//I Have Beef With The Concept Of Time - Blog Posts

hemingway's laugh reverberates with how empty the office is, and fitz grins in response. he clutches his chest in response to hemingway's comments about his 'stiff' performance & rolls his eyes, his lips stretched up in a grin of his own.

yeah, it's true. the bureau could use more people like hemingway.

when the other agent walks back over to his own desk, fitz's eyebrows lift and how easily he agrees to leave right now. skipping out on the rest of work to go fuck around in the city? as much as fitz knew the bureau expected him to learn something from hemingway, maybe the opposite was proving to be true. he scoffs & grabs his keys, "i may be a lot of things, but a bad driver isn't one of them. that's just silly & embarrassing for no reason." he pulls his coat over his shoulder as they step out into the night.

after a pretty uneventful car ride — from fitz's pov at least — they make it to the spot hemingway suggests. although they've only just put in their orders, fitz is already completely satisfied to be someplace else that's not the bureau grounds. they could've been anywhere, honestly. burger joints are burger joints — he knows it's really all about the company he keeps. and hemingway's definitely one of the easiest to be around.

that's important, fitz thinks.

with a drink already in his hand, he looks at the agent his partner from across the table & shakes his head, "— okay, but @faulknxr said tonight should be dynamic & high-yielding for the operation. he's expecting us to bring him something big tomorrow. which, you know that means, right? we're going to have to ..."

he gives hemingway his best serious face, although he knows his eyes give it away every time. he waits for the agent to finish his sentence before overlapping him.

" — get matching tattoos! y'know, to solidify this partnership of ours."

"dude, just because you're not doing any work ..." arms crossed and eyebrows slightly raised, he gives fitz a look; there's an ending to this sentence, something about how other people—hemingway—are actually trying to get shit done but that's only ... half-true, at best. yes, hemingway did go into the records room, yes, he spent about two hours in there, yes, he did bring some files back but all of that has just been mostly half-assed, i just wanna feel like i'm actually doing something work, which is ... barely work, really. truth is, he spent that much time checking out files only because he ended up catching up with the clerk for most of it. he did find out that they adopted a dog and now hemingway's jealous.

he doesn't finish the thought, just rolls his eyes at the other agent and laughs. "hey, no funny business," hemingway puts on a fake-serious voice, an expression to match and lifts up a warning finger; it doesn't hold up for long, his face splits into another grin barely two seconds later and his laughter booms across the floor. it's louder than he expected it to be so when he looks around to check if he's being a nuisance for the others (and surprisingly there are others, even this late, though maybe he shouldn't be so shocked, considering the circumstances), it's with an apologetic smile, an unspoken oops, my bad.

but then again, this is hardly a first. hemingway being loud, never heard that one before.

"nice theatrics, though a bit stiff," hemingway attempts another serious comment but the underlying mirth is impossible to miss. all of a sudden, he doesn't feel all that goddamn tired and ... well, there's plenty words to call it, disappointed? dejected? really fucking lost, that's a good one. he's allowed himself to feel that way for a short while, taken a break from the everything will turn out fine mantra he's always repeating in his head but it's starting to be too overwhelming. hemingway will not say it out loud, but spending what's left of the day with fitz should work some magic. well, now he can't wait.

he takes a look at his desk across the room, the files waiting. yeah, right. "okay, well, fuck the couple hours then," hemingway says as he pushes himself off fitz's desk, stands tall and stretches his shoulders. "burgers sound good. i know a place," he says and then heads back for his desk. the short distance doesn't interrupt the conversation. "but you're driving. and i trust you not to kill us," he says, his voice once again carrying across the entire room. he picks up his stuff, shoves the unread reports into his drawer—a problem for tomorrow—and waits for fitz to join him by the door.