𝗨𝗦𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗞𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗦 | the boys 1

vii. 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐖𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐏𝐒𝐄𝐒

~𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙚, 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚, 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙚, 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙄 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚~

"Oi! You off somewhere?" Butcher called out as Rowan silently took a left turn away from him about to approach his apartment, the way she completely ceased to mention her departure almost annoyed him, before he realised it was exactly what he did when at work.

"Oh, I'm just gonna' do my own thing for the night. Y'know, the usual." She responded awkwardly. Maybe the way she spoke so freely about the danger should have caught the both of them off-guard, but it was nothing new.

He watched as the street lamps illuminated her irises - subtly remarking,"We can sort you out something a bit nicer than that shitty corner, you know." He almost chuckled at the memory of walking into his own flat, only to be greeted by a skinny, little child glaring at him with utter fire burning in her gaze.

She pursed her lips and stepped a little closer towards him from a few paces away,"You know that's not the same as before, right?"

"Don't be thinkin' they've stopped lookin' for ya'. It's a fuck-ton safer, kid." His husky voice was violently sucked up by the night, making her knit her brow together,"Especially out here. I know you've gotten along okay so far like this, I'm not smothering you. But it's different."

"They'll never stop looking." At first, she seemed proud of the statement. But as he looked a little closer, perhaps there was some devastation, maybe even some remorse,"Not after the shit I've done." The only reason she had stayed with him for so long was because they had made an agreement it wouldn't be safe for her to go outside for a while. This was due to where she had been the day before and... what they had seen.

"Slightly more action-packed than usual, is it?" Butcher smirked, turning his back on the building where he lived to stare across the street. It was crazy that not too long ago, the both of them were wandering down that very sidewalk - he was asking questions, making snide remarks about other people to her to try and garner some trust.

"It's been a while since I've had a break." She chuckled,"I think I'll just go back home and have a slightly early night."

"Home?"

The cheekiness was suddenly faded out by the shadow of her hair blocking her face from the street lamp,"I mean the uh... I mean the back of the grocery store a few blocks away." She mumbled. Although it had been established she didn't give a single fuck about other's thoughts on her, she just couldn't hide the shame of calling the grotty kerb her home. Her home was being absolutely caked in brains and human remains.

"Why, they got Hot Pockets back there, have they?" Rowan joined him, looking over the deep black, and irresistibly smirked at his teasing again, wondering why her face all of a sudden getting this impulse constantly. Usually, she'd smiled when she saw the supes fuck up but it was a different sensation of happiness, not at other people's misfortune but things that actually made her fuzzy inside."I'd reckon it's better to be talking, even though you're a cheeky little shit." He carried on, only to take a conversational turn, a deep dive into her personal life,"It ain't your fault, you gotta' know that. You also gotta' how impressive it is what you done." He took it as his responsibility to let her know - he would regret it if he let her get wrapped up in guilt.

"There was no warning. None whatsoever." She forced a smile - but it was plain to see that there was absolutely no joy on her face. It was almost as if after such a long time of chuckling cynically at other's pain, her default was to let her lips curve,"Thought I pulled my brother under my bed fast enough... I looked over at him and," She sighed and suddenly turned to a grimace,"...I didn't." She scrunched up her nose - not so much saddened by remembrance but disgusted by Tee's (as she called him) brains spilling from his skull as blood spurted from his skin, spraying into her eyes as she frantically blinked and scrabbled to just please make it stop.