The sound of glass hitting glass filled the tense silence.

Silco was sitting at his desk, his face wrapped in grim shadows, while his eyes followed you without missing a single movement.

You tried to ignore him, shut his presence out of your mind. It was better to ignore him, but at the same time it felt like his eyes were digging into your flesh. It felt like he was standing right behind you, as if he would reach out and wrap his hands around your neck any time.

A cold shiver crawled down your spine. You had to throw a quick glance over your shoulder.

In that exact moment he looked up.

Your eyes locked, (E/C) kissed blue, black and orange.

Suddenly, a strange heat chased through your body. Blushing, you turned away to avoid his eyes and pulled face.

What the fuck was that?

Maybe it was the long, sleepless nights or the work that kept you up for hours but you could have sworn that your body had reacted to the touch of his eyes.

Granted, a face like his never left anyone cold. But that reaction had been strange. The goose bumps had not been the unpleasant kind, but the kind one felt when getting caught doing something that wasn't supposed to be done.

Your heart was beating like crazy, but not from nervousness.

But why?

Behind you, Silco rose from his chair. He had noticed how strangely you had reacted to his gaze.

Of course, the eye of Zaun never missed anything. But even if he didn't like to admit it, he had to confess that his reaction surprised him. And not in a good way.

A strange feeling had chased through his chest, like a punch in the pit of his stomach. Everything was pulling together for a moment before returning to normal as if nothing had ever happened.

He felt ashamed. What a strange feeling. He had almost forgotten how that felt like.

Normally such a thing didn't happen. Silco was a man with as much self-confidence as intelligence. He was well aware that his appearance was not a common sight, not even for a place as strange as the undercity, but it had never kept him from being considered attractive by others.

To be fair, he did not feel the need for your approval, but seeing you react this way made something inside of him stir.

Maybe it was just his bruised ego, or the urge to demonstrate his superiority, but Silco wanted you to look at him again.

Slowly he strolled towards you, his arms crossed behind his back, as he always did to conceal his slumping shoulders and force a better posture on himself. He was taller than you, he noticed with a hint of satisfaction.

He leaned forward, wanted to look over your shoulder, but stopped when his gaze fell on the back of your (H/C) head. Fascinated by the shade of your hair, he looked at the strands for a long moment.

His eyes followed the lines, down your neck and to your shoulders.

While doing so, he leaned further into your direction.

Unconsciously he inhaled your scent and had to wrinkle his nose.

You smelled exactly as one would expect a doctor to smell, medicine mixed with the pungency of disinfectant. It was not a pleasant scent, nothing one wanted to inhale several times or even enjoyed.

Silco was no exception. With an appraising expression on his face, he leaned back again.

You noticed the movement out of the corner of your eye.

Your eyes jumped over to him while your fingers continued to handle the shimmer as if by themselves.

"Can I help?", you asked, hoping to scare him off with some small talk.

But at that moment he felt the patience and maybe even a little desire to talk.

"You stink.", he remarked, and returned to his desk to pull out a small glass bottle.

The liquid contents shimmered a strange pink, mixed with glitter and all sorts of other ingredients.

With a raised eyebrow, you looked at him.

"My heartfelt apologies, I forgot to rub rose petals on myself before coming here.", you had to laugh at your own biting joke.

Rolling his eyes, he just shook his head. Without warning, he suddenly raised his hand and sprayed a few squirts from the bottle on you.

Overwhelmed, you squinted your eyes and froze. But the next moment, a dry coughing made your chest shake.

Gasping for air, you waved your arms, hoping to dilute the cloud of scent.

"Holy shit!", you gasped and prayed that the scratching in your throat would stop. "What is that?! Poison gas?"

Silco shrugged, turning the bottle in his hand.

"A gift from Jinx.", he looked at the liquid more closely. "I think it's supposed to be perfume. It's... very far from my standards but better than your hospital smell."

Still unable to inhale properly without feeling suffocated, you leaned on the edge of the table for support.

"Smelling worse than the enforcers' grenades...", you cleared your throat.

At the comment, he had to nod in agreement. The hint of a smile appeared on his lips as he ran his hand through his short, graying hair.

"Someone speaks from experience.", he remarked, and stored the odor bomb away again. "You surprise me quite often today. Will that continue?"

Grinning, you looked at him from below through your contracted eyebrows.

"Huh, I hope you'll always be surprised by me.", you said with a strange undertone.

He tilted his head.

"Should I take that as a threat?"

You shook your head.

"I have no interest in becoming dangerous to you. Then there would only be unnecessary burdens in the future."

"That sounds like a peace agreement."

"Ha! Never."

This time, a thin smile actually appeared on his lips. It wasn't noticeable, just the corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly. At first glance, it could have been missed.

Not knowing how to react to it, you just stared at him.

"Samaritan.", Silco's hand reached out to catch one of the loose strands of your hair. "Never say never. I am a very persuasive man."