Lunchtime on a Friday was usually one of Chuck's favourite lunch hours of the week. He and Morgan, or he and Bryce, or - if the universe was feeling particularly kind that week - sometimes even Chuck, Morgan and Bryce - would grab lunch together in the Buy More breakroom. It was a little routine Chuck looked forward to every week. Today, however, Chuck was not looking forward to his lunch break.

He had privately broken up with Sarah the day before, explaining to her that it would be unfair to the both of them to pursue a fake relationship when it couldn't logically go anywhere. She'd always be welcome in his life as his friend and handler, but romantically it was over. He couldn't keep on pretending. It just wasn't fair to either of them.

So, now. Today. This lunch hour, Sarah would be coming into the Buy More and they would be cementing their break-up for the world to see. Or, at the very least, the Buy More.

Fortunately, he had his friends around to help take his mind off the impending public breakup.

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At twelve o'clock, on the dot, Morgan came over to find him, already chattering a mile a minute. "Great news, pal," he announced brightly. "I am free this evening for a meal. Thinking about a little surf and turf. Half meatball, half tuna sub. Then boom!" Morgan spread his arms wide, grinning at the wall of televisions. "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Uh, me and you. Sniper on my back watching me."

"I would love to," Chuck replied. "But I have plans tonight."

Really, really good plans for a change. Solid and real plans. Plans he didn't have to fake. Real plans he didn't have to fake that weren't with either one of his best friends.

"Don't sweat it," Morgan said, patting his arm easily. "Me too. Slammed. What are you and the lady doing?"

And here it was. The awkward moment when he had to tell his oldest friend the bad news. "Uh, actually, the lady and I are no mas. It's over."

He patted Morgan on the shoulder and headed back towards the Nerd Herd desk. Morgan was not going to take this well and Chuck would be better equipped to deal with the conversation if he could pretend to work while doing so.

"Ah, dude," Morgan called apologetically. "I knew this would happen. Damn it! Women can be so cruel."

"You know," Chuck announced, glancing over his shoulder at his saddened friend. "I broke up with her. She just wasn't the right person for me."

"The right person?" Morgan repeated, frowning in incomprehension. "Dude, are you out of your mind? She is the hottest piece we are ever going to get!"

"First of all, Morgan, you are going to meet a smart and beautiful woman and be very, very happy," Chuck said, meeting his gaze honestly. "And secondly, I didn't see a future with Sarah and I. And I like her too much to leave her stuck in a relationship that has no future. We both deserved better than that."

"Dude, that is the Accountant speaking," Morgan cried, looking as though he would dearly love to shake some sense into Chuck. "Beautiful people like that can have as many beautiful girls as they like. But, guys like you and me- Dude, there'll only be one Sarah for the likes of us."

That was, probably, true. But, Chuck had always liked being a romantic optimist. No matter how many times his heart got ground into tiny, tiny pieces, he kept hoping that real happiness was out there for him.

"Morgan," Bryce called, appearing out of nowhere and flashing a half grin that said he'd heard more than Morgan probably would have liked. "We're being supportive friends today. That means reminding Chuck that he's doing the right thing and that he can have anybody he wants."

Chuck smiled slightly, thanking his friend for stepping in and saving him from the awkward direction of the conversation.

"That's easy for you to say," Morgan muttered grumpily. "Chuck," he added, eyes growing wide. "Beg for her back. On your knees, Charles."

Bryce rolled his eyes, clapping Chuck on the back. "You've got this, buddy," was all he said. A reminder that Bryce, at least, knew what he was doing was for the best.

"Thanks," Chuck murmured, taking a deep breath before crossing the Buy More to Sarah. "We can talk in the home theatre room."

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.

Once they were safely inside the room, Chuck turned to Sarah. Looking at her, the pain from two days before came trickling back in. Along with all the regrets. They could have had something wonderful, the two of them; something real and true and capable of surviving in the two worlds Chuck called home. But, Sarah had not felt the same. And all Chuck could do was accept that and move on.

Which was exactly what he was trying to do.

"I've been thinking about our breakup," Sarah announced, sleeves of her cardigan hiding her hands. "And, I'm not sure it's the best idea."

"Miss me already, huh?" Chuck asked, gathering up the trickling current of pain to use as a shield.

"Well, just, y'know, for the cover," Sarah explained, smiling hopefully. "It makes things easier."

Logically, from a spy point of view, that made perfect sense. But, Chuck wasn't only CIA property. He had a right to a life outside being the Intersect. "Well then, I guess your job is going to be a little bit harder."

Sarah's smile turned into her I'm being very reasonable and logical so you must listen to me expression. Chuck kind of hated that expression right now.

"I'm sorry if you thought that there was something between us. It's very common in these situations to perceive a connection that isn't there."

"Of course," Chuck nodded, forcing down the urge to snap that this was his life, damnit, not a CIA training scenario. Instead, he fell back on the old standby; sarcasm. "I get it. It's the old story, you know? Guy gets supercomputer in his brain, beautiful CIA agent is sent to protect him and then she tells him, while under the influence of truth serum, that she's not interested." Chuck nodded once, feigning the same reasonableness that Sarah had projected. "I get it. But for me, the emotional rollercoaster is a little much, so I think I'd rather find something a little less common. Like, say, I don't know, a, uh, a real relationship."

Sarah stared at him for a long moment, her eyes scanning his face. "Okay, Chuck," she said eventually, capitulating. "If that's what you want, then I'm gonna have to sell it."

Before Chuck's eyes, Sarah began to cry. Her beautiful blue eyes filled with tears and she turned her back on his concern.

"Sarah?" Chuck called, helpless but to watch her rush from the Buy More, blotting tears with her sleeves.

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.

After Lester obtained permission to try and date Sarah (which, really, Chuck wished him all the luck in the world - he was going to need it), Morgan caught up with Chuck again. Chuck saw Bryce wiggle his fingers and nod once - a silent well done - before disappearing into the pit of despair that was the office Chuck now unofficially shared with him. Paperwork hell. Chuck made a mental note to bring him back a sandwich.

"We gotta talk about our feelings and all that crap," Morgan said, looking vaguely awkward at the thought.

"I'm sorry, buddy," Chuck grinned, walking with a bit of a bounce in his step now. "You're gonna have to weep without me, I got a date."

Morgan looked up at him, mouth agape. "What? Get out of here. Already?" Morgan's pride was visible. "Good for you, hotshot. With who?"

Chuck strode off, playing it cool. Or, at least as cool as he ever had. "Just someone I met. Makes sandwiches. Deli owner."

Morgan's stare burned into Chuck's back. "Hold on a second," he called. "A pro?"

.

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Lou's Gourmet Italian Deli was a hive of activity, customers waiting eagerly with their tickets. Chuck stood just inside the door, watching Lou handle her business. She waved at him and grinned, Chuck grinning back. This. This was what a first date was supposed to feel like; all giddy anticipation and happiness at the mere prospect of spending time together. It had been so long, since before even Sarah, since Chuck had properly felt it.

All the anxieties and paranoia about living with government secrets fled away, Chuck falling happily into the waiting embrace of giddy anticipation. It felt good. It felt normal. For the next little while, the only thing that was going to matter would be this date. Anything else, everything else, could wait.

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Back in Echo Park and their apartment complex, Bryce found himself spending his precious afternoon stuck in one of his least favourite things: a CIA/NSA briefing. Even worse, it was a briefing in Casey's apartment. Not that Bryce wanted to host the briefings in his apartment, it was just hard to ignore the telltale itch of being in hostile territory.

Bryce hovered at the periphery, warming his hands on a cup of coffee (made in his own apartment, thank you very much - he wasn't drinking the toxic sludge Casey thought qualified as coffee), and trying to ignore the sense of wrongness in discussing Chuck's life while Chuck was oblivious.

"I don't like the idea of this break-up at all," Beckman announced, frowning severely through the screen at them all. "What the hell happened?"

Casey leaned forward, eager as Bryce had seen him. At least in situations that didn't involve shooting someone. "She got dumped."

Bryce clenched his jaw, staring fixedly at an indeterminate spot on the computer screen. He made eye contact with no one, so no one could tell he how he was feeling on the matter.

Not that Bryce felt anything in particular on the matter. He was a spy. A superspy, according to Chuck. And superspies certainly did not feel things like satisfaction and happiness that their best friends were no longer in fake relationships with their ex girlfriends.

"We decided that it would be best for Chuck to date a civilian," Sarah explained, narrowing her eyes at Casey. "It will help secure his cover in the event someone IDs me."

"Yeah, because she got dumped."

Sarah looked away, her expression saying she was one more quip away from challenging Casey to some ring time. Bryce, on the other hand, just clenched his jaw tighter and inwardly reflected on the irony that this was the first time in his life that he would actually support Casey over his CIA partner.

Beckman glared daggers at the three of them; neither amused or relieved at this news. "Let me get this straight, some woman comes in off the street and starts dating the asset and this doesn't strike any of you as suspicious."

"Because heaven forbid one of us actually has a real, human relationship," Bryce muttered, scowling into his coffee.

"What was that, Agent Larkin?"

Bryce pasted on his best "who me?" expression, wide-eyed and innocent.

Sarah stepped to his rescue. "It's not completely unfeasible," she said, smiling slightly. "He is a reasonably charming guy."

"And he would have been very popular at Stanford if he hadn't been in a relationship with Jill," Bryce added, his sense of loyalty to his friend overruling the really quite insignificant part of him that wanted to barricade Chuck in his apartment and never let him leave.

"I've heard enough," Beckman announced. "I want to know everything there is to know about this woman before she gets too close."

Bryce met Sarah's gaze, shaking his head slightly. All these weeks working with Chuck and they didn't understand. There was no "before" Chuck got too close. Chuck went into things one hundred percent; with his big heart wide open. He loved openly and freely, trusted far too quickly. It was one of his best and worst qualities all in one.

"Chuck is going to hate us for this," Bryce announced into the silence after Beckman's dismissal.

"He's going to have to suck it up," Casey dismissed, already beginning to look into Lou's past. "He wants to date civilians, he's got to expect we'll do this."

Suddenly, all the fellow feeling (the very miniscule amount Casey had dredged up within him the last ten minutes) fled from Bryce. He was back to wanting to slam his face into the keyboard and maybe stab him with something sharp and pointy. But Bryce wouldn't do that, because he was a responsible adult (and Chuck would get that disappointed look like he knew Bryce could do better).

"For Chuck's safety," Sarah compromised, staring at him with understanding in her eyes. "If she isn't on the level, don't you want to know now rather than later?"

"I want to let Chuck go into this relationship without automatically assuming for him that it's going to end because he can't pick a girlfriend who isn't after government secrets instead of what a great guy he is." Bryce took a deep breath in, smiling easily. "But, you're right. I'd rather know now, making comfort food from scratch takes hours."

And planning out exactly how he was going to dispose of the body should another person only be using his best friend took careful and meticulous attention to detail. Especially if Bryce was going to make it untraceable and look like a tragic accident.

.

.

"Oh my God, that is so good," Chuck moaned, transported to a higher plain.

He was pretty sure he had never had anything better in his life. Every other sandwich in the entire world was lacking, they didn't even deserve the name sandwich. Because this? This was perfection. It was a higher level of sandwich being. It was an evolved sandwich. The flavour, the texture, it was all indescribable. So, so good.

"You like it?" Lou asked, hopping a little in place. She came and straddled his hips, smiling down at him.

"Like it?" Chuck shook his head, mouth still full of the most delicious thing he'd eaten in a deli in his life. "I love it. I-"

His attention was caught by an innocent poster on the wall. Information hidden in the recesses of his mind leapt to the forefront. A man's photograph. A Homeland security file. Maps of snuggling routes used by the Demetrios Organisation. Stavros Demetrios.

Chuck stared in mute horror at the poster.

No, no, no. This was not happening now. This was supposed to be different. It was supposed to be normal. He was not flashing now.

"What's wrong?" Lou asked because she was a wonderful, normal person who didn't know he had a government supercomputer in his head. "You don't like it?" She shook her head, annoyed. Second guessing herself. "It's the chopped liver, isn't it?"

"What?" Chuck turned back to her. "No. No. I- it's amazing. You're amazing."

Lou smiled, sinking a little closer to him. And that was exactly the kind of thing Chuck would have been totally on board with about ten seconds ago. But now he had to know, had to understand.

He pointed with his sandwich towards the poster. "What is that?"

Lou turned, shrugging as she went to bin the invite. "Just an invitation for a thing at Club Ares."

Chuck nodded slowly, curiosity still not sated. "Who's Stavros Demetrios?"

Lou hunched a little, folding her arms over her chest. "My ex." She shrugged, eyes wary. "He owns the place. Why, you know him?"

"Not really," Chuck replied, still trying to process why he had flashed tonight of all nights.

"Good, you don't want to," Lou said flatly. "He thought I was dating some guy and he trashed his car. Threatened to kill him."

Chuck's eyes widened, the last vestiges of giddiness flushed from his veins. Anxiety and sheer panic retook their familiar places, twisting his stomach into tight knots.

Lou continued talking, warning him. "Believe me," she said. "The last thing you want is that lunatic swimming around in your head."

Chuck smiled a smile of a man not even remotely wanting to be smiling at all. But, he took another bite of his sandwich and brought the conversation back to that. Tonight he still had a date. Tomorrow would be soon enough to bring his handlers up to date on his latest flash.

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After bidding Lou goodnight with a kiss that turned into several more prolonged kisses, Chuck drove home to Echo Park. Ellie and Awesome were both on night shifts tonight, and there was something almost relaxing about the thought of an apartment without anyone to ask him questions or notice that he was a little off despite the really good date he'd just had. He could put on the TV and sink into the couch and drift off to one of the sci-fi programs he loved so much. That would be the perfect way to end his night.

Chuck just wished his traitorous feet had gotten that memo.

He found himself not outside his front door but Bryce's, knuckles already starting a little from rapping against the wood loud enough to be heard inside.

"Door's open, Chuck!" Bryce's voice called, relaxed and fond.

Grinning to himself that he was apparently that predictable, Chuck entered Bryce's geek chic apartment, breathing in the scents of excellent coffee, cologne and gourmet cooking. It felt simultaneously everything and nothing like walking into their frat house back in Stanford.

"Shoot any paperwork today, buddy?" Chuck called, diverting to the kitchen to help himself to Bryce's ever-full coffee pot.

"Didn't go back in after lunch," Bryce smirked, appearing in the doorway. His smirk froze on his face, eyes narrowing on Chuck. "What happened?"

Chuck shrugged a shoulder, fixing his friend a cup of coffee too. "I flashed tonight, I don't want to talk about it. So, just - just for tonight - can we pretend we're an ordinary set of friends and you can just ask me about my date?"

Bryce peered at him for a long, long moment, his eyes flickering with emotions too fast for Chuck to catalogue them all. Finally, he nodded and slouched against the door.

"Hey, buddy," he greeted, smile slow and leisurely. A mask undoubtedly, but close enough to the truth that Chuck didn't mind. "How was your date?"

Chuck closed his eyes a beat, letting everything but the Flash fill his mind. "Incredible," he grinned, the old giddiness back. "She made me this sandwich." Chuck moaned a little just thinking about it. "You have not had a sandwich until you've had one of those, Bryce. I'm telling you."

"That good, huh?" Bryce hummed, accepting his coffee. He strolled back into the living room, Chuck dropping onto his usual seat on the couch beside him.

"Good? No," Chuck demurred, struggling to come up with a comparison Bryce would appreciate. "If your cooking was a sandwich, that was the sandwich it would be. It was that amazing."

Bryce leaned back into the couch, smiling again. This time, Chuck didn't see anything fake around the edges. "Sandwiches aside, how was the date?"

Incredible. Chuck had said it before, but it bore repeating. "It was nice. Kinda awkward in places. You know, the silences you're not quite sure how to break. But we started talking about our favourite foods and some childhood memories and then we saw a movie."

"Romcom, of course," Bryce smirked, rolling his eyes slightly.

Chuck inclined his head, grinning despite himself. "It was a first date, we can't always see sci-fi movies, buddy."

Bryce stared at Chuck, matching his smile. Something in his eyes shifted, hiding behind a wall of warmth and happiness. "You really like this girl, huh?"

Instinctively, Chuck wanted to veer away from the uncomfortable feelings conversation. Maybe brush it off with a comment about how good the sandwich was. But, something in Bryce's face or maybe just something deep inside Chuck quashed that impulse before it could fully form.

He smiled down into his coffee, welcoming back the feelings from his date. "I think I do, yeah," he murmured, looking up into Bryce's wide, Hollywood smile. "I felt giddy, buddy." Chuck shook his head, almost unable to believe it. "I haven't felt that since," he trailed off, not wanting to invoke her name. Not here.

Bryce's smile softened. "Well," he said. "Not wanting to sound too much like Ellie, but I'm definitely going to need to meet this girl."

Chuck laughed, bumping his knee against Bryce's. "You just want to try the sandwiches."

Bryce settled back, hand resting dramatically against his chest. "Chuck," he cried, drama dialled way up. "You make me sound so mercenary." His facade cracked, laughter shining through. "Hey, I've gotta check out the competition to my cooking."

Chuck shook his head, muttering under his breath something that even be didn't catch.

Bryce drummed his fingers against his thigh, staring over Chuck's shoulder. "I've got to check, sorry," he announced, teeth gritted. "Urgent or can it wait?"

The flash. Chuck thought back to it as quickly as he could. "It can wait."

"Okay then," Bryce nodded, picking up the television remote. "I think I saw an Enterprise rerun. Interested?"

"We're nerds, buddy," Chuck reminded him, settling comfortably onto the couch. "We're morally obligated."

"They'll take away our merit points," Bryce quipped, flicking through to the right channel. He frowned contemplatively at the screen. "No offense, Chuck, but have you ever noticed how much Captain Archer looks like-"

"Nope," Chuck shook his head emphatically. "Don't see it."

"It's uncanny," Bryce continued, flashing his wickedest grin.

Really, he gave Chuck no choice. He had to snatch up a cushion and whack him in the face. Bryce retaliated, calling it an act of war.

.

Chuck flopped face first onto (his) the guest bed, dimly listening to Bryce's called goodnight and the running of the shower. It was one o'clock in the morning and the impromptu pillow war had turned into two rounds of Gotcha! - both of which Bryce won. Chuck knew he was in for a difficult day tomorrow, but he was too tired to let his brain work out the possibilities. He'd had a great date and a great end to the night and - flash aside - it was one of the best days he'd had in a while.