Chapter Text
A month had passed. A month has passed since Black and Sean were on the rooftop. A month since Sean had told Black that he's part of the reason that Sean's still here. A month since he kissed the other. A whole month had passed, and God-fucking-dammit, Sean was frustrated.
If Sean was honest, he would tell you that he knows that there's a difference in the Black that he's falling for, and is like to fall in love with, and the Black that he's currently watch train with Gram. This Black is completely reminiscent of the old Black. Can spar well, do maintainance on his bike, and look after the machine. He had gone back to hating, and resenting Sean's existence. He's nothing like the Black he kissed on that rooftop. That Black was soft, kind, sweet. He couldn't really fight, and often relied on Sean to do the specific detailed jobs on his bike. Someone who'd happily spend hours in Sean's prescense, let Sean curl up into his side if he was having a nightmare, or just needed comfort because his mind was suffocating him again. He knew that they were effectively two completely different people but the issue that Sean kept bumping into was that: Black never mentioned any siblings (or family outside of his parents that he heard through the grapevine), especially not an identical looking one. So what was he to believe?
And that's where his plan came from. It wasn't particularly clever, but he needed answers. He was going to have to follow Black to do so, but with people following Black, it wasn't going to be easy.
Two days later, Sean had a plan. He knows the backstreets of this place well enough to not have to follow Black directly, and he can easily dress differently, and change his registration plates to try and avoid easy recognition. He knew that this was re-con, and he needed to be careful.
Sean kept an eye out for Black all day. He arrived at the garage at 12:14pm. Checked his bike over, went into his locker and checked his phone. Strange that he left it here, but not that weird. Then he went to eat breakfast, basically anything that was left over from the meal last night.
After he ate, he took out a map, placed it over the table. Sean had never seen the area before. It seemed to be somewhere near the water front, an area of town that he doesn't go near because he knows it's sketchy in that part of town. He knows there's factories down there but not much else. Why does Black need a map of an area none of them visit? Maybe it was one of Tawi's old facilities, or something? He hasn't spoken to Black in what felt like forever, and neither had any one else because they were all expecting him too so he honestly had no clue.
Once Black seemingly had a plan for what he was doing with the map, he put away in his locker, and got out his wrist straps. 1 while 3:30pm Black spent training. It was clear that there was a bit of weakness in the smaller's punches, but the technique was near perfect. Not something he could say about other Black. They're not the same person, Sean's mind reminds him.
At 4pm, Black sat down and ate in silence with the rest of them, even Sean. All of them looked at him expectantly, but he just couldn't even try and make conversation. He didn't want his voice to showcase how suspicious of Black he was, and he just knows that Black would see straight through him. They all left the table frustrated.
From 4pm while 5pm, Black checked over his bike. Ever since he'd been followed, he's been extra cautious when looking over his bike because he desperately didn't want to lead those who attacked him to find the garage, or worse his brother (though no one, not even Sean knew what Black was actually doing). Any thing that could be a bug, or chip had to be checked. His fuel and oil tanks were regularly checked for tampering. To someone on the outside, Black would look super paranoid, but those at the garage understand. They understand. They don't know what he's going through, but they all know that him, Sean and Yok are somebody's watch list, and they needed to be careful. Black's meticulous checking over his bike is pretty standard and something they catch themselves doing a lot more.
The time seemed to drag from 6pm until 7:30pm when Black retrieved his helmet from his locker, turn on his bike and left, Sean trying to not be too obvious as he followed him behind. As Black turns left, Sean goes right as if he was headed towards Namo's, a direction and place that Black has seen Sean go before so it wouldn't be as suspicious is Black saw him, before turning around and following the other down the roads, taking extra turns, down lanes and off the main roads, keeping as good of an eye as he possibly can. It's only when they reach the outskirts of the city that Sean realises how far they've come. They've gone from the outskirts of the southern side of the city, to those of the North West. It's nowhere near Black's apartment, and that's what it hits him.
He knows immediately: this place is a secondary location, that's safe. He may dislike Black, or this version of Black, but thank the Lord that he's living somewhere safe.
Sean snuck around the building, saw that Black had gone four floors up and he scaled the building to the fourth floor trying to see if he could find a vantage point where could tune into the bug (that he placed on Black's helmet) so he sneak off from being seen, but still be able to hear the other just in case he's hiding somewhere here.
As luck would have it, Sean found an open window that lead into an empty room and entered the building from there. He needed to careful now, he couldn't leave this room without being sure that Black wouldn't come swinging around the corner and catch him, especially when this location was supposed to be a secret and secure place for him to be.
Carefully, Sean opened the door, and checked the surrounding area suspectly. It seemed the coast was clear so he snuck down the corridor, away from the stairs on his left. He was almost certain that Black had passed this area by now and he was safe to walk down the corridor.
“— White, I don't want you spending your spare time working on this case. Sleep. I'll go buy food, supplies, anything you need to keep you going and keep you on course to allow you to become a diplomat. No- White- I'm not going to argue with you. Eat your food, and go to sleep. I'll go patrol the building and see if we're going to be safe tonight,” Sean heard a voice sounding a lot like Black say as he approached a door.
White? Case? Diplomat? Patrol? What do these words mean?
Sean took the audio device and spent a few seconds finding the right frequency, and the moment he did, he stepped back, hiding himself under the stairs hoping to conceal himself from the sight if anyone opened the door.
“But Black, you can't handle this case by yourself. You said yourself that this isn't child's play, so how are you going to say that to me, and then act like this? You didn't let me even say goodbye to those at the garage. Don't you think that they've noticed yet another change in “Black's” behaviour? Of course they have! Especially Sean and Gram. Let me help, bring in the garage team. Please Black. Please rethink this going it alone attitude to this,” he hears another voice, White(?), say.
“They may have noticed, but they're going to do and say nothing. Both regard me as an asshole, even if Gram was willing to spar with me today. He likely did it because the others have basically been avoiding me and sparring by yourself is basically pointless. And Sean? Sean's been acting weird anyways. Our first interaction was bizarre. He snuck up behind me, whispered in my ear about some un-cashed wish, and said that he was going to ask me to take him on a date. It was majorly uncomfortable. He's changed a lot and he could very well become a liability if he's not careful,” Black huffs out.
Me? A liability? I'm going break that fucker's face Sean thinks before focusing on listening in.
“Sean's not a liability. He has his reasons. Besides, ridding this country of the corruption that Tawi and his minions are causing is one of the major reasons that he's still here. You need him to fix anything to ensure that he'll be name checked in Tawi's downfall, and he will. No doubt about it. Cut him some slack, he's part of the reason I survived, which is lucky because he spent the first month or so hating my guts for reasons only to the two of you know, brother,” the other voice argue. It sounds so familiar, but Sean doesn't want to say that it was definitely new Black's voice and that his name was White.
White. The name felt so foreign to him, but yet was so perfect. Black and White. Siblings. Brothers. Identical looking, complete opposite personalities. Whoever their parents are, are clever people.
“Look, White, I don't have time to explain to you how much of an asshole Sean is right now. I'd honestly rather learn what it was like shadowing Dad as a diplomat in Russia, and what your last ten years have been like, but even that would take too much energy up when all I want to do is eat, check the perimeter and then go to sleep,” Black says, and Sean can almost see Black's expression as he says this. Ew, he knows that man too well.