Before
Badou jams his fists in his pockets, scars hidden in a swath of smoke; they were all hiding things, weren’t they?

Jewel
Nill rips out the stitches and tries again, patiently mending holes.

Warm
Haine watches the orange glow from Badou’s cigarette play across his face, and he wonders idly when he started to notice.

Call
A steady stream of profanity falls from Badou’s lips as he digs through his pockets for one more godfuckingdamn nickel.

Resist
Naoto simply quirks an eyebrow when Badou explains for the umpteenth fuckin’ time that, “We’re NOT LIKE THAT, chriiiiiiiiist!”

Lick
Badou isn’t entirely sure how he feels about the way Hanie watches him eat his ice lolly.

Meet
Haine’s skeleton grin is all the answer he needs when Badou petulantly suggests a way to rid the area of the “regular church-goers.”

Lovely
The skin along Haine’s jaw is milky white (fuckin’ prefect) and suddenly Badou can’t think of anything to say.

Mistake
In retrospect, Badou kind of wished that he hadn’t laughed, because it would take a hell of a lot longer for his nose to heal than Haine’s (goddamnsefhealingbastard).

Sleep
Badou tried to convince himself that it was because he had been cold and bored and shit, but Haine’s steadyevensleeping breaths rustled his hair and tickled his chin and he really wasn’t ever much of a liar.

Scold
The bishop really couldn’t care less whether or not Badou smokes, he just likes the excuse to whap him with his cane.

Family
Nill is happiest when she and Naoto are sitting watching Haine and Badou squabble.

Lie
Badou told Naoto flat-out that Haine was a fuckin’ psycho albino (albino for chrissakes) fucker shit-faced fuckityfucker who wore fucking ridiculous bitch boots asshat fucker and there was no chance in fuckin’ hell that he would EVER think thoughts like those and she could fucking die because FUCKING EW.

Slight
The thing about Haine was that he didn’t even need to say anything for Badou to know that he was making fun of him.

All
More than anything, Nill wanted them all to be safe together.

Cycle
Badou popped the roll of film from his camera: shitty pictures of shitty people doing shitty things in this shittyfuckingdumpuva City—he needed more smokes.

Cut
Oddly enough, it was Badou who had a brief fuck with unconsciousness after slicing open his partners toofasthealing skin and digging out a shitload of bullets.

Strike
Haine just barked with (very unsympathetic, the heartless bastard) laughter when Badou grudgingly explained exactly why Naoto had given him the black eye.

Sweat
That fucking albino should not be able to make him sweat like this, Badou thinks with a touch of mania and takes another drag on his cigarette.

House
Badou knows that his apartment is a firehazardratsnestmethlabdownthehall sort of place, but goddamnit it’s his.

Cover
Nill smiles softly and tucks a moth-eaten blanket around the sleeping figures, and Haine knows they’re lucky, even if Badou doesn’t.

Figure
“I told you, bitch,” was al that Haine said as Badou scoured the streets in  hopes of finding enough change to make rent.

Glow
The bishop never really believed in God, but after seeing the was Nill effects Haine, he’s a little bit closer than he’s ever been.

Kind
No matter how apropos comments involving Haine, Naoto, and angry bitch children may seem, Badou has learned to keep them to himself.

Breathe
Haine inhales slowly and wonders what Badou would smell like if he didn’t smoke quite so much.

Wonder
Badou shoves pasta in his mouth and tries to not muse on whether or not he’ll ever be as old as Mihai.

Thirst
It turns out that while Haine is not a vampire, a very large bruise says that he still does not appreciate being tricked into drinking holy water.

Taut
Badou feels like he’s breaking, and Nil wonders if maybe he already has.

Pattern
Haine has become skilled at manipulating his partner by stealinggiving him the right amounts of nicotine at key moments.

Fling
Badou lobs his shoe across the bathroom, crowing with delight as he hits the roach scuttling up the tile wall.

Fruit
“This is good shit,” Badou announces between juicyrunning mouthfulls of apple and drags on his cigarette, “’s good for you.”

Hunt
Really, Badou never had much of a chance, not with that fucking albino dog chasing him.

Zero
“Fucking stupid card games," Badou grumbles as he pulls his shirt over his head.

Rough
Nill regards the bite marks on Badou’s neck with concern and mild curiosity and wonders why Haine looks so smug.

Record
Neither is sure at what point it became a contest, but Badou only had to take one look at Haines blood-caked, maniac face to know that he’d fucking lost again.