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[skitter]

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[littleonewhosteals]

"I'm not fucking mad," he tells her, because it's deeper than that. "I just - you didn't say anything to me. That this guy randomly attacked you. And yeah, you're fine and you can take care of it and sure, but it still happened and you didn't think to even mention to to me."

[skitter]

She lies down on her side, facing him with her elbow propped on the bed.

"He didn't attack me. He scooped me up in a cape, shouted that he was protecting me, and tossed me into the chapel. It was not, at any point, an attack. If it was, yes, I would have taken care of it, and yes. I would have told you. Immediately. But it wasn't.

"He seemed really embarrassed, but didn't get upset at me about that, which was nice."

[littleonewhosteals]

"He put his fucking hands on you when you didn't want him to," he points out firmly.

"And yeah, he was really fucking sorry about it after, but he ran me through a whole fucking list of all the ways he's hurt people here. He just happened to mention the girl with the bees."

[skitter]

She sighs, and rolls onto her back. "Sorry. I should have told you. I wasn't trying to hide it. It just- it wasn't anything, and I just didn't think about it, with everything else."

[littleonewhosteals]

Rags sighs, turning to look over to her. He makes a small move over, giving her room to join him on the mat if she wants. "Yeah, well, then the asshole went and said shit. About how you didn't tell me because we're just inmate and warden and - I don't know, Taylor. It's just fucked."

[skitter]

She snorts, and moves closer, nudging his arm. "Yeah, that's stupid. What does he even know about this place?"

A moment of silence.

"If he'd attacked me, I'd have set your bugbox off. You'd have known, long before you saw some guy crawling to the infirmary with his eyes swollen shut from stings. Promise."

[littleonewhosteals]

"Yeah, but you didn't say that some asshole grabbed you. And Trevor is an asshole," he says, turning to his side to face her. "If we're a team, then you have to tell me shit. Even if you don't think it's a big deal. He needs to stop attacking and doing without thinking. And if I had known that he had done that, I could have kicked his ass a lot sooner for it."

Metaphorically, of course.

[skitter]

She raises an eyebrow at him. "For swooping in to protect me from an unreasonable amount of hornets? Because that's what he thought he was doing, Rags. He even made sure to communicate that while he did it. It wasn't thoughtless."

[littleonewhosteals]

"No, for being a jerk," he tells her lightly. "There's no hard feelings with us. He might be sleeping in my room for a while once he's out of Zero anyway."

He clears his throat. "I just want to know what's going on. You've got your bugs on me but I'm not - your subordinate. We're partners, right? Friends?"

[skitter]

She nods, glad of that, and shifts until her head's on his shoulder.

"Yeah. We're friends. And I know I can tell you anything."

[littleonewhosteals]

She puts her head on his shoulder and she'll feel him relax at that, closing his eyes again as he settles onto the mat. "I tried to pick his pockets the first time we met. Adrian said that he had taken his razor and he wanted it back. Trevor caught me and went to bitch at Adrian about it."

[skitter]

She snickers quietly, under her breath. "Did you get it back?"

[littleonewhosteals]

"No, he had already used it against Sephiroth by that point. Because apparently he can't stay out of fucking trouble." He rolls his eyes. "And now he's paying for it. But - then he asked if Adrian and I were fucking."

[skitter]

One.
Raised.
Eyebrow.

[littleonewhosteals]

"We're not!" he protests.

Because he needs to make that clear.

[skitter]

"If you do, promise to leave Smartass outside. He's not old enough to see that."

[littleonewhosteals]

"Oh shut up," he groans. "And I usually leave Smartass here if I visit him. And that's to spare you. So you're fucking welcome."

[skitter]

"I fucking appreciate it," she says primly, before giggling again.

"Actually, hardly matters. I don't have permissions in his cabin, so I can't feel them once the door's shut. You two get your freak on."

[littleonewhosteals]

Rags hesitates, biting back his laughter. It's a relief to get all of that off, to let her know what he thought and to get the reassurance in turn.

And he did it all without Kiryu's help.

"Get your freak on?" he mutters. "Does that mean fucking? Why does that mean fucking?"

[skitter]

"Yes, but hell if I know why. People just call sex 'getting freaky' sometimes. Probably because sex, while fun, is absolutely weird all the time."

[littleonewhosteals]

"Well yeah, isn't that the way it's supposed to be?" he scoffs. "I mean, I'm not an expert on it or anything. But if it was all perfect and shit, it would be boring and then there'd be no point."

[skitter]

"Sometimes it's boring anyway. Which is fine. People do plenty of boring shit together." She wraps an arm around her chest, looking at nothing in the middle distance.

"If you don't want to, don't. But if you're worried it's going to, I don't know, complicate things, I don't think that's usually the truth."

[littleonewhosteals]

"It wasn't...really complicated in the Clave," he admits softly. "I mean, it was just something we did because we did it. But Adrian and I don't even really...talk about it."

[skitter]

"Neither did Brian and I. I don't think we ever really... talked about us as a couple. Which... yeah, probably not talking about anything made it more complicated, especially while it's ending."

[littleonewhosteals]

He puts his hand on top of hers lightly. "You don't talk a lot about Brian," he tells her. It's an invitation to talk, but it's also an invitation to change the subject if she doesn't want to.