Page 14 of Martyr

He’d fallen behind.

He hated that.

“Come here.” West clicked his tongue when there was more hesitation, smirking when eventually Nix heaved a sigh of annoyance and conceded.

He leaned back in his chair at the other man’s approach, not bothering to hide his holo-monitors from view. When Nix’s gaze latched onto the screens, he quietly waited, allowing him to take it all in.

This was something they had in common, after all. Maybe the only thing.

“You’re looking for traces of the hacker?” Nix planted a palm on the surface of West’s white desk and leaned in, the glow from the screens reflecting in his eyes.

Maybe they weren’t such a plain shade of brown after all. There was a glimmer of something attractive in them at the moment, a familiar spark of excitement that had West’s heart thumping in response.

Lake and Yejun had never had any interest in computers or tech. They’d left West to his own devices, supporting him from the sidelines when he needed it, but otherwise indifferent. It was fine. Whenever he needed someone to talk about it with, he’d find one of his other classmates, but still…Having Nix here now, it occurred to West that maybe he’d been a bit…lonely in this aspect of his life after all.

“You’re even searching Deep Space?” Nix pressed two fingers to his pursed lips, scanning the third screen before pointing to a dialog box. “You have access to this?”

“I have access to everything.” West sat up and clicked out the correct reply on his computer, waiting for the window to change and allow them into the site. “There’s been no luck so far. No matter where I search, nothing turns up. It’s almost as though this hacker doesn’t exist anywhere but on Enigma.”

“Maybe they don’t,” Nix said.

“It’s more than anything else lacking his signature,” West explained. “His code was unique. Something should have appeared.”

Nix hummed. “Unless he knew you’d come looking and deleted all traces ahead of time.”

“That’s what I fear.”

“Want me to ask around?”

West quirked a brow in surprise.

Nix shrugged a single shoulder. “What? I made a few acquaintances in Deep Space myself over the years. We don’t know each other's real identities, so it’s safe. I know you’ve probably covered all the angles, but it can’t hurt.”

West considered the offer. “Could be this hacker knows me well enough to hide from me specifically. He might not see you coming. Sure, Nixie. Why not? Give it a go.” He waved at his computers and then stood, chuckling when Nix’s eyes widened.

“Right now?”

“Why? Sleepy?”

In response, Nix dropped down into the vacated seat and pulled it forward so he could set his arms against the edge of the table. His fingers started dancing over the keys, lost in his head long enough it didn’t seem like he noticed when West moved to stand directly behind him and placed his hands on his shoulders.

Nix was warm to the touch, and West found himself massaging him, lightly at first, until his hands moved closer to his neck and his pointer finger pressed against the bandaged spot at his throat.

“That hurts.” Nix jolted but didn’t try to pull away, several windows opening and closing on the main screen as he worked.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t lie,” he murmured, the words so softly spoken West almost missed them.

“What was that?” He bent his head down closer.

“You never lie to me,” Nix said. “It’s pretty much the only quality of yours I appreciate.”

West pressed against the wound a second time. “Not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not, babe. Surely there are other parts of me you can…appreciate.”

He was reminded of the comment Lake had Nix make earlier in the week, about how he tasted better. West hadbeen determined to prove otherwise, but then Nix had been threatened and they’d gotten distracted.

Their multi-faceted Phoenix was safe now though, here, in their home.

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