“It’s some type of special glass. They built our rooms out of it.” They were cells but rooms sounded better.
Luca set the towels and clothes down on a bench. “Do you think the water’s on?”
The trickle of liquid dripped through the internal walls. Grains of dirt gave way in a hush. “Sounds like it is.”
“You can hear the water in the pipes?”
“No, I can hear the leak in the wall washing out the ground under the slab.”
“Wow. That’s…”
“Weird?” It felt weird saying it.
“I was going to say remarkable. Could Koda do that? I mean, hear things?”
Koda brushed his lips over the shell of Nox’s ear. “You don’t need to speak, I already hear you.”
“How?”
“The same way I see tomorrow.”
A gentle touch brought Nox back to the mildew stained public shower.
Worry lines creased Koda’s forehead.
No, not Koda. Luca. His brother.
“Nox?” Luca took his hand off Nox’s arm. The fading warmth from the skin to skin contact bit hard becoming a static crawl. The Anubis hovered just below the surface of Nox’s skin.
“I’m fine.” He set his towel next to Luca’s. “No, your brother didn’t have increased senses like scent, sight, hearing. But didn’t need to.”
“Why not?”
“Because we were all those things for him.”
Luca dropped his gaze. “I think the showers are over here.” He stepped past the partition separating a couple of toilets from the shower area. “There’re no stalls.” The horrified look he gave Nox was reminiscent of when Luca realized what Nox meant when he said he was an Anubis.
“It’s okay, you’ve already seen me naked.”
Nox took off his sweatpants. They were still reasonably clean, so he’d just wear it again. Luca glanced up, then turned, giving Nox his back. He pulled off his shirt.
Nox grabbed a handful of bottles from Luca’s towel. He took them into the line of showers and placed them on the in-wall shelf above the spigot.
Luca still had his hands on the waist of his jeans.
Nox turned on the water. A frigid spray hit him in the chest, and he adjusted the temperature. Fabric rustled behind him. Luca moved under the shower head beside Nox.
“Be careful, it takes—”
Luca turned the knob. His entire body jerked as the blast of water soaked him. He gasped and slapped at the knob.
Nox pulled him from the torrential rain of liquid ice and pushed him under the warm water on his side.
While Luca shivered, Nox adjusted the temperature of water for the other shower. Once it was warm, he stepped under it, surrendering his side to Luca.
Luca gave Nox his back again.
“I take it you’ve never showered in front of anyone.”