~•°.•.°~~~

-Aesop-

There was no way in hell I was going to talk or even be in eye's sight from him right now so needless to say when he noticed I was on the bench I ran for the hills in a hurry barely saying goodbye to Norton and didn't look back once.

~•°.•.°~~~

..•~Joseph POV~•..

Every inch of my body was extremely sore, I hadn't had a proper rest since that match, the match where I fucked it all up, I just need to explain myself, to plead for a second chance, I am too far in to let this go. 

Despite starting all this so I wouldn't be reminded of Claude every instant my eyes met this survivor I had developed a genuine attachment to him for who he was. That was the reason why I needed to talk to him as soon as possible. Taking on every match wasn't easy, the exhaustion accumulating in my system was becoming more and more transparent in my appearance and my abilities to hunt but when I returned from the match this time and saw that familiar petite figure resting on the bench across the plaza I felt as if all of these sensations had been lifted like a curse. 

Once our gazes met I sped up my stride being fully aware that he would attempt to flee judging from my experience with him and the visible anger in his demeanor, I followed as the boy run inside only to observe him hiking the stairs and vanish after passing the doorframe on the top, I wasn't allowed to go in without being escorted by a survivor due to the privacy and safety protocols and sneaking my way in there for a second time would be too risky, I couldn't get too ambitious with my previous successes.

Recomposing myself I adjusted my jacket whilst prepping myself to retire for the day when an idea occurred to me. It was another somewhat inappropriate way to get me what I wished for but it was bound to work, all I had to do was tweak the matchmaking and remain patient until the next day. 

The matchmaking had a bit of a pattern when choosing the players and there seemed to be a favor towards certain individuals that would be chosen more frequently than others, some of them being the mercenary, the perfumer and the prisoner. Therefore, since in two of todays matches the perfumer took part and ended up getting quite damaged on the later match it was very likely that the prospector would be picked to play tomorrow as he was also one of those favored by the matchmaking thanks to his abilities to be annoying.

Without a second thought I strolled back to the bench where the boy was previously resting, passing the survivors from my last match that had also reached the entrance to 'converse' with the prospector that was still sitting there, I would have preferred to refrain from utilizing any unorthodox methods to make this work but as per usual I had to push a little to obtain what I desired.

..•~Eli POV~•..

"..Good morning.."

seeing Aesop have fun I couldn't stay mad at him for long. The morning sunlight bouncing off his hair was truly a sight for sore eyes, today was a relatively warm day for this time of the year, maybe spring was finally coming around. 

"If you're awake you should get up"

"Uugh.. It's so early though"

I watched Aesop run around the room dressed in the same outfit he had yesterday to find a hair tie and a cream from his make up box, making his way to the bathroom while putting his hair up I noticed those two syringes in one of Aesop's back pockets, it looked like they would only be visible when he held his hands high and be hidden by his flannel the rest of the time.

"Hey I'm going to the kitchen, do you want anything?"

"I'll come with"

I grumpily stood up to get ready, ruffling my hair in an attempt to get it out of my eyes. I picked out some dress pants and a plain white shirt on top, I kind of looked like I was prepared to go for and interview but I didn't care enough at the moment to find something else to wear, I pet Brooke on the table, considering putting on my blindfold but I decided against it to let the brownish bird rest.

I joined Aesop who was standing in front of the mirror, covering up the bruise on his neck in the bathroom to awkwardly brush my teeth. I was starting to wonder if I was the only one trying to cover up my anxiety from yesterday since the gray eyed male seemed unbothered and acted normally as if nothing had happened to the point where I wondered if I just dreamt it all. 

After finishing I planted my face into a towel slightly annoyed that I couldn't figure out what Aesop was thinking, I sighed trying not to think about it and put on some chapstick before leaving coincidentally catching the male resting on the doorframe behind me glancing at me through the mirror.

~•°.•.°~~~