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Logan’s eyes scanned over the security camera footage. He knew this was just a Target and did not need perfect security, but…this was a horrible set up, honestly. He itched to fix it. He wanted to rewire camera 9 to get a clearer picture and to tilt camera 6 slightly to the left so there were fewer blind spots. There also really should be another camera by the food area and one near the computers if they wanted true coverage. Really, just one by the popcorn maker and another near the gaming shelf would completely… He shook himself. It was good that there wasn’t another camera near the gaming shelf. He wanted them to have a blind spot… even if the inadequacy made his eye twitch.
He checked his watch and turned to the laptop he’d brought. He’d have to wipe it after this because he was using the store’s wi-fi, but it was annoyingly slow anyway. At least he was only using it to track the hacked into correspondence about the drop. Nothing seemed to be amiss in the conversation there, so he turned back to the security cameras. Everything seemed fine, but he couldn’t help but be anxious about the blind spots made by their system. Perhaps he should do another walk around just to be sure. He already had enough popcorn to sustain him for a week from his last trip out, but perhaps he could get something to drink.
He glanced once again at his laptop before standing from the rolling chair and grabbing the security guard’s keys. This Target had extremely poor security. None of the minimum wage employees had questioned him being the new security guard in the last three days despite the fact that he had not been hired. He exited the security office and turned back to lock the door behind him. As he was doing so, a man opened the door to the employees only section of the store where the security guard office was located. Logan could see a red shirt out of the corner of his eye; it was likely an employee trying to get to the break room.
“Hey, dude,” the voice greeted mildly as he went to pass by. Logan turned on instinct at the sound of the very familiar voice. They locked eyes. “Lo-?” Virgil started, clearly surprised, but Logan jerked forward and shoved a hand over his mouth before he could finish. He made a muffled yelping noise and only Logan’s knowledge of the man’s 2am got-surprised-in-the-kitchen instincts kept Logan from getting a knee slammed into his groin. He swiped Virgil’s legs out from under him and rotated so that he was at the man’s back. His free arm came up to restrain him in a hug to keep his arms at his side.
An unhappy growling sound rumbled under Logan’s hand as Virgil jerked against the hold. Logan paused to think. After a couple of seconds, he made a decision and pulled back with his grip around his waist, causing him to lose his footing a bit. Teeth comped down on Logan’s palm. He winced, but it didn’t stop him from dragging the man back into the security office. He slammed the door closed behind him with his foot and then struggled to force Virgil into the chair Logan had been sitting in before.
Virgil was cursing him quite inventively by the time Logan managed to cuff both of his wrists to the armrests.
They stared at each other for a few long moments. Then Virgil kicked him.
It was a stupid endeavor considering he was restrained to a chair on wheels. The impact of the kick was rather gentle, and the man himself went flying across the office, almost toppling over backwards except that Logan lunged for him and managed to keep him from falling.
“That was a rather foolish venture.”
Virgil stared at him for a moment and then kicked him again. Logan winced as that kick hit a bit harder because Logan refused to let him go. Logan quickly turned him around and slammed the button with his foot to keep him from rolling anymore.
Logan rounded him, careful to stay out of kicking range and took a seat on the desk to look at him. “Hello Virgil,” Logan said. “It’s nice to see you again.” And it was. He had missed Virgil far more then he’d anticipated. He was not a stranger to leaving people behind, but it had taken much more effort to smother his melancholy over never seeing Virgil again than it usually did. Looking at him now, those smothered feelings came back, smarting far worse than the kick a couple of moments before.
“Seriously?” Virgil asked. “What the hell?! Why me?”
“I assure you this has nothing to do with you.”
“I still got tangled up in it again.”
“And I apologize for that, however you will have to stay here until I am through with my job.”
“What job?” Virgil asked. Logan just raised an eyebrow and refused to respond. “Why is the security guard office of Target your supervillain base anyway?”
“That does not concern you,” Logan said.
“It does if you’re going to handcuff me to a chair!”
Logan just hummed and turned back to glance at the security camera footage again.
He heard Virgil shifting around and testing his restraints behind him for a few minutes. “Please, Logan, just let me go,” he pleaded. “I won’t go to the police, I swear.” Logan picked up on a bit of a distressed Virgil tone. It should be easy to ignore. He didn’t need to make sure Virgil was content anymore. They didn’t live together, and Logan would face none of the future consequences of his discontent.
Logan blamed the fact that he turned around to face him on years of habit. He did not know what to blame for the way he felt his face soften when he looked at him. “I will be finished in about an hour, Virgil,” he said. “I just can’t have you interfering.”
“Yeah, and then after that are you going to leave me tied up here so I can hope someone happens to come by soon?”
Logan tilted his head at him. “You are upset about being left restrained last time.”
“Yeah, no shit.”
“You were never in any danger. The drug truly wasn’t harmful, and Remus was bound to wake up, and I would have sent an anonymous tip to the police station if I didn’t hear anything through police traffic within a few hours.”
“Yeah, well, I have anxiety,” Virgil shot back.
Logan blinked at him. “My apologizes for any undue distress.”
“You can stick your apologies up your ass, Logan or whoever the fuck you are.” His eyes looked hurt, and Logan felt a strong impulse to reach out and touch, but considering Logan was the source of said hurt, he doubted it’d be welcome.
“I will be sure to arrange your release by 5pm,” Logan said. He tapped on the digital clock on the desk. “There is no need to worry until then.”
Virgil just frowned at him.
“How about one of your podcast shows to pass the time,” Logan suggested. He minimized the window with the chat on the laptop so he could pull up the podcast application he’d installed. “I have been keeping up with that one about North American cryptids. It is still just illogical pseudoscience. I believe a new episode was set to come out today.” He scrolled down to the newest episode of the podcast. “It seems to be about the ‘Skunk Ape’.”
“I… you still listen to that?” Virgil asked. “You hated that show.” And he still did. He had just… found himself listening to it anyway, especially on days where he couldn’t sleep.
“You liked it,” Logan said. They stared at each other for a long moment. “S-so, it should afford you some measure of calm until you are released.”
“How kind of you,” Virgil said darkly. Logan looked away from him and pressed play on the podcast. Logan ended up feeding him some of the copious amounts of popcorn he’d gotten from the food area earlier, but other than that, they didn’t interact much. The silence was not nearly as companionable as it had once been, and Logan became hyperaware of the angry glares Virgil kept throwing him.
About three quarters of the way through the episode, Logan looked over at the security feeds and cursed. “How the hell?” he asked.
“What?” Virgil asked through a mouthful of popcorn. Logan had set the large bag of popcorn on a table next to Virgil and had apparently been too slow in his hand feeding, because Virgil had chosen to lean over and pick up a few pieces of popcorn himself with his mouth. It was not the first time he’d seen Virgil eat popcorn like a horse eating from a morral, and it was just as disgustingly adorable as always.
Logan reached over to wipe his buttery mouth off with the handkerchief he kept in his pocket even as he was distracted by Detective Remus Royal’s dumb face which had been caught on camera near the entrance. He watched as Remus walked up to the help desk and showed his badge to the woman standing there.
“Is that Remus?” Virgil asked.
“First name basis?” Logan inquired with a raised eyebrow.
“You left me handcuffed to a kitchen table with his drugged ass,” Virgil said dryly. “I think I’ve moved past using his last name and title. Not to mention I got to know him pretty well because he spent a couple of months interrogating me while trying to find you… Oh. Is he here looking for you?”
Probably, and damn him for getting this close. The bastard has never gotten close. The one time he’d caught Logan had been a complete fluke because they happened to book a room at the same motel. “Dammit,” he hissed when after a few moments of talking, the woman at the front desk nodded and let him behind the desk so he could enter the employees only door…
Logan and Virgil locked eyes briefly and then Virgil opened his mouth, readying to scream. Logan jumped forward and stuck the handkerchief in his mouth. “Apologies,” he mumbled. Virgil very clearly did not forgive him. In fact, Logan would have to make this quick because Virgil was already working the handkerchief out of his mouth when there was a knock on the door.
Logan turned to the door and flung it open. Remus seemed surprised that the door had opened so quickly and then even more surprised when he managed to process Logan’s face. Logan grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him inside before he could react, using momentum to throw him to the ground and shove a knee into his back.
“Ow! Shit!” Remus said as Logan kicked the door closed again. “Oh no you don’t!” Remus yelped when Logan’s hand went for the handcuffs on his waist. He rolled, managing to throw Logan off, but Logan was on him again in the next moment. He kneeled on one of his wrists to keep it pinned, but the other was free. Remus aimed a punch at Logan’s face, but Logan managed to block it. The second time he tried to punch Logan, Logan ducked out of the way and grabbed his wrist. Remus tugged roughly, but Logan still managed to reach over with his other hand and grab the handcuffs of his waist. “Damn you,” Remus said, trying his hardest to wiggle away and bucking. Logan ended up throwing one knee over his stomach to keep him in place so he could snap one of the cuffs on his wrist and the other on the leg of the heavy desk.
They stared at each other for a few seconds. “You know,” Remus said and clicked his tongue. “If you wanted to be on top that badly, you could have just asked.”
Logan blinked at him. “I highly doubt being cordial about handcuffing you would have resulted in the desired position.”
A spit covered handkerchief fell on the top of Logan’s head the next moment as Virgil finally managed to work it all the way out with his tongue. “Life is a nightmare,” Virgil contributed.
Remus’s eyes flickered up to Virgil. “Hey, Virgil, what are you doing here?”
“He saw me while going to the employee breakroom,” Logan explained.
“Since when have you worked at Target?”
“Since you got me fired from my last job, you dick,” Virgil said.
“Right,” Remus said with a wince. “Sorry about that again.” He looked back at Logan. “Not that I’m complaining,” he drawled, “but are you planning on getting off of me any time soon?”
“Give me a moment,” Logan said. “I need to find something to do with your free hand.”
Remus gave him a wide smile. “…Well.”
“Don’t,” Virgil hissed. “Please, just don’t. Not in front of me at least.”
Logan looked up at him in confusion, but he just rolled his eyes, so Logan dismissed it as unimportant. He carefully got off Remus and stood. He cast his eyes around for something that would work as restraints.
“You could just leave that hand free,” Remus said, innocently. “I promise I’ll be good.”
He found an extension cord in a box in the back of the office. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you,” he said dryly.
Remus gave him an impressive pout, but Logan was unmoved. He walked over and started using the extension cord to secure Remus’s other arm to a different leg of the desk.
“So, what’s it today?” Remus asked. “Hacking into Target rewards accounts to steal data? Stealing a couple computers? Ooo! Are you going to go to the make a bomb out of cleaning supplies and blow us all up?”
Logan heard Virgil suck in a little breath and glared at Remus as he finished securing him the best he could to the desk. “Stop it,” he said with a frown. “You’re scaring Virgil.”
“Oh, I’m scaring Virgil?” Remus asked. “You kidnapped Virgil and tied him to a chair.”
Logan shrugged as he stood. “He was in the way.”
“Is this even real life?” Virgil asked. “What is going on?”
“I unfortunately cannot tell you Virgil as it would compromise what I am attempting to do, but I am not going to make a bomb or harm anyone here.” He glanced down at Remus who was already eying the extension cord for weaknesses. “Except perhaps him if he doesn’t behave.”
“What are you going to do?” he asked idly, “Spank me?”
Logan raised an eyebrow and poked him in the cheek with his foot. “Deviant.”
“Or step on me. Even better.”
“I said quit it,” complained Virgil.
Logan turned his attention back to his computer and found that everything was right on time. His target was already on the security camera in the electronics section. The drop off would be in 5 minutes and the pick-up was set to be 5 minutes after that. Logan had a rather small window. He quickly wiped the computer of everything except for the podcast app and then rewound the podcast episode back to a few minutes before where they’d been when Remus had interrupted. “I really must be going now,” Logan told them. He picked up his keys and stepped carefully around Remus. He glanced back at Virgil as he opened the office door, an odd feeling in his throat. “It was nice to see you again, Virgil.”
He shut the door on Remus’s complaints about not receiving a personal goodbye for himself.