With the summer heat, ever blazing and beating down on the heads of the people of Fair City, it was only natural that the ice cream shop was filled with people, even after nightfall when the people of fair city were just getting home., it was especially popular with one of the local baseball teams having just finished practice. The ice cream parlor was a favorite for all kinds of folk, couples, families, and friends o-plenty came to hang out. Being dark outside and teams finishing their practice, itching for a treat. It was quite crowded. So it wasn't really out of place to see a rowdy conversation occur in one of the corner booths

"Liiiiiiiiiies!" A young adolescent voice drowned out, "Tobey if your going to fib about a talk with Word Woman then at least make up a better lead up"

"I'm telling the truth though!" the Brit retorted

"gotta admit it Tobey, it does like something you made up" an ever so present voice chimed. Tobey immediately glared up at the ceiling, then raising his brows in realization he pointed up

"YOU, You were there you Know it's true help me out here!" Tobey yelled, a grin on his face like he was ready to hear the words 'Tobey's right'

"Who says I was there? Did you hear me?"

Tobey's smirk was wiped right off "ah-i ..i mean no but-"

TJ slapped his hand on the table smirking "then that settles it, you're lying out of your ass!"

Becky shot her baby brother a glare but was unable to say anything due to the spoon in her mouth, ready to yell at him for the vulgar language. But TJ simply ignored her as he grinned at Tobey. Who, by the way, was only getting more and more embarrassed by the minute, but his expression remained that of exhaustion and anger from not being believed. "I swear on my good name that I am telling the truth!"

TJ rolled his eyes in a very exaggerated way, taking off his hat to show off a small gash of a scar that ran above his left eyebrow, though TJ probably did this unintentionally but seeing the scar made Tobey still immediately.

"sorry Tobey, you might be a good guy now but I'm keeping in mind that you were a big liar in the past" TJ lightly tossed his hat to the side of the table so it would land right above the ice cream menu on display.

Tobey just frowned, grumbling a little as he just closed his eyes and angrily ate his ice cream, rubbing over his eyelids a bit, without his glasses still he still could hardly see anything pass his ice cream.

Becky was a bit grateful for that, otherwise she would be rather inclined to fly out of the table, and leave the two there for a number of reasons. For starters the conversation of Tobey getting his Word Woman hug from a few hours ago before being picked up by the pair was growing rather loud, and drew the occasional side-eye. Drawing attention wasn't exactly Becky's favorite thing in civilian mode, it only felt like it made hiding Word Woman that much harder. But aside from that.

She kept glancing at Tobey.

And she Knew she kept glancing at him, but couldn't really help it. Every time Becky realized she was beginning to stare her eyes immediately locked onto her ice cream, which was already almost Gone because she took a huge bite every time she latched her vision onto the frozen dessert.

"a little shy today?" The narrator teased softly, directed only to her so the boys wouldn't hear, Becky only frowned and glared forward at nothing while taking another huge bit to ignore the pesky voice "aw really the silent treatment? come on, at least banter with me a little, i was being so patient with the last chapter!" The reminder almost made her snap, but Becky sighed sharply through her nose and looked up.

"You wouldn't be so talkative either if you were in my shoes right now" Becky muttered under her breath to the narrator, biting on her spoon a bit.

the narrator chuckled "no no no, if I was in your position i would be milking every bit of what was said..."

Becky bit down harder on her spoon

"it's not every day Tobey thinks about someone else's thoughts over Word Woman-"

"look just drop it ok" Becky snapped

"ok. i'll drop it...but can you drop it is the real question?" the narrator asked, and if they were tangible they would definitely have a cheeky grin plastered on their face.

At that Becky tensed a bit, again looking to her ice cream and scooping up a smaller bite to nom on while she began drifting in her thoughts...It's not like the stray idea of thinking Tobey was Cute, or Sweet was something that was enough to rattle her, he had his moments after all. It's the fact that it just got way harder to Not be flustered after hearing him almost gush about how hard she worked, and how he knows her little habits well enough that even when shes blurry Word Woman Tobey recognized her usual motion of putting her hands in her pockets, not to mention he was extra thoughtful in how Becky would react to the inventions he made being broken rather then Word Woman's...and also...

"of course she's lovely, what are you talking about?!"

Yhea.

That.

Becky turned her face to look out the window, choosing to stare at her dull reflection rather then Tobey, his words were probably going to be the hardest thing to push down the memory off. But she needed it down. Now. This cannot be the time she gets all giggly and silly like she's in elementary school. She Has to focus on serious things right now, at least for the time being anyway. New robot attacks, villains getting upgrades, This odd feeling that was resting dead center of Becky's chest was going to wait, whether she wanted it to or not...besides. It's Tobey, his reaction to just being Hugged by Word Woman is enough to let her know he wasn't thinking anything serious..

If he still loves Word Woman then her life as Becky would remain better off right?..

Right!

Becky smirked and accidently let a chuckle lose from her throat. As long as Tobey keeps his feelings towards the caped hero she's got Nothing to worry about.

"and just what is it you find so amusing Botsford?" Becky's eyes opened and she raised a brow turning her attention back around to Tobey who sat right beside her, TJ did the same. The blonde looked between the motion of both the siblings turning to him and rolled his eyes, "I meant the cheeky one"

"hey!" Becky frowned But TJ only gave a snort

"oh okay so the annoying one then?"

Tobey gave a deadpanned look and just directed himself to the youngest Botsford "no TJ that would be you"

Becky hunched over a bit snorting with a small laugh as she saw her brother's face quickly grow offended and glare at Tobey before taking another small bite of the massive ice cream in front of him, raising his head up to look behind the scientific pair, even craning his head to get a better look behind them.

Tobey once again turned his attention back to Becky, a smirk playing on his lips but he knit his brow looking at her while she laughed "now what are you laughing about? you're just as annoying as he is"

Becky rolled her eyes "suuuuure, like your so splendid to be around yourself McCallister. A true example to follow."

Tobey held his head high "thank you for noticing my lovely assistant, i do appreciate you noticing my extraordinary efforts to be such a martyr" he said with a dramatic 'whoa is me pose' Becky shouldered him lightly "do you even know what that word means?", making the blonde let lose a small laugh, the youngest of the trio in the meantime rolled his eyes and looked between the two, extremely annoyed then began to lift his head and look around. Becky glanced at her little brother and raised a brow, now that she thought about it, why did he have her buy such a big ice cream if he was just going to be taking tiny little bi-

Tj then opened his eyes a bit and lifted his knee onto the seat of the booth and pushed himself up waving, a giant smirk on his face "Johnson! Over here!" he called over the rowdy chatter of the parlor, making Becky and Tobey turn around to look. But then Tobey quickly remembered his vision and turned around again while Becky joined TJ in waving. Sheepishly opening the door was of course, Joshua Johnson, TJ's lifelong friend that is hardly ever away from him, wearing a grey shirt with blue spray painted "GO 13!" on it with a red baseball jersey in his hand, a heavy contrast to TJ's white and blue pinstriped jersey, at first Becky saw he was a bit shy looking around, but once she joined in waving down the boy he finally looked over at their table and smiled. Quickly moving to sidestep people who were walking in his path, trying to squeeze between crowds but he full on avoided going near TJ's baseball team, who were all at the ice cream parlors counter taking up all the seats. Becky couldn't be sure but it looked almost as if the whole team was glaring at Johnson as he passed them, even though he tried his best to avoid even being in their line of sight.

"Dude you took Forever!" TJ laughed and immediately when Johnson approached their table hooked his arm around the boy's neck, both pulling him into a close hug and also a noogie, messing up the soft-spoken blonde's hair in the process. though it already looked messy from being under a helmet all day,

"s-sorry TJ..m-my mom wouldn't let me come until i changed" Johnson stuttered out, his cheeks turning bright pink the moment TJ had locked his arm around him and it remained over a quivering smile as he was released, ducking his head lightly he waved at Tobey and Becky while TJ went back to his seat "h-hi Becky, hi Tobey" he greeted as TJ pulled him by his shirt to sit down beside him.

Becky smiled at the boy brightly "Hey Johnson, TJ giving you trouble?" she asked, immediately earning a sour face from her brother but Johnson was shaking his head so fast it looked like he would spin it off "No! no not even a little!"

"Yhea Buttface!" TJ frowned and again roped his arm around Johnsons neck glaring at Becky "unlike you I actually have friends who like having me around"

Johnson looked at TJ, smiled and nodded in affirmation "yeah i like having TJ around" Johnson parroted, smiling brightly while TJ puffed his chest out with a proud smug look.

Becky looked between the two boys her lips curled into a bit more of a smirk of her own as she leaned on one of her wrists "yeah i can see that" she chuckled, Johnson clocked her smirk right away and before she could get her next words out he quickly spoke again "y-yea! TJ is my Best F-Friend so of course you can see it!" he smiled, looking at her almost pleading and shaking his head lightly. The Boy was an absolute puppy the way he looked at Becky to stop talking..ok how is this adorable cinnamon roll friends with her brother again? Becky looked between Johnson and TJ, dropping her smirk to a soft smile and nodded much to the blonde's relief.

"yeah Best friends!" TJ chimed..paused a bit confused due to Johnson usually being the one to Parroted Him, then shrugged. TJ let go of Johnson and then reached for the massive ice cream again, "Anyway, dude Mom and Dad had Becky pick us up this time while she went to get Tobey, so their having her treat us big time, check out what we got" It was indeed a rather massive bowl of ice cream. 6 flavors, 2 scoops each one, bananas, loaded with sprinkles of all kinds and even extra cherries and extra whipped cream. it was like a little kid was let loose on what to put on a single order of ice cream, Johnson looked amazed and smiled, he looked at TJ about to say something but was quickly cut off.

"no nuts cus you're allergic and all" TJ clarified, handing Johnson his spoon before taking his own and shoving a massive bite in his mouth. Practically scooped up all the butterscotch ice cream in one movement, it was way bigger than the tiny tip full of bites he's been taking this whole time.

Johnson in turn also had a massive smile and dug his spoon in to get a huge bite of rocky road, just as he was about to bite it he glanced at Becky and down "u-uh Becky you want some?"

TJs cheery smile fell a bit and he looked at his friend confused "uhhh why you asking her if she wants some of our ice cream?" he asked, and Johnson began to fidget

"i-i...sorry, i mean. it feels a little rude to eat ice cream in front of her since she doesn't have any" he pointed out.

Both the Botsfords were now looking at him confused "what are you talking about?" Becky asked and looked down "i have some right h-...HEY!" her ice cream was Gone. Like gone gone, she didn't even see the bowl. Then Becky heard a soft humming of laughter beside her and whipped her head around to see that Tobey was holding her bowl smiling with the spoon in his mouth "Seriously Tobey?!"she almost shouted in a jesting voice of friendly betrayal in her tone as she gasped at the taller teen.

Tobey only continued to smirk, licking his lips free of her blue coconut ice cream "this is on you Botsford," he pointed the spoon at her "you should know better then take your eyes off both me and your ice cream..this quiet good by the way" he said like it was a compliment he just ate her ice cream

Becky huffed "When did you snatch my ice cream anyways.?" she tried to reach for it but Tobey pulled away

"about the same time you decided the tiny blonde was one you both would turn your attention to" He said lightly regarding Johnson and then proceeded to do the ungodly act of taking the cherry out of the bowl and eating it.

Becky gave an over dramatic gasp, "...you heartless monster," Tobey couldn't help but smile while he chewed his stolen treat. "give me my ice cream" Becky stated

"no"

"give"

Becky began to reach over was now being pushed back by a laughing Tobey as he leaned away holding the bowl up high "not happening" "Tobey!" They struggled for a bit, Tobey laughing and taunting Becky, playfully holding her back as he ate more of her ice cream. using his long limbs to his full advantage and hold the item away from her while Becky was desperately trying to grab her ice cream back from Tobey without making it fall over or hurt Tobey.

TJ and Johnson just looked at each other then shrugged, going back to eating their ice cream as the other two stayed fighting.

"ok ok ok," Tobey chuckled softly pulling back into the booth, Presenting the bowl Back to Becky "I surrender. Here's your ice cream bowl back"

...

"Tobey you ate all my ice cream," Becky deadpanned after looking on the bowl, but Tobey's smile didn't leave "that's why I said you can have the ice cream Bowl back, I never said anything about the treat" and then set the bowl down on the table, raising his elbow to block an incoming playful wack from Becky. But unknown to him, his boney limb was wacked by her bruised forearm. Making Becky whence a bit and pull back

"ow...you owe me a new ice cream Tech boy" Becky groaned, she barely even acknowledged her arm and looked more concerned about her now dearly departed ice cream. Honestly, with the brace Titan gave her just moments after getting it, the bruise didn't hurt as badly as you'd think, even though it definitely didn't look it.

Tobeys smirk dropped, "oh come on Tech boy? Really? again?" he groaned.

TJ snorted, almost splattering out his ice cream but covered his mouth and turned away. The name 'Tech boy' seeming to have been the trigger, much to Tobey's dismay. Johnson, however peeked over the now half way down ice cream and looked at his close friend's sister with concern

"Y-you okay?" Johnson asked.

TJ looked at him weirdly then at Becky "did you hit your arm Again?" he asked in a sigh, clearly annoyed, Becky shot him a look but he seemed to only get madder, Tobey reflected a similar expression towards her "dude mom told you to be careful with how you move that or your going to hurt yourself more!"

Becky rolled her eyes "TJ it's just a bruise I'll be fine-"

"if there is a mark on You Becky then your anything But fine" Tobey frowned

"Yeah i'm with Tech Boy here," TJ frowned, ignoring the inventor's glare "Becky, You specifically getting hurt is scary rare. I saw once take a hit from baseball going 70 miles an hour and you didn't even flinch!"

"You also once got socked in the face during one of your boxing matches and didn't recoil, or anything- especially from Victoria of all people?" Tobey added, Becky winced at the memory. Back when Tobey first went good, she made the effort to see if she could get Victoria and Eileen to do the same..more or less it worked? In Victoria's case, she joined boxing with Becky, and with Becky holding back so much Victoria became a force to be reckoned with before getting transferred to a private school. Becky was the only one known to have taken a punch to the face from her head-on and not be knocked out, which was unfortunate news for her jaw.

Becky blinked and looked at Tobey "hey wait a minute that was at a sparring match, when did you see me get hit in the face?"

"...not the point," Tobey frowned as he grew red "Those boxing matches are the only times ever i saw you getting hurt, even now there's barely even scratches on you"

"word woman is beginning to sound right about you being a stalker Tobes"

"shut up" Tobey hissed at the voice "focus"

"ok damn" Narrator grumbled "touchyyy"

Becky rolled her eyes and then pulled up her sleeve, the bruise was darker purple, red, and yellow-green splotchy mess, with faded star shapes that people wouldn't notice with an untrained eye. It looked terrible, but it was healing "look it's getting better i swear," she sighed and held out her arm on the table, Johnson having seen it for the first time winced at how bad it looked but TJ seemed to soften his angered expression, looking over at Tobey he was looking pissed but mainly because Becky could see his eyes were twitching to squint and see the bruise. Becky now satisfied by TJs reaction moved her arm so Tobey could see it, gingerly he took her arm and leaned to examine it while Becky turned her attention back to her brother

"look i know the bruise freaked you out, and i know it freaked mom and dad out too since i haven't been hurt since quitting the boxing team," she smiled "but really im Okay. I wasn't hurt that bad, so you don't have to be all worried about it ok? look it doesn't even hurt now" she said and smiled brightly as she poked the bruise.

It 100% hurt.

But she knew her smile hid it well. Usually, her faking a smile hid every ounce of pain she was feeling, something she learned years ago to better effect the mood of the citizens when they thought she was having trouble with a villian.

TJ crossed his arms and glared off to the side "look..i may not be the most, sensational guy ever, ya know since i never really care what you do and all,"

"sensitive TJ, not sensational" Becky corrected with a soft chuckle, TJ just frowned, closing his eyes as he let out a very annoyed breath "but your My sister. so doesn't matter if you say not to worry im Gonna worry if i Want to because it's my job... Especially since like i said you Never get hurt. Like ever" TJ exaggerated a bit with his movements as he pointed his hand at her "it's about as alien to me as your face is. it freaks me out, so don't go getting hurt again!"

Becky stared at her baby brother, just flat out surprised. Obnoxious, self-centered, boastful TJ, was actually getting worried for her

"...did you get hit in the head with a baseball?"

"uh..." TJ thought for a sec, sitting back down "..you mean like today or?"

Becky shook her head but smiled "ya know what.. as long as you kicked butt and are breathing nevermind" she laughed. TJ for once didn't seem annoyed by it and gave a giant grin with his face covered in ice cream with a laugh "i usually do both so good," he shrugged and leaned back into his place taking one use scoop of whipped cream into his mouth before relaxing "just...be careful aight? you're not invincible"

"dude you don't know the half of-"

"I Will," Becky chuckled, cutting the narrator off "so don't worry about it alright?" TJ just shrugged

"Tj," Tobey spoke up, trying to squint still as he looked across the table "do you mind uh.. getting some sodas?" he asked "im kinda thirsty after all the ice cream"

TJ frowned "what like now?"

"yes"

"dude they only sell ice cream here. I need to down the block if you want me to buy a soda"

With zero hesitation Tobey reached one hand into his breast pocket of the brown coat underneath his lab coat, pulled out his wallet and slapped a 50 in front of TJ. The baseball fanatic looked at the money, shoveled in one more scoop of ice cream and took the cash "you want a large or small?"

"Whatever you think is best. For your sister as well"

TJ nodded as he began to push Johnson out of the booth "alright Bet. Come on Johnson lets go" Johnson protested for a second "w-wait hang on i still have a lot of ice cream left-" Tobey slapped another 50 in front of the two, Becky glaring at him all the while slack-jawed.

Where the fuck was he getting that money- Why is he giving it to TJ and Johnson of all people?

"meet us at the car when you're done, but take your time" Tobey said flatly, the moment the green bill hit the table however, TJ and Johnson took it and quickly exited the booth and ran off. Becky watched them for a moment and just observed as TJ seemed to put his arm in front of Johnson to shield him from his team as they passed. They all just glared at the pair...why did they look so...disgusted?

Becky narrowed her eyes for a moment, not having much time to think about what she saw before she felt Tobey's thumb lightly graze over her bruise and looked to see him shifting in his seat to stare directly at it, grim look on his face.

Becky looked between him and her arm "uh...were you holding onto my arm this whole time?" she asked but Tobey didn't break eye contact.

It was like he didn't hear her, Tobey just kept looking at her arm with a completely serious face then turned around "Botsford come with me for a second please" he said and lightly pulled Becky along as he exited the booth, being as careful as possible to not touch her bruise, but that only resulted in him holding her by her wrist, not really waiting for her to say yes or no on going with him or not.

"wh- hey Tobey hold on a sec" Becky stammered, letting herself get dropped along, but was both whipping her head around to look at the other patrons to see who was looking at them but not having much time to do so by the time she was out of the booth and was cautiously pulled towards the back exit by Tobey's blind butt. It's an ice cream parlor. Chances were always high that Tobey knew the layout of whatever ice cream parlor you put him in, so it made sidestepping the obvious blurs of people to get to the back exit a lot easier.

"H-hey you can't use that wa-" a very angry-looking, pimple-faced covered teenager began to yell but was immediately shut up with Tobey's head snapping at him "well too bad I'm using it" he hissed, shoving the door open, and walking out. Becky behind him immediately gave the boy a very apologetic look and wave "sorry! so sorry he's not in a good m-" Tobey just pulled her again and then closed the door behind them.

Once outside, the hot air of summer was immediately felt, in contrast to the icy full blast of the ice cream parlor inside. Becky sighed and allowed her apologetic look to drop off her face and scowl up at Tobey "Tobey what the heck is up with...you?" and her scowl too also dropped a little. He was still looking at her arm, what felt like a dark cloud still haunting his expression as he gingerly turned her arm around and ran his fingertips over the healing bruise. Becky felt his touch before on her legs..but that was different..now for some reason while watching him, the motion sent a current up her arm and made her stiffen a little, though it didn't seem like Tobey even noticed.

His eyes were deadlocked on the injury.

For what seemed like forever Tobey just didn't let go of Becky's arm, hunched over lightly, with a stiff, and grim look on his face that seemed to grow more and more distant, Becky meantime didn't move from having her back against the exit door.

"Tobey?" Becky spoke, eventually finding her voice again after allowing her friend to do the repetitive motion a few times, hearing his name be called again, she lowered her head a little so she could look at his face more directly, he didn't move but he did acknowledge the motion his eyes flicked towards her worried look.

...

why did he look so sad?

Becky felt a bit of a tug on her chest and softened her tone towards Tobey a bit more "...you okay?

There was a bit of a pause, then Tobey scoffed looking back down to her bruise

"...you trying to steal my thunder, Botsford?" he asked, echoing words he once said when he first turned good, a sad smile on his face from the scoff...he shook his head "I'M the one who should be asking you that..." again Tobey ran his thumb over her bruise, and his voice went soft. "...it's strange..I saw it before- in pictures..ones you sent but..feels odd seeing you of all people injured"

Becky raised a brow "...but you saw my legs with cuts on them just a few days ago?" she asked trying to ignore the feeling of heat on her cheeks from remembering giving him a peck on the head despite having felt nonchalant about it when she did it, "you're the one who bandaged them up"

Tobey laughed a little, "that was different...you were cut by accident, it's an entirely different pit in my stomach seeing you hurt because someone actively wants to hurt you...Genuinely Botsford, answer me one thing, and I Beg you to be honest because you're quite frankly a terrible liar," Becky almost rolled her eyes at that but instead almost jumped when Tobey suddenly lifted his head up just a bit so he could look her in the eyes. Big blue eyes, sad and concerned, a sense of fear clear in them but Tobey looked like he was trying his best to push that one down so he could have the nerve to ask "are you okay?..ACTUALLY okay?..." Tobey almost lifted his hand off her arm but instead moved it from the crook of Becky's elbow to her wrist and held on firmly.

Becky's lips tighten from nerves at Toby's actions and she looks away, "course I'm ok?" she chuckled, anxiety peeking a bit into her voice when Tobey squeezed her hand a bit in his grip

"...are you really okay, or you just saying it so you don't worry either me or your brother?" Tobey frowned "Botsford I've known you long enough to know you tend to hide things, lie frequently"

Becky sighed "I don't lie that much Tob-" "If you feel like that lie would work to relax others around you Becky, then Yes. You do" Tobey cut off, raising his voice a little.

"...well what do you want me to say?" Becky frowned. looking down at her hand, she practically wanted to yank it out of Tobey's grip, she settled for pulling her sleeve down back over the wound to cover it. "'oh gee thank you for your concerns but I'm in immense pain so any comfort you give me from this point is just going to be awkwardly received?'" she almost laughed at how silly that sounded "...'sorry baby brother your sister is definitely hurting and you can't do much about it' 'sorry but your hero isn't all that great if she ends up letting a civilian get hurt?" Becky gritted her teeth a bit.

no

no no no she can't let this lid open. If she opens it-

"I got hurt okay Tobey? People get hurt, and i would get hurt A Lot in the Boxing team," she huffed and raised her arms in frustration "we live in a city full of super villains, that are always escaping, and always committing a crime on a schedule like their doing a 9 to 5 job because the hero of the city can't seem to keep her head on straight enough to realize the villains can't keep poking the edge and testing how far they can go before someone seriously gets hurt! I mean first it was that 4 you news helicopter- Then two brains almost zapped an actual TODDLER into cheese..God knows what would have happen if that new guy didn't show up as backup against those metal men... Feels like lately every day every time a villain pops up they just edge closer to hurting someone...So YEAH. I'm ok. i'm as okay as I can be with how much this city seems to be falling apart around us. and we just gotta keep walking and Smiling all happy cus the hero of this city has been doing her job for what? almost 20 fucking years? and just..HOPE she can keep that going so we can all just move on?... Its...Ugh!" She groaned. Almost out of breath as she leaned against the frame of the door, applying pressure to her head by pushing the back of it to the brick wall...

A brief silence hung over the two. Then Becky took a deep breath, and let it out in a bit of quiver, the only noise for both of them to hear was her actually Sounding as weak as she felt..Becky's headache from much earlier in the day now became present again, thumping against her skull as she clenched her eyes shut.

...

Becky shook her head, rubbing it a bit against the rough texture of the brick wall, just the feeling of..well what could be best described as fear resting on her shoulders. It felt sharp and icy, almost like pins and needles pain but pulling at her skin and her chest, like she was going to have her skeleton yanked from her body with how much the pressure was pulling her. ..

"...I just,"

Why is she still talking?...

"...Wish Word Woman had a better handle on this than she seems to have..."

stop talking!

Becky sighed and rubbed her face with her hand, trying to calm down but the sensation of her hand only made things worse..she felt herself trembling..she was shaking like a leaf and just hadn't realized it...god she must look like an idiot right now...

At least Tobey's dead silence made her feel like she did..

"...I'm sorry- i just...just tired..." Becky tried to muffle out through her hand, but as her voice hitched she felt a soft pull on her wrist. Tobey's arms having now released her hand he gingerly raised his arms to wrap around Becky's shoulders, slowly easing her into an embrace and resting his head on top of hers quietly...he felt shaky too..

"...Tobey?-" "ya know that's the first time I've ever heard you cuss?" he chuckled, sounding a bit weak but he went on "it's quite shocking really...you always make a big fuss over those words"

Becky frowned a little, her arms on guard just between her and Toby's chests and her face right up against his collar bone, registering she was fully in his arms in the back of an ice cream parlor alley Becky pushed back lightly. Tobey just held on "ah-just, listen to me for a moment okay?" He spoke softly, sounding almost like he was gathering his courage up for his words. Becky wanted to be let go, she didn't want him to see her face at all right now.

If Becky wanted she could just send him flying and walk out by herself..

but the way his voice sounded

so meek and shy made her take a pause, and just waited.

Tobey took a deep breath again, and Becky would be lying if she said she didn't feel a tiny bit flustered hearing him breathe so close to her but that was a fleeting emotion. "I admire that you are strong in this sense Becky...But please if the pain is so much i beg of you to not bare it by yourself...if you want to cry, then cry. If you want to be wrathful and angry, then rage right here. If you want to just stay like this, just for a moment so you can breathe, then do that too...no matter what you do- say- think even at this moment...I've got you.. So it's okay...alright? " Becky felt his hesitancy, but he pulled her in a bit more lightly and tightened his embrace, "... I know you were rather protective of me when I went radio silent, so tonight I'm going to be protective of you... Whether you like it or not..starting with whatever pesky feelings are weighing you down"

"...and if they weigh you down too?" Becky asked, well aware of her shaking now and still trying to collect her voice to sound as strong as she normally does,

"...then I am weighed down with you..your my lovely assistant," Tobey chuckled into her long hair "Anything you do for me...I in turn will do for you 10 fold"

Becky couldn't help but snort, scoffing with laughter into Tobey's dress shirt "you are unbearably cheesy"

"ha-" Tobey returned the laugh, "you should see me with Word Woman, almost mistaken me for Two Brains then"

Becky laughed softly, her arms that were guarding the space between herself and Tobey loosening as she let out a sigh...

Wrapped her arms around Tobey, and joined him in a tight hug. She almost wanted to laugh at how she could feel him stiffen up in her arms, but she was too relaxed now. Or at least she was getting there. That menace of fear was still all along her back, but the feelings of its claws digging into her were slowly retracting. She doubted it'd be for long but, it was nice.

this felt nice.

After a moment or two. Allowing herself to catch her breath and rejoin herself mentally. Becky was finally less tense than she was when she first saw Tobey at the junkyard earlier that day. The pressure was present then as well but it was strange how quickly it was boiling afterwards. By this point Tobey had finally released Becky, and they were squatting together with their backs against the brick wall.

Becky losing her absolute shit laughing so much.

"okay, let's try once more-"

"Tobey I think we've done it enough times" Becky said through her laughed, But Tobey turned up his nose

"it is more ideal if we do it again once more, Omar said to do this 4 times so we just need one more" Tobey made his stance firmly and stuck out his hand "now...Breath.." he glanced at Becky and nudged her with his leg frowning, "breeeeaaath" he repeated, Becky rolled her eyes and copied his motion

They took one large breath of air. went flat face with no expression.

then they shook their hands in the air they stuck them out in while in unison saying

"bubbles bubbles bubbles bubbles bubbles bubbles"

"bubbles bubbles bubbles bubbles bubbles bubb- hm Bubbuuhss aaa Tobey I can't, i can't!" Becky was the first of the pair to cave and start laughing again, trying to to say "no more" but barely managing the words out from laughing so much.

Tobey watched her die of laughter, his own words faltering and getting harder to say as the corners of his mouth turned into a quivering smile that also threaten a laugh

"bubbles bubbles bubbles-helssssAaah Damn it Botsford I almost had it!" Tobey started to snicker, and playfully kicked Becky as he did. She did not care. she was laughing too much, "come on now we should start heading to the car, i think your brother is almost back...but See? I told you," Tobey laughed "you just Cannot be upset when you just keep saying the word bubbles over and over- it's flat out impossible!" using the wall to help pull himself up still laughing and bending down a bit to help Becky to her feet as well. "I believed you but I didn't think the shaky hand effects it!" she took his hand to stand up as he smirked

"ah ah ah my lovely assistant you should know by now I do nothing without a purpose!" he boasted "these are just a few of the little tricks I've learned at the Barrage, bastards make it hard to be sad even when they're not around" Tobey smiled, and began to lead her out of the alley and release her hand like a gentleman that he was "they seem to have taken a shine to you by the way, though that isn't very surprising. You are MY lovely assistant after all" Tobey looked so proud saying that, head held high and chest puffed out. he deflated only a bit when he heard Becky laugh

"Tobey your not exactly known for making great decisions so I'm not sure about that being a compliment"

Tobey rolled his eyes, a thought seems to flash over his face and he gave a small smirk "you implying I don't give good compliments?" he scoffed

Becky smirked and bobbed her head side to side "I didn't imply anything you came to that conclusion on your own"

"Ooh, conclusion- so we are having this as an experiment then lovely assistant? This your cheeky way of getting more praise from me?"

Becky kicked him lightly "pff you wish McCallister like I need the praise"

"ah- i didn't say you needed it!" Tobey smirked pointing at Becky's blur accusingly "You came to that conclusion on your own"

"Uh huh" Becky scoffed

"tell you what-" Tobey held up a finger "I can't see, so it would be unfair to start tonight, however, once when my vision is returned let's see who can give the better compliments?" Tobey started walking, all poised and elegant like the posh man he was posing to be "I would rather like to redeem myself and prove that I can give wonderful com- Ah- bloody hell.." Tobey grumbled, failing to see the clear as day blue postal box that seemed to only blend into the shadowy night around them, he backed away rubbing his stomach from the sharp edge "ugh why are these things even around- no one reads newspapers anymore!"

Becky snickered behind him, earning her a glare as she walked forward "good thing we aren't starting that bet tonight then, insulting the freedom of the press gets you points deducted"

Tobey rolled his eyes, but stopped and they went wide looking at her "w-wait so you're agreeing?" he asked, honestly a little shocked Becky would actually agree to it. It was different from their fluster game that would occur at random..this was something actually proposed rather than something they just did. Becky was equally surprised herself, but...

Well If he could be able to see the glint in her eye Tobey would most certainly tell she accepted just to amuse herself, she stepped close and flashed him a smirk before flipping his tie that dangled loosely under his neck and flipped it over his face so the bottom of it rested at the top of his head where his forever cowlick rested

"we start later alright?" Becky was already walking in front of him to lead the way and stretched her arm out "waaay too late for it right now, and I'm only accepting because I know you'll lose this one like you would think up compliments for anyone other than yourself or Word Woman so I have this in the bag" she snickered

Tobey watched her walk ahead of him, still holding his stomach next to the postal box, and only made small steps forward to follow after Becky when she started to become blurry.

A dopey smile spreading across his face under his tie he didn't reach up to move out of his face.

"... I wouldn't put money on that, my dear.." he scoffed softly into his tie, trying not to be heard as he followed the ghostly blur of green to her car.

AND THAT WOULD BE IT FOR CHAPT 14! How'd yall like finally seeing what Johnson and TJ are up to these days? Also yes I gave Johnson the first name Joshua here, mainly because after searching the best result i found for him was Joshua, but he's still good old Johnson!

The Botsfords seem to have a thing for calling their goofy blondes by their last names huh?

Hoped you guy like this chapter! been looking forward to writing this one, and also had help again from my beta reader!
I forgot to tag them in last time so I'm Very sorry about that but figured now is the best time to plug them, you can find them on insta , so be sure to thank them and also check out their work! They have been a big help in helping correct my grammar and ensuring the flow of the fic goes well so be sure to say thank you!

Anyway that's all for this week! See yall next week for chapter 15!