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Rudo walks into the Cleaner Headquarters, his shoulders feeling light. He and Zanka completed the mission with relative ease, taking just two uses of 3R with neither of them sustaining any injury.
Before leaving, he promised Amo they would go through the new shipment of candy the Cleaners ordered from the Vianders together. Enjin put in a good word for them with Semiu to offer them free reign and early access so long as they don’t go overboard.
Rudo’s not sure where exactly the line of overboard is, but promised to keep it in mind. All that's really in his mind is Amo.
He beelines for his room and stands in front of his mirror, checking to ensure his clothes don’t have any trash on them. August is a genius at stain removal and he’s taught most of the others, so even if Rudo hasn’t gotten the hang of it yet, he could ask someone for help before meeting up with Amo.
Satisfied that he looks properly clean even without assistance, Rudo briskly begins for Amo’s room, excitement building hardly restrained in his chest
There is a camera facing her door, the alarm system one Amo herself has praised. Her door additionally features a lock Rudo knows takes her a bit to unlock. After he knocks, he stands back to wait, impatient to see her but not wanting to rush it.
The door cracks open just barely. The room is dark and Rudo can't see Amo's face. Her head is drooped down like a wilted flower. His heart clenches.
”Amo’s not in the mood for visitors.”
Rudo’s hopeful expression crashes.
”Oh,” he scratches the back of his neck sheepishly, supposing he’s arrived too late and Amo’s frustrated with him, or perhaps she’s already eaten, “That’s alright.”
”…Does Rudo not want to hang out with Amo?”
”What? No!”
”You said it’s alright.”
”No, it’s just that I’m not upset,” Rudo tries to explain. He can tell Amo is having a bad day and feels a pang of regret for not being around, and then a burst of humiliation at the assumption that his presence could have helped her.
”Why would you be upset?”
”No reason. I’m not.”
”…”
Rudo remembers what he’s meant to ask.
“Are you okay?”
”Amo is fine.”
It’s an obvious lie, even someone like Rudo is sure of it. He just doesn’t know what to do. Run and get Tomme or Riyo, maybe, but it would just leave her feeling like Rudo didn’t want to talk with her, which he does. He’s sure of that, too.
“...You really don’t want visitors?”
Rudo doesn’t want to stay if Amo doesn’t want him around.
A long moment passes.
“Rudo can stay if he’d like to,” Amo eventually says, her voice quiet.
So that’s what he does.
The door remains slightly cracked, and Rudo makes no effort to push it forward.
He stands by the door, vigilant as if guarding it. He shoves his hands into his pockets, rummaging through the few spare trinkets he keeps around in case he needs to activate 3R so as not to be caught unprepared.
It’s also in part because he likes having little things like that around. It works ultra conveniently with 3R, though. That’s probably the point.
On today’s mission, he picked up a pen, bottle cap, and flower-shaped button. The first two, he can’t quite settle on a use for just yet, but the last gives him a simple idea.
“I’m going to use 3R,” he warns.
“Oh!”
Rudo focuses the power onto the small button he holds in his two much larger gloves.
At the new shine of light, Amo relents and opens up her door more to Rudo, which gets Rudo’s heart leaping.
He cradles the button which has started blooming in his hands like a flower. The thought strikes him, then, that Amo has probably never seen a real flower before, living on the Ground her whole life. This isn’t a real flower either, but for Rudo, it is familiar enough.
“Here,” he offers, cheeks reddening slightly as he holds it out to Amo. “Take it.”
Amo smiles at him. Rudo doesn’t know if he deserves it, but when she accepts the flower, she smiles at him.
“Thank you,” she says, gentle hands cupping around it. “No one’s ever given Amo a flower before,” she marvels.
The red on Rudo’s face intensifies. His eyes wander onto her face.
Amo’s eyes are a little puffy. Rudo doesn’t think he interrupted her crying, but she was clearly having a rough time prior to his arrival. And despite it, she’s still smiling.
Rudo can barely keep himself from pumping his fist. Hell yeah–he made her happy. He’s decently sure he’s made her happy before, and Riyo has confirmed that Amo likes it when he’s around, but this is the first time he’s known it in the moment, and it feels good.
“No problem,” he replies stiffly, hoping Amo doesn’t notice how red he is.
Amo gasps.
“Huh?” Rudo looks around, panicky, and his eyes soon land on the flower in her hand. It’s slowly fading, as all tools do once his Giver powers have run their course. “No, it’s alright, it’s just 3R-”
“Your nose!”
Rudo’s nose scrunches up. His nose?
He brings a glove up to it and it comes away bloody. More red than his face, he’s sure, but regrets thinking about it, because it surely would have made Amo upset.
He overused 3R.
“I’m sorry!”
Amo shoots him a look.
“Don’t apologize,” she instructs before rushing back into her room, soon coming out with a wad of tissues.
Rudo moves to take them, but Amo shakes her head, pressing them up to his nose instead.
“...Amo?” Rudo’s dumbfounded.
“So you don’t get more blood on your gloves,” Amo explains. “Amo is sorry she got you hurt.”
Rudo’s eyes widen.
“No, no, I wanted to! It’s not your fault, I wanted to help!”
Amo’s nervousness eases some.
“Thank you,” Rudo croaks.
Amo smiles at him again, holding bloody tissues to his face while Rudo stands stupidly with his arms straight at his sides. She’s smiling at him again and Rudo hasn’t done anything to deserve it at all.
He tries to offer Amo a smile, in return. He strains the corners of his lips to pull up, eyes crinkling slightly.
“Are you okay? Does it hurt that badly?” Amo asks, suddenly distressed.
Rudo jerks back. A drop of blood lands on his collar. He'll have to ask August for help after all.
“No, what?”
“Something happened to your face,” Amo explains, her eyebrows creased with worry. She presses the tissues back, somehow even more gently than before.
Rudo’s not sure what went wrong. Maybe it was his smile?
“I’m fine,” he promises. “And I think my nose is too.”
Amo seems to believe him, checking and confirming the bleeding has stopped. She returns to her room to toss out the wad of tissues and wash her hands.
Rudo waits for her outside, unsure if she wants him in her room or not. Since her door is open, he can at least justify looking around. Amo doesn’t have very many belongings, being relatively new to the Cleaners Headquarters.
He wants to find her more stuff. It’s what Regto would have wanted for her, too, if he had ever gotten to meet her. Rudo vows that he will ask Enjin to take him to a trash dump to find something suitable to clean up and deliver to Amo. As a gift, something more permanent than anything 3R could offer. Something Rudo could offer.
She rejoins him soon, standing under the doorframe with a nervous smile. It makes Rudo nervous, too, in a fluttery way.
“Is Amo still eating candy with you?”
Rudo’s spirits soar.
“Yes!”
Amo looks momentarily surprised at the volume but matches his excitement.
“Riyo took me to the candy once before. Is this the same?”
Rudo shakes his head.
“It’s a whole shipment this time,” he replies gleefully.
Amo takes Rudo’s hand, urging him to lead the way for her.
“Amo hasn’t been here long,” she explains.
Rudo’s heartbeat is going so fast he’s momentarily worried he’s accidentally activated 3R, but he isn’t bleeding or anything, so he clumsily squeezes Amo’s hand, absurdly delicate in his gloves, and walks with her.
“Right,” he says, gleefully. "We'll go together."