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Scythe was acting strange lately.
Through the years and years they’ve known each other, Banhammer had gotten to know Scythe quite well. So, it was obvious when her behaviour started to change.
“Nice moves, Banny!” she says as she dodges a hammer swing. “But mine are better. Impressed?” She flips in the air acrobatically, landing with a flourish.
“Don’t care,” Banhammer responds. “Stay still!”
Scythe pouts, narrowly avoiding another attack. “Aw, but I worked so hard on that!”
“I have better things to do than rate your twirls,” he says.
For some reason, Scythe narrows her eye at that. “Do you now?” she says. “Like what?”
“Anything else,” Banhammer answers. “Scum like you don’t deserve my time.”
Scythe scowls. “Oh, but Nunchucks does?”
He blinks, shocked at hearing that name. “How do you-?”
Nunchucks was another criminal that had popped up recently. Unfortunately, she had also taken an interest in pestering Banhammer.
“You think I don’t keep tabs on my favourite warden?” Scythe grins, but it’s all teeth. “Banny, you wound me.”
“Stop calling me that,” he growls. “And why do you care, anyways?”
Scythe tilts her head at him, shooting him an unreadable look. “I don’t,” she says. “I just don’t think Nunchucks is all that.”
“Your point being?”
Scythe huffs. “Nothing. Just forget about it.”
Banhammer rolls his eyes. “You’re certainly more annoying than she is.”
They fight for a while, but in the end, Scythe escapes once again. However, Banhammer can’t help but dwell on her strange behaviour earlier on.
It probably wasn’t important, he thinks. Just Scythe being weird again.
The next time they meet, Scythe is notably more annoyed.
“Heard you fought Nunchucks again,” she says, slashing at him with her trademark gear.
Banhammer blocks with his own, pushing her away with ease. “Yeah,” he says. “What of it?”
“You know she’s just desperate for attention, Banny.” Scythe jumps away from an overhead slam, countering with a quick jab. “You can just ignore her.”
Banhammer dodges, retaliating with a kick which she blocks. “Ignore a criminal?” Banhammer raises an eyebrow. “Are you crazy?”
“I’m just saying!” Scythe raises her hands up. “I could take care of her for you, you know. It wouldn’t be hard to find out where she lives, and then we could play our little game all we want!”
“I’m trying to arrest Nunchucks, not kill her!” Banhammer shakes his head in exasperation. “Not surprised you would suggest that, though.”
“Hey! You should be thanking me. If she’s gone, then you have more time to focus on me!”
“Focus on you?” Banhammer is properly confused now. “Scythe, you’re acting a lot weirder than usual, you know that?”
She presses a hand against her chest, feigning outrage. “Excuse me? How dare you! I’ll have you know-”
“Don’t give me that bullshit. You’ve been acting weird ever since Nunchucks appeared. What’s your issue with her? She doesn’t even live in Lost Temple.”
“I don’t have an issue with her! She just… gives me the creeps, that’s all.”
“She gives you the creeps?” Banhammer laughs. “That’s rich, coming from you.”
Scythe scowls. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Anyways, I’m going to catch her eventually, so I don’t know why you’re so worked up about it.” Banhammer grins. “You jealous or something?”
Scythe freezes. “W-what?” she squeaks. “Why I- Of course not!”
Banhammer’s grin falters. “Wait,” he says. “Are you actually serious? I was joking.”
Scythe sputters. “N-no! Why the hell would I be jealous of some random lowlife? I don’t care about her, and I don’t care about you! Stop making this weird!”
Banhammer stares. “Uh...”
In the ensuing awkward silence, Scythe decides to employ her usual tactic whenever things got out of hand: run.
She clears her throat. “Well, it was fun whooping your butt Banny, but I gotta go now. We’ll settle this another day!” In an instant, she darts away leaving Banhammer behind.
This time, he doesn’t bother to chase after her, too distracted by the swirl of thoughts running through his head.
What the hell just happened?
Over the course of the next few days, the encounter with Scythe is all Banhammer can think about.
“Jealous,” he mutters as he wanders around a run-down area of Crossroads. “Why the hell would she be jealous?”
Nunchucks had been sighted around the area, and he had arrived quickly to arrest her once and for all. Unfortunately, he was too distracted to properly focus. That meant when the clinking metal of her titular weapon sounds out behind him, he doesn’t react in time.
CRACK!
She lands a direct blow to the back of his head, sending him tumbling onto the ground face-first.
“Oof!” he cries out. His vision goes blurry, and pain explodes through his head.
“Off your game, officer.” When Banhammer recovers, Nunchucks is looking down at him with a smirk on her face. “Expected more from you.”
“Shut it.” Ignoring the pain, Banhammer stands up, gripping his gear tightly. “I’m not in the mood today. I’ll be taking you in for good.”
“You can try, I wouldn’t be too sure.” Nunchucks crosses her arms. “I was watching you for a while, and you seem pretty distracted.”
Banhammer swears under his breath. Was I really that distracted that I didn’t notice her?
She cackles, as if reading his mind. “You know if you want to talk, I’m always here for you! Maybe I’ll even let you cry on my shoulder.”
He knows she’s just mocking him, but Banhammer considers it anyway. Maybe a fellow criminal would know why Scythe was acting so off.
“Let’s say you have two people, S and B,” Banhammer begins. “And they regularly… interact with one another.”
Nunchucks blinks. “Wait, what?”
“Then another person shows up, N, and B starts interacting with them a lot. But, S suddenly becomes annoyed, and constantly tries to stop B from interacting with N. What do you make of that?”
“Hold on, hold on.” Nunchucks motions for him to stop. “Are we really doing this right now?”
Banhammer glares. “You gonna answer or not?”
She thinks for a moment, then shrugs. “You know what? You’ve got my attention. I’ll bite.” She sits down on a nearby bench. “From what you’ve said, S sounds jealous.”
“I’ve gathered that. But why?”
“Well, what does S do specifically? I need details.”
“Like I said, Scy- S tries to stop B from interacting with N. S constantly tells B to ignore N, and to focus on her instead. It’s like- like she only wants me for herself!”
Nunchucks raises an eyebrow, and Banhammer realizes he’s revealed too much. “Uh…”
“That’s it?” she asks, thankfully not commenting on it. “That’s easy. Sounds to me like S has got a crush on B.”
Banhammer drops his gear in shock as the pieces fit into place. “…Shit,” he says.
It takes an hour to track Scythe down. As Banhammer stomps towards her home in Lost Temple, all he can think about is what Nunchucks told him.
He knocks on the door, waiting impatiently. When Scythe answers, dressed in a casual tank top and shorts, he can’t help but... take in the view. He’s never seen her in anything other than her battle outfit, so it’s like looking at a completely different person.
Scythe is taken aback. “Wha- what the heck are you doing here?” she hisses, cheeks red. “I thought we agreed our homes were off limits!”
“I’m not here to fight,” Banhammer replies. “We need to talk.”
“I’m not talking with you- hey!” She protests as Banhammer walks inside without further invitation. Scythe follows him, whining about the audacity.
Banhammer cuts to the chase. “Do you have a crush on me?” he asks.
Scythe freezes in her tracks. “What?” she says weakly.
“I talked to Nunchucks, and she told me you had a crush on me.”
“Nunchucks?!” Her eyes widen. “No, I- Why the hell are you talking to her about me?”
“Just answer the question!”
“No!” Scythe exclaims. “Of course I don’t have a crush on you! Why would I have a crush on a big dumb slab of meat like you? Just because you’re my type doesn’t mean I like you!” If her fumbling words didn’t already give her away, the blush on her face only sealed the deal.
“Huh,” Banhammer says. “So you do like me.”
“I just said I don’t! Are you even listening to me?”
Banhammer looks down at Scythe, and comes to a realization himself. Admittedly, deep down he did enjoy their little game of cat and mouse. Scythe always made things entertaining, even if she did annoy him all the time. She was also quite pretty, now that he could finally see her features close up. Pretty, strong, and with an attitude to boot. Just how he liked it. Maybe, she would stop being a criminal if she had something else to focus on in life.
Banhammer grasps her chin, interrupting her rant, leans down, and presses his lips against hers. After a brief moment, he pulls back, watching her stunned face.
“If you ever talk to Nunchucks again, I’ll kill you,” Scythe says, before pulling him back in for another kiss.
Banhammer smirks. He’d comply, but after he thanked Nunchucks, of course.