section7mfu | "Above Suspicion" (Short Affair Challenge 3/20)

Short Affair 3/20
Prompt: Betray
Color: Green

Title: Above Suspicion
Author: Rose of Pollux
Word Count: ~970

Takes place immediately after the end scene of "The Summit Five Affair"

Napoleon and Illya didn’t say much as Waverly left his office, leaving the two of them there, just glancing at each other. It had been a long, difficult case for both of them, but for Napoleon especially, having been forced to confess that he had been a traitor to U.N.C.L.E., under painful torture.

Illya now glanced away for a moment, staring blankly at a green fern in the corner. He was admittedly trying to come to grips with the fact that Beldon, the man he had worked under for years before his transfer, had been the true traitor, and had apparently been so for years. How much of Illya’s pre-New York record had been as a puppet with Beldon pulling the strings? Was that why so many of Illya’s leads and requests in so many cases had been turned down by Beldon to look in other directions that had led nowhere? Why the praises Beldon had given him had felt so empty?

He was using me, Illya fumed, quietly.

In retrospect, things seemed to make so much sense—Beldon had been against Illya’s transfer to New York, insisting that Napoleon’s quest to stop the Baron of THRUSH was a fool’s errand when, in fact, Napoleon had been closer than anyone could have ever expected. And, more than once, Beldon had advocated for Illya’s return to Berlin, going so far as to call his presence in New York as a “loan” to Waverly, and had been most upset by Illya’s decision to apply for a permanent transfer to New York. It was clear now that Beldon’s THRUSH contacts had been afraid of what Napoleon and Illya were accomplishing together, and Beldon hadn’t been pleased with having to explain to them why Illya wasn’t leaving New York as they first thought he would.

“Illya?”

The Russian glanced back at his partner, who was looking at him with concern—perhaps his face had been too easy to read.

“You alright, Tovarisch?”

Illya exhaled. His own frustrations could wait; Napoleon had suffered far more than he had…

“I am fine,” Illya insisted.

“…No, you’re not,” Napoleon said. “I know how you must be feeling—the same way I felt when I learned that Colonel Morgan was using me during that scepter case. Used. Cheated. Betrayed.”

Illya met his gaze again and was startled to see a look of deep gratitude in Napoleon’s eyes.

“You had every reason to doubt me, too,” Napoleon said. “I even confessed that I was the traitor.”

“After torture,” Illya said. “If anything, my first clue to Beldon’s betrayal was his insistence that you continue to go through it. Perhaps this was him venting his frustrations for you stealing me away seven years ago—cutting his prized puppet’s strings, as it were.”

“I made a good choice,” Napoleon said. “If there was one person who wouldn’t have lost faith in me, I knew it had to have been you.”

“How could I?” Illya asked. “After all your years of selfless service, how could anyone have even suspected you? And, of course, I know even better than that. You are my partner. So many times, you have saved my life, nursed my wounds, pleaded with me through tears to live through the night… You took me into your flat, conscripted me into your family, saw to my happiness, and showed me a selfless kindness that I had not received from anyone else. If you had truly been a traitor, then it would have meant that all of that had been a lie.”

Napoleon blinked, looking slightly overcome.

“Your actions towards me could not have been anything but genuine. I know this, and the memories are still at the forefront of my mind, even if I do not talk about them,” Illya continued. “I remember the time when we were caught in a tornado, and you shielded me with your own body because I was inexperienced with how to protect myself in that situation. I remember when you angrily turned down a quarter-million dollars because three rogue Bureau agents wanted you to betray me. I remember when I was overcome by fear gas, and you stayed with me until I was able to regain my senses, and then you omitted the incident from the mission report just to spare my dignity. I remember when you let yourself get captured by Mother Fear because you chose to clean my wounds rather than escape. I remember when you spent hours chipping through a solid block of concrete because I was trapped within it--and I remember the relief in your voice when I was able to confirm to you that I was alive in there. And this is not restricted to just in times of crisis, either—I remember the genuine joy in your face whenever we are enjoying ourselves outside of work… The fondness in your eyes whenever you look at me… Do you think I don’t notice these things, Napoleon?”

Napoleon didn’t say a word; Illya suspected that he couldn’t—wearing his heart on his sleeve was something that Illya almost never did (and it usually took a few drinks for him to do so even slightly—this, while completely sober, was most unexpected), but he knew that Napoleon needed to hear this now more than ever.

Wordlessly, the American stood up and gently took his partner’s hand, pulling him up so that they were standing eye to eye. And then, still without a word, Napoleon drew Illya into a tight embrace. Illya savored it for a moment before returning it.

“This, too,” he said, simply.

Napoleon merely tightened his embrace, whispering two words into his partner’s ear.

“Thank you.”

“And thank you, too, Napoleon,” Illya said.

Yes, Harry Beldon had used and betrayed him. But Napoleon Solo never would. And for Illya Kuryakin, that was enough.