Jumping over shards of glass, Aditya held his hand out only to gain a roll of her eyes in response as she stepped over them herself.

“While I’m glad chivalry isn’t dead I’m not someone who requires your help” crossing her arms over her chest tightly, she rubbed at her arms in thought. Distancing herself from people had been an art she’d mastered since young, people were not kind and it hadn’t taken her very long to learn that, she’d never make the mistake of trusting someone who wasn’t her sister, the pain just wasn’t worth it especially not after everything she’d already been through.

“Being a gentleman isn’t about me perceiving you as helpless, it’s me wanting to ease the burden” holding her gaze, his brow raised as his head dropped to the side. “Doesn’t it get lonely?”

“What?” Zoya hissed.

“Pushing everyone away, life isn’t meant to be lived alone”.

“I have my-“.

“Sister” he interrupted, “I know” he huffed at her response, “But not forever, she’ll start her own life, then what happens? She may not leave you completely, but she won’t be your safe space for the rest of your life, while it may be easier to use the excuse of taking care of her so that you don’t have to look after yourself that won’t be an excuse you’ll be able to continuously use, eventually you’ll have no choice but to confront your fears”.

Scoffing, she dropped her eyes to her feet so he wouldn’t be able to keep reading her as well as he was “And what is it you think I’m so scared of?”  

“Feeling”.

That one word filled the air with a gloomy silence, one that lingered over them like the greying clouds in the sky- a storm would come, rain would pour, but only she could decide if the sun would ever rise again.

Gulping uncomfortably, she looked around the room for something to distract herself, spotting the earth shaped bomb, she knelt beside it, leaning over the fizzling spark at the end of the wire, she frowned upon inspection “Seems to be hinting towards wiping out earth, possibly to restart a new version that works better with the cults ideologies?” Looking up to gain his attention, her head shook at the befuddled expression on his face.

Aditya rounded the inanimate figure, eyes surveying the silver toy rifle that was glued between the wax of his fingers “Shady bloke, wonder if he’ll talk when under duress?”

“You do know he isn’t real, right?” It was at times like this that she really regretted her job, while there was so much about it she loved, there were also parts about it she hated and he was starting to move his way up that list, his humour and annoying comments were like an invisible force pushing him higher from dislike to her not being able to stand him.

“Jokes just go right over your head, don’t they?” Chuckling, his eyes fell to his partner who seemed in a completely different world. Lifting the detonator from the side of the mannequin, he pursed his lips to the side “Wait, there’s a key in it, let me just-“.

“No don’t” she jumped up, covering her ears at the sudden screeching noise that echoed around them leaving a ringing behind. “If that was a real bomb you do realise we’d be dead by now” she screamed, her voice cracking after each syllable.

Noticing the ashen colour of her face and the way her hands shook, he stepped before her “Hey” his voice was quiet, almost concerned, “You okay?”

“Yes” Zoya gulped, “I, I’m fine, just, just don’t do that again” her brown eyes shone with tears. “Bombs aren’t things to be underestimated, real or otherwise” wiping her upper lip, she blinked through the darkness that now shrouded them.  “What we need is a code, there’s a keypad on the bomb, seems we have five minutes” she spoke while scowling downwards at the red numbers counting down.

“I think I saw something on the other side of the room before the lights went out, hold on” grabbing glass from the floor, he threw it into the middle of the room.

An inaudible gasp passed her lips as it began to burn into nothing when a laser beam shot right through it. Watching with hesitation as more vibrant green lines filled the room, she turned to face him “Together?”

“Together” he nodded. Sliding beneath one, he balanced on one foot, hand out to steady her as she did the same, eyeing the way her chest brushed against his, he smirked: “Why do I always feel like you find new excuses to be close to me”.

“I DO NOT” she growled, toppling backwards in her urgency to get away from him, a yelp shoved its way up her throat, strangling itself when he grabbed her wrist to stop her falling even more.

“Zoya” Aditya admonished, his face marred with worry as he looked over her. “You burnt your hand” holding it to his lips, he blew across the reddening skin. “I was only joking, is getting away from me worth risking your own life?” He couldn’t deny the pang of pain that hit his chest with a harsh impact, sure they weren’t exactly friends, but to go to that extent knowing she’d injure herself or worse, that was too much for even him to digest.

Yanking her hand away, she rubbed at the burn “Can we please just get this over with?”

“Not until you answer my question” he grabbed her upper arms till his nails dug into her. “Wait” his eyes narrowed “You’re scared of me, aren’t you?”

“No I am not”. This wasn’t about fearing him, it was about fearing for him, the further he stayed, the more she disliked him then the more likely it was that he would stay alive.

◇●◇●

Abir lifted the small syringe from the glass chamber “If this is what I think it is then I believe we are expected to take it” the inner war of a man like him made the choice difficult, one dose of this and it would send him straight back to stage one, all the years of hard work to be drug free would be worth nothing and he would let his best friend down as well as himself, on the other hand, he couldn’t expect her to take it due to his own mistakes.

“But there isn’t clear toxicology in hyoscine” she placed a hand on his shoulder, “If we take it we can’t be sure of the damage it will do, it disappears from our blood after four hours” she didn’t mean to tell him what to do, but this really wasn’t the kind of thing to mess about with, especially as they had no idea what was in it.

Looking away from her, he tipped the vial upside down “Dry mouth, extreme drowsiness which leads to truthfulness, blurry vision, incoherent speech and hallucinations, anyone who takes it has no memory of it after” sighing sadly, he rolled up his sleeve.

Mishti grabbed it from his trembling hand, whereas she wasn’t a people expert she’d met enough scared people to know what fear looked like, she’d grown up with perhaps the most frightened person ever and that in itself had abled her to learn a lot. “Promise not to mention what I do to anyone” She ordered, wrapping her pinkie around his.

“Promise” looking away, he scrunched his eyes shut when he heard the needle pierce her skin, he had to be better than this- if not for himself then at least for Aditya, it was him who’d helped him get clean and dirtying his blood with chemicals that ruined him wasn’t something he ever wanted to put his best friend through again.

Sitting against the wall, she gleamed up at him, eyes lit with mirth “I assume this is a test of character, can you be strong enough for the two of us when I’m acting all traumatised?”

His brows furrowed “Because of your parents?”

“We all have our triggers” shrugging, she blew her cheeks out. “The day it reached the news was harder than when it happened, government agencies, detectives, police officers, social services, reporters, you name them and they were there for months after, I miss them but I think I miss my sister more, I lost her too that day, does that make me bad?” Looking upwards, she puckered her lips.

The naivety glimmering like tears in her eyes made his heart stop as he sat before her “Stop pouting” he teased, a small smile on his lips. “No I don’t think it does, it’s okay to grieve for people who are still alive, people and the world are ever-changing, what we have today is not what we have tomorrow” eyeing his watch, he hummed “Usually takes twenty minutes to kick in, but if this is a fast-acting drug then-“.

“Am I cute?” Fluttering her lashes, she leant up.

He blinked fast “Are you what?”

“Cute” shoving him backwards, she tickled his face with her hair, a giggle making her body shake above his.

“Adorable” he spoke dryly, pushing her off of him. “Come on we have to work out the next puzzle”.

“Noooo” Mishti smacked her thighs, head bent back so she could see him “Say it like you mean it”.

Lifting her onto her feet, Abir held her face “You’re cute, now can we-“ he was cut off by her body knocking his back into the wall as she wrapped her arms around him. “What are you doing?”

“Being cute” she grinned, cheek against his chest “I’m tired, ima go sweep, night” hugging him closer, she yawned.

“No” tipping her chin up, he brushed his nose against hers playfully, “Wakey wakey”.

Scratching her nose, her eyes narrowed “Your beard is itchy, let me sleep or I’ll call Zoya”.

Coughing away his laugh, he peered down at her “What’s she going to do?”

“Kill you” her eyes shot open, finger pricking his throat that quickly settled in his hair as she massaged his scalp “Go sleep, Abir, night, night” swaying dramatically, she began to shout: “ROCK A BYE ABIR IN THE TREETOP, WHEN THE WIND BLOWS THE CRADLE WILL ROCK” shaking him viciously as she continued, “WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS THE CRADLE WILL FALL, DOWN WILL COME ABIR, CRADLE AND ALL”.

Rubbing his ears, Abir covered her mouth “First of all, ow” he glared, “Second of all, shhhh, now let’s go” placing a hand beneath her upper arm, he begun to pull her beside him.

Gargling loudly as he dragged her along, she fell into him “Oop I fell for you, but that won’t do, you know why?” Her tone of voice became thicker, tears pooled in her eyes only to fall down her cheeks.

“Why?” He stopped in front of her, voice soft.

“Because I’m married” Mishti fell down onto her knees, body slacking forwards with the weight of the sobs that made her choke on her own words.

“You’re what now?” How could she be? She didn’t wear a ring or any other symbol of marriage, she never spoke about a husband or told him off for flirting with a married woman. “How long?” He roared, looking down at her fiercely, for some odd reason he couldn’t help but feel betrayed.

“Sixteen years” she froze at the anger in his voice.

“No, no” grabbing her so he could pull her up again, he searched her face for the lie he could not find. “But you’re what, twenty-four, twenty-five? That can’t be right because that would mean” he fell silent as the wave of shock washed over him. “Oh, Mishti” he cried, holding her close, “I’m so sorry”.