Chapter Text
The leads on the case were indeed minimal. The morning spent on it hadn’t yielded more than what was on the commission. A list of names, a trail that was all over the place, and nothing at the scene of any deaths that indicated they were even by the same person. The only thing connecting the serial case was that all the people were shut ins, and a fair amount had been found, after death, to be partaking in illegal activities.
Not much to go off.
He was, at this point, considering it an act of vigilantism, some young punks thinking they could get away with something like this for justice.
Only problem with that hypothesis, no group or individual doing this for that reason would be this clean about it. The killers were professional, kills performed to make the victim suffer in their moments before death, always leaving with no sign of a break in or out.
Truly it was strange. If these phantom killers had all the evidence to know what some of these men were up to, then why not go to the police?
Questions circled Kinich as he worked, having brought his laptop with him to lunch to keep working on the case, hoping the sun will shed some light on something.
Kinich could laugh a little at himself, small pun forming in his head about the circumstances.
“Oh?” a voice drifted to the canopy where the dark haired man was sitting. “Well look who we have here!” A familiar voice. The man from the day previous.
“My lunch spot, found and conquered within but a day by our newcomer in the building!”
Kinich’s eyes widened, but the tone of the man’s voice was light, laughing slightly after he delivered his words with an almost performative flair. Before he could say anything, the seat across from him had been drawn out, the blonde placing himself in it like he owned the place. Which, if he was telling the truth, he may as well have.
Scrambling slightly, Kinich began packing his things up, slipping them into a bag before getting up and almost bidding the blonde a farewell before-
“Kiniiich… I wanted to bathe in the sun today.”
Rolling his eyes, he looked over to the lizard that was lounging on one of the wooden swings near them. A quick glace at the blonde man showed his surprise at the… thing.
“Oh, uhm.” Kinich cleared his throat, hoping to ease the awkward air that had settled. “This is Ajaw. He and I have a contract and now he follows me around.”
“Ah.” his (human) companion breathed out.
“Makes sense.” he mumbled, with the look on his face that said it did not, in fact, make sense.
Air of awkwardness not lifted, Kinich simply thrust his hand out in the stranger’s direction. “Name’s Kinich. New to the building. And you?”
In return for his name, he got the strangers. “Lyney’s the name. I have lived here for about a year now!”
The man was flamboyant, that was certainly true. But something about his eyes. Lyney’s eyes, he reminded himself. The name was interesting.
“So, Mr. Kinich, did you move in here with anyone? Where from?”
“Ah, just west? From a small town. Me and my friend decided it would be safer to move here considering our… predicament.” With saying that, Kinich waved a gloved hand around. “She’s quite young still, the youngest affected from our region, and we just thought it was safer to give her the childhood we never had.”
Lyney nodded along, humming occasionally. “I also moved here with my siblings, as per my Father’s request.” A strange emphasis was left on the word father. “We’re settled in though! The place is good, and everyone here is quite friendly.”
After inviting him to sit down at where Kinich had originally been settled, he pulled out some of the food he had cooked for himself that morning, offering a spoon to share the stew with Lyney. Despite the blondes overall slim and dainty exterior, he took the soup and ate a fair portion, complimenting the spice level, which was strange, but in a good way. The fire of spice seemed to fit the man, sweater vest and all.
The two kept chatting as Kinich kept half an eye on the lazy dragon in the sun, getting to know each other through bonding over taking care of younger people to being allogenes. Over the course of the conversation, he figured out Lyney was assigned to the fire subset of allogenes, Lyney joking that the two of them would get on like a garden on fire, much to the slightly horrified expression on the black-haired man’s face.
Slowly, the sun began to dip in the sky, the two voices mingling from one topic to the next. Lyney enjoyed a simple cup of black tea, while Kinich liked hot chocolate. Lyney had 2 siblings, one his twin sister and the other his adopted brother, Kinich didn’t have siblings but considered Mualani and Kachina his sisters. Kinich played a fair amount of video games, while Lyney preferred to watch romcoms, ones Kinich had never heard of before. Lyney teased him about it, saying something like ‘he didn’t look the type’, before laughing and assuring him it was a good thing.
Something about talking with Lyney was not as strange as some new people were to Kinich, a nice break from talking to people about leases and money, or a random investigation. Kinich kept catching himself sighing internally whenever his brain remembered that the man infront of him was just that, a man. Not a suspect, not anyone he had to impress. And the natural confidence that seemed to just drip from his every word and movement slotted in well with the reserved way Kinich usually communicated, somehow. He was so forward, in the way Mualani was, knowing exactly how to keep Kinich’s limited conversations going. He appreciated that.
“So, what’s the plan for tonight, oh esteemed handy man?”
Kinich huffed a small laugh out. “I’ve told you, I do any odd jobs, it’s not much. I’m probably going to empty some more boxes.”
“Oh, boxes? Ah, right, you’re new!” Lyney clicked his fingers, before forming finger guns directed at his companion. “How about I come and help you out? I don’t have much to do this evening!”
Ajaw groans, rolling his eyes before flopping onto Kinich’s head dramatically. “Oh, please Lyney, this lazy ass slept on the floor last night! Please, save me from the abuse that is living with this useless man.”
“What a curious creature you are, Ajaw!” Lyney was chuckling while Kinich’s face fell into a frown. “Oh, don’t look so sad. I’ll come and help out, don’t worry.”
Immediately, the lizard shot up, darting forward as the two began gathering their things and following him. A comfortable silence fell as Ajaw kept forward, the colours of the sky attracting both their gazes as they made their way inside. Somehow, he felt like he wouldn’t mind the nagging of a certain lizard tonight. Maybe the blonde was the reason. Just maybe, his life was about to get easier than it ever had.