Set (Me&You) = The Result of (Try (Get Things Right)), by <user site="livejournal.com" user="Llwyden

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Fandom: TRON
Pairing: Alan/Kevin
Length: 1,609 words
Author on LJ: llwyden
Author Website: Shadows and Light
Why this must be read:

This story, like my earlier rec “Raised Up,” is about Kevin cleaning house at ENCOM, but this time the POV is Alan Bradley’s.

In the days after he took over the company, Flynn met with every programmer on the staff, evaluated them. Frankly, it was more "corporate drone work" than Alan had ever seen him put up with before. But weirder than him doing it was the way he did it — Alan would catch him peering into their faces as if looking right through them, an odd expression on his face. When he gave him a quizzical look, Flynn just shook himself out of it and laughed it off. He barely looked at the files in his hands for most of them, just asked a few questions and sent them on their way.

The day after he finished the interviews, a handful of the programmers cleaned out their desks and were escorted from the building. Alan headed up the security sweep that found backdoors in their code, or unauthorized tracers, or information from systems they shouldn't have had access to. But the same programs — offshoots of his original Tron, which he was justifiably proud of — that told him what these people had done to warrant firing, also told him no-one else had seen it yet. Flynn hadn't had any evidence yet. So how had he known?

"They just looked untrustworthy." He smiled a secret little smile Alan was getting heartily sick of. "Was I wrong?"

Sometimes, the way to move forward is to look back. This proves true for the company, as Alan and Kevin rekindle the enthusiasm and innovation that characterized ENCOM when it was based in a garage, and for the men on a more intimate level.

Alan sighed. "Look, Flynn, I don't know. We're not kids anymore."

"Which is what makes this a hell of a lot better," he retorted. He leaned over Alan and sunk his hands into his hair, kissing him.

Alan closed his eyes and groaned at the feel of his tongue, letting him in, his free hand going automatically to his friend's hip. Flynn's tongue mapped his mouth, then coaxed him to return the favor, relearning the taste and feel of Flynn.

Eventually, Flynn pulled back, grinning at him. "Tell me you don't want me."

Alan scowled half-heartedly. "You're a cocky bastard."

"One of my many charms." But his smile softened and he touched his forehead to Alan's, fingers tightening in his hair. "I realized some things in…when we were doing that hacking," he said slowly. "Let's just say, not all that inside knowledge was about other people."

llwyden really captures both characters. She nails Kevin’s joie de vivre, his habit of playing his cards close to his vest, and the way he uses flippancy to hide vulnerability; Alan, meanwhile, is quieter and warier, but just as dedicated to making things better, and when he commits he goes all the way. Given what happens later in canon this story can’t escape being bittersweet, but the sweetness predominates.

“Set (Me&You) = The Result of (Try (Get Things Right))” on AO3.