"So how many people make jokes about your name?" Killer fell in step beside you.

"Probably less than the amount of people that make fun of yours." You shot back.

He'd been coming around once every couple days and harassing you. He called it hanging out. You were on your way to go find a job and since he knew where you went for that now, he must have decided to tag along.

"Touché." He said. He was starting to pull ahead of you with his long legs and as soon as he noticed, he slowed down to match your pace.

"Don't you have something better to do than antagonize me?"

"Not really. All my normal work is done so I thought I'd come see you."

"Under normal circumstances, I'd say that's nice."

"Alas, you still don't like me."

"Bingo." You raised a single finger in acknowledgement.

You wouldn't tell him, but there were times you forgot he was on to you being the dragon. At times, you even forgot you weren't supposed to like him. Killer had this habit of taking your snarky comments in stride and shooting overly confident remarks back. It baffled you.

Your sharp tongue scared people away, plain and simple. The only people you couldn't or refused to talk to the same way you did with others stuck around, but you felt they didn't fully understand you either. As much as you loved Delilah and Ivankov, they both saw two very different sides that made up only a part of you. You thought by showing Killer a bit of your moody, bitchy side he'd go away eventually. So much for that.

"I hope you irritate others as much as you do me." You grumbled, adjusting your hoodie.

"Why's that?"

"Cause one of these days your going to aggravate the wrong person and they're going to beat the shit out of you."

"I hope it's the dragon."

"Okay first off, why? And secondly, who's to say they'd be the one to do it?"

"Why not? And if I were the dragon, I wouldn't have a problem showing some power and killing people. It just makes sense to me that they'd do that."

"But they haven't."

"Not that anyone knows." He shrugged.

"They haven't." You said under your breath. You knew.

If he heard you, he didn't say anything.

After walking in silence for a bit, you glanced over at him to see he was looking around at the different buildings. They were all built so close together you doubted even a bug could crawl between the gaps. The further you got into town and away from home, the better shape they were in and the busier they were. It didn't matter if it was early morning or late at night, stores and businesses around here were always open in one way or another.

You noted how Killer was dressed. Usually he stuck to tees and jeans, very similar to you. But tonight he wore a form fitted black shirt with matching pants. There was an equally dark jacket thrown over everything and what looked like a sheathe hanging from his hip. Everytime his arms swung, you caught sight of something flashing silver under the edges of his sleeves.

"What's that?" You asked before thinking. Your curiosity got the better of you.

"Hmm?" He looked down at his arms. "Oh, you noticed."

Killer tugged a sleeve up so you could get a full look. It was some kind of metal arm guard as far as you could tell. You didn't see it before, but it actually went down to his hand and had a part he could grip.

"What's that for?"

"You might see later." He said, tugging the sleeve back down. "It's only for emergencies."

"Okay..." That was a little unsettling but you'd let it go. For now.

The rest of the walk was uneventful and like usual, when you stepped into the Monarch, Ivankov greeted you with a hug.

"Blue my dear I missed you!"

"Always Ivankov." You giggled.

He backed away and caught sight of Killer. "Blue, you've never brought friends before."

"He's not a friend."

"You wound me." Killer held a hand to his chest as his mouth twitched up into a smile.

"He literally just decided to tag along." You ignored him and focused on Ivankov.

"Well he can stay here then while the adults discuss business."

"Oh no." Killer stepped closer to you until he was brushing up against you. "I thought I'd join her on a job."

"I work alone." You crossed your arms and scowled at him.

"Let's discuss this somewhere more private." Ivankov nudged you both up the stairs to his private room. When all three of you had settled into chairs, he started again. "Now you boy, tell me your name."

He already knew what it was, you could see the recognition in his eyes. You don't know why he insisted on asking.

"Killer." The blonde replied obediently. If only you could figure out how to have him so well behaved.

"Kill-boy, you can join her on a job– don't start with me Blue."

You were getting ready to object but he cut you off. Not like you could really argue. Ivankov set up the workers with the clients and got a cut of everything for providing the meeting location and finding the right person for the job. If he wanted something a certain way, he got it exactly how he wanted or you could look for clients somewhere else and that would be no easy task.

"You can join her on a job but you won't get a full cut, she gets the majority as I've had her here longer and trust her work ethic."

"That's fine." Killer agreed.

"Good. Secondly, if she gets hurt because of you, you better believe I will tear you apart. She's one of my top workers and I won't tolerate someone ruining her perfect record. Do I make myself clear?"

Almost perfect. Killer already ruined it.

"Crystal." He nodded along casually.

"Now that's out of the way, what are you looking for today Blue dear?" Ivankov relaxed and went back to his usual self. It was scary how quick he could get serious when he felt it was necessary.

"Nothing crazy, I'm thinking another theft." You were still trying to keep on the down low.

"I don't think I have anything small being requested right now." He tapped a finger to his temple as he thought. "Someone is wanting a painting that just came into the art museum. It's currently being borrowed from another city to put on show here for a while, you could do that."

Art museums weren't super high security, but they had guards rotated around the clock and alarms on all the doors. And one thing most people never thought about was how few places there were to hide in one. Not to mention how everything echoed in the large spaces.

"I dunno...."

"How big is the painting?" Killer asked.

"Not very. Small enough to carry under an arm easily." Ivankov answered. "It won't be a problem to leave with it."

"We can do that." Killer gave you a reassuring smile.

"It'll pay nicely too. I think it'd have you set for the month Blue dear."

It would be doable with two people and Killer had already proved to you that he could be stealthy when he fooled you the first night you met. But you weren't sure if you could trust him. There was a reason you didn't work with other people.

"Why do you want to work with me?" You asked Killer.

"I told you, I've got nothing of interest going on."

That did literally nothing to make your choice easier.

"I promise if he does anything I'll avenge you Blue." Ivankov said.

"Thanks for that." You sighed. "Fine, I'll do it."

"That's the spirit." Killer hummed. "Teamwork makes the dream work, let's steal a painting."

----

"You can't wear that." Killer picked at the shoulder of your hoodie.

"Don't touch me and yes I can."

"You gotta stop." He pulled you by the hood until you had to stop to avoid choking yourself. "Is this how you dress for jobs? You're going to get caught."

"I haven't yet."

"Let's not ruin that good streak. You need to change."

The hoodie you were wearing was your favorite. It was very well loved and had definitely seen better days but it still held it's color well. It was neon green with a cute multicolored cartoon owl on the front. You could see the issue, if you were stupid and didn't know how to stay out of sight. But you knew exactly what you were doing. This wasn't your first rodeo. Not to mention you didn't have anything better anyway. The only other jacket you had was a pink camo one you got a good deal on. And as funny as it would be to change into pink camo and claim it was better, Killer wouldn't roll with it.

"I don't have anything better."

"What do you mean–" He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "How long have you been doing this?"

"Couple years."

"And you've been dressing like it's just another nightly stroll through the town the entire time?"

"Yeah. That about sums it up." You couldn't help but grin. Killer was practically twitching in annoyance.

"You need something different."

"Sure, I'll buy something." You said sarcastically as you turned out your pockets. "Oh wait, I'm broke. Like always."

"Remember when I offered you a job? This is why." He pushed you along, this time in a different direction. "We can pay you enough that you aren't living paycheck to paycheck and then some."

"I don't care about that, I don't like working with other people. And were the hell are we going? The museum is in the other direction!"

"Here." He pushed you into a clothing's store. It made no sense that it was open this time of night but nothing in this city made sense. "The jeans should work fine, shoes too. We'll just get you a new jacket."

"I told you I'm broke."

He ignored you and poked around the store until he found what he was looking for.

"Hey!" You jumped when he held a navy blue hoodie up to you, comparing its size to your body.

"This should do it."

"I can't pay for that and I'm not stealing it." You hissed.

"I never said we were doing either of those things."

He actually ended up paying for it himself, making a big show of flashing a thick wad of cash as you tottered after him in a very confused state. Why would he buy you things? It had to be he was so worried about you blowing his cover. There was no other reason.

When you stepped back outside he pushed the hoodie into your arms. "Change into that one. We can go by your place to drop off the old one."

"Um thanks." You eyed the blue fabric in your hands. It was soft and definitely not cheap, you saw how much it rang up for.

"That's it?" He frowned. "No sass?"

"Why'd you get me this?" It had an even softer, black lining on the inside. You don't remember the last time you owned something so nice.

"It's dark. It'll be harder to see you when we're breaking in."

"That's it?" That's all you wanted it to be.

"Well, I haven't seen you wear one thing that didn't look like you got it from the local secondhand store. Figured you might like something new."

Your insides warmed and twisted up on themselves. Delilah and Ivankov made you feel similar on the rare occasion but it was weird coming from Killer.

"Thank you." You murmured a second time.

"It's no problem.... You don't get gifts from people often, do you?"

"No, this is the first time in a long time."

You pulled your hoodie off, careful to keep your shirt in place so you wouldn't flash your bra to Killer, and put on the new one. It fit perfectly and had to be the most comfortable thing you'd ever worn.

"Your friends don't ever do anything for you?" He started back to your apartment and you trotted after him.

"Delilah can't afford anything and Ivankov is more like a boss."

"No, your friends. Not your nice neighbor and coworkers."

You blinked at him a few times. "They're all I've got."

His frown never left but now his lips were pressed in an even more firm line, his expression more serious.

"Okay, well let's get this done."

"Sounds good. Ready for that rent money." You joked and sped up, moving ahead of him.

"We're going to have to change that." He said just quietly enough that you couldn't hear it.