Fang had been standing underneath the hot stream of water, dazed, for a long while when he heard footsteps echoing into the otherwise empty room. He’d registered the noise, but his attention wasn’t really drawn to the fact that someone was entering until the figure actually appeared.

Aris came to a screeching halt, green eyes widening in surprise as he met Fang’s stare. Then, he turned and started walking back out.

“Oi!” Fang called out with a laugh. “What’s with that?!”

Stopping again, the man paused for a moment before turning back and walking up to the edge of the showers. Eyes narrowed in a glare, he kept his gaze pointedly away from Fang’s curious stare and lifted his hands to unbutton his uniform.

Ah, ahhh, oh no – Fang blinked, heat instantly fanning up to his already-warm face as Aris started to strip. He’d been happy to see the man’s face – he hadn’t thought about much more than that.

Fully naked, the man’s body was pale but muscular – much more than what suited his pretty face. Although Fang had seen his well-toned biceps before, since Aris wore a sleeveless undershirt to sleep, he hadn’t expected to see hardened flesh rippling everywhere else, too. And even more so, up close – Aris had, despite all other expectations, picked the showerhead beside the boy.

Granted, the man was ignoring him. As Aris turned on the spray of water, Fang stared shamelessly, watching as the man’s hair dampened, plastered to the back of his long neck and broad shoulders, and streamed past his waist, down… down past there…

In a desperate attempt to get the man’s attention, Fang ended up blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

“Wow, you’ve got a pretty nice package, huh?” Laughing nervously, Fang mentally punched himself, but by then it was too late to stop. “Must be because you have white blood.” He’d heard from Rai a while back that Aris was mixed – European father.

Aris cast the boy a side-ways glance, but he was expressionless as he returned Fang’s jitterishly bubbly grin. “No, my father was a tiny prick,” the man replied, threading his hands through his hair and pulling it up into the flow of water.

“How’d you know?” Fang asked with a curious chuckle, eyeing a particular stream of water that was trickling down the side of Aris’s face and dribbling off his lips and chin.

“Because I cut it off,” Aris said impassively.

Fang blinked, his sluggish brain taking a moment to process that. “… Eh, how’d he live with that?”

“He didn’t.” Aris shrugged, pausing for a moment to retrieve his own bottle of shampoo and squirting some of the thick white soap onto his hand. “I killed him right after.”

“… Me too.”

It was silent for a while after Fang replied. Aris didn’t seem to comprehend what the boy had said until nearly a minute later, when he turned and met Fang’s eyes properly.

“What?”

“A-Ah,” Fang stammered, smiling sheepishly as he realized he’d said it out loud. “I mean, I killed my dad, too,” he explained in a matter-of-fact way, turning to look distractedly at the showerhead above Aris. “Well, sort-of. When I was little, my dad’s business went bankrupt and we fell into debt. He became so depressed that he put a gun in my hand, put his hand around mine, made me shoot my mother, then made me shoot him after. He said we’d be happier in heaven, but I never got to find out if he was telling the truth or not…” Trailing off, Fang swallowed as he became aware of Aris’s stare. Suddenly self-conscious, he lifted a hand and touched one of the bruises on his face that had been stinging for a while now.

“… Your injuries, where did you get them?” Aris said finally, his voice sounding a little strange.

Surprised, Fang glanced at the man. It took him a long while to figure out what was wrong with Aris’s voice. It was… calm. Not just calm, almost… almost gentle. “I got in a fight,” he said, turning his head and showing the man his ear. “With Tao.” He grinned proudly, warmed by the memory.

Aris sighed heavily, carefully rinsing out the shampoo from his pale hair. “Be careful around that guy.”

“I wrecked him, just so you know,” Fang said indignantly, tired of hearing the same warning – even Aris thought so? Really, just what was so great about that blob of tattoos, anyway?

At that, Aris’s eyebrow twitched upwards in evident surprise. He hesitated, then took a step closer and lifted his hand.

Fang froze as the man’s fingers brushed the edge of his ear, sure that it was going to burst into flames as an earthquake of tingles suddenly shot through it.

“Yeah, but look at all these wounds,” Aris muttered finally, removing his hand and stepping back under the spray of his own shower. He turned away for a moment, face hidden by his wet bangs. “You won’t get away so easily next time.”

Struggling to remember how to breathe, Fang eventually managed to take a gasp of the heady shower air and ended up scoffing. “Nobody comes out of a fight unscathed, that’s what makes it fun!”

Aris glanced over, then tilted his head back as he let the water hit his face. Fang stared, wondering if that was a smile he was seeing on the man’s lips – but he couldn’t really tell, not all the water and steam and his own blurry vision. “Why do you get into so many fights, anyway?”

“I-I got better, you know?” Turning away before he got any closer to losing control of himself, Fang stammered indignantly, hoping Aris wouldn’t notice the furious blush spreading over his face. “I used to get in a lot more. A-after that incident, the mom I have now took me in. She didn’t have a home to go back to either but she hadn’t always been like that – she wasn’t like me, she was smart. She taught me how to behave, or at least she tried to.” Fang laughed forlornly as he remembered her weary smile. “I still got into fights all the time. But she hasn’t been well lately… her mother died from the virus and she’s been sad since then. She won’t eat much and she doesn’t smile anymore. Because of that I did my best to be good, and found a couple decent jobs… ah, but I guess in the end I’m just a no-good brat. I got in a big fight eventually and ended up here.”

“… Fang.”

Aris’s soft voice sent a piercing shudder through Fang’s body and he jerked his head over in a scared glance.

The man lifted an eyebrow, looking faintly amused by his reaction. “Dinner’s going to end in fifteen minutes. If you want food then you better hurry,” he said.

“Ehh?!” Startled, Fang immediately turned off his shower and hobbled over to the pile of towels at the side. “Fifteen minutes?! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!” he yelped, rubbing himself haphazardly dry with the towel and then throwing his uniform on. Stumbling out of the showers while still threading his arms through his sleeves, Fang heard a strange sound echoing from behind him. Surprised, he paused, heart thumping extra loudly as he realized the husky sound was laughter – Aris’s.

I want… I want to see… he realized, about to step back into the showers when his stomach gurgled.

Ah, next time. Buttoning up his shirt, Fang shook away the thoughts and hobbled hastily down the hall. Food first…