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Jay is packing up ropes when they return to his flat and he grins at them over a chain of carabiners.
Alex flops down on the sofa – how is he already exhausted and it’s not even lunch? – and then glances around looking for Kyra, before he realises that she’s conspicuously absent from her usual spot. He frowns.
“Where’s Kyra?”
Hands full, Jay jerks his head towards the balcony at the back of the open-plan space.
“Reading between the lines I’d say she’s a bit pissed off with you, mate.”
Tom makes a noise somewhere between a snort and a chuckle and Alex glares at him.
“Told you.”
He groans, frustrated. “Well what did she expect? That we’d let her come out and explore with us with that giant great sta-” he catches Tom’s look, “-errr, minor soup-related injury in her side?”
“Go talk to her mate, I’ll put the shopping away.”
.
She’s lined up bits of gravel on the railing of the balcony and is systematically flicking them into the city below as he approaches. Every so often he hears a distant ‘twang’ or ‘clink’ as one hits a roof or a car.
“Hey.”
She ignores him.
“Just wanted to see how you were doing?”
She ignores that too. Flick – ‘twang’ – flick – ‘crack’ – flick – ‘thump’.
Oh God he’s terrible at this. He cuts straight to the point. “I’m sorry if I upset you.”
She’s turned to stare at him now, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised. This does not bode well. “I… I didn’t want you to get hurt again.”
She raises the other eyebrow.
“I want to look after you.”
“Do you not think that maybe I can decide for myself what I am or am not capable of doing?” she snaps.
“No – of course I do. I just…”
“Or that maybe I want to be involved? That I might need to be involved? That I might want to find Scorpia just as much as you?”
He’s feeling defensive and more than a little annoyed now. “I was just trying to protect you.”
“No, stop it. You need to stop it – you need to not do that. I am not yours to protect.”
That hurts. She’s sort of right, he supposes, but he’s still shocked at just how much the statement cuts through him.
“You’re my friend, one of my best friends, of course I have to protect you. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you – I’ve already got you stabbed.”
“You got me stabbed? You found out the location of the Widow, did you? You broke into the villa without waiting for back up? You couldn’t get free from the guards in the garden?” She waves an arm airily around as if to emphasise her points.
He’s getting frustrated. “You know what I mean – I got you and Tom into this in the first place-“
She’s looking furious now, trying to interrupt him, “-no, listen-“
But he won’t let her finish. “You’re only here because I need to find Scorpia, work out what their connection to my Dad is. I dragged you both into this for some personal vendetta and I cannot let it hurt you.”
“THEY KILLED MY PARENTS TOO-”
Her words hang in the air, heavy between them, and he feels his stomach drop. He immediately feels terrible.
Shit.
He had forgotten, he had completely forgotten in his single minded focus on finding the Widow, on finding Scorpia, that of course she has just as much a reason to want to find them as he does.
“I’m sorry. I forgot.”
“Lucky you,” she says coolly.
He goes to where she’s standing, back to him again, glaring out at the city. “Kyra, I’m so sorry.”
He reaches out to touch her shoulder but she shrugs him off.
“Seriously, I’m an utter and complete idiot.”
“Yes.”
“I-“ his voice cracks slightly. “I got so caught up in this whole Scorpia business that I didn’t think about how this is all pretty hard for you too.”
“Yes.”
“And it’s just that… I… well I’m quite fond of you and I hate that you got hurt.”
“Yes…”
He can tell he’s starting to get through to her.
“How is the cut?”
“Hurts.”
“I’m-“
“-do not say you are sorry. Stop saying sorry.”
He can’t help himself. He grins. “Okay.”
She scuffs the ground with her foot but still doesn’t turn around and he senses he’s going to have to work a little bit harder still.
“I got you a box of Cornettos.”
“What flavour?”
“Mint. Is there any other flavour?”
He is rewarded with the hint of smile at this as she glances over her shoulder back at him, and he watches as she licks her lower lip slightly, as if contemplating his peace offering. He finds the look oddly sexy and then wonders where the hell that thought came from.
She’s watching him, considering him carefully now, and he feels very exposed all of a sudden.
He smiles nervously at her. “I am really sorry. I do feel responsible for you and Tom and I do feel so, so guilty that you got hurt yesterday. But you’re right that I went about things all the wrong way today.”
She nods and fiddles with her rings before approaching him, stopping in front of him and looking up at him from under her fringe with those huge, dark eyes. “This thing only works if we trust each other. I trust you and you need to trust me if I say I can do things.”
He wants to disagree, to say he just wants to look after her, that he couldn’t bear it if anything happened to her, that she doesn’t always need to be helping out and doing things… but he holds his tongue.
He’s never before met anyone quite like Kyra. He knows she’s always been fiercely independent – the result of a lifetime of not being parented – and if he’s honest it’s one of the things he likes most about her. But he’s also becoming increasingly aware that she’s never really had a group of friends before, let alone the kind of friendship that he and Tom have had for years.
He thinks that maybe she doesn’t quite know how friendship, love and support work... That it doesn’t need to always be about keeping score. Maybe she thinks that to be in their lives she needs to be actively useful. That in order for them to like her, she needs to always be contributing something.
And he’s worried that she doesn’t know just how much he likes her – as her. Not as the hacker, or the person who saved his life, or the confidant. Just Kyra.
Does she know that she could sit on the sofa all day doing nothing and that he’d still want her to be around?
She’s looking at him expectantly and so he says the only thing he can. “Okay.”
She nods in return. “You are forgiven.”
He can’t help but grin at this. “Much appreciated.”
More confident now that he won’t get brushed away, he reaches out and pulls her into a hug. She tucks her head under his chin and the wispy bits of hair on top of her head tickle his nose, but he doesn’t care. He can feel her warm breath against his Adam’s apple.
Her voice comes, muffled, “just don’t do it again.”
He laughs. “Duly noted.”
She steps back and gives him a shy smile. “So, did you find anything?”
“C’mon, let’s grab some lunch and we can tell you about it.”
He gives her shoulder one last squeeze and turns to head back into Jay’s place.
She begins to follow him. “I will show you my research too.”
That’s a surprise and he spins around to look at her… “Really?”
She casts him a sternly appraising look. “I didn’t just sit around, you know.”
“You’re amazing.”
She really, really is.