...
"He knows we're following him right?" Fingers questioned idly, the two of them were a good twenty or so feet behind Rodrick, their steps as slow as his.
Ferus shrugged in response, keeping an eye ahead of him. "He'd be pretty stupid not to notice," And Rodrick if nothing else was eerily smart. Always has been really. Whenever any of their 'plans' went about before he'd left for his school, the boy always knew who was responsible. He never said a word of it to the caretaker, however, which in hindsight, might've only convinced them to keep on going... He let out a sigh at the thought, the more he thought about it the bleaker the situation appeared.
He couldn't help but avoid the sudden question of what he'd have done if he was in the boy's shoes because thinking about that led to him thinking about their own sudden turn in trying to apologize.
If the roles were reversed, he'd certainly not trust it whatsoever...
Maybe that was the problem? He mused. Which begged the question of what they'd need to do to convince him it was all as legit as it could get. Hell to avoid souring things further, Tiff had chosen against following him- Actually, the girl had told them it'd be a stupid idea, to begin with, though they'd both disagreed.
Rodrick rarely ever left the Orphanage before his schooling had started, so to see him do so almost immediately after returning had practically piqued his and Finger's interest.
"Where do you think he's going anyway?" Fingers questioned, one finger in his ear as he presumably made to clean it. "Only thing up there's a bus stop."
He shrugged again. "Meet a friend? I dunno."
Fingers snorted at the thought.
"Wonder what kind of person he'd call a friend,"
"Certainly not us," He quipped, an uneasy smile on his face-
His gaze narrowed quickly as he looked past the boy up ahead, his gaze locked onto the book he was still reading. Fingers just as quickly elbowing him in alarm as they watched a hooded degenerate yank some lady's purse with enough force to pull her to the ground.
"Yoo-" Finger's called out, "That old bitch just got served!" The boy cackled out.
He slapped the boy's head for his... Frankly, everything, even with his gaze still locked onto the now running, in their direction, thief. On instinct, the two quickly moved to the edge of the pavement, if only to avoid getting bulldozed before their jaws literally dropped as they watched Rodrick throw his book at said thief. And without missing a beat turned towards the railings that surrounded the rickety set of houses to their left, no doubt about to vault over-
The projectile lanced through the air and slapped the rapidly surprised man in the face, halting his run as he barely managed to avoid falling over at the surprise attack, before slowing down in front of their fellow orphan-
"You little-" Whatever the thief had been about to say seemingly died down, in favor of what Ferus presumed was a punch-
Fingers' shaking head was ignored as Ferus, for a moment, made to run-up to the boy to share in the beating he was about to get. Only to freeze as he noticed why the thief had stopped short to begin with as one of the railings pipes Rodrick must've loosened off, his own gaze widening by the second, was promptly swiped and smashed into his rapidly surprised face. The attack was enough to send a grown man practically spinning on his feet, bloody mucus and teeth flying out as he dropped to the ground.
It was only then he'd noticed Finger's open jaw, as Rodrick calmly kicked the man onto his back, removed the purse from his loose hands, and lazily threw the pipe onto the thief's chest. Before he took a few more steps to pick up his book.
"...That was fuckin' awesome..." Fingers deadpanned beside him as the boy seemingly found the control for his open jaw. "Tiff's not gonna believe us!"
That was one word for it... Ferus thought warily as he watched Rodrick calmly walk up to the woman barely finding her balance and give her a hand to her feet before returning her purse with a smile on his face.
As if he hadn't just dropped a man twice his size with so much ease it was scary.
When the surprised woman, finally noting what had happened, gave the boy her thanks and gratitude, in the form of a five-pound note according to Fingers, the two barely seemed to register Rodrick's sudden movement once again as they slowly started following him...
When the two passed by the still-out cold thief, the woman he'd tried to rob currently giving him a few kicks of her own with glee, was the moment Ferus realized that following Rodrick was probably a bad idea.
With that in mind, he sped up somewhat as the bus stop came into view-
They could always just pretend they were going to the same place.
He held in the urge to facepalm as Fingers unabashedly asked said woman as they passed by her if she had another fiver to give.
Still, as awkward as that was, it was nowhere near as awkward as waiting for the bus a few feet away from Rodrick- The boy not paying them the slightest bit of attention as he kept his gaze locked on the book in his hands.
Fingers fidgeting all the while beside him.
He wasn't sure if the fidgeting was because the boy was controlling his urge to try and steal a fiver he knew the other had, or because of everything that went down before it.
Knowing the reckless idiot, it was probably both.
"He wasn't kidding about pretending we don' exist," Said boy murmured beside him. "Not gonna lie, feels hella rude. Like at least give some notice to the people trying to follow you," The boy deadpanned in a whisper. "Know what I mean?"
Which considering it'd only been a few minutes since they'd stopped keeping their distance said quite a bit.
Hadn't they pretended Rodrick hadn't existed for years?
Hell, when the boy had turned six, they'd roleplayed together and pretended the boy was a ghost no one could see for a couple of weeks.
He was starting to think apologizing wasn't going to do anything at all- It certainly wouldn't have done anything for him.
...
When the bus finally showed up in sight, Ferus quickly went through his pockets to find the change he'd need- The bus driver, unfortunately, wasn't one of the ones that generally let them ride free. When he pulled up what he had on him, he grimaced at the amount-
It'd be enough for a journey and a half. Giving Fingers a side-look, he watched as the younger let out a sigh before he gave him the missing amount.
It took him another moment of thought before he ignored his urges and turned towards Rodrick, the boy still engrossed in the black book.
If he needed to take two busses to get to his destination, then he might find himself wasting his money for no reason...
"So, uh, where you headed?" He questioned, groaning inside at the words. Even Fingers looked a moment away from face-palming at his subtlety.
Rodrick to his surprise leveled a momentary look towards him before rolling his eyes with a scoff as he stood up from the bench and walked past him, one hand raised for the bus getting closer.
With a sigh, he simply settled for silence-
"Stop following me," Rodrick remarked. "Or else." He finished, idly glancing towards them.
Hints of anger, for some reason, filled him at that as he narrowed his eyes in return.
"What's your problem?" He blurted out with a wince. "Yeah, sure we were pricks but it's not like..." He regretted the chosen words as soon as he said them, his brain unable to come up with anything else, though thankfully Fingers elevated it with his own stupidity.
"What, you too embarrassed to let your friends meet us or somethin'?"
"As if I'd let any of you come close enough." The almost disturbing way he'd referred to them set him on edge as his fists balled up beside him. "Wouldn't do to sour her impressions." The boy scoffed.
Her? He blinked in bemusement. He was meeting a girl?
"Ooh, got yourself a little fancy girlfriend did ya?" Fingers immediately questioned. "What, scared she might find out where you really come from? Is that it?"
Rodrick in response, instead of showing any emotion- And quite frankly bad or good, it would've been better if he had- Simply raised an eyebrow at them as he turned his gaze towards them directly.
The bus meanwhile slowed down as it came to the stop.
"She's well aware," Rodrick remarked curtly. "But there's a difference between hearing about trash, and meeting it personally."
He quickly clamped a hand down on Finger's shoulder, the boy about to leap at the insult while he simply leveled a heavy frown on the boy- Finger's act finally getting a reaction, one that screamed at them to give the other boy a reason.
"...Does that feel good?" He questioned. "I get rejecting us yesterday, understand it even- But for all that we might've-"
Rodrick didn't even let him finish.
"Literally. Don't. Care." He promptly turned towards the bus and hopped onto it, leaving the two of them standing there as they stared at him.
"...I am gonna go help Tiff set his pillow on fire," Fingers remarked slowly, even as he stayed put with him, both of them watching as the bus closed its doors.
...
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