we hide our bottles [wt]

Boo scared Roy. He’d never admit it though. Most he’d ever confess is that he freaked him out, but he would never ever admit that he scared him. Roy was the tough guy around here. People looked up to him. They respected him. If anyone ever found that Roy Terrier was scared of Boo Stebbins, the long standing reputation he had worked so hard to establish all these years would come crashing down, and he’d forever be branded as the guy who just about pissed his pants every time he was near the freak man-robot. He almost did too. Just when Captain McCormick had informed that today he’d be interrogating with “the candy-ass robocop”. ”Y-yessir,” he answered, trying his best to hide uneasiness in his voice. He cleared his throat and marched off.

”Kid’s waiting over by the cells. B03, I think,” he heard the captain call out. Roy stumbled a little and looked back over his shoulder to see the other guards chuckling.

”Y-y-y-ye-es-s-s-ir!” they cried out, all bending over as they laughed and threw their guns up in an effort to point at him.

”Shut it!” he clamored, awkwardly making his way through the halls of the Detention Center. Already his tall, formidable prestige was faltering, dying all because of a stupid coward who wasn’t good enough to die with the rest of them in that crash. He remembered when he first heard of the crash. Sure, he felt bad, but he’d never expect what would become of it nearly a year later. That kid who survived suddenly became Chandler, and just as quick, Chandler became Boo. Word spread of that stupid suit and now the once worthless chicken was some sort of hotshot. It was stupid. He was the best. And once upon a time, people acknowledged that too. Nowadays, it was Boo this and Boo that. Who the hell cares about some robotic flower anyway? There was a time where Roy held power. And strength. And reverence. Boo took that away from him. Before Boo, being a Peacekeeper meant to serve the Capital. Serve the people. These days, it was all a competition. A seemingly unviable race to outshine and throw Stebbins, the Boy Wonder, off his throne.

Roy made his way to the door. He took a deep breath, scratched his neck, and ruffled through his pockets, trying to find access card. After tentatively taking it out, he inched it closer and closer to the slider. He’s on the other side, waiting. The Peacekeeper hesitated, pulling the card back. ”God damn it, what’re doing?” he muttered to himself. The kid’s scared of his own fucking shadow. Why on earth should you be scared of him? It was the vibe. Boo, for reasons Roy couldn’t perceive, gave off a sort of dark energy. Every gesture he made reeked of either obviously veiled antipathy or unpleasantness. It just wasn’t...stable. Looking back when he was first training, Roy remembered when he’d see him twitch and shake and observe. He was weird from the start, but now with everything like the crash and the failed mental rehabilitation, he was, without question, psychologically damaged and more erratic than ever. Given the power Boo now had with the suit, Roy found it awfully moronic that they’d allow such a nutcase to play with the “big boy fire”.

At last making up his mind, he opened the door. Just as he expected, not too far off was the man-bot, waiting still. Roy walked over, holding the little composure he had left. He stopped a good five feet from Boo; he wanted to keep a safe distance. He let out a short, casual ”Hey” before he pretended to yawn. There wasn’t much he could do but wait. Boo nodded at him and handed over the papers regarding the prisoner. Roy coolly snatched them away, keeping eye contact although all he saw was the dark, black visor mask. As he did so, the bot breathed. The rush came immediately, running up his arm and through his face. Roy tensed as he was forced to listen to slow, forced inhalation. It seemed twice as strong as a normal breath and it sounded like someone was slurping whatever was left of their beverage from the bottom of a cup. Roy bit his lip and turned away for a second. Boo, however, remained impassive, although it was obvious he could tell his partner was disgusted. The guy was uncomfortable stoic.

Turning back to the task at hand, Roy opened the cell and reached for the girl aggressively. He formed a tight grip on her hair and yanked her up. ”We’re gonna make this nice and easy, alright?” he said to the girl in a soft, comforting voice, albeit his current actions. And they began walking to the Interrogation Center.

Boo didn’t say a word.