“Well, that was your choice! We’re in the goddamn mafia for Christ’s sake, and you act like I’m not allowed to keep secrets? Stop being so high and mighty,” Shane retorted angrily. He stood up and looked Chris right in the eyes, regardless of the fact that Shane was almost half a foot shorter than them.
Davie scoffs, “You may be right there, but we keep secrets from them. Not each other. We don’t keep secrets. We’re a family. Secrets is what lead to the death of the big guy. Secrets is what lead to the demise of several families before us. We do our job and a damn good job of it. That won’t be stopped by some need to keep secrets from people who always kept your best interest in mind.” He says, leaning farther back in his chair, “But that’s just my paranoid two-cents”
Everything abut this situation was messed up, so why did they expect there to be no secrets between family members? "Lets just get back to work." they said firmly, a cold expression on their face. Chris never liked the phrase 'high and mighty', too many people had said it to them over the years and it was really starting to get on their nerves. "So, what now?"
“I’ll get my files, and you can translate yours,” Shane replied, a current of anger still running through his tone. “With both sources, I bet we can cover a lot more ground.” He stomped out of the room before realizing that he had forgotten where he had put his documents. “Shit,” he said under his breath.
Davie shakes his head, “Since we’re getting documents, i suppose I should retrieve any ones that I have?”
"That would be helpful." Chris waved their hand dismissively. "Anyone else with documents? If so, kindly go and get them." While it was obvious Chris was just a little pissed off, they couldn't help but feel a proud that the others had thought to keep documents as well. They weren't as stupid as they seemed after all…
Shane stalked towards his room upstairs, figuring it would be a good place to start. He pushed open the door so it crashed into the wall with a satisfying thunk. A petty move, for certain, but Shane was feeling rather petty. Crouching down in front of his dresser, he began to rummage through his drawers. Each was filled with dozens upon of papers, organized by Shane’s nonsensical system that ensured he was the only one who could find anything in the mess. He let out a soft “yay!” when he found the folder he was looking for, wedged and crumpled in a corner.
Davie quickly went up to his room, retrieving any document that he had kept, he wasn’t the most organized so there wasn’t very many, but every little bit counts. He things to himself as he takes the small pile upstairs.
Chris spent a lot of time in silence, rewriting and translating documents. Old memories came back to them, memories that they didn't realise they had forgotten until reading the documents. The mission in North Korea was the worst one to remember, a lot had happened then.
'The situation is worse than I thought. Men, women, even children, are being executed in the streets just for being themselves. I want to do the work that has been asked of me, but it's difficult to properly focus when the person you are trying to make a deal with keeps women as slaves. I tried to help them out, no one should be treated like that, but once they made it past the border they were captured and raped by Chinese traders. I myself almost became a victim. I found someone, another spy, who was willing to help me, but I needed to make a couple of sacrifices. Since I already have the typical Korean skin tone, that wasn't an issue, but I had to cut and dye my hair, and contacts were a must. My—'
Chris closed the file abruptly as they realised that tears were falling down their cheeks. Perhaps they weren't as strong as they told themselves they were.
(bump?)
Shane slid down the worn wooden bannister, the folder tucked under his arm. He hopped off a few steps from the bottom, and paused as he heard the sound of crying from the study. Carefully, he crept forward, only to step on floorboard that let out a loud creak. He winced, cursing internally. Shit!
(is unsure how to respond)
(oops sorry do you want Chris to like be angry at Shane for walking in or smth?)
(Nope, sorry, my brain froze when I read your response so it took me a little longer to process what you'd actually said. Hold up, I'll have my response up in a sec)
(it’s ok!)
Upon hearing the creaking floorboard, Chris immediately took a deep breath and wiped the tears from their cheeks.
Chris was never usually one to cry, but sometimes it hurt more to hold it in than to just let it all out. They turned their head slightly and peeked out of the door. "Come on in Shane, you have the file right?" Play it off as hayfever.
“Yeah, yeah. I got it,” Shane said quietly, placing the files down on the desk. Leather creaked as he perched on the side of the chair. “Hey, are you alright?” he asked gently. “I didn’t mean to get so angry. I’m really sorry.” He scratched awkwardly at the stubble on his cheeks and glanced down at the floor.
"Yeah I'm fine, just allergies." Chris waved their hand dismissively. "You had every right to get angry, don't apologise." They gently patted Shane's knee and offered him a warm smile. Only a professional would know Chris was lying behind the calm demeanor and smile. "So! Shall we get to work on your documents then?"
Caught off guard by Chris’s touch, Shane didn’t notice the falseness in their expression. “Yes, we probably should.” He offered a small smile in return, and returned to his folder, spreading the papers across the coffee table. “Alright, these will be very helpful,” he said happily. The papers were covered in a mess of scribbles and symbols, with lines and lines of tiny script filling in the margins.
"No offense, but I can not read your writing." Chris hummed as they scanned over the sprawled out papers. They recognised a couple of the symbols, though Shane always had been one for illegible handwriting. "Have you written these using ciphers by any chance?"
“Believe me, that’s only sort of on purpose,” Shane admits with a blush. “And yeah, I’ve always written in code. Paranoia runs deep.” He lets out a sigh, then continues shuffling through the papers. “These are written in a way that you need every single paper to understand all of the information. If you’re missing a single document, it’ll make no sense,” he explained. “So hopefully I didn’t lose anything.”
"I will admit, I'm impressed." Chris nodded in approval, clearly a little surprised that Shane had been so thorough in his documenting. "If I'd been allowed a partner on my missions, you'd definitely have been one of the first choices. Now all we need to do is decipher them."
At this, Shane’s smile faltered. “Yeah, about that…” He looked away bashfully. “To decode these, I need a specific keyword. One per page, to be exact. However, I, uh, may have lost the passage that contains said keywords.” Shane hoped desperately Chris couldn’t tell that he way lying. He appreciated Chris’s willingness to share their story, but he didn’t trust Chris enough to do the same. The documents had to be shown to Chris, to prove he wasn’t lying about them, but there was no way he was gonna spill these secrets. Not now, not ever.
Chris knew immediately that Shane was lying. They weren't an idiot, nor could they be fooled that easily.
I didn't risk my life in war zones only to be lied to by the people who are supposed to be my family. They kept their warm smile on their face, and slowly began gathering up all of their own documents. If one looked close enough, they would notice that Chris' smile had turned a little grim. Once Chris picked up the coded list of major enemies, they calmly tore it in half, and half again, and half once more, and rose to their feet with every file held against their chest. "Well," Chris' voice had turned a darker, no longer the sweet melodic voice it had been earlier, that warm smile still on their lips. "Let me know when you're willing to trust me." And with that, they turned and walked out of the room.
Shane backed away with every rip of paper, flinching like he had been hit. He could only stare as Chris exited the room, his coveted files clutched in their arms. Shit. Shit! Why did he think he could lie to a spy of all people? “Chris, wait!” he cried desperately. “I’m sorry. I’m just…” he paused. “Scared. So, so goddamn scared.”