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Chapter Summary: Mattie makes use of his time with Holly, and the lines between informant and (more than) friend are crossed. When Alfred catches them, their friendship is stretched to the breaking point.

Ch. 34: Contact

The time Holly has spent recovering from Ivan's interrogation has been one of the best weeks of his life. He's been hanging out in bed, watching movies with the cutest boy he's ever met. Enjoying pizza and Chinese food and telling stories to someone who actually listens. Making out. Fooling around but taking it slow, afraid that his injuries will cause too much pain and still a little afraid to trust one another. It's like they've been courting. Holly has never felt wanted like this before; cared for, cared about. Mattie is actually interested in his life, always asking about his world, his work. It's been a long time since he felt this comfortable talking with anyone; he can't even talk to his sister Bella now, with Ivan running the bar.

They're cuddled on Mattie's couch, halfway through the new Star Trek movie, when Holly's phone starts blinking. He snatches it up from the coffee table, stealing a handful of the maple walnut caramel corn that seems to be Mattie's flavor of choice when it comes to movie snacks. "Oh, holy fucking shit," he mutters to himself once he sees the text, biting into his lower lip to hold back laughter. If Kaoru's not trying to prank him, work's going to get a lot more interesting. That is, if he ever decides to leave the comforts of Matthew's apartment.

Mattie is briefly worried when he hears the man curse, but there's a spark in Holly's eyes that suggests something particularly entertaining has come up. He swipes some caramel corn right out of his fingers. "What's up?"

Holly watches him pop the caramel corn in his mouth and leans in after it. "Give that back," he growls pleasantly, his other hand dragging down Mattie's side. If his boss gets to have some fun with the guy who put Holly in the clinic, Holly has the right to fool around himself.

Matthew sticks out his tongue, popcorn still on it, then pulls it back into his mouth. He cannot believe how much fun he's been having with this near-stranger. It makes him forget about all the shit that's been going down around them, about the fact that they are months into this case and they still don't know who pulled off the triple homicide. Holly is an excellent informant, but somewhere in the past week the lines between work and personal got crossed. He asks questions because he wants to know what makes Holly smile.

Holly catches Mattie's head, sliding his fingers into that sandy blonde hair and dragging him in for a kiss that slides through an action sequence full of noise and bright colors. He pulls away, his eyes falling half-lidded as he sticks his tongue out, displaying the caramel corn. "You are no match for my sweet tooth."

Laughing, Mattie takes his own handful of popcorn from the bag. It feels like he and Holly are actually dating or something. However, neither of them have said as much. To his knowledge, Holly hasn't left the house all week. The man is only now regaining full mobility. "So...?"

Holly grins, pulling his phone into view again. "Looks like my boss is off the All China Doll Diet. He's been fucking Braginski, that arms dealer." He passes the phone to Mattie and leans in to kiss his neck. "Which means that if I slack off to fool around with you, I'm just following the example of my fearless leader. Fearless being the operative word." He shudders.

A smaller shiver runs through Mattie as well. He ignores the kisses for the moment and stares at the phone. Ivan the Terrible and the Dragon...together? That's big news. If they really unified, they could take on La Citta. That would mean death to anyone who got in the way, and one hell of a headache for the police. Vosh won't be pleased if this ends one gang war only to start another. On the other hand, there's a chance it has something to do with the Beilshmidt/Karpusi case. "How did that even happen? I thought they were about to slit each other's throats."

Holly shrugs, reaching over to grab a swig of his beer. Thank God he arrived flush with all the pain meds he could ever need. Two joints a day and he's fine, no nasty complications. "Yeah, so did I. But, I mean, Kaoru was screwing around with the dude's kid. He'd know. I guess they came to an agreement, or..." He finds himself smirking. "Well. Yao can be pretty damn convincing when he needs to be."

Mattie is fairly certain that Ivan can be convincing too, judging from all the vague texts he gets from Alfred. The texts do not make much sense; they're full of code words he doesn't understand, and it almost sounds like Alfred trusts Ivan. On the other hand, that's Alfred for you. He trusts everyone. Mattie really misses him; they've been working their own angles lately, and God knows what Arthur is up to. Their team is only together when they meet with Vosh.

He turns his attention back to Holly. "I've heard of Mr. Wang. He seems very...private. He doesn't get involved as much as the others do, from what I've heard."

Holly snorts, reaching over to steal more caramel corn. "Oh, he's involved alright. But he doesn't exactly run things the usual way. He likes to get them to come to him. Even had Gilbert Beilschmidt hooked on uppers, along with half his friends." He squares his jaw, thinking on the night he told Yao they'd found Gil dead, along with Hans and his own stepbrother's lover. 'Oh, good,' was all he said before he returned to his game of mahjong. As if it didn't matter at all. "Yao's a shark, and he doesn't mix business with pleasure. If he and Ivan made a deal, the fucking had to be a bonus prize."

Mattie stores the information away, trying to catalogue it alongside what he already knows. A week with Holly has been more productive than all the time he spent pretending to be a junkie and living in that creepy, vacant apartment. Except, Holly still thinks he's a junkie. A minor one, not a real addict, but...he swallows. For some reason, he feels bad for lying to him. Especially with all the kissing. And the more than kissing.

"I wonder if Yao's still screwing his brother..." Holly muses, a little shocked when Mattie practically jolts at that. He thought everyone knew. He shrugs it off, sliding back on the pillows and smiling up at him. "I bet the Russian bastard would totally be all over that."

Matthew has heard of that. It's just never talked about at the station. Not outside crude jokes or very formal meetings on cases in which Mr. Wang played a central part; granted there are more than a few of those. He clenches his fists. "Someday we'll get all the bastards who play while other people suffer." He doesn't realize he said it out loud until Holly responds.

"Jesus, you sound like Batman or something," Holly snorts, reaching up to ruffle his hair.

"Hey!" Mattie ducks out of reach, putting his hair back in order. It's useless. He's always got one curl that sticks out from the rest, even if he tries to cut it.

Laughing, Holly lets his hand slide down to the back of Mattie's neck and strokes the skin. Mattie tenses, like he always does when the touches turn more-than-friendly. However, there's a glint in his eyes that says he doesn't mind. "You look really good like this," says Holly. He reaches up with his other hand and drags it slowly through Mattie's hair, twisting that curly strand around his finger.

"Like what? It's no different than usual." Mattie blushes. Most people don't talk about his looks. Most people don't really see him at all, but Holly says things like that all the time.

Holly grins, leaning in and pressing their foreheads together. He lets their lips mesh together, natural as breathing, and pulls back just a second later. "You look better every time I kiss you."

Never in a million years would Matthew have thought that a drug dealer would turn out to be the one to make his heart skip, but, here he is. "Maybe you need glasses." He takes his own glasses off and puts them on Holly's face. It's too bad he can't see; he bets Holly looks good in them.

Holly shakes his head slowly, sliding the glasses off and gently returning them to Mattie's face. His fingers linger as he kisses him again, slower this time, drinking in his taste and dragging that touch down the back of his shirt. The fabric is covering hot, gorgeous skin that he's only seen twice, on the momentous occasions Mattie allowed their kissing to extend a little past kissing.

Mattie can't help himself; Holly is as addicting as the drugs he sells. It's clear he's feeling better too; the bruises across his skin have turned ugly colors, but they just make Holly look sexier. He traces the lines of muscle under Holly's shirt, trying to avoid the bruises and bandages he's memorized. The swelling is all gone, and the pain appears manageable. A strange feeling of regret runs through Mattie when he realizes that Holly no longer has a reason to stay with him. He kisses back harder.

Holly pulls him into his lap, his hands moving lower than they should. He wants to prove that he's ready for this, that he can take a little bruising if he can have this man. "Mattie..." he whispers, dragging him closer as he pulls up the hem of his shirt. By the time it's off Holly's lost focus and found skin. He tastes his jaw and his throat, dragging his teeth over Mattie's pulse. God does it feel good to hear his breath kick like that.

He sighs against Mattie's skin, lips sucking and sliding over his collarbone, then lower. "Let me..." Holly can't finish the request. His lips press into the tight skin around Mattie's nipple, then open as they reach it. He licks it first, and then sucks it into his mouth.

"Ah!" Heat fills Mattie's stomach, making everything feel wonderfully tense. Holly's upper chest is largely clear of abrasions; it seems like Ivan wanted to avoid accidentally bursting his heart or collapsing a lung. The thought makes him a little rougher with the touch than he means to be.

Mattie's fingers twist, and for a second Holly has to freeze because it makes everything in him arch and tighten like a very pleasant electric shock. "Mattie!" The name comes out a little rougher, a little louder, and his hands slope down Mattie's back to the seat of his pants.

For a moment Mattie is afraid that he actually hurt Holly. But when he tries to pull away he's drawn in tighter, hands going lower than they have before. He finds himself tugging off Holly's shirt and kissing him soundly.

Holly looks up at him, holding up his arms so that his shirt can be thrown away. "Give me everything you want to," he whispers roughly, his hands falling down to pull at Matthew's belt. "I want it." Leaning back in, he sucks on that pert, tight nipple, and yanks the belt open to shove a rough hand into his pants.

Mattie gasps, running his hands over Holly's back. This is what has been building for days now - longer. He felt the chemistry between them the moment he met Holly at the café. And...well, it really has been a while since he was with someone like this. His eager body shuts out the part of his brain that is telling him how bad of an idea this is. He lets himself surrender to Holly's touch. "Yes!"

XXX

Alfred has met with Vosh like four times in the past few weeks, and the chief still hasn't gotten the hint. Ivan needs help in the field; more agents, more people to have his back. But Vosh just promised to send over another set of eyes. Exasperated, Alfred decided to talk to Mattie. Mattie knows the ins and outs of undercover work better than anyone else at their level on the force. Plus, he hasn't seen his best friend in ages. It's pretty much criminal.

He lets himself into Mattie's apartment, humming to himself as he notices all the pizza boxes by the trash, and a couple t-shirts on the couch. It's rare for Mattie to be so messy; he must be working on something major. He'll be in his room then, on the laptop.

"Hey, Mattie, I kinda need-" Alfred chokes, gaping at the sight of Mattie - his Mattie - in bed with a dude. Something in him twists and breaks, and whatever it is feels vital. "MATTIE!"

Holly freezes, staring back at the man who is standing in the doorway like some guard. He looks weirdly similar to Matthew; for a second he thinks they're brothers. However, the look in that guy's eyes is definitely not brotherly. Oh. OH. Slowly, he removes his hand from Mattie's pants and slides out from under him. This is the part where he turns into a ghost. He was never here. Swallowing hard, he pushes off the bed, ignoring the way Mattie's looking at him. He doesn't even want to see his face.

It's only when the man gets up that Alfred realizes who it is: Holly Nethers. Dealer extraordinaire, living in Yao's pocket these days. The one who's supposed to know everyone and their habits. Alfred's heart lurches. "A dealer, Mattie? For fuck's sake, what is wrong with you?!"

Mattie jerks up. Alfred never thinks to knock, never thinks that Matthew might have his own things to attend to! He never should have given him the spare key. He doesn't understand why Alfred is the one looking angry, when he and Holly...dammit, Holly's leaving! "Holly, wait!"

Mattie reaches for him, but Holly shrugs him off. If he feels Mattie's touch again, he'll lose it. He tries to ignore the desperation on the man's face, telling himself that he shouldn't believe anything he sees. If Mattie's hiding a boy, he could be hiding anything. He knew no one could be that innocent. "See you around," he says faintly, not really meaning it. Then he pushes past the other guy, gritting his teeth as he grabs his shit and leaves as fast as he can.

Completely lost, Matthew turns to Alfred again. His sadness and confusion meld together, and he winds up lashing out at the closest target. "What the hell, Alf?! I told you to start knocking!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I completely forgot that rule! Is it the one where I leave you to go hook up with drug-slinging pot-heads so that you can get your nuts off on the job?" Alfred snaps.

Deciding this conversation would go better with more clothes, Mattie buttons his pants and tugs on a new shirt. "While I leave you to get friendly with Ivan the Terrible? He's a murderer! Holly may be a dealer, but at least he's a good person!"

"Oh, right, Holly Fucking Nethers is a good person. Do you even know the kind of shit he's into?" Alfred waves his arm toward the door, refusing to look away from his friend. This is too much. "He works for that Dragon sonova bitch, he sells drugs to anybody, he's gotten people killed by their habits, and nobody's sure how many of those deaths were unintentional. Don't you understand? He's a fucking snake!"

Of course Mattie knows that. Of course those facts have haunted him, made him second guess every move he's made around Holly, everything he feels for him. But none of them change it. He's never fallen so hard in his life – at least, not for someone who actually returns his affection. Backed into a corner, he shouts, "You don't know a thing about Holly! I'm the one who's been...tailing him. It was for work, I wanted to get his information, and then…that just now...that hasn't happened before!"

"Then where the fuck have you been all week, Mattie? Here, with him?!" Alfred yells. He's not sure he's ever let himself get this angry. "Don't try to tell me this hasn't been going on! You brought him to your apartment, Mattie. He knows where you live!"

"He was hurt, by Ivan! He got the shit beaten out of him, even you must have seen the bruises! Where was I supposed to take him? He needed someone, and he's my best lead! It wasn't like I was going to take him to our hideout in...you know." Matthew lowers his voice, suddenly realizing that they're screaming about highly confidential information that could get them both killed.

Alfred throws up his hands and turns his back on his oldest friend, unable to look at him anymore. "Fine! Deal with your damn lead! I'm washing my hands of it." He storms out, slamming the door and crossing the hall to his own apartment, where he locks himself in with the deadbolt.

Mattie falls back on his bed, head in his hands. Everything's ruined now, and it's his fault. He never should have gotten work confused with his heart, and now...now he doesn't have anything at all. He'll have to start all over.