The air con in the trans am is pretty shitty, but it's enough to give a little breath of relief as we travel in god knows how many degree heat down the highway. Party's a fast driver, but it doesn't affect me. Maybe once i would have been scared by quite how fast we're going, but now it's pretty ordinary compared to the world i now live in.

"Sharp left up ahead" i point to a turning he would have otherwise missed. It's discrete, which is what first drew me to the place. Dracs would never notice it with their fancy cars. It's the sort of turning you only notice when you're on a bike like mine.

"Here?" He asks, to which i nod. We turn and start down the bumpy path, the old house eventually coming into view.

"Welcome to my humble abode" i remark dryly as we pull up outside. He looks over and raises his eyebrows, taking in it's appearance, from the dishevelled ruins that were once the upstairs to the way the whole thing is lopsided, looking like it's about to give way and collapse at any given moment. I can't say i've missed it.

"This is where you sleep?" he remarks, climbing out of the car at the same time i do. I give a small shrug and walk towards the place, him following a few paces behind me as i approach the side door, pushing my hand through the gap where a window once was. I twist the door open from the other side before stepping in, gesturing vaguely for him to do the same.

"It's not a pretty place, but it does the job" i say as we walk into the main room.

"it could fall down at any minute" he fixes his eyes on the beams that hold the place together, obviously not trusting them. I can't blame him - they look old and one of them is going to give way at some point.

"I'm not saying it's safe, i'm just saying it does the job."

"Still" he moves closer to me, placing his hand on my arm "i hate the thought of you here on your own asleep at night. If a drac came along and you were out like a light..." his hand trailed up so that it was cupping my cheek "or those beams gave way and fell down on you. You'd have nobody here to help, not a single person who even knew where you were."

"I prefer it that way, i've told you before. I know the risks, but i was lucky and none of that happened to me. I'm careful to cover my tracks and a light sleeper. As for the building, there's some things we can't control. It was either sleeping in here or out there in the cold where any dracs could scoop me up and dust me up into a body bag" i shudder slightly at the thought of my lifeless body being zipped up into one of those awful white plastic things.

"Hey" He speaks soothingly "none of that happened to you. And now you're going to come back to our base and live there. Trust me, there's no way that ceiling's going to come down, and i'll blow any dracs sky high that dare to come near you whilst you sleep."

"Thanks" i turn and look around the place "i'll just grab my stuff, won't be a minute" He reluctantly legs go of his grip on me as i move about the place, piling up my few bags. There's the bare essentials in them, plus my little stove (i might aswell take it) and my maps.

"These look good" Party takes the maps from my arms and opens them up "and hey, they're far more updated than ours. And detailed too."

"Well you're welcome to use them, just don't take them too close to the campfire" i shrugged as he still stared down at the intricate details of Battery City, showing everything from the central base of BL/ind, to the suburban streets, and then to the slums that litter the edges, full of droids and the less unfortunate people who didn't have the guts to turn killjoy, but were too poor to live properly in the city.

"Where did you get these?" he asks as me make our way to the door "I think this may be even better than Dr D's collection. Seriously Spark, how did you get your hands on them?" I stop abruptly in my tracks, trying to clear the lump that is fast forming at the back of my throat.

"Oh, er.. you know, the city" my voice cracks halfway through the sentence, and Party notices, reaching out to place his arm around my shoulders. For once i actually accept the sign of comfort, leaning into him as best as i can with all the bags still in my arms.

"It's got more of a story to it than that, hasn't it?" it's more of a rhetorical question, but i nod anyway. "Are you ready to talk about it?"

"I..." I try to form the words, but they don't seem ready to come yet. "I'm sorry Party, it's just that i haven't known you that long and... and it's hard for me to talk to anyone. I mean, i never even use to make friends, and now we have this thing going on and -" He shuts me up quite abruptly by kissing me so hard i almost drop the bags i'm carrying.

Instead his hands pull them out of mine own and set them down with a light thump on the ground, The moment he's finished placing them down his hands automatically go back to me, one of them hitching my leg up higher so it's wrapped around his waist, the other soon following so that he's holding me up against the crumbling wall.

If he's trying to distract me, then it's very clearly working. Thoughts of the maps and life before i became the loner i am disappear into the back of my mind as the kiss gets more feverent. After a few minutes i have to break away out of pure need for more oxygen - and it looks like he feels the same as we both stand there panting for a good moment or two. He gently sets me down onto my feet, where i pick up the bags again.

"I want to be more than just a thing to you" he states, surprising me. "Spark i've never felt this way about anyone before. I always use to take the piss out of Ghoul and the way he'd fawn over Cyanide like a little lost puppy, but now i can feel myself going the same way."

"Party i'm not exactly an easy person to date normally, let alone in the current circumstances" i gesture to the crumbling walls around us.

"And that's what i like about you. Okay, i know you're complex, we all are to a certain degree, but you more so. I know you have a past that you don't want to talk about and a fear of getting close to anyone. I also know you're kick ass with a gun and you don't need anyone else to survive. And i'm prepared to take one any of your problems if you'll let me" His eyes are big with honesty - he's laying his heart on a plate and offering it to me.

"And what if they use us against each other?" I decide i might as well say the fear that's stopping me from jumping back into his arms. "What if the dracs just take what we have and manipulate it to their advantage, see it as a weakness and then destroy us with it?"

"Then we destroy them first" he shrugged. "You have to take risks out here Spark. Because at the end of the day, being cautious won't keep you warm at night." His words bounce around in my mind, echoing off the walls of my brain as they're drummed in. As much as i hate the thought of a weakness, of ever loving something enough that it destroys me, i can't stop picturing me and Party. Him keeping me warm at night, him having my back in any fights and him kissing me. Over and over again.

And i know that that's what i want more than anything else.

"You're right. I want this to be more than a thing. I want to be with you, i want to take a risk" I decide, unsure as to weather i'm going to regret this or not. "If everyone has to have a weakness, then there's nobody i'd rather have as mine."

"So we're exclusive now? An item?" He opens the door and we walk out into the now boiling midday heat.

"I guess so" We start placing my bags in the back of the car, and his hand brushes against my leg, making me shiver despite the heat. "But now i've agreed to stay with you, can we please go and get my bike back?"

He laughs then, jumping back into the car as he does so. When i climb into the passenger side he starts the car up, tuning the radio to Dr D's station, where a heavy song is playing, nearing the end of the track.

"I tell you what, tomorrow i'll take you to the slums of Battery City. I have a few droid friends there who will be more than happy to help us get your bike back in exchange for a few batteries" as soon as he says it i throw my arms around him in a tight hug.

"Thank you" I squeeze, before pulling back "you know i've heard all about the droids, but i don't think i've ever properly met them before."

"Oh you'll get on well with them" he says as we turn back onto the highway "they may be manmade, but they have just as many emotions as we humans do. They're loyal to what they believe in, and they hate BL/ind for their mistreatment of them, so it doesn't take much to win them over."

"And they'll know how to get my bike unnoticed?"

"Oh trust me, if anyone can help us it's the droids. They know the city better than anyone else, plus the ones we're going to see owe me anyway. We'll be fine as long as we stick with them."

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Leaving it here for now. I'll try and write more when I can though :)