The processing at the police station took hours, partly due to the fact that they had no idea what type of virus Thrax was, and also because they couldn't understand what a white blood cell would be doing in a foreign body with a deadly virus in the first place.

They asked them every question under the sun, trying to trip them up to see if their relationship was real, but Ozzy would just repeat their story over and over again, telling it more frantically and exaggeratedly each time, occasionally followed by some crude joke and finger guns.

Eventually, they got tired of him and threw them both in a cramped jail cell with a few other germs.

Thrax slumped down in the corner and pulled Ozzy onto his lap, lighting up his claw and threatening to kill anyone who dared even glance at his baby. Ozzy laughed, finding his over-protectiveness funny, and grabbed his face to kiss him passionately before loudly and proudly telling everyone within earshot about what they had got up to in the men's loo.

Neither of them slept a wink that night. Thrax was too worried about what the germs might do to Ozzy if he fell asleep, and Ozzy couldn't get the room to stop spinning.

The next morning they were free to go. They blinked and squinted in the light as they stepped out into the street, put their arms around each other and stumbled down to the hotel. Neither of them were laughing now; Ozzy had never felt so sick, and Thrax couldn't get his eyes to focus on anything.

They reached the hotel and wobbled up the stairs. Once they were in their room, they kept the lights off and crawled straight into bed.

"This is the first time we've used this fucking bed, why did I bother paying so much for it?", Thrax grumbled under his breath.

Ozzy replied with a grunt, and lazily stroked Thrax's head. "G'night, Thraxy", he muttered.

After a few hours, Ozzy woke up and somehow felt even worse than he had done before. He begrudgingly heaved himself up from the bed, before heading to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of cold water.

As he started to drink, his experience was one that could only be described as spiritual: the ice clinking against the glass as he tipped it towards his mouth; the icy water trickling down his throat, feeling like a blessing in his oesophagus as it made its way down; the coldness spreading through his nucleus, reaching his fingertips and toes; the condensation dripping down his arm and bringing him out of his cloudy, hungover state. He felt as though this glass of water was the greatest luxury in the world.

He finished the drink, poured another one for Thrax and brought it over to the bed along with a wet washcloth. He placed the glass on the nightstand and put the washcloth over Thrax's forehead as he stroked his cheek with the back of his hand.

Thrax hummed and opened one eye to see Ozzy sitting next to him on the bed. He smiled weakly and grumbled, "baby, you're a terrible influence on me. Never in my life have I felt so hungover or have had to spend the night in a prison cell."

Ozzy grinned. "Last night was so fun though, I don't think I've ever laughed so much."

Thrax sat up and propped himself against the headboard. "You're right, it was fun, but I hadn't pinned you as such a sexual deviant! Osmosis Jones, law-abiding cop, having kinky sex in a public bathroom with the virus that tried to kill him? Well, that's something I never thought I'd see."

"Yeah, well, once you've been kidnapped and beaten almost to death, you stop worrying about what other people think of you so much and just go for whatever you want in that moment."

Thrax's face fell. "I suppose..." He paused, before saying, "let me see your wrists."

Ozzy put his arms out in front of him and Thrax took them in his hands. "Hmm... it left a small mark, but it's not as bad as I imagined."

"Well, you were holding me up most of the time", Ozzy said with a smirk. Thrax started gently massaging where the hypothalamus chain had been, and Ozzy sighed contentedly and shut his eyes.

He took the wet washcloth off his forehead and wrapped it round Ozzy's wrists, before taking the glass from the nightstand. He gulped it all down in one go and swivelled his legs round to sit on the edge of the bed next to Ozzy.

"Fancy a shower, baby?"

After the shower, they got dressed and went to the living room. Thrax sat on the floor in front of the sofa while Ozzy reluctantly redid his braids.

"I still think you should keep your hair loose", he whined, "it suits you better."

Thrax smiled. "Can you do anything with your hair, or does it just… stay like that?"

"I can make it longer and change its shape if that's what you mean, but not permanently." He hesitated then, remembering when he couldn't use his flexibility to escape the cuffs before, and sighed. "But I dunno if I can even do any of that anymore."

Thrax turned his head slightly to look at him. "After you've finished doing my hair, we'll test it out. If you can still do it, I'm gonna give you a mullet."

After Ozzy had secured all the braids, Thrax went to sit next to him on the sofa. He gestured with his hand for Ozzy to do his thing and waited patiently.

Ozzy gulped and started pulling at his hair, and, to his surprise, it did get longer. He kept pulling until the strands were past his shoulders and shot Thrax an excited look. "I can still do it!"

"Maybe your body just needed some time to adjust to its new composition. Let's try somethin' else." He grabbed Ozzy's thigh with both hands. "Go on, see if you can get away from me."

Ozzy quickly stretched his leg, and slipped out from between Thrax's hands. He beamed from ear to ear and punched the air. "Fuck yes, I've still got it, baby!" Thrax grinned back at him and breathed a sigh of relief, no longer feeling guilty about possibly having taken Ozzy's abilities away from him.

He pushed him down onto the sofa, straddled him and pinned his wrists on either side of his head. "Now get out of this", he said in a low voice.

"What if I don't want to?", Ozzy replied, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Thrax smirked, before closing his eyes and leaning down to kiss him. Ozzy took this as his chance to squish himself down and shimmy down through Thrax's legs. He leapt onto the floor and shouted, "ha! Too slow, Granddaddy Thrax!"

Thrax opened his eyes and blinked at the now empty space below him, before leaning back to sit on his knees. "I'll never get used to you doing that. It freaked me out when we were fighting on that girl's eye, and it still does", he muttered, disappointed that Ozzy hadn't kissed him back.

Ozzy jumped to sit on the sofa behind Thrax, put his arms around his neck and nuzzled into his shoulder.

Thrax reached back to stroke Ozzy on the head and sighed deeply. "Baby… we need to talk about something."

Ozzy's eyes shot open and he went to sit on the sofa in front of Thrax. "Ooh, that sounds serious."

Thrax took Ozzy's hands in his own and looked into his eyes. "I don't really know how to say this... So I'm just gonna come right out with it..."

Ozzy furrowed his brow and squeezed Thrax's hands. Shit.

"I need to get some more money before we jump bodies again. This hotel really drained my funds and I barely even have enough to cover us for the next week. I'm gonna need to get some more soon... and you know what that means."

Ozzy breathed a sigh of relief and threw his arms in the air. "Oh, that's it? Man, I thought you were gonna finish with me!"

Thrax blinked at him and furrowed his brow. "What? Why?"

"Because that's the classic break up line: 'we need to talk'. You didn't know that?"

Thrax looked puzzled then, and thought about how his way of 'breaking up' with someone had always been by simply leaving in the night and never coming back. He shook his head and put his hands on Ozzy's shoulders. "Now why would I break up with you after what we did last night? Nah, you've got me jonesing, baby."

Ozzy grinned at him, before looking down at his lap and quietly asking, "so what are we gonna do about the money sitch? How much do we need?"

"Well, now that I've got an annoying little cell followin' me around who needs constant feeding, I'd say lots."

Ozzy punched him on the arm and smirked. "But what do you propose we do?"

"I think we should round up some germs and rob a bank. We'll be like microscopic Bonnie and Clyde, how neat would that be?" He hesitated and cleared his throat. "There might be casualties though, I don't know how you feel about that."

Ozzy put his finger and thumb under his chin and thought for a moment. "How about instead of forcin' our way in, we try a different approach?"

Thrax sat up and furrowed his brow. "How's that?"

"What if I changed my appearance to look like one of the employees… the bank manager for example. I could get in, take as much money as I can carry, and get out. We'd be out of this body before anyone even noticed the money was missing!"

Thrax's eyes widened. "That's not half bad, baby!" He paused, before adding, "the only issue is most bank vaults need two people with access to open them."

Ozzy's face fell and he slumped back against the sofa cushion defeatedly. "Aw damn, I just wanna be useful for once."

Thrax ran his claws up and down his shoulder and thought for a moment. "Maybe you can be, baby. The hardest part of the heist is always gettin' into the vault itself, because of the time it takes me to melt through the lock. If you were with me, I'd just have to make a small hole in the door and you could squeeze through it, right?"

Ozzy nodded quickly and grabbed Thrax by the shoulders. "And then I could open it from the inside and let you in!"

Thrax grinned and cupped Ozzy's chin with his hand. "Exactly!" He pulled Ozzy into a hug and whispered in his ear, "welcome to the dark side, baby."

They spent the rest of the day planning and strategising, only taking a break to get some Chinese food. By the end of the day, they had the outline for their scheme.

First they would hold a meeting to recruit some germs.

These germs would act as the muscle to hold everyone in the bank at gunpoint, while Ozzy and Thrax slipped past and ran to the vault to grab as much money as they could.

Then, they would run up to the roof, where they would call the police and tell them that a load of germs had broken into the bank and were holding multiple cells hostage.

This would keep the cops distracted, allowing them to use Thrax's cloak to fly over to their getaway car and escape through the mouth undetected.

Ozzy insisted on trying to find a way to get the germs out and share the money with them, but Thrax simply shook his head and explained that there wouldn't be enough time to get them out, nor enough money to share with all of them, but really it was just because he couldn't be bothered, and wanted all the money for himself.

Two days later, the plan had been finalised and they went out to buy everything they needed and recruit some germs for the heist. They headed to the liver, as it turned out that Maria was a sucker for a bottle of wine or two in the evening, despite taking care of her health in every other aspect. When they arrived, Ozzy could see that her liver was in better shape than Frank's had been, but only slightly, and was overrun by bacteria and germs.

Thrax did what he always had: breaking into gang meetings, threatening the leader and persuading the other gang members to do his bidding. He then told them all to spread the word about the meeting he and Ozzy would hold on the opening night of the new club that was currently under construction.

The meeting was underway in one of the back rooms in the club, and Thrax was carefully explaining his plan from the head of the table.

It reminded Ozzy of when he infiltrated Thrax's last meeting back in Frank, except this time he wasn't undercover; he was co-leading the attack. Ozzy stood by his side and awkwardly shuffled from foot to foot, not knowing where to look. All the germs were eyeing him up and down, and he knew that he didn't belong here in the slightest.

"Our plan is simple. Once we are inside, one group will demand all the money in the tellers' drawers, while the second group will keep an eye on the hostages. Meanwhile, us two will sneak past during the chaos and make our way to the vault. The third group will guard the door and make sure that no one gets in or out…"

One of the germs raised their hand to speak, interrupting his speech.

Thrax frowned and barked, "what's your fuckin' problem?!"

The germ flinched, and said in a quiet voice, "n-no problem. Your plan sounds great. I…I guess we're all just wondering why you've got a cop with you."

All eyes turned on Ozzy in that moment, and he nervously waved at everyone with a grin, sweat dripping down his back.

Thrax reached his arm out and pulled Ozzy closer to him. "This ain't no cop, this is my boyfriend, and y'all better treat him with respect and do what he says."

Ozzy's eyes widened at that. They'd never referred to each other as 'boyfriends' before. They'd never actually officially spoken about what they were to each other. He couldn't help letting a smile creep across his face, and looked up at Thrax, who still had his eyes fixed on the germs in front of him. They were all looking round at each other with smirks on their faces and some even trying to stifle a laugh at what Thrax had said.

He took his arm from around Ozzy's shoulder and slammed his hands on the table, making everybody jump in their seats. "Shut the fuck up!" He straightened himself and grinned maliciously. "Now I want all of you to repeat the plan to me again, one by one."

He sauntered around the table and placed his hand over each germ's shoulder as they recited the plan to him. If they got it right, he would look at Ozzy and grin, before moving onto the next one. If they got it wrong, he would stick his claw through their neck and light it up, leaving nothing but a gooey, bubbling puddle on the chair.

Ozzy had to sit down and cover his eyes when Thrax killed his first victim. He had no idea that he was going to take it this far. The agonising screams alone were enough to turn his stomach, and the smell made him feel like throwing up.

The worst part, however, was how slow the death was, and how excruciatingly painful it seemed to be. When he heard the second lot of screams, he peeked through his fingers and watched aghast as the flames spread from their neck, coursed through their veins and ultimately caused them to explode all over the table.

He thought about the time when Thrax had held his glowing claw centimetres from his face and how close he had come to the same fate. He really was a bad guy, and Ozzy was his accomplice.

Mercifully, Thrax had made his way round all the germs. In total there were nine left, all shaking in their seats, but relieved that they had been able to recite the plan well enough to be spared.

Thrax strolled back round to the head of the table, rolling his shoulders with every step, and placed his hand on Ozzy's shoulder, making him flinch. He leaned down and whispered in his ear, "do you think they're good enough for us, baby?"

Ozzy nodded quickly, afraid of what might happen to the remaining few if he hesitated.

Thrax kissed him on the cheek before rising to his full height again and pointing his claw at the germs. "And no one better disrespect my baby. You'll treat him as you treat me, is that understood?"

All the germs nodded and Thrax grinned. "Now all of this is going down tomorrow, so I want everyone to be prepared! We'll hit them at 9am, when the money has just been delivered to the bank and no one has had time to make any big withdrawals. When we succeed, we'll divide the cash between us and go our separate ways."

A few of the germs exchanged glances, grinning and elbowing each other over the thought that they were going to be rich after this.

Ozzy turned his head to look at Thrax: his eyes were burning with a white-hot intensity; his hands were balled into fists and pumping the air, whipping the germs into a frenzy; an arrogant grin smeared across his face. Ozzy could clearly see that he had missed being in command of a group like this, and that he was in his element.

Ozzy was the complete opposite. He felt as though the walls were closing in on him, and wished that the ground would swallow him up. He nervously pushed his curls to the side with a shaking hand and looked down at his lap. He'd got so wrapped up in the planning of it all, and had been so engrossed in the idea of recreating some of the scenes from his favourite cop films that he had forgotten the reality of what he was doing.

He slipped out of his seat and ran out of the meeting room. As soon as he stepped out into the club, all eyes were on him again, but at this point he didn't care. He threw himself into a corner booth and frantically waved one of the waitresses over.

"Gimme a… gimme a beer", he stammered, and threw his last few remaining bills at her. She frowned at him and walked off, before coming back with a glass of thick, foamy, dark yellow liquid. It didn't look or smell like beer, but Ozzy downed it all in one. He gagged on the taste and wiped his mouth with his sleeve as he slammed the glass back down onto the table. He then felt a hand on his shoulder and almost jumped out of his membrane.

"You really are the messiest eater and drinker I've ever met, Jones," Thrax said jokingly as he sat beside him. He opened his arms for Ozzy to lay his head against his chest, but he didn't budge.

Thrax sighed and let his arms fall to his side. "I know, baby. I didn't want to have to kill anyone in front of you, but I had to in order to get them to respect us."

"Yeah... I know. I just wasn't expecting it to be so… gruesome." He looked down at his lap. "And they respect you, they think I'm just your rent boy." He sighed and leaned his head on Thrax's shoulder, while mindlessly drawing circles on his chest. "I liked it when you called me your boyfriend, by the way. It sounded… official."

Thrax smiled and kissed him on the head. "Well, we are official, aren't we?"

Ozzy nodded and looked up at him with a big grin across his face. "Holy Frank, I'm datin' a homicidal virus!" Thrax chuckled and put his arms around him.

"Come on, baby, let's get back to the meeting. Surely you've played the role of bad cop before? Now's your chance to go absolutely batshit crazy with it. They'll soon respect you."

The meeting had gone as planned, and all the germs in the room agreed to be part of the heist. As soon as they had filed out of the meeting room, Ozzy and Thrax cheered and high-fived.

Thrax went round to the back of the room and took a bottle of champagne and two glasses out of a cupboard. Ozzy pulled out a chair and gestured for Thrax to sit down, putting on a posh accent and saying "take a seat, my good sir...", before leaping onto his lap.

Thrax popped the cork and poured champagne into both of the glasses. He lifted one in the air and said, "to you, my boyfriend, my baby, my partner in crime and the love of my life."

Ozzy felt a rush of emotion go through his whole body and he cleared his throat.

"I wanna thank you, Thrax… for everythin' you've done for me. For breaking me out of my monotonous life, for being the first person to truly respect me and see me as more than just a failed cop, for loving me like you do, for bringing me with you on this crazy adventure, for fighting for me every step of the way."

He smiled at him and stroked his cheek with the back of his hand. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I can't even describe how happy I am that I decided to turn around on Shane's eyelash that day", he clinked his glass against Thrax's, "and I'm so excited to see what we get up to next."

Thrax blinked at him. God, I love him so much. He took Ozzy's glass out of his hand and placed both of them down on the table, before wrapping his arms around him and pulling him into a kiss.

Ozzy broke away to sit on the edge of the table. He grinned at him and grabbed his collar to pull him closer. "You have no idea how sexy you look in that cloak", he whispered, before pulling Thrax back into another kiss and opening his legs.

Thrax pushed him down onto the table and climbed on top of him, pinning his hands on either side of his head. He brushed his lips against his cheek and said in a low voice, "if I had my way, this is how that meeting back in Frank would've ended."

Ozzy smirked. "Well, I'm not goin' anywhere this time", as he wrapped his legs around his waist. He raised his head and kissed him again, parting his lips to let his tongue in.

Thrax ripped Ozzy's shirt open and kissed down his neck as Ozzy undid Thrax's belt and slipped a hand into his boxers. He took his cock in his hand and started touching him, both of them moaning loudly, until they heard someone clearing their throat behind them.

They snapped their heads round to stare at the germ standing in the doorway.

"Sorry, boss and… boss, but I left my jacke-"

He was interrupted by Ozzy throwing one of his shoes at his head and shouting at him to get the fuck out. The germ apologised and hurried out, rubbing his head.

Thrax turned back around to look down at Ozzy with wild eyes and grinned. "There's my bad cop", he lulled, before undoing Ozzy's belt, taking off his pants and lifting his legs to rest them on his shoulders. Ozzy whispered Thrax's name and shut his eyes as all the anxiety and tension coursing through his body melted away.

Early the next morning, they were all gathered in a narrow alleyway round the corner from the bank. The energy was a mix of nerves and excitement, and it was practically ricocheting off the walls.

Thrax appeared calm and collected, sporting his long cloak and sunglasses, waiting for the perfect moment to begin the heist. Ozzy was less relaxed, and found himself repeating the plan to himself under his breath over and over.

Thrax pulled him closer and wrapped his cloak around him, shushing him and telling him it would all be fine.

As soon as the clock struck 9:05, Thrax grabbed Ozzy's hand and told the germs to wait 20 seconds before storming the bank. The two men hurried round the corner and walked through the doors. Ozzy darted his eyes in all directions, looking at all the innocent cells who had no idea about what was about to happen as Thrax pulled him into a corner.

After a few more seconds, the doors crashed open and in came the germs, wearing ski masks and carrying guns of different sizes and calibres. They shouted at everyone to get down on the ground, while three of them charged over to the tellers and ordered them to give them all the money that was in the drawers.

Thrax and Ozzy darted round the corner and ran down a long corridor until they reached the vault. Ozzy anxiously hopped from one foot to the other as Thrax burned a small hole in the metal door.

"Go on, baby, get through there and then open the door for me", he whispered. Ozzy nodded and squeezed his way through the hole onto the other side. He turned the handle and opened the door to see Thrax proudly smiling at him.

Ozzy grinned back and gestured for him to get inside the vault. Thrax threw a duffle bag over to him and they both started filling the bags with as much cash as they could.

Once they had filled three bags, they threw them over their shoulders and Thrax kissed Ozzy on the forehead, before grabbing his wrist and running out of the vault and up the stairs to the roof.

When they arrived, they threw the bags on the floor and Ozzy dialled the police, his finger shaking all the while.

"Yes, hello, police? I'm trapped in the bank on Deltoid Street… a load of germs came in and are demandin' money. They're holdin' us hostage. Please come quick, they have guns!"

He hung up the phone and threw it to one side, before slinging the bags over his shoulders and wrapping his arms and legs around Thrax's middle.

"Was it really necessary to call the police on them?", Ozzy asked.

Thrax shrugged his shoulders and ran his claws through his hair. "Probably not, but it's funny."

Thrax ran up to the edge of the roof and jumped off, before opening his cloak and gliding over the crowd now gathered outside the bank. Ozzy looked down and could see all the cop cars approaching on the highway. He felt bad about having betrayed the germs like this, and nuzzled his face into Thrax's jumper as they glided over to their getaway car, not wanting to see what would become of them.

When they reached the opening to Maria's mouth, they abandoned the car and Thrax scratched the back of her throat to make her cough, before gliding out.

Ozzy clung on tighter and didn't open his eyes until they were standing on solid ground. They had landed on an old man's shoulder, and both sat down to catch their breath.

Thrax opened one of the duffle bags and grinned broadly. "Ozzy, this is the most money I have ever got from a heist! Your freaky little abilities saved so much time that I think we've managed to nab around half a million! You little beauty!"

Ozzy's mouth practically hit the floor when he heard that figure. He shut his eyes and punched the air. "Yessss! Holy shit, we're rich rich! What are we gonna buy first?"

Thrax turned to face him with a serious expression. He shoved a roll of bills down the front of Ozzy's trousers and patted him on the head. "Thanks for all your help, there's your tip, now get lost." Ozzy lightly punched him on the shoulder and asked the question again, his tone more serious this time.

Thrax's face softened to a smile and he looked Ozzy in the eyes. "How about we buy a house?"

Ozzy's smile was replaced with a confused look. "You mean… me and you… buy a house… to live in… together?"

Thrax slowly nodded and cupped Ozzy's chin with his hand. "Do you need me to repeat it slower for you, baby?"

Ozzy laughed and swatted his hand away, before he started babbling, "I've never lived with anyone else before. What if we end up hatin' each other? But also it would be really fun. Oh, what the hell, let's do it! Oh my God, can we get a dog?!"

Thrax smiled and pulled him into his chest. "Whatever you want, Oz. First we'll have to find a suitable body, though. I suggest we find a child, as the cells will be more gullible and it'll be easier to trick them into letting us stay. Also, preferably a girl, because they normally take better care of themselves."

Ozzy nodded and wrapped his arms around Thrax's waist. "Sure thing, roomie."