Summary: Owen repays his debt to Lex. Sequel to In the Dark of the Night. nonSlash.
A/N: The real summary is in the author's notes at the bottom. Sequel to In the Dark of the Night. If you're getting a slashy feel here and you don't like it… take off the slash goggles, it's all you. For those of you following… No apologies. Life happens. This is to slake your Gargoyles thirst until more substantial things can be written.
A Debt Repaid.
Attacks on the castle were by no means a rare occurrence. The gargoyles, as usual, defended selflessly and there was no need for human intervention. Certainly not by a thin, bespectacled man with a stone fist.
But then the wall started to fall and Owen saw that Lexington hadn't noticed. Little Lex; Alexander's favorite' the one that had sacrificed himself for the Puck's charge.
It wasn't until after Owen had already grabbed Lexington around the waist and forced him down that he remembered that he'd seen this very same gargoyle survive this sort of building collapse before with only bruises. Those with weak, human bodies – like, say, Owen – however, rarely did so well.
Owen had only just crouched down, hands over his head, when the first stone blocks fell. He was lucky in that the biggest fell around them and formed a support for those that fell after but Owen still found himself bearing more weight on his back than he thought he could take.
"Owen?" Lex's voice was muffled against the side of Owen's forearm. The gargoyle had curled instinctively upon contact with the ground and would have likely been fine if Owen hadn't also thrown himself over the smaller male.
Owen would have liked to answer but his teeth were grinding painfully in response to the sharp points and weight on his back. Luckily, Lexington didn't have a chance to ask again. The weight lessened minutely with the sounds of lifting and digging. The gargoyles had noticed their smallest absent and started to search.
By the time Brooklyn lifted Owen out of the pile, he was paler than when he'd gone in and his shirt and jacket were torn and slightly dampened with sweat and blood. Xanatos was already standing by, his closed off expression communicating more than fretful tears could.
Later Owen found himself stiffly pulling his shirt back on in a small room set aside for the gargoyles to see to injuries that might not wait until daylight. Each awkward tug pulled at bandages and sore spots and though he'd love to gripe, a few scratches and stiff muscles were a small price to pay for stupidity.
"Um…" There was a hesitant knock at the door. When Owen finally looked up from his buttons (a job that absolutely required all of your attention when you had but one hand) he found Lexington peeking at him from around the door.
"Yes?" The gargoyle took that to be an invitation and slowly padded inside, looking down at clenched hands. "Lexington, do you need something?" Owen's brisk voice prompted the gargoyle to act.
"I just um…" Lexington hopped onto the bed beside Owen and sat quietly for a moment. The blonde began to dismiss the little gargoyle – if he wouldn't speak then Owen had better things to do – but Lex beat him to it.
Lexington's kiss was everything that Owen's was not. His lips pressed too hard against Owen's cheek, noise nearly jabbing into his glasses. It lacked grace, ease and experience, and was a horrible attempt at a far more elegant gesture. But it was also eager and hopeful. Lexington was not comfortable doing this, but he'd chosen a method of expressing himself that he thought Owen would – if not like – appreciate.
After a moment too long Lexington pulled away awkwardly. He didn't know what to do now, of course he had no frame of reference for these things, and went back to staring at his hands.
"You're welcome," Owen's cool voice broke the silence and Lexington's head jerked up. The blonde had returned to buttoning his shirt, studiously not paying attention to the gargoyle. Lexington silently thanked him for it.
"R-right," the green gargoyle hopped back down from the bed, hurrying to the door. "I guess… now we're even."
By the time Owen found a way to answer that, the gargoyle had disappeared into the hall. Sighing, the blonde dropped his forehead onto his stone fist and wondered how his life had taken such a strange turn.
The answer was obvious: this was no stranger than usual, he just didn't typically wind up underneath collapsing walls.
Actual Summary: Lexington's kiss was everything that Owen's was not. Sequel to In The Dark of the Night (no slash; not that there's anything wrong with that if you're into Owen/Lex, which I kind of like in an innocent, fluffy sort of way, but not in this story. It's cool if you ship it and want to wear your slash goggles; I'm not judging, I'm just saying.)
A/N: *frowns up at Actual Summary* So that's the real summary but for spacing reasons and to avoid SlashFan confusion I decided to... paraphrase. Again, I realize that Word of God is that Lex was meant to be gay (which is AWESOME) and Owen, as far as we know, doesn't have a set sexuality. Also, yes, as the real summary implies, I'm a fan of the couple. I did not, however, write this as a pairing. Just like the last one was very much not meant to read as a pairing.
A Note to the Reviewers: You guys were so cute with how you were politely disapproving of the end of ITDotN. Do it again.
