Chapter 3: Awkward silence

A half hour or so passed since the two had last made conversation, Hyde was tired, but couldn't get a wink of sleep, Caira's presence was keeping him awake, alert, as small and fragile as she was compared to Hyde, he couldn't help but think to himself that she could possibly fill him with so many tranqs that he'd be out for a month. "Oh, shit nah, that was Val." he blurted out. Caira groaned and looked up at him, seemed as if she'd been asleep herself. "Val? What are you talking about? Urh.. Do you have anything to drink?" She rubbed her eyes, sniffling a little. Hyde looked at her- a blank expression across his face. "Uh... Yer. Petrol." He said bluntly, staring at her with no expression still. She narrowed her eyes at him, he couldn't possibly...

"I'm 'aving you on. I got-" he paused a second to think. "Beer, and water. Pick yer poison, if you can call 'em that.". Caira sighed, the water wasn't as great as what it was on Earth, and she didn't really drink beer much anyway. Before she could open her mouth to answer, Hyde had already stretched his arm out to her, holding a chilled can of beer from his mini refrigerator, his other hand supporting his head as he lay on his stomach, sprawled across his bed.

"Uuuuh.." Caira looked at him, what was up with Hyde? He went from asshole to friendly within ten seconds of her thinking.

"What?" He frowned at her in confusion. "You want water instead?"

Caira reached out with care to take the can from him, looking at him as she tapped on the top of the can, pulling the ring. "Hyde." She paused. "Why do you treat me like crap?" She said curiously, sipping from the cold frothing can.

"Cos' it's funny." He chortled. Her eyebrows raised questionably. "Y'do realise that," Hyde paused. "I'm just messing with you, right? I mean come on Caira, love. We aren't all little princesses, are we?"

Caira pushed her bottom lip out and frowned. "You don't pick on anyone else... Why not pick on someone else?"

Hyde just stared at her. He cradled his arms under his chin, using them as a pillow, still laying on his stomach. He closed his eye.

"You're not me mum. You don't make the rules." He grunted. Caira flicked her pencil at him, hitting him on the head, barely missing his good eye. "Oi, what the fuck't you think you're doing?!" Hyde growled, rising up quickly with a snarl across his face. Caira didn't care. "I'm done with my paperwork, and there's nothing to do. I'm bored. Entertain. Me." She demanded, standing straight with her arms crossed. Hyde glared at her in silence, before responding to her. "How exactly do you think -I- should entertain -you-? Go dissect a rocktoad or some'in'. I ain't got shit for you 'ere." Hyde stated, settling himself on the end of his bed. Caira approached, sitting beside him. He narrowed his eye at her, suspicious. "What?"

"You ask a lot of "what" questions, don't you?" She said.

"What?" He responded again, sounding like a broken record. "Oi, stop exploitin' me. I ain't your plaything just because you're bored.".

Caira chuckled at him. It was new territory to her, all throughout meeting him and missions alongside him, Hyde was always bullying her. But here, she was far closer to him than she thought she'd ever be. It wasn't so noticeable, but Hyde himself seemed to be comfortable despite being pestered by her taunts- she could have sworn she saw him smirk in the low light of the room. Caira held out the half full can of beer to Hyde- he looked at her. He took the can and chuckled. "What, he's laughing with me, and not at me?" Caira thought to herself, her face filled with energy and happiness.

"Oi" Hyde blurted. "You're not too bad company, once you get past the whinging." He'd continued, looking at her with a straight face. "But, I am fucking knackered, so, off with ya.". Caira looked back at him into his one uncovered eye. Her facial expression from happy to disappointed. "Hyde..." She muttered. "What? Speak up kid." Hyde grunted, poking her forehead with a frown.

Caira blinked, pressing her fingertips together. "Hyde, you uh, don't mind if I crash here for the night, do you?" She moved her hands back, lifting her hat with one and scratching her scalp with the other. Hyde kept his frown, his eye narrowed. "You wanna sleep on the floor or whatever? Be my bloody guest. There's only one bed in 'ere, and that's for the fuckin' king- me.".

Caira's eyes glistened and stared back into his. "Wooooould the king spare a little space for one night?" She asked, smoothly as a baby's bottom. Hyde looked at her, obviously not following. "Nah.". She continued to stared at him, this time putting it bluntly. "I'll rephrase myself. Can I borrow a bit of bed space, rather than sleeping on the floor?". He chuckled, running his hands down his torso. "Have you seen me? Good bloody luck." He rolled back onto the bed, squeezing a small bit of bed space in for Caira. So at least he made an attempt to care. Caira scuttled over, almost over the edge of the bed. She was practically about to fall out, so she clinged desperately onto Hyde's waist. Hyde, facing away from her, stared at the wall, he lifted his eyepatch for a moment to scratch around his messed up eye, sniffled a bit, before asking her-

"Are uh... A'you.. Hugging me?" He stared at the wall awkwardly now, waiting on her response.

"What? Oh, no I- I was just, you know, hanging on for dear life, here, I'm kind of falling out of the bed here." She said. "Right, right." He said, shuffling forward a little. "That alright then?". Caira let go of him, lying herself on her back. "Yeah, uh, yeah that's better. Thanks, Hyde.".

"S'alright, luv." He responded.

"Luv"? She stared up at the ceiling thinking to herself. She knew he generally used the term around his female co-workers, but was it a hint? No, she doubted it. If anyone was doing the moves, it was her.

Wait, what? She covered her face with her hands, groaning. Caira was tired, losing it and doing a whole bunch of silly things- her head was going places. She'd already forgotten why she'd taken residence in Hyde's room of all places, let alone asking him to share his bed. She knew she should probably leave, but she was just too awkward to change her mind and do so. Seeing that she might as well get comfortable, she took her hat off, and untied her pigtails, putting her hair ties and hat on the bedside stand behind her, careful not to put out or hit the candle. She sat up to untie her boots, kicking them off aside the stand.