Ozzy fumbled around inside his wardrobe, chucking clothes behind him left and right, and grabbed a medium sized rucksack that had been buried at the bottom. He opened it up and put some of his clothes, a picture of his great-great-grandpappy and his gun into it. He reached into the wardrobe again, found a similar sized rucksack and handed it to Thrax with a sad smile.

Thrax had never carried anything with him from body to body, never having been much of a sentimentalist, but he packed the clothes Ozzy had bought for him, his black cloak, and when he wasn't looking, put the photo of Ozzy graduating from the police force in there too.

"Oh, I almost forgot", Ozzy said, turning round and opening his nightstand drawer. He pulled out the hypothalamus chain that he had confiscated from Thrax. Leah had given it back to him once she had put Frank's DNA bead back, thinking that Ozzy should be the one to have it as a souvenir to remember all he had done for the City of Frank.

He held the chain up in front of Thrax before handing it to him. "I thought you might like it back. It is yours, after all, and pretty much the only thing you really own", he said with a small smile.

Thrax took it and looked down at it in his hand for a moment, watching how each bead throbbed with a dim light. He thought then about how important this chain had been to him only two days ago. About how it was the only thing that had ever mattered to him.

Until now.

He smiled to himself and lifted Ozzy's left arm.

"W-what are you doin'?", Ozzy asked with wide eyes. Thrax carefully tied the chain around his wrist twice and melted two of the ends together with his claw to make a bracelet.

"It's a promise: a promise that I'm not going anywhere, Ozzy, and that from now on it's me and you against everyone else", he said, as Ozzy twisted his arm to get a better look at his new piece of jewellery.

"Is that a proposal, Thrax?" he said jokingly.

"Pfft please. You really think I'd propose like this? Nah, trust me, baby, you'd know if it was, it'd be hard to miss", Thrax replied, running his hand through his hair.

Ozzy laughed at that, saying, "I never took you for a hopeless romantic, Thraxy", as he threw his arms around his waist and grinned up at him.

Thrax smiled back and stroked his head, pulling him into his chest. Honestly, me neither. He trailed his claws down his neck and across his shoulder. "So… have you packed everything you need?"

Ozzy pulled back and looked around his room, making sure he hadn't forgotten anything that he couldn't live without. Then, he let go of Thrax's waist and sat down at his desk, ripped a piece of paper from a notepad and started scrawling a letter.

Thrax leaned over his shoulder to get a look, but couldn't really decipher his handwriting. He could see that it was addressed to two people called Drix and Leah.

"Who's that for?"

Ozzy signed the letter and drew a small smiley face underneath, "it's for the only two people I would consider friends. I can't just disappear without at least explainin' myself to them. One of them is that pill that helped me take you down, oh and the other is Leah, the girl that you took hostage, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I remember her, she was a feisty one… I had my claw to her throat and she still didn't stop kicking me and trying to get away."

Ozzy laughed and said, "yeah, she's great…", his voice trailing off. Thrax didn't say anything else and simply put his hand on Ozzy's shoulder, before turning round to give him some privacy.

Ozzy read the letter over, put it in an envelope and sealed it shut. He stretched his arms and slid his chair back, saying, "don't let me forget to post this letter. If I leave it here the cops will probably destroy it." He put the envelope into his rucksack and zipped it shut.

Ozzy stood in the doorway of his flat with his rucksack on his back and took one last look at the place he called home, the place he moved to when his parents had kicked him out seven years ago, the place where his relationship with Thrax had grown into something he couldn't quite explain.

He looked at the faint stains on the carpet and remembered fondly when he had nuzzled into Thrax while he was patiently showing him how to clean it. He glanced over at the kitchen counter, where they had eaten donuts together and had had their first serious conversation. His eyes moved to the sofa, where they had bonded over those disgusting beers, and where they had first been intimate with each other.

The fact that that had only been the previous night seemed impossible to Ozzy; he felt like he had known Thrax forever, and he could barely remember his monotonous life before meeting him.

He could never have imagined that he would be leaving this place so soon, and with most of his possessions still inside, of which he admittedly had very few. Shit. Am I really gonna go through with this? he thought, as he turned to face Thrax.

He was standing with his back pressed up against the corridor wall, his rucksack over one shoulder. He held out his hand for Ozzy to take and smiled warmly.

"You ready, baby?"

Ozzy stared at him for a moment. Was he ready? Was he making the right decision here? Everything had happened so fast that he hadn't had time to really think about what he was doing. What the hell was he getting himself into?

"I promise it'll be a lot of fun", Thrax added, breaking him out of his train of thought.

Ozzy grinned and took his hand, "I don't doubt that, nothin' with you could ever possibly be boring." He looked over his shoulder at the place he used to call home, before slowly shutting the door and locking it for the last time.

"So, where do you think we should go?", they both asked in unison. They laughed quietly and Thrax gestured with his hand to let Ozzy go first.

"Well, umm, lemme think… ah! How about the armpit? It has a low amount of cops and a lot of germs, probably due to the fact that Frank doesn't wash very often…"

Thrax screwed up his face in disgust when Ozzy said that, but decided not to say anything, not wanting to upset him any further. His face softened to a smile and he simply said, "sounds like a plan."

He turned to walk down the hall, but Ozzy stopped him.

"Wait a sec, lemme do something first." He started to use his transformation abilities to change his appearance, should they be seen. He still wanted to look like a white blood cell, so he couldn't rely on his usual disguise that he had used to infiltrate Thrax's meeting in The Zit a few days ago.

Thrax watched, totally flabbergasted, as Ozzy made his hair slightly longer and spiked it up on the top of his head, made his arms and legs skinnier, squashed his head to make it shorter, and finally pulled his cheeks out to make them chubbier.

"What do you think?", Ozzy said while grinning and holding his skinny arms out.

"That's some freaky voodoo shit, you look completely different."

"That's the idea!"

They had to somehow get from Frank's neck to his armpit without anyone seeing them and without the use of Ozzy's beloved car. Ozzy had his disguise and looked like any other white blood cell, but Thrax stood out like a sore thumb.

It was mid-afternoon, so they had to use small streets and hide in alleyways until nightfall. Ozzy noticed that there was a larger police presence than normal and concluded that they'd have already raided his flat to find that he and Thrax had made a run for it. The police would be under strict orders to shoot Thrax on sight, he was certain.

The city started to fall silent and cool down as night came, and Thrax and Ozzy felt slightly at ease for the first time since leaving the flat. Ozzy peered out of the alleyway that they were in and saw that there wasn't a cell in sight.

"Looks like the coast is clear, Thrax." They were in the shoulder and needed to find an empty building to spend the night. The two men stepped out into the street and slowly looked around at all the buildings, trying to decide if there was one they could make use of. Thrax spotted one that looked pretty desolate, and they ran towards it.

Thrax slammed his shoulder against the door a few times until it opened and they cautiously went inside.

It looked like it was once a lab and, luckily for them, seemed as if it hadn't been used in years. Ozzy concluded that it was probably once used for Frank's upward mobility or for muscle building, but had been abandoned after he stopped doing any form of exercise.

It was late and they were both exhausted from sneaking around all day, so Ozzy changed his appearance back to normal and they both started clearing a corner of the room. Ozzy found an old blanket stuffed on top of a cabinet and laid it down on the floor. He then took off his T-shirt and folded it up to act as a makeshift pillow, and Thrax swiftly did the same with his jumper.

Ozzy laid down on the old blanket and put the T-shirt under his head, finding that it didn't work well as a pillow at all. Meanwhile, Thrax pushed a table in front of the door they had come in through, just in case someone tried to look for them in there.

He came over to the blanket and lay down next to Ozzy, taking his cloak out of his rucksack and pulling it over both of them. He saw how thin Ozzy's 'pillow' was and opened his arms for him to lean his head on his shoulder instead. Ozzy compiled without a second thought, and Thrax wrapped his arms around him and started stroking his hair.

"Do you regret coming with me, Ozzy?", Thrax asked tentatively.

Ozzy lifted his head and looked him in the eye. "Nope, not one bit. Now that I think about it, what am I actually leavin' behind? Gettin' made fun of everyday at work, bustin' my butt and riskin' my life tryna protect Frank when he obviously doesn't give a flyin' fuck about his health, while gettin' paid so little that I can't even afford to pay the water bill? Fuck that!"

He lowered his voice, "I'll miss a few people... and my flat I suppose, like, that was my home. But you were right, it was a shit hole." Thrax laughed and tightened his grip around his waist, as Ozzy continued, "I'm gonna be honest, I still don't really understand what this is between us, Thrax, but at this point, you're the only positive thing I've got in my life. If this is what I have to do to be with you, then it's what I'll do."

With that, Ozzy buried his face into Thrax's chest and put his arm around his neck. Thrax pulled him closer and smiled, sighing as he felt Ozzy gently trail his fingers over his skin.

They both started to drift off as silence fell over the city.

Thrax awoke to the distant sound of police sirens. He had no idea what time it was, but guessed that it was probably early morning, judging from the way the light was softly streaming in through the window.

He looked down to see Ozzy still fast asleep, his cheek pressed into his chest, the light catching on the fringe of his lashes, his lips slightly parted. God.

Thrax leant his head down and dropped a few kisses on his forehead, tightening his grip around his waist. He ran his claws across his shoulders as Ozzy yawned and stretched his arms up.

"Mornin'", Ozzy croaked, and slid his arms around Thrax's neck to pull him into a kiss. He broke away and opened his eyes, grinning from ear to ear. His face fell, however, when he saw where they were. It all came flooding back to him in pieces, the fact he was now a fugitive in his own city, that he would never see his flat again, and that his old life was gone.

He dropped his head and Thrax cupped his chin to make him look into his eyes. "It'll be fine, I promise" he assured, before kissing him on the cheek and standing up to go peek out of the window.

Ozzy looked up at him and asked, "what do you think we should do? Should we stay here or go someplace else?"

Thrax thought for a moment and turned round to face Ozzy, "I think it'll be better if we stay put for now. We're hidden from sight here and there's no reason to rock the boat. Besides, I think that door at the back of the room will take us upstairs and we might be able to get to the roof and escape from there if they do find us here."

Ozzy nodded and cocked his head as he admired the way the light from outside was dancing over Thrax's shoulders and chest. He smiled and patted the floor next to him. "Come sit with me", he said quietly, his eyelids heavy and his speech slurred slightly from just having woken up.

Thrax felt his chest flutter. The sight of Ozzy all curled up in his cloak, hair messy, eyes hazy, softly smiling up at him; well, it was enough to make his heart melt. He sauntered over to him and sat down by his side, putting his arm around him. Ozzy leant his head against his shoulder and started humming softly while drawing random patterns over Thrax's chest with his index finger.

"You know, I don't think you know just how cute you really are", Thrax said, gripping his shoulder.

"How do you mean 'cute'?", Ozzy asked, as he shuffled a bit to be able to look up at Thrax with a confused expression.

"Just everything about you: how much you care about everyone else; the way you fidget when you're nervous; your squishy little face when you've just woken up", Thrax said, pinching Ozzy's cheek, "the way you practically jumped over the kitchen counter when you saw I'd bought you those donuts; your ridiculous, kid-sized pyjamas…" he laughed at that, before saying, "the pyjamas alone qualify you as possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen."

Ozzy blushed a bit and nuzzled back into Thrax's side. "I never imagined you'd be so nice and so… gentle." Thrax looked straight ahead and widened his eyes. Those are two words I never thought I'd be called.

He started running his claws over Ozzy's shoulder for a few moments, before bringing up the question he'd been dying to ask ever since they had decided to leave Ozzy's flat. "So, ahem, have you given my proposition any more thought?"

"What, about leaving Frank?"

"Mm-hmm", Thrax said, trying not to show how nervous he was about what Ozzy's answer might be.

Ozzy moved out from under Thrax's arm and scooted over to sit cross-legged in front of him. "Yep, I have." Thrax gulped, and Ozzy continued, "I don't really see any point in stayin' here if this is the life we're gonna be livin': always on the run and havin' to live in fear of being recognised. If it's gonna be like that, we might as well leave. Even if we have to hide in another body, at least we won't have a big target painted on our backs."

Thrax sighed with relief and leaned over to give Ozzy a big hug. They stayed like this for a few seconds, before Thrax gently pushed him down to the floor and lay next to him.

"It won't be easy, y'know. First of all, we have to find a way to leave this body, which will be on high alert. Even if we manage to get out, every body we enter will see us both as threats, even you. People will probably think I have taken you captive as my slave or something!"

Ozzy laughed at that, before Thrax said, "no, I'm serious! I've met some pretty fucked up viruses and germs that take cells with them from body to body and use them to do all sorts of nasty things. With you looking the way you do, someone might even try to take you from me."

Ozzy furrowed his brow. "The way I look? What does that even mean?"

"Well, to cut a long story short, and in order to avoid you getting even more big-headed than you already are, I'll just say this: back when I held that meeting in The Zit, your little expression when you realised you had been rumbled was so darn cute, that if it hadn't been for all the other germs in the room, I definitely would've hit on you right there and then", he said with a grin.

"And then… oh God… the way your membrane lit up when I put my claw to your face was just exquisite, it took all of my will power not to shove those germs off of you, grab you and run away with you", he continued, before chuckling and saying, "shit, I've already said too much. If there's one thing Osmosis Jones doesn't need, it's an ego boost."

Ozzy rolled over onto his front and put his hands under his chin to hold his head up. "Nah, keep goin'! You were saying somethin' about how 'exquisite' I am…" he said with a smirk.

Just then, they heard police sirens pass the building they were in. Ozzy scrambled to his feet and Thrax threw his crumpled T-shirt at him so he could put it back on, before putting on his own jumper.

Ozzy gathered all their things and tried to get rid of any evidence that they had been there, while Thrax darted over to the door at the back of the room. He put his claw through the lock to burn it and gave it a forceful push. His hunch had been right; it did in fact lead up to the roof.

Both men ran up the stairs, but Thrax stopped just before the door that would take them out onto the roof. "Why are we-" Ozzy started to say as he grabbed onto Thrax's sleeve, panic lacing his voice. Thrax leant down and shushed him.

"We'll stay here for a while and see if they try to break in. If they do, we'll make a run for it. Please baby, if that happens, you have to listen to me, alright? You'll have to do as I say. Do you trust me?" he whispered, taking his black cloak out of his rucksack and putting it on before handing the bag to Ozzy.

Ozzy looked Thrax in the eyes. Do I trust him? I barely know him, and he did try to kill me numerous times... but something in my gut is telling me that he's serious here, and that he's not making all of this up...

Thrax squeezed his hand and smiled, desperately trying not to show how much Ozzy's silence was killing him.

Ozzy squeezed back and nodded. "I trust you."

Thrax breathed a sigh of relief and shut his eyes. Sweet baby Jesus, this guy makes me feel emotions I didn't even know existed.

They sat down in the stairwell just outside the door and waited to see what would happen. Ozzy opened his rucksack and pulled out his gun, holding his finger over the trigger. Thrax smiled at this and patted him on the head. "Good boy."

An eternity seemed to pass them by before they heard a dull thud from below, and then shouting, followed by more thudding. Ozzy and Thrax looked at each other, and Ozzy mouthed the words "they're tryna get in."

Thrax nodded and turned around to start burning the lock off the door that opened out onto the roof. This door was much thicker than the previous one, and it was taking a bit longer to burn through. Suddenly, there was a big crash as the door downstairs slammed open, and dozens of police officers started piling into the room.

"Can't you go any faster?" Ozzy said, desperation beginning to creep into his voice as he stood up and aimed the gun down the stairs. Thrax groaned, gave up trying to burn his way through the door, and started slamming his shoulder against it.

The first few officers burst through the door to the stairwell and started running up the stairs. Ozzy's hands started shaking. He'd never been a very good shot, but he was more nervous about whether he would be able to actually shoot a fellow cop who was just doing their job.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and kept aiming. Thrax managed to get the door open after countless shoves and grabbed Ozzy by the back of his shirt to try and pull him out onto the roof.

Just as he did that, two officers came round the corner and shouted at them to stop where they were. They drew their guns and aimed them over Ozzy's head, straight at Thrax. Another officer came around the corner and slung a smoke grenade at the fugitives' feet.

Ozzy yelled and closed his eyes before opening fire, and the officers started firing back. He heard a body hit the floor followed by lots of yelling, but couldn't see who had fallen due to the smoke now filling the room.

Suddenly, he felt strong hands scoop him up and heard Thrax shout, "hold on and don't let go until I say so!" With that, Ozzy dropped his gun and wrapped his arms around Thrax's neck and his legs around his middle.

Thrax leapt off the side of the building and opened his cloak, allowing him to glide over all the police cars and towards the highway. Ozzy clung on tighter and tried not to look down.

They landed on the main Brachial Artery Highway and Ozzy was still hanging from Thrax's neck with his legs tightly wrapped around his waist.

"Hey, Oz, as much as I love having your legs around me, we've gotta get a move on."

Ozzy opened one eye and looked down to make sure they were on solid ground before sliding off him and taking his hand. They ran into the middle of the highway and Thrax lit up his claw. All the cars stopped dead in front of them and Thrax chose the nicest car he could see. He grabbed the driver by the neck and threw him to the side.

Ozzy looked at the driver and tried to convey an apology through his eyes, before Thrax shoved him into the passenger seat and got in himself. Thrax forced his claw into the ignition lock and the car started to transform around them. Ozzy looked up at Thrax in fear as the fiery infection spread through the car, but he was already shaking his head. "This won't affect you, baby, don't worry, I've done this plenty of times." They sped off towards the mouth, with dozens of police cars chasing them.

"Ozzy, try and shoot at them, maybe they'll back off", ordered Thrax, as he swerved around all the cars. Ozzy inhaled sharply and gave Thrax a panicked look. "I-I dropped my gun back there when we flew off the building…"

Thrax growled, clearly annoyed, but didn't say anything else about it. Ozzy sat back in the seat and tried to make himself useful. "There's a shortcut here that'll take you straight to the... Uv-uh-ler…"

"Uvula", Thrax corrected, "and I don't need directions, I know exactly where I'm going, Jones."

Ozzy's eyes widened at Thrax's sudden change in demeanour towards him and at the way he had coldly called him 'Jones'. He slumped down in his seat and folded his arms over his chest, looking out the window at the helicopter that was now following them.

Thrax sighed, taking one hand off the steering wheel momentarily to place it on Ozzy's knee. "Sorry, Ozzy, I'm just… nervous is all. Even if we do get to the throat before the cops catch us, we don't have any pollen to help us escape." He put both hands back on the steering wheel to steer around a truck.

Ozzy perked up and grinned as something occurred to him. "I've got an idea! Why don't you scratch the back of Frank's throat with your claw? That might irritate it enough to make him cough us out!"

Thrax smiled and patted him on the cheek. "Baby, you've finally put that pretty head of yours to good use. That might just work."