“Are you up for this?” // @paradoxstars
It was inevitable that, every now and then, a case hit close to home. They’d all lead pretty eventful lives before becoming private investigators (if that was really a term they’d earned through their misadventures), and that meant that sometimes, something happened that was more familiar than they’d like it to be. There’d be a kid with bruises that made Rahne flinch, a client’s husband would sneer in a way that made Tabby light up with fury, someone’s voice would pitch in a way that made Star’s face go blank. It was par for the course, a part of the job. That didn’t make it any easier, of course, when it was your turn to have shit drudged up.
That didn’t make it any easier when you stumbled on a gun running crew that felt so much like your own goddamn family you found yourself looking for your uncles’ names on the list of known contacts. (They weren’t there, of course, but only because this was the wrong side of the border for any Richters to be involved. If they were investigating something like this in Mexico…)
Shatterstar’s voice pulled him from his thoughts, and Rictor cleared his throat, nodding his head. “Sure,” he confirmed, plastering on a smile that Star would definitely know was forced. “Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Get in, disarm them, see if the client’s kid is tied up in it, get him out. Easy, right?” Right.
It was something that Shatterstar said frequently that he prided himself on, that even though there were things he still didn’t understand and stumbled over when it came to emotions or to the culture among Earth, he understood Rictor. He kept glancing at him, taking in the way that the man seemed to be entirely too lost in his own thoughts until he finally spoke to him. “It is a typical job for us, yes. Something is bothering you though. Is it not?” He asked almost carefully.
There were times he didn’t know what was the best way of approaching things like this. Like his misstep with Tabby, thinking he shouldn’t push when he should have. She pulled back and he was left floundering, trying to find his footing once more.
“I don’t want you going into something you’re not comfortable with, Julio. You are my best friend and we do this together. I won’t let you fall. So you can talk to me. I want you to talk to me. We always work better together.” Ric had always been there for him and Star always wanted to extend the same towards him. It practically rendered him almost speechless with the way the mixture of emotions bubbled up in him as he looked at his friend earnestly.
