Bro please can I get “I broke the lock. You were screaming” with nines and our little detective? I don’t really have much of an idea for a story… maybe a case gone wrong and nines insists on staying with her because she’s clearly shaken?!? Idk I love your writing it’s def one of the things I look forward to on my feed <3
Okay SO first things first thank you, Anon, for your super kind words!! You are the sweetest <3
Secondly, I took the liberty of assuming based on the descriptor of "our little detective" that you're talking about the reader from Ruiner, Ruination, so I wrote this fic within that universe (which i hope is alright).
This idea led me to the creation of an offshoot series stemming from Ruiner, Ruination, which I have titled Ruiner, Ruination - Indictus. The point of this series is to highlight little canonical moments that have occurred between Nines and the Reader that went unsaid in the main series (hence the name Indictus, meaning "unsaid").
The creation of this series is super exciting for me because it allows me to write out requests in the Ruiner, Ruination universe AND make them canon without it being too confusing or weird to map out, since I can simply say where each fic takes place in the timeline as things are planned out and published in the original fic.
Anyways, sorry for the rant on the new series, but I hope you enjoy this fic and any upcoming Ruiner, Ruination - Indictus pieces that follow!
Avoidance Tactics (rk900 x reader)
A Ruiner, Ruination - Indictus chapter
Timeline - This fic has a lot to do with the events of the 7th Ruiner, Ruination chapter and takes place after the (currently unpublished, oops) 8th chapter.
Nightmares/sleeping dialogue prompt #2 - "I broke the lock. You were screaming"
Word Count: 3,586
"Could you hover a little bit less ominously? You're really creeping me out."
You muttered under your breath as you passed a wandering gaze over the incident report you had spent the past few hours filling out. Once you were done, you would finally be finished with the process of submitting Nines' work related injury to the DPD's HR department, which you were eager to be done with for good.
It had been two days since your partner's accident, and you had spent nearly every waking hour since avoiding the subject as much as possible by working yourself to the bone.
The unfortunate downside of this was that just 48 hours later there was nothing left for you to do but file away the very incident report you'd been avoiding, and honestly, that had been just as awful as you'd feared it would be.
It required you to go into immense detail pertaining to not only Nines' injuries, but also his reactions to them, the lethality of them, and the traumatic responses that may have occurred as a result of them.
Gavin had filled out his end of the form on the day of the injury back at the DPD with you, and now it was your turn to fill out the individual portion.
And to an extent you hadn't truly expected, the memories were haunting.
Your hands had shaken vigorously above the keyboard as you'd typed out the amount of blue blood that you had gotten on yourself in the process of stopping the bleeding,
the stickiness that lingered between your fingers for hours afterward,
the way it had remained spattered on your clothing even when you could no longer see it,
the scent of it and the way it had stuck to you until multiple showers later.
You had bit back tears when recalling the staticky quality to Nines' voice as his vocal modulator had struggled without the support of his circulatory regulator,
the slightly glazed quality of his eyes,
the way he had groaned in pain as they loaded him into the android care ambulance,
and the trail of blood he had left behind in the process.
It had all been so awful.
And the extent of his injuries had been no small issue either.
Without his stock circulatory bio-component, Nines' thirium pump regulator, and therefore his thirium pump as well, had been put under unnecessary strain for days now, unnecessary strain that would doubtlessly cause a machine like him to falter and shut down sooner than he ever would have otherwise.
And somehow, it was this fact that terrified you the most.
Sure, you had always known that Nines would outlive you,
that fact had never once bothered you,
but the idea that his likely absurdly long life would be cut short, even slightly, by this accident?
It unsettled you that such a thing was even possible.
Years off of the life of a thing that some didn't even view as living at all.
The humanity of it all struck you in the very worst way,
But fortunately you wouldn't really have to dwell on that for long.
"I am not hovering, Detective."
Nines replied coolly from where he stood beside the entryway of his dining room, where you had been sitting for hours as you worked tirelessly to write up your incident report.
"I am simply analyzing you to discern whether or not you are still capable of writing your report in a manner that will meet the Captain's standards."
You rolled your eyes,
"Well that really doesn't matter now, because I just submitted it."
Nines gave a low hum in response, but neglected to say anything more.
You were right though, he had most definitely been hovering, and for quite some time, at that.
He had started making his way throughout the apartment around the time you'd started your write up, and had been careful to ensure that he never stuck around you for too long as he performed his scans, which allowed him to discern whether or not your actions were causing you any emotional strain.
And every time that he had scanned you, the results always came back the same: judging by the amount of cortisol present in your bloodstream, the report was almost assuredly bringing back traumas you were not yet ready to unpack.
And yet, try as he might to think of something he could do, Nines had yet to come up with a single solution.
He was resigned to let you finish, and then, maybe, he might just get you to talk about what was bothering you.
Except now, as you looked over at him for the first time in hours, he could see how exhausted you were, and pushed the thought out of his mind.
It was time to get you to bed.
"Would you like to stay the night, Detective? The spare tooth brush you utilized the other evening is still in the bathroom, and I believe you packed an extra work outfit in your trunk after last time."
You glanced towards your partner quizzically, raising a brow as you closed your laptop,
"Seriously? I thought for sure you'd want me out of your hair by now."
Nines shrugged a bit at your statement before he moved to plug your computer in on the counter where the cord was located, just out of your reach.
"I have no qualms with you sleeping here if it would be easier. It is not as if I require the use of my bed for any particular purpose."
You gave a small laugh at that, but Nines was quick to note that it didn't reach your eyes, despite the distinctive lack of sarcasm found within it.
Your mannerisms were certainly concerning, but he tried not to over analyze for the time being.
You spoke up,
"Yeah, I guess not huh? In that case, if it doesn't bother you I think I might as well just stay over again. It'll give me a little extra sleep, which I could really use right now."
Nines gave a brief nod in response before heading into his bedroom at the end of the hall,
"Alright, in that case I should find you something to wear to sleep for the night. Any preferences?"
Your cheeks were dusted a slight pink as you spoke, and Nines noticed a sudden increase in your body temperature as well, but even so he chose to ignore it in favor of paying more attention to your response instead,
"Uh, I didn't mind the shirt you gave me the other night? If its clean?"
Nines hummed and retreated to the bedroom without another word, leaving you to make your way to the bathroom to get yourself ready.
You sighed as you stared at your face in the mirror, taking note of your haggard and saddened appearance.
God, that report had taken a lot out of you.
Forcing yourself to give a brief smile, you squeezed some tooth paste out onto your tooth brush before beginning the familiar motions that went along with brushing your teeth as you waited for Nines to return.
To your surprise though, by the time you were finished, your partner still had yet to come back from his detour at the end of the hall, so curiously, you opened the bathroom door, only to shriek in surprise when you saw that Nines was standing on the other side, that familiar shirt of his that you had worn the other night in hand.
You placed your palm against your chest as you took a few deep breaths to calm yourself down, shooting your partner a wordless glare as you did so.
"My apologies, Detective, I didn't mean to scare you."
You groaned and rolled your eyes before ultimately choosing to forgive the man in front of you, offering a gentle thanks as you took the shirt from him and re-entered the bathroom, closing the door behind you once more.
You took another deep breath as you looked back into the mirror, the scent of Nines' shirt wafting into your nose as you did so. You were a bit surprised to find that this was oddly soothing, and elected to ignore the comfort that warmed you as a result of it.
Afterward, you told yourself that you just happened to require a rather deep inhale at the very same moment that you were pulling the white undershirt over your head.
You glanced over at yourself in the mirror, legs bare and hair mussed from changing your shirt, and let out a soft sigh as you ran the pad of your pointer finger over the dark circles beneath your eyes.
It was definitely time for bed.
So, with that idea in mind, you placed your hand on the cold doorknob, letting it absorb some of the heat from your palm for a while as you basked in all of the external stimuli that surrounded you, grateful for the proof that the world around you was real at all.
And then, quietly, as if afraid you might be frightened once again, you pulled the bathroom door open, allowing yourself the time to glance up and down either end of the hall before making your way over to the door found at the very end of it, which remained cracked as an invitation for you to enter.
Nines looked up at you in greeting as you pulled the door open further, closing the door to his closet before he made his way over to the bed you were now working to climb on top of, his foot steps quiet and lithe behind you before they halted at the foot of his queen sized bed, which was fitted with the same huge black comforter as last time.
You glanced up at him as you laid your back against the soft pillows found at the head of the bed, struggling to make eye contact as you tried not to think too hard about the comfort his scent had offered you previously.
God, what a weird thing to think about your partner. Maybe you should buy him a cologne so he smelled different or something.
You shook off your thought as Nines brushed imaginary lint from the blanket you were now comfortably laying beneath as he finally spoke,
"Is there anything else you need, Detective?"
He watched you intently as you shook your head, and gave you a few moments afterward to change your mind before he finally started turning around to head back out the door.
"In that case, I'll just be out in the living area. I will remain in light stasis so you won't have to worry about me being hard to wake up if you find that there is something you require my assistance for. I will also be locking the door, as my research has supported that this will help you feel safer. Is that all agreeable with you, Detective?"
You were a bit taken aback by the sudden influx of information, but nodded nonetheless after allowing yourself a few seconds to comprehend what was being said to you,
"Oh uh sure, yeah, that's fine, whatever you want."
Nines gave a slight nod in response before clicking the lock in place, taking a step over to the other side of the door frame before he turned back to look you over once more, his eyes traversing your frame slowly as he did so,
"Sleep well, Little Mouse. I will see you in the morning."
And with that, he was closing the door behind him before you could say a word, leaving you with nothing left to do but drift off to sleep.
And drift off to sleep you did, though it was far from the peaceful slumber you had anticipated.
You fought back a cry of pure anguish as you watched the android, the same AV500 model from the abandoned car factory, shoot Nines for the fifth time that night, this time right between his eyes.
Your partner fell back soundlessly, his body hitting the ground with enough force to make the floor shake as he stared up at you with those unseeing gray-blue eyes of his.
They were so haunting like this, when you could tell they were observing nothing despite their unnatural openness, and you forced yourself to reach over the close them in spite of the blue blood that coated your fingers as you did so.
It was sticky and warm, just as it had been every other time he'd been shot within this hellish nightmare, and you had to stop yourself from vomiting as everything started all over again.
Here you were, for the sixth time, standing in that same room with that same murderous android, and once again, there was nothing you could do to stop him from killing your partner.
You couldn't plead for mercy, tackle the man to the ground, or even shoot him with the gun Nines had provided you with. You had no choice but to simply stand there and watch as he gunned down your partner, your friend again and again.
It was torturous.
And this time, as he shot Nines right in his thirium pump, and you saw that pained and confused look on his face for the sixth time that evening, you couldn't help yourself.
You screamed.
You screamed out of fear, out of frustration, and above all else, out of grief.
Here in this nightmare, you couldn't even tell what was real anymore, and with each passing murder, you could swear that Nines had really died back at that factory, and that this reality, where you simply had to watch and suffer wordlessly, was the real one.
You screamed for so long your throat hurt even within your own dream, raw and painful as you prayed internally for this torture to end, eyes squeezed shut and brimming with tears as you heard distant gunshot after distant gunshot go off before hitting thick plastic over and over again.
You would never be able to forget that sound.
But then, even more distantly than those gunshots, came the sound of Nines' voice, far off and calling out to you as if he were searching aimlessly while alone in the dark.
And without a second thought, you called back.
You awoke gasping for air, throat aching tremendously, and eyes stinging both from your tears and from the much too bright light coming from the lamp to the left of you.
But none of that was nearly as noticeable as the android who was hovering above your form as you laid on your back, his arms poised on either side of your head as he looked down at you with an almost fearful look on his face.
"What the- Nines?"
You croaked out in confusion, glancing over at the previously locked bedroom door as you attempted to make sense about what was going on.
“I broke the lock. You were screaming”
Nines all but panted out, eyes still a bit wild as he slowly began to pull away from the bed, standing at the edge as if afraid you would start screaming all over again the moment he moved.
You squinted your eyes in confusion and in an effort to mitigate the impact the lights were having on your head,
As if he could read your mind, Nines reached over the turned the lamp off without a word.
You sighed softly, noting the way that the air barely managed to leave your mouth due to how shaky you were feeling.
That nightmare had to have been one of the worst you'd ever had.
And the worst part yet? It wasn't going away.
You could still hear the sound of a single strong bullet hitting thick hard plastic, and you could feel the splash of warm thirium against your skin as a result.
It was horrible.
Tears filled your vision as you sat up slightly, bringing your knees to your chest as you tried to make sense of what was going on.
Why couldn't you stop thinking about it? Why were you torturing yourself like this?
You were just about to ask Nines what was wrong with you when he spoke up first,
"May I see your hand, Detective?"
He asked not unkindly, and hesitantly, as if afraid this could somehow go awry, you gave it to him.
You then watched in the dim lighting of the bedroom as your partner raised your hand up to where his thirium pump worked tirelessly within his chest, pumping in a manner that you could feel as it did so.
"I am alive."
He murmured softly, and you briefly wondered how he had known what was bothering you without you saying a word before you simply let it go and pressed your hand harder against the area below his sternum, feeling the evidence of his existence thump strongly against your palm and the pads of your fingers.
You looked up at him then, tears pooling in your eyes and spilling down your cheeks, and asked him for something you had never once expected to throughout the entire duration of your partnership,
"Nines, can you lay here with me?"
You murmured, watching as the android briefly contemplated your request before nodding once in compliance.
The bed dipped slightly as Nines dropped his knee on to the mattress before climbing the rest of the way over to the empty spot beside you, where he sat a bit awkwardly as he awaited your next request.
None of this was familiar to him in the slightest, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not figure out what you might want from him.
You sighed in slight relief as you laid yourself back down, noting the way that Nines watched as you did so before slowly doing the same, his head propped up by the pillows as he laid his palms face down on the mattress at either side of him.
He was very clearly not used to laying down, but you almost found it endearing that he remained so stiff even when in a position that was meant to be relaxing.
How very Nines of him.
Giving a gentle sigh, you turned your body on its side in order to better face your partner, who immediately shifted his gaze towards your own as you spoke, your hand raised ever so slightly towards him as you did so,
"Would you... Do you mind if I feel it again?"
Your cheeks burned as you considered your own request, but before you could back out, Nines shook his head before expressing his response verbally to reassure you,
"Not at all, Detective. I have no issues with you touching me if that is what you require."
You couldn't help but clear your throat upon hearing his words, but slowly lowered your hand onto his chest anyway, feeling yourself relax a bit as you once again felt his thirium pump beat strongly against your palm.
"Does it help you to know that I am well?"
Nines murmured, giving a low hum of interest as you nodded in response.
The room was silent for a few moments before he spoke up again, his voice quiet despite the silence of the room around you.
"I did not realize you had been so deeply impacted by my injuries. I apologize for my ignorance."
You were quick to shake your head upon hearing his words, and raised yourself up onto your forearms to better address him as you spoke,
"Don't apologize. I didn't realize either... I think I was just hoping to ignore it until it went away on its own."
Nines didn't reply, but instead gave a gentle hum of acknowledgment as he further considered your words.
You, on the other hand, took the silence as your queue to try and get back to sleep, something you were more than a little bit eager for after your night of terror and exhaustion.
Even still, you found yourself struggling to drift off, despite the added comfort of Nines' thirium pump as it beat steadily beneath your palm.
And after waiting and waiting for sleep to overtake you for what felt like far too long, you sat up on your knees and faced your partner in the darkness, your cheeks tinted pink as you made your second humiliating request of the night.
"I uh I can't sleep. Can I try something?"
Nines gave a small nod of approval, curiosity evident in his tone as he replied,
"I don't see why not, Little Mouse."
You felt your heart skip a beat at the familiar nickname, and swallowed thickly as you pulled yourself closer to your partner, letting out a nervous sigh as you lowered your torso back down onto the mattress, straightening out your legs beneath you as you let your head fall to Nines' chest, where the sound of his thirium pump working tirelessly within immediately filled your ears.
And with that, even more so than before, you found that your body grew relaxed, your eyes becoming heavy as you allowed your newfound comfort to will you to sleep once more.
Nines remained silent all the while, but watched you as you slowly drifted off to sleep with your head lying atop his chest, soothed by the sound of his artificial heart as he relished in the knowledge of your safety and comfort, even within a presence as dangerous and cold as his own.
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Prompt list number 29 and blupjeans please? :3
Thank you so much for the prompt! It’s from this list and I’m still open to requests. 29 is: “Someone is deeply impressed by skills you weren’t even that proud of…until NOW”
–
“Have you seen the Cups Guy?” Lup shouts over the music. Taako definitely mishears her.
“You’re supposed to be here with Taako tonight, remember. Taako, your brother, your beloved twin who just wants to spend quality time with you because he loves you so much. Nto a random cute guy.” He clutches his hand to his chest, bats his eyelashes and looks devastated for all of a second before grinning and reaching for his drink.
“I love you too, Koko, but look.” Lup nudges Taako again and gestures to the retreating back of the denim clad mystery.
Taako shrugs. “Nothing to see.”
“No, you need to… c’mon.” Lup grabs his arm. “We’ve gotta catch him.” There’s no way she’s going to be the only one bearing witness to this feat of engineering.
Taako engages his deadweight powers immediately and flops limply. Thankfully Lup’s spent a lot more time in the gym than he has.
“If I drag you it’ll ruin your outfit and you’ll be sad.” She tugs his arm again and starts pulling.
Taako lets her for a moment before he sighs, stands, brushes himself off, and starts walking ahead of her. “Fine. This had better be good.”
Lup waits to move long enough for Taako to have to pause because he doesn’t know where he’s going. They’ve lost valuable seconds, but honestly, he deserves it for being a brat. “This way.” She strides towards the corridor Cups Guy disappeared down, dodging flailing dancers and stumbling drunks, stepping to the rhythm of whatever bullshit is on the shit phone poking out of the solo cup in the corner. She’s never going to get guilted into one of Taako’s parties ever again, she left the noise and the sticky floors, sticky everythings really back in her early 100s.
Lup tries to keep her voice down, it’s quieter as they move away from the main room.“There!” she hisses and gestures to Taako.
“Wow! Look at that back.” Taako says far too loudly for their stealth mission.
“Shut up, Goofus.” Lup elbows Taako as Cups Guy looks round and his eyes widen.
“You’re the one who’s pointing.” Taako slaps her hand down.
“I’m not pointing loudly am I? You need to see what he’s holding.” Lup hurries after him, drags Taako with her.
“Just tell me, then Taako can get back to the dancing portion of the evening.”
“You won’t believe me.”
“Taako has never in his life accused you of lying.” Taako says in a voice which almost means he thinks it’s true.
“Uh huh.”
“Well sometimes you are.” He huffs. “But fine. Hurry up then.” Taako speeds up too, uses her grip on his wrist to drag her along even faster. “We don’t have all night.”
They both come to the realisation at once.
“It’s really weird to…” Lup starts.
“...chase a guy.” Taako finishes.
It’s too late though.
“Are you two okay?” Asks Cups Guy. He’s stopped and turned around and generally seems unimpressed at being loudly followed, which is completely fair.
She should apologise. “See!” Lup elbows Taako.
“What?” The man looks less mild in his irritation now.
“You’ve, er, got a lot of cups there, kemosabe… a loooooootta cups.” Taako nods towards the pile of cups in Barry’s arms.
“What my brother means to say.” Lup cuts in, as the man’s frown deepens. “Is that we wanted to know if you needed any help carrying everything.”
“Yeah… yeparooni. Definitely that. Exactly what Taako meant.” Taako says in a deeply unconvincing voice.
Lup smiles extra big and hopes it balances out Taako’s whole deal.
“Oh.” Cups Guy says. “That’s, uh, that’s actually really nice, thanks. But, well, I, I’ve got it.”
“You sure do…?” Lup waits for a name. She figures it’s only good protocol to find out what he’s called first because she needs to study this man. He’s calmly carrying 10 cups in an unnervingly stable pile - what does he do for work? Knife juggling? Orphaned puppy balancing? Double backwards upside down tightropes?
“Barry.” Replies Barry. Still not entirely friendly, but looking less pissed off than before.
“I mean… that’s just so many cups, my guy. It’s really impressive.” Lup nods towards the perfectly balanced stack and Barry looks down as if he’s not aware of his superhuman abilities.
“I… uh. I guess. Yeah.” Barry’s face tinges a warm pink and Lup tries not to laugh at how adorable it is to see. His face is nice when he’s not thinking about how irritating they are.
“What’s the secret? Is it magic? If you tell me will you have to kill me?” Lup definitely doesn’t wiggle her eyebrows, she’s not flirting with a guy because of cups and no one can prove otherwise.
“You actually want to know?” Barry’s smiling now. It’s good. She’d like to make him smile more actually.
Lup nods enthusiastically.
“Okay, er… we’ll walk and talk, I promised Krav I’d bring snacks.”
“Wait, hang on, Taako’s here on the premise they’re all liquid. I want my money back!”
Lup and Barry both ignore him. Lup’s busy staring intently at Barry’s hands. There’s not even the slightest shake, he’s just steady. She could use steady…
“So they’re roughly half and half. You’ve gotta pack the snacks carefully so they don’t shift in transit and change the distribution of the load.” Barry relaxes into the lecture and Lup mentally pulls up a chair and a desk so she can take brain notes. There’s no way she isn’t practising this later.
“You’d like to help distribute his load.” Taako mutters behind her.
Lup coughs loudly and hopes it’s enough to ensure Barry didn’t hear. He’s interesting, she doesn’t want to scare him away.
Barry keeps going. “It’s, uh, pretty simple really, but I mean, I guess you’ve gotta consider a lot of factors?”
It’s sweet, the way his voice creeps into a question at the end. Lup can’t resist teasing. “Oh, is this the origins of your super villainy? You’re just realising the depths of your powers.”
“Hey wait, why am I evil?”
“Why am I here?” Taako mutters beside her.
She doesn’t even bother turning round, just elbows him. There’s a satisfying “oof.”
“How would you use this for good?”
“I’m literally using it for good right now!”
“Uh huh, sure, not luring a sweet innocent woman into your evil lair?”
“It’s a pool room that we’re guessing no one else knows about, but I’m sure Kravitz will be glad to share, he’s won the last five games. Although maybe it’s evil to subject you to him… Fuck, am I a villain?”
Taako’s suddenly much more interested. “Pool, you say?”
“I think we might be able to help.” Lup just manages to stop herself nudging Barry playfully with her shoulder. He seems stable, but there’s no way she’s going to be responsible for testing the limits of his balance.
“Really?” Barry looks genuinely delighted. “Ah, here we go.” He turns slightly, opens the door with his elbow, doesn’t even wobble, and shouts “honey, I’m home! I brought friends.”
The man Lup has to assume is Kravitz looks curiously towards them. Or, he would, but seems to be entirely stuck on Taako - which is for the best because a quick glance to the side confirms Taako’s staring right back.
“Here’s your drink, bud.” Barry has somehow deposited everything safely on the table and holds a cup out to Kravitz.
Kravitz doesn’t move.
“Okay… uh.” Barry turns back to Lup. “Are they?”
“Gimme one sec.” Lup nudges Taako with her elbow like she’s the Fonz.
It works well enough to unjam him. “So, Kemosabe, I hear you’re gonna rock me like a hurricane?”
Barry snorts out a laugh. “There’s no way…”
“Ssssh, let him work.” Lup taps Barry’s hip with her own. There’s no way she’s getting the blame for anything going wrong here.
“I… uh.” Kravitz looks slightly panicked. Hmmm… That might not bode well.
Taako nods to the table. “I hear you’ve been on a winning streak, but the future’s in the air, handsome, I can feel it everywhere.”
Kravitz’s panic morphs into a smile. “I’m not convinced the winds of change are going to be blowing here tonight.”
It’s going to be okay, he sticks the landing! Lup grins at Barry who just looks perplexed.
“Taako reckons his odds are good.” Taako’s using his sultry voice. Kravitz must be passing muster.
“Don’t make no promises your body can’t keep.” Kravitz punctuates that one with a long lingering look.
It’s going well. Kravitz has promise, and actually that means Lup and Barry need to leave immediately.
“Scorpions… Scorpions is working?” Barry asks, incredulous.
“Yep, don’t think about it too hard, it’ll hurt, and cha’girl super doesn’t want to watch this so what about a cup stacking lesson?” Lup smiles a desperate smile as Taako does some unnecessarily graphic cue chalking. “A really intensive one.”
“Yeah, uh, right, follow me.” Barry ushers her out in front of him. “Don’t look that way.” Barry’s hands blinker her eyes so she can only see the path to the door. They’re warm against her temples. “Nearly there. Can you, uh…”
Lup opens the door for them.
“... thanks.” Barry’s right behind her, hands still bracketing her face.
If she just leans back slightly…
“Oh, sorry, I er, I didn’t mean to… no need for blinkers any more!” Barry moves his hands away and starts walking. Lup links her arm through his (because it’d be best not to get separated) and neighs her thanks.
Yeah, fine, maybe Taako was right and she did need the Taako School of Flirting, it was only 27 low low instalments of 10 gold... Not that she was flirting right now, not that she was trying to or even thinking about it. She was just gonna go get a cups lesson from the very nice man who also happened to be very handsome and kind enough to help her avoid seeing her brother doing crimes against romance who was also passionate about science.
Barry, to his credit, doesn’t unhook his arm and run from her. “I’ll see if I can find you some sugar in the kitchen.” He pets her twice on the head.
There’s a pause. Lup bounces her eyebrows.
“I meant cubes! Sugar cubes! I…” His panic is palpable and wonderful. She definitely shouldn’t delight in it, but how can anyone resist teasing him at least a little?
“Sure you did. This was just all part of your evil plan.”
Barry pauses, considers her for a moment. “Is it working?”
Lup smiles her biggest smile. “Consider me lured!”
Lup’s glad she ran into him. It’s nice to make new friends.
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