Chapter Text
Sunshine blazed high in the sky, littering down on the small paved paths, lined by trees, vegetation and statues of marble and stone. The roar of the ocean was close and all around, the screaming of gulls as they flew ahead, looking for their next meal. Cars drifted by lazily across the streets that ran the length of the small city on the edge of the harbour. The water was crystalline and also lazy in its movement, not a lot of waves or traffic coming in from the ocean side, just the ebb and flow caused by science and gravity, people resting on the beaches that dotted the shoreline. The temperature was sweltering, in the low thirties Celsius, and it was the perfect kind of weather to tan on the beach and go for a dip and not worry about anything else.
Patios littered the paths, restaurants open for people who wanted a light lunch of an early afternoon drink, to sit and talk with their friends or lovers, for vacationers and citizens alike. There was a life here in Valletta, as low key and calm as it might be. It wasn’t a large city like Seoul or Shanghai, it was incredibly small, a couple thousand people, surrounded by large bastions and defensive walls made in the middle ages, but thrummed with a beat for everybody to thrive with.
Gi-seok walked down the path, sunglasses perched on his nose, regretting the heat that was swamping him. He was wearing a t-shirt and was still sweating through the back of it, which wasn’t helping his comfort level for walking up to people he saw walking, asking if they spoke Italian, and then asking if they had seen someone that looked a little like him. They would often point to Young-woon, who was across the street, asking the same questions, and it would force Gi-seok to pull out his phone and show a picture of Vincenzo Cassano. Some ladies (and men) would comment that he was very attractive, but apologize that they hadn’t seen him.
After yet another apology from a blonde haired woman who Gi-seok was pretty sure was not understanding what he was saying, he crossed the street to rejoin Cho, who was also in sunglasses, and even wearing short sleeves himself, which was a rare look for him considering how ashamed he still was of the tattoo on his forearm. Even though they were on a mission, Gi-seok allowed himself to marvel at the sight. Young-woon wiped his forehead with the back of his wrist, brushing his hair out of the way and letting out a breath of overheating.
“Any luck?” Gi-seok asked, keeping with Italian for the moment.
Young-woon shook his head.
“And you’re sure that --”
“We’ve been over this. You were just as sure as I was.”
Earlier in the week he had received an email with a receipt and registration information for a hotel booking in his name here in Valletta, the capital of Malta. His spam filter was usually pretty good in catching bullshit before it got to his inbox, so he thought twice before deleting it off the bat, and instead called the hotel to confirm that there was indeed a reservation. And it wasn’t like it was a mistyped email either. His information, his email, everything. His mind had immediately drifted to the idea of a trap, but he mentioned it to Gi-seok all the same. After a moment of stunned blinking, Ahn simply mentioned that Cha-young informed him of Vincenzo sneaking back into the country for a single evening with an Italian diplomatic designation, and he had mentioned to her about purchasing an island off the coast of Malta.
They packed that day.
Unfortunately, it hadn’t been a successful trip thus far, at least by some metrics. They had checked the hotel (a very nice hotel by the name of the Phoenicia, which had left Gi-seok’s jaw on the floor between the room, the view, the architecture and dining options) and came up with nothing except for how nice it was, started mapping out the islands off the coast, and figured that maybe doing a bit of canvassing would help. It hadn’t. But the weather was nice, if a little bit hot, and they didn’t have to do formal work, which was also nice.
Officially, they were both using vacation days from work, since they couldn’t outright put it on the record that they were scouring a foreign country for Vincenzo Cassano. Tae knew the real reason why both of them were going, and had wished Ahn luck when he approved the time off.
Gi-seok sighed, putting his phone back in his pocket. “Maybe we should try the ferries to the coastal islands tomorrow?”
“I pulled a list of owner registries for the land on the islands,” Young-woon replied with a slight shrug, squinting even behind his sunglasses due to the brightness of the day. “Most are private entities which are obviously shells, but we can start with the obvious ones.”
They fell into lockstep as they started down the road back to their very fancy hotel, talking about their plans for their search tomorrow. They were able to stay in the shade of buildings, which helped escape a little bit of the heat of the day. Young-woon looked around as they walked, going from the more natural citizen area to a little bit more of a tourist area. Couples walked around, different languages coming out all around them. English, Italian, some French, Spanish, other languages that they couldn’t even hope to identify. Most of the tourists didn’t seem to be from Asiatic countries, but no one really seemed to mind or stare at them for being out of place here. It was even surprising that when they had signed in to the hotel, there hadn’t been any questions or comments about getting a second key for Gi-seok despite there only being one bed in the room.
It was strange to be in a place like this, which was not concerned about formality and let people be themselves. It was even a place that let same sex partners hold hands without being side eyed or blacklisted if anyone important saw. Gi-seok had tapped Young-woon’s arm intently when he saw another couple speaking a language neither of them could place doing this and pointed. Young-woon didn’t say anything, just smiled at him. He knew this was Gi-seok’s first time out of the country,, so he was having a good time, even if Vincenzo still proved illusive. Hell, he couldn't say that he wasn't feeling the same way.
“You shouldn’t stare,” he had told Gi-seok.
“I know, but...look!”
And that was the crux of it. Gi-seok was having a wonderous time out. It was only a shame that it wasn’t a real vacation, because he could get used to this – even though they were both what many people would call ‘workaholics’.
“Where do you want to go for dinner? Back to the hotel?” Young-woon asked. “There was an interesting looking place by the beach I saw earlier when we were asking around there.”
It was all an experience to Gi-seok, so he nodded, and they changed their path to go back to where they were earlier in the afternoon. It was a small bistro looking place with a name neither of them could pronounce – it didn’t seem to be in Italian, probably Maltese instead, which neither of them knew. They entered and confirmed that they could speak Italian (which made sense, considering its proximity to the country and a lot of day to day travel happened between the countries), and sat down at a small table; the patio was a nice option but it was a little too warm for the both of them. They ordered, some unique dishes that they could not pronounce and ordered some beer and sat back and relaxed and talk. Young-woon even put his hand on top of Gi-seok’s, much to the latter’s joy. Holding hands. Openly. Where other people could see them and they didn’t care.
As Gi-seok beamed, happily putting this moment in his head permanently so that he could call on it in times of need, he noticed Young-woon blushing a little bit, which was something else he would put in his head. It had taken some time for Young-woon to fall back into a rhythm of ‘legitimate’ work, and he was still working on getting past some of the demons that still resided in his soul, but there was more peace on his face these days, and Gi-seok hoped it was because of him. He just smiled back at Cho and squeezed his hand, and his gaze traveled out the window to the street outside to look at the people wandering
He saw a Korean man sitting at a nearby patio with a glass of red wine, dressed as casually as they were, a button down with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, slacks, and boating shoes, with sunglasses on his face and hair impeccably coiffed. He caught Gi-seok’s eye, smirked, and raised his glass in a knowing toast, a silent thank you.
Gi-seok stood abruptly, knees smacking the table as he did, and scrambled out the front door, almost falling in the process. By the time he got outside and across the cobblestone street, dodging a scooter in his path, the man was gone, like he had never been there in the first place. There wasn’t even wine on the table. Young-woon joined him a moment later, a panic in his eyes, head turning from one side to the other.
“What?” he asked, taking in a sharp breath. “What happened? What did you see?”
What did he see, Gi-seok wondered, looking at the table where he swore he had seen Vincenzo Cassano saluting them and what was between them. Did he bring them here because this was where he was, to let them know he was okay? Or did he bring them there to make sure they knew and understood that they were okay? Or, did Ahn hallucinate the entire thing because of the heat and the sun that had been beating down on them all day, and the answers were all truly ‘within’?
“Nothing,” Gi-seok said with a small smile, coming to the realization that it didn’t matter. “Just thinking we should use the rest of our time here as a vacation.”
There was a slightly confused noise at this new revelation. Gi-seok nodded in affirmation of his thought, and reached out to take Young-woon’s hand. There was a slight hesitation in the return of the gesture, being so public, but Young-woon didn’t pull away, just looked over at Gi-seok curiously.
“Hey. I love you,” he said simply and honestly, happily not even caring if the people walking down the street heard him. One of them even seemed to, turning in his direction, though she couldn’t understand what was being said; she probably didn’t have to, with the look that was passing between the two NIS agents.
Young-woon blushed (it was just sunburn, honest), his fingers laced tightly in between Gi-seok’s.
“I love you too,” he said, slightly embarrassed, his other hand moving up to awkwardly adjust his glasses, but still meaning it emphatically. It made Gi-seok beam happily. “Now come on, Director, let’s go inside before they think we dined and dashed before even dining. You don’t want to get arrested. I’m not even sure I’d bail you out.”
“Wow, you’re so rude, old man.”
Smiling, Young-woon nodded. “Yeah, I am, young-looking sir.” he squeezed the hand in his own and started to lead the way back inside. “You should have learned that a while ago.”
Maybe a vacation would do them good.