Neurotic

"You, sir, are a raving lunatic," Haine growled out, trying to swat the other away as he encroached more and more on the poor amount of space he himself was taking up on the couch.

"You forgot neurotic, dearest. But don't worry; I'll help you remember."

Uncertainty

"To Hell if I know."

"You know," Badou said, looking his partner square in the eye, "I'd rather you not go to Hell if you knew. Because frankly, I don't know if I'd be capable of following you there or not."

"You dumbass. Where else do you think you'll go when you die, Candy-Land?"

"Well… yeah. I was kind of hoping so."

Luck

"Dude, do you have any idea how lucky you are?"

Badou really had no interest whatsoever in finding out what he was so lucky about, but seeing as he was smashed enough to not even care about the fact that he'd accidentally stumbled into a gay bar to get drunk in, he might as well try his own shit-faced luck some more to see how far it would go.

"No, but why don't you tell me. I'd like to hear some good fuckin' news for once," he slurred, staring over at the bleach blond brute sitting next to him, who was looking after the front door like it was going to spawn something with two legs that he could abscond and canoodle with.

"I don't know how you can have any bad news with a pair of legs like that walking after you," the man said, shaking his head and taking a deep slug of his bourbon.

"What the Sam Hell are you talking about?"

"And the fact that you managed to find the only drop dead gorgeous albino in the city? Hot damn, I'd kill to be you when you get home tonight." He actually looked at Badou then, and realized that the other had no idea what was going on, but was getting a slow, drunken inkling. "Your partner that came storming in after you earlier; the one with the guns on his ass. Don't tell me you haven't gotten past those yet."

Badou just about snorted the rest of his ill-tasting beer. "Haine? You're looking after his ass? You've gotta be fucking crazy, man. He'll bite your head off before he lets you touch his gun, let alone his ass."

The man let out a low "ooh". "So he likes to play a hard-handed tough-to-get, does he? Sounds like fun."

"You obviously don't know him very well," Badou grumbled, setting down his drink before any more of it could end up in his lungs. "That hard-handed tough-to-get view would get you a distinctive hole in your throat sooner than any of that ass. So I recommend you dream on with some other assassin in this city before you drag yourself up to his happy ass."

The man shrugged, obviously having expected, and accepted such an answer while remaining generally nonplussed about the matter. "Still, you're one lucky guy. Deadliest, most gorgeous albino assassin in the city, and he's obviously wrapped around your finger."

"Damn right he is, now fuck off; I'm drinking."

Heat

Haine was practically poking his partner in the face with the popsicle before the heat-stupefied man even began to notice.

"Just take the damn thing, and don't make any kinky comments," the albino growled out over his own cherry-flavored treat. "It's hot out, and if you light up one more cig I swear to god the apartment will burn down."

"Never thought I'd see the day when I'd take a popsicle over another cig."

"Yeah, well heat makes you do funny things."

River

"Come on, man. Come on, come back with me," Badou muttered as he dragged the water-logged form of his companion up the levee bank that enclosed the rain-fattened hell-channel of a river that ran through the city. "Drowning ain't supposed to be your strong suit."

He finally managed to haul half of himself above the water level by clawing one hand up a chain link fence far enough to get some torque. He just barely managed to get Haine's shoulders above the water, the albino's sopping white hair sagging against his face as he breathed in heavily the air that was now accessible.

"Not drowned yet," he coughed out after a moment, before slowly clawing one of his own hands up onto the chain link in order to pull himself up. "Just a bit more wet in some places. Let's finish the job up, eh?"

"Hell no," Badou said, helping to haul both himself and Haine up over the fence and onto firm ground. "We'll talk about that when we get that "a bit more wet" out of your lungs, okay?"

Shark

Badou turned in the middle of their firefight at the sound of Haine coarsely swearing. In a barrage of quickly-aimed shots Haine himself ended the remaining fight; obviously having grown swiftly impatient due to whatever made him swear.

When Badou got over to him, after jumping spryly over the bodies they'd felled, he was finally able to ask what was wrong.

"Fucker got me in the mouth," Haine ground out through a hand that was pressed against one side of his face. "Think he might have knocked a tooth loose."

"Lemme' see," Badou said, and leaned in as Haine removed his hand and curled his lip up for the other to see.

Sure enough, his gum was bleeding, and a canine tooth was hanging loose and crooked against its socket. Badou cringed, before reaching in and essentially plucking it out from where it was hanging. But the second he did, a fleck of white caught his eye, and what appeared to be a chip of the root turned out to be anything but.

"Fuck, you bastard, that hurt," Haine bit out, only to have Badou interrupt him.

"Fuck, you bastard! You've got another tooth already growing in! What are you, a fucking shark or something?"

Wonderland

"I'd like to follow you down your rabbit hole."

"That's probably one of the worst lines I've ever heard."

"I know, just roll with it, okay?"

"No."

Rationale

"You do know the only reason that this church is still here, don't you?" the Bishop asked of him one day, as he lay lounging on a pew waiting for Haine to come out with one of his newly repaired jackets.

"Because it's old and thus valued for some reason?" he'd guessed.

"No," the Bishop said with a light laugh. "It's because of something that was rumored to have happened here during the Dark Ages. And old Catholic legend, surrounding massive hounds from hell with red eyes and black pelts. One in particular that clawed at this church's door and prowled down these very pews one Sunday morning. That's what a lot of people claim made the strange scorch marks on the door."

Badou paused for a moment, thinking. "Well, you know what they say about history repeating itself. And I don't know about you, but I'd call these some pretty dark ages myself."

"Indeed."

Loot

Haine straddling his absconded crotch-rocket for the first time was probably the most erotic thing he'd seen Haine dare to do in public. But that was probably because he was the only one daring enough to think of Haine in a provocative way whenever he did anything, if only due to "personal prejudices".

Compromise

"Badou, this isn't 'Show and Tell'."

"Yeah, well it ain't 'Show and Sell' either, so what the hell are you so afraid of?"

"Did you just call me a hooker?"

"Nah, I wouldn't ever do that."

"Why?"

"Don't like competition, Roxanne."

"Shut up, asshole."

Beach

The day the trains actually led somewhere sunny, Mimi was the first one to abscond with everyone she could get her hands on and go to the beach.

Badou was over his head with how much of a world existed outside the razed walls of the city, and Haine was beyond himself pissed with how much sun existed everywhere else. But he did seem intrigued by all of it, even if it did having to mean slathering up with gallons of SPF 9000+.

But even Haine, with his aversion to the sun and its obnoxious screen, couldn't deny that their trip to the beach, with Mihai, Kiri, Naoto, Nill, and even the Bishop, had been a wonderful time. And, for the first time ever, Badou was able to appreciate Haine's comeliness in a lack of shirt in public.

He'd been sipping on a lemonade as Haine made to wander over to where Nill was attempting to make some sort of sandcastle when he became aware that he was not the only one to have noticed Haine's features.

What made him nearly drown himself in the lemonade, however, was the fact that it was Naoto who had noticed.

"You know, he has awfully pretty hips for a guy."

Perspective

It wasn't something he had intended to notice; it wasn't something most people intended to notice in their lifetimes. He hadn't intended to get that close to his partner, nor had he intended to have become so close to his partner in the end.

But the scene was one that would forever remain in his mind regardless.

Haine's hair had grown out some; just long enough to brush down past his ears and just flick at his shoulders. It was mussed, as always, but he was intending wholeheartedly to cut it soon. But it made for one hell of a rapture when Badou, who sat facing him on the bed, idly reached out with both his hands to brush the hair back on both sides of Haine's neck until his fingers laced.

Haine, who had been reading some article in his lap, had glanced up at him, and Badou was nearly startled enough to release the other when he realized just how perfectly symmetrical, angular, and crafted Haine's face looked from his position.

And yet, it wasn't repugnant in the least, much to his surprise and relief. But that could also be accredited to his particular perspective.

Fluff

After the hair raising day spent down at the river, Badou could honestly say that taking Haine home and buffing him off in a fluffy towel was on the verge of seriously making his day.

Okay, so it did totally make his day, especially with how almost ludicrously fluffy Haine's already wiry hair got when buffed dry.