Title: The Rationalist
Author: Bell Pie toggledog@yahoo.com
Rating: R
Fandom: The Rundown (in Australia it's called 'Welcome to the Jungle')
Pairing: Travis/Beck
Summary: Beck is ever the rationalist.
Author's Notes: Why oh why isn't there more slash out for this oh so slashy
film?
I've referred the deleted alternate ending in this fic, as I think it works
better.

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Beck liked to be rational.

It was rational to keep his job separate from his private life. That Billy
knew about the restaurant was merely a formality, to convince the man he had
other aspirations beyond his current shady job.

In terms of his private life, it was particularly rational to keep the fact
that he was gay from his business associates. Not that Beck was ashamed of his
sexuality. It was merely that homophobia was rife with the kind of men he worked
with, against, or for and he simply didn't want the extra trouble.

When Billy told him to hunt down his son, he realized it was rational to just
do the job, despite the fact he should have been paid for the last job and that
should have been it. He had two options, he told himself. Option A would be to
walk away with no money but his dignity intact. Option B would be to just take
the job.

He chose Option B.

It was rational that he be attracted to Traverse. He was the kind of cocky,
intelligent pretty boy he usually liked. Traverse was also annoying as hell,
which put a dampener on his attraction to him, making it uncomplicated to ease
himself out of it.

So when Traverse laid the moves on him, after the girl had taken off with his
precious gatto, Beck had to re-evaluate the situation. He had thought he had not
been obvious. However, Traverse had crawled over to him and was now seated on
his lap, hand reaching under his shirt to pinch his nipple.

"Come on, I'll give you something." Another pinch as though to emphasize what
he meant. "And you give me something in return."

Enraged, Beck easily flipped him off, pinning him to the ground.

"I know you want me." Traverse said breathlessly.

"You know nothing about me."

"Oh yeah?"

Shit. Traverse emphasized Beck's erection by grinding his leg up into it. "Stop that!" Beck 
threw him down and moved quickly away, to cease from hitting him.

"Look, it's easy. You let me go after the gatto." He stood and stalked towards
Beck. Beck backed away.

"Traverse..."

"I've seen the way you've been watching me. Do you think I'm blind? Hey, you're
not bad. Great body, great smile."

Beck suddenly realized he was backed against a tree, the boy's lean body
against his. The leg, damn it, that lean leg grinding into his groin once more.
Beck could only manage a muffled groan.

"We have two options. Option A is good for me. You let me go. In return, I do
Option B for you."

Traverse slipped to his knees.

"Get away from me!" Beck roughly pushed him back, then punched him in the face
for good measure. "You touch me again and you get another one!"

"You're too violent. Need to calm down." The boy sighed but to his credit let
it go.

To Beck's immense relief, Traverse tried nothing more the rest of their time
in the jungle.

Traverse' reaction, while surprising, wasn't entirely irrational. Earlier, he
had told the boy people tried everything to get out of what they owed.

Occasionally, their body became the price. Beck was disgusted and disappointed
Traverse would degrade himself in such a way.

Billy slapping his son was utterly irrational to Beck. What was even more
irrational was Traverse's reaction. It was merely moments after Beck had returned
his son to his Father. Traverse had made one of his usual cracks. Billy had
responded with a sharp knock across the face. What disturbed Beck was that none
of the other two men in the room responded, as though it was an everyday
occurrence. Traverse' reaction was to simply hold his face in shock and dismayed
pain as his Father told him what a headache he was before turning to Beck. No
come back, simple calm acceptance. To balance the irrationality, Beck did
something rational. He got the kid the hell out of there. Ok, partly rational.
For he now would have not only Billy's cronies but also federal martials after
him. Traverse was right about that.

It was rational, after finding out that Traverse was, in fact, bisexual and
attracted to him, to try get rid of the boy. He didn't need this headache.
Two months of gentle needling on Traverse' part, extreme stubbornness on
Beck's and unresolved tensions on both and Traverse was finally in his bed with
him, constantly reassuring him to go faster, harder. He wasn't a doll, damn it.
He wouldn't break! Beck wanted to. Damn, he wanted to. However, he also didn't
want to hurt him. Didn't wish to mar that wonderful skin in anyway. So, whereas
Traverse left purplish love bites all over his body, Beck was careful to not
break the skin.

It was rational that when Traverse cried out his climax that Beck ceased his
thrusting to watch, cupping Traverse' face before drawing it into a bruising
kiss, as he felt himself let go. Ok, perhaps that was more irrational, as the
final kiss was so passionate that he nearly broke the poor kid's nose.

He awoke the next morning and rolled to run a hand through Traverse' hair,
smiling. He leant down and kissed his forehead before climbing out of bed.
French omlette, fresh squeezed juice and fresh fruit.

It was rational that he make breakfast and bring it in to the kid. Beck was,
after all the cook.