#{val threads

“Massage?” Distracted hands reached out to settle around Zale’s waist. “Uh, sure, if you want to...”

His eyes first fixed themselves on the unfamiliar man, then in confusion at the shifting blonde hair around him as his mind began to whirl in confusion. Glancing even further down to the source of his upset balance, Val was greeted by the sight of a bare chest with a lot more flesh then was there when he first went to sleep. “Oh, what the hell is this?” Val groaned in surprise, his eyes flicking back up and taking the man in again. Now that he focused, some of the features looked familiar, and taking into account what seemed to have happened to him... “The hell did you steal this time, Bijou?”

“I know, Lex, don’t worry about it. We’ll get them. Let’s just count ourselves lucky the family’s off fora few days, can you imagine trying to do this with everyone in the way?” Val snorted in amusement into the darkened halls on the inside of the manor, making no effort to hide his presence as he walked around. He doubted the knowledge of someone being in the house would scare their little thief off the job, they had apparently faced far more on their heists of other families’ valuables, but it was worth a shot. If they did show up he at least hoped they could handle things as nicely as possible, for Alexa’s sake if nothing else.

Val sighed, padding silently through the dark alley. He’d been sent to do some info gathering. This type of job could’ve easily been done by any of Moore’s other grunts, but Val had a feeling being sent on a late night job like this was partly “punishment” for some small infraction that he must’ve done. But, as annoyingly simple as it was to complete, at least it was done and he could go get some rest now. Then suddenly, goosebumps rose on his arms and he heard a shuffle of movement behind him. Val instantly whirled around, his hand reaching down into a hidden holster to flip the safety off of his gun and aim it towards the noise in one smooth movement. His finger only tightened on the trigger when his eyes landed on a darkened figure and Val held still for a moment only to realize that the guy had, in fact, not been trying to secretly jump him and now he’d just pulled a gun on a random stranger. “Oh shit, uh...sorry.” The boy said lamely, flipping the safety on and quickly sliding the weapon back where it came from, giving the other a sheepish grimace. “I guess I’m a little jumpy.”

I told myself I was going to do Val’s tag dump when I got back from eating but then I forgot. It’s a curse.