Trevor returning once again to Michael's life had been a surprise, to say the least. Panic attack inducing, to say the rest. It wasn't that Michael wasn't happy to have the other around. Quite the opposite, in fact, considering the way that his heart had sped up and his head had spun with excitement when he had seen the coyote standing at the sandy border of the Typhoon. Michael knew full well that his feelings for Trevor directly contrasted with the strictly "heterosexual" image that he worked so hard to cultivate for himself, but... he just couldn't help it, really. He had known Trevor for so long, and had cared for the other almost ever since the moment they started working together – with Trevor being one of the only people that Michael actually cared for. He had no hope of stopping the way that his excitement skyrocketed when Trevor was around, or the way that, whenever the coyote leaned in with that wolfish grin, Michael just wanted to lean in and close the gap between them – something that had happened a couple of times in the past, although they never spoke of it. Well, Michael never spoke of it, anyways. Trevor never had a problem with loudly proclaiming his feelings for Michael, usually in the most horrendously embarrassing ways that was possibly. In fact, he stayed things so freely and to such an extent that it scared Michael sometimes, to know that someone really loved him that much. Him, a stupid, fat, greedy asshole who took some level of pain in the pleasure of others. He had no idea what Trevor saw that enchanted him so much.

Despite the mutual awkward love that existed between the two of them, Michael had still been petrified when Trevor had first shown back up. After all, his partner in crime was hardly known for being the most forgiving type, and while Michael was almost 90% sure that Trevor wouldn't kill him, he could imagine far worse punishments than death when it came to T. For the most part, however, Trevor had just seemed... sad. He was most certainly angry, he had made that clear when he started shouting right in Michael's face when the bobcat finally tripped his way over, but he wasn't just angry. He was sad, and scared, and worried. Michael hated the way that the coyote's eyes kept scanning over the bandages covering his body, lingering on the way that he limped and his covered left eye. Trevor seemed utterly convinced for the entire welcoming tour that Michael was about to disappear on him, or worse, just crumple right before his eyes. It had made Michael angry, as well as flustered, because he knew the reason Trev was so pissed and everything else was because he cared. He cared far too much for his own good sometimes, which was an interesting problem for a cannibalistic, eternally furious, loud psychopath to have.

Once the tour was over, the two of them had reluctantly gone their separate ways, with Trevor gruffly telling him that he needed to go and eat something. After that, the bobcat had decided to go wandering, eventually ending up back on the porch of his home, a house that had not yet been altered or decorated since he had just chosen it. At the moment, he laid out front on the porch of the house, his eyes closed and his body relaxed as he allowed the slowly setting sun to bathe his fur, the dark hue greedily eating up the last few rays. His brain and heart yearned to go and try to find Trevor, and perhaps talk to the other, but his body stayed stubbornly rooted in place, knowing that conversation would be a difficult one, with probably a lot of yelling on at least one side. However, it seemed as though fate had other plans for Michael's little avoidance mission. Or rather, Trevor did. Heavy footsteps interrupted Michael's peaceful sunbathing, breaking the calm sound of the waves lapping up onto the sand. Michael's right ear twitched as he listened to them grow closer and closer, before eventually they stopped, followed by a soft pawing at his – thankfully uninjured – side. Opening up his one uncovered blue eye, Michael glanced up to see the coyote looming over him, an unreadable expression on his face. The bobcat offered a weak smile in response, mumbling out softly, "Hey, T..." He knew it was a shitty greeting, especially considering they were now finally in private, but he couldn't think of what else to say.

Michael felt his ears pin down against his skull as soon as he heard the other's irritated tone, his heart sinking a little bit. He should've expected this, really, but he still wanted to run away, just so that he would be able to avoid the conversation. Still, he was fairly sure if he ran away from this again, Trevor was going to throttle him next time, so he forced himself to stay in place, shifting his paws awkwardly against the wood grain of his porch. He glanced downwards as he spoke, unable to truly meet Trevor's eyes, "I'm not... I haven't been avoidin' you. You said you needed to eat, so I just let you go and eat. I wasn't tryin' to avoiding talking to you..." It was a blatant lie, but it was all that Michael had, since he knew the conversation was going to be full of emotion and stumbling over his own words.

Michael's tail flicked and thrashed behind him, a frown tugging at his dark muzzle when he heard Trevor's words. Sighing heavily, the bobcat hissed out through his teeth as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting up position, "Jesus Trev, you're startin' to sound like Rox..." He glanced to the side for a moment, his blue gaze hidden somewhat behind the shield of his shades, his body tensed up to the shoulders with hesitation. He wasn't sure how to respond to the other's questioning, and he felt a little spike of anxiety as he sunk his fangs into the flesh on the inside of his cheek. Finally after a moment he responded, his eyes narrowing briefly, "Didn't want you to yell about me again... didn't want to..." His thoughts flickered briefly back to Roxie calling them lovebirds, and he felt a red haze of heat flush up beneath his fur, an uncomfortable bubble of embarrassment filling his chest.

Michael winced when Trevor raised his voice, knowing full well he deserved to be yelled at. He had faked his death, and he could see why that would be quite the punch to the gut for the coyote. However, Michael also knew the deeper reasoning to his actions, so he didn't feel as much guilt about it. Well... up until now, when he was face to face with who he had hurt. The bobcat shifted uncomfortably, glancing down at his paws with his one uncovered eye as he tried to think of how to explain. There was really no way to put it that would sound very... well, straight. He'd sacrificed practically everything for Trevor, because he... what? It sounded like a cheesy fucking romance novel, a guy potentially giving up his life to protect the safety of the one he loved. Michael's chest tightened at the thought, his ears pinning down. No, he didn't love Trevor. That was... that was out of the question. Desperately needing out of his own head, he mumbled softly, "I... fuckin' A. I did it for you, Trev. We... you remember how we were on the run from that gang. The Lost...? The ones that "killed" me? Well, before that ambush where I "died", they came to me and offered me a deal. They said they were going to keep huntin' us until both of us were killed, but they'd stop going after you if I let myself get captured..." He glanced to the side, biting into his cheek until he could taste blood, "I had them stage the whole fake death thing because I knew if you thought I was just captured, you'd go into their camp guns blazing and get yourself killed. I couldn't... I didn't want that to happen."

Michael sighed as Trevor began to yell even more, his ears pinning down flat against his skull. He mumbled as he pawed nervously at his porch, "I... I wanted to go and find you, Trev. But I was injured. I still am injured, you can see that yourself." He gestured at himself, and at the bandages covering most of him, "I barely managed to drag myself to the nearest group after I had been tortured for months, and after I got here, I ended up even more fucked up protectin' someone from a dire wolf. I had no idea where you were, T. If I had tried to go and find you in this state, I probably would've ended up dead!"