"The best fighter is never angry." (Lao Tzu)

Fayez was mad.

He was mad because he had spent several hours reading about the Bacteria Tarentula that had infected Zephyr's body, but didn't find anything useful in the end. The other vampire was dying and he couldn't do shit about it. Zephyr was suffering and all Fayez could do was helplessly watch him.

He was mad because he hated the tension between Akhenaton and himself, but at the same time, he was too proud to even consider trying to mend things. Still, he felt the urge to reach for the prefect, and he was mad for being so mentally weak.

He was mad because he desperately wanted things he could never have, like a relationship with the three prefects.

He was mad because his sole dream for centuries had been to protect human beings, but now, he wasn't even sure anymore if that dream was worth pursuing. After all, it was because of one of their kind that Zephyr was dying. Were all human beings heartless monsters, or did some of them deserve to be protected? They were a species of killers.

He was mad because despite of how hard he had been training and studying at the ISB, he doubted it would ever be enough for his parents to consider that he had changed, and deserved their love and forgiveness.

He was mad at himself, mostly, but to others, it probably didn't look that way.

"Bloody hell, Faye, you don't hold back, do you?" Nassiba hissed in pain, as she wiped off the blood that was running from her nose. "What got your panties in a twist?"

"Sorry, Nassiba. I didn't mean to hit you in the face." Fayez said in a contrite tone, as he gave her a hand and helped her stand.

"I'm fine, I'm not made in glass, and we're training anyway. We can't be too careful with our teamates, because during mission, the intent of our ennemies will be to actually kill us all." the young woman retorted with a shrug, before leaving the ring and jumping into her girlfriend's welcoming arms.

Juliet, Nassiba's girlfriend, glared at Fayez before trying to convince the other girl that she should go to the infirmary.

Of course, her attempts were doomed because Nassiba seemed keen on never appearing weak in front of anyone.

She was a very good fighter, but sometimes, Fayez was concerned that her apparent carelessness about her own life would get her killed.

In a way, they both shared similarities. Seems like self-destructive tendencies can be a good starting point to a sincere friendship.

It was around 7 now, and Fayez watched as the rest of his teamates left the training room, probably heading to the refectory.

He was nowhere near finished, though. He still had so much pent-up emotion that he needed to externalize.

What was the best way to stop feeling like shit? Talking? Ah. Are you kidding? Certainly not. Not happening.

Delivering punches until your knuckles are bleeding? Sounds like a much better idea. Let's do just that.

He sighed, before turning to the punching ball with a determined expression on his face.

"I think you've been here long enough, Faye. Go get some rest now."

He immediately tensed up as he recognized the voice, without even needing to see the person.

After all, this person and his two lovers seemed to be all he could think about these days.

"I'm not tired. I don't need to rest."

"No? I've seen Nassiba's nose. The way you've been behaving during training is unhealthy and dangerous. You're loosing control."

"Fuck off, Akhenaton. And don't call me Faye. We're not mates, whatever Zephyr might say."

The brunette scoffed, before getting closer to him, so that he was now standing just in front of the vampire.

Refusing to feel or look the slightest bit intimidated, Fayez looked up at the prefect with his arms crossed at chest's level, his eyes hard.

"Aren't we? Mates? " Akhenaton asked, without appearing to be bothered by Fayez's blatant disrespect.

His lack of reactions was infuriating. It made Fayez want to scream in frustration.

"No."

"I am not sure you really know what this term encompasses, but whatever. I believe Ashur wants to talk about it later. Now,tell me, Faye. If we're not mates, what are we, then?"

"We're rooMATES. That's all there is, and that's all there will ever be."

"Well, well, aren't you a sassy boy?" Akhenaton taunted him, his dark brown eyes gleaming in an evil manner that made him look even sexier.

Fayez really wanted to punch the asshole in the nose. The problem was, Akhenaton calling him a sassy boy did all sort of things to his body. It was making him all hot and this feeling, in return, was making him confused.

Plus, there was no way in hell he would hurt Akhenaton, even if the bastard really deserved it sometimes.

So, instead of using his fists, he snapped back, his tone venomous.

"You guys really like calling me boy, huh? Just so you know, I'm not a boy. I'm a - "

He never got the chance to finish his sentence, because he suddenly found himself on the ground, with an angry-looking Akhenaton pinning him down.

"Who else has been calling you a boy?" Akhenaton asked in a low, icy voice.

Shit. What was his problem?

"Why do you - "

"Just answer my godamn question, Fayez. Who. Else. Has. Been. Calling. You. A. Boy?"

Fayez couldn't understand why Akhenaton was getting all worked up. He wasn't afraid of the prefect, not really - he was now convinced that, just as much as he would never physically hurt the guy, Akhenaton would never hurt him in return.

Still, the brunette was really moody, and Fayez wasn't sure if he should tell him the truth.

But then, calling someone a boy couldn't technically be considered cheating, right? It wasn't even flirty, at least, on paper. After all, Fayez did consider himself to be a man.

Plus, Akhenaton already knew that Zephyr had kissed him - hell, he might even know that Ashur had kissed him as well, since the three men seemed to share a secret connection of some sort. The blond vampire kept hugging and wanted Fayez to spoon him at night. Akhenaton never seemed to mind.

The truth it is, then.

"Ashur. Ashur is the one who has been calling me a boy."

The other man looked at him, startled. Then, he lessened his grip on Fayez's wrist, his expression turning mischievous.

"Ashur calls you boy?"

"He - he calls me sweet boy." Fayez replied without thinking, before turning red when Akhenaton's smirk grew wider.

"Oh, really. And you've been enjoying it, don't you? Is it true, then? Are you a sweet boy?"

"I don't enjoy it, and I'm anything but sweet. Fuck off, Ake, and let me go."

Thankfully, Akhenaton immediatly complied, but not before winking at Fayez.

"As you wish, little brat. Oh, wait, do you like me calling you little brat?"

He did - why on Earth did he? - but that wasn't the point. Why was suddenly Akhenaton turning everything into a joke? They hadn't talked to each other for what felt like a billion years - but technically wasn't more than a couple of weeks. Zephyr was dying.

Fayez hurted so badly he wanted to destroy everything he could put his hands on.

Which he did.

He marched toward the punching ball, and started punching it with renewed energy. He punched it so hard that the chain on which it was hooked was starting to loosen.

Unfortunately, this new outlet didn't last for long because sure enough, he felt Akhenaton's strong arms around him, pulling him backward.

It felt nice, to have the prefect touch him again after so long. So nice...

No.

He was supposed to be mad at him. He shouldn't yield so easily to the other's gentle ministrations. They where probably meaningless to the prefect.

"Don't touch me", he whispered-yelled, yet he instinctively leaned back against Akhenaton's chest.

He probably sounded like he wanted anything but for the prefect to stop touching him. Still, Akhenaton let him go again, watching him like an hawk, his expression finally turning serious.

Concerned, even.

"What is it, Fayez?" he asked in a quiet voice, that Fayez had seldom heard him use.

"I'm mad." Fayez replied. It was the truth. He wasn't giving much information to the prefect by saying that much.

"Why are you mad? Are you mad at me?" Akhenaton pressed further, a knowing expression on his annoyingly handso - UGLY face.

"I am not discussing it with you." Fayez decided, before walking to the door.

Unfortunately, said door was now impossible to open, although there wasn't a key in the lock.

Akhenaton. You cheater. It's unfair to use magic to get what you want.

"Open the door, Akhenaton."

"No."

"Open the godamn door right now, stupid asshole, or-"

"Or what? What will you do, little brat?"

"I will break your neck."

"I don't think you will do such a thing." Akhenaton replied in a way too collected tone.

Fayez, on the other end, was starting to really loose his cool. Putting his forehead against the door, he tried to take deep, calming breaths, but to no avail.

"Why are you mad, Faye? Tell me." Akhenaton insisted.

Fayez slowly turned and met the prefect's inquisitive eyes.

"Are you really asking me that? How dare you? I'm fucking mad at you, Akhenaton."

"Why?"

"You know why!"

"Tell me."

"I'm mad at you because I don't know how to interract with you. I don't understand how you feel about me. You - last time I thought that we were having a moment, but then you said we had been merely fooling around..."

"Keep going."

Akhenaton voice seemed to become softer seconds by seconds. Why was it so soft? It was unfair. Everything was so unfair, and now Fayez was yelling like a madman and he felt like he could keep on yelling until his vocal cords failed him.

"We haven't talked for so long but I don't think you ever give a fuck. At all. But don't get me wrong: I hate you, you know. I hate you so much."

"I know."

Akhenaton was getting closer, and in parallel, Fayez's voice was getting lower. He felt like he was seconds away from breaking, but there wasn't any escape to his current situation.

He was trapped.

"I hate you for being constantly in my mind. I hate you for getting my hopes up, only for crushing them the next second. I hate you for being so good at calming me with a simple touch. I hate you for being so godamn attractive. I hate you because you're an asshole, yet there's something unique about you. I hate you. I hate you so fucking much. You will never be able to understand the extent of my hatred for you."

The second the first tear dropped from Fayez's eyes, he felt Akhenaton's arms around him, as he was pulled into a warm and protective embrace. He had never been hugged like this in his life, and needless to say that he has been on this planet for a looong time. Despite everything he had just said to the prefect, he hugged him back just as fiercly, hiding his face into the other man's chest.

Then he broke down.

He let out loud, ugly wails, completely dirtying Akhenaton's immaculate shirt with fresh tears and snot.

Akhenaton didn't appear to mind, though. On the contrary, his hold around Fayez tightened, as he pressed soft kisses on his forehead, his hair, his damp cheek. It seemed liked he was loosing control too, as Fayez could feel the prefect's hands slightly shaking.

At the same time, he kept whispering soothing words into Fayez's ear. The ones which he said the most was "Sorry" and "you'll be okay".

When Fayez finally started to calm down, Akhenaton leaned back slightly, so he could look at the vampire's face.

"I'm really sorry, Fayez. I was stressed and distraught and I wasn't taking your feelings into consideration. You're right: I was a complete asshole. I am having a hard time processing it all, but I'm working on it right now. "

"What are you having a hard time processing?" Fayez mumbled, feeling confused.

"We will talked about it shortly, all together. Ash and Zeph are on their way. I told them to come here."

"Are they really coming now? We're gonna have our talk here?"

"Yes. The room is empty, and everyone must be at the refectory right now. Anyway, the most important thing I wanted to tell you -"

Akhenaton blushed lightly, which was a very rare sight. He cupped Fayez's face into his warm hands, and looked into the other's widening eyes.

"You're a little brat, but you're my little brat, and I promise I also hate you very much. I've hated you since the first day my eyes landed on you, and I will always hate you. Trust me, I've tried fighting it, but it's no use : I hate you just as much as you hate me."

Fayez could feel his own eyes and cheeks starting to burn, so he quickly hid his face back into the other man's chest.

Akhenaton chuckled, but he indulged him, and started rubbing soothing circles on his back, before picking him up.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Fayez protested, although he still clunged to the man's neck like a koala.

"Just gonna sit with you on my lap, if that's alright with you, big boy. "

There was no way Fayez was giving a verbal answer to that, but he didn't want the prefect to let go of him, so he just nodded while adverting his eyes.

Akhenaton sat on a chair, putting Fayez on his thighs as if he was an overgrown baby, before pulling him back against him again.

Seemed like in the end, Akhenaton needed Fayez just as much as Fayez needed him.

"We will also need to discuss the day when you had a burn on your stomach." Akhenaton murmured into his ear, before gently carding through his hair with his hand when Fayez automatically tensed up.

"Why do we need to discuss it?"

"I think you deliberately hurt yourself that day."

Fayez looked up, and Akhenaton thought that the big, muscular vampire had never looked this much like a scared doe.

It made him want to protect him even more. He wanted to protect his naive mate at all costs.

"I will tell you guys about it." Fayez eventually said. "But not just yet."

"Whenever you're ready"

"Thanks, asshole, " Fayez responded in a grateful tone, as the door suddenly opened, revealing Akhenaton's lovers.

Was Fayez currently in an embarassing position?

Yes?

Did he get out of Akhenaton's lap?

Well, don't believe what he might pretend - he definitely didn't.

"You're welcome, little brat."

Unedited.