For the first time since they'd met, Cain's dull, silver penny peepers lit up. Alright it was only to cheekily demand a pack o' smokes, but it was the closest to real eye contact they'd held since that first rocky meeting-- no, that didn't do it justice,<span style="font-style: italic">mountainy</span>seemed more bloody apt! Not only that, but it was the first genuine grin Nino had caught sight of too. Like glimpsing an endangered species through the bushes... The young Italian held the image in this mind for good keeping, noting down the minor details, playing it over a few times, studying it, to really engrave it into his memory.<br/><br/>"Cheeky bitch!" he grinned, giving the kid a playful shove, "C'mon then! Our ride'll be waitin' outside the grounds already! And don't get us caught either! It's nearly nine now, tutors'll have an episode if they catch us out this fack'n late!"<br/><br/>He sauntered over to the door, unhooking his leather jacket from it's resting place hung limp from the closet door and shrugged it on.<br/><br/>.... Just....<br/><br/>.... Something about this disturbed him... He'd been thinking too much. Kiddo-honey had made an impression on him, this wasn't unusual, Nino was notoriously easy come, easy go and it took about as much to impress him as it did a half-brained toddler hooked up to an I.V of sherbet. What was odd though... there was something beyond an acquaintanceship with Cain. Something that niggled at him.<br/><br/>Parasitic feelings of a strange form of admiration had laid eggs in his brain and left them there to grow. It was creepy. He'd NEVER liked anyone so much right off the bat, certainly not a guy...<br/><br/>He scowled to himself and shook the thread of thought loose. There was no point wallowing in it. He'd had weirder feelings and never paid<span style="font-style: italic">them</span>attention and had gotten along just fine so far!