Rene winced as he pulled his mask off, setting it down on the table in front of him. He rolled his shoulder a couple of times, grimacing at the pain that shot through it. It wasn't so bad, he'd been through worse. That was an understatement, he'd been to hell and back; so much worse than a little shoulder ache. Regardless it was sore and annoying and he knew it was going to be a bitch tomorrow.
He shouldn't be complaining though, Curtis had taken a lot worse than him, as usual. Poor guy, even with his balls- sorry, T-spheres, even with those he still struggled on the field at times. Diana was a cop and crazy revenge seeking killer for a bit, Rene himself had grown up in the Glades and had military training. As far as he was aware the guy had been an athlete but that's it. There's only so far that can take a guy. Curtis had trained with Oliver too, but Rene wasn't really sure that should be considered training. More a test of patience and endurance of having your ass beat down time and time again.
Rene had told the guy to sit back, focus on the stuff he could do. Even gave him a riveting and awe inspiring speech about how badass his skills and balls- sorry, T-spheres were. The guy still insisted on having his ass kicked on the streets rather than just doing what he could do, what would actually help this team. Rene couldn't stay frustrated at him though, he couldn't imagine being benched like that and watching his friends get their asses beat, without him there to help. He'd rather take the beatings for the guy, but Curtis never decided to get his ass whooped in a convenient and timely manner. Always in some damn alley or dark corner away from where Rene could get to him. Idiot.
"Hey boys, I'm going to head off. Big day of stealing evidence for me tomorrow." Diana called out as she walked to the door, her equipment already packed away and stored. She walked gracefully as ever without even a limp, giving a wave over her shoulder at the two left in the room. She never seemed to get hurt, probably because she had that screech of hers she could use. Rene used to think he'd rather die than become a Meta, but damn, he'd be lying if he said it wasn't pretty badass. Besides, they weren't all evil, he knew that now. Curtis grunted out a cursory 'goodnight' and then the room returned to silence. It was weird, the guy usually talked a lot. Maybe he was badly hurt tonight. Rene tried to play it off as cool, but he couldn't help but notice the faint spark of panic which stirred inside him. He didn't like seeing anybody get hurt, especially not Curtis. As usual, it should have been him instead.
"Hey man, you alright?" Rene was proud to say that none of his uncertainty or worry crept into his voice. Curtis didn't respond so Rene turned to face him, leaning causally against the table his mask was on. "Saw you take a couple of kicks tonight and-" Curtis let out a frustrated little growl and shot an annoyed look at Rene. "I know that, obviously I know that." He was standing stiffly, his mask still in place as he trinketed with a ball on the work bench. "Your balls didn't-" once again Rene was cut off by an angry and annoyed little huff. "They're not balls, they're T-spheres! And I know that, obviously that's why I'm working on them. If they were functioning correctly then those guys wouldn't have gotten away, and as usual I couldn't do anything to-" this time Rene was the one to cut Curtis off as he stepped forward and grabbed the ball Curtis wasn't currently dissecting.
Rene started tossing the ball- sorry, 'T-sphere' from hand to hand, being careful not to drop it, despite how careless it might have looked to Curtis. Speaking of, the guy had a hilarious and adorable look of exasperation written across his face, like a kid who just had his candy snatched away. Woah Rene, where'd that thought come from? God he must be more exhausted than he thought he was. Rene stopped tossing the ball and placed it back on the bench. "Hey man, technology malfunctions, our coms have malfunctioned before. You're not to blame for your balls not working the way they should." Curtis shot him another tired look and quietly corrected him again, "T-spheres." Rene shrugged innocently, but he's sure he must of had a shit eating grin on his face. "You're the one who made these and the only one who worked out how to make em. I'm sure whoever it was that invented the lightbulb, Eddy or something wasn't it? didn't get it right first go." Curtis snorted quietly. "Thomas Edison. But it wasn't just him unlike we're taught it was-" Rene waved a hand at Curtis "yeah Eddy and those other guys. Well there would have been lots of failed ones and other mess ups so don't worry about the balls." Curtis sighed again but didn't correct Rene this time. His spirits seemed to be lifting a bit, which was good. "Thanks Rene, but like you said I should stick to the things I'm good at... but I'm not even good enough at those things!" Rene rolled his eyes at the guy. "You don't get it though do you? You are good at it. I could never do something like that. You're even a decent fighter. So stop whining and just use those badass skills to fix these things." Rene's patience was starting to wear thin. If something like that didn't work to fix the guys mood he's giving up.
Curtis is staring at him kind of weird and Rene can't work out whether his speech worked or not. He shrugs and turns around, deciding he should probably leave now seeing as he's got a job and all, and no alerts have gone off to alert them that some ass whooping needs to be served. "Rene?" He hums a response and turns to look at Curtis. "Thanks... I... yeah, thank you for that." Rene grins, there's the unnecessarily long and awkward sentences he's used to. Curtis smiles at Rene and turns back to his T-spheres with renewed determination. Rene can't help but grin as he exits the place and begins the journey home. If there's a warm and fuzzy sort of feeling in his chest he doesn't admit to it.