Chapter Text
“Get up!” a little boy laughed in the streets, his voice as sweet as church hymns, a dull antique cutlass in his pale grip as he smiled with the light of a thousand suns. At seven years old, this boy was beautiful.
Giggling down at a boy just that much smaller and just that much rougher before he was tackled to the ground in a fit of vengeance. At eight years old, this boy was tattered.
There are no rules in child's play, beauty has no bearing, and malnourishment means nothing. Hunger pains quickly became lost on the sting of new scars, and the ache in their cheeks from smiling too long.
It hadn’t mattered to the tattered boy that just a few hours prior his new friend had been holding that same dull old cutlass to his throat, proclaiming himself to be an assassin, Canary, there to end Mole’s life for being so immoral, so vile, all mercenary’s were. Doing whatever the highest bidder asked, uncaring for innocence or dignity. At least, that’s what he told the mercenary, the reality was, Canary had severely overestimated himself, or perhaps underestimated Mole, because three hours later they were dead on their feet, heaving rough pants and looking at each other with fierce determination. Neither would back down.
So three hours became four, four blossomed into six, and before long, nine hours in the scorching hot summer sun had passed, dawn, meridian, dusk, and then Gregory, and Christophe. Hushed names whispered with darting eyes as the sun fell down the horizon line, unsure whether the trust placed was a betrayal in the making or the start of something great.
It would only be a year later that they would realize the gravity of this relationship.
Because a year later Christophe had died, cold and scared, after Gregory had sent him marching on the war path. Gregory hadn’t cried, not a single tear fell down his snow white skin, he wasn’t allowed to cry. So he wouldn’t.
Yet in spite of his lack of reaction, it was difficult to cover his shock at seeing his beloved comrade alive and well, only a few hours after his very real death. Actually, “well” was a tad of an overstatement, but Gregory, after having just inadvertently ended Christophe’s life, had expected anger, hurt, betrayal but Christophe only stood there, silent and unwavering.
They both like to think that’s when things began to twist, and tangle and tie them both in the vicious cycle of a destructive and poisonous “relationship”
.
It was tuesday, that was for some reason the first thing Christophe registered as he reached into the fridge to drink milk, straight from the carton because God knows he couldn’t be bothered with a fucking glass, Gregory would yell at him for it later.
Speaking of Gregory, the blonde was meant to be coming by to discuss the details of their latest hit. Inwardly, Christophe groaned, Gregory’s company meant hours of bitching and conversation over stupid things that Christophe would have to deal with, all because Gregory was a little pretty, or a little charming or-
The doorbell rang, startling Christophe from his thoughts as he ran to the low quality wooden slab that barely counted as the door to his apartment. Opening it with about as much grace as a newborn bear. “It’s 9:30 prick, you said you’d be here in the afternoon”, Christophe was well aware of the nasty scowl he was giving Gregory, but as always, the golden haired man was wholly undeterred, tutting as he slipped inside, making sure to look as disgusted as possible, smiling with his pretty button nose scrunched in revulsion
“It is afternoon, darling, were you still asleep?” Gregory’s voice was sickly sweet as his eyes wracked Christophe’s frame, looking at him like he was little more than a bug on the wall while batting his pretty gold eyelashes. Christophe could admit he looked worse for wear, eye bags that had made their home on his face looked all that deeper in the dim light of his kitchen, defining his dark eyes and brackish hair that was in desperate need of a cut. All in complete contrast to Gregory’s perfectly tame gold curls, bright blue eyes and rosy cheeks brimming with a livelihood that made his snowy skin glow.
“Ouais, I was, and if you don’t mind I’d like to get back to it” Christophe refused to look at Gregory as the blonde stripped off his coat, tossing it onto a chair as he adjusted his slick, black leather gloves, smiling with narrowed eyes and his head cocked to the side. “Don’t be so lazy, god frowns upon indulgence of sloth you know…”
“That faggot can frown all he likes”
“Oh, how blasphemous, though I shouldn’t expect anything less from a man like you”
“Am I supposed to take offense to that, petite oiseau?”
Gregory pursed his lips with a tight smile, turning heel and pulling open the curtains with a swift movement, his voice strung impossibly tight as he changed the subject, not bothering to allow his brunette counterpart’s eyes to adjust to the light “Well, in any case I’ve taken it upon myself to inform you that we’ve been given a tip” in response Christophe gave little more than a slight roll of his eyes as he reached to return the now warm milk he’d been drinking into the cold embrace of his fridge. Quietly, he wished he would be returned to such a cold embrace, but alas, the life he’d chosen, along with a certain blonde, could not be abandoned so easily.
“What do we say, dearest?” Gregory tilted Christophe’s chin down with a light flit of his fingers, ghosting the ice cold leather across furnace-like scarred skin, and like always, Christophe followed the hand held out. “va te faire enculer.” Despite the stone cut edge of his words, the brunette found himself cupping that ice cold leather hand in his own, and pressing his chapped lips into Gregory’s inner palm before the blonde pulled away.
“You look like shit, i’ll get some coffee and we can talk then” Christophe tried to choke down any concern that had crept into his throat but Gregory was ever perceptive, laughing softly as he nodded “What a gentleman”, his voice was light and airy, amused as he plucked his coat from the chair it had been discarded onto, strutting back to the door with a small satisfied hum.