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The mission was intense, full of exhausting leg work and long hours and no end yet in sight.
Ethan dragged himself back late, returning from a long day of running himself ragged around the city, and slipped into Benji's room where the technician/agent was reclined against the headboard, inputting data. The intention had been to relay observations he hadn't managed to share earlier and allow Benji to build a better profile. That lasted all of five minutes before the fact he was finally, thankfully, horizontal, allowed sleep to sink its hooks into him and drag him under.
When Brandt and Jane wandered in two hours later, returning from their own late night assignment, they both froze in Benji's doorway, trying to make sense of the image in front of them.
Ethan Hunt, one of the most fearsome and deadly agents that IMF had ever had, was sound asleep, and plastered to their resident computer genius. His face was pressed into the crook of Benji's elbow, one arm slung over Benji's stomach, in such a position that Benji was using Ethan's forearm as a wrist rest, and he even had tangled one of his legs around Benji's, clinging to him.
"Benji," Brandt said, voice low and amused, "something I should know?"
"Hmm?" Benji looked up, blinking to make his eyes refocus. "Oh, this?" He asked, glancing down at their team leader. "Ethan snuggles. Woulda thought you'd know that."
"We're not quite at that stage," Brandt answered. The relationship was still new, both trying to work out the concessions they could give to each other, the push and pull of two stubborn men who were accustomed to having their way making every step a battle. They shared a bed for sex, not sleep, but watching Ethan snort and burrow closer to Benji made Brandt think maybe he should keep Ethan in bed next time.
"Well ya should be."
"He's cute," Jane remarked, something fond and entirely too gleeful in her expression. There would be teasing later, Brandt and Benji were certain of that. A yawn cut off anything else she might have said and she waved a goodnight, slipping off to her own room.
"Here, you take over," Benji suggested, closing his laptop. "Take this first."
Brandt accepted the laptop, moving it out of the way, and then followed Benji's instructions to lay on Ethan's other side after he had stripped out of the majority of his clothing. Ethan tensed briefly in his sleep and Brandt reached out, stroking a hand down his back with a murmured reassurance.
Ethan shifted then, twisting in a way that was oddly graceful, and quickly relinquished his hold on Benji to wrap himself even more firmly around his boyfriend.
"Invest in extra pillows," Benji advised, leaving the bed now that he had been freed from Ethan's grip.
"Right," Brandt said, looking down at Ethan and curling his arm around the other man's shoulders.
"Well, g'night," Benji said cheerfully, taking his laptop and leaving. "I'll take your room, shall I?"
Brandt nodded absently, listening to the door click shut. Training screamed at him that he was far too compromised this way, with Ethan pinning him so thoroughly, but the larger part of him, the part that Ethan had claimed as his own, was oddly touched by the other agent's almost childlike innocence. God knew he'd never see even a hint of this when Ethan was awake.
He shifted the best he could, found a more comfortable position, and let his eyes close, following Ethan into sleep.
*~*~*~*
Phone on silent, Jane stood in the doorway early the next morning, snapping off a few pictures.
"What's this then?" Benji asked in a stage whisper, coming up behind her, and he had to press his face into her shoulder to muffle his laughter.
"Looks like Ethan's not the only snuggler," she answered, and took another picture of two of IMF's best and most dangerous agents wrapped around each other.