A/N: I just can't get my mind off of the pistachio guys. I swear, Cavendish and Dakota are glued to my thoughts and they're not going away anytime soon. What exactly makes them so interesting as characters? Is it just the absurdity of what they're trying to accomplish? Is it their personalities? I'm not even sure.

Balthazar Cavendish liked to think of himself as a patient man, but lately his patience has been diminished. He had tried to do his job without complaint. He had tried to ignore all of the judgmental looks and jokes that the other time agents sent their direction. He even tried to overlook the fact that his partner was an immature man child who couldn't seem to care less about their mission.

Balthazar had tried to be as patient as he could, but there was only so much he could handle, and he had just about reached his breaking point.

It was difficult to be forced to do the same useless job over and over again just because it never got completed. Even if the reason that it had failed had been completely out of his control, Balthazar still was blamed for it. It didn't help that as seemingly impossible his current assignment was, it was also apparently inconsequential. He wasn't saving the world or preventing a war or assassination, he was merely stopping the extinction of a nut. It seemed like such a simple task, and yet they still couldn't accomplish it.

As much as Balthazar hated to admit it, he could see why all of the other time agents saw him and Dakota as jokes. He was beginning to see them as jokes. And after today, he was most definitely convinced that his career, no, his whole life, was all just one big joke that the universe had decided to pull on him.

Balthazar didn't understand it at all. He was the one who was passionate about their job. Even though he didn't care much for the mission, he still put his all into accomplishing it. Balthazar treated his boss and fellow time agents with the respect that they deserved, and yet, by some ironic twist of fate, it was still Dakota who was the senior agent.

It just didn't make any sense. How could Vinnie Dakota, a young man who barely seemed old enough to be out of time travel training, be five ranks higher than Balthazar, who had dedicated his life to time travel? It just didn't seem plausible, and it most definitely wasn't the least bit fair.

The most infuriating thing was, Balthazar could actually see how Dakota could have moved up the ranks if he had wanted to. The young man rarely seemed to take anything seriously and more often than not seemed to think with his stomach rather than his brain. Despite all of this, there had been a number of times when Balthazar had seen Dakota be quite resourceful. The younger man seemed knowledgeable enough about the matters of time travel, or anything else. And when the situation truly called for it Dakota could figure out his way around a problem.

Not to mention the fact that Dakota's 'go with the flow' personality seemed to be useful when it came to remaining calm in stressful situations.

With all of that going for him Balthazar truly believed that Dakota could be a fantastic agent if he would just dedicate himself more. As it was, Dakota only seemed to fool around and distract Balthazar from the task at hand. And yet Dakota still wondered why Balthazar had blamed the younger man for the failures of their previous attempts to save the pistachio. Maybe if Dakota had focused on the task at hand rather than on his stomach the missions wouldn't have ended in disaster.

The worst part about hearing of Dakota's superior ranking was that Balthazar knew that it was true, even though he didn't want it to be. As much as a goof off that Dakota was, Balthazar had never known him to lie. Not once in all their time working together had Balthazar heard Dakota utter the the smallest fib. And Dakota knew how passionate Balthazar was about his career. He would never say something like this unless it was the absolute truth. He may be immature, but the young man wasn't cruel.

But what really bothered Balthazar was that if Dakota wasn't being cruel, and he probably wasn't, then why hadn't he told him the truth before? What did Dakota have to gain from keeping his authority a secret? To Balthazar's knowledge, absolutely nothing. Did he just care about his position so little that he hadn't bothered to let it be known until now?

Balthazar wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Dakota didn't strike him as the type of person to care about authority. Maybe that was what bothered him so much about all of this. That Dakota had a position that he couldn't care less about. Even if the younger man truly deserved the position, what was the point in him having it if he obviously didn't want it? Balthazar not only deserved to be the superior agent, but he actually wanted the job.

Balthazar sighed and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. He looked around the pistachio warehouse that he had been hiding out in for the past while. Sometimes he just needed to get away from his partner, and even though this mockingly empty warehouse was not his ideal locations, it had been the first place he had thought of to go when it had started storming outside. As of now though the rain seemed to be calming down. Balthazar supposed he should probably be heading back to their apartment soon. Dakota was probably waiting anxiously for his return.

Dakota...Balthazar often didn't know what to think of him. He was young, but spoke as though he was experienced. He often acted like a buffoon, but had proven that he was actually quite knowledgeable. He often complained without end when he had so much as a paper cut, but if he was truly injured or ill, Dakota would not say a word on it. He truly was an extremely odd young man.

And, despite the constant frustration that the younger man seemed to cause, Balthazar had to admit that he was a decent partner...not that he would ever say it aloud. And Balthazar would most certainly never admit out loud, or even to himself, that Dakota may actually be the better partner. Not a better time traveler, mind you, but a better partner. He was certainly more skilled with social interactions than Balthazar was, that was for sure.

And Dakota would never just walk away from Balthazar, no matter how frustrated he was.

Balthazar frowned. Fantastic, now he was feeling guilty about feeling like he needed some space. Well, Balthazar was going to be heading back to the apartment now, so there was no reason for him to be feeling guilty about being gone. It wasn't as though he had been gone for that long. It had only been...nearly three hours.

Balthazar stared in shock at his pocketwatch. Had it truly been that long? He hadn't realized just how much he had truly lost track of time. Oh, he was going to be hearing an earful about this once he returned to their apartment. Balthazar figured that his only hope to be spared from Dakota's yakking/teasing was if the younger man was currently eating his mid-afternoon meal, or as Dakota liked to call it, 'liner'. An absolutely horrific name that made Balthazar shudder any time he heard it, which just amused Dakota, causing him to say it more.

Yes, their relationship was a...unique one to say the least.

"He had better not have eaten my leftovers." Balthazar muttered to himself as he slipped his pocketwatch back into the pocket of his suit coat. He paused when he felt his fingers brush another small object. Curious as to what it could be Balthazar took the cold, metal object out to find that it was a key...their apartment key.

"Oh dear." Balthazar's brow furrowed in concern. He had forgotten that he was the one in possession of their single key. As if Balthazar wasn't already feeling guilty enough about leaving Dakota, he had left him with no way to get back into their apartment. A slight rumble of thunder reminded Balthazar that it had also been raining.

Oh, this day was just getting better and better.

"Dang it all." Balthazar cursed his bad luck. He shot to his feet and dashed out of the warehouse. He was grateful that it wasn't raining as hard as before, but he still got wet as he ran. And his jacket always took forever to dry too.

"He had better be there waiting for me when I get there." Balthazar said irritably, though he didn't really mean it. Yes, he would appreciate it if his efforts in returning to the apartment so quickly weren't for nothing, but Balthazar would actually prefer it if Dakota had gotten hungry and decided to wait out the storm in a cheap diner. Balthazar didn't want to think of his partner sitting just outside their apartment, cold and soaking wet from the storm, waiting for him for the past two hours.

The thought caused Balthazar to pick up speed. It was a good thing that they didn't actually live that far from the pistachio warehouse, and that he was in fairly good shape, because Balthazar was able to make it back to the apartment in record time by alternating between running and jogging, with the occasional speed walk when he grew tired.

As he got closer to the apartment building Balthazar could see somebody sitting outside their apartment door. As the person was wearing a reddish orangish track suit, Balthazar had a fairly good idea on who it was.

"Dakota!" Balthazar called out loud enough to be heard, but not so loud as to disturb the neighbors. The form didn't move. Balthazar frowned. Was his partner giving him the silent treatment, or was this something else? Balthazar figured he had to be a bit closer to tell.

He made his way up the stairs that led to the second story, which was the one their apartment was located on. Now that he could get a proper look, Balthazar was not happy at what he saw. It appeared as though Dakota was asleep which he didn't figure was a good sign.

"Dakota?" Balthazar approached the younger man and shook his shoulders slightly. "Dakota!" He snapped, but he still didn't move. Balthazar was beginning to get concerned. Dakota was absolutely soaking wet, and despite the chill in the air he was only just shivering. And, of course, he wasn't moving, which was extremely unnerving to see from the normally hyperactive young man.

"Vinnie, you fool." Balthazar hurried to unlock the apartment door and quickly got his partner inside. It wasn't all that difficult, Dakota was actually much lighter than he looked. Without too much difficulty Balthazar was able to get his younger partner into the bed (he still absolutely hated how small and cheap their apartment was, they could only fit the one bed. At least it was a fairly large one).

"Why would you wait out in the rain?" Balthazar asked, as he searched around the apartment for a device from the future that he desperately hoped he had. He was perfectly aware that Dakota couldn't actually hear him, but Balthazar had the habit of speaking when he got nervous. It helped him to relax.

"You were already sick, you fool." Balthazar breathed a sigh of relief when he found what he was looking for in the back of the closet, buried under some of Dakota's dirty socks (he needed to speak with that man about the importance of cleanliness). Device in hand Balthazar returned to Dakota's side, fiddled with the dial for a moment and activated it.

Balthazar breathed a sigh of relief when the device seemed to function correctly. It was an older version, and occasionally it did malfunction, but this fortunately didn't seem to be one of those times. The device simply dried the two men and their clothes, just as it was meant to. Future technology was truly amazing. They had gadgets for everything, from time travel to drying clothing.

Dakota no longer looked like he had just climbed out of a swimming pool, which was an improvement, but he was still unconscious. Balthazar frowned when he saw that Dakota seemed to look rather paler than he usually did, and yet his cheeks were flushed. Balthazar had suspected that Dakota had had a small fever that morning, and spending a few hours out in the rain had only made it worse.

Fortunately, Balthazar already knew just what to do. Strangely enough, this was not the first time something like this had happened. Dakota seemed to be a fan of rainstorms and always enjoyed walking out in them, but he always forgot to dry properly afterwards and often got sick because of it. True, Dakota had never been out in the rain for as long as he had today, and he hadn't ever been sick before going out, but Balthazar imagined that the situations weren't all that different.

If he was correct, and he suspected he was, Dakota would be much better after some rest. He was already sleeping (well, unconscious, but they were pretty much the same thing). All Balthazar had to do was make sure he was comfortable and keep him warm.

'Now, that is something I can do.' Balthazar thought to himself. He pulled the thin blanket up so that it was over Dakota. Then, just for good measure, Balthazar took off his own jacket and laid it over his partner as though it was just another blanket. Normally Balthazar wouldn't dare do something as sentimental as this, but considering there was nobody around to notice it, he figured it was fine. His reputation wouldn't be ruined, and Dakota wouldn't tease him for actually caring.

Yes, Balthazar did indeed care about his partner, not that he would ever let anybody else be aware of that fact. Especially not Dakota.

Some time passed before Balthazar noticed that Dakota had begun shifting in his sleep. He was beginning to wake up. Balthazar breathed a sigh of relief. It was about time his partner woke up. He had been beginning to worry. Balthazar knew that Dakota always took awhile to wake up fully, so he went into the kitchen to heat up some water.

Dakota may not be soaking wet anymore, but Balthazar wouldn't be surprised if he was still chilly. A nice wardrink would likely do wonders to chase away the cold. Besides, they had a lot to talk about, and Balthazar knew that Dakota would be much more open to having a serious conversation if he had a mug of hot chocolate in front of him as a bribe.

And Balthazar himself was craving a cup of tea, so there was that as well.

The water had just started boiling when Dakota came shuffling into the room. He still looked half asleep, but at least he was conscious. Dakota immediately moved to the fridge and took out three slices of cold, leftover pizza. Balthazar rolled his eyes, but felt somewhat relieved. Dakota seemed to have a decent appetite, which he figured was a good sign. Dakota practically shoved a whole slice into his mouth in one go and sat down at the small old table that they had. The young man's dull eyes brightened when he saw the mug of hot chocolate that Balthazar set in front of him.

"Sweet!" Dakota grinned and dropped his pizza on the table, which caused Balthazar to wince. Dakota wrapped his hands around the steaming mug.

"I thought you would appreciate that." Balthazar brought his own drink over to the table and sat down across from his partner. Dakota lifted his mug but when it was halfway to his mouth he frowned and looked at Balthazar.

"Why do you look so serious?" Dakota asked in a somewhat teasing tone, though it sounded more suspicious than anything. Dakota looked at his mug. "This isn't a bribe, is it?"

Balthazar sighed. He always forgot that Dakota could be quite observant when he wanted to be. "Dakota, we need to talk." He knew that neither of them were looking forward to this conversation, but it had to happen. If they didn't talk about things than they would just continue to build up until one of them blew up. Dakota usually despised having serious conversations, but he had a completely different reaction to Balthazar's words than he had expected.

"I'm sorry!" Dakota said a little too loudly and a little too quickly, which somewhat startled Balthazar. Still, he could hear the sincerity in the younger man's voice, leading him to believe that it was a genuine apology. The thing was, Balthazar had no idea what Dakota thought he was apologizing for.

"Whatever for?" Balthazar asked. Dakota frowned and looked at the table.

"I shouldn't have pulled ranking on you." Dakota said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"What?" Was that what Dakota was making such a fuss about? Balthazar shook his head. "Don't apologize for that. It is your job as the senior agent to pull rank when you feel the need to." Balthazar still didn't fully understand why Dakota had chosen earlier today of all times to actually use his higher ranking to his advantage but hadn't before.

"Oh." Dakota looked relieved, but also thoroughly confused. "So you're not mad at me anymore?"

"I was never mad at you in the first place." Balthazar said honestly. "I was simply frustrated with the situation." And he had taken that frustration unfairly out on his partner. It was no wonder Dakota had thought that he had been mad at him.

"Oh." Dakota didn't sound entirely convinced, but he let it go. "If you're not mad at me then what were you wanting to talk about?"

"I simply wished to ask you something." Balthazar said. Dakota gestured for him to go right ahead. Balthazar cleared his throat as he tried to figure out how to voice his question. "Why were you so insistent that I leave that Milo Murphy alone?"

Dakota looked surprised at the question, as though he had been expecting something completely different. "I thought you would have wanted to know how I ever got to be a higher ranking than you."

Balthazar winced slightly at the jab that was surely unintentional. "I didn't think it would be polite to ask." He muttered, though if he was honest with himself he had been wondering about that as well.

Dakota actually grinned, which Balthazar hadn't expected. "I can answer both questions with one story, if you're interested." Balthazar barely refrained himself from gaping at his younger partner. If he was interested? Of course he was interested! "Just...just don't judge me too harshly because of it."

"Judge you? Why on earth would I do that?" Alright, that was a silly question. Balthazar judged Dakota all the time, but he didn't believe his opinion of the younger man would change from the worst just because of one story.

Dakota shrugged. "Everybody else does."

"Everybody else?" Now Balthazar was confused. "Just how many people have you told about this?"

"Oh, just you." Dakota said honestly, which didn't make any sense. "But almost all the other time agents know about it. I think it's why they don't like me." Balthazar had simply thought they didn't take Dakota seriously because of his attitude, but he wasn't about to tell him that.

"What happened?" Balthazar excused, because now he was curious. What could Dakota have ever done to deserve being treated so coldly by every single one of their fellow agents?

Dakota shrugged and took a huge bite out of his practically frozen pizza (honestly, Balthazar had no idea how he could stomach eating those things). "Well, like I said earlier, my parents were both time travel agents. They were good at what they did, and they caught the wrong kind of attention from the wrong kind of people."

Balthazar frowned. Dakota's tone sounded casual enough, but it contrasted greatly with his words. It bothered Balthazar that Dakota was speaking about his parents in the past tense, as though they weren't around anymore. Yet, Dakota didn't sound the least bit bothered.

"What happened to them?" Balthazar asked.

"They died a long time ago." Dakota said easily as though they were merely discussing the weather. "The enemy agents that caught them also took me for good measure, basically raised me up to be one of them."

"Hold on." Balthazar's brow was furrowed in confusion. "I thought there weren't any enemy agents." That was what their boss had said. Even Dakota had tried to tell him it a time or two. Had they been blatantly lying to him?

"Oh, there aren't anymore." Dakota said. "A few years ago our agency infiltrated their base and destroyed it." Balthazar was beginning to tire of Dakota's casual tone. He was speaking of death and destruction? Shouldn't he be bothered by it? "A bunch of people got away, but a lot were captured."

"Like you?" Balthazar asked.

"Yeah." Dakota nodded. "I think it's just because Brick remembers my parents as good agents that he even let me continue being a time agent here. None of the others were ever given the chance." Dakota stopped and drank his hot chocolate, as though he was finished with his story, which frustrated Balthazar. The story of Dakota's past had brought up more questions than it had answered them.

"What does this all have to do with Milo Murphy?" Balthazar asked. He was alarmed to see Dakota's face darken.

"Look, Cavendish, Brick didn't give me a chance right away." Dakota sighed. "You don't know what they do to enemy agents, but I do." For the first time since he had started talking Dakota's tone matched his words, except now Balthazar wished that he would go back to being strangely casual.

"Well, surely they wouldn't be so harsh towards a boy." Balthazar said confidently, but his face fell when he saw Dakota's wince. "Would they?"

"I was only a few years older than Milo Murphy when they…" Dakota trailed off and clutched tighter at his mug of lukewarm hot chocolate. "Nobody deserves that. Especially not a kid."

Balthazar was beginning to feel slightly sick. "What did they do to you?" What had his agency done to his partner?

Dakota shook his head and refused to meet his eye. "It doesn't matter." It most certainly did matter, but it was clear that Dakota wasn't going to say another word on the matter, and Balthazar didn't feel that it would be right to push him any further.

Balthazar sighed. "We don't have to discuss it if you do not want to." He said reluctantly. He paused before continuing. "And we shall leave Milo Murphy alone."

Dakota's eyes snapped up to meet his. "Really?" The younger man sounded so unsure that if Balthazar hadn't already made his decision he would have decided right then and there.

"Yes, really." Balthazar confirmed. Dakota made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a squeal and before Balthazar could blink the younger man had pushed himself out of his seat and practically bounded over to Balthazar's side of the table where he then began to hug him. Balthazar stiffened at the embrace. He hadn't expected it, and he was slightly alarmed at just how happy Dakota seemed to be. He hadn't realized how much this had meant to his partner.

"Alright, that's enough." Balthazar gently pushed Dakota off of him.

"Yeah, okay." Dakota still looked much too excited than should be allowed. "So, uh, we're cool, right?"

Balthazar shook his head fondly. "Yes, we're 'cool'." He didn't think he would ever understand the slang that Dakota used. "I am curious about something though." Balthazar hesitated because he didn't want to say this the wrong way and accidentally insult Dakota. "How did you get to be such a high ranking if nobody in the agency trusts you? Or without going through all of the proper training?"

"Oh, I went through all of the proper training." Dakota said. "The other guys, the enemy agents, they trained me up since I was a kid. I guess Brick thought that all that training was at least worth something. Basically, the rank that I would have been with them is the rank that I am here."

"Well, that makes sense, I suppose." It certainly seemed unusual, but not impossible. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you so casual about all of this?"

Dakota looked at him strangely. "Because there's no point in being angry about it. Yeah, the enemy agents killed my parents, but I didn't even hear about that until I got here, and by then they were all gone anyways, so what was the point of keeping a grudge? So I can tell everybody on the street of my tragic backstory?" Dakota grinned at the thought, because it did indeed sound ridiculous.

"Alright, I just have one more question." Balthazar said even though he had much more than that. Why didn't you tell me all of this earlier? Why do you not take your job seriously when it's all you've ever known? But Balthazar settled on just one question. "How are you feeling?"

Dakota blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

"You're still sick." Balthazar said shortly. "Stop trying to pretend otherwise."

Dakota frowned slightly. "How did you know?"

There had actually been a couple of clues. For one thing, Balthazar would have found it extremely odd if Dakota's sickness had improved rather than worsened after being out in the rain for a few hours. Another big clue had been the fact that Dakota had only eaten one of his pizza slices and still had half of his not so hot chocolate left. Balthazar had also felt the heat radiating off of Dakota when he had embraced him. The biggest clue though had been in what Dakota had told him.

"You're much more open when you're not feeling well." Balthazar said. Dakota frowned apologetically.

"I was going to tell you." Dakota said somewhat quietly.

"Balthazar sighed. "Yes, I know." The thing was, they both knew that he would have put it off for as long as he could. Dakota could usually talk without end about the most obscure subjects, unless it was himself. Dakota was a very outgoing person, but he seemed so secretive sometimes. Balthazar decided that he wanted to get Dakota to trust him, to open up to him more. Without him being sick.

Speaking of which.

"Come on, back to bed with you." Balthazar gently pushed Dakota out of the kitchen and towards the bed.

"Aw, come on." Dakota whined. "I just woke up."

"You need to rest." Balthazar insisted, leaving absolutely no room for an argument. "If you rest now and feel better in the morning we can try to fix the mess of pistachios that happened today."

"Yeah, alright." Dakota all but pouted as he climbed back into the bed. "But I'm only doin' this because I don't want to be cooped up in here for another day."

"I am well aware of that." Balthazar reclaimed his jacket from where Dakota had left it on the bed. He was just about to head back into the kitchen to find some dinner when Dakota called out to him again.

"Hey, Balthy!" Balthazar groaned slightly and turned to look irritably at his partner, who was grinning at him. "G'night." Dakota said cheerfully. Balthazar sighed, half annoyed and half fondly.

"Good night, Vinnie."

A/N: I feel like I'm writing two different stories. One where Balthazar finds out that Dakota is his superior, and one where Vinnie is sick and Balthazar helps out. It was originally just going to be the superior thing, but when I started writing this story I myself was sick with an annoying head cold that came and went for about a week. It was super annoying. And right now my younger brother is sick with a pretty bad fever, so yeah, you can imagine where I got my inspiration from.

I kinda like the idea of Vinnie Dakota having been raised by enemy agents, and it's something I might use for other story ideas. I'm not sure when I'll work on those, but I'm fairly certain that this will not be the last time that I will write about the pistachio guys.