“The art is awesome. I almost can’t believe you’ve made this all yourself,” Cian said and shook his head a bit, “You’ve done really cool pieces,” he walked over to the work Silas had been looking out and touched the outline of the figure.

“Thank you,” Silas blushed a bit before gathering himself again. “There’s… some stuff I have to let you know about, Cian,”

Cian turned around, eyebrows in a frown, nodding.

“Okay,” he muttered, “what’s up?”

“We should probably sit down, I might just rant for a bit,” the green-eyed man suggested, walking over to sit down in the worn-out couch. Cian joined him, pulling his legs up onto his seat and turning to fully face Silas.

“Go on, kiddo,”

Silas pulled his hand through his curly hair, looking around the room before beginning.

“You remember when I told you what happened when I found out I have powers?”

“Yeah, I think so,”

“Did I tell you I always thought I saw shadows creeping up on me, ever since I was a kid?” His green eyes looked back to the other man’s blue gaze. The man paused for a moment before replying with an affirmative.

“I just want to warn you about that, Cian. Since you can see my powers, I have absolutely no clue what else you’ll be able to see out there. Since even I can see those… shadows – or monsters, or whatever, you might just see something a lot worse,” Silas paused for a moment, hesitant to continue.

“They have always gotten more intense the moment I started paying attention to them. I imagine, if you’re able to see them, they’ll want to-,” he looked around a bit, searching for a word before locking eyes with the other man again, “prey on you. Perhaps more than on me, if I’m right in my theories. And that’s another reason to teach you these things – If it’s possible, of course – you need to be able to defend yourself,”

Cian looked confused for a moment, looking off into the distance while thinking. He nodded his head a bit, and met Silas’ eyes.

“That sounds like a good idea,” the now somehow more red-than-brown-haired boy said. After a couple seconds, he smirked with a mischievous glimmer in his eye, “I’m not the type who likes being the prey. I’m more of a hunter,”

Cian took a moment to process the words, before his face flushed, and he started laughing at the extremely bad hint of a pickup-line.

“You did not just say that!”

“I believe I did,” the shorter boy grinned, still a bit flirty tone in his voice, which made the other laugh even more. His face was buried in his hands, his ears were burning up with embarrassment, and the younger man knew the other man had seen him blush.

“You’re so… so-,”

“So- what?”

“I don’t even know! But stop it,” Silas was still chuckling, peeking out between his fingers at the other male.

The whole mood turned sour, though. Cian’s eyes were wide, staring out of one of the holes in the wall to the warehouse, and swallowing loudly. Suddenly, they heard loud bangs as each light turned off or exploded from the far wall, creeping towards the two men. Silas knew that presence. The same presence that had been around himself when his own powers went crazy the first time. He had never figured out what had triggered his psychic abilities, but had some idea that it was some sort of defense mechanism. This time, though, he had someone other than himself to fend for and protect, which he in those few seconds swore to himself that he would do.

However, would it be necessary?