Chapter Text
Engie stared at the flannel shirt in his hand and poked his hand through the hole he made.
To the unaware, it just looked like Engie wasn’t paying attention during that day’s mission and cut his shirt on an exposed nail. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
No, this was far too orchestrated. From the nail he normally knew to avoid, to the loud complaining in resupply. Engie may have looked like a bumbling Southerner but he wasn’t an idiot at all.
Now, Engie found himself lingering outside of Spy’s smoking room, staring at the sliver of light coming from the bottom of the door. He bit his lip, heart pounding in his chest. He just needed to knock on the door.
In for a penny, in for a pound.
Engie sucked in a nervous breath, walked towards the door and knocked on it.
“Who is it?” Spy snapped from inside.
“Sorry to bother you so late, partner, but I just need your help,”
Spy said nothing. Engie nervously tapped his foot.
“Y’see I accidentally ripped my shirt today and it’s my lucky shirt,” He continued, aware that he was rambling at this point. “I remember you once told me you knew how to sew?”
Come on, Engie silently urged. Take the bait.
After what felt like forever, Spy cracked the door open to stare at Engie. The two locked eyes, sizing the other up in case any shenanigans were afoot. Eventually, Spy sighed and opened the door wider.
“Sure. Just hand me the–”
“Thanks Spy!” Engie interrupted, pushing past into the room.
He was not going away without a fight.
Spy stared after Engie before sighing and closing the door. Engie gave an innocent smile and passed the shirt over to Spy who looked at the tear with a scoff.
“What did you do?” He asked, turning away from Engie and walking over to a desk pushed to the wall of the room to open a drawer.
“Wasn’t payin’ attention today and got nicked by a nail,” Engie answered as Spy retrieved his sewing kit.
“I see,” Spy muttered, threading his needle. “This won’t take long,”
“Oh, I’m glad,” Engie said, sitting down in an armchair. “Although, I wish it took a bit longer,”
This seemed to catch the Frenchman off guard, as he paused in his task.
“You do?” He asked the wall.
“Yeah, so I can chat with you longer. We used to just sit and talk every day and then we just stopped,”
The room was silent as Engie watched the back of Spy starting his stitches.
“I missed it,” Engie confessed after a while. “‘Course we’re both busy, but I enjoy our talks. I enjoy your company. I enjoy… you,”
Spy was silent.
“Maybe it’s for the better,” Spy quietly responded.
“Excuse me?”
“Maybe it’s for the better. I seem to just… break everything around me. You seem to have a front-row seat to my destruction,”
“I doubt that Spy. I’m always looking forward to shooting the breeze with you, even if it’s while you watch me fix things. And I think you do too,”
Spy quietly scoffed.
“I speak with you just to learn more about mechanical engineering and to get my gadgets fixed. That is all,”
“Maybe at first,” Engie conceded. “However, I don’t think someone who wants to have post-mission drinks with me only wants to learn about what I do,”
The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife.
“Besides,” Engie continued. “You're smart. I’m sure you would have remembered to restart your disguise kit as soon as it started malfunctioning,”
Engie could feel the metaphorical chess pieces fall into place. He resisted the urge to grin as he set up his trap.
“If you wanted to spend time with me, even if it was in silence, you didn’t need to sap the poor radio to do it,”
Spy stiffened from his desk as Engie stared imploringly at him.
“Spy, talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong,” Engie whispered.
Spy let out a sigh and retrieved a pair of scissors from the desk. He quietly snipped the thread he was working on and picked up the shirt. He turned around to face Engie, expression unreadable, as he made his approach.
He pushed the shirt into Engie’s hands without a word. Engie bit his lip, searching Spy’s face for an answer.
Before he could come to a solution, in one swift movement, Spy bent down and pressed a chaste kiss to Engie’s cheek.
“Je suis désolé ,” Spy said, straightening up. “I had to do that at least once before you ceased talking to me,”
Engie said nothing, eyes wide with the realisation that Spy had just kissed him even if it was brief.
“I will start work on my relocation forms,” Spy said, starting to walk away.
“Oh no, you don’t!” Engie yelled, his brain catching up with him.
He reached out for Spy’s arm and pulled him back. Spy confusedly looked at him before Engie pulled him forward into a kiss. Spy was stiff for a second until melting into the kiss and returning it. Engie tugged on him once more and Spy fell into Engie’s lap. Spy broke the kiss and stared into Engie’s eyes confusedly.
“You think I don’t like you?” Engie asked. “Even after that?”
A small smile ghosted over Spy’s lips.
“I may have been incorrect,” He confessed.
“Good, because you’re not going anywhere. You don’t break things, Spy. Even if you do, just as well you have a skilled engineer here to help fix things,”
Spy surged forward and gave Engie another kiss. Engie blindly groped Spy’s body as he readjusted his position.
The two broke apart, resting their foreheads together and breathing heavily.
“I was afraid I was being intrusive or a nuisance,” Spy admitted. “I was afraid I had forced you to get close to me,”
“Hey, none of that now,” Engie responded with a peck to Spy’s cheek. “You can spend as long as you want with me just letting the time go by. I don’t mind. I want to spend time with you, y’hear?”
“I’m not a man who lingers, labourer,”
Engie snorted and pulled Spy into a hug.
“I think you do, and I want to linger a little longer here with you,”
“I didn’t know you were a poet, labourer,” Spy quietly mused.
“Hardly. It’s a campfire song,”
Spy laughed and hid his face in Engie’s neck. Engie chuckled and stroked Spy’s back.
“Merci, labourer,” Spy whispered.
Engie pulled Spy into another kiss and Spy returned it with a smile.