Chapter Text
Prime Time had originally been nothing more than a burden to Coyle. He was thrust into environments that he didn’t connect with and forced to work along degenerates. A considerable amount of his time had been spent among the Docks and Downtown; disgusting cesspools that wreaked of rot and crawled with criminals.
He detested it at first for the simple reason that these weren’t his environments. These weren’t places where he could enforce order, where he could enforce the law. However, he wouldn’t change a single thing anymore. He had grown rather accustomed to having Franco on Trials with him.
He was a repulsive, putrid excuse for a man. A criminal that Dr. Easterman had given far too long of a leash. Leland originally gave himself the excuse that he lingered close behind the runt because he was keeping an eye on him, but he didn’t even try to justify himself with some righteous reasoning anymore.
Prime Time wasn’t going to last for much longer, and Leland intended to make use of all the time he had with Franco. He wasn’t even subtle about it anymore, he took every opportunity he had to get his hands on the brat no matter how small.
Franco stayed jittery and on edge, because he knew why the officer stayed so close to him, but always behind him; he stopped tying to ignore the jolts of excitement that ran through his body whenever they came into contact. He didn’t dread the touch, he anticipated it.
Today, Leland had chosen himself a theme and a location on Franco that he was adamant on sticking to. The alleyway they had wandered down together was quiet, completely devoid of life; not a single reagent in sight.
Franco shuddered when he felt a sudden, sharp sting on his rear. He turned on his heels quickly and stared up at Leland, who had quickly folded his hands behind his back like he was so innocent. “You gonna pinch my ass every time we’re alone?” Franco‘s tone was clearly flustered. “Ain’t got no idea what you’re talkin’ ‘bout,” Leland leaned in close.
“Don’t play dumb with me, cop,” he hissed. “Want me to stop?” Leland grinned. “I didn’t say that,” he stepped away from Leland before things got too heated. The second he turned around he was given a light tap on the rear as if to hurry him along; he should’ve expected it, but he still made a strangled noise like it surprised him- but it was a good surprise.
The longer they roamed, the more isolated everything seemed to get. The reagents were managing to sneak around unseen- fucking rats. They weren’t even running into any of the ex-pops either, they weren’t loitering around like they usually did.
This whole Trial was starting to feel like a little chunk of purgatory carved out just for the two of them. Franco was still trying to tell himself that he was focused on completing the Trial, on killing the reagents, but that was a clear lie. Coyle wasn’t even pretending to care anymore, his only priority seemed to be how many chances he could get to touch the other man’s ass.