The Kitty Thing

(now)

Specter almost dies. It’s no big deal. He will always almost die for Lily. There won’t be a lifetime where he won’t almost die for Lily. He’s known this since she kissed him for the first time when they were seventeen.

Lily will always call him an idiot after. That’s no big deal too. That’s how he knows the gesture is appreciated. Case in point-

“You idiot, you could have taken that shot with your mech arm.” Lily says now, brows furrowed as she spreads healing gel on his arm. He flinches – wounds hurt much more than they used to, but it’s a pain he’s accustomed to, so he is able to hold still as she wraps it up.

“I did. With the other shot.”

She pauses, turns to his prosthetic arm, and looks visibly taken aback as she notices the erratic flickering of indicator lights and the foreboding sparks just underneath the metal.

“Oh, what the shit- See? I don’t know how to fix that one!” Lily complains. “Is it going to explode or something?”

“It’s been through worse.” he assures her. “I’ll power it down in a bit.”

“Sure.” she says, sounding very un-sure. “Both arms, though… Really?”

They hear a muffled cry from the gagged figure they stuffed into one of the storage cells of the ship.

Malcolm Flint has been secured. Sure, he was more well-guarded than they expected. Lily still got through. Sure, the guards were armed a little too well. Specter took care of that. Yes, their target resisted. They were able to drag him kicking and screaming anyway.

Mission’s halfway accomplished.

“It’s part of the job.” Specter says – he doesn’t know if it’s in response to Lily, or to the despairing man they just captured.

“Liar.” she huffs. “If it was anyone else, you’d let them get shot. ‘Cause we all have to take care of ourselves out here, right? That’s part of the job, you always say. Next time I’ll tell Mr. C not to send you for me. One of these days those shots will get you, and I don’t wanna be there, nope-”

What does he say to all that? She’s right anyway. He lets her grudgingly ramble on, then watches her start tidying up the stained bandages and the rest of the first aid kit.

“Earlier. What you said.”

“What?” she looks up at him, blinking green eyes that he knows are the wrong color.

“You said I loved you. Like I don’t anymore.” he says, allowing his brows to furrow. “Rude.”

Lily stops for a moment, then lets out a breathless, quiet laugh. She nods. “Yeah. My bad.”

She doesn’t move away when he leans forward, pressing his forehead against hers. Specter hasn’t done this in so long, but it comes to him easily, like breathing. He closes his eyes and he feels her nose touch his, a barely-there nuzzle.

They stay still like that, quiet, together, both taking slow, calming breaths.

Another old habit.

Specter feels like the moment lasts both too long and not long enough.

It’s Lily who breaks the silence. “I love you too.” she whispers. “Just. Don’t get shot again, you little shit.”

“Don’t make people shoot at you, then.” he says, keeping his eyes on her as she withdraws. He leaves no space for awkwardness when he stands up and turns his back to her.

“Can’t make promises.” Lily chuckles at his retreating figure as she picks up the first aid kit to put it away. “Part of the job.”

Specter shakes his head before starting to walk away. “I’ll prepare for take off. You can use my bunk.”

.

Lily disappears after take off. It’s more than an hour later that she reappears in the cockpit and plops down on the co-pilot’s seat. Specter looks up from a star map to see that she has taken a shower, and has borrowed one of his shirts.

She had taken the contact lenses off. He knows she thinks it makes her look ‘plain’ but he will always prefer her natural deep brown eyes. He knows this won’t last though. They’ll be back to green by the time they land. After all, it’s the color she presents to her clients and everyone else, it’s the color most people think her eyes are.

“You have food supplies in your kitchen. Like stuff for cooking.” she says unprompted. “You don’t cook. So what’s up with that? Are you gonna tell me Kitty has been cooking?”

Specter goes back to navigating, and answers that with a simple and straightforward – “Kitty has been cooking.”

“He eats?”

“No.”

“Then who-” Lily blinks, then raises an eyebrow. “Huh. So is he good then?”

He pauses for a second to consider if he should continue, because he knows this will open a whole other conversation.

But Lily is wearing his shirt, and her eyes are brown, and despite the circumstances, he feels oddly soft. Relaxed. Unguarded.

“I’m biased. He’s been doing my mother’s old recipes.” he says.

“Say what? How does he know any of that?”

Specter turns to give her a look.

She looks back, and it takes her a second to get what Specter is trying to tell her.

“Oh?” Lily blinks again, now not just curious, but straight up intrigued. “Interesting.”

It is many things, Specter thinks. Interesting sure is one way to look at it.

---

.

(three months ago)

Specter should knock, maybe. This is something he can do as a civilized person.

The thing is, he just wants to break the door down. He can, too. Even with the fancy security, this door is one blaster shot away from opening.

See, when he got home and Kitty wasn’t there, he assumed that Kitty was probably working overtime at Sep’s, or picked up a shift at Rina’s last-minute.

He waited for an hour before shooting a message to Sep to check in, and when he heard that Kitty didn’t have work with him that day, that’s when the alarm bells started to go off.

When he checked their calendar notes, he found that today is “Visit Mr. C!” day. So Kitty must have been at C-Tower.

Specter took Kitty with him once to accept a job from Cabot – the company, not the man. Then Kitty met Cabot – the man, not the company. It was like something clicked. Since then, just like that, Kitty gets invited to come over every now and then. Not for anything job-related, but simply to have a “chat” with “Mr. C”.

And that wasn’t euphemism. However suspicious Specter had been at first, that really is all there is to it — at least once every couple of weeks, Kitty has tea with Cabot, the man behind the company. He talks to Mr. C about his jobs and his friends, and enjoys an afternoon to have fun leaning flowers and plants as he helps the old man tend to his garden.

Kitty even went home one time with Cabot’s gift of a potted plant – a luxury in Aster-1A.

Specter knows it might attract thieves. It sure looks nice by the window, though.

Since then, there’s been some smaller pots and also some hanging ones here and there. Kitty has a little garden now. Specter has told him to please turn the next plant gift down if he doesn’t want their place to get robbed.

But today Kitty is late. Kitty is never late coming home from C-Tower.

And just as he was starting to get truly worried, he gets a message.

It’s from someone he hasn’t heard from in years.

So this is not Cabot, after all. False alarm. Though he would almost prefer that to this. Now.

Now, barely half an hour later, Specter stands by the front door of some apartment in one of the nicer places in the city district. It’s a peaceful neighborhood. He should just knock.

He blasts the door open. Because fuck it.

There’s a yelp – familiar, high-pitched, genuinely surprised. “W-What was that?”

Yep, Kitty is here.

That is followed by a bored drawl of “Man, you could have knocked…”

Specter steps through the now wide doorway, fully ignoring the dust smoke. His implant eye detects the heat signature of another human first, before his eyes focus and finds the man seated casually on a very nice couch, like his doorway wasn’t just blasted down.

He has changed quite a bit since Specter saw him last. His dark hair is shorter, spikier, now buzzed on one side and showing off the dark purple metal of a mod with little lights glowing light green and neon red, behind an ear donning piercings of the same colored steel material. Besides that, most of him has stayed the same as Specter remembers – the boyish face, the scar by his chin he’s had since they were kids, and the sky blue eyes looking at Specter too innocently, like he hasn’t done anything suspect.

“You could have not kidnapped my assistant.” Specter says, eyes sharp.

“Boss!” Kitty greets happily, and Specter looks to see him sitting on the same couch, a surprisingly respectable distance away knowing Kitty’s tendency to trust new people too much, specially ones he found attractive. “You did come! Mr. Edge said you would. He’s showing me some cool movies!”

“Hey, boss.” Edge says, grinning smugly. “Can’t believe you haven’t introduced Kitts to some of your favorite pieces of art…”

Kitts. A nickname, already? The little shit-

“Wait, I thought his favorite were paper books?” Kitty asks the man. “Boss has a lot of paper books. I love reading them.”

“Oh, he really likes movies too, trust me.” Edge turns back to look at Kitty and Specter can tell he is very pleased. “So you’re a reader, then?”

“Mm-hm. The ones he let me borrow are all very good.”

And. Well. It’s quite hard to stay threatening when the person you’re supposed to be saving doesn’t look like he needs to be rescued at all…

“Kitty.” Specter says, keeping his voice even, catching Kitty’s attention before he got too distracted. “I see you’ve met my brother.”

Kitty blinks his golden eyes as he gasps, looking between him and Edge, who chuckles at the wide-eyed, pink-cheeked droid. “O-Oh? You’re brothers?!”

Okay. What the fuck.

Specter, despite himself, splutters as he looks at his assistant-slash-housemate. “You didn’t even- Then why are you here-”

Specter had thought that maybe – surely – since it looks like Kitty is willingly here, he must have agreed to go with a total stranger because he trusted a person who introduced himself as Specter’s family. But no, it turns out Kitty didn’t know at all, so how even-…?

“I was going home and Mr. Edge approached me and asked if you have a tracker on me and I said yes and he said do I wanna go to his place and watch a movie? I asked if I’m being kidnapped and he said not if I come willingly so he doesn’t have to tie me up, so I did that, and then he said he’ll message you to come get me! So I came!”

Specter turns towards his brother, glaring. Also, he makes a mental note to have another “stranger danger” discussion with Kitty. Just a quick recap of their previous ones. Kitty has been kidnapped a handful of times by now. He should know not to risk any more danger to himself by fighting back against someone who can easily overpower him, and just put his trust on Specter to come find him… but there is such a thing as too willing to go…

“What?” Edge shrugs. “I kept my words. We’re at my place. We’re watching a movie. I messaged you and you came.”

Kitty looks excitedly between them. “I see, you’re brothers, that makes so much sense! You look a lot alike!”

At that, both Specter and Edge immediately answer – “No, we don’t.”

Kitty pouts, confused. Specter looks away, because that’s a pout he is weak to. But he does catch Edge grin as he waves it off. “Maybe from afar, yeah? But up close, we don’t look alike at all, really. We’re just brothers on paper, anyway.”

“On paper?”

“His mom married my dad. End of story.” Specter says, straight and to the point. “Kitty, it’s late. Let’s go home.”

“It’s not really, though-”

“We have to prepare for a job tomorrow.” he tries again. Another mental note added: look at the listings tonight, pick up a job for tomorrow before Kitty finds out he’s bluffing.

“Oh! Okay…” Kitty says, and turns to pick up his bag that he had dumped unceremoniously on the floor.

“You.” Specter turns towards Edge then, who looks right back at him – calm and nonchalant, like there hasn’t been property damaged on his very nice flat. “What do you want? You’re not getting the ship-”

“Relax, you know I literally don’t know how to fly that old clunker.”

“Do I? Haven’t heard from you for a while, what do I know about you anymore?”

Kitty has stood up and gone silent, probably finally picking up on the animosity between them.

“Wow. Grumpy.” Edge only shakes his head, like he’s amused. “So, I don’t know if you’ve cleaned out all the old junk in the storage? I know you picked up a lot of shit from your dad’s place before you sold it. I’m looking for some old projects of mine I had in there. I hope you didn’t throw ’em out, they were in a lockbox, had my name on it.”

Specter frowns slightly. He has a vague memory of the lockbox his brother is talking about. “All of those are- They were unnecessary weight on the ship. I stuck them all on the storage center, uptown.”

Edge nods. “I see. Will you be a super nice, generous, kind, loving-”

“Drop it.”

“Fine. Can I have my box?” Edge asks, looking bored now.

Kitty has transferred to Specter’s side now, gingerly tugging at his right sleeve, as if unsure whether to hold him back or stay out of whatever this is.

Specter rolls his eyes in exasperation and shakes his head. He takes Kitty in by the shoulder and begins to lead him out.

“Could’ve just sent a message.” is all he says.

“Yeah, but that’s no fun.” Edge calls after them, still lounging lazily by the couch as he watches them leave. “Nice meeting you, Kitty!”

“Y-You too! Bye, Mr. Edge!” Kitty calls back. He holds on to Specter’s jacket and lets himself be ushered away.

.

They go on a quick escort job that brings them to the next moon over. Specter usually leaves these easier listings to newer mercenaries or those who were hustling for money with basic and quick jobs. But this is a good way to keep Kitty busy for the day and not have him asking questions about his new acquaintance.

His head has mostly cooled by the time they get back home.

He is calm enough to venture to the storage center by himself and retrieve Edge’s “old project” lockbox, load it up at the back of his bike, and take it home.

It doesn’t escape him, the fact that Edge could have just done all this himself – find the records, open the storage door, get the item past guards and security. He has all the specific skills for it. Specter never would have known.

But he didn’t, for some reason. Instead he chose to be annoying about it.

Whatever. Specter didn’t understand half the things his brother did, anyway.

Or maybe being annoying about it is the point. He is the younger brother, after all.

“Is this Mr. Edge’s box thing?” Kitty asks, when he gets home from his shift at Rina’s diner. He is clearly still distracted by the box even as he walks into the dining area and sets down what looks like a takeout meal.

Specter looks up from his tinkering of an old device on the table. It’s supposed to be a little floating light ball, if he can recall correctly – an old toy he got from the storage and decided to pick back up, among other things.

He eyes the takeout that Kitty brought home and makes a note to message Rina his thanks. She really is too generous with the diner’s meals.

“It’s weird that you call him ‘mister’.” He tells Kitty, who is now patting around the secured lockbox, as if doing so will just unlock it eventually. “I’m older than him. You know that, right?”

“Yeah… He told me to call him E… But we just met, so.” Kitty shrugs. After patting around and brushing dust off the surface, simply perches on the thing, like an actual cat. He tilts his head towards Specter as he asks, “Do you not like each other? You’re family, right? Brix and Aeric like each other.”

Specter tries not to bristle at the comparison. “Not all siblings are like those weird freaky twins.” he says. If anything, Specter thinks, those two like each other a little too much… But that’s not his business.

“Hmm…” Kitty hums, considering. “But where’s he been all this time? Actually… I just realized I don’t know much about your family… Or just about families, I guess. Mr. Sep says he hates his family. Mr. C says his are always away and busy… Oh! Miss Rina has Granny, and she’s very sweet.”

Aster-1A isn’t really the place to start and nurture a family, Specter thinks. It is too much a hub of business and trade, both legitimate and underground. Everything is all very transactional, even down to the most welcoming of communities. It’s a place to hire, to work, to hide and to survive. It’s a place one grows into — where children don’t grow up, they only survive. Familial connections might exist, but family members rarely ever stuck together. Even Specter and Edge themselves weren’t from this moon, this sector.

“There’s not much to tell.” is all Specter tells Kitty, going back to his tinkering. “Our parents are dead. My brother’s out there… doing stuff. He’s a grown man, he’s got his own life, and he’s not my problem anymore.”

“Was he your problem before?”

“Well. I was the older one…” Specter pauses for a bit, considering how much he could really… share. “That goes without saying.”

At this point in time, he really hasn’t told Kitty much about his past yet Kitty knows that Specter’s mods weren’t exactly his choice, that his chronic pain is from a failed attempt at “enhancement”. Kitty knows that Specter spent time in his home planet’s military, but that at some point, things had gone very wrong, and now he doesn’t want anything to do with them.

Maybe Specter could start there, even as he still tries to keep some things close to his chest.

“He lost his mother early. After we lost my father too, war broke out in our home planet. I enlisted – ’cause that’s how you made sure your family’s safe, in those parts. Got in, got picked for some special elite squad. Learned early that’s just a nice way to say ‘guys who do fucked up shit’.”

He stops tinkering and leans back on his chair. For a moment, he just looks at his hands. One flesh arm, the other not.

“Got back home. Learned that my brother tried to enlist too, even though I told him he didn’t have to. He was gonna pass training, but got dismissed for health reasons. Had some heart thing. Not debilitating, barely an issue for a normal person, but they only wanted perfect soldiers… so he didn’t make the cut.

“I got called back before we could fix things, got fucked with so I could do more of their fucked up shit – until in one of our missions, I just… was aiming my blaster at my brother. ‘Cause he was doing dirty work for some criminal gang. Another thing he didn’t care to tell me about.”

He glances at Kitty then, still perched on the lockbox, still and quiet, just listening to him.

“I got myself out of my own problem, so I could get him out of his. He didn’t appreciate that, I guess, so he just… disappeared.” Specter shrugs. “Next time I see him, he’s doing shady shit again. Said this time it’s not for the government, or a gang, they’re some… other thing.”

He shakes his head, and lets out a bitter huff before he picks his tools up again, and goes back to re-assembling the gadget on the table.

“All he told me is it’s necessary work. So I guess thief is a preferable alternative to terrorist.”

Kitty’s voice is soft, curious when he asks, “…he’s a thief?”

“Something like that.” Specter says, now just turning the newly repaired little ball over in his hands. “I didn’t ask to know more. Better that way. He wasn’t volunteering to catch up, either, anyway.”

“So you don’t know what he really does? What if he’s nice now?”

Specter looks at him, raising an eyebrow. “You think he’s nice?”

“He was nice to me.” Kitty shrugs. “And he didn’t seem like he’s mad at you, when he was talking to me about you.”

Specter chuckles, another bitter one. “I wouldn’t know. He’s very good at making sure he’s never around me.”

Kitty looks down. “Oh…”

“And now he turns up. For some stupid box.” Specter rolls his eyes. “He can have it. It’s his anyway. And if it’s something he needs for his ‘work’, it’s probably not something I’d want to keep with my stuff.”

He gets up then, walks over to Kitty and stops shortly before him. He presses a button on the contraption in his hand and the ball hums to life, its shell unfolding into something like beetle wings that it flaps as it begins to hover above his hand.

A tinny robotic voice pipes up from the toy – “Hi, Lily!”

Ah. Memory. Specter grabs it and presses another button again, and this time some panels under the wings glow and flicker before the voice prompt is heard again.

“Hi! What’s your name?”

Specter holds the thing out for Kitty, who blinks at it, at Specter, and then back at the toy. He says, “Umm… Kitty?”

“Hi, Kitty! What do you want to call me?”

Kitty blinks again. “Bug?”

“Hi, Kitty! I’m Bug!”

Specter lets go of Bug, and the thing hovers wobblingly until it lands on Kitty’s outstretched palms. He turns and walks back to the dining area, where he picks up the takeout meal that Kitty had brought home.

“Will you bring this box thing to Mr. Edge?” Kitty asks after him. “Can I go with you?”

Specter sits down to eat, then looks towards his companion. Bug is floating more steadily now, its body glowing a faint gold-amber as it moves around Kitty’s head.

“Or… I can deliver it?”

A feeling of weariness lingers in Specter after recalling so many memories of that part of his life.

Now Kitty is volunteering. Specter worries – he always does.

But he really doesn’t want to deal with his wayward brother anytime soon…

“Fine. You can deliver the box thing.” Specter sighs. “But if he tries anything suspicious-”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t. He’s your brother!” Kitty says, smiling, cheerful. “He’s nice!”

Specter just shakes his head. “Sure. You keep saying that.”

“‘Cause he was nice to me.” Kitty pouts, likely not understanding why they’re going around in circles. “And he has lots of cool stuff!”

Specter raises an eyebrow. He knows that tone, that look. He’s seen it before, the curious fixation whenever Kitty meets someone new, someone who fascinates him…

He scoffs. “Cool stuff, huh. Like your ex boyfriend Brix?”

Kitty blinks at him, surprised. Then he huffs. “I don’t have an ex boyfriend! Brix is my friend. He’s a good friend. We just used to kiss and now we don’t anymore, ’cause he’s very far away, and he likes this one girl now, he told me. Oh, did you know, he said Aeric and their dad like her too so he’ll probably marry her one day. But not yet. But he sent me pictures and she is very pretty. But I’m cuter.”

Specter keeps himself from squinting too obviously. That is already too many details he doesn’t really want to know about Brix Bryton. More importantly though, he tries to gauge Kitty’s feelings about this development. He doesn’t seem upset about any of it… So maybe it really isn’t like that between them. Maybe it never has been.

Specter doesn’t know what to say to all that, though, so he moves on to something hopefully more light-hearted. “You’re cuter, huh?”

“He said so!” Kitty pouts again. “I’m the cutest.”

“Sure you are.” he says lightly.

“You don’t think so?”

“I’ve seen cuter cats.” Specter shrugs. “They’re less pushy about it, too.”

“Well, those cats don’t do errands. Or have jobs. Or deliver stuff.” Kitty says airily, and when he sticks his palm out, Bug dutifully lands on it. “And they don’t have a Bug.”

Despite himself, Specter chuckles. “Fine, I guess you’re a little cute too.”

“I am! Also why did you give me this Bug?” Kitty asks, curious as he pokes at the ball in his hand. “What’s it for?”

“Nothing.” Specter lies. “I just found it.”

‘I have cool stuff too.’ he thinks, but he doesn’t say.

.

Kitty comes back from his delivery without much fanfare. He looks like his usual cheerful self, though Specter really thinks he took too long for such a “simple” errand.

“Mr. Edge said to tell you thanks.” Kitty says, going around to start on his usual chores, like it’s just another day. Specter looks up from his book to watch him. “He said I could stay for dinner, but I don’t eat. So he asked if I wanted to see the rest of that movie we were watching, and I did! So I stayed a bit. I’m glad I did… the ending was really good!”

“That’s… nice.” Specter finds himself frowning. He just used the same word Kitty had been insisting to use for his brother. Dammit. He really might be losing this one.

His eyes move to Bug flickering, blinking and making random clicking noises as it hovers and trails after Kitty.

“He laughed when he saw Bug.” Kitty continues. He had picked up a small watering can, and is now heading to his window garden. “I asked why, but he said you’ll get mad at him if he told me…”

Ah, shit. Specter did forget to tell Kitty not to bring Bug. Of course Edge would find that funny – he knows what the little gadget is, who it used to be for. Whatever. It’s none of Specter’s business what Edge does with his old stuff, so it should be none of Edge’s business who Specter gives his own old stuff to, either.

“He said if I want to watch more movies, I should come over!” Kitty looks thrilled, excited. “He has work this week, though, but he said after that, I’m very welcome.”

“He said all that, huh.” Specter shakes his head, going back to his reading.

“Yeah… See? I told you he’s nice!” Kitty huffs, very proud of his assessment.

Specter hears him before he sees him. When he looks up, Kitty is standing closer to him, hands gripping the watering can to his chest, tail swinging low, an ear flicking, and golden eyes big and wide…

“What?” he asks, though he already knows what’s coming.

“Can I go again?” Kitty says, a light blush on his cheeks. “Please, boss?”

Specter sighs. What does he say to that?

“I told you before. You can do what you want, Kitty.”

Kitty looks delighted. “Okay!”

Specter watches him skip away. Kitty hums as he waters the plants on his little garden.

.

So Kitty hangs out with Edge now. Specter’s estranged brother. From what he heard from Sep, he’s a hacker-thief guy now. Cool. That’s fine, Specter thinks. As long as the little shit isn’t getting Kitty in trouble.

From what Kitty tells Specter, Edge lets him go through his movies and music while he types away some codes or tinkers with a gadget.

His brother always was the programmer, the engineer, between the two of them. He did always like having music, or someone to bounce of off, whenever he worked. Any loud track or interesting conversation is good. That’s how Specter remembered his brother, before everything went to shit.

Specter brushes those memories off. They’re way past those days now.

But he could see why Kitty would be drawn to that. Kitty likes all things creative. He had liked Specter’s books, with their stories. He liked Brix’s games and toys, the interactivity of them. Of course he’d enjoy Edge’s movies and music too.

During one of Specter’s usual drop-offs, Sep mentions that Edge has started dropping by the bar more often. He’s usually there to meet up with someone he’s got “goods” for – probably data or some custom tech. That’s a normal trade that happens in the Flux, so Sep doesn’t really have any red flags to raise.

Except that he’s also been getting awfully sweet with Sep’s favorite employee.

“But, y’know, Kitty enjoys flirting with the customers-“

“He does?” Specter asks, narrowing his eyes at the mechanic. He knew Kitty likes attention from people he likes, but he’s only now hearing Kitty flirting back, so casually.

“Yeah… I think that’s my fault, I kinda set a questionable example of customer service…” Sep chuckles, then waves it off just as awkwardly. “Anyway, Kitty seems to really like this one, so I didn’t want to be a killjoy. I try to look out for him, though.”

It is also worth noting that Edge always comes over conveniently whenever Specter is away or isn’t there to pick Kitty up.

He doesn’t know if it’s part of some diabolical plan or it’s simply to deal with the mutual feeling of ‘I don’t want to deal with you’ that Specter knows they share.

Specter finally catches him one time, though – when he arrives at the Flux and instead of Kitty’s usual welcome greeting, he hears a shy giggle instead.

“You’re just saying that…” Kitty says, a blush on his cheeks as he watches the now-familiar man across the bar top take a swig of his drink.

Edge sets his glass back down on the table. “No, no, I’m serious. Sep, love the guy, but he sucks at making drinks. Yours are much better. He’ll agree with me.”

Kitty shakes his head, but he’s smiling. “That makes no sense, he taught me how to make these!”

“Well, maybe,” Edge leans forward, grinning indulgently. “You just have better taste.”

He is just about to reach a free hand out – to take Kitty’s hand, or nudge his chin, or touch his hair – Specter wouldn’t know because he stops as soon as Specter pointedly and loudly sets his weapons holster down on the bar top right beside them.

“Boss!” Kitty blinks at him, then smiles his usual cheery smile. “Welcome back!”

Edge leans back, unfazed, but Specter didn’t miss his slight flinch just a moment before. “Hey, A-… Boss.” He grins, smug. “You agree with me, right? Our Kitty here makes really good drinks. Better than Sep’s.” he asks, like they just talk about things like this now.

“Not ours.” Specter says, and ignores the rest of what the other said in favor of addressing Kitty. “You’re still on the clock?”

“No… My shift ended a while ago… I was just hanging around…” Kitty says with an innocent shrug, elbows on the counter. “Then E came! So I made him a drink!”

So he’s gotten into the nickname now. Great.

Specter frowns at his brother. “You’re still gonna pay for that.”

“Of course I will!” Edge says, looking almost offended. “Kitts will never pay for anything if I have anything to say about it.”

This time, he does reach out to poke Kitty on the nose, and Kitty lets out a quiet laugh.

“Anyways, I’m afraid I gotta go now.” He takes a last swig of his drink, finishing it off before laying a handful of money chips on the bar top.

Kitty blinks, frowning slightly. “Already?”

“I was just supposed to drop something off for a friend and I stayed ’cause I saw you here.” Edge chuckles. “And now I’ve been here for an hour.”

“Yeah, just an hour… That’s too short…” Kitty pouts, sounding genuinely disappointed.

Edge shakes his head, fondly. And even though Specter hadn’t planned to, and had been pointedly trying not to, he still couldn’t help but look at the other’s expression.

Specter hasn’t seen Edge look at another person like that since… Well, since so long ago. He had almost forgotten how ‘soft’ looks on his brother.

That’s a surprise, one that would stick with Specter for a while.

But of course, Edge has to put up that smug, shit-eating mask back up, as he proceeds to whisper loudly towards Kitty. “Ah, well, your boss might get mad if I try to keep you any longer, baby. I think he’s here to take you home.” It takes all of Specter’s self-control to keep a straight, neutral face as the younger playfully side-eyes him, before looking at Kitty again. “You know you can drop by my place anytime, yeah?”

Kitty, of course, misses all of that, eyes shiny and flustered as the man leans towards him across the bar top. “Okay…” He closes his eyes when a kiss is pressed to his forehead. His cheeks are pink and his smile is sheepish when he opens his eyes again and he says, “Bye-bye.”

Edge picks up his pack and swings it over his shoulder. He doesn’t look at Specter at all, but he does bump his shoulder to his as he passes him.

“Lookin’ alive, big brother.” is all he says, and then he’s gone.

Kitty sighs – loud, heavy. He is sulking as he picks up the empty glass and the payment.

For the umpteenth time, Specter feels that familiar urge to want to punch something.

Maybe his brother.

Or a wall.

Either will do.

.

Then, one morning, Specter wakes up to clattering, shuffling and an assortment of other inaudible sounds… from the kitchen.

Kitty doesn’t eat. Bug doesn’t eat. Specter does eat, but he doesn’t make food at home. He rarely ever cooks – he usually ate out, or bought food from Rina’s or some other place. The most used part of their kitchen is the sink for washing stuff, and the heater he uses to heat up food he’d let sit in the fridge too long.

So hearing actual sounds and smelling stuff from the kitchen raises several flags that are… not exactly red, but does send Specter rushing out of bed to see what in Aster’s moons could be happening in there.

In his kitchen… is Kitty. Kitty is cooking – clearly he is, because there’s a pot, and things boiling in the pot. He is chopping up actual ingredients, and the kitchen does smell like a dish he is familiar with-

“Spec! Good morning!” Kitty greets, sending him a smile before going back to chopping. “You’re up early today…”

“Kit, what… are you doing?” he asks, not knowing how else to process this. Objectively, he knows Kitty is cooking. But it is still too… foreign… as a concept.

Kitty blinks. “I’m making you food? To eat?”

Specter has two questions then – how and why. But he thinks ‘How?’ would make him sound too stupid. He isn’t that stupid, not even disoriented from sleep. So he asks, “Why?”

“So you don’t have to worry about food.” Kitty says. “For eating. For today.”

“Since wh-…” Specter stops himself, then takes a breath. “You cook. Is this a feature?”

“No… Well, I can learn new things. That’s a feature.” Kitty shrugs, peeks at the pot, and after a moment of scrutiny, he dumps the stuff he’d just chopped up in it. Then he turns towards Specter with an excited grin. “I hope I do well with this one. E said this is your favorite. It’s like what your mom used to make, I think!”

Yeah. That was what the smell had reminded him of…

He was almost positive he had woken up to a nightmare. One of those kind of dreams.

What the fuck.

“Edge.” he says, clearing his throat. “Edge told you to… cook. For me.”

“No… Not really?” Kitty says, humming thoughtfully. “I went to his place the other day, and he was cooking. And I asked to watch, ’cause it wasn’t like the ones they make at Miss Rina’s. So I asked him about it, and he explained how it’s made…

“Then he told me, this is a dish from your hometown, and everyone makes it different, but this is how your mom taught him to make it… So I asked if you like this food too, and he said yeah you like it a lot!”

Specter couldn’t exactly disagree with any of it. That sounded just like his brother – he likes talking while working, talking about what he was doing, about why he was doing it, about how he came up with the idea to do it…

And between the two of them as brothers, Edge was indeed the one who helped in the kitchen, who learned their mother’s recipes, and knew how to make them by heart.

“I said I’ve never seen you eat something like this, and he asked if you cook and I said you didn’t, and you buy food outside, and he laughed and I asked him what if I cook? Maybe cook you something you like, right? And he said it’s okay to try, so I asked him to teach me! I can’t eat, but I can taste, and I think I’m doing fine? It smells like the one he made…”

Kitty looks happy, proud of himself.

And the food smells fucking heavenly.

Kitty finishes efficiently – that’s just how he did things, once he’s learned them.

Specter eats what he made. After a bite, he tells Kitty that it’s very good, that his effort is appreciated.

Kitty beams, then heads to the window garden to water the plants and wake Bug up from sleep mode.

Specter looks down at his plate. The dish tastes like home, like something he’d almost forgotten but still knows how to recognize.

He does not cry, only because he physically couldn’t. It’s a feature.

.

The next time he stumbles across Edge at Sep’s bar, there is no Kitty. He’s off that day, on a visit to C-Tower, after promising Specter that they have enough plants in the window garden for now.

Specter stands beside where Edge is perched at the bar, drinking by himself, typing something on his deck – coding.

He doesn’t take a seat. Not yet.

He orders his own drink.

Then, without looking at his brother, he says, “You taught my assistant how to cook the family recipe.”

Edge chuckles. “Why not? He asked. Can’t say no to those eyes – you probably know that feeling. And he’s a good student.” This time, he does shift in his seat. He’s still leaning lazily against the bar, but he is looking directly at Specter. “Was it good?”

“It was.” Specter nods, not meeting the other’s eyes. “A bit different, but good.”

“Yeah, mom’s recipe needed stuff we don’t have here.” The younger shrugs. “Had to improvise a lot.”

Specter only tilts his head slightly in agreement. The bartender slides over his drink, Specter hands over his payment, and turns to walk away.

“Hey, so.” Edge starts, before his big brother can take another step. “There’s a show, a few days from now, that theater uptown. Might ask Kitty if he wants to go. Will he be busy then? Some job off-planet, like the last two times I asked? ‘Cause if he is, maybe I won’t bother asking at all…”

Ah.

Of course. Of course Edge knows very well his brother’s tricks, his moves. How he is when he’s protective…

How he is when he’s selfish.

It dawns on Specter, slowly, that he actually doesn’t know just how close they’ve gotten over these past months, Edge and Kitty. Kitty doesn’t ramble to him as much anymore, not like how it had been with Brix, when Kitty would talk his ears off and give him every detail of almost everything they did. These days, Kitty only tells him that he’s going to see Edge, or they went somewhere together. No fine details, like this is something he’s owning, keeping to himself.

With how little Specter knows from Kitty’s side, it stands that he knows next to nothing from Edge’s.

Specter doesn’t know what to feel about that. It’s a strange feeling of something in his grasp slipping away, and being oddly fine with it, because you weren’t holding onto it very tightly in the first place, for a reason.

All Specter knows to say in that moment is what he always says to Kitty when he knows this is something that, no matter how hard he tries, will eventually be out of his control.

“Do what you want.”

Then, he leaves.

.

---

(now)

“Here’s what I think.” Lily starts, as she puts down a plate of freshly cooked food on the table in front of Specter. “The craziest part of all that is that you guys call each other by your stupid fake names. Like, what is up with that, even.”

Specter scoffs, but he doesn’t say anything. He’s not in the habit of pissing off or complaining to someone who just gave him food.

He takes a bite instead, as Lily takes the seat across his and also starts her meal.

Lily’s cooking is familiar, too. Food will always be different on the ship – they have very limited ingredients, but she had always known how to make a meal out of even the simplest leftovers.

“Wait, is that why you’ve been pissy this whole time? Your little brother’s hitting on your roommate?” she asks, sounding amused.

He has been a great source of entertainment for her in this mission, he thinks.

“I’ve been ‘pissy’ because you’ve been extorting life updates from me that you have no business knowing.” he says.

She snorts. “Do you really think that? I’m your best friend. That’s kinda what I’m for.”

Fuck. She’s right. She is his best friend. In all stages of their lives, dating or committed or falling out… they’ve always known that’s what they are to each other. Still. After all this time.

And anyway, who else will he tell all this to? Bug? The old thing will short circuit trying to repeat after all of that.

“You missed me.” Lily continues, still right. “And you usually smile, y’know. Even for a bit. That’s how I know you’re going through some shit. You’re extra grumpy.”

“I’m not… pissy.” he says, poking at his food. It really is very good. One of the things he misses about Lily. “Just… Maybe. Worried.”

“About Kitty and your brother?”

“They might actually be dating or some shit.” Specter says, brows furrowed as he thinks about it. “I know how reckless he-… both of them. They’re both… yeah.”

“Huh. It’s not like the thing with the twins?” Lily blinks. “It’s not just flirting and fun?”

“It’s different.” Specter says with a shrug. “It’s weird.”

“If I go by what you just told me, they’re watching movies and cooking together. It’s sweet.” Lily says with a light, fond laugh. “And whatever grievances you have about… Edge. You can’t deny he’s doing good work now.”

“You know so.” Specter says, looking at her. Lily may always jump at an opportunity to push his buttons, but she doesn’t tolerate misinformation. And she does always know things he doesn’t. Part of her job.

“Well, he is a thief.” Lily chuckles. “But he’s stealing from folks who have too much, and he’s giving the money to folks who actually need it. I say he keep doing it.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“You would if you boys just talked.”

“Nah.”

“Sure.”

She lets out a sigh – that sigh she does when she’s giving up on convincing him of something. She knows when he wouldn’t budge, anyways.

But she can always pivot.

“Hey…” she calls softly across the table. “You mentioned Rina. How is she?”

He pauses for a second, before answering with a shrug. “She’s fine, I guess.”

“So that ship really doesn’t intend to sail, is what I’m getting from your stupid face.”

Specter finally looks back at her. She’s looking right at him.

Rina has been a constant in his life for the past couple of years – maybe even more than Lily has been. A waitress in her grandma’s diner, Rina is a girl too nice for their part of town, loved by the diner patrons. She’s one of who Lily would call his “rescues” – one of many girls he rescued not for a job, but because her grandmother asked for his help. They’ve called him a friend of the family ever since. He had trusted her and her grandmother to help take care of and get Kitty settled. They’re the reason he always had food at home.

She had asked him, once, with a blush on her delicate cheeks, if after Lily, and besides Kitty, he might look for ‘someone special’.

“It’s not like that.” Specter tells Lily now. “She’s a friend.”

“Just to make sure, you know she likes you. Right?”

“Yes.” he tells her with a pointed look, as if to say, ‘Even I’m not that clueless’ – but eventually he looks away again. “I’m just not sure I can… do that, anymore.”

“Do what?”

“I dont know. Feel.”

He hears the slow inhale across the table, and the withering exhale that follows. “Ash.” she says, voice soft, private. “If you really believe that, you’re breaking my heart.”

“Lil, I-”

“Look. You can’t believe that it’s too late, or you’re too far gone.” she says, pointing her fork at him. “Babe, you’re not a saint, but you don’t suck. You rescue missing girls and take in lost droids. You know the names of all my cats. Your hobby is thrifting for books and toys, and scavenging junkyards for bots you can repair and give to the orphanage so the kids always have stuff.

“All this but you keep everyone at an arm’s length. So, nope. I don’t care if it’s a thing with Rina, or it’s… whatever you have with Kitty, or even just making up with your little shit brother – say hi to him for me, by the way – you are not going to stop trying.”

They sit together in that silence for a moment.

After a while, Specter mumbles. “I have you, still.”

Lily chuckles, and reaches over only to flick his forehead. “And you always will. But I don’t count, at this point. We’re like stuck caring about each other forever – that’s how love works. It’s whatever.” She nudges his plate just a bit closer, telling him to eat. “But babe. You tried the ‘me against the world’ thing, then we tried it together. You know what happened both times. We will always need other people.”

“I know.” he says.

He does know.

“Rina’s a friend.” he says again, this time looking down at his plate. “The thing with Kitty… It’s too different, new, but… it’s important. To me.”

Lily’s chuckle is light, amused. “Well, there you go. You’re feeling.”

Specter shakes his head, and breathes a calming breath. “I guess I am.”

.

They land the ship directly on C-Tower’s landing pad as professionals, as colleagues.

Cabot himself is there to greet them and thank them for a job well and discreetly done. He nods for his men to take away the asset – a struggling, miserable-looking Malcolm Flint. He thanks Specter for bringing Lily home safe. He tells his assistant to make sure the credits are sent to Specter’s account.

Specter hears the notification chime. He doesn’t bother checking. Cabot always pays well for his services.

“I believe Miss Lily has more findings to share? Do meet me in my office when you’re ready.” the old man says, inclining his head at Lily. Then he sends a knowing nod towards Specter. “Be well, Mr. Specter.”

Specter nods back, and they watch the old man and his staff leave them alone in the landing pad.

“Are you actually working full time for the old man now?” he asks Lily as he hands over her duffel bag.

“Nah, he’s just a regular. Offers good pet care perks though, I’ll give him that.” she says with an easy shrug, swinging the bag over her shoulder. “Don’t worry, I know better than to be tied down.”

He shakes his head as he reaches out, brushes strands of red hair away from her cheeks. “I’ll always worry about you.”

Her eyes shine with fondness – they’re green again, here on land, in a place where she has to protect herself again. “Aw, you’re not grumpy anymore. I knew we just needed to get some proper food in you.” She knocks on the shoulder of his powered-down mech arm playfully. “When I get time off, I’m gonna come over your place and ruin your day again.”

He chuckles. “That’s a promise?”

“You know it is.” Lily grins, stepping half a step back, looking up at him. “Take care of yourself, Ash.”

He doesn’t say anything. He just nods, then leans down to press a kiss to her cheek.

He turns back to his ship and walks off. He doesn’t look back.