#axebastardd

Certainly both of them are wishing it’d go by faster, but the venom ekes out in slow drops. Hayden’s grip is featherlight on Tracy’s wrist, like she’d rather not be touching her at all. Their silence is broken only by drops of water echoing further in the tunnels, and the low murmur of Theo and the others in the next room discussing what comes next.

Tracy clears her throat. Hayden jumps slightly in surprise.

“I can probably finish this myself,” Tracy says.

Hayden stares like she’s forgotten the English language. Then she blinks. “Oh. No, it’s okay,” she says, shaking her head. “I don’t mind.”

Tracy wants to insist, but all things considered, she really doesn’t care that much. Hayden’s hand, however lightly it’s touching her, is warm. Tracy is a little reluctant to pull away. She shivers again.

“Cold down here, huh?” Hayden says, like this is just some breezy conversation in the middle of the school hallway.

Tracy almost laughs, but she figures, why not? She doesn’t care to make friends out of anyone here, but it certainly doesn’t benefit her to piss Hayden off. She’s seen her roundhouse kicks.

So she responds, a little awkwardly, “Yeah. Not the place I’d pick for a hideout.”

Hayden almost smiles. “Don’t let Theo hear you say that.”

Tracy snorts. She shifts a little and Hayden shifts with her, hands following Tracy’s hand. Her grip on Tracy’s wrist turns a little firmer, warmer.

Tracy says, “I run cold. Ever since...” She waves her free hand vaguely between them.

Hayden nods. “Because of the Kanima?”

“Probably.”

Tracy impassively watches the venom go, drip by slow drip. The vial is finally full. She tugs her claw out of the top. Hayden lets go of her hand and steps away to seal the vial.

She shivers again from the chill, from the loss of having someone else so close to her, and she hadn’t realized just how long it’s been since she’s felt anything like it. She watches her claws retract, one by one, the scales disappearing along her skin with each motion.

Suddenly something drapes over her shoulders, something soft, warm. Tracy stiffens and shoots her claws out on instinct

Hayden laughs. “It’s just my scarf,” she says. “Take it.”

Tracy looks at her with wide eyes, breathing heavily. She retracts her claws and tentatively touches the scarf with one hand.

“I don’t need it,” she says, and Hayden rolls her eyes.

“Just take it, Tracy.” Hayden moves forward, and Tracy reels from the sudden switch between Hayden barely touching her and Hayden being close enough for Tracy to count her eyelashes.

Hayden loops the scarf around her neck, once, twice. Tracy’s hair gets a little tangled in it, but she doesn’t tug it free. She doesn’t move at all, not with Hayden so near. Not when she’s afraid to touch, to breathe. She belatedly realizes that the scarf smells nice.

“There,” Hayden says, smiling a little. “That better?”

Tracy dips her chin, shrinking into the scarf. This is embarrassing. The cold doesn’t bother her. It’s easier to feel nothing.

But.