Pip(e)ster AU:
“What the hell, Jesse? Are you working at the FBI again?”, sincere surprise on Hartley's face is mixed with a misunderstanding of the whole situation: it is not someone who catches him at the scene of the crime, but, damn it, the Trickster himself - the Pied Piper's former partner in his dirty deeds and not only.
“They needed a person with my abilities”, James weakly shrugs, again playing the clown he has been since childhood, but at the same time speaks quite seriously. “And you, bud, as I see, also didn't escape... some troubles. The FBI even managed to get me a contremarque* for your robbery!”, Jesse answers an old friend too enthusiastically and too joyfully; as if he had come to a meeting set by the Pied Piper at some ingenuous cabaret; as if it weren't behind James the police lights were flashing, and people in uniform and with weapons weren't standing behind his impressive back.
They are separated by a jewelry store glass door. The shop is lit up with warm, subdued light, and the dark blue colors of the deserted and cool night flood the street. The Pied Piper has already picked up a dozen ornaments with flickering stones, but the flashing lights on the cars behind Jesse shine brighter than any jewelry.
Rathaway watches the scene unfold in front of him, which almost elicits a nervous laugh, but then notices James winking at him. And then it finally dawns to Hartley's clouded mind that the Trickster, that damn homophobic son of a bitch in multicolored tights, is once again on his side.
*Pass-out ticket in theatre or something like that. Credits to gifs (I edited it a little to fit together): @griffin-helps Travis Van Winkle as James Jesse, @twyllodrus Andy Mientus as Hartley Rathaway.
