I'm really considering redoing a lot of the earlier drabbles in this set. They are too embarrassing to look at, and that's better than deleting them entirely.

Anyway, the prompt for this one was "How much do they trust each other?"

Clearly my legs were longer than Daiba's, and I could jump farther, but this was getting ridiculous. "Daiba, just jump," I said for the dozenth time. "You don't even have to make it halfway. I'll catch you."

He shook his head wildly, his hair whipping in every direction. His wide eyes were locked on the seemingly bottomless chasm that separated us. He looked dizzy, likely from vertigo, and I was certain the only reason he hadn't sat down was because I'd specifically told him not to.

The gap was no more than two yards across, splitting our rocky path into two cliff sides. It was the closest the two sides came as far as I could see, and I had made the jump without a problem. If he didn't follow, we would have to find a way around to get back to the ship, and that could take hours.

"Then let this be a lesson," I said, crossing my arms. "Crashing Cosmo fighters means having to walk back over difficult terrain. Now come on, Daiba."

"It would be fine if it was just walking!" he spat. His eyes flashed from the gap to me before he took another step back.

I sighed through my nose. Sure, the gap was wider than he was tall, but he certainly had the strength in his small frame to make the jump. "Just get a running start, and leap across," I said. "No matter what, I'll make sure you don't fall." I doubted I would need to lend him any aid, but if consoling words were what it took to get him to try, then I would give him them.

He leaned his weight between his feet with clear fear and anxiety written across his face. His stubbornness always was a problem, but he went into fights with Mazone with less worry than this. "Daiba," I attempted again. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes," he said through a small whine.

"Do you trust me to catch you if anything goes wrong?"

He nodded, though he wouldn't look at me.

"So why not jump?"

Though his face has been unnaturally pale since we'd come across the gap, his cheeks began burning a deep red that spread out to the rest of his face and the tips of his ears. "I don't want to!" he snapped. "I'll go around." As if I'd somehow offended him, he turned on a dime and started off down the flat, barren wasteland of a planet.

It looked like we were going to have to do things the hard way.

He jumped and spun back around as he heard me land solidly back on his side. "Come on, Daiba," I said as I closed the gap between us. He didn't understand my intentions until my arm swiped his legs out from under him.

"No!" he howled. "I do not need you help!" He was trying to be stubborn, but he just sounded panicked. I held him easily in a bridal carry as he tried to punch at my chest to get me to let go. There was no power behind his swings, and he was almost hilariously light. Sometimes I forgot how small he really was.

"I'm not helping," I said as I stepped back into position for a running start. "I'm doing it for you."

His response was a desperate string of "no" spoken in rapid succession. His arms shot to hold a death grip around my neck, and he shook like a leaf against me. "Daiba," I called gently. "You can trust me. I wouldn't let you fall."

"But what happens when we fall?" he stuttered in sheer terror. He'd pressed himself to me to keep as far away from the gap as possible.

I smiled, leaning my face down to breathe into his hair. "If I really wasn't going to make it, I'd still make sure you did. Either way, I'll get you across."

"That is so stupid," he muttered. Tears pricked at his eyes. "I don't want you to die from some dumb fall. You're so stupid."

"Do you trust me to make it?" I asked. If he honestly did not, I wasn't going to jump. We would find a way around, or we would wait for the Arcadia to finish repairs and let it pick us up.

He swallowed before jerkily forcing his head to nod. "Y-yeah," he managed. "I do."

And so I ran and jumped just as I had twice before. Even with the extra weight, I made it by a mile. Daiba seemed close to having a panic attack even after we'd made it to solid ground, but then he laughed. It was more of a high, uneven twitter as his nerves dispersed. "Dear God, we made it," he murmured dazedly.

I was about to say something smug, but he grabbed the back of my head and wrenched me into a desperate kiss, stealing my words. Before I could properly react, he rolled out of my arms and began wandering on unsteady legs back toward the ship. Another odd laugh left him, while I stood there staring at his back.

Well, perhaps that was his means of paying me back for the assistance. I couldn't say I minded the method.