tranquility - Fushiguro M. x Gender Neutral! Reader

15| make me an exception

         "WHAT'RE ALL THE sticks for?"

Fushiguro watched as I tossed the bundle of sticks onto the table, kicking the door shut behind me. I paused to shake the snow that had accumulated on my shoulders and head off before kicking my shoes on the edge of the door to knock that snow off as well. I walked into the cabin, pulling the hat from my head as I raked my hand throw it.

"I need arrows," I replied.

"Oh," He said, rubbing his hands over Gus' face. "Want some help?"

"No, but you can start cooking," I said, tossing my coat over one of the chairs. "I'm starving."

"You're always hungry, Scout," He said, getting up from the floor.

"I'm a growing teenager," I responded, plopping down in the chair at the table. "I need food to grow."

"You're pretty tall as it is," He remarked.

"Not really," I muttered, grunting as my blade skipped over the bark. "Compared to Boone and Jett, I'm pretty small. Then again, they were a lot stronger than I am---was."

I realized what I had said and corrected myself. I felt my eyelids fall heavy as I slid the bowie knife across the stick, peeling the bark from it.

"Do you miss them?" Fushiguro asked after a moment.

I sighed heavily. "After what Jett did, I don't miss him. But...I miss Boone."

"Did you get into a fight with Jett?" He asked.

"You could call it that," I said. There was another pause, so I continued on. "Jett was the kind of person that wouldn't accept that he was wrong. We had a...disagreement that was taken out of proportion."

"What was it about?" He leaned against the wall by the fire, crossing his arms over his chest.

I tossed the stripped stick onto the table. I leaned forward and grabbed another one before kicking my feet onto the table. My boots hit the wood with a heavy thunk.

"Me. Jett was jealous. Boone was sticking around me more because Jett was an asshole as he got older and was constantly pickin' on me and shit. He broke my arm by shoving me out of a tree once because I called him a liar and he got pissed. So Boone decided if I stayed by him more, Jett wouldn't be as much of a prick to me. But Jett saw that as Boone picking a favorite," I said, watching the bark curl over the blade before falling into my lap. "He was mad because he was with Boone longer than I was. And he got jealous."

"So what did he do?"

I tossed the stick onto the table. "Jett ran out; he always did when he was pissed off. But it was stormin' real bad, and Boone was afraid he'd get swept up in the river or he'd get lost because of the mist. So he went to find him. Turns out the fucker had been behind the cabin the whole time."

Fushiguro began to push off the wall. I could see the concern beginning to swirl behind his eyes.

"Scout," He said slowly. "What...the hell did he do?"

"What anyone would do when they were pushed to the edge," I said. "He beat the fuck out of me. And by the time Boone had come back, he was still going at it. It was the only time I'd ever seen Boone point his gun at one of us. He was gonna kill Jett that day."

"Why didn't he?" He frowned deeply, leaning back against the wall.

"I told him not to," I said. "Sure, I was mad. I was in so much pain, and I was cryin' like a goddamn baby. But Jett was like my brother. I'd known him almost my entire life. He's helped me more than he's hurt me. So I begged Boone not to kill him. But he did get his ass beat ten times harder."

"Was Boone your dad?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Biologically? No. But he was the only father figure I've ever had. He loved us like we were his own kids. Boone would have killed for us; hell, he has. And even though he threatened to kill Jett that day, I knew he could never. It would be like killing your own son. If you loved your child, you would never dare even think about killing them. But when your child is in danger, you'll do anything for them," I tossed the knife onto the table. "Boone's the reason I'm still alive. He's the reason I know everything I do. He's the one who gave me my nickname."

"So your real name isn't actually Scout?" He questioned.

Again, I shook my head. "No. I was born into a clan, but I was never actually a part of it. I was just a name and a face. I hated my name--I still hate it--and I told Boone that. So he gave me a name that meant something. I used to watch him do everything, and I would always wander off to explore through the forest. So he started to call me Scout. Observer. Explorer. It sounds stupid, but it made me feel like he cared. All because he thought about it before calling me it."

"You ran away from your old life, hoping to find a new one," Fushiguro said softly.

"I did," I sighed. "But I never imagined it would turn out like this."

"What do you mean?"

I began to stand up. "Everyone leaves, Fushiguro. One way or another, everyone you learn to care about leaves. It happened when I was five. And it happened when I was fourteen. I ran away from one tragedy just to fall into another. I let my guard down and trusted people, and I ended up getting hurt."

Fushiguro was silent for a moment. "Do you trust me, Scout?"

I laughed bitterly. "Trust you enough not to kill me? Yeah. But to trust you enough to let you close to me? Absolutely not. No offense, Fushiguro, but you're only here because I didn't want someone else to die. You've got people you care about, people who are counting on you. I'm only keeping you alive long enough for you to run back to the city and let yourself get killed by something else. Once you're away from me, you're not my problem. So no, I don't trust you. And I won't. So don't expect me to care."

"But you already do," He said, stepping in front of me, blocking my path. "Or you wouldn't fucking fuss about me all the time. You would have let me sit in that chair and die. You would have left me in the snow. You wouldn't have warned me about the Noppera-bō. You would have let me go out and get killed by it,--" He adjusted his weight, narrowing his forest-green eyes down at me. "--if you didn't care about me, Scout, you wouldn't try. I don't give two fucks about your past, alright? You said it yourself: I owe you. So trust me, and let me pay you back."

"I don't trust people," I frowned, narrowing my eyes behind my mask.

He leaned his face down closer to mine, putting his hands on my shoulders. I felt my eyes widen.

"So make me an exception."

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Fact: Jett broke 3 of Scout's ribs, four of their fingers, their hand, and popped their kneecap of out place. He busted Scout's lip and bloodied their nose before sitting on their back, pulling their arm behind their back. That was when Boone came back and found them lying in a pool of their own blood, crying for Jett to get off them.