I was getting food late in the night the next day when Aven approached me. He seemed surprised to see me up late.

"Didn't Liri make you stay late to help with training?"

"She did, yeah." I say, grabbing a cold roll from the heater. The heater had been turned off for hours now though.

"What did you do?"

"Does it matter?" I say absent-mindedly. I moved to one of the cafeteria tables, and what do I know? Aven is following me.

"You're a mysterious man, you know? I like that about you." He takes a seat right next to me.

"Mysterious enough to gossip about me." I state, a little annoyed that this dude won't leave me alone. I just wanted to eat something quick and head back to my bunker.

"That was just for fun. I knew you could hear me. I just like to stir things up sometimes. It gets boring here. You're not boring. I just said that to see what Badger thought of you."

"You talk quite a lot." I state.

"So, how's it been besides the whole fainting thing?"

"It's been fine. I've just been training a lot in preparation for the war. Same old same old. Why are you so interested suddenly?" I tilt my head. The roll remains untouched on my plate. For some reason this interaction is making me uncomfortable enough to ignore my hunger for a moment.

"Because I wanted to test something." This makes me look over to him. He has a weird look in his eyes, and it has me wanting to scoot over.

"What is that?"

"If you really are single." It's then he places a hand on my thigh. I shot up from my seat.

"Woah, woah!" I throw my hands into the air.

"What's going on in here?" I spin around to see Badger at the doorway with his hands curled into fists.

"He just- I didn't want-"

"I know, I know. I saw." Badger explains to me as he passes me. He looks mad. I'd never seen his face contort in anger like that before.

"I didn't do anything. I don't know why he even reacted like that." Aven rolls his eyes and stands up from his seat.

"Get out of here." Badger crossed his arms and stood between me and Aven. "Now."

"Badger, it wasn't like that-"

"I said now!" Badger raised his voice.

Aven left promptly.

"Are you alright?" Badger turns to me slowly, still looking upset. His face softens as his eyes meet mine.

"I'm fine. He touched my leg but didn't do anything else."

"Good. I just walked in and saw him reach his hand over- I didn't know what was going on, but your reaction freaked me out."

"Why are you up so late?" I ask, changing the subject so he wouldn't be so worried about it.

"I couldn't sleep. I went to your bunker, but you weren't there. Figured you'd be in the common area somewhere."

I sit back down to start eating now that things have calmed down.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there. Liri had me out really late tonight and I was hungry." I explain through mouthfuls of bread. Badger just ruffled my hair and sat next to me. He scooted his chair closer to mine, so our legs just barely touched.

"What are we, Mitah?"

The air grows silent. Crumbs fall from my lips. Badger is giving me a hopeful glance.

"I'm not sure. What do you want out of this?"

"A lover, maybe; It's not right for me to have one. I'll have to swear an oath to join the healer's guild, but that's what I want from you anyway." His voice is completely sincere.

I lean over and peck his lips. He seems surprised but delighted.

"I want that too, Badger."

"So, you'll be with me?"

"If you'll let me."