Page 21 of Oddly Fine

“I hate waiting,” Beckett whined plaintively.

“Then busy yourself with radioing command,” Hayes suggested helpfully, leaning back with a tired sigh. That early morning wake-up call from Gill was catching up with him. He eyed the carafe of coffee setting on the food station table provided by the task force. It was on the other side of the room, making him wonder if it would be worth the effort to get up again or even if the caffeine would do him any good.

Beckett muttered something unintelligible while fiddling with the radio he’d attached to his belt, searching for the correct channel.

“Command, come in,” he said, his voice bouncing off the walls of the empty chamber. He wandered towards the food station, as if searching for the right spot to get the best signal. It was one of the reasons they’d decided to send in teams instead of relying exclusively on monitoring via cameras. The building’s sheer size and thick walls made signal reception spotty and they’d been afraid the feed would cut out at the wrong moment.

“Command, come in—” Beckett repeated. “No—sorry, that’s—you guys also playing hide-and-seek in this low-budget Hogwarts?”

Hayes blinked in surprise and sat up a bit, preparing to stand up and go listen in. Before he could do that, Beckett had spun towards him, wearing an excited expression.

“What level are you on?” he asked, pleased at discovering a channel that was used by another team. “Oh—did you try the pool?” Beckett asked, walking slowly towards Hayes in an effort to maintain their connection.

“You were supposed to radio command,” Hayes chastised him.

Beckett shushed him and offered him a small Styrofoam cup filled with black coffee. In a classic demonstration of his innate ability to be both infuriating and amazing at the same time, he winked at Hayes as he handed him the cup.

“Think Cho’d kill us if we went for a midnight skinny dip?” Beckett asked his interlocutor. “Alright, alright, chill—I’m not putting any moves on you. Just bored.” He rolled his eyes while shaking his head.

Hayes bit down on his bottom lip to keep from laughing. Whatever was in the air in Sherbrooke was doing a remarkable job destroying Beckett’s charm with the ladies.

“Alright, Cinderella, keep your slippers on—no joking around. Okay, got it—Crypt dudes, out.” With a dramatic sigh, he switched the radio channel back to its original setting and shook his head.

“I take it she didn’t want to go for a swim?” Hayes asked with a broad smile.

“Threatened to report me for sexual harassment!” Beckett exclaimed resentfully, as if it never occurred to him that he’d done anything wrong.

“Command,” Hayes reminded him as he pointed to the radio.

Beckett grumbled something under his breath and began fiddling with the radio again.

“Command, come in,” he repeated. Static and voices burst from the radio. Beckett winced and rushed to lower the volume. “No need to scream, jeez,” he complained, clearly annoyed. “Hayes and Beck in position,” he added, because that was what he was supposed to have relayed in the first place.

“All is clear and creepy so far—” he confirmed and then stopped abruptly. “Yup, nope—already figured that one out.”

Hayes looked at him quizzically but got no response.

Beckett suddenly narrowed his eyes in concentration.

“Right, we’ll be sure to do that,” he said with a firm nod. “No, ma’am. We won’t step out of—” Abruptly, Beckett’s head whipped around to look at Hayes, eyes wide with—was that anger?

“No, ma’am. No midnight escapade at the pool,” Beckett replied through gritted teeth. “Roger that.”

Hayes had to smother his laughter behind his coffee cup.

“Fuck, she does not like me,” Beckett complained as soon as he cut their connection. They would still hear if anyone signaled them, but they wouldn’t be heard unless they opened their channel again.

“She thinks you’re a misogynist,” Hayes said, recalling Cho’s pulling him aside to express her rather harsh view of Beckett.

“I’m gay,” Beckett said, as if that fact alone should have made her realize he liked women.

Hayes snorted and dropped his head back against the wall as he peered up at his boyfriend.

“First, you’re bi—at best. Second, you can be gay and a misogynist,” Hayes pointed out patiently.

“First, fuck off. Second, fair enough.” His response was not exactly outright agreement, but it was damned fucking close. “Why does she think I hate women then?” he asked, settling down next to Hayes with a huge sigh and placing his gun in his lap.

“Because you undermined her authority in the meeting.”