SSD III: Silver

80. Word to the Wise

AN: I know I made a lofty promise of Silver getting therapy at some point earlier on but now I mean it.

The moment Hound Dog walked into his office, he realised today was looking up. Finally, Silver had decided to come to him, which meant she had accepted a need for help and was willing to get it from him. This was progress in the right direction. It also meant his plan had worked and that was a real relief because he was starting to panic.

"Good morning," he said, closing the door gently behind him and wondering how she got in through the locked door. Picking locks was not something he would put past her, but unlocking it just to lock it all over again behind her was a little extra, either she wanted to mess with him or she climbed in through the window he definitely closed before leaving on Saturday... on the third floor of a building with flat walls made of glass. Again, he wouldn't put it past her.

She didn't respond, instead she chewed her cheek and tapped her finger against the armrest of the chair she was in, eyes fixed on the window she either came through or opened for some fresh air.

He kept his eyes on her for a few moments, waiting to see if she reacted to him at all, and moved over to his desk when she didn't, keeping a distance for her comfort. "Did you come here for a reason?" he ventured carefully, wary of pushing her but also not wanting her to walk out of the room without saying a word. He took a seat at his desk as her hand stilled and her eyes raised to his in a silent flicker.

She looked away again and sighed. "Can I-" He didn't doubt the inability to look him in the eyes was embarrassment, it wasn't hard to believe this was the first time in a long time Silver had had to seriously ask for help in something that wasn't based on her physical prowess, perhaps the first time in her life- "talk to you about Eraser?"

Eraserhead? Ok, that wasn't necessarily what he expected but if she wanted to talk about Aizawa then he wasn't going to stop her. "You can talk to me about anything, pup."

She blinked at him slowly. "So, do you remember when I had amnesia?"

He chuckled, only to make it seem like he was clearing his throat at the look on her face. Clearly the irony of that sentence was lost on her. "I recall."

"Well, at the start Keenan realised he couldn't tell me the truth about how I got here because I wouldn't have believed him and my reaction could've hurt someone."

Oh. Wow. That sucked. "That must have been very painful. When-"

"I don't care about that. In fact, I would've done the same in his place."

Huh.

"The problem is that he kept up the lie, and he brought Eraser in on it." Her empty shoes sat neatly on the floor, laces tied and ready to easily slip on for a fast escape, and her legs were comfortably crossed on the chair. There was no waver in her voice, level and even, but it wasn't without emotion, it was just that what emotion exactly was hiding under the calm appearance was hard to discern. "I had amnesia and-" She started to slow down, taking deeper breaths- "I had to trust them, but they weren't trustworthy."

He could imagine a betrayal like that could feel like someone taking advantage of her when she was so completely vulnerable. All she'd been able to do was rely on them, and they'd failed to be worthy of that responsibility. He couldn't imagine Aizawa doing that though. Aizawa knew better than that. He knew how fragile Silver's trust could be and how much of an effect even a white lie could have on her, it wasn't rational. Something had to have gone wrong somewhere here, a misunderstanding.

"So I'm pretty angry at him, you know." Which made perfect sense. "And I haven't been talking to him at all unless I have to."

"Sorry," Inui interrupted, thinking over her words, "but you've been talking to Keenan, I saw you-"