Gray itched his stubbled beard, trying to appear casual, and possibly even bored. His back was tightening to the point of almost spasming, yet he kept it in the same casual arch in the back of the car. Everything had gone according to plan. The heist had gone off without casualties or alarms even being thrown. Not only that, but sweet Hank surprisingly let a compliment slip after Gray unlocked the internal redundant security system. The complement caused them both to pause and afterward, he was a bit more willing to talk about his employers. Nothing Gray hadn't already known, but it was the act more than the actual information.

The job had taken all three of them out of the town for at least six hours. To meet them, and mitigate the sale of the technology, was none other than the beaming Derek. His face had brightened as he checked his watch several times after they arrived. He couldn't stop complimenting them on their impressive speed. To which, Hank then took it one step further and gave the credit to Gray.

All the while, Gray tried to take everything as a casual and trivial task. Slouching against a wall or dangling his feet off the hood of the car, anything to make it seem like this hadn't been difficult. Anything to get him hired again.

Derek had offered to drive him and Hank home and they were riding back when Derek brought up the next job.

"I mean, it'll be a little larger of a job but I promise you'll have more people. Our clients want to completely dismantle this site, take all their proprietary material. As part of the deal, they'll let us take a few things for ourselves."

Derek twisted to look back at Gray, smirking, "Sweetened the arrangement a bit, so even with the risk, dad didn't really have a choice."

"Not a problem," Gray nodded, "I'll be there." With his invite locked in, a chink missing in Hank's armor, and John's no doubt success, they were well on their way to wrapping this one up quickly. After all, Derek had been with Gray for at least two hours, plus who knows how long elsewhere, so his office had been theirs for the rifling.

Everything was going according to plan, and even faster. The quicker the better. It might have been possible his back hadn't fully healed from the last job and he needed to prevent any further damage.

Half an hour later and he was back safely in the loft with John, who was up late making rice crispies.

"What the hell are these?" He asked looking over at the drying rack. John came out of the bathroom, wiping his hands on his shorts.

"Welcome back my darling," he cheered, leaning over to kiss Gray on the cheek. "You know these are my latest guilty pleasure, but I did add some peanut butter for a little extra something," he shrugged, smiling before he took a bite of one. It was 3 am and he was wearing his normal sleeping wear, a simple pair of shorts.

John was fairly pale, as a nocturnal writer, but reasonably built for such a sedentary job. He had said he couldn't convincingly lose the muscle definition but could choose a believable skin tone based on his original color. Gray wasn't totally sure it was true. It had to be obvious to John that this look was capturing all of Gray's attention. If he followed the lines John's hips created, he found himself staring at John's crotch. With one last glance, Gray looked away to scan the room. John knew they would have things to talk about, he could have put on a shirt.

"What did you do today?" Gray asked, looking back to see John polish off a second piece and begin licking his fingers clean.

"I had a little bit of um... writer's block," he joked, "so not much," he finished with an apathetic shrug.

The pain in Gray's back jumped and pulled him down a few inches. A warm hand immediately slid under his coat, simultaneously pulling him back up and bringing him to John.

"You had hours to get your work done," he snapped, trying to pull himself away.

"Hey, I know, I tried, but let's talk about this." He was being annoyingly positive and stubbornly peaceful. Gray had spent the entire night working his ass off and he's here making needless sweet treats. On top of that, he hadn't made any progress and was holding them back. Keeping them in on this mission.

"I'm being serious, John."

John twisted him back and pinned him against the kitchen island with barely a flick of his wrist. He began running his hand up and down the sore spot on Gray's back. The smile had finally vanished and he held his strong jaw tight as stared down into Gray's eyes.

"You don't have to keep reminding me. Maybe people don't keep their secrets in the first place you look. Did you manage to get another job?"

"I did."

"Good. I did find an invite to a party Friday by a . I'll follow him out there if you can cover me. And if we're still here, a gala on Wednesday, a baptism on Sunday, then a..."

"Okay." Gray arched his back as John needled the sore spot.

"Did you get anything on the murders?"

"No." Gray groaned, now more at himself. He never had to check in when he worked solo. If he didn't find anything, he didn't get mad at himself, he just kept looking. He also didn't have to own up to partial failures when he had so suddenly crashed from a post-heist high.

He met John's eyes and held them while the hand continued to explore his back. John's nose flared a few centimeters and bounced slightly. Maybe a primordial subtle cue he was stressed, or about to hurl an attack back.

The hand stilled before tapping the top two fingers twice and the pinky once. To the person outside spying on them, they were just John the writer and his boyfriend Gray, just getting home from something. So that's who Gray let himself become. The hand holding his back grew to support him as he let his body relax.

They could talk tomorrow anyway, it was late and they should go to bed.

Gray took a deep breath in, closing his eyes, and pulled John in close. John didn't object, he just wrapped his arms further around Gray and kissed the side of his head.

If they were just these Gray and John characters, they would probably be arguing about something like money. Not over the lives of two murdered people. Not over the lives of people that might be killed in the future if they failed.

In the past few years, he had lectured Gar on everything from mistakes during battle to bad eating habits. It was hard to put that behind him as they approached this as partners. But he didn't really need to be that anymore. He could be a little more like Gray. This contact was already more than he was used to. No one held him like this.

It was nice.

"Can we just go to bed?"

"Oh, of course," John practically purred, leaning back to grab Gray's arms. "But!" He dramatically held up his finger. "What about a back massage first?"

"For me?"

"No my other boyfriend with the bad back."

Solo trips never came with this. Gray just smiled in response and let himself be lead back to bed. Where he didn't even last five minutes under John's touch before he fell asleep.