Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/2519072. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage Category: F/M, Gen, M/M Fandom: Codename:_Kids_Next_Door Relationship: nigel_uno/chad_dickson, Number_One/Number_Two_Seventy-Four, 1x274 Character: Nigel_Uno, Chad_Dickson, Rachel_McKenzie, Wallabee_Beatles, Abigail Lincoln, Hoagie_Pennywhistle_Gilligan_Jr., Original_Male_Character(s), Original_Female_Character(s) Additional Tags: Slash, Violence, Alternate_Universe, Graphic_Description, Fluff_and_Smut Stats: Published: 2014-10-27 Words: 1975 ****** House of Cards ****** by VeryImpressive Summary Nigel Uno has a precarious life, on the one hand, he's spying for the Kids Next Door and on the other hand, he's assisting in their destruction – add on the fact fact that he's a just entering Junior Year in High School and gay, his life is very unsteady and very hectic. With the return of an old one-time friend and one time enemy, will the house of cards that is Nigel Uno's life finally fall, or will it be saved? AU; Slash; 1x274 Introduction Nigel Uno's Point of View There was no coming back from the Galactic Kids Next Door – that was what Numbuh 74.239 had told me all those years ago. That was the deciding factor in my choice to not join them and to remain here on Earth, if the choice had been different and I could have returned sooner, I would have gone. Things here were just too important for me to leave, the Kids Next Door, Sector V, my friends, my family – the price for fighting the scourge of adulthood was just too heavy a price for me to pay. I operated under that assumption for these past six years. In my last three years as a known Kids Next Door operative, I commanded my sector for another year and when Rachel stepped down to join the Teens Next Door on her thirteenth birthday, I assumed the role as Supreme Leader for the two years until I myself turned thirteen. I never regretted staying on Earth, and I never regretted following Rachel, and by extension, Chad, into the Teens Next Door. I also had the distinction of being the first former sector leader to have most of his former team join him within the Teens Next Door. Upon Abby's thirteenth birthday, a year before me, she joined Rachel in the TND – and after I joined, Wally, Hoagie and Kuki all joined in rapid succession. In the three years since, we'd prevented hundreds of attacks and plots against the entire KND operation. Rachel assumed direct control of the organization after she joined, and when I joined, she appointed me liaison to the Supreme Leader – my chief task in that duty was to deliver the important information to the Supreme Leader himself. When I returned to Earth, I reassumed my guise as a loyal teenager and once again took to supervising my former Sector V teammates. The higher-ups within the teenagers took great amusement in keeping us all together and making me, the great Nigel Uno, lead them. Unbeknownst to the teenagers, who thought that we had genuinely stolen Sector V's former treehouse from the Kids Next Door, I had it decommissioned on my final day as Supreme Leader. We now used it as our base of operations with the Teenagers. Was it pathetic to cling to the icons of my ever-shrinking youth? Perhaps it was. But, I would never stop being a kid in my heart and head and I would continue to fight adults until I was one myself, and even after that. Unlike my father, I believed in the mission of the Kids Next Door so much so that I would continue to fight for them for the rest of my life. So, with all of that in mind – it made me question if I had made the right choice to stay on Earth, the moment I entered the Supreme Leader's Office on the Moonbase. With Chad's bungled entry into the Teens Next Door, it had become Kids Next Door policy for the Supreme Leader to be aware of the Teens Next Door – and as such he was the only operative, besides a small few, who were aware of our existence. It wasn't like the old days when I could walk around in the middle of the day up here and not have to bat an eye, no – I had to come up here in the middle of the night and move stealthy. That was perhaps the biggest drawback of reporting to the Supreme Leader, everything had to be in person and he was tough to get to. That wasn't, however, what shocked me into speechlessness the moment I entered Numbuh 111's office, it was who was in his office. If there was no coming back from the Galactic KND, then why in the hell was Chad Dickson on the Moonbase? Lowering my sunglasses in utter shock at the sight of him, I was only stopped from asking him the obvious question by intervention from the Supreme Leader himself, "Numbuh One, I'm pleased that you managed to get here so quickly." I didn't take my eyes off of Chad as I stepped forward to stand before the desk, all the while, still casting a sneer at him, even as he leveled a smirk at me, "Is this the surpriseSupreme Leader? Chad's usefulness is at an end." When I learned of his true loyalties after the treaty incident, I had stopped thinking of Numbuh 274 as traitorous scum, but I still felt betrayed on a personal level. Chad had been the model operative for the Kids Next Door, he had been everything that all of us looked up to and aspired to be in our time with the organization. What the rest of the organization, particularly my former teammates, didn't know was that my personal betrayal had to do with Chad being a personal idol and a personal infatuation of mine. I wasn't infatuated with him like most of my gender was infatuated with him. I was infatuated with him like females had been infatuated with him. Of course I was only a kid when those feelings began to develop for Chad, I didn't know what they meant at the time and of course with my duties to school, Sector V, and Lizzie, I really didn't have time to dwell on them. When I turned fourteen though, and started to become more sexually active and sexually aware, I realized something very strange and that was what caused me to finally find the cause of my passionate feelings for Chad, regardless if they were good or bad. I was gay, I made to qualms about it and from those who knew me the best – it wasn't a secret. Numbuh's Two and Four took some time to get used to it, obviously, but eventually, they had no issue with it. Still, I didn't take their acceptance as a sign to explore that side of myself right now and in the years since making that revelation – I had resigned myself to the fact that enjoying those things would have to wait until I could do it without the eyes of my loved ones on me. I was content with that, I was deeply involved in espionage activities with the teenagers and school – time for romantic entanglements would come later, when I could enjoy it and deliver all of my focus upon it. My life to this point had always been about getting things accomplished, so I saw no problems with that goal and hadn't expected any problems. Until this moment. Until I laid my eyes on Chad Dickson. Numbuh 274. The strikingly handsome Numbuh 274. He'd always been handsome, but frankly – this was the first time I'd seen him since hitting puberty and it was amazing what a little surge of hormones would do to a person – I was instantaneously attracted to him. "Uno, you look good," Chad smirked at me. I lowered my sunglasses and gave him a mocking look up and down, "Still rolling in mediocrity and shame I see – tell me, why have you returned after all this time?" The fury that blazed in his blue eyes didn't reach his face and by the lines around his mouth, I knew that he was holding back and I couldn't help but smirk in return. I knew he wasn't going to answer that question, not in front of Numbuh 111 – his time in the Galactic Kids Next Door would remain a secret until he decided to share it with me, and if he didn't – it wasn't a big deal. Turning back to the Supreme Leader, I nodded at him, "So, why was this meeting urgent, I see nothing important." I could feel Chad's rage from beside me and it amused me even more. The Supreme Leader spied me with an unimpressed look and I bit back a snicker – Dillon Mathers had taken to his role as my replacement very well and he should have. In my time as Supreme Leader, I knew that I had to train a replacement that would want the positon and he was that replacement. In the two years of my time as Supreme Leader, I moved Dillon up from Sector U, stationed him on the Moonbase, made him second in command of the entire organization and spent all of my free time training him. It was because of me that he had become the youngest Supreme Leader in the history of the Kids Next Door, beating Chad's record by several months and it was so cute that he thought his glare could intimidate me. "Numbuh 274 has requested a posting within the Teens Next Door and I've decided grant him that post," Dillon pronounced and I let my shock show through. "And before you ask, Numbuh 362 has already been informed and she's agreed." "But, this arrogant rag is eighteen years old," I made a dismissive gesture towards Chad, angering him further. "Not to mention the fact that he pretty much broke ties with the teenagers during the treaty incident." Numbuh 111 held up a hand, "Let me finish – this will not be a normal assignment. Officially, he will not be working for the TND or the KND – with Numbuh Five going off to College at the end of next year, your cell will need someone who can pick up the slack with generalities around the Treehouse. Chad has agreed to do that and to fill in for Numbuh Five when she is unavailable, his experience with both our organization and the teenagers, will give you, our most important cell, infinity-buhzillion advantages. He will be the unofficial sixth member of your team. As he is of legal age, he will be living in the old Sector V base – he will be its caretaker and, as I say again, he will participate in assignments that help you get your work down faster." About half way through that long-winded sales pitch, which Dillon was obviously attempting to do, I had begun to pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration, "You're saying he has to live in my treehouse? That's very dangerous." "Please," Chad scoffed from the side and I very slowly turned my eyes to meet his. "We both know that Rachel has given your cell so much autonomy that no one would dare come to your base without your permission." Rachel had worked her way up to second in-command of the teenagers fairly quickly after "leaving" the Kids Next Door – and two years in, she replaced The Steve, and that proved very valuable. It gave my team a lot of leeway and a lot of freedom to operate, but – as with having to make covert trips to the Moonbase in the dead of night, we still had to take precautions. Only when we were ready, would we bring the entire organization down on its knees and destroy it from the top down. The only question was why Chad knew that Rachel was the leader of the teenagers. "How do you know that?" I questioned him. Again, Chad sent me that bad-boy smirk of his, "A little birdy told me." "You see, he can operate and live safely in your treehouse without risking detection by the other teenagers," Numbuh 111 pronounced. "Supreme Leader, I must protest, I will not have this bloody-…" Dillon's glare intensified, "You can either obey my order, or have the order come from Rachel, either way Nigel, this is going to happen." From behind my back, my hands clenched in anger and I knew that I had no choice – so I nodded, and accepted this crap, like I knew I would have to the moment I heard Rachel had approved it. Giving Chad a glare, my lips curled with distaste. I had some questions for him.   Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!