Pairing: AJ and Brian
Words: colourful; cryptography; cease-fire; blight


In Germany, they were making people like him wear pink triangles on
their outerwear, so that everyone would know what they were.

AJ sipped at his beer and glanced furtively around the bar.  In
England, they relied on self-identification.  It had been made
perfectly clear during the clearance process for his position with
the War Department that homosexuals were considered a security
risk, and that if anyone ever knew or even suspected what he was,
he would be out of a job, and possibly imprisoned, depending on the
circumstances.

He loved his work.  It was important to the war effort, and despite
the boring, time-consuming, obsessive and even tedious nature of
cryptography, he lived for it.  The mathematics behind it were
beautiful to him, and if that isolated him from 95% of his peers
and left him a quiet, closeted man without mates to drink with at
the local pub after work, most of the time, he was all right with
it.

And sometimes he wasn't, and he came here instead of going home
alone.

A loud laugh caught his attention, and AJ looked up for a moment
before averting his eyes.  Discreet was his watchword, and there
was nothing discreet about being in a bar frequented by a male
fashion model like Kevin Richardson.  He studied the other man as
covertly as possible.  The dark hair, dark eyes and dark brows. 
The long line of his throat, his tight, yet large body... yes, the
man was sexy.  God.  He was a model.  Of course, he was sexy.

Kevin looked in his direction and caught AJ's eyes, smiling at him. 
AJ immediately dropped his.

Seconds later, the chair next to him was pulled out.  "Hello.  I'm
Kevin.  And who might you be?"

AJ raised his eyes.  He wasn't *shy*, just unpractised at being
around strangers, or in situations where socialisation was required
at all, for that matter.  "Nobody the likes of you would want to
know."

"Really?" Kevin raised his thick eyebrows.  "And who might the
likes of me be?"

Someone flamboyant, colorful, and obviously gay, who would never
have anything to do with someone like AJ.  That was who. 
Everything about the man screamed casual sexual encounter and that
was something AJ could never, must never, do.  Not with what he had
at stake with his career.  "Oh, and you came over to talk to me
about the potato blight in Ireland?"

"No.  I came over to talk to you because I saw you looking at me."

"I recognized you," AJ said, grudging the man his ease of manner.

"That you did now?  You have an interest in the world of fashion?"

"Not particularly.  You have a memorable face."

"So do you."

Startled, he stared at Kevin, read the interest in the other man's
eyes.  This was turning out to be exactly what he thought it was
when Kevin sat down.  A pick-up.  "You flatter me."

"Not by much."  Kevin smiled overly warmly at him.

"Who's your friend?" a third voice intruded, with an out-of-place
American twang.

AJ looked up, relieved.  "He's not a friend.  You're late, Brian."

Kevin frowned and shoved back his chair.  "I see."

Brian smiled pleasantly at him, until Kevin got up and left.  Brian
sat in the vacated chair.  "I think he was interested in you."

"I think so, too."  Brian was everything Kevin was not: a pleasant,
unassuming Southerner from the United States, quiet and still a
little shy of AJ.  Someone he felt comfortable with, in the
discreet not-yet-quite relationship they were working out between
them.  "I'm glad you showed up when you did.  He didn't seem like
the type who takes no for an answer."

"Hmm."  Brian smiled at him, a cheery, natural smile that was
nothing like the sex-driven one Kevin had just given him.  "I don't
want to talk about him.  I had a long day.  Work was hectic.  It's
a real struggle, getting everything shipped, what with the trade
situation and the U-boats.  The company is talking about switching
to air freight to get supplies across the Atlantic, but of course,
that's nearly as dangerous, and most flights are co-opted anyway,
for the war effort."

AJ nodded, happy for the change of subject to the import-export
business Brian worked for.  "Have your superiors figured out what
they're going to ship during the cease-fire?"

The second after he said it, AJ realized that he shouldn't have. 
It came out so naturally, as it was part and parcel of his everyday
knowledge.  But in fact, he wasn't sure now after he'd said it
whether it was something he'd picked up a few days ago at the War
Department, or if he'd read it in the newspaper.

Brian just nodded, and AJ felt relieved.  Newspaper then.  He
hadn't let anything slip.  It was just as well that Brian was an
American.  The idea of Brian as a spy was laughable anyway; there
was no one more unlikely than the amiable, unassuming, awkward and
slightly goofy man.  If he were going to pick a potential spy out
of the people here, it would be someone like Kevin, who looked
Germanic with his dark features, and who was exotic and
well-traveled.  "Foodstuffs.  They think there's going to be a food
shortage at some point in the near future, especially if the
problems shipping goods in continue, and so that should be both
practical and profitable."

AJ nodded, and they continued talking about Brian's work, news from
America, the war, and the sports scores.  Never about AJ's work --
Brian knew he worked for the government, but that in and of itself
wasn't terribly unusual in these days and times, and Brian was
considerate of AJ's inability to talk about it.

They left the pub separately; their relationship did not yet extend
to sex, and AJ was being very cautious.  He couldn't afford to be
branded a homosexual; it was merely fortunate that the man he'd met
was understanding of his need for discretion.

The encounter left him feeling less lonely, and AJ was already
looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow.