The Warmth of his Wires

Chapter three: Kindling

"I have to go to the store. Don't burn down the house or anything."

These wisecracks from Mike rarely came anymore. The two had gotten used to each other, although Mike still had half-formed thoughts about it becoming... something more. He quickly put them out of his mind, however, especially after he discovered he could communicate with Noah through it.

"Don't forget my soda. I'm almost out." Noah had taken a liking to a Mexican fruit-punch flavored soda at the Walmart Mike frequented... not that he could have eaten anything there, he no longer had the organs.

Noah had also taken to helping Mike when he could. Mike's house was now a lot cleaner with two people splitting the work, and sometimes Noah offered to sneak around and see if he could hear anything important relating to his family. Mike always declined, and the reason had shifted from 'I don't trust Ennard and he might leave me again' to 'I don't want to burden Noah and he might leave me again'.

Noah was also good at drawing. Several times Mike had caught Noah staring at him, and when he was cleaning Noah's room, he found a sketchbook full of exceedingly good drawings of Mike... in all of his forms. 

Before Mike left, he caught himself in the mirror. Brown hair with a few purple locks and held back in a short ponytail; grey eyes that looked like a raincloud when he was pleased and a hurricane when he wasn't; a black eyepatch to cover that stubborn bit of rot; a short-sleeved lavender button-up and slightly torn brown jeans. This was one of the few mirrors he hadn't broken in grief or anger, and now he was glad he kept it.

When he got back from the store (the cashier tonight was the one who always stared suspiciously at the eyepatch), he put everything away and slumped on the couch to turn on a few episodes of Bones. (Shut the hell up.) Noah got himself a soda and cautiously sat beside Mike. "...The show with Dr. Brennan in it again?" Mike nodded without looking away from the tv. Noah smiled faintly and got a little closer to Mike, who tried not to notice and failed. His face had just barely colored pink.

Later that night, after... was it one season or two? Mike heard something under the window. "I have to go shoo it away." He left the tv playing for Noah and went to the noise. It was an enormous raccoon. "...the hell? Go away!" The raccoon, unimpressed, bit Mike's hand. "AW SON OF A BITCH! NOAH GET OVER HERE!" Noah came running, saw the raccoon latching itself to Mike's hand while he swung it wildly, and hooked one hand under the raccoon and slapped its nose with the other. The raccoon opened its mouth in surprise and Noah tossed it out the window. Mike was holding his arm gingerly with the other and looking at Noah with gratitude. "God, thank you!"

A few weeks later, both were at the library. Noah was demolishing his way through a stack of Manga, while Mike had a pile of horror novels big enough to bury a small child in. The volume of manga Noah had just chosen out of the stack was off to a slow start and hard for even Mike to read, so it shouldn't have been a surprise when Noah fell asleep... except he did it on Mike's shoulder. Mike blushed, but since no one was around and Noah was asleep, he... may or may not have held him closer. For the first time in years, he was truly happy.