You Are Not Fine

[Nox]

Nox didn't know how to process Hayden. Hayden was more of a player than he was. Maybe not more, at least not with the horde flowing through his veins. He didn't want a family. Didn't want love. He liked romance and soft tender moments, but he didn't want more. And that was fine -- perfect. Easy to end.

This wasn't a confession, but it wasn't not telling him more than he was actually saying. But Nox's mind was everywhere and he felt anger and sadness for brief moments. He leaned into the anger when Hayden told him he was terrified of him. Maybe he should be. But Nox wasn't angry with Hayden, he wasn't angry at anyone -- not really and there was no point in any of it. He felt nothing.

And for Hayden that was the point. He would rather see him fight himself than see nothing in his eyes.

Nox turned and walked into the bathroom. "I'll have Sage look into it and we'll talk with a brain doctor and we'll see what we might do, or how to fix it." Nox didn't turn the emotions back on. He stood in front of the mirror in the silence it created. Even his mind was quiet as he stared into the mirror.

He didn't know how long he stood there before he reached for the eyeliner to apply the simple lines he'd come to wear over the course of the past months. It was part of who he was. Part of the disguise to hide behind. Nox had no delusions that his would ever get fixed. But like with the horde, he wouldn't stop trying to get rid of it. Even if the latter killed him in the end.