Written to Twice by Little Dragon. I wanted to explore a coldhearted, siren-ish version of Jack.

It's how it always starts - there's a song whispering softly between the trees.

Blue eyes peer down from their own bark-covered perch at the dark haired human who dares wander to the other side of the abandoned, frozen lake every time his skin grows cold to familiar touch. Jack's voice is slick as ice when he asks, "Is it worth it?"

Tadashi's nose and cheeks are rosy with the cold but his eyes are curious as ever and he says, quietly, "Yes."

Every night.

*!*!*

Wrapped in warm, lightly muscled arms, Jack feels uncomfortably hot. Tadashi lets him sit up, his back towards the human and Jack swings his legs over the edge so he can properly arch his back and stretch his arms above his head. Tadashi catches the purple-blue bruises along Jack's hips when he stands and walks off, no doubt to clean and dress, the cold trailing him and leaving Tadashi to his own warmth.

*!*!*

"You're so cold."

Jack raises a brow on a night not unlike many others, perching upon the footboard while he watches Tadashi pull his shirt over his head and smooth the fabric over his torso.

"It comes with being… Inhuman," Jack says, not hiding how precariously he words his thoughts around this man. Tadashi shakes his head and responds by asking instead, "Have you always been so hollow and emotionless?"

Jack smirks, shrugs, and asks a question of his own.

"Have you always been so unsatisfied?"

*!*!*

"You'll no doubt end up like me if you keep wandering over here," Jack whispers in Tadashi's ear when the moon is new and the world dark without its light. Tadashi can feel the ice cold trail that burns down his back when Jack drags a finger along his spine - even through his jacket, he's shivering.

Tadashi makes an offhand comment about not wanting to be a siren for his day job, and Jack nearly laughs, then glares at Tadashi with such blue eyes it makes the human dazed. The spirit grabs at Tadashi's hoodie and pulls them so their lips are brushing.

"Stop being a romantic."

And it's the jagged edge to Jack's voice that makes Tadashi's voice suddenly disappear.

*!*!*

Tadashi doesn't know why – why he keeps coming back, why he keeps leaving, why Jack keeps playing that he wants him around and then turns around and kicks him out.

"With so many lovers singing soft, I don't feel like you need to stay. Now be a good boy and run back to the warmth before you catch a cold."

And yet, tonight he hears again a song whispering softly through the trees.

As with every other night, it's how it always starts.