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Author: Guede Mazaka
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Alec/James
Feedback: A line or a paragraph, it's all good.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Fandom: Goldeneye
Summary: The universe tends to move in ellipses. For the contrelamontre 'three-part relationship' challenge; done in 54 minutes.
***
"Nice, aren't they? Sparkly, and…" James sounded like a prat. He knew he did, but he couldn't think of anything to say.
"Well, they're stars. They wouldn't be stars if they didn't do that." The other boy looked faintly amused, but mostly bored.
Behind them, the teacher passed by like the negative of a ghost, the only trace of her being a wan, "Are you doing all right, boys?"
"Yes, ma'am," they obligingly answered, even though each of them clearly wished they were somewhere else, in more fun company. Well, that wasn't James' fault. He had tried to be friendly, but all of his conversation-starters had fallen flat and decided not to bother getting up, like the drunk that sometimes hung around the back gate.
It would've been much easier if the boy had been a girl, he thought darkly to himself. He knew how to handle girls. A bit of teeth in the smile, a half-look, and they were falling all over themselves to slip him sweets and notes and run little errands for him. And it even would've been all right if it were a boy he knew, but it wasn't. This one was fresh in, transferred from some posh London place, and no one knew anything about him. Not even the headmaster.
Really a shame, because the astronomy class was the only time that strict bastard let the children stay up late. They even got to climb up on the roofs, and although there were some chaperones, it wasn't that hard to find a way to sneak off for a bit of mischief. But no, the teacher had to stick him with showing the new boy around, and the new boy of course was a real hard case. Lovely. Absolutely lovely.
James was so fed up that for once, he actually did his own work instead of buttonholing someone else for it while they were climbing down. It wasn't as if he had anything else to do, given how close-mouthed his partner was proving.
"Wait. You've transposed the numbers." A finger inserted itself into James' vision. "See? Here."
He immediately opened his mouth to contest the point, but some vague warning in the other boy's eyes convinced him to check the claim first. Whereupon it was shown that James, in fact, was wrong. "Oh. Well…thanks."
"You're welcome." At James' best rueful smile, some of the frost in the other boy's demeanor disappeared, and James suddenly saw that shyness actually wasn't limited to the fairer sex. "I…ah…don't think I remember your name?"
"James. James Bond." He put out his hand, now sure of his footing, and gave the other boy a firm shake. "And I'm very sorry to say that I'm gone and forgotten yours."
"Alec Trevelyan." As it turned out, Alec had a front tooth just coming in, which entirely broke the polished presentation under which he had masqueraded.
From there, they got along rather swimmingly, discussing girls, cars, which teachers were nasty and which tippled when they thought the students weren't around, and a thousand other things that boys thought were just fascinating. Very little mathematics was done, but Alec proved to be a cut above in terms of intelligence, and he reassured James that they wouldn't need more than a few minutes before going in to complete everything.
"I always liked that one," James said, pointing up at Venus. "Brightest thing there; you can never miss it."
"Polaris is more useful," Alec argued. He shot James a laughing, mocking look. "I'm beginning to think you're like a magpie, always going for the shiniest."
It was meant as a joke, but James nevertheless felt a little pricked. "And which do you like, then?"
Alec didn't respond right away, choosing to watch the sky for so long that James almost thought he'd drowned in it. Then the other boy answered, voice very quiet and somber. "I don't like any of them. They're too cold."
"Cold? They're great flaming balls of gases!" Already irked, James took the reply as a dodge. "Come on. There's billions up there. You must like one."
"Well…"
"Come on, tell me. I swear not to tell anyone," James wheedled. He leaned in, conspiratorial, and saw Alec's pupils abruptly widen.
The other boy seemed to shift back for a moment, but the next he was still there, so James figured he must have imagined the motion. "I like the one that I'm going to put up there."
"That you're going to put up there?" James rolled the statement over his tongue, around his head, and still made no sense of it. "But that's impossible."
"Is not. There's always a way, and I'm going to do it." Alec set his jaw, silently daring James to challenge him again. He looked so determined…it almost set James in a fit of laughter, and it almost made him shiver with something that he couldn't quite recognize. Not fear. James wasn't frightened of anything.
In the end, he opted for the peacemaking route, putting a hand on Alec's shoulder. "Well, when you think of a way, I'll help you do it. That's something I'd like to see."
Alec smiled.
***
"Goldeneye…" Draped over the back of the couch like that, purring words like he was, Alec resembled nothing so much as an overgrown, well-dressed tomcat. Though James wasn't about to tell his partner that, as he wasn't sure that Alec had disarmed himself. They'd gotten a nice flat, and for the moment, they couldn't afford to shoot it up. "Funny name. I didn't think the Russians were so poetic."
"You would fixate on the literary merits, and ignore the science. Just as you pop up with physics in the middle of a political debate. Honestly, Alec, don't you ever grow tired of being contrary?" James rolled his shoulders until he thought they wouldn't seize up in cramps overnight, then sat down on the couch and let his head fall back against Alec's side.
It rippled and moved with every breath, jouncing him. "Why should I pay attention to the science? I thought you said they were axing that project, due to lack of funds."
"They are. And all those specialists are going to be moved to other projects, or be fired and promptly snapped up by other rogue states." James ostentatiously stretched and put his elbows behind his head, where they coincidentally jabbed into Alec's stomach. Not that there was much to poke; the other man had always been lean. Some of the more concerned secretaries tried to stuff him with food, which usually ended up in James' glove compartment. It wouldn't have been too much of an annoyance if Alec had managed to remember to take it out. The smell of putrid pudding did little to persuade lovely women into even lovelier exploits.
"And…" Alec reached down and slapped at James' arms.
James gave his partner another dig with his left elbow. "And I hear that MI6 is trying to recruit some of said scientists. Only to do that, they'll have to send someone in to bring then out."
"Are we nominated? I was rather looking forward to a quick vacation in the south of France." Grunting, Alec twisted around and rolled down the couch, squishing James. Like any self-respecting agent would, he followed up his attack with a blistering combination of knee-whacking and arm-shoving. James' shoulders and back suffered several considerable blows before he managed to get Alec's head tucked under an arm and pin the rest of the man beneath him. "Then again, we do…have the most…experience in…Russia…"
"Alec, shut up. I'm trying to take off your clothes." James let go of the other man's head and slid his hands around, feeling for knives and guns and garottes.
For his part, Alec was fully reciprocating. "And you can't even keep up a simple conversation while you're doing that? For shame, James. I thought I'd taught you better."
"Taught me?" James raised an eyebrow, and in consequence, left his throat open to attack. "Oh, Christ-damn it, Alec, my collars don't go that high."
"And I'd like to be able to walk normally tomorrow," grinned the devil's son beneath him. "Back to Russia, then?"
James shrugged, more preoccupied with worming off Alec's pants. "England calls."
"Doesn't it." A weak, weak strain of bitterness shadowed Alec's voice for a moment, and James started. But then there were lips mouthing his chest as his shirt fell away, and he was no longer sure just what he had heard. It could have been any number of things.
So he let it go.
***
Natalya was asleep inside, and James had made sure she was too worn out to come looking for him. She didn't have anything like the whole story, but she was too clever with what few fragments she did have.
The sky was brilliant here, a vast stretch of black that curved like velvet on a woman's hip, and the stars spangled it like so many lost souls. James mentally rechecked the directions he had gotten from Q, then oriented himself and scanned the night.
There. That tiny, tiny speck, a poor thing compared to beauties like Vega and Sirius. Fifteen minutes later, James was certain of his identification, as the star had visibly moved.
Goldeneye.
"You did it after all." He scuffed a toe in the sand, feeling the cold in the warm air. "And so did I."
***