The Seventh Avenger

Chapter 48: Housing a Killer

"You know, if you're trying to go for the inconspicuous look, you're not doing so great," I inform James as he walks into the room, my eyes raking up and down the outfit that he had on. Black pants that were his, one of my caps and a pair of my sunglasses, and Ward's hoodie that he was still wearing, with the hood up and covering the cap. As well as these, on his hands he wore black leather gloves that he had surprisingly pulled out of the inside pockets of his top when we had first started to get ready half an hour ago.

He pauses at my words, and turns his head down so that he was looking down at his own body, his lips tugging down into a frown of confusion as he considers what I said. Glancing back up at me, his blue eyes hidden from sight due to the sunglasses that he was wearing covering them, he asks "What's wrong with it?" In puzzled tone..

"Nothing's necessarily wrong with it," I inform him, closing the distance between us by walking almost silently across the room towards him. "It's just...well, you're trying not to stand out, right?" I ask for clarification. When he nods his head, I add, "Well, the thing is, in that outfit, you kinda look a little...suspicious."

He raises an eyebrow at that. "Suspicious?"

"Yeah, suspicious. I've gathered by now that you don't want someone finding you, considering the fact that you weren't all that keen on Sharon seeing you here." When he stiffens at my words, showing me how he wasn't necessarily pleased with the fact that I had figured out that he was running-or, more accurately, hiding-from someone, I only give a dismissive wave of my hand. "Don't worry. I won't tell, nor will I pry. I've sort of figured out by now that if I ask you anything, you're not going to tell me anything. No matter how much I bloody well try to get the truth out of you."

The flicker of a small smile appearing on his face has me mirroring the action, as my own lips tug up softly in response to the small gesture. Looking at him, I came to the conclusion that his whole face truly lit up whenever he smiled-even if him smiling was a rare occurrence. He seemed to always have a permanent scowl attached to his face whenever he thought I wasn't looking at him, and if I were to be quite honest, it was rather off putting. But when he smiled...

I don't know. I guess you could say that he looked incredibly attractive.

My cheeks flush involuntarily at the thought, something that I hope goes unnoticed by him in front of me. Thinking that getting him to talk would keep him distracted from my red-face, I continue rather nervously, "Though I do have one question, that I would appreciate if you answer honestly."

"What?" He asks slowly, his brows furrowing even more.

"You...Do-do you think that me letting you stay here, is a bad decision on my part?"

There it was. Out in the open. I had finally addressed the elephant in the room, that had been present and not entirely unnoticed by the two of us in the past two days. It was something that I had been wondering silently too myself ever since I had first helped him into my apartment, and while I hadn't necessarily thought much about it, it had been lurking in the back of my mind.

He had shown up on my fire escape covered in blood and wielding a gun. Any other person would have turned their back on him the moment that they had seen him-yet, I hadn't. Despite the fact that a part of me suspected that he was dangerous, I had simply pushed these thoughts to the back of my mind so that I could focus on helping him.

Quite frankly, it was probably idiotic of me to do what I had done. Any other sane person would have called the police, or taken him to the hospital-even if he would have killed me for doing so. There was a chance after all, that James was trouble. A high chance, if I were to be blatantly honest with myself. But I hadn't questioned him on it: I had kept my mouth shut and my thoughts to myself, deciding to help him in anyway that I could.