"Hey Jinx." James locked the door behind him and shrugged off his backpack.

"Hey gingersnap," she replied.

The redhead rolled his eyes and set down his backpack near the door. "You could call us by our real names."

"Eh. Boring."

"Is Owen still asleep?"

"If he wasn't he would be squirming and drinking, so, yes, he's still asleep." Jinx blew on her steaming cup of coffee. She watched James round the coffee table and put the back of his hand on Owen's forehead. "Are you gonna wake him up?"

James nodded. "Gotta make sure he's still breathing and give him more pain meds. Where's Cal?"

"I think they're all up on the roof." Jinx started walking towards her closed bedroom door. "I got back about 15 minutes ago from work and no one was here so I'm presuming that's where they all are."

James sat down on the coffee table and painstakingly ran his hands through his red hair.

"You good?"

"Yeah," James murmured.

Bullshit if I ever heard it.

Jinx drummed her fingers over the edge of her coffee mug. "If you say so. I'm gonna go read some Grey's Anatomy werewolf fan fiction. You tend to the poisoned Bratwurst on my couch."

"You're gonna do what?"

Jinx simply smiled at him and turned the doorknob. "Have fun waking him up!"

She stepped into the room and shut the door behind her.

She turned, looked up, and dropped her mug in surprise. Harrison barely caught it by it's handle before it could crash to the floor and let James know something was up. However, the coffee spilled everywhere, including all over Jinx's socks.

The 18 year-old looked ready to curse up a storm but Harrison slithered a finger over her lips. "Promise not to scream," he told her sternly.

She nodded and he retracted his finger. "What the fuck?" She whisper-yelled at all of us.

"My thoughts exactly," Cal crossed his arms and looked at Axel and I.

"We put a camera on the inside of your door and now we're gonna watch James wake Owen up because Axel and Adira said so," Lucky said from next to the window.

"I promise you'll see why," Axel assured the group.

"You put a camera where?" Jinx demanded. "Does the right to privacy ring a fucking bell to you morons?"

"The fourth amendment says it's only illegal when we publicize your personal info for our own personal gain," Harrison said.

Jinx pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose. "The 9th amendment—"

"Yes yes, 'the rights of the people that are not specifically enumerated in the Constitution,'" Harrison said. "But trespassing is justified when you have probable cause."

Jinx looked ready to explode. "And what aforementioned 'probable cause' do you have that justifies setting up goddamn camera in my own home?"

Harrison looked at Axel and I. "Laurie? Deera? Care to explain?"

I shifted my feet awkwardly. "Jinx, you know how James has that limp?"

Jinx crawled into the middle of her bed to start to peel off her coffee-soaked socks. "Yeah."

"There's this rule at the agency —no 'fraternizing' between agents."

"Director is bloody psycho about enforcing it," Blitz was leaning against Jinx's chester drawers.

Axel continued the story, "James got caught a couple years ago with this other agent. The guy was expelled, but James was too good of an agent to let go, and so the Director ended up bashing his knee in with a sledgehammer as punishment for breaking the rule."

Jinx gulped. "Shit."

"What does this have to do with why we are all in here crowding around a laptop?" Lautaro asked.

"Because," I said weakly. "The other agent was never expelled. It was Owen."

Quinn snorted. "Yeah right."

"How the hell do you know that?" There was an an offensive tint to Lautaro's accent.

"Hunter Martin," I said. "He was the guy who told the Director about Owen and James. At my level 8 training James came with me, and Hunter admitted to being the one who told. James just attacked him and Owen came in and had to pull him off Hunter, and then he dragged him outside. Axel and I went with them and they screamed at each other about it and... yeah. It was definitely Owen."

"I don't believe you."

"Then let's watch," Axel pointed to the screen where Owen was blinking his blue eyes awake, "and you can decide for yourself."

Our fellow agents, plus a still pissed off Jinx, showed a mix of confusion, disbelief, distrust and some of them anger as they all turned their heads to the laptop screen.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Owen struggled to push himself up onto his elbows as James peered sympathetically down at him.

"Sorry," the redhead said. "It's just...weird. Seeing you like this."

Owen fidgeted as best he could without bringing himself too much pain. "That's right, rub it in."

"Aw, is your ego a little too fragile to comprehend being beaten for once?"

Owen glared up at James with startling ferocity. "I could still kick your ass."

James smirked. "Yeah?" He got to his feet from the carpeted floor and went and stood around the other side of the coffee table. "Come and get me then," he said, spreading out his hands.

"If it looks like the bandages are going to break, all bets are off and I am stapling him down to that couch," Cal said from beside me.

Him, Quinn, Harrison, Zach, Lucky, Blitz, Lautaro, Axel, Jinx and I all watched in awe as Owen gradually managed to get his back off the couch all on his own, hissing through his teeth the entire time, and sit up relatively straight. Up until this point he'd needed two people's help to do that.

His blue eyes zeroed in on the coffee table about a foot in front of him. He slowly moved his feet so they were hanging off the couch and touching the floor. Then, stiffly gripping the end of the couch he rocked back and forth twice and then finally stood up.

James broke into a grin, but it fell when Owen doubled over and caught himself with both hands on the coffee table. The redhead rushed back over and peeled the German's hands off from clutching the wood and eased him back down onto the couch.

"Wow. If I'm being honest, I didn't think you were gonna be able to do that," James chuckled. He perched on the edge of the couch next to Owen's legs.

"'I didn't think you were gonna be able to do that,' title of James' sex tape," Harrison chuckled.

"Nice," Jinx nodded with admiration and high-fived my best friend. "That one episode we watched payed off."

"Episode of what?" Zach narrowed his eyebrows.

I managed to contain a snort. We only managed to watch one episode of Brooklyn 99 while Owen was asleep and Zach was out on the roof and it was the funniest thing ever.

"Shit, it's inspirational to have such an optimistic doctor," Owen said in between painful breaths as his back once again met the bottom couch cushion.

James laughed at Owen's fowl gaze. "I forgot you get sarcastic when you're drunk."

"I forgot how fucking annoying you get when I'm drunk."

"Look, I know you're used to being the best and strongest, but right now, you're grounded. Literally. You can't keep pushing yourself like that you moron," James told him.

"You were the one who dared me to stand up!" Owen complained. "Fick dich ins Knie," he waved his hand at James.

"Um, excuse your French!" James called him out.

"That's not French," Zach grumbled.

"It's called flirting you sheltered stuck up," Jinx snapped at him.

"Va te faire foutre," Owen went on outside in the living room.

"Just because you're in a lot of pain, doesn't mean you get to keep switching languages on me Hoffmann. Concentrate on not straining yourself instead of different ways to tell me to go screw myself." James narrowed his red eyebrows down at him. "Dummkopf," he added in Owen's native tongue.

Owen dropped his head back. "But this is hard," he moaned like a kid. "I can't do anything! I'm supposed to be the mission leader, but while you guys are doing the fun stuff like trying to hijack imported gas bombs and track terrorists, I'm over here making sure Andrews doesn't fuck up."

"He knows he's not my fucking babysitter, right?" Harrison glared at the door.

"That's a very important job," James admitted.

Harrison muttered something in Portuguese and waved his hand dismissively.

"Stop trying to make me feel better Jay, let's face it, I'm useless," Owen muttered.

"Jay?" Blitz raised his blond eyebrows.

"We love a good pet name," Jinx cradled her face in her hands.

James lightly flicked Owen's stomach.

"Hurensohn!" Owen whisper-yelled at him. "What the hell?"

"I know how you feel," James said sternly. Owen stopped squirming in sudden guilty remembrance. James stretched out his right knee, his joints making snapping and popping noises we could hear even through the computer. "This still hurts," he said, gesturing to his kneecap and exhaling. "I've got a steel rod, an artificial kneecap, and metal bonds over my upper tibia and fibula and lower femur. I'll have a limp for the rest of my life." He stopped rubbing his own wound and gazed fondly down at Owen. "Whereas you look like you've had an autopsy already."

Owen sighed. "Yeah, we're both pretty fucked up now." Then a sly smile spread across his face. "But do you know what would make it all better?" He asked seductively.

"Hoffmann can flirt?" Lucky's eyebrows shot up.

James rolled his eyes. "I mean, yeah, but that's doesn't mean I'm gonna do it."

Owen weaseled up onto his elbows and pleadingly stuck out his bottom lip.

"This is wrong. This is very wrong, we really shouldn't be doing this—"

"This is so much fun what are you talking about!" Jinx whisper-yelled over Cal.

"So now you're into this?" Harrison raised his eyebrows at the fangirl cradling her face on her bed.

"Spying is fun," she nodded enthusiastically.

James laughed down at Owen. "Damn, you're really out of it."

"Who says?" The German began to try and prop his back up against the end of the couch.

"Because non-poisoned and non-heavily medicated Owen would never in a million years beg," he chuckled, "especially for attention from young and nerdy redheads."

Owen stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth in concentration as he got his back up against the arm of the couch and sat up straighter. "I'm not delusional."

"Sure," James laughed down at the older boy' determination to sit up without groaning. "You're coming onto me. And it's freaking me out 'cause you haven't done that in four years."

Finally Owen got to full sitting position and gave James a lopsided smirk. "I can do a whole other kind of coming."

James eyes widened and he went bright red.

Harrison had to bite his fist to stop him from laughing. Jinx covered her own laughter with both of her hands and flopped onto her back. The rest of the boys turned pinkish.

Owen laughed, "du siehst aus wie eine Tomate."

James put a hand to his face. "Did you just call me a tomato?"

Owen nodded, grinning.

"Bitch." The redhead alternated cooling down his face with his palms and the backs of his hands. He started to stand up but Owen lunged forward and snatched James' shirt collar and yanked him back.

"You're choking me," James coughed, trying to wrestle out the older boys grip.

"That's what she—

Harrison had to wildly duck Zach's fist before he could finish his sentence.

Out in the living room James continued to struggle, since even with half his normal blood supply Owen was still easily twice as strong as him. But eventually the redhead managed to sock Owen directly in his stomach.

I held back Cal from bolting towards the door.

While the German held back his tears of pain James picked up the empty whiskey bottle from just beside him on the coffee table. "Jesus, you drank this entire thing?"

Owen groaned and clutched where James had hit him in the gut.

"Is the pain really bad enough to make you drink this whole thing in two days?" James asked softly, setting down the bottle.

"There is a whole lot of pain going on here, and not much I can really do about it, so drinking it is."

"What other kind of pain are we talking?"

"Hmm, let's think. The fact that my old secret boyfriend that I haven't talked to and ignored out of fear for the past four years is cleaning pus off my bare chest—"

Axel gestured wildly to the computer screen. "See?! I told you—"

"You will finish that sentence with only nine fingers," Lucky pointed his knife at Axel and the American shut his mouth.

"I was never your boyfriend."

"What else would you call what we had?" Owen asked.

James sighed at him. "Nothing healthy."

Owen shrugged. "Fair enough. Now let's continue: said secret guy is being annoyingly stubborn and he doesn't know how super fucking cute it is and how he's actually making it more difficult to ignore my feelings, also—"

"What now?" James eyes were wide.

"What?" Jinx sat up.

"¿Qué?" Lautaro arched an eyebrow.

"Энэ юу вэ?" Lucky almost dropped his knife.

Owen started to sit back up again, moving himself in small increments until he was sitting how a normal person would on the long couch beside James. "It's not the drugs or the poison or the booze James," he said, "I still just..." he puttered off and looked guilty.

The redhead swallowed gingerly and delved his thumb against his bad knee. Maybe he was trying to massage in the reminder of what happened the last time Owen might have looked at him like that.

"We'll be more careful this time," Owen leaned closer to him.

"No!" James jumped up and backed away from Owen. "I am not doing that again."

"Oh come on," Owen gave him a lopsided tipsy smile. "It was fun..."

James's eyes widened. "Dear god what was in that bomb must have been worse than we thought. You're actually going insane," he laughed in disbelief and raked both hands through the red hair on the sides of his head.

Owen slowly shook his head. "I'm not insane, I'm just drunk. Come on Jay...." He pleaded again.

"Call me that again and I swear to god I will take out your stitches right now," James squished his eyes shut and put his fists over his eyelids. "You don't get it," his slight southern accent quivered. "You're bringing it all back up, and I don't want to—"

"Yes you do."

"Stop that!" James's eyes flew open to glare at Owen. "God, I hate you."

"No you don't."

"Stop telling me what I do and don't feel!" James yelled at him.

Owen wasn't swayed. "Am I wrong?"

James sighed, deeply and quietly. "Yes. I have to hate you."

Owen squinted. "You have to?"

"Because if I don't hate you, I'm going to end up loving you. Again."

All of us in Jinx's room inhaled.

Owen rested his elbows on his knees and laced his fingers together in a tight web. "Can we just talk then?"

James crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you mean you apologize while I listen?"

Owen sighed. "Sure."

"Awesome. Talk away."

"It hurts to raise my voice," Owen croaked.

We all saw James run his tongue over his teeth in thought. Then he broke his stiff position and went to sit down on the other end of the couch from Owen.

"Do you remember how the Director made me move out of my old dorm after... everything?" Owen started off by asking.

James nodded.

"Have you ever thought about where I sleep now?"

James rolled his eyes. "Even your slutty ass wouldn't be stupid enough to get caught in another guy's bed at this point. Or a girl's considering you're apparently not that picky."

Lautaro whistled.

"Damn, Strider got hella nerve," Quinn whispered.

In the living room Owen let his shoulders droop. "I'm not a slut," he murmured.

James quirked an eyebrow. "Don't lie Owen, no one gets that good without shitloads of practice."

"Yeah, so I'm going to jump out the window now," Lucky put his hands above his head.

"Hell nah bro, this is like a live Gossip Girls episode," Quinn leaned in closer to the screen.

"Blake Lively," Jinx sighed dreamily.

"I don't remember you being this... assertive," Owen rested his elbows on his knees.

"Yeah, well, survival of the fittest," James said. "And by fittest I mean the most resilient to jeers and fag jokes and having your head slammed against a urinal."

"Still," Owen sized him up and down. "It's weird."

"I'm still a bottom, don't get too caught up on it."

Zach turned away from the camera and rubbed his face down in a string of French curses.

"I sleep on the floor," Owen shut his eyes. "In his office."

James did what we all did. Froze.

After about a minute the redhead stammered, "wh—what?"

Owen opened his blue eyes and ran both hands through his white blond hair. "You said I was his bitch. You were right. No pillow, no blanket, nothing. Just like a dog. And that burn that you stitched up in Taranto," he brushed his hand over where the bandages rounded around where the wound was.

James swallowed. "No way."

Owen drooped his shoulders even lower and nodded solemnly. "Every time you were bullied by other agents, he burned me. To make sure I was serving punishment too. Even if nobody knew it. Even if you didn't know it. I know that that doesn't even compare to what he did to you, but I want you to know that it wasn't just you paying for what we did."

James stumbled over his words. "But—but you let him do it to you. Why? You are literally the strongest person I know."

"He threatened me."

James scrunched up his nose and Owen chuckled a little at the expression. "With what? We have literally nothing."

"I had you."

Owen dropped his eyes to the brown couch cushions while James did the opposite and tipped his head to inspect the ceiling.

"He said he would take out your other knee and then dump you back in Louisiana for the police to get you."

James snapped his eyes down and shut his open mouth.

"Flagg can suck a bloody dick," Blitz clenched his fists together so hard they trembled and went white. "Literally, a bloody one."

"Thanks," James said quietly.

"I'd say no problem," Owen tilted his head, "but..."

James snuffed a breath out his nose. "You're an asshole."