Secrets and Things (MxM)

Chapter 34 - Is the floor TRULY hard enough?

Nero turned his head towards Aiden in panic and was met with a set of bored eyes and slow munching of chicken. Only he can make good food look unappealing. "Calm your tits. They're perfectly fine. They're inside your satchel which is in the bedroom."

The black haired man turned back to the window and sighed in relief. "Ok, good. Anyway, to finish off, I got the documents. Crashed into Matthew. Matthew tried to take me to hospital and the rest, you already know."

After he finished, the tension in the air was suffocating and the silence was sombre. Nero nor Aiden dared to break the silence, waiting anxiously for the third man's response. As Nero was gazing out, an odd flash on the rooftop of the neighbouring building caught his attention. The flash was gone but an oddly shaped shadow (lit by the full moon) had replaced it instead. It captured Nero's complete attention and was intently staring at it. Even when Leo started speaking, his eyes never left the distant figure.

"So just to clarify, you did not start the fight nor did you want to fight him but you did so because he's was going to hurt the company otherwise?"

Nero distractedly responded, "Yeah..." You know... if I'm not wrong... those things surrounding the black silhouette kind of looks like tentacles...

"And this fight you participated in was before you joined the company. You never went back ever since? Did you get dirty money other ways?"

Nero was barely paying attention to Leo at this point. "Yes and no, we don't get money using dirty methods anymore." Those could be tentacles or... they could be fucking whips. No fucking way... it can't be. Nero subtly called forward magic and enhanced his eyesight to clearly visualise the person on the other building. Oh, god is definitely playing me for a fool.

Randomly, Aiden interrupted with an extremely random question. "Hey, boss where's the doggo?"

By the tone of his voice, Leo hadn't expected the question for various reasons. "How do you know about my dog? I haven't announced-"

"I'm an IT guru. I can do some hacking. Anyway, I wanted to play with the fluffball and now I cannot find it."

Leo's voice didn't hide how irked he was. "You hack- you do not get dog privileges. I will not tell you where Timmy is. You can hack your way to the answer."

"Challenge accepted!"

Leo was exasperated. "I was kiddi- you know what, we can deal with this later. Back to the topic at hand. What did Aiden stop you from doing today that would classify you as a bad person?" Leo asked loud enough but the question went in Nero's one ear of the and out the other. He was met with silence from the other man. Instead, Nero's fists began clenching into a fist and you could see his shoulders visibly tremble. The two men behind couldn't tell whether it's from sadness, anger or something else but Aiden immediately stood up, alert. Leo's expression transformed into unease due to Aiden's reaction and called out to Nero.

"Nero? What's wro-"

Without looking back, Nero interrupted his boss in a serious tone. "Aiden, we need to go now."

Aiden tensed further. "What are you talking about? What happened?"

"He's fucking back."

"What? Who?"

Nero turned around with an angry expression on his face. "Jax! He's on the rooftop of the building over there." He pointed in the direction of the building and then fast walked back to where the pool was. Aiden and Leo looked over at each other before chasing after him.

"Nero! Wait! How the fuck do you plan to get there from the balcony, let alone fight him?" Aiden's voice was calm but strict. He gave his best friend a knowing/warning look. Nero cursed in his head and quickly thought of something. Shit. I forgot Leo's there for a second. I can't even use my power. Not gonna stop me from going over though. "That's why I said we need to go. You're going to fly us over there and preferably before he starts causing destruction."

"But you're still recovering! And you can't even use your power right now! You can't possib-"

"I don't care. I have recovered enough to defeat him again. So let's go."

"No. I'm not letting you go. I'll go."

"Aiden, this is my fucking fight. You're taking me."

"You can't ma-"

"I don't know if you forgot, but I'm still here and I'm more than willing to help out." The argument was interrupted by the forgotten British boss who was looking somewhat amused. His remark dumbfounded the younger men. It's the blue haired one who spoke up. "You what now?"

Leo shrugged a little. "I said, I don't mind teaching him a lesson or two in Nero's stead."

"But I just said it's my prob-"

"Nero shut the fuck up. Leonardo, you do remember that using your Oddity is illegal, yes?"

"Yeah I do. But who said I followed the rules myself. Just because I call you dodgy, doesn't mean I'm a saint myself. I've broken a few rules here and there. That specific rule I have broken countless times."

"So you're fine with it, even after knowing the chances of being found out?"

"Yep. I want to avenge my employee and meet this Jax guy myself. Plus, I won't be found out."

"And how can you be so sure?"

"Because, I'll have you covering up the tracks, won't I?"

"Oi, who the fuck said I'll do that?"

"No one. I just know you will."

Aiden grumbled under his breath but didn't deny the allegation. Nero observed the conversation in defeat, shoulders slumped. "Neither of you guys are going to listen me, are you?"

"Nope." "No."

This garnered an eye-roll out of the shortest man but he still walked up to Aiden with determination in his eyes. "Fine. You guys deal with him but I still want to go there and watch. So you're flying me, Aiden."

"... Fine." With that being said, Aiden grabbed Nero's forearm, he looked at Leo, who called out some phoenix wings; which looked majestic and felt fucking hot, and finally, Aiden called for thunder under his feet to boost them into the air.