Chapter Text
Vecchio hums an upbeat tune as he walks across the station parking lot to his car. It's a black Honda Civic. Not his favorite, but he learned his lesson with Fraser, and after getting back to Chicago, he got it for work. As much as he hates to admit it, it proved to be more economic and easier to blend in on stakeouts. Better suited for detective work than his 1971 Buick Riviera which is currently parked in his cousin's garage, waiting for the replacement parts to arrive from California so they can get it back into the driving condition.
Someone bumps into him from behind, throwing him off balance. "Hey! Watch where you're going," Vecchio yells out after the man in a hurry even before he fully sees the figure and realises it's Kowalski.
"Fuck off, Vecchio." The other man yells back, turning to face him. Vecchio can now see a bright red bruise on the other man's cheek. A fist punch.
"Whoa! What happened?"
"None of your damn business," Kowalski spits out before turning back around, heading to his car. Vecchio strides after him in long steps. Tries to catch up.
"Half an hour ago in the bullpen you looked fine. My colleague gets punched in the my precinct, I wanna know about it." Vecchio finally reaches close enough to grab him by the shoulder. Kowalski stops in his tracks. "Look. I know we barely speak to each other, but Fraser's my best friend and he cares for you." This makes the other man shake his head.
"And Fraser's friends are your friends?" He gives Vecchio a look and a smile that say he doesn't believe him one bit.
"Kind of." Ray shrugs. "Come on. My place's closer than yours. Let's put some ice on that shiner. Grab a couple of cold ones." Kowalski doesn't appear to find the idea appealing. Any other day, Vecchio would have let him walk. But he means what he says. If any of his colleagues get in a fight at work, he wants to know about it. Let alone a friend of Benny's. He has no idea what happened up there, and why Kowalski tucked his tail between his legs and got back to Chicago when he was supposed to be having an outdoor adventure of his life in the frozen wastes.
After giving it enough thought, Kowalski slightly nods his head. "Yeah, fine. Let's get out of here before Welsh changes his mind and suspends me."
Kowalski tails him on the short drive. They park the cars around the corner and walk the short way up the stairs to the two bedroom apartment Vecchio got for himself. It's cozy and modern, with new furniture. Clean. Tidy. The complete opposite of Kowalski's. Vecchio pulls out the beer from the fridge and sets it on the coffee table, before digging through the freezer for something Kowalski can press to the bruise.
When he turns around, triumphantly holding a bag of peas, he sees Kowalski sitting on the couch with the beer bottle pressed to his face.
"Here." He offers the cold bag and Kowalski takes it. Replaces the bottle with it as he mutters his thanks. Leans back into the cushions, finally relaxing a bit.
Vecchio leaves him be. Settles in a nearby armchair. They go through the small talk. How's Ma? How are the kids? Did you hear about that new case? With the limited topics in common, the conversation quickly dies down.
"So. What happened?" Vecchio breaks the silence.
Kowalski taps the bottom of the now empty beer bottle on his thigh. Clearly trying to decide if he should tell him or not. He keeps his eyes closed as he speaks. "You hear about officer Greggs?"
"His, um," Vecchio pauses while he tries to find the right words. He settles on "recently unveiled preferences?"
"Yeah. Guys in the locker room kept calling him a faggot. I got tired of it so I decided to step in."
"Jeez." Vecchio looks away to the side. Hangs his head low.
"What?" Kowalski sits up to look at him.
"Nothing. Just didn't expect you'd do something like that." Vecchio looks up, meeting his gaze.
"Why not?" Kowalski says it like a challenge. Throws the bag of peas on the coffee table.
"Well for one, you usually don't get involved in these things. And two, you're straight."
Kowalski snorts, staring at the floor. "As a party straw." The words are spoken in full honesty, Vecchio relises. It throws him off balance for a moment.
"Oh? You're..." His voice trails off. What is Kowalski? Bi? He certainly can't be gay with how much he loved Stella.
"Let's just say I don't care what the other person has in their pants." Kowalski says, sharply staring at Vecchio. Some kind of danger gathers in his eyes. His body tenses. Vecchio can't decide if he looks ready to fight or bolt out the door. The next words out of his mouth come out sounding like a dare. "That gonna offend your catholic-Italian sensibilities?"
Taking a moment to weigh his next words, the Italian takes a sip from his bottle. He settles it on the coaster on the table. No point in dragging this on.
"I'm gay."
It's Kowalski's turn to be confused. Vecchio gets it. He's the poster child for a straight American man. Devout catholic balking at men in figure skating and anything girly, voicing his "opinions" loud and clear, and trying to charm the panties off of any hot woman that crosses his way. There's only one person in his life that could see right through the charade and called him out on it. Kowalski was none the wiser, so now he sits there, trying to process what was just said.
"But no one- You never- You don't-" He can't seem to finish a full sentence and Vecchio takes pity on him.
"Had to be careful so I don't end up like Greggs."
They sit in silence for a while after that. The wheels still turning in Kowalski's head. Too many questions he wants to ask. Unsure where to start from. But there's one that burns through his mind. He let's it out.
"Does Fraser know?" It's straight out of the left field. Yet, somehow fitting. Makes Vecchio laugh. Because of course that's the thing that would be the most important right now.
"What do you think? It's Fraser." It eases Kowalski. Gets him to join in with a smile of his own. One filled with slight sadness. He looks away from Vecchio while he picks at the damp bottle label. There's clearly something else on his mind. But Vecchio will give him space. If he wants to ask, he'll do it in his own time. If not... They'll just leave it as is.
"You two ever..." He can't even finish the sentence.
Vecchio is a bit surprised at the question. "With Benny?" Though thinking about it, it would make sense to someone like Kowalski that maybe there was more there than a great friendship. "Huh. I guess the way he acts you'd think he'd be one of us queers. But, nah, Benny's as straight as they come." Another thought crosses his mind, though. Kowalski and Fraser all alone in the wast frozen territories. Huddling for warmth. Side by side day and night. Maybe Fraser's a bit fruity after all. "Unless he isn't? I mean, you'd know better than me. What with the whole trip up north."
Kowalski goes pale. His fingers slip over the corner of the bottle label. Visibly swallows. "Nothing happened between us."
"Did you want something to happen?" He tries to ask in the most gentle way he can. Doesn't want to pry but clearly something happened up there that hurt. And sue him, he's curious. If Kowalski doesn't want to tell him, he can just drop the subject. They're both grown men.
Kowalski peels the label fully off before he absently nods and replies. "He turned me down. Said he was still not over someone. I just thought..."
"You thought it was me," Vecchio supplies to relieve him from the misery of saying the words. He takes another sip from his bottle, before he leans forward in the armchair. Eye to eye with Kowalski. "Benny's my best friend. I love him. Just not in that way."
He takes the empty beer bottle from Kowalski's hand. Places it on the table. "Besides, he's not my type."
"You don't like them weird?"
"Oh, I don't mind the weird." Vecchio picks up the bag of peas from the table as he stands up. Gently presses the icy pack to Kowalski's face as he says with a bit of a flirtatious tone. "I just prefer blonds."
Kowalski sucks in a breath and looks up at him.
"Let me get you another beer." With that, Vecchio walks away to the fridge. Leaves Kowalski to ponder over what just happened.