Evenfall (38 page)

Not entirely knowing how to respond to that, Sin looked away and opened the door. It would have been easy to press further and demand why, to try to figure out if the words were true or just carefully crafted lines. But for some reason he didn't want to.

Boyd got out of the car and turned his attention to Sin over the top of the car. He tilted his head in the other direction to indicate where they were going and slid his hands in his pockets. He waited to speak until they were walking side by side.

"There are a lot of second hand stores in the city but I think Aspen's Closet is best as far as the price and quality. How much money do you have?"

"I don't know," Sin replied with a shrug. "A couple hundred. They don't give me very much."

"That should be more than enough here." Boyd looked over with a frown. "Unless that's what they provide you for a long time. What if you were to use it all here? Do you get more this week?"

"No. It doesn't matter, I don't buy anything anyway except shit from the vending machine."

Boyd shook his head. "It seems insulting to have your own money withheld."

Sin scoffed and started walking towards the store. There were a couple of people in front that gave his torn shirt dubious looks before averting their gaze. "It's pretty tame compared to locking me in a box."

"Yes, but the fact that it occurs to them to limit your freedom on small details as well as large is what adds to the insult. Why should it matter to them if you were to have access to all the money you've earned? It isn't as though you could buy your freedom."

Boyd reached out and caught the door before it could fall shut behind a woman who was leaving. He went into the store and Sin followed, sliding his hands into his pockets.

The truth was, Sin hadn't even thought much about his allowance when it'd been implemented. In the past, he hadn't been given any of his money at all. He'd been told that it was sent to his bank account where it would remain for safe keeping until he was deemed capable of handling it on his own. Now he had the fleeting wonder if it had been a lie. If they'd never actually paid him all of these years.

With a frown, Sin shook his head absently. Whatever the case was, he'd find out eventually.

Boyd turned to the right and glanced at Sin as they walked. "The majority of the men's clothing is toward the back but there's an area you should check first."

He led Sin to what looked like a small alcove that was all but hidden on the side. It seemed like an area that was off limit to the public but Boyd walked in as if it were normal to do so. A short hallway opened up that they walked down. At the end around the corner was another room. Several racks of clothing and shelves of shoes filled the room. Boyd stood to the side, gesturing to the racks in back that seemed to have men's clothing.

"These are the new arrivals. It's best to check here before the good items disappear too quickly on the main floor. The shoes are especially good to peruse here first."

Sin arched an eyebrow at Boyd. "Come here a lot? You don't seem very hard up for cash."

Boyd's eyes tracked across the room, a distant look crossing his face briefly before he shrugged. "My mother's wealthy but until this position I wasn't necessarily. I've never had to worry about having a home but as for money for food or supplies, it varied. I became accustomed to minimal spending when possible." He seemed lost in thought. "And my..."

He trailed off, eyes narrowing. He shook his head to himself and crossed his arms. "I knew others who didn't have much money so we came here sometimes. I bought my trench coat and boots here, so they do have some quality items."

Giving another shrug, Sin swept his gaze over the racks but found that he kept getting distracted by the other people. He couldn't help absently wondering if any of these civilians would recognize him from the incident all of those years ago-- were his unique features ingrained in anyone's mind as the Vickland Psycho?

It made him more antsy than he thought it would. He hadn't been in the city for so long that the familiar anxiety that swept through him at the idea was surprising. It was also stupid-- he knew the Agency would smooth over any scrapes or recognition should anyone try to make a big thing of it. He also knew that technically his name had been cleared, even of the slaying of the civilians and police. It was something else that bothered him, though; the possibility of running into someone who'd actually been there...

"I just need a new t-shirt, really," he said flatly.

Boyd's eyebrows rose skeptically. "How much clothing do you have?"

Sin mentally cataloged the things he had. It didn't take very long. A handful of t-shirts, a couple of pants and one pair of boots. He didn't own a proper coat of any kind that would be suitable for cold weather. Not to mention that all of the articles he had were incredibly worse for the wear and old.

"Enough," he answered vaguely.

"What constitutes 'enough' for you?" Boyd asked dubiously. "I've hardly seen you in anything aside from that."

Sin opened his mouth to retort but frowned, finding that he didn't have one. "I have... a few items."

"A few," Boyd repeated, looking at Sin askance. "What? A pair of pants and possibly two shirts?"

"I have two pair of pants, for your information."

"My mistake," Boyd said mildly, his lips pulling to the side faintly. He ran his gaze along Sin, taking in his threadbare clothes. "And exactly how long have you had this clothing?"

Feeling decidedly unimpressive as a result of the conversation, Sin turned away and shoved some clothes around unceremoniously on the rack. "Some years. What difference does it make? They're clean and covering the essential body parts, aren't they?"

Boyd walked over next to Sin, absently pushing a shirt aside to glance at it. When he looked over at Sin, the subtle tilt of his lips and the cast of his eyes betrayed mild amusement. "Yes but you've nearly worn the clothing through. It gives the impression that you've worn the same thing almost every day for decades."
He paused, the humor largely fading to be replaced by the earnest study of Sin's features that Sin was becoming accustomed to with Boyd. "Anyway, I think we should remedy that today. If your summer clothing is this threadbare I don't have high hopes for your winter choices."

Making a face, something occurred to Sin. "I probably could have sent my service slave out to do all this."

"Who?"

With a dismissive shrug, Sin made a more conscious effort to look at the stuff on the rack. "Some damn fool service staff man who was assigned to deal with me. He hates me almost as much as I loathe the sight of him."

There was a black bomber coat that would suit his purposes during the winter time. The inner lining was worn but not nearly as worn as the things he had now. Mildly surprised that he'd actually found something that caught his eye, he picked up the hanger.

"With how infrequently you buy new clothing, would you really want someone like that making those decisions?" Boyd asked idly as he turned to a nearby rack. He pushed some clothes apart, the hangers making quiet scratching noise with the slide of metal on metal.
"Considering how people cringe at the sight of me, it doesn't really matter what I wear or look like but I suppose you have a point."

Sin looked down at the coat and then at the other racks. He didn't even know what else he should have. Surviving for years on the bare minimum made it difficult to figure out what was supposed to be a necessity.

"Hmm." Boyd pushed a plain black long-sleeved thermal shirt back so he could see it fully. He held the bottom out, his eyelashes sheltering his eyes briefly as he studied it. His gaze shifted over to Sin in assessment. Without saying anything, he pulled the shirt off the rack and held it out to Sin who stared at it.

"Are you going to dress me like you?"

Boyd looked over, seeming startled. "What? No. I doubt you have warm clothing for winter and this is in good condition. You don't have to get it if you don't want; I just thought you may want to try it on."

Sin smirked and tossed the shirt over his shoulder. "I'm just messing with you, sweetheart. No need to get all explanatory."

Boyd's near-perplexed gaze lingered on Sin. "Why do you call me that?"

The smirk widened and Sin reached out, cupping Boyd's face and moving his chin from side to side without really thinking about it. But then the feel of Boyd's soft skin against his callused fingers startled him and the sarcastic comment he'd been about to make got lost somewhere.

Sin's eyebrows drew together and he dropped his hand, staring at Boyd blankly. He'd been about to say "because you're so innocent and cute" but somehow that seemed like a bad idea at the moment when he randomly realized that Boyd actually was quite attractive.

"Because you're... young."

Boyd's eyebrows drew down and he gave Sin an odd look. His hand moved up to his chin, seemingly absently brushing where Sin had touched him, and then he turned away. He pushed some clothes aside on the rack.
"Some of the trainees said the same thing."

"That you're young?" Sin stripped off his t-shirt and tossed it aside.

Boyd nodded, looking sidelong at Sin and then turning his face away again. "They seemed surprised. I suppose it's because I went straight to a high rank without a pertinent background. Even so, you were recruited much younger than I was, so am I really such a precedent?"

Sin pulled the thermal shirt over his head and shrugged his shoulders to loosen it up. "It's because you're off the street and don't have any experience in anything. It makes it seem like it's nepotism. In reality, it's just because mother dearest knew two rejects of society might get along, I think."

A strange look seemed to pass Boyd's face at that but his head was tilted at an angle where his expression was mostly sheltered by his hair. He pushed aside a worn t-shirt with a logo of an old soda company. "You may be giving her too much credit."

"Probably." Sin looked down at the shirt again before yanking it off. There were two other customers in the area and they gave him long looks as he switched back into his ragged t-shirt. "I really hate civilians."

"Most people use a dressing room," Boyd said mildly.

"I'm not shy." Sin threw the thermal over his shoulder and walked back out toward the main store. He thought he heard Boyd mumble, "I noticed," but he couldn't be sure as he left the room.

The main space was larger and more spread out. It looked large and overwhelming and it belatedly occurred to Sin that he didn't really want to be there. Somewhere along the line he'd just agreed because he wanted to be around Boyd.
It was a startling realization; almost as startling as the realization that he found the teenager attractive. He'd never given much thought to who looked good and who didn't before but for some reason his mind was working differently around Boyd. Sin had no idea if this was a normal part of being around someone consistently. He didn't really have any other human interaction to use as comparison.

Scowling at the thought, Sin walked over to a rack full of denim just because he'd always wanted a pair of jeans. He tried to focus on the task at hand but all of them looked the same to him so he carelessly pulled one off that was his size and didn't bother to search too hard between styles.

It wasn't long until Boyd reappeared at his side with several articles of clothing slung over his arm. He held up a pair of black and red sneakers with his free hand. "Do you like these?"

"I have shoes."

"One pair, right?" Boyd asked, unperturbed.

Sin glanced down at his worn boots. "Do I need more?"

"Yes. If those get worn out, what will you use to replace them?"

Making a face, Sin took the shoes and looked at them dubiously. He supposed they'd be an improvement for working out. "Fine."

Boyd smiled slightly, seeming pleased. "I found some pants and a t-shirt. And I'm not positive you'll like this sweater but it seems warm."

Sin briefly glanced at the items Boyd was holding. "Looks good. Can we leave?"

"Does it bother you to be here?"

A brief hesitation and then Sin shrugged, eyes flitting around. No one was really paying them any mind now that he wasn't stripping but he still felt uneasy. Like someone would remember his face or would just pick up on the fact that he didn't belong there.

"I don't feel comfortable around... civilians in Lexington."

Boyd watched Sin, a faint frown in his eyes and lips that only increased when he looked around the room. He was silent a moment, absently holding the clothes closer to his chest, most likely to relieve the heaviness of them at the other angle.
"Well," he began but then closed his mouth and paused. "I don't think anyone is paying any attention to you at the moment. Maybe we could stay a little longer? If it isn't a problem."

Looking around again, Sin considered it. It was true that no one was giving him strange looks; the discomfort was likely his own paranoia. The only people looking at them at the moment were a group of teenage girls. Now that he was paying attention, Sin faintly heard them commenting on both of their looks. According to the girls, he had amazing eyes and Boyd had beautiful hair.