Kaz gulped a little at the sight of Vaughn, his white button down half-wet and clinging just a little to his body. He shook his head a little, trying to shake the thought from his mind. He took his hood off, walking to the counter. He hopped up on it, legs swinging idly. "Smart. Smart place to live, I mean. People won't really look for you in an abandoned gas station."
Vaughn ran a hand through the longer section of his hair, smoothing the dripping strands away from his eyes. He leaned against the counter next to where Kaz was sitting, slightly bent over. He looked up at Kaz before shifting his gaze away again. “Mhm. I would prefer something nicer, but that’s impossible with my face plastered on most news channels. Besides, I’ve got all I need here,” he said, gesturing to the Isles.
"Yeah. Definitely smart," Kaz said, looking around the isles. "You've got everything you need, at least until the food expires. But this is a minimart, so there's probably something in here that'll never expire," he joked
(true)
Vaughn gave a hum in acknowledgment and pushed off the counter so he was standing up straight again. “I check dates every once in a while, throw out expired things,” he said, fingers tracing circles on the smooth counter top.
He glanced down at him then, frowning at his wet clothes. “Excuse me while I go change..” he mumbled, walking around to the other side of the counter. He pushed open a door and went inside, shutting it softly behind him. Now in the backroom, he unbuttoned his shirt, tossing it aside, his undershirt coming off afterwards. He walked to one of the shelves taking down one of the boxes. He shifted through the clothing items, feeling the various fabric types with the tips of his fingers.
Kaz stared down at the tiles, his fingers drumming on his knees as he swung his feet absently. He glanced around the minimart, seemingly trying to memorize every feature while he waited for Vaughn to finish
Vaughn tugged on a tshirt and a black sweatshirt, then changed into a pair of dark grey joggers. He stepped out of the backroom, drying at his hair with a small towel. He had another draped over his shoulder, which he tossed to Kaz. “You can use that to dry off with, I don’t know how well any of my clothes would fit you,” Vaughn said, sitting down in the desk chair as he watched Kaz closely.
Kaz caught it, still in the process of a small double take at the sight of Vaughn dressed in anything except formal wear. He reached up to dry his hair with it before shrugging his jacket off and taking his hoodie with it. He took his glasses off, cleaning the glass with the corner of the towel before putting them back on. "Thanks," he said, setting the towel down next to him
“Welcome,” Vaughn said, having watched Kaz as he was going so. He rolled up the sleeves to his sweatshirt, revealing the tattoo on his left forearm for the first time. He leaned back in the chair, kicking his feet up onto the countertop next to Kaz. He decided it was too quiet and reached over, flicking on the old radio and switching though channels.
Kaz caught the tattoo in the corner of his eye. He turned, squinting at it for a moment. "You've got ink too?" he asked, smiling a little
Vaughn did a slight double take, looking down at the messily written letters that spelled Adeline. A memory flashed in his mind of her. He was 12, she was 5. He remembered that his sister got bullied during school, due to a slight lisp she had when speaking. He remembered her coming to him on the playground during grade school, a complete mess of tears. He remembered asking her what had happened, and how she had showed him her skinned elbow. He had been filled with anger when seeing that, and after dropping his sister off in the school office, he had gone out to the kids she had been playing with. He remembered yelling at them, threatening to hurt the kids if they hurt her again. A teacher had come over and scolded him for that, sending him to the office as well. So he had sat there with Adeline in the office until their mom picked them up. He had been a hell of a lot of trouble, but he remembered feeling happy that he helped his little sister.
Vaughn blinked a few times as the memory faded away again. There was a tense feeling in his lungs when he remembered his sister, but it went away. “Yeah,” he simply mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
Kaz's face fell a little at the way Vaughn hid the tattoo. "Um. Sorry. Sorry for asking," he said, leaning forward and resting his head on his hands
Vaughn exhaled slowly and shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine. You showed me yours, so I’ll do the same. We will be even,” He said hesitantly, uncovering the tattoo. “Adeline is my sister’s name. I had it done in her handwriting,” he explained softly, fingers tracing over the ink.
Kaz shuffled a little closer so he could see the tattoo better. He smiled a little. "The best tattoos are the ones that have meaning. Almost all mine have some reason for being there." He rolled up his right sleeve, turning his arm so that the abstract, lined diamond was visible on the inside of his forearm. It had an eye in the center of it, with the eye looking sort of like a goat's. "I got this one for my cousin. He doesn't know I have it, I got it right after he went missing."
Vaughn frowned softly. He got up from his chair, standing next to Kaz now. He traced his finger over the shape of the diamond. Kaz’s skin was soft under his fingertips, and he got a craving to feel him elsewhere. But he scolded himself mentally. What was he thinking? He couldn’t be thinking those sort of things, not right then. He dropped his hand away from the tattoo, letting his hand rest on the countertop. “I like it, it’s nice,” Vaughn said slowly.
Kaz smiled, looking down at the black ink. There were three diamonds, one black, one yellow, and one pink. They overlapped and locked together, and the same colors swirled in the iris of the eye. "I've got a lot, and they've all got some reason behind them. It's…It's sort of a way for me to remember the things I want to keep important," he said softly
“That’s a good idea,” Vaughn murmured softly, nodding his head in understanding. He looked down at the messy writing on his arm. Maybe he should get his mother’s signature next. And your father? What about him, Finley? the whispers teased. That man is no longer my father. He can burn in Hell for all I care, he thought back sharply.
"Yeah. I guess it is," he said. It was odd, how trivial all his reasoning seemed before Vaughn had come along. Everything form his electricity, to the tattoos. He had never thought twice about them, except for thinking they were ridiculous sometimes. "I've got more, if you want to see," Kaz offered, a little proud of the ink now that he had already shown Vaughn two of his tattoos
Vaughn arched a brow, glancing Kaz over as he wondered where the others could be. “Go on ahead,” he said, gesturing with his hand as he spoke. He leaned his side against the counter, watching Kaz with his arms folded.
He took his hoodie off, setting it on the counter with his jacket. There were four bands on each arm, but that was where the symmetry ended. He moved his tank top up a little before turning around. It showed a large tree that seemed to have birds coming out of it, and dripping powerlines were slung behind the black tree. "This one's for my last house in Germany."
Vaughn actually cracked a very faint smile, the corners of his lips barely twitching up. He reached out, hesitantly tracing the form of the tree lightly before moving onto the power lines. He always had a thing for what things felt like. Just the texture of various things provided him some mental grounding.
Kaz had to suppress a shiver at Vaughn's touch. "It was the first tattoo I got," he said before turning around again. "My other one's here," he said, rolling his tank top up a little. Cherry blossoms peeked out across his left hip bone, but the tattoo seemed larger, as if it extended a little farther down his leg. "This one's got a lot of meanings. Half of them are dumb and overcomplicated, but it's there."
Vaughn nodded slowly. He glanced at Kaz before his fingers went to what was showing of the cherry blossoms. “I like this one,” he murmured, fingers trailing lower until they touched the hem of his pants, and he brought his hand away quickly. What the hell was he doing?
Kaz gulped around nothing again, the touch sending flashes of heat through his body. Something in the back of his mind tried piping up, saying something about how needy he was. He ignored it, despite the fact that he wished Vaughn's touch had lasted a little longer. He wanted to respond, to say something to keep Vaughn closer to him. "You…You can keep touching it, if you want," he said, almost immediately regretting letting the words fall from his mouth
Vaughn’s eyes snapped up to Kaz’s eyes at the words. “I’m fine,” he said in a steady tone before walking back around the counter and sitting down in his desk chair. He rested his elbows on his knees, hands folded as he looked at a certain spot on a shelf underneath the counter. He wanted you to just as much as you did the whispers taunted, and Vaughn lowered his head, tugging at the long strands of hair. A confused, stressed feeling washed over him. He didn’t know what he wanted.
//poor children
:~;
(aauagh I gtg right as things were about to get interesting) Kaz let his tank fall back down. He frowned a little, hopping back up on the counter. He knew he shouldn't have said anything, what was he thinking? Was he really that needy? The little voice in the back of his mind said yes, told him he was a stupid, affection-starved idiot who was just getting what he deserved
(Ahh seeyah)
Vaughn caught his lower lip between his teeth as he thought. He didn’t exaclty mean to sound rude, he just mentally panicked. He didn’t think that Kaz thought anything of what he was doing. It was embarrassing, almost. He didn’t know what he wanted at the moment. We know, the whispers hissed. You want him in the cot with you, don’t you, Finley? He resisted the urge to grimace at the words. Nothing that intimate. They had barely known each other a day. Then again, Kaz did share private things about himself with Vaughn. Even used the word friend to describe him. Hell, he was more of a man than Vaughn was. All he could do was sit and worry. So, for once, he actually listened, partly, to the whispers advice and stood, suddenly standing between Kaz’s legs. He had one hand on either side of him, and looked up at him with the same piercing grey eyes. “Anymore tattoos?”
//aww, bye :(
(ehe this was a glorious thing to wake up to) Kaz gulped, the faintest blush working its way into his face. "I…My last one's on my ankle," he said, not daring breaking eye contact with Vaughn. They had the same color eyes, grey meeting grey in the dark of the minimart. Something odd worked its way into his stomach, Vaughn's gaze pinning him in place on the counter. It almost felt like butterflies, the kind you get when you actually like someone. The thought almost confused him for a moment. He almost never felt that with someone. He slept around a little, sure, but actually liking someone? No, that had only happened once before. But now it was happening again, and the thought terrified him just a little