June 26th, 2005
Jim's POV
Once Sherlock is calm and getting ready, he heads downstairs, freezing in place as the earwig flickers on, a very low buzzing noise alerting him to that fact.

'Good. You can hear me I assume?' Jasper inquires in his ear.

"I can," he replies with a nod, not thinking about the fact it is an earwig because of how clear it is.

'Did you just nod?' his friend inquires, delight in his voice.

Snorting, he responds, "I did."

'Excellent!' The hacker exclaims, 'These new one's are a lot more sensitive. Better yet, they can read some of the head movement vibrations and translate them into words for me. It's not perfect, but it's what I am working on right now. Also, these are a closed line. The only people who can hear what is being said is you and I.'

"Well that's useful. Why are you making them?" He queries as he heads to the kitchen to get a juice from the fridge. He probably won't eat with the John and the brothers this evening.

'The usual reason.' Jasper replies carelessly.

"You're bored," he states with a chuckle, knowing his friend well. "Why don't you pop by today around four?" he suggests, figuring out roughly when the conversation should be done with the serious parts.

He heads to his room next, deciding he wants to wear something different for the evening. Maybe he'll wear something with some of his toys? Even if he's not going to use them, he likes to have them at hand.

'What happens today at four that you would like my presence for?' The hacker inquires.

He can hear Jasper typing something as his friend speaks, fingers flying over the keyboard, probably multiple keyboards knowing the other agent.

Once he is in his room, he replies, "John is coming over to mediate between Sherlock and Mycroft, then have dinner following. You have always been more diplomatic than me."

'Bullshit. I'm just better at masking my disdain for people.' Jasper retorts as he continues typing. 'For all your ability to bluff and manipulate, you've never had patients for those you feel need to die or stop acting like idiots.'

"Guilty," he chuckles, knowing exactly how right his partner is.

'The blue suit, the one you always keep on the left.' The hacker tells him as he paces his room, 'Wear it and you will find a surprise and a small gift for behaving.'

He's excited by the prospect of a gift.

Heading to his closet, he quickly pulls the suit in question out, eyes quickly skimming over it and noticing the new buttons on it. Those aren't his surprise, he's quite sure. They're more for Jasper's use. So that's not it. Carrying the suit over to the bed, he lays it out, hands skimming over the smooth material. He grins in triumph when he finds the new tie, and more importantly, his fingers find the garrote within the hem.

Is that all? He wonders, continuing his search.

'Have you found it yet? Not the garrote, that's a given, and I promised you a new one after our last mission.' Jasper questions in amusement.

"Not yet," he replies, "I'm still looking."

'I'd say you are being slow except I was trying to make sure it was hard to find.' His friend comments with a chuckle. 'I think you will appreciate it.'

"Damn it," he mutters as he finishes checking the jacket. There is nothing in the jacket, nothing in the shirt, nothing in the vest, now on to the trousers.

Low laughter makes him smirk.

'Tic-tock, tic-tock,' Jasper taunts, 'Come now Jim, James found his surprise in under two minutes, Alec under four, Sebastian under three.'

"Should I be jealous you're giving the head of my web surprises?" he inquires as his hands finish checking the trousers, coming up with nothing.

The hacker snorts. 'It depends on why you would be jealous.'

He laughs, nodding in agreement, and answering, "That's true, there's never been anything between us beyond friendship and never will be. That confuses many since we are physically affectionate with each other some days."

'It makes some jealous though the idiot does nothing about it.' His friend grumbles, 'I swear one of these days I am going to steal a page out of your book, knock their arses out, and bring them home as a gift to myself.'

"We both know you have too much morals to do that," he replies as he grabs the socks and shoes he wears with this particular outfit, still not finding his surprise. "I must be an idiot today, because I haven't found it," he whines.

Laughter fills his ear once more. 'Really?'

"Yes," he grumbles, pouting and returning to the top of the suit to check it again. What is he missing?

'Inside right pocket,' the hacker suggests.

What pocket? He wonders, he's had this suit for years there's no pocket there. Opening the top of the suit, his eyes skim over the material looking for the pocket that is apparently now there. When he spots it, cleverly hidden by the hem, his fingers skim over it, barely noticing the difference in the materials feel. If it wasn't for the fact Jasper told him it was there he wouldn't have noticed.

"Very interesting," he murmurs, questioning, "When did you learn to sew?"

'I get bored. The alterations to your jacket were part of a project of mine. You tend to notice the smallest of changes so you are a perfect test subject.' Jasper remarks playfully, 'Well? What do you think?'

Opening the pocket, his fingers slip inside and he pulls out a small package. His eyes skim over it, taking in the details before opening it. He can't stop the pleased noises that escape himself as he realizes what it is.

"Is this primacord?" he asks excitedly, "Did you finally figure out how to make it the size of thin wire?"

'You can use it on your next task. I'll be taking your place Wednesday to Friday so you may deal with something.' Jasper tells him. 'MI5 and MI6 are arguing over who gets the case so I have decided to send you and file the paperwork afterwards. I'll make sure you have all the information this evening. Thank you for the invite. It gives me a reason to be there.'

It's his turn to chuckle.

'You'll be testing it out. Also,' there is a brief pause, 'I would suggest using the network. I already have several scouting and doing small tasks. '

"Then I will gather information from them as well," he replies, "See you in two hours?"

'Yes, you'll see me in two hours.' Jasper answers, 'Who the hell teaches these idiots coding? I've seen children who can hack better than this. I will speak to you in a bit, I apparently have to fix someone's error in the system before it becomes a problem.'

He's still laughing when the line goes dead, he is sure there is a word that can make it go online, he's just not going to bother with it. Instead he tucks the tiny primacord back into his pocket. He strips out of his clothing and changes into the blue suit. Carefully he checks the hems while wearing it to see if he can feel them, quite pleased when he doesn't, that could be very handy.

Jasper has good tastes, he decides as he looks at himself in the mirror. Very good tastes. How the hell does his friend remain single? Oh yes, his preference doesn't seem to realize. How he doesn't know. Jasper has been obvious, or maybe it's because he's known the hacker for so long that he realizes. Ah well, perhaps he will help set the situation up later. Not right now, he might be good at multitasking, but that will require more attention than he currently has available. His current task takes more focus than he expected, of course part of that focus is reminding himself tracking each and every person responsible for his charge being in this shape done is not allowable.

Still, it's definitely something that he will plot on in the back of his mind. At least until time or a situation comes up where he can do something about it. Jasper deserves a bit of happiness.

There's a bit of an update to my updating schedule, it won't affect this story, but it affects the rest of them. Since reviews have dropped since I went on a regular schedule, I am going to switch back to updating as I get things done and have focus instead. However I also plan to try and complete each story, or as complete as I possibly can without feedback before I begin posting. Once I get the story ready, when it would have originally be updated on the schedule is when I will update it. I still won't be doing more than two stories any given day, disregarding tumblr prompts.

I write do commissions for those who are interested, the info can be found on my tumblr JaimiStoryTeller under Donations, Commissions, and Cosmos

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