Why are you here?

Look After Him - Part 3

"Radlynn?" Shida called as he finally left the bathroom. He'd spent the morning making sure every tile in there was spotless. Hell, even the mirror looked like it was brand new. Well, brand new if you ignored the missing shards and cracks.

Radlynn glanced over at him. She was busy dusting the bookshelves. She was stood amidst piles of books, which Radley had helped her take off the shelves and arrange in piles. His bookshelf was freakishly tall, and all his books were thick and heavy. "Yeah?" She asked. She really hoped he didn't have something else for her to do. On the bright side, nothing could probably be worse than the bookshelf hell she was in currently.

"Where's Radley?" He asked. Oh thank god it's not another chore-

"Lab." She replied simply. Shida stared at her.

"You let him go in there?!" He snapped. Radlynn stared at him in shock.

"Yeah? It's his house, he can do what he wants."

"He's supposed to be relaxing today." Shida muttered back sternly as he walked past her. Radlynn huffed.

"He said he was only gonna be working for a little while." She called after him. Shida ignored her and went to open the door to the lab, only to find it was locked. He huffed and knocked loudly.

"Radley!" He called. He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Radley to undo the lock on the door. He frowned. He could hear the locks clicking as they were unlocked, and by the sound of it, Radley had five of them on the one door. His old lab back at Fort Onion only had two! It was slightly concerning, especially considering Radley lived alone now. Was he paranoid about something? What did he even do, locked away alone in his lab all d-

The door opened and Radley looked up at him. "Yes, Shida?" He asked. Sarge sighed.

"Radley, you're supposed to be relaxing today. Can't you take a break from work?"

"I don't need to relax, Shida." Radley replied irritably. "I have very important work to do."

"You almost took out your eye!" He snapped back. "You can't overwork yourself."

"I'm not going to."

"Rads, I know you, you're gonna end up overworking yourself and getting hurt." Shida glared at him and gestured to the couch. "Now sit."

Radley sighed out loudly in irritation and walked out of the lab, closing the door behind him. He folded his arms and glared up at Shida, who only pointed at the couch again, neither willing to break eye contact. Radlynn watched them in slight amusement. It was hard to believe these were the villains that tried to take over the world twice.

Radley eventually huffed and walked over to the couch crossly. He sat down, arms still folded, and stared at the ground while tapping his foot. Shida sighed. Radlynn focused on her cleaning instead of the irritated radish man. Sure she trusted him but she definitely didn't want to poke his temper right now. Or ever.

Shida walked over to the coat rack and grabbed his jacket, putting it on. "I'm gonna go out and get medicine for your eye." He said calmly. He looked over at Radlynn. "Radlynn, you make sure Radley stays out of his lab." She squinted at him beneath her bangs. Radley could very obviously hear him. Shida zipped up his jacket and reached for the door.

"Shida?" Radley suddenly said. Sarge looked over at him in surprise. "Could you grab a couple things for me?" He asked. Shida arched a brow.

"What do you need?" He asked. Radley smiled.

"Uh- I need copper wiring, gold plating, a particle battery, electrical-"

"You're gonna have to write this down, B." Shida interrupted.

By the time Radley had written down the list he was in a far better mood. He watched Shida leave, then padded across the room to his lab again.

"Radley?"

He turned around and looked at Radlynn. "...yes...?" He asked slowly.

"...I'm not supposed to let you in there." She said. Radley glanced from her to the floor. "You really should take a break, you know. At least until your eye is healed."

"I need to get you home." He mumbled back. "I need to work."

Radlynn frowned and watched him fidget nervously where she stood. "...how about you help me clean here, then I could help you with work."

"Help me?"

"Yeah- or rather, I could just stand there and watch you- make sure you don't get hurt." She smiled at him. "Shida might not yell at me if I do that."

"He probably will."

"Maybe." She gestured for him to come over. "Here, you can help put books on the high shelves."

×××××××××××××××××

"I'm back, B!" Shida called as he opened the door to Radley's house. He looked around. Nobody. No reply from Radley, or Radlynn.  placed down his bags on the kitchen counter then looked around. His eyes came to rest on the lab door. He scowled and walked over to the door, rapping his knuckles against it.

He heard Radley's muffled voice behind the door. It opened, and he looked down at- "Radlynn?"

She was wearing safety goggles, obscured mostly by her bangs, and rubber gloves. "Oh hey Shida, we didn't hear you."

"Don't call me Shida." He murmured back coldly. He peered back into the room at Radley, still working like nothing was wrong. "Radley!"

"Just a moment." He called back. "Radlynn, c'mere."

The human grinned and moved over to him quickly. She leaned against the table and looked down at the flask Radley was holding. He swirled it gently, murmuring something to her. Shida watched them. They looked happy, working side by side together. Radley had always liked talking while he worked, showing his work with pride. Shida relaxed as he watched the two of them.

"...do you need any of the stuff I got, Rads?"