"Would you quit following me?" Baki rounded on the smaller reliever, hands balled at his sides. "You're bugging me."

Jeudan recoiled, eyes huge. He bit his lip and just stared at Baki a long moment, his dragonfly wings fluttering nervously. Then, in a tiny voice, he managed, "But you said to follow you."

Snorting violently, Baki shook his head, curls flying, and put a hand on one hip. "I said that if you were bored and had nothing to do on your own you could follow me. It's not MY fault you have no life."

"...Oh." Jeudan looked down, red eyes glittering though he kept himself from crying through sheer force of will. "Um. Well, I guess I, uh... I'll be going-"

"You gonna cry? You gonna CRY?" Baki was somewhere between horrified and delighted. "You're totally gonna cry, aren't you??"

Jeudan held his breath a long moment, fighting back tears. Like he could cry now. "I'm NOT gonna cry," he whispered, tiny-voiced. "I'm just going to GO."

"You mad at me now? Huh?"

"Um..." Jeudan hedged, shoulders hunching.

Baki advanced on him, large butterfly wings spreading to make himself look larger. "If you're mad, just say so. Shout at me! Yell! HIT me if you want to!"

"I can't hit you," Jeudan said, horrified. "The Pax Dei-"

"The Pax Dei is for SISSIES," Baki informed him, then sighed, shaking his head. "You're so boring. You should learn to stand up for yourself."

Jeudan nodded, quickly. "Um, okay. I, uh-"

"Don't be afraid to just SAY things. Ask questions if you want or whatever. Fucking Judges." Baki turned and began stalking off.

Eyes wide, Jeudan scurried after. "What did you just say??"

"What, fucking Judges?"

Jeudan squeaked. "Yes! That word!"

Baki rolled his eyes and made a disbelieving noise. "Oh, come ON, Jeudan, it's just a word. Us Warriors say it all the time."

"You're gonna get in trouble."

"I'm so NOT gonna get in trouble, bitch."

Jeudan stared, eyes going even wider. "Wh...what did you just call me?"

"You're totally my bitch."

"What does that mean?"

Baki gave Jeudan the long, distainful stare that Jeudan had come to recognize as Baki having no idea, but saying it anyway. "If you don't know, I dunno why I should tell you."

"Ah." Jeudan flushed, slowly, under the glare.

"Anyway," Baki declared. "You can come with me, but only if you carry something."

"Um?"

Baki cast about for something -- apparently anything -- to make Jeudan carry. "Here," he said, snatching a button off the ground and holding it out. "Carry THIS."

With his arms at their widest, Jeudan could just hold it. "Um," he said, stumbling after with the button almost pulling him over. "...what do we need it for?"

"Do I pay you to ask questions? Just shut up and follow me."

Even knowing it was futile, Jeudan said it anyway. "...but you don't pay me at all-"

"Sure, not yet. Anyway, you're asking too many questions!"

"But you told me to-"

Baki rounded on him. "Don't talk back to me!"

"All right!" Jeudan squeaked, and followed, button in his arms.

***

Jeudan gritted his teeth and buried his tiny fingers in the seam of his pillow. I'm not going, he told himself, firmly. I'm not going, I'm not going-

Things were always like that between them, with Baki ordering him around and Jeudan just following and, dammit, Baki wanted him to stand up for himself? Jeudan would, he decided. He didn't need Baki! He didn't have to go out every day and follow him around!

I'm not going, I'm not going, I'm not-

He drew a deep breath and squared his shoulders, resettling his wings. I'm NOT going.

The knock on his door came bare seconds later. Jeudan jumped - it was probably one of his dads, come to check up on him, but--

He opened the door and Baki got in his face.

"Yeah, so where were YOU, huh?" Baki advanced, backing Jeudan into his own room. "You stupid tard, I was waiting like an hour and that was an hour I could have been doing stuff. You like wasting my time, huh? Huh?"

"No!" Jeudan squeaked, waving his arms helplessly. "I was just, I was-"

"You got any idea how long it took me to find this shithole of a - hey, nice room!"

Jeudan hunched his shoulders. "Thank you," he mouthed.

"What was that? Didn't hear you."

"Th - THANK you."

"Well, if it weren't a nice room I wouldn't say it. What's your deal with that, anyway? It's not like YOU made the room like this."

Jeudan drew himself up, offended. "I did too!"

"You did?"

"Yeah! I did."

"Huh." Baki looked around again. "Well, I mean, you're friends with me so I always knew you had good taste, but it's way more mature than I thought a three-Force reliever would - HA, YOU'RE BLUSHING!"

Jeudan covered his face. "I - shut up!"

"Don't tell me to shut up, bitch!"

"I'll tell you to shut up if I want you to shut up," Jeudan managed, still covering his face with his hands.

"Dude, did you threaten me?"

"...um..."

"You did! I'll kick your ass!"

Jeudan drew his breath, lowering his hands. "I, I, I'd like to see you try!"

"Ooooooh, you're asking for it now."

"I can take you!" Jeudan squeaked.

Baki laughed. "Yeah, sure you - HEY, WHAT'S OVER THERE?"

Jeudan whirled. "What?!"

He yelped as Baki landed on his back, burying him face-first into the pillow.

"HA HA, got you now!"

"That's cheating," Jeudan whined, squirming. "Baaaaaaaaaaaki-"

"All's fair, Jeudan, all's fair-"

"Get oooooooooooff!"

Baki flopped down, snuggling on top of him. "Nah," he said, cheerfully. "You're comfy."

"Baaaaaaki."

"Well, you could try to MAKE me get off."

Jeudan squirmed, to no avail. "Oh well," he sighed, wings drooping to the pillow. "I guess you got me."

"Damn straight. You ain't going nowhere without me."

Into the pillow, where Baki couldn't see him, Jeudan smiled. "I guess I'm not."