Male Gold And Blue Eyes [3/??] [Updated 4.29.2024]

[Red Ring of Death]

I've had some ideas rolling around absently in my head for a couple of years but I never felt particularly inspired to do anything with it so this is the culmination of all of those individual ideas wrapped into one and released into our corner of the world. I have at least three parts written up already and I'm actually liking how it's going so maybe someone else might get some enjoyment out of it, too~

This starts as a prison setting, but there won't be graphic depictions of the lifestyle. That being said, there will be language and violence. PG-13 at its worst, at least for now. Also this is a slow boil (and these parts are kind of long), so I apologise in advance if it's too slow and will let readers know if there's no snz in a chapter so you can skip it if you'd like~ It is continuous though, so skip at your own discretion lol

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I. The Cellmate with the Bright Blue Eyes

"Is it time for more newbies already?” Lex asked lazily as he heard the familiar buzz echoing from far down the hall. He draped his arms over the bars that were about shoulder-level and leaned into them as he cast his golden-eyed gaze to the sturdy officer who simply chuckled and rested a rough hand on his belt.

“Now I know you’re just asking to make small talk,” Bryant replied. “As if you don't know by now that new inmates are introduced bi-weekly.”

Lex scoffed. “As if YOU don’t know that the passage of time ceases all meaning once you’ve been in one place long enough.” He followed the comment up with a sly, yet charming smile. Bryant knew that smile, just as Lex knew the familiar place that the officer tended to rest his hand. “D’you think I’ll finally get a cellmate this time?”

Bryant shook his head slowly. “I don’t know, man. Why, you got your vision of a prince charming in your head?”

“Maybe,” Lex replied, the smile never leaving his face. “Sure ain’t your ass, though.” Bryant laughed.

“Yeah well, I ain’t single anyway. Maybe next time, princess.” The officer retorted. “Okay, I need to go fetch whoever it is. You stay outta trouble.” He pointed at the inmate before turning on a heel and marching off, leaving Lex behind to wave passively as he continued to lean against the bars. He waited until the officer was at the end of the hall before he sighed and pulled his weight away. The man popped his back with a satisfying grunt and he sat on the bottom bunk, clasping his hands together as they rested on his knees. Was he lonely? Nah, not particularly, but there was still some part of his mind that felt a little uneasy whenever he thought about how he had been there for close to two years now and he still hadn’t received a roommate.

Was he unpopular? Maybe people felt threatened by his domineering personality– nah, it probably wasn’t that, either. Uuuugh, he didn’t want to think about it anymore. Chances were that he would end up by himself again and he’d just have to make friends the old-fashioned way; fist fighting. Or charming conversation. He was suave.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed before he heard activity; multiple men walking, most of which were barefoot and all of them still dripping with the archaic hose down generously deposited at the gate, something he thought had long since been abandoned. Something about cruelty, but also something that they apparently still did. He instinctively turned his head to regard the bodies as they walked by, watery and unclothed and he counted how many of them there were as they all shuffled. Seven, eight, nine–

“Hey Lex!” Bryant’s voice suddenly cut through his counting and he jumped up as if called on by an expectant teacher.

“Officer, what the hell-” He started to huff, embarrassed that he’d been scared like that but he was cut off by the officer’s strong voice.

“Looks like you got your wish!” Bryant said cheerfully, unlocking the cell door manually and stepping aside for one of the new prisoners. Lex, about to retort, fell silent and pursed his mouth shut as he regarded one of the tallest men he’d ever met who lumbered into his cell. Lex took this rare moment of silence from himself to study the man who, for all his height, seemed to slouch and kept his bright blue eyes staring at the ground. He had short black hair and seemed to be covered in scars but was curiously missing other telltale signs of badassery; no tattoos or bullet wounds.

What was more immediately curious to Lex than the man’s height, however, was the way he smelled and boy did he; so much so that the blond man had to resist clapping his hand over his nose… never before had he been so affronted by the stench of wet dog in his life.

“Oh! Uh… lucky me!” Lex exclaimed with what was supposed to be a genuine smile but instead it looked like a grimace and he uncharacteristically scooted around the man so the two could switch places in the cell and he took that opportunity as the tall man awkwardly slid past him to scrub at his nose roughly, giving Bryant a look. “Dude, did you do this on purpose?” He whispered none-too-quietly. “Not only do you give me a giant but this guy smells like you took a sheepdog and dunked it in sewage water!” He hissed, not realising that every word he said seemed to get subtly thicker and thicker.

The officer furrowed his brow and looked puzzled for a moment, glancing between the blond and the tall man. “Man, I think you need to get more sleep. He doesn’t smell like no dog. His name is Asher and I’m sure you two are gonna get along great.” He said matter-of-factly, flashing Lex a smile before dropping his own voice to an actual whisper. “Be nice to him. But don’t let him fool you. I know you’ll tell me if he’s any trouble so keep an eye on him.” He instructed quietly. Lex gave him a look before glancing over his shoulder briefly at the one named Asher who now had his back turned to them as he got into his uniform. Lex rolled his golden eyes and gave a noncommittal nod, turning back to Bryant.

“Fine. He still reeks, though. I can’t believe you don’t smell it.” He whined. Bryant clapped him on the shoulder and motioned for the inmate to scoot back so he could slide the door shut once more.

“Good man. I’ll be back in a bit to get you guys for dinner.” He said and departed. No sooner had he turned, however, that Lex pressed his forehead against one of the bars with a barely-concealed groan and a rather thick sniff. He thought nothing of it and took a deep breath before deciding to regard his new cellmate.

“So,” He started, slowly spinning around until his amber eyes rested on the other man but he was caught off-guard again to find that the man, now clothed in a jumpsuit that seemed several inches too short for his gangly limbs, was staring right back at him with his intense blue eyes, expression alert and possibly even a little concerned. Lex, surprised as he was, recovered quickly with a clear of his throat, which prompted his new companion to break eye contact and look down nervously, the intensity all but fading from his expression. “You go by… Asher?” He asked. The taller man remained silent, long, thin fingers rubbing against each other as he seemed to flatten himself against the far wall, as though trying to appear as small as possible. 

Hard to do when the guy had to have been 6’5” at the least. If Lex were a less confident man, he’d have been intimidated. “Ash? Last name?” Lex probed for information, knuckling his septum absently - the wet dog smell still permeated, making his eyes want to water, but he was more stubborn than annoyed; indeed, even as he spoke, not getting any words from the guy named Asher, his mind quickly started to think that this might not’ve been as difficult as his split-second reaction thought. The weird smell of dog that apparently only he could identify aside, maybe it would’ve been for the better. He liked quiet, all things considered. Quiet meant he could take the floor.

And he was super charming. Asher couldn’t have asked for a better roommate. Cellmate. Obviously. “Hmm…” Lex thrust his hands into his pockets after receiving no feedback from Asher and after a long few minutes of scrutinisation, he removed his golden eyes from the paler man’s gaunt frame. “Fine, fine. At least you know who’s in charge around here.” He exhaled with a half-hearted shrug, his other shoulder still leaning against the bars and he took to staring out into the hall. 

“...Azure.” 

A dark eyebrow quirked and a crooked smile made its way onto the angled face of the man with the olive complexion, the sandy blond hair in its loose ponytail, as though he belonged on a beach and not in some cell. “Azure, like the colour?” He asked, looking over his shoulder at the other man, who had finally sat down though still appearing just as out-of-place and uncomfortable as when he was standing. “What, you get the name from your eyes?”

The newly-dubbed Azure paused for a moment before nodding. His vision danced on the floor still, and Lex could tell that his breathing was subtly accelerating. The scent of wet dog seemed to dissipate as Azure dripped dry, though. Thank God for that, he supposed; one less thing to whine about. He didn’t allow himself to think about it any more; Azure was talking, something he wanted to jump on the opportunity for. “...” 

Not that Azure seemed to want to make it easy. 

Lex couldn’t deny that there did seem to be something on the taller man’s mind, however. With a quiet exhale, the blond’s expression grew gentler, just ever-so-slightly. “Look, I don’t know what you’re in for, but–”

“Murder.”

Well THAT came right out of left field. Lex blinked stupidly, his mouth opening and closing and forming shapes that weren’t accompanied with any sounds as all coherent, snappy responses seemed to vacate his vocabulary. “I’m– come again?” He managed to scoff out an incredulous-sounding reply after a pause that was much longer than it probably could’ve been, but he was so caught off-guard by the admission. “I’m sorry– did you just say murder?” 

Azure’s hands increased their friction against each other; he was picking at his cuticles now. “I-I think so. I’m not sure.”

“He’s not sure!” Lex lifted his hands, looking at the ground as though to say that this was out of his control and he followed up with a small nod. “Okay. He’s not sure. Okay, hey Bryant?” He called, turning his torso and clutching the bars of the cell. “Bryant? Yeah, I think there’s been a mista–” A long-fingered hand, still cold from the hose from earlier, interrupted his flagging of the officer down by placing itself around his mouth swiftly and he was pulled back with alarming strength coming from a guy as thin as Azure. And for a moment, he panicked; Alexander Gray was trapped in a cell with a murderer, only he wasn’t sure if he was a murderer and Lex was first on the list to start his illustrious career as a cellblock killer. 

He didn’t scream, though; that would’ve been weak. No, instead his arms started swinging at empty air before being rather effortlessly pinned behind his back by Azure’s hand grabbing his wrist and pressing his arm against Lex’s. “No no no no, please don’t say anything.” His voice was quiet, but urgent, as it was closer to Lex’s ear now than the two of them had been so far. “Please, I need your help.” Lex wasn’t deterred, grunting with effort as he tried to pull himself out of Azure’s iron grip - was he juicing? Was Lex just that out of shape? 

The blond did, however, move his head to escape from under the palm of the taller man so he could respond. “Help you? With what? Jesus, you think you’re a murderer? How do you not know?? I’m too young and attractive to die!” All of this was said in a fervent series of strained whispers usually reserved for two people hiding in a closet trying not to be discovered. Only instead of being trapped with the romantic rival lead, he was trapped in his cell with a potential murderer with amnesia. You know, the thing the people in the movies were hiding from. 

“I’m not– I’m not going to kill you.” Azure replied. “But you have to listen to me. Please, you have to help me get out of here.”

“Yeah okay I’m actually going to get me out of here and you can have the cell, okay? I don’t even want it that badly–”

“Lex, I’m a werewolf.” 

The struggle ceased for a moment before Lex barked out a mirthless laugh that reverberated off their painted cell walls. “Yeah, okay. And I’m a vampire.” He squirmed some more. “Let me go, man. I don’t know what your problem is all of a sudden but you’re saying a whole bunch of crap that makes you come across as a few eggs short of a carton.”

Azure didn’t seem to be deterred, though. “What if I can prove it?” He urged. 

How did things escalate so quickly? One moment, Lex was trying to engage in conversation with a tall, seemingly-nice guy about his literal first day in prison and the next, he was being restrained and told by his new cellmate that he was a werewolf and maybe a murderer and that he needed to break out. “How the hell can you prove that?” Lex hissed, his expression shifting from sheer panic to frustration, as though despite it all, he was ultimately just mad at being in this position. He didn’t like his arm being pinned so easily. “What, are you gonna transform or something and kill me now?” 

The pale man with the short black hair exhaled softly, his grip seeming to ease up slightly, though not enough to give Lex enough wiggle room to escape. “No, of course I’m not. I’d… never…” He sighed, abandoning the previous sentence as it was lost to a morose tone. “...You’re allergic to dogs, right?”

“....Like hell I am. Where’d you pull that info out of?” Lex tsk’d, now officially more irritated than scared. “Here, let go of my arm.”

“Lex, please. It’s so important that you believe me.”

“Well, I don’t, so…” 

Wordlessly, with the same level of strength that he was pulling out of nowhere as before, Azure engaged in a brief, awkward tango with Lex, fully removing his hand from the blond’s mouth now as he used it to help his other hand keep him pinned well enough that he couldn’t turn around and aim for Azure’s face. Though he considered trying to make a break for it, Lex ultimately decided that there was a whole eight feet for him to go anyway, so unless he started screaming and causing a scene, there wasn’t really any point. Not with Azure’s surprising strength consistently outperforming his. It was rhetorical earlier. He worked out enough, he knew he did.

The hand that was over Lex’s mouth reached up to the dark hair on the taller man’s head, where Azure took a small breath of decision before starting to tousle it roughly, spraying water droplets that still clung to the follicles everywhere, including– “Aw man, what the hell are you doing?” Lex whined, closing his eyes as he felt the water from Azure’s hair dotting his face in tiny amounts. Amounts that were too small to really care about, but for some reason, he did. “You’re getting your wet… wetness everywhehh…” His sentence, while almost finished, never quite made it there as it trailed off to be replaced with a breathy inhale. 

The struggle against Azure’s weight pressing against him was turned inward. His chest heaved as the blond’s breath began to hitch. Silently at first, punctuated only by audible air filling his chest cavity through a mouth that hung open. “Hhehh… hih–” Lex sniffed, and the both of them could hear that it didn’t make it past his sinuses. Another hitch. Another sniff, this time followed by a deeper hitch “You’re gehh… getting your wahh– water everywhhiis’SHU!” A shudder shook Lex’s frame as he pitched his head forward, a violent sneeze wrenching itself from him. It had barely escaped his arrow-straight nose when, still leaning forward, his chest heaved and his breath hitched again. “Hhih’TSCHU!” And again, a single, hitching breath, unsatisfying and brief before another “Hhhe’STCHU!!” 

It wasn’t until the third sneeze that Azure stopped tousling his hair. It was after the fifth sneeze that he let the other man go, which didn’t seem to do much as it seemed Lex was thoroughly gripped in the almost rhythmic paroxysm. Each sneeze just as violent as the one that came before it, each one accompanied with a single shuddery breath, each one bending him at the waist, his ponytail bobbing animatedly. A lack of humility and having a cell to himself for two years didn’t see any of them covered, with his palms instead propping his upper body weight on his knees. Anxious hands went back to wringing at each other and there was more awkward silence between them. Well, not really silence insomuch as Azure standing there looking guilty while Lex endured a sneezing fit. 

“I’m– I’m really sorry, but…” Azure’s words were caught up in each outburst, with Lex either outright ignoring him as he stood where he was or admittedly very distracted by the intense itch that was ravaging his sinuses, turning his pointed nose pink with the irritation, welling tears in his amber eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know how allergic you were–”

At that, Lex abruptly turned around and jammed his wrist into his inflamed nose as eyes, red with whatever it was waging war on him, glared daggers at Azure. The other hand pointed in an accusatory way. “I’m not– Hih’stchu! Allergic to dogs.” He started, his voice thick with congestion. “I’m not allergihh– Hss’SCHUh! Allergic to you. You aren’t a werewolf, this whole thing is–” He sneezed again. “Ridiculous.” And another "HIH'SHUu!"

Azure’s eyebrows did an interesting dance on his face as he experienced a couple of different, rapidly-switching emotions in a short span of time, though he managed to settle back onto anxious. “But–”

“No, shut up.” Sneeze. A useless sniffle, which only had him inhale for another sneeze. “I’m cahhhlling Bryant andhh–” He pitched forward again as the sneeze took him, turning away from Azure this time. “I’m getting a cehhh… a cehh’SCHU! Cell transfer.” His face was red now, a fine crimson managing to dust his olive cheeks, though neither of them knew if it was from embarrassment or anger. The taller man’s shoulders drooped visibly, worry etched into his gaunt face. Lex, again, either didn’t notice or didn’t care as he turned his back to the pale man, the supposed werewolf, as he attempted to flag down an officer to retrieve Bryant.

Edited Tuesday at 10:17 AM by Red Ring of Death

[Catsgotyourtounge]

This is super good keep going

[AntheaHolmes]

this is nice. please keep writing. would love to read more 

[Bongo]

I love this! I can't wait to see where it goes.

[Red Ring of Death]

Man, it's been so long since I've posted any writing anywhere that I feel like all my previous writing "etiquette" has disappeared. I totally forgot to do the tried-and-true "R&R " author's note lol I think I was just so in the zone at the time I posted. That being said, I really appreciate the comments! Also obligatory "I'm open to constructive criticism" but I'm also keeping in mind that I'm eight parts in already and I'm changing my rules depending on what I think would be fun because I'm the god of these characters and I can do what I want :V

I also plan on having visuals for Lex and Azure sssssometime. I'll add those to the first post when I get around to drawing them. Also also this story is 45 pages in my Google Doc so far but when I upload the pieces here they seem so much smaller LOL My bad if they're too short. We're just here to have fun orz

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II. The First Dinner

“Bryant, c’mon man, you can’t do this to me.”

“Sorry, Lex. That’s what the warden said.” Guilt was evident in the officer’s voice - he didn’t like being the one to give anyone bad news, least of all someone like Alexander. 

The other man must’ve felt similarly. “Bryant I’ve been a model inmate for five years. When have I ever caused problems?” Lex knuckled his septum, his slightly-pink nose one of the last vestiges of whatever had seized him as he actually attempted to clean his face between the first time the officer had shown up and now, as though that would help him win any points with anyone. The heat had drained from his face as he since recovered from the fit, but it took the entire hour waiting for a response from the warden for the sneezing to stop almost in its entirety. The first conversation with Bryant took longer than it had to, but the man was a professional and seemed to communicate effectively in ‘frustrated sneezing fit’. Lex didn’t ask why or how. Maybe it was because Lex himself was just that good at communicating. Or stubborn enough to make himself understood.

In the back of the cell, Azure was still sitting in the chair, avoiding eye contact, resting his cheek on one of his knees that was pulled up in front of him. Bryant eyed him warily before returning his dark gaze to the blond. “You mean aside from that one time with–”

“Yeah, besides from that one time. Aaaand that second time, you know it was his idea.”

Bryant sighed. “You haven’t. But still, it was really weird to see you earlier. I mean, you–” He was interrupted by an obnoxious clear of Lex’s throat. “Um… anyway, I’m still sorry but that was what the warden said. If it really is the guy’s shampoo you have a problem with, it won’t be a problem anymore once he showers here.” A pause, looking at Lex’ discontent frown. “BUT…” He added. “He said that if your quality of life is truly suffering because of him, then we can arrange for a cell swap tomorrow.” He gestured to the man sitting in the back. “Other than… that, has he been a problem?” 

The immediate urge to spill every crazy thing that Azure had said to him since his arrival was smothered, and none-too-kindly - Lex was the type of person to mention inconveniences and rumours about other people to other people in a heartbeat, if only to see what sort of innocent trouble he could cause. He was a model citizen of an inmate, but no matter where he was, his desire for kicking the occasional hornet’s nest was still there. Azure had told him that he was a werewolf, and possibly a murderer though he didn’t remember if he was, and had some weird hidden body strength. He had gotten his dandruff and water droplets on Lex unprovoked, when Lex had just tried to be nothing but friendly and cordial and Azure dumped all of this crazy talk on him like it was an unrequited proclamation of love. 

And yet, despite all that, Lex didn’t feel like Azure’s mental baggage was his problem to solve nor his story to tell. If Azure wanted to tell other people that he thought he was a werewolf, that was for someone else to unpack. The blond sniffled thickly with the remaining evidence of the paroxysm he suffered previously and gave a noncommittal shrug. “Not to me, no. I think he’s got some…” He gestured to his head. “Though. Y’know?” 

Bryant peered over Lex’s shoulder briefly once more, but he managed to catch a blue-eyed glance from Azure before the latter broke eye contact again. Had he been listening in on their conversation? The officer’s lip pursed. “I see. Well…. Try to be nice tonight, and we’ll get him taken care of tomorrow morning.” He offered Lex a sympathetic smile before motioning for Lex to stop leaning through the bars so he could open it. “It’s dinner time, anyway.” He nodded to Azure now as the taller man unwrapped himself slowly, timidly. And despite the argument the two had (if you could even call it that), Lex wasn’t really mad anymore. Some small part of him felt sorry for Azure, for sure, but Lex couldn’t do anything to help. Well… nothing except consider the whole ‘help him escape’ thing.

— — 

Mess hall, cafeteria, call it what you’d like but it was two things - messy and loud. The Secret Ridge Penitentiary wasn’t a particularly big one, nor did its jurisdiction seem to go completely in tandem with other, more traditional prisons. Was it maximum security? Lex didn’t know. What he did know was that somehow, thirty prisoners managed to make a generously-sized cafeteria pretty noisy. 

The duo had arrived in the line they travelled in when released from their cells to go anywhere and it wasn’t until Lex was standing in that line with Azure right behind him that he truly realised how tall the other man was. He was like a scarecrow, looming over him. And he was just a little… vegetable of some sort. Only he was pretty sure that the scarecrow wasn’t supposed to make the vegetables miserable.It wasn’t his fault, he was just troubled. It wasn’t his fault, but yeah it kind of was. There were no words exchanged between Lex and Azure the entire trip there - the walk was silent, standing in line for their food was silent, and their sitting down was silent even though at that part, Lex wanted to protest that Azure didn’t have to sit right next to him. There was a whole cafeteria for that, and while Lex wasn’t mad at the other man anymore, that didn’t mean that he wanted to spend more time with him than necessary. 

But… Azure did. He sat next to Lex quietly, where his hands subconsciously raised themselves to cover his ears, though Lex couldn’t have immediately been sure why. Too noisy? “You’ll have to get used to that real quick.” He finally broke the tense silence between them as he absently gathered some of the potato and chicken from his metal tray onto his fork - they must’ve had an aspiring chef in the kitchen sometimes, with how strange their food choices were. If you said ‘Hey I’m in prison and I’m eating buttered potato wedges and a poor man’s interpretation of black pepper chicken today’, someone would’ve laughed at you. “You’ll be alright, though, it just takes some–” The sentence hadn’t made it out of his mouth before one of Azure’s impossibly long, slender arms reached out with alarming swiftness and grabbed Lex’s wrist that held the fork suddenly and with force, though it wasn’t rough by any means. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Lex protested, though the fork stopped on its trail to his mouth and he turned his head slowly, golden eyes wide as he found himself once again very annoyed with his temporary cellmate. Azure, instead of making eye contact with him, instead kept his bright blue eyes on the fork.

“Something’s not right.” He replied, an air of tension added to his faint Australian lilt. Lex blinked.

“With my food?”

“Yeah, it’s…” Effortlessly, he pulled Lex’s fork over to him where he plucked it from the blond’s fingers. Lex, now utensil-less, simply raised his hands in exasperation and slouched back in his chair. This was going to be the longest however-long-it-would-be-until-getting-a-new-cellmate ever.

“What, is it not cooked to his majesty’s perfection?” He drawled sarcastically, his head lolling as he couldn’t bring himself to look at whatever Azure was doing with his fork. However, something small kept him from just digging into his dinner with his fingers - it wouldn’t have been the first time, after all. After the incident with the plastic utensils a while back, they had to go several weeks without having any. That made soup a nightmare. He was irritated, for sure, but maybe he was also already resigned to just dealing with Azure’s weird quirks. Not that he’d have to have been dealing with them for long. Hopefully. “You know, you could’ve just told me if you wanted my chicken.” 

His comment wasn’t met with a comment of Azure’s own. Instead, it was met with a few small, sharp inhales before the taller man turned his head away from Lex and, for another few moments, it was silent though the blond’s peripheral vision could see the upwards surge of Azure’s shoulders twice, in quick succession. With the third pulse came a sound not… unlike water sizzling as it touched a hot surface. “’tchh!” Surprisingly small, coming from a man as tall as Azure. Quiet, like he was. And unsatisfying, if the other man had to guess.

Keeping his head facing forward, now placing his hands behind it lazily, Lex’s eyebrows raised in false surprise. “Bless you, or whatever.” Not that he had gotten anything of the sort when Azure pinned him down and assaulted him with his dandruff and wet dog-smelling shampoo. “Yeah, I don’t know what your angle is but I don’t recommend inhaling the chicken, either smellwise or, like, foodwise. There’s a reason why we call it “The Poor Man’s Black Pepper Chicken”.” From what he read, it was mostly different types of sauces and the pepper was an additive. No one told their aspiring chef that you weren’t supposed to douse the stuff in black pepper for flavour. Lex supposed it was better than bland chicken. 

It was Azure’s turn to either purposefully or accidentally ignore Lex as he put the other man’s fork back onto his tray, pulling the whole thing towards him (or more accurately, away from Lex) as he took his own fork and pulled open his chicken thigh. Removing a bite’s worth of the chicken from the rest, he brought it up to his nose which, now that Lex was completely not paying attention but yeah he sort of was if for no other reason than idle curiosity, flared as he did what Lex explicitly suggested not to do and that was inhale. It was similar to before, with a few shaky, sharp breaths as it hitched and he ducked his head in the opposite direction again. Instead of silence, however, Lex could hear him quietly releasing more sneezes. “K’tch! ‘Tsch-tchh! Hhh k’shn!” 

“It’s like talking to a brick wall.” Lex rolled his eyes. “You done? Can I eat now?”

Sniffling, his breath shallow and uncertain as though he hadn’t gotten any of what was irritating his nose out of it, Azure set his fork on his tray and pushed it towards the blond. “H-here.” He sniffed again as Lex raised an eyebrow with just a hint of judgement on his face. “Your chicken i-is bad.” A tremble clung to his sentence, punctuated by more small hitches but curiously, there was no congestion in his tone. 

And, naturally, Lex wasn’t buying any of what Azure was trying to sell. “Okay, you’re, you’re so– WEIRD.” How well he was managing not to create a scene was for someone other than him to assess, but Lex was reaching the end of his apparently short proverbial rope. “You show up out of nowhere, get your… dandruff all over me while calling yourself a–” He cut himself short, knowing that there were definitely eyes on him. “That… thing you called yourself earlier, right? You have this weird… upper body strength, then you come in here and take my food and-and now you’re saying that you can tell that my chicken is bad?” He tried to keep his voice in a fervent whisper, but his voice was subtly rising with each accusation. “What is your deal?”

He kept his intense golden eyes on Azure’s shuddery frame as he spoke, the latter’s eyes starting to water as he reciprocated the eye contact though it was as evident as it was earlier that he didn’t like keeping it. He waited until Lex was finished, however, before dropping his head submissively, scrubbing at his twitching nose with a harsh ferocity. The gesture could’ve gone one of two ways with Lex at that moment. Eyes on him. The new cellmate, in all his imposing physique, a trembling mess as he cowered under the blond. He felt empowered. He felt like it hadn’t even been 12 hours yet and he was already fed up with whatever was going on with this guy. 

He wanted to display his superiority, show Azure who was really in charge contrary to how their earlier interaction went. He should place his square fingers in Azure’s short, thick black hair and tilt his head up. That was what all the hardasses did in the movies, right? Yeah, he’d go with that. As he started to reach for the other man, however, the itching hitches that Azure had been tolerating during the entirety of Lex’ small rant turned him away again, pausing Lex in his impromptu conquest for dominance. Hurriedly, Azure brought the collar of his jumpsuit over his mouth, raising it until it rested on the bridge of his reddened nose where he curled into himself once more.

Less than three paragraphs ago, it was mentioned that Lex’ attitude could go in one of two ways as he responded to Azure’s body language. The first one, the aggression and need to be in control, was what had happened. But now, as Azure’s shoulders heaved and he was smothering what Lex knew were obviously sneezes into near silence, his breath only coming to him in small, sharp gasps, that aggression and his own bravado waned, melting off of his tense, athletic frame. With a heavy sigh and a brief glance around the now-interested room of fellow inmates curious to see if a fight was about to break out, Lex gestured for them to resume what they were doing and he begrudgingly collected the tray that the black-haired main offered to him, taking that bite he was kept from taking previously.

“Y’know.” He said once Azure’s silent paroxysm was “concluded” (and by “concluded”, it meant that Azure had pulled the material off of his nose which was now nearing scarlet and he still hitched in his breath, scrunching his nose with the heel of his thumb and knuckling his septum as though that was helping at all). “I mean, I’m sure you know but if you, like, kill your sneezes like that it doesn’t actually get whatever’s stuck up there out, right?” 

Azure sniffed yet again, a louder sound than any of his sneezes had been so far, and he had taken to wiping the tears from his eyes. “I know, I just…” He shook his head, and damn Lex if it didn’t look doglike. Not helping. “I didn’t want to cause a scene.” 

“HAH yeah okay.” Lex responded rather loudly, taking another bite of his over-seasoned meal. “If you didn’t want to cause a scene then you should’ve not stuck your big nose in my chicken.” 

Finally, after everything that had been said to him so far, Azure’s expression lastingly changed from tense and anxious to something that could’ve implied a superficial hurt. “My nose isn’t big.” He protested, crossing his eyes to look at the appendage, warmly-coloured and moving in such a way that made him appear almost like a comically-oversized rodent. Lex lolled his head in Azure’s direction, giving him a look.

“Really? That’s what you’re worried about?” He asked. “Okay, Mr. Appropriately-sized-nose, how can you tell that that chicken is bad?” He pointed to the abandoned tray with his fork. “Because from where I and everyone else is sitting, I saw you tell me not to eat it, stuck your appropriately-sized-nose in it and yours and got a snootful of pepper for your trouble.” He scoffed. “What’d you say to me earlier… oh yeah. “I didn’t know how allergic you were”?” 

Azure shook his head again. “I’m not allergic to pepper.” He replied. “It’s just tha-at… it’s that I… sorry–” The hitching returned, flaring his nostrils and he pinched his red nose with his fingers hastily. “K’chn! ‘Tch-t’shh! hh h’kshn!” He gasped for breath, his head bobbing slightly as he was dazed from the persistence of stifling something that wanted to escape the inflamed appendage. “I can… smell the meat ex-expirihhng.” He attempted to explain. “But there was so muuhhch pepper that I haaahd to… ‘stick my nose’ in it.”

It was almost pitiful, how something as simple as a common table spice could grip someone as imposing as Azure so tightly. Not that Lex cared. Disinterestedly, Lex reached for a napkin from one of the harmless dispensers and offered it to Azure. His food was just about gone now. “Ugh. You’re difficult. Here.” The supposed werewolf took the paper gratefully and blew his nose into it but even that sounded like nothing was actually blocking his sinuses. Y’know? Lex didn’t care. He didn’t care and he was going to make sure that Azure wasn’t just messing with him. “Okay, I’m going back. You gonna stay here or are you coming with?” He asked absently, not looking down at the other man as he stood up, placing his tray under the one with the supposedly bad chicken on it. 

Watery blue eyes, still lacking some focus by the amount of pressure his stifling built up in his head, slowly turned upward to regard the blond. “Do you… want me to go with you?” It was so strange, a small thought Lex had in the back of his head. He didn’t… sound congested. Hell, he wasn’t even sure that the napkin he gave to the man had anything in it. Oh my god why are we thinking about that.

Lex shook his own head, trying to get whatever dumb crap was going through it out of his thoughts and he cleared his throat. “You can do what you want.” He gave a dismissive shrug, gathering the trays and starting to walk off. He didn’t know if Azure ended up following him but as he walked, he approached another unfamiliar face that sat near the edge of the cafeteria - one of the new inmates, likely far enough way to be able to see whatever was going on but not hear it. Hopefully. “Hey man, I wasn’t hungry so you get extra.” He offered the tray to the inmate, who looked up at him warily as though expecting it to be a trap. “Don’t worry, man. I have a clean slate.” Pause. “Well, for being a prisoner.” Still hesitant, the newbie took the tray. Lex smiled. “Welcome to the club, pal.”

Edited April 22 by Red Ring of Death

[HPG]

Love the sneeze-types!

[AntheaHolmes]

Oh this is so good. Love Lex and Azure. Please continue. 

[funbusej]

Oh, I DO hope you continue with this one!!  I am loving the characters already and can see that this has a very interesting storyline waiting in the wings...

[Red Ring of Death]

!!! Thank you guys for the responses! When I started working on this I was like "this'll be a fun little thing that makes me happy" but it's always nice to see other people enjoy the things you do!

Also I'd like to apologise THIS time because I'm having the HARDEST TIME trying to come up with a coherent name for this thing LOL the title keeps changing because I'm fickle and not satisfied. Also apologies for length and in this case, there's only three snz (but there IS snz talk!) in this chapter. I'm also thinking about labeling each chapter with the cause but I'm not sure if people would prefer that or if you'd rather be surprised so as I mentioned before, I'm down for suggestions (especially on the title -sob-)

OH one more thing - my werewolf logic might not make sense but it suffices for my pseudo-explanation that makes it more fun (for me, at least lol) so sorry if it's just TOO INACCURATE and a deal breaker. I know. I'm disappointed in me, too. But it serves my purposes

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 

III. Lights Off, Interrogation Mode On

As it turned out, Azure did follow him, the taller man so quiet and meticulous in his steps that Lex was reminded of a cat. Especially since he had blown his nose and it seemed that the pepper had been cleared out from it, he was virtually silent. It was… frustrating, to say the least. Lex was good at reading people, so naturally he could read Azure and from everything that he was reading, it was that Azure was… genuine. He really did believe that he was different. He really did think that he could smell the difference in their overseasoned chicken thighs. He really didn’t want to make a scene, really didn’t like maintaining eye contact. 

He was mental, but Lex got the impression that he was a good guy. 

And possibly a murderer. Or at least… he was framed for being one. Lex had also been in prison long enough to know that sometimes the sweetest people harboured the darkest, nastiest secrets. For all he knew, Azure really was a nice guy who happened to black out and kill people. That would give credence to the idea that the man thought he was a werewolf. Lex didn’t know much about werewolves aside from what the movies taught him, but from what he gathered, they became hairy beasts with nothing but a ravenous desire to kill anything they saw. No memory of the human they were when they turned. 

That being said, as he returned from his shower (Azure, having been rinsed that day, didn’t have to but Lex wasn’t exactly complaining about that), Bryant had pulled him aside asking if he was okay. “What? Yeah, I’m fine. …Why do you ask?”

“Oh, I was just making sure because one of the new guys was sent to the infirmary. Couldn’t keep anything down. Something about… bad chicken, I think?” Bryant replied. “I guess Dunning was the “chef” again and threw a bad one in with the bunch.” He left a pause in the conversation for Lex to respond, but the blond didn’t. Instead, he blinked dumbly again, finding any words he might’ve said lingering in his mind. “...Lex?”

The inmate cleared his throat. “Oh, really? That’s… weird. Yeah no, I’m good. Azure’s good, too. We’re all good.” He nodded with a small furrow of his brow, despite his head ringing with more than one alarm bell.

“Really?” The surprise was evident in Bryant’s deep tone. “I thought you wanted to swap cellmates.”

“I did! But um… I think it’ll be fine.” Lex gave a shrug, his mind starting to churn, the gears spinning to life as he quickly started amassing questions for his cellmate. “I was overreacting earlier. You know how it goes.” He scoffed. “I was so used to being by myself that I thought for a second ‘I should get rid of this guy’. It was dumb. Even I can be dumb sometimes.”

Bryant tilted his head with a raise of his brow, but offered a gesture that indicated that he wasn’t going to fight this, at least not for the moment. “Okey dokey, Lex. I’ll tell the warden not to worry about it then, yeah?” He opened the cell door and Lex shuffled in, popping his arm lazily as he felt clean, refreshed, with his shoulder-length, wavy blond hair damp and loose for the night. Entering the cell, he opened his eyes and almost jumped back in surprise as he looked over to find Azure staring expectantly up at him from the lower bunk.

“Oh… hey.” He said with uncertainty before realising where he was and who was sitting on his bunk. “Hey.” He said again, with decidedly more conviction in his tone. He heard the door clink shut behind him and Bryant notified the two that lights were going out in a bit so read or do whatever it is they were doing now. “Okay look here buddy boy.” He hissed, closing the distance between the two of them. “I’ve got some questions and they’re gonna be answered right now or my name isn’t Alexander Leslie Gray.” As he spoke, a finger roughly poked Azure in the chest, something that the taller man neither flinched away from nor seemed entirely bothered by.

“...Your middle name is Leslie?”

“My middle name is established, beautiful and elegant and you will call me ‘Lex’ and tell no one about my amazing middle name.” Lex ordered. “And you will answer my questions because I am very close to having some form of a mental breakdown.” Was he exaggerating? Of course. Lex was a performer in that regard. But he really was starting to worry about things and, naturally, that led to questioning his sanity. For all he knew, Azure had some… hallucinogenic powder in his hair that was only activated with water that he had sprinkled on Lex earlier that day. That was a stretch.

“Right now?” Azure asked. Lex paused, pulling his lips into his mouth before golden eyes flickered to the door.

“...No. Lights out.” He poked Azure’s chest again. “Then questions. That you’ll answer. Anything I ask, got it?”

The taller man nodded. “Lights out. I promise. I’ll answer everything if you promise that you’ll believe me.”

Lex frowned. “...We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.” Azure nodded, figuring it was better than nothing. “Now, get the hell out of my bed.”

— — 

Telling Azure to get out of his bed was a bad idea. Fortunately, the other man hadn’t clambered onto the top bunk, instead sitting in the chair on the other side of the cell with the small, built-in table they were supplied with. Unfortunately, he had still spent apparently enough time in Lex’ bed that he could feel his nose getting stuffy, with just a ghost of an itch teasing him every now and then. It wasn’t nearly bad enough to embarrass him like it had earlier but whatever Azure had brought with him was now in that bed. Guess he was becoming a top bunker. That was fine; it seemed like Azure didn’t really like heights, anyway.

The call that the lights were going out was announced and soon after, the whole prison was plunged into darkness. Without needing to communicate it, both Lex and Azure sat next to each other, with Azure on the bed and Lex in the chair now. “Can you hear this?” Lex tested his whisper, which was much more legitimate and attempting to be quiet than his previous endeavours.

“I can hear everything.”

“...Okay, we’re just gonna jump right into it, then.” Lex huffed, having to remind himself that sounding haughty probably wasn’t how Azure intended to come across. “Okay, um… first of all, you were… right.” He grumbled. “About the… chicken.”

There was just enough light from the flood lamp outside their small overhead window to let Lex see slivers of Azure’s face, which had seen a small, gentle smile on it - the first smile Azure had given since the two met. “Oh, I’m glad you didn’t end up eating it.” He sighed with evident relief. “Bad chicken can really screw with your insides.” 

Lex’s brow twitched. “What, no ‘told you so’? No ‘I knew it’?” Because everyone knew that if it was Lex who did something like that, no one would’ve heard the end of it. 

The taller man gave a subtle shake of his head. “No?” He sounded almost confused. “...Why, do you want me to say that?”

“That’s another thing.” Lex interrupted, irritation tingeing his tone. “What’s with the ‘nice guy’ schtick? What are you hiding? What are you trying to get out of this?”

“I told you. I’m a werewolf. I have to get out of here before the next full moon or…” Azure faltered. “And being kind is better than… what the other guy is.” The other guy. Lex figured he was talking about this fictitious ‘wolf’ that was harboured inside. “But if you’d… rather me be mean, I can. Or… aggressive, or forward or… whatever you’d prefer.” He gave Lex an earnest look. “I’ll do whatever you tell me to.”

Now that was an intriguing statement. And one that made the gears in Lex’s head turn just a little more, in a different direction. “Whatever I tell you to, eh?” He mused aloud before giving a noncommittal bob of his head as though weighing some invisible options that only he could see. Whether he was a werewolf or a crazy person or not, it was beneficial to have connections. That was something his father taught him a long time ago. Lex was a natural leader and a careful planner, if nothing else. He knew how to utilise the strengths and skills of others, and if he had a guy with Azure’s strength and size, that made a powerful statement. “Okay, we’re gonna put a pin in that.” He ultimately concluded. “Okay next question.” He moved on. “You say ‘I’m a werewolf’ but I don’t know what that means. Tell me what all that entails.” 

There was a moment of silence that followed his… well, it wasn’t really a question but it was something Azure could’ve attempted to explain, anyway. “It’s… lycanthropy.” He began slowly. “I was bitten a little over a year ago and was cursed with it.” His voice was soft, carrying audible pain as he explained it and part of Lex’s nonchalant exterior felt itself warming up with empathy. “During the full moon, when the sun has fully set, I’m forced to transform into a wolf-like… thing.” He sighed. “I don’t know what it looks like. And I don’t remember anything during that full moon, just… waking up the next day, covered in animal blood.” He motioned with his hand. “And until recently, it really was just animals! I promise, I… I’ve never hurt another human.” An audible gulp. “But when I’m a human, I can… it’s like…” He faltered for a moment, but Lex was admittedly hooked. “Some people might call it a blessing. I can see in the dark. I can see your leg bouncing right now.” 

Lex appeared taken aback; he hadn’t even realised that he was doing it. Naturally, he stopped while Azure continued. “I can hear things. The cafeteria earlier was… so noisy. It’s just something I’ve learned to block out but going to new places is… overwhelming.”

“And that’s why you could smell that my chicken went bad.”

“And that’s… how I could smell that your chicken went bad.” Azure affirmed. “My sense of smell is incredibly refined. I could tell that something was off when we sat down but… again…” He gestured as though to reference his earlier explanation. “And I have increased strength. As you could probably tell from earlier, too.” 

Lex puffed out his cheeks in an exhale, clasping his hands together as all the information entered his system. It felt like a lot, yet nothing at all. And he still didn’t know how much of it was true. There were people who would smell the cancer in someone, after all. Maybe Azure was just… special. He leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms as his leg went back to bouncing again in thought. Or maybe Azure really was crazy. Maybe he was crazy. Maybe this was all some sort of nightmare and whenever the full moon came and went and nothing happened, Azure would see reason. “When’s the next full moon?” 

Azure looked up and over his shoulder outside as though he could see the celestial body from where he sat. “Three weeks. Give or take a day or two.” Surprise shot through Lex so quickly that he leaned his chair back with enough vivacity to push the two front feet off of the ground, starting to send him backwards. One moment, he could feel the adrenaline in his body reacting for him and he started to brace for impact subconsciously but in the next, he felt Azure’s hand wrapped around his wrist, pulling him so that he still stood while the chair clattered to the ground behind him. “Sorry…” Azure apologised. “I’m sorry. I… I know this is a lot. I know I shouldn’t have… sprung it on you but–”

“Thanks.” 

“...What?” 

“Thank you.” Lex said quietly as he was pulled to his feet, turning and standing the chair back on its own feet. “For… catching me. I guess… you really can see in the dark.” 

Azure released his firm, but still somehow gentle grip on Lex’s arm, his expression melancholy. “I’m sorry for… well, everything. I just… I wanted to–”

“Is everything all right in there, boys?” The evening parole officer, a scrawny guy Lex remembered was named… uhhh Morris, he thought (he thought) passed by, with one hand on what Lex assumed was a taser and the other brandishing a flashlight which soon flooded the cell with light after he asked. While Lex casually shielded his eyes from the flashlight, Azure’s reaction was a little different and the taller man quickly ducked his head into cupped hands.

“K’shhn! ‘ssn-’ssh!” Three quick, tiny sneezes pulled themselves from Azure, which Lex waved off as he gave a smile and a nod to the officer.

“Yessir, sorry to bother you.” He explained, putting a pin in this, too. “I fell asleep in the chair, had a bad dream and knocked my ass out.” A small laugh punctuated his completely false story. “Sorry, we’re good.” Morris(??) looked between the two of them, pausing on Azure for a moment who still obscured his face from the officer… or was it his light? After a moment, the officer seemed content (enough) and turned to skulk away, leaving the two in the darkness once more.

Lex exhaled and sat back down, regarding where Azure was last time he could see - his eyes needed to adjust from the light for a moment, which made everything else seem impenetrably dark by comparison. “What was that about? Did you smell something on him?” Why was he asking that? Was he really going with Azure’s looney narrative that the guy was some super mutant already?

Azure scoffed faintly, sniffing. “No, that was photic.”

“...You’re messing with me, now. You’re making words up. Photic, like… what, photosynthesis? Photograph?” Lex mused, curious and playful but still not quite believing the word.

“Yeah. It’s from greek “Fos” is how to pronounce it. It means "light".” Azure explained, looking back to face Lex once more now that the light was out of their cell. “That phenomenon is referred to as a ‘photic sneeze reflex’.”

“And that means…?” Lex asked, not sure if he was introspective enough to recognise that there was something… dare he say, attractive about the 6’5” tall man with the faint Australian accent explaining scientific and historic terminology to him. Lex never was the intellectual type, decidedly more street smart than book smart. And Azure wore intelligence well. If only Lex could see that everyone had a checklist and, barring the whole ‘werewolf’ business, Azure could’ve very well been checking boxes off of his. 

“It’s not… very well understood but essentially when exposed to bright light, it can trigger sneezing. The common theory is that exposure to bright lights causes the same sections of the brain to activate similarly to another condition but…” He cleared his throat. “Er… yeah. So. Sudden bright light makes me sneeze.” If he didn’t know any better, Lex would’ve thought that it was a topic that actually interested Azure before he suddenly remembered that he was sitting in a dark prison with an inmate about his being a werewolf. 

“Is that a werewolf thing, too?” Lex asked. 

Azure chuckled, again for the first time. “No, no, a lot of people experience that.” His smile faltered. “It’s… sort of nice, to remember things that still happen to me that happen to other humans.” 

The blond tilted his head. “Sorry, but this whole tangent reminded me.” It was on his mind, trying as he might’ve to not have it on his mind. “In the cafeteria, you said you weren’t allergic to pepper but it seemed to work you up. But you didn’t sound all… stuffy.” It was enviable; Lex hated sounding like that. “Why?” 

The supposed werewolf scratched the stubble along his jawline absently. “Pepper isn’t actually a common allergy. It’s an irritant, though. We call that ‘non-allergic rhinitis’. It affected me in particular because I have the aforementioned “highly refined sense of smell”. As for the lack of congestion, I used to wonder and worry about that, too.” He bit the inside of his cheek briefly. “I can only guess at this point but if I had to, it has something to do with my human DNA and reactions working either in tandem or against the wolf’s. Wolves and other wild animals don’t have the same allergic responses we do, so in the case of, say, pepper or something else that’s a non-allergic irritant, I’m guessing that the human side reacts appropriately as though it were an actual irritant but the wolf side doesn’t consider it to be.” It was almost bewildering, how mild-mannered how Azure could explain this stuff to Lex as though something like werewolves are just commonplace and this was something to consider instead of being completely freaked out about.

There was a pause in the explanation. “...But?” Lex offered. 

“But… since there’s no mucous reacting to the inflammation in my nasal cavity, it’s hard to dispel.” He looked at Lex, and the latter could’ve sworn that his bright blue eyes glowed faintly in the dark. Almost catlike in their appearance. “Once it’s out, it’s out. But it’s hard to get that stuff out sometimes.” 

It was Lex’s turn to scoff. “Yeah, maybe because you hold them back.” He remarked. “Hard to get anything out that way.” 

Azure pulled into himself a little more. “I didn’t want to cause a scene. You seemed… pretty spirited back there.”

“Yeah well, I’ve had to deal with a lot of weird shit today.” The blond crossed his arms. “So, lemme summarise. You think you’re a werewolf. We have about three weeks to either see if that’s true or find a way to get you out before then because when/if that happens, you’re going beast mode and killing anything or anyone you see. As of right now, you have super senses and strength.” Lex bit his bottom lip. “What about weaknesses?” He found himself asking. “I mean, if we were to actually try to go through with an incredibly improvised grand escape for you.” He shrugged. “I need to know what you can’t do or deal with.” 

Azure appeared slightly sheepish. “Well… you’ve seen what sudden bright lights do. I was… my bite scar is on my lower back so it’s hard to lift and move sometimes.” He held up his fingers as he made the list, glancing up in contemplation. “Really loud noises can be disorienting - they wouldn’t let me keep my ear plugs. And…” He counted on his other hand silently. “We should be good to go on my sense of smell. I don’t think there are any allergens that affect me here.”

“...Like what?”

“I dunno, this place have a lot of cats, horses and flowers?”

“What kind of werewolf is allergic to cats?” 

“I didn’t ask to be allergic to cats or be a werewolf.” Azure replied just as dryly as Lex had asked. 

The shorter man smiled in spite of himself. When he got Azure talking, it turned out the latter had a sense of humour, self-deprecating as he could see it veering. “No dust?” 

“I wasn’t sensitive to dust before, so logic dictates that I’m not now.”

“Good.” Lex glanced up at the small window above them. “Because I’m starting to get the idea that we might need to travel through the walls.” He paused. “By the way, where did you get that stupid indication that I’m allergic to dogs?” He prefaced it with ‘stupid’ because he really didn’t like thinking about it. He hated the idea that it was so obvious to someone, even if it wasn’t obvious at all because it shouldn’t have even come up because there weren’t any dogs in prison. 

Azure’s azure eyes danced on Lex’s figure. “When I first came into the cell, you said I smelled like wet dogs.” He said quietly. “Normally, with regular dogs, everyone can and does smell them. But since I’m not a… “regular” dog, there must be part of me that your allergy reacts to.” He shook his head. “I’m still learning this stuff, myself.”

Lex snorted. “Still learning, right. Don’t know everything, though. I hate to break it to you but you got that part wrong.” The way he sounded so smug, so correct, to the point where it was a lie he himself was so close to believing until the inconvenient moments of truth. Azure could believe and think whatever he wanted, but Lex was the one controlling the narrative about himself.

“Then… sorry, but then what was that reaction you had this morning?” 

In a deft motion, Lex’s face was put so close to Azure’s that as his head abruptly stopped, his hair waved in front of him and brushed the taller man’s shallow cheek. “Something else you aren’t gonna tell anyone. Because if you tell anyone, regardless of whether or not I have this “dog allergy”, someone’s gonna think something is up.” Fiery golden eyes glared into icy blue ones. Their noses could’ve been touching. A leader, definitely, but also nothing short of a control freak at the worst of times. Not that he’d have admitted that part. Azure didn’t respond, but that included him not protesting to the assertion and he broke eye contact after a moment, the nonverbal indicator that told Lex he didn’t want to perpetuate any disagreement. 

“Good.” Lex pulled back, sniffing absently and his expression softened. “So. I still don’t know if I believe you. But…” He exhaled. “I believe that you think you have something wrong with you.” Ultimately, that was the truth. Lex was big on “seeing is believing”, and one instance of Azure spraying him with his water and hair dandruff wasn’t nearly enough to convince him otherwise. The chicken was a lucky break.

“So here’s what we’re gonna do.”

[AntheaHolmes]

Thanks for the update. Love were this is heading.