Title: I give you back your heart

Fandom: Highlander/Chuck

Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Anne Sexton

Warnings: spoilers for season 2 Chuck

Pairings: Bryce/Chuck

Rating: PG
Wordcount: 295

Point of view: third

Prompt: Chuck/White Collar, Neal, Chuck/Bryce, "He's dead, Chuck. Let him go."

Notes: I misread the prompt and somehow totally forgot about the White Collar part. Oops.


Bryce comes back to life with a gasp. He feels the Old Man immediately, before he finishes the first breath.

"Fuck," he coughs.

"Eloquent as always," the man he first knew as Matthew says. "Your deaths have become even more dramatic, Borias." He sounds as American as Chuck. It's weird.

Bryce stares up at him. "I don't suppose you know if Chuck's okay?" he asks, sure the answer will be some variation of I don't know, and I care even less. Stupid boy.

"Considering the fact you've already come back from the dead once for him..." Matthew pauses, watching Bryce with the sharp eyes that have always seen straight through him. "I don't like the people you've been working for, Bryce," he says. "They don't take proper care of you."

Bryce rolls over, pushing himself to his feet. Matthew stands with him, coming close enough to touch. "It was kind of an accident," Bryce mutters, stretching.

"I'll deal with them," the Old Man says, anger simmering in the words. Bryce hasn't heard that tone in a long time.

Bryce freezes. "Sir?" he says quietly. "It's my mess. I'll clean it up." The last time he heard that tone, an entire village died in one afternoon. Bryce doesn't care about the CIA or Fulcrum or any of that crap, and he never actually did. But he does care about Chuck. And if the Old Man goes on a crusade...

"You'll go back to your mortal," Matthew commands, "and you'll convince him to keep his mouth shut. I'll handle everything else."

There is only one answer to that. Bryce lowers his head and says, "Thank you."

Matthew kisses his forehead. Bryce doesn't think he's meant to hear Matthew murmur, "I wish Kronos had been more like you."