Have some pie

[Anonymous]

Alaric wasn't really sure what he was doing. He didn't really like Cross, but he was another Pilot and he had been shot. By Raley. The person Alaric hated more than anyone in the world. And that at least seemed to deserve some pie.

And he might rub it in just a liiiiittle. That when you were friends with Raley, it would come and shoot you in the stomach. So Alaric found himself walking through the hospital with a lemon meringue pie on his way to visit an old bully.

He had already checked that he was allowed to bring the pie and his mother had knitted Cross a hat. Because she had seen him in the paper with Alaric and assumed they were friends. Lovely.

He knocked as he entered, "Hey. Are you awake?"

[Tally]

Cross's voice from beyond the closed door.  "I don't need to fucking be in here! I don't give a fuck what you say, I'm going to deal with that piece of shit myself!"

The door eased open, and August sidled halfway out.  "Outstanding. I almost went the entire day without having to put a difficult Pilot in restraints. I'll go fetch them."

August jumped back behind the door just in time to avoid the empty bedpan that Cross flung at it.  He collected himself a moment, then blinked at Alaric. "Oh, Pilot Eftwyrd. He's...up and about.  Will you pardon me?"  He was going to get those restraints.  The Pilots outranked all other military personnel—except in the infirmary.  It wouldn't have been the first time he had to threaten—or use—restraints on an injured Pilot.

The door had swung open, revealing Alaric to Cross.  He was in bed, half sitting up, his torso bandaged. "The fuck do you want?"

[Anonymous]

"Wow. Not smart guy. It always pays to be nice to the medics." Alaric moved out of August's way, carefully to keep the pie clear, "Man, no wonder your friends suck. I come with gifts and you just snarl at me."

Stepping inside, Alaric set the presents on a counter, away from Cross's reach, "I came to see how you were. Still an asshole, but I can't say I'm surprised."

[Tally]

"They won't let me up to the lead rooms."  Cross punched at the pillow behind him until it settled into a satisfactory form again. It was more about the punching than getting comfortable though.

"They're keeping that fucker alive up there.  They should let me see him! I have shit to say and I want to say it to his fucking face!  I'm fine, I don't need to be in here.  They better not try to put me in fucking restraints either.  Is that pie?"

[Anonymous]

"Well, I hate to be the barer of bad news, but you have been shot." Alaric's tone was rather dry. He wasn't all that surprised that Cross was angry at Raley, but really, what did the guy expect? The man was a total lunatic. Ah, sweet Karma in action.

"And yes, it's pie. Lemon in fact. And a hat my mother made you. Thanks to that lovely picture of us in the paper, I think she thinks we're sleeping together." Luckily, Alaric had thought ahead and had some paper plates and a few plastic forks and soon there was a slightly wonky shaped piece of pie on a Rainbow Light plate with a fork in it, "Here. Now calm down before you get strapped down."

[Tally]

"Yes thank you, I know I have been shot! I am very fucking aware! They won't let me forget, believe me, but I don't need to be in here.  Give me that."  This pie was the only good thing that had happened since he woke up in the hospital.  First they wouldn't tell him anything, then they questioned him like he was under suspicion of something, and now they wouldn't give him his chance at Sade.  They fucker would be dead before he got a shot at him.

Damn good pie though.  It slowed him down, but he still had plenty he needed to say. "Oh don't even get me started on that.  I don't even want to be reminded.  That shit was so unfair.  Hamilton and Rosales came off like fucking heroes."

Rosales.  He'd been trying not to think about that.  The man was in a coma, hooked up to machines that breathed and pumped his blood for him, but if he was brain dead like they thought then he was just a soulless body lying there.  No consciousness, nothing. Gods.  Cross needed to get out of this hospital bed.

[Anonymous]

"Well, if you know that, then stop acting like a moron and stay put. If they are going to let you get at Sade, you'll get your shot. You being stupid and pushing yourself to fast wont get you anything." Alaric took on the chair in the room with his own plateful of pie, though he hadn't started eating yet.

"Besides, I thought you and Sade were friends. Rape buddies and all that loveliness." Alaric still was a little unsure why he was in this room with Cross, "Plus, they're Royals, so of course they are the heroes. They fart and it's the best thing ever. We save a fucking block from getting blown apart and all they show is you laying on top of me."

[Tally]

"Hey," he said around a mouthful of pie.  "I know my own fucking limits, don't try to tell me when I'm pushing myself too much."

Besides, if he were being honest with himself, he knew damn good and well he couldn't leave the hospital in this state.  It wasn't about the leaving it was about having something to yell about so he didn't go crazy in here dwelling Sade and Roman and how he had totally fucking failed when it mattered. Shit.  Even the thought of it subdued him, took the urge to scream right out of him and he took a few moody bites of pie before speaking again.

"Yeah.  We were.  Then he shot me.  I'm not inclined to think favorably of him."  It was true, though his split with Raley had begun to tear open years ago, when he grew up and Raley failed to do so.

[Anonymous]

"Oh yes. And you are making just awesome choices right now." Alaric took a few more bites of pie, watching his...enemy? eat. What was Cross. Enemy didn't right. But they weren't friends. Team mates he supposed, but as a team mate, he didn't really need to have baked him a pie.

It was...what it was he supposed. He hated Cross, and he respected him and honestly, he liked their banter. It was kind of fun.

"Well, shooting someone can put a damper on the friendship, though, really, considering what a fucking...oh, what's the word. I can't think of it. When the animals foam at the mouth and are all crazy and violent. That's what he is. He's a disgusting feces of a man. I will never know what you saw in him."

[Tally]

"Rabid," he supplied.  Yep, that was Raley.  Sometimes.  No doubt it was the Raley that Alaric had known best.  Cross had known him differently.  He'd been there for those times when Raley acted like an idiot just to relieve the tension or take a friend's mind off of something painful.  Raley could make him laugh until his sides ached and even when they got themselves into trouble, Raley always took his share of the blame, even when he didn't have to.  Why did he have to turn into such a fucking tool?  They could have stayed friends, he could have been a good Pilot, a good person, and...just fuck.  Now it was too late.

Cross laid his fork down on the empty plate and stared at it.  What pissed him off most was how senseless it had been.  He didn't know where the system had failed Raley or how, but there had been potential there something decent, something worthwhile.  If he could only have anticipated, he might have done a lot of things differently as a candidate.  He'd failed Raley, failed his once friend, by letting him turn into this.

"No.  You won't," he agreed.  No one would. Because whatever he'd seen in Raley all those years ago had long since vanished.

[Anonymous]

"Yes. That's the word. Rabid. He's a rabid dog." And to Alaric, Raley would always be a monster. He would always been the kid who hurt him, held him down. The one who violated him, the one who had mutilated him.

"But at least you have pie now. And I'm sure this incident wont make the news, so at least the embarrassment of getting shot my Sade wont be public knowledge and you can tell all the girls the scar was from...I don't know. Saving a kitten or something."

[Tally]

He couldn't argue.  There was a time when he would have wanted to, but Raley had blown all his chances with Cross, and it wasn't just the shooting or the treason that did it either.  He felt as though his friend were already dead, as though he'd lost him a long time ago and the person they held up there was a stranger.  Nothing to him, nothing he cared about.

"If it does, they'll spin it 'til it's unrecognizable. No way they'll let it out that a Pilot went traitor.  They'll probably give him a hero's funeral."  That was just the way of it.  He hadn't been debriefed yet on the official stance, but he could guess how it would go.

[Anonymous]

"Oh, probably. Are you always this lucky? Remind me to make sure I put in a request to not go on missions with you again. You always get glossed over." Alaric attempted to lighten the mood a little. He would love to rip into Sade all day, but he wasn't sure if he should. Cross had been a friend.

"Though, maybe you'll be on page 14, with some mention of how you were shot by a dropped gun during training or something equally amazing."

[Tally]

"Story of my fucking life.  I could save this whole city and someone else would still get the credit for it."  Okay, that sounded bad even to him.  Saving people was supposed to be its own reward and he got that.  But damned if it wouldn't be nice to get some recognition for a change.

Cross snorted.  "Wouldn't surprise me.  They'll have to say something about it and that sounds as likely as anything.  Though given the damage to the city out there they might blame it on the Edani."

[Anonymous]

"But at least you and I will know the truth, eh?" Alaric licked his fork clean, then set his empty plate aside. The pie had been perfect, if he did say so himself. And things seemed to have gotten to a less...heavy place. Whatever he and Cross were, he wasn't sure he was ready to be that close with him.

"Oooh. Edani war hero would be nice. I bet you could milk that for a bit. Hopefully you'll get a scar." Alaric always made them leave his scars. Scars were a sign of pride and prowess for his people and he never understood the human obsession with smooth skin. Babies had smooth skin, not warriors.

[Tally]

"I guess.  If that's any real comfort at all."  He wasn't sure if it was.  It was just the reality of it and they had to deal with that, but he wasn't sure if he would rather be ignorant and blissful or knowledgeable and troubled by that knowledge.  The choice might look simple on paper but was far more complicated than that.

"Yeah, maybe I'll benefit from this after all."  He folded his hands behind his head and let himself ponder on that.  He had fuck all chance of actually coming off looking good in all this but it was nice to think about.

[Anonymous]

"Of course it is. Then you have someone to get drunk with and bitch about all those bastard Pilots that steal all the glory. It's a bonding experience with someone else, and sad and pathetic when alone. Besides, there isn't really much point in moping about it. Might as well try to salvage the good parts, right."

Alaric gestured to the gifts he had brought, "See, you're already getting free shit."

[Tally]

"Yeah, yeah."  Cross rolled his eyes.  That sounded way too close to a lecture, and was the kind of thing he'd walk out on if he were capable of walking or were even allowed to leave the room just then.

"Oh, yeah!,"  He forgotten about that hat until Alaric brought it up again.  "Give it here.  I'll try it on."  Never mind that he would never buy such a thing for himself.  It was free and that automatically made it good.

[Anonymous]

Twisting, Alaric grabbed the hat and handed it over to Cross. His mom had made it and it matched the ones that Alaric's friends all had gotten. And knowing her, a matching scarf was on the way. The hat was a dark purple and gray color, a simple pattern.

"She likes to make them for everyone. And if it doesn't fit, she can make a new one in a better size."

[Tally]

"Looks like it'll do fine," he said, turning it around and around in his hands, looking for some clue as to whether there was a front or back.  He shrugged and pulled it onto his head.

"How do I look?"