the ebony-haired man skimmed his bloodshot irises over the plum-shaded bruises peppering the brunette's puffed eyes and dried blood lacing his split lips as his breath fogged up the frosted glass. "you look like shit," he mumbled as he dragged his chapped bottom lip in between his chattering teeth; the wheezing ventilation systems providing no heat as every word that trickled out of his chewed lips exhaled a hazy cloud of ghostly grey. "i figured," the brunette rasped bitterly, inhaling the stinging, murky oxygen of the penitentiary deeply as he rested his plum-tinged cheek against his bloodied fists. "what happened?" phil inquired after a minute of the bone-chilling silence; the only sounds in the toxic penitentiary being the muffled moans and taunting screams of masochism and misery.

"i wanted some fun," chris chuckled wryly, "some asshats remembered me as the guy who stole a couple thousand dollars from them back in college." a smirk tempted to peak at the corners of phil's bitten lips as he pressed the frosted phone against his face. his tremulous fingers tapped against the glass monotonously as chris exhaled. "i know you didn't come here for petty socialization with your old roommate, so what's going on?" he questioned; quirking an eyebrow at the plum crescents under his eyes and ruby jawline hickeys that decorated the stubble on the visibly sleep-deprived man.

phil's lip twitched as his darkened irises flickered to the crimson handprints smearing against the cracked tiles. "have you found him?" the brunette rasped, chewing on the insides of his bruised cheeks. phil shook his head as his free hand palmed against his blood-tinged eyes. "no, i-i haven't. i'm close, though, i know it," he stammered, the brunette leaning back hesitantly in his uneven chair. "are you sure there's nothing else? you don't know anything else?" he asked as his eyes darted frantically back up to the iridescently blue irises of chris.

the brunette remained silent as he bit down on his split lip, the raven-haired man's eyes widened as desperation laced over his ghostly breath. "what is it? what aren't you telling me?" he questioned as the man's eerie silence wrenched the tightness tracing his chest; the brunette forcing down the hesitation caked in the toxic spiderwebs tainting his throat as his blood-stained lips parted. "i haven't told you everything," he exhaled hesitantly. "there was a drug ring, a fucking massive one. like city-wide, criminal anarchy type shit. and the reason you never found out about it was because it was too close for you to notice," he spoke darkly, the thick oxygen of the person seeming to catch in phil's throat as he blinked. "i don't, i don't know exactly how many were in on it, but at least half the cops."

the dark-haired man remained silent, not entirely because he didn't know what to say and not entirely because he didn't want to say anything, but part of each dwelled in his tightening chest as he bit on his bottom lip until he tasted the metallic toxicity pool across his tongue. "pj?" he whispered hoarsely as his eyes flickered hesitantly up to the brunette's to watch for any sign of a lie. "no, he was clean," chris shook his head, letting the blood-tasting oxygen flood into his lungs as he inhaled deeply. "do you have names?" phil asked after a moment, his shivering fingers tapping tentatively.

"sorry, man, that's all i got," chris shrugged, the dark-haired man noticing the timidity in the brunette's trembling leg. "there's something else," he muttered, narrowing his bloodshot eyes apprehensively. chris chuckled wryly as he rolled his eyes, "hurry up with your little quest for revenge, yeah? i don't know what yet, but something's going on here. and i don't think it ends well for someone like me. i know too much."

the ebony-haired man shivered as he rose to his feet, a trademark, taunting smirk peaking at the brunette's split lips but a threatening anxiety caking over his glossy irises. phil watched apprehensively as the brunette placed the bone-chillingly cold phone back in the wall, a quiver tainting the man's hand that's cause was not the stinging cold. he exhaled darkly as the brunette's limping, bruise-coated disposition exited from his glossy vision, turning on his aching heel with nothing more on his mind than the one thing that cleared his mind; the ruby-red lips and sweat-peppered skin of a certain brunette man moving in the tangled sheets against him.

he shoved his hands in his pockets, biting on his scarlet lip until he was knocked backwards by a warm body shoving against his strained chest. "watch it-lester?" the brunette man shuddered in the deathly cold weather, stepping back as a grin grew across his lips. "connor?" the raven-haired man spoke as he furrowed his eyebrows together, "what're you doing here?" the brunette shrugged, "we had a case reopen, the sugg kid case. originally recorded as an o.d but some new evidence has surfaced." phil's heart skipped a beat as his desperate lips parted.

"what new evidence?" he inquired, the brunette detective quirking an eyebrow as his lips pursed. "for old time's sake," he exhaled with a hesitant nod, "we have reason to believe she was murdered, by a convict here. name's ransom, i heard you were the one who got him." the dark-haired man furrowed his eyebrows together confusedly. "ransom, yeah, i was the head detective on his case. double homicide, why's he in here? he was a paranoid schizophrenic, supposed to head over to brookside's institute," his voice withered off as connor shrugged. "don't know, sorry," he spoke, before he quirked an eyebrow in thought, "wanna come along? you were the head detective, your input would be valuable."

phil exhaled deeply as he shifted his weight uncertainly from side to side, hesitantly nodding. "yeah, for old time's sake."