Writer: Sabaku No Kel
Fandom: Hellboy
Pairing: (pre) Hellboy x John Myers
Title: Getting to know someone
Chapter: 1/?
Words: 3426
Rating: Overall rating M (This chapter T for mild language)
Warning: none
Disclaimer: I don't own Hellboy or it's characters and do not make any money out of writing this.

AN1: Hello my lovely readers! As promised I hereby bring you my very first (official) multi-chapter story! I have quite a few more in the making (like the Apocalypse one for instance) but I had the urge to write for this and since I always write to fulfil my urges you'll be getting the others later *insert evil laugh here*

…

No? Okay then. Enjoy!

- Chapter one -

It didn't take much for Hellboy to lose interest in whatever show he just so happened to be watching at the time. After so many years of being kept cooped up in his room with only his television to keep him company he had just about seen it all, nowadays even new shows seemed like reruns to him. Soaps all had the same old plot twists, cartoons weren't all that funny anymore and even documentaries got impossibly boring after a mere ten minutes of mindless staring.

The demon was therefore quite thankful for any type of distraction, even if it came in the form of an annoyed nanny angrily pushing a cart of snacks into his room. John's brows were set in a heavy frown as he wheeled the cart forward, turned around to slam the door closed, before setting out some food for his cats to munch on. Usually by now the young agent would be complaining about him taking responsibilities for his pets or start whining about the state of his room or something but today he just did his chores without saying a word. When John Myers doesn't speak up you know something bad is going to go down.

"Damn, Scout what's gotten your panties in a bunch today?" Hellboy asked as the agent picked up some stray pieces of clothing, still silent. Moments passed and it wasn't until the demon started tapping one of his hooves on the floor did John look up to glare at him. The kid hated it when he did that, said the sound made him nervous.

"Nothing." John managed to squeeze out in an angry whisper before moving on with collecting his laundry off the floor. Needless to say he was not satisfied with that answer.

"When you say nothing you actually mean to say something." The demon said as he rose from his chair and turned down the volume of his TV's. John narrowed his eyes at him but he simply ignored the look in favour of closing the distance between them, throwing his arm over the agent's shoulder in a half-hug as soon as he was within reaching distance. "Tell uncle Red what's wrong." He sing-songed as he poked the human's cheek with his tail.

John instantly swat at the offending limb and shrugged out of the weak hold, grabbing a pair of leather pants that had haphazardly been thrown over a chair on his way to the laundry chute before stuffing the large handful of clothing though the little door in the wall to let it tumble down to the laundry room. Hellboy was just about to start tapping his hooves again when the young agent turned to him with a defeated sigh.

"It's just that…" John started but stopped to collapse in one of the chairs previously hidden underneath a pile of shirts. If the dark bags now suddenly visible underneath the kid's eyes were anything to go by he was probably just as annoyed as he was tired. "Manning keeps pilling all this paperwork on me and now other agent's are starting to think they can do the same. It's like they all just assume I don't have anything better to do than sit in my office all day doing all their work for them." The agent said as he propped his arms up on his knees and let his head fall into his hands, looking absolutely miserable.

Listening to the kid talk Hellboy was torn between scooping his nanny into his arms and carrying him off to bed for some much needed sleep and racing out of the room to give Manning the tongue lashing of a lifetime. In the end neither one of those options won out over the other though as John let out another sigh and lifted his tired head to glare at a random spot on the wall.

"Maybe if anybody had taken the time to get to know me they'd know I have a life outside of the Bureau as well…" He muttered dejectedly and Hellboy felt it was his place as the young man's partner but also as his friend to talk him out of this rut he had gotten in to before it could get any worse.

"Aw come on kid don't say that, I know you and this isn't like you at all." The demon said as he walked up to his truck bed and threw himself down on the mattress, making sure to pat the human on the back as he passed him. John half glared at him as he rubbed at the spot just below his shoulder where he'd been hit, apparently that pat had been handed out none too gently.

"You don't know me, HB." The agent said so soft that if it weren't for his great hearing he probably would have missed it. He knew it was probably just the mood talking but when John said he didn't know him he felt more than a little hurt. They were partners, how could he not know him?

"We've been working together for almost a year now, I'd say I know you pretty well." He said, covering up the sting he felt with nonchalance as he threw his legs up on the sides of his truck bed. John just raised a brow at him.

"Oh really? Tell me some things about myself then." The agent asked as he crossed his arms over his chest, something he always did when he was trying to bite back an angry comment. Hellboy wasn't going to be deflected by the human's defensive attitude though, confident he could ace a pop quiz about his partner with ease.

"I know you like comics." Was his first statement, spoken without a single trace of doubt. The fact that John was a closet geek had declared itself a fact in his mind the first time he met him and though he had yet to find any evidence to support his cause he was certain the agent had a stack of comic books with matching figures hidden somewhere in the building.

"Because I recognized yours?" John asked him, brow still arched in disbelief. The demon nodded to confirm the question and his nanny instantly snorted. "Hardly." The agent claimed. "The only reason I recognized it is because I have a nephew who's a huge fan of your comics. I simply buy him one every time I go to visit." John shrugged and this time it was his turn to frown and raise some brows.

"Every time?" He asked in disbelief. Surely his nanny didn't go out of his way to buy a nephew he had never even mentioned before a comic book for every visit. Right?

"What can I say, I like being the favourite uncle." The kid shrugged again and he was forced to adjust the mental image he had of him. No longer a geek and with a nephew apparently. "Try again." John said, no longer frowning but rather almost-smiling.

The demon stroked his goatee in thought, going through a mental list of everything he knew about John. Turned out that wasn't a very long list after all as he was able to sum up every last bit of personal information he'd managed to gather on the human in the time they'd been working together in a matter of seconds.

"You're a sweet tooth." Was the fact he picked from his mental list, a statement that had to be true simply because he didn't know a single person that didn't like overindulging in sweets of some kind. John's face was a mask of indifference as he accepted his answer like a game show host.

"And your assumption is based on what?" The human asked without a trace of emotion, nothing of the earlier annoyance or anger in his voice but no happiness to replace it either. Hellboy didn't like it.

"You drink your coffee with lots of milk and sugar." He gave as an explanation. It was a perfectly good explanation too, or at least, so he thought until John chuckled and delivered the next shocking words.

"That's because I hate coffee."

Now I bet you can see why that was shocking to him. John always drank coffee. Always.

…

Well, maybe not always, but certainly often. Every time the kid was stuck in his office doing paper work he had a trusted cup of coffee with him there to get him through it. Coffee with more milk and sugar than could be considered healthy but coffee none the less.

John stared at him and Hellboy stared right on back. The silence stretched on for seemingly hours and if anyone were to walk in on them right now they would probably think the two of them were frozen in time or something similarly crazy as neither one of them moved or even made a sound. Hellboy, unfortunately, was never really good with sitting quietly and simply waiting for something to happen, he much rather preferred to take action.

"But you take Liz out for coffee all the time." He finally yelled out, unable to take the silence any longer. John looked smug in his small victory but didn't say anything yet, he just crossed one of his legs over the other and gave him the look.

Hellboy hated the look. Every time he mentioned Liz the kid would give him that look. Sure he could have given any other example to disprove the agent's claim but why should he have when there was nothing wrong with this one. John took Liz out for coffee at least once every two weeks, this was a fact. A fact he still resented even though he didn't wish to pursue a romantic relationship with the fire starter anymore but that was beside the point.

John knew he'd fallen out of love with Liz. He'd been the first to know, actually. The night they had officially broken up his nanny had been there for him, John had taken his mind off his failed relationship by reminding him there were still people who cared for him. The agent had made a place for himself in Hellboy's life and he couldn't imagine a life without the other in it even if he wanted to.

He was sure John knew that just as well as he knew he wouldn't ever go back to Liz again. Oh no, not after that time she got so mad at him she actually set his goatee on fire. It still hadn't grown back to its original glory.

Hellboy's hand unconsciously flew up to fiddle nervously with his goatee as his eyes met John's once again.

What were they talking about again? Oh, right, coffee.

"I take Liz out for coffee because we're friends and that's what friends do." John said slowly, like he was explaining something extremely difficult to understand to a small child. The fact that he had told him this at least a thousand-and-one times already was something the demon brushed off as unimportant. "Personally I prefer tea." The agent added as an afterthought and Hellboy had a brief mental image of a posh, British young nanny enjoying his tea and crumpets.

He laughed and John gave him a look that clearly said he thought the other was crazy.

"And I don't eat that many sweets either." John said, reminding him of the fact that he should be convincing his partner that he certainly did know him. So far he was sort of failing. So what did he really know about the young agent? Graduated top of his class at Quantico, twenty-something years old, birthday somewhere in the summer. Yeah, no luck there.

"Come on, give it another try." The agent smirked and Hellboy just knew he wouldn't ever live this down if he didn't come up with at least one thing he truly knew about his partner. He had no other choice than to go over his mental list of 'all the things I know about John' again.

The kid's favourite colour was blue. Was it really? John had never told him it was, he just assumed it was so because nine out of ten ties the kid owned were blue.

He liked playing chess. Not necessarily true, just because he played the game with Abe every now and again didn't mean he liked it. Hellboy himself often played cards with the Icthyo Sapien and he certainly didn't like it, mainly because he always lost.

John's favourite food was pizza. Again something he couldn't be sure about, he was just thinking about it because he'd seen the kid eat a slice of pizza yesterday.

Okay, it was official, he didn't know anything about his partner. Someone whom he considered a friend and who he'd known for almost a year now was a complete and utter stranger to him. Guilt kicked in hard.

How could he not know a single, meaningful thing about the other? Just one teeny, tiny detail would have been enough but he didn't even have that. He was a horrible friend. He could have easily taken the time to ask his nanny to share his life with him, should have made an attempt at small talk just for the sake of being polite as his father had taught him. Instead he had gathered little titbits of information in his head without even bothering to find out if they were true.

Yes, he knew the exact move John was going to make when they were out on the field, could calculate and anticipate every single action and compliment it with his own to ensure neither one of them would get hurt. He knew the comments his young partner was going to make the moment he wheeled that cart through the door, he could even recite the complaints his nanny had about his room from memory if someone asked him to.

He knew all those things but he didn't know him.

"… You love your moped?" He eventually said after too much time spent in silence, not knowing what else to say. It was possibly the lamest, dumbest thing he could have said but it was the only thing he could think of after realizing he didn't really know so much about the other after all.

"That's true…" John said with a smile and Hellboy felt the waves of relief wash over him. The feeling was quickly squashed out though. "But really I like all vehicles, I simply prefer my moped because it's the first thing with a motor in it I have ever owned. I've had it since I was sixteen and wouldn't trade it for the world." His nanny said and Hellboy stared in wonder as the agent's eyes practically lit up talking about a simple piece of machinery, something that showed how much the little moped really meant to his partner. The guilt returned tenfold.

Just as he was about to go on another guilt trip John rose from his chair and dropped down on the bed next to him. The action surprised him quite a bit as it was the first time John had ever been on his bed let alone with him in touching distance, strangely enough he didn't mind the other agent being there.

"Bet you didn't know that." John said, referring to the secret love he had for his moped as he turned to look at him, a knowing look in his eyes.

"I didn't." He confirmed. Though really it went without saying he wouldn't know something like that, he didn't know much of anything about his partner, after all.

"Bet your thinking you don't know so much about me after all." John voiced his thoughts and he nodded.

"I am." He answered and the agent gave a single nod of his head back before speaking up again.

"That's okay I guess. It's been years since someone has really taken the time to get to know me…" John trailed off and Hellboy felt bad for the kid. He wanted to say something that would cheer him up but what could he say when his last attempt at doing so had only made them both feel awful. The thought faded as his partner placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and sent him a smile that did not fit the moment at all. "At least you tried." The agent said as he pulled his hand away and moved off the bed, presumably to leave the room though Hellboy couldn't be sure as he was too lost in thought to see what was going on around him.

Why was it enough for John to simply accept the fact that he had only tried to get to know him? No one should be satisfied with that. He was sure the kid wouldn't have smiled at him like that if he had known he hadn't really tried, hadn't even made an effort to learn more about his partner but that wasn't even the main point here. The thing that really bothered him was that fact that this sort of behaviour was apparently normal to the other and that thought just didn't sit right with him. Well not anymore, he vowed, he would make an effort to learn more about his nanny and maybe then he would be able to think of John as a friend without the sting of guilt following.

He looked up to see the agent already half way to the door and only getting farther away. He was going to have to speak up now or miss his chance to make up for time lost all together.

"Kid, wait…" The demon called out, voice lacking its usual confidence. John turned around and simply waited for him to say whatever he was going to say. He gathered his courage and spoke up.

"WhatifIwanttogettoknowyou?" Hellboy said, a little faster than he had originally planned much to his embarrassment. John blinked and frowned at him.

"Excuse me?" The agent said, unable to make sense of his jumbled words. The demon sighed and calmed his nerves before trying again.

"I want to get to know you." He said again, slower this time as he made sure to look at anything but his liaison so he wouldn't start rambling a second time. "The real you, that is. Not the agent, not the nanny, not the Boy Scout but John." He finished and chanced a look at the agent. John's face revealed nothing, no reaction to his words what so ever that might give even the slightest of hints as to what his reaction was going to be. Hellboy was prepared for a smile, angry yelling and even tears but he wasn't prepared for the kid to simply turn around and walk away. His mouth fell open as John continued to walk until he reached the door, he opened it and the demon couldn't deny the slight twinge of hurt going through him over the fact that John was just going to walk away from this without even a word.

"Come to my apartment tomorrow and we can talk." The agent suddenly said, taking him by surprise. He had been so sure his partner was just going to leave and pretend this had never happened that he was now sort of at a loss for what to say as he stared at the back of the kid's head for several long seconds.

"Really?" He eventually spluttered out and John let out a chuckle at the surprise in his voice.

"Yup." The agent said and he felt a smile tugging at his lips. John had invited him over to his place and though he'd never been there before he couldn't wait to see it. The demon was already thinking up a way to break out without anyone knowing when his liaison spoke up again.

"That is…" John began and he felt a major 'but' setting on. "if you can get out of here with Manning's approval." The agent said before stepping through the door and out into the hall. Hellboy caught the hint of a smirk on his partner's face just before the door was closed which made him grin.

So, John thought he couldn't convince Manning to let him go outside to pay the kid a visit huh? Well, we shall see about that, won't we?

Hellboy moved from the bed to drop back down in his television-chair, letting the screen distract him from the excitement going through him as he counted the minutes 'till tomorrow.

- Chapter one -

AN2: Poor John, I really should be kinder to him. Oh well, I'll make it up to him in a few chapters XD

Tell me what you thought of the first chapter, I love hearing from you guys!

P.S. this story will hopefully be updated once every two, maybe three if work gets in the way, weeks. You'll still be getting the Shorts every week though even if it kills me! (hopefully it won't)

Bye y'all!