When Sasha is walking home from school, he stumbles across the smallest and most adorable dog in the world.
"You probably weren't wrong, if he's coughing blood he's hurt either in the throat or in the lungs and either way —" and he nuzzles Sasha's hand instead of finishing the sentence.
"It seems odd if Lilith had enough power to kill him, instead of just making him sick."
"It could also have been something I did to myself with the coughing, not every injury is magic."
Marlo doesn't stop pressing into Sasha's hands. "...what time is it?" he says after a moment, because he thinks that maybe if he pulls at his thoughts just right —
Yeah, he can't do anything with that answer, but if he pulls at the wondering —
— there's a human boy with his head in Sasha's lap.
(He has a silvery white streak in his hair, now; if you look at it in the right light, it could be glowing.)
"Hey."
"Possibly," he agrees, but he doesn't move until Sasha starts to get up.
Thank God for his boyfriend's habit of stealing his clothes, because nothing Sasha actually owns would fit him.
Sasha gets dressed and then pauses and says, "...I'm really hungry."
"Yeah. We should."
There's instant ramen downstairs; Sasha starts eating slowly, abruptly remembers two bites in that he hasn't eaten in more than a day and a half, and inhales the rest.
"Or I can just deal with my parents being annoyed. It isn't that big of a deal."
"You've got a white streak. Starts right here," and he reaches out and touches Marlo's temple.