Chapter Text
Riz Gukgak is having a pretty shitty junior year.
He’s only a few days in, and already the exhaustion has hit. No, he doesn’t like to sleep, especially when he has so much to do, but his lack of time to recuperate after chasing down the fucking Night Yorb means he’s been running on fumes for far too long, and his engine is this close to a malfunction. His backpack is heavy-laden with information for Kristen’s campaign, homework, college requirements, MCATs and study materials, and information on every club in the school. He shuffles everything around in his bag as he approaches his locker; even with his exhaustion, he still makes it to school early, though the amount of time he has to get ready for class in the morning gets shorter each day as the list of things he’s keeping track of grows. God, it’s only a few days in.
It’s only the fifth day, he realizes. How much worse can it fucking get?
He spins his combination in, tugs his locker open, and catches the cascade of more papers that falls. He shoves, rearranges, grabs what he needs, ditches what he doesn’t, and is about to see if he can make it to the Yearbook Club’s meeting to check in with his Treasury duties when a hand closes his locker for him.
The hand is small, bone white, and looks…inanimate. He stares at it too long, trying to figure out why it seems so familiar. It’s attached to a tight cuff at the end of a billowing sleeve, and his eyes trace it up almost too slowly; his brain doesn’t put the pieces together until he hears the voice attached to the hand.
"Riz Gukgak."
His body stiffens in fear as he locks eyes with—
"Baron?" God, why is Riz’s voice so shaky and soft? He’s fought Baron before, and—well, shit, shouldn’t there be a mirror around here somewhere if Baron is—
"I told you he would recognize me," Baron lilts, tilting their little marionette head to the side with that stupid, unchanging face. "I thought you would be more excited to see your romance partner, Riz Gukgak."
"What the fuck?" Riz manages to spit, stumbling back and dropping everything onto the hallway floor. Only then does he notice the crew of people standing behind Baron, which is…even more terrifying. "What are you—"
"He doesn’t seem like a very good boyfriend," another familiar voice laments. Kipperlilly Copperkettle, in all her glory, pops her hip out with arms crossed as she stares at Riz, unimpressed. "Are you sure you want to care about him, Baron?"
"What the fuck," Riz repeats, trying to collect his papers and shove them in his bag. It’s not the best thing to do at the moment, but he’s so bewildered and running on such a tight timetable that it’s all he knows to do. "Kipperlilly, what the fuck are you—you know Baron?" And then he mutters under his breath as the zipper gets stuck, "God, of course you do, you fucking—"
"He was very excited to see you," Kipperlilly says sweetly. "And as a sign of goodwill, I thought I’d come to take our new paladin to meet you. He doesn’t know very many people here."
Riz finally pauses, staring at her in disbelief. He had to have misheard her, right? Or misunderstood what she said, at least—because what she’s said, she’s implying—
"Riz Gukgak," Baron says again, their head tilting in the other direction. Their puppet smile doesn’t change—it never does—but it feels worse now, somehow. Their empty eye sockets stare straight through him. "Are you not happy to see me?"
"Baron," Ivy Embra says gently, stepping forward and putting a lithe elven hand on Baron’s billowing sleeve. "We told you, they’re called bad kids for a reason. All he’ll do is hurt you." Her eyes pierce Riz with a knowing stare, but he doesn’t know what she knows, so all he can do is stare back, mouth agape.
"I was hoping you were wrong," Baron says. "But I suppose I should trust you."
"That’s why you’re part of our party," Ruben agrees, smiling at Baron. "We’re your friends, you know? And Riz Gukgak is…"
Riz is kneeling amongst an ungodly amount of papers with a backpack that’s too full to zip and too much caffeine in his veins that isn’t doing anything. There are coffee stains on his shirt and lifted newspaper ink on top of his tattoos, and he’s not entirely sure his vest is on the right way because he thinks the tag is supposed to be on the inside, not the outside. He stares up at the Rat Grinders, feeling lost and alone and like a fucking mess, wishing he’d gotten at least some amount of sleep.
"…well," Ruben continues. "Riz Gukgak is that. Anyway, why don’t we show you to your first class?"
"I would like that very much, Ruben Hopclap," Baron agrees. Their face hasn’t turned from Riz’s direction, though without eyes, it’s hard to tell if they’re looking at Riz or an endless void behind him.
"Baron," Riz says quickly, finally abandoning his papers as he stands up and nearly trips over his backpack. "Wait, wait, hold on—"
"No, no, you’ve done enough," Kipperlilly says, putting a hand on Riz’s chest and pushing him back down. "We want Baron to feel welcome, Riz. Not that you’d know anything about that."
"Baron!" he says again, but he doesn’t try to get up. Baron’s head rotates 180 degrees, so they’re still walking away but staring directly at Riz. He swallows his shudder. "Can you—can we talk? At lunch?"
"I will be expecting you, Riz Gukgak," Baron says, which sounds like a yes.
"Okay!" he calls, trying to keep his eyes on Baron until a stout set of legs steps in the way.
"Look," Oisin Hakinvar says, staring down at Riz. His Dragonborn form looms over Riz with a nearly five-foot gap between their faces. "Baron’s part of our party, okay? Don’t go trying to steal them."
"Riz doesn’t care enough to try," Ivy says, putting a hand on Oisin’s arm and pulling him back. "Leave him be. He’ll get what’s coming to him."
"Have a good day, Riz," Kipperlilly says, smiling brightly and handing Riz his stack of papers and his now-fixed backpack. How does it feel even more sorted than before? "If that’s something you have the capacity to do, I mean." And then she flounces off, her halfling form getting lost amongst the sea of other students as everyone else arrives to start their day. Several people give him funny looks as they pass. He holds his backpack, sitting in the middle of the hallway, too stunned to do much of anything at all.
He only moves when someone stops in front of him—someone that seems friendlier than the Rat Grinders, he hopes—he scoots slightly out of the way, but the person doesn’t continue past him.
"Riz?"
He looks up at Adaine, who’s also heavily burdened with papers and books. He scrambles up to hold some of them for her, to which she looks partially grateful but more worried than anything.
"Why were you on the ground?"
"It’s complicated," Riz says quickly, shouldering the books around momentarily. "We have to talk. Where’s everyone else?"
"Did something happen? I—I don’t know, they should be around here somewhere, though—"
"Baron is back," he says quickly. He doesn’t get a reaction. "Baron? From the Baronies? My—"
"Unspecified boyfriend or girlfriend?" Adaine finishes.
"Right," Riz says, delayed. "Them."
"That’s—did they come to surprise you?"
"They’re part of the Rat Grinders," he whispers. "I don’t know how—Kipperlilly said they were the new paladin?"
"Paladin?"
"Yeah, like—"
"We don’t have a paladin," Adaine says, frowning. He stares at her.
"That’s what you’re focusing on?"
"Am I supposed to be focusing on something else?"
"Baron is here!"
"Are you excited?"
Riz glares at her, passing her books back and grabbing his things instead. "Fine, whatever, just ignore the point—I’ll talk to them at lunch, so—"
"Riz, I just don’t think I understand the problem!"
He doesn’t turn to look back at her, his eyes flitting over every corner as he walks past, expecting mirrors or Baron or—-hell, even Kalina—to show. He’s waiting for the other shoe to drop. But he makes it to class without any more fuss and is surprised (or maybe disappointed) to find that no one else seems to care either. And god forbid he asks because when he tries, all he gets is glares.
"Why are you Bad Kids so obsessed with the Rat Grinders? Just leave them alone already, Gukgak."
"We’re called the Photosynthekids," Riz protests, but it’s a lost cause. He doesn’t try asking again. He does think about texting his party, but he doesn’t think that would go well either. He’s sure the only responses he would get would be something like Adaine’s, or even worse—they’d be enthusiastic about the mystery, but it would come at the cost of focus. Kristen and Fig are already so hard to keep on track as it is. He resigns himself to a solo mystery with this one.
Not for the first time, he thinks about the pamphlet for Lord Salazar Edge’s College of Lone Adventurers that’s tucked neatly next to his laptop in his bag. It’s the one paper he hasn’t let get shuffled in with everything else, and he wonders how much that says about his faith in his friends.
Luckily, he doesn’t have to think about that for too long as the bell rings. He ducks out of the room with all the other rogues, steeling himself for a search for Baron or even having to talk to the Rat Grinders—
Except he runs straight into Baron outside the door. They’re standing in the middle of the hallway, awkwardly impeding traffic, and they either aren’t aware or don’t care that half the school is glaring at them. Riz’s hand tightens on his bag strap.
"Baron," he says, feigning enthusiasm.
"Riz Gukgak," Baron purrs, their hands resting serenely behind their back. "Hello, romance partner."
Their accent is still jarring. Riz does his best not to flinch. "Yeah, uh, hello. Hey, why don’t we go somewhere—private?"
Baron’s head tilts slightly, and Riz must imagine their smile getting brighter. They’re a living doll. They can’t change expression. If he keeps reminding himself, maybe he’ll believe it. "You would like to skip the lunchroom with me, Riz Gukgak?"
"Are you going to keep saying my full name every time you speak to me?" He doesn’t wait for much else of a response, instead jerking his head toward the front door and heading that way. As expected, Baron falls into step with him quickly.
"Of course. It is a lovely name for a lovely romance partner. Unless you wish for me to call you something else. Only you can dictate what I do and do not say, and what I do and do not believe." Riz glances over at them. They’re staring straight ahead, face unmoving. "Do you wish me to call you by something else, Riz Gukgak? I do say, I enjoy your name. As your romance partner, I find many things about you beautiful."
They reach the door just as they finish speaking, and Riz stops to stare at Baron for a long moment. Baron’s head rotates to stare back at Riz.
"You find me beautiful," Riz repeats disbelievingly.
"Undoubtedly," Baron says. Their ivory skin looks more matte than Riz remembers. "You are, after all, the one who helped create me. I was—"
"Born of my lies, yeah, yeah," Riz grumbles, looking around before he pushes the door to the front of the school open. "Come on."
Riz trots down the stairs, but he doesn’t hear Baron follow him, so he turns to look just as Baron spider-crawls onto the railing and crawls down that way. When they reach the ground, they stand, rotating their head a few times in different directions until it settles where it usually does. "I do not like staircases," they announce. "My extremities are much too fragile for the repetitive motion."
Riz blinks slowly. "So your solution here is to…parkour down?"
"I do not know that word, Riz Gukgak. Will you please explain it to me?"
Riz tilts his head back to stare at the sky. Frankly, he’s unsure where to start; he has what feels like a billion questions for Baron, and every time they open their mouth, another question pops up. And he’d probably take another minute to get his mind straight if he didn’t feel a hand on his arm. He looks down from the sky sharply as Baron leans closer.
"Riz Gukgak, what troubles you?"
"You do!" Riz says immediately, shaking Baron’s hand off him. "How are you here? Why are you here? What—you go to Aguefort now? Why are you a paladin?" He glares. "You’re not supposed to be real, Baron!"
Baron’s face is made of bone or porcelain or something. It doesn’t move. In all the many, many interactions Riz has had with Baron, never once has it changed except to crack; he knows this as fact, that Baron’s face is made this way and is stuck in a hollow smile with hollow eyes. But—well, he isn’t quite sure how, but he can swear Baron’s face falls. Something about the shadows in their eyes changes.
"My stark father knew I would be happy here with you," Baron responds, though their voice is quieter now. "He is no longer as angry as he once was. He wishes my pet and me to walk amongst other heroes with her champion. She set me free to join my romance partner."
"Your stark father?" Riz repeats. "Who? The Nightmare King? Cassandra?"
Baron stares and doesn’t say anything else. It’s more unsettling than some of the things they were saying in the first place.
"Baron," he insists. "Who is your stark—"
But Baron interrupts him. "I do not wish to confess to my stark father that I have failed on the first day, Riz Gukgak." Their head tilts slightly. "But I am weak in this world. I cannot remind you of your love for your romance partner."
"What love?" Riz scoffs. "I made you up to make my friends think I was cool!"
Baron goes utterly silent again, their head righting on their neck. Riz feels…something. It isn’t quite fear, but he doesn’t know what else to call it. "I am sorry, Riz Gukgak, that I have horrified you so deeply," Baron says finally, their voice tiny. It’s such an odd visual. Riz knows how terrifying they can be, and yet… "I will leave you be now, if that is what you so wish."
"I just want to know why you’re here," Riz whispers, shrinking away. "Every time I’ve seen you, it’s to torture me. This is my junior year, and I can’t handle it."
"You can handle much more than you are willing to admit, Riz Gukgak," Baron breathes, finally stepping away. Their unchanged face is becoming increasingly unsettling. "Do you wish for me to leave?"
Riz’s hand is clutching his bag strap so tight he’s afraid it’s going to break. "I don’t know," he admits. "I…as long as you’re not, like, going to try to kill me, then no, you can stay."
"I do not wish to kill you," Baron assures him. Their hands slide behind their back again. "I do have one wish, if it is one you would be willing to grant me."
"I’ll, uh…I’ll hear you out," Riz says finally. "If I can do it, I’ll think about it."
"I do not wish to be a burden on you, Riz Gukgak. I am here to be your romance partner." Baron’s head tilts in the other direction. "Will you make me into someone you would be willing to love?"
Riz takes a slow breath, dropping his gaze to the ground. "Baron, I don’t know if I can love. I think that’s why I created you. You’d know better than anyone that I’m—broken." The word feels like glass in his mouth. He’s about to continue when the bony hand touches his shoulder.
"Riz Gukgak, you are not broken," Baron says. "I have never believed that."
This time, Riz is the one who tilts his head, his eyes flitting up to Baron’s face. "What?"
"You are the one who cannot work through how you feel," Baron insists. "I was made because you wanted to fit in, no? Why does that mean it must not be real? You lie about your romance partner, Baron from the Baronies, but I am unable to lie about you, Riz Gukgak. I am what you make of me now."
A thought flits across Riz’s mind—what if Baron is right? What if Riz can turn them into someone real? And then, as if by magic, fear sneaks back in: what if, when Riz evolves Baron enough, Baron decides Riz is not worth loving? He tries to shake the thought away, stepping away from Baron and taking a shaking breath.
"I’ll try," he decides, "but you can’t be mad at me when you hate what I do to you."
"I am incapable of hating you," they promise. "You have stepped away from me. Are you dismissing me now?"
"I don’t know," Riz says. "I think I’m just…confused. Why are you here? What are you going to do?"
"I am here to be a paladin," they reply. "I am here to be a reflection of you, and I am here to be your romance partner, and I am here to help you not appear broken."
Riz stares at Baron’s tiny marionette shoes. "So are you…alive? Or are you just, like, a possessed puppet?"
Riz isn’t looking at them when Baron’s head snaps sideways. "I am no puppet, Riz Gukgak!" He continues not to look when Baron approaches, and he still doesn’t look up when Baron slams him to the ground. He deserves this, he thinks. He isn’t even scared. "I am your romance partner, as real as you make me!" Riz closes his eyes; he doesn’t know how many hands he can feel pinning him to the ground, and he loses count after five. Idly, he wonders where they’re keeping them and if they’re a gift from their stark father. "Why would you say such hurtful things, Riz Gukgak?"
"Riz!"
That’s new. He feels Baron’s weight leave him, and terrified, he opens his eyes. Fig’s bass is still reverberating with the power of blasting Baron a few feet away; behind her, Adaine stands next to Ivy and Oisin, with Kipperlilly at the door with Ruben.
"Riz," Adaine repeats, scrambling down the stairs. "Are you alright? Are you bleeding?"
He sits up as she kneels next to him. He doesn’t know if he’s bleeding, but he knows his head hurts, so he touches that instead.
"Riz? Can you speak to me?"
"You attacked Baron!" Kipperlilly spits, and he hears Fig’s bass twang as she flips it over her shoulder.
"They were killing Riz!"
"They were doing nothing of the sort!" Ivy protests. "Were you, Baron?"
Riz turns to look; Baron is on their knees, several feet away, their back to the group. His heart goes cold momentarily when he realizes Baron must be cradling something.
"God," he says, making his way over. Adaine is left kneeling in the same spot, staring after him, lost.
"Riz?"
Riz crouches next to Baron carefully. In their hands is—or, well, in their one hand is the other, snapped off at the wrist and scraped to hell.
"I am broken," Baron says quietly, and Riz shuts his eyes. For a moment, he debates. Baron being here is…problematic, to say the least. He has concerns about what this could mean, but then again—he knows that Cassandra has been better since Kristen saved her, right? So maybe this really is a sign of goodwill? Perhaps she really did want Baron to live the life they so clearly wanted. He doesn’t know, and he doesn’t have the time to dwell on it right now. He feels some sense of responsibility to keep Baron…contained.
Baron’s hurt, if they can even feel being hurt. Regardless, they need help. Maybe this will bite him in the ass later, but…
"You want some help patching that up?"
He doesn’t know what this feeling is; he knows that behind him, Baron’s party and his own are fighting over who struck the first blow, but at the end of the day, he’s starting to think it doesn’t matter.
Baron’s head turns slightly in Riz’s direction. "You would…help me?"
"I’m sorry I called you a puppet," Riz says, fully sitting on the ground and beginning to search through his bag for some athlete’s tape. "That was rude of me."
"You would help me?" Baron repeats. Riz glances up for a moment.
"It’s what romance partners do, isn’t it?" he says.
"I am your romance partner," Baron agrees. They offer the broken hand; Riz takes it, inspects it, and tries to buff out some of the scuff marks. It doesn’t work.
"Baron?"
"Yes, Riz Gukgak?"
Riz hums, going back to looking for the tape in his bag. "Okay, two things, I think. Maybe three."
"I am listening."
"One, you can just call me Riz. Or Gukgak. You don’t have to say the full name every time." His hand brushes the Lone Adventurer’s pamphlet. He moves his hand to another pocket.
"I like your name, Riz…" Baron struggles for a moment. "I like to say the full name, Gukgak…"
"We can work on it. It just seems like it would be a mouthful." Riz looks at Baron thoughtfully. "Second, and please don’t get mad at me for asking, but…I mean, you’re…were you created as you are, or were you something put into a puppet? Or—marionette?" He flinches, but Baron doesn’t react as strongly this time. "I just want to know if, like, we need to attach this back with magic for you to have two working hands again or if like, superglue would work. And if I need to make sure you, y’know, eat and stuff. Real…person stuff."
"I am real," Baron insists.
"I’m not questioning that," Riz promises. He pulls out a roll of tape. "Arm, please."
Baron shifts to mimic Riz’s position, offering their arm. "My stark father always wanted a child," Baron says. "I was given life long ago but unable to live until someone called for me. And you called for me, Riz Gukgak."
Riz hums softly, trying to get the hand attached. "And this is how you—or, I mean, I guess I chose to have you presented?"
"I do not know why you made me this way, Riz Gukgak." They make a strange noise in the hole that functions as their mouth. "Now that I am saying your name, I believe I understand what you mean."
"You can just call me Riz," Riz promises. "Most people do."
"You have not given me permission to call you The Ball," they observe. Riz doesn’t look up. "Is that not allowed by your romance partner?"
"Probably not, no, which reminds me—"
"Is it because it is an insult to you?"
"It’s not an insult," Riz says, annoyed. He wonders if the tape is too tight. He doesn’t care to ask. "It’s a loving nickname from my friends."
"It was not always that way, Riz." Baron makes the noise again. "I do not like how short that is. I would like to call you something else."
"I did say you could call me Gukgak. Anyway, like I was saying if you could just avoid—" But whatever Riz is about to say is interrupted by a towering shadow and something lifting Baron away from him. The tape goes with them, dangling from their delicate wrist. Baron makes a distressed noise, going limp in Oisin’s arms. Riz scrambles to his feet. "Hey!"
"We’ll get them all patched up," Ivy soothes, petting Baron’s head. They don’t move much except to stare down at their barely attached hand.
"I was handling it!"
"Two minutes ago, you were punching each other’s lights out!" Fig counters, approaching. Gorgug has joined Fig and Adaine, his axe resting over his shoulder.
"What’s going on?"
"It’s just a lover’s spat," Riz says without thinking. Oisin turns his whole body away, blocking Riz from being able to see Baron. "Hey!"
"It’s okay, Baron. We won’t let him hurt you anymore."
"They’re not a child!"
Ivy glares at Riz. "Don’t you have somewhere else to be, Ball?"
Riz sees red for a moment, but he doesn’t get a chance to react. The tape spool whacks Ivy in the side of the face.
"Unhand me!"
Oisin drops Baron as if he’s been burned; even Kipperlilly and Ruben step away as Baron crab crawls in a circle, their limbs twisted at horrific angles, until they end up beside and behind Riz. When they stand, every joint cracks and pops until finally, they offer their arm back to Riz. The tape and hand are on the ground.
"Riz," Baron says. Their etched-on face still hasn’t changed, but they sound immensely stressed. "Will you please fix me? I am broken, and I do not like to be at less than full capacity. Should anyone hurt you, I wish to be able to step in."
Riz glares at the Rat Grinders, noticing that Buddy Dawn and Mary Ann Skuttle have joined the crew, so all six are glaring daggers at him. He snatches the tape and the hand up, giving the hand a quick brush for show before he begins to attach it. "Sure thing, Baron."
"Riz?" Fig asks, bewildered. "What’s happening here?"
"This is Baron," Riz says stiffly. "You remember, right? From the Baronies? My…romance partner?"
"Unspecified girlfriend or boyfriend," Gorgug concurs. "Right."
"They’re just a partner," Riz grumbles. "You don’t have to keep saying that. Sometimes people are just people, and they’re not boys or girls."
"You once called me a weird little skeleton boy," Baron pipes up. Riz wraps the tape around their thumb, across the palm, and back down to their wrist.
"I did," Riz confirms. "Do you feel like a weird little skeleton boy? Or do you feel just like a weird little skeleton child?"
"You tell me, Riz Gukgak."
"You existed before me," Riz reminds them, wrapping the tape a few more times around their wrist before deftly tearing and tucking the end of the tape so it won’t come flying off. "Were you a boy then?"
"I do not know," Baron admits. "I existed outside of time and space until you breathed life into me."
"Then until we figure it out, you’re my partner, not necessarily a boyfriend or girlfriend. Got it?"
"Would you like me to be your boyfriend or girlfriend?" Baron asks.
"We can talk about that later," Riz whispers, pushing Baron’s arm back toward their chest. "Can you move your hand?"
They wiggle their arm for a moment, then look back up at Riz with that same damn blank face. "No."
"Great. It needs magic, then. We’ll—if you can hang out till after school, we can get it fixed then. Kristen—you remember Kristen, right?"
"She banished me away from you," Baron says, tilting their head. "I think that Kristen Applebees deserves to take a trip to see my stark father and let him deal with her."
Riz stares at Baron for a long moment, silent. When he finally speaks, it’s after a short sigh. "Please don’t threaten my friends."
"I’m going to ask this again," Fig says. "What is happening?"
"Are you two, like…cool now?" Ruben tries to clarify. Riz hears someone elbow him. "Hey!"
"Probably," Riz says, resigned, turning back to the part of his party that’s present. The three of them are staring at him with various levels of worry. "We can talk later."
There’s a vein on Adaine’s forehead that looks like it’s pulsating with stress. "Later?"
"Yeah. We have to—" Riz looks back at Baron. "You never actually answered me."
"To what end did I ignore you, Riz Gukgak?" Baron asks.
"Can you eat?"
Baron’s head tilts again, rotating until it’s completely upside down on their neck. "I do not think I need to eat. Unless you would like for me to, Riz Gukgak. My fate is determined by you."
Riz blinks at them. "…maybe. I don’t know. We can talk about it tomorrow, I guess. I, however, have missed…" He checks his watch. Another sigh. "…about four club meetings, so I have to go take care of those."
He hears the tell-tale sound of Baron adjusting their head again, but he doesn’t look. Mentally, he makes a tally—is it only four clubs? Or is it five? Improv, Photography, Lute, Chess…
"Baron," Kipperlilly says, closer to Riz than he expected. Fucking rogues, he thinks hypocritically. "Didn’t you say you wanted to have a conversation with Riz?"
Riz glances in Baron’s direction, but he doesn’t turn all the way back. Baron makes a distressed noise.
"I do not recall saying that," Baron responds nervously.
"You agreed he was a bad boyfriend," Kipperlilly goads. "Didn’t you?"
"I didn’t see you six jumping at the chance to fix his hand," Riz grumbles. In his peripheral, Kipperlilly glares at him.
"Didn’t you agree, Baron?" she repeats.
"Riz Gukgak is my romance partner," Baron insists. "He takes care of me."
"I wouldn’t say he took care of you," Kipperlilly says gently. "He keeps insulting you, right? You and your father?"
Baron goes quiet for long enough that Riz finally turns to look at them. Their taped arm is dangling at their side while their other hand hesitates in the air, their fingers twitching as if they’re playing a tiny, invisible piano. "My stark father does not like Riz Gukgak very much," Baron admits. Is Riz imagining it, or is their voice shaking? "But he is my romance partner, and I do not think—"
"You don’t need Riz," Kipperlilly promises. "We’re your friends now."
"Will you butt out of this?" Riz demands, spinning. He’s got about a foot on her, but she doesn’t back down. "It’s distressing them!"
"Riz Gukgak," Baron says, and Riz definitely isn’t imagining it this time. Their voice is unsteady. "You have previously said I am not real. Do you not care for your romance partner?"
Riz runs a slow hand down his face. "I do care, and you are real," he promises. "I’m just…adjusting to having you here, that’s all."
"Did you prefer me when I was not around?"
"I didn’t say that."
"Is that what you mean?"
"Baron, please, this is a conversation for us to have, not in front of—" Riz waves wildly at the rest of the group, nearly smacking Kipperlilly’s unreasonably high ponytail. "—we can talk about this all later. There’s just a lot going on right now, okay?"
"Are you gonna talk to them first, or are you gonna talk to us first?" Fig demands.
"I don’t know, Fig," Riz hisses, glaring at her. "There are a lot of conversations that need to be had, and I will get to them when I get to them!"
Fig glares at him, crossing her arms. "Riz—"
"You’re spreading yourself a little thin, pal," Buddy pipes up, his southern drawl grating on Riz’s nerves. "Maybe you oughta step away for a minute and catch a breather. Do you want some light reading? I got a nice book about our lord and savior—"
Riz shifts his bag to brandish the gun on his hip. Buddy’s voice dies quickly.
"I will get to the conversations," he repeats stiffly, "when I get to them. You—" He sticks a finger in Kipperlilly’s face. "Baron is my romance partner, so stop trying to break us up. You—" The finger twists to Ivy and Oisin and, by association, the rest of the Rat Grinders. "Baron is hurt, so be fucking gentle. And stop calling me The Ball. That’s a private nickname." Now his gaze shifts to his party, skipping straight over Adaine’s pleading face and Fig’s anger and landing on Gorgug instead. "And I will tell you guys what’s going on once I figure it out, so just give me some fucking time." His watch beeps; he checks it, groans, and shoulders his bag. "I have to go."
"You have missed more club meetings?" Baron asks quietly. Riz turns to them, his face softening on instinct. Baron’s hollow eyes seem…even more hollow, if possible.
"Yeah," he says gently. "I’m supposed to check in with ten around lunch."
"Do you eat lunch, Riz Gukgak? You have asked me several times if I do." Baron’s head tilts. "Am I not hungry because you are not hungry either?"
Riz stares at Baron for a beat too long, shoulders his bag, and ducks around Kipperlilly. "I’ll see you guys later," he calls over his shoulder, not looking back. "Baron, meet me after school!" He doesn’t wait to hear anyone’s response.