Fake It 'Til You Make It

Chapter 4

Two months passed. Jenny and Denny were still begging Benny to call it off with Bad Cop, and Benny still resolutely refused to. He and Bad Cop got a good laugh out of their antics as they did everything they could think of to convince Benny to 'break up' with his 'boyfriend'.

"Honestly, how long has it been since Takos Tuesday now? And they still act like you're some kind of demon from their worst nightmares."

"We did hunt you all down for eight and a half years," Bad Cop reminded him.

"Eh." Benny waved him off. "You're not nearly so bad without Business to wind you up and set you loose."

"...You really think that?"

"Dude, you've been working to fix what you broke these past few months, right?" Bad Cop nodded, stunned into silence. "So yeah. I think it was honestly mostly Business' influence, I mean I read all his anti-Master Builder propaganda, it was some pretty convincing stuff. And you were a lot younger back then. I imagine it was pretty easy to get sucked into it. Probably took a good while to realize he was influencing you, too."

"Entirely too long..." Bad Cop admitted. Benny gave him a questioning look. He huffed. "Not until he tried to erase Good Cop and made me Kragle Mum and Dad."

Benny blinked. "And you still did his dirty work for him even after that?"

Bad Cop shrugged. "What else was I supposed to do? You lot had been hellbent on getting rid of me by any means necessary for years, if I'd come to you in an attempt to help you would have killed me on the spot. And if I quit working for Business, he would have killed me. Yes, I know he eventually left me for dead anyway, but I figured my odds of making it out of that fiasco in one piece were better if I stayed with him. And I did still get the chance to help you stop him, in the end."

Benny frowned as he thought. "...Did you let us get away, at Cloud Cuckooland?"

Bad Cop scratched at his head. "I might have..." he admitted. "After Good, and Mum and Dad... I was still reeling, and not feeling particularly motivated to give it my all. It was good enough to have the Micromanagers' scans to back up my claims. Business wasn't pleased that I came back without the Piece of Resistance, but I think I distracted him enough telling him about Emmet's double-decker couch." Benny laughed. "It was pretty clever of Batman to stick the tracker on one of the bots though. They're terrible at facial recognition." Benny snorted and giggled even harder. "Which, okay fair, Emmet does have a pretty average face, but still. There was literally no one else in Cloud Cuckooland wearing a bright orange safety vest."

"More 'artificial', less 'intelligence', huh?" Benny snickered, and wiped tears of mirth from his eyes. "Oh, man." His giggles finally petered out after another minute.

It was so strange, actually getting to know Bad Cop after so long. It was strange to know the monster from Master Builders' nightmares was just... some guy. Benny wasn't likely to forget all the terrible things Bad Cop had done for Business, but he was trying to make amends now, he was trying to right his wrongs, and to know that he had people he loved and cared about- to know he had things he was afraid of- to know even he had limits he could reach- to know he had a sense of humor-

Oh.

Oh, no.

Benny was starting to actually like him.

"Is everything alright?" Bad Cop asked, picking up on his contemplative mood.

"Yeah, just..." Benny shook his head. "It's so weird to sit here and talk with you like this, and still remember the sort of things you did to people like me. It's like you're not even the same person at all, but you are, and it's... confusing."

Bad Cop was silent for a long moment. "If it helps," he eventually said, "I don't feel like I'm the same person I was back then."

"No, I suppose you wouldn't be." Benny scratched his head. "Too much happened those three days, and so much more since."

Another lengthy pause, and then, "...I'm glad at least one person sees me for who I am now. Everyone else seems to want me to still be who I was then, so they have an excuse to keep hating me." It nearly broke Benny's heart to hear those words spoken so quietly. Granted, he'd been one of those people determined to keep hating Bad Cop as well, but now...

"They'll see, eventually. And anyone who still refuses to isn't worth worrying about anyway." Bad Cop gave him a weak smile of gratitude. "You should talk to Emmet. I know he doesn't hate you."

Bad Cop sighed. "I know, it's just... so awkward. I really should talk to him though. I feel like such an ass for ignoring him after he helped us get a job with the Bricksburg police department."

"Oh is that how?? I wondered... I guess he would be a hell of a job reference now," Benny admitted. "I gotta admit, I was wary at first, when I heard the news. But I guess these past few months have been proof enough that I didn't have anything to worry about." He gave Bad Cop a sardonic grin. "Hell, knowing how we Master Builders tend to operate has probably helped a lot with the peacekeeping efforts."

"It has, actually," Bad Cop agreed. "Never expected that experience would be useful for anything else, but here we are."

"And honestly? I'm glad for it."