Cortez didn't hang around their small apartment long after night fell. It wasn't that he didn't like to, it just felt…awkward, if anything. Hanna saw to it that he had things to do to occupy his time in the evenings (books to read, magazines to sift through; things of that nature), but he still couldn't shake the feeling that he was intruding. Just what he was intruding on, he couldn't say, for it didn't quite make complete sense to him.

So it was with that notion in mind that Henry slipped out into the nights, roaming the dark streets till the sun rose and brought about the day. His wanderings were, often times, aimless, and generally held no purpose other than to leave Hanna to his slumbers. He was usually able to return before Hanna woke, having plenty of time to whip up a nice, filling breakfast for his scrawny roommate. However, tonight was proving to be an exception.

The first thing Zia noticed upon entering their apartment was that Hanna was not tousled up on his mattress as was the norm, and he quirked an eyebrow in confusion; it was unheard of for Hanna to be up this early. As he shut the door behind him, shaking off his coat and draping it over a chair, wondering where Hanna could've gone off to, a sound from the kitchen happened to catch his attention and he blinked, looking in the direction it had come from.

"Hanna?"

A thud and an 'ouch' confirmed that it was his young ginger friend, and he couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief; at least Hanna was still in the apartment.

"Yea, Eugene; I, uh- In here."

The odd grating sound he'd heard earlier resumed as he took off his fedora and made his way into the kitchen, whereupon he found Hanna crouched on the floor, back against the counter and shifting side to side. Charlie re-raised his brow.

"Hanna? What are you…doing?"

The redhead's face was twisted into concentration as he continued wriggling his back against the counters edge, little huffy grunts of exertion escaping as the zombie looked on in confusion.

"Hrng. Back-itches. Can't, fngh-reach."

Amadeus stared as Hanna continued squirming, and he almost laughed; Hanna was doing all this to scratch his back? It was one of the oddest things he'd seen Hanna do, and that was certainly saying something. He shook his head with the tiniest of smiles as Hanna let out a frustrated sigh of exasperation and slumping over himself in defeat.

"This suuuuuuucuks; I'm gonna be stuck with an itchy back foreverrrrrr." He wailed morosely to the floor.

The zombie's usually stoic face betrayed the barest hints of being amused by Hanna's antics (a faint upturn at the corners of his lips, his eyes crinkling slightly in old forgotten habit) as he stepped forward to stand before his friend.

"Hanna."

The scrawny redhead looked up at his zombie companion through his slightly skewed glasses, the most pitiable expression Miguel had ever seen on Hanna to date planted onto his pouty face. He chuckled deeply and held out his hand, offering to help his friend to his feet.

"Where does it itch?" Tulio asked, turning Hanna around and beginning to move his hand along his back.

"Ohhhh yesssss~ Right there man, right there." Hanna said, shuddering in delight and arching his back into the touch.

Giovanni 'hmm'd and smiled as he raked his fingers along the ridges of Hanna's shoulder blades, the supposed unscratchable itch finally being relieved much to Hanna's satisfaction.

"Aw man, you are SUCH a life saver, not even kidding." Hanna said as he rolled his shoulders and stepped away from his green buddy. A huge grin was scrawled across his face as he eyed his friend with silent thanks.

"You should ask me next time before you have to resort to something like this." Archibald said, a small almost playful smile threatening to burst forth.

"Haha, I'll keep that in mind Frankie. You're a real pal, you know?"

"So you keep telling me."