It's easy to forget, sometimes, that Copen isn't human.
In many ways, he looks the same as they do, acts much the same besides his obvious quirks. He frowns, he groans, he grows both annoyed and tired. He lets kids climb him as if he were a particularly mobile tree, he helps in passing slums when the people there need labor done by someone strong and fit, he repairs second hand machines and explains how he does so as Kohaku watches, hand over his forehead once it's her turn because he feels her 'intuition' is so ridiculous—
And he loves. Copen has a love for people that Kohaku has only rarely seen in other people, something holy and bright and unknowable. It's unconditional in a way that no one he gives it to could possibly ever deserve; it's divine and it's like the warmth of a small sun held between rough palms. Kohaku thinks that Copen must be full of it, retribution and salvation pressed into the heat of his skin. Like he's made to care and care until he was bursting with it in spite of his frosty attitude.
Kohaku thinks he has more humanity in him than anyone she's ever met in her entire life.
But he's not human at all.
There are small things to be noticed, if you know to look, that make Copen just a little less human. Like how his teeth are just a bit too perfect, pointed fangs that have not a blemish or inch of spit around them when he opens his mouth, a pleasant breath within it no matter the hour. Or how his skin is entirely unblemished when he's not coming back with soon to be repaired scars, untouched by sun damage despite his long travels. There's not even a wrinkle in sight, no sign of age, just smooth and pale planes that never tan or change or deteriorate no matter what he does.
His eyes are bright, a unique crimson red that she's certain have shined once or twice in the dark. He's mostly unaffected by hunger or thirst, never joining the group for any of their meals. It made him less a mouth to feed but gave him a sort of distance for a while. Kohaku is sure that if need be, he and Lola could go on a mission trip for several days, running on an endless supply of energy.
He bleeds, thick and red just like anyone else, but never for too long. His skin will push out any foreign object, will begin to stitch itself back together at a faster rate than any human could hope for. He'll repair himself from a bullet wound within the day, will be back on his feet just like he had before. He can take a beating, even if Kohaku often wishes that he wouldn't.
But there's something just on the side of off about him, even it's typically something that's easy to ignore, something people can choose to ignore. Sometimes—even Kohaku finds herself ignoring it. It's difficult to let herself dwell on the fact that Copen is a creature just outside of her comprehension. Outside of everyone's, so she doesn't think about it. He has the ability to raze towns with his weaponry, to take as many adepts as he can with them, but he doesn't. He's so far more involved with the little people around him, and to Kohaku that makes him a hero.
But there are other things about him that are much more blatantly inhuman, things that become more apparent the longer they live under the same roof.
They're both hiding, just the two of them tucked into a small crevice between two buildings. It's not even Copen's usual style, but they're trying to lay low for once. Maybe a few eager hunters will leave them alone if they think they've lost them. Less bullets wasted and no risk of gaining more attention, as they're but a few streets or so away from the main base which must not be discovered.
As usual, Copen is the more hyper vigilant of the two, head tilted as he listens for footsteps or voices, meanwhile Kohaku is too distracted by how Copen feels like a blazing furnace. She knows Copen usually runs hot, has had their skin brush in passing while scavenging or tending wounds, but with Copen pressed against her front like this, the heat is inescapable.
She feels like she's gotten too close to a fire pit but—more pleasant. But maybe she just thinks that because it's Copen.
But even more than that, Kohaku can feel something practically thrumming where she's pressed against Copen. Like touching an outlet or an exposed wire, electric currents that buzz with power. She wonders how she'd never noticed it before.
"I think they're gone." Copen says quietly, looking down at Kohaku with eyes that flash strangely in the light, looking nearly brighter as they reflect both the moon and the warm lights that spill from broken windows. She knows he can see far better in the dark than she can, like the eyes of a cat.
Kohaku's mouth parts, and without really thinking she puts a hands on Copen's chest. She feels the man freeze beneath her touch and when Kohaku pays attention, she can feel it, that steady thrum that makes her fingers tingle. She breathes out slowly.
"You—you feel…" she pauses, brows furrowing, not quite sure how to say it. Warm, like energy incarnate, like poking an outlet with a fork, and so so warm.
She yanks her hand back, suddenly feeling incredibly ridiculous. "Different. Just different." She shrugs, moving her head sideways as if it'd shake the words away, and pretends like she won't be thinking about it for a long time after today, what it really feels like to touch him for more than just a passing moment.
There's something that flashes over Copen's face, that split second of pain that Kohaku catches so often, before he's nodding, face pulling into that cold look that Kohaku really dislikes right now.
"Oh, I see." He comments, calm yet strained, "Sorry. I'm sorry." He jerks back, like he's desperately trying to get away from Kohaku, as if he thinks that if they were to stay like this for a moment longer Kohaku is going to start melting.
Kohaku thinks she just might, but definitely not for the reasons that Copen is thinking.
"Wait!" She whisper shouts, and like an idiot she puts her hands on Copen's forearms, keeping him in place. She isn't quite sure why, or maybe she just doesn't want to think of the why right now, but she wants that miserable look off of Copen's face as soon as possible.
"Honestly, my bad, but Copen I said different, not bad." She rolls her eyes, like her heart isn't beating against her rib cage with a vengeance. She wonders if Copen can feel it with them pressed this close.
Her fingers twitch over Copen's arms, slowly sliding her hands down the material of his gloves and the armor around his prosthetic hands. She wonders what directly holding his hands feels like, so she gives into the impulse, because Copen still looks a bit stunned, like he can't believe that Kohaku is even still this close to him, as if he thinks Kohaku shouldn't want to.
And Kohaku wants to prove him wrong.
She reaches out, brushing her fingers over the exposed parts of Copen's own where only black latex cover them. And then after a moment she reaches up and cups the right of Copen's cheek, watching as his eyes widen and she can feel the delicate shiver that runs through his body. Kohaku is sure that Copen can feel her heartbeat at this point.
Touching his exposed skin is even warmer, soft and smooth, and that current of energy is a pleasant thrum that makes Kohaku feel nearly relaxed. Her thumb brushes the pulse on Copen's neck, feeling the inhumanely quick hasten of his heart, faster than that of any human's.
She wonders if Copen's heart is in the same place as a human's. She'd never thought of that before.
She swallows, "See? It's fine. No need to freak out on me, Mr White Steel." Her voice sounds almost strained, but she ignores it, fingers dipping just below Copen's collar. She never knew she could grow addicted to a person so quickly, but she so impossibly has.
Copen stares at her for a few moments, those pretty reds nearly glittering. She wonders if he's going to start crying and if he even can, and then desperately hopes that he's not.
"Oh." He murmurs, "Okay." He says a bit dumbly, blinking at Kohaku like he were seeing her again for the first time.
Kohaku hums, content, and she finally lets her hands drop away from him.
(She swears she can feel the leftover impressions of the buzz of Copen's skin against her own for the next week.)