Prompt: Withdrawal

Summary: Staying on the wagon is difficult enough without temptation aiming to sabotage accomplishments thus far.

Cross-posted to AO3

It wasn’t often that Napoleon and Illya got a weekend off;
sometimes, trying to figure out what to do with their time was a
challenge.  The duo eventually decided to
go out to eat, enjoying a full-course meal.

Illya was on his third dessert when the two were surprised
by someone calling Napoleon’s name.  It
was another old acquaintance of Napoleon who hadn’t seen him in a while.  Napoleon awkwardly said hello, not having
planned on their evening out being interrupted.
Illya was just relieved that the old friend had no reaction to Illya’s
name, like some of Napoleon’s old acquaintances had in the past when realizing
that he was a Russian.

“I have to get running soon,” the old acquaintance
said.  “Didn’t mean to interrupt you
two—but I just had to say hello to my old buddy!”

“That’s alright,” Napoleon said, managing a slightly forced
smile.  “It was good to see you again
after all this time.”

Illya bit back a smirk; Napoleon was a great liar when he
needed to be.

“Oh, and here…” the friend added, opening a cigarette case
in front of Napoleon.  “One of my imported
blends—you always used to love these, remember?
You said they were your favorite!
Just smell it!”

Napoleon blinked, staring at the cigarettes and then
sniffing the one that was held under his nose, and Illya paled slightly.  This was the worst possible timing for this,
seeing that Napoleon had been trying to quit smoking cold turkey a few weeks
ago—the first days had been the hardest, but Napoleon had gone for almost four weeks
without a cigarette.  And now this shadow
from the past was offering the ultimate temptation—and judging by the look on
Napoleon’s face, he was weakening.

“Napoleon…” Illya began, but he trailed off.  He knew how powerful the cravings of
withdrawal could be—and Napoleon had made it four weeks.  He couldn’t ask him to do any ore when
temptation was quite literally right under his nose.

Illya sighed.  Well,
they’d just have to start from square one this weekend—assuming Napoleon didn’t
decide to stay off the wagon completely–and who could blame him?  Illya had helped him through the worst days
in the beginning—the cramps, the insomnia, the headaches, the upset stomach…
all things that had nearly caused Napoleon to abandon the whole thing.  Illya had resolved that while he would refuse
to hand Napoleon a cigarette personally, he would not stop him from getting
them if he felt that he could no longer hold out.

He had, also, resolved to encourage his partner not to give
up, and after much wheedling and coaxing, they had made it this far…  Only for this to happen now.

Illya exhaled, mentally preparing another round of this; he
could only hope that, this time, Napoleon would be able to go for longer–

“Actually, I’m fine,” Napoleon suddenly said.  “But thanks for offering.”

The old acquaintance blinked, surprised; clearly, Napoleon
had never refused a cigarette from him before.
He then shrugged.

“Well, if you’re sure…. Your loss…” he said, and he headed
on his way.  “See you around, Solo!”

Napoleon gave him a half-hearted wave and looked back to
Illya with a sigh and look of relief.

“Well, that was close,” he said.

“You aren’t kidding,” Illya said, wiping sweat from his own
brow.  “I didn’t think you’d be able to
hold out.”

“…Honestly, neither did I,” Napoleon admitted.  “Especially when I smelled that imported
blend and remembered how much I always enjoyed those.  But I got to thinking about something you
said when we started this whole thing—that I was able to resist all forms of
THRUSH mind control, and that was how you knew I had this in me.  So, I just… tapped into that.

“Well, I am very glad you did,” Illya said, with a
smile.  “The war isn’t over yet, but you
won a very important battle.”  He raised
his glass.  “To your victory.”

Napoleon smiled and brought his glass to Illya’s.

“Well… I’ve got a great ally on my side,” he reminded
him.  “…Thanks, Illya.”

“Of course, Napoleon.”

Illya was more than happy to help.