A Friend in Reed

"What are you doing here?"

"Reed! Look, I'm sorry, I really am." He looked up pleadingly. "Believe me, if I had a choice I - I wouldn't just show up here so suddenly and unannounced. It's just that -" He swallowed and added quietly, "You're the only friend I have."

"Who said that we're still friends after what you did to me?" Reed tried not to let his hurt shine through, but it was hard. The last time he saw his supposed 'friend' had been a year ago and it still stung. "You betrayed me. Why should I help you?"

Now Gerry even looked like he was actually sorry. Reed tried not to fall for that. Not again. Gerry had always had that uncanny ability to charm his way around people. Reed should know better than that after what had happened. 

"I - I don't know what to say, Reed. I'm... I'm really sorry. I know, I shouldn't have... shouldn't have just left. I promise, it won't happen again, just please - may I come in?"

Reed didn't know why he did what he did. He knew he shouldn't have. He knew he should have just let him stay outside his door, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. So he simply sighed and stepped aside. 

When he saw Gerry's relief, it was almost worth it... almost. 

"Just to be clear: I am going to listen to what you have to say, but that doesn't mean that -" 

"Thank you, Reed! Really! I owe you so much, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Reed blinked irritatingly when he got interrupted so rudely. "I didn't agree to help yet, I just -" 

Gerry shook his head, interrupting him again with, "I know, Reed. I know. Just... I'm so happy to see you! I am really sorry that I never showed you how much I appreciate you. I do. I do."

Reed sighed and tried to remember his manners. "So... do you want anything? Coffee or — right. Never mind, just.. just feel at home like you always did and assault my fridge..." Reed trailed off, when he saw that Gerry already helped himself to the bottle of orange juice. Yup. Not to a glass, but to the whole bottle. And yes, he did put it back again. Without the lid.

In that instance, Reed knew, that he hadn't really missed that. Then again, he didn't want to admit it, but it felt good seeing Gerry again. His all-smiles best friend who he grew up with. His easy-going buddy, who didn't seem to have any worry in the world. The one who ate all of Reed‘s snacks without ever considering him, but also the one who would never hesitate to help him when he needed him. It was the one friend who would always stick up for him. The two of them had gone through so much together. But that made the hurt even more unbearable. Reed looked his former friend over and noticed the dark rings under Gerry‘s wary eyes, the shaking hands.

His friend looked utterly broken. "... You look... exhausted, Gerry. Are you...? Please don't tell me you got into trouble with the Mafia again. I told you not to steal from them..."

Gerry put on a smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. He lifted his arm to scratch his head and that was when Reed saw the scratches on his friend‘s forearm and he raised his eyebrow questioningly as he pointed to it. “Gerry, what is that?“

"You're such a keen observer." Gerry chuckled. "You've always been. Guess that's what makes you so good in our business. These are just scratches. Got them from falling, no big deal.”

Reed tried out his most skeptical look. “You never fall, Gerry. You can balance on a rope 20 meters above the ground without breaking a sweat. Spit it out. What is it?”

“I... I have to admit, I didn't really sleep much lately, because..."

When he paused, Reed looked at him anxiously. Now he was even more worried.

Gerry had never been a serious person. He joked about literally everything. ("Gerry, she is mourning for him! You can't make - no, it's not funny, that he had been dying to get into this funeral business before!")

So Reed was worried. "Do you... did you get in trouble with someone worse? Who are they?" Reed knew that even if he got hurt in the past, Reed would go through fire and storm to help Gerry. Sometimes he wondered if he was masochistic. 

Before he could pursue the thought any further, Gerry opened his mouth and spoke.

*****

"Tell me, why am I doing this again?", Reed mused aloud as they ran behind the big cupboard for cover. 

"Because you love me!", Gerry piped in and he seriously had it in him to grin, that little bastard.

Reed sighed and regretted not having brought his weapon arsenal with him. "I am not made for this, I tell you. I'm too old for this." He tried to grab the nearest weapon - which happened to be a plastic ball - and threw it back to their pursuers. "I think they're still following us, Gerry. I think I can hear them. And I'm out of ammo."

Gerry motioned for him to be quiet and he shut up immediately.

Footsteps came closer and they both held their breaths.

Reed tried to make himself as small as possible, but - too late.

"I foun' you!! Weeee!"

Reed fought the urge to run away and braced himself to another round with his biggest challenge yet - a three-year-old toddler. 

*****

Reed had never liked kids. Even as a kid he hadn't really liked kids. He had embraced it when people finally took him seriously. Gerry used to say he talked like an adult. Now he said, he talked like an old man. Reed took it as a compliment. Still, even if he didn't like them very much, his logical part told him that they were a necessary evil he had to accept. 

So here he was, trying to feed a toddler while Gerry handled the other, younger one and it had been the hardest job he had taken so far. On top of it, he didn't even get paid for it. 

Right now he tried to figure out what was so hard about eating. He wished that child would eat already and be done with it.

"Reed, I think you're supposed to take the spoon and feed him with it. I don't think he can do it on his own yet..."

"Argh, what else are these tiny hands for then?" he asked frustrated and gingerly picked up the spoon, which was already covered in tomato sauce. "Here -"

The child turned away.

Again.

And Again.

Reed was getting more and more frustrated.

"Uuh, Reed, I think you should -" That's it.

"No! Okay, stop - look. You are in no position to berate me at all! I wasn't the one who left my best friend hanging a year ago! I was not the one who decided to bail!"

"Reed, I - "

"No, I don't want to listen to any of your bullshit excuses anymore."

"Language," Gerry threw in very quietly. 

Reed pointedly ignored it. "You've been hurting me so goddamn much, but when you left - ugh, I don't have the slightest idea why I'm even here! I've had enough."

Gerry looked hurt. He didn't have the right to be, goddamnit! "Reed, let me... let me explain." 

The young man considered just packing up and leaving, but somehow the big curious eyes of the two kids and Gerry's pleading ones urged him to at least stay to listen. "Fine. Explain."

"Fine. Eggplain," the toddler Reed was feeding echoed happily and Reed sighed. Gerry started to say something. Then, something wet and gooey hit Reed's face. The child in Gerry's arms laughed merrily while trying to touch Reed's nose while the other child was throwing food around.

"Uh... Hey, Reed?"

"... Yeah?"

"You've got some spaghetti on your... well, pretty much everywhere. Watch out!" Another salvo of spaghetti flew through the air and landed on his pants.

"I hate you." Reed turned to the tomato-sauce-covered kid and sighed. "You'll explain later, let's just deal with this kid first. I'll go clean up."

*****

It was a bit more peaceful, once the younger child fell asleep in its crib, so they all just sat on the floor, relaxing. In one moment, the three-year-old was idly sitting on the floor, happily hitting the heads of toy soldiers together and in the next, it was gone. Reed had been sure he had just closed his eyes for a second. Seeing the drowsy-eyed Gerry, he had an inkling that maybe it was a bit more.

The quiet was unnerving.

"That's odd. Do you think he ran off?" 

Gerry shrugged helplessly. 

Then, they heard a crash.

"Oh damn, sounds like he found a way into the kitchen."

They scrambled to their feet again and found the kitchen to be a total mess. A broken plate, scattered pots and pans, paint marks everywhere and in the middle of it, the child singing happily and being thrilled by the obnoxious noises he was making.

"Hey, kiddo! How about we do something fun out of the dangerous shardy-fun-zone?" Gerry smiled his most vibrant smile and for the first time in all his 24 years he had been living on this world, Reed witnessed Gerry's charm fail to work its magic. It was terrifying.

"No." The child said very resolutely and continued pretending to be the world's worst drummer.

"When you first said you needed 'help', I thought you meant the fighting and stealing kind that we're used to, you know, the easy kind. Now that I think of that, I think I want to trade. Can I go fight mean big people instead?"

Gerry laughed and rolled his eyes. "Don't be silly, Reed. It's just a bunch of kids."

Monsters.

"I didn't sign up for this," Reed complained, but still he proceeded to pick up the kid and set it back behind the bars, whose only purpose had been to hold things like that - kids like that - back (you failed me, bars...) and proceeded to collect the shards when he made sure that Gerry kept an eye on the child while also checking on the younger one, which - of course - began to cry again in that very moment.

*****

When evening came around, they somehow (Reed still believed it was a kind of magic) managed to tuck the three-year-old in bed. The children were all asleep. Both men just opted to sit on the couch, exhausted.

"Hey, Reed?"

"Mh?"

"Can I explain to you why I left a year ago, please?"

Reed tensed for a bit, but then nodded. Wordlessly and with care, Gerry put the younger child into Reed's arms. "Her name's Emma."

The child looked so peaceful in her sleep. Reed didn't understand at first, but then he noticed the same nose and the same mouth and his eyes widened. "Is it - ?"

Gerry nodded full of sorrow. "Yes, and sadly, they will only know their mother from photos." Gerry lovingly stroked the tiny face of the little child. "I know, you will say it's irresponsible of me - wanting to take care of two little children on my own, with one not even being mine, but - but I love them. I truly do and... you showed me today that it could be possible. I was just overwhelmed when they told me about her accident, I didn't know who else to ask, I just -"

"Gerry, hey... I understand." And he truly did, when he saw how lovingly his friend acted towards the children. Reed's eyes softened when the little child's - Emma's - head turned in her sleep.

"Thank you, Reed. For everything."

Reed could not help but smile and maybe - just maybe - he could get used to this kind of occupation. "You're welcome, my friend."