display, or for a boy to spend more than .2 seconds on anything emotional, ever.

The fangirls got blushes, rather than explicit play-by-plays.

So some people suspected, but didn't care enough to mention it. Most people didn't believe him and James..

James thought about Alex and wished he really was his long-distance boyfriend. Wished he could call him every time he felt like it, twenty times a day or at 3am in the morning... Wished he could dial a number and not get an out-of-service message.

Then, one day, completely out of the blue...

Alex showed up at his school.

"Alex!" James cried, a delighted, beaming smile spreading over his face.

Alex smiled back at him, that slight turn of his lips that managed to be intimate and genuine all at once.

"Hey." Alex greeted, as James came to a halt in front of him, not knowing exactly how to greet him outside of their – admittedly hormonal – stints at home.

He settled for sticking out his hand.

Alex's teeth bared in a mocking grin as he grasped the other teen's hand and shook it, one eyebrow raised.

"Oh shove it, you pillock." James laughed, pulling his not-boyfriend in for a quick, hard hug.

"How long are you here for?!" He asked enthusiastically, already thinking of a hundred different things he'd been stockpiling in his mind to do with Alex.

Only about a third of them involved sex, much to his internal pride.

"Just passing through." Alex said, making an apologetic face. "I'm on my way to Moscow. My train leaves in an hour... so I thought I'd swing by to say 'hi'."

James' face fell, although he made an effort to hide it.

"Oh, right." he said. "Are you..?" He trailed off, not needing to finish the question. Alex nodded, his face set into hard lines, eyes cold and blank.

James kissed him, trying to drive away that horrible look. It was a part of Alex, fine. But it had no place outside of his missions, as far as James was concerned

When he was there, with him, he could damn well be Alex.

When he pulled away, Alex was smiling at him.

James smiled back, relieved to have made that horrible dead look go away again.

"Oh!" James cried suddenly. "Lunch ends soon.. do you have time to come meet my friends?"

He grinned, head tilted and hair falling into his eyes.

"They don't believe I have an uber-hot piece of meat on the outside. Can you imagine?"

Alex chuckled but stood fast when James tried to tug him towards the door.

He met the other teen's inquisitive look with a faintly regretful one.

"I can't, James." He said lowly. "Like it or not, you're the sole heir to a millionaire. People would take note, even if I were a girl. But a boy, too? That's practically scandalous. And I.. can't afford to be recognisable.. you know that."

James' face had fallen again, throughout his explanation, but the teen managed to dredge up an understanding – if sad – smile.

"Nah, I get it. Stupid of me, to.."

"No." Alex interrupted. "Not stupid. I just wish I could.."

James looked down, glancing up at him through his fringe.

Alex, having an idea of what he was thinking, smiled at him.

"Really." He said firmly. "If I weren't.. you know. I'd be out there like a shot." He grinned suddenly. "God knows the expressions on their faces alone would be worth it.."

James chuckled a the thought, has fingers curling around Alex's wrists.

"Yeah, no, I understand." He said. The bell for the end of lunch rang out suddenly, making the spy in front of him jump rather harshly.

James just managed to stop himself from laughing – obviously alarms hadn't meant good things to Alex in his line of work – but couldn't for the life of him stop himself from grinning widely.

Alex caught the look and narrowed his eyes.

"Right." He growled lowly.

Before James realised what was happening, he found himself yanked out into the hall, dragged past a multitude of chattering peers and shoved firmly against a wall.

Then Alex pressed up against him – hard – and kissed him.

The kiss was slow and deep and so so so good...

And then Alex was gone, out the door and vanishing into an unknowing crowd.. And James was left alone, thoroughly snogged and surrounded by gaping students who hadn't had the time to do anything more than stare.

He licked his lips quickly and grinned. The grin felt a little shaky, but then.. so did he.

Spotting his friends coming towards him, he pushed away from the wall to meet them.

"Was that..!?"

"Who..?!

"Did you actually...?!"

He grinned at them, stronger this time.

"Told you." He replied smugly.

--
END.