Who has done evil

Jude was slowly becoming aware that he was, in his own way, driving Gabe absolutely insane. A part of him liked that. It felt oddly good, knowing he could have that kind of effect. Gabe reminded him of himself, in that way. Getting flustered at things. He'd been bad with physical contact, and now he was better, but that only went so far.

"Which kind of leads to the end of the story," Jude said. "When I bonded with Giltenn, I wanted to tell my dad, but Giltenn said no. They said Adraxis would probably take my arm off, so I didn't. I kept quiet. Life kept going on. I kept Giltenn a secret from anyone but my team. I kept my dad a secret from anyone but my team. I had secrets and secrets and secrets, and then they came home to roost. Rory... Rory was talking to Breakneck. She made a comment that she was tired of having Basilio looming overhead. He misunderstood. He thought Basilio was threatening us, and he told her to keep her head down and ran off. She called me, and I tried to call him and he didn't answer. We tried to work it out, but we decided that we didn't want to say anything to anyone. If we did, the whole thing might come crashing down, so we decided to wait. At worst, he'd go to the New Sentinels. We'd have to explain things away."

Jude shifted, the discomfort obvious, and he let out a small exhale as he did.

"I came home. Things were normal. And then the lights went out, and he... he said some stuff. He thought I was my dad. He thought my dad was blackmailing us, so he decided to take matters into his own hand. He blew the house up, and I think I went through a wall. Giltenn saved my life. That's why I have this--because if I didn't, I'd have bled out on the ground before the hospital could have done anything."

His hands wandered up, tapping at the metal on his face and neck.

"That's when I lost my arm. That's why I'm not okay with secrets. If I hadn't tried to hide who I was for so long, if I'd told people I trusted rather than trying to keep the secret until the day I retired, none of that would have happened."

Jude smiled despite himself. The awkward little bump, the nerves...

"If you weren't so embarrassed," Jude said. "I'd think you were flirting with me." He couldn't stop the smile, and none of Gabe's embarrassment stopped Jude from effectively nuzzling into his hand.

But only for a moment. After a bit he simply changed his mind, turning around as he sat up, letting Gabe balance himself out. He wasn't exactly moving quickly, but he did loop around, shuffling until he was right in front of Gabe.

"I want to kiss you. Properly."

It was a kiss, and all things considered, he had amazingly low standards for kisses. His first kiss had given him a megaseizure, and anything that didn't was a plus in his book. So he tried not to wind it up too much, just waited until Gabe said yes and then went for it. Chaste. Subdued. Just a kiss on the lips that lingered only a few moments before Jude pulled back, his eyes popping open on instinct as he watched Gabe for a reaction.

Gabriel might not have had the nerves for another kiss, but Jude did. He knew what he was doing, and he knew what he wanted, and so he just went for it, pressing in again for another small, soft little kiss.

And then he pulled back before he fried Gabe's brain entirely, a smile on his lips despite the somberness of the situation that had led them there.

"Thanks for listening," Jude said quietly. "For hearing me out. The whole... big stupid story. But I think that's pretty much all of it, so now you know."

There were other secrets, but those secrets were often not his to tell. About Blade and about Broen. About his father. He'd told his own secrets.

Gabe looked like he was going to merge into his coat.

"Sorry," Jude said, not sounding quite apologetic. No, he sounded more cheeky then anything, and he leaned against Gabe, relaxing into the position.

If he was being honest, his ass was starting to hurt from sitting on the hard ground, but it was worth it, wasn't it?

"It was a good talk," he admitted. "A good... a good getting to know each other session, even with shitty circumstances. So, I guess we should, uh, talk about what we're doing going forward."