Cursing his own stupidity, Vincent pushed the window open, grateful that his room was on the first floor. At the last minute, he turned and grabbed his uniform jacket from the floor, cursing himself for what he was doing. It was stupid enough that the younger man had decided to sneak out, but probably even more stupid that Vincent had decided to follow him. He had to know what was going on. 

Spencer wasn’t difficult to find. It was easy to tell that he was still learning his way around the place. He hid at the edge of one of the dockhouses, squatting behind a bush. Anyone patrolling the manor wouldn’t be able to see him, but if they were coming from behind like Vincent was, he would be seen within seconds. 

While Vincent had the forethought of bringing his jacket with him, he hadn’t remembered to bring his boots, and trod through the dirt in thick woollen socks. It made it easier to sneak up on Spencer, who had all his attention on the manor and not enough on what was going on around him. 

“What are you doing out here, Spencer?” he whispered as he ducked down behind him. 

Spencer barked out a curse and spun, knocking his shoulder into the wall of the dock house. “What the fuck, Vince?” he hissed, his lips pulled up into a sneer. “What are you doing here?”

“I asked first,” he replied, trying for a cheeky grin, but all he got was a glare in response. He sighed, the smile dropping from his face. “I saw you sneaking around. I wanted to know what you were doing.”

“I’m learning,” Spencer said but didn’t give him anything more than that. 

There wasn’t much to see past the bushes and the dockhouses. People patrolled the grey wall that blocked them off from the manor, staring out into the distance but not seeing the two people huddled in the bushes nearby. Behind them lay the ocean. Small waves crashed onto the beach and filled the air with the calming smell of salt water. 

Vincent should have left it at that and walked away, but his own curiosity was too much. “What have you learnt so far?” he asked. 

“I thought you weren’t interested?” Spencer asked. Gone was the cheerful and joking tone Vincent was used to, replaced with something serious, something angry. He was supposed to be the one that snapped, that got fed up, not Spencer. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered before he could stop himself. Spencer had never apologised for stealing from him, but Vincent would apologise for questioning him once when he had no real reason to. “I haven’t known you to care so much. I’m sorry for making you angry. I’m interested, I just… This isn’t any of my business. I just want to get in and get out.”

This time, Spencer laughed and a spark of relief hit Vincent’s chest. “It’s none of mine either, but isn’t this who we are? What we do?” he asked and there was so much seriousness to his voice that Vincent didn’t know what to think. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with the information I get, but I just want to know. It will make life a little easier if I know why things are the way they are.”

“Even if you can’t do a thing to change it?” 

“Even then,” Spencer answered with a shrug. “Sometimes it’s better to know... Are you going to come with me?”

He could have easily said no, walked away and left Spencer to do whatever he wanted to do. They had never worked together before, unless you counted the first time they met, but Vincent stole from him not long after that, starting their constant fights and arguments. But he didn’t want to walk away, even if it meant sticking with Spencer for who knew how long. 

In the end, he sighed and nodded at him. “Are we going into the manor?” he asked. 

“This time.”

“This time? How many times have you snuck out already?”

“Every night since we arrived,” he replied, grinning smugly. 

Vincent sighed again, but couldn’t say he was surprised. After everything he had heard over the last few days, it made sense that Spencer would be sneaking around as much as he could. “Lead the way then,” he said. “Tell me what you’ve learned so far too.”

But, of course, he wasn’t going to get any answers out of Spencer without pushing for them. “Aww, look at us, finally working together,” he said, clasping his hands together. “Who would have thought, huh?”

“Not in the mood, Spencer,” he replied, letting out a short gasp when the other man grabbed his wrist and pulled him from the safety of the bushes. He kept his mouth shut as they darted over to the wall and down towards the ocean. 

“A guard just passed by so we should have about five minutes before the next one shows up,” Spencer said as they ducked around the corner of the wall, his hand warm against Vincent’s wrist. “They keep people stationed at the back gate during the day but not at night, probably to monitor shipments into the manor or something. I don’t know for sure.”

He must have been watching for hours over the last few nights if he knew so much. It should have crossed Vincent’s mind to scope out the manor for escape routes in case things went wrong or hidden places where he might be able to steal things without getting caught, but he’d been too distracted by everything that had happened to bother. Anyone else would have called him a terrible ranger. 

“Have you been watching them every night?” he whispered, an embarrassed blush on his cheeks. 

“Not the first night. I walked around New Feridian then. I wanted to see what it was like,” he replied, trailing off as if he thought Vincent was going to say something. When he didn’t, he shot him a look and picked back up again. “It’s quieter than I thought, but it’s pretty. I don’t think I’ve seen this many people in one place before.”

Vincent had a few times when he was a child, but he just hummed in response, not sure what to say. He didn’t care much about the city, it wasn’t somewhere he wanted to stay, but there was something nice about hearing Spencer talk about it. Maybe it was because he didn’t have to listen to him tease him for once. 

The back gate, a wrought iron set of bars, was unguarded when they reached it. It faced the ocean, which still raged against the shore. The noise would be the perfect thing to hide the sound of the gate opening. Spencer dropped his wrist and checked over his shoulder for anyone watching. Vincent peeked through the gate, but wasn’t able to see much. They would have to hope that no one was coming around as they entered. 

Unlike the front gate, the back one didn’t squeak and squeal as Spencer opened it. There was no one on the other side and with a grin, Spencer moved to let Vincent pass. He barely took two steps into the grounds of the manor before a hand grabbed his wrist again and he froze, waiting for someone to catch them. 

“Where are your shoes?” Spencer asked. Vincent could have laughed at how silly it was, but he would give them away. 

“Is that really important right now?” he asked, but all Spencer did was squeeze his wrist in response. “I left them in my room. Besides, it’s easier to sneak around without them out. It’s not as loud.”

Spencer raised an eyebrow at him for a second. “Whatever. I’m not helping you if you cut yourself on something,” he said and pulled him towards the manor. It wouldn’t be long before the guards came back around and they had to get somewhere where they wouldn’t be spotted.