fanfic (First Monday): "Law Clerk Confidential"

[eliyes]

Title: Law Clerk Confidential
Fandom: First Monday
Author's Notes: I caught the back-end of an episode of NCIS today that wigged me the fuck out, so I decided to comfort myself with some First Monday fluff. (It's a shared universe: JAG, First Monday, and NCIS. eta: And now also NCIS: LA.)
P.S. Julian = dude in my icon --> I don't have that icon anymore.


"Well, Julian," Jerry said, setting aside his empty glass, "You aren't blond."

Julian raised one dark eyebrow, the purse of his lips hinting at a smile as he agreed, "No."

"And I don't think too many people here would describe you as 'cool'." Jerry pointedly flicked his gaze to Julian's bowtie. This time the only response was the slight lift of a shoulder, accompanied by a flash of palm: Julian Lodge body language for 'their loss'.

"However," Jerry concluded with a triumphant smile, "you're definitely a scheming bitch."

Miguel made a startled noise, mouth full. Ellie coughed.

Julian just laid on the fake sympathy with an extra dash of mockery.

"Aw, Jerry -- you're looking a little twitchy. I hope you aren't coming down with something."

Jerry blinked in surprise, then smiled back at Julian's smirk.

"I wasn't sure you'd be a fan of Rough Trade^*."

Ellie coughed again.

"I'll admit it if you will," Julian replied, seeming amused, then switched to solicitously inquiring if Ellie was alright, since she was still making little choking sounds. A moment later he was off to get her some water, supposedly.

"That took balls," Miguel commented when the seniour clerk was (probably) out of earshot. He didn't sound particularly pleased.

"What did?" Jerry tracked Julian's progress through the room, suspecting an ulteriour motive and finding vindication when he saw him corner one of Bancroft's clerks by the bar.

"Jerry." Ellie sounded a bit scandalized. Jerry looked at her, raising his eyebrows. "You just -- you asked him if he liked male prostitutes!" she hissed.

It actually flummoxed him for a moment, and then he laughed.

"No I didn't! It's the name of a band. We were tossing their lyrics back and forth. Well, paraphrasing."

Miguel frowned at him. "And you're sure that was all?"

Jerry smiled and shook his head. "C'mon," he said, "half the fun of talking to him is keeping him guessing. He does it to us all the time."

"Fun?" Miguel asked sarcastically, and looked like he might say more, but just then Julian returned.

"Okay, you can stop talking about me now," he told them breezily, handing Ellie her glass of water and setting a fresh drink at Jerry's elbow. He looked mischievously pleased with himself, which guaranteed he'd gotten a hold of some choice bit of gossip.

If Miguel couldn't see the appeal of playing Julian's game of 'convince me to tell you, you know you want to know' now and again, that wasn't Jerry's fault. More fun for him.



^*Rough Trade is the band that did High School Confidential, the song they're referencing. And as Ellie mentions, "rough trade" is also "a slang term for a masculine working class man who has sex with men (sometimes as a male prostitute)."[wikipedia]

Comments

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

I like that you're all thinky about this. Mostly, when I think about Julian Lodge, I get stuck imagining his sexual exploits. :P

Yes, because that's such a hardship. XD

Same here! It confused me, because it didn't mesh with the image of him that the show was projecting.

Which is the underlying paradox my interpretation of his character attempts to explain, essentially.