#tetrisblock

34. “I turned out liking you a lot more than I originally planned.”

“You’ll be working this case together, so try not to cause an international incident.” Cynthia sits back in her chair and lights a cigarette. “I don’t have time to clean up any more of your messes.”

Curt doesn’t necessarily think he’s made any messes, but he knows better than to pick a fight with her over this. “Noted.”

He only half-pays attention to the rest of her briefing, busy thinking about getting on with the mission. It sounds relatively open and shut, just simple recon, but a partner might complicate things. For the most part he works alone, after all, he is one of the greatest spies to ever live-

“Mega!”

“What? I was listening,” he protests. To be fair, he wasn’t, but it doesn’t really matter. As long as- shit. He can’t actually remember the name of his new partner.

“Don’t worry, Cynthia,” said partner replies easily. “I’ve been taking notes.”

Curt doubts that, but glances down at the table anyway. Sure enough, there’s a small pad in front of his prospective partner, filled with neat notes and what appears to be a doodle of-

“A ladybug, really?”

The man next to him shrugs. “Is there anything else we need to know?”

Cynthia rolls her eyes and says, “Yes. If you screw this up-”

“You’ll kill me yourself,” Curt finishes.

She nods, but before she can bark at them to leave, Curt feels a hand on his elbow. “Let’s go, don’t need to be taking up more of Ms. Houston’s time.”

He stands, following- he really needs to remember this guy’s name- out of the briefing room. Curt closes the door behind them, and turns around to find his partner in very close quarters.

“Owen, by the way,” he says, locking eyes with Curt. “Owen Carvour.”

“I know,” bluffs Curt. He’s really not sure what to make of this guy, Owen, but doesn’t look away. “I’m not that careless.”

“Aren’t you, though?” He smiles, and suddenly he’s striding down the hallway, leaving Curt staring after him.

This mission is going to be an interesting one.

“You know, I ended up liking you quite a bit more than I’d originally planned,” Owen comments. He’s still focused on the files spread across the desk in front of him.

“Oh yeah?”

“Mmm,” he replies without looking up.

“Why do you say that?”

He doesn’t answer, is too busy squinting at one of the pages. Curt holds back a deep sigh. By now he’s learned when Owen’s concentrating on something nothing short of the world ending will distract him, so Curt just waits for him to answer.

“I’m not sure,” he says finally, scribbling something on his notepad. “Well, I know why I didn’t plan on liking you in the first place.”

Curt leans over his shoulder to see what he’s writing, but it’s just another one of his doodles. “Why do you do that, anyway?”

He shrugs, not reacting at all to Curt’s presence in his personal space. “Helps me process.”

Like that explains anything. Curt truly doesn’t understand the way Owen’s brain works, but-

“-a bit too impulsive,” Owen’s saying, and Curt really needs to learn to pay attention. “I mean, we all are, in this line of work you have to think on your toes, but you really push it, sometimes.”

“I thought you were gonna tell me why you liked me,” Curt says, crossing his arms.

Owen makes a noncommittal noise and . “If I recall correctly, I said I knew why I didn’t like you.”

“I’m touched.” He turns to walk away, but Owen stops him with a hand on his arm, and suddenly he’s frozen. His heart is hammering in his chest for reasons he doesn’t want to think about right now, and it feels like it starts to beat even faster when Owen meets his eyes.

“But you care about what you do, and you learn from your mistakes. You have a good heart, Curt Mega,” he says. “I like that.”

Curt feels like he might pass out. “Yeah?” Best not to examine that.