Title: The Cult
Author: Patt
Genre: Pre-slash (only a kiss in this one)
Summary: Blair and Jim discuss something that seems silly, but might turn out to be important.
Word count: 1828
Warnings: Is silly a warning????
Warnings 2: Bad language
Blair was working on some of his students papers and not really paying any attention to Jim who was cleaning his gun. Or at least, he was trying not to pay any attention.
“Personally, I think they’re a cult,” Blair said.
“Who?” Jim asked. He immediately listened as soon as he heard the word cult.
“The police. It’s a fucking cult,” Blair ranted.
“What are you talking about, Chief?”
“Take cleaning your gun for instance. You clean it almost the same time every night. You hold it almost lovingly and stroke it until it’s done. I would be willing to bet money that everyone in the bullpen does the same exact thing. Want to bet?” Blair asked, wearing a huge smile on his face.
“Cleaning my gun is important and you know why. I didn’t realize I cleaned it every night at the same time. Maybe I’m a little OCD, what do you think?”
“I think you’re all in a cult. I’m the only one who acts normally,” Blair answered.
“You think you’re normal?”
“Hell yes, I’m normal. I react to things normally, smile a lot, laugh a lot and have a typical normal sense of humor,” Blair explained.
“Now you’re saying I’m a grouch and have no sense of humor?” Jim ranted.
“Jim, when is the last time you smiled at work? You’re always growling at someone and grouchy as hell. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t ever smile. I come to the bullpen and make your day brighter.”
Jim burst out laughing.
“See, I’m making you laugh right now. It’s a gift,” Blair admitted.
“You’re so full of shit. It’s not a gift-I was laughing at you, not with you. And what brought this cult discussion up anyhow?” Jim asked.
“You’re all so rigid. You don’t have any room for bending at all.”
“Why would we need to bend, we’re the fucking cops. We’re making people follow the rules, not bending the rules,” Jim said rather loudly.
“See, this is a prime example. You all think you’re gods or something. What’s wrong with bending the rules now and then? I don’t mean let a killer off but I’m talking about something simple. You’re all so uptight and have no room for anything or anyone that is different. It’s a shame really. You have no idea of some of the fun people you miss out on. Not to mention just having a little fun. All of you are rigid. As in, stick up the butt, rigid.”
“This has all come about because I clean my fucking gun?” Jim asked.
“Of course not, you goof. This has all come about because I’m a little tired of being in a closed society day in and day out,” Blair said with a sigh.
“I still don’t know what you’re getting at. Break it down for this dummy, because I want to know why cops bother you. I mean, you work with me every day.”
“Do you know how many gay teachers we have at the University?” Blair asked.
Jim just stood up from the table and looked at Blair like he had totally lost it. “I have no idea. How many?”
Blair curled his feet under his butt on the sofa and smiled at Jim. “There are 23 gay teachers that work at the University. Now let me ask you this? How many gay officers are there at the station?”
Jim joined Blair over on the sofa now. Blair had his attention. “What do you mean?”
“Jim, you’re not a dummy, so don’t act like one. How many gay officers are there at the station?”
Jim sighed and said, “Why is this important to you?”
“Just answer me, man.”
“I would guess about 20 at the station. That’s just a guess, mind you. Things I’ve heard, gossip and such-it’s not like I know it for sure,” Jim said.
“Holy shit…You have gay officers?” Blair asked, more then a little surprised.
“Well, there are a lot of people that are gay, but they aren’t out, if you know what I mean. Why was that so important to you?” Jim wondered.
“Okay, maybe I was wrong. Maybe the police officers would accept gay people. I just figured they would expect everyone to be just like you, Brown, Rafe, Joel, Simon and Connor.”
“Not everyone would accept gay officers, Blair.”
“But I’m just shocked that there are some. This gives me hope about belonging to that cult.”
Jim laughed. “You’re not a cop, so you’re not going to be in the cult, Chief, not to mention the fact that you’re not gay.”
“Yeah…I know.”
Jim noticed that Blair seemed somewhat upset over this. “Blair, I didn’t mean you weren’t as good as any cop at the station. You are. So I guess you could be in the cult.”
Jim was hoping that this would make Blair feel better.
Blair smiled sadly at Jim and said, “Well, I’m going to get ready for bed.”
“Chief, why do you look sad?”
“I just realized that I fit better into the university lifestyle then the cop lifestyle. I just could never be in your cult.” Blair got up and walked towards the bathroom.
Jim was very confused. Why did Blair bring up all of this stuff about a cult in the first place? And then why did he have to ask about gay lifestyle? Jim listened to his friend while he was in the bathroom and heard Blair mumbling.
“Way to go, you moron,” Blair whispered.
Blair opened up the door and walked out and said, “Goodnight, Jim.”
“Goodnight, Blair.”
Jim walked into the bathroom and got ready for bed himself. On his way out, he picked up his gun to take upstairs to put in the safe. Jim realized he might be in a rut. He did do the same things every night. Maybe Blair was tired of the boring night life.
Jim locked his gun up and slid into bed. He was restless and wasn’t sure why. He could hear Blair flipping and flopping from side to side downstairs. So something was wrong. Jim just needed to figure it out.
At three in the morning, Blair woke up with a tall dark figure standing in his room. “Jim?”
“Yeah, Chief-it’s me. I couldn’t sleep and wanted to ask you a few questions.”
“Man, you sort of scared me for a minute. Let me get my lamp turned on,” Blair said reaching for said lamp.
“Leave it off for now.” Jim sat on the floor Indian style and Blair could see the moon casting a shadow on Jim’s face and he didn’t look that happy.
“What’s going on, Jim?”
“So how did you find out?” Jim asked quietly.
“Find out about what?” Blair asked.
“Don’t act like you don’t know. I know you know and it must bother you, so I figured we could talk about it,” Jim said.
Blair thought for a moment, shook his head and then shook it again, hoping things would be clearer that time. No such luck. Blair still didn’t know what Jim was talking about.
“Jim, you have me at a loss here, so just tell me what’s bothering you and we’ll discuss it.”
Jim cleared his throat and said, “When did you find out that I was gay?”
Blair almost fell off of his futon. He caught himself, and just stared at his friend. “What in the hell are you talking about? You date as many women as I do. Mind you they are usually bad women, but still…”
“So you didn’t know I was gay?” Jim asked, somewhat confused.
“Jim, since when are you gay?” Blair shouted.
“Since I was in high school. But I usually hide it very well, because you’re right about the police department being a cult. They don’t like anything out of the ordinary happening with their officers. Why did you bring this up, then?” Jim asked.
“I feel like a really stupid Guide for never noticing this about you. Wow. I’m in shock,” Blair admitted.
“I didn’t want to scare you, Blair, so I hid it well. I’m also very discreet,” Jim said.
“Wait a minute. You thought I would take it poorly and treat you badly?” Blair asked, somewhat hurt.
“I was just trying to keep things the way they were, Chief. I didn’t want to upset either of us.”
“I’m sort of offended by that, Jim. First of all, I’m gay, so why would I treat you differently?”
“You are not gay,” Jim assured him.
“Jim, who was my date last week?” Blair asked.
“Adrian someone, why?”
Because Adrian is a guy that is a teaching fellow also. You are a terrible Sentinel. I can’t believe you didn’t smell him on me. He was all over me and I don’t mean that in a good way. Pushy son-of-a-bitch.”
“This Adrian guy, tried to hurt you?” Jim asked.
“No, he just got pissed off when I wouldn’t put out. God, some men,” Blair said, sighing.
“You’re gay?” Jim asked with a big smile on his face.
“Yes, I’m gay and that’s why I figured I would never fit into the police department because they are a cult of rigid officers.”
“Blair, would you like to go out on a date with me tomorrow night?” Jim asked hopefully.
“What about the cult?” Blair teased.
“I can live with the cult not knowing about us for right now. In the future, I don’t care if they know about us or not. But at the beginning it would be nice if it was just you and me for awhile.”
“Jim, they will never let me be one of them,” Blair said truthfully.
“Hell, I don’t want you to be one of them. That’s the last thing I want. You’re going to be a brilliant Professor, so let’s not worry about the cult,” Jim said.
“You think I’m going to be brilliant?” Blair asked, blushing.
“Yes, I think you’re going to be even more brilliant then you are now. You’re just starting out, Chief.”
“I admire you so much, Jim, that I wouldn’t want anything to happen to your career because of me and you.”
“If something came between us, I would give up my career in no time flat. Now, do we have a date for tomorrow night or what?” Jim asked wearing a big goofy grin on his face.
“It’s a date,” Blair answered just as happily. “One question big guy, will there be making out and groping at the end of this date?”
“Of course there will be making out and groping at the end of this date. I’m only human, Chief.”
Blair went up to Jim and got into his space and asked, “How about our first kiss tonight?”
Jim pulled Blair into his strong arms and held on for dear life. The kiss that followed was one that they had both dreamed about for many months. No one was disappointed.
The end
