“Oh, so now you want my help, is that it?” Baikal clucked his tongue. “Feeling kind of used, little bunny.”
“Shitty feeling, huh.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’ve never used you, Rabbit. And I don’t intend to start.”
“We’ll agree to disagree.” He glanced down the sidewalk, noting there were no other students around. “Why are you here?”
“I told you to hurry home and you didn’t,” Baikal said.
“So you what, came to fetch me yourself?” He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic.”
“Are you forgetting how you were almost kidnapped two days ago?”
Actually…yeah, he sort of had forgotten. Between that and everything going on with Void, honestly? It didn’t seem like that big of a deal. The thing with the Brumal Prince was proving to last a hell of a lot longer, after all.
“Come on.” Baikal motioned with his chin to the left, but Rabbit shook his head.
“I parked in the opposite lot.” His car had been left here since he’d been knocked out before reaching it, and though he’d checked up on it when he’d arrived on campus, it still made him uncomfortable to leave it there another night. He had a scan chip on the dash for the campus police to check and be sure he was a student, but they still frowned on abandoned vehicles.
“I moved your car already.” Baikal kept walking, forcing Rabbit to rush to catch up and avoid getting wet.
“What do you mean you—” He swore. “You stole my keys earlier, didn’t you?”
“Considering you only just noticed, I’d say it wasn’t that big a loss.”
Had Void planned on picking him up all this time then? Was the fact he’d been late just an excuse? Rabbit frowned over at him as they slowly made their way toward the south parking lot. Void wasn’t the type to beat around the bush, so why was he bothering now?
“What?” Baikal glanced at him, his expression enigmatic. He was still dressed in his school uniform, the Vail crest pinned over his left pec. Typically it was worn on a bag of some sort, but he didn’t have anything with him.
“I’m surprised you bother following school policy,” he noted.
The corner of Baikal’s lips turned up. “I only break the rules if I’ll get something out of it. I’m not a complete delinquent.”
“Just a Brumal brat.” Rabbit pretended to find interest in a particularly odd shaped leaf floating in a puddle they were approaching then, ignoring the warning look Void sent him. “So,” he broke the silence a moment later, just as the parking lot came into view, “is this how it’s going to be from now on? You walk me to my car and drive me home and we act like we’re some couple?”
“We aren’t acting,” he corrected, “and I’ll only hover like this until I’m certain the man who attacked you has been dealt with and is no longer a threat. Believe it or not, Rabbit, I don’t want to control you. I like who you are, and I’m not in the market for a pet. My life is too hectic to raise another living creature.”
Rabbit scoffed. “Is that your way of telling me to get my own damn lunch from now on? I didn’t ask you to bring me anything, Void.”
“Why does every little thing have to turn into a fight with you?” He pinched the bridge of his nose, and that’s when Rabbit realized he wasn’t wearing his glasses. Noticing his attention, Baikal rolled his eyes. “Like I’d fall for that again. I switched to the contact version. Insight 5.”
“There’s a contact version?” Rabbit hadn’t been aware.
“Of course there is.”
“Then why did you bother with the glasses?”
“Because I look good in them, obviously.”
“Obviously,” he drawled, coming to a stop in front of his car. He held out his hand palm up, but Void merely chuckled and then pulled the keys from his front pocket.
Baikal rounded the hovercar, leaving Rabbit once again standing in the rain.
“Hey!” He lifted the instrument case over his head, resting the dirtiest look he could manage on the Brumal Prince as the other man took his time unlocking the doors. As soon Rabbit heard the click, he yanked open the passenger side, sliding in and tossing his bags into the back, still glaring at Void as he settled into the driver’s seat. “This is my car.”
“So it is,” Baikal hummed, waving the scanner on the end of the key over the motion panel at the center. The engine came to life, front lights flashing and cutting through the thick sheet of rain now pouring down outside.
“You could at least ask, you know?” Rabbit moved his arms so the automatic seat belt could snap into place over his waist.
