“Why so surprised?” Flix took a lazy step away from the door. “You should have been expecting me.” He cocked his head, gaze hardening some when he quipped, “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Ani didn’t say anything, so Flix continued.
“I don’t like that you’ve made me come all the way here to retrieve you.” He kept walking forward as though they had all the time in the world, and with each step closer, his heart spiked a little more, the anticipation raw and all-consuming. “The very first thing you should have done once Popcorn came and set you free was come find me and beg for forgiveness.”
Aneski swallowed and lowered his arms, still holding onto the sculpting tool.
“I’m going to need you to put that down,” he warned. It was blunt enough, but didn’t mean he couldn’t take out an eye with it.
“And why should I give a shit about what you need?” Ani finally replied, though it was too obvious he was nervous, despite the fact he was trying his best to hide that fact.
“You know why I’m here,” Flix said, coming to a stop less than five feet away. “That should be reason enough. Don’t make things harder for yourself, Tiny Terror. You’ve already pushed me past my breaking point.”
Aneski hesitated and then placed the tool on the edge of the pedestal. “Is that why you left the note?”
Flix had found a piece of scrap paper and written a message across it hastily before sticking it to Aneski’s chest. It’d been fairly simple.
Come find me when you’re less tied up -F.
He chuckled. “What? Didn’t you find it funny?” There was a pregnant pause and then Flix found himself asking, “Well? Why didn’t you come?”
“I knew you’d find me yourself,” Ani replied softly. “Only a moron would enter a lion’s den willingly.”
“Only a moron thinks to kidnap a Devil of Vitality and get away with it unscathed,” he countered.
Aneski shook his head. “I never assumed I’d get away with it.”
“No? Why’d you do it then?”
“You know why.”
Flix chuckled humorlessly. “Apparently we both know a lot of things.”
“Apparently.”
“So, tell me then,” he pulled his hands out of his front pants pockets, “Know what’s going to happen next?”
“Well,” he made a big show of dropping his gaze to Flix’s palms, “you’re not holding a blaster, so I guess you’re not here to shoot me outright.”
“Where would the fun be in that?”
He hummed in what seemed like agreement before he said, “I was afraid you would think that way.”
“Were you hoping I’d be satisfied with how I left you waiting for your friend?”
“It was pretty akin to an eye for an eye.”
“Hardly. You locked me up for weeks. How long were you waiting there to be found?”
Ani gulped again. “Around five hours.”
Flix snorted. “And you thought that would be enough punishment to make us even?”
“You seemed pretty interested in ignoring my existence before,” there was a hint of attitude in his tone this time, and he caught himself and shifted on his feet.
Aneski had always been like this. Snappy and too careless with his words once he got comfortable around someone. It used to get him into trouble with his brother's friends, but in the past, Flix would always let it slide.
Too bad for him they were no longer living the good old days.
