"Ah, I'm so sorry." Ethan finally stepped back, looking horrified with himself. "I zoned out for a bit, are you okay?"
"It's fine." Jaxon waved his worries away, giving him a reassuring smile. "These things happen."
"Where were you going?" He asked by way of conversation, cool grey eyes looking Jaxon over.
"To the Kitchens." Jaxie smiled goofily. "I wanted to get myself a snack."
"Know how to get there?"
"Not exactly." He admitted, looking up at him again.
"Mind if I show you the way?" Ethan offered.
"Sure, I'd appreciate that."
He followed behind Ethan who took the lead, staring up at him constantly, actually he could understand why Leon had such a hard time recognising him.
Ethan had been very slender and on the smaller side but now he was easily as tall as Darian with a well formed body too, puberty did him well.
"How's Ian?" Ethan asked conversationally
"Doing pretty well, you should come down and pay us a visit sometime." He invited hopefully.
"Of course, I miss Pine Creek and I'm so happy fate brought you guys my way again." He threw a smile over his shoulder at Jaxon. "This time, let's try not to lose each other again."
Jaxon blinked briefly at the odd tone of Ethan but he just waved it off, it was just Ethan.
"Is your dad doing okay?" He asked cautiously, not wanting to cross any lines.
They might have been best buds once but right now they were basically strangers who shared a past.
Ethan's shoulder's stiffened visibly but then he shrugged. "He died while I was in college and then Alpha Noah took me in, it was good for him, he had been in a kind of hell ever since my mom died."
Without thinking, Jaxon stepped forward to offer comfort, placing a timid hand on his arm.
Ethan turned to the side to engulf him in a brief hug, Jaxon patted his back because he couldn't reach up to pat his hair like he used to when they were younger.
Ethan must have noticed this because he bent slightly after their brief hug. "Go ahead."
Jaxon blinked in surprise, clutching his hand to himself in the case that he misread the entire situation.
"I'm still plain old Ethan, you know." He reminded his red headed friend, taking one of Jaxon's hands to place it on his head.
"Now let's get you to the kitchen." He smiled easier after even though Jaxon had tousled up his hair while patting it.
"Do you like being the Head Beta?" Jaxon's questions came easier now that the ice had been broken between them, he walked beside Ethan, relaxing visibly.
Ethan shrugged. "I'll just say that I never planned to be one but I owe a lot to Alpha Noah, although he keeps telling me that I'm free to leave whenever I want, I just don't see the need-"
Jaxon watched him closely as he spoke, he could definitely see what Alpha Noah was talking about, it was evident that Ethan wasn't meant to stay.
"... but now that you guys showed up again, I just might think about it."
"We're here." He announced when they got to the kitchen. "What do you wanna make? Let me help out."
"No, you don't have to, I just want to cut up some fruits." Jaxon declined politely.
Ethan just glanced over at him and grabbed a knife. "I think it'd be much better if I handled the cutting."
"Hey!" Jaxon exclaimed, pink coloring his cheeks. "It's been years, I'm not that clumsy anymore."
"Check the fridge for fruits and take the ones you want, don't worry I'll let you wash them."
Jaxon grumbled under his breath but did as was directed, just as he got out all the fruits he wanted, a door opened and the Luna walked in.
She didn't notice Jaxon at first and went straight for Ethan, standing a little too close to be considered polite.
"Hi Ethan, didn't expect to see you here." She said coyly, placing a hand on his upper arm.
"Hello, Luna Brie." Jaxon decided that it was time to interrupt before he got an eyeful of something he wasn't supposed to see.
Brie jumped slightly at this, her eyes wide with affected naivety. "Oh hi, Jaxon was it? I didn't know you were here as well-" Her words trailed off when she caught sight of his marks, she could bet those hadn't been there at dinner last night.
She recovered quickly though, putting distance between her and the Head Beta to scurry over to him.
"Here let me help you with that, just take a seat now." She fussed over him.
Ethan didn't even spare her a glance, eyes the color of dead embers as he prepared where he would cut up the fruits.
"T-thanks." Jaxon stuttered nervously, why did he leave the apartment again?
"I-I... I'll just go help Ethan then." He mumbled, hurrying over to Ethan's side, Luna Brie unsettled him.
He was also worried about Ethan, this didn't seem like a one time thing. He snuck glances at his old friend who seemed cold, a sharp contrast from the quirky, bright teenager he used to know.
He could not even imagine how much of a scandal this could turn out to be if one little thing went wrong, he didn't need to ask Ethan, he already knew that his friend would never betray Alpha Noah, not after he talked so highly of him.
He could not even begin to imagine how trapped Ethan must feel, if the Luna kept throwing overtures his way and he couldn't do a thing about it but tell her to quit it and hope she did.
It made him seethe at the disgusting behaviour of the Luna.
"Jaxie!" Ethan's panicked voice broke through his reverie. "Don't the knife like that for fuck's sake-"
Jaxon blinked and glanced down to see that in his distracted state he had picked up the knife by the blade. "Oops." He chuckled nervously.
"See what I was talking about?" he pointed out dryly, taking the knife from him. "Now, just stand here and watch me." He ordered, placing a gentle hand around his waist to pull him away from the counter.
Jaxon let him do as he wished this time without protesting, there were no guarantees that he wouldn't chop off his fingers if he tried to help again.