"Chad, are you listening to me?" Cree demanded.

He stared dully past her at the cheerfully wallpapered walls of her kitchen, head propped up in his hands. "Comic book store. Yipper cards. Sabotage," he listed in a monotone.

She frowned at him. "And your role?"

"Stand guard outside while you and Boy Wonder do whatever the hell it is you're going to do."

Maurice glared at him from across the table. After a couple half-hearted attempts to be friendly with Chad, he decided to let their relationship settle into mutual hatred. It didn't matter what that traitor thought of him as long as Cree trusted him. He caught her eye and she smiled at him. He smiled back coolly. At first lying to her was awkward, but it was getting easier and easier.

Chad saw their sappy glances and made a small noise of disgust. He stood abruptly and muttered, "So are we going now or what?"

Cree turned to focus on him and her expression quickly changed to business as usual. "Right. Okay, everybody, let's synchronize our watches. 0100 hours. Let's move—"

"Hold on a sec," Chad interrupted.

"What is it now?" Cree asked impatiently.

"Where's Maurice's BRA?"

Maurice froze. 'Crud. I'm gonna have to wear a BRA?' he worried to himself.

"He doesn't need one," Cree answered simply.

Maurice exhaled in relief while Chad questioned, "Why the hell not!"

"His role in this mission doesn't require Battle Ready Armor. Yours does. So suit up, Chaderella."

Chad's face reddened furiously as Maurice silently taunted him behind Cree's back.

"Okay, are we done with the delays? Let's—"

"Wait." This time it was Maurice.

"What is it, honey?"

Chad seethed quietly.

"I need to—call my parents. It won't take a second." He left the room quickly.

Chad stared at Cree as she looked over the comic book store blueprints one last time before folding them and tucking them away in her armor.

"He always runs off to make a phone call or something right before a mission," Chad stated.

"And your point is?"

"Don't you find it suspicious?"

"You're too paranoid, Chad."

"No I'm not, it's your brain that's turned to mush ever since you started dating him."

She glowered at him for a moment, but the expression faded into a smug one. "You're just jealous."

"Jealous of that loser? Yeah, right," he muttered, avoiding her eyes.

"You're jealous that we—"

"All right, guys, I'm ready to go," Maurice interrupted as he reentered the room.

Chad exited brusquely, making sure to shove his rival teammate out of his way as he did so.

"Jerk," Maurice mumbled. He looked at Cree. "What's his problem?"

"Don't mind him, he's got issues," Cree shrugged, and walked over to her boyfriend to rub his arm comfortingly. "If he weren't so good at hacking into mainframes I would have ditched him ages ago." Cree paused, reflecting. Chad's temper was getting noticeably worse lately. Ever since his thirteenth birthday she saw the way he pushed people away and acted like an all-around ass. But as they spent more time together on missions she got to know him better, and saw that underneath all the bitterness he wasn't such a bad guy. He had even started opening up to her more, talking to her. While he remained terse with almost everybody else, she and Chad were becoming friends. But now it was like they were back at square one. He stopped talking to her altogether, unless to insult Maurice or say something disparaging, even hurtful. She knew he hated interacting with others, but she didn't think he would take the addition of Maurice to the team this badly.

Cree sighed, pushing these contemplations from her mind. "He's really not that bad once you get to know him, just give him some time. I guess he's really not a people person."

She saw the way Maurice looked at her doubtfully. She didn't blame him, the way Chad had been acting these days.

---

Chad slammed his locker door shut with the finality of the last slam of the day.

"Chad, we need to talk."

He tensed for a second before turning to face Cree.

"What about?" He didn't mean to sound as defensive as he did.

"About the way you've been acting lately."

He frowned, and shouldering his backpack, started down the empty hallway.

Cree kept pace with him. "This isn't easy for me to talk about either, you know."

"Then let's not."

"I don't under—" Cree paused and began again. "It's gotten worse lately. Ever since Maurice joined the team you've been acting like a jerk."

Chad pushed through the exit doors and continued outside, walking rapidly, just short of breaking into a run. Still Cree continued, walking beside him.

"Maurice is part of our team now. You're going to have to accept that."

The two of them walk-ran through the school grounds in silence, Cree looking at Chad, waiting for a response. When they finally reached the street and had to pause for traffic, he spoke, glaring at the walk signal ahead of them.

"Fine. I accept it. That doesn't mean I have to like him."

"Why don't you like him? He's a good person, and he's trying to be friends with you. But he's giving up, the way you've been acting."

"Good." The signal changed and he recommenced his brisk walk.

"I don't know why you hate everyone so much. You could stand to have a few friends."

"I have friends."

"Name one," Cree challenged.

"Kenny," he named the first person he could possibly call a friend.

"Who?"

"You don't know him."

"Is he in one of your classes? What does he look like?"

"You don't know him," Chad repeated.

"Well, I want to meet him. We should all hang out together sometime."

"Can't."

"Why not?"

"He moved to Hawaii."

Cree sighed. "Do you have any friends on the continent?"

He remained silent. His pace slowed then he finally stopped.

"It's a lie anyways," he stated quietly.

"What is?"

"Kenny and I aren't friends anymore." Chad stared at the pavement at his feet. "He got decommissioned…it was my fault. Back when we were in Sector Q…." He trailed off, silently brooding.

Cree watched him intently, waiting for him to continue. "What happened?" she coaxed.

But her words had the opposite of her desired effect. He looked up at her, almost startled, and she could see him shutting her out again.

"Never mind." He strode forward again.

She caught up with him. "Chad—tell me, it'll be good to talk about it."

"It's nothing. Forget it."

"Why do you never talk to me anymore? I thought we were friends."

He scoffed at the word, and Cree clenched her fists in frustration. "Why do you do that?" she demanded. "You keep pushing people away and then you blame them for keeping their distance."

He turned on her. "Thank you for the psychoanalysis, doctor. Are you done now?" His voice rang with contempt. He stalked away.

Cree stood and watched him go, stunned. That look in his eyes—it was definitely hatred. Chad hates me. She shivered and rubbed her arms. Why did she feel like crying?

---
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author's notes: finally, some Cree/Chadness! well, something like it, anyways. i've noticed that so far the chapters have been almost like one-shots, with not much of a story thread linking them other than having the same characters. the next chapter will be a continuation of this one (already working on it) but it seems like a lot of them will kind of be separate stories until i get closer to the end.