#joelvin

“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.” Joel ducks around the camera quickly, moving over to Gavin’s prone form. He swears again, dropping down hands hovering above Gavin’s chest.

His lab coat is burned in places and there’s blood seeping from somewhere on his stomach. Joel swallows down his panic, grabbing onto Gavin’s shoulder, shaking it lightly.

“Hey, hey Gav. Come on, get up.” Joel swears again, leans his head down to press against Gavin’s chest to check for a pulse. Gavin groans softly.

Joel jerks upright, hands gently cradling Gavin’s cheeks. “Hey, hey you with me Gav?”

Gavin blinks, eyes slowly focusing on Joel. He grins weakly. “Hey J-role.”

“Jesus Christ Gavin.” Joel presses his forehead to Gavin’s. “Shit, I thought you were dead.”

“Last Christmas” poured out of the tv as Gavin shuffled through yet another box. Quite a few of them were piled on the living room floor, stuffed to the brim with christmas decorations. A tree stood tall and proud in the corner, hiding the few boxes of Gavin’s things still left over from the move.

He had only moved in with his boyfriend a month prior, and the two were still getting settled by the time the holidays rolled around. So the first chance Gavin had gotten, he’d had Joel pull out the christmas boxes, knowing the older man would forget. He had brought out his own decorations, putting them together before beginning the process. He eventually stopped shaking his hips to the beat and stood up straight, glancing at the clock. He still had two hours before Joel was due home; plenty of time to finish.

The song changed as he began pulling out the tinsel, wrapping it around his bare neck while shaking his hips again, his candy cane pajama pants falling down slightly. He hummed as he moved over to the tree, turning on the lights before beginning.

“I don’t want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need…” An hour passed before he got the tree done. After that he focused on draping the rest of the tinsel over every door frame in the apartment. Special place mats were set out and he rested some holiday themed coasters on the coffee table to accompany the snowflake patterned blanket on the couch. Only a few boxes were left, and he was riffling through one when something gold and shiny caught his eye.

He pulled out the object, studying it carefully. It was a stocking holder, shaped like the letter O. He continued his search, finding and pulling out more letters until he had spelled out “Joy,” “Merry,” and “Noel.”

Though he was confused as to why Joel had three sets of stocking holders, he set one up anyway. He got three letters in before he realized that he wasn’t spelling the word right, but the more he looked at them, the greater the idea seemed. He grinned as he finished it off, whistling “Santa Claus is coming to town” as he took the remaining trinkets into the kitchen.

---

Joel walked into his apartment, not expecting the wave of warmth to hit him like a wall. The smell of apple cider came to him as he focused on his boyfriend, shirtless on the couch, drinking straight from the bottle and singing along (very loudly) to the music playing. He took two steps inside before closing the door, the sound finally getting Gavin’s attention.

“Hey, you’re home!” The brit stood, walking over and gently wrapping his arms around Joel’s neck. The taller man could feel the solid press of the bottle between his shoulder blades as he hugged back.

“Man, you really did a number on the place.” He pulled back and looked around at the room. “It looks like a bunch of elves came in and threw up.”

Gavin put his hands on his hips, walking to the center of the living room before looking around. “I thought I did a pretty nice job, actually.”

Joel chuckled, taking off his coat and dropping it next to his bag before following the other man. He grabbed the bottle from his hand and took a long pull before handing it back and wrapping his arms around the shorter man’s waist. Gavin hugged him back instantly, setting the bottle down on the coffee table before sinking into the touch, laughing as Joel started to slowly sway.

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” Joel’s singing voice was no better than Gavin’s, but he kept going anyway, the two dancing around the living room until the song ended. As the final notes sounded Gavin pulled away, grabbing the empty bottle and heading towards the kitchen. Joel followed his boyfriend’s retreat before focusing on the bar, and, more specifically, the decorations there.

“Hey Gavin?”

“Yes love?”

A few days after the break in incident, Joel manages to track Gavin down to, of all places, their favorite pizza place. Joel slides into the booth, sitting across from him. “Hey, Gav.”

Gavin glares at him. “What do you think you’re doing here?”

“Having dinner with my husband at our favorite pizza place.” He says with a grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“What makes you think I want to have dinner with you?” Joel opens his mouth to respond but Gavin shakes his head, cutting a hand through the air to stop him. “No, I don’t wanna hear it from you, you stupid asshole. You have no right to talk to me after what you did.” He leans closer, hands going under the table and drops his voice to a low hiss. “You took my guns. You took my money. You fucking cut up Wuggles!”

With that, he pushes out of the booth. “Screw you.” He gives malicious smile and heads towards the bathrooms.

A few minutes later people run out, yelling about a guy with a gun. He goes to slide out, to follow the others out but his arm stops him. He looks under the table and sees what Gavin had been doing with his hands. His wrist is zip tied to the table support and two more are woven around his watch. Joel groans and drops his head to the table. He looks back towards the kitchen.

“Fucking really Gavin?! My watch?!”

He’s pretty sure he can hear laughter. Sighing, he fumbles to undo the watch, letting it slip off so he can rip the zip tie off his wrist. After a few tugs, his wrist comes free, fine aside from a little blood. He stares at his watch, trying to figure out how to free it too when he hears ticking.

“Fucking son of a bitch.”

He shoves out of the booth, scrambling out of the restaurant seconds before the bomb goes off. Panting, he watches the flames lick at the inside.

“Well guess that’s a fucking sign.”

Resigned, he turns and heads back to his car. He sits there for a few minutes, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, trying to figure out where to go. He thinks about what Gavin said and realizes exactly where he needs to go. The whole drive, he can’t help but feel like a man walking to the gallows.

----

The house is quiet and dark when he gets there; cleaned up since Burnie drug a team through here. Joel’s got his gun out, but he’s only making half hearted attempts to check the rooms as he goes through them.

When the first shot goes by him as he enters the dining room, he’s not all the surprised. He kicks one of the legs out on the table, knocking it over to use as cover, glad that he pushed so hard for a granite top.

Gavin’s gun runs out first and Joel’s thinking up a plan when he hears the telltale sounds of a grenade launcher firing. He swears and scrambles out of the room before it blows. Pressing himself to the wall, he listens as Gavin sets the gun down and waits a few beats.

“Still alive baby?” Gavin calls out mockingly and Joel turns the corner to the kitchen and fires till his clip is empty.

And if Joel missed every shot, well he’ll just blame it on Gavin was throwing dishes and knives while he was firing. He drops the gun, lunges for Gavin. He catches him, pins Gavin back against the counter and relishes the moan Gavin chokes back.

Gavin’s fist connects with his jaw and he staggers a step back. His fist catches him again and Joel shakes it off, landing a hard kick of his own. The fight feels like it drags on for hours, but Joel knows better. Would bet that the fist fight has probably lasted only 5 minutes if that. But he figures this is better. Harder to kill the man you love with restrained punches and kicks than with a gun.

Then Gavin hooks a foot around his ankle, trips him and he hits the ground hard. Gavin vaults over him and Joel manages to turn and grab the cuff of his jeans. Gavin stumbles, hitting the couch, flipping it and himself in the process. Joel pushes to his feet moving around the couch the same time Gavin gets up, new gun raised and pointed. Joel holds his hands up and Gavin’s eyes widen as he takes in a shuddering breath.

Joel takes a step toward him. “Can’t do it?”

Gavin takes a step back, shakes his head vigorously. “Don’t.” He grits out, hands starting to tremble. “Come on.”

Joel takes another step, sure and calm. If Gavin wanted him dead, he’d be cooling on the floor already.

Gavin exhales heavily, blinking rapidly to try to dispel the tears that are already starting to fall. “Come on.” And his voice cracks.

Knocking the gun from Gavin’s lax grip is easy. He keeps a hand on his wrist, runs the other up Gavin’s neck to his jaw and uses it to haul him in to slot their mouths together. Gavin makes a noise that’s a mix of a sob and a moan and clutches at Joel’s shirt, drags him in closer.

Joel pushes, shoves Gavin against the small table sitting along the wall, sending a cascade of junk to the floor. Gets his hands under Gavin’s thighs and pulls till Gavin wraps his legs around his waist and he shoves him further onto the table. He pulls at Gavin’s shirt and the buttons pop free and he trails wet kisses down Gavin’s neck to suck and bite at his pulse point. Gavin arches, shoves his hips hard against Joel’s and slams his head back against the mirror. The glass splinters but Gavin seems too lost to notice the blood trickle down the broken surface.

Gavin grips the bottom of Joel’s shirt, tugs until he gets the idea and pulls back enough from him to pull it off. Then he undoes Gavin’s pants and pulls them down to his thighs. Dropping to his knees, pulls them the rest of the way off and wastes no time in sucking Gavin in all the way to the root. Gavin groans and fists his hands in Joel’s hair as he starts to bob his head.

Joel fumbles with his own pants, pushing them down enough to get to his own erection. He gave himself a few slow strokes to take some of the ache away. He reached up and ripped out the drawer of the table, spilling the contents everywhere and searched blindly for the bottle of lube. Humming in triumph, he slicked his fingers up and traced one around Gavin’s rim.

The younger man bucked and moaned, letting out a sting of curses and pleas while Joel stretched him open slowly.

“Joel please… Need you in me now…” Gavin whined, nudging at Joel’s head.

Joel hummed, making no move to stop. He wanted to wreck Gavin, and with the way he was writhing on his fingers he was well on his way there. Gavin growled and shoved Joel a little harder till his fingers and mouth were off of him. Joel raised an eyebrow while Gavin took a few deep breaths. He slid off the table and turned around, planting one hand on it to lean on. Reaching back, he grabbed one of his ass cheeks, spreading himself for Joel. Joel’s throat went dry at the sight of Gavin’s slick and open hole. Gavin wiggled his hips a little.

“Come and get it J-Role.” He said teasingly, glancing over his shoulder.

Joel slicked himself up quickly, moving to stand behind the other man. He pressed a hand to the mirror, using the other to guide himself in. Gavin was hot and tight around him and god Joel had missed this. He groaned, wrapping an arm around Gavin’s waist as he starting moving.

Gavin moaned, letting go of his ass to wrap around his dick, jerking himself off with quick strokes. He came quickly, convulsing around Joel’s cock. Joel let out a harsh breath, getting in a few more stuttered thrust before coming too. He pressed his forehead to Gavin’s covered shoulder for a few minutes, listening to the breath together before picking his head up and glancing at them in the mirror. Gavin smirked at him.

“Shame it’s broken now.”

Later, after another round, they’re lying on the floor between the ruined kitchen and living room. Joel can’t help but feel that this helped. That they can move on and get better. He trails his fingers up Gavin’s spine and he shivers.

“So did you really have to throw the whole kitchen at me?”

Gavin makes an indignant squawk. “You shot at me!”

“You shot too.”

“You shot first.”

Joel snorts. “What am I, Han Solo now?”

Gavin laughs and stands. “I’m gonna see if there’s anything salvageable left in the kitchen.”

Joel hums. “I’m gonna enjoy the view.”

Gavin rolls his eyes and picks his way carefully through the kitchen. He comes away with a half full bottle of juice and a box of mini muffins. He displays them and beams.

“Breakfast is served.” He says as Joel pulls him back into his lap.

------

Gavin shifts further against the wall in the front hallway, picking at his food. "So our trip to Aspen?"

Joel looks over, raises an eyebrow as he sips at the juice. “What about it?”

“When you said you had to leave early for work?” Gavin raises an eyebrow.

Joel grins. “Yeah, Gaspard.”

Gavin throws his head back and laughs then snatches the juice away from Joel, wiggles his eyebrows when Joel tries to reach for it again. Joel retaliates by pushing him back against the floor and stealing the jug back while Gavin’s distracted with his mouth on his neck.

---

“I can’t feel anything in these three fingers.” Gavin grins, wiggling three of his fingers.

Joel snorts and tugs the waistband of his underwear down a little, showing off a long horizontal scar. “Knife to the guts.”

“You told me you had to get surgery for a hernia!” Gavin flailed a hand out, whacking Joel’s arm.

Joel rolled his eyes, huffing. “Cause I was gonna tell my boyfriend that I got gutted on a job to kill someone?”

Gavin glares. “Shut up.”

Joel smirks, opens his mouth to say something; and gets cut off by Gavin pressing closer and giving him a hard kiss.

“I refuse to admit you’re right. So you shut up and kiss me, asshole.”

Joel grins against Gavin’s mouth, pressing him back down to the floor. He deepens the kiss, running his hands under Gavin’s shirt, though he’s pretty sure that it’s actually his shirt and Gavin just stole it.

He doesn’t register the sound of glass as danger until it’s followed by the thunk of something hitting the ground. He jerks back, scanning the area quickly, and sees the flash bang lying on the floor and his body switches to instinct. He hauls Gavin up before the man can even make a noise of protest and drags him down the hall.

They make it to the living room before it goes off and while there’s a ringing in his ears, Joel can still see perfectly. And that means he can clearly see the figures gathered in the backyard through the windows. All dressed in black and with guns pointed towards them.

Joel thinks Gavin said something but his ears are still ringing so he just goes with shoving Gavin down another hallway, away from the windows and guns. Gavin seems to get with the program, not needing Joel directing him where to go anymore and comes to a stop in Joel’s office.

Joel sets about pulling out guns while Gavin checks the windows. He hands one to Gavin and slings a full bag over his shoulder.

“Back’s bloody full of em but the side only has one guy.” Gavin pauses as they hear the sound of the front door splintering but he rushes to continue. “He hasn’t moved. We can take him out quick and jump the fence to the neighbors.”

Joel nods as Gavin opens the window and slips out quickly. He’s gone for a moment before he’s back gesturing for Joel to follow.

He makes his way out and they’re just over the fence when the shouts of the downed man start to go up. They exchanged a glance before taking off across the yard and jumping the next fence and cutting across to the back of the yard and through the bushes to the house behind.

Gavin checks the windows as they move to the front of the house. “Whoever’s here is upstairs. There’s a car in the garage. We can take it before they ever notice.”

Joel hands the bag to Gavin as they enter the garage and pops open the driver’s side door. Gavin opens the garage door and gets into the passenger side while Joel hotwires the car.

They get out of the neighborhood before Gavin taps Joel’s shoulder.

“Pretty sure we got company.”

Joel glances in the rearview mirror and sees that there are indeed two black SUVs gaining on them. He maneuvers through the traffic to get them on the freeway heading out of the city before the shooting breaks out.

Gavin crawls into the backseat and does a good job of taking the cars out though more always seem to take their place.

“So uh… In the interest of the honesty that we had going and everything, thought I should probably tell you that my last name? Yeah, not Smith. It’s Heyman.”

The gunfire in the car pauses for a moment before picking back up.

“I really don’t think now is a good time for this talk!”

“I was going to tell you earlier but then this happened!”

“Could you have been any less creative with Smith though?”

Joel snorts, slipping between two cars and managing to gain them some ground on there pursuers. “Yeah and like Free is really your last name.” There’s a long pause and Joel twists to give Gavin an incredulous look. “You used your real last name?!”

Gavin scowls and shoves Joel’s face forward again. “Eyes on the road. And yes. I did. Didn’t damn well think I was marrying another assassin. Why the hell would I lie.”

They lapse into silence until Joel deems that they finally shook off the tail and pulls off to a shady looking gas station. They sit for a while before Gavin speaks.

“We’re those even really your parents at the wedding?”

Joel winces. “No.” Gavin opens his mouth to say something but Joel holds a finger against it. “They were just actors. My dad’s dead. My mom lives a ways upstate and wouldn’t have been able to make it anyway. But I did tell her. I showed her pictures too. She said you looked lovely and that she was glad that I found someone to put up with me.” He huffs.

Gavin eyes him for a minute before nodding and giving him a small smile. “To be fair, you put up with me too. And uh, my family really couldn’t make it. England, ya know?”

Joel nods and gives Gavin a quick peck on the lips before straightening. “Guess there’s just one thing left to do then.”

Gavin tilts his head. “What’s that?”

He’d run out of the aspirin he kept at his desk yesterday, and had forgotten to get any more before he came in to work this morning. Joel was in pain, getting a headache from both the computer and his constant tugging at his own hair, and was half debating just going home for the day by the time Gavin came crashing into his office. Which didn’t help anything and he had to hold back against the urge to scream, yell, maybe even throw something because God Damn was he loud. Instead he just turned his chair around and glared, only relaxing when Gavin smiled and held up a small bottle with a child proof cap.

Joel’s really not sure how a simple job blew up in his face so spectacularly. He wishes he knew what the fuck happened. It was a fairly mission when he had gone over the provided information. Similar to tons of others he’s done in the past.

It was a penthouse kill, moderate level of guards and a laughable security system (at least for Joel). Easy enough to take a service elevator to the roof and take either a backdoor in or repel through a window, get the guy and get out before anyone’s the wiser. Fairly routine, Joel could’ve done it on autopilot. Essentially had been doing that before the top floor of the penthouse blew up.

And that had just led everything to chaos. He knew the top of the three level apartment had been deserted, or at the very least only held a few off duty guards. So it was a diversion, a way to block the exit up, forcing the guards to hustle their charge to the lower level to escape. Joel cursed, moving quickly through the thick dust, thankful for the mask covering the bottom half of his face. He moved swiftly through the halls, dodging the few dazed guards, far too concerned with being able to breathe to realize when he slipped by.

He made it to the front door, shouldering it open and eyes zeroing in on the elevator doors. Or what should’ve been the elevator doors if they weren’t a smoking hole in the wall now. Joel glanced around the deserted hall before jogging over to the ruined door and glancing around the elevator shaft. More explosives then, he thought, turning to look at the door to the stairwell. It was opened a few inches, rubble and debris blocking it from opening further.

Clenching his jaw, Joel quickly made his way back inside, moving soundlessly through the first floor to the panic room. He raised his gun, nudged the door open and did a quick sweep of the interior. It was quiet and as Joel stepped into the room the stench of blood was heavy in the air. Joel cursed again, moving quickly to the corner that housed the door to the panic room, stopping a few feet short. Blood seeped from the cracked door, spreading in a slow puddle.

Joel stepped carefully around it, peaking into the room to confirm where the blood came from and sure enough, it was from his target. Joel’s hand tightened around the grip of his gun before he turned back, leaving the room.

Halfway down the hallway, he paused, cocking his head to the side. There was water running in one of the bathrooms . He frowned, the upper levels were still in chaos, no one would be in the bathroom right now, let alone washing their hands. He clenched his jaw, quickly doubling back and heading for the bathroom, realizing that the only person who’d be call would be the one who caused the chaos in the first place.

He stayed as quiet as he could but a few floorboards weakened by the blasts creaked when he was a few feet outside the bathroom. He heard some muffled swearing and shuffling. The water shut off abruptly and Joel gave up the pretense of stealth and shoved the door open. The sink was still splattered with a few drops of pinkish blood.

The room was empty but the window sat open and Joel moved over to it. There’s no way anyone jumped, but as he scanned along the building he saw a grappling hook hung on the balcony railing nearby, rope dropping down and stopping at another balcony a few floors down.

“Son of a bitch.” Joel muttered, punching the windowsill.

He turned, picking his way carefully through the building and back outside.  He returned to the office, where Burnie was waiting, looking as frustrated as Joel felt.

“Please tell me you have something.” Joel begged, sitting heavily in the chair beside Burnie.

Burnie shook his head. “Not at the moment, no. I think I might need Gus to help. The feed signal got really scrambled a few minutes before those charges went. I mean, I’ve got everything, but the code’s been messed up. Gus is better at this than me. But we should have it by morning. Go home and get some sleep.”

Joel shook his head. “I’m gonna catch a few here. Wake me up when you and Gus get this figured out. I want to know who that was.” With that he turns and heads to the break room, collapsing on the couch and drifting in and out of sleep.

Burnie shakes him awake a few hours later. "We salvaged enough of the files to get some video of the dude. No face, but I guess it’s something."

Joel blinks a few times and nods, pushing himself up and off the couch. “Show me.”

Burnie gives him a look but doesn’t say anything, just shrugs and waves for him to follow. He heads to one of the control rooms, a few others milling about and walks over to one of the bigger screens, where the video of the penthouse panic room sits paused. Burnie slides over some so Joel can step up to the screen.

“There’s nothing new you’ll find. We checked it. The guy keeps his face hidden well from the cameras.” Burnie says tiredly, watching Joel in his periphery.

Joel shrugs, unperturbed. “Never know.” He says as he taps the screen to start the video.

The feed is a little fuzzy as it starts, clearing a bit then going fuzzy again, the files were clearly corrupted badly. Joel taps his fingers against his arm, waiting as a few moments later a hooded figure appears and moves to the panic room door’s control panel. He plugs something in and starts typing on a small device. Joel leans closer, trying to get a better look at his hands and what the guy’s doing but the guy shifts and his body ends up blocking the view.

The guy twitches, flails to the side a moment before a bullet hits the wall where he’s been standing. He pulls a gun out and disappears off screen, coming back a few minutes later and pulling the device from the wall and the door opens.

Joel’s hand hits the screen hard, scrambling to rewind the video to a few seconds before guards shot at the guy. He watches with a sinking feeling in his gut as the flail happens again, far too familiar. He’s been the cause of a similar reaction more times than he can count or remember. And as he leans closer, yeah, that hoodie seems familiar too. Almost exactly like the one he bought Gavin almost two years ago on a trip when Gavin had forgotten his own and was whining about freezing.

Swallowing thickly, he rewinds the video again, mind filling in what the camera couldn’t capture. The humming Gavin is sure to be doing as he works, chewing his lip as he concentrates on typing, the startled noise he makes when he flails and dodges the bullet. Joel stares at the screen, no, he has to be wrong. There’s no way this is possible.

“Shut it down.” He says quietly.

Burnie looks startled. “What…”

“I said shut is down!” Joel snaps, glares at Burnie and spins on his heel to leave, shooting more glares to anyone who gets too close. He needs to get home. He needs to figure this out.

------------

Joel sits on the couch, staring at his phone before letting out a ragged breath and finally picking it up. He dials the number by heart and waits for it to pick up.

Five rings later, Gavin finally answers. “Hello?”

Joel winces, the neutral tone Gavin uses stings. “Hey, Gav. Hope I’m not interrupting work or anything.”

“No. I’m not busy right now.”

Joel chews his lip and the silence stretches.

Gave sighs. “Did you need anything?”

“Oh, uh, I just wanted to see if you would be home for dinner. I was gonna cook.”

Gavin’s quiet for a beat before he sighs again. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be home.”

“Alright, cool. 7?”

“Yup.” And he hangs up.

Joel pulls the phone away from his ear, stares at the blank screen and wonders again how things got so bad. So wrong.

Joel heaves himself off the couch, cleans the house and changes before he starts on dinner. He makes Gavin’s favorites, has everything on the table by the time Gavin walks in the door.

Gavin blinks a few times at the spread and his corner of his mouth twitches with a suppressed smile. He sits across from Joel and they eat in silence. When Joel starts to clear the table, Gavin offers to help with the dishes.

Joel washes while Gavin dries and puts them away. The nagging feeling in Joel’s stomach gets to him and he has to know if his assumption is right. So he slips a little on handing Gavin a plate, letting it slide out of his hand before Gavin has a grip on it. He waits for the sound of shattering glass that he’s use to when Gavin fumbles a plate; they’ve lost plenty of dishes because it slipped out of Gavin’s grip. But it never comes; Gavin caught it and is staring intently at it. He slowly looks up at Joel, eyes wide with panic.

Joel’s hand twitches and Gavin quickly puts space between them, plate still clutched tightly. He glances at it before tossing it to the counter with a loud clatter.

“Gavin…” He says slowly and Gavin turns and bolts.

Joel curses, pulls his gun out his waistband and runs after Gavin. The front door is wide open and Gavin is slamming the door closed to his car.

For a few seconds, Joel doesn’t think, reacts on instinct and pulls the gun up and shoots.

Gavin stares at him with a horrified look that Joel is positive matches his own. Then Gavin’s face shuts down and he peels out of the driveway. Joel watches him leave, stunned. He curses again, punches the doorframe hard before pressing his fist to his forehead. Cause they didn’t have enough problems before, why not add shooting at him to the list.

----

Joel spends the next two days in a mostly drunken stupor. Wondering how he’d missed something this big and if Gavin’ll ever come back. Burnie shows up bright and early on the third day and Joel glares blearily at him when he shoulders past.

“What are you doing here?” He catches movement in the front yard and turns to see a whole team of people moving between a few vans. Joel turns back to Burnie. “What the hell is this?”

“We’re gonna do a sweep.” He says and starts directing the crew.

Joel watches numbly as they pull out guns and knives and cash and fake identification that aren’t his. He pushes off the wall and moves upstairs. He freezes when he sees someone cut Wuggles down the middle and rip the stuffing out. Blinking away the stinging in his eyes, he continues past quickly, heading to the bedroom. Burnie’s pulling a large hunting knife out from under Gavin’s side of the bed and two agents are standing at the tv watching something. It’s his wedding video. Joel clenches his jaw and Burnie looks up and notices him. Setting the knife down, he moves around and speaks quietly to the agents. They nod and leave, giving Joel pitying looks as the pass.

Joel waits a few moments before leveling Burnie with a blank look. “Why are you doing this?”

Burnie spreads his hands at his sides. “You’re married to a spy. A Hunter actually. We’re just trying to figure out what his angle was.”

Joel thinks for a bit before nodding tightly. He moves and packs a bag mechanically. Shouldering it, he turns back to Burnie and holds his hand out. “I’m staying at yours. Give me your keys.”

Burnie looks like he wants to say something but just gives a small nod and hands the keys over. Joel leaves without looking at anything else in the house.

----

Joel’s decision to talk to Gavin before he filed anything seemed a lot smarter in theory. In practice, well sitting in a vent at Hunter HQ taunting his husband was probably the dumbest thing he’s ever done. But he can’t help the grin on his face when Gavin trades jokes and barbs with him like they use to when they would stay up late and play Halo.

It was going well till one of the other’s, Joel’s pretty sure it was Geoff, he was always most protective of Gavin, threw a smoke bomb and Joel had to fumble to pull his shirt up over his nose and mouth. He pushes out the grate covering the vent and moves around the smoke. The room’s almost deserted now, windows broken and zip lines leading out to the other building.

Gavin’s standing in the last window and he catches sight of Joel coming clear of the smoke, too many emotions flickering across his face for Joel to pick out. Someone shouts at Gavin to hurry up and he looks towards them before looking back to Joel. He smirks and winks before he takes off down the line.

Joel rushes over to the window, watching Gavin land on the ledge of the building opposite and fumble to gain his balance. He turns back to beam at Joel.

Joel grins back, leaning out the window slightly to shout, “Chicken shit!”