Missing scene #3 Laurent ft. Maverick 🐶

Plastered to the back of the passenger’s seat, Maverick makes a great impression of a sheet, with how pale and rigid he is. In his head, he can practically hear Flavio’s voice, saying, ‘Boss wouldn’t off you for that… Probably.” And, ‘Well, even if he tries, your kind is hard to kill, eh?’

Which, sure, Distant Healers are resilient. But not that resilient.

During Maverick’s short but intense internship, he’s found himself eye to eye with the impending death thrice; each time, his doom was directly or indirectly related to Laurent. Having survived the ‘coffee incident’, Maverick thought that nothing more dire could happen to him. He was, as he often is, wrong.

Since his first official mission went… awry, Maverick’s hope for a simple life diminished greatly. But he kept his head low, his nose out of other people’s business, averting his gaze and pretending not to see what he was not supposed to. That is, until now.

His curiosity, or maybe the surprise, got the best of him. And who can blame him really, when his boss, usually so regimented and rigid, insists on behaving out of character? It’s only natural that Maverick was… concerned. The identity of Laurent’s friend aside, what shocked Maverick the most was Laurent’s countenance. Though he memorized all of Laurent’s limited facial expressions; the myriad of grimaces, the tired glare and the rare amused not-quite-smile, Maverick’s never seen him look so open.

On a normal day it’s easy to overlook how young Laurent is; merely a few years Maverick’s senior. He carries himself in a way that demands deference, making it difficult to remember that under the illusion of the commanding officer is only a man.

That picture in Maverick’s mind distorts. How could someone, who he used to describe as heartless, act this gentle? In the span of a minute, it was as though he had shed his old suit and transformed into a completely different person. And all it took was a handshake, that despite its apparent tenderness, seemed more intimate than the illicit affairs of the other senior agents Maverick had the misfortune of stumbling onto in the office.

He almost feels guilty for breaking the moment.

Laurent marches towards the car donning the grace of a hangman heading to an execution; with every step, the earlier softness disappears. His back is straight, eyes cold as steel, and though his hands are free of a noose, Maverick’s ready to say his last goodbyes.

The door opens and slams shut just as quick. Maverick gulps, surveying his fingernails with a forced focus, giving up on the pretense hearing the engine start up without the accompaniment of his boss’ admonishments.

Once Laurent settles behind the wheel, his features shift from what Maverick names ‘the angry frown no.2’ to ‘ the disapproving frown no.1’. It’s been months since he began his internship, and Maverick still can’t decide which one is worse.

They leave the parking lot in silence, interrupted only by the mad drumming of Maverick’s pulse and the white noise of the chatter outside. The car joins the traffic jam as Maverick waits for… something. He’s not sure what. But Laurent sits here motionless, attention fixed on the road ahead.

The car continues its crawl down the street, pausing briefly on the pedestrian crossing then driving off when the red light turns back to green. Maverick doesn’t make a sound, doesn’t even twitch in fear of bringing Laurent’s wrath upon himself.

Though he’s not a curious man in nature, he isn’t stupid. When Laurent sent him to collect evidence from a random - as he then thought - abandoned apartment, he was more than surprised. The case was given to another team, but he was never the one to question his commanding officer’s interest in the suspect, so he did as he was ordered.

He couldn’t wrap his head around it for weeks, but he gets it now.

Years ago, his mother revealed to him that in this world there are only two things above the law; money and love. Maverick has dismissed her comment as a silly notion, but that was when he was a child, hopeful and naïve. He knows better now. After all, didn’t he join the SPD for the same reason? Why would he stay if not out of love, if not for the paycheck his mother needs to survive?

Everyone has something worth dying for, it seems Laurent is not an exception.

That realization startles Maverick. Beneath the dread and the respect he feels for his boss, he finds a thin thread of understanding. A shared ground he dares not speak of.

The ride to work takes a quarter of an hour, but it’s enough to rearrange Maverick’s worldview.

When he exits the car, Laurent stops him, as he knew he would. “Maverick.” His voice doesn’t waver, and though once Maverick would call the tone biting, now he can interpret it as simply exhausted.

“Yes, sir?”

“If they ask you about-”

“About what, sir,” Maverick counters, for the first time daring to interrupt Laurent's warning mind-word. “I haven’t seen anything.”

Laurent hesitates, fingers tensing on the door frame as he apprises Maverick. Whatever he searched for, he must have found it because his lips curve faintly, just for a second before he nods.

“As you were.”

“Yes, sir.”