Chapter 13- Cleaning House

Three days after he'd started practicing with Vik, Maine had called him. Said they had a job.

David:"so, is it Faraday, or someone else?"

Maine: "Nah dog. Got us a different one now. Won't stick with him long term, but that's ok. We just gotta build us a rep outside of Faraday. Didn't know this going in, but Cyberpunks running for Faraday exclusive got a reputation as desperate or stupid. So unfortunately we gotta build us a strong rep 'for I go looking round someone like Regina Jones or Wakako. Might be able to work something out with Padre though."

David: "sounds good. Four eyed bastard gave me bad vibes."

Maine: "heh. You really don't like him do ya?"

David had tried his best to hold back his feelings on the traitorous fixer but when pressed at all, he could never hold back.

But it's not like he could explain WHY he hated the man with such a passion. So he had to make things up or mislead them. He really hated doing that.

David: " Well, I mean… he talked to you like you're trash. And screwed us out of the big payday even though we did everything right?"

Maine:" aw don't worry about it kid. This was my fuckup. I thought I'd developed enough of a relationship with the guy that he'd treat us right. Don't worry. Gonna be way more thorough in getting shit going forward."

He smiled softly at that. Last time around, Maine had been adamant about sticking with Faraday. Not that any of the others had tried to convince him to find another, but Maine seemed certain that once the Tanaka job was finished in full, that they'd be rolling in the scratch.

David: "alright Choom. So, what's his name?"

Maine: "Jeff Falkins. Low level Fixer operating in JapanTown. Dunno how he operates in Wakako's territory, but I was assured that he isn't stepping on any toes. Jobs not gonna be a lot. But it's our first step. Ya get me David?"

David: "yeah-yeah, I get you Maine. So what do you need from me?"

Maine: "gonna be taking you with me along with Dorio and Lucy. Don't need more than that, and the others have shit they need doing anyway. Meet me near Nakagumi Business Plaza. Dorio and I will be there, so that'll give you time to go pick up your output. Heh.. you been treating her right Davey?~"

David groaned in embarrassment, glaring at nothing as he continued the call, making his way to Lucy's apartment.

David: "That's none of your business boss."

Maine: "heh.. just busting your balls kid. You two are good for each other. I ain't ever seen her this happy before. Got Kiwi all flustered over how her little protege is all twitterpated over you. But I gotta ask… are you gonna be able to deal with her being in the line of fire?"

For a short, horrifying second his mind flashed with Adam Smasher there once more, but instead of himself being the target of the arm cannon… It was Lucy.

Everything stopped.

No.

The world swam in front of him, and he had to brace himself as everything in him felt like it was running at max capacity, running to destruction.

But he forced it down. Ripped his panic and his fear away, as he forced himself to answer.

David: " I'm not… gonna pretend I like it. But she's been doing this longer than me, and I'm not gonna disrespect her by pretending she's some civilian little girl. So… no. I'm not ok with it, but I'm not going to try and stop her or baby her. I'll follow your instructions Maine. Told you I wouldn't make you regret letting me on."

It was a far calmer and reasonable response than the one his heart and soul demanded. That he steal her away from all possible danger and never again do another job.

His heart was still racing like mad as he came across Lucy's apartment, listening to Maine's final message.

Maine: "I get it kid. And you're doing better than I did with Dorio. First couple jobs we did when we got together, I took a bunch of bullets trying to protect her instead of trusting her to do her job like always. Heh… cracked my jaw, then kissed me. Told me if I wanted to keep her I had to let her be an equal, not a weight. So… just do right by her. Or anyone else you might come to be with. You do that, you'll have a good relationship. Alright kid, see you at the Plaza."

David: "got it. And Maine… thanks."

Ending the call, he knocked on the door to Lucy's apartment, and was quickly knocked back as Lucy launched herself into his chest, squeezing him tight, her face in his neck.

"David! I missed you."

Heh… they'd only just seen each other the other day. But that was ok. He'd missed her too.

"You too beautiful."

He whispered softly as his body relaxed, the residual tension of his panic attack draining from his frame as she pulled away eventually, looking down with that small smile and faint dusting of red on her cheeks.

They'd honestly lost a little something when he'd gained so much height and size from the chrome. He never got to enjoy the sight of her gazing down at him with those intense beautifully made up eyes after that.

With a move inspired purely by his own love and hunger for her, he pressed her up against the wall on the outside of her apartment, feeling her breasts press firmly against his collarbone and kissed her deeply, his hands tightening on the exposed flesh of her hips.

Her eyes had gone wide, but the moment he'd taken the lead and pushed her into the wall, she'd started to make that cock throbbingly delicious whine, her hips grinding into him unconsciously.

Her breathing became uneven as he let his tongue slide along her own, sucking lightly on it before nipping at her bottom lip.

Her hands gripped the back of his coat as he moved from kissing her plump gorgeous lips, to that graceful pale neck, his tongue lavishing every bit of that mouthwatering texture.

She shuddered, her legs trembling, and wasn't even able to speak. She had to open a call as he began to suck lightly on her throat.

Lucy: "D- David…. We-we need to stop-stop. Maine-Maine needs us, remember?"

She wasn't wrong. But damn did he suddenly want to say FUCK the job, and keep her here so he could make her squeak and squirm.

He sighed, and gave her one last loving kiss to her neck, seeing the flesh having darkened by just a shade from his ministrations.

"Fair enough Lucy. Continue later?"

She laughed a bit shakily, taking a moment to recover, and gave him a little smile.

"Yeah .. yeah maybe. We'll see after the job, ok?"

He gave her a smile, and offered her his hand, his entire body filled with joy and love as they made their way to the NCART.

Once ensconced in the tram car, they'd taken a seat, his arm around her shoulder, and her head leaning against him. A picture perfect vision of young love.

Wanting to keep things quiet, and not wanting any passengers to hear, he gave her a call.

David: "So, how have you been? I know Kiwi tapped you for some NET diving excursion."

Lucy chuckled and hid her face deeper into his shoulder, inhaling softly.

Lucy: "oh it wasn't anything major. Just a… kind of group dive that some other Netrunners were pooling resources for. It's more of a little activity for the group to do."

David: "other Netrunners? You keep in contact with other Runners?"

Lucy: "Yeah. On 77chat. Got our own channel. They're kind of assholes, but they're good to have when you need to bounce ideas off of."

David: "assholes?"

Lucy audibly growled in frustration as she responded.

Lucy: "Well, I brought up the fact I've got you now right? And they insist on saying you're a Joytoy! Even Kiwi is feeding them this shit instead of backing me up!"

David had to try fairly hard to keep his face straight as he wanted to laugh but she seemed upset.

David: "Well, I mean, if thats-thats the worst of it, I don't see why this bothers you so much."

She looked at him with a dry glare.

Lucy: "Kiwi sent them your records, and now they're calling me a child predator because you're 17. It's been nothing but nonstop pedo jokes."

He chuckled quietly before leaving a soft kiss on her lips.

David: "Well screw them… I might be 17, but I've got a taste for older women. You're alright with that… aren't you Miss Lucy?"

She shuddered a little at that, her thighs squeezing before she gave him another glare, but this time it was tinged with a little bit of amusement and hunger.

Lucy: "Mr. Martinez… you should know better than to tease your teacher in public."

Ooh… roleplay. That could be fun. Unfortunately before he could tease back, and work the whole student Domming the teacher angle, the train came to a stop.

"Alright… time to get to it."

He said with a sigh, as the both of them got up, and disembarked from the car, wandering towards the plaza. It was easy to pick out Maine and Dorio, because Maine was chromed to hell and back, towering over everyone at damn near 7'5" and Dorio of course had her classic jacket no shirt look that showed off her abs and her tits.

"Yo. We're meeting with him at a food stall. Y'all hungry?"

David looked at Lucy, then back at Maine and shrugged.

"Not really. I figured I'd eat after the job."

Maine nodded approvingly.

"Good man. But eat something small. Some crackers or some shit. Eating a too little can fuck ya up same as eating too much."

David nodded, yeah he'd learned his lesson the first time around. Never eat a full meal before a job. Shit could get nasty quick.

Maine's eyes lit up for a moment, and he nodded, ushering them all into an out of the way building with blackout curtains.

They were greeted by a few armed men, but there was no air of restrained violence. Only professionalism as they were led into a meeting room where their fixer sat, looking through files before looking up.

He was a middle aged looking white man with a cyberhand, and a few unidentified pieces of hardware.

He had the look of a man who could be jovial, but there was no sign of that here.

"Good morning. As you are aware, I am Jeffrey Falkins. I work with permission from Wakako as long as I do not stray from what purviews I've been allowed."

Maine nodded, and offered a hand to the man.

"And I'm Maine. Big woman is Dorio, my second. The kid is David, and the other girl is Lucy. One of my Netrunners."

The man did not smile, but did take his hand briefly and they shook perfunctorily.

"Now, I tell this to every group or lone mercenary who walks through my doors. Do not misunderstand things. I am not your friend. We will never be friends. But what I am is a good fixer. You do the job for me with the Intel I provide, I continue to give you work, and eventually even higher percentages and bigger jobs. You fail because of bad Intel? I will help you as best I can. You succeed despite my Intel being faulty? My sincerest apologies will be provided, as well as bonuses. But if you fail because of a fuckup on your part? You will likely not get another job from me. Any questions?"

David blinked, but he couldn't help but want to smile at this. It reminded him of the few jobs he'd gotten from Wakako the last time around. The old woman could be cold as ice, but she kept things simple, and did not make excuses for when her Intel failed.

They could work with this guy.

Maine seemed to also agree.

"Only one. What's the job specifically? You mentioned dealing with some Scavs."

Falkins nodded and projected a location above the meeting table.

"You see this abandoned building here? It's owned by the city, but reconstruction efforts have been hampered by Scav presence. I want you and your crew to handle them. There should be less than 20, so there isn't a need for a full complement. The only requirement is that it's done within the next few days. Ideally today."

Maine nodded.

"And the Pay?"

"20,000 eddies for the completion. Split however you want."

Maine frowned, but he nodded.

Falkins noticed the frown however and spoke.

"Consider this your audition. I'm taking a risk on you here. Faraday's contractors tend to be…"

Maine grimaced.

"I get it. Feel like a gonk for sticking with him so long."

Falkins grimaced and for once seemed to become more of a person than a Fixer.

"Loyalty is worth something, but only when it's reciprocated. Now, Mr. Nelson-"

"I prefer just Maine if you don't mind."

Falkins didn't even hesitate.

"Now Maine, if there's nothing else, please go forth and finish the job I have given you, and do not call unless the job is done, or something incredibly significant about the job has changed."

Maine nodded.

"Will do. We'll call when the job is done."

Leaving the Fixers domain, the moment they walked into the sun, David spoke.

"Well, I liked him. Didn't seem the kind to screw us."

Dorio hummed.

"If he's connected to Wakako, his reputation affects her reputation. So he's almost obligated to be a good fixer."

Lucy however had been looking through what information she could find on him, and nodded approvingly.

"Well Boss, everything I can find on this guy says that he'll be a straight shooter. Just looking to make money and carve out his own little sphere of influence."

Maine, who had been taking all of it in, also seemed to approve.

"Already less of a shit head than Faraday ever had been. So let's do this. Kid. You got your iron?"

With a quick flick of his mom's coat, he showed off the Unity on his hip.

"Never leave without it anymore. I'm ready to go if all of you are?"

With a quick consultation of the group, it was decided they'd deal with it then and there.

The trip itself was quiet as everyone else seemed to focus on making sure they were loose and ready to deal with the Scavs.

Once they got to the compound, Maine grimaced.

"Kid… you gonna be good here?

Scavs do some fucked up shit, and they don't much care about cleanup."

David knew that well. He fucking DESPISED Scavs almost more than the Animals who'd gotten his mom killed. Fucking bottom feeding cunts.

"I'll be alright Maine. Just give me my orders, and I'll do what you need."

Maine frowned but jerked his thumb inside.

"Can you get her in somewhere she can jack into the Net? Make it so they won't see us till it's too late?"

David nodded confidently.

"Not a problem. I'll do a quick scout, and then come back and bring Lucy in."

"Do it."

Flicking that mental switch, he resisted the urge he had to press a kiss to his outputs lips, and kept on target with the job. Heading inside, despite the fact that everyone was running around at practically a crawl, David did his best to operate like they could see him. Wouldn't do to get cocky. As much as he hated Smasher, the Borg had taught him something. Don't relax until the objective has been handled.

Otherwise, your overconfidence could send you flying over the edge into complete and abject failure.

And this time around, failure was not an option.

Looking around, he found a couple locations, but the connections would have been out in the open.

But finally… he found a connection in a supply closet.

David: "Found a place Maine. Out of the way, and Lucy can block the door until we're done, focus on the quickhacks."

Maine: "Good work. Lucy. You ready?"

Lucy: "I'm Nova Boss. Come get me David."

And like that, he flicked the Sandy again, marveling at just how smooth everything felt. He'd already liked his chrome beforehand, but honestly, with how preem this piece was? He was starting to feel better about not getting new pieces of chrome.

As he was finishing his thought making his way out of the unfinished compound, he felt… odd.

Not bad. More like he'd been given a friendly squeeze.

Weird. Something to bring up to Vik at his next checkup.

Once he got outside, he swiftly picked up Lucy in a princess carry, retracing his steps until they were back in the closet.

Dropping the Sandy, her eyes flashed around in shock, before looking down at him with an appreciative smirk.

"You certainly do work quick David. Give me a second. "

He nodded as he kept one eye on the door, his Unity pulled out and at the ready, finger not along the trigger and one eye on his Lucy.

As always, Lucy worked wonders. Maybe not AS fast as she would come to be in the future, but close. But goddamn, he really needed to get her a new deck. From what he remembered, she'd not upgraded since she'd escaped Arasaka many years ago.

Maybe a one month anniversary gift?

Yes. He was that sentimental of a fucking gonk. If he could make every single day a celebration of them being together, he would.

But one month was more acceptable, thus the plan.

Lucy's eyes glowed with the influx of data, letting her witness the entirety of the Scavs operation.

Lucy: "17 Scavs. They've converted some of the larger backrooms into their chop rooms. They've already got a number of people there. No living victims thank fuck. Poor bastards."

Maine: "Good… alright… What support can you give us?"

Lucy: "What do you need?"

Dorio: " What weapons do they have?"

Lucy: "pistols mostly. Leader looks like they're carrying a tech Shotgun. More of them are carrying hatchets or machetes."

Maine: "alright…. When I give you the word, cut the cameras, and then blind the leader and however many other fools you can. Dorio and I will try to eliminate them asap. If it gets sticky however, I'm gonna need David to come support us. Can I rely on you for that Dawg?"

It wasn't even a question really.

David: "yes."

Maine: "alright. Let's do this quick and clean and let's get paid.

And like that, it was a go.

Having been given the signal by Maine, Lucy had gone into overdrive, firing off hacks left and right, always maintaining enough RAM to be able to pull off an emergency shutdown or two if things got bad.

Meanwhile, Maine and Dorio were making their way through the off-guard forces no problem.

But, unfortunately as things tend to happen…. Things went south. The Scavs began to rally, and were fighting back harder, pumping dozens of rounds down at them, forcing Dorio and Maine to get into cover. It wouldn't have been a problem to handle… except for the bad news that Lucy had to bring up.

Lucy:" Maine, there's reinforcements on the way into the building. This wasn't just a scav outpost. Looks like they were trying to set up a home base here."

Maine: "Fuck! How many?"

Lucy: "Another 15. Maybe 20. But these ones are armed heavier with revolvers and Shotguns, and a fair amount of chrome. I think… shit. Yeah one of them has Mantis Arms and a Sandevistan."

Maine cursed over the comms as they could hear over the comms the taunts and jeers as the Scavs pressed their advantage.

Maine: "shit. Kid, I didn't want to throw you in this deep, but this is heavy shit. I need you harassing them as best you can. As long as you can keep that fucking Sandy going without frying yourself."

David hesitated looking at Lucy, and Lucy looked at him oddly back, before giving him a confident nod.

"Go help them. I'll be here."

David hesitated for just a second before gripping the back of her head roughly and pulling her down so that he could kiss the tall Netrunner deeply.

Her cheeks flushed but neither of them lost their focus.

David: "I'm on my way now boss. Taking out the Sandy user first so that he doesn't take either of you out."

Dorio: "David are you sure? He'll be operating on your level."

David smirked then.

David: "No…. No he won't."

And like that, he cut off the call, and triggered his Sandy to 10 percent as he usually did. It brought things down incredibly slow, and made it easy for him to unblock the door, and exit in what to Lucy would have been less than a blink of an eye.

Afterwards, he raced down the halls of the building that would likely require even more reconstructive efforts after all this. Moving into the atrium, he walked straight into a bullet hell. He could see the bullets in the air, but everyone was moving so damn slow.

Except for one. One was moving twice as fast as the others. It was still a crawl compared to him, but the fucker was zeroed in on Dorio, already leaping into the air his arms unfolding into Mantis Blades.

Not today bitch.

Pushing his body into a sprint, he danced across the battlefield, his Unity at his side. Now, shooting at this scav could possibly do something. Or it could just impact the fucker in the obvious dermal armor he was wearing. And while his Unity wasn't total trash, it sure as shit wasn't a heavy enough caliber for getting through armor. So instead he had to play things smarter. He just had to wait…. Yes!

The scav had opened his mouth to yell in some stupid roar of violence. Unfortunately, that just made it possible for David to handle him.

He shoved the barrel into the Scavs mouth, none too gently, and pulled the trigger, the scav barely having enough power in his own Sandevistan enough to realize he'd been outgunned.

With one squeeze of the trigger a bullet began exiting the barrel. David flicked the Sandy on and off in his head to get the bullet out faster to his perception before moving on to hand the fuckers looking to reinforce the rear. Specifically any that would attempt to line up a shot from a distance.

The more he thought about it, the more he came to realize…. He needed to pick something else other than a gun.

It seemed crazy… but a gun just didn't work fast enough. And sure. Maybe he could pull off his little trick of flicking the Sandy on and off, he didn't want to somehow wear it out. Honestly it just felt like he would be abusing it then. And part of doing better this time around was to treat his chrome carefully, and not beat it to shit.

Another little… approving sensation. Yeah no, he needed to talk to Vik as soon as possible.

Where was he? Oh yeah.

So it came down to it… what could he do?

The simplest answer?

…. Melee weapons.

And luckily for him, Maine and Dorio had managed to take about 7 of the original Scavs down before backup had arrived, and one of them had been carrying a hatchet. Scooping it up, he started going about his bloody work.

The first one he just swung for the fences in a baseball bat like grip and the hatchet chopped the Scavs head off like he was chopping synth vegetables.

Didn't feel a lick of resistance either.

The blade didn't look too great admittedly however. The edge looked a bit flattened. But even a blunt lump of metal could do wonders if applied properly.

Fucking Scavs. Hated these sick sons of bitches. He had no fucking sympathy for anyone who sourced their materials from these bastards, nor for anyone who joined up with them.

As he continued to swing the hatchet into the nearby heads and faces of the Scavs who posed a risk to Dorio and Maine, David remembered some of the rumors he'd heard the first time around. That these bastards didn't just butcher people and corpses. That they also used people for XBDs. Torture, snuff porn, shit involving kids.

Fuck this shit made him sick. It made him feel even more sick that he used to love that shit. Especially Kurosaki's Edgerunner series.

Having been over the brink of Cyberpsychosis, and come back due to his beloved Lucy, his taste for XBDs like that was fucking gone. He hated that shit. Hated it so much.

Hated himself for falling into that pit of scum.

So killing a bunch of scum who also might be involved in that?

Fucking bonus.

Having dropped 14 of the remaining 23, he took a breath, and tossed the busted up hatchet away, his hands trembling not with nerves or cyberpsychosis. But out of pain from the vibrations he got as the hatchet became duller and duller. Ok so, the blunt weapon was probably out, unless he could get used to it.

Or chrome something to handle the vibrations…

Shut. UP!

Taking the opportunity to breathe deep, he darted out of the atrium, and into a side hall. Carefully looking up and down it he dropped the Sandy, and messaged Maine.

David: "got the fucker who was coming at ya Dorio."

Dorio: "much appreciated David. That's… Jesus Christ kid what did you do??"

Maine: "holy shit. Did you just… wipe out damn near everybody? Scavs are fucking FREAKING."

David: "I would have taken them all out, but I didn't want to overstep. I helped with the cavalry so that should make things easier. Right?"

Maine: "yeah Choomba, we'll clean up this shit. Go check on Lucy."

David: "will do. Lucy?"

Lucy: "I'll unblock the door again. Give me a moment."

Gunfire continued, but at a lower level than had been before, and he could hear the scrambling panic at the revelation that more than half their fighting force was decimated.

Lucy: "Done. Hurry back."

Taking no chances, David flicked the Sandy again, racing back and set up the room to be blocking the door as he dropped the time dilation effect in front of Lucy.

She flinched slightly before looking down at him, her hand moving to touch his cheek.

"David… Are you ok? You…. You have blood everywhere."

He blinked and caught a glimpse of himself on a reflective surface nearby.

Oh shit. He looked like a slasher victim, or a fucking psycho.

"Ah…. Sorry."

He said trying to step back so as not to get blood on her skin or clothes. Her grip on his cheek firmed up however, and she stepped with him.

"Hey… it's ok. I don't mind. You did really good. How are you feeling?"

He blushed lightly, a dopey smile crossing his face as he looked up into her eyes.

".... A lot better now I'm here."

Her cheeks flushed dark and she couldn't keep contact with his eyes.

"... Gonk."

She said affectionately, a little grin on her face before looking back at him and kissing him gently.

Every kiss with her had its own little beauty to it. And this one was no different. It wasn't the heated and hungry kiss of earlier. It was soft. But not tentative. It was comforting above all.

It was as they stood there, his hands on her hips, her hands on his cheeks that he noticed. There were no more gunshots.

Maine: "Lucy. Need a sweep. Any other scavs in the building?"

Lucy sighed and pulled away reluctantly before engaging with the systems again, checking all the cameras, and checking with a Ping quickhack.

Lucy: "not as far as I can tell. I doubt that any of them could have good enough ICE that I couldn't spot them, but you should still do a sweep manually. Just in case."

Maine: "Way ahead of you. Your input basically did half the job for us. Good work David. You feeling alright? First time you've had to flatline a gonk."

David shrugged, not noticing Lucy looking at him slightly worried.

David: "I'm fine boss. Scavs are scum, and I'm ok with cleaning up scum."

Maine: "Truer words never been said. But for real dawg. You need someone to talk to… well. Try Lucy first. But if you need to talk about it, I'm around. Now, let's finish this up, and talk with our new fixer.. see if he walks his talk or if Faraday is actually the fucking standard around this town.

Hanging up the call, David started removing the stuff blocking the door as Lucy leaned against a wall.

"... Really don't feel nothing about killing David?"

He grimaced as he struggled with some crates that had been shoved against the door.

"It's… well. It's not that I don't feel anything. It's just…. Hard to feel anything other than satisfaction in the fact that they can't hurt anyone anymore."

"... you're so odd."

She said quietly, seemingly satisfied with what she heard.

He blinked as he finished clearing the way.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't flinch from killing or getting blood on you despite being 17. But you also don't look at people like meat. You're so sweet. You care about m- the group. You're just… odd."

He turned to her, his throat tight.

"Is… is that bad?"

She looked him in the eye, and…

His chest felt really really tight.

"Not at all Handsome."

She said with love in her tone, plain as day.

___

As they left the building, Lucy for once felt completely unhindered, holding her Inputs hand, the smallest hint of a smile across her usually stoic face.

David was almost scarily good at this. She'd expected him to be good what with the specs he'd shown her.

He showed her everything. Never hid or lied. Why did he trust her so much? It wasn't naivety. Those eyes saw too much for that.

But this good? He'd slashed through the battlefield light a scythe through grain. She'd been watching through the cameras and it was… God. It was humbling to witness. This sweet boy, this amazing young man… he could be the most dangerous member of the team. A bit more experience and his rep would start building like crazy. As long as he didn't start chroming up like crazy aga-.

Huh. That was odd. She shook it off.

She wished she could say that she paid attention to the conversation between Maine and their fixer but she just didn't. She paid enough attention to realize they were getting paid double due to the faulty Intel, along with Falkins apologizing profusely along with giving them the all clear in terms of work.

Instead, she was focused on stroking David's hand with her thumb, marveling at the natural heat coming through the natural skin. No Realskin, no dermal implants, no nothing. Just natural human flesh.

Perfect.

They left soon after, Dorio and Maine heading off to get an early dinner while David looked up at her with a wicked grin that made heat pool in her belly.

"So.. want to hang out at your place?"

She swallowed as her lust went into overdrive. Oh fuck. If he kept this up she couldn't hold out much longer. But.. oh god he was so sweet and loving. What if she ruined it? What if she showed just how much of a slut she wanted to be for him and he got disgusted? What if he left?

Oh god she couldn't do that. She couldn't be alone again.

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What…. What was that?

"... Lucy? You ok?"

She blinked.

"Hmm? Oh. Yes I'm fine. And… sure. You can come over. But… just to snuggle ok?"

And bless this fucking Santo Domingo boy… but he didn't even look disappointed. He just looked happy to be with her.

"Of course!"

She squeezed his hand, thankful he was willing to wait.

But as they boarded the NCART to her apartment… a nasty voice whispered to her.

But for how long?