Brendon walked into the room to see Ryan talking on the phone. He didn't have to ask who was on the other line. One, he'd never seen Ryan on the phone with any other person. Two, his posture gave it away.

Ryan ran a hand aggressively through his wavy hair as he paced back and forth. His jaw was tight and his body was tense. When his hand was at his side, it was balled into a fist, ready to do some damage. It had to be the chief on the phone.

"We're not finding anything. I don-" Ryan stopped and let out a frustrated sigh. "Yes, but I -" Brendon cautiously took a seat on the bed. Ryan quickly moved to the nightstand between the beds and grabbed the pen and paper that laid on top.

"Yeah," Ryan responded to whatever he was told. He began scribbling a few notes. "Is that all?.. Chief I... Yes, sir... Fine." Ryan hung up and threw his phone on the bed.

"What did the chief say?" Ryan handed the notepad to Brendon and let his body fall back onto the mattress. He let out a groan and ran his hands over his face. Brendon gave him a concerned looked before looking down at Ryan's notes.

Male. Middle Aged. Potential teen sex trafficking.

"That's all," Ryan mumbled. "No specific location, so we still have to wander around the city to find something." Ryan was obviously not enjoying the case. Brendon wondered if this is how he acted on his solo cases.

"At least it's something. We can eliminate certain places and focus on where teenagers like to spend their free time." Ryan sat up and stared at Brendon. After a moment, he sighed.

"Yeah, you're right. So, we should head out and see if we find any place that's a hot spot here."

"We could go to the mall. That seems like an obvious teen spot." Ryan nodded in agreement. The pair began getting ready to leave. Ryan found himself eyeing Brendon as the man put on a tight t-shirt that showed a strip of skin when he lifted his arms up, skinny jeans and converse. He shook his head of any thoughts and finished getting dressed.

It wasn't long before they made their way through the doors of the mall. They were in the food court when Ryan took a seat at a table and Brendon wondered off. Ryan was carefully scanning the area for anything that would bring him closer to the end of the case.

Brendon soon took a seat across from Ryan with a smoothie in his hand. He was happily drinking and staring at Ryan's concentrated face. When Ryan turned to Brendon, he smirked and nodded at the drink.

"Are you ever not eating or drinking something?" Brendon smiled against the straw and continued sucking up the drink. "Let me guess, it's a mall. We'll look suspicious without buying something." Brendon giggled and pulled away the drink with a satisfied sigh.

"Would you look at that. Ryan Ross, top FBI agent, learning something about surveillance from moi." Ryan shook his head, chuckling softly.

"Careful, Urie. Don't want to blow our cover." Brendon rolled his eyes.

"Please, if anyone was going to give us away, it'd be you. Who wears a dress shirt and slack to a mall?" Ryan looked down at his outfit then at Brendon.

"Excuse me for not really owning clothes that makes me look like teenage emo." Ryan smiled and motioned to Brendon. Brendon let out a gasp.

"At least I don't look like I'm ready to go meet the queen. I'm surprised you didn't put a jacket over that outfit." Ryan tried to look offended and mad at Brendon but ended up laughing at the comment. "Did you not bring anything comfortable to wear."

"I brought sweats and a hoodie, but that's just for lounging around." Brendon smiled and stared at Ryan, slowly getting lost in thought.

"You know," Brendon started. "We are in a mall." Ryan raised a questionable brow.

"We are," he said slowly.

"You know what people do at malls." Ryan only got more confused when Brendon stood up and held his hand out for him. "Let's go."

"Where?" Brendon let out an impatient sigh, grabbed Ryan's hand and pulled him out of the chair. He kept his grip tight as he pulled Ryan out of the food court toward the line of stores.

"What are we doing?" Brendon still have to use some force to keep Ryan moving forward.

"We, Mr. Ross, are going to get you some casual clothes." Ryan made a lame attempt to pull him to pull his hand out of Brendon's. In response, Brendon held tighter and looked up at the taller agent.

"Don't be difficult. You're not getting out of this." Ryan sighed and relaxed, naturally intertwining their fingers together for a more comfortable position.

Brendon smiled proudly at not needing to drag a stubborn man around. Ryan walked beside him, glancing into the different stores until Brendon pulled him into a clothing store. Brendon only let go of Ryan's hand when he started looking through the racks of jeans.

Brendon started throwing jeans at Ryan until he was satisfied with the quantity. Ryan was pulled to the dressing rooms and shoved into the largest stall. Brendon decided to be in the room also, locking the door behind him.

"You're gonna be in here?" Ryan asked surprised. Brendon shrugged with a smirk.

"We share a room, Ryan. Don't tell me you're suddenly shy." Ryan felt his face heat a bit at Brendon's boldness. "Plus, I'm buying, so I want to make sure I'm getting my money's worth."

Ryan huffed and placed the jeans on the small hook on the back of the door. He was hesitant at first to take off his pants, but fought down the embarrassment. After he shimmied into the first pair, he turned to Brendon for approval.

"Turn," Brendon ordered. Ryan did as he was told. Brendon hummed softly. "Approved. Next." Ryan rolled his eyes and moved to the next pair. With each change, he noticed Brendon's eyes lingering longer than the last. He smirked to himself, feeling himself losing the embarrassed feeling he had before.

"You should wear jeans more often. You look good in them." Ryan rolled as he pulled on his slacks and collected the jeans.

"Are we done now?" He tried to sound annoyed, but struggled to hide his amusement while Brendon was not so subtly checking him out. "Urie," Ryan nearly shouted to get the other's attention. Brendon looked up to see Ryan smirking. Brendon turned away, blushing.

"Yeah. Um, yeah. We're done." Ryan collected the jeans and unlocked the door. He motioned for Brendon to leave first and followed behind. As they started to leave the dressing room area, a woman walking in grimaced at the agents walked together.

"Disgusting," she mumbled loud enough for them to hear.

"Excuse me," Ryan responded. He stopped, causing Brendon to stop also. The woman rolled her eyes.

"You two and what you stand for is disgusting. It's wrong and shouldn't be allowed in public." Ryan clenched his fist, but kept his face blank to hide his frustration. He turned when he felt a tug on his arm.

"Ryan, let's just go." Brendon had his head low, occasionally looking up at the few other shoppers that turned to them. "I-It's not worth it." Ryan could see how nervous and uncomfortable he was. It got him upset to see how this woman changed Brendon's carefree natural with her comment.

"Better listen to your faggot boyfriend and get out. No one wants you here." Ryan still had his eyes on Brendon, noticing the moisture forming in his eyes. Ryan moved his hand and intertwined their hands together. Brendon looked up surprised. Ryan tightened his grasp when Brendon tried to pull away when he noticed more people looking at them.

"It's okay," Ryan whispered, regaining Brendon's attention. "I'm right here. You're okay." Brendon nodded slowly and pressed his face against Ryan's arm. Ryan turned back to the woman.

"There's nothing wrong with love whether it's between two men, two women or whoever. Love is love. What's disgusting is sticking your nose in other's business. We have as much right to be here as much as you. We shouldn't have to hide because of other peoples beliefs."

Ryan turned away before the woman could reply. Brendon stayed pressed against his side as Ryan paid for the jeans and led Brendon out of the store. They strolled through the mall before Ryan spoke up.

"You alright?" Brendon nodded and pulled away from Ryan a little. Ryan still kept a comforting grip on Brendon's hand.

"I've just had a lot of that and I don't handle it very well. It's stupid I know. Sorry," Brendon mumbled. Ryan shook his head.

"It's not stupid and you have nothing to be sorry about. Fuck those people. You should be able to be who you are. No holding back." Brendon smiled softly. They walked around some more before Brendon began pulling Ryan into random stores, convincing him to buy more clothes and accessories.

Any time their hands separated, Ryan made sure he was still a close distance to the other man. Every now and then, Ryan pulled Brendon's hand back in his own claiming that someone was giving them dirty looks and he wanted to show that he didn't care about their opinion.

As they wandered through the mall, Ryan didn't know when the hand holding stopped being a statement for others and more for comfort for himself. Either way, Brendon didn't seem to mind the action. He would smile at Ryan anytime the man snuck up behind him and connected their hands.

___

A/N:

This chapter is a little longer than the others, but I thought it was cute. I enjoyed it. Hope you do too. Thanks for reading!