Page 26 of The Devil's Bargain
Didn’t really seem like the type of thing someone really got over.
“Hi,” he tried his best to sound light, not sure if he succeeded.
“I heard you came back from your trip,” Nero smiled at him. “I’ve been meaning to visit you at the station, but life has been a bit hectic lately.”
“Oh?” Why would Nero want to visit him? They’d never been friends.
Was…this how people became friends? Calix had always been good at casual connections, but he’d never gone from a hate relationship to wanting to be close to another person. If he were Nero, he’d want nothing to do with the guy who’d bedridden him for nearly a decade.
“Yeah, my checkups have been going well though,” his old classmate continued, unaware of the confusion brewing in Calix’s mind. “Actually, I’m here to meet with Titus Mercer. Since he was the one in charge of me back then. Figured it can’t hurt to get his opinion now that I’m supposedly fully healed.”
“Mercy agreed to meet with you?” Why hadn’t he told Cal anything about that? Hell, he’d literally just come from his First’s office…
“Mercy? Oh.” Nero gave him an odd look. “Is that a nickname? I didn’t realize you two were close.”
“It’s a fairly new development,” Cal rushed to explain, not wanting him to get the wrong idea and start to wonder if Mercy had rigged the test results, and his testimony, all those years ago.
Especially since he had, in fact, done those things.
For Calix.
Even back then, he’d done a lot for Cal.
So there had to be a reason he hadn’t brought up Nero’s appointment.
“Does he have something to do with you sticking around?” Nero jabbed him lightly with his elbow and waggledhis brow teasingly. “I was surprised when I heard you’d quit the agency. Homesick after all this time?”
“Nothing like that.” Calix had hated living on this planet when he’d been younger. If not for Aodhan and Mercy, there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d choose to come back to this place and settle down. But for them? Maybe even thanks to them, he was getting a chance to hit the refresh button. Learning to love the place he’d once held in contempt. “I actually have to get back to the station now.”
“Of course.” Nero clapped him on the back, chuckling awkwardly when he finally seemed to catch onto Cal’s unease. “Sorry, I just thought…Well, our situations are a lot alike, aren’t they? We’re both returning home, and we’re starting new…Navigating all of that is a lot, and it’d be nice if I had someone I could relate to.”
Calix frowned.
“I know I was shitty to you in the past,” Nero continued. “But I’m hoping you’re willing to put it all behind us and start again.” He held out a hand. “Friends?”
Cal hesitated. Making peace was the smart move here, and yet… “Wouldn’t it be best if we really put the past behind us and went our separate ways?”
“Ouch.” He didn’t lower his hand. “Come on. I was an asshole to you, you hit me with your car…Aren’t we even now? I’m just asking for the two of us to get along, maybe hang out now and again. To be honest,” he took a step closer, voice lowering, “no one here really gets me. They don’t understand what I’ve been through. They keep pushing me to pick things back up where they left off, as though eight years haven’t come and gone. I don’t know about you, but I’m not the same person I was at eighteen.”
“No,” Calix found himself agreeing, “me either.”
“Exactly.”
Cal’s multi-slate chimed, and he saw Mitri’s name pop up on the screen.
“How about it?” Nero insisted. “Tonight? Let’s grab drinks at Fair Ground when you’re off work?”
Shit.
“Sure.” Calix didn’t have time to waste on this anymore, and without a good reason to reject him, went along with it in the end.
* * *
“Cheers.” Nero clanked his glass against Cal’s in the bar they’d both been too young to hang out at as teens. It was a popular location, in a busy part of town, and was filling with people getting off work, stopping by for a drink or a quick meal before heading home for the evening.
Admittedly, Calix had been a bit suspicious when he’d gotten the invite, but now that he was here…
“The burgers are pretty good.” Nero held up the menu. “You still like them with extra pickles?”
