After Malyn had fallen asleep, Tyla had crept in until he was snuggled against his side. At some point in the night, Malyn’s arm had settled around him. Tyla knew it was wrong to sneak into Malyn’s personal space when he was sleeping, but Malyn had hugged Adin yesterday, and… and he didn’t know. It had been an entirely natural, understandable, and appropriate thing to do, yet it had filled the pit of Tyla’s stomach with a noxious jealousy.

And, honestly, it didn’t help to discourage those feelings when Malyn stirred awake in the morning, patted Tyla’s back in confusion, and didn’t immediately move away. Tyla wished he better understood what was and wasn’t allowed between male friends in this culture, though he worried he would just use that information to skirt the line even more. 

Which was a choice, he reminded himself. Something he could choose not to do. Yet, more and more, it felt like that wasn’t the case. Like he was fighting a silent battle with himself just to keep his emotions, and his expression of them, in check.

Finch declared that they were free to leave the room during the day, but they still weren’t allowed to leave the house. A vampire didn’t pose much threat during the day, but Finch didn’t want to take any more chances. 

They gathered in the kitchen for lunch and Malyn decided to change the bandage on his arm while they waited for Adin to finish cooking their food.

“Huh,” Malyn said as he peeled off the gauze. “Well, so much for scar based memories to last a lifetime. That didn’t even last two days.”

Tyla leant closer to examine Malyn’s arm. There wasn’t the slightest trace of injury left. “It’s just… gone.”

Adin abandoned the pot he’d been stirring. “Your arm has healed already?”

“I guess?” Malyn said. “I mean, yeah. I don’t know why, but it did.”

“I didn’t do it,” Tyla said as Adin’s eyes fell on him. “I can’t do that sort of magic. My own body heals itself quickly, but I don’t have the skill to do that for anyone else.”

“Could it be something to do with Shadow?” Adin asked as his gaze cut to the door to Finch’s bedroom, where Shadow was sleeping. “It did happen right after he came to stay with us.”

“We noticed that it was healing weirdly fast yesterday, and trust me, I thought about it,” Finch said. “And… maybe? I don’t really know much about him, so anything’s possible, I guess.”

“That kind of magic does seem out of step with everything else we know about him,” Adin agreed. “Maybe it’s something to do with the bite itself. Someone else was bitten before we showed up to deal with the situation the first time, so I’ll see if I can track her down and find out what happened to her bite. I only kept up with her case long enough to understand the immediate effects of the acid, though if her bite had also healed this miraculously, I would be surprised if nobody bothered to contact me about it. This isn’t something that ever happened on your world, I assume, Malyn?”

“Oh, fuck no,” Malyn said. “If someone got bit by a wild animal on my world, it’d probably just get infected and they’d die.”

“Mm,” Adin said. “I had an infected cut as a child. Nasty things.”

Malyn frowned. “I thought you didn’t get sick or anything. If I’d known you could get infections, I’d have cleaned all your cuts properly last night.”

“I can’t anymore, but I did then. Let’s focus on what’s going on with you, though. Do you have any ideas?”

“I could do science,” Malyn suggested. “Injure myself a little and see what happens.”

“No.” Tyla reflexively reached out and placed a hand on Malyn’s arm, as though holding him back. “You get injured enough as it is.”

“It wouldn’t prove much, anyway,” Adin said. “Even if it were an effect of the bite, it could be generalised in a way that temporarily enhances all of your healing.”

“You’re just assuming it’s temporary,” Malyn said. “It could be permanent.”

“Positive thinking is great, I’m sure, but let’s be realistic,” Finch said. “You don’t get permanent superhealing thrown at you by chance, no strings attached. Everything comes at a cost.”

“The other day a nice lady gave me free samples of shampoo,” Malyn said. “It was enough to wash my hair at least twice, for free. So, you know. Sometimes you get stuff and it is free.”

Finch shot him a smile. “Damn, you’ve got me there. I guess I was wrong and the best things in life are free.”

“It’s weird how we have these two sayings and they're completely contradictory. Nothing in life is free. Except the best things in life. Like shampoo samples. They’re free.”

“I’ll look into it and try to find an explanation,” Adin said. “But, for now… sure. There’s no reason not to appreciate that something good seems to have happened to you. A bit of positivity won’t do you any harm.”

#

As the sun started to set, Finch got started on corralling everyone into his room.

Shadow was already in there. Finch was confident of that by now without checking. Adin was ready, of course, and Tyla probably would have been ready at a moment’s notice at any point throughout the day, but Malyn had to be reminded to brush his teeth and grab his phone.

Shadow had slept through dinner, so Adin had brought him some soup and buttered bread. He’d also gathered together some snacks for Shadow to eat later because, as Adin had quite reasonably pointed out, the math didn’t really work out if Shadow slept through three meals and then ate one as he had the last few days. And… had he eaten at all yesterday? Maybe he’d been sneaking in and grabbing things on his own. It was hard to know.

Finch had worried that this whole situation would overwhelm Shadow even more, that he would react badly to being trapped like this, but honestly, sitting on the floor eating his soup, he looked calmer than he had that time Finch had convinced him to come in for burgers. That time, he’d looked like someone on a bad trip trying to pretend they were sober. 

Finch sat down next to Shadow on the floor while Malyn and Tyla once again claimed the bed. With the way they’d been tangled up together that morning, they’d probably both be happier with a double bed in their room instead of two singles. Or, hell, with how close they’d been, they could just have the one single. Might as well fuck economically if that’s where things were heading between them. And, preferably, not in Finch’s bed, and especially not while he was in the same room as them.

Adin no longer felt guilty enough to be talked into a card game, but Finch agreed to play. Mostly he just wanted something to do other than wait for Luther to call. He stayed on the floor, though, using the bed like a table so that he could keep sitting with Shadow. 

It was seven twenty when Finch’s phone rang. He abandoned his cards face up on the bed as he answered it. “Luther?”

There was a beat of silence before Luther’s voice came through the phone. “Did something happen?”

“Yes. Shadow’s fine, but Katrina showed up last night trying to find him. You need to come and get him.”

“She showed up?”

“She sent the rest of us off on some bullshit job and ambushed Adin.”

“Is Adin okay?”

“I would have led with that if he wasn’t. He packs more of a punch than she realised and he was able to put her off for the time being, but you need to come get your kid before she comes back.”

“Yes. Yes, I will do that. Do you think you can keep him safe for a few more hours until I can get some final things sorted out?”

“As long as you come and get him by morning. I’d have no problem with him staying, but we can’t leave him alone and that means we can’t work.”

“No, of course. I’ll be there, though perhaps not until around two or so. I… well, I won’t go into details about what I have to do. But… things. I have to do some things. Can I talk to Shadow?”

“Sure.” Finch passed the phone to Shadow.

Shadow was back to talking too quietly to be heard by normal people again, tucked in on himself as he talked to Luther. He had played things tough and stoic, but he had a hand pressed against his forehead now and he swallowed thickly and released a shaky breath before responding to something Luther had said. 

Finch caught himself about to reach out and squeezed his hand into a fist. He wasn’t sure Shadow was the kind of person to appreciate physical reassurance from someone he hardly knew. Which was fine. Finch wasn’t so much into that either. Hell, he was sort of iffy even if it was someone he did know, though maybe just because he wasn’t as brave about facing up to his emotions as Malyn was.

It was a few minutes before Shadow handed Finch his phone back this time, and after he did, he crawled back under the bed.

“He all right?” Finch asked Luther.

“You can ask him that, Finch,” Luther said. “I know he’s quiet, but he can talk.”

“Ass,” Finch said, and hung up on him. Still, he lay down on the floor and rolled onto his side so that he was facing Shadow. “You okay?”

Shadow lifted his head to look at him. He wasn’t crying, but he did look sad and vulnerable. He shrugged.

Finch held his hand out and, after a moment, Shadow took it.

“Sorry I couldn’t…” Finch said, letting the sentence trail. He wasn’t actually sure what he was sorry for. They’d done everything they could.

Shadow squeezed his hand in response.

“I’m sure Luther will figure something out. He’s always been resourceful and good at getting ahead in the world. Maybe she’s stronger and faster and whatever else than him, but this is a world of technology and a million fucking random weirdos with all sorts of different abilities. I guarantee she’s not the toughest thing in this whole world. Idiot can’t even deal with a little sunshine.”

Malyn leant over the side of the bed. “I bet you could blow her up. Like, is she explosion proof? Probably not.”

“I imagine it would be difficult for someone with no experience with explosives to use them as a weapon,” Adin pointed out. “But yes, I see your point. Luther has said in the past that the world he comes from wasn’t technologically advanced. I doubt even she knows how her body would stand up to various modern weapons.”

“Didn’t stand up to you very well,” Malyn pointed out.

“I was a long way from killing her,” Adin said. “When something doesn’t rely on a pulse, you can’t just kill it by causing sufficient injury. You have to destroy it. All I did was make an annoyance of myself.”

Malyn sighed and rolled onto his back, his head hanging upside down off the edge of the bed. “I wish I was that annoying.”

Finch reached up with his free hand and mussed Malyn’s hair up, just because he could. 

Malyn just smiled. “Weak. You’ll never kill a vampire with that level of annoyingness.”

The five of them spent the evening together, just talking, and though Shadow didn’t have much to say, it somehow felt like he was a part of things in a way he never had before. The whole time, his hand stayed clasped in Finch’s and he showed no signs of wanting to let go, so Finch didn’t. Finch fell asleep still holding his hand.