Azure: 19

Navy: 18

Iliad (Ily): 6

The best thing that Navy had been hoping for when he grabbed onto the boy's shin was to perhaps yank him out of the burly man's grip. He was honestly just going to let the boy get dragged away, but who knew if the kid was going to get mugged or murdered, and Navy didn't want the guilt of a death he could have prevented hanging over him on top of everything else.

So when he latched onto the boy's ankle, the last thing he had expected was the rush of power that suddenly flowed through him, the sense of connection and, well, the sense of magic. It was warm and light, and he now understood why his father had created this company; if he had this much light coursing through him, he would want to share it too. But what was the source of this sudden peak in activity? Could it possibly be this...boy?

But his thoughts were interrupted as the ankle he was pulling on suddenly fell to the ground, the man who had previously been holding onto the golden-haired boy screaming and flailing about, waving his hands in the air and running around madly. Navy immedietly let go of the ankle, feeling a cold chill run through his body, as though there was ice running through his veins. But it must have just been his body returning back to normal, his perception of cold more heightened now that he knew what it felt like to have the warm lava coursing through his veins.

As his comrades took the screaming man back into the building, another burly man came running at them. Cataloging what had happened the last time they had touched, instead of just grabbing onto one of the boy's limbs like any normal person would do, Navy sat on top of his back, basking in the warmth of the magic flowing through him. As soon as the man layed his beefy hands on Navy's shoulders in an attempt to get him off the grunting boy, the man immediately began hollering "IT BURNS, IT BURNS!" running around just as his comrade had before sprinting indoors.

"That's one way to do it," the boy grunted beneath him, and Navy smirked.

"Payback," was all he said before swiftly standing up and making his way back over to Ily, who had watched the whole thing, he supposed. "What'd'ya think, Ily?" Navy asked his cat, who just stared back up at him with his eerily green eyes.

"Why do you talk to your cat?" the other boy asked, trotting up behind him and staring at Iliad through the black mesh of the carrier.

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Navy sighed, "Because he doesn't judge me like everyone else does. Like you just did."

"Yeah, but why don't you just find some trustworthy people? Wouldn't it be better to talk to something that can talk back?" he asked in confusion, and Navy rolled his eyes.

"At the heart of every human, there is ingrained deceit. 'Trust' is a word used sparingly, for it doesn't exist in this plain. 'Trust' is futile, because before long, people always break it. Human nature is to cause pain; but animals? Their instincts tell them to hunt and breed. They form bonds with each other because that is the only way for them to survive. Humans should be more like them."

And with that, he swiftly picked up his bag and his cat and walked off down the street. Hearing the rustling of fabric and pattering of feet behind him, he spun around and snapped, "What do you want from me!? Because I need to get out of here."

"They'll find you sooner or later, Navy."

That made Navy falter. What had compelled him to grab the boy's leg? This boy had known his name. It wasn't common knowledge that Moon had a son...through intense web searching knowing exactly what you were looking for, you could find tons of pictures the staff had taken of him. But...

Placing his cat on the ground and grabbing the boy's collar in his fist, he snarled, "Who are you and how do you know who I am?"

The boy smirked, his freckles making way for the cocky grin that Navy wanted so desperately to wipe off his face. Instead of answering, the boy simply placed his bare hand on Navy's exposed forearm, and Navy felt the rush of warmth that signified the magic in his blood.

"You feel that?" the boy said, still smirking, and Navy was almost surprised that the other boy could feel it too. "You and I both know what it is. Magic." He said it was such emphasis that Navy couldn't help but scoff. What he was saying worried him though. This boy...he knew too much. About Navy, about magic, about...everything. But before he could restate his question, the boy continued. "Who am I? Well, I'm you. We're one in the same."

Navy stared long and hard at the tan freckled face, scrutinizing all the details. The way his lips curved and floated along towards the dimples accenting his stark collarbones. The flecks of blue and gold lining his emerald green irises. The way his eyelashes were long and seemed to float from his eyelids like feathers. The golden hair that fell into his eyes and that was desperately waiting for someone to brush it behind his ear. And the dark bags hanging under his eyes, the roughness of his chin, and how there was something masked beneath all that cockiness...the only reason Navy could tell was because that mask was ingrained into his own life.

He felt a small, undismissable pull towards the smirking boy.

And sensing that Navy wasn't going to say anything, the boy's grin widened even more. "My name's Azure, nice to meet you."