Usually, Alonzo had absolutely no reservations about bulldozing his way into territory where he knew he was strictly unwanted. Either he got rebuffed, made a new ally, or the mother of all enemies. Such was the nature of the life he'd chosen since coming to Oz.
Miguel was a bit of an exception. The exterior of a tough little punk, but so easily shattered by the crap that life piled onto him. The biggest challenge of Alonzo's life was trying to balance his desire to drown Miguel in the passion that burned through him at the sight of him versus the very real disgust Miguel harbored from their association.
He studied Miguel from beneath his lashes, pale body spread out on his bunk, glazed eyes staring out through the glass at the other prisoners settling down for the night. Naked, which was both good and bad for Alonzo.
Good because, fuck, Miguel was naked, and there wasn't a day that went by that Torquemada didn't thank whatever deity existed in heaven that allowed him to be in the presence of that.
The reason for the nudity, was not so good.
Miguel had blown into the cell, cranky, jerking away from him when he'd tried to catch his hand.
"Somebody been bothering my baby?" Nine times out of 10 Miguel either rolled his eyes at or ignored the endearments. The other times, he got what he did today.
"Shut the fuck up! I'm not your baby, sweetie, whatever shit you come up with next!" Miguel hadn't been able to keep still, pacing restlessly back and forth.
It had gone on and on. It ended as it usually did, with Miguel muttering "Fuck you!" one final time. He'd long since gotten over any ambivalence about stripping down in front of Alonzo, mainly because it was a wasted effort trying to get him to look away. He'd thrown himself down across the bed and there he'd remained, looking everywhere but at him.
Outside, Murphy gave the area one final look.
"Lights Out!"
Alonzo watched Miguel tense as the prison went black. Rising, he stretched, then slowly eased himself onto the bunk beside Miguel.
"You want to talk about it?" He had to bite his lower lip to keep his hand from drifting toward Miguel's chest.
He expected to be sworn at again. He would have preferred that to the sudden tears that welled up in Miguel's eyes.
"I don't have anything." The empty tone felt glass dragging through Alonzo's gut.
"You got me." He kept the smile on his face even as Miguel winced and turned away. At some point, it had to stop hurting so much.
"You got any?" Miguel closed his eyes as Alonzo lost the inner battle with himself and began stroking Miguel's chest.
"Whatever you want." The unspoken words echoed through Alonzo's head.
...Even if it isn't me.