A/N: I completely deleted the original story I had and am completely remixing it.
Walter is going to be gay. I'm gonna say that flat out, so if y'all have a problem with the lack of Paige/Walter pairing or you hate gay people, then that little arrow pointing to the left on the top left part of your screen is very useful. It's called the back button.
Your summary:
Nathan Cressler is the only remaining heir to the CEO of Gem Enterprises, the biggest jewelry company on Earth. And his father hates his guts.
Nathan doesn't mind; he likes his small, cozy apartment with the sweet old lady across the hall who always helps him out. He likes his black cat Cicero, the best companion ever on rainy nights. He likes his simple, well-paying job at Cozy Corners Book Shop and Café. He likes his life in general.
At least, that's what he tells himself.
In reality, Nathan is a lonely 22 year old who's never been on a date. He's never been in love, and frankly he doesn't want to be. Love is an emotion found on the losing side, and Nathan never loses. He's a master cardsman with more tricks up his sleeves than Houdini.
Then he meets Scorpion, and one Walter O'Brien, and it all goes to hell.
Well, Nathan Cressler, Magician Extraordinaire, isn't afraid of getting burned.
Enjoy, guys, and remember: constructive criticism is always welcome, but flamers will be barbecued.
Disclaimer: I am the proud owner of Nathan Cressler, but I am not the owner of Scorpion, or Walter.
Note: By the way, guys! For future reference, Walter is 31. I did the math: if he was 11 in 1994, when he was arrested, and 1994 was 20 years ago, 20 + 11 = 31.
Sources:
Card symbols: .
Moon Facts: /the-moon/
*~Line Break~*
*Paige's POV*
I corralled Ralph into the tiny bookshop/café that a friend had recommended to me. I looked around; it was cute, very quaint and definitely likable. I'd come here more often if I had the time.
I nodded to the man behind the counter, who looked up from his book and smiled at me through fashionable glasses. "Let me know if you need help finding something," he said. I smiled at him in thanks, more so because he actually sounded genuine unlike so many other store clerks. The man nodded at me and went back to reading, a slight frown shaping on his forehead as he concentrated. He was cute, with a thin, angular face and almost feminine cheekbones, bright green eyes and wavy black hair. His build was lean and wiry, but I sensed a hidden strength inside him.
I bent towards my silent son. "Ralph, why don't you go find a book on quadratic equations?" I offered. Sylvester had recommended that idea to me. Ralph nodded happily and began wandering through the bookshelves. I did the same, but I headed towards the adult romances.
A bit later, I peeked around the bookshelves and noticed the clerk had gone. I looked around for him and to my complete astonishment found him sitting beside Ralph on the floor, explaining something to him. Ralph didn't speak to him, but he nodded along and gave the man his full attention. That in and of itself was a huge surprise, because Ralph almost never made eye contact with anyone. The only two people he did that with was myself and Walter. Here he was, looking the store clerk in the eye and paying attention to him. Granted, he didn't speak to him, but that wasn't unusual at all. I was just glad Ralph seemed to be connecting with others now.
I walked up to them and the clerk smiled at me. "Hi," I said with returning smile. "I'm ready to check out." I held up my two books. The man nodded and stood, heading towards the counter. I helped Ralph up.
"Did you find what you wanted?" I asked him and he nodded, showing me the title of a thick book; it was about geometric occurrences in code typing. I smiled; Walter would like this book.
I took the book and placed all three on counter. The clerk scanned them and I noticed his nametag said Nathan. The name suited him, I decided as I observed him.
"I don't mean to be rude, but may I ask why you haven't taken your eyes off me?" Nathan said with a small smile. I jumped and blushed.
"I'm sorry. I just was thinking that your name suited you," I explained and he looked thoughtful.
"You're the first person to say that," he said. "Besides myself, of course." I chuckled along with him.
"And your total is $15.95," Nathan said. I paid with a Visa and grabbed my bag of books.
"I'll definitely be coming back here," I said and Nathan smiled widely.
"Glad to hear it," he returned. We said our goodbyes and Ralph and I headed for the door. Ralph turned and waved at Nathan, who smiled and waved back. That made me smile; it seems Ralph had a potential new friend.
*~Line Break~*
*Paige's POV*
"Ok, so let's get this straight: you want us to prove that Harold Cressler, the CEO and jewel god of the biggest jewelry company on the planet, is committing fraud against his customers?" Happy said with great emphasis to Gallo. Said agent nodded.
"Exactly," he said simply.
"Impossible!" Sylvester declared nervously.
"Hell no!" Toby agreed. "We may be good, but we're not that good!"
Gallo sighed. I didn't blame him. "Look," he said firmly. "You guys are the best team I've got right now and the only ones who could possibly prove that Cressler is ripping off his own customers. The man's got firewalls on his firewalls three times over! There's no one else for the job but you!"
"Well find one!" Happy snapped. "Cause I'm not even going near this case!" The others made noises of assent. Everyone except Walter, who kept looking at Ralph like he couldn't figure him out, which was really weird because Walter knew Ralph better than anyone.
"Who did you guys meet today?" Walter finally asked me, and I blinked.
"What do you mean?" I asked in confusion.
"Ralph hasn't once looked up from his book, not even to help Sylvester with his equations. He shows an extraordinary attachment to that book, which means someone who means a lot to him gave it to him. I ask again, who did you meet?" I bristled at his tone and was about to snap at him when Ralph spoke up.
"Nathan gave it to me. He said that it was more interesting that quadratic equations," he said simply. I stared at him, as did everyone else.
"Nathan from the bookstore?" I clarified and Ralph nodded. I nodded back in understanding and turned to Walter.
"We went to a new bookstore a bit out of town and the clerk had been talking to Ralph," I explained. "Apparently he recommended the book to him and must've been explaining something to him."
"Which bookstore?" Toby asked.
"Uh, Cozy Corners Bookshop and Café," I answered absentmindedly. I turned to my son, who was indeed absorbed in the book.
"Ralph, honey, what was Nathan talking to you about?" I asked gently and Ralph looked up at me.
"He was telling me about the time he made a car disappear and reappear in the person's house. He said the person was really mad," he said and there was a small smile on his lips.
"Wait, disappear?" I clarified in surprise. Ralph nodded again.
"Yeah, that's Nathan's gift," he said in a completely casual tone. "Magic."
"Guys," Toby said from his computers. "Guess who this guy is."
*~Line Break~*
*Nathan's POV*
I moved my hips to the beat as I sang along to Maroon 5's Animals. It was my favorite song ever. I whirled around the shop, organizing and straightening shelves as I went. It was my day to clean up and lock up the shop. I didn't mind; I loved blasting my music of choice as I did the chores.
I whirled again so I was facing the window and stopped, cocking my head. A black van pulled into the parking lot and stopped. A man in a suit got out of the driver's seat and I sighed. "Smells like government," I muttered to myself. I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms as I watched three men get out of the car and, interestedly, the girl from earlier. I noticed Ralph wasn't with her.
I didn't move as the team walked up to the door. I smiled and waved sarcastically when the older man couldn't open the locked door. He held up a Homeland Security badge and I flipped him off. The man in the hat laughed and I grinned. The girl rolled her eyes and mouthed "Please?" I sighed and rubbed my forehead before going to unlock the door.
"Thank you," the girl said and I rolled me eyes.
"What do you want?" I asked irritably. "I'm kinda busy cleaning up."
"We just want to ask you a couple of questions," Mr. Shades said. I pursed my lips.
"Not interested," I barked. "Now get out." I turned my back to walk away.
"I wouldn't turn my back if I were you, Mr. Cressler," Mr. Shades said and I froze.
"Who the hell told you my name?" I spat viciously, whirling. Mr. Shades smirked.
"Toby?" he asked. The guy in the hat answered.
"Severely agitated, but there's more anger than fear, so my guess is he knows nothing about what his father is doing and hates his guts," he rattled off. I was momentarily confused.
"What my father is doing?" I asked cautiously, relaxing a bit as everyone else did. They weren't coming to arrest me or drag me back to that snake, so I'd be a little more civil.
"Your father is ripping off his clients," Mr. Shades told me and I relaxed fully, rubbing my eyes.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" I mumbled. I looked at them tiredly. "Ok, what do you guys need to know?"
A few minutes later, I served everyone fresh coffee according to their tastes and sat down beside Paige
"What exactly is your relationship with your father?" Walter (as he had introduced himself) asked me. I had to grin a bit.
"Not good," I said simply. "He hates me because I'm gay and I refused to 'renounce my sinful ways'." To my gratitude, no one even gave me a second glance after that little bombshell. Toby only nodded.
"That makes sense; it fits in with his personality," he agreed and I snorted into my coffee (black with three sugar packets).
"Does it ever," I muttered and Happy chuckled with me.
"So when was the last time you spoke to your dad?" Paige asked and I shrugged.
"He calls every year on New Years' Day exactly to try and get me to come home. So, last New Year's," I replied. "Now I have a question for you guys: why are you coming to me? I'm sure you've seen the articles about the family schism." The group exchanged uneasy looks. I cocked a brow and sat up.
"What aren't you telling me?" I demanded.
"We…we have reason to believe that your dad might send people after you to make sure you don't talk about him," Happy finally answered. I was incredibly confused.
"But we haven't talked in almost a year! I don't know anything about him!" I nearly shouted, panic starting to rise in my chest. When my dad sends "people" after you, you don't normally come back alive.
Paige patted my arm to try and calm me down. "We know that, but he's being paranoid."
"How the hell am I going to be safe?!" I said breathlessly. "What am I going to do?!" I clenched my fists to stop their shaking, but it didn't do anything. I know I looked wild – eyes widened, face pale as milk. No matter the front I put on, I was honestly scared of my dad. He was cold as ice – he had no heart even where his family was concerned.
"We can arrange for my best security team to keep an eye on you," Agent Gallo assured me. I chuckled nervously. I felt trapped.
"You have any idea what my dad can do?" I whispered hoarsely. "He's a madman! No 'security team' can stop him!"
"We can," Happy shot back. "Trust me, we can." I scoffed at her and stood, shaking all over. I needed to get out of there before I lost it.
"Excuse me," I mumbled and practically ran out of the room. I burst out the back door and slumped against the wall, taking deep breaths and letting them out again. I shook myself mentally – what was I doing? How the heck was freaking out going to help me? All it was going to do was give me a heart attack.
I rubbed my face with my hand and noticed I was still shaking. I looked up at the moon, trying to focus on that.
"Did you know that the moon drifts about 3.8 cm away from the Earth every year?" a voice said, making me jump. It was Walter.
"No, I didn't," I said truthfully.
"Yep. Did you also know that only 12 people have every walked on the moon, and all were males?" he continued. I knew what he was doing – he was trying to calm me down by giving me something else to focus on. I smiled a little.
"Actually I did know that one," I said. He smiled a bit too, but it was a cold smile. It had no warmth; it was only there to put me at ease. It worked, too, I was surprised to find.
"The Earth's moon is also the fifth largest natural satellite in the solar system," he continued, leaning beside me. I leaned my head back against the hard brick wall and focused on nothing but his presence beside me and his voice as he continued to spout random facts. He was very warm and solid, a reassuring presence beside me.
Whoa, Nate, I told myself. No falling for Iceman over here. Not allowed.
"I'm gay too," Walter said and that jerked me out of my thoughts.
"What?" I asked in astonishment. Walter nodded; I couldn't read his face in the moonlight.
"Just thought you should know why no one reacted to your little declaration," he said. He stood up and went back inside.
I stood there in complete shock. Ok, who the hell was this guy? Why did he even come out here? His whole body language suggested he didn't care about anyone and yet there he was, trying to calm me down from my almost-panic attack. And then that bombshell! What the hell was that all about?! He had no reason to tell me he was gay, and yet he did. I resisted the urge to bang my head against the wall behind me.
Walter O'Brien was really lucky he was cute.
*~Line Break~*
*Nathan's POV*
"You know, you have a really nice place," Paige said as she looked around my living room. I smiled to myself from the stove.
"Thanks. Most people think it's weird looking," I replied.
"No, not at all! I love all the memorabilia," she reassured and I had to turn to make sure she wasn't lying. She wasn't.
"Huh. Well, thanks," I said sincerely. "I love magic."
"Ralph said that's your gift," she blurted. "Magic." I chuckled.
"You could call it that," I agreed. "As I'm sure you know, I'm an all-around brainiac, but my proficiency is sleight of hand."
"That's awesome," Paige said wistfully. I laughed this time.
"Thank you. Want to see a trick?" I asked as I finished stirring the chili and turned it down to simmer. I turned to her and smiled.
"Sure!" Paige agreed with a smile back. I grinned and flopped on the couch beside her, flicking my cards out vertically in my hand, seemingly from nowhere. I winked cheekily when she rolled her eyes.
"Pick a card, any card," I said grandly. Paige snorted and picked one – Ace of Hearts, I saw. I smiled. How appropriate.
"Study the card," I said, still in my "tacky-magician" act. She suppressed a smile and did so.
"Put it back in the deck." She did this as well. I did my shuffling trick, watching as her amazement. I shuffled the deck like normal and then held up the Queen of Hearts.
"Is this your card?" I asked. She smiled and shook her head. I pretended to be disappointed.
"Well, damn," I muttered. "That trick has never failed me before." Paige patted my arm.
"Don't worry; not even Walter is perfect," she tried to comfort me. I sighed and flicked the card over in my hand.
"I was so sure this was your card, though," I said, holding it up again.
Her astonishment was priceless.
"I still want to know how you did that!" Paige grumbled and I laughed.
"A good magician never reveals his tricks," I said as I opened the garage door for her. "And I am the best." She scoffed at me and flounced past – or tried to. I could tell she was holding in laughter.
I laughed again and sauntered in behind her, doing a full 360 to take everything in. Already I had identified five possible places for tricks; give me another minute and I could have fifteen.
"Mr. Cressler," the crisp voice of Agent Gallo greeted me. I smirked to myself as I pointedly kept my back to him.
"Shades," I returned. I heard a snort – probably Toby.
"You are aware that you won't win any points with us when you insult one of our team members, right?" Walter said. I grinned as I turned to him smoothly.
"You do know I don't give a damn, right?" I shot back casually, stretching. I was wearing a cashmere sweater, collared shirt, jeans, and high-tops today and I looked good. Even I didn't miss the way Walter's eyes oh-so-quickly flicked over my form. My grin widened until it was practically devilish.
"See something you like?" I purred. To his credit, Walter didn't even flinch.
"Not in a million years," he returned and I mock cringed, placing a dramatic hand over my heart.
"You wound me!" I gasped. Walter rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to respond, but Paige beat him to it.
"Oh please," she scoffed. "You don't have a heart." That diffused the tension, much to my disappointment. I glared at her mildly; I was having fun! She gave me a stern look in return and I rolled my eyes, waving her off.
I flopped in a comfortable rolling chair and began to spin myself around.
"That's my chair," Walter said without looking up from his screen.
"I don't care," I replied.
"Get out."
"No."
"You're annoying."
"Thank you." I grinned.
"I hate you."
"Most people do," I agreed, but that one hurt a little. I wasn't about to let him see that, however. He must've heard something in my voice, though, because his next sentence shocked me.
"I…I didn't mean that," he said more quietly. I smiled a bit through my astonishment.
"It's ok," I said truthfully. He turned and nodded at me and I got out of his chair.
"Well I'm off," I announced, heading for the door. "Nice to see y'all again!"
"Wait, where are you going?" Paige asked.
I shrugged. "I have work. I doubt any of y'all want to hang out in a bookshop for eight hours."
"I will," Happy volunteered, to everyone's disbelief. She looked around. "What? It's in the job description, isn't it?" she said. "You know, protecting magic man over here?" I snorted loudly and doubled over with laughter. I couldn't help it; that had brought up a reference that amused me to no end.
"Um, Nate? You ok?" Paige asked cautiously. I controlled myself to an extent and waved her off.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," I gasped, wiping away tears of laughter. "God that was good!" I started giggling again when I thought of the reference.
Everyone dismissed my amusement as I struggled to hold in my laughter, biting my lip and holding my breath.
"Right ok. Happy will go guard Nate for the time being and the rest of us will dig up some dirt on Cressler, Sr.," Walter instructed. Everyone went out their business and Happy and I left the garage. Her silence was both hilarious and incredibly uncomfortable.
This'll be fun.
*~Line Break~*
*Happy's POV*
I watched with barely disguised disgust as an older man gave Nathan hassle because "the stupid clerk couldn't find my book!"
"Sir, I'm sorry, but we do not stock the book series you are looking for," Nathan said in that same patient tone. How he hadn't punched the guy's nose in yet, I'll never know.
"You are a worthless piece of crap," the man snarled. "So is this store. I'm out of here!" He stormed out.
Silence reigned for a moment.
"You ok?" I asked finally. Nathan took off his glasses and rubbed his forehead.
"Define ok," he muttered. I got up and hopped onto the counter.
"Not everyone's like that," I said after another pause. "Even I know that." He smiled up at me through bleary, exhausted eyes. I was struck with the realization that he, no matter the front he put on, was really and truly lonely.
He cocked a brow at me. "What is it with women and staring?" he said. I blinked and looked away.
"What is it with men and stupid questions?" I shot back. Nathan only stood straight and walked out from behind the counter. As he reached the shelves across the room, he turned to me; I was frozen by the intensity of those green eyes.
"What is it with you and blocking everyone and everything out?" he replied softly, so softly that I shouldn't have been able to hear it from that distance.
But I did.
I leaned against the car, watching as Nathan shook hands with the rough-looking man at the front of the store. The man smiled at him and clapped him on the arm as Nathan turned to go.
Nathan was smiling as he walked up to the car. "That your boss?" I asked.
"As if you didn't already know," Nathan replied. I inwardly winced; apparently he was still ticked off at me from earlier.
"You two know each other long?" I asked as we slid into his car.
"Why do you even care?" he asked tiredly as he tossed his bag into the backseat. Yep, still mad.
I shrugged. "I just want to know. Making sure he's not a threat." Nathan snorted.
"Sav's not a threat. He's my best friend. I'm the one who got him and his husband together," Nathan said. I jerked.
"He's gay?" I asked. The guy didn't look gay, but then again who was I one to judge?
"Clearly, if I just said husband," Nathan retorted. Ouch. He could be worse than Walt sometimes, and that was saying something.
"You still hate me," I said with a nod, staring out my window at the dark streets and alleys we passed.
"What gave you that impression?" Nathan muttered and I sighed.
"You have a reason to," I allowed. Nathan snorted.
"You don't say," he snarked. "You have a really, really bad anger problem, but of course you knew that! I'm not ticked because you snapped at me – I've heard worse, trust me. What I'm ticked about is that you locked me out when I was only trying to be friendly! I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I'm not a bad guy! A jerk, sure, but all guys are to some extent! You need to stop blocking people out, or I promise you they will hurt you more than any friend ever could!" He shut his mouth with an audible snap and stared resolutely at the road, refusing to look at me. His jaw was clenched tight, as were his hands on the steering wheel.
I said there in complete shock. No one, not even Walter, had ever had the courage to say something like that to me. My first reaction was anger, but for once I shoved that aside and really looked at myself. Of course I knew what I did to others, but what I didn't know – what I didn't allow myself to know – is what it did to me.
What I found in that proverbial mirror upset me more than I'd ever let on.
To distract myself, I chanced a glance at the man sitting beside me. He was still angry, but I could tell he'd relaxed some. That was progress.
I stopped. No, I wasn't making progress with him. He was making progress with me. With the team. One by one, he was healing us. He'd started with Ralph and Paige, then moved on to Walter (and I had an inkling he wasn't finished with him yet), and now to me. He was fixing us.
I smiled to myself and leaned back in my seat. I wasn't healed yet, but now it was up to me. I had to let go of my past hurt and let people in – starting with Paige.
*~Line Break~*
*Walter's POV*
I looked up when the door opened and saw Happy and Nathan walk in. Right away I knew something was off: Nathan was completely emotionless, but Happy looked – I don't know, more relaxed. Even happy, no pun intended. She flashed me a small but genuine smile and I jerked slightly, but smiled back a little unsurely – what the heck had happened?!
I glanced at Nathan but he refused to look at me, instead transferring his gaze to the floor. I noticed that Paige had seen the odd behavior too. Happy waved me off and I let her go with a nod; she wasn't the one to be concerned about, as she was obviously fine. She went over to Toby and he began to brief her on what we had found already.
I turned my attention back to Nathan, who had his arms crossed in the classic defensive position and had his back turned to the rest of the team.
I stopped myself – the rest of the team? Was I already considering Nathan as part of our band of misfits? My brow furrowed in interest as I realized that yes, I already was. Huh. I filed that interesting tidbit away for later and got up.
"Nathan?" I muttered so as not to disturb Sylvester's work on a coding equation for me. Nathan nodded slightly to show he had heard. "You ok?"
"Why do you care?" he asked just as softly and I was confused.
"'Cause we've been assigned to protect you," I said slowly. Nathan half-smiled, but it was a cold smile. Colder than even mine.
"Physically. Not emotionally," he whispered, and jogged up the steps to the kitchen area upstairs. I immediately turned to Happy, who raised her hands in defense.
"We had a problem," she admitted. "But we worked it out outside so we wouldn't mess up the dynamic in here." I nodded slowly – she was clearly telling the truth, and I did remember hearing the difference between two doors closing outside and the footsteps walking up to the door.
"So what's wrong with him?" Paige asked for all of us, and Happy sighed and shrugged.
"He'd gotten a text as we were walking in and he just…shut down," she said helplessly. I was again struck by how different she looked and acted. Happy was never helpless. She must really, really like him, I realized. It seems that Mr. Cressler, Jr., was slowly worming his way into our team.
I didn't have one problem with that.
Several hours later, I went up the stairs to make sure that Nathan was still alive. I stopped dead when I found him sitting cross-legged with his back to me on the floor, wearing nothing but his jeans. I was even more startled to see what looked like whip marks crisscrossed on his back. I swallowed and turned on my heel, ready to go back down the stairs and bury myself alive in codes.
Before I could, he spoke. "It's rude to stare," he muttered, standing smoothly and pulling on his shirt.
"I wasn't," I said far too loudly. I slapped myself mentally – get a grip O'Brien!
"You were," Nathan replied, and I detected a definite note of amusement. Shit.
"Yeah well," I grumbled and slapped myself again. I was usually the poster boy for eloquence and then this happens?! Gah. Stupid magician and his stupid hotness.
Ok now I wanted to bang my head against the wall. I was about to do it, too, when Nathan's voice interrupted my train of thought.
"Why'd you come up here? Oh, and I'm dressed now," he teased and I turned around, definitely not blushing. Nope. I wasn't blushing.
"I came to see if you were still alive," I said with my usual indifference. Nathan cocked a brow.
"Well hi. I still exist. You can go now," he said and I frowned ever-so-slightly to see his walls go back up.
"Alright," I agreed. I knew that he was working through something, and I knew that like me, he'd want to be alone while he did that. If he didn't come down in the next hour, though, I was sending Paige up to try and find out what was going on.
As I walked down the stairs, my mind was whirring with all the new data I had collected. Some was about Nathan, but most was about me.
Since I was a little kid, I had long struggled to express common emotions like affection, empathy, and love. After my sister was hospitalized, I had completely shut down all emotion to protect myself. But now…now this boy had somehow made me feel again. I replayed that word with distaste – who wanted to feel, when all that was to be had was pain? Sentiment is an emotion found on the losing side, and I was determined not to lose.
Lord, how wrong I was.
*~Line Break~*
*Nathan's POV*
I slouched in my chair in the restaurant, absorbed in my phone. Or I appeared to be; in reality I was letting Toby try and analyze me. It was this silent game we had going on for the past few days – I played Iceman while Toby tried to read me. It was great practice for us both, me in hiding my emotions and Toby in reading.
"Ok I give up," he announced finally. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking that you give up too easily," I said as I stowed my phone in my pocket. "You're too insecure about your choices, which stems from too many mess ups." I could practically feel the wall going up between us and smiled a bit. Game on.
"Yeah?" Toby challenged with a rather sinister smile. "Since when do you know about me?"
"Since I know that you keep everybody at arms-length for fear of hurting them by accident," I replied quietly, my eyes drilling into him. He seemed frozen in place. "You use humor and snark to cover up your pain and fear, but when someone nails you on your failures you break down. You react with sadness and anger, pushing that person further away. However, you are also quick to forgive, which you view as a weakness. It's not," I said before he could interrupt. "It's not a weakness. It means you have a good heart, no matter what you try to prove. If you show that heart, Toby, you'll win your happiness." I stood and went to pay for our lunch.
Four down, two to go.
The ride back to base was silent. Toby seemed lost in thought, which made me do an internal happy dance. Oh God, no pun intended!
"What?" Toby asked as he noticed my grimace.
"Nothing," I said, giggles rumbling up inside me. "Trust me, you don't want to know." He nodded slowly and went back to thinking; I could practically hear the gears turning.
We pulled up outside the garage and got out. I followed Toby inside and walked up to Paige, intending to ask her a quick question. I didn't notice Walter staring after Toby with a frown. Before I could even open my mouth, Walter was in my personal space. I flinched back out of reflex and that gave him the advantage.
"What the hell are you doing to my team?!" he hissed, eyes flashing with rage. I was completely dumbfounded and starting to panic.
"I was helping them-," I started to say but Walter interrupted me.
"No you weren't! You're barging in on my team and messing up the perfect dynamic we had going! You're making us weaker by making them stronger!" he spat with pure venom. "I don't want you around them anymore, you little freak. Get out!"
I stared at him, every muscle burning with shame and anger and pure hatred. I opened my mouth to speak, but realized I couldn't through the lump in my throat. Blinking away burning tears, I grabbed my coat and ran out the door, not even paying attention to my car. I hit the road at full speed and shot off, the way in front of me blurred by my tears.
The blare of a horn. Brief pain.
Nothing.
*~Line Break~*
A/N: How badly do you guys want to kill me now? Cause this is so much fun.
Yes, yes, I know I'm evil. Please stop complimenting me.