Take-Two [ Tragictrees & Annyeong Bunny ]

Austin was practically wheezing with laughter, and it took a bit to get a hold of himself. He wasn't actually expecting Lee to do it; on its own, it would've been funny, but since he hadn't thought it'd happen, it made it even better. He slowly got his composure back, but looked at Lee with a dopey grin that suggested that he was still extremely amused. "That....that was the best thing I've ever seen. Do you want the marriage proposal now or later? Holy shit, man." He said gleefully, clapping his hands together "Don't say 'what the hell am I doing' to that, that was art. Fuck the Mona Lisa! I respect you! My expectations were grave-low and you soured so high above. You're in the competition. I'm so close to sobbing, dude, that was the actual best."

He was genuinely delighted by the performance, and once he had settled down, he actually tried the food. Which, of course, was good, but it wasn't as if he had expected anything less. He was sure Lee was a good cook, and even if he wasn't, Austin didn't have high standards. "It's good. You're a cooking God. My bad for taking the role of Gordon, you clearly deserved it." He said after a moment, nodding his head to himself "Anyway, am I taking the guest room, or do you want me on the couch? Also, how much IS rent, if you don't mind me asking?"
 
Austin's laughter was contagious, as Lee laughed a bit as well, though mainly to cover his embarrassment of it all. The blush had made it's way up his neck and he was sure his cheeks were red as well. It was actually kind of nice to be able to de-stress and laugh a bit. It had been too long since he had.

"Oh my god, you're so dramatic." Lee finally spoke as his laughter started to die down. He started to eat as well and glanced up at Austin as he asked about rent. Tilting his head a bit, he looked up at the ceiling and calculated. After a few more moments he took a bite of the pasta and shrugged. "I'm not sure. It's not like I've had any roommates in the past. I would say $90 a month? That seems reasonable I think. You'll probably have to help with groceries every now and then, but I think that shouldn't be a problem." Lee spoke in a nonchalant tone as he turned back to his pasta. He knew the rent was insanely cheap, even for most motels, especially when he was paying almost four times that amount a month for his flat. However, the cost didn't bother him considering he had enough to pay for the one he was at and one back in Korea, so he didn't see the point in taking more than he needed.

"You're also taking the guest bedroom. I didn't clean it today for nothing. I also bought some extra soaps and put them in the bathroom so we each have a set, in case you didn't have enough." Lee turned his gaze to Austin as he lifted his bowl of soup to drink from it.
 
"Alright. I mean, sorta alright. Two thumbs up on the guest room thing, but are you sure you don't want me to pay more rent-wise? That's really low, even with the grocery thing." Austin said, eyebrows raised "Which, trust me. I love not spending money, highlight of any point in my life, but I already feel like I'm being a parasite, so.....I guess this is literally the one time I'll be okay with spending more money."

He felt that, in some way, more money would compensate for how goddamn annoying he was. He was trying- and would continue trying -to be less of an idiot, but he had a feeling he would still end up annoying Lee in some way. Was money the solution? Probably not, but it would probably make him feel better about the situation
 
"I don't know if you forgot, but I'm quite good at my job. So, money is never something I'm worried about." Lee spoke bluntly as he sat his empty bowl down, grabbing his fork once more. "However, for you, money might be a bit harder to come by, and I have a feeling that when all of this is done, you'll want to try getting back into the medical field. Being a doctor is expensive, which I know because a lot of family members back in Korea are in the medical field."

After finishing his food, Lee turned to his fridge and opened it. He had stocked the fridge with drinks that Austin might like as well: soda and a few beers. He grabbed one of the sodas and slid it over to Austin before grabbing a lemon water for himself. "Either way, I'm comfortable with you only paying $90. It's just a relief to know that there's someone else in the flat with me and I'm not just imagining it. Creepy stuff." the detective cracked open the bottle and took a sip from it, his eyes on Austin. Almost analyzing a response.
 
Austin was quiet a moment, studying Lee as he cupped the soda bottle in his hand. Then, finally, he nodded. He supposed it was fair, and if his presence was labelled a relief, he would consider that part of his payment. It wasn't worth fighting over. "Yea, yea, alright, you're right. That's my top secret plan, being a doctor after I'm done with this. And it is expensive." He relented, sighing "So, $90 a month. Okay. Yea, I can do that. Anyway.......probably going to check out the room and get settled and all that. Maybe even get some sleep. Isn't that a surprise." He grinned a bit at Lee "Thanks, by the way. For everything."
 
At the grin, Lee blinked a few times and looked down at his water. He wasn't used to such a sincere comment and he felt a bit weird. In a good way more than bad, at least. The detective cleared his throat and grabbed Austin's plate, busying himself with cleaning the dishes. "Don't mention it. Like I said, it's more strategic than anything..." Lee trailed off as he made the excuse, knowing well himself that it was just that: an excuse. He really just wanted for them both to be able to look out for each other while getting sleep. Sleep was ideal.

However, Lee glanced back up at Austin and let a slight upturn of the corner of his mouth appear. "It should be comfortable enough, but if it's not, the couch is always open. Pick your poison. We also don't have to be at the department until noon, so we might as well sleep in." and with that, Lee turned and headed to his bathroom for a shower. It had been a long, long day, and his body was aching for sleep. Now that he had somebody in his flat, he was sure the possibility of having nightmares would drop. Well, not just 'somebody'.
 
It had been a few days since Austin had moved in, and, unsurprisingly, he had been getting much more sleep than he had been while in his office. While that could have be attributed to just having an actual bed, he was pretty sure having someone else in the area- someone he could count on, specifically -helped. Just having an actual bed wasn't going to do it. The food was also a great addition to his stay, considering he hadn't touched much other than chinese food and twinkies over the past few years, making it a wonder he was still alive.

He kept up on his self-promise of keeping Lee updated, especially when he was told that his conflict of interest had been taken into account and, while he would still be helping out, he would be taking Evelyn, who had proven to be a useful resource, and solving smaller crimes. Lee had been told to focus entirely on the larger case, and so there was a good amount of time that Austin didn't see the other man. So, instead, he just sent an annoying amount of texts. He didn't know how Lee felt about it, but he was sure that he would be strangled the next time they saw each other. The latest text was a photo attachment, which was a selfie of Austin giving a peace sign as Evelyn, behind him, seemed to be pushing someone into the back seat of a police car. It was captioned

make me ur phone background i deserve it after all the crime im busting.

However, after bringing the latest criminal 'mastermind' back to the precinct, Austin was able to convince Evelyn that they should check in with whatever Lee was doing, not just for kicks, but also to get actual, verbal updates. She had agreed, and so, soon enough, she and Austin opened the door to the office that was apparently the hub for the main case, with little to no prior warning.

"Hey, we're back! Miss us?" Austin announced. Evelyn rolled her eyes at his antics, but still smiled.

"Lee. Daniel. It's been a bit. Nice to see you guys."
 
Sleep was a blessing. Lee had made that conclusion as he seemed to have little to no trouble sleeping for the past few days. It was determined that he could do so because of the presence of someone else in his flat, or, better yet, someone he could now say he was beginning to trust. Strong words, but it was the truth. Austin had relayed to Lee the information that he would be working on smaller cases for the time being, leaving Lee to the big case with a consultant.

The detective sat in his office and was going over some small bits of evidence that they already had when a gentle knock pulled his attention. With confusion written on his face, Lee stood and opened the door, putting a hand in on of his front pockets. The person on the other side... was Daniel. A grimace immediately washed over Lee's features and he rolled his eyes before turning and walking back to his chair. Daniel followed with a bright smile, looking around Lee's office expectantly.

"Wow, Lee, You're pretty organized." Daniel whistled before stopping next to Lee's chair. The dark-haired detective made a face and turned back to his notes. He planned to ignore the other and just let him say what he needed to say, considering he must be the consultant. However, the next few moments were silent, so Lee looked up, only to see Daniel leaning on the edge of his desk, staring at him. It freaked Lee out a bit, making his heart jump in surprise before he kicked the other's foot.

"Why the hell are you so close to me?" Lee snipped, his lips pressing together tightly. Daniel simply grinned more, to which Lee suppressed a groan and pulled out his phone. It had vibrated a moment ago, and sure enough, it was yet another text from Austin. The request to change his background photo made him roll his eyes and he studied the picture. He was looking a bit longer than he probably should have, however, as Daniel pushed himself from the desk and made his way behind Lee, who wasn't really paying attention. The lawyer pressed his chest gently against Lee's back, bracing himself with one hand leaning against the edge of the desk in front of Lee. The sudden action made Lee jump a bit, making his drop his phone. He was about to turn and push the other guy away when his other arm wrapped around his torso. He was stuck, even after struggling to be released. "Let me go, now!"

"Lee... okay, I know this is gonna sound really really weird, but hear me out." Daniel spoke softly, making Lee feel more than very uncomfortable. The detective swallowed as anxiety started to build in his stomach, making it's way up into his chest. He was still as a statue, sure that the more still he was, the quicker Daniel would let him go. "I have, like, the biggest crush on you. Don't ask me why, but you really attract me." the lawyer held onto Lee, and the other lifted his hands to try and pry his arm from over his chest.

"Goddamn it, you better let go--"

Lee immediately stopped as he heard his door open without warning, seeing Austin and Evelyn enter the room. His eyes were wide as his anxiety started to race once more. Daniel wasn't ashamed at their position and simply smiled at the other two, lifting a lazy hand to wave. "Nice to see you again, Evelyn." Lee was stuck still, and his anxiety made his heart rush. He felt slightly panicky and his gaze locked onto Austin, hoping to relay his emotions through his eyes.
 
Austin's eye flickered between Daniel and Lee, trying to piece together what was going on. Whatever it was, it seemed to be making Lee extremely uncomfortable. He nudged Evelyn slightly, silently indicating to her that he was about to do something and he'd appreciate it if she played along, and she nudged him back with her elbow subtly, agreeing. Then, he grinned once more, walking up to the two with his hands on his hips. He was, originally, going to try to remove the lawyer from Lee, but Austin wasn't quite sure if that would make things worse or not.

"Mind if I borrow Lee for a second? I grabbed some new files about a case we were working on and I think someone fucked up and forgot to write some details in, and I gotta run it by him. Should only take, like, 5 minutes, but it'll save me a lifetime of hassle." Austin said to Daniel, coming up with a lie that he hoped was good enough to be believable "And Evie can help with whatever you're doing now, probably. Maybe. I mean, if there's an architecture, she's useless otherwise."

This rewarded him with a rubber band shot at the back of his head, and he turned briefly to flip her off in a childish and teasing manner, before turning back to the two and crossing his arms, waiting for a response.
 
Lee watched with very careful eyes as Austin walked up to the two of them, seeming to have caught on to the situation. The detective swallowed a bit as the bubbling in his chest slowly started to die down, replaced with relief. As his partner made up the excuse to get Daniel to release him, Lee couldn't help but try to hide a smirk. Austin seemed to be great at disrupting the flow of the room, thank God.

"Oh, yeah, sure! I was just telling Lee something, but I guess I can get an answer out of him later." Daniel spoke with a chuckle as he slowly moved back, pulling his arms from around the other male. Trying not to make a big deal by jumping up right away, Lee took a moment before standing up, making it seemed like he was unfazed by it all. The last thing he needed was to be pestered by Daniel again, which he was sure would happen.

"Like hell you will. Try that again, I dare you." Lee seethed as he turned a harsh glare to Daniel. The lawyer simply laughed some more before nodding and making his way to Evelyn. Without hesitating another moment, Lee reached out a hand and grabbed onto Austin's sleeve and gently pulled at it as he made his way out of the office. His chest filled with relief and he had to close his eyes for a moment to clear his system. "Thank you."
 
Austin allowed himself to be pulled out of the room, folding his arms once his sleeve was released and waiting for Lee to settle down. He was happy to be out of the room himself; it was an uncomfortable energy that he didn't feel like dealing with, and the only person who seemed to not notice it was Daniel. Not that Austin was surprised, it seemed like the man had gone ahead and caused the problem.

When thanked, he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Yea, don't mention it. I'd ask what that was about, but I'm scared I'll have flashbacks to the weird vibe that was in that room." He replied, flashing Lee a tired smile "I'll chalk it up to someone not knowing what the hell boundaries are and leave it at that, I guess. You good now, dude? I can probably bullshit another excuse or something to get you like....another hour away from the guy without it seeming too suspicious."
 
Lee gave a long exhale and slowly scratched his scalp. He no longer felt like he was suffocating, thank the gods. He looked up at Austin and pondered his offer. It wouldn't be a bad idea to try and get some insight from his partner about the Big Case anyway, and he wanted to know how the small crimes were going. So, using it as an excuse, he took up Austin's offer.

"You know, actually, that's not a bad idea. I need to bounce some ideas off of you and get your thoughts, so it should work out. Did you eat lunch already?" Lee asked as he leaned against the wall, mimicking Austin as he crossed his arms, turning his gaze to check the time on his phone. "We could take a small lunch break and that should be a good enough excuse to get away from Daniel for a bit. I still have the rest of the day to deal with him, so I'll gladly take some away time while I can." the detective pushed himself off the wall and rolled up the sleeves of his ash grey dress shirt. "Your call, I'll follow you."
 
"Nope, I haven't eaten anything." Austin answered honestly. He had spent a majority of the day out in the city, taking care of small things here and there with Evelyn, and hadn't thought to get food when they finished up. He was happy to use that to get them both out of the precinct. "Not that I know any places to eat, so that parts honestly up to you. I've also been dying to know what's going on with the whole murder-arson-theft case that's ongoing, not gonna lie, so that sounds good too. Should we let them know we're going, or should we just leave? What's the societal expectation here for lunch breaks? I've never really taken one."
 
"You're talking to an actual loner. I never told people where I was going, I just went. So, we'll just go get some Mexican food." Lee emphasized as he took two slow steps toward the end of the hall. He kept his eyes on Austin, motioning for him to follow before walking in his normal gait, brushing down the front of his shirt. He could still smell Daniel on him, and while he smelled like cologne thankfully, it felt overwhelming. Lee never used "smell-goods" other than deodorant since his nose was always on the more sensitive side. He tossed the note to the side and instead focused on the question he was going to ask Austin.

They were already at his car when he finally put together his question along with what he knew about his case so far. It was a rather... personal question. Lee didn't want to push hard on the subject without taking the time to think about what he'd say. A lesson he learned from a few days ago. "So, my question is pretty personal. You can choose to void it if it's a bit much, so let me know." Lee spoke simply as he moved to sit in the driver's seat. He put on his sunglasses and buckled his seat belt, waiting until Austin was in the car before turning to him. "Did you witness what happened? With your father?" with much thought, Lee tried his best to not sound like an interrogator. However, it was hard when they were both detectives. They knew this game.
 
Austin got in the car, buckling up and getting settled. When asked about his father, he didn't reply at first. It was, to say the least, an uncomfortable topic, and if were almost anyone else, he would've clammed up about it. However, it was Lee, and it was, unfortunately, relevant to the case. Besides, he'd talked it about before. Might as well get it over and done.

"No, not really." He finally answered, keeping his eyes ahead "I was outside when it happened. I found the body and called the police. That was it. I don't remember much anyway; I hardly remember what my old house looked like."
 
"I see. Then I won't ask anything else. I can tell your uncomfortable with it, and I don't want to press more than is needed." Lee spoke with a thankful tone, turning to give a glance to Austin. He could read the discomfort in his partner's body and felt odd for having to ask him that. So, in order to ease the tension, he decided to just toss the questions relating to Austin's dad's case to the side, focusing at the murderer at hand.

"The murderer. From what I can tell, he's a psychotic mastermind. He probably finds joy in tormenting others as well as controlling impressionable minds that he can get his hands on. This can be determined by the box that had our belongings, as well as the crazy guy in the jail." Lee paused as he turned onto the highway, keeping his eyes on the lookout for oncoming traffic. "I've figured out some clues that I've picked up here and there. One was the blood sample from the door when we were in Rochester. It came from a woman named Isabel Polsen, who surprisingly had a clean record and nothing too suspicious. Which, of course, creates the suspicion. She could have been used as a tool, a paintbrush, or she could have been someone that the murderer knew we wouldn't poke around with. Especially with her clean record, but that theory is still a work in progress until I can get some more time to investigate her home, which is in Detroit, no surprise there."

The detective turned into quite a busy Mexican restaurant and turned off his car. Lifting his glasses from his face and putting them in his visor, he turned to Austin. The busy restaurant was a strategic move on Lee's part to make sure the noise of the people could drown out their conversation to any listening ears. "Thoughts?"
 
Austin relaxed once they moved on, and settled back in his seat as he listened to Lee talk about the case. It certainly was an interesting turn, but as things continued, he found he just wanted to be done. He enjoyed detective work, of course. Not as much as medical work, but he liked being a detective in some ways. However, this was getting complicated, and he was getting tired. He didn't mention that, though. Instead, when asked his opinion, he glanced over, shrugging his shoulders a bit.

"Well, I don't know, honestly. She's obviously involved, but you need a warrant to search anything she owns, which is going to be a pain in the ass. I can't even help with that now, because on paper, I'm not even involved anymore." He sighed, obviously irritated "Because of the whole conflict of interest thing. Which, by the way, complete bullshit. Anyway, warrant is the way to go, but based off what we have, I agree with you on all points and I got nothing to add."
 
Lee kept his gaze on Austin for a bit before pressing his lips together and pressing his head on his steering wheel. "I don't understand why they thought keeping you off the case was a grand idea. Now I have dumbass to deal with, and I'm sure his only goal is to get into my pants at the end of everything." speaking in a slightly bitter tone, the detective simply sighed and closed his eyes, sitting there for a moment.

"How did that whole conflict of interest thing happen anyway? I know you told me it happened, but I'm still confused on how and why." Lee questioned, turning his head to look at Austin once more. He continued to lean against the steering wheel however, and dropped his hands to his lap. He felt like something was off with Austin, like there was a certain mood he was feeling. He didn't know if he should ask, but he figured over food, he might be able to coax it out of the other. "It really does seem like complete bullshit."
 
"Chief connected the dots between this and my dad's case." Austin explained, stretching his arms forward "And since this now makes me the family of a former victim of a current, now-non-cold case which I was, by technicality, a witness of, it's legally frowned upon for me to work on it. Judgement clouding or something like that. Which is why I was avoiding telling you about it way back when. I knew this was going to happen. Thought if I could prevent it a little longer, I could piece the whole thing together. Apparently not." He paused, before tacking on "Anyway, should we go in, or...?"
 
"Ah.. yeah. Let's go." Lee slowly nodded and got out of his car. He went into the restaurant and requested a booth in the back, so that they could talk more without being heard. Once sitting down, Lee ordered his drink and waited for Austin to request his drink to continue with his thoughts. He tapped at the wooden table absentmindedly and held his chin in his free hand. Brow furrowed, he turned his eyes to the side, looking over the crowd of customers. Watching them carefully.

"You can still be a part of the case with me. I mean, you wouldn't be able to go to crime scenes and the works, but you've still been helpful to me so far. If you're okay with it, I would still want to tell you about the case and the leads it may have. Even if you're first choice wasn't detective work, your intuition has gotten you this far. Or..." Lee turned his head back to Austin, a bit of a thoughtful look in his eyes as he dropped his hands in front of him, clasping them together.

"It might be a reach, but what if I can get that conflict of interest overturned? You did say that you didn't witness the murder happening, so I could use that as an argument." Lee spoke his thoughts out loud, his eyes glazing over slightly as he pulled into his thoughts. When the drinks were put down, he sipped lightly at his water and kept the glass pressed against his lips, his focus coming back to Austin. He had an idea, but he didn't want to spoil it...
 
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