ONE OF TWO. - razor

Chapter Two

It was on a cloudless day – several sunrises having gone by since his talk with Teacher – that he was meeting with his human Lupical again; with Bennett. The anxiety of potentially putting his friends at risk a second time was near paralysing, yet Lisa reassuringly held his hand and sent plenty of easy smiles his way as they walked towards the Adventurers' Guild in Mondstadt's main street. She spoke about the birds they saw hopping along the cobbled alleys, quizzed Razor on basic topics she could connect to that which was around them, and the distractions helped, even if only a little.

The moment the two of them rounded the corner to the Guild, his name was gleefully called by a voice he could recognise over the roar of an overhead thunderstorm and through the muting echoes of an ocean's abyss. A mop of tousled white hair bound towards him and within seconds it was pressed into a side of his face, a welcome scent of earth and fire and honey filling his lungs.

"Razor! I missed you! Gosh, are you okay?! Don't ever run away like that again! Oops, sorry; pressed on your arm, didn't I? How's it healing, by the way? I heard you got a nasty gash."

It was the sort of onslaught of words Razor had come to expect from the young adventurer; however, his mind was sluggish to process what was said to him in such quick succession, experiencing a pendulum swing between apprehension and pure bliss at being with his Lupical again – at being embraced so closely by Bennett.

He wrapped his own arms around the other boy and made a sound of contentment akin to a purr, all previous nerves dissipating from within him as the familiar scent he inhaled when he burrowed his face into the crook of Bennett's neck intensified, and he closed his eyes, at ease.

Bennett was okay. Bennett was happy to see him.

Razor felt like the world had been given a fresh coat of paint, every colour glimmering vibrantly around them in the warm haze of sunlight.

"Gently now, both of you," Came Lisa's soft words of reproach from somewhere to their side, and Bennett shyly chuckled, relinquishing his hold on Razor to step back, sheepishly rubbing at the base of his head.

"Sorry, Miss Lisa, but I truly am feeling as fit as a fiddle!"

"Bennett, really okay?" Razor asked for confirmation, analytical eyes scanning over Bennett's form, sight sticking to where gauze was peeking out from under the latter's waistcoat. Guilt nipped at his heart before he could stop it, but he did his utmost to quash it.

"Hrm? Why, of course!" There was no hesitation to Bennett's affirmation, a detail that abated Razor's shame, and then the adventurer was striking a confident pose, one hand on a jutted hip and the other proudly pointing a thumb his own way, "It would take a whole lot more than that to leave a guy like me incapacitated for longer than a day!"

Razor swelled with joy at that, vigorously bobbing his head in agreement before he pounced onto Bennett once more, momentarily knocking the air out of the other's lungs, and they were embracing again.

"Bennett, is strong, but I, am sorry."

The boy hummed to show understanding, squeezing Razor in return.

"It's okay, Razor. I'm okay."

A handful of seconds passed and finally Razor pulled away, though not before giving a sweeping lick up Bennett's cheek that near instantly flushed red. He beamed at the reaction and Bennett could practically envision a silvery bush of a tail swishing zealously behind him.

"The sheer and abundant lack of respect towards I, the Prinzessin der Verurteilung, your most amicable of companions, is abominable," Stated a posh voice nearby, affronted, "Nay, there I say outrageous and distasteful! One was most concerned about one's friends, and yet I am being set aside so cruelly!"