Notes – A long overdue Tintin/Clive fic that I promised Karnimolly. I never meant for it to take this long, but I had to read all of the Tintin comics before attempting to write it, which took a lot of time. This is set in some sort of hybrid of the Tintin and Layton universes, sometime before the third Layton game, with spoilers for that game. I apologise if the Tintin elements are extremely off here too, it isn't a series I'm used to writing, so this was new for me.

"And would you believe that it had been hidden inside one of the Thompson's hats all along?" Tintin laughed, finishing his story.

"Mm, somehow I don't find that too hard to imagine," replied Layton, "Those two are hardly the most… on the ball as far as Scotland Yard's detectives go."

"You can hardly talk in that regard! I've heard of some of the detectives Scotland Yard's had following you around," protested Tintin.

Smirking for a moment, Layton answered, "I can assure you that Inspectors Grosky and Chemley have been nothing but an asset to me on my adventures." They both knew this wasn't the whole truth of the matter, but Layton preferred not to insult those he regarded as his friends.

"Speaking of adventures, I've got a lot to write up for the papers. Maybe I'll catch up with you another time though. It's always nice to chat with you, Professor," said Tintin, getting up from his seat.

"By all means, anytime you want to talk would be fine," agreed Layton, finishing his tea before also making to pay and then leave the café they had chosen for their little chat.

They bid each other farewell and went their separate ways. Really saying that they could meet anytime was a lie, as they were both too engrossed in their own respective fields of work to have much time spare, but they had known one another for so long that they both liked to occasionally make time for each other, just to catch up on what they'd been doing. There was always a lot going on in the lives of Tintin and Layton for them to talk about.

It was quite easy to forget sometimes that Tintin was a reporter, what with all of the fame he'd received for solving mysteries himself as opposed to just reporting on them, but even now he still had work to do and liked to submit articles for the newspapers as often as he could. They were always eager to receive his work.

So he went home to finish up his latest piece that evening, taking it into the office to hand over the next morning.

He'd hardly managed to get through the door of the building, however, before he was stopped by another reporter.

"Oh, Clive Dove, was it?" Tintin asked, when the man didn't move out of his way.

"Yes," Clive answered plainly.

In truth Tintin knew very little about him. They both worked for the same company but ran in different circles, along with that was the fact that they both tended to be absent a lot from work to presumably pursue other goals.

"Can I help you with something?" pressed Tintin, eager to get on and submit his article.

Clive glared at him.

"You met him again yesterday," he stated.

"Met him…?"

Tintin's mind did a quick double check on everything he'd done the previous day. Of course he'd met Haddock and Calculus, same as always, then the Thompsons had turned up to run something by him before he'd popped out to meet up with-

…Oh! Layton!

"Professor Layton? Yes, I saw him," confirmed Tintin, suddenly very conscious that Clive had found out about a private meeting he'd been on, "But what does it matter to you?"

"This isn't the first time, is it? You've been meeting up with the Professor for months now," Clive went on, not answering the question.

Frowning, Tintin retorted, "You might want to check your informant, because it's not months that I've been meeting up with the Professor for. We've known each other for years."

"And what's your connection to him?" Clive replied.

Typical reporter, grab a lead by the throat and not let go of it until you' gotten all of your answers. But Tintin was a typical reporter too.

"I asked you first of what interest it is to you whether or not I meet up with Professor Layton," he reminded.

There was a lengthy silence before Clive answered, "Our firm likes to keep track on him."

That was no the truth of the matter and Tintin knew it, but in retrospect most of Layton's adventures did indeed make it into the newspapers and the person who wrote those articles was usually… Clive.

"So you're the reporter they always have attached to the Professor's ankles, I almost feel sorry for him," Tintin commented, pretending he'd only just figured this out for the first time.

"Writing about him is just my job," dismissed Clive.

"You must take your job very seriously then, to follow him to a casual meeting like that. It's funny, I thought he would have mentioned a stalker but he's never made any such comments," mused Tintin.

Clive growled, "I am most definitely not a stalker! And for your information I like to keep my reports on him quiet, so he wouldn't know about them." This was a lie too. The truth of the matter was that if Layton so much as saw Clive it would destroy his plans for the future London, but that wasn't what was important right now, not while he was talking to Tintin.

"I really think he should know if he has someone following him around…" hummed Tintin.

"You'd better not say a word!" Clive snapped, and before Tintin knew it he had been grabbed by the collar.

"My, my, defensive aren't you?" Tintin went on. He'd been kidnapped by tougher guys than Clive before, so this didn't faze him.

Shaking a little, Clive said, "It's important to me. The Professor can't know about this."

Pushing Clive off himself, Tintin said, "Then it was pretty stupid of you to even bring this up to me in the first place. Are you that threatened by my talking to him?"

"Yes."

He could tell from the look in Clive's eyes that he was serious about this and that it wasn't something that was easy for him to admit to. Whether it was because he felt his position as the reporter who works on Layton's cases was being threatened by Tintin or another reason was beyond him, but it wouldn't be fair to wind the man up any further.

"You really have nothing to worry about," started Tintin, "The Professor and I talk a great deal about his adventures as well as my own, but it isn't for any business reasons. We talk because we're close and have been for a lot of years."

"How close?" Clive pressed.

So he was concerned about Layton's personal relationships too? This guy really was possessive.

"We did a bit of tracing back soon after we met and, well, it turned out we were quite distantly related. So we decided to keep in contact because of that. It just turned out that we both seem to get involved with a lot of unusual adventures and have a lot to talk about. Perhaps our family attracts this sort of thing," Tintin admitted.

"You're… related?" Clive mumbled. It looked as if a big weight had been lifted from his chest. "Okay then."

"Would it have been a problem if we weren't?" Tintin teased.

"That's not your business. I'm sorry for bothering you," Clive answered quickly.

He started to walk off, but Tintin called after, "If you do want any information about his adventures I'd be happy to fill you in on what he tells me that isn't considered private. It would save you from having to stalk him."

"No, I like sta- …I have my own way of doing things," Clive called back, "Maybe it's my pride as a reporter."

"Of course," Tintin laughed, "Well good luck."

He let the strange individual go and got back on track with what he'd come here for himself, delivering his report. Part of him felt that he should probably inform Layton that he was being followed so closely by this guy, but given the Professor's history with people like Don Paolo and Rosetta Stone stalking him around this reporter would probably just be another name to add to the list.

Besides, he could use his new found knowledge as leverage if Clive ever threatened him again.

But honestly, what else could he have thought Tintin was to Layton if not a friend or distant relative? That notion in itself amused Tintin until he'd got back home to where Snowy and Captain Haddock were waiting for him.

After greeting his beloved pet dog, Tintin headed over to see the Captain, who commented, "Tintin, have you got anything planned for the rest of the afternoon, lad?"

"I didn't before," Tintin admitted, "But I think that I might try to arrange to meet up with Professor Layton again."

"Blistering barnacles, you do talk to that Layton a lot," said Haddock, "Anyone would think there's something queer going on between the two of you."

"You of all people should know that's not true, Captain," Tintin scolded, "But would you believe that I've had… another interesting turn of events to discuss with him since our last meeting?"

"I can believe that, you and him seem to be adventure magnets," Haddock replied.

"Quite so," agreed Tintin, dialling the number into the phone.

He still wasn't entirely sure if he was going to tell Layton about this other reporter or not, but part of him was curious as to how much it would wind Clive up if he met up with Layton again so soon.

Because, in his own quiet way, Tintin could be a difficult person too.