Hello, Everybody!

This is a present for my dear, dear friend, Indigoblueshine on Deviantart. This past month, I went to Dragon*Con and met many wonderful people; she being one of them. The two of us became nigh inseparable and I love her to pieces and I miss her like whoa because she's amazing!

So yeah. She was dressed as Toni and I was dressed as Un!Zombie, so we made quite the pair. We walked everywhere with our arms linked or hands clasped – always connected. Thus the inspiration for this. Beware the cute!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hanna is Not a Boy's Name, nor any of the characters/location therein. I do, however own the story.

A Walk Together

It wasn't a particularly cold night - not that I could really feel much in the way of air temperature – but all the same it had been raining earlier in the evening and the moisture still clinging to everything left a slight chill that even I did not fail to notice. Absently, I pulled my jacket collar up higher around my neck to shield my jaw line from the damp air.

At an estimate, I would have to say that it was roughly two-o-clock in the morning. Hanna had fallen asleep earlier than normal and I had decided to take my almost-nightly walk accordingly. I had already read my current book twice. I was not entirely ready to start reading it again so soon.

Generally I am not accustomed to seeing many other people out and about when I go walking, but every once in a while a figure passes me as I travel down the sidewalks and side streets towards an unnamed destination. So imagine my surprise, really, when I thought I saw someone that I vaguely knew. Oh, not 'knew' as in from before my death, not a memory. No, more like…recognized as having met recently. I couldn't be sure, though. So I kept walking.

By and by, the figure began to approach me as it moved on its own path across the pavement from the opposite direction. The head was ducked down - perhaps checking the time on an open cell phone – and the arms were wrapped snuggly around the slim torso. I frowned almost imperceptibly. That jacket looked entirely too thin for the time of night. Or morning, I should say. And then I caught sight of a shock of vibrant blue hair peeking out from a mass of darker waves.

It was Toni, the girl from the theatre.

"Miss Ipres?"

The figure halted abruptly and jerked its head up at the sound of my voice. I could see a pair of eyes squinting into the darkness at me. Suspicion, caution, and finally realization. She smiled. "Hey! Hi, what are you doing out here so late?" She tilted her head and glanced to either side of me. "Shouldn't Hanna be with you?"

I took a few steps further and came to a stop just in front of her. "He's been asleep for a while now. I like to walk from time to time, it…keeps me occupied." I nodded to her. "What about you? Why are you outside alone at this hour?"

She gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Oh, well, you know," she chuckled, "I was at a late rehearsal and I…kinda got ditched by my ride home." Her lovely face crinkled into an expression of irritation. "Freaking pricks." A sigh. Delicate and lady-like, even through the annoyance. "So yeah, got about six blocks left to go."

I may not remember what it was like to be a gentleman, but I do know that I was not in the least bit comfortable with what she had just said. I frowned again. No, this wasn't right, no one should be out by themselves at two in the morning. Granted, she was more than capable of taking care of herself, of that I was sure. However, she was a lady, and ladies deserved to be treated as such. Besides, walking alone could get lonely – even for one such as myself with all the time in the world to think. Company, I decided, would be nice.

So I did the first thing that came to mind. I offered her the crook of my arm and said, "May I escort you home then, Miss Ipres?"

Dark brows knit together in slight confusion. "But…weren't you going somewhere?"

I shrugged. "Nowhere in particular." And with that I could feel the corners of my mouth twitch and pull upward just a little. A smile.

The grin that slunk across her face could have rivaled Hanna's. Without another word, she slipped her arm into mine and linked the fingers of her opposite hand together with the one resting on my elbow.

I allowed her to lead me – having absolutely no idea where she lived, after all – back in the direction from which I had originally come, not minding in the least. Actually, it was rather pleasant knowing that there was a presence there beside me. That someone was walking with me for once as I wandered the streets. I had never really thought about just how important the need to feel, well, needed, had become to me. I had spent a decade without a purpose only to find one in the energetic redhead that had taken me in and employed me as his partner. I still felt that way, but on nights like that one, where I was once again left to nothing but my own musings, I hadn't realized that…

I had been feeling lonely. Left out. Hanna did not really need me there to guard him as he slept and, being what I am, I did not require sleep myself. So I could not join him, or the rest of the world, for that matter. I had no reason for being when I was out walking. Once again, I just existed without any sort of sense of direction.

I hadn't noticed it until just then, with that graceful arm draped through my own, that I missed feeling useful from time to time. But I was useful right then. Even if it was not the most challenging thing, not the most valiant or impact causing. I could still help a new acquaintance walk home.

And I felt myself almost-smiling again.

After about a block of silence, I felt a slight pressure through the sleeve of my coat. Looking down, I saw that she had leaned her head against my shoulder and was faintly nuzzling me. Perhaps a werewolf's show of appreciation? I was, and still am, somewhat unwise to the customs of such individuals. So I simply said nothing until she opened her eyes and caught my glowing, mildly confused (at least, I think) stare.

"Sorry." She looked sheepish and straightened up quickly.

I shrugged, taking care not to jostle the arm she was attached to. It hadn't really bothered me. In fact, it was…kind of nice, to tell the truth. Oh, not in a romantic sort of way, no; at least, I didn't feel anything that I recognized as 'romantic.' Not that I can remember things like that much anyways. At least I know what it's like to feel at all. But I digress.

It simply made me feel warmer, happy. Like when Hanna had called me his partner for the first time, only quieter and calmer. In response, and maybe out of instinct, I ended up placing my free hand over hers. I am not sure why I did it and I do not even remember moving my hand, but one moment it was shoved into my coat pocket and the next…well, it wasn't. Out of the corner of my eye I caught her grinning.

She was right about the six blocks, though not being able to feel fatigue, I wasn't affected. For the most part we did not speak. Being close to 2:30 in the morning, I just assumed she was exhausted from her rehearsal. If I was wrong, it was never discussed. Normally when I walk I simply let my feet move in whatever direction they take me. I simply tune out the rest of the world, go on auto-pilot. Get lost in my own thoughts. Not then. I found myself very aware of my surroundings, mostly of her. The weight on my arm, the brush of air from beside me. And I believe that it was for that reason that I did not continue walking as I would have usually done when she came to a slow stop outside of an apartment complex that most surely contained her own place of residence.

"This is me," she said, voice laced with the desire to sleep. And perhaps just a little bit of contentment. "I can make it the rest of the way from here." Her slender arm slipped from my own larger one and she stepped sideways from me. I was suddenly slightly colder, not used to not having her warmth pressed into my side. And the feeling of no longer being needed threatened to creep back in.

But then she flashed a brilliant smile. "Thank you. It was nice, not having to walk home by my self." Her face shifted into something akin to thoughtful curiosity. For a moment, she seemed to be studying me. One long-nailed finger tapped along her lower lip. "You know something?"

I simply blinked and waited for her to continue.

"You're a really great guy." Her smile returned, softer and very kind. Her dual-toned ponytail bobbed behind her as she nodded to herself in affirmation.

I just blinked again. "I…thank you?"

"No, you really are. You just walked a near-perfect stranger six blocks at two in the morning. Not to mention, at least from what I've seen, you're intensely loyal. Not many people anymore have that." She cocked her head to the side, blue mohawk flipping with the movement. "It's…good to see that chivalry isn't dead after all."

And then she snorted quietly. An unintended pun. Actually, I found it slightly funny, myself, but she apparently thought she had offended me or made some sort of error with her statement, because she bit her lip quickly.

Sensing the apology before it came, I cut her off with a low, reassuring sound from the back of my throat. "I suppose." I could feel one of my eyebrows quirking upward in a muscle-memory show of amusement. It seemed to be enough, because her own smile returned.

A chuckle, light and airy. A shake of the head. "Well, anyway…thank you. For 'escorting' me. For everything."

I gave a nod. "Good night, Miss Ipres."

Her pretty features scrunched, much like someone had said something distasteful, and I briefly wondered whether or not I should have kept my mouth shut.

"Ug, no. Just Toni, please. We're friends now."

I was taken aback just then. We were friends? I gave the idea a bit of thought. We had only met just recently and even then had not had much interaction. And yet she seemed accepting enough. Sweet, nonjudgmental – which might have been due in part to her own unique abilities – and all in all, a very friendly person. Combined with the fact that she had not shunned my employer and had then leapt (quite literally) to defend Conrad, whom she had also just met not even hours before, and I found myself liking her tremendously. Yes, I decided then and there, we could be very good friends.

I closed my eyes briefly, extinguishing the orange light. A single, low chuckle escaped me as I felt the corner of my lips curve. "Toni it is, then." I opened my eyes again to find her watching me happily.

A soft hum. "You know, I don't think I ever actually got your name." One of her arms crossed itself in front of her torso, palm supporting her opposite elbow as she leaned her chin onto her fist.

I blinked out of habit. Slow and thoughtful. "I don't really have one. Not that I remember, at least." I shrugged one of my shoulders at her wide-eyed expression of disbelief. "Hanna has taken to calling me different things in the hope that I'll hear one I like."

"That's…kind of a good idea, I suppose."

Her hesitance was not lost on me. No doubt it seemed awkward to her, not being able to call me by my real name – whatever it may have been at one point in time. I 'hmmm'-ed. "You can do the same, if you'd like."

Now it was her turn to blink; long dark lashes catching on a few stray strands of cobalt, which had to be swept away absently. "Really?" Tone unsure. Slightly intrigued. She took a moment to think, something that the both of us seemed to be doing a lot of. "Well…what would you like to be called? Do you have a preference?"

I went back through my paltry selection of memories, trying to see if I had anything in particular that I favored above the others. Hanna had conjured up some rather interesting names over the short period of time that I had known him, but most of them I just sort of tuned out. I was used to responding to anything and everything by now. Hadn't taken me long, in retrospect.

But did I have a favorite? To have a favorite meant that I had all but chosen my new name. Didn't it? I still don't know. If I chose a new name, then didn't it mean that I had chosen to be an entirely new person? That I was giving up on finding who I was before?

No. No, it didn't. Because I had no real reason to hold on to who that person was. I didn't have to let my previous self go, because it no longer mattered. Slowly but surely, I was becoming something different; hopefully better. And I liked it. And I could thank people like Hanna, like Toni, for that change. So did I have a choice of name? Perhaps. Not that a certain redheaded paranormal investigator need know. (Allow him his simple pleasures; he could use any he could get.)

It was the first thing that Hanna had called me. Sort of a turning point for my un-life, I suppose. Out of all the others he had tried, it was the only one to stick in my mind for longer than a day.

After a beat, I spoke. "Galahad."

She repeated it to herself, testing the sound, before nodding in approval. "I like it, it suits you." Her hand slipped away from her chin and extended towards me. "It's nice to finally meet you, Galahad."

I took her hand into my gloved one and gave it a light half-squeeze. A sort of casual shake. "It is wonderful to meet you too, Toni."

"We're gonna be great friends, I know it."

"Yes, I think we really will."

Until the next time, friend. Until the next time…

Ffffffff, this was supposed to be all cute and fluffy and full of tooth-rotting friendship, but it turned into {…} musings. Oh well. I have other presents waiting for my Anam Cara! I love you, darling!

Musical Muse: none