The kiss was unexpected, but not unwelcome, and Lex was a tad disappointed when Dakota broke away and apologised.

“Don’t be. Please?” he murmured, pouting a little.

The last thing Lex wanted was for Dakota to think kissing him was a mistake. Not when the attraction was mutual, even if the blond wasn’t the best at showing it when it really mattered.

“Honestly, I was kinda hoping you would… Kiss me, I mean.”

“Lex...” His voice was soft, gentle, and filled with the desire to not hurt the other. “Lex, I’m over a decade older than you. It wouldn’t be right.” 

Not only was he so much older but he was supposed to be helping Lex, not taking advantage of him. 

It was late, about twenty minutes after close and he had just finished mopping the dining room, on his way to get the kitchen cleaned and prepped for the morning. He had sent the waitress home, told her to get back to that baby of hers before he carried her home over his shoulder. She had tried to split her tips with him but he had declined. She needed the money a lot more than he did. She always offered. He always declined. It was a familiar rhythm. 

His back was turned when the door opened, but he was speaking as he turned to let them know they were closed until he took one look at the kid. He looked like he hadn’t had a decent meal in a week. 

“Out in the breezeway down by the shore in the lazy summer “

It wasn’t the longest drive, but it had still been a couple hours to get to the nearest beach. The sun sinking below the horizon as he sat at the water’s edge, watching the birds dip and dive along the edge of where sky met water. It had taken a little while for him to realize he wasn’t exactly alone, but he still offered a smile when he glanced over and opted to make small talk just in case there was want to not feel alone in the world.

Annie was on break and it was slow enough that Dakota didn’t mind delivering the only order to the table, an almost apologetic look on his face as he slid the plate in front of them.

“Sorry ‘bout that. Your waitress had to take her break before she went over on hours, told her I’d make sure the food got out to you. If there’s anything else you need, just let me know. Name’s Dakota and Annie’ll be back in about twenty minutes if you’d rather she take care of you.”

“Looks worse than it is,” Lex answered, the words tumbling out from behind gritted teeth with a tired, defeated-sounding sigh.

In truth though, even if the wounds were relatively superficial, the combination of a busted lip, a nosebleed and a cut somewhere on his scalp made for a gory sight, Lex’s t-shirt soaked through with his own blood enough that it was starting to crust and stick to his skin.

The physical injuries from getting jumped by some piece of shit MAGA asshole he’d gotten on the wrong side of weren’t anything Lex couldn’t heal from with enough time, and while he hurt all over, the psychological ones would take longer and leave deeper scars, piling on top of all of the others he’d accumulated over the course of his life.

“Don’t think that’s really reassuring with how bad it looks,” the wolf remarked, giving the other a hard look as he closed up the grate to the wood burning furnace.

It was lucky that he had first aid stuff lying around. Being half shifter, it wasn’t really something he needed a whole lot of, but it was good to have on hand if he got into trouble he couldn’t easily heal from. At the very least, it would let him patch Lex up.