When exactly the aforementioned mess would be over remained to be seen. It certainly didn’t seem like it would resolve in the near future.

It began with odd mementos. Tiny reminders of their ‘time’ together. All delivered outside his door without activating any of the alarms. It annoyed Kay to no end, which amused Jacob, but then it vexed him that he was being amused by Damien’s antics even indirectly.

All told, he didn’t know how to feel about the situation. The notes attached to the eclectic gifts didn’t help to clarify those feelings.

‘Remember when I nearly cast you overboard on that cruise ship? Here’s the captain’s hat I was disguised in! (I cleaned up most of the blood.) Wouldn’t you love to board a pleasure cruise under the cover of darkness and fight off mercenaries again?’

Jacob truly hated the ocean. It was vast, unknowable, and smelled far too strongly of salt. His hatred of it greatly outweighed any recollections of being as subtle and uncatchable as a shadow with only starlight to guide his steps. He wasn’t sure if it would help anything, but he left a note saying just as much in the same spot where he’d found the freshly cleaned hat.

The reply was a warped piece of metal that, if viewed through squinted eyes, nearly looked like a bird. ‘I repurposed a piece of the Death Laser that nearly incinerated you to look like your agency’s noble eagle crest. I’m certain you miss that death defying stunt, along with the hundreds of other clever ways you used to escape my clutches!’

Jacob deliberated bringing that thing indoors where it could endlessly stare at him. But leaving it out felt like ripping up a child’s drawing in front of their big watery eyes. He compromised by having it face the wall where it couldn’t watch him.

He wrote back, ‘Good Doctor, please refrain from leaving mementos of my near-death experiences outside of my door.’

What followed was an apology in the form of a gorgeous suit. Charcoal grey, with a liquid silver tie and pocket square. Jacob had run his hands over it, unable to stop admiring the sensual quality. It took him several minutes of cataloguing the tactile variations before he noticed the egg white and gold leaf engraved note tucked into the side of the garment box.

‘Perhaps not a daring escape from certain doom, but a lovely night regardless.’

That was when Jacob finally recalled where he’d seen the insignia on the back of the card. A selective upscale club in Paris, where he’d intended to gather intel on a rogue weapons dealer but had been unable to find anything useful.

Jacob had worn a similar colored suit that night, but his tie had been ink black. The suit was technically company property, since it was inlaid with enough weaponry and defense tactics to be classified as its own fabric army. Therefore, he had been forced to relinquish it with his retirement.

It wasn’t as though he’d wept over its loss, but it had come dangerously close.

On that night, he had also had the bad luck of literally running into Damien. Fortunately, he’d also been there on whatever he deemed ‘business’ and didn’t fancy making a spectacle of himself for once. It would’ve been hard for him to establish connections if he’d invited a crackdown on a place teeming with illegal trades of all varieties.

Damien had suggested a temporary truce, to be sure they could both fulfill their separate missions in peace. Albeit with Damien knowing full well that any negotiation that night was likely not going to come to fruition the next morning. Jacob didn’t mind, as it meant Damien got paid but didn’t need to follow through with any dealings. Perhaps it was a morally grey way of looking at things, but if it kept the doctor out of his hair then he wasn’t going to raise a fuss.

He would have happily kept to one side of the room while Damien kept to another, but then the man had the cheek to request a dance. By the smug look on his face, he’d expected Jacob to feel flustered.

If he had been asked now, perhaps Jacob would have refused the challenge, and called him out on his petty little bluff. Back then, the arrogant set of Damien’s lips meant that he had to rise to the occasion.

Jacob had held out his hand and raised an eyebrow. Damien had rocked back in shock, but quickly transformed the gesture into a bow of gracious acceptance. He’d taken Jacob’s hand, casually led them to the ballroom, and they danced.

For several songs, without pausing. Obviously because Jacob wasn’t going to bow out unless Damien did it first. Which he didn’t. So Jacob couldn’t either. That was all. That was the reason.

Jacob shook himself out of his reverie and held a hand against his chest. His heart was beating a little out of tempo which was odd. Jacob cleared his throat and shut the lid back over the box.

After he was done putting it in a safe place, he replied in the most gracious way he knew how. It had taken a long time, rifling through old boxes, but he had managed to find a matchbook from the same club.

On the inside of it he wrote, ‘Indeed it was.’

It felt a little paltry, considering the lavishness of the gift, but the matches were gone when he came home from his errands, which he assumed was a good sign.