"Gaius. My office." Chrom had to force the authority necessary to scare Gaius, but his half-hearted addition of "Now!" roused Gaius from his seat. He had such little time to run home, shower, and change before returning to work that he was a bit flustered that morning, and the dark circles under his eyes definitely betrayed a late night. He groaned the entire short walk into Chrom's office and collapsed in the seat across from the boss's desk, not bothering to regard the man any more professionally than he had in high school.

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't finish going through the reports. I was working on it just now, I promise. I've already found plenty of mistakes that I think may be causing the issue with-"

"Gaius." Chrom attempted to fold his hands like some kind of stern TV boss, but it was unnatural and Gaius could tell, so instead he sat back in his chair and sighed. "I don't care right now. I didn't think you'd be able to finish it all last night anyway. What I'm worried about is you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You have to admit you look like shit today."

Gaius narrowed his eyes. "Are you allowed to say that to an employee?"

"I'm not saying it as a boss, I'm saying it as your friend." There really was concern behind Chrom's eyes, and the man had always been one for poorly suppressing his emotions in his face. "Did you get into trouble last night?"

"Just had a few too many drinks, nothing serious."

"Nothing?" Chrom pressed, his eyes fixed on Gaius's even though he was fully aware he could never win a staring contest against Gaius. "Are you sure? Because if something serious happened I will find out and then we'll have to talk about your future with this company. If you tell me now, I'll work with you to get you help."

Chrom was that kind of nice guy, always willing to see the good in someone first, but Gaius found it suffocating when he knew Chrom had never wanted for anything, never had to make the treacherous decisions where every option led to variations of trouble. Chrom wanted to help but could never empathize enough to understand where his help was really needed. Not that Gaius would ever ask for handouts from this man, anyway. That was why they never talked after high school. But at the end of the day, Chrom had been his best friend back then and was quite possibly the only thing keeping off the streets now, so Gaius made the executive decision to come clean. "I got arrested last night for disorderly conduct. I don't think anyone's pressing charges, they just kept me through the night so I wouldn't be out terrorizing people on the streets."

"Okay." Chrom nodded slowly, averting his gaze to the bookshelves lining his office. "Were you stealing?"

"I didn't get anything from her, she caught me in the act." Internally Gaius punched himself. "I was drunk. I wasn't even trying to get anything, it was just a bad habit."

"You can't let it happen again," Chrom demanded weakly, as though he didn't believe Gaius was capable of even comprehending his words. "You really can't. If you go to jail for robbery I can't have you associated with this company. You have to understand that. The police won't let you go just for claiming this was a force of habit. If you want to stay employed, you really need to commit to abiding by all the laws."

"I know." This reminded him of the principal's office, but unfortunately that meant he was only half paying attention.

"Do you? This is a serious thing, Gaius. You can't just pick when you follow the rules. You can't decide that just because it's the weekend suddenly you're allowed to be a thief again." Chrom turned back to face him, leaning his arms on his desk so that his presence was even slightly more imposing. "You can't steal just because anymore. It's one thing when it was your only option. I'm not saying I condone it or anything, but it makes sense why you were doing it back then. Now you don't need to, and all it can do is get you in trouble. You need to understand that."

"I'm a grown-ass man, I don't need this lecture," Gaius snapped. "You aren't telling me anything I don't already know."

"I know, but that's the problem. If you know it's wrong, why do you still do it?"

Gaius enunciated snidely, "Force of habit."

"Well, break it." Chrom released a frustrated sigh and stood up, making for the door. "Go do your work. Prove to me I didn't make a mistake in hiring you."

Gaius heaved himself up and dragged his feet on his way to the door. It was petulant and he was well aware of that, but Chrom's attempts to be this kind of authority deserved a childish reaction. As he passed the boss, he tossed his gaze up just to remind Chrom he had been paying attention and would take it all to heart, even if he acted irresponsible now. He did need the job. That was enough to straighten his back and adjust the irritated look on his face to one of blank tolerance. He made the walk of shame back to his desk with a certain measure of pride, just so that the few coworkers peeking at him over cubicle walls would know he was still employed and not in a mess of trouble. When he took his seat, his last measure of procrastination came in the form of rolling his shoulders before settling in for a long day of skimming reports and noting problems. Maybe if he did well enough on this Chrom would give him something more engaging.

Lunchtime came so slowly, but Gaius was determined to read the last five pages before taking a break. He had plenty of candy stashed in his desk anyway, and he could pop gummy bears while typing out notes easily. Finally finishing this assignment was just within his reach when a text message dissipated his focus. He decided to take a lunch now. Five pages really wasn't that much to finish when he got back. He leaned back in his chair, smiling when he realized the message was from Niles and it was an invitation to get lunch.

I work in downtown Ylisse. Where can you meet?

He waited for a few seconds, already tugging his jacket on.

I'll meet you someplace there. I'm not too far away

They exchanged a few more awkwardly simple texts, finally settling on an easy to find Starbucks just down the street from Gaius's office, but Gaius charged to the elevator as if he had made plans to visit the moon. Anything beat one more minute of tedium under the pseudo-stern gaze of Chrom. He didn't even like Starbucks that much, aside from its proximity to the office and the fact that they sold decent cake pops. He ordered three, and an iced tea just to look like he actually meant to come here, and waited at a table by the window so that he would see Niles the moment the guy arrived. It was busy at the little cafe, thanks to the lunch rush, and the baristas could barely keep track of orders being entered and served. When Niles finally walked in, he raised his eyebrows and offered a bit of a smirk to Gaius but did not approach. Gaius chewed a cake pop and watched as his jailbird friend hung in the back of the pack of unserved customers, craning his neck to see over them as if his order had been placed hours in advance and he was still waiting for it. A few drinks came out and were immediately claimed by vicious harpy housewives, but then there was a call for some mundane name and Niles darted forward to claim the venti black coffee. He was so confident in the way he thanked the barista that she seemed not to notice he had not once approached the counter to order. Niles carried the drink over to Gaius's table and sat down with a proud smile. "I start the job next Monday."

"That's good. Did you do what I said?"

Niles nodded and sipped the coffee. "They thought I was finally ready to take a serious job. Even wore a suit to the interview."

"Told you." Gaius returned the smirk and gestured to Niles's coffee with a cake pop stick. "I'm proud of you."

Niles lifted the cup as if to a toast. "I've been doing this a long time. I could teach you little tricks like that. They just make life a little easier."

"Nah, man. I appreciate the offer but after last night my boss is practically breathing down my neck. I can't afford to get caught."

"Then don't get caught," Niles replied matter-of-factly. The slight confusion in his face suggested he had been living by the same creed his whole life and had never faced serious repercussions. "I bet you're good at keeping a low profile, even with hair like that. You could probably get away with all kinds of things people would never let me."

Gaius ran a self-conscious hand through his vivid ginger hair, which had never been a source of conversation before today but suddenly seemed to be the only thing he could blame for every failed theft. "How do you know they won't get me caught?"

"Because you can do the one disguise I can't: uptight, rule-following white guy." Niles grinned but the expression was still somehow tainted by the smugness of a smirk. "I won't let you get caught."

"Don't patronize me. I don't need a mentor."

"Of course not, and I wouldn't dream of suggesting it." Niles took a long, dramatic sip of his stolen coffee. "I was thinking 'partner' would be a better word for it."

Gaius narrowed his eyes and observed Niles more closely. He was cleaner than he had been last night, and the casually wrinkled gray suit now clothing him seemed too pristine to have been tucked away for a special occasion and only now found its purpose. He guessed Niles had stolen that too, though how was beyond him. Perhaps there was something to be learned from this guy after all. Of course, if he was still a thief, which he was definitely 100% not. It was a tempting offer but he would have to refuse. "Listen, it's a fun idea, but-"

Niles suddenly tossed a cake pop stick on the table between them, which made Gaius realize he was down to one but had only eaten one. Damn, this man was good. Niles crossed his arms. "But?"

"But don't text me about it, and never visit me at work. It has to be spontaneous. I don't want any traces of it left where my boss could find 'em."

"Same goes for you, man. I'm on probation too."

"Good. I'm in." He didn't want to shake hands, such a conspicuous gesture of agreements in a public place, but he did nod for emphasis.

Niles's grin somehow became more conceited. "Glad I met you."

"The feeling's mutual." Gaius checked his phone swiftly. "Since we have all that worked out and I still have fifteen minutes of lunch, what exactly is this job you got?"

"It's for a family-run company, since I used to protect one of the brothers from bullies in high school. Nothing too serious, just security and a bit of marketing if they need it..."