Ever nodded, watching the other boy warily.
Arsen glared at the loud one. “You cannot just grab at him like that, Levi. He has trauma.”
Levi rolled his eyes. “We all have trauma. I just wanted pizza, too.”
“Don’t touch other people’s food,” Jericho said.
Arsen grinned at Ever, petting his cheek in a way that made Ever want to close his eyes and lean into the caress. “He’s food aggressive. I don’t blame him,” he threw over his shoulder. Then, to Ever, he said, “He scared you, huh?”
Ever nodded.
“Food aggressive. He’s a person, Arsen, not a dog,” Jericho said around a laugh.
Levi flung his arms in the air. “That is not a person. That is a feral little gremlin in a human suit.”
“Levi,” Jericho said sharply.
Arsen took the pizza from Ever’s plate and folded it, holding it up. “Can you say sorry to Levi,besenok?”
Ever chewed on his lip, glowering at Levi. Finally, he said, “Sorry.”
They all looked at him, appearing surprised.
Ever flushed, looking away.
“Bite,” Arsen said.
Ever complied without thought, letting Arsen feed him the pizza.
“What the fuck. You’re babying him, dude. He’s going to think if you bite people, you get rewarded,” Levi said, sulking.
Arsen booped Ever’s nose. “Good boy.”
Once more, warmth bled through him at Arsen’s purred compliment.
Levi made a disgusted sound. “You’re all fucking weird. I’m out of here.”
“Don’t forget you have a job tonight,” Jericho called.
“Yeah, yeah. Just keep the gremlin on a leash.”
* * *
Ever spent the next few hours watching Arsen work. Whenever he was doing something that didn’t make noise, he would talk to Ever, just keeping up a running commentary about whatever was on his mind. He talked about where he was from—Moscow, which was apparently in Russia. He talked about how he came there when he was a kid. He talked about his friends, about Jericho, how Jericho was married to Atticus and how they were thinking about fostering kids. How Atticus had five brothers. How Arsen was an only child.
Ever didn’t know any of them, but he enjoyed Arsen’s voice. His accent and smooth tone soothed something within him. He didn’t tell Arsen that, though. He didn’t say anything at all. He kept his headphones on but without the music, just listening to Arsen talk as he moved around the shop.
Jericho was still there but he stayed inside on his computer, popping out periodically to ask Arsen questions about the cars he worked on. When he opened the door the final time, he looked at Arsen and said, “Knock off for the day, kid. It’s getting late. I’ll handle anything left before I go. Take Ever upstairs so he can shower and eat.”
Arsen nodded, going to the sink to scrub his hands until they were red, then he crossed to take Ever’s hand, pulling him from the bench and leading him upstairs. Ever felt shaky, unsure what he was supposed to do next.
“You hungry,besenok?”
Ever didn’t know what that meant but it made him blush when Arsen called him that. It wasn’t said with any unkindness, so he hoped it was something nice. Arsen seemed to enjoy calling Ever that. So, if it made him happy, that was okay with him.
Ever wasn’t hungry, though. He wasn’t sure he could eat again for another day or so. He’d had two whole pieces of pizza and they sat like a rock in his stomach. He shook his head.
“You should take a shower first. I’ll use up all the hot water trying to get myself clean.”
