Jackson jerked awake, sweat dripping from his brow and his blond mop clinging to his forehead. His thoughts were scattered as he searched around him, eyes darting around as his hands reached for his sword. His hand was met by soft skin instead and his mind instantly soothed. “Mark,” he thought as his breathing slowed and his mind reminded him that it was just a dream. He squeezed his hand around the bicep he grabbed during his panic and shook it a little. “Mark,” he voiced this time. The other grunted to let Jackson know he was listening. “I’m headed out,” he said as he ran a shaking hand through his hair, “Don’t worry it’s almost daybreak.”

Mark peeked his head above the folded arms he was buried in to see the warm colors of a sunrise bleed through the army green of their ratty tent. “’Kay,” he mumbled, “Be safe.” With that he stuffed his head back between his arms and fell back to sleep.  

Jackson nodded, although he knew that the other couldn’t see it, grabbed his jacket and ran from out the tent. He breathed in deeply before sighing just as deeply. It’s been a while since he last had that nightmare.

Needing to calm down, he let his eyes lazily run over the rolling plains and scattered plateaus that surrounded him. He felt a strange sense of peace as he watched the sun make its way into the sky, the clouds colored in pinks and oranges. He sat there for a while, letting the masterful sunrise sooth his still shaky nerves.

A while later the tent behind him flapped open, Mark walking out and tossing a bottle of water in his direction. Jackson easily caught it, never turning from the now fully lit horizon in front of him. He sipped from the water just as absentmindedly.

Mark glanced over to his friend. His blond hair was still in complete disarray, much like his own actually, but he knew that his mused cherry locks were due to a good night’s sleep. Jackson’s was most likely due to the man hastily running his fingers through is hair like he was prone to do when he was frustrated or scared. Plus the water in the bottle he held sloshed around as Jackson’s hand shook. “You ‘kay,” Mark asked.

Jackson looked over to the other before quickly looking away and giving a curt nod. “Um hum,” he hummed. He didn’t need to look at his friend to see the unimpressed eyebrow rise, but he knew that the red would take him for his word anyway and leave it alone. He appreciated that about Mark.

“If you say so,” Mark returned.

“I say so,” Jackson snapped before sighing and taking another swig of his water, “I’m headed out. Maybe see if I can sneak another free shower from out of the inn. Coming with?”

Mark shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “Nah,” he answered. His nonchalance was false but much appreciated. “Numbers aren’t really strength when it comes to stealing.”

“Touché, but I were hoping you were going to join me,” Jackson teased, a smile on his face.

“No you weren’t,” Mark smirked. They both knew that he was right, but the banter kept them going. “Just be back before you’re missed. We gotta figure out breakfast.”

“Got it.” With that Jackson skated down the plateau that they were camping on, breaking into a run once he feet touched the grass. He could hear Mark’s yell of ‘be careful’ right before he broke through the trees and disappeared from Mark’s sight.

“That boy’s going to get himself killed one of these days,” Mark mumbled to himself as he began to place a seal around their tent and head in the opposite direction in search of a shower of his own.

-------------------------

Jackson grunted as he pulled himself up onto the ledge and through the window. He cursed his booted feet as they made a heavy thud once he finally made it inside, but sighed in relief once he realized that the room he climbed in was empty. He dipped within the shadows that the curtains made in the room, glad that the room’s owners decided against the lights. Ducking from shadow to shadow, he made his way across the large penthouse suite he managed to climb his way up to. He finally made it to the bedroom only to pause once he found out that the suite wasn’t as empty as he once thought. Snuggled beneath the sheets of the oversized room laid a young man, his chocolate hair much too filthy for him to have bought the room from his own merits. Jackson smiled as he looked down at the sleeping man. His face was soft and young despite his long, lanky body.  Jackson suspected the boy to be nothing more than nineteen. “And already living a life of crime,” Jackson thought.

He shook his head as he continued his trek to the shower, a little less cautious then he was before. Jackson was fairly sure that the boy wouldn’t rat him out, but he kept his hand close to the massive sword that sat in the middle of his shoulder blades just in case stealing wasn’t the boy’s only finer attributes. He made it to the bathroom no problem, checking the lock on the window just in case he had to make a hasty exit. He locked the door once he noticed that the window was unlocked and silently berated himself for not taking the bathroom window instead. He was really slipping.

Shaking his head at his stupidity, the swordsman decided to just let it go, rolling his neck before detaching his blade from his shoulders and sitting it next to the shower. He groaned in relief as he took a seat on the toilet, unbuckling his boots and tossing them plus his spare clothes across the room. Next to come was his pants and shirt, his dark blue boxers following soon after.

Jackson then just sat there for a moment. He let the water run warm, his elbows resting on his bare knees, looking at all the golden and marble fixtures that made up the luxurious bathroom. He finally let the tension drain from body, his mind still on the dream he had the night before. No matter what he told Mark, he wasn’t ok. He hasn’t been for a long time.

Finally deeming the water warm enough, Jackson finally decided to take his shower. He figured he’d take his time. He was in no rush. Plus he was sure that even if someone did enter the room, they would be too interested in the kid in the bed to care about the faint sound of water running in the background.

He hummed absentmindedly as he washed using stolen soap, scrubbing at mud and green blood that splattered on him the night before.

“Can you hurry up in there? I need to shower too, you know?”

Jackson paused scrubbing his bicep, his eyebrow raised as a smile blossomed on his face. “Not quite yet,” he yelled back, scrubbing once more, “Have you seen some of the out there? It takes forever to scrub their innards off.”

“Tell me about it.” Jackson heard the boy mutter before he started banging on the door once more. “Fine,” the boy continued, “Can I at least take a piss?”

“Are you really that cool just flashing your out like that?”

“It’s not like I’ll ever see you again or anything.”

Jackson laughed at the boy’s response but found himself nodding none-the-less, “Go ahead, I’ll keep the door shut. Can you bring a towel while you’re at it?”

The door opened and closed; the voice closer to Jackson when the boy spoke again. “Get your own towel. ‘M not your maid,” the boy shouted over the water. Jackson rolled his eyes at the immature response but did nothing else. The toilet flushed and the sink ran before the boy started speaking to him once again.  “Nice sword you got there.”

“Touch it and I’ll kill you,” Jackson shouted conversationally over the water, “And trust me kid, I don’t need my sword to kill you.”

“I believe you,” the boy said and Jackson smiled at the shrug he could hear in the boy’s voice. His mustn’t be the first threat he’s heard today. “I pick my fights wisely,” the other continued, “And if you caring that massive thing while climbing to the penthouse suite is any indication, fighting you wouldn’t be too wise.”

“Smart boy,” Jackson praised.

“Gotta be if you’re going to survive out here.” Jackson gave a thoughtful frown at the other soft murmurs, his fingers slowing in his shampoo covered hair. He rinsed it out as he continued to pout. However he was cut off from his musing as the boy spoke again. “Nice boots too,” he yelled, intending for Jackson to hear this time, “Steel toe, nice. Are you some type of soldier or something? These are Imperial issued, right?”

Jackson shut off the water, the bathroom feeling exceedingly empty without the running water to feel in the tense silence. “What do you know about the Imperials,” Jackson spoke clearly into the silence, the mirth in his voice gone. Jackson could hear the thud of his boot as the boy dropped it and the subtle sound of a knife leaving a sheath. Jackson sighed at the sound, pulling the curtain back and standing in front of the boy in his glory, palms facing out. “Put the knife away, kid.”

“How did you,” the boy began as he pull his dagger from behind his back and looked at both Jackson and it in awe. He still did as he was told and put the dagger back into its leather sheath. “I didn’t mean anything by it. The Imperials everybody over. I should know better than to bring them up to a stranger.”

“You should,” Jackson agreed as he put his hands down, using them instead to reach for a hand towel to dry himself off with. He then turned to the boy, gesturing towards the leather sheath that was strapped to his thigh, “You should think about getting magnets instead. Anyone worth killing could hear that metal on leather from a mile away. It’s a dead giveaway.”

“Oh you mean like this hunk of junk,” the boy smirked as he gestured to Jackson’s sword in the corner.

“You were just complimenting this ‘hunk of junk’, not too long ago.”

The boy shrugged as he walked up to the sword, his finger trailing along the wild waves that dance along the midnight blue hilt. He then followed the blunt side of the blade, his fingers dipping and curving as the blade twist and turned like a giant wave in a restless sea. The navy-tinted steel reflected the boy’s entranced face, the reflection winding and distorting as it glided across the surface.

“Pretty to look at but not too practical if you ask me,” the young man shrugged with a teasing smirk.

“It gets the job done,” Jackson smirked as well. He turned from the boy, moving around potions and ethers to pluck his clothes from his bag. He could feel the eyes of his companion as they bored into his exposed back, the eyes following him as he pulled on his black cargo pants and ripped tank. He could feel the boy’s shock. Jackson could tell that no one’s trusted him enough to turn their backs on him before. The blond didn’t know if he should be impressed or depressed. “Besides,” he continued as if he didn’t feel the boy’s burning eyes, “I don’t need to be practical. I can handle whatever mistakes I come across.”

He turned back to the other to see his shoulders slightly relax as he laughed, “So let me guess, you just go berserk on anything that comes your way?”

“Pretty much,” Jackson shrugged as he strapped on his harness and placed his sword back between his shoulder blades once more, “And you just steal the solution to whatever problem you come across.”

“Touché,” the boy shrugged in return. Jackson laughed at the boy before grabbing his bag and heading towards the bathroom door. “Hey,” the boy yelled before Jackson could reach for the knob, his face surprisingly bashful. Jackson didn't think that the boy had it in him. “Sneaking some breakfast from downstairs later," he said, "Want me to save you some?”

“Didn’t think you’d be so kind.”

“I’m usually not,” the boy began, “But you know.” The boy stopped himself short before turning his back towards Jackson and stepping into the shower. Jackson knew exactly what he meant.

“Ok,” he said as dirty clothes where tossed out from above the shower door, “But I have someone waiting for me. Just leave it at the blind spot near the side entrance in fifteen. I’ll be there to pick it up.”

“Fifteen,” the boy shouted over the shower, “It took you fifteen just for you to get finished showering! How do you expect me to get done showering and lift me, you and your friend some food in fifteen minutes?”

Jackson smiled when he mentioned Mark too. He made the right decision to trust this kid after all. “I pretty sure you’re good at what you do, kid. I trust you to get it down there in time.” With that Jackson shut the door behind him and began his long climb from the penthouse suite, but not before hearing a small ‘trust me’ from behind the shower door.