⌠ GREGG SULKIN, 23, CIS-MALE, HE/HIM ⌡ welcome back to gallagher academy, GRAYSON BERKSHIRE! according to their records, they’re a FOURTH year, specializing in KNIFE FIGHTING SKILLS, SWORD TRAINING, PRECISION SHOOTING, FIREARMS & SWAT TRAINING + COVERT OPERATIONS; and they DID go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of (hands shaking slightly, a half-hearted smile & a well worn book under one arm). when it’s the (libra)’s birthday on 10/2/1995, they always request BRAISED FRENCH ONION CHICKEN WITH GRUYÉRE from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation.
this psd sure is a throwback but i couldn’t be bothered to find a new one. but like.....i did make a graphic so........................an attempt was made
anyways get ready for the shortest intro u have ever seen
grayson’s parents and grandparents work in espionage. so he grew up among spies and they always had his future mapped out for him. he was raised doing physical challenges and sharpening his mind and figuring out logic problems, all starting when he was like ??? three or s/t
ofc he went to various school his whole life for spies ... n he’s british so most of this happened in the uk, not just england bc his parents had to move around a lot so they were always relocating
for this reason he’s like .......... awkward he’s not rly the BEST at meeting new people or making friends. he can smooth talk and act like he fits in if it’s for a mission but forging like?? actual relationships???? yikes
anywho being a spy has never really been his passion but he’s good at it. largely bc he didn’t really have a CHOICE. he’s fairly clumsy and nervous in his everyday life but the second he has to go into spy mode, he snaps into shape and knows exactly what he’s doing. so even if being a spy isn’t something he loves, it is the one thing that makes him feel like he’s doing something right????? yike s
the thing he’s just always naturally been best at is weapons training, even tho he doesn’t seem like the type of guy who’d be skilled with a set of knives or a firearm. his reaction time is unreal and he has perfect aim from truly a lifetime of training and it’s wild to see him in action if you know the real him at all but .... sometimes it be like that
covert ops is more the thing he’s interested in doing, he’d prefer to be behind the scenes and he’d like to teach after graduating. and if he ever had to step in and save somebody’s ass in the field he could do that too esp when it comes to the fighting aspect. he doesn’t rly enjoy violence he kind of just has to detach himself from the situation when he throws a knife at someone from across the room u feel
idk this makes no sense but grayson is um nice and the least intimidating person on earth bye. but also he could kill someone by mistake eye--
Ruby nods with a sad smile; she isn’t happy that her last memory of the town before summer begins will be one so traumatic, but it doesn’t change the fact that she’ll still be coming back in the fall. “Hopes answered,” she declares, turning her screen over so he can see the message of approval sent back by her parents. “There’ll be agents on the property, so not totally alone, but good enough for me,” Ruby sighs, slipping her phone into his coat pocket because she hadn’t thought to find a dress with pockets of its own. She knows he hasn’t spent too much time at her family home in Richmond, save for Thanksgiving, and the following Christmas before January had rolled around and they’d moved to the White House. It’ll be nice, she thinks, to have the time and privacy to be in her home with only him. No dinners to stress over, no family to worry about pleasing, though they’d all grown fond of him quickly— even more so now that the story of yesterday they’re privy to still involves his part in saving their daughter. She raises a brow as she glances back over to him. “I mean, it definitely doesn’t sound like you,” Ruby says, then a weak, nervous laugh escapes her and she shakes her head at the thought. “Grayson, don’t say that,” she protests, squeezing his right hand a little harder, like she needed to be able to feel his heartbeat against her skin.
He squints at the screen because he can’t really read it, but he’ll take her word for it, as always. “I think that’s as alone as we’ll ever get,” he mutters, pulling her closer. “But I’m all right with that. Especially since it’s to ensure your safety.” Grayson thinks he can keep her safe on his own, but it’s not something he’s willing to risk, especially while he’s already injured. “I don’t want you to get hurt,” he clarifies with a slight smile. “You can hurt me whenever you want.” Ruby would never do so purposely, which is why he’s so willing to be hurt, because he knows that she won’t and there’s no actual threat. “I’m just being realistic, Ruby. It’s a fresh wound, it might bleed sometimes, even from me twisting my shoulder the wrong way. But that doesn’t mean anything’s wrong, I’m just healing.” He swipes a reassuring kiss across her knuckles before leading her...somewhat onto the dance floor. Grayson still isn’t fond of drawing attention to himself, but when he wraps his arm around her waist, it’s easy to forget about the rest of the room. “Do you want to leave after this dance?”
“Barbecue, South By Southwest, the Gulf Coast beaches, me,” she rattles off just to prove a point, but Vida honestly doubts she alone could get him to come all the way there, and he’s right, it makes more sense for her to visit D.C. instead. “Fair point. And not that baffling, I happen to have a heart when it comes to my friends,” Vida remarks, jokingly narrowing her eyes. “Besides, my cousin is here,” she adds, and that’s as much as she’ll say on that matter. “Thank you, I appreciate it. You’ve got a desk job, right? Is that by choice?” she asks, knowing he has the right skillset and more than enough talent to be on the field if he wanted to.
"One of those things only happens once a year.” Grayson would probably want to go to SXSW for the films? Who can say. “I don’t think you’d be heartless not to fly all the way out here for just a few days. I’m assuming.” If anything, Grayson has a great excuse to not be there, but he’d do anything for Ruby and he doesn’t want to feel like a burden. Worst case scenario, he probably would have insisted she go alone and not worry about him. “Yes and yes. I’m not interested in field work, for the time being.” Or ever, though a change of heart isn’t impossible. “Do you spend much time in an office?”
“I can’t actually be drinking tonight. Pain medication,” Cole notes, refusing to adopt the same passively hostile energy Grayson exhibits. He’s too tired. Nodding once, he lets out a small sigh, knowing the way he’s right— he had deliberately made every effort to avoid the other during his senior year, and every visit since then. “I’m sure now you can put together why, you’re a smart bloke,” Cole says, and that is precisely it.
“Well, cheers,” he says wryly, because he’s pretty obviously in the same boat, which isn’t much of a loss. Plus, arguably, pain medication is better than alcohol. “Bit cowardly to avoid your biggest threat instead of trying to outwit him, wouldn’t you say? But I can see how that might have presented too much of a challenge for you. And that’s the least of your cowardice. A lesser spy might consider dating the president’s daughter to be an excellent play, but I think it’s rather lazy and unnecessarily involved. Choosing to hurt someone and play with their emotions when you could have simply been more clever.” Grayson had tried to keep the Georgetown students at a distance, because he felt terribly guilty lying to them with every breath. He assumes Cole hadn’t faced that same issue. He takes a step closer, his voice eerily calm. “When you pry into secret affairs, then are clumsy enough to have them leaked, there are consequences. Someone is dead, my girlfriend was assaulted, and I was shot while trying to...” Protect her, yes, but also while in the process of celebrating the one good thing in his life, which is his relationship. “Ruby and I don’t get to be normal, we accept that. But you should have known better.” Cole’s notes had secret written all over them, especially considering how messy they were. He can’t even fathom how he’d lost possession of something like that, but it’s the only explanation.
– “OH. I DON’T KNOW WHETHER THAT’S A GOOD THING OR A BAD THING,” allie says. “ i guess it’s good, if it keeps you safe at your job. but bad if you’re bored. ” allie’s never gotten the sense that grayson really ENJOYS this all that much, but she can’t say that she really blames him. while the idea of training with spies for the temporary self defense classes she’d taken had been cool, in actuality, she’d just been sore and tired and missing georgetown more than ever. “ do you have favorite spy media ? ” she asks, curious about what he’d recommend. and…there is still a part of her that wants to learn more about all of this, considering it was such a huge part of the most impactful year of her life. “ oh my gosh, ” allie’s eyes widen several sizes, like the grinch’s heart on christmas. then she’s firing out questions in rapid succession. “ is ruby okay ? i’m so sorry for hugging you, i was so excited i just didn’t think. are you okay ? does it hurt ? were you scared ? ”
"i don’t know that it’s either.” every job has the boring bits, he’s almost certain. he doesn’t find his job entirely dull and it keeps him busy, which has been fairly crucial while living alone and over an hour away from his girlfriend. “err...i don’t know, i don’t watch a lot of it.” especially the thrillers and he certainly hadn’t taken spies on film during his one year at gallagher. “at the risk of sounding biased, i did like london spy.” he’s not all that concerned about being offed and shoved into a trunk himself. “and killing eve...both are bbc affiliated, but to me that just means less episodes and more thought put into storylines.” a lot of spy content comes off as sensationalized and cheesy. “physically, yes. that’s all right, i didn’t stop you.” lord knows he could have! “considering it happened yesterday and i nearly bled out...yes, it hurts. i wasn’t scared for myself.”
“I think I’m going to need some distance from it before I can come back again,” she sighs, a small pout of discomfort on her lips before she turns back up to look at him again. “Yes, but I really doubt they’d say no to this request,” Ruby chuckles, and she knows she’s right even as she pulls out her phone and starts constructing a text to her parents. It somehow feels a lot easier to breathe now, knowing that at the end of the night, she’d have peace and quiet and only him, safe in her arms. Another sympathetic laugh bubbles out, and she can’t help but smile at the way he calls her love, shaking her head a bit. “I don’t know, I just wanted to be careful!” she protests lightly, but her hand is already slipping into his, gently leading him towards the dancefloor as a slower song starts to play. “Just promise me you won’t let me hurt you,” Ruby says, quieter this time, earnest eyes on his.
“Perfect timing, then, isn’t it?” He says gently. Personally, Grayson does find the end of the school year to be the only bearable time to be at Gallagher. It has nothing to do with the free alcohol, which he can’t drink anyway, due to his pain medication. “I hope not.” But he’s trying not to get his hopes up too much, because he wouldn’t even blame her parents for wanting her somewhere a little less secluded. One assumes they’ve upped the security detail for Ruby, despite Grayson’s assailant being dealt with. He’s not the type to assume that one man down means there’s no longer any threat posed to his girlfriend. “This will sound hypocritical coming from me, but...don’t be too careful.” This could almost be a double entendre if they had gotten that far but lol. “Mm...I think you’ll know if you’ve hurt me if you see blood.” Because he can’t promise her that; he’s fine with being hurt if it means acting like everything’s okay, at least for the night.
summary: right as the school year ends, ruby finds herself having befriended her secret service agent, hughes, and continuing to doubt whether she’s the right fit for a place like gallagher. with her cousin’s ongoing case still unsolved, and feeling anxious without answers, ruby tries to enjoy one night in roseville with her boyfriend, where she’ll finally find the answers she’s been looking for.
feat. @graysonberkshire , agent hughes, [redacted], agent armstrong, mr. and mrs. meriwether
– “RIGHT, BLACKTHORNE,” ALLIE REPEATS, because she did pay attention when she was told about certain things. “ well, here everyone was telling me that spies are NOT like tv, and now they are just like tv, ” allie says, holding her hands up in mock surrender, but she’s mostly just accepting that she’s always going to be a little bit wrong about this stuff, “ but okay, good to know, i happen to like hanging out with…normal blokes, ” she repeats his words, because she thinks the word ‘bloke’ is a fun one. “ so, i’m glad you’re not a james bond type. ” because he was always getting shot at. wait ‘til grayson tells her what happened to his arm. “ ooh, okay, then tell me, ” her eyes light up, she’s sure it has to do with ruby.
“right,” he echoes. unsurprising that she’d remember a detail like that, given the alumni crawling all over campus for much of her time at gallagher. “they’re like tv in all the boring ways.” they’re not shooting at each other from speeding cars most of the time. “a lot of former agents have written books, some of which end up becoming shows.” like mindhunter! “you’d learn more from reading those memoirs than from spending a semester at gallagher where everyone’s lying to you.” gallagher students don’t know anything frankly. “ian fleming wasn’t even a james bond type,” he comments with a snort. personally, grayson prefers chitty-chitty-bang-bang. “well...i’m actually not sure how much i can say. which has nothing to do with spies.” being a first child is far more secretive, with a long list of things to never be discussed publicly. “but i got shot in the process of protecting ruby.” he shrugs, mostly with his good shoulder. “i don’t think the president will be informing the public on what happened.” and well they are in a very public location currently!
“Oh, you ever find yourself in Texas?” she asks in challenge with a small grin, highly doubting it. Imagining Grayson in her home-state, even the pretty diverse city of Houston, is a lot. “Though, I suppose I could make my way over to the east coast,” Vida sighs, feigning inconvenience that she knows he’ll see through. “Anyway, if you do ever deign to step foot in London again, give me a heads up, alright?” She’s already tried all the recommendation he’d offered, it would be nice to get first-hand experience to some more. “Busy. But pretty fulfilling, I won’t lie. How about yourself, how’s the NSA treating you?”
“I might if I ever had a reason,” he retorts, because he has no reason to really go anywhere outside of the states of Maryland and Virginia (and DC happens to border both). “Surely you have other people to see. You are here, right now, after all...which is mildly baffling. I know you have better things to be doing.” She’s one of the few recent alumni not currently dating a Gallagher student. “All right,” he says reluctantly, though he does consider Vida a friend, even if he often does a poor job of showing it. It’s more the fact that he can’t imagine why anyone would choose to spend their free time with him. “I’m happy for you, then. It’s...interesting, at times. I might see about switching positions. They seem keen to send me out of the office, though I’m not really considering it.”
She can sense the way his body language is telling her to not be so careful, but she can’t help it. Any other time, all Ruby wants to do when she sees him is wrap her arms around him and hold tight, and while usually her touch is mostly gentle, she’s hyper aware now of how she might cause pain, and it makes her falter. At least his smile is something she can keep no matter what. “If it’s alright… I don’t want to stay in Roseville, but I don’t want to go back and forth to D.C. either,” Ruby bites her lip, until something else occurs to her. “Actually, I still have my key to the house in Richmond,” she offers, and the idea of a home all to themselves sounds ideal right now. Her hand reaches up to hold his hand against her face, eyes fluttering closed for a moment to breathe in the comfort of his lips on her skin. “I was afraid to ask,” she admits, a sheepish smile on her face. “But if you think you’re up for it…”
Suffice it to say, Grayson has a high pain tolerance. Besides, he’s been raised to never show weakness, which has lead to a struggle with vulnerability overall. It’d taken him an entire semester, maybe longer, to even voice his feelings to Ruby, but hopefully he’s gotten better at that over the course of the past year. “That’s more than all right. I didn’t want to be a pessimist, but I’m a bit over Roseville myself.” Understatement! There’s probably some Gallagher estate the family still maintains in the area, which Grayson never visits. “You’re going to ask your family for permission first, though?” Don’t be a Jeanette! “Afraid?” He laughs incredulously. “Of a dance? I’m not bedridden, love, I think I can manage.”
Ruby’s general exhaustion of the past couple days prevails over lingering trauma and anxiety that will undoubtedly come back to her in the next day or two, or when she closes her eyes to sleep. But things feel easier when Grayson is by her side, when she can squeeze his hand and feel the warmth of his palm and know that he’s safe and sound next to her. His touch draws a soft smile as she lets herself lean in closer, one arm moving gently to his chest, careful and hesitant. “Maybe sooner than later. I… feel uneasy not being around you right now, so… maybe that’s a good idea. But we have to come back tomorrow, for graduation,” Ruby insists, knowing she wants to be there for her friends.
He holds her a little tighter, almost stubbornly, because even if it hurt, it feels better to have her close. And, frankly, everything hurts with a fresh wound, so it hardly makes a difference. “I have to admit, I was hoping you’d say that,” he says with a slight smile. “I’m sure we can swing it. Of course, I know.” Grayson swipes his thumb gently across her cheek bone, leaning in to press a kiss to her forehead. “I think I can handle a slow dance, if you’re in the mood.”
scott laughs, shaking his head. his arm sling has his full attention now. “ have you seen that meme about british people? i can picture you just like– ” he mirrors grayson’s natural :l expression, looking down at his arm, “ –o’right, what’s all this then. ” makes dick van dyke’s accent sound good. “ dude, c’mon, don’t apologise. i was just playing. you’re here! that’s all that matters. so tell me everything. is the job harder than the internship? ”
“no,” he says flatly. what is a meme. just kidding, but what is that meme? “are you looking at a watch?” that’s what he assumes when anyone looks down at something invisible on their arm. this gives him an excuse to properly examine scott’s outfit...his nose wrinkles ever-so-slightly. “i can’t really tell you anything. not because it’s classified, it’s just boring. it’s a lot of paperwork.” they probably want grayson to be an nsa police officer instead but yucky! “um, yes. the internship was very easy?”
He nods once, as if to say, fair enough; he’s not about to tell the guy how his relationship may or may not work. Cole takes a small breath, picking up easily on the way Grayson is going to choose to be, at the very least, lightly antagonistic with him, and it’s not something he doesn’t expect. “I’m surprised to be here, as well,” he answers back after a small shrug, and a quick, tired sigh leaves him. “You know, Grayson, if you’ve got something on your mind, it’s probably best that you just be out with it,” Cole tells him, not accusatory of defensive, his tone plain and soft-spoken.
He should definitely do that actually and then tell me what his teeth taste like when Grayson knocks them all out. “What drew you in, the champagne?” He smiles tightly. “It’s a little ironic, after you spent nearly an entire school year and much of the summer blatantly avoiding me.” In retrospect, it’s flattering, except for the fact that Grayson doesn’t feel much pride in his deduction abilities. “Hm, what could possibly be on my mind?”
“hey,” he asks gently, pushing stray hair behind her ear and pulling her slightly closer. “did you want to leave early or stay until things start winding down?” he has to assume, or he knows, ruby is more concerned about the strain of the evening than he is. grayson is used to a stiff upper lip. “also...i’ve a feeling nobody’ll stop us if you wanted to leave campus, at this point.” grayson certainly doesn’t want to stay in her dorm or sleep without her, despite his injury. / @rubymeriwether
Vida had known one of the best parts about coming to visit had been the opportunity to catch up with some of her fellow graduates. She honestly hasn’t been able to keep in touch with too many of them, and that includes Grayson. “So, do you never visit your family, or…?” Vida asks with a wry grin on her face as she walks up. “I’m just saying, I live in your home country and this is the first time I’ve seen you since Berlin,” she teases, then nudges her chin towards his arm. “Classified?”
“Not recently.” Meaning not since the previous summer, and he doesn’t have any plans to visit this year, but he might just to appease his mother. “Do you never visit yours? Because I reckon it’d be easier for you to come here.” Vida probably has plenty of other people to visit in the states -- in the DC area, even. “I think most people here could say the same thing,” he jokes, though that’s the truth. Even when he’s visited, he’s tried to stay out of public spaces. “How’s your first year post-grad been?”
“Berkshire—” Cole gets out. He shouldn’t be surprised to see him, Grayson’s been around at a couple of events in the past school year, but he hasn’t seen him since his whole life went to hell and somehow this feels apprehensive enough to make him falter. “Ah… England. On the mission. I’m assuming Ruby told you?” She did. His eyes, of course, are immediately drawn to the sling holding his arm and Cole’s brow creases. “What about yours?”
“No,” he lies easily, “why should she?” Cole mentioning Ruby in any capacity annoys him, when he wasn’t necessarily annoyed beforehand. “I haven’t heard much about missions at all this year, actually.” Grayson also broke his leg during a Gallagher mission so this is plagiarism... “Not a mission.” And he leaves it at that because he doesn’t owe Cole anything, least of all explanations. “I’m surprised to see you here, if I’m being honest.”
– “WELL, I’D PROBABLY ALSO DROP OUT IF I HAD TO GO HERE,” she says, sympathetic to the drop-outs. “ though i guess it’s a good thing they let you leave here knowing secrets without, you know, ” she draws a line across her neck to signify death, “ or else i might be in trouble ! they made me sign a lot of stuff though. ” allie pouts at his statement, “ wellllll, you could always text me. i wanna hang out…is that allowed ? ” she has no idea. her eyes drift to his sling with apprehension, “ do i…want to know what happened ? ” she hopes he just fell down some stairs, bella swan style. though that was also a lie and bella never fell down any stairs.
“it’s...it wasn’t as bad as where i’d transferred from, so.” if anything, he least enjoyed the attention garnered from being both a berkshire and a gallagher, and having to fake the american accent for half his time there had also been less than ideal. “you don’t really know anything that interesting, in fairness. being a federal agent is not a private career. haven’t you seen any movies or tv shows? fbi have to flash their badges all the time.” it might be a different story if the witness protection students had also been around for the burn book. “i have a desk job at the nsa, allie, i’m by all accounts a normal bloke.” which was by design. “probably, it was romantic, and all.” she allegedly fell down a bunch of stairs and out of a window, actually, which is hilarious.
