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According to Claude, the most important duty of the senior partner was to protect the junior partner from all dangers, especially when they were called Thompson.
Talking to Thompson was never nice and easy, but this one was extremely uncomfortable. When Noah talked about his complicated partnership, he felt a cold breath on his neck. On the other hand, there was comforting warmth on his shoulders when Thompson reprimanded him about the dead targets and advised him to marry.
After the boss had finally gone Noah leaned back exhausted.
“So, you still don´t trust me?” a mocking voice whispered into his ears, and strong hands kneaded the tired shoulders.
“Of course not,” Noah smirked. “Thank you for having my back.”
“I wouldn´t leave you alone with that asshole.”
“It helped a lot. Today he was even more slimy than normal.”
“He was. But the girl is cute.”
“Oh, yes, “admitted Noah. “She is.”
Mistrust against mistrust
Noah felt sick. After Thompson had gone, he had spent the rest of the evening in the diner, flirting with the cute waitress and drinking entirely too much.
He stumbled back to his lonely barren apartment and managed hardly to open the door. He was wretched, a company steered robot. His own face in the mirror – and the bottle of whiskey – sent him running to the bathroom. Leaning over the toilet and throwing up he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and another on his forehead. Not commenting on Claude´s sudden appearance, he leaned heavily on his partner, until there was nothing more to come. Somehow Claude managed to steer him to his bed and Noah slumped immediately on it, lying still while Claude unceremonly undressed him.
“Now try to get comfortable.” He helped Noah to get into a normal position, placed a pillow under his head, and pulled a blanket over him. Then he disappeared for a while and came back with a hot water bottle which he placed exactly in the centre of pain on Noah´s churning stomach.
“Thank you,” Noah said with clattering teeth.
“Cold?” Claude climbed in behind and spooned around his partner. “I´m a bit offended that you still mistrust me.”
“Because you never follow me around and listen to my conversations – with Thompson for example.” Noah snuggled thankfully in Claude´s warmth.
“How can I trust you, when you don´t trust me?” Claude began gently to rub his belly.
“Then that is a kind of vicious circle.”
“Yeah. I know what happened to your wife. But I’m not the fiend. You trust me with your life during our missions. Just trust me a bit, that I won´t hurt you in everyday life.”
“My head tells me the same but my stomach …”
“Needs a bit of indulgence,” Claude interrupted him and Noah had to agree.
“Listen, rookie, you are wrung out and this is the wrong time for an earnest discussion. Just sleep and get to your senses again. But let us talk tomorrow.”
“All right.”
“Good. Shall I go now?”
“No. Please stay,” Noah murmured quietly.
Claude grinned and kept massaging his belly until Noah was loudly snoring. Then he closed his eyes himself and slowly fell asleep.
Truce
Noah just knew that this “one of them” who was calling himself his partner was not trustworthy. Claude had to be ears-dropping on him at every opportunity. But Noah knew how to handle these freaks. He was the man with the plan after all. And he wouldn´t be fooled by someone like Claude. He placed ropes when he had important talks and in special places in his apartment. In his office, he had special locks on all important things.
Claude of course noticed it. In the beginning, he had been amused, but when Noah hadn’t begun to open up after several months it started to annoy him. And it made him angry that Noah tried to trick him during their work. As if he wasn´t good enough to be his partner. Still hurt by the sudden disappearance of Haram and mischievous by nature he finally began to fight back. Important papers or personal possessions of Noah Bennett suddenly vanished and reappeared in the strangest places. He was poked and shoved out of thin air. Over the months the running battle began to escalate more and more, especially since the missions were soon an open war. And the escalation came on a mission in Nebraska.
It was winter, cold as hell, and snowing cats and dogs. The target was able to talk to plants, so they were controlling flower shops and greenhouses, but he seemed to be as evasive as Claude and both of them were getting irritable.
Bennett soon didn´t know any more if Claude was just incompetent or if he was helping the target – he was one of them after all.
He decided that it would improve things to search without his “partner”. It was easier than he thought.
Claude didn´t suspect anything when he sent him to a village to check for the target. But when he found himself in the middle of nowhere, he realized that Noah had bested him. Cursing he made his way back to town.
Noah on the other hand soon realized that he hadn´t had more success without Claude. On the way back home, he had to stop at an isolated gas station and when he came back his car keys mysteriously vanished. He searched for his mobile to call a taxi but it was gone too. Claude of course. When had he ever become this stealthy? Since the phone in the gas station was out of order he had to walk back to the hotel.
When he reached two hours later, cold to the bones and with hurting feet, he had made the decision that this was the last time Claude had fooled him. Sleeping with an open eye like ever did on missions, since he and Claude had to share a room, wouldn´t do anymore. He just had to stay awake. So, they just sat down on a chair to keep his watch.
As funny Claude found it at the first moment, he soon felt pity for his junior partner. Noah was tired, freezing, and obviously too paranoid to sleep. He was at the end of his strength. And Claude knew he had to end it here – he was the senior partner after all and he had to be the sensible one. He crouched down before Noah.
“He, rookie, what do you think of a truce?”
“What?”
“Shouldn´t we work together instead against each other?”
“You are one of them.”
“Yes, but I fight on your side. I work for the company longer than you. And I give fucking enough for it … “Claude´s voice was shaking for a moment then he focused on Noah again. “You don´t trust me and I don´t trust you as well. But don´t you think we could just call a truce for a few days?”
Claude got up, laid his hands on Noah´s cramped shoulders, and began to massage them. Noah battled exhaustion and mistrust.
“Just a few days, “Claude coaxed. “Then we can go back to hating each other.”
“Okay”, Noah sounded like he was doing Claude a favor, but the exhaustion in his voice betrayed him.
“Fine, then let me run you a bath,” Claude gently began to undress him and helped him into the bathtub, smiling at Noah´s obvious relief when the hot water began to warm his body.
“Better?” Claude picked up the hurting feet and began to rub them gently. Noah closed his eyes and sighed.
When the water cooled down his senior partner helped him to his feet and wrapped a towel around him.
Noah stumbled to his bed when he heard the amused voice asking: “Would you like a massage? You look tired.”
Noah was beyond caring if he trusted Claude. The gentle hands had taken away the pain in his feet and he longed for them to take care of the rest of his body.
“Yes.”
“Good. Just lie down.”
Claude´s hands began to knead the muscles until they gave away and relaxed. When he had found all the stress points and given them relief, his hands to more sensitive points. Noah was startled when he found his cock and balls being caressed, but it felt good. Nothing ever had felt like that. And then the tongue following the hands, licking there, exactly there.
Noah squeaked undignified when Claude licked along the thick vein on the underside of his erection, mouthed his balls, and finally began to rim him. He had never been so aroused in his whole life. He spread his legs wider to give him better access and rubbed his hard-on against the bed.
The tongue entered him and Noah whimpered. It felt good but it wasn´t enough. Claude seemed to sense that because he soon added one finger, then two.
“Ready?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He turned him around so that he could kiss him through the penetration. When he began to move Noah had the feeling of a lava stream moving through his body. He relished the sensation of being filled, of his prostate being stimulated again and again. He was so hard it nearly hurt and rubbed along Claude´s stomach muscles to get some relief.
The pressure built higher and higher and when Claude wrapped his hand around Noah´s erection, everything exploded around him and all he could feel was pure bliss.
Coming back to his senses he noticed, that Claude had cleaned him up and settled down beside him in the bed.
“How are you feeling now?”
“Excellent.” Noah stretched slowly against him, warm sated, and sleepy.
“See, the truce has some advantages too.”