The casually flipped photograph landed in front of him on the dirty high-top table and imbedded itself in years of alcoholic grime. Raziel glanced down at it and nearly snorted his beer up his nose. He began coughing, and hands thudded him on the back in turn, as the two on either side of him laughed loudly at his predicament.

"You okay there, lil' buddy?"

"Fine," Raziel gasped out, putting down his beer mug and picking up the photo. He wiped the tears from his watering eyes, and the photo came into sharp focus. Despite the dimly lit room, despite the smoke from countless cigarettes drifting past and obscuring his vision, his first glance hadn't been mistaken.

The pale purple eyes that glared from under a shock of black hair were challenging, wary, and hard. And something about them - and the beautiful face they belonged to - pierced right through him. He knew he was smitten, right then and there, and there was no point turning back. However unseemly these people and this situation might be.

"What did you say his name was?"

"Gavrael, or somethin' like that," said the one on his right, ashing his cigarette on the filthy, boot-scuffed floor.

"And he's coming when?"

"Couple of weeks. Three mebbe?"

"And he just needs a place to crash for awhile."

"Yeah." That was the guy on his left. "I heard he's helping out with a shipment or something. I dunno. They always get sketchy about outside guys working with us. Dun like the competition I guess."

"So they don't do them any favours, like hospitality." He stared at the sharp cheekbones, wondering what sort of favours he could provide instead. His mind was alight with wild imaginings, all of which he recognized instantly as too fanciful to ever occur, and yet did not care in the slightest.

"Not a chance," sneered the first one.

"Well... you know we've got some spare room at our place..." he offered as casually as he could, silently begging for Zafkiel to understand. And to make Mikael understand, if possible.

"If you can just put him up for us for a bit, would be a real help, kid."

Raziel stared at the purple eyes that just dared him to try and go up against them, and accepting that challenge, he tactfully ignored the 'kid' part.

"Sure thing, just let me know when he's coming, and I'll sort out the rest."

But sorting out the rest turned out to be a lot more complicated than he'd first thought.

Raziel walked down the dimly lit corridor. He was aware of faces behind the bars of cells on both sides of him... some leering, some glaring, some catcalling to him, some even getting up to move towards him, as if they planned to grab him through the bars. He walked faster, wishing he'd worn a shirt that revealed less chest and stomach, and maybe pants instead of his shorts and stockings. At least they weren't indecently short, though from the comments, they might as well have been.

This wasn't quite how he'd imagined their first meeting.

The rows of bars seemed to go on forever. "Gavrael!" he called out, frustrated, and heard an exclamation from somewhere up ahead of him, followed by a thud, and some muttered cursing. He followed the cursing, his heart beating faster. This was it.

He passed by yet another wall dividing the cells from each other, not even noticing the men he was passing anymore, no longer hearing their lewd comments. And there, peering at him through the bars, pale eyes narrowed and wary, was the face that had first captured him all those long weeks ago, staring at him with the same wary gaze from the photo tossed casually on the table in front of him.

Gavrael.

He stopped and took a deep breath. It was time to make a good first impression.

"Who are you?" The voice that demanded his attention was a low tenor, not deep and gravely as he'd half expected, but mid-toned and honey-smooth. The sharp confidence he'd expected it to hold wasn't lacking, though, not by a long shot.

"I'm Raziel," he replied smoothly. The pale eyes staring at him showed no recognition. "You were coming to stay with us, don't you remember?"

Now there was recognition, and then frustration, but Gavrael turned away from him before he caught more than a glimpse of it.

"Oh yeah." Gavrael half-smirked, but his gaze remained focused on the distant wall in front of him. "Well, change of plans, I'm afraid. Looks like they want me to stay here instead." His tone was sour.

"Not if I can help it," Raziel replied smugly.

"Oh?" He had Gavrael's full attention back on him now. The frustration was gone, replaced by curiosity, but the wariness was as strong as ever.

Raziel silently raised his hand, knowing Gavrael was watching his every move. The key to Gavrael's cell dangled from a chain between his fingers. He held it up so that it caught the light, and then looked back at Gavrael.

The young man's eyes were focused entirely on the key. His fingers clenched the bars so tight for a moment that they turned white; then, he seemed to realise what he was doing and loosened his grip again.

"Where did you get that?" he demanded, and now his voice was hoarse, throaty with need, and Raziel imagined for a moment what that voice might sound like, purring in his ear with the same intensity. He shook his head to clear it.

"Let's just say I have friends in the right places," he drawled out, wanting to savour the moment; he was not going to mention the effort he'd gone through in order to get his hands on this key. He didn't even like to think too hard about it himself.

"Well, hurry up and open the door!" Gavrael's voice was still soft, but there was a demanding tone to it now, one that was used to being obeyed.

"Not so fast," Raziel said, and Gavrael's eyes left the key and met his again. The wariness was sharp now, along with understanding. His expression closed off. He'd been expecting this, Raziel surmised. If Gavrael was the type Raziel thought he was, then he was the type who believed that nothing came free.

"This wasn't easy to get, you know. I want something in return." Raziel kept his tone light. Gavrael's lips quirked, in annoyance maybe, and then he nodded shortly.

"Like what?"

Raziel waited a moment, watching Gavrael's face, the lack of expression, and wondering what Gavrael expected him to say. Money perhaps, or some sort of favours helping with other underhanded things like what he'd been caught doing.

Well, if so, he was about to be surprised.

"A kiss." Raziel kept his expression smooth, waiting for Gavrael's reaction.

For a moment, there was open startlement in Gavrael's eyes, the wariness vanishing, and the flat expression on his face broke completely. For a moment, Raziel thought he was about to laugh. And that was enough to tell him he'd made the right choice with his words.

Then Gavrael seemed to catch himself, and his expression calmed again. But Raziel didn't care; he'd seen the reaction, and that was enough.

"...how about a hug?" Gavrael suggested, shortly.

Raziel grinned. "A hug and a kiss? Yeah, I like that even better!"

Gavrael's brows furrowed. "That's not what I meant."

Raziel shrugged his shoulders. He knew that quite clearly, and probably Gavrael knew that he knew it, but he didn't care.

"I guess you're not in such a hurry to get out after all," he said instead, and brought the key up close to his face, examining it, pretending to ignore Gavrael completely.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw again the frustration on Gavrael's face. The young man's fingers clenched the bars tightly again for a moment, and then they loosened, and he lowered his head, hair falling in his face.

"Fine, agreed. Just unlock the damn door."

"You got it." Raziel didn't need to be asked twice.

He slotted the key in the keyhole, twisted it slowly, enjoying drawing out the moment, and then finally, he took hold of the big, heavy door with both hands and slid it open.

He looked up at Gavrael. Those beautiful, pale purple eyes were focused entirely on the open doorway; Raziel had been completely forgotten.

"Free at last..." Gavrael muttered, and stepped forwards.

"Not so fast." Raziel slid smoothly in front of him, leaning against one edge of the opening, his hand holding the bars on the other side, completely preventing Gavrael from getting past him. "Pay up first."

Gavrael's eyes took a moment to focus on him, and then the frown returned, and his eyes slid off to one side.

"Fine," he said. He shoved his hands in his pockets of the baggy grey coveralls he wore and simply stood there, waiting, still not looking at Raziel.

But Raziel didn't care. Gavrael could think what he liked of him at this moment - Raziel had still managed to surprise him, almost make him laugh, and they still had time before Gavrael would leave again. He'd change Gavrael's mind somehow. And in the meantime, he'd make the most of this.

He inched his way forward, until he was right in front of Gavrael. He wasn't that much shorter, he noted. His hands moved of their own accord, slipping around Gavrael's waist. The young man stiffened in his grasp, but didn't pull away. Underneath the thin, dirty coveralls, he felt firm muscles, and taught skin; lean and wiry, just the way he liked his men. He hid a smile and looked up at Gavrael.

Gavrael's head was turned away, his eyes still very determinedly looking elsewhere.

"Hey, a hug is a two-sided thing, you know," Raziel told him, and saw his eyes flash in response. They shifted to meet him, glaring, and he noticed that Gavrael's jaw was clenched as well.

Gavrael's arms came up, and moved around to hold him. They were as stiff and unwilling as the rest of him, and held Raziel only loosely, but as his hands rested against Raziel's back, Raziel sighed softly to himself. It just felt right, being in these arms. Yep, he was undoubtedly smitten. Now he just had figure out how to turn Gavrael's thoughts around so that these arms would wrap around him willingly, of their own accord.

Gavrael was still glaring at him. Raziel wondered what he was thinking. He moved his head towards Gavrael's, and he flinched. Raziel paused, looking up at him. Wondering if there wasn't more to Gavrael's unwillingness than just dislike of kissing a stranger.

"Hurry up," Gavrael growled.

Raziel thought for a moment. There was pushing things, and then there was pushing things too far. Maybe this was too far.

"Ah, a hug is good enough," he said, and disentangled his arms from Gavrael.

Startlement surfaced in Gavrael's eyes again, and his body seemed to relax somewhat at the same time. But his arms didn't let go of Raziel.

"A deal's a deal," he said shortly, and leaned forward and kissed Raziel before he'd even realised what was going on.

It was a short kiss, a gentle kiss, and Raziel barely had time to enjoy it before it was over. But the feel of those full, sweet lips pressed against his, even for such a short time, was enough to take his breath away.

He stood still for a moment, recovering, as Gavrael's arms let go of him. The catcalling that he'd managed to phase out intruded suddenly again, and he realised the man in the cell across the hall was yelling lewd, abusive things at both of them. Raziel shivered, trying to block it out again. He looked up.

Gavrael had shoved his hands in his pockets again, and was looking down at Raziel, seemingly unaware of what was being yelled at them. His eyes were thoughtful, and still wary, but not as wary as they had been.

"Was that so bad?" Raziel ventured to ask. Gavrael cocked an eyebrow at him, then looked past him, at the open cell door.

"...can we leave yet? I'm thoroughly sick of these cellhouse walls."

Raziel sighed, but he figured that was the best he was going to get. In fact, it had turned out better than he'd expected - Gavrael had been the one to kiss him! Maybe not willingly, not really, but he'd still done it.

"Yeah, okay, let's go," he said, and turned to lead the way out of the jail.

Gavrael trailed after him down the corridor, completely ignoring the cacophony of voices jeering and yelling from around them.

"I assume it's still fine to stay at your place?" he asked, and Raziel glanced back over his shoulder at him, surprised.

"Of course it is, why?"

Gavrael didn't answer for a long moment, but Raziel waited him out, still leading the way out of the maze of cells.

"...I may be staying a bit longer than originally intended, that's all."

Raziel's heart skipped a beat, and, because Gavrael couldn't see his face, he didn't bother to hide the big grin that spread across it.

"I think we can handle that."