“ so do i. ” the money is just a bonus, most of the time. it’s what got them to start in the first place. not just because they were good at it, or because it would be stupid not to, given the car they owned back then, but because they’re happiest when behind the wheel of a car, pedal to the ground.
logan’s eyes narrow, biting back a laugh. “ yeah. said he had a thing for you. ” despite how monotonous it is, they’re sure the sarcasm is still obvious. it’s supposed to be. they allow the disgust they feel to curl their lip, because — ace? really? “ i’m pretty sure he has a girlfriend. unless he just likes the name dakota enough to tattoo it all over his body. ” a detail they wouldn’t have noticed had it not been for the fact they’d dated a dakota, too — not the same, of course, because their dakota isn’t remotely interested in men, much less men like him. “ and more importantly, he’s a piece of shit. i don’t know you, but i still know you could do better than — that. ”
HE SAYS NOTHING. there’s a denial scratching at his teeth but baby doesn’t allow it a breath of air, not sure of how convincing it’d be. he feels the heat in his face deepen, a blue-hot embarrassment, streaking his face in shades of purple-red. he wants to defend ace, defend himself, but there’s nothing he can really think to say -- which he supposes must be to their credit, but baby doesn’t want to consider that. ace’s kindness, however fleeting, however minimal, has scarred him in a way akin to doc’s cruelty; he feels it against his skin, too, not as sharply, urgent, but enough.
there’s no words to describe that, and even if there were, baby doesn’t think they’d understand.
because it’s not what they think. there’s a feeling there, yes, but baby’s not stupid, and doesn’t find himself daydreaming, constructing a world where he and ace are together. it’s just a feeling, something small but alive and living in his chest and bites at his heart every now and again to make its presence known. he doesn’t want it, but he’s got it, and he’s dealing with it; it’s none of their business.
“he’s my friend--” and that’s true, right? “----an’ i know he ain’t a good person, but maybe i ain’t either.” bats’ blood on his hands, the look in the guy’s eyes as he choked out a final breath flashes in baby’s mind’s eye like a spark of lightening. “like y’said, you don’t know me.”