gunsforhire | Of Helmets, Bananas, and New Boots

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Of Helmets, Bananas, and New Boots

Who: Delta Ai (Native) and Omega Ai (Native)
What: Discussions of the oddity of the last month, and Sigma's pending birthday.
Where: The Ai family household.
When: The beginning of the month.
Warnings: None other than insults of Yorks.

Delta is a man used to routine. Minute variations are, of course, welcome, but beyond that Delta has always been about the details of life falling into order. Which has been what made this last month so... strange in Delta's opinion. There has been a quiet tension around his older brother lately. More than that. Sigma has offered him a day off from the twins and Theta and Delta just has to smile at his thought of his day alone tomorrow.

With a chuckle he enters the house, puts his helmet on the shelf, and moves to the kitchen. He's got some cleaning to do before he can sit down and give himself half an hour to relax...

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"No, no, clearly he likes to talk. But perhaps he doesn't like to talk to people about his eye?" Delta certainly doesn't like to talk about his hearing, which is just about the only thing he doesn't go on about.

Omega taps the table to get Delta's attention. "You're working backwards. He started talking to you. He didn't know what you were getting repaired or how much it was going to cost. So what could he have to pity? Can you think of any other reason a sociable guy like that would talk to you?"

Omega can think of a few, but Omega talks to strangers all the time, out of boredom. Which is not pity.

"Boredom?" Delta suggests with a sigh. That honestly doesn't make him feel any better. He wishes he could have...

He doesn't even known. Maybe learned more about the other guy?

"He didn't seem to have anything on him."

Omega snorts. "And Smithson never has anything in his waiting room, and this York had no idea what sort of place he was stumbling into. Sorry, sparkles, he wanted to talk to you."

There are plenty of reasons someone would want to talk to Delta. Omega's going to see if he can come up with one on his own, while Omega draws skulls in the condensation of his glass.

Delta rolls his eyes. "Maybe he's more interested in people than in reading and his hope was someone would be there so he wouldn't have to bug Smithson for attention."

That's it. That's the last reason he can come up with.

Omega rolls his eyes right back. Talking to Delta is like pulling teeth sometimes. "And he just happened to share some very personal information with a complete stranger? You know, there are people who get paid to listen to that."

Wait. Did he just imply York used Delta as a professional therapist? Well, that's where the information seemed to point.

Delta blinks and stares at his brother. That was a really silly idea because Delta is pretty sure he's not good for that. But when he thinks about it...

The guy did talk to him when Delta prompted. Interesting.

"Maybe you're right," he says in shock.

"Of course I'm right," Omega snorts. "I'm always right.

Cheese and rice, the idea that York could have talked to him out of anything besides pity looks like it's rocked Delta's world. This right here is why Omega thinks he needs actual, non-family friends. Maybe he should introduce him to Maine. Or maybe that will totally blow his mind.

"So what are you going to do now?" he asks, in lieu of starting up the fight again. He promised. Mature adult.

"I don't know," Delta admits. "I have a paper to finish. I promised Sig I would do absolutely nothing resembling work on Saturday. He seemed so pleased with the fact that he'd thought of it that I don't have the heart to not listen."

So he's got to relax. Which means finishing work first. "Other than that... if I see him again, I'll talk to him. I'll start the conversation."

A whole day without work? Does Sigma not realize how much Delta does? And on a weekend too, when the kids won't be in school. Sigma is either a brave man, or an idiot.

"If you see him again? You're going to leave it up to fate?"

"I don't know. Maybe?" York asks. "This is a big city, Meg. I wouldn't even know how to find him if I wanted to look."

Omega wouldn't know either, but he's not about to admit that. "It'll give you something to do on your free day. Unless you had other plans?"

Man, if Delta's taking the day off, maybe Omega should too, keep the house from turning into a total disaster zone for Delta the next day.

"There is this new book," Delta says in excitement. "I saved up for a while for it. It came out three months ago. It's part of that sci-fi series I love? I bought it today on the way back from the store, even indulged in a new bookmark."

He's so excited about this. So very excited about his book. He's going to curl up with an indulgent cup of coffee and just read with no kids around to make noise. It's going to be positively decadent.

Normally it's hard for Omega to get excited about his siblings' books, but some sci-fi is different. Depends on the series, though. "Which one? The one with the dog or the one with the robot made out of five airplanes?"

Even if it's not the cool one, it makes Delta happy. And books are not TV, so it doesn't matter if Delta's in the same room, no matter how irritating it is. Omega would have to literally read over Delta's shoulder.

"The dog one," Delta chuckles. It's a simplification. An over-simplification. And he loves it so much.

"Its been out for months, and the last one was over a year and half ago," Delta says in relief. "I've been waiting. Thought maybe I could ready it for my birthday."

Omega experiences momentary panic as he realizes he has completely forgotten when Delta's birthday actually is. He has an elaborate system of alarms programmed into his helmet, and none of them have gone off lately, so it can't be too soon..."That long? You are a stronger man than I. But I only got to read the first one. Did the brat get what was coming to him?"

"It's only another two months," Delta points out. Well, no. Now that he thought about it, less than that. He'd forgotten it's April now. May is quickly approaching. His only disappointment was that his birthday was always too close to Sigma's. The fifteenth would come too soon.

"And yes. He got what he deserved."

Two months. Good. Omega has time. "You can't just say that! What happened to him? Did the princess finally take him out? Or his uncle? Not the one that's his father, the short one. He was a horrible human being, what did he deserve?"

Maybe one day Omega will be able to borrow the books from Delta and catch up.

"No more spoilers," Delta smiles as he finishes his iced tea. "I need to get that paper. Thanks for listening."

Omega glares at him. "I'm going to borrow those books. Without asking, when you least expect it. You will search, and search, and search in vain, for I shall have hidden them! Mwuahahaha."

Why do they not do this more often? Because apparently, they are both idiots. Omega resolves, silently, to do better. Be more like Alpha would.

"Anytime, sparkles. Just say the word."

Omega could probably help out more around the house. Starting with the dishes.

"And Meg?" Delta says, standing.

He heads to the kitchen door and calls back as he moves through it. "I'm not the only one who needs outside friends."

"I have friends," Omega yells after him. "I have cool friends, even! Come outside some time, and I'll introduce you!"

Maine signs, Delta signs, this could work. Omega's never shied away from sharing good things with his brothers.

"Sure," Delta laughs, and then he's gone.

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Of Helmets, Bananas, and New Boots

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