Work Text:
Reese knows so little about Finch. He tried to track Finch's trail through acquiring paper-printed and digital records of Finch. But all he got was nothing because his boss is a man of privacy. He isn't even sure if Harold is his real name though he uses it for most of his aliases. And he haven't sensed Finch's obsession with birds despite the fact that Finch likes using different sorts of birds as his last name.
Reese stalked his employer once, more than once in fact. He discovered Finch's taste for breakfast – standard sencha green tea and doughnuts. He remembers Finch picking up numbers spit out by the machine from a particular payphone booth. And that's all he got from a scope.
However, Reese knows something about Finch that isn't on any papers. That Finch would be worried when he was injured. Finch would save him by taking him to an illegal doctor, threatening the doctor with his license issue and then pay for his services. He paid a lot just for some simple works, taking a bullet out and stitching a gunshot wound. If Reese was a bit more conscious, or if his partner had no phobia of blood, they could have saved that huge amount of cash. Well, Finch is wealthy enough to just throw them away. He can feel Finch’s nostalgia about an old place and an old friend and an old lover. He is aware of his fear to violence. He is trying to abide the principle that Finch clings to.
Finch knows a lot about Reese. He has access to Reese's portfolio, which mainly focus on his military history. Including all the details on his tours, and the medals he had received. Plus some ambiguous fragments of his operations back in the agency. Of course, Finch has no difficulties getting those sealed files. He is sure that John is Reese's real name. But what does that matter? It is only a very common name which is beyond common. Say John Smith, it is the most popular pseudonym in America. It is also a name being abused by many writers, for instance, John Watson and John Constantine.
Finch cyber-stalked his employee sometimes. He found out that Reese’s without-worked life is tedious. Even on his birthday, his big day, he chose to celebrate it by playing chess with a blind old wise man. He had to admit that he felt great when Reese was showing off his birthday gift when having no idea of what the key would lead.
Finch realised there is much more of Reese that he didn't see from his files. He would never have guessed the frivolous of a mission accomplisher. Reese always makes fun of him or something else during a life-and-death situation. He would never have imagined the loyalty of a government agent who had gone rogue. He can always entrust his life with Reese when he was kidnapped and isolated from the whole world. He would never believed the benevolence of a killing machine. Reese spared lots of scum.
Their understanding of each other may not be complete for the time being. But they know they would always be there for each other. They would still be together when the two of them are left against the world.