Hey guys, this is a fanfic I started writing months and months ago and had completely forgotten about, until I randomly stumbled over it again a couple of days ago. It kinda inspired me to write again, so I finished it and then edited it heavily until it didn't make me cringe quite as much anymore as it did in the beginning. It's still no piece of art of course, but at least I'm somewhat more comfortable about sharing it now.

Warning: English is not my first language, so I'm pretty sure this fanfic has its fair share of mistakes. Feel free to point any of them out to me, if you feel like it, and I will correct them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Infamous or any of the characters starring in this story, and I also don't make any money out of writing shitty fanfics about them.

Having said all of that, I really hope you enjoy. :)

some late afternoon

"Hey, Eugene," Delsin greeted, when the kid finally picked up the phone.

"Hey Delsin. What's up?" came the video conduit's cheerful voice from the other end. He never quite sounded that way in real life, when he was actually standing face to face to another person. Delsin played around with the chain he kept entwined around his wrist and dangled his legs off the roof of the high building he was sitting on.

"Listen, I'm infiltrating the D.U.P. base in the Market District this evening and I could really use some help," he explained.

"Oh, okay, I'll send some of my angels then."

"What…?!" Delsin exclaimed, baffled. "Dude, no, I was talking more along the lines of: 'Hello 'Gene, you up to kicking some D.U.P. ass, while also showing your dear friend Delsin a couple rad video tricks tonight?'" He stopped with the overdramatic impersonation of himself and added a "You know, actually in person?" just to make sure.

The line went silent and he was about to check if he had accidentally ended the call, when an answer finally came: "I-I'm sorry, Delsin, but no, I really prefer staying in the shadows, you know, 'stealth' and stuff."

The Akomish groaned. "Oh, come fucking on, man, don't leave me hanging like this."

"Sorry...

"You can't hide in that basement and play World of Warcraft forever!"

"I don't play World of Warcra-"

"Eugeeene!"

"I-I'll send some of my angels, I promise," were the gamer's final words on the matter. Recognizing a lost cause, Delsin sighed and relented. He kept quiet for a while, stewing in irritation, then couldn't keep a sinister smirk from growing on his face, when he had an idea.

"So, anyway… I've been waiting for my brother to call me with information about the whole thing, but he texted me saying it was gonna take a while. I'm really bored. You wanna hang out or something?"

There were a few seconds of silence before Eugene finally inquired: "Hang out as in...?" The fact that it wasn't an outright "no" was already an achievement, Delsin figured. The video conduit literally tried his hardest to never leave his "domain" and always looked awkward and a little nervous even when the Akomish came over.

"Dunno, we could go to a bar and have a beer or something. Haven't done that in a while, what with all the shit going down lately," Delsin proposed. He created a small ball of smoke in his hand and let it slowly bounce up and down on his palm.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's a great idea, you know, considering people all over Seattle are scared shitless of you and know your face pretty well considering it's repeatedly shown in the news together with the catch line 'bioterrorist strikes again'."

Taken aback by Eugene's sarcasm, Delsin couldn't help but chuckle. "Fucked over a couple anti-conduit activists and the normals are acting all overly sensitive about it, aren't they," he remarked. His eyes narrowed and he smirked a little, curling his chain around his fingers. "I was just acting out of self-defense, their hate speech needs to be stopped if we ever wanna make the world see us as anything other than monsters."

"Uhm… I guess that's true. What about that guitarist you attacked though? He wasn't doing anything wrong," Eugene said. "I heard about that in the news too, by the way."

"'Anything wrong'? He was fucking terrible! No talent at all! I was just doing everybody a favor. If anything, they should be reporting about the great lengths I go to in order to make this city a better place."

"You gave him... you gave him a really bad concussion," Eugene pointed out, a little disconcerted. Delsin wasn't surprised about the injury, considering he had hit the idiot in the head with his chain. He hadn't exactly held back, when he decided he was done with shitty amateur musicians for the day.

"Damn, I didn't mean to... I only pushed him a little! Sometimes it's hard to remember how strong I've become," he lied, not wanting to upset the kid. He knew Eugene didn't care as much about normal people as he did about conduits, but he still wasn't going to risk scaring him off with his controversial methods just yet.

"Oh... right, I keep forgetting you haven't had your powers for very long," the gamer agreed, tone lighter again.

"Yup... anyway, I guess you've got a point with the bar thing. Maybe I should just get something at the mall and then come over."

"Maybe, yeah," came the agreement from the other end of the phone.

"Well, okay then, see you later, game boy," Delsin said, quickly getting on his feet. "Expect me in twenty minutes or so."

"Okay, Delsin. Bye, see you later."

The Akomish shoved the phone back into his front pocket and adjusted his clothes, brushing some dust off his jeans. He wondered where he could fetch some drinks and food without freaking out any normals and ended up just taking off his chain, vest and beanie to eliminate the main things people recognized him by. Reluctantly, he left them on top of the roof as he didn't have a backpack with him, and decided to just pick them up later. He jumped off the building, using his smoke powers to touch the ground gently, as not to create a small crater where his feet landed. He walked the streets, expecting people to stare at him in fear and distaste as usual, but nobody seemed to recognize him when he was just a guy with longish dark hair and a simple red hoodie. It was kind of a refreshing change, even though Delsin had come to enjoy the power being an infamous conduit had given him. He entered the first supermarket he came across, where he bought a six-pack of beer and a couple of soft drinks and snacks. As he got back to the building he had left his clothes on, he figured that trying to pass through an air vent with the stuff he was carrying would end up rather messy. He absorbed the neon light of a bar nearby and ran up the wall to the top instead. Once on there he put on his chain, vest and beanie, glad to especially have his hair covered up once again, before using Fetch's neon powers to jump from rooftop to rooftop all the way over to the Lantern District, where the nerdy conduit had taken up residence in a literal basement.

"Dude, it's me, open up," he hissed once he was there and found the bulkhead door locked. Muffled noises could be heard and an "oh, sorry,", before Eugene finally unlocked the entrance and helped Delsin and his bags in.

"Are you okay, Delsin? You look kinda pale," asked the video conduit once they had made themselves comfortable on the couch with drinks and snacks sprawled all over the table in front of them.

"Says the basement dweller," teased the Akomish, opening a can of beer before taking a huge sip out of it. He sighed, pleased, and leaned back. "Nah, just not been sleeping very well, that's all."

"Oh, okay," said Eugene, taking a tentative sip from his beer as well. Poor kid had probably never even drunk beer, considering he was caught by the D.U.P. and brought to Curdun Cay when he was only fourteen years old. He made a slight face as he tasted the bitter liquid, but took another sip nonetheless, bringing a small grin to Delsin's face.

"What were you playing?" he asked, shifting his attention to the huge TV screen in front of them, where there was nothing but a black screen with the word "PAUSE" in red letters.

"'Revenge of The Dead'. Just some new hack'n'slay game I saw at the store. There are so many new games and even new consoles... I don't even know where to start catching it all up." Eugene looked suddenly a little melancholic and he placed the can of beer on the table and picked up a PS4 controller instead. He leant back, but did not unpause the game just yet.

"There are so many things I've missed while I was in Curdun Cay. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever manage to fit in again. Not that I particularly did before..." the kid revealed in a tiny voice. Delsin put down his beer as well and stretched an arm along the backrest of the couch, turning his whole body towards the other conduit.

"Hey man, you've got all the time in the world to do anything you want now. And you've got Fetch and me. Even if normals don't get you - we do," Delsin replied. Eugene played around with the controller in his hands, before glancing over at the Akomish.

"But you told me not to bother her anymore," he mumbled. Delsin chuckled.

"Yeah, 'cause once you got her number you wouldn't stop being a fucking creep and texting her all the time," he took a small break to let it sink in, before adding: "Besides, I told you already: She's way out of your league. So just stop, man. Let it go."

Eugene's shoulders sagged a little. "... Yeah..." was all he replied, obviously crestfallen. Delsin didn't feel too sorry about it - it was for the kid's own good, after all.

"Gimme that," he changed topic, picking the controller out of Eugene's slack hands. He shoved a handful of chips into his mouth before unpausing the game and getting used to the steering controls. Delsin felt the video conduit shift closer to him until their knees bumped into each other.

"You're gonna screw up my score," Eugene protested, but he didn't seem to really care that much. After a couple of minutes, he even relaxed enough to take another few sips of his beer and help himself to some popcorn.

"Why the hell does he use a sword if he's got a fucking shotgun though," Delsin muttered, letting the video game's protagonist slice a couple of enemies in half. He was loving the gory details.

"Because swords are way cooler than guns!" answered Eugene with the same enthusiasm he had each time he talked about Heaven's Hellfire or his own angels and demons. He materialized a pixelated blue sword into his hand, before letting it slowly float up into the air.

"Yeah, when you're an RPG playing nerd maybe," teased Delsin, glancing over at the floating sword with a cocked eyebrow and then at the video conduit with a small smirk. "You know what's even cooler than swords and guns and all that stuff put together?" he asked in a low voice, pausing the game to focus entirely on Eugene, leaning closer and closer. The kid shrank back a little, but stopped once he realized he was doing it. "U-uhm, what?" he asked.

Delsin's smirk widened and he whispered close to where Eugen's ear was hidden behind the striped material of his hoodie: "Being a conduit. Manipulating nature itself."

"I-I guess so," Eugene replied, nodding his head a little, subtly backing away another bit.

"Yeah," Delsin breathed, becoming more serious. He took a hold of the gamer's shoulder and gently shook him. "That's what we are. That's what you are, 'Gene. More powerful than pretty much any weapon out there. Cooler than swords and guns, way cooler. There is no reason to be afraid of going outside, of other people, when there is nothing that can defeat you. You should really stop hiding in there."

Eugene shyly glanced up to meet Delsin's eyes for a second, before averting his again. He was clearly flustered, but his lips were curved into a small smile.

"Do you mean that?" he asked, the sword in the air slowly disintegrating in a small cascade of pixels.

"Of course, man," Delsin assured him, letting his hand slide off his shoulder and down his arm. He stared at the kid until he was clearly feeling a little uncomfortable, before releasing him and averting his eyes. He nonchalantly shoved a couple of chips into his mouth, internally smirking.

"U-uhm, are you gonna keep playing?" Eugene asked after a while of Delsin snacking and sipping on his beer.

"Oh, suit yourself," the Akomish said, nodding at his lap where the controller was idly resting. The video conduit waited, obviously expecting Delsin to pass him the controller. But once he realized that wasn't going to happen, he hesitantly reached over and carefully fished the pad out of the older male's lap. He unpaused the game and silently picked up where Delsin left off, demonstrating that he was way more skilled in it. The Akomish let him play long enough for him to be relaxed again, before slowly nestling up to his side. As expected, Eugene tensed up and leaned slightly away. He glanced over at Delsin, and then kept his gaze fixed on the TV screen when he realized how close the other conduit actually was, with his arm stretched out on the backrest of the couch and his body sort of curled around him.

"D-Delsin...?" he inquired, his voice tiny. He licked his lips and nervously started to nibble on the bottom one. The Akomish didn't reply, just used his free hand to gently push the hood resting on the gamer's head down, effectively exposing the otherwise almost always covered dark blonde hair. A little breathless, and by then starting to panic, the kid asked: "What are you doing?"

"Shh," Delsin hushed him, letting the arm on the couch finally slip down and curl around Eugene's shoulders, holding him close and carding his hand through his hair. The intention was to calm down the video conduit, and even though he had started to shake a little, he did indeed quieten down. The Akomish slowly leaned in and, upon seeing that the other male didn't react apart from letting the controller in his hands fall to the floor with a dull thud, kissed him lightly on the lips.

Eugene seemed frozen, suddenly not shaking anymore, just sitting there and staring at Delsin with wide eyes. The latter offered him a small grin, before taking his glasses off, which the gamer let happen without even blinking an eye. He put them on the table in front of them and then pulled Eugene closer again. He brushed the hair out of his eyes and then leaned in to kiss him again, this time longer and with more pressure. After few seconds, he felt the kid's trembling hands slip under his vest to shyly rest on his sides over his hoodie. They did not move except for curling around cotton.

Delsin's on the contrary, gently glided through hair and over rather smooth cheeks, wandered all the way down to narrow hips, where they rubbed soothing circles into a tense body. Eugene was kissing back, albeit a little clumsily, and when the Akomish coaxed his mouth open, he complied willingly. He released a shaky exhale through his nose at the first brush of their tongues against each other and his hands slipped further back until they pressed flatly against Delsin's shoulder blades, lightly pulling him in. The latter figured it was safe to keep going, so he kept kissing the gamer until his breathing became heavy and irregular and the hands on his back had started to claw at him, before letting one of his hands slip down to Eugene's thigh. At first, he just massaged it a little, but then, he subtly fixed it into a position which made it easier for him to start pushing the video conduit down into a lying position, with one of his legs pulled up and trapped between him and the backrest and the other hanging down over the edge of the couch, spreading him out in front of him. They took a short break at that point and Eugene just lay there, breathing heavily, with his hoodie and shirt having slightly ridden up with the change of position, his eyes half-lidded, his cheeks flushed and his mouth slightly parted.

Delsin let the chain around his wrist uncurl and fall onto the floor, and then slithered between Eugene's legs, noticing without surprise that he wasn't the only one interested in the situation. At the contact of their crotches the kid inhaled sharply and closed his eyes, his head tilting slightly back. Delsin, leaning on the arm he had braced beside Eugene's head, took advantage of it by kissing and nibbling on the exposed skin of his neck. His other hand kept running up and down the video conduit's skinny thigh, until it went past a hip and slipped underneath his t-shirt, where it gently caressed warm and soft skin.

Eugene's leg hooked around his own and Delsin instinctively rocked against the body tentatively pushing up against his. He sought out the other conduit's mouth once again and the kiss that followed was heated, even the gamer seemed to have put his shyness aside for the time being, kissing hungrily back and letting his hands roam Delsin's lean upper body more freely. Feeling rather constricted in his clothes and wanting to make it easier for the kid to explore him, the Akomish unzipped his hoodie and pushed it off together with his vest, carelessly throwing them on the floor. When he tried to do the same to Eugene, the latter hesitated a little, but helped him along by leaning up and slipping out of the sleeves of his hoodie.

Delsin broke off the kiss and sat up on his knees to also pull his button-up shirt off, right over his head, without even unbuttoning it. Eugene only stared at him, a little timid about touching his bare skin at first. His hands started on his sides, running up and then around, running down again. The Akomish's body was tan and covered in lithe muscles, his skin warm and smooth to the touch and Eugene seemed to be enchanted by it, especially by the feel of skin against skin. When he reached down to remove his shirt as well, Delsin was quick to aid him, revealing a pale and skinny upper body. Once they were both topless, he leaned over the male lying underneath him again and was welcomed by a pair of arms pulling him greedily closer.

They started to make out again, carefully exploring the newly exposed skin. It wasn't until a short while later, that Delsin noticed Eugene's enthusiasm was starting to fade. He slowly pulled back from the other conduit and gazed at him, confused.

"You okay?" he asked, when the gamer strictly avoided any eye contact and seemed to shrink under his stare.

"I dunno..." Eugene softly replied. He hesitated a little, before adding: "This is a little... weird."

Delsin pushed him around until he could align himself beside him on the border of couch. He used one of his arms to hold up his head, while keeping the other wrapped around the younger male's stomach.

"Why, 'cause we're both dudes? It's fucking 2018, most people can deal with that by now, not that we should care about what normals think in the first place." He ran his fingers along Eugene's soft skin, drawing patterns along his slight abdominal muscles and around his belly button.

"It's not that... just... isn't this going a little fast? I don't even know what the hell is going on to be honest."

"I thought you were enjoying yourself... or well, at least your boner made me believe so," Delsin remarked and chuckled when Eugene tensed up, obviously embarrassed. He regretted it a little when the kid suddenly sat up, pulling his knees closer and wrapping his arms around them. Having not much of another choice, the Akomish sat up as well, one foot on the floor and the other leg angled in front of him lying flat on the couch.

"I was joking, man. I got a boner too, see? No big deal - the kinda reaction you'd expect from a guy making out and stuff."

It was silent for a couple of minutes, in which Delsin just sighed and picked up his button-up shirt off the floor, starting to put it back on. Looks like this wasn't working out the way he had thought it would. He had been sure the video conduit had a little man crush on him, considering he was his self-proclaimed number one fan, but maybe that's all it was. A fanboy's man crush and nothing more.

"Sorry, dude," he mumbled, though he really wasn't. Actually, he was starting to feel a little irritated again. He shifted around until his feet were properly placed on the floor and bent down to pull his discarded hoodie and vest closer. He was just about to slip into the red fabric again, when a hesitant hand enclosed around his forearm.

"De-Delsin, wait," Eugene pleaded, voice small. The Akomish just gave him an annoyed glance and gently freed his arm to shove it through the sleeve of his hoodie instead. "Delsin...!"

The smoke conduit finally stilled his movements and slightly turned to the male sitting beside him, letting his eyes wander up and down his still naked upper body, before finally raising them to meet the gamer's. The latter was avoiding his gaze though, looking nervous and flustered. When he shyly reached out again to take one of Delsin's hands in both of his, Delsin turned around fully, his interest piqued once again.

"It's... it's not that I don't want to..." Eugene started, then stopped to lick his reddened lips and swallow drily. "I've just never done this before... and I didn't think you were interested in me this way." He got a little bolder, met the Akomish's gaze with his own before looking down again. "I mean, you said Fetch is way out of my league, but how the hell aren't you then...? I know you fuck around with people a lot, in any way possible, but I'm not sure I can do this if you're just playing with me..."

The kid was honest to God pulling the blushing virgin routine on him. Delsin looked serious and understanding on the outside, but internally, he was laughing his ass off. He was pretty sure that all he had to do at this point, was whisper a couple of sweet nothings in Eugene's ear and he'd have him.

"Hey," he softly said, shifting closer to the other conduit and using his free hand to push his still raised knees out of the way until he got the message and slowly lowered them. He looked even smaller and skinnier half naked, and with his shoulders hunched up like that.

"Hey," he repeated more firmly, and this time Eugene shyly looked up at him, nibbling on his bottom lip and nervously fumbling around with the hand he held in his. "I like you, okay?" the Akomish told him, then embellished: "I like you a whole lot. You're nerdy as fuck, but I'm kinda digging it on you. You're cute. Also you've got and given me these amazing powers," he paused to demonstratively absorb some of the video energy of the TV in front of them and let his arm be surrounded by static. Delsin grinned at the other conduit, who, eventually, offered a small, tentative smile back. He concluded: "I think you're fucking rad, 'Gene."

His little speech seemed to have worked, as the kid visibly relaxed during the few silent minutes which followed. At some point, he quit playing around with the Akomish's hand and let go of it to lean his whole body into the older male's instead. Delsin simply wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close, running his free hand through dark blond locks.

It didn't take long for them to return to kissing, though this time it was Eugene, who initiated it, by placing a tentative little kiss on the smoke conduit's chin. Their lips slid gently against each other and hands started to explore again.

Then Delsin's mobile phone went off. With an exasperated sigh he pulled away from the gamer and fished it out of his pocket to glare at the screen. Of course Reggie would choose to call him right then, of all times. He muttered a "sorry" to an antsy and very flustered Eugene, before answering: "What."

"Wow, and here I thought you'd be glad to hear the good news," came Reggie's voice from the other end of the phone.

"Yeah, sorry, bro, but I was kinda in the middle of something over here."

"Do I even wanna know?"

"Probably not."

"Jesus, Delsin, you need to get your head on straight. If you were terrorizing anti bioter- conduit protesters again, I swear to God-"

"I wasn't, okay?!" Delsin interrupted his brother, forgetting he wasn't alone for a moment. "Who the hell do you take me for, some kinda Marvel villain?!" It was silent for a couple of seconds, the only thing revealing that Reggie was still on the line being the soft hisses of each time his breath hit the phone's microphone.

"Sadly it's the impression you've been giving me lately, yes," he replied at last. Delsin sighed and rolled his eyes overdramatically. Even though the older Rowe couldn't see him, he knew for a fact that the cop must've pictured it perfectly in his head. "Reeeggiiie, can we talk about this another time," he whined. "I thought you had good news for me."

"Well, yeah, I do. It's about the D.U.P..."

While Delsin got informed by his brother about how to easily infiltrate the D.U.P. base of the Market District and neutralize their Mobile Command Unit, he watched how Eugene awkwardly started dressing himself again. Once he was done, he sat there like he didn't know what to do with himself, before wisely starting to play the long forgotten video game again. Delsin laid an arm on the backrest of the couch and absentmindedly toyed around with the younger male's hair. Finally, the phone call came to an end.

"So, Eugene," he tried, aware that being interrupted during a sexual act for some reason or another not only once, but twice, could make shit get awkward really fast. The gamer didn't pause the game, he did, however, coyly glance over at Delsin. The Akomish shifted closer, one hand still toying with the kid's hair, the other burying itself in the soft fabric of his striped hoodie. A soft, breathy kiss was placed behind his ear, before whispering into it: "I'm gonna go kick a couple D.U.P. asses now. You coming?"

Eugene gulped quietly and then nodded.

late that night

The fight was over. Between Delsin's versatile powers and the amount of angel and demon warriors Eugene had spawned, it had been a child's play getting the upper hand over the D.U.P. The Akomish had just finished absorbing all the blast shards from when the Mobile Command Unit had exploded, when the gamer flickered into visibility in front of him. They exchanged an excited grin, before being distracted by the sound of a helicopter approaching.

"We should probably leave," the kid suggested, checking something on his smartphone. "There are two helicopters and three tanks headed our way. I don't really have a lot of energy left to spawn more holograms or turn into He Who Dwells again."

"Sorry, bro, but I'm not gonna run away like a pussy," Delsin disagreed, already disentangling the chain from around his wrist with a leer on his face.

"Delsin..." Eugene tried one more time, the grin disappearing from his face. "Delsin, I really think we shouldn't..."

"Dude, shut up, who's the one actually fighting face to face with the D.U.P. between the two of us? Yup, it's me, and I can take a couple more assholes, even alone, no problem."

"O-okay, sorry," he relented. "I'm covering your back though."

"Good." The Akomish grinned and amicably patted the kid's shoulder.

It wasn't until later, when the streets and buildings were fuming, rubble and fallen D.U.P. soldiers making it near impossible to walk around anymore, that Delsin wondered if he should have listened to the video conduit. They had been surprised by an insane amount of higher level fighters, who all possessed Augustine's power. While the two of them had been doing just fine for some time, things had started looking bad really fast once Eugene had been hit by a concrete bomb, when he had tried to stealthily glide from one rooftop to another to come to the older conduit's aid. Delsin himself had been hit more times than once, but the attacks had caused no damage his regeneration powers hadn't been able to fix in a few minutes. Eugene, however, had not returned for the rest of the altercation after that one spectacular hit.

The Akomish took out for good the few wounded soldiers, who still moaned in pain and wriggled around on the floor, without even blinking an eye. Their life meant pretty much nothing to him, after the amount of times they had tried to take his. He then jogged to the place he estimated his comrade to have fallen after being hurt. His mobile phone went off, and he was quick to answer it with a bitten off: "Not now, Reggie."

"Delsin, what the hell, I thought I told you to make as little damage as possible, why does this place look like an atomic bomb dropped?! Where are you?! Are you okay?"

Ignoring his brother's upset and concerned ramblings, he ended the call and changed his phone's notification settings to "silent", before continuing to look for the hurt video conduit. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with the older Rowe's bullshit at the moment.

He found Eugene, he found him alright, and as he had feared, but tried not to think about when the kid never returned to cover his back, he was seriously injured. His first thought at the sight of the younger male's battered body was that he couldn't afford to lose such a powerful and useful ally. His second, that he didn't really want to lose Eugene, period. He kneeled down beside the broken boy and took note of the sharp, spiky pieces of concrete sticking out of his abdomen and thigh. The wounds they caused were bleeding sluggishly, but since they blocked most of the blood flow themselves, it didn't look like he had lost much of it yet. The little skin which wasn't covered by clothes was littered with scratches and bruises, probably caused by the rough fall, and there were a couple of superficial cuts were concrete had torn at flesh but not stuck as well.

"Eugene," Delsin softly said, gently patting the kid's cheek. "Hey."

The video conduit moaned weakly, his head lolling to the side. He was breathing shallowly, as if every intake of air hurt him, which was probably the case, considering he had concrete sticking out of his upper body.

"Del... sin," he murmured, acknowledging.

"Dude, aren't you regenerating?" the Akomish asked. He grazed a nasty open wound above Eugene's eyebrow with his fingertips to highlight his point and then looked at the spikes in his abdomen. He was afraid the kid would bleed to death if he pulled them out.

"Too… injured," was the weak reply. Delsin didn't know what to do. After a moment, he bent down and gingerly sneaked his arms under the hurt conduit's shoulders and knees, before getting on his feet and successfully lifting him up with him. Apart from grimacing and a soft moan, the kid didn't protest much.

"Shit, what now, it's not like I can bring you to a hospital..." Delsin mumbled, more to himself than the person lying limply in his arms. Seeing no other alternative, he used Eugene's video powers to glide to the top of the nearest building and then proceeded to use the satellite dishes on the roofs to fly back to the kid's basement as quickly as possible. Once there, he gently laid the, by then, unconscious body on the couch, before going back outside and raiding the nearest pharmacy he could find. Since it was late at night, the whole ordeal happened without any interferences and he was back by the gamer's side shortly after.

"Fuck. How do I do this. I shoulda let Reggie deal with this," he cursed, as he placed the stolen goods beside himself in front of the couch. He had to cut through Eugene's hoodie and shirt with a pair of scissors to get to the wounds without removing the spikes already, and once they were discarded, he cringed at the sight of the skinny pale upper body he had seen only a few hours before under completely different circumstances, pierced, scratched and bruised.

"I'm sorry," he found himself whispering, knowing Eugene would have never gotten hurt if he didn't manipulate him into coming along in the first place and then insisted on having another round of D.U.P. ass-kicking even after they were already weakened by the first fight. Biting his lower lip, he reached out and curled his fingers around where concrete met hot, clammy skin. Then he pulled. As expected, as soon as the spike was out, the blood started flowing like he had just punctured a water balloon. He quickly grabbed a small cloth and pushed it against the wound as hard as he could, feeling the warmth and wetness spread out under his hand. After a short while, the blood flow had slowed down to the point it was only seeping sluggishly out of the puncture wound though, so Delsin cleaned it with antiseptic and covered it with gauze.

The same procedure took place with the remaining four pieces of concrete still buried in Eugene's body, and by the time the last one was out, the Akomish could visibly see how the younger conduit's regeneration powers had kicked in again, the bruises and scratches covering his body starting to slowly fade already. He made sure to clean and cover the more serious cuts nonetheless and exhaled in relief once he was sure the kid wasn't about to die on him anymore. He got up and went to the corner of the basement Eugene treated more or less like a bedroom, having arranged a queen-sized mattress with a couple of pillows and sheets into an inviting nest, and snatched one of the blankets. He used it to cover up the gamer, who was wearing only his briefs and socks at that point and then returned to Eugene's bed to have a few hours of sleep himself.

sometime around noon

When Delsin woke up, he was uncomfortably hot and sweaty from having slept fully clothed. He also realized he had 7 missed calls from Reggie, when he checked what time it was. Then he remembered he had almost gotten one of his only friends killed last night. He rubbed his face tiredly before rolling into a standing position and making his way over to the couch, where Eugene seemed to still be asleep.

"'Gene?" he tested the waters, but the kid didn't even flinch. A little worried, Delsin braced himself against the couch's armrest to lean over the video conduit and gently shook his shoulder. When Eugene groaned and weakly tried to shove away his hand, the Akomish released a breath he wasn't aware he had been holding in. The gamer's tired blue eyes fluttered open and Delsin gingerly sat beside him on the border of the couch.

"You okay?"

Eugene slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes, asking "Where are my glasses?" instead of replying, when his free hand didn't find them anywhere nearby. The older conduit gave him a pained little smile.

"Yeah, no, I don't think they survived the 100 feet fall to be honest."

"Oh," was all the kid said. He pushed the blanked down, revealing his almost naked body and Delsin was pleased to see that all the scratches and bruises were gone and that the gauze was still mostly white. Eugene stood up and swayed only for a second, before walking more or less steadily to were his backpack was resting against the wall beside his bed. He put on a pair of spare glasses, and then pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a shirt.

"Wait," Delsin stopped him before he could get dressed. "We should check on your wounds before you put those on."

"Did you do this?" Eugene inquired, carefully fingering the edge of the gauze covering one of his wounds on his abdomen, looking deep in thought. The Akomish found himself hesitating to answer, for some reason.

"Uhm. Yeah."

The gamer offered a small smile, before returning to the couch to sit beside him. They awkwardly glanced at each other, until the younger conduit slipped one of his hands along the older one's, intertwining their fingers in the process. His looked startlingly pale compared to the Akomish's darker skinned ones.

"Thanks, I guess," he softly said.

Delsin snorted, disbelieving. "Thanks for… getting us almost killed?" he inquired, jokingly. He gently brushed his thumb along Eugene's in a silent apology. The latter's hand tightened around his.

"Thanks for not leaving me behind," was the whispered reply after a couple of silent seconds. A little startled by the answer, the smoke conduit looked up and straight into the kid's eyes, who instantly lowered his own, however.

"Why in the world would I leave you behind?" he asked, frowning. When the other male said nothing he insisted with a firm: "'Gene?"

"I dunno... After I was hit I thought you weren't coming - that you didn't care." He timidly raised his gaze, finally meeting Delsin's brown eyes with his own blue ones. "But then you did, so… thanks for caring enough about me to bring me all the way back here and help me out."

The Akomish looked for some form of judgement in Eugene's face, but when he couldn't find any, he realized the kid was honestly only grateful. "Sure, dude. I care about you a lot," he conceded and grinned a little. The video conduit weakly smiled back and then hesitantly nestled up to him, resting his head against his shoulder, gazing up at him through his eyelashes. Delsin slowly leaned down to kiss him gently on the lips. He didn't know why he did it, he had no reason left to do it, after all, and yet, he couldn't stop himself from kissing him again, even after realizing this.

When the kisses started deepening, he could still taste the blood on Eugene's tongue and internally cringed. The hand clenching his, released him, to instead push his beanie off and pull at his hair. The other one joined in, and together they forced a low moan out of Delsin's throat. The kissing slowly got more and more heated, and only stopped when Delsin tried to push Eugene back onto the couch and ended up bumping into the gamer's glasses with his brow. They both were breathing a little more elaborately by then and as they gazed into each other's eyes, the older male softly asked: "You up to this?"

The kid quickly nodded, taking off his glasses and putting them on the table, before lying down, the way Delsin had tried to get him to do before. The latter was a little surprised by the shown enthusiasm and obedience, but sure as hell wasn't about to complain, so he quickly discarded his chain, vest, hoodie and button-up shirt, before lowering himself on top of the other conduit, kissing him a little more aggressively than before. He couldn't help but run the hand he wasn't using to brace himself against the couch along the bared skin of Eugene's thigh, a thing he hadn't gotten to do the day before. The kid shuddered and spread his legs a little more to accommodate Delsin between them, then made a tiny desperate sound in the back of his throat when the Akomish rocked their hips together. They tentatively kept rubbing and rocking against each other for a while, until they were gasping into each other's mouths and Eugene's nails had left several red lines across Delsin's tan back. Before things could finish too soon however, the smoke conduit pulled back and used the short break to work on unbuckling his belt and getting his jeans, socks and shoes off. The gamer watched with interest, his eyes never stopping to trace every inch of newly bared skin Delsin revealed with admiration. The latter couldn't help but smirk a little, making a show out of undressing to his underwear, before returning to the warm place between Eugene's thighs. He kissed him shortly, then let his lips and teeth travel down his chin, his neck, along his collarbone down to one of his nipples. He used his tongue to toy with it a little, and glanced up without stopping, when he heard how vocally responsive the younger conduit was being. He was biting his lower lip to be quiet, but he still couldn't hide all of the tiny gasps and occasional mewls which escaped his lips. His eyes were half-lidded and glassy, and his face flushed. His hands were clawing at the leather of the couch. Delsin sucked the nipple into his mouth and gave it a gentle nibble, lapping at it to sooth it afterwards. He did this to first one then the other nipple, until Eugene was whimpering in desperation and rocking his hips against him.

"Fuck," the kid whined at some point. Delsin decided he had teased him enough and pulled away, placing a couple of open mouthed kisses on his abdomen, where the skin wasn't covered by gauze, instead. He ran the tip of his fingers lightly over a bandage, before carefully peeling it away, revealing nothing but a pinkish scar. He leaned down and kissed it gently, before doing the same to the other ones. He didn't know why he was doing it, why he was being so gentle with Eugene in the first place - he wasn't exactly the gentle lover usually – but when he felt fingers card through his hair and looked up to find the gamer gazing right back at him with affection in his eyes, he knew he was doing the right thing.

[A/N: the following part was cut heavily because of rules and guidelines... full sex scene is available on AO3 though - check out the link on my profile if you're interested]

He shifted back until he was at eye-level with Eugene's injured thigh, and slowly peeled off the gauze there as well. Just like the other wounds, this one too, was nothing anymore but a pink patch of slightly raised skin. He kissed it, peppered kisses all around it, kissed and nibbled his way down to the sensitive inside of the kid's leg and lingered there until the younger conduit was whining and the pulling of his hair becoming kind of painful. He relented and crawled back up, where he was assaulted by a hungry mouth, kissing and biting his own, along his jaw and chin, his neck and shoulders. Skinny legs clenched against his hips and inpatient hands fumbled between their bodies...

Breathing patterns were becoming more elaborated, hips were starting to uncontrollably rock forward more and more often and free hands were clawing, grabbing, pulling. Delsin tugged at the other conduit's briefs, who resisted only little before helping him along by lifting his hips. His own then quickly followed and the whole ordeal resumed, this time with no barriers left. At some point the use of hands fell away and there was a lot of grinding against each other instead. They were close, really close, panting loudly and biting at skin to muffle moans and groans. Delsin himself was so far gone that, at some point, he separated his swollen lips from Eugene's to whisper a hopeful "I wanna fuck you so bad right now" into his ear. He wasn't really expecting an answer, and especially not an affirmative one, and yet the gamer replied with a breathy "o-okay". Taken aback for an instant, but deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, he started to pull back, leaving a trail of kisses along the way. Once he was sitting on his heels, he bent over to fish his wallet out of his discarded jeans. He kept a condom and a small package of lube in there and once he had them, he returned his attention to the conduit lying in front of him. His legs had closed, and his hands were clawing at the couch. It was obvious he was nervous as hell.

"S'okay," Delsin soothed, caressing his thighs until they slowly fell apart again...

Time later, once it was over, the Akomish pushed the gamer a little to the side and flopping down beside him. They both said and did nothing, while their heartbeat and breathing patterns slowly returned to a more usual pace and form. Eugene hesitantly placed a hand on Delsin's chest and when nothing happened, he cushioned his head against his shoulder as well and nestled up to him. The Akomish wasn't a post-coital cuddler, but he found himself curling an arm around the kid's shoulders nonetheless, pulling him even closer.

After Eugene had dozed off against him, Delsin carefully slipped out from under him and silently got dressed. He stared at the younger conduit, taking note of all the little marks his hands and teeth had left behind on the otherwise unmarred skin. He picked up the blanket, which had slipped down onto the floor sometime during their heated activities, and covered him up.

Then he left the basement and did not return.

some days later, an evening

"Hey Eugene," Delsin greeted, caught a little off-guard, when the kid picked up the phone already after the first ring.

"Delsin," came the video conduit's stunned and slightly breathless voice from the other end. The Akomish couldn't blame him, he had ignored all of his calls and messages for a while, after all.

"You wanna hang out? I'm kinda bored," he asked, as if nothing had happened, not the little mind games, not the almost getting both of them killed, not the surprisingly gentle sex and the avoiding afterwards. He kept placing one foot in front of the other as he carefully walked along the narrow monorail, trying not to lose his balance even when the wind was trying to blow him over the edge.

"Do you need help with the D.U.P.?" Eugene inquired. Delsin stopped his motions, brow furrowing.

"Uhm... no?" he replied, tentatively. "Reggie has been annoying the shit out of me lately and our motel room is a dump anyway, so I just felt like hanging out with you for a while, that's all."

"Oh." There was a short moment of contemplating in silence. "Okay, are you coming over or should I come to you?"

Delsin's body turned into smoke as he narrowly lunged out of the way of an oncoming train he had barely noticed approaching, deep as he was in his own thoughts.

"Wow, you'd really come out of your basement for me, basement dweller?" he joked.

"I guess so."

"Awesome, well I'm currently-"

"I know where you are, I always do, remember?" Eugene interrupted him, some of the cheerfulness he had usually expressed during phone calls and which had lacked so far in this one, returning.

"Right, how could I forget the good old times I thought I was finally famous enough to have my very own honest to God stalker. Get your ass over here then, hacker boy, I'll be waiting."

"See you later, Delsin."

Later turned out to be almost in a whole hour. The Akomish had smoke-dashed over to the docks by that time and nearly finished his second graffiti, when he heard light steps approach him from behind. Unfazed, he finished spraying, before asking: "Do you like it?"

When no reply came, he turned around and found Eugene standing awkwardly there, with his hood covering his head, shoulders hunched up and his hands fiddling with each other, looking uncomfortable and nervous.

"Is that He Who Dwells?" the kid wondered aloud as he studied the graffiti, his face lighting up a little.

"Yes, it's you, the incredibly derpy teen angel, kicking a bunch of stupid D.U.P. asses back into the hell hole they came out of."

Eugene blushed a little and lowered his gaze. He looked up at the Akomish through his eyelashes, smiling coyly, and complimented: "… That's really pretty cool."

"Glad you like it, bro," Delsin answered with a little grin, spinning the spray can in his hand once, before gently placing it on the ground. He leaned against a part of the warehouse's wall which he hadn't sprayed on and stared at the other conduit expectantly.

When nothing happened and it only became increasingly quiet and awkward, what with Eugene avoiding his gaze and toying around with the strings of his hoodie, the older male sighed loudly and gestured with his arms. "Come here," he ordered, and obediently, the gamer did, albeit hesitating a little at first. Delsin pulled him into an embrace once he was within arm reach and Eugene's hands grasped at him with a hint of desperation. They ended up balled up in the back of his vest.

"I'm sorry," the kid apologized, burying his face in the Akomish's neck, even though his glasses were making it a little uncomfortable for the both of them. "I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Delsin asked, cocking an eyebrow in confusion, and then let his hands run over the other conduit's shoulders and back in a soothing manner.

"I dunno," Eugene answered, trying to muffle a sniffle against the Akomish's skin. "About fucking up, I guess. About not being good enough… for you."

The latter was left speechless, trying to figure out what the hell the gamer was referring to. Then he figured this was probably about him avoiding and ignoring him for the past few days, right after they screwed. For the first time. For the first time ever for Eugene. Yeah, a poor no-longer-virgin was probably prone to reacting negatively when their crush literally fucked them over and then disappeared out of thin air. Delsin had been aware his behavior was going to have some sort of impact on the other conduit, but he hadn't really cared. He had been way too busy dealing with his own shit: for instance, why the hell he couldn't stop thinking about the way the kid looked when he was hurt and defenseless in his arms. Or the way he smiled when he realized Delsin had saved him and done his best to aid him. Or the way he sounded, when he was right about to come. And so on. Then he had been busy killing a bunch of D.U.P. soldiers (and accidentally some civilians along with them), trying to get to Augustine, and dealing with Reggie giving him shit about how he thought his little brother had changed and strayed from the right path. Fetch had been pretty much the only ray of light in the otherwise rather dull course of the day. He obviously wasn't going to admit any of that though.

"It's okay," he said at first, as if Eugene really did have any reason to apologize. Then he realized it didn't feel as good as it usually would, to make him believe he was the issue, when the issue was clearly Delsin himself. Sounding dry and sort of apathetic, as he wasn't used to do it sincerely, he apologized: "You didn't fuck up. I did. Sorry."

The kid very slowly pulled away to look up at him. His eyes were wide and wet behind his glasses and Delsin averted his gaze, uncomfortable.

A short, tender kiss was placed on his cheek, which prompted him to turn his head back around and stare at the gamer in surprise. The latter smiled weakly, gingerly entwining his arms around the smoke conduit's neck, and then leaned in to kiss him again, this time on the lips. It was just their mouths pressing gently together for a second, but he did it again and again, until Delsin was reciprocating and short innocent pecks gradually turned into longer and deeper kisses. The Akomish's hands came up to cup his face, long, slender fingers burying themselves into dark blond locks and almost pushing off his hood in the process.

"Do you wanna come over later?" Eugene breathily asked against his lips. Delsin dumfoundedly nodded his head and answered: "Yeah, okay." They kissed for another while, before the gamer pulled back for good.

"So, what were you thinking we could do, when you asked me to hang out?"

The older conduit hesitated answering, still a little overwhelmed by all the foreign feelings he was experiencing. "I saw they were playing this new movie at the theater," he recounted, letting his hands slip down to rest on Eugene's thin waist and pull him even closer to himself. "The ones with the elves and shit? Lots of epic sword fights? I thought we could check it out." He acted like it wasn't a big deal, but the truth was he knew the kid was into that kind of stuff and was proposing to see that movie solely for his sake. He himself couldn't care less about shitty fantasy flicks.

As expected, Eugene sounded hopeful when he inquired: "You mean, 'The Rune Carved in Silver'?"

"I think so."

"Oh." The arms around his neck disentangled and warm palms were pressed against his chest instead. The video conduit's smile widened and he looked really happy for once. "You really wanna go to the movies with me?"

The Akomish frowned a little, disconcerted. Was there something weird about that? "Yeeeaaah?" he drawled out, questioningly.

"Okay, cool," Eugene beamed, and rose to the tip of his toes to plant a short kiss on Delsin's mouth. He grabbed the older conduit's hand and forced a startled "woah" out of him when he enthusiastically ran off, dragging him along.

Thanks a lot for reading!
Feedback of any kind is always appreciated. :)