I'm Never Changing

Nixon's POV:

Whilst I was pulling a clean white shirt over my head I heard what sounded like yelling from outside. I frowned knowing that it was most likely coming from the human as Bill was never one to lose his temper over simple things. Stepping out back into the morning sun my thoughts were proven correct. Bill was currently prodding the fire with a stick the other hand supported his chin. An obvious look of exhaustion settled heavily on his features.

“What’s up with your face?” his eyes flicked up clearly un-amused with my remark, moving his head slightly to the right to subtly symbolise Alex who had just stormed off in that direction. I sighed tucking both hands in my pockets.

“You can’t blame him Bill, he’s got a lot on his mind.” It didn’t help the pout that was firmly on his lips, he simply shrugged.

“I was only trying to help.” He grumbled lightly soon tiring of stoking the fire and moving on to the remains of Alex’s breakfast.

“I know, I think he just needs a little space every now and again.” He seemed content with the idea of backing off him a little however it was short lived when I stealthily stole one of the pancakes winking before jogging back to the tent.

“Hey I totally claimed tho-”

“Nixon!”

Bills pointless whine fest was cut short by a mildly shrill shout coming from the direction of the lake. My pupils widened, my mind immediately skipped to the worst possible situation. That’s one of the things I hate about being a guardian, you always believe that your immortal (or mortal in my case) is in danger. It’s like it’s programmed into your brain.

So without further hesitation I sprinted across the short distance making it there in no time flat. From what I could make out there didn’t look to be anything around here. That was until the sound of my mortals voice piped up and broke the somewhat serene silence.

“Wait, don’t come too close, I um just forgot something.” It was more of a murmur near the end which surprised me, although I frowned was that all this was about? I couldn’t even see the younger at this point.

“Is that it Alex? I thought you were in trouble.” Sure I sounded a little frustrated but hey I thought he was in some major jeopardy only a few seconds ago. Although the underlying sense of embarrassment seemed to cling to his words, furthering my curiosity about this whole situation.

“I’m s-sorry, don’t ask, but I forgot to bring a towel.” I could almost imagine the incredible scarlet colour tapering his cheeks at this very moment, for some reason it brought a boyish smile to my face. I loved having that effect on him. I wanted desperately to witness it myself but I knew he was already embarrassed enough right now.

“Only Alex would forget a towel, I’ll be back in a minute.” Feigning a dramatic sigh I paced back to the camp, leaving the mortal to hide away in the lake for my return. As I traipsed towards my bag Bill suddenly became interested in my presence.

“Is he okay? Was it a shadow minion?” I simply chuckled holding up the blue coloured fabric.

“Nope, the mortal forgot this.” The concern melted from his face giving way to an amused look, at the expense of this incident. Shaking his head he smiled.

“Hey, go easy on him; he’s got a lot on his mind.” It wasn’t the fact that he was smugly quoting me from earlier that unsettled me. It was that hidden sentiment in his words that subtly hinted to something more. I didn’t have time to mull this over as Alex was still waiting deep in the forest, the longer I left him, the longer there is for an opportunity for a shadow minion to strike. Dismissing the strange remark I flung the towel over my shoulder and descended again to Alex’s whereabouts, this time I gave him more of a forewarning.

“You know I’m gunna have to come down there, I can’t chuck this into the distance hoping it’ll land by you.” I heard a disturbance in the waters near the bank, an atmosphere of uncertainty shrouded his movements.

“I kinda guessed that, just be quick, this is embarrassing enough as it is.” So slightly cautiously I strolled down to the embankment to where most of my stuff was casually laid across the grass. Yet that wasn’t the thing that caught my attention.

The fact that Alex was stood mid-waist in the water, shyly trying to avoid any kind of eye contact had this strange affect on me. Sure he was insanely good-looking but I was staring for a completely different reason. I don’t know why but he always intrigues me, maybe guardians are supposed to feel this way. But yeah the whole being naked a few metres in front of me definitely added to that.

Finally my brain caught up with my actions realising how awkward this is for him and I passed him the towel wordlessly. I couldn’t think of much to say at the moment, instead I gulped backing off a little.

“We have to get going, a lot of ground to cover today.” I muttered in an attempt to break the silence. Alex on the other hand had busily wrapped the towel around his chest, his eyes still firmly on the ground in front of him.

“Sure, I’ll um only be five minutes.” He sighed softly a hand tugging lightly at his hair. I took it as my cue to leave and quickly retreated back to camp, possibly even more confused than ever.