Chapter 02 - RULD:

  The gym's overheads buzzed soft against the early morning quiet. Foam mats lay squared under rows of hanging bags and resistance rigs. One wall was mirrored; the other lined with lockers and an ancient stereo patched into someone's terminal. Low-volume synth-hop pulsed through a scuffed speaker. Two female officers were running on treadmills and just gave Ruld and Muldoon a nod when they got in.

  The mats in the gym were soft with wear, squared off in faded blue and gray. Ruld paced the edge of the mat, barefoot, armored only in gym shorts and a tank top that strained against his bulk. His chest rose and fell in slow, controlled breaths. Across from him, Muldoon was bouncing on the balls of his feet, leaner, looser, a predator’s grin on a non-pred’s face. Both of them were already sweating, tank top dark at the collar, mouth grinning like he knew something.

  “Come on, big guy. You said you wanted to burn off stress.” They had done a quick work out to warm up and had been trading blows for a while now.

  Ruld snorted. “You’re barely bigger than my leg.”

  “Yeah,” Muldoon said, raising his arms into guard, “but I’m faster, and you’re distracted.”

  The rhino huffed and then charged low in a feint.

  Muldoon ducked, pivoted, tried to catch him on the flank, but Ruld hooked an arm and spun him into the mat with a crash that made one of the lockers rattle. Muldoon let out a bark of laughter, legs kicking up behind him.

  “Okay,” the wolf wheezed, “maybe a bit more focused than I thought.”

  Ruld offered him a hand, but Muldoon stayed on the floor a second longer, eyeing the big enforcer’s face.

  “You didn’t flinch taking down that guy covered in blood a few days ago, neither you do when holding a gun, but Morty talks, and you twitch. You gotta get that head right.”

  Ruld froze. Then crouched, stretched his left leg and grabbed his foot, elongating his back, like it gave him something to do.

  “You’re still doing that thing.” the wolf teased.

  “What thing?”

  Muldoon raised an eyebrow. “The thing where you play bodyguard with your crush and then panic when it might go somewhere.”

  “I’m not panicking.”

  “Uh-huh. you were practically dancing on your seat when we went to pick him up at his house earlier and then dropped your helmet trying to give the folders you printed to impress.”

  Ruld sighed, pulling his towel from the bench and scrubbing his face. “He knows, Muldoon.”

  “Of course he knows. Everyone with half a nose can smell it on you.” Muldoon grinned. “I knew back when you were talking about this profiler that was soooo amazing…” the wolf made his best impression of Ruld, with his low and deep voice. “What I don’t get is why you’re still playing keep-away after six months. I’ve known you for like a month, and I’d be tired of this bulshit.”

  Ruld put his hands on his waist and stared at him, furrowing his brows

  “You sure you want to keep going?” The rhino asked.

  Muldoon smirked. “I’ve been wanting to slap you some sense since you started ogling Morty. Are you going to flake from this fight too?”

  The rhino snorted and stepped into a stance. “You’re gonna regret that.”

  “Oh, definitely… probably when you slam me so hard I feel it in my back. But hey, good training for when facing the evil predators"

  They clashed, Ruld went for a shoulder drive, and Muldoon twisted sideways, slipping under the brute force and sending a strike to the side of Ruld’s thigh. It landed, but the rhino barely reacted, swinging a wide arm that Muldoon ducked again.

  “You’re getting predictable,” Muldoon said, grunting as he rolled away and came up low. “Stop fighting like you're trying to bulldoze a damn building.”

  “Can’t help the body I was built with,” Ruld shot back, sweeping a leg. Muldoon hopped it, grabbed the outstretched arm mid-swing, and turned into it, using Ruld’s own weight to off-balance him. Not a throw, not yet, but a stumble.

  Ruld growled.

  “See?” Muldoon said, half-laughing. “Big. Strong. Too much hesitation.”

  They reset. This time Ruld slowed. He waited. Let Muldoon come to him.

  “So,” Muldoon said between steps. “You going to tell me why you keep bouncing off Morty like he's radioactive? Someone hurt you before him? Did he do something bad?”

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  Ruld blinked. That flinch again.

  Muldoon grinned. “Thought so.”

  He charged, fast. Not focused on strength this time, just trying to go for an angle. Ruld blocked the first move, but Muldoon twisted around his center of mass and pivoted, leg hooked behind Ruld’s knee. The rhino stumbled and hit the mat with a thunderous thud.

  Flat on his back, Ruld stared at the ceiling.

  Muldoon stood over him, panting, grinning, hand outstretched. “And that’s the throw.”

  Ruld took it, and Muldoon pulled him to his feet, slow, strained, but he did it. The big man wasn’t light.

  They stood there for a moment, sweaty and winded. Ruld was blinking, stunned not by the fall, but by how easy Muldoon made it look.

  “That was a clean win,” Ruld admitted.

  “You’re strong enough to throw me through a wall,” Muldoon said, grabbing his towel. “But you second-guess yourself. You hold back.”

  “I don’t want to hurt someone.”

  “Bullshit,” Muldoon said, not unkindly. “You don’t want to lose control. There’s a difference.”

  Ruld froze mid-wipe, the towel halfway to his neck.

  Muldoon tilted his head. “That what you’re afraid of, with Morty?”

  Ruld didn’t answer.

  Muldoon and Ruld had walked off the mat together, and after a quick moment to catch their breaths, they moved closer to the mirrored wall and started practicing squats with dumbbells for extra weight. Muldoon started cheering the rhino on when the gym doors squeaked open. Morty slipped in, jacket shrugged half-on, terminal under one arm, eyes still soft from sleep.

  “Guys,” he said, voice low and rough, “gotta head up to the 4th floor. Bianca flagged something.”

  “Need help?” Muldoon asked, tossing his dumbbells back onto the rack. He had a towel looped around his neck and used it now to wipe his arms.

  “Nah. Just get ready. We are heading off to Vermilion and then getting last night footage from the cameras we tagged yesterday.”

  Ruld paused mid-sip from his water bottle. “You sleep at all?”

  “Little,” Morty said. His eyes drifted over Ruld, and then back to Muldoon, who was already nodding. “Shower and dress up. I will pay for lunch if you guys grab me some coffee or black tea from the caffeteria,” Morty added, half yawning.

  Muldoon grinned. “Sure thing, mate.”

  Morty cracked the ghost of a smile, then turned and slipped out the door.

  The moment hung for a beat.

  “You flinched,” Muldoon said.

  “Did not.”

  “Brother, you visibly recalibrated your posture when he looked at you.”

  Ruld groaned. “Shower. Now. Before I crush you.”

  “You should be crushing Morty. I think he wouldn’t mind. But ok, shower time. Try not to cry under the water like some tragic romance lead.”

  “I’ll try,” Ruld muttered, following him.

  =================================

  The steam was thick and felt like a warm embrace, a nice contrast to the cold tile. Two adjacent stalls ran hot, water hissing. Ruld stood under one, arms braced against the wall, head down, letting the water pound his back. Muldoon leaned against the divider, half rinsed, flicking water from his ears.

  “So,” he said, “you ever gonna tell him?”

  Ruld didn’t look up. “Tried.”

  “You tried?”

  “Twice,” Ruld admitted. “Once, I asked him to go for dinner. He said yes. I panicked and pretended I was joking.”

  Muldoon chuckled. “That’s one. Bad one. I’d have dumped ya.”

  “The second time… we actually went out, had dinner, and told him I liked him.”

  The wolf hit the rhino’s ass, hard. “And…” he demanded.

  “I… didn’t let him answer, I said something that I like how good this work is and complimented him on a case he cracked for us. He laughed, said ‘figures.’ And I just… dropped it.”

  Muldoon whistled low. “Damn.”

  “I don’t know how to explain it. He’s sharp. Always in control. Always watching. Like he sees everything before it happens.”

  “And that scares you?”

  “No,” Ruld said, voice low. “It makes me want to be better. But I keep feeling like… if I mess it up, I’ll lose the only person who really sees me.”

  Muldoon let the silence stretch before he spoke again, leaning around the divider.

  “You gays,” he said, half-smirking, “are more complicated than trying to get my wife to like me, back in college. You know how I did it? I asked. Then I showed up. Again and again. Got rejected twice, almost gave up. Then she said yes.”

  Ruld finally looked over.

  Muldoon shrugged. “You’re not gonna break Morty. But if you keep pulling away, he’s gonna stop waiting for you to show up. Hell, he already looks tired.”

  “I know.”

  “Then stop doing this halfway crap. You’re brave as hell in the field. Be brave here too. For real,” he said. “That cat’s got more sharp edges than a scalpel. But he likes you. Everyone sees it. Hell, I think he waited for you to grow a spine.”

  Ruld turned back to the water, nodding once.

  “Central for the win?” Muldoon said, half-joking.

  Ruld huffed a smile. “Central for the win.”

  Muldoon tossed his towel into a hamper and looked back at Ruld as they reached the changing stalls.

  Muldoon pushed open the door. “And maybe next time we spar, don’t hesitate. I can feel it in your arms, brother. You hit like someone holding back everything. That’s not strength. That’s fear.”

  The wolf got out of the stall and went to a corner, sitting on a bench under the full body hair blower for anthros with fur. Ruld grumbled and stepped out of the shower.