A Soft Place to land

17

"You,," Wolf said, grabbing Gray's attention. "What the hell happened?"

He was staring right at them, the apparent bruises on Gray's neck. And Gray, following the direction of Wolf's eyes, seemed to realize what Wolf was staring at so intently and tried to cover it up with his hand.

Things got awkward again, except this time Wolf felt more concerned then awkward. He usually wouldn't care, but now, sitting in front of Gray, he thought to himself: 'What if i'm the only one that knows about this?' Maybe he was wrong to think this, but right now the most important thing to him were the gigantic bruises that stood out against Gray's skin. So Wolf stood from his chair, and snatched the plastic bag from Gray's hands.

"Sit" He said, lightly pushing Gray back to the table. Gray got the memo and took a seat, but for the first time that night, he had this genuinely shell-shocked face. It wasn't much, just wide eyes, and a slightly slacked jaw.

But Wolf found himself thinking as he prepared bandaids and bandages for Gray to use; 'How the hell, why the hell, and what the hell am I doing?' He was initially supposed to patch himself up and leave the convenience store, but for some reason, empathy overrode his brain and now he was readying bandaids for Gray instead of just leaving him there.

Maybe it was because he hasn't seen him like this in awhile, so his brain took pity on the situation and was like: Since he's pretty we'll help him this time- And speaking of pretty, Wolf, at that moment, had an atrocious thought.

'How the hell does he still manage to look so goddamn pretty after getting beat up.' It was weird, but it was technically true. The bastard was pretty, and he has been since highschool. Although Wolf was as straight as a ruler, so he doubted that anything would come from that.

Taking the box of bandaids with him to his seat next to the patiently waiting Gray, he sat down and scooted himself closer to him for better access. Wolf got to work with his magic hands (despite having limited knowledge on basic medical treatment), he started with the gash underneath Gray's lip that was thankfully already cleaned up- so all he really had to do was slap a bandaid on it and call it a day.

The rest of Gray's injuries were bruises so there wasn't much that had to be done. Scooting away from him, Wolf inspected his work. But as his eyes scanned over Gray's skin, he couldn't help but come back to his neck.

It looked bad.. like, really bad. Out of all the bruises he had, it was the most noticeable and it bothered Wolf to no end. Maybe he could at least wrap a gauze over it? That would definitely hide them, but just knowing that they're still there left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"-Anyways, you still haven't answered my question yet." Wolf said, turning to grab the Gauze off the table. And Gray, reluctant to answer, averted his eyes and kept his hand on his neck.

"It's none of your business."

Of course it wasn't.

Wolf saw this one coming- of course Gray was going to get all defensive about it, why wouldn't he? He just got beat up and now he's talking to one of his highschool enemies, alone, in a convenience store in the middle of the night.

But Wolf, who still wasn't over his wasted night of relaxation, thought that he at least had the right to know after all that's happened; So he could wake up the next morning and think that it was totally reasonable for him to tag along with Gray and not regret it too much.

Wolf gave Gray an unimpressed face, and moved closer so he could wrap the gauze over his bruised neck.

"Well, if it wasn't my fucking business I wouldn't be here right now- I think I deserve to know."

He looked back at Gray and saw him avert his eyes, again. Wolf exhaled in frustration.

" Fine- Be like that. Ungrateful bastard." Rolling his eyes, Wolf unravelled the gauze and fumbled around with it, not knowing how he's supposed to use it. And, Gray who was still looking elsewhere trying to avoid Wolf's eyes, seemed to have had a last minute change of heart, and decided to properly speak up.

"He was a client" He said, cautiously eyeing the table.

Wolf cocked a brow at him.

"Huh?"

"That guy from earlier, a client of mine."

Oh. Wolf thought to himself. No Wonder. Now that he thought about it, the man was half naked when he came bursting through the streets- that also explained Gray's... hickeys. 'But if that's the case, then what was up with the running, the bruises, the blood and everything. Maybe they were just having a really heated session? Or maybe- ' Wolf came to a shocking realization and stared at Gray incredulously. "Are you,, are you- a masochist!?"

...

That in which Gray responded to with a dull face and a sigh. "No, I am not a masochist."

"But apparently he thought I was." Gray said, pressing the bruise on his neck. "So I defended myself."

Looking down at the bruises, Wolf was able to piece it together with his tiny little brain, and his eyes went wide. "Well.. Damn then." He said. Gray's explanation made so much sense, and here he was, thinking that he was going to get some bogus reason out of him- yeah, because someone like Gray would totally get himself into trouble for stupid reasons. But then, that brought up the question of ' Then why is he doing this in the first place, if he's so smart.' Which Wolf almost asked him- but he decided that if he were to do that then he'd be digging himself into deeper shit than he'd want to be in.

So instead he just settled on saying: "Well, I mean. You're in a real shady business so I'm not really surprised."

Gray didn't respond and silence filled the air again.

"You should quit it if you can, that kind of work isn't good for a smart-ass like you." Wolf was finally able to fully unwrap the gauze with fumbling fingers, so he leaned forward and carefully tilted Gray's chin up for better access.

"- try to stay still so I don't end up choking you." As soon as he said that, Gray flinched in his chair, and Wolf got the memo that maybe he shouldn't bring up choking anymore- given the situation. He smiled sheepishly as he began to wrap the cotton around Gray's neck.

The entire time, Gray was as still as a rock, unless Wolf accidentally pulled too hard, yanking him forward. But for a moment, the both of them felt comfortable with each other, no talking needed- Wolf preferred this silence over their uncomfortable conversation from two minutes ago, this way he didn't have to feel misplaced or awkward talking about Gray's life.

But, the silence didn't last long, because as soon as Wolf finished up, Gray decided that now was a good time to talk.

"You've really changed." He said, watching Wolf shift in his chair.

Wolf, on the other hand, was starting to feel the fatigue hit him. "Yeah? What's that supposed to mean?" He replied, massaging his temple.

Gray didn't respond.

"Anyways, honestly- you should find another job. If you don't wanna be picked up by another Sadist, then yeah." Wolf said, lazily side eyeing him. "You might end up doing some stupid shit or something." Gray, once again, chose not to respond and instead got up from his chair, then began to walk back towards the convenience store doors with the water bottle Wolf got for him in hand.

And, while Wolf's eyes followed Gray's retreating back, he scoffed. Underneath the tail of Gray's hoodie, were the back pockets of the same grey sweatpants that he gave to Gray that morning.

'Funny Bastard' Wolf thought to himself, watching Gray make his way to the doors.

"Do you at least have an umbrella? If you get drenched you might get an infection or something." Wolf stated, lazily leaning off the convenience store chair. Making Gray stop in front of the glass doors, and look back to him.

"I'll be fine." He said.

Then he left.