mistakes we've made ➞ a luztoye fiction

undoing

LOCATION: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
TIME: 7 YEARS EARLIER, 8:56 PM

Toye had no idea how he had managed to make it through the night. He had gotten back from the bathroom, somewhat more collected, to find Luz surrounded by empty champagne glasses and very clearly tipsy. As it turned out, drunk Luz was even more of a flirt than sober Luz, and Toye still couldn't stop himself from getting tongue tied, no matter how long it went on.

He'd heard of the term gay disaster before, and that was a beyond accurate depiction of his behavior. Especially when he took into account that he really should not be attracted to Luz. He was a murderer, a thief, a liar, and more importantly, Toye's target. It was difficult to keep this in mind when he was sitting across from Luz at a table, and near impossible when he was right next to Luz, in a cramped dimly lit cab.

The events leading up to it had been a stroke of luck, and in retrospect, too convenient. Luz was drunk, and Toye had to insist he not drink anything more. And since they were both in the same hotel, Toye jumped at the chance to offer to escort Luz back under the pretense of not wanting to see Luz kidnapped (George had laughed at this and teased Joe about his paranoia). Guarnere had loaded plenty of Philly-accent laced praise into Toye's ear, and for a moment, everything was going to plan.

Everything crumbled, though. Somewhere along the way, something completely dismantled Toye.

Maybe it was the taxi ride that was his undoing.

The first thing Toye had done when he had slid into the back seat was pull his tie off, Luz already slumping against the seat, head all but leaning on Toye's shoulder. The combination of the dark, and how Luz's body was so intoxicatingly close set Toye's senses on fire. The sweet scent of his cologne masked the bitter cloud of cigarette smoke, and Toye couldn't stop his gaze from flickering to Luz every could of seconds, drinking in his half-closed lids and bleary smirk. Toye noticed every subtle shift of the body next to him, how his shoulders rose as he breathed, how his lips parted, how his fingers twitched every so often. The slightest of things, Toye picked up on, and he suspected that wasn't just because he was trained to be observant.

But maybe it wasn't the taxi ride. After all, he had been harboring these thoughts all night, the agent more than just aware of the criminal he was with. The sheer proximity just amplified them.

Maybe Toye's undoing was when he helped Luz from the cab, Luz's hands clutching desperately at Toye in an attempt to keep his balance. Or maybe it was when Luz turned to Joe and managed to slur out, "Help me to my room?". It could have been when Toye's earpiece crackled out, Guarnere warning patchily through the static that their connection was breaking up, telling him to get in contact when his mission was complete.

Maybe it was none of that. Maybe the straw that broke the camel's back didn't come until Luz's arm was wrapped around Toye's shoulder and the two were working their way down the carpeted hallway, George's room just ahead. The way the pair were positioned hadn't seemed to be an issue at first. Luz was hanging drunkenly to the right of Toye, but as it turned out, that could be somewhat of a problem if the room you were heading to was on the left.

But what can be said with absolute certainty, is that if none of the above was what ruined Toye, then being pinned against a wall by George Luz was.

They had come to Luz's room- room 306- and somehow, probably a result of Luz's clumsiness brought on by the champagne he'd downed, in George's attempt to get to his door, Toye found himself with his back against the door. The handle bit into Toye's lower back, but he didn't even consider that. How could he, with Luz's body pressed against his own, the man's breath hot on Joe's neck.

Sweet Jesus. Toye groped at the door frame, trying to back up, though he knew full well he had no place to go. "Oh shit- if you could just- move-" All common sense fled Toye, the compromising situation he was in drowning out everything else.