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20 Years Later-
Napoleon Solo adjusted his tie once more and put on his cufflinks in front of the full-length mirror in his dressing room. He looked himself up and down in the mirror and grinned satisfactorily. He was young and energetic, with a perfect body and a handsome face, adding natural charm, he had no trouble attracting any girls he wanted. As a matter of fact, he never lacked female companies. Smiling his famous Solo smile into the mirror, which was enough to make all the girls caught their breaths, Napoleon was ready for the day. Before walking out of the bedroom, he patted lightly on the Teddy bear sitting on his nightstand.
“Goodbye Teddy, I’ll see you tonight.”
20 years, Napoleon hadn’t once thought of throwing Teddy away, because he promised Illya, he promised him he would take care of it. He knew he sounded silly, but somehow with Teddy on his side, he felt the connection between Illya and him had never been broken. During the dead of night, with no field works and dates to occupy his mind, his thoughts often wandered to his little blond hair, blue eyes friend. It was not the first time that he imagined what Illya would look like now, and he always ended up with the same conclusion: Illya must be very beautiful and extremely attractive.
When he first joined UNCLE, he often had an urge to use the organization’s resources to look Illya up. But he soon decided against it. What did he want to gain exactly? Hi, I’m Napoleon Solo. Remember me? We were best friends 20 years ago. May I come in? How are you? What do you do for a living now? Come and visit me sometimes, I live in New York and I’m a spy.
Napoleon shook his head, that wouldn’t do at all. Maybe Illya already forgot all about him. Maybe he was married. Napoleon found the second maybe was equally upsetting as the first one, though he wasn’t exactly sure why. Shrugging off all the negative feelings, Napoleon turned his attention back to Teddy. He couldn’t help but laugh thinking of a lot of his female companies either puzzled or questioned Napoleon’s motivation as to putting such an old and almost ugly-looking stuffed animal beside his bed.
“Look! It doesn’t even have matched eyes!” Cindy or was it Sandy said.
Another one even scared out of her wits when she saw Napoleon talking to Teddy as if it was a person when she walked out of the bathroom. Napoleon didn’t blame her at all, to be honest, he knew his behavior must be weird to outsiders. Over all those years, though he was able to meet a lot of people, he could never form a deep enough relationship with any single one of them. There was always this emptiness in his heart that he tried desperately to ignore but without success. Deep down in his heart, he knew only Illya could fill the gap, though he understood the danger of wishing the impossible. Talking to Teddy made him felt like he was talking to Illya, and that was the best substitute he would ever have. Napoleon smiled sadly and walked into the kitchen. He fried some eggs and put them in between his toasts. Finishing up his coffee, Napoleon tugged his Special into his shoulder holster and hoped that his boss, Alexander Waverly, would be giving him some interesting assignments, rather than the straightforward retrieval missions he seemed to keep getting recently.
UNCLE was only a few minute drive away, so Napoleon soon found himself in Del Floria’s. The plain looking tailor shop was actually the front of UNCLE’s New York Headquarters. He nodded to the shop owner and walked into the changing room. Twisting down the hanger, Napoleon entered the HQ. The pretty red-haired receptionist gave him her sweetest smile upon his arrival.
“Good morning, Mr. Solo.”
“Oh, hello there, Betty.”
Her smile broadened and she pinned the badge on Napoleon. “Napoleon, Mr. Waverly is waiting for you in the conference room.”
“Thank you, Betty, you’re an angel.”
He bent down slightly and planted a light kiss on her forehead, which was enough to make her cheeks burned up. He walked through the hallway, fairly aware of his charm and its affect on the people around him. He let out a chuckle at the thought that his childhood dream had indeed came true. He was really a secret agent now, who fought bad guys around the world, especially the evil organization known as Thrush. In fact, Napoleon Solo was the hottest young agent in UNCLE now, not only because of his natural charm and good look, but he was reliable, competent, and righteous. Graduated the first in Survival School three years ago, Napoleon immediately became one of the two candidates that were going to compete for the position of Chief Enforcement Agent. Mr.Waverly, Section One Number One, had already set his eyes on him, and had paid close attention to the young agent’s progress.
“Good morning, sir.” Napoleon entered the conference room and greeted his boss.
Waverly was sitting in his usual seat, an unlit pipe in mouth. “Good morning, Mr. Solo. Have a seat please.”
Napoleon took the seat and saw another agent sitting across from him. “Craig.”
He gave Napoleon a terse nod as an acknowledgment and immediately turned back to face Waverly. It was clear that the two men dislike each other.
Max Craig, who graduated a year before Napoleon from Survival School, used to be absolutely certain about his future position as CEA. However, after Napoleon came along, his position began to shaken, and even though he was still considered as the potential CEA, most of the people already knew that he would certainly lose to Napoleon. Napoleon had heard a lot of nasty rumors about him spreading by Craig, though he never had the guts to say them right in front of Napoleon. He accused him of sleeping his way up and tricking people, but as people had eyes could see, he was just plain jealous. He also firmly believed that Waverly was under Napoleon’s spell as well.
Napoleon scowled. It was distasteful to see him in such an early morning, but perhaps that meant an interesting assignment was coming up. He hoped it was about the security leak. UNCLE had been suffered from it for several weeks now, but somehow, it didn’t seem to bother Waverly that much. He sincerely wished that this was finally the time Waverly decided to take action, and Napoleon, unfortunately along with Craig, would be in charge of this mission.
Before handing the files to his agents, Waverly glared up at Napoleon.
“Mr. Solo, have you given a thought on our discussion yesterday?”
Napoleon frowned. Waverly meant the discussion about Napoleon’s potential partner.
“Um, sir. I did, but maybe not so soon.”
“Alright then, but perhaps you’ll consider changing your mind after this meeting.”
Waverly didn’t sound happy at all. Perhaps it was because of the lack of available agents at the time, Napoleon didn’t have any partner assigned to him when he began to work for UNCLE. After a while, he got used to working alone, and since he was always successful in his missions, Waverly didn’t press him too much. However, as Thrush became more and more tricky and Napoleon was now an even more valuable agent, Waverly thought it would be a good idea to have another agent to look after his back. Napoleon reluctantly listened to his boss listed all the benefits of having a partner and he even brought out a few of his own experiences in the field way back. Napoleon nodded politely, but in the back of his mind, he knew only Illya could be his partner. But of course he knew this was impossible, so he would settle with no partner at all.
“So, gentlemen,” Waverly cleared his throat to get his agents’ attentions.
Napoleon straightened up to prepare for the exciting news.
“since there aren’t a lot of missions require your attentions lately, I thought it would be a good idea for you to observe and comment on this year’s top three Survival School students who will be graduating next month. They would soon be working alongside with you, so I think it benefits a lot if you get to know them first.” He turned to Napoleon. “And perhaps Mr. Solo, you’ll be able to find a new partner.”
Napoleon couldn’t hide the disappointment showing on his face. This was even worse than the boring retrieval missions.
“You’ll be spending a month at Survival School overseeing their training and perhaps share your experiences or two to the newcomers. You’ll leave tomorrow.”
Napoleon thought grimly on spending a month on such a remote island, no fun, no excitement. This was definitely not the thing he sighed up for as an UNCLE agent. Also, this meant to deal with the unfriendly and impatient head of school, Mr. Cutter, which really made Napoleon hoped tomorrow wouldn’t come so soon.
He heard Craig sighed and murmured. “Fine, so now we’re actually going to babysit them…”
This was perhaps the only time Napoleon would ever agree with him, for they were in the same boat now.
Waverly gave each of them three files and dimmed the light in the conference room. “All three of the trainees applied for Section Two, but we only have one position currently available. So I want you, along with Mr. Cutter, to decide which one of them should be the most qualified to work in Section Two. You’ll find their background information in the files I just gave you.”
Napoleon opened up a random file reluctantly, pretended to read the words. Waverly pushed the button on the remote control and a photo of the first trainee came up on the screen. It wasn’t a very clear picture, but Napoleon could see that the subject had very nice features, and a pair of eyes that seemed to know all. While looking at the screen, Napoleon sensed Waverly’s voice in the background.
“Illya Kuryakin, 26 years old, born in Russia…”
Illya Kuryakin? Napoleon’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t be hearing it right, could he? He immediately fumbled through the files and located the one marked as Illya Nickovetch Kuryakin and carefully ran his fingers through the name making sure it was really the name of the person that he had been missing so much. But he still couldn’t believe this is really happening. He went through the information one by one carefully.
Born in Russia. Check.
Stayed in the United States briefly attending school when he was six. Check.
Blond hair and blue eyes, check.
IT WAS REALLY ILLYA!!!
Napoleon screamed in his head, or he thought he screamed in his head, but in fact, he actually shouted it out loud, because both his boss and Craig turned back to him in annoyance.
“Mr. Solo, we’re talking about Mr. Blair now. If you have any further questions regarding Mr. Kuryakin, I suggest you read over his file carefully.”
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry.”
But Napoleon was too happy to be sorry at all. After the meeting was over, he went back to his office and took out Illya’s photo in the file. Even though it was a black and white photo, it couldn’t conceal the beautiful shades of Illya’s hair and those brilliant blue eyes. He had a small smile on his face, and even though he seemed to be a little bit shy, he gave people the feeling of confidence and reliability. And was he ever beautiful, Napoleon thought. He folded the photo nicely and tucked it carefully in his wallet. He couldn’t wait to see Illya, the emptiness over the past 20 years had suddenly been filling up significantly. Waverly gave Napoleon and Craig an early day off to pack their bags. Napoleon cheerfully walked out of UNCLE, not even noticed how Betty batted her eyelashes feverishly trying to catch his attention.
Napoleon bought a hotdog from a vendor nearby HQ, and hurried back to prepare the luggage for his trip. He whistled while carefully folded his shirts and pajamas. He was so happy that it almost felt unreal! 20 years ago! And now he could meet Illya again! Although a small part of him worried about whether they would still remain such good friends after all those years, he quickly shook off this feeling and blamed it was years of seeing the worst of human beings in the world of spy that made him cynical from time to time. He would be so happy to see Illya and Illya would be too and that was definite. Checking his luggage for the last time, Napoleon saw Teddy on his nightstand and without a second thought, he packed it into his bag too. The person who inspected his luggage might give him a frown, but who cared? Nothing was more important than seeing Illya tomorrow. Taking a quick shower, Napoleon jumped into the bed. The dream took him back 20 years ago, a little golden hair boy and him meeting for the first time in the school’s hallway. Napoleon had a big smile on his face while he was sleeping that night.
......
Napoleon and Craig arrived at Survival School the next afternoon. He was extremely cheerful and not even the constant complaining from Craig could darken his mood. After settled down in a small room across the trainees’ dorm, Napoleon couldn’t wait to meet Illya. His heart pounded so fast like the first time he took his date out. He even felt Cutter was not as mean as before. He told Napoleon that he could find Illya in the indoor shooting range.
Even with the over-the-head earmuffs, he had no trouble identified Illya from the back. His blond hair shined like a beacon in the room. Napoleon nodded admirably seeing Illya hit his target every single time until he had to change the magazine.
“That’s my Illya.”
When Illya finished practicing and was removing his goggles and earmuffs, Napoleon called out softly behind.
“Illya.”
Illya froze and slowly turned around. His eyes widened in disbelief and his mouth dropped slightly. Napoleon smiled. Now in color, Illya was even more beautiful. His slightly damp blond hair, crystal clear blue eyes, and pouty red lips made him looked like an angel.
“Napoleon? Is it really you?”
They both walked forward a few steps and fell into each other’s arms.
“Napoleon Solo, I couldn’t believe this!” He pulled back and looked into Napoleon’s eyes.
“Didn’t Cutter tell you I’m coming?” Napoleon chuckled, delighted to see the joy in his friend’s eyes.
“No, no. He only said two Section Two agents are coming to ‘observe’,” he gave Napoleon a wicked smile. “whatever that meant.”
He held Illya closer and the smaller man didn’t resist. Illya was slender yet underneath it was all muscle. Illya’s stomach suddenly rumbled loudly and Napoleon couldn’t help but grin. Still the same old Illya.
“Join me for dinner?” Illya asked.
“Of course.”
The cafeteria was the only option for them. They found a table and Napoleon smiled fondly at Illya who ate his food with great appetite.
“I remember when I was in Surviving School, I was so sick of the food here, I didn’t think I could bare to even look at them again.”
Illya replied with his mouth full of noodles. “You learn to eat everything here, Napoleon.”
Napoleon raised his eyebrows. “Do you remember the first time you came to my house for dinner and you asked my mom to refill your plate three times?”
Illya nodded. “Of course. Your mom is a good cook.”
“She’ll be so delighted to hear that.”
Illya looked up at him. “I hope your parents are all well?”
“Yes, they are, thank you. And yours?”
Illya nodded and continued happily with another plate of noodles. At that time, Napoleon felt an unfriendly glare shooting over them. He turned back and saw Craig staring at them.
“What's he doing here?”
Napoleon turned back abruptly and saw Illya looking at the same direction as him.
“You know Max Craig?” Napoleon couldn’t hide his surprise.
Illya shrugged and went back to his food, this time, a bowl of soup.
“Just a casual acquaintance. He graduated from Cambridge a few years before me.”
“Oh.”
Napoleon saw Craig snarled a little and turned his gaze back.
“Not exactly the friendliest person.”
Napoleon nodded. “I totally agree with you.”
“Well, enough about him. Are you going to eat this?”
Illya pointed at a piece of garlic bread on Napoleon’s plate.
“No,” Illya reached over to the bread and sent it into his mouth. “hey, are you free to join me for a little nightcap?”
“Of course, Napoleon. Lights out is at eleven though.”
Napoleon waved his hand. “I’ll talk to Cutter and maybe he’ll be nice enough to extend the time for you.”
Maybe it was because of Waverly’s authority, but Cutter actually agreed to let Illya stayed up longer without asking for an explanation. Walking to his room with Illya, Napoleon thought how silly he was the day before to think of Illya and him might not be best friends anymore after all those years. They were still so in sync and so relax with each other as if they had kept in contact for over the past 20 years.
“Tell me more about yourself. How have you been?” Napoleon asked when they settled down on a small sofa in the room.
“Fine, fine. I joined the Russia Navy for a brief period of time and went to Cambridge, then I decided to become an UNCLE agent, so I enrolled in Survival School… Napoleon?”
Napoleon didn’t pay a lot of attentions on what Illya was saying, he was too caught on on how beautiful his friend had became. He thought he already went through that stage, but in fact, it was just the beginning, such a beautiful creature, like a perfect Greek sculpture. Still a few inches shorter than Napoleon, yet he was very well-proportionate. He still couldn’t forget how good it was to hold Illya so close to him. Napoleon was not unaware of male beauty, but he guessed before Illya, he had never really paid a lot of attentions to the men around him.
“Napoleon!!” Illya’s voice snapped him back to reality.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Illya. What were you saying?”
“No, I’m sorry, Napoleon, I don’t know why I bored you with my stories, I guess you read all about me when you knew you’re going to come here.”
“As a matter of fact, I did. The old man gave me your file. But Illya, remember, you’re never boring to me.”
Illya gave him a smile. “I’ll remember that. But ‘the old man’?”
“Oh, I mean Mr. Waverly. Section One Number One.”
“Oh yes, I heard about him.”
“How can I forget? How’s your grandmother?”
“She passed away a few years ago.”
“Oh, I’m very sorry. She was an extraordinary woman.”
“Thank you. She lived a long and happy life.”
Silence fell upon them. When Illya met Napoleon’s eyes again, he saw a weird smile on his face.
“Well, what is it? Ask on.” Illya probed him with his elbow.
He really couldn’t hide anything from Illya.
“Have you… umm, met anyone?”
Napoleon wondered whether he had pushed the boundary a little bit too far even for Illya, but he just smiled and shook his head slightly.
“If you meant my love life, the answer is no. I didn’t have the time.”
Napoleon let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“How about you?”
Napoleon thought about his fleeting romances and that was all, nothing beyond the surface level.
“Not for me either. Oh! I almost forgot!”
Napoleon jumped up and went through his luggage and took out Teddy. Illya widened his eyes.
“I can’t believe you still have Teddy!”
Illya took it over and held it tightly to his chest.
“Did I ever break your promises?”
Illya shook his head and toyed with the purple button. “I remember this.”
Watching him hugging his Teddy bear tightly, the image of a blond hair little boy suddenly popped into Napoleon’s mind, and he couldn’t help but felt the warmth in his heart. He wanted to ask Illya to spend the night with him and they could chat until the morning arrive, but decided to against it in the end, since Illya needed to get up early for his final training. He sat down to write the report Waverly wanted him to write after Illya had left. Waverly wanted to know what Napoleon thought about the top three trainees of the year, but honestly, he couldn’t even remember the names of the other two. He thought maybe he should just start with Illya. Then within a minute, he wrote down over ten points on why Illya should and would be a great Section Two UNCLE agent. Looking over his list, Napoleon sighed and tossed the paper aside. It was best if he simply told Waverly that he had found a person that he wanted to be partnered with, and he was just awesome. He hoped Waverly would not be against it. He really had no reason to.
The next morning Napoleon found Illya and a couple of trainees at the swimming pool. Illya was standing on the side waiting for his turn to jump into the water. He gave Napoleon a small smile when he spotted him. Napoleon gave him a small wave in return. Then he saw Illya jumped into the water gracefully, and liked 20 years ago, his heart skipped a beat. But unlike before, which was merely admiration for his swimming skill, this time, Napoleon knew he was in love.
The idea of falling in love with Illya never crossed him at all. He only regarded Illya as his best friend, a person that he could trust completely and shared everything. However, upon meeting Illya yesterday, Napoleon knew that his feeling for Illya was much more than friends. He wanted him and he loved him. He never talked about love lightly, so the feeling both excited him and frightened him. He wanted to tell Illya what he felt, but afraid to be rejected or worse, Illya didn’t want to be his friend anymore. In the end, he decided to wait and observe. No matter what, he already had Illya by his side, and that was what counted. He swore to himself that no matter what happened, he’d love and protect Illya with everything he had.
His attention was drawn back to the scene when his friend climbed back up the pool. Napoleon’s breath was immediately being taken away, when the sight of Illya in his barely visible swim trunk appeared in front of him. Drops of water streamed down from his body, outlined his physics and made his skin glowed. Napoleon felt his body suddenly heated up as if on fire and he quickly hid behind the wall, trying desperately to compose himself. Never had any person had this effect on him; he was so used to being the one that gave people this feeling. He had indeed being attracted to other’s physical beauty before, but nothing came so strong and powerful. I really had this bad. Napoleon thought.
Napoleon and Illya planned to have lunch together. Upon entering the cafeteria, he smiled as he spotted the familiar figure sitting at a table on the side. But when he walked nearer, he found that Illya wasn’t alone. Craig was sitting opposite him. He thought of breaking up the conversation at first, but despite his hatred for Craig, he knew that would be very impolite, especially towards Illya. So Napoleon stayed a few tables away, trying to make out what they were saying. However, due to the distance, he could only make out the two’s expressions. He saw Illya frowned and shook his head, and after a moment, Craig stood up and left seemly not too happy.
Napoleon watched in awe as Illya put more food in his mouth and chewed them happily. He couldn’t believe Illya could still be so appetitive towards this poor quality food in the cafeteria. He also contemplated on whether he should ask Illya what does Craig say to him, but he was afraid that Illya might think he was spying on him. And of course he knew Illya could take care of himself, but knowing Craig’s nasty personality, Napoleon couldn’t resist but try to at least get a vague sense of their conversation.
“Anything interesting?”
Illya didn’t look up at him. “Nothing much, the usual.”
“Do you have anything you want to tell me?”
Illya stopped chewing and looked up. “Do I?”
“Well, no…”
Napoleon thought of just letting this subject passed, maybe he shouldn’t overthink things, after all, Illya did know Craig way before he did. But still couldn’t hold back his tongue, Napoleon blurted out.
“You know you can tell me anything don’t you?”
Illya regarded Napoleon and nodded. “I know,” Then he smiled. “but really, Napoleon, there’s nothing to tell.”
“Alright,” Letting the matter dropped for the time being, Napoleon immediately remembered he had something much more important to tell Illya. “but I have something to tell you.”
That got Illya’s full attention. “What is it?”
“Well, I want to ask you to be my partner after you start working for UNCLE, is that okay for you?”
Illya opened his mouth slightly.
“You don’t have a partner yet? I thought every UNCLE agent has a partner once they arrived.”
“Well, they do, but for some unknown reason, none of the agents were available at the time I got in, and after a while I got used to working alone.”
“Then why me? I might not pass the final exam.”
Illya pouted and his eyes widened in mocked innocence.
“You know and I know you’ll pass the exam, Illya! And not just pass it, you’ll be the first in the class!”
Napoleon stopped for a second. “Even way before I knew you were going to join UNCLE, I swore to myself there was only one partner I wanted and that was you.”
He blushed slightly for spelling out such an honest confession. Illya didn’t say anything but lowered his head, and Napoleon looked up worriedly.
“Well, is that a yes or a no?”
“Of course it’s a yes, Napoleon! You know we always want to work with each other, it’s like a dream come true! In fact, being able to see you after 20 years…” It was Illya’s turn to blush. “Should you tell Mr. Waverly?”
“I already did.” Napoleon said with a smug look.
Illya narrowed his eyes. “You’re pretty sure of yourself, huh?”
The next few days Napoleon saw through the training and got to meet almost all the trainees who were going to graduate this year. Not surprisingly, the majority of his attentions were of course put on his soon-to-be partner. He saw through all of Illya’s training sessions and was proud of Illya’s intelligence, speed, and strength. He was not only talented, but hard-working. None of the details escaped him, and he wasn’t exactly surprised when he found Illya also played the English horn and oboe.
After one of his wrestling practices was over, Illya stayed behind to review some of the techniques.
“How are you doing there, partner mine?”
“Napoleon!” Illya looked up in surprise when he saw Napoleon entered the gym.
“Need someone to practice with you?”
“Are you sure you’re up to the challenge?” Illya said, grinning.
Napoleon rolled up his sleeves. “Oh, I’m not? I’m pretty good at wrestling you know.”
For a while, they competed in equal strength and skill, it was extremely hard to determine who would be the winner. Finally, Napoleon gained the upper hand and pinned his smaller friend firmly on the mat. Their bodies pressed close together, and it was just a few inches away for Napoleon to kiss those red pouty lips. They looked into each other’s eyes and Napoleon automatically licked his lips and saw Illya mirrored his action. If he ever had any doubt, now he knew he was absolutely in love with his beautiful Russian friend. But this was neither the time nor the place for him to give in to his passion, instead, he turned his attention back to the match.
“Give up?”
Illya shook his head firmly. “Never.”
Napoleon pretended to pin him down harder. “Give up, Illya Nickovetch, you haven’t got a chance.”
Illya was smiling now, but he still shook his head.
“Okay, you asked for this, Kuryakin.”
Napoleon loosened his hold slightly and began to tickle him.
“Hey! Napoleon Solo, that’s not fair!” Illya managed to shout out his protest in between giggles.
“Anything is fair when you’re in the hand of an enemy!”
Napoleon tickled him some more and was delighted to find a spot that made Illya giggled the most.
“No enemy will use this kind of lame way to their enemies!”
He pretended to frown angrily. “What do you mean ‘this kind of lame way’, huh?”
Seeing Illya wiggling and giggling under him, made Napoleon’s body heated up with desire.
“This lame way!”
Illya giggled some more and tried to push Napoleon’s hands away. It was not until tears were in Illya’s eyes did he shout out.
“Okay! Napoleon, I give up! You win.”
“I didn’t hear you.”
“I say you win!!”
Napoleon smiled satisfactorily and rolled off of Illya onto the side. Illya slowly caught his breath and supported himself up with an elbow. He looked up at Napoleon.
“So what are you going to do with me?”
At the moment, Napoleon turned to watch his friend, unable to understand him.
“I mean, you win, and you can have your way with me,” Illya smiled through his long lashes. “just this time though.” He immediately added.
At the back of his mind, Napoleon wondered whether Illya knew how sexual the way he said it, or was he simply thinking too much again. Napoleon turned back and closed his eyes. He really had this bad. He took a few deep breaths and still decided that this was not the time to confess his love for Illya. And even if Illya accepted his love, this was certainly not the time nor the place to make a hot mess on this not exactly hygienic mat. He turned back to his blue eyes partner who was waiting for his answer.
“Will you have dinner with me?”
Illya smiled. “That’s it?”
Napoleon put a hand gently on his friend’s shoulder. “That’s it.” And he silently thought. For now.
The following weeks Napoleon saw through the training and spent as much time as possible with Illya, who seemed to be enjoyed his company greatly as he did. Napoleon ruefully admitted to himself that he was in love, for the thousandth time, truly in love. Illya’s reappearance finally starting to fulfill the emptiness he had been feeling for years and made his life moving towards completion. The only thing he had to do now was to tell Illya, but not now, soon, he hoped. To no one’s surprise, Illya passed through all the graduation exams smoothly, and Napoleon couldn’t help showing the pride in his eyes. He wouldn’t deny that he also felt a tiny bit jealous because Illya beat a few of his records when he was in Survival School. During the last exam, Napoleon saw through the whole process through the window into a small room, where Illya and a row of trainees dissembled and reassembled all kinds of weapons ranging from UNCLE Special to Thrush rifles. Illya did it with speed and grace and even the stern face head of school nodded his approval when examining the result. The exam also required the trainees to go through the same process again, but with blindfolds on. It didn’t pose the least bit of obstacle for Illya, who still managed to accomplish his test with the same speed and accuracy.
Napoleon smiled and prepared to go in the room to congratulate his friend when the exam ended. To his surprise, Craig got in first and walked in the room directly towards Illya. Napoleon stopped his steps and saw him touched Illya’s shoulder and Illya turned around and smiled briefly at him. He saw them stood up and Craig led Illya to a more concealed corner. Napoleon’s heart pounded so hard and tried desperately to make out the two’s conversation. Before he could start applying his limited knowledge on lip-reading, Napoleon’s whole body froze when he saw Craig slowly raised his hand and caressed Illya’s cheek in a most intimate way. Like suddenly being struck by a lightning bolt, there were a few seconds in which Napoleon simply couldn’t move or speak. Even though his expression remained composed, thanks to all the years of practices under extreme pressure and pain, his whole being was screaming, screaming, and screaming. It only helped a little to see Illya widened his eyes in obvious shock and immediately batted Craig’s hand away. Napoleon’s brain was still a mess and couldn’t make out the words Illya said, he only saw Craig narrowed his eyes in fury and quickly walked away.
With Cutter’s permission, Napoleon and Illya took the cafeteria food back to Napoleon’s room to celebrate Illya passing through all the graduation exams and also welcoming him to become a Section Two UNCLE agent. However, when Illya and he started to eat dinner, the atmosphere between them was weird and tense. Though Napoleon suspected it was rather one-sided, Illya didn’t seem to notice at all as he happily consumed his food again. Napoleon looked at the greasy noodles in disgust and put his fork down. Illya looked up at him with obvious concern.
“Are you alright, Napoleon?”
The words Napoleon planned to say was ‘I’m fine, Illya. Nothing to worry about.’ but instead, it came out sharp and straight.
“What did Craig say to you?”
“What?” Illya swallowed down his food.
“You know what I mean, when you finished the last exam.”
“Nothing.” Illya responded quietly and lowered his eyes.
Napoleon felt his patience suddenly wore thin.
“You liar, I saw him touched you!” Napoleon said, almost angry. “I told you not to stay too close to him, he’s a nasty person!”
Illya put down his fork and came back with equal force.
“Why are you talking to me like I’m a 3 year old? I can take care of myself!”
Napoleon stood up abruptly and walked towards the window. There wasn’t any view since it was pitch black outside, but he stared at a random spot trying his best to calm himself. He took a deep breath and relaxed the fists that he didn’t know he was clenching. He began to rethink Illya’s words. Illya was right, he did can take care of himself, and it really wasn’t his business. Even if Illya was his best friend and the most important person in his life, he didn’t have to tell Napoleon everything, though merely thought of that broke his heart to pieces.
“I’m sorry, Napoleon.”
Napoleon turned back and saw Illya looking at him apologetically. His anger suddenly dissipated when he met his friend’s soft blue eyes.
“No, I’m sorry, Illya. I didn’t mean to sound so nasty, and you’re right, you can take care of yourself.”
He wanted to gather Illya in his arms and held him and told him that let’s forget this stupid argument that was ruining their night. Instead, he walked over and sat down on the sofa across Illya.
“Craig and I worked in the lab when we were both in Cambridge. He was an okay guy, at least that was what I thought at first. He was very good in chemistry and when I asked him questions, he was usually nice enough to answer them.”
Napoleon was surprised at first for Illya’s sudden openness, but he nodded and encouraged him to go on.
“I thought that was it between us, casual acquaintance and occasional classmate. But one day when we were alone in the lab, he suddenly said that he wanted me and tried to touch me.”
Napoleon inhaled deeply and Illya cast his eyes down. He put a hand gently on Illya’s.
“I told him there was nothing between us, and if he touched me again, I’d break his arm. He called me a fucking little liar, but didn’t dare to touch me anymore.”
Napoleon felt guilty because he too, just called Illya a liar a few minutes ago. This time, Napoleon didn’t think anymore, he gathered Illya in his arms and was glad to find Illya didn’t pull away, rather he put his head on his shoulder.
“I thought it was all over by then, but today he told me the same thing, and insisted that there was something between us and that I wanted it as bad as he did.”
Napoleon felt his arms tightened around Illya, his protective instinct was in full force. More reasons to hate Max Craig. Illya must had felt it, because he looked up at Napoleon and smiled.
“Don’t worry, Napoleon, it was all been taken care of. I don’t think he’ll bother me again. I seemed to broke all his fantasies.”
Napoleon wondered what Illya had said to Craig, but he didn’t ask, just nodded. They stayed in the embrace for another few minutes before Illya finally broke the contact.
“I’m sorry if I ruined our night, Napoleon. It was supposed to be a celebration of me passing all the exams and becoming an official member of UNCLE.”
“No, you didn’t ruin anything, Illya. Thank you for telling me.”
He felt immensely proud that Illya was willing to share something that was so unpleasant and private with him.
“And congratulation, Illya, you know how proud I am for you?”
“I know, you said that countless time already.”
“I did? Then there’s no harm for me to say it again, you’re the best UNCLE will ever have.”
“Second of the best.” Illya corrected.
“Oh?” Napoleon tilted one of his eyebrows.
“You’re the best UNCLE ever have.” They both smiled.
“How about we both are the best UNCLE will ever have?”
“Yes, the best team ever.”
They finally stood up and cleaned up the plates.
“Napoleon?”
“Yes, Illya?”
“Could I spend a night on your sofa? I thought it would be a great idea since this will be the last night before we meet again next month… so…”
“By all means, Illya.” Napoleon smiled at the idea.
With Cutter’s recommendation and Illya’s willingness, Waverly agreed for him to stay another month in Survival School to teach the lower level trainees one of his expertise- explosive.
Illya took a quick shower and changed into his light blue pajamas. He smiled when he saw Napoleon already placed a pillow and a blanket on the sofa.
“Good night, Napoleon.”
Napoleon found himself staring, thinking of how perfectly Illya’s eyes matched his pajamas, and how cute he looked.
“Napoleon?” His friend cocked his head to a side.
“Oh, nothing, Illya. Good night.”
Illya climbed onto the sofa and slid down in it. He was fast asleep, and Napoleon realized he wasn’t particularly wanted to leave. But it was late, and he needed to get up early. Napoleon checked on Illya when he got out of the shower. He rearranged the blanket on him and smoothed over the silky blond hair lightly before turning off the light at the living room.
......
“I’ll see you in a month, Illya.”
They stood at the port of Survival School saying their goodbyes.
“Alright, see you, Napoleon.”
Napoleon picked up his luggage and loaded them into a small canoe that would take him to the boat then sailed back to New York City. He squeezed Illya’s arm affectionately for one last time before he boarded. Even a month seemed to be too long for him. Now that he had Illya, he didn’t want to let him go, even for just a short period of time.
“Be a good boy, Illya, don’t blow up things that you shouldn’t.”
Illya waved his hand in a mock gesture of impatience.
“Get out of here before I really do it.”
Napoleon chuckled and waved him goodbye. Getting back to New York, Napoleon felt so thrilled that soon he would be walking into UNCLE HQ with Illya, side by side.
“Mr. Waverly is waiting for you in the office, Napoleon.”
The beautiful receptionist, Jenny this time, pinned the badge on him and batted her long, curly eyelashes flirtatiously.
“It’s good to see you back, Napoleon. Any plans tonight?”
Napoleon smiled. Normally, he would immediately ask her out and took her to an expensive restaurant as soon as he finished work. She was attractive, but he no longer felt tempting anymore. He gave her his most charming smile.
“Next time, dear, next time. Unfortunately, I already have plans tonight.”
She pouted her lips and said no more. She probably thought he already had another date, but truth to be told, he didn’t have any dates, only a thorough shopping list to produce. As soon as Illya passed the exams and became an official member of UNCLE, Waverly informed him that UNCLE personnel had already arranged an apartment for Illya, and luckily, there was an available one five floors above Napoleon’s own. UNCLE only provided basic furnishing, nothing fancy. So he had already started to contemplate what kind of furniture and decorations he wanted to put in for Illya. He really wanted to make the place looked similar to Illya’s childhood home in the States, because of all those great memories they had shared together in there.
The following few days, he began to go shopping for the list of items he wrote down in his little notebook. Other than the additional furnishing, he encountered some more challenges when he discovered Illya had an enormous amount of books and journals, which gradually arrived to the apartment. Illya decided to send them from Survival School first when he found out he had a new home. How could Napoleon find shelves that fit all the books, but at the same time, had beautiful decorations for this place? What’s worse, Illya’s apartment was much smaller than his. After some trial and error, and some helpful advice from the shop owners, he managed to fit in most of Illya’s books and decorated the apartment to a degree that he felt was quite similar to Illya’s childhood home. When all those heavy works were finished, Napoleon started to search for shops where they sold authentic Russian dessert and tea. This was perhaps the biggest challenge so far. He tried out some of the bakeries, which all claimed to be authentic, but none of the tastes came close to what Illya’s grandmother used to make for them. He even tried to make his own from memory. He wasn’t a bad cook in general, but it was a total disaster. He laughed at himself, Napoleon Solo, the charming and suave UNCLE agent, was currently wearing an apron and there was flour on his face. But he found he didn’t feel the least bit of annoyance. Thinking of Illya, and how he smiled that beautiful smile at him made Napoleon rolled up his sleeves and tried again. He regretted not asking Illya’s grandmother for recipes, but shrugged the thought off. How could he, he was just a little boy back then. It was not until another attempt did he admit defeat. Fortunately, he finally found a little bakery hidden around the corner not far away from HQ. The dessert and the tea tasted the closest to the ones he had when he was little.
Napoleon looked around Illya’s new apartment again. It was the day Illya would arrive at UNCLE HQ. Everything was in order, he surveyed around satisfactory again. Illya would be very happy, and he knew it. Then he snapped his fingers, oh! he forgot all about Teddy. He went back to his apartment and came back with the Teddy bear. He put it on top of the nightstand and gave it a content pat on the head.
“So this is it.”
Illya arrived at UNCLE HQ at 2 pm precisely. Napoleon was already waiting for him at the entrance.
“Napoleon!” Illya beamed at him.
Without a second thought, Napoleon pulled Illya in and gave him a hug in front of another receptionist, Kathy. Illya’s face was flushed in embarrassment, but he hugged Napoleon back. Illya stammered when Napoleon pinned the badge on him.
“Thank… you, Napoleon…”
From the way Kathy looked at Illya, Napoleon could see that she find Illya attractive too. He didn’t know why, but he felt a surge of pride knowing Illya would be his, eventually, he hoped. He showed Illya around the UNCLE HQ, and ignored Craig completely, who stopped his steps and watched them walked by. Then he led Illya into their shared office. Before they could have time to sit down and chatted, they were both called to the office. They walked in the office seeing Waverly at his desk, putting down the file he was reading.
“Welcome, Mr. Kuryakin. I heard a lot about you. It’s a pleasure to have you with us.” He shook Illya’s hand.
“Thank you, sir.”
“I’m just asking you in to see how you’re doing.”
Illya nodded. “Everything is fine, sir.”
“Very well,” He looked at his new agent then to Napoleon. “both of you have the rest of the week off for Mr. Kuryakin to settle down. Come back Monday morning at 9 am.”
“Thank you, sir.” They both raised and prepared to walk out of the door.
“Um, Mr. Kuryakin, did Mr. Solo tell you about your apartment?”
“No, sir. But I mean I know about that I have a new apartment…”
Waverly cut him off before he was finished. “I think you’ll enjoy it, Mr. Solo spent a lot of time decorating it.”
Waverly lowered his head and continued to busy himself in the files in front of him. Illya looked at Napoleon in anticipation and Napoleon blushed. He didn’t know the old man was tracking his movements so closely. It was not until he felt Illya tugging his shirt that he looked back at him.
“Napoleon, show me my apartment now, okay?”
“Sure, sure.” He nodded clumsily.
“I can’t wait to see it.”
Riding up to the apartment, Napoleon suddenly felt a wave of panic. What if Illya didn’t like it? What if he thought it was stupid? Wanted this to be over as quickly as possible, Napoleon walked right out of the elevator without waiting for Illya. Illya had a puzzled expression on his face when he tried to catch up with him.
Napoleon pressed the code and opened the door. “Here it is.”
Illya opened his mouth in surprise as he looked around.
“This is wonderful, Napoleon!”
Napoleon felt himself let out a big breath and relaxed.
“You think so?”
“Of course! This is amazing! Just like the one I used to live in!” He ran his fingers lightly through all the books on the shelves. “And you managed to put all my books in.”
Napoleon led Illya to his bedroom, and Illya saw Teddy on the nightstand. “And you remember Teddy!”
Napoleon smiled. “I’m glad you like everything, Illya. While you and Teddy have your reunion, I’ll be in the kitchen.”
Illya nodded and held Teddy up.
When Napoleon finished making Russian tea and putting the dessert on the plates, Illya was already sitting at the dining table. He widened his eyes when he saw the traditional Russian dessert.
“Is that for me?”
Napoleon chuckled. “Did you see anyone around here besides you?”
Illya shook his head and picked up one of the round ones and put it in his mouth. They stayed silent for a while then Illya finished them and licked his fingers.
“These are delicious, Napoleon, They tasted just like the ones grandma used to make.”
After the dessert and the tea, Illya leaned back in his chair and sighed in contentment. He smiled at Napoleon.
“Thank you so much, Napoleon.” He paused a little. “For everything. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay you.”
“There’s no need, Illya.” I just want to see you happy, because I love you, very very much. “If you still have the stomach, we can go get dinner later.”
“Of course!” Illya answered without hesitation.
“Well, you should unpack and we’ll meet at… say 6:30? I’ll come up to get you.”
“Okay.”
Napoleon opened the door, and before he could get out, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back and saw Illya smiling at him.
“Thanks again, Napoleon.”
“You’re welcome.”
After the dinner, they went to Napoleon’s apartment for a little nightcap, it seemed to become their usual activity now. Illya was delighted to find he had Vodka in his shelf, and was super flattered knowing that Napoleon specially prepared for him. They talked about their past and especially the exciting future they would be sharing together in UNCLE. In the end, even though Illya adored his new apartment greatly, he spent the night on Napoleon’s sofa again.
......
The following few weeks, Napoleon and Illya were assigned several moderately challenging missions. They weren’t exactly difficult compared to some of the ones Napoleon had before. However, all of them required team effort, or in this case, the cooperation between partners. Napoleon knew Waverly was secretly testing how well they worked with each other. When he told Waverly he was going to choose Illya as his partner the first day he arrived at Survival School, Waverly didn’t say anything except, “very well, Mr. Solo.” He seemed to like Illya very much, and he didn’t seem to doubt Illya’s ability. Napoleon guessed their boss was just trying to see whether this partnership was indeed as good as his agent believed. His slight concern was of course proven to be redundant. Napoleon and Illya worked together very very well. Of course, as the senior partner, Napoleon needed to teach the less experienced Illya. But Illya learned very fast and once Napoleon had taught him, he never needed to be reminded for the second time. They were so in sync, like their friendship; one gesture or one move from either one was immediately pick up by the other, and he in turn knew what to do next. Waverly was very pleased. And even though the official letter hadn’t come down yet, he already hinted that Napoleon would become the Chief Enforcement Agent.
When Napoleon and Illya were asked to Waverly’s office, he didn’t expect to see Craig and his partner, Thomas Price. As usual, Craig glared at them, especially towards Napoleon. He could feel the hatred in Craig’s eyes. Napoleon didn’t waste any time, but cast back a not too friendly glance as well. Then he turned and nodded to Price, who nodded back in return. Price wasn’t a bad guy in Napoleon’s opinion, as a matter of fact, he constantly felt sorry for him who had to work with Craig so closely.
“I don’t believe you meet Mr. Kuryakin, Mr. Price?” Waverly asked.
“No, sir.” Illya and Price shook hands.
“And I believe you met Mr. Kuryakin a while ago.” He turned to Craig.
They exchanged a polite yet clearly forced nod.
After distributing the files to his four agents, Waverly lit up his pipe.
“As you can see, gentlemen, UNCLE has been investigating the security leak for a few months. As we know that Thrush recently has their hands on a lot of UNCLE’s secret codes and plans on our future operations.” Waverly took a puff of his pipe. “Yesterday, our intelligence finally located the storage of UNCLE’s most valuable files in a nearby Thrush hideout. Your mission, gentlemen, was to destroy the computers that store the information.”
All the agents nodded.
“Sir, was there any clues as to who was the one that leaked out our information?” Price asked.
“Not exactly, gentlemen, but after all the evidence, we suspect a mole within our agency.”
“A mole?” Craig narrowed his eyes.
“Yes, Mr. Craig, but nothing was certain yet.” Waverly turned to Illya. “Mr. Kuryakin, this is where your expertise will come into play. You’ll be the one who plant the explosives,” He turned to his three other agents. “as the hideout will be heavy-guarded, you three will provide back-ups for Mr. Kuryakin.”
Napoleon couldn’t help but scowl at the idea of going on a mission with Craig.
“Mr. Holt from the intelligence will provide you with maps and more information on the basic layout. And you’ll be going tomorrow morning precisely at 8 am.” Waverly sat back in his seat. “That’s it, gentlemen. Dismiss.”
They all stood up and prepared to leave.
“Oh wait, please stay for a few minutes, Mr. Solo.”
“I’ll wait for you outside.” Illya said and walked out of the door.
“Yes, sir?” Waverly waited until the conference room was left with only the two of them.
“Mr. Solo, I understand the fuel between you and Mr. Craig, but please put that aside for the sake of the mission.”
Napoleon froze for a second and immediately nodded dumbly. “Yes… sir.”
This was not the first time he suspected whether Waverly had microphones planted on all his shirts and monitored him twenty-four seven.
According to the plan, the four UNCLE agents arrived at the Thrush hideout at exactly 8:30 am. Its front was an old and abandoned warehouse, which normally would not raise any suspicions. As the information indicated, the computers were located in the basement, and Illya was to go directly to destroy them via a secret staircase, which even Thrush didn’t know its existence. Although there were no guards over there, Illya did need some time to work out the highly secured steel bar gate. So the other agents’ duties were to buy time for Illya.
“Be careful.” Napoleon said to Illya, who bent down to check his explosives in the backpack.
“You too.” He gave him a small smile and disappeared down the narrow staircase.
Napoleon didn’t notice it, but there was a weird smirk on Craig’s face.
Checking their map, it showed that two levels above at the opposite side of where the computers were located, there were three main hallways that were heavily guarded. Napoleon, Craig, and Price were each in charge of one hall. Their missions were to make sure that the guards didn’t suspect anything at all, and when Illya was finished, they would meet and exit together. It was going smoothly, Napoleon looked at his watch, his partner still had twenty minutes, and the guards didn’t seem to notice anything. Before Napoleon could congratulate himself for yet another successful mission, he heard a scream from the hall that was supposed to be guarded by Craig. Napoleon gestured Price, and the two slowly walked towards the hall. They saw blood streamed down Craig’s head and he was held limply between two Thrush guards. Napoleon held up his Special and aimed at the head of one of the guards, and Price did the same to the other one. But before they could pull the triggers, Napoleon felt a cold barrel nuzzled harshly at the back of his head. Napoleon and Price slowly put their Specials down, and planned to knock the guard down with his elbow.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Napoleon turned around in surprise when he saw Craig pointing a gun at him, the other hand holding up a handkerchief to wipe off the fake blood on his forehead. Before he could react, a guard held his arms back in a painful position.
Craig snarled at Napoleon. “Surprise, surprise.”
“So you are the Thrush mole! I should have known it!” Price shouted angrily and tried to struggle out of the strong hold.
“Shut up.” Craig said as he fired his gun once, right between Price’s eyes.
Napoleon watched in shock as Price’s lifeless body fell to the ground making a loud thud. Craig kicked over the body.
“It’s a pity, he wasn’t that bad.”
Until now, Napoleon in his whole life couldn’t believe how he could hate a person so deeply.
“At least when he closed his mouth.” Craig shrugged and turned his gaze back to Napoleon.
Napoleon knew struggle was useless. He wondered what Craig would do to him next. He had a feeling that Craig wanted to kill him very slowly and in an extremely painful way. But most importantly, he only hoped Illya would be able to get away.
“Get this body away, and tied him up.” Craig gestured the body then to Napoleon.
He was dragged to a cell and both his hands and legs were being bound securely. They left him after tying him to a chair and closed the steel bar gate. Napoleon looked around the cell, trying to figure out a way to escape. There was only a small window high on one side, and he soon realized the only way he could escape was until the guards opened the gate and knocked them off to get out of here.
While Napoleon was working out plan B, Craig walked in with a menacing smile.
“Well, well, well. The famous Napoleon Solo.” He looked at Napoleon’s tied form up and down in satisfaction. “I wonder what Waverly will think if he sees his soon-to-be-CEA helplessly bind to a chair.”
Napoleon tried his best to give him his coldest glare.
“What do you want, Craig?”
“What do I want, umm…” He looked up dramatically. “I want you to take this very very personally. I only hope you won’t scream too hard when I kill you, slowly and painfully.”
“So this is your plan all along. You plan to kill me then plant me as the Thrush mole, so you can take home the trophy.” Napoleon said as dawn suddenly struck him.
“Bingo!” He tapped on Napoleon’s brain and Napoleon turned his head away in disgust. “There is indeed something after all in your pretty head. I can’t find words to describe how much I hate you, Solo. You destroyed all my plans.”
He stretched out his fingers and started to count.
“My initial plan was to slowly work my way up to become CEA and eventually to Waverly’s place while in the process leaking out all the information to Thrush. Soon enough, UNCLE will be a part of Thrush, and naturally, I’ll be placed in one of the most important positions in the organization.”
“I’m sorry if I ruined your perfect plan.” Napoleon replied dryly and at the same time secretly worked on the rope binding his hands.
“But well, I think plan B is working nicely, don’t you think?”
Craig walked behind Napoleon, so he had to stop working on the rope.
“After I kill you and make you look like the Thrush mole, I’ll be able to continue my place as CEA and yes, everything is working perfectly.”
Craig rubbed his hands together, and suddenly snapped his fingers.
“Oh, and I almost forgot! Since my partner was died and so will you soon, Illya will naturally be my partner.” He emphasized ‘my’ and smirked.
Upon hearing Illya’s name, Napoleon widened his eyes in anger.
“If you ever think of putting your hands on Illya, I’ll haunt you down even as a ghost.”
“Oh, come, come, come, Solo. Nothing to worry, I’ll take good care of Illya.”
Craig licked his lips and one of his hands went to his groin.
“Very good care indeed.”
Merely thought of the image of him touching Illya made Napoleon wanted to puck and broke every bone in Max Craig’s body. He prayed that Illya had already got out safely and reported back to UNCLE. The last thing Napoleon wanted to see was if Illya got hurt or being molested by Craig.
He suddenly felt painful as his chin was roughly left up.
“I really don’t know what Illya sees in you… I don’t find you attractive at all.” Illya… Found me attractive? The sudden surprise must had shown on Napoleon’s face. “You mean you don’t know it?”
Napoleon continued to stare at him.
“I told him I want him like a billion times. He always tried to give me those lame excuses and I thought he would eventually compile to my wishes. But the last time I said this to him during his last exam,” Craig squeezed Napoleon’s chin harder, enough to make him winced more. “do you want to know what that little fucker said to me? He said he was in love with someone else. I said I didn’t believe him and he said he was in love with Napoleon Solo. Can you believe that?” Illya… was in love with me? “I told him not to lie to me, but I soon found out that he was not joking. Oh, yes, I’m not blind, I noticed how he looked at you and the way he talked to you…”
Napoleon felt his bond loosened a little bit more and his mouth fell slightly open.
“Well, it didn’t matter now, I’ll soon be the CEA and Illya will be mine. If he still doesn’t want it, I guess I’ll just have to force it on him…” He looked into Napoleon’s eyes. “you know I don’t want to hurt him.”
Napoleon considered him for a moment and spat right into his eye. Craig jumped backward in shock and took out his handkerchief to wipe the saliva away.
“You’ll be sorry, Solo.” Before he could strike Napoleon with the back of his hand, a guard came in. Craig nodded reluctantly. “Seemed like I have some businesses to attend to. I’ll make you feel even sorrier when I get back.” He left the cell and the guard locked up the gate.
Napoleon continued to work on the rope. He was so close when he suddenly heard a soft whisper.
“Psst, Napoleon!”
Napoleon looked around in confusion, it sounded like Illya.
“Here, Napoleon!”
Napoleon saw Illya in Thrush’s uniform, crouching behind the steel bar gate. He used his eyes to signal Illya when he saw Craig and the guard returned back to the cell. Illya had already disappeared.
Craig looked down at Napoleon.
“Looks like we have to postpone our little party here, but I’ll be back soon.”
He turned to the guard. “You got the little blond guy lock in the computer room?”
“Yes, everything is under control, sir.”
“Very well. I can’t wait to get my hands on him.”
He rubbed his hands together and grinned when he saw the obvious anger displayed on Napoleon’s face. “Meanwhile, don’t miss me too much, Solo.”
Seeing Craig walked out of the cell and disappeared down the corridor, Illya attacked the guard who was preparing to lock up the cell.
While Illya untied the rope around Napoleon’s ankles, he freed himself from the hand bond.
“I already called the backup team, and I think they’ll be here any minute now.”
Napoleon looked at the person he loved in front of him, how could he be so blind as to not see Illya was also deeply in love with him?
“Napoleon, are you alright? He didn’t give you any drugs, did he?” Illya looked up worriedly.
“No, Illya, I…”
Before he could finish, they heard a shout from one of the guards and then the alarm sounded. All the guards ran out, none of them noticed the two UNCLE agents in the cell.
“Here they come!” Illya grinned.
“Hey, how do you get out of the computer room? I heard Craig said they had the ‘little blond guy’.” Napoleon mimicked Craig’s tone.
“I was lucky. The guard that was looking after me was also blond and in similar height, so I knocked him down and exchanged our clothes.”
“Smart Russian.” He grinned.
He looked down at Illya, whose eyes were so blue and shiny. Now Napoleon knew Illya loved him, he couldn’t help but bend down to kiss the lips that he had desired for so long.
“What’s that for?” Illya asked.
Before Napoleon could answer, Illya pulled his tie down and resumed the kissing. It was a passionate and long kiss, and when they parted, both were breathless.
Napoleon looked at the beloved face, which was now flushed with passion. He gently caressed the cheek and pulled Illya in a tight embrace.
“You’re crazy about me, aren’t you?” Napoleon asked, a smug look on his face.
“How did you find out?” Illya asked, not exactly surprise.
“Let’s just say a little birdie told me.”
The answer seemed to satisfy Illya, who buried his face in Napoleon’s shoulder and asked no more. He inhaled the scent of his partner and kissed the top of the golden hair.
“I love you, Illyushu.”
“I love you too, Polya. I always do.”
“Are you two alright?” Mark Slate, an UNCLE agent who recently transferred from London office asked.
Caught in the tight embrace, the two agents nodded numbly and Mark walked away in confusion.
“Come spend a night with me?”
“Only a night?” Illya asked with a smile.
“Every night and every morning and everything in between.”
He planted another kiss on Illya’s soft golden hair and the two joined the other UNCLE agents.
......
Even though the outcome of the mission was surprisingly pleasant for Napoleon and Illya, Napoleon still couldn’t help but feel responsible for Price’s death and the failure to capture Craig.
“It was a shame we weren’t able to get Max Craig.” He said to Waverly as the two reported back to UNCLE HQ.
“And the computers contained fake UNCLE codes and information.” Waverly continued where Napoleon had left off.
The two agents’ mouths fell open.
“The information in the computers was fake?” Illya looked up, his brows furrowed together. “How awkward.”
Waverly regarded them for another minute. “Come, come, gentlemen, you actually succeeded in your mission.” Napoleon and Illya looked at each other. “I had already long suspected that Mr. Craig was the Thrush mole. However, with the lack of evidence, I couldn’t reveal my suspicion. This mission was supposed to let him exposed himself. And don’t need to worry, we already had the real location of the UNCLE information, and four other agents were already there to destroy it.”
Napoleon and Illya turned back to each other again and nodded.
“Well done, gentlemen. Take the rest of the week off. And Mr. Solo?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Congratulation, you’re officially the Chief Enforcement Agent starting from today.”
Napoleon’s eyes glittered with joy. “Thank you, sir.”
“How are we going to celebrate today? Number One Section Two?” Illya asked as they drove back to their apartment.
“How about some take-out and I can have you as desert?” Napoleon said in a seductive tone and cast a side-glance at his new lover.
Illya flushed a little. “Let me think… Okay, but I want those take-out from that Italian restaurant.”
“It’s a deal.” Napoleon said.
He couldn’t wait until tonight. As promised, he bought Illya Italian food take-out. But before they could even finish, they already started to nibble each other on the sofa.
Illya pulled out breathlessly. “It wasn’t time for dessert yet, Polya…”
“Let me rephrase my previous words, you’re both the main course and the dessert.” Napoleon said as he slowly pulled Illya up and led him into the bedroom.
“Mmm… We shouldn’t be exercising until one hour after meal…”
He ignored Illya’s soft murmur beside his ears completely and sat the Russian down on his fluffy king-size bed with baby blue sheet on top.
“We’re going to make love, not exercising, Illyushu.”
Napoleon covered his mouth over his lover’s, and tasted the sweet flavor of him. He started to peel off Illya’s clothes one by one, until he was completely naked. Napoleon looked at the bare flash up and down and marveled once again at Illya’s beauty.
“You’re so beautiful, do you know that?”
“You are too, Polya.”
Illya smiled and held out his hand to intertwine with Napoleon’s.
“Illyushu, I think we have a lot of catching up to do!” He said as he suddenly squeezed Illya’s growing erection.
“Napoleon!”
Much much later, after their passionate lovemaking, they both fell into sweet and peaceful dreams. Napoleon woke up as the first light shined through the drapes. He felt refreshed, content, and full of love, his love for Illya and Illya’s for him. He reached over and felt the warm and soft form beside him, knowing none of these was merely a fantasy or imagination. He gently gathered the sleeping form in one of his arms, and the other caressed the soft blond hair.
“I love you, my sweetheart.” And he planted a soft kiss on Illya’s cheek.
Although Illya didn’t open his eyes, his lips twitched up and snuggled closer to Napoleon.
After 20 years of separation and emptiness, Napoleon knew he finally found the one that he would want to spend his whole life with, and would use his whole life to protect Illya and made him happy. He felt his eyelids became heavy again. Kissing Illya’s cheek once more, he slowly fell asleep. He would never let him go again.
The End?
(Well, not quite XD)