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[ailcia.livejournal.com]

I'm having massive difficulty writing, currently, so this is a little bit of nothing that refused to go anywhere... Sorry, all! :D

 

 

“Well, I’ll be buggered.”

The noises in the on-call room dulled perceptibly, and Jax’s voice made Bodie look up from all the identical faces in his identity book.

Standing awkwardly in the doorway was what at first appeared to be a young lad, clutching a backpack and a helmet. Tall, skinny, all elbows and out of place. Looked like a strong breeze would knock him down. He looked a lot younger than Bodie thought he might be: tight jeans, t-shirt, leather jacket, that sort of hair. But there was something about him that had caused the agents to hush - they were, after all, used to fresh meat coming wandering through their ranks, and running back out again.

“Bo-die?” the bloke addressed the room at large. His voice didn’t suit him, either. It was startlingly rough and too deep for him.

As one, the room turned to look at Bodie, who was sitting at his own desk at the back. He raised an eyebrow at Anson, but didn’t stand. “Who wants to know?”

“Well, I do,” the stranger said with force. “Mr Cowley said I’m to go with you.”

Oh, shit.

Jax clapped his hands together gleefully, as some of the others bellowed with laughter. “Oh, Mr Lonely has finally got himself a partner - let’s see if you can stick more than a month with this one, Mr…”

Ever friendly, he put a hand on the new bloke’s bony shoulder.

“Doyle,” he said. “Ray Doyle.”

Oh, good. Another bad-tempered, trigger-fingered, starved and belligerent paddy bastard… Bodie knew well from experience that kinsmen didn’t always mean kinship.

“Pleased to meet you,” Jax said, flashing a genuinely broad grin, ever the friendliest agent in the mob. He shook Doyle’s hand, and Bodie saw the quick, welcome smile that lit up the strange features as Doyle instantly warmed to Jax. And Bodie suddenly clocked what was wrong, what had been irritating him about this man’s appearance... Aside from the obvious, obviously.

“Here, what happened to your face?” he asked, quite without thinking. That had been what was niggling at him, apart from the severely short curls and the tiny frame and the sheer unkemptness of this new agent. It was the implicit knowledge that Doyle had seen much more than he appeared to know.

The room, just beginning to build a buzz back up again as Doyle and Jax exchanged pleasantries, fell silent once more. All eyes tried to look at anything other than Doyle’s face.

“I ran into a wall,” Doyle snapped and everyone blinked in reflex; the sarcasm in his tone was biting and not at all polite. Certainly not what was expected of a newbie.

Bodie shrugged, and stood up - made sure he stood up tall.

“What else? You get rickets or something when you were a kid?”

He walked towards the man, nudging other sniggering agents out of his way as he did so.

“Or are you on one of those new hippy diets? You eat what Gaia provides, and nothing else, right?”

He came to stand in front of Doyle and discovered he wasn’t quite as short as he first appeared. Nor as fragile-looking. And that he wasn’t about to back down, either.

Doyle met his stare easily, as if he’d been doing it all his life - and Bodie happened to notice that his eyes were a deceptively mellow green.

The eyes narrowed suddenly, and Bodie remembered what he was doing.

“Right, then, short stuff. Let’s get you across to gym, see if you know what you’re doing.” He put a hand on Doyle’s shoulder, but it was immediately shrugged off with some force and a noise which sounded suspiciously like a growl.

Doyle stepped forward suddenly, and put his face right up into Bodie’s.

“’Ere, just how old are you, son?” His lips were next to Bodie’s, hovering cruelly a breath away from his own.

Bodie balked slightly at the sudden turn-around, but didn’t let it show. “26... So what’s it to you?”

“Right, I’m 28, so you can just cut that patronising bullshit,” a finger stabbed toward him, threatening. “And you can pack in the lip, right?” He snarled, his face scrunching something rotten. “Right?”

Keenly aware that the entire room was watching this exchange with a certain simmering interest - Bodie was well known for his dislike of most people, especially new ones - he did the only thing he could do in the face of such an onslaught. He forced a laugh and turned to the crowd, though he swallowed the urge to announce his inherent distrust of thin people.

“Alright, sunshine. Simmer down,” he raised his eyebrows at Murphy, who shook his head slightly in confusion.

Knowing he needed to get this needle-tongued little gobshite away from anyone who could and would rip the piss out of him at a later date, Bodie turned in a fluid motion and left the room in a stride, certain in the knowledge that he had left with the upper hand. His heart, however, disagreed and hammered against his chest.

After a moment, he heard Doyle follow. But the usual chatter of the on-call room did not start up again. They rounded the corner of the corridor together, and there came a great exclamation of loud conversation. He saw Doyle roll his eyes, a strange cant to his lips.

“Same wherever you go, eh?” Bodie said, off-hand, at a loss for anything else to say, and not too sure why he wanted to say anything at all. “Same gossiping everywhere.”

“Couldn’t talk to most of the squad, I couldn’t. Couldn’t stand them,” Doyle grumbled, as if Bodie knew all about his past problems.

Bodie frowned slightly. “Squad? You one of George’s army boys? Cadet or something?”

Doyle looked at him as if Bodie’d personally insulted him. “You joking? I’m a copper… Or was. Here!”

He’d shouted because Bodie had paused mid-walk and was somewhere behind him, hunched over in the corridor, chuckling. Doyle growled to himself and went striding up.

“Oi! What’s wrong with the Force, eh?”

Bodie straightened up, making a great performance of wiping his eyes. “Nothing, sweetheart. Nothing at all.” He made to walk past Doyle, but the infuriating little creature planted himself in his path.

“No, come on, tosser. Tell me what you think is so funny about the police. Tell me what’s wrong with what they do, day in and day out.” His teeth bared, and Bodie noted the chip. Was there nothing about this man that didn’t surprise?

Caught somewhat off-guard, Bodie made his face smirk, and deliberately looked down his nose at Doyle: but his fail-safe method of dealing with difficult (and deeply irritating) people only seemed to provoke Doyle more, because he launched himself at Bodie before he’d had time to open his mouth.

It was somewhere between standing upright and hitting his head on the oak skirting board of the corridor that Bodie began to reconsider his belief that Doyle was a pushover.

Of course, it was only the element of surprise that had overbalanced him, but now he was pinned beneath a whirling dervish and he was getting no punches in, himself. And god, but he had a pair of fists on him.

The pressure on his chest suddenly lifted, and there was a yell. Bodie scrabbled to a sitting position against the wall, and groaned at what he saw. Murphy and Sanderson, two of the biggest buggers Ci5 could boast, were struggling to keep a hold on Doyle who was, quite literally, half their size. What he lacked in weight he made up for in sheer effort, and he yelled and spat and was clearly trying, with all his might to get at Bodie’s throat. There was chaos in the corridor, filled with folk who’d come for the commotion.

Cowley, like an angry Scottish Mr Benn, suddenly appeared at the head of the corridor. He looked absolutely livid, his face white and shining with pure fury.

“Doyle!”

Doyle instantly stilled beneath Murphy’s vast arm - levered, as it was, against his windpipe.

Cowley surveyed the scene imperiously, amounting blame and criticism in his head. His icy eyes rested on Bodie.

“In my office, boy. Now.”

How on earth could this be his fault? He wasn’t the one who was a stark raving head-case. He wasn’t the one who had starved himself into insanity. But you didn’t disobey a direct order from The Cow, you just didn’t. Bodie got slowly, painfully to his feet. A whispering had begun in the corridor, because Doyle had somehow vanished.

“That must be a new record, eh, Bodie? Three seconds alone, was it?”

“Shut up, Jax,” he muttered, rubbing his swollen jaw as, head down, he followed Cowley.



Title: Appearances
Author:ailcia/Alice
Word Count: 1459
Genre: Dunno
Archive at The Circuit: No point
Notes: Written for the Discovered in a Live Journal Autumn Challenge: Found in Fanon/Discovered in Canon. My prompts were: Doyle is skinny and eats like a sparrow... I dunno, I think I might come back and do it again, once I can kick my lazy muse into gear. :D

 

Comments

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, do! Do come back to it again, that was brilliant! I larfed... *vbg* I adore your stroppy bird-like Doyle and your not-as-confident-as-he-pretends arrogant Bodie! Just... heeeee!

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

Awwww, thanks! I will certainly try, although I have other ideas knocking incessently round my head, I just don't seem to be able to WRITE THEM DOWN! *sigh*

SO, am very glad you liked this fic and the characterisation, especially! :D

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

Also, thankyou for the corrections, eagle-eye! :D

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. Another bad-tempered, trigger-fingered, starved and belligerent paddy bastard… What a glorious way to describe his first encounter with Doyle! I agree with byslantedlight, you must return to this and give us more. It's got that frisson and energy of a young Bodie and Doyle just right. And Cowley as a Scottish Mr Benn is when I laughed out loud..

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

Heeee, why, thankyou! It's always interested me, the long-term prejudice in England against the Irish in the 70s... So much so, even the Irish hate the Irish! Or maybe just Bodie. :D

Awww, thankyou very much, love! I seem to be stuck in a rut of writing young B and D - their first dealings with each other are hard to resist!

And thanks, that's my favourite line, too! :D

[schnuffi.livejournal.com]

Something I hate with a vengeance: Doyle being skinny. Because he's definitely not. Having said that much I love what you did with the prompt. Doyle's mean temper and attitude are perfectly described. And the fact that he can nail (snicker) a bloke like Bodie shows that they're equal in strength if not in physics. Well done!

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

I think people just tend to think of him like that because he's always next to that big bastard Bodie! It's like Starsky and Hutch - you always think Starsky's a lot shorter, but he's really not at all.

Thankyou very much! I'm glad you liked it and the skinny prompt didn't stick in your throat too badly. :D

[erushi.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was delightful! The various stereotypes rolled into one fantastic package had me bent over laughing. *g* Am particularly fond of the wonderfully humourous undertone that runs through the entire fic. Like the rest, I definitely hope you'll return to this and give us more. Cheers!

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

Heeeee, thanks very much - am always pleased when people laugh at my fics. Even when I'm trying to do angst, I can't seem to help putting a joke or two in, just for myself! :P

I will definitely try! Thankyou for reading and enjoying it so much! :D

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

Hee! I love your ratty, evil-tempered Doyle, and poor Bodie following Cowley with his head down... bless!

More, please, any time you feel the urge!

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

Mwahahaaa, thankyou very much. Chalk and cheese, indeed! :D

[norfolkdumpling.livejournal.com]

Great stuff! I liked them meeting in the rest room allowing for all the byplay with the other agents - very nice :)

It was somewhere between standing upright and hitting his head on the oak skirting board of the corridor that Bodie began to reconsider his belief that Doyle was a pushover.

This was great! Late to the party, Bodie...bless him. And I liked that Cowley immediately saw that Bodie had been provoking Doyle, although I feel a bit sorry for Bodie, knowing what Cowley will probably do to him *g*

Very entertaining - thanks!

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

I adore playing with the other agents, so I'm glad you do, too!

Awww, thanks very much - I'm really pleased you liked it! :D

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Whee, that was fun--I love first meetings and false impressions. And these characterizations...heh, spot-on. Wonderful. (Mind you, the "quite literally" half the size of Murphy bit had me pondering a 3 foot Doyle, which did made me pause. *g* Yes, yes, I know it's weight, but...)

Thanks!

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

So do I, so thankyou very much! Glad you liked!

Hahahaa, I'm sorry: I do so hate it when people say/write 'literally' when they don't mean anything of the sort, but this time it was a deliberate effort to show Bodie's view that Ray is half the size, width-ways, of the other two agents! :D

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

Heh for Doyle as needle-tongued little gobshite , just HEH *g*

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

Hahahahaa, thanks very much! He is,like. :D

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

I thought this was tremendous fun, and I'd love to see more of this.
Even though Doyle is not that skinny, and loves to cook (and eat, I assume), it was still Doyle and Bodie and it would be wonderful to see what happens next!

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

Awwww, thankyou, pet!

I DO think Doyle is skinny, but it's more wiry than thin-thin, you know? My brother's exactly the same: more meat on a butcher's pencil, but hard as nails! :D

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's more a case of not "acting" like a lightweight, and of course being hard as nails muscle, and not "just" skin and bones.
Meh, this is hard to put into words.

[saintvic.livejournal.com]

Loved it. Great fun, very clever, and some absolutely wonderful dialogue/lines. I especially liked:

Cowley, like an angry Scottish Mr Benn, suddenly appeared at the head of the corridor. - that is an image that is going to stay with me for a while

The tension, arguing, comedy and atmosphere with the other agents make this a delight. Thank you!

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Good job. I was quite entertained. Thanks.

[mistry89.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this - very dramatic first meeting :)
And as it a particular wish of mine to read Beginning Of The Pairing fics, this hits the right spot.
Cheers!

[magenta-blue.livejournal.com]

I really liked this Ailcia - see, even when you call something 'a little bit of nothing' we all love it! And this was fun - lovely lines, nice observations - made me giggle *g* I hope your writing muse kicks in again soon!

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Well, you can colour me entertained. *g*

Some lovely character observation of the pair of them here -- with tongue firmly in cheek of course -- and how delighted am I that it ends up being Bodie hauled off to the office.

Thanks! ♥