Black and Blue

[DAY 12]

It's morning, and Giorgio thinks of the day before. He's annoyed that Wesley is annoyed at him at this point. The older blonde had asked him how he found his new partner.

"Not bad. He's got enthusiasm."

When asked about details however, he came up short. "He was in the French Coast Guard Troop. His civilian job is in high rise carpentry."

Wesley had shaken his head. "I meant what do you know about him? Ok let's start small. What's his favourite movie?"

"..."

"Dog or cat person?" Agent Lambert asked, still at least a little hopeful.

"..."

"Colour. His favourite colour."

"I… am I being interrogated here?" Giorgio asked.

"Giorgio…" Wesley sighed.

"I share living quarters with him A-OK and I cook him nice food. See? I am trying." He defended.

"No you're not! You couldn't tell me one freaking thing about him! Not one! When you have a partner, they place their life in your hands. They aren't a damn chore!" He yelled.

Back in the suite kitchen Giorgio silently fumed at the memory. "This is so damn stupid!" He cursed to no one in particular. He spotted the egg he and Evan had been given almost a fortnight ago, sitting in her teacup. Speaking of stupid...

Evan entered the room, two large bottles of alcohol in his hands. "Hey, partner! I was hoping we could have some fu- UUUUUCCKKK!" He screamed as he saw Giorgio getting ready to crack Gnocchi in half- into a ceramic roasting dish filled with diced tomatoes and herbs.

"Oh you're back. Here, I'm making us a nice breakfast, I think you'll like this one." Giorgio said completely ignoring his partner's scream. However Evan had, with lightning speed, thrown the bottles he was carrying safely onto the couch and swiped the helpless egg out of his hand.

"Hey! Give that back!" Giorgio shouted in annoyance. He ran after Evan who was now running away from him around the suite.

After about five rounds, Evan could tell Giorgio was getting more accustomed to his evasive running pattern. He kicked open the suite door (which luckily stayed hinged), surprising personnel on the other side.

"WOAH!" Exclaimed a surprised Ted from the IT Department, as he stumbled back.

Giorgio meanwhile, was getting progressively irritated. "Get back here- you DAMNED brat!" After failing to reach the taller man's egged hand, he changed tactics. "Oh that's it!" He growled. Giorgio charged and slid down on the ground taking out Evan's legs with his own.

"Woah!" Evan exclaimed as he performed a break fall, ensuring a gentler landing. "What is this, a soccer field?!"

His annoyed partner ignored the sass he was getting, and arose from the ground to sprint after the egg which was now freely rolling away. You won't escape death! Until he felt the air knocked out of his lungs as he tumbled to the ground with Evan from his tackle.

The duo rolled away from the egg in a tangled mass of bodies as the Frenchman had intended. He was leaning over his partner with both hands planted on either side of the Italian's head. "STOP TRYING TO COOK OUR CHILD!"

"What's going on?" A nearby blue agent asked her partner.

"Sounds like infanticide." Came the nonchalant reply from the other woman wearing red.

"Ugh. Men."

Giorgio put a foot on Evan's upper abdomen and planted his own hands on the ground. Using the leverage, he pushed with all his limbs with a burst of strength, flipping the surprised blonde off him, over his head. "Hrrr! Just calm the hell down! It's just a stupid egg." He huffed catching his breath.

"Well it's OUR stupid baby, you ass!" Evan said getting up and blocking off the path where Gnocchi had rolled.

Ted stood terrified in a corner, blocked in by Evan. He had attempted to calmly walk away, but walking had been his mistake. "Uhh I don't wanna get involved in this… I should probably go now…"

Giorgio, still on the ground, springs up with his arm and catches Evan's wrist with his free hand. With his legs, he snakes them around the arm he has caught and locks the elbow joint, bringing Evan face-down to the ground with a flying omoplata.

Evan rolls forward to untangle his arm from his partner's legs.

"Tsk." Feeling the younger agent undo the joint lock of the hold, Giorgio disengages completely and slither-crawls towards a terrified Ted- as he is standing in front of the prized would-be-breakfast.

Ted lets out a high pitched shriek. All he wanted to do today was install anti-virus software on the new VSSE computers.

"No!" Evan pounces on Giorgio's legs; grabbing an ankle with one hand and the straps of his orange leg ammunition holsters with the other.

Giorgio feels his beard scrape the hallway floor uncomfortably as he is pulled backwards forcefully. "TED! I need you to crack that egg into a bowl for me, can you do that?!" He shouts at the already petrified man.

Evan has mounted Giorgio again, this time having his back. But, should he decide to move off his partner, the homicidal agent is free to hunt again. "Don't you dare Ted! Keep the baby safe!"

Ted has absolutely no context to why the one agent is so hell-bent on eating an egg with a face drawn on it, and another agent is calling the egg a 'baby'. He only knows fear.

Giorgio yells at Ted again. "Ted if you don't do as I ask, so help me god- your loved ones will never find your STUPID body!"

Evan gets his say in as well. "If you do that- I can make it look like an accident! A HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE ACCIDENT!"

Ted whimpers loudly and begins to move slowly.

"I will straight up kill you!" Giorgio hisses with venom, as he attempts to lunge at Ted who flinches at the movement.

"I- I- I'll- I'll do as you ask!" He stammers in defeat. He had decided that out of the two, Giorgio is the scarier one.

Still pinning his partner firmly. A loud bang fills the room as Evan punches a hole in the wall and growls. "YOU BREAK THAT EGG- AND I BREAK YOUR FACE! LOOK TED." He snarls at the fist-sized hole in the wall. "THAT'S YOUR FACE."

"Woah! What is even happening?!" A new bystander's voice asks. It's a VERY confused Alan who came to investigate the source of the shouting, only to discover it was something more akin to a battle.

Taking the moment of distraction as a godsend, Ted hurtles from his corner-prison and runs straight to the HR Department.

After watching a record breaking sprint from the tech-guy of all people, Evan grabs his partner's shoulder to roll him onto his back so they can face each other. "What the hell is your freaking problem?!"

"Look, you stupido idiota. I'm trying. To cook. FOOD! So bite me!" Giorgio snaps at the younger agent.

Looking at his infuriating partner beneath him, Evan's mouth is suddenly upturned to a smile despite his seething anger. Sounding strangely calm, he says. "Whatever you say, partner."

With a sudden lunge from the man on top of him, Giorgio yelped loudly as he felt teeth sink into his neck.

Escorted by up to five field agents, just in case, the clashing duo was brought to the Human Resources Department. Although Alan had wanted to sit in, he had to leave for a sudden mission deployment with Wesley.

The brawling pair sat across the HR Officer Ben Goodman. "Alrighty guys! Thanks for popping in!" The jolly Australian greeted.

"We had five guys with tasers pointed at us." Evan explained.

"Still, you're both here- good start. So now we can talk about a few 'little' problems that have been brought to my attention." Ben said making a huge gap with his thumb and his index finger.

The duo received a very long and very obvious explanation, on why it was frowned upon to intimidate a coworker with a myriad of death threats. The HR Officer really dumbed it down for them- as if they were only learning the concept for the first time.

"Now, then." Said Ben. "You two fellas aren't getting along, even though all the new partners have become good mates by now."

"Tell me about it." Evan said rolling his eyes.

"Hmph." Giorgio shot him a death glare with one hand gently pressing the gauze on his neck.

"Now, now fellas. We're all here, so now let's talk this out calmly." Mediated Ben. "Let's really listen to each other. Mr Bernard, you sound like you have something to say. Let's hear it."

Evan turned his head to face Giorgio directly. "I can tell you like your space, and I've been giving it to you. But you never- and I mean never meet me halfway. Look at how we compare to all the other partnered agents."

"What is your problem?" Asked Giorgio with an eyebrow raised. "I was making us breakfast, you ungrateful shit."

"No, you were making me breakfast- and then disappearing who-knows-where like you always do. We never talk. Sure, you've been feeding me. So at least I get to know how it feels to be someone's unwanted pet!" Evan snaps, getting up to head to the door.

"That's it! Get up and leave. Do the inevitable. When things get hard- JUST LEAVE!" He stops suddenly, realising that he wasn't really talking to Evan anymore. Feeling embarrassed at his realisation, and his outburst in HR of all places, Giorgio bolts out of the room.

He's made it to the gun range. It's where he goes to clear his head when he can no longer provide a calm facade. He shoots a target a good distance away. All six rounds have made it through the head. He reloads and empties the clip again, faster this time. Again, and faster yet again. He releases the empty clip onto the ground and jams a full one harshly into the magazine chamber.

The paper target's head is shredded by the bullet fire and Giorgio opts for the throat of his outlet as a new target instead. After the gun finishes roaring its shots, Giorgio releases the empty clip. Before he can slam in a new one, a tanned hand gently rests on the top of his. He pauses to look up at the owner of said hand, who has the balls to stop him from venting his stresses.

"Richard Miller." He finds himself saying in surprise.

[Giorgio, hello.] The mute older agent signs to him. [You should be more gentle, it does not deserve your rage.] His message is accompanied with a sympathetic smile.

The other agent lets out a tired sigh, he hasn't been on a mission in about three weeks- but he feels like he's been fighting everyone somehow. "Are you here to tell me I'm a jackass too?"

The ace shakes his head, smile still there. [These tools keep us alive. Even though the VSSE has a bounty of quartermasters...] Richard signs, stopping to pat his own holstered gun as if he was placing a hand on his heart. [We field agents, always maintain our own handguns. We know them in their entirety, because we alone are the ones holding them.] Richard draws his gun from his holster letting Giorgio hold it.

The brunette tucks his own away and holds it with two hands, not because it's heavy, but out of respect.

[The 'Strayer Voigt Infinity'.] Richard signs when he sees Giorgio look up from his gun. [See the scar on the barrel?]

Giorgio nods.

[Sudden knife attack from a crazy chef on a cruise ship. It saved me.] Richard says, looking up at the memory.

Giorgio raises an eyebrow at the odd situation, but nods again.

[Every three and a half months, I treat and polish the grip. I know they are a bit old fashioned…] Miller chuckles. [But I love the wooden grip. I know every minute groove it has, and it's somewhat moulded itself over time to the shape of my hand, so that it may never slip out of my grasp in battle.]

Giorgio hands back the gun after tracing the gentle curve in the wood with his fingers. "I know, you're right." He says looking at his own firearm, new minute scratches evident at the bottom. "... It's with me to protect my ass, but if I keep this up. It'll break and I won't have a partn- shit- I mean firearm by my side." He lets out another long, tired sigh. "I should probably go say sorry to him."

Agent Miller gives him an encouraging thumbs up. Although, after seeing the younger man hesitant in making an effort to lift his feet, he pats him on the back a little roughly.

"Oh hey, alright, alright- I'm going!" Before he is too far, Giorgio turns his head around. "Richard… thank you. I needed that."

Author's Notes:

-Richard is VSSE base mum.

-I think it's well worth watching the execution of a Flying Omoplata on Youtube! It's a delightfully complicated locking move from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ)!