Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2018-08-22 05:21 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2018-08-22 05:21 pm
Fanfiction: Point Three (The Mentalist, Jane/everyone)
And here's Cho! Previous Compass Points instalments: Point Five (Van Pelt), Point Two (Lisbon), Point Four (Rigsby).
Title: Point Three
Fandom: The Mentalist
Rating: PG
Pairing: Jane/the entire team
Wordcount: 1,700
Summary: Cho likes to be direct. Jane doesn't.
Cho’s always drawn clear lines between things he needs to think about and things he doesn’t. Jane wants to get too close to other people on the team? Not his problem.
Jane wants to get too close to Cho? That is his problem, particularly if Jane’s only doing it because he knows he can’t get Lisbon, or Van Pelt, or whoever. Cho’s not here to be a consolation prize; he’s here to be good at his job.
He chooses the direct route. The only route that exists, as far as he’s concerned.
He stops by Jane’s couch. “Need to speak to you.”
Jane opens his eyes. “You’re speaking to me.”
“In an interrogation room.” It’s where he thinks the most clearly.
Jane raises his eyebrows. “That’s a terrible way to break the news that I’m being arrested.”
-
Cho pushes Jane down into a chair. Force of habit. Probably shouldn’t be shoving his colleagues around.
He takes the chair opposite and gets straight down to business. “Are you in love with Teresa Lisbon?”
Lisbon’s not the only one he’s noticed Jane’s behaviour around. But, if Jane’s only actually interested in one person, if he’s just playing games with everyone else, Cho judges her to be the most likely target.
Jane pauses. “Is this an interrogation?”
“Is that an answer?”
“Why are you asking?” Jane asks. “Who wants to take all the intrigue out of their office relationships? More fun to guess, don’t you think?”
“There’s no intrigue,” Cho says. “I know you’re not in a relationship. I’m asking how you feel.”
Jane sits back in his chair. “A little nosy, wouldn’t you say, Cho? A little intrusive.”
“She’s a striking woman. Nobody could blame you.”
“Okay, are you in love with Lisbon?”
“You’re being evasive,” Cho says. “It’s not going to work.”
Jane laughs. “Why not? What are you going to do to me if I don’t give you an answer?”
“Some people might say that evasiveness is an answer in itself,” Cho says. “If you’re not in love with her, you have no reason not to tell me that.”
“And what do you say?”
Cho sighs internally. “You like being evasive. It could mean anything.”
Jane grins. “Oh, Kimball, you know me so well.”
“Yeah. Not well enough.”
“Let’s see how well I know you.” Jane looks over him. “You’re not the type to be interested in office gossip. You’d have a more personal reason for asking.”
“You think so?”
“If you want to discuss being evasive, you didn’t give me an answer when I asked if you were in love with Lisbon.”
“That’s right,” Cho says. “I’m in love with Lisbon. Nice work.”
“Well, of course,” Jane says. “You’d make a very attractive couple. Absolutely ruthless. The criminal world would shiver in fear.”
“There.” Cho taps two fingers sharply on the table. “The flirting. Why do you do that?”
“I don’t think I can technically flirt with Lisbon if she’s not here. She’s not, is she?” He gives the one-way mirror a small wave.
“I don’t mean with Lisbon. I mean with me.”
He’s expecting Jane to deny it.
“For my own amusement,” Jane says. “Just like when I flirt with anyone else. It may surprise you to learn this, Cho, but I’ve been known to enjoy seeing people flustered.”
It’s a believable explanation. Cho’s not buying it. “So what do you do if someone reciprocates?”
Jane’s smile falls away. “Then it’s very painful and uncomfortable for everyone involved.”
Sounds like it’s already happened. Who was it? Someone on the team? “Sounds risky.”
“You’re asking me to stop?”
“I just want to know where everyone’s standing. I’m not a substitute. If that’s not how you see me, we don’t have a problem.”
“A substitute?” Jane echoes. “For Lisbon?”
Always hard to judge, when Jane seems surprised, whether it’s genuine or he’s putting on an act. “For anyone. I’m the one who goes along with your plans. Maybe you think that’s not the only thing I’d go along with. Maybe I look like an easier target than the girls.”
“You’re making me sound like some kind of pick-up artist,” Jane says. “If I did have some sort of sexual intent, I can assure you I’d consider you an invigorating challenge.”
“No sexual intent,” Cho says, to be sure.
Jane presses his thumb briefly against his wedding band. “None.”
“The flirting doesn’t mean anything.”
Jane pauses. So maybe that’s a different question, in his mind, from whether there’s sexual intent there. “Nothing you need to worry about.”
-
Cho looks in on the observation room afterwards, just to check.
“Rigsby in there?” Jane asks.
“No one’s there,” Cho says. “Why Rigsby specifically?”
“Well, we were having a delicate conversation,” Jane says. “Most of our colleagues would have removed themselves when it started to wind down, rather than risk being caught eavesdropping. Our friend Rigsby, on the other hand, is the type to leave his escape a little too late.”
“He’s not here.”
“He’s not there,” Jane agrees. “Which eliminates one potential eavesdropper, at least.”
“Does it bother you that someone might have overheard?”
“As I said,” Jane says. “Office intrigue. The lifeblood of workplaces. So long as it’s interesting, why should I complain?”
-
Cho doesn’t feel he’s had a straight answer out of Jane. Not a surprise; he suspects he’s never had a straight answer out of Jane. That conversation was not an exception.
So he keeps paying attention. Categorises how Jane behaves towards him, towards Lisbon, towards Van Pelt. Not on paper; that’d be weird. Just staying alert, just noticing things. The times Jane stands too close to Lisbon, the times he whispers to Van Pelt when there’s no reason not to speak aloud, the times he takes Cho out to fancy restaurants like he’s daring him to ask whether it’s a date.
It’s a free meal. Cho doesn’t say anything.
He was expecting to see differences between Jane’s treatment of Cho and his treatment of the women. The more he picks up on, though, the more he starts to think the difference is actually between people in the unit and people outside it.
Jane flirts with Rigsby as well, touches him, makes overfamiliar comments, just like with the rest of them. Cho hadn’t realised, assumed he was the only guy getting the treatment. There’s no way Jane thinks Rigsby’s an easy target, not when the guy’s driving ambition is to staple himself to Van Pelt.
So maybe it’s true. Maybe Jane just flirts to make people uncomfortable.
Or maybe there’s something else going on.
He doesn’t lose sleep over it. But he wonders.
-
“Dude,” Rigsby says, a few weeks later, when they’re searching a suspect’s house. “Need to talk to you.”
Sometimes Cho wonders if he’s the only person who actually has connections outside the unit. There’s no way he’s the most approachable person Rigsby knows, but somehow he’s still the one Rigsby comes to with personal problems. “About Van Pelt?”
“I can talk about things that aren’t Van Pelt.”
“But it’s about Van Pelt, right?” Cho asks.
Rigsby crosses his arms. “It’s about Jane.”
Looks like Rigsby’s noticed. “And Van Pelt?”
“Fine,” Rigsby says. “Yes. Wait, you know about that?”
“He isn’t normal around her. I figured it’d start to bother you eventually.”
“He isn’t normal around anyone.”
“True,” Cho says.
“Van Pelt says he’s in love with us,” Rigsby says. “Like, everyone in the unit. Like, me. You.”
That tracks. “Yeah, figured it was something like that.”
“You didn’t know? She said everyone else knew.”
They do? Huh. “Close enough. This is just confirmation.”
Rigsby shakes his head. “You’ve got to have more of a reaction than that, man.”
Cho shrugs. “It’s not my problem.”
“It’s not your problem? It’s not your problem that Jane’s in love with you?”
“If he’s not making out with me in front of suspects, I can still do my job,” Cho says. “If you said he was just messing with me, maybe it’d bother me. If he’s in love, fine. Not my problem.”
Rigsby is staring at him.
“What?” Cho asks.
“You had to say that?” Rigsby asks. “You had to make me picture him making out with you?”
“Guess so,” Cho says.
Rigsby taps his fingers on the wall for a moment.
“It’s been a real problem,” he says. “Picturing things.”
“You absolutely do not have to talk to me about this,” Cho says.
“I think I do. It’s killing me.”
“Fine,” Cho says, pushing aside jackets in the suspect’s closet. “I’m not going to listen.”
“Like... if Van Pelt kissed him,” Rigsby says. “It’s a pity makeout, right? It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Depends,” Cho says. “Even if she’s not into him, means she likes him enough to kiss him. If Van Pelt’s giving out pity makeouts and you’re not getting one, you’re in trouble.”
“Thanks,” Rigsby mutters. “Not like that’s been the only thing on my mind for a week.”
“So Van Pelt kissed Jane?”
Rigsby makes a strangled noise. “You said you knew!”
“You sure about that?” Cho asks, looking back at him. “I didn’t know. Seems like a weird thing for me to make up.”
“I said it was about Jane! You said and Van Pelt!”
“Yeah,” Cho says. “The way Jane acts around her. Didn’t say anything about kissing.”
“He acts that way around everyone! You said Van Pelt; of course I was going to think you meant the kiss!”
“It’s you,” Cho says. “Of course it was going to be about Van Pelt.”
Rigsby stares at him for a moment, frozen.
“Okay,” he says at last. “I never said Van Pelt kissed him. I said if.”
“Convincing,” Cho says.
-
Things take on a new light once he knows the others know. Lisbon’s smiles when Jane pays particular attention to her, a little embarrassed, a little knowing. Van Pelt returning Jane’s affection in small ways, a touch on his wrist or on his shoulder, never crossing a line into anything beyond ambiguity. At one point Jane compliments Rigsby’s shoulders and Rigsby gets so flustered he walks straight into a desk.
Lisbon’s been watching Jane interact with the others, just like Cho has. Jane borrows a pen from Cho one morning and puts his hand inside Cho’s jacket to return it, slips it into his inside pocket. Cho looks up and meets Lisbon’s eyes, and there’s a moment of connection there, of understanding. They’re on the same page. This is what they’ve become at some point: not Jane’s co-workers, not his lovers, but some weird thing in between.
If it doesn’t interfere with the job, Cho can live with that.
Title: Point Three
Fandom: The Mentalist
Rating: PG
Pairing: Jane/the entire team
Wordcount: 1,700
Summary: Cho likes to be direct. Jane doesn't.
Cho’s always drawn clear lines between things he needs to think about and things he doesn’t. Jane wants to get too close to other people on the team? Not his problem.
Jane wants to get too close to Cho? That is his problem, particularly if Jane’s only doing it because he knows he can’t get Lisbon, or Van Pelt, or whoever. Cho’s not here to be a consolation prize; he’s here to be good at his job.
He chooses the direct route. The only route that exists, as far as he’s concerned.
He stops by Jane’s couch. “Need to speak to you.”
Jane opens his eyes. “You’re speaking to me.”
“In an interrogation room.” It’s where he thinks the most clearly.
Jane raises his eyebrows. “That’s a terrible way to break the news that I’m being arrested.”
Cho pushes Jane down into a chair. Force of habit. Probably shouldn’t be shoving his colleagues around.
He takes the chair opposite and gets straight down to business. “Are you in love with Teresa Lisbon?”
Lisbon’s not the only one he’s noticed Jane’s behaviour around. But, if Jane’s only actually interested in one person, if he’s just playing games with everyone else, Cho judges her to be the most likely target.
Jane pauses. “Is this an interrogation?”
“Is that an answer?”
“Why are you asking?” Jane asks. “Who wants to take all the intrigue out of their office relationships? More fun to guess, don’t you think?”
“There’s no intrigue,” Cho says. “I know you’re not in a relationship. I’m asking how you feel.”
Jane sits back in his chair. “A little nosy, wouldn’t you say, Cho? A little intrusive.”
“She’s a striking woman. Nobody could blame you.”
“Okay, are you in love with Lisbon?”
“You’re being evasive,” Cho says. “It’s not going to work.”
Jane laughs. “Why not? What are you going to do to me if I don’t give you an answer?”
“Some people might say that evasiveness is an answer in itself,” Cho says. “If you’re not in love with her, you have no reason not to tell me that.”
“And what do you say?”
Cho sighs internally. “You like being evasive. It could mean anything.”
Jane grins. “Oh, Kimball, you know me so well.”
“Yeah. Not well enough.”
“Let’s see how well I know you.” Jane looks over him. “You’re not the type to be interested in office gossip. You’d have a more personal reason for asking.”
“You think so?”
“If you want to discuss being evasive, you didn’t give me an answer when I asked if you were in love with Lisbon.”
“That’s right,” Cho says. “I’m in love with Lisbon. Nice work.”
“Well, of course,” Jane says. “You’d make a very attractive couple. Absolutely ruthless. The criminal world would shiver in fear.”
“There.” Cho taps two fingers sharply on the table. “The flirting. Why do you do that?”
“I don’t think I can technically flirt with Lisbon if she’s not here. She’s not, is she?” He gives the one-way mirror a small wave.
“I don’t mean with Lisbon. I mean with me.”
He’s expecting Jane to deny it.
“For my own amusement,” Jane says. “Just like when I flirt with anyone else. It may surprise you to learn this, Cho, but I’ve been known to enjoy seeing people flustered.”
It’s a believable explanation. Cho’s not buying it. “So what do you do if someone reciprocates?”
Jane’s smile falls away. “Then it’s very painful and uncomfortable for everyone involved.”
Sounds like it’s already happened. Who was it? Someone on the team? “Sounds risky.”
“You’re asking me to stop?”
“I just want to know where everyone’s standing. I’m not a substitute. If that’s not how you see me, we don’t have a problem.”
“A substitute?” Jane echoes. “For Lisbon?”
Always hard to judge, when Jane seems surprised, whether it’s genuine or he’s putting on an act. “For anyone. I’m the one who goes along with your plans. Maybe you think that’s not the only thing I’d go along with. Maybe I look like an easier target than the girls.”
“You’re making me sound like some kind of pick-up artist,” Jane says. “If I did have some sort of sexual intent, I can assure you I’d consider you an invigorating challenge.”
“No sexual intent,” Cho says, to be sure.
Jane presses his thumb briefly against his wedding band. “None.”
“The flirting doesn’t mean anything.”
Jane pauses. So maybe that’s a different question, in his mind, from whether there’s sexual intent there. “Nothing you need to worry about.”
Cho looks in on the observation room afterwards, just to check.
“Rigsby in there?” Jane asks.
“No one’s there,” Cho says. “Why Rigsby specifically?”
“Well, we were having a delicate conversation,” Jane says. “Most of our colleagues would have removed themselves when it started to wind down, rather than risk being caught eavesdropping. Our friend Rigsby, on the other hand, is the type to leave his escape a little too late.”
“He’s not here.”
“He’s not there,” Jane agrees. “Which eliminates one potential eavesdropper, at least.”
“Does it bother you that someone might have overheard?”
“As I said,” Jane says. “Office intrigue. The lifeblood of workplaces. So long as it’s interesting, why should I complain?”
Cho doesn’t feel he’s had a straight answer out of Jane. Not a surprise; he suspects he’s never had a straight answer out of Jane. That conversation was not an exception.
So he keeps paying attention. Categorises how Jane behaves towards him, towards Lisbon, towards Van Pelt. Not on paper; that’d be weird. Just staying alert, just noticing things. The times Jane stands too close to Lisbon, the times he whispers to Van Pelt when there’s no reason not to speak aloud, the times he takes Cho out to fancy restaurants like he’s daring him to ask whether it’s a date.
It’s a free meal. Cho doesn’t say anything.
He was expecting to see differences between Jane’s treatment of Cho and his treatment of the women. The more he picks up on, though, the more he starts to think the difference is actually between people in the unit and people outside it.
Jane flirts with Rigsby as well, touches him, makes overfamiliar comments, just like with the rest of them. Cho hadn’t realised, assumed he was the only guy getting the treatment. There’s no way Jane thinks Rigsby’s an easy target, not when the guy’s driving ambition is to staple himself to Van Pelt.
So maybe it’s true. Maybe Jane just flirts to make people uncomfortable.
Or maybe there’s something else going on.
He doesn’t lose sleep over it. But he wonders.
“Dude,” Rigsby says, a few weeks later, when they’re searching a suspect’s house. “Need to talk to you.”
Sometimes Cho wonders if he’s the only person who actually has connections outside the unit. There’s no way he’s the most approachable person Rigsby knows, but somehow he’s still the one Rigsby comes to with personal problems. “About Van Pelt?”
“I can talk about things that aren’t Van Pelt.”
“But it’s about Van Pelt, right?” Cho asks.
Rigsby crosses his arms. “It’s about Jane.”
Looks like Rigsby’s noticed. “And Van Pelt?”
“Fine,” Rigsby says. “Yes. Wait, you know about that?”
“He isn’t normal around her. I figured it’d start to bother you eventually.”
“He isn’t normal around anyone.”
“True,” Cho says.
“Van Pelt says he’s in love with us,” Rigsby says. “Like, everyone in the unit. Like, me. You.”
That tracks. “Yeah, figured it was something like that.”
“You didn’t know? She said everyone else knew.”
They do? Huh. “Close enough. This is just confirmation.”
Rigsby shakes his head. “You’ve got to have more of a reaction than that, man.”
Cho shrugs. “It’s not my problem.”
“It’s not your problem? It’s not your problem that Jane’s in love with you?”
“If he’s not making out with me in front of suspects, I can still do my job,” Cho says. “If you said he was just messing with me, maybe it’d bother me. If he’s in love, fine. Not my problem.”
Rigsby is staring at him.
“What?” Cho asks.
“You had to say that?” Rigsby asks. “You had to make me picture him making out with you?”
“Guess so,” Cho says.
Rigsby taps his fingers on the wall for a moment.
“It’s been a real problem,” he says. “Picturing things.”
“You absolutely do not have to talk to me about this,” Cho says.
“I think I do. It’s killing me.”
“Fine,” Cho says, pushing aside jackets in the suspect’s closet. “I’m not going to listen.”
“Like... if Van Pelt kissed him,” Rigsby says. “It’s a pity makeout, right? It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Depends,” Cho says. “Even if she’s not into him, means she likes him enough to kiss him. If Van Pelt’s giving out pity makeouts and you’re not getting one, you’re in trouble.”
“Thanks,” Rigsby mutters. “Not like that’s been the only thing on my mind for a week.”
“So Van Pelt kissed Jane?”
Rigsby makes a strangled noise. “You said you knew!”
“You sure about that?” Cho asks, looking back at him. “I didn’t know. Seems like a weird thing for me to make up.”
“I said it was about Jane! You said and Van Pelt!”
“Yeah,” Cho says. “The way Jane acts around her. Didn’t say anything about kissing.”
“He acts that way around everyone! You said Van Pelt; of course I was going to think you meant the kiss!”
“It’s you,” Cho says. “Of course it was going to be about Van Pelt.”
Rigsby stares at him for a moment, frozen.
“Okay,” he says at last. “I never said Van Pelt kissed him. I said if.”
“Convincing,” Cho says.
Things take on a new light once he knows the others know. Lisbon’s smiles when Jane pays particular attention to her, a little embarrassed, a little knowing. Van Pelt returning Jane’s affection in small ways, a touch on his wrist or on his shoulder, never crossing a line into anything beyond ambiguity. At one point Jane compliments Rigsby’s shoulders and Rigsby gets so flustered he walks straight into a desk.
Lisbon’s been watching Jane interact with the others, just like Cho has. Jane borrows a pen from Cho one morning and puts his hand inside Cho’s jacket to return it, slips it into his inside pocket. Cho looks up and meets Lisbon’s eyes, and there’s a moment of connection there, of understanding. They’re on the same page. This is what they’ve become at some point: not Jane’s co-workers, not his lovers, but some weird thing in between.
If it doesn’t interfere with the job, Cho can live with that.
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I love this character detail!
“There’s no intrigue,” Cho says. “I know you’re not in a relationship. I’m asking how you feel.”
You have him the exact right kind of blunt! He's very intelligent, he's very aware of the nuances, and he goes from "Not talking about it because I'm not in a situation where talking about it feels useful" to "Accurately and directly stating things".
“You like being evasive. It could mean anything.”
FRUSTRATINGLY ACCURATE!
“So what do you do if someone reciprocates?”
Very good question! And exactly the thing that makes it no longer fun for Jane!
“If I did have some sort of sexual intent, I can assure you I’d consider you an invigorating challenge.”
VERY INTRIGUING SENTENCE THERE
Jane pauses. So maybe that’s a different question, in his mind, from whether there’s sexual intent there.
I absolutely love how this doesn't skip past him!
It’s a free meal. Cho doesn’t say anything.
I love Cho's attitude towards this!
“It’s not your problem? It’s not your problem that Jane’s in love with you?”
And that perfectly expresses the difference between Cho and Rigsby! Cho has perfectly logical reasons for categorizing it as not his problem, and Rigsby has perfectly logical reasons for not getting how Cho can think that way!
“Okay,” he says at last. “I never said Van Pelt kissed him. I said if.”
SUBTLE, RIGSBY!
At one point Jane compliments Rigsby’s shoulders and Rigsby gets so flustered he walks straight into a desk.
Aw!
This is what they’ve become at some point: not Jane’s co-workers, not his lovers, but some weird thing in between.
I love the complexity and weirdness!
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It feels like maybe I should write a scene from Jane's point of view, now that I've done all the team members, but Jane's point of view is incredibly intimidating to contemplate.
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