Chapter Text
Hunk placed down the final box with a heavy sigh. New apartment, new place, new life. Opening a few of the boxes, he began to sort the contents based on their contents and what room the belong in. He recognized a few of his most treasured possessions peeking through the box in front of him. A photo of him and his mother on his graduation day- diploma in hand, smiles plastered brightly across their faces. Hunk remembered that day. It was full on laughter and hugs and tears. Sighs of relief, tinged with worry and anxiety for the future ahead. But Hunk was happy. Happy because he knew what he was going to do, happy because he was with those who supported him, happy because for just once in his life, he didn’t feel like a picked on nerd with no future ahead for him.
He set the picture down on the table he had moved into the apartment only hours earlier. Hunk wasn’t thrilled about unpacking all by himself, but managed to convince everyone he would do just fine on his own. He had not been doing “just fine”, in fact, he had fallen down the stairs three times, poked himself in uncomfortable places six times, and dropped too many bags of clothing for him to even keep track of at this point. His next goal, he figured was to find some way for him to unpack everything in a few hours so he could magically wake up in his new apartment, his new city, his new life, with everything all set and in place. What a perfect way to start over!
It didn’t feel like starting over though, more like moving on. For years, he’d been studying in college to pursue his dream job. Ever since that damn recruiter in his high school, all he could think about was finally getting accepted into the FBI academy. However, it wasn’t proving to be that simple. For Hunk, achieving a goal like this seemed so out of reach, yet somehow so tantalizingly close.
That same recruiter was the reason he has packed up everything he had ever known and moved away from his comfortable, rural home in Altea, Pennsylvania into the bustling city of Washington DC. A change of pace would be nice, of course, but did he honestly care about that? No. Hunk was here on a mission. And he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
That is of course, until he was sitting in the waiting room of the FBI interview office. He shuffled through the papers in his files, double, triple, quadruple checking that everything was in its right place
Birth certificate? Check. Past employment records? Mhm. Past recommendations? Yep, got those. College transcripts? Without a doubt! Photo ID? Yeah, sure, which one do you want?
Hunk glanced nervously around the room. The other candidates looked so… professional. They had the full getup- suits, ties, pencil skirts, slicked-back hair, tight, high ponytails, fancy formal shoes. He spotted one man in suspenders , even. He felt under dressed in his favorite mustard yellow sweater vest and dandelion dress shirt. A pair of freshly dry-cleaned khakis and a worn pair of brown loafers finished attire on the most important day of his life to date. Was it too much yellow? Was there even such a thing as too much yellow? He re-focused his attention to the papers.
His attention was drawn away a few minutes later when another person shuffled awkwardly into the room and into the chair beside him. Hunk recognized this behavior- it was just like his. The man pulled a satchel from off his shoulder and rustled his copper hair. Hunk watched as he nervously pulled paper after paper out of a folder in the bag and place it meticulously into order. Hunk extended his hand.
“Hi! I’m Hunk,” he grinned. “How are you?”
“I-I’m Matt,” the man stuttered before shaking Hunk’s hand. “And I’m very very scared right now.”
Hunk smiled at him. They discussed vague little things like the weather, the latest tabloid gossip, news around the FBI campus. He was beaming by the end. The friendly banter between the two seemed to have lifted the dark, cloudy aura in the room. No one else was really talking, but the bright grin that spread across Hunk’s face was practically contagious. A door opened.
“Matthew Holt?” the interviewer called. Matt stood up.
“Welp, that’s me. Guess I’ll be going. Wish me luck!” he said optimistically before confidently crossing the room. Hunk smiled in his wake. It always felt nice to help someone.
After what felt like years later, Matt shuffled out of the recruiters office. He flashed Hunk a quick thumbs up before leaving the office. There was no reason for Hunk to feel even more nervous, but somehow, seeing Matt leave with nothing short of the biggest smile that he’d ever seen, he could feel a bubble of anxiety churn up in his stomach.
“Garrett Hunk?” came the recruiter's deep voice. Hunk raised his hand gently and began to open his mouth. The recruiter gave him a quick glance and smiled. “I read that backwards, I believe. Follow me please, Hunk Garrett.”
Hunk followed the man through the door. He nodded quickly to the door behind him. The older man gestured for him to close it. Hunk delicately closed the door. I must look like this is my first time seeing a door. What the hell am I doing?
“Please, have a seat,” the recruiter smiled. Hunk sat in front of him, taking note of his features. Tall, huskily built, with jet black hair and a pure white streak through it. Scars adorned his face and gave him a strong sense of intimidation. It was working, for sure. Hunk’s leg bounced and he could feel sweat start to form along his browline. “My name is Takashi Shirogane. May I see your resume?”
Hunk handed it to him and gave the biggest smile he could manage. He could feel his palms tremble slightly as Takashi flipped through the numerous pages of resources. Takashi finished his examination of the files and wrinkled his face at the end. Hunk felt the color fall from his face.
Takashi looked up at him and peeled a sticky-note off of the back off the biggest final. Showing it to Hunk, he let out a small chuckle, “Tell your mother that you’re doing great.”
Blood rushed quickly back to Hunk’s cheeks, causing him to blush hotly. In front of him was a bright pink sticky-note with blue, loopy, cursive lettering and a massive lipstick kiss in the bottom corner, saying “You’re gonna do great, sugar pie!- Love Mama!”
“I’m so sorry, sir. My mother-”
“-is a wonderful person for caring about the well-being of her son. Does she know what kind of job this is though? How dangerous it is?” he asked with a look of great concern. Hunk nodded rapidly.
“I’ve wanted to work for the FBI since I was in junior high. A recruiter came to my school to talk about it. My mom has been believing in me ever since I told her. She’s my number one,” Hunk cheerfully said. Takashi nodded in light of this and focused his attention back on to Hunk’s paperwork.
“Intelligence Analyst… Special Agent ? Really?” Takashi questioned, tipping glasses down from the bridge of his nose. He squinted at Hunk, sizing him up. Hunk’s leg starting bouncing, slowly at first, but rapidly picked up, causing the chair under him to squeak slightly with every small movement.
“Yes, sir! I know I’m young, but I’ve truly worked my butt off trying to get here. I’ve worked for many years to make it to this point. I won’t stop now,” Hunk said confidently. Confidently was an understatement- he was beaming. There was no way that he could not feel an intense feeling of pride swelling up inside of him. After everything he had done, hours of studying in his room, missing his friends birthday parties, moving away from his home, he hoped that it wasn’t for nothing. He knew it couldn’t be.
The rest of the interview went smoothly. Hunk wasn’t quite expecting there to be so many easy questions, especially considering the fact that he was applying for a very coveted position. All in all, it was just a few more minutes before he was given his resume once more and escorted out, Despite all sorts of doubts and insecurities swelling and swirling through in the back of his head, Hunk felt good.
The best course of action after such a great interview seemed to be a day off. But something in the back of his head wanted him to push his luck just a bit more. He pulled the door shut on his small car and sat behind the wheel for a few moments, letting the last of his anxiety melt from his body like ice cream on a sunny day. Hunk started the car and drove back to his apartment.