It didn’t bleed but it had still hurt. She was crying and the older boys were jeering at her. She didn’t even remember what had made them mad or if she even did anything wrong, but she’d felt like she might have. Something stupid that a kid ought to do. Something that wouldn’t matter in a month but meant everything at the time. Something with consequences that mattered more, that would linger in the mind for years to come. She’d taken the rock and thrown it back but it didn’t even hit his mark. They were crowding in on her until another boy came in, smaller but angrier, growling, tackling one boy onto the ground he kept thrashing. They ganged up on him and beat him. He didn’t stop thrashing but when she gathered herself she screamed. They pushed him down. Another boy rushed to push her down, and then they ran away, leaving the two on the ground crying.

She remembered what she had done. It came to her when she remembered that small set of blue eyes that had looked at her then, crying. She’d angered those other boys because she’d persisted on being friends with this one, who’d helped her when she needed it even though he needed more help then she ever could have processed at the time. She’d sat up and wiped the tears from her face knowing she’d made the right choice, and while he sat on the grass, crying silently while she’d been wailing loudly, she’d remembered what had felt then right in this moment. She’d given him a small kiss on the forehead and thanked him, something like she’d seen on TV probably. And now she’d seen those eye again, a little bigger, still scared even though the face they were a part of was trying and failing to smile. She didn’t see one even as she suddenly embraced him into a hug.

[color=AF7AC5]“O-oh, uh, it’s good to see you too.”[/color] Bruce pulled back awkwardly, the edges of his lips twitching as they reached to become a grin before being restrained. Betty still held him, pulled away as she studied him. [color=AF7AC5]“Uh, I heard about what happened from Talbot, after the fact.”[/color]

A bubble of rage rose. [color=F1948A]“Oh I can’t believe him!”[/color]

[color=AF7AC5]“No, it’s fine, he was really apologetic. It was a freak accident, he was panicking and turned the key too hard in the wrong direction. I put him in that position as much as I put your dad in his.”[/color]

[color=F1948A]“Keys only ever go [i]one direction[/i]!”[/color] Betty hissed, incredulous. The two met eyes and, despite themselves and despite the near tragedy of the prior night, burst into laughter. Among the warm sun and the pleasant air of the small park that rested near their respective apartment complexes, it wasn’t out of place even as they earned the odd looks of some kids playing nearby.[color=F1948A]“You’re too good, Bruce.”[/color]

Bruce feigned a smile, glancing aside. [color=AF7AC5]“Let’s go get food.”[/color]

Side by side, hand not in hand, the two moved down the path on their way to a nearby shopping district. Betty’s light dress flowed as they moved into the urban sprawl of the relatively fancy neighborhood, a far cry from their childhood home on the other side of the country, where children weren’t unknown to ditch class or start fights or sell each other drugs they shouldn’t have even known about. Bruce had been able to leave it sooner, going to community college not because he wanted to, but because the bullying had grown so severe, then onto college because of his aptitude. Meanwhile Betty knew she was the nepo baby. She’d earned her degree, certainly, even if it was years after Bruce, but the offer for Cadmus had only come because of who her father had been, as much as Dad had fervently denied it. Most of the people working with them at Cadmus were on the younger side, their genius or connections allowing them to skip ahead into a very real world with very real consequences. She would never tell him but she hoped that Bruce’s accident would be a sort of wake up call for them. A reminder that the responsibility they held had very real dangers and consequences. But it didn’t need to be a lesson for Bruce, because she knew it wasn’t anything he needed to learn. He’d acted with the best interests of others in mind, and Betty both loved and hate that. She’d hated being terrified and frantic as the situation developed. The hours she’d spent in utter shock thinking that Bruce was dead and it was all over, only for her to unleash those emotions when she found out he was alive after all. He didn’t need to see that side of her, but she did have to see him now.

They found a hotdog cart and took a seat on a bench, watching pedestrians walk by. Bruce spilled some ketchup on his flannel, Betty watching as he took a clumsy napkin to it. [color=AF7AC5]“How’s your project going?”[/color] he asked, apropos of nothing

Betty’s posture slouched. [color=F1948A]“Well, it’s like… I thought I’d be a fit because me and Dr. Gregor were both looking into advanced ways of mutant detection. But like...the threat classification system is dated, racist bullcrap, we should not be thinking of mutants as being dangerous first, let alone bringing it up every day. I want the tools we develop to help people learn about their powers safely and not… The tools are good, but I just think she’s misguided on what they should be used for.”[/color] Letting out a low sigh, she added, [color=F1948A]“I’ll figure it out somehow.”[/color] There was a pause. Both of them took another bite of their food, knowing the pause was the kind that was not for a lack of things to say, but because the natural continuation was something difficult to utter.

Bruce looked into his food, his processed meat object. [color=AF7AC5]“Ross...er, the General.”[/color]

[color=F1948A]“Dad.”[/color]

Bruce bared his teeth a bit as he kept his chuckle internal, holding a smile at bay. [color=AF7AC5]“Yes, him. He told me that the Gamma Emitter team has been shitcanned and I’ll be working with Sterns next week, assuming my psych and physical check out I guess. I get to blow all my sick hours two months into getting hired, so that’s swell. He’s working on Gamma Mutation, which means animal experimentation. Because-”[/color]

[color=F1948A]“Sterns is the kind of crackpot who left his prior lab to come to Cadmus shouting ‘You’ll see, you’ll all see!’”[/color]

Bruce shook his head, letting out a sigh. [color=AF7AC5]“His, uh, other papers on Gamma are foundational, but well, I’m getting paid big military contract bucks to kill rats for the next few months I guess. If we do ‘kill death’ then that’s just a bonus.”[/color] He let out a light gasp of pain as Betty jabbed him in the arm with the base of her elbow. The last bite or so of his hotdog hit the ground a moment later. She laughed, and the last bit of her food met the same fate, and she laughed again. As she calmed, she kept observing Bruce, the man’s eyes locked on the wasted food as a bird came down, it’s beak pecking at the pressed meat slurry and condiment. Life and death surrounded them, at all times and always.

Leaning into Bruce, she rested her head on his shoulder. He flinched as he tended to do from all touch. She knew he didn’t like it, and she also knew he would never tell her that. She knew that was wrong, but she wouldn’t let herself be held back by that. Life was too short. [color=F1948A]“Should we call this our first date, or would you rather do something special?”[/color]

Bruce stammered, a good few seconds of insubstantial noises coming out until he finally managed, [color=AF7AC5]“But, uh, I mean, there was that, er, you told me about a Russian guy once-”[/color]

[color=F1948A]“That was in high school, and it wasn’t anything serious.”[/color] She could feel Bruce looking for another angle, and intercepted. [color=F1948A]“My dad won’t be happy with anyone, but if it’s you he could at least tolerate it. But that doesn’t matter: what do [i]you[/i] want, Bruce?”[/color]

It transmitted from his chest to the shoulder she rested on faintly, but she believed she could feel his heart pounding. Angling her head, she looked at him, their faces mere inches apart. He was still scared, he always seemed to be. Their lips met, and Betty finally found the smile he’d been holding within.