Who: Devin Blackthorn, Garrett Landry, Freddie Morgan What: The Resistance spy finds out a secret even Camelot doesn't know. Where: Camelot Enterprises When: Friday, August 4; early evening Warnings: Creeper spies and enough sap that this might as well be a tree.
There were certain parts of the family stronghold that Devin didn't expect he'd ever breach. The castle, obviously. To even set foot in it he'd have to take the proper oaths and convince whatever magic guarded it that he didn't mean it any harm. If he could find out a few more details about that in particular he might be able to find a way to deceive even that; as it was he'd managed to wiggle just enough answers out of Daniel's little boyfriend that he was aware that it would be infinitely complicated and that pressing any further would raise the kind of suspicion that he'd been doing incredibly well at avoiding. Academic curiousity could only provide so much of a cover when certain lines of questioning only made Zane shrug and start putting on a thicker version of the twangy drawl that he usually only slipped into by accident—a subconscious attempt, Devin had decided, at making himself sound too dense to know anything at all instead of having to tell him no.
And so the castle was out of the question until further notice. If, of course, Devin's superiors didn't get tired of waiting for the tough nut that was the Morgan-Evans family to crack entirely first. They trusted Devin in many ways. It still wasn't enough. They were even more cautious than he'd anticipated. Even more suspicious. And they'd surrounded themselves with the sort of loyal retainers that Devin would have expected from the royal family of Camelot. Arthur had always inspired that sort of feeling in everyone around him too. (Devin didn't think about how he'd inspired it in Mordred as well. He'd pushed it aside to do his duty and Devin would have done the same even if he'd found himself caught up in that web.)
There were other places that were open to him. The London office, for example. That was open to nearly anyone. It would have to be, considering that it was the center of public relations. It was difficult to do anything involving the public if the public couldn't get into the places where you invited them to meet. There were still things that Devin could discover nosing into even that much of the family's space; Zach wasn't the same man he'd been before since he'd gotten shot. He was sloppier. Devin had his suspicions about what Zach might be hiding behind the perfect suits and the perfect hair; only suspicions. When it came to family members that required the most of Devin's attention, Zach was fairly low on the list. He would self-destruct without Devin's interference. He wasn't going to waste his time on him.
Freddie was the main draw of the London office. Freddie... and Arthur, on Mordred's part. Daniel was the leader of Camelot but for Mordred it had always been about Arthur. Even if this wasn't the same Arthur that had fathered Mordred in some ways he was. Daniel and Morgaine were enough on their own as well. That was a mystery that Mordred had understood though, why his mother hadn't wanted him. No matter how sickly he'd wished for it... Mordred had wished for a lot of things that he'd known were impossible. There wasn't anything left to be explored there. Arthur though... Arthur was Mordred's destiny. Killing Arthur. Being killed by him. There was part of Devin that knew, deep at his core, that Freddie Morgan was going to be the death of him and he courted that just as much as he courted his trust so that he could be the death of Camelot. It was always going to end the same way.
For now though... for now, what concerned Devin was worming his way deeper into Freddie's trust. Allowing the younger man to beat him at swordplay always seemed to put him in a good mood. It came with the added bonus of giving Devin a chane to learn how he fought. His weaknesses. His tells. Poor, scholarly Devin could be relied on not to recognize those things even if he wasn't completely trusted.
Dropping in unannounced was unusual; a test even. Whether Devin was family enough that Freddie would agree on the spot. Whether Freddie was uncomfortable and tried to put Devin off. There were reasons for every move that Devin made, layers upon layers of reasons. This one was a little more straightforward. It happened to coincide with the motivations behind his cover story well enough. Of course Devin wanted to know whether he would be welcome. It could be for entirely innocent reasons. It could be because he wanted to prod at that sore tooth of how much they regarded him as a brother even if he didn't expect to be welcomed. Devin thought that Freddie would welcome him though. He thought that Freddie would be glad for any excuse to duck out of work early and spend time doing something physical instead. He thought—
Devin recognized the figure slipping into Freddie's office quickly enough to hold himself back. Garrett, with Lancelet there to tell him all about Mordred's tricks, was just as disinclined to trust Devin as Freddie had ever been.
It could be a good opportunity though, a chance to hear Freddie unguarded. See what he was like when he was just with a friend and didn't know that someone less trusted was around. Devin glanced around again before easing himself up nearer to the door. This wasn't one of the reasons that he'd come there. It could end up being even better than what he'd planned.
***
Even before they'd started seeing each other the stable had become a private little world for Garrett and Freddie. Garrett liked it that way. He liked knowing that Freddie had place that he could come and shrug off his responsibilities. It felt like something that Garrett could offer Freddie that nobody else could.
Well. Almost nobody else. Garrett would never be able to compete with Ellie when it came to encouraging Freddie's bad behavior. He mostly just followed along behind Freddie and enjoyed the ride.
There hadn't been any Freddie in the stables that day though. He'd been too busy. Garrett hated feeling like that needy... not quite boyfriend, not yet, but something like that. He didn't have to see Freddie every day to be complete as a person. He just liked seeing Freddie. Seeing Freddie made the world a little brighter and made Garrett feel like the sun was rising inside his chest. He could go a day without seeing Freddie but it would be a gray day, the kind of day where he felt like he might have been better off just staying in bed. He'd dragged himself through everything that needed to be done in the stable. He'd taken Arrow for an extra run and spent a little more time than usual grooming her and murmuring to her about what a good girl she was. He thought he may have slacked off on that since he and Freddie had gotten together. There were so many more things to take up his time now and they all revolved around one man.
The day still didn't feel finished without Freddie in it. Maybe Garrett did need to see him every day to be complete as a person after all.
If Freddie couldn't go to the stables, Garrett had decided that maybe, just this once, it would be alright for him to slip into Freddie's space instead. He'd waited until after the office was closed to the public to take Camelot's personal MTN from the castle to London, at least, so there wasn't anyone else there when he rapped his knuckles against the doorframe and slipped inside. "Hey. Surprise?"