Let's Sit Back and Watch the Bed Burn |Virgato|

Chapter 4

La Mar was crowded by the time they pulled up, Joel handing off the keys to their black Escalade to the valet. He holds his arm out for Chris, a smile on his face when his husband takes his arm and pecks his cheek sweetly. "How did you manage to get reservations on such short notice, baby?" Chris asks him, staring in wonder as they enter the restaurant. They only went here on special occasions, which, aside from their anniversary, were pretty rare. It was Christopher's favorite restaurant; it was the place Joel had proposed to him. It held a special meaning to both of them.

"A friend of mine owed me a favor," Joel tells him, walking up to the host. "Pimentel, party of two?" He puts his arm around Chris and leads them to their table, kissing the side of his husband's head before they sit down. "Does this make up for me not being around last anniversary?"

Chris hums, taking the glass of wine the host generously poured before leaving and taking a sip. "It will do." He winks, making Joel laugh and take a drink of his own wine. "This is really wonderful, Joel. Thank you."

"Anything for the man I love," Joel says, taking Christopher's hand from across the table and placing a kiss on his knuckles. "Eight years. Can you believe we've actually made it eight years without wanting to murder each other?"

Chris laughs. "You are not that bad of a husband, though there are times where you anger me, but I don't think I could really find it in myself to actually kill you." He says it in a way that sounds genuine, almost in complete seriousness. Joel finds himself looking at his husband, wondering if there was a hidden meaning behind his words, something that Chris wasn't being completely honest about. Before he can ask, their waiter has arrived and is taking their order, taking Joel's mind off of the entire thing.

It's later that night, after they've had their anniversary sex, that Joel looks at his sleeping husband and wonders if he's hiding something. He knows every marriage has its secrets, their marriage definitely containing more on Joel's part, but never once has he questioned if Chris has been completely truthful with him. Pushing the thoughts aside, he wraps his arms around Chris and kisses his head before falling asleep.

The next morning, he's on a flight to Las Vegas on the agency's private jet, his mind far away with thoughts of his husband. He doesn't know why Christopher's words at dinner are bothering him so much, but they couldn't escape him. There was just something in the way he said it that worried Joel.

"You alright?" a stewardess asks him, handing him his glass of water that he had ordered. "You look a little stressed."

"I'm alright," Joel assures her, taking a long drink of water. He sets the glass down in the cup holder of his seat before reading over the mission folder one last time, making sure he's aware of everything that he's about to encounter. He promised Kolm that he wouldn't screw this mission up and he was bound to keep that promise.

He has a base in the Mojave Desert, away from tourist activity. If he's heard correctly from his superiors, his target will be passing through here in a vehicle with others that he's working with, heading towards their own base somewhere in the desert. It's blazing hot when he gets to the base, sweat making his thin tank top stick to his back. His normally styled hair is being held away from his forehead with one of his bandanas to prevent it from flopping into his face, making it easier to use the binoculars without his hair in the way.

Joel sighs as he takes another swig from his water bottle, observing his laptop. His target, Sean Conway, is still a few miles out from where Joel is, making it impossible to catch him at that distance. The agency has set up land mines to take out any vehicle that passes through the perimeter he's set up, times to make sure that a civilian doesn't end up driving through and getting themselves killed. So far, Joel hasn't seen anyone around in the desert, only a couple of tumbleweeds resting on the sands.

He picks his binoculars back up, going back to observing the desert when he notices a cloud of dust being kicked up in the distance. Closer inspection shows it to be a buggy, though Joel can't get a good look at who is driving it. Before he can get a closer look, the alarm is going off, signaling that the mines are ready to be set off on a countdown of five minutes.

"Fuck," Joel curses, turning to his laptop and shutting down the countdown. He turns back to where the buggy was, now stopped about two miles from Joel's base. There's a man getting out of it, taking his helmet off and replacing it with a baseball cap. He's dressed in a tan tank top and khaki shorts, with sand colored combat boots on his feet. There are sunglasses covering his eyes as he unbuttons his pants and-

He's peeing onto the sand.

Joel rolls his eyes, "What is wrong with civilians?" he mutters to himself before turning back towards the road, where he now sees Conway's vehicles coming closer. He's about to turn back towards the countdown, start it up again, when he notices movement from the corner of his eyes. He turns back where the civilian was and notices him pulling out a rocket launcher from his buggy.

"Fucking Francis," Joel grumbles, picking up his sniper rifle from the back of his base and lining up his shot. He doesn't want to kill the guy, but if that rocket launcher goes off, Kolm will have his head on a silver platter. Instead, he aims for the chest, pulling the trigger and watching in satisfaction as the agent goes flying backwards into the sand. "Serves him right."

A beeping comes from his laptop, signaling that the countdown has begun once again and Joel sighs with relief. All he wants to do now is go back to the hotel and soak in the bathtub to clean off all the sweat and grime that has built up on him from being in the desert. He begins to gather up his things, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and prepare his escape when he turns back towards where Kolm's agent had been laying.

Now he's aiming his rocket launcher towards Joel's base.

Joel's eyes widen as he ditches the last of his stuff, jumping out of the base and running towards his motorcycle. There's a blast from behind him that sends him soaring forward, crashing into the sand roughly and most likely skinning his arms and legs up. His ears are ringing from being so close to the explosion and his head is throbbing from smacking it against the hard ground, but none of that matters. He needs to get out of there right now before the mines go off.

He swings his legs over the motorcycle and starts it up, tearing off down the sand to get a good distance away from the mines. He's a couple of miles out when they start going off, far earlier than they were set to go off. He assumes it's from his laptop being blown to bits by Francis's agent, angering him even more once he sees Conway's vehicles not even harmed by the explosions. They turn back around and head towards the base again and Joel swears he sees red at that moment.

Kolm was definitely going to have his head.