Dog Fights

Chapter 8; Updates

"I'm sorry," Leon stutters after a few moments, tilting his head down and away as Ezra glances at him, "I didn't mean to do that, we just had to leave."

"What?" Ezra asks, startled by the sudden change in attitude. Where did the stubborn teenager go? "What are you talking about?"

Leon sniffs, Ezra drawing in a frustrated breath before pulling the younger around a sleek looking building's wall and tucking him into a corner. This place seems a lot cleaner than the last ally Ezra hid in.

"I got scared," Leon says quietly, avoiding Ezra's eyes as he puts his back against the wall. They appear an even sharper red in the dark.

"Of what?" Ezra pushes again, pulling back slightly as Leon's lip quivers. His eyes gloss over in the dark of the shadows, making him blink shining tears from his eyes.

Why are humans so bizarre?

Ezra looks away, unsure of how to react. He hasn't seen anyone cry in years. Unless he wanted to count the humans in the bait cages, but by the time they got to the fights they didn't have any tears left to cry.

"I'm sorry," Leon sniffs, pulling his sleeves up to wipe off his cheeks, "we shouldn't have gone there."

"What happened?" Ezra asks again, fighting back the urge to keep his voice at normal volume. He lowers it slightly, hoping to keep the human from losing it again.

Leon takes a breath, clearly not wanting the speak on the subject. "I got a bing on my phone," he says, "and right after that someone looked at me from across the vender. He tapped the side of his neck and bared his teeth. I'm sorry, I just got scared."

Ezra hesitates, watching the younger quickly wipe more tears from his face. He pulls out his phone, looking down after clicking the screen on. It lights up, the single notification making Leon pause before taking a breath.

"I partially synced my computer to my phone," he says, "so I get bings from this deep web site but can't be tracked on my smartphone. Well I've had a dog fighting site open for a while now, and it displays fighters who have gone missing and have rewards out for them."

"I'm guessing my name is listed," Ezra says, not surprised. Underground fighting is serious money, and he was proving to be on track to be number one. He was a champion. Of course Orgon would put a reward out for him.

"You're on the top of the list," Leon says, holding his phone to his chest, "but that's not why I got notified-"

He flinches as Ezra grabs either of his wrists, making him look up. Ezra watches blankly, emotion drained from his face. "What?" he asks, "what was it then?"

Leon's lip quivers, Ezra feeling his heart rate pick up under his hands. His stomach twists. "There's different statuses: missing, spotted, and returned. Ezra, you've been moved to spotted, someone reported you and our location."

Ezra freezes, staring through the dark. "What?" he asks, voice lowered to a whisper, "how do you know? You didn't even check your phone."

"I have it set specifically," Leon says, "three buzzes for a status change, look."

Leon pushes his hand out, only twisting the screen for Ezra when allowed to move. It shows one notification.

File.ezra: Spotted

Ezra doesn't move, lips parted as the phone shakes in front of his eyes. Leon's pulse picks up under his hands again, pounding beat against his palms.

Ezra draws back, spinning in his spot and making Leon yelp as he connects his fist to the solid wall. His arm vibrates, pain rippling up to his shoulder as his knuckles split on the stone.

"Damn it all!" he cries, pulling up his arm and holding his throbbing wrist.

"Ezra!" Leon pleas, drawing up his hands but not daring to touch, "please- don't hurt yourself!"

"It's too late for that!" Ezra hisses, unable to hide his teeth again after baring them. "Damn it! How? I don't want to believe it, I can't-"

"Ezra calm down," Leon begs, trying to keep his voice from shaking, "please, I'm sorry, I'll check my computer, I'm sorry-"

Ezra hugs his arm, feeling anger and frustration bubble in his chest and fill his lungs. "Did someone recognize me?" he demands, words burning with stuffed up emotions in his throat, "was it John? Did he get in contact with someone? Did someone snitch on my location? Did-"

Ezra stumbles back a step, feeling Leon hug his arms around his neck. Ezra's mouth parts open, unmoving in the shock from his own sudden silence.

Why can't he say anything?

"It'll be okay," Leon whispers, speaking quietly as Ezra's aching arms pull from between them and hesitantly wrap around his torso, "you'll be okay. I can help."

Silence settles into the shadows, allowing Ezra to stare out the sliver of view to the street. Cars pass by at a green light with windows rolled all the way down, as well as people walking by without noticing they can be seen.

Ezra's lip quivers, struggling to fight back the tears that had already begun falling down his face while he was talking. He tilts his head down, eyes scrunching closed as he lets his face fall into Leon's shoulder. He hides his sorrow, letting the tension in his chest choke up his words and spill from his closed eyes as his arms tighten around the human's chest.

"Just breathe." Leon sighs, fear readable by the hard rattling in his chest. It's easy to feel against his ribs, making Ezra's stomach twist as his throbbing arm struggles to heal its shocked joints and sprained fingers. He is going to need to eat again soon.

Ezra grips the jacket that covers Leon's upper half, pulling his shoulders up and burying his face deeper into the warmth of his neck. He shouldn't stay around, but he can't get close enough.

"I drug you into this," Ezra whispers, swallowing hard as his voice shakes, "if someone turned me in it means they saw me with you. I'm putting you in danger."

"I put myself in danger every time I do shit like this," Leon says gently, running his hand up and down Ezra's back, "this is just part of it."

Ezra lets out a curt laugh, not wanting to see the world again by opening his eyes. He pulls away regardless, looking away but keeping his feet planted.

"Okay?" Leon smiles sadly, covering his thumbs with his sleeves and reaching up to wipe the tears off Ezra's face. He doesn't pull away, only tilting his chin down and flexing his healing fingers.

"I apologize." Ezra sighs, rubbing his face after Leon puts his arms back down. "That's never happened before."

Leon gives a crooked smile, tilting his head. "What, crying?"

Ezra looks up, red eyes lined with the same color. "No." He fixes his shirt. "Hugging."