Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Y’know, Gladys… you aren’t a half bad DI,” Gene murmured one night at the Arms, after slamming back a few more scotches than normal. It had been a rough case and all. They deserved the break.

Sam hadn’t responded, not at the time. He flushed a little bit though. He’d never expected to hear those words from the Guv, or if he had, at least Gene had been sobered enough to realize what he said. Maybe a punch-up would ensue afterwards, when Gene knew that he shouldn’t give that much credit to Sam. That was how it should’ve gone.

Though now that Sam was back in the office, filling out the paperwork that Gene refused to do, he was glad it came out anyway. Maybe not the way he wanted it to, but he was happy that the Guv thought that at some point.

-

Later that afternoon, after Sam had turned in the case details to Records, he was stopped by Gene’s rather loud yell of:

“Tyler! My office!”

Thinking about ‘what’d I do this time‘s or ‘what didn’t I do’s, he walked into Gene’s office, shutting the door behind him in case he got into another fight with him. He half-hoped he’d get into a fight, to make up for the blunt words uttered last night.

Gene stood up behind his desk, staring at Sam for a moment. “I meant it, last night. What I said.”

“You said lots of things last night. Which one are you meaning?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“Pretend I don’t.”

Gene gave him a glare, but not necessarily angry with him. “You’re being intentionally dense.”

Sam smiled a little, hoping to egg the Guv on. Then he’d get a real, proper fight. “‘M just asking what exactly you meant.”

Gene groaned quietly, as much exasperated as Sam was ready to get pummeled. “What I meant…” Gene starts, moving around his desk and grabbing a hold of Sam’s collar. “Is that I said you’re a decent copper last night, and you aren’t taking the damn compliment!”

Sam smiled brightly now. “Oh, sorry Guv. I didn’t realize that you could ever try an’ give me a compliment. Thought that was something you couldn’t think up.”

Gene hissed in frustration, but let go of Sam’s collar. “I can say good things when I want to, Gladys. You are, however, starting to make me want to say bad things to you.“

Sam fixed his collar, still staring at Gene. “Why don’t you say them then?”

“‘M abstaining from negative words for now.”

“Didn’t know you could do that.”

Gene sat behind his desk, sighing deeply. “Get outta my office.”

Sam didn’t move, not until Gene gave him a hardy glare. It became obvious that they wouldn’t be laying hands on each other anytime soon, so Sam made his way out.