"If I may" Rock butted in, "I think you should just do what you feel, Revy".
The girl grinned at his words.
"I swear if I took your suggestion, you'd regret it" she answered, sitting down on the couch in front of him.
Rock immediately cast her a glance of resentment.
"What do you mean? That you would shoot me?" he asked hysterically.
Both Benny and Dutch stopped what they were doing to look at the japanese guy: he was now sitting on the edge of his chair, openly challenging Revy with air of contempt.
Two Hands lifted her head and gave a rapid look at her boss and her jewish workmate.
"Well, that's not what I meant, but if you want me to shoot you, it'll be my pleasure".
"Ah!" he exclaimed, suddenly standing up. "Yeah, sure, shoot me! So you can show the whole world how fucking cool you are!"
While still yelling at the girl, he stormed out of the room, leaving Revy no time to answer back.
"What's the fucking problem with the guy?" she asked to the rest of the Lagoon Company. "Is he on his fucking period?"
Dutch shook his head.
"I don't know shit" he said, "but he better calm the fuck down or he's gonna get a stroke".
In the same moment Benny stood from his chair, tidied his blond hair and said:
"I'm going to the Yellow Flag. Anybody's coming?"
"I am" answered Dutch.
Benny got the car keys and turned towards Two Hands, who was still sitting on the couch.
"Revy?"
She shook her head no.
"No way. Too fucking hot outside".
She lifted her legs and stretched them on the sofa.
"Just don't kill Rock, ok?" said Dutch, leaving.
"Don't worry, boss, we'll be fine" she answered, smiling. But after a pause of a second, she added:
"But where the fuck is he anyway?"
"Maybe in the bathroom, laying on the floor crying" said Benny.
Two Hands laughed at her colleague's joke.
"We'll discover, sooner or later" she said, watching the two men close the door behind their backs.
She laid on the couch for a while, resting with her eyes closed and enjoying the cool breeze coming from the ceiling fan.
After some time, however, she really began to wonder where Rock had gone to hide himself.
She opened her eyes and scanned the room: everything was perfectly calm and she couldn't hear a single noise in the whole office.
Her mind started enumerating the multiple ways Rock could have killed himself, either willingly or accidentally.
She didn't want to leave her comfortable position, but Dutch wouldn't have believed that she hadn't killed him, when they would have found his corpse.
Cussing in a whisper, she stood from the sofa and moved towards the corridor.
"Rock?" she called out. "I'm not gonna kill you, I promise".
No answer.
"What the fuck?" she mumbled to herself.
She knocked on the bathroom door, but got no response. She kept searching, opening every door and looking in every room.
In the end, the only place she hadn't investigated was the office closet, a cubby-hole where they stored munitions, guns and food supplies.
Revy fronted the door.
"Jesus fucking Christ, please don't let me find him hanging from the ceiling" she muttered to herself.
She put a hand on the door-knob and slowly opened.
As soon as she looked inside, she found her japanese co-worker sitting on the floor, with his forehead resting on his curled up legs.
Revy looked at him with horror: she couldn't figure out what on earth he was doing in there.
Rock lifted his head and gave her an anguished look.
Two Hands reappraised the idea of shooting him in his brain for a second, but then again it would have been like shooting a seal pup.
"Did you chill the fuck out already?" she asked, looking at him from upside down.
"Yeah" he answered in a low tone, "I'm sorry".
Rock stood up tiredly.
Staring at him while he left both the closet and herself behind, Revy said:
"You've been acting like a psycho these last days. What's the matter with you?"
"I don't know" answered Rock in a mournful tone. He had reached the large window from which he could admire Roanapur's thousand lights in the dark of the night.
Revy headed to the fridge, got two cans of beer and threw one at Rock. She then got up to the same window Rock was at, and while they drank and smoked he began:
"Maybe I'm just stressed".
Revy looked at him with perplexity:
"Stressed for what? Delivering pizzas?" she said, ironically.
Rock looked down.
"Delivering guns" he answered, ruefully.
"Oh, for fuck's sake, Rock. If you have a problem with this job quit it, nothing's keeping you".
Rock didn't answer as he kept looking down on the street under their window.
Revy smiled at herself.
"Truth be told, I think I know what you problem is".
The japanese slowly raised his eyes towards his colleague.
"It seems to me you suffer from an inferiority complex or something". She paused.
Rock was now looking straight at Revy, waiting for her to continue.
"I mean, you're always trying to demonstrate you're on top of the situation, always up to what you are asked to do".
Two Hands was speaking without looking at his workmate, her eyes fixed on the ocean that extended as far as the horizon.
"As a rule, I wouldn't stop someone by doing that. Sure as hell, it's a good way to cover your ass, and God knows if you need to do that in this city. But I'm pretty sure your eternal feeling at fault is driving you nuts".
When she was done, she shut up. She dragged on the last puffs from her cigarette and then threw it down the street.
Rock was still silent, weighting up her words.
"And what do you suggest?" he asked, in the end.
Revy turned towards him and shrugged her shoulders.
"That you drop it. I know it was me who first told you to always watch your back, but maybe now it's time to relax, isn't it?"
Rock gave her a puzzled look.
"I'm not sure I got what you are trying to say".
"When you arrived in Roanapur, I wouldn't have bet a penny on your surviving the night. But you, well - " she hesitated, " kinda proved me wrong, since you're still bringing your ass around after two years. You showed the city you know how to do your job. And, Rock" she paused again, watching him straight in his dark eyes, "Respect is everything. So now just hang loose and stop acting like a psycho bitch".
Rock smiled, for the first time in the whole evening.
"Wow".
"Yeah" said Revy, visibly satisfied with her speech. "If you wanna be a gunslinger, you gotta understand how people behave, or else your target is always gonna rip you off".
She grinned.
"You may be right" Rock said. "But there's one fact you haven't counted".
Revy immediately turned pensive.
"What's that?"
"Every time I had to show to world how good I was at handling my shit, I always had a helping hand" he smiled unashamedly.
As he saw Revy turn her eyes away from him, he continued:
"So maybe, I'm not that ready to relax, yet".
"I didn't do much, this last time" she answered.
Revy was trying to play it off as she always did with everything, but Rock could see her discomfort in her aloof attitude.
"You did enough, I guess" he answered calmly, once again looking at the night landscape out of the window.
Now they were silent once again.
Rock was trying to find the words to express what was on his mind, but the already altered mood of his colleague made him weaver over the gentlest way to do it.
At last, he spoke hesitantly:
"Speaking of which, Revy, I feel like I've never thanked you plenty enough".
He was now gazing at her, but Revy was striving to keep her eyes away from his, and he wasn't sure why.
As she heard these words she answered immediately:
"Rock, I already told you that-"
"I know what you told me, I remember every word of it" he said, interrupting her. "But, even if i believe you when you say that you don't do anything for my sake, I must still thank you, if I'm alive. Psycho, but alive".
Revy dropped her gaze, visibly embarrassed.
"Whatever. If you're so eager to lick my ass, you're welcome".
Rock smiled, and went on:
"And I'm not just talking about the Lovelace affair. I have a lot to thank you for".
"Ok, I've heard enough, dickhead" said Revy.
She broke away from the windowsill and walked away from her japanese workmate.
She reached for another couple of beer cans in the fridge and then said:
"If you are done thanking me for babysitting your ass these last two years, I'm going to bed".
She turned her back on him and headed down the corridor.
Rock held back a smile: he was amazed at Revy's struggle for impassibility.
"I didn't say I'm done thanking you!" he protested, speaking out loud.
"I won't listen to another single word" she answered, without bothering to stop and turn.
While she spoke, Rock had followed her into the corridor, and was now only a couple of steps behind her.
"Here's the deal: let me thank you without using words, so that I can ease my conscience without getting on your nerves".
She slowly turned to face him.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" she asked, articulating her words.
But Rock was nearer than she had expected. Maybe three inches from her nose.
"Mind if I kiss you?" he asked candidly.
Revy's eyes widened with terror.
"You must be fucking kidding me!" she almost yelled, plainly panic-stricken.
"Not at all" answered Rock.
A two seconds hesitation was enough.
Before she could even elaborate an answer, Rock's lips met with hers.
Revy froze: she could see his closed eyelids and feel the warmth of his mouth on her own.
She knew she should have smashed his head; nevertheless, she felt paralyzed, and while Rock's lips kept pressing on her own, she couldn't have moved a single muscle, even if she wanted to.
It felt like eternity.
When he finally moved one step backwards, his eyes were gleamy.
Revy, still unable to react, stood still, looking at him in overwhelming astonishment.
Another thing she knew was she would have regretted she hadn't kicked his japanese ass the very second she had realized what had happened. Yet she couldn't do anything but stupidly stare at him.
On the other side, Rock, although proud of the success of his suicidal deed, was beginning to feel the embarrassment of the moment.
He felt the need to say something, no matter exactly what.
"So, how was it?" he asked, in a whisper.
Two Hands exercised all the self-control she was capable of.
"How was it to you?"
"Good" said he, vaguely smiling.
He still had his eyes locked with hers.
Revy slightly shook her head and looked away.
"Not worse than hearing you talk dog shit, I guess" she said.
Rock knew it couldn't get any better.
"So maybe…?"
He left the rest of his question to Revy's intuition, beckoning with his head at her bedroom's door behind her back.
Revy locked her eyes with his once again, and, speaking slowly, said:
"Don't even think about it".
Rock chuckled.
"C'mon, we were off to a good start" he teased her.
Revy smiled in turn, giving her workmate a provoking glance.
"If you don't get the fuck outta here in ten seconds, I'm gonna shove so much lead up your ass it's gonna come out of your nose".
Rock dropped his gaze, still smiling.
"Well, I tried".
Revy looked at him smugly and turned her back, heading to her bedroom.
"Night, baby" she said, waving a hand in the air.
Rock moved towards the front door of their office.
"Ah, Revy?"
He suddenly stopped, realizing there was one more thing he had to say.
"What now? Jesus Christ, you're a pain in the ass" was his colleague's reply.
Her voice reached him from deep down the corridor.
"I lied" he said, talking the the empty room.
There was silence.
After a couple of seconds, he could here Revy's combat boots' steps approaching.
She appeared on the doorstep, waiting for explanation.
"Actually, I lied twice" he paused, but Revy kept silent, leaning against the door jamb with her arms crossed.
"First, when I hinted at having sex, I lied: I don't wanna have sex".
"You don't?" she asked, giving him a puzzled look.
"No, er, I mean, yes, but… Not this way" he answered, visibly floundering.
He looked up at her for a second, and he could have swore he saw her blush for a moment.
"And secondly?" she asked, rapidly changing the subject.
Rock recollected his ideas:
"And secondly" he began, "I lied when I said the kiss was good".
Two Hands widened her eyes, ready to insult here co-worker.
"You nasty motherf-"
But Rock interrupted her:
"It was great".
He smiled, happy to see that he had aroused an intriguing feeling of surprise in the girl in front of him.
Revy stood still once again, looking at Rock with a mixture of perplexity and astonishment.
Rock reached for the door, grabbed the door-knob and leaving the office:
"Goodnight, baby" he said.