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Eiji tries not to wince as Ankh reaches into the freezer of the grocery store they're at and removes two boxes of the most expensive brand of ice cream they carry. "Ankh," he starts to complain, but Ankh shoots him a look that he's reasonably sure might actually kill someone who isn't used to it, so he just holds up his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"This one is for our bargain," he says, hefting one. "This one," he says, doing the same with the other, "is for the stunt you had me pull earlier."
"What stunt?" Eiji's genuine bafflement only seems to frustrate Ankh more, and he rolls his eyes as he stomps over to make Eiji pay for the ice cream in his arms. But the more he thinks about it, the more confused he is.
He asks again once they're out of the store. "I don't mind paying you back in ice cream, but I still don't get what you mean."
Ankh opens one of the boxes immediately—the walk back to their Ridevendors is short, but if anyone can eat a popsicle in that small amount of time, it's him. "I gave you my last medal, didn't I?"
To Eiji's memory, he didn't ask Ankh to do that. Frankly, the idea hadn't occurred to him in the least until Ankh had it first. It was a huge risk, and one they needed to take at the time, but perhaps it's been bothering Ankh that it had to happen at all. "You did. Thanks, Ankh. For trusting me with it."
Ankh gives him another glare that could melt steel beams, refusing to dignify his statement with any further response aside from violently finishing the rest of his ice cream.
They can't talk on the way back, of course, but even when they arrive at Cous Coussier, Ankh still isn't in the mood to do it, putting the ice cream in the freezer and heading up to his and Eiji's shared room without a word practically as soon as he arrives.
"What happened? Did the two of you get into an argument?" Hina peers after the Greeed as he disappears upstairs, though her concern is obviously for Eiji.
"No, I think I just said something that made him mad. You know, the usual."
She nods in understanding, in the same way she always does when this happens, something distant in her expression. "I wonder when I started to get used to seeing his face so angry like that."
Eiji opens his mouth to say something, but can't muster the words. Hina sees him struggling and gives him an encouraging, but unmistakably sad, smile. "It's okay. Once my big brother has his body back, I'll never see it like that again, after all."
"Right." The thought leaps into his head, unbidden, if he'll have the opposite problem once the officer's face is no longer twisted into irritation at the drop of a hat, but that's something he can contemplate when the time for it comes. "I'd better go talk to him, though. I'd hate for your brother to develop wrinkles because of Ankh."
Hina laughs a little, and Eiji gives an internal sigh of relief as he heads down the hall after him.
He's not surprised to see Ankh already in his little makeshift nest, red fabric draped haphazardly all over the place, arms and legs both crossed in a remarkably prickly fashion. "Did what I said really bother you that much?" Eiji asks.
"I did that because I had to," Ankh says, petulantly.
"I know. That's why I wanted to thank you. You only lost your other two medals because I asked you to protect Hina and Shun, so…" It really does mean a lot that Ankh was willing to go so far for him, but Eiji gets the impression that his sincerity isn't coming across. "It must not have been an easy decision to make. That's all."
Ankh's eyes narrow, and he says nothing in response. The atmosphere seems to have cooled off somewhat, though, so Eiji heads back out, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
He reclines a little as soon as Eiji's foosteps recede far enough. That's the problem, isn't it? That it wasn't as difficult a decision to make as it should have been. It hasn't been, not since the first time he gave Eiji the three of them needed for the Tajadol combo. Not to say he didn't hesitate this last time—anyone would, in his position, especially when relying on someone as dumb as Eiji—but it was easier than he'd expected of himself, and he's sure it was easier than Eiji would expect of him, too.
Is that what this is? Trust?
He growls in irritation, though he doesn't know whether he wants to direct it at Eiji for making him think about these sorts of things or himself for entertaining the thoughts to begin with. It would be easy to just stop giving him his own medals, but hasn't that felt more natural every time, too? Isn't it because of that that he knew Eiji would do everything he could to make sure he kept a firm grasp on Ankh's very last one?
"Ah, I see." Ankh stretches out, lying down on his side. "This isn't trust at all. I've just figured out how to manipulate him like that."
He's glad he's managed to work that out, but there's still some lingering doubt, like a splinter in the back of his brain that seems to have wedged itself in there. It'll be gone in no time, because he can't afford to doubt himself like that.
Or so he tells himself, but even hours later, long after Eiji has retired to bed for the evening, Ankh stays awake, still stuck on this particular train of thought.
The first time has been accounted for, but what about the second time? Now that he thinks about it, that should entitle him to a third box of premium ice cream—Eiji getting one of his precious core medals stuck to his shoe like that. But despite his initial refusal, if Eiji had asked him one more time, especially if that second medal hadn't been there, he thinks that perhaps he might have done it. It was unpleasant to be unmade like that, but for Eiji's sake…
He sits bolt upright. For OOO's sake, he corrects himself. And for himself. If OOO falls, he loses his chance at getting the rest of his medals and the other half of his body back. Taking a gamble with what he has left is well worth what he has to gain from it.
He chuckles mirthlessly and hops out of his nest, going down the hall to the freezer. When he returns to the back room, another expensive ice cream affixed between his fingers, Eiji is sitting up in bed, squinting over at the entrance. "Ankh?" he asks.
"Who else would it be, idiot? Go back to sleep."
"You're the one who woke me up by laughing like some kind of movie villain and trampling down the hall." Ankh isn't looking at Eiji, but he can hear the pout in his tone.
"I was hungry." Ankh waves the ice cream like it explains everything. To him, it does.
"Uh-huh. You should try to get some sleep too. If that body you're borrowing doesn't get enough rest, it'll be bad, you know?"
"I do know, so shut your mouth and go back to sleep. Don't humans have something called a 'midnight snack'?"
Eiji looks like he wants to argue, but he just sighs in defeat. "Yeah, that's true. If that's all it is, don't laugh like that next time, okay? Just get your ice cream like a normal person."
Ankh clicks his tongue, but offers no heated rebuttal, so as far as he's concerned, the matter is closed. He rarely lets Eiji know he's agreed to a request of his, and this time is no different, though Eiji seems to be getting better at reading these nonresponses from him. Considering that makes the splinter in the back of his brain start to throb, too, so he takes his thoughts elsewhere as he hauls himself back up into his nest.
"Eiji," he says, not particularly looking for a response.
"Yeah?" He sounds tired, but of course he'd answer anyway. That's just the kind of person he is.
"Don't you ever put me in a position like that again."
He hears Eiji sit up. "I knew that was bothering you. I'll definitely get your medals back, Ankh. If you don't trust me, then trust in my abilities as OOO."
Ankh turns around to glare at him. "I don't—"
"Then trust in your own judgment, since you gave me the belt." Eiji's smile is the same as always—worn a little thin around the edges, but earnest nonetheless, as dauntless as it can be in light of his own exhaustion. Ankh feels himself scowling just looking at it and he rolls back over, biting the ice cream so hard he makes the officer's teeth clack together.
It's infuriating, how quickly he's adapted to understanding Ankh so well.
"Is that everything? I'd really like to be able to go back to sleep."
Ankh just sighs in exasperation, and he hears the covers shift again as Eiji lies down, mumbling a quick good night to his roommate. Ankh, as always, opts not to return it.
Partnerships among Greeed have always been uneasy at best, charged with the unspoken question lingering in the air of who will break their agreement first. If he hadn't been torn asunder, who would he be working with now? Certainly not Eiji. If he had never lost the rest of his body, they might not have ever met. A man with no desires doesn't even make for a suitable Yummy, so it's possible he may have simply ended up a casualty if he had never been chosen to become OOO.
There's a cold feeling in the bottom of Ankh's stomach as he thinks about it. This agreement of theirs has been just as rife with tension as one can expect when one half is a Greeed, the question of what Ankh will do once he's got his body back hanging like the sword of Damocles in the air above them. But Eiji seems less uneasy about that as time passes, and Ankh continuously finds himself less sure of the answer. It would be easy to kill him and take back the belt, to ensure no one else can become OOO and stop him from achieving everything he wants. Power, medals, everything, and yet…
Ankh has never trusted anyone in his life. Not completely. His entire creation was mired in cruelty, and his life until now a series of betrayals, both by and against him. To trust anyone at all, after everything he's gone through, would be the height of stupidity.
But the memory of seeing Eiji in Tajadol's full glory for the first time blooms behind his eyelids as he tries to settle down to sleep. The echo of the feeling of absolute certainty that Eiji would give him his only medal back resounds in his chest.
He admits only to himself, as the moon meanders across the sky and the stars twinkle like they're laughing at him, he does wonder if trust might feel a bit like this.