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It had been a few months already, since Armaros had been helped by Michael, and became his guardian angel. They’d been spending more times together, trying to get along, although it was rarely easy with the both of them, considering what happened before.
Michael had been shocked when he’d seen what the angel had to do to himself to spend the day incognito, in the middle of humans, using a makeshift binder to keep his poor wing hidden under his clothes. Of course, Armaros couldn’t keep it in the open during the day, even if it wasn’t uncommon to see supernaturals in the streets, but it was obvious that this way of doing it was hurting him, and his wing, in the process. Still, even Michael couldn’t argue against him, and couldn’t come up with a better way to do it, but he made sure to force him to free it every night, when the sun was set and the people sleeping.
On the other hand, Armaros was still very much hating the job that Michael had taken. Of course, he was an angel, bounty hunting wasn’t something that he liked, and it was much too dangerous anyway, even more for someone with a fragile heart, like Michael. And, now that he was having to protect him, he was very annoyed that this one was putting himself in all those dangerous situations, whether the ghosts were helping him catch the criminals quickly, and without getting hurt, or not, it was still way too dangerous, even for someone like Armaros.
“I still can’t believe that you lived this long.” The angel huffed, crossing his arms as he walked next to the blue haired man.
“I’m lucky.” BB replied without really listening to him.
They’d had this argument plenty of times already, he wasn’t going to listen to it another one.
“To think I’m stuck with you now.” Armaros complained, getting annoyed by the lack of interest that the other was giving him.
“You wouldn’t be if you didn’t kill me in the first place. And, I wouldn’t be doing this job either, since I wouldn’t have been able to see ghosts.” Michael huffed. “We already talked about it. Even if I wasn’t doing this job, the ghosts would be harassing me to help them. It’d be even worst to deal with.”
“You could have just ignored them from the start, they wouldn’t have even known that you could see them.” The angel groaned.
“I’d love to see you dealing with the shit I had to go through because of what you did to me that day.” Michael snapped, stopping to look at the one winged angel.
He was starting to feel his heart fasten, he hated thinking back on what happened that day, and on what he had been through the next few months after that.
“I bet I could have dealt with it easily.” The angel gave Micheal a teasing grin, approaching his face from the other’s, making this one blush slightly at the closeness.
“I-” BB was about to try to come up with an argument, but was cut short when he heard a familiar voice call out from a little farther away.
“Shoot him, Pico! Shoot that Angel!”
Both boys stopped in their argument, turning their heads to look at the smaller blue boy standing at the end of the street, by the train station, with another familiar ginger boy with guns in his hands, and his girlfriend sitting on the usual speakers.
“Huh?” Pico looked between the two brothers and the angel in confusion.
“Ah.” Armaros seemed pretty embarrassed suddenly, backing away from Michael’s face. “Chill out, Midget, I’m not going to kill him again.”
Michael wasn’t too sure what was happening, but he was sure of one thing, this was bad. And, the only view of the guns in the ginger headed boy’s hands was enough to launch his heart into a frenzy. Still, he tried to keep himself calm, trying to remember what his therapist had taught him to keep himself calm when it happened.
“What’s up with that, BF? I thought you hated when I used my guns?” Pico teased the young blue boy.
“Shut up, and shoot him!” Keith snapped at him.
Oh no, he sounds upset. BB thought as he heard his brother’s voice. I need to do something… He swallowed, trying to stop the anxiety attack that was starting before it could become dangerous for everyone involved.
“It’s okay, Keith.” He tried to reassure the best he could. “He’s not going to hurt me anymore. We went over this. He’s trying to do the good thing now.”
“I don’t trust him.” Keith replied, staring at the angel. “He killed you once! Tried to kill my Girlfriend! And he tried to kill you again, and shot you, AGAIN!” He snapped, forcing the tears down as they threatened to fall over his cheeks.
“I think you two should have a talk before anything else happens…” Armaros whispered to Michael.
“No shit?” Michael huffed in response.
“I don’t know what’s that’s all about, but I think this dude won’t be any danger, not right now.” Pico tried to reassure BF on his side, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down…” He seemed fairly awkward in the presence of a clearly overwhelmed BF, and, not only a stranger, that might be a killer, but also the big brother of his friend, the one that was ready to end him when Keith and him were together. “If anything happens, I’ll be ready to shoot, though.” He tried to wink at his friend.
As Pico was trying to reassure Keith, GF hopped off the speakers, going to hug her bf reassuringly. Of course, she still kept a careful, glaring, eye on Armaros. She knew what he’d done, what he’d tried to do, after all, and she wasn’t ready to let that go either.
“Keith…” They didn’t notice when Michael approached them, looking very pale, and shaky, but also very awkward in this situation. “Can we… Talk?” He offered, not without some hesitation.
BF stared at BB, then at Armaros, who hadn’t moved from back where they’d been standing before, still holding his hands up to show that he didn’t have his gun in his hand, and trying to avoid causing any trouble this time.
BF nodded, following his brother to a quieter place, while still keeping an eye on what was happening over to his friends and the angel.
“Beep bop?” Keith asked, worried enough to revert back to his habits of speaking in beeps.
“I’m fine, bro.” Michael tried to reassure, although he was definitively having an anxiety attack by now, despite how much he was trying to hide it. “Armaros isn’t going to hurt me anymore.” He tried to keep the subject to what was important. “He changed, or, at least, he’s trying.”
“Beep Beop Bop?!” Keith exclaimed, not caring about his tears anymore. “Beep Skip Bip Bop!!”
“I know what he did. I’m not forgiving him, either.” Michael tried to keep his tone under control, despite how hard it was getting to breathe properly. “I’m giving him another chance, but it doesn’t mean I’m forgiving what he did to me, to us.”
“Why should I trust him to not hurt you, again?” Keith sniffed, trying to hold himself together again. “Why are you even walking with him like that?”
“I helped him back then. Now his new job is to protect me, to make up for the damage he’s done.” Michael explained, not even noticing when he reached out to grab at his heart. “It’s not like we chose this, either. God, or whatever it was, gave him this mission because they said he could ‘learn from someone like me’, or something like that.”
“Beep… Beep?” Keith looked calmer now, but it seemed like he’d noticed how bad his brother, himself, was getting.
“I- I’m fine. Really.” Michael tried to reassure, although he should have known that his brother would see right through him.
“Bop Beep!” Keith argued, putting his shaky hands on his hips, and staring at his brother with an angry, yet concerned look.
“I-” BB couldn’t really argue against his brother. Not in this state. He sighed, and agreed to sit down with his brother.
He almost broke down into tears when this one came to sit on his lap, hugging him, and feeling his heartbeat.
“Don’t lie.” Keith whispered sadly, as he listened to his brother’s racing heart.
“I’m sorry…” Michael mumbled, as he tried to get himself to relax, hugging his brother back.
At least, while they were talking, and calming each other’s racing hearts down, they could still see that their friends were still doing okay, Pico and Gf talking with Armaros, although it was obvious it was tense, and awkward. At least, no one was fighting over there, and they were fully leaving the brothers to have their own moment in private.
“You’re too nice for your own good.” BF eventually huffed, as he could feel BB’s heart finally return to a normal beat. “You died saving my girlfriend, you decided to help the ghosts to catch their killers, and now you’re helping your own killer.” He listed bitterly.
“I know…” Michael sighed, thankful that the attack was over, and to have his brother still hugging him. “I couldn’t leave him to die so stupidly…”
“He could have killed you again.” Keith tightened his embrace.
“Nah, he was too sick when I found him. He didn’t even acknowledge me, not even when I took him home.” Michael chuckled. “He was really pathetic, you should have seen him.” He joked, trying to make light of the situation a little.
“No way he stayed like that forever.” Keith noted, glancing at his brother.
“Well…” BB found himself in another awkward position.
“I can’t imagine you were alright with that either…” BF sighed, putting his head back against his brother’s chest, making sure of his heartbeat.
“We did argue about it.” BB sighed.
“And?” BF knew that there was more to it, he knew his brother too much.
“Ok, Alright. I might have stayed awake all night because I was scared he’d kill me.” Michael admitted quietly. “And I might have had a panic attack, after he woke me up from a nightmare of that day, after I fell asleep after he promised me he wouldn’t kill me, and told me to sleep.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” Keith asked. “I could have come over to help, and make sure you were safe.”
“And leave you to stay awake watching over a killer that already tried to kill us twice?” Michael took his brother’s face in his hand, pushing him away from his chest to look at him in the eyes. “No way! I would never put you in a situation so dangerous.”
“Well, I’d better be in there with you, than you be alone in this exact situation!” Keith argued. “You could have died, just with your heart problems!”
“I-” Michael tried to reassure his brother, but didn’t get the time before this one spoke again.
“Don’t pretend like it wasn’t a possibility.” BF scolded. “We both know how bad it can get.” His eyes were already filling back up with tears.
“I- I know.” BB sighed. “I’m sorry. I just, didn’t want you to be involved again.” He pulled his brother back against him.
“I don’t want you getting hurt, either.” Keith sighed against him. “Don’t be so stupid next time.”
“There shouldn’t be a next time.” Michael huffed. “We’d be pretty damn unlucky if there was one. I’m tired of getting my ass killed.” He joked quietly.
“It only happened once.” BF huffed back a laugh.
“I get killed every time I see you worried.” Michael smiled at his brother. “It hurts more than a stupid bullets to the heart, believe me.”
“If you were acting less stupid, you wouldn’t have me so worried.” Keith laugh back at his brother, pushing him slightly.
“I guess, acting stupid, is just a family thing.” BB replied with a teasing grin and a wink, laughing with his little brother punched his shoulder lightly in response.
The two brother laughed quietly for a short moment, enjoying some light-hearted brother moment.
“Are you really sure you want to trust him?” Keith eventually asked, turning his attention back to their friends, who were still talking awkwardly a little away. “He might not have it in his hand, but he still has his gun on him…”
“Yeah, I think it’s ok. He would have had many occasions to kill me after all that, but he never did. He only keeps his gun to protect me in case anything happens when I go bounty hunting…” Michael pointed out, although he quickly realized his mistake when he looked back at his brother, seeing the annoyed and scolding look this one was giving him. “You know why I do this job, man. I can’t just get another one and ignore all those ghosts…”
“Actually, yes, you can.” Keith huffed. “You CAN do that.”
“Urg, man. Please? Can we not argue about that, now?” Michael asked his little brother with tired eyes.
“You know I’m right.” Keith pouted. “I’ll keep saying it.”
“I know, I know.” Michael sighed, before smiling and taking off his brother’s hat. “Thanks for always taking care of me, bro.” He ruffled his little brother’s hair, laughing when this one complained about it, pouting when he tried to get back his hat, but couldn’t reach it as BB got back up, keeping it above his head, way above Keith’s reach. “What are you going to do with that friend of yours, now? Is everything okay between you, you know, since the break-up?”
“We just finished our rap battle. It’s all fine now.” Keith said, not without some pride in showing off his talent to his big brother.
“A rap battle, with guns?” Michael raised an eyebrow at him. “Those don’t usually end up very well…”
“He can’t shoot me. I’m too fast for him.” BF bragged.
“He tried to shoot you?!!” Michael couldn’t help the renewed panic, his voice much louder than what he’d expected.
“A- It’s okay! He wasn’t really shooting me!” Keith quickly tried to reassure, immediately seeing how he’d messed up.
“I wasn’t trying to hurt him! I swear!” Pico’s voice called out from where they were.
It seemed like BB’s reaction must have been loud enough for everyone to hear it, already coming over.
“It’s okay, BB.” Keith, tugged at his brother’s sleeve. “He didn’t hurt me or anything. You know how he likes his guns, he was just shooting in the air, not at me.”
“I know you’re lying, Keith.” Michael took in a deep breath, to keep his heart from losing it again, while he glared at the ginger haired boy approaching them.
“I really wasn’t trying to hurt him.” Pico tried to explain again.
“I told you once, I’ll tell you again: ‘If you hurt my brother, you’re dead.’” BB threatened with a death glare.
“Interesting, the only time I saw him this mad, it was when I tried to kill him the second time.” Armaros mused.
“Shut up, Angel freak!” Michael huffed at him.
“Yeah! Shut up, Armadillos!” Keith huffed as well, still angry about him.
“It’s ‘Armaros’, Midget.” The angel corrected. “Anyway… No one is getting shot today, right kid?”
“Huh? Oh! Yeah. We’re not shooting anyone.” Pico agreed awkwardly to the angel, as if something else was hidden under those lines, that only Pico could pick up on. “I’m not shooting Keith, or this dude, and he’s not shooting your brother.”
“I still don’t trust you.” Keith pointed out to Armaros, still glaring at him.
“I don’t expect you to, kid.” This one shrugged. “It’s not like this big guys did either, you know?”
“I know.” Keith nodded. “Still…”
While Keith and Armaros were talking, GF took the occasion to quietly approach BB, who was still looking quite pale.
“Are you alright?” She asked him with concern.
“Yeah. It’s nothing.” Michael replied with a small smile.
“You don’t look so good.” She pointed out to him, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, it’s been quite the night. And the ghosts are already back too. So, I’m just tired, that’s all.” BB explained to her. “Nothing to really worry about.”
“I don’t agree with that.” Armaros intervened.
“Me neither.” Keith agreed with that. “You need to rest, now.”
“You’re not in any state of listening to those ghosts.” The angel pointed out, looking somewhere behind BB’s shoulder.
“I think we should all go home and rest for the night, honestly.” Girlfriend offered with a smile.
“Good idea!” Pico agreed as well, seemingly eager to leave this heavy, hell of an atmosphere.
“Fine.” BB sighed. “I guess that’s all for tonight. But, if I hear that you hurt my little brother…” He warned Pico one last time.
“Same goes for you.” Keith said as well to Armaros.
“Sure, Midget.” The angel shrugged.
“See you later, then, Keith.” BB gave one last stroke to Keith’s hair before allowing him to finally put his hat back on, not without a pout and a quick hand through his hair to fix it.
“See you, BB.”
Both of the brothers gave one last glare at Pico and Armaros, before each of them went on their way.
“That’s what you get for-” Armaros started to tease Michael, as they walked back to his apartment, when this one cut him off.
“Don’t even!” Michael huffed.
“Fine.” The angel grinned mockingly before speaking up again. “Still your fault.”
“Shut up, freak.” Michael sighed, annoyed, but much too tired to keep fighting against him.
“Need me to carry you home?” Armaros offered mockingly, as he saw the tired gait of the other.
“I’d prefer you killing me again.” Michael spat out, although his face was turning a very light shade of red.