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sighing, your head hit the back of your seat, eyes to the bus’s ceiling. you zoned out for a moment to the melancholic sounds of cliff and hammerhead arguing behind you before your attention was drawn back forward. rita had stood up from her seat, brushing off her pants and making quick eye contact with you.
“well, until you two settle… this,” she said, punctuated with a wave of her hand in their general direction, “i will be tending to my needs outside.”
vic glanced up at her through the review mirror before pulling the bus to a stop and turning in his seat.
“what do you need?”
rita blinked at him.
“a drink.”
larry snorted from somewhere behind you, and with the bus now parked you could clearly hear the leather squeak as he stood up, too.
hammerhead’s head popped up.
“i’m com-”
“no.” rita and larry interrupted. (perfectly in unison, impressively enough.)
“yeah? well fuck you guys too.”
cliff turned suddenly so he could look at her again.
“why are you always such a dick, man?”
you couldn’t gauge larry’s expression through the bandages when he turned to you, but you were positive it was deadpan as the argument started up again.
“want to come with?”
“god, i would pay to come with,” you groaned, dragging a hand over your face and standing up. he hung back to let you pass.
rita raised her eyebrows and gave vic a tight smile as she stepped off the bus.
“good luck with… that.”
he managed to give his own pained smile, looking very much like he would rather run himself over.
once finally off the bus, you took a look at your surroundings. it was one of those towns you only find on interstate highways in between nothing and nowhere. an old motel, a bar/diner up the road a ways, and a gas station built for unfortunate truckers that had the displeasure of being forced to stop here in the baking heat. which was already getting to you, you thought, pulling at your collar a couple of times. looking back at larry, you wondered how the hell he wasn’t dead yet.
“with our luck, their diner is closed, but i’m going to look.” rita paused to glance between you and larry. “i’m assuming you’ll find something else to do, but you’re welcome to come.”
without waiting for your response, she started in the direction of the building. you watched her leave for a moment before turning back to larry.
“i’ll probably check out the gas station for snacks…?” you left it open as an invitation and were quietly pleased when he nodded.
“think we can knock hammerhead out with enough sugar?”
you laughed. “let’s go before she hears that.”
you both sighed when the gas station door swung open to reveal a working AC (thank god) and a practically untouched selection of refrigerator food. after basking in the relatively chill air, you pealed to the back of the building to find your obligatory road trip snack (the driest chips you’ve ever tasted and a lukewarm, probably expired arizona tea.) after a moment of consideration, you searched for something suitable for you and the others’ dinner, knowing damn well the bus would probably get stranded in the middle of nowhere again later.
you could faintly hear larry and whoever was working the register trade short pleasantries before he quickly made his way to you. the gas station was empty besides you and a few truckers who miraculously seemed to be professionals at minding their own damn business, but knowing how the general population acts towards metahumans, you both seemed to share the same idea of getting out of the public eye as soon as possible. despite this, you couldn’t help taking a long moment to find something you thought he would like.
“do you like poke bowls? they have a couple that don’t look entirely expired.”
larry looked up from where he was poking around the shelves.
“i do, but it’ll go bad by the time i get to eat it.” at your questioning look, he clarified by pointing at his bandaged face.
“who knows when that’ll be! i’m not about to let you starve,” you said, grabbing the bowl anyways, “we’re in the middle of nowhere. we could literally drop you anywhere within a five mile radius to eat and pick you back up once you’ve put your bandages back on.”
he laughed. “i appreciate it, but i didn’t bring extra bandages with me. didn’t realize this would be a longer trip than expected.”
“i have a roll back on the bus.” you set the food down near the register and lowered your voice so the worker wouldn’t hear. “i change it out pretty frequently, so it’ll hold the radiation in fine.”
turned away from him to pay, you didn’t see larry’s shock until you left. he took your shoulder once the doors shut behind you.
“you keep some of my bandages on you?”
you didn’t think it was that big of a deal until you saw his reaction. you couldn’t help feeling a little embarrassed, praying he didn’t notice.
“well...yeah. i thought it might be a good idea since you don’t always have a bag with you.”
he was quiet for a moment before nodding and starting to walk again. after about a minute of you silently freaking out over his lack of a response, he spoke.
“thank you. it’s nice to know someone has my back. i know rita does that, too, but… it’s different with you, in a way.”
you looked over at him, but he was still staring straight forward. he tilted his head slightly to (presumably) look at you too. you opened your mouth to respond when a car horn interrupted.
“we’ve been waiting for you forever.”
you sighed, waving up at the bus where hammerhead was leaned over vic’s shoulder in the front seat, literally laying on the horn. he squawked, waving her off. cliff peaked out his window to wave back at you.
“we’ve only been waiting for like five minutes; she’s just cranky.” thankfully, she must’ve been too tired to complain. you clambered back inside and collapsed into your seat, flashing larry a gentle smile when he passed. you could only guess he was reciprocating with the tilt of his head.