A/N: Just a quick note to say thanks to Keela for advice on formatting and
stuff, you may have noticed that I made some changes and you're right, it
definitely makes the story more readable! Working on next few chapters now
- for some reason, Max is proving harder to write for than Alec and Biggs..
Anyway, hope everybody enjoys.
Chapter 3 - Biggs
The blonde adjusted her top to show even more cleavage, wet her lips and tried for the umpteenth time to catch the eye of one of the two men sitting on the other side of the bar at Crash. Either one, it didn't matter, she thought they were equally worth trying for. For once, her efforts were lost on Alec who waited for the barkeep to bring him his drink before opening a conversation with Biggs whom he had found sitting on his usual stool at the bar. "So, Biggs, how're you doing?" seemed like a safe enough opener.
Biggs shook his head. "Better now", he said ruefully, indicating the drink in his hand. He cut to the chase "I'm sorry for losing it back there pal but you two were driving me insane."
Alec saw an opportunity to make a point "Not a problem. In fact, I totally forgive you. And I would really like you to remember that I forgave you."
Biggs, who had lost interest in the conversation gave an absent-minded "Ok" and slid off his seat preparing to move round the bar towards the blonde who began to turn towards him invitingly.
Alec's abrupt "Wait!" stopped him.
He turned back and raised his eyebrows enquiringly at the other transgenic. The look on Alec's face made him sit down again and ask "So what's up?"
Alec paused before choosing his words carefully "Well, I went back to Logan's with Max after your little outburst and you know, we all got to talking about stuff..and the upshot of it is that Max seems to have somehow gotten the vague impression that you have the hots for her."
Biggs, whose eyes were still assessing the girl at the other side of the bar, lost the half-smile on his face at this, set his glass onto the bar top and said in carefully measured tones "And how the freaking' hell would she have got that impression???"
Alec took a deep breath and a swallow of his whiskey to fortify himself before answering "I guess because. I told her - and Logan - that you did".
"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!" bellowed Biggs, attracting not a little attention from the bar's other regulars.
"Calm down, Biggs, people are looking at us!" hissed Alec. He played his trump card, glancing around at the rest of the bar "Just remember, if we throw down in such a public place, it might just arouse people's suspicions that we're not all we seem."
The distinctly murderous glare that was coming his way didn't lessen in intensity but Biggs spoke in slightly lower tones when he said "I don't care!!! Explain to me how this came about Alec; come on, let's hear your brilliant excuse for this one."
Alec sighed "To be honest I don't have one, I just.couldn't think of anything else to say."
Biggs looked disbelieving "YOU couldn't think of anything else to say. 494, you can always think of something to say. That's your thing, for crying out loud! Back when we were training for covert ops and undercover espionage, you were held up as the shining example of the operative who could be anyone, talk your way out of any situation - and THIS is the best you could come up with??"
"Yeah well" Alec muttered "We're not in Manticore anymore Toto." He continued persuasively "When you think about it, what's the big deal? So she thinks you have a crush on her. It's nothing new - practically every prototype with a Y chromosome Manticore ever produced has had a crush on her at one time or another. Think of it as a rite of initiation." Alec said, slapping him on the shoulder. The look Biggs directed his way made him remove his hand in a hurry. "Okay then.think of it as a personal favour to me, your old buddy, comrade at arms, fellow soldier, etcetera. I need you to do this one small, little, miniscule thing for me." he said, attempting to indicate with his index finger and thumb the tiny nature of the request. Unfortunately, Biggs was still looking at him in a way that said that no-one would ever find his body. Alec continued "And you shouldn't let the fact that I'm letting you stay at my apartment, that I set you up with a job at Jam Pony - oh, and a sector pass, influence you in any way whatsoever".
Biggs sighed. "So when I told you and Max not one hour ago that I wanted nothing to do with your sick little games, what you heard was 'Please drop me right of the middle of them'."
"It's your own fault. Coming off with all that stuff - 'You're so hot for her you can't think straight???'. What was I supposed to say after that?"
Biggs came back with "Uh.let me think..what about the truth???" "Or is actually letting the girl that you're desperately in love with know that may possibly have feelings for her too radical a concept?" he asked sarcastically.
"I'm not desperately in love with her". "I'm not!" Alec insisted again in response to Biggs' disgusted look.
"Listen to yourself Alec, you've been hanging around Max and Logan too long 'he's not my boyfriend.we're not even like that'.yadda yadda. Yep, you might as well face it, they're the king and queen of the land of denial and you're the heir to the throne. It's truly pathetic."
"Whatever. So you going to do this for me or not?" Alec asked flatly.
"Say hypothetically, I did suffer a blow to the head and agree to a wander in this fantasy land of yours, what exactly is it you want me to do?" Biggs enquired.
Alec smiled, sensing the fish was about to be reeled in. "That's the beauty of it; you don't actually have to do anything. Just you know, don't deny it if anyone should bring it up". He snuck a sideways glance at his friend and added the item that might be a deal breaker "Oh, and you probably shouldn't go home with that blonde tonight either".
Biggs raised his eyebrows at this "And why not?"
"How's it going to look if Max comes in here and the guy I've just told her has a crush on her is going home with some other chick, huh?"
"Well you're in love with her and you not only constantly deny it when I or anyone else suggests you have feelings for her but you go home with a different girl every other night of the week. If we want this to be realistic, I should do exactly the same thing" Biggs smirked.
Alec looked at him without speaking, internally acknowledging the truth in what the other man was saying.
Biggs proceeded to drop a little of his personal philosophy on his friend "You're making life on the outside too hard for yourself, Alec. The way to deal with the world after Manticore is not to make it any more complicated than it already is. Take me. I have the world divided up neatly into four categories - friends, people I couldn't care less about, enemies and potential one-night stands".
Alec looked morosely into his glass "Yeah, well, one of these days either those categories are going to get sadly mixed up or you're going to feel the need for a fifth one. Trust me".
Looking Alec's brooding face, Biggs decided it was time to have a little fun "You know Alec, this situation you've gotten me into mightn't be all bad. I mean Max is undeniably hot. And she's so obviously getting tired of the whole Logan doomed love situation. So when she starts to look around for a replacement, who better to be than the person she thinks has feelings for her? Yep, this could definitely work out to my advantage" he said, pretending to consider the matter.
"That's not even funny" growled Alec.
"What's the matter Alec? Lost your famous sense of humour?" replied Biggs with a smirk. He grimaced ruefully as he met the suspicious glare Alec was sending his way. "Oh relax, I'm not going near your girl. Don't get me wrong, hot - yes, but way too much baggage for my taste. I mean, what with the little dictator complex she has, the seriously screwed-up 'family' relationships you've told me about, not to mention an ex who likes to save the world on a regular basis - which has gotta make any other guy look bad. Oh and she's now the messiah who's going to save the world". He shook his head "I have to ask, 494, are you absolutely positive she's worth it?"
Alec looked right at Biggs with his heart in the eyes. He picked up his glass and turned around and put his back against the bar. "Yes".
"I don't know if I envy you or pity you" Biggs said after a long pause, taking a swallow from his glass, a little stunned by the depth of emotion he'd seen in his usually wise-cracking friend's face.
"Pity me because she's heading this way" he heard in a strangled tone from Alec, which caused him to choke on his mouthful of beer.
Chapter 3 - Biggs
The blonde adjusted her top to show even more cleavage, wet her lips and tried for the umpteenth time to catch the eye of one of the two men sitting on the other side of the bar at Crash. Either one, it didn't matter, she thought they were equally worth trying for. For once, her efforts were lost on Alec who waited for the barkeep to bring him his drink before opening a conversation with Biggs whom he had found sitting on his usual stool at the bar. "So, Biggs, how're you doing?" seemed like a safe enough opener.
Biggs shook his head. "Better now", he said ruefully, indicating the drink in his hand. He cut to the chase "I'm sorry for losing it back there pal but you two were driving me insane."
Alec saw an opportunity to make a point "Not a problem. In fact, I totally forgive you. And I would really like you to remember that I forgave you."
Biggs, who had lost interest in the conversation gave an absent-minded "Ok" and slid off his seat preparing to move round the bar towards the blonde who began to turn towards him invitingly.
Alec's abrupt "Wait!" stopped him.
He turned back and raised his eyebrows enquiringly at the other transgenic. The look on Alec's face made him sit down again and ask "So what's up?"
Alec paused before choosing his words carefully "Well, I went back to Logan's with Max after your little outburst and you know, we all got to talking about stuff..and the upshot of it is that Max seems to have somehow gotten the vague impression that you have the hots for her."
Biggs, whose eyes were still assessing the girl at the other side of the bar, lost the half-smile on his face at this, set his glass onto the bar top and said in carefully measured tones "And how the freaking' hell would she have got that impression???"
Alec took a deep breath and a swallow of his whiskey to fortify himself before answering "I guess because. I told her - and Logan - that you did".
"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!" bellowed Biggs, attracting not a little attention from the bar's other regulars.
"Calm down, Biggs, people are looking at us!" hissed Alec. He played his trump card, glancing around at the rest of the bar "Just remember, if we throw down in such a public place, it might just arouse people's suspicions that we're not all we seem."
The distinctly murderous glare that was coming his way didn't lessen in intensity but Biggs spoke in slightly lower tones when he said "I don't care!!! Explain to me how this came about Alec; come on, let's hear your brilliant excuse for this one."
Alec sighed "To be honest I don't have one, I just.couldn't think of anything else to say."
Biggs looked disbelieving "YOU couldn't think of anything else to say. 494, you can always think of something to say. That's your thing, for crying out loud! Back when we were training for covert ops and undercover espionage, you were held up as the shining example of the operative who could be anyone, talk your way out of any situation - and THIS is the best you could come up with??"
"Yeah well" Alec muttered "We're not in Manticore anymore Toto." He continued persuasively "When you think about it, what's the big deal? So she thinks you have a crush on her. It's nothing new - practically every prototype with a Y chromosome Manticore ever produced has had a crush on her at one time or another. Think of it as a rite of initiation." Alec said, slapping him on the shoulder. The look Biggs directed his way made him remove his hand in a hurry. "Okay then.think of it as a personal favour to me, your old buddy, comrade at arms, fellow soldier, etcetera. I need you to do this one small, little, miniscule thing for me." he said, attempting to indicate with his index finger and thumb the tiny nature of the request. Unfortunately, Biggs was still looking at him in a way that said that no-one would ever find his body. Alec continued "And you shouldn't let the fact that I'm letting you stay at my apartment, that I set you up with a job at Jam Pony - oh, and a sector pass, influence you in any way whatsoever".
Biggs sighed. "So when I told you and Max not one hour ago that I wanted nothing to do with your sick little games, what you heard was 'Please drop me right of the middle of them'."
"It's your own fault. Coming off with all that stuff - 'You're so hot for her you can't think straight???'. What was I supposed to say after that?"
Biggs came back with "Uh.let me think..what about the truth???" "Or is actually letting the girl that you're desperately in love with know that may possibly have feelings for her too radical a concept?" he asked sarcastically.
"I'm not desperately in love with her". "I'm not!" Alec insisted again in response to Biggs' disgusted look.
"Listen to yourself Alec, you've been hanging around Max and Logan too long 'he's not my boyfriend.we're not even like that'.yadda yadda. Yep, you might as well face it, they're the king and queen of the land of denial and you're the heir to the throne. It's truly pathetic."
"Whatever. So you going to do this for me or not?" Alec asked flatly.
"Say hypothetically, I did suffer a blow to the head and agree to a wander in this fantasy land of yours, what exactly is it you want me to do?" Biggs enquired.
Alec smiled, sensing the fish was about to be reeled in. "That's the beauty of it; you don't actually have to do anything. Just you know, don't deny it if anyone should bring it up". He snuck a sideways glance at his friend and added the item that might be a deal breaker "Oh, and you probably shouldn't go home with that blonde tonight either".
Biggs raised his eyebrows at this "And why not?"
"How's it going to look if Max comes in here and the guy I've just told her has a crush on her is going home with some other chick, huh?"
"Well you're in love with her and you not only constantly deny it when I or anyone else suggests you have feelings for her but you go home with a different girl every other night of the week. If we want this to be realistic, I should do exactly the same thing" Biggs smirked.
Alec looked at him without speaking, internally acknowledging the truth in what the other man was saying.
Biggs proceeded to drop a little of his personal philosophy on his friend "You're making life on the outside too hard for yourself, Alec. The way to deal with the world after Manticore is not to make it any more complicated than it already is. Take me. I have the world divided up neatly into four categories - friends, people I couldn't care less about, enemies and potential one-night stands".
Alec looked morosely into his glass "Yeah, well, one of these days either those categories are going to get sadly mixed up or you're going to feel the need for a fifth one. Trust me".
Looking Alec's brooding face, Biggs decided it was time to have a little fun "You know Alec, this situation you've gotten me into mightn't be all bad. I mean Max is undeniably hot. And she's so obviously getting tired of the whole Logan doomed love situation. So when she starts to look around for a replacement, who better to be than the person she thinks has feelings for her? Yep, this could definitely work out to my advantage" he said, pretending to consider the matter.
"That's not even funny" growled Alec.
"What's the matter Alec? Lost your famous sense of humour?" replied Biggs with a smirk. He grimaced ruefully as he met the suspicious glare Alec was sending his way. "Oh relax, I'm not going near your girl. Don't get me wrong, hot - yes, but way too much baggage for my taste. I mean, what with the little dictator complex she has, the seriously screwed-up 'family' relationships you've told me about, not to mention an ex who likes to save the world on a regular basis - which has gotta make any other guy look bad. Oh and she's now the messiah who's going to save the world". He shook his head "I have to ask, 494, are you absolutely positive she's worth it?"
Alec looked right at Biggs with his heart in the eyes. He picked up his glass and turned around and put his back against the bar. "Yes".
"I don't know if I envy you or pity you" Biggs said after a long pause, taking a swallow from his glass, a little stunned by the depth of emotion he'd seen in his usually wise-cracking friend's face.
"Pity me because she's heading this way" he heard in a strangled tone from Alec, which caused him to choke on his mouthful of beer.