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Stark Industries, Monday

Well. Yesterday hadn't been awkward in the slightest.

Still, it was better than being assaulted with attempts to placate his guilt; it just meant that Ender had an angry Jedi to deal with today, now that he was alone and Tony had managed to scurry off to do something that wasn't 'serving as a human shield'.

With that in mind, Ender took his time opening up the shop in the morning, and bustling through. He did like the solitude - while the weekend had calmed any resurgence of emotion on his part, he couldn't help but keep thinking, and the quiet... helped.

He was going to use it as long as he could.

Mind, in retrospect, it might have helped if he'd gotten some sleep the past few days.

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Ben had taken his time as well, loitering first after his third period class, then over if he should even bring lunch, then over what to get, then taking the really, really long way to the shop.

He finally came into the shop with a quiet, "Ender."

"Ben," Ender replied, looking up from the desk. At least Ben wasn't radiating 'childish feet-stomping' as much as he was yesterday - that had been thoroughly unimpressive - but the quiet came with some flashing warning signs of its own.

He'd deal with it.

Ben rummaged through the bag until he retrieved his sandwich, then went to his usual spot and began eating it silently.

Ender could talk first, or not. Ben didn't care today: he was determined not to pick a fight.

Ender eyed him across the desk. After a few moments, it became obvious Ben wasn't actively going to say anything, which... wasn't quite what he'd expected.

He felt strangely awkward, which was ridiculous in and of itself - he hadn't done anything wrong, and Ben's mood was responsible for inciting any awkwardness whatsoever.

He sighed. "Did you bring me a sandwich, too, or have I been sentenced to starvation?"

"I brought you a sandwich," Ben said evenly, "but no coffee. I'm betting you haven't slept much."

"I'll take the sandwich," Ender said, after a beat. "And the lack of coffee."

That was a no, he hadn't slept much.

Ben gave the bag a little nudge through the Force to get it closer to Ender, but didn't move nearer himself: he didn't trust his own reactions today, where he could either end up hugging the guy or punching him.

Ender reached for the bag - calmly - and secured his sandwich. "So," he said, conversationally, "Are you going to spend today glaring at me, too?"

"Depends," Ben said. "Are you going to apologize for lying to me?"

"I didn't lie to you," Ender said, mildly. "I didn't tell you the full truth; there's a difference."

How very Wiggin of you, Andrew.

"Can it, Obi-Wan," Ben snapped. "You told me you had an appointment. You didn't."

"I did," Ender said, "With the lovely matron of a hotel up in Canada."

Ben rolled his eyes. "That's a reservation, Andrew."

"Ah, full name basis," Ender said, and took a bite of his sandwich. "It just depends on how you look at it."

At least the upside of this mess was that Ender had no trouble at all keeping his distance when Ben was like this.

"Not really," Ben said. "You didn't want me to know where you were or why you were there, so you lied to me. Everything else is you dissembling."

"Again, I didn't speak a single lie in that message," Ender said, shooting him a look. "I told you I was expected, that I expected to remain safe, and when I was coming back. And quite frankly, I didn't have to tell you any of that to begin with."

Ben glared back. "And yet every word of that kriffing message was intended to give me an entirely different idea from what was actually the reason why you left."

"Fine," Ender said, and took another, idle bite of his sandwich, "Then next time, I simply won't leave you a message at all. I didn't leave one for Karla, and she seems quite fine about it."

"I'm not Karla," Ben practically snarled, crumpling his sandwich wrapper in his fist. "Karla didn't see you after the Maw."

"And what," Ender said, raising a single eyebrow in the face of all that anger, "Does the Maw have to do with me taking the weekend off?"

"You didn't take a weekend off," Ben retorted. "You hid because in another version of your world, another you just annihilated an entire sentient species. I saw your reaction to killing a dozen Sith. Guess where my mind went, Andrew."

He'd be lying if he said part of him wasn't touched by the knowledge Ben cared that much.

But the rest of him was still annoyed. "I decided to take a few days off for myself because I could use them," Ender said, "I know you worry about me, Ben, but some things aren't about you."

"Then just say that instead of intentionally pissing me off," Ben yelled. "I don't care if you need time to process. I care when you don't tell me the real reason why."

So much for his vow not to start a fight.

"You take it personally if I need 'time to process'," Ender said. "And you certainly care about it. Sometimes it's one of your better traits. Sometimes, it isn't."

"So the day Jaina calls and tell me my mom's died again, it's fine for me to leave you a vague message, turn off the comm, and run away to Canada?" Ben replied. "Good to know."

Some part of him realized that this was all coming from his fear, and fear leading to anger, and shut up Yoda, and great, now even his internal thought process was being irrational.

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NFB whee!

Re: NFB whee!

Re: NFB whee!

Re: NFB whee!

Re: NFB whee!