A Matter of Trust (Mentalist fanfic)
Title: A Matter of Trust
Rating: PG
Word Count: 872
Disclaimer: The Mentalist isn't mine. Plz don't sue.
AN: I've never tried my hand at Cho/Jane slash (or pre-slash as it turned out), but it looked yummy so I had to try ;)
Summary: Pre-Jane/Cho. He trusts that Jane is worth it, and because Jane knows Cho, because he knows that Cho is a man of evidence and facts, that trust that's been handed over so easily sometimes takes Jane's breath away.
Title from Billy Joel's song "A Matter of Trust."
This was written for Yuletide for noondreams and is originally posted here.
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...A Matter of Trust...
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Jane plays with people as if he were a stage magician, tricks and distractions and sleights of hand and he's stolen their hearts, won their loyalty without them knowing, without them even realizing.
But Cho isn't one to be distracted. Ever the straight man, he watches Jane sometimes as if he knows everything that he's thinking, and it unnerves him more than he'll ever admit. Cho accepts Jane's reasoning and outlandish plans because he trusts that they'll achieve results, because he trusts Jane.
When Bosco mentions bending the rules in exchange for letting Jane out of jail, Cho doesn't hesitate, because sometimes rules need to be bent, because they need Jane on the team, because he trusts that Jane is worth it, and because Jane knows Cho, because he knows that Cho is a man of evidence and facts, that trust that's been handed over so easily sometimes takes Jane's breath away.
Everyone else deals with Jane with overwrought emotions. Anger, amusement, friendship, irritation, disbelief, need. Cho is subtle, emotions coasting just under the surface as he watches silently, but he's always had Jane's back, and Jane is always more surprised about him than anyone else.
Cho defies expectations, and it's driving Jane up the wall.
So when Jane had decided to slip away from his friends and confront the killer, no gun, no body armor, no backup, and gets tied up and thrown in the back of a van for the three hours it takes everyone else to figure out between the clues and Jane's scribbled note what exactly is going and track him down, and Cho is silent as Rigsby and van Pelt are overly affectionate and Lisbon is stoically relieved, Jane gets blindsided.
He's untied, and they take him back to the office to debrief him, and then Cho states that he'll take Jane home.
Not ask, mind. The statement isn't even directed at Jane, it's directed to Lisbon. "I'll take Jane home," he tells her, after not saying one word to Jane all evening while the others alternated between petting and scolding, and Jane unable to enjoy any of it because of Cho's heavy stare on the back of his neck.
Jane opens his mouth-to protest, maybe, or complain-but Cho literally grabs Jane by the arm and yanks him to his feet and it's enough to momentarily startle Jane out of words. They go to the car, Cho's steps fast and purposeful and Jane hurrying behind to catch up, and he doesn't like this, no he doesn't like this at all.
"Get in the car," Cho says when he lets go of Jane and Jane shoots him a glare. "Now," he adds, and Jane is halfway through the door before he realizes it.
"Cho-" Jane starts, but Cho just looks at him and Jane feels himself falter and then trail off into silence.
"You should have told me where you were going," Cho says, all clipped words and monotone voice that does nothing to disguise the I was worried about you, you stupid idiot, that's hovering under the surface. "You could've gone and done whatever you felt you needed to do, but you would've had backup," Cho adds. "That was stupid, Jane. Let me know next time."
And the simple, direct way that Cho speaks, that he always speaks, has always taken Jane-Jane with his half-truths and charm and tricks-by surprise, and this is no exception, because Cho isn't angry at what everyone else is angry at, the things that make Jane Jane. Cho knows Jane, knows his limitations, and what hurts the most is that what he's asking for is so very, very…reasonable.
So instead of agreeing, or rolling his eyes, or making a smart alec comment, Jane looks up at Cho and says, just as straightforward, "I'm sorry."
And he means it.
Cho looks at him for a long moment, silent. Measuring him up, seeing if he's lacking, Jane thinks, and stirs a bit in his seat.
Finally Cho's lips twitch, just the slightest, and Jane frowns at him. "You don't get it, do you?" Cho asks, and Jane just stares back. "You'll have to work on that," Cho says easily, and Jane keeps looking at him, skimming his eyes along the other man's frame, looking for what he's missing.
"You're angry," Jane says at last, voice low. "You're angry at me."
"I was worried about you," Cho says, locking his eyes with Jane's, not letting him look away. "You should've trusted me."
"I trust you!" Jane says, voice pitching higher with outrage, and Cho rolls his eyes.
"If you'd trusted me-"
"I didn't think, all right!" Jane snaps, and now Cho does smile, slow and luxuriously, and Jane blinks at him, surprised.
"Next time, think, then, okay?" he says, and Jane kind of hates himself for nodding.
"You just assume there'll be a next time," he says, saucy and smirking and trying to get back the control of the situation, "Who says I'm not reformed now?"
But Cho looks at him, hot and intense and deep and the breath in Jane's throat catches as Cho says, "I know you, Jane."
And Jane thinks, knows, hopes, that maybe he does.
...Finis...