Summary: Developing trust takes time.

Set after chapter 143.

Written as a parallels treat for Kiyutsuna.

So I started laughing at a certain part in 335. *wry*

Developing Trust

By Dark Ice Dragon

Tao clapped his hands, cheering, after the spar ended as Takeo and M-21 panted. Takeo had won that, but not with ease. He was used to Shark or Hammer's strategy of overwhelming their opponent with their strength; M-21 had taken him by surprise a few times. Even though he'd forced M-21 to transform, his own speed was just enough to stay one step ahead. And that was it. "All riiiight!"

Takeo held his hand out for M-21, who stared at it for a second and then gave Takeo a slow look before reaching for it. As Takeo pulled M-21 to his feet, Tao hummed and more tapping filled the air.

"That was great!" Tao continued typing. "But...hm."

M-21's hand tightened around Takeo's, his gaze assumedly on Tao, before they let go of each other and Takeo turned around to look. Tao had slid down the wall at some point, his laptop nestled safely on his lap and he was peering at them over it. "You've got a sharp tongue, M-21."

"What about it." M-21's shoulders tensed, his lips thin.

"Haha, nothing, nothing bad!" Tao chuckled, waving his hands in the air in front of him, palms facing them. "It was a compliment! I was just wondering if you could use that during a fight."

M-21's wary stare said he wasn't sure if he could trust Tao's words. M-21 was acting like he'd never received a compliment before in his life. …And maybe he hadn't, not unless it was followed by a new round of experiments.

"I could try..."

And with what Takeo had seen of M-21's tongue against Shark and Regis, the next spar with M-21 would be a lot different from the one they'd just had.

"Great!" Tao gave him a thumbs up. "Okay..." Tao said, focusing on his laptop again. "Now that's someone close combat, and Takeo's long-ranged... Regis is also close combat, and with me at the helm, we'll be unstoppable."

There was one person missing from Tao's assessment. "What about Seira?" Takeo asked. There was no need asking Frankenstein or his master; they didn't need support in a fight.

Tao's tapping slowed, and he frowned into his screen. "I don't know how she fights."

Takeo and Tao looked at M-21, who blinked at them. "I don't know either - I just know she's a noblesse and she's the one who killed Hammer."

"She did what?" Tao's jaw dropped and he wasn't alone. Hammer and Shark were better at fighting than Takeo, most of their spars ending with Shark or Hammer as the winner as Shark had been built for close combat and Hammer had more power than him. It wasn't something anyone could do with ease.

"She killed Hammer," M-21 repeated in the same tone. "Frankenstein took out Takeo, and his master took out everyone else; there was no-one else who could have done it."

"Oh..." That...Takeo hadn't thought about it, assuming that Frankenstein or his master had taken care of Hammer before meeting him.

"She doesn't act like she'd been in a fight..." Tao mused. "How'd she do it?"

M-21 shrugged.

Tao smirked. "Okay, okay, got it - I'll ask her later."

Tao got to his feet, closing his laptop and dusting himself off.

"You're not going to spar?" M-21 asked, glancing between them.

"Nah." Tao shook his head. "My strength's in information gathering and using it to increase efficiency; I'm not much of a fighter. And it wouldn't be fair for me to fight one of you fresh." He quirked a grin at him.

M-21 didn't say anything to that, nodding. As they left the room, the lights switching off behind them, Tao asked, "So, what did they do to you? I haven't seen that many transformations that furry and I thought Crombell tended towards scaly?"

M-21 slowed, a scowl flashing over his features at the scientist's name. "They-" M-21 sighed, running a hand through his hair. He stayed silent, his lips pursed.

It almost seemed like M-21 wouldn't answer Tao's question when he said, "I have a werewolf's heart."

Takeo's eyebrows rose. That hadn't been anything close to what he'd been considering.

"Wha – How did Crombell get that?" Tao paused, blinking as he lifted a hand to tap his chin. "I didn't think they existed, but that explains your transformation – and we're living in a house filled with 'vampires', heh. So it shouldn't be too surprising. I wonder what else really exists…"

"I only know about 'vampires' and werewolves," M-21 said with another shrug. His hand drifted up towards his own chest before M-21 yanked it down again, his hand curled into a fist.

"Were the others in your series the same?"

M-21 stilled. "No." He narrowed his eyes at Tao. "And why do you care?"

Tao raised his hands as a calming gesture. "Conversation, partially. Also curious. But if you don't want to talk about them, that's cool too."

A snort. "Like you'd want to listen."

"…We're listening now," Takeo said softly in the wake of the statement.

M-21 studied them like it was the first time he'd seen them. "You want to…?"

"Yup!" Tao nodded, grinning. "We can start right now if you want!"

"I need a shower first," Takeo said, nudging him. And M-21 needed one as well.

Tao's smile turned sheepish. "Oh, yeah. After the shower?"

M-21 nodded. "Yeah."

They left the room and when they exited the elevator, they listened for the children before leaving the cupboard, making sure everything was in place. They left each other when they reached Takeo's room.

"Where can I stand?" Takeo asked wryly as he stripped out of his sweaty top, not going near Tao's workspace.

"Over there." Tao indicated a safe path with a sweep of his arm - it was a circle around where Tao had been sitting in the middle. "You'll be fine."

And it led to the bathroom. Good. Takeo collected some fresh clothes for his shower and went in.

xOx

He heard Tao humming when he exited the bathroom, still towel-drying his hair. He made it to his bed and sat down on it, watching Tao work.

"What are you making?" He'd gotten used to seeing Tao dismantle technology on missions, though he'd never asked what he was making or why. Doing so would attract attention to both of them.

"Cameras, just in case."

Takeo nodded. They hadn't found cameras but that didn't mean the household was hiding anything, especially with the lab downstairs; it wouldn't hurt to be careful. Takeo started finger combing his hair, starting at the tips. "Where did you get the pieces from?"

"Oh, around," Tao said, his lips twitching. "They won't be missed."

Takeo hoped so.

When Takeo was finished with his hair, they left the room to meet with M-21.

xOx

Takeo tilted his head at Tao as he finished maintaining his gun when the other man slipped into his room again; Tao had said he was going to ask Seira if she wanted to spar.

"She declined; she didn't say why," Tao said with a shrug.

They couldn't make her spar with them if she didn't want to. He nodded, throwing away the used materials.

Tao didn't leave when he started stripping out his top. Takeo peered at Tao in question when he pulled the top off of his arms. Tao was fiddling a little, glancing at him before looking away again.

"Staying here tonight again?" he asked, starting on his trousers. That was the only reason Takeo could think of for why Tao hadn't left yet.

"Well...if you don't mind?" Tao still wasn't quite meeting his eyes.

Takeo smiled. "I don't."

"Okay!" Tao beamed at him, a short laugh escaping his lips. "Lemme go get changed."

xOx

They had been in bed for five seconds when Tao said, "Put your arm around me."

Takeo studied him, not moving his arm. "Why...?" That had come out of nowhere.

The moonlight coming through the blinds picked out Tao's pout. "Because I'm cold and I can feel your heat from over here."

It wasn't hard to and they could use the blanket if Tao wanted to. He would have asked for that if he did, though. "You would warm up eventually." But Takeo did as Tao asked, placing an arm around Tao's shoulders. He did feel cold against Takeo's skin, even through their clothes.

Tao hummed, wriggling closer. "That's better."

Tao's breath puffed against his collarbone every time Tao breathed, and he could feel Tao's muscles slowly relax under him.

Takeo wrapped his free hand around his gun under his pillow and waited to drift to sleep.

xOx

Takeo woke to humming the next morning, Tao sitting in the centre of the floor again, a pile of technology on top of the shirt this time.

"Completed cameras?" Takeo asked, sitting up with a grunt. They looked the same to the ones he'd seen Tao making the day before.

"Mmhm!" Tao placed another one on the shirt.

"How many do you have?" He ran a hand through his hair and grimaced when he tugged on tangles. He started brushing them out with his fingers. He should ask M-21 if he had a brush he could borrow…

"Enough." Tao stared at the pile, his lips pursing. "The bare minimum anyway - I'll fill in the blind spots later."

"Okay." He'd found one knot that he wasn't sure how it had formed in the first place and he started teasing it out.

Tao grinned, watching Takeo wrestling with his hair. "Need help?"

He sighed. "I can handle it." And had been doing it for years already; Tao knew that.

"Sure, sure." Tao chuckled, picking up a few pieces that were around his legs, beginning a new camera.

xOx

"Where do we start?" Takeo asked, hearing the front door close for the final time. They would wait before he and Tao started putting the cameras up, giving the house some time in case any of them came back because they'd forgotten something.

"I'd have liked the lab," Tao mused, stroking his chin with his fingers, "but I haven't been able to hack into Frankenstein's security yet." Huh. That was surprising. "It's really good! So bottom floor up, I think," Tao said, nodding. "There's more chance of stuff happening down there."

"All right."

xOx

Takeo and Tao stared at Frankenstein's master's bedroom door.

"We're not going in there," Takeo said.

"Nope. Next area."

xOx

Tao came into Takeo's room, sighing with his shoulders slumped. He'd disappeared a while ago when the rest of the household had come back, muttering about getting something to eat.

Takeo blinked at him. "What's wrong?" That didn't seem normal for him.

"Seira wouldn't let me have a snack when I asked, since it's right before dinner." He flopped into the chair, draping himself over the back to keep facing Takeo.

Ah...

"But it'd smelled so nice…"

That he didn't doubt. "Maybe you can have one later? It should be all right then, shouldn't it?"

"I hope so!" Tao perked up – and then flopped down again. "But I have to waaait now!"

xOx

"Hey, M-21," Tao said after everyone had been shooed away from the dining table by Regis. The three of them had wandered over to the balcony, staying there. "Do you know what Frankenstein'll have us do when he gets back?"

It had been two days since anyone had last seen the man and still no-one was worried about him. Takeo and Tao had set up all the cameras Tao had made and after that…that was it. Tao stayed on his laptop, keeping an eye on the news and radio channels, and Takeo had already maintained his gun. There wasn't much else for them to do except for Tao to find more information on Teira.

M-21 quirked an eyebrow at them.

Tao shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't think I'd ever complain about having nothing to do but I guess I was just used to keeping busy, you know?"

M-21 nodded, exhaling. "He'll probably get you to help look after the school."

Hm, that didn't seem too bad. Looking after children was a lot different from killing them. And that way, he would have some money when they got Teira out.

xOx

Fuck. Fuck. Takeo thudded his back on the headboard, ignoring the flare of pain that caused, his hands fisted on the linen, his eyes squeezed shut.

He heard his door open and shit, he hadn't locked the door behind him, had he?

It didn't matter; he knew those footsteps without opening his eyes, felt the dip in the mattress, felt the tight band of metal around his heart as he tried to keep his thoughts focused away from that.

His ragged breathing filled his ears, all his muscles locked up.

Takeo sucked in a breath when he felt light fingertips skirt his knuckles. He wanted to snatch his hand back, get away from the touch, but that meant moving his hand and he couldn't unfurl his fingers.

The fingertips stayed on the back of his hand, growing bolder with his inaction, pressing down, making sure he knew they were there.

"Don't-" he bit out past clenched teeth. "Don't."

"Takeo," Tao said softly.

"I said don't," Takeo hissed, his hand going tighter. "How do I know you're-" His throat closed up and he trembled. Fucking-

"...I'm...?"

"You're Tao!" he spat, snapping his eyes open to glare at him. "How do I know you're not like Te - Ar - her-" And it was getting hard to speak, hard to breathe, the band encompassing his entire ribcage now and squeezing like it was trying to snap bone.

"I'm n - shit, you're not going to believe that, are you?" Tao exhaled and ran his free hand through his own hair, watching him. Takeo could see the tension around his eyes and lips that said he was worried.

"No." How could he believe what Tao said, not after finding out all his memories of Te - herwas all a lie and she'd been laughing at how easy he'd been to manipulate every time they'd met? "I can't trust my own memories so how the fuck am I supposed to know if what you say is true?" His words were tight, clipped, because that was something he could control, something he knew he could do.

Tao's hand wasn't moving from his own. "Then what will you trust?"

...What could he trust? Takeo couldn't trust his own memories, she had proved that, and he couldn't trust anyone else's either, not when he'd been lied to and laughed at for months on end.

"Nothing," he said, his teeth still gritted.

"Nothing?" Tao repeated, his voice soft.

"I - can't." Takeo glowered at him. "You could lie to me like she did."

"Okay, you got a point…" Tao blew air up through his lips, ruffling his fringe. "I still have records of our missions on my laptop."

"And?" What use was that?

"So if you don't trust your or my memories, can you trust physical evidence?"

Tao had to be talking about video recordings. Takeo wanted to believe him, but… "You can manipulate them." That was Tao's speciality.

"True," Tao said, his head bobbing. "But not my reports. And the Union wanted me to keep all the feeds for double-checking in case something had went wrong."

Takeo paused, taking that information in. That could work. The Union wanted accurate results and if something had went wrong, they could pin down who to blame. "I…"

Tao didn't try to interrupt him, his hand steady on Takeo's.

M-21 was right – Tao was the only person he had left. He shouldn't – couldn't shove him away that easily.

"…Okay…"

Tao beamed, and petted his hand. "Don't move, all right?"

Takeo nodded, and Tao dashed off to the other side of the room. He couldn't move even if he wanted to anyway, not when he had to force his muscles to relax first. Takeo had managed to let go of the linen by the time Tao came back.

Tao climbed into bed next to him, picking up Takeo's hand at the same time. Wait. Takeo tried to pull his hand away but Tao intertwined their fingers. "What to pick, what to pick…" Tao murmured as the laptop booted up. "Hm, I guess the simplest is always the best, huh? First mission together?" He glanced at him.

"Yeah." Takeo continued to stare at their hands, not sure if he should pull away.

"…Is it uncomfortable?"

Takeo shook his head. "No." It was just… Tao's hand was cool against his, and it was something real that he knew was there. It was just the person he had a problem with, if he existed. "Our first mission is good."

"No, our first mission was terrible," Tao corrected with a wry smile. "We failed it."

They had, hadn't they? "Everyone had rushed in…" They had met an hour before the start of the mission, Yuri telling them these were their new teammates with a smile. And then when their mission started…

Tao leaned back, settling into the bed. "You'd nearly killed Shark," Tao said with a snicker. "Too bad you hadn't."

"He leapt into my shot." At the last second, but the kill had been Takeo's.

"Aha! There it is!" Tao tapped a few times and then turned his laptop towards Takeo so he could see the screen better. On it was a base on fire, scientists scrambling to get away and soldiers trying to protect them. The video was silent, but Takeo could hear Shark's laughter in his head as he watched the man slaughter whoever was in arms' reach, bright blood arcing into the air, leaving a red path splattered behind him.

"Her," Tao said, pointing to a scientist that was in a group of three in front of Shark, groups of people between them.

"One of the targets?" She didn't look like it, but they'd had a lot of missions after this one, and a large number of times, Takeo had followed Tao's instructions, only seeing the back of the target's head.

It took two seconds for Shark to reach her, his dagger flashing down - at the last second he leaped away, whirling around to scream at something behind him. The scientist crumpled.

"We got two out of five in that one," Tao said, closing the recording.

"Because Shark was trying to kill me instead." Takeo snorted. Shark had gotten a few hits in before Krans had yanked them apart, telling them if they had wanted to fight each other so much, they could fight him. Shark had tried to; he didn't the next time Krans 'offered'.

"I thought we were going to get scrapped for sure."

He'd worried at the time as he waited for his healing to kick in. Te – his sister's life had been on the line and it would have been his fault. Except she'd never been in danger and he'd never been protecting her.

"Okay… Uh." Tao turned to him. "Name a mission."

Takeo blinked, caught off guard. "Why?"

He got a quirked grin in response. "'Cause then I'm not suggesting everything. It might make things fairer?"

It could. Except he couldn't trust his own memories.

But he could trust the camera recordings. "All right," he said, closing his eyes for a brief second.

Tao squeezed his hand just hard enough to be felt.

Takeo didn't squeeze back, trying to wrack his mind for a specific mission. They had gotten better at working together over time, Tao learning how to direct them and everyone else trusting his judgement more. Or learning how to stay out of each other's way.

And… Should he ask something Tao shouldn't know in case Tao had been told everything about him, or something both of them should know?

…Ah, what about that memory? "Hm," Takeo said, trying to remember the specific details so Tao would know which mission he was talking about. "Pilliga forest in Australia, still on our first couple of missions; someone had snuck up on you."

Tao frowned, the space between his eyebrows creasing at the name; he grimaced a second later. "Ooh, yeah. I got shot in the shoulder; I was fast enough to dodge anything fatal but that hurt. First time I had to use my cables, hah," he added under his breath.

It was…? Takeo hadn't known that… Except, did he really know that much about how much Tao had fought during their missions?

"I was worried when you screamed," Takeo murmured. By then, hearing screams had become common place, but it had been a shock to hear a familiar voice scream directly in his ear, sending a jolt through his system.

"Ooh?" Tao's eyebrows rose and a small smile grew on his face. It was a teasing one, not a full blown grin. "Is that why you started sticking close afterwards?"

"I…" Had he? "Krans told me to." But that didn't seem right, something not matching up.

"Mmhm." Tao squeezed his hand again as he started typing. "And he told you do that off mission as well?"

… "No, he hadn't." Takeo had thought he was following orders, but was that really the case? He'd kept an eye on Tao as best as he couldn't, keeping track of where he was until it had turned into a habit.

"Well, it was fun having you next to me, even though you didn't say much; you made it less lonely."

Huh. That hadn't been an admission Takeo had been expecting from him.

"Gotcha." Takeo focused on Tao at the exclamation. "Now to find the right – there."

Grey smoke obscured everything on the screen. It parted a few seconds later, revealing a hunched over Tao, pressing a hand to a bright wound in his shoulder. A few feet away lay a collapsed body, Tao's cables still wrapped around them.

"Hm, I guess it's my turn again, huh?"

"Yeah…" It wasn't needed as much, Takeo trusting Tao to be the person he thought he was. Though it wouldn't hurt to keep going either. He winced at the stabbing pain in his stomach, his wound reminding him it was still there. Or maybe it would hurt.

"You should get checked over first," Tao said, his hand curling tighter around Takeo's.

"Y-yeah." He'd been able to ignore the pain for now but his injury was demanding to be seen to.

"C'mon, let's go."

Taking a breath to brace himself, Takeo nodded and started to get out of bed.

xOx

Tao wouldn't stop snickering, half-leaning on Takeo as they left Frankenstein's lab, bellies full from all the ramen they had eaten.

"Okay, M-21, you got us good," Tao said, shaking his head. "Damn, you do that everynight?"

"So far, whenever Frankenstein's here."

How was he able to do that without being sick? Takeo felt if he moved too fast he would bring everything up again.

"Gggh, we'll get used to it, I suppose."

They were going to have to, if they were going to do that every night.

"Takeo…?"

"Hm?" He tilted his head at M-21 getting his attention.

"Were…you being serious when you said that you would take my place in the experiment…?" There was a bit of a lost look on M-21's face.

Oh. "Yeah." There hadn't been any need to think for his answer, just like when he'd first offered.

"But…why?" M-21 looked like he was struggling was the knowledge, like he was waiting for someone to start laughing at him or take their words back.

"Because you would do the same for us," Takeo said. To shoulder the burden so the other wouldn't be hurt if they could help it. And he and Tao were more durable than M-21, more able to take damage due to being modified later – which Takeo wasn't going to say out loud, not when he'd seen how M-21 reacted to compliments.

M-21 stilled, staring back at him, his lips parted. "I – uh." He jerked his head away, his hair falling in front of his face. "Yeah." His voice had a slight quaver to it.

They were on their floor and M-21 said, "I'll see you in the morning," before walking to his own room without waiting for a reply.

Takeo and Tao shared a look and went back to Takeo's room.

"That hadn't gone like I thought it would go," Tao said as they made their way to the bed.

"No." Takeo yawned, the sated feeling in his stomach fuelling his tiredness. "Sleeping here tonight?" he asked, all but wanting to flop into bed but knowing that was a bad idea.

"Of course – someone's gotta make sure you rest." Tao helped lower him to bed.

He huffed. "And you?"

Tao just smiled, lying down next to him. "You think I can keep up after being filled to bursting point?"

…No, not really.

They were silent for a while, Takeo dozing. There was something he needed to say though. He worked up the energy to speak, trying to keep his eyes open. "Hey."

"Mm?"

"Thanks. For earlier."

"Heh, welcome."

Takeo reached forward and found Tao's fingers, intertwining them. That was the last thing he felt before he fell asleep.