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"Spins, you got a letter!" Spencer's roommate, Jaden called as he walked into the living room, the door swinging shut behind him with a slam.

Spins, more engaged with channel surfing didn't bother to look up. People didn't much write him. That's what email was for.

"It's junk, just toss it." He muttered, tilting his head sideways at the current scene on the screen, two cars colliding, a riot of flames. "We goin' out tonight?"

"We went out tuesday." Cool and disinterested and dull. Just like Jaden. "Hey, your love like suck?"

"Heh. Well, you see me bring anyone home lately?" He shrugged, still watching the screen. "Maybe, if we go out tonight-"

"No, man. You got a letter. Some sort of dating service."

Jaden lowered the now open letter into Spencer's line of vision, obstructing his view of the screen. Snatching it away roughly, he scanned it quickly, his expression undecided between a frown and an amused smirk. Well ********. That wasn't very nice, was it?

"I don't need a damn dating service."

"Oh, c'mon Spins. When's the last time you got laid? Could be good for you."

"Oh, screw you." He scanned the letter again. "And get me a pen, dammit."

Spins Meets Dom

Moths and Flames

In which Spins meets Dom, and eats Thai food.

Moths and Flames; now with 89% more violence

In which Dom and Spins kick some serious a**.

His clothes were torn. There was mud on his face, on his skin. His mouth tasted like mud and copper. Spins was sick with what he told himself was exhaustion, and his hands were shaking as he tried to get his key in the door. He struggled with it, kicked at it in frustration, and then there was Jaden, standing in the now open doorway, frowning.

Spins forced a grin, not one of his wicked, wild smiles, but his best approximation. "Hey. I was testing the locks. They hold."

Jaden didn't respond, just grabbed him roughly by the arm and brought him stumbling over the threshold. And Spins thought, giggling, that it was a good thing he had. It wasn't safe to hang about liminal zones.

"It's been three days." Jaden supported him on the way to the couch and Spins allowed it, putting the majority of his stumbling weight on his roommate then falling, laughing into the cushions.

"Sounds right." He let his head loll back, his laughter coming in short, rapid barks.

"God, you're filthy." Jaden pulled off his boots as he scolded, his lips curling in disgust.

"I am as the gods made me."

"The gods made you a ******** up mess and you know it." Jaden was grabbing for his wrist, checking his racing pulse. "You didn't take your meds on your little fieldtrip, did you?"

"I refuse to answer rhetorical questions. It's insulting."

The room was silent but for the sound of Jaden's footsteps. The silence seemed to loom and shiver in a brilliant shower of silver sparkles. No. Wait. That was him. Right.

"Swallow. Drink."

The pills were dropped directly in his open mouth, and the liquid started spilling in after them before he even had a chance to jerk away. Spins coughed as the cocktail made it's way down his throat but he'd been taking meds too long to actually choke.

"b*****d!" He snarled when the coughs stopped. Anger didn't have far to rise when all the surface layers had been stripped away.

Jaden didn't blink. He kept a hand on Spin's chest, and even that small weight was more than he was up to fighting at the moment. They were silent. It seemed like they were silent for hours, just Jaden's even breathing and Spins sharper gasps at air.

"Listen-"

"Shut up, Spins." Jaden's voice was ragged along the edges, a fresh cut along an old wound. "What? We're in Junior High again? I need to start sleeping on the foot of your ******** bed? Watch you swallow your meds in the morning? Is that what this is?"

"Jaden-"

"Shut. Up." It seemed to Spins that Jaden was pushing on his chest harder than was entirely necessary. "Your girlfriend called while you were gone. What was I supposed to tell her? What are you even going to do, if you're pulling this s**t again? Ms. Mafia may like you reckless, but if you pull this on her-"

"I like her." He barely managed to get the words in between Jaden's angry hissing.

"she- What?" Again, the silence. Jaden lifted his hand, rubbed his eyes in the dark. "That's what this is about?"

"No. Maybe. I just needed to clear my head."

"And forgetting your meds so you could play werewolf was the best way to do that? Shut up." Jaden leaned his head back and took a slow breath, then lowered his eyes to the couch again. "Alright. Talk."

"I like her." He ran his tongue along his fangs. "I really like her. Look at me. I had two, maybe three more days out there."

"So?"

"I'm gonna burn out. I don't want her caught in the flame. Look how worried you were."

The slap was unexpected, a sharp pulse of pain that startled a hiss from Spins.

"You ********. I worry because you're an idiot. Because you don't take your pills, because you date mob bosses. Because you think baiting death is something you can keep as a hobby. I've been there. I've been there since you were twelve. Watched you. Stood up for you. Trusted you." He paused, and Spins tried to speak. A glare cut him off. "She takes you on shoot-outs. I take you to doctors. And you worry about her? You do this to me because of her?"

"Jaden-"

"You two are made for each other, you ******** b*****d. So don't use her to excuse what you've done."

"I don't get to say I'm sorry for this one, do I?"

"You better ******** say you're sorry."

"I am sorry."

"Yeah, I know." Jaden was shaking, even as Spins' tremors had stopped. "I was so scared."

"Hey. It's cool. We're cool." Spins sat up, struggling against the waves of dizzy exhaustion, and pulled Jaden against him. When he spoke again, he heard the reluctant hesitance in his voice. "You want me to break up with her, don't you?"

"You are crazy. I want you two to get married so I can be the uncle to little homicidal doomlets."

"Good because-"

"You really like her. I know."

They fell asleep like that, leaning against each other on the couch, the newly waning moon shining down on them.