When Ryan awakes the first thing he notices is how comfortably warm he is. As his sleep-blurred eyes adjust he can't help but smile when he sees Mike tucked against his side, arm still slung across his waist and nose buried in Ryan's neck. The younger agent is out cold, catching up on some much needed rest. Ryan stays in this moment for a few more minutes; he knows how much Mike needs a good night's sleep. He quietly untangles himself from Mike's grip.
He stays asleep even as Ryan gets up and tries to get dressed as quietly as possible. Ryan goes out for coffee, deciding he needs a walk with some fresh air and grabs three coffees in case Max stops back in this morning. He opens the door to his apartment and walks toward the kitchen. He's about to set the coffee on the counter when footsteps cause him to stop.
The next moment reveals a very shirtless Mike, clad only in a long towel, hair still wet from his shower. Ryan's brain momentarily forgets how to even remotely function because all of a sudden it occurs to him that despite that one night of heated kisses, they've never kissed again since and have only seen each other in way more clothing than Mike has on now.
Ryan wants to either leap over the damn counter and touch every inch of that beautiful boy or maybe cough, clear his throat and let Mike know he is here. But then Mike's phone rings and he's talking to his mother and Ryan feels at a loss, which is not a feeling he has often. As he watches the muscles of Mike's back Ryan realizes he feels flustered, like a teenager with a ridiculous crush and when the hell did all these emotions decide to come into play? Mike hangs up the phone, turns so his front his facing Ryan, and starts to drop his towel.
"Whoa!" Ryan says, turning around right before he sees the end result of Mike's happy trail. And damn, what right did the kid have to be that good looking with those hipbones and thighs and fuck! Ryan is losing his mind. Not a thing he can afford to do during dangerous times like these.
"Ryan!" Mike definitely says in a manly voice and not at all a shriek. "You uh, should have said something."
Ryan can hear the rustle of fabric and the metal clinging of a belt.
"Well you were on the phone and so, you know…" he trails off, daring to glance behind him. Mike's pants are on now and he's reaching toward a shirt. Ryan deems it safe enough to turn around, but he still feels heat rising in his cheeks as he watches Mike pull his shirt on.
"We're two grown men, Ryan. This shouldn't be…embarrassing," Mike says.
"Right, right," Ryan replies at a loss for words again. He's overcome by his want of this young agent. It shouldn't be so hard to take that next step forward, but it is because Mike isn't some one night stand, plus the fact that they need to be focusing on the case. Mike turns around and stares at him, he opens his mouth to say something when Max comes through the door.
"Hey, you guys ready?" She asks walking toward the counter where the coffee is.
"We have a plan?" Mike says looking at Max, afraid of what he'll see if he keeps his eyes on Ryan for too long. Ryan clears his throat, cheeks still burning slightly because his mind won't stop replaying the image of Mike almost dropping his towel right in front of him. He keeps his eyes lowered but is able to explain the plan of Max planting a trace on Mendez and then Ryan playing bad cop and straight up confronting her about getting into Debra's email. Mike nods his consent and the three of them go to set the plan in action. Max plants the trace perfectly and Ryan's heart tightens when Mike smiles and compliments her on it.
Before he can really think about that, Mendez is ditching her phone and car and he and Mike need to follow her. And then Ryan's getting hit on by a lady at the house they've followed Gina too, Mike smiles at it and gives Ryan an amused look. The woman takes Ryan to the garage and Gina's laying face down on the pavement in a pool of her own blood, but she's still alive. She's a fighter. When Ryan knows she innocent and she says Jana's name Ryan makes sure the woman takes care of Gina and he's off. Running back to the house, getting the kids out, trying to get back to Mike because Jana is dangerous and prepared to kill, as evident by Gina's bleeding body.
"Who are you?" a voice asks and then Mike finds a gun being pointed at him by a woman on the staircase. He raises his own weapon and Ryan appears from the other side of the stairs. This woman is unstable and there's nothing more dangerous than someone with nothing to lose. She looks like she wants to shoot someone, but hasn't decided which man she wants to shoot first. Then Ryan asks her where Joe Carroll is and she breaks. There's a manic laughter in her words and it makes Ryan's blood feel cold. Jana's calling Ryan out on his shit, on his utter obsession with Joe Carroll and when she asks why in this world that is shattering can he only focus on Joe Carroll, Ryan feels something in him break.
Apparently Jana is breaking too because she's got the look in her eyes again, saying nothing matters, and Ryan knows just a second too late that she's made a decision about who to shoot. He yells when she pulls the trigger against her skull. He isn't sure if he's yelling because Jana actually knew something about Joe Carroll or if maybe because there was a point to her ramblings, because buried beneath her cracked, livid eyes there was a truth that Ryan could relate to.
Later Gina whispers, "I'm sorry. I thought she was okay," to Ryan and he believes her. The look of hurt and betrayal in her eyes is practically screaming from her injured body. She's strong and he's thankful for that because she reminds him of Debra and he doesn't want to lose her too. And also like Debra, Gina has been betrayed by someone she loved, by family.
When Ryan sees Max later he hugs her silently and she goes with it. She understands this type of life and he almost wishes she didn't, that she had a safer job somewhere sunny and not full of death, but that just isn't the Hardy way. And then of course there's Mike and Ryan wants to hug him too, but then they find out Carrie is in trouble and they're speeding down the highway to get to the book signing.
"Shit," Mike mutters in the car. "…never going to end." Ryan doesn't say anything back because he's starting to agree that this chaos will never end, that even if they kill Joe and Lily and every cult member on the Earth, the ghosts in their minds and demons in their hearts will still haunt them.
Ryan's thoughts only seem confirmed when they're surrounded by dead bodies at the Cookie is shaking when she hugs Ryan, clutching to him as if he's the only stability she has. When Ryan looks over at Mike he's staring at both of them with a look in his eyes that Ryan can't quite discern, but it doesn't look like a happy one.
When they're all back at the apartment Max walks in the room quickly telling Ryan to turn on the television. Ryan knows Joe Carroll's voice immediately and his heart stops for a moment. When Joe takes off the mask he hears a gasp from behind him and isn't sure if it comes from Max or Mike. He wants to punch his fist through the television and almost does before Max lays a hand on his shoulder and he remembers that he's still fighting for her, for Mike…for Debra, Claire and everyone else who's suffered from the cult.
"We'll get him, Ryan. We will," Max says before she takes off. She hugs Ryan and says her goodbye to Mike. Mike watches her until she's out the door and then he turns on Ryan.
"You and that horrible journalist looked pretty comfortable," he says, and Ryan is caught off guard.
"Uhm, she was pretty distraught with the whole being threatened thing," Ryan retorts. There's a tension amid the two men and it's coming out as anger. They're lighting the match between them and there's no saying which direction the flames are going to take. Ryan's phone rings and he keeps eye contact with Mike as he answers it. He doesn't look at the number, which he regrets when he hears the voice on the other end is Carrie's.
"Everything ok?" he asks. "No, Carrie I don't think now's a really good time to come over…Yeah, bye." He hangs up the phone and Mike blinks at him.
"If you want to screw her again I'll leave," Mike says. His words leave Ryan feeling cold. He had told Mike about the drunken encounter once he knew Carrie was writing the book because Mike was a part of that story too. He had a right to know he might suffer because of Ryan's messed up mistakes.
"What? Mike, what is wrong with you?" Ryan's looking at Mike with raised eyebrows, trying to figure out what to do with the situation.
"Isn't that what you want?"
"No! She was a mistake," Ryan says. "A drunken mistake that I've now dragged down into the fucked up world we live in. I feel bad for her, I do. But I don't want to sleep with her again."
Mike looks at him tentatively and asks, "You sure?"
"If you don't know that by now then you're an idiot," Ryan says softly, looking at Mike and thinking, if you don't know I want you by now, you're an idiot, but he doesn't say it. Apparently he doesn't have to because in the next moment he finds himself slammed against the wall by a very eager Mike Weston. Ryan's thoughts are silenced when Mike presses their bodies together and kisses him in a hard, feral way. Ryan feels his body is being engulfed in the flames of Mike and he wants to burn in those fires, he wants to feel something besides anger and unhealthy obsession toward killers for once.
When Mike starts to unbutton Ryan's shirt and bite his lower lip, well, Ryan thinks he could get quite used to the way every inch of him is humming a tune of appreciation for what this young agent is doing to him. He places his hands on Mike's hips and pulls him against him. Mike slips his tongue into Ryan's mouth while sliding his hand up his now open shirt and Ryan is ready to fall down to the floor. There's a desperation in him to touch Mike's skin so he slides his hands under the younger man's shirt and digs his fingers into Mike's back. Mike makes a tiny breathless sound that sends Ryan's blood south and he's overcome with that feeling of want again.
He kisses Mike's obscenely perfect lips softly now, imaging those lips exploring the rest of his aching body. Mike grinds his hips into Ryan's and they both clutch onto each other and unabashedly moan at the contact. Ryan is just about ready to tackle them both to floor when Mike's phone rings.
"Ignore it," Ryan says, and Mike looks like he really wants to, but they both know if it's about the case then their duty has to come first. Mike doesn't move away from Ryan as he pulls the phone from his pocket, but when he sees the number he frowns and walks way. Ryan just stands there, hair and shirt disheveled. His body feels hot and full of need and he just wants Mike to come back here. Mike doesn't say much on the phone, but when he hangs up he gives Ryan a mournful look full of regret.
"I have to go," he sighs.
"Where? Why?" Ryan says, trying not to sound as needy as he feels, but seriously, Mike has to leave now? After they finally break the tension a bit?
"There's just something that I have to do. I'll call you tomorrow," Mike says. Ryan wants to ask more questions, but Mike just looks at him and says, "Trust me," so Ryan says, "Ok," because of course he trusts Mike. He watches the younger agent pull himself together and grab his jacket. He doesn't look behind him again when he walks out the door.
Ryan runs a hand through his hair and feels his phone start to buzz again. He looks at the screen and Carrie is calling again, but she's the last person he wants to talk to right now. He silences the call and walks toward the bedroom. He's tempted to finish what he and Mike started by himself, but then he's wondering where Mike just had to pop off to and it kills his adrenaline from being pushed against the wall and kissed like that.
Was it a family matter? If Mike was going after Lily or Joe he would have told Ryan, right? If it's not family what else could it be. Maybe he's a follower, Ryan snorts. Wouldn't that be the perfect plant? But he's seen Mike's pain and doesn't believe anyone could be that good of an actor.
Must be a family issue then, Ryan tries to comfort himself. He lays flat on his bed willing sleep to come, but his mind won't shut up and dammit, he misses Mike. What the hell is this kid doing to me? he wonders, and then finally lets the darkness of the late night overtake him.