This is connected to the Rear Window saga, so just know that's what's being referenced in here.

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Mason decided the only way out was to quit. Did he like his job at the FBI? Yes, he did but some things needed to be sacrificed for the greater good. The greater good being Mason avoiding the next hour of his life.

An hour in exchange for his job. It seemed reasonable to him.

Despite his decision to quit, Mason continued down the hallway to the training center. As he walked, he touched his ribs, hoping for some sign of soreness proving that he needed to put this off.

But instead of them backing him up by pretending to be still damaged, they only served to remind him of why he needed to do this.

Still, Mason felt if he had to, he could fake it. He was a pretty decent actor. Maybe he could even convince one of the Bureau medics that he was in no condition to train. Only the thought of Yvette's face when he explained that his ribs, which had been healed for two weeks, were suddenly damaged again kept Mason from going to the medics.

He walked into the training center and surveyed the area, assessing how many people would be witness to his humiliation as well as the main audience member of it. Mason found that one person.

It was clear, he was going to quit. It was a nice job but there was no getting around it, he was quitting. That was how things needed to be. He'd come to terms with it later but it was the only it could be.

After all, who did anything other than sit on their phone while they were waiting? Except Donovan wasn't on his phone. He was doing a combination of moves that made him look like the biggest idiot.

It was simply embarrassing. How could Mason work with someone like this? Was what Donovan was doing likely to attract Owens's attention along with every other woman's in the world? Did it look impressive? That was all besides the point, he looked like an idiot, one Mason had to work with.

Mason couldn't do this. There were some things a reputation couldn't come back from. Being seen with Donovan Keller had to be one of those.

Maybe Mason could ask Owens to help him. He felt like that would be less terrible than Donovan. Donovan was a manufactured human after all. There was no working with a person like that.

But before Mason could turn in his resignation, Donovan stopped, spotted Mason, and met his eyes. That was all. Donovan didn't even make a gesture for Mason to join him. He simply looked like that was all that was needed to make someone come to him.

Mason crossed the training center, which was terrible proof that that's all Donovan needed to do. And a trait that Mason would be learning from Donovan one way or another. It was tiring to call out to someone, he wanted the ability to look at them and that was all he needed to do.

"Hey," Donovan said as Mason reached him.

Mason only nodded in greeting. Two could play the Silent Power game, Mason was just a different level than Donovan. Not lower, just adjacent.

"We're going to start with form," Donovan said.

Mason appreciated the lack of pleasantries. They were boring and pointless at the end of the day. Who really cared how someone was doing after weeks of recovery? Clearly not Donovan.

Step by step, Donovan walked Mason through foot positioning, how to curl his fist, and where the force of his strikes was to come from. He spoke with a calm voice that wasn't condescending or commanding, which pissed Mason off.

This was Donovan's moment to wield his authority over a person, how was he not abusing that? It was pathetic. How did he speak so evenly? Did he not see the opportunity he had to get back at Mason for all the times he called him Boy Scout? Weak. Donovan was totally weak for not seizing his chance.

How was Owens even married to this even-tempered man? She must walk all over him.

"Okay, throw a punch at me," Donovan said.

Mason was not one to miss an opportunity.

He swung with all his might, lost his balance, stumbled, and faced the humiliation of Donovan casually catching him from falling.

Easily, Donovan righted Mason like it was no big deal. Where was the mocking chuckle? Where was the condescending comment that Owens would have delivered? This man had the audacity to do nothing but help him. That was unfair.

"Okay," Donovan said. "You were swinging from your shoulder, that's why the force of it sent you too far forward. You need to feel the strength come from your core. That lowers your center of gravity for your punch, keeping you from losing balance. Try again."

Try again. Easily said, like Mason didn't make an idiot of himself and Donovan didn't react at all.

Still, Mason focused on his core and swung again. The results were less pathetic than the first attempt.

"Good, now do it again and I'll correct your form," Donovan said.

Mason threw his punch and held it when Donovan told him to. Coming to stand right next to Mason's shoulder, Donovan held out his own arm in a punching motion, showing Mason where he was off and how to adjust it.

Being so close, Mason quickly understood how it would have been worse to do this with Owens. But it still didn't mean he liked doing it with Boy Scout.

When Donovan finally stopped showing off his own muscles and stepped away, Mason repeated his punch and received a small clap from Donovan. Mason hated how he felt proud about that instead of annoyed with being placated.

"Now we're going to repeat that over and over until it feels natural then we'll get the boxing gloves."

Over and over again Donovan made Mason repeat the swinging action, making minor corrections throughout. When Mason wanted to have enough strength to punch Donovan to get him to stop, Donovan said stop. With a nod, Donovan left to retrieve a set of boxing gloves and mitts.

Mason pressed his hands into his legs, trying to not feel as weak as he obviously looked.

"How did you get stuck with this job?" Mason asked when Donovan returned.

Donovan dropped the gloves and mitts to the mat. "Do you know how to wrap your hands?"

"No."

"Okay."

Donovan took Mason's wrist and wrapped one hand, explaining what he was doing then let Mason wrap his other hand.

"Are you going to answer my question?" Mason asked, making slow work of wrapping his hand.

Donovan watched Mason's progress with crossed arms. "I didn't get put on this job. I asked for it."

Mason stilled and slowly lifted his head, not completely convinced he'd heard Donovan right. It almost sounded like Donovan had said he'd asked to train Mason. A response that made no sense since he wasn't even sure if Donovan liked him all that much.

"You asked for this job?" Mason asked.

Donovan said nothing just stared at Mason, doing that Silent Power thing he did.

"Why?" Mason asked, going back to wrapping his hand to avoid looking at Donovan.

"You can't tell her I told you this, but Carter cried about you when you were hurt."

Again Donovan's words stilled Mason. Owens cried. Owens cried over him? That was a paradox to Mason. Owens didn't cry and most certainly she didn't cry about Mason.

"Why would she do that?" Mason asked.

Donovan raised his eyebrows. "Why did she cry about you being hurt?"

"Yeah."

Donovan continued to stare at Mason with high amounts of skepticism. "Because she cares."

"Uh."

"But since I don't want her having to worry about you again, I offered to train you so you'd be able to handle yourself next time."

That made more sense to Mason than Donovan somehow caring about whether he was capable of his own protection or not. But still, Donovan had given away Owens' secret and Mason couldn't give up the chance to exploit it.

"Owens cried about me?" Mason asked with a taunting grin.

Donovan stared Mason directly in the face and gave no expression as he spoke. "Yes."

It was official, Mason needed to know how to throw a punch so he could throw one at Donovan. There was nothing more aggravating than a person who couldn't quip or never reacted. What was one supposed to do with that? There was nothing to do, that was the issue.

"Are you ready to get back to work?" Donovan asked with the same deadpan face.

"Yes."

The boxing gloves and mitts were an improvement over feeling like a flailing bird trying to fly with useless wings. At least even if he wasn't good at hitting the mitts, he got closer to punching Donovan.

And with how Donovan corrected Mason's form but never revealed emotions, only served to make Mason more annoyed. What was he, a robot? Okay, he was. Mason had already decided this. That meant Donovan was only acting in his manufactured nature which meant getting annoyed about it was useless.

"Stop," Donovan said.

Mason gladly did as Donovan instructed, his breathing short making him feel weak and pathetic in comparison to Donovan looking his normal perfection.

"You need to focus," Donovan said.

"I am."

"No, you aren't. You're thinking about something else. What is it?"

"That you're a manufactured human being and since you have no emotions while training me I shouldn't be annoyed at this since it's in your robotic nature."

Mason said this with no expectation of a reaction, after all, Donovan hadn't given any before this.

To his complete surprise, Donovan smiled and chuckled slightly. Which was more unnerving.

"Don't do that," Mason said. "Showing that you can mirror human reactions is just disturbing at this point."

Still smiling, Donovan raised his mitts. "Again. But focus this time and put aside the reality of me being a robot."

"As if it's that easy since you've just admitted to it."

Donovan waved his mitts tauntingly at Mason and Mason rolled his eyes but went back into his correct stance.

When Mason got to the point where exhaustion was trying to convince him that just getting kidnapped was the easier route to take than learning how to train, Donovan stopped.

"What? I can go for another hour, you can't?" Mason said, his lungs burning for air. "Do you need to go plug in and recharge?"

"You look like you're going to pass out. Shower and let's get something to eat."

"You can process food? You don't just eat chargers or batteries?"

"It helps to hide my robotic nature if I'm seen eating human food at times."

A quip! Mason nearly collapsed with the shock of it. Maybe Donovan was more human than Mason had originally thought. Or he was one of those advanced robots that learned as it went. Either way, the training was done and Mason could sit down.

Showered and changed, Mason found Donovan waiting outside the locker room for him and the two of them left the building.

Once they were seated at a burger place, Mason realized the strangeness of the situation. Rarely was he ever alone with Donovan outside of work or without Owens. Sitting across from Donovan, Mason almost expected him to morph into a different person. Didn't everyone have a work personality that they left behind once they left their jail cell? But Donovan looked exactly the same.

"You understand you're staring at me, right?" Donovan said without looking at Mason or even hinting that he'd been aware of Mason.

Mason could have been embarrassed by being caught but he'd learned a long time ago that embarrassment only came from not embracing the situation and taking control of it. He had watched the White House media team turn scandals into nothing of merit just by handling it well.

"Do you have like a sensor in your head that warns you when people are looking at you or something? Did it start buzzing in that computer of a brain?"

Again a tiny smile appeared on Donovan's face and Mason was convinced it was the most unsettling thing Donovan could ever do.

"What?" Mason asked.

"You saying that makes me think of my brother Clint."

"Why?"

Donovan didn't respond right away and Mason wondered if Donovan thought of facts about his life like currency too and didn't like spending it.

"When I was really young, I was a lot smaller than my brothers and so no matter what, they always won in a fight. After I begged him-"

Mason made a noise of disappointment at the word 'beg'. Donovan stared Mason down and Mason raised his hands in surrender then gestured to Donovan.

"Please continue," Mason said.

With one final long stare as if warning Mason that it was the only warning he'd get before losing it all, Donovan returned to his story.

"Clint agreed to train me how to fight. My brother is pretty quiet, he only speaks when he has something worth saying. He also doesn't show a lot of emotion." Donovan smiled. "I thought of him as a robot when we trained because he would never make fun of me or yell at me to do better. He was steady and...safe."

An instrumental person in Donovan's childhood being steady and safe. Mason wondered what that must be like to have. It would explain the balanced person Donovan was. Though how that balanced person ended up with the most unhinged girl Mason had ever met, he didn't know.

Opposites attract, or Stockholm syndrome. Most likely the latter.

"So that's why you're not loitering your authority over me in training? Because your brother didn't do it to you?"

Donovan nodded. "He told me, people should never be looked down on or mocked for not knowing a skill. And more than that, they should never feel less than while working to develop that skill."

"Your brother sounds annoyingly nice."

Donovan laughed. Still unsettling to Mason.

"He is but he's also someone you don't want to cross."

"Why? He'll be so nice to you that you'll want to be his best friend and years later he'll ghost you so that you're destroyed to the core of your being."

Donovan lost his smile and stared at Mason with a questioning look. So maybe that wasn't a common form of revenge in the Keller family.

"No. Clint uses silence to make people feel stupid."

"How?"

"When people make comments or threats, instead of responding, he stares at them, saying nothing. It means what they said is thought about until the person who said it can feel the full weight of its stupidity."

"He doesn't just point out the stupidity of it bluntly?" Mason asked.

"No."

"Seems a little inefficient to me."

"Maybe but it's more effective."

Mason thought that was debatable. Having the last line always meant that the person had the power, not the one who said nothing at all.

"What else did your brothers teach you?" Mason asked. Donovan cocked his head, studying Mason. "I'm bored. Entertain me."

Instead of refusing, as Mason expected, Donovan told him.

By the time they'd eaten their dinner and parted ways, Mason hated Donovan a little more.

Not only did he have good looks but he had the audacity to have an interesting but protected childhood. Where was the justice in that? Mason had been hoping for at least some traces of trauma so he could connect with Donovan. But no, Donovan had a good childhood with good parents and loving, if not slightly bullying, older brothers. Mason knew life was unfair but Donovan was living proof of that.

"How'd it go?" Yvette called as Mason walked into their home.

Finding her sitting on the couch in the living room, Mason fell onto the cushions and dropped his head into her lap. Automatically, she ran her fingers through his hair as he looked up at her.

"I think I might like Donovan Keller," Mason said.

"You always have," Yvette said. "You're just admitting now."

Mason sat up. "What?

Yvette laughed. "So offended by that."

"Yes. That man is-"

"The only person you've ever had to work to make like you."

Sometimes Mason wondered why he got married when his wife was completely delusional. He felt this was something she should have shared with him before he committed to her.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Mason said.

Yvette curled her legs in, facing Mason. "He's the first person to know Link before knowing you. You'd never had competition with a brother before. Even now, most people know you more than Link. Donovan was the only person who you had to win over because he liked Link more than he ever liked you."

"Who said I ever wanted to win him over?"

"You did because he's Link's best friend."

Delusional and smart. It was a terrible combination. Why hadn't Mason seen this before? Maybe there was a way he could divorce her by using insanity as an excuse.

"Terrible decision," Mason said.

"What? Doing your best to win Donovan over?"

"No. Having a brother I cared about."

"Yes. That was a terrible decision on your part."

Yvette gave him a teasing smile and Mason decided that it might be a bit extreme to jump to divorce so quickly.

She said he'd won Donovan Keller over. But he wasn't so sure.

Mason had never had to work to make people like him or pay attention to him. Even people who disliked him still felt something towards him even if it was negative.

Donovan treated Mason like someone he had to get to know and didn't assume he knew everything already like the rest of the world. Donovan treated Mason like a normal person. He hated that.

He really liked that.

Mason focused on Yvette. "You can never tell him that I tolerate him."

Yvette cupped Mason's face and kissed him gently. "Your secret is safe with me."

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Dingo's Kidneys a bromance!!

A bromance that isn't really a bromance because both Donovan and Mason would wholeheartedly refute it and argue against there being anything but mild tolerance between each other but a bromance all the same.

Go ahead, lavish me with your comments! Dazzle me with the excess of thoughts you have in your head! 💬💭🗯

Something I like about Donovan and Mason is you've never met two more opposite people. But Donovan understands Carter which means that Donovan understands Mason. Mason married Yvette so that means he likes level headed people like Donovan.

Their connection is so roundabout but interesting. Donovan doesn't quip because that's a side of him that he only uses with people he's close to like Carter, his brother's and Link. Mason only knows quips and doesn't show his deeper side until he is close to a person.

So they are like flip sides of a coin. It's really fascinating to explore their dynamic. It's also one we rarely get so it's all new and shiny!

Any diddle doo! I hope you liked it! If not, go ahead and tell me, I  don't mind.

Vote, comment, follow but only if you like dandelions.

I'm really sorry I didn't reply to your comments from last chapter this week was... 🤪😢🥺😭😡😤😂🤨🥹😩... it was something. I love you and hopefully will answer this chapters comments.