Sometimes, Anarchy Is Best ~~ Shadows

5.) Clay

There wasn’t too much important going through the feed at the moment; there was a fire in one of the townhouses further south in the city, some American celebrity was throwing a tantrum over not being able to enter Viaris as normal, and-

“Linus?” He prompted suddenly, Linus just humming for him to continue. “Have you heard anything recently about gun smuggling?”

Linus shook his head. “Nah, that’s a load of bullshit. Supposedly people are joining the army recruits, getting the guns, and quitting and smuggling them with them, but there’s been no actual proof of it happening, or any consequence.”

Clay frowned. “Why would the news lie though?”

Linus shrugged, barely glancing at Clay before going back to his game. “They probably aren’t. They get hundreds of leads on things a day, they’re just putting it out in a way the public would like.”

“Why would the public like there being rouge guns around?” He pressed. Clay was incredibly confused on that matter.

Linus rolled his eyes. “Sometimes I forget you grew up in a basement.” He teased, before continuing, “Guns are very dangerous. Only the government can wield them; it’s basically saying “hey, we can kill you at any time!”. If those scales seem like they’re being tipped...” He trailed off, doing that annoying thing where he tried to get Clay to think for himself.

“Then they’ll be less mad that we have them?” He guessed.

“Exactly.” Linus confirmed. “They’ll be a lot less likely to bring it up. In a way, the news is helping us. God knows we don’t need another problem on top of everything else.”

Clay hummed. That made a lot of sense, actually.  After all, Clay knew he wouldn’t be happy if he was constantly being pressed with things that were much more powerful than him. It was why the plan was in place at all, to keep anything from doing that to him.

The timer in the kitchen went off shortly after the conversation, and Clay tossed the phone back at Linus, ignoring his sudden yelling about how he’d messed up his Mariokart move and was now in 5th place. He went back in the kitchen, checking the pasta to make sure it was done before straining and adding the sauce – just a simple tomato one with ground beef in it -- and getting them both a plate; his with cheese, and Linus’ without. 

He took Linus’ to him, making the fox hybrid set his game down to eat as Clay settled down on the couch next to him. “What’re we watching tonight?” Clay asked, breaking the calm silence between them.

Linus gave Clay a mischievous grin, and he cut off the furry before he could even start. “No. Linus, I am not watching one of your telenovelas.”

Linus just stared at him, his look softening in what could only be described as puppy eyes, ears half-flattened against his head and tail flicking next to him hopefully. “Come’on Clay, please? You never watch what I want!”

Clay scoffed. “Don’t even start, I watch what you want all the time.”

Linus whined softly. “No you don’t.... Please, Clay, just this once?”

Clay stared at him for a second, which was a huge mistake on his part, before sighing and grabbing the remote, handing it to Linus.

The redhead’s expression lit up as he grabbed it, turning on the TV and flipping it to the right channel before eating happily, his tail flicking the whole time.

Personally, Clay wasn’t a big fan, but figured it was a small sacrifice if it made Linus this happy. He followed the show a bit, piecing together the probable multiple seasons he hadn’t seen before this in the few episodes they watched. As was normal, they ate and then Linus kept watching while Clay did the dishes and listened in. It was easy to follow along even from the different room, as the two were connected. If Clay turned, he could see the entire living room from the sink; so he hadn’t missed much of anything when he got back, settling into the couch again.