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"So, me and Keith were fixin' up this truck once, and the darndest thing happened..."
"...Keith didn' know...I mean, it ain't nothin' bad, it's about eatin'..."
"Think I came here with Keith once! Darn near drowned, but it was funny as hell--"

Keith, Keith, Keith. That seemed to be all that the young mechanic could talk about. This mysterious friend of Ellis' that was only referred to in passing, in simple stories. This faceless person who he knew almost nothing about. This entity was what was grating on his nerves. It would be fine if the boy only mentioned him once or twice, but it seemed like every single pointless story that came out of those (admittedly rather cute) lips was about Keith, Keith, Keith.

Nick had never considered himself a jealous man. Jealousy was bad for business. In his line of 'work', you had to be smooth as could be. Any outward envy, anger, resentment, or any of that towards a prospective 'client' and you could scare them off. He developed his own philosophy for dealing with the whole thing; if you want something, you chase after it yourself. Chase hard enough and eventually you'll get what you want. The way you went about it didn't matter; so long as the end result was personal gratification, what did it matter?

It was, of course, a little difficult to apply this philosophy to Ellis.

Ellis...always so damn happy. Even when he was surrounded by zombies with nothing but a gun with no ammo and a goddamn frying pan he'd happily use it to clank away at them, the entire time screaming 'Whoo-hoo!'. Always so cheerful and, outwardly, good-spirited about their situation. Even willing to hide his fear of the 'Special Infected' (or to put it more bluntly, the really ugly bastards) to keep the spirits of his teammates up. Nick watched him whenever one of them showed up and while he tried to keep positive, his sharp gaze could always detect a hint of panic entering those chocolate eyes, see the slight shake in his legs. The vulnerability he saw in him would, in the real world, mean he'd be prime for extortion, if he had any money at all.

When you happened to hold a certain amount of interest in him it gave him a rather adorable weakness about him that he'd just love to take advantage of.
But jealousy -- which rose fairly often when the subject of Keith arose -- was bad for business.

And if you happened to hold any trace of that emotion, then it had to be hidden.

*****************************************************

"We got a safe house!"
Glancing behind him as they moved, Ellis was careful to listen out for that distinctive scream. He'd been hearing one of those Hunter bastards growling to itself for a long time now and it was making him edgy. But they were close to a safe room now and it would be fine.
"You 'n Coach go on ahead, Ro. Gotta make sure it's safe, first, y'know?"

The young woman snorted.

"Don't be such a macho man, Ellis. But head up when you're done."
With that, she beckoned to Coach with one hand. The older man hastened to follow her and within about a minute they were inside the safe house. This left Nick and Ellis outside, ears peeled. They couldn't rest with that Hunter out there; on very rare occasions the growling and screaming drew larger Infected and hordes, and that...that just wasn't safe.

"Y'hear anythin', Nick?"
The conman didn't answer for a few seconds; he was occupied with loading some more shells into his shotgun. Only when he was done did he turn to face the young mechanic.
"...Not ye--"

That ear-piercing scream interrupted the two of them, and Nick just barely caught a glimpse of a hooded figure leaping from behind a building and -- oh God -- it was pouncing at Ellis and then Ellis was screaming and it was clawing at his legs, his ******** chest--

A loud gunshot revertebrated through the air and the wounded Hunter stumbled back, snarling in pain. Quickly switching weapons, Nick set about finishing it off with some well-aimed shots with his pistol. Tucking both his weapons away, he turned his attention to Ellis.

"...s**t. That thing tore you up..."
Trying to mask the concern he knew was showing in those green eyes of his, he knelt down and attempted to help the younger man to his feet.
"...Don't be an idiot, Nick..." grumbled Ellis, clinging to the conman's arm as he tried to find his footing. "...I'm jus' fine..."

Except it was painfully obvious to Nick that Ellis was not, in fact, 'Jus' fine', as as soon as he was up he was down again, having fallen heavily against Nick. Feigning annoyance, the older man rolled his eyes and hoisted the other into his arms, much to Ellis' surprise.
"...What th'hell d'you think you're doin'?"
"You can't walk, stupid."
"I can so."

Nick raised an eyebrow.
"You wanna try?"
Ellis considered that for a few moments.
".....Not particular." he mumbled, relaxing in Nick's arms.

A sigh escaped from Nick's lips as he hauled the mechanic back to the safe house. Privately, though, he was grinning.

Bet Keith never did this.

****************************************

"Yeowch!"
"Hold still, damnit...!"
"But it hurts..."
"It'll get better, so just bear with it. Are you a baby, or what?"
"I can't take it!"
"Yes you can."

Ellis' cap was discarded on the floor. His shirt lay crumpled in a corner.

Rochelle was attempting to apply antiseptic to his wounds.
"Jesus, Ellis, you gotta be more careful next time." she scolded, dabbing at the long gouges on his chest. Coach was upstairs looking for supplies, and Nick was watching silently.

Ellis pouted.
"Can't help it. Them bastards are sneaky."

Rochelle looked as if she was about to argue; that was, until Coach called for her from upstairs.
"Ah, damnit. Nick, can you finish up Ellis?"
"I have to?"
"Yes, you damn well have to."

Nick shrugged. "Fine, fine."

Rochelle wandered upstairs and Nick leaned off the wall, shrugging off his expensive suit jacket and folding it neatly, placing it on top of one of the convenience store's shelves before moving over to the table where Ellis was situated. Taking his first-aid kit from the side, he popped it open and pulled out some bandages.
"Arms up, Overalls."

There came that adorable pout again.
"Don't call me Overalls!"
But he lifted his arms anyway. Nick noticed, not without amusement, that he shaved them. He still found time for that in a zombie apocalypse.
Ellis was so cute sometimes.

Carefully, he began to wind the bandages around Ellis' body, hands hovering so close to that muscled skin, but never quite daring to touch. Ellis gave little winces here and there if he touched a sore spot, biting into his lip. But Nick never reacted; not until a particularly loud noise.
"...Jeez, Ellis. I thought you could handle more than that."
"I got scratched up real bad, Nick." Ellis replied, promptly. "It hurts like a b***h."
"So? Stop whining about it."

Ellis looked taken aback.

"Scuse me? I do not whine."
His thoughts seemed to drift off elsewhere.
"...But Keith could be a real whiner sometimes, y'know? Everything was too hot, too cold, just not right..."

Inwardly, Nick twitched.
There was that Keith again.

This had to be stopped. He interrupted mid-ramble.
"To be honest, Ellis, I'm sick of hearing about Keith."
Ellis looked stunned. "...What? Why? I don't talk 'bout him that much...!"
Nick looked away, frowning. A small, frustrated sound rose in his throat, but he didn't say anything more. If Nick didn't have something to say about...well, anything, then that was usually a bad sign.

The mechanic stared at him for a good, long while. It took a good minute or two before he caught on.
Then he started to laugh. Startled, Nick looked back at him. Why was he laughing? He shouldn't be -- he was deadly serious. Yet Ellis seemed to take amusement in this? His laughter continued for a good few seconds, that southern twang in his voice making it just that little bit special -- damnit, he was supposed to be angry with him! Focus.
"You ain't gettin' jealous or nothin', are you, Nick?"
"Jealous?" Nick snorted. "As if I'd be jealous of a hick like him -- I assume he's a hick since he's your friend."
"Hey! I ain't no hick--"

Nick found it pertinent to interrupt with a kiss.
Startled for the briefest of moments, the young man soon relaxed into it. Grinning against the conman's lips, he slung his arms around his shoulders lazily and returned the slight pressure.
"...So if you ain't jealous..." he murmured, body tensing a little as Nick moved his attention to his neck, "...whyd'you start this, huh? You ain't usually so...n-...spontaneous."

Nick took a moment to glance up at him. Grinning a little himself, he raised one finger to press against Ellis' lips.
His reply was simple.
"Jealousy, Ellis..." he replied, "...is bad for business."

And if his own words were true, judging by the passionate, heated exchange that took place immediately afterwards, Nick figured he couldn't have been very jealous at all.