Devil's Eye

Chapter 10

5' 8"-5' 9"

By the time Noah and Ethan left the bar, it had already been dark outside. You could only see some bright rust stain left from the sunset on the west. On the east, the sky turned pitch black, with some rare stars that could be visible in the city and some flashing red lights from the planes flying above.

The neon sign of 'I want you deadly' desperately needed repair. It was flickering, so if somebody looked at it for more than two seconds, their eyes would hurt.

Noah shifted his glance from the sign to Ethan, catching himself thinking that he had thought wrong about Thomson all along. Even taking into account the first time they met, when Ethan somehow got into a fight with a local drug dealer, and the second time, when he splashed coffee in some guy's face, Morgan still believed that Thomson was a good guy, who was aggressive only towards people who were the first to start the conflict. Tonight, Noah found out the opposite. Ethan didn't need others to talk back in order to start talking back himself. He was generously telling everyone all he had thought, extremely straightforwardly and ball-bustingly. That was how he was building the wall of disapproval and misunderstanding around him. He was doing it on purpose. The only person Ethan had treated, for some unknown reason, normally was Noah. It was only Noah and no one else. And Morgan would be a fool if he didn't like it. In Ethan's personal list, though, others, even Noah's closest friends, were written down in the 'Enemies' section. It turned out that Noah somehow counted the most combative person to be the most conflict-averse one. And why? Because Ethan didn't believe the rumors? Or because Ethan would rise to the defense courageously? Or maybe because...Ethan was apparently quite handsome, and that was already enough for Noah to lose his mind? Could there possibly be something else?

The question of why Ethan, considering his temper, still showed Noah mercy remained. What if... No, but really... Was it possible? What if he could possibly? .. Morgan understood that he wouldn't dare state his assumptions out loud, but he was more surprised that he couldn't dare to even think about them.

Ethan stepped a little bit aside from the bar and took his phone out to take a picture of Noah. He either didn't notice Noah staring at him or maybe simply ignored it.

"What are you doing?" Morgan was surprised. Ethan didn't give the impression of a person who would take pictures of everything and everywhere.

"I'm trying to remember everything."

"Remember what? The bar, where you managed to get into a fight with at least half of the visitors?" Noah smiled alcoholically. He would never ask this question sober. What if Ethan considered Morgan's question a complaint and got mad?

"Only with a half?" Ethan acted like he was surprised, "Let's go back in."

"Why?"

"I'll get into a fight with another half," Ethan said seriously.

"Why?"

"I don't like unfinished business."

"So will you get into a fight with me then, too?" Noah couldn't stop smiling. Ethan would probably think he was weird. Or an idiot.

"No."

"Why? I'm also the other half."

"No, you're not."

"Really?"

"Really."

"So does that mean I'm special?" Noah was drunk-astonished.

Ethan frowned.

"...Unique," he articulated so sharply that it felt like you could get a cut with this word. This feature should've been taken as a compliment. It was a compliment, actually. But it felt a little bit forced on the inside. If... If Ethan didn't want to admit this uniqueness. Just if he couldn't accept it.