Night 60: M41-M50 Hallway
Even as dinner had passed, Lunge hadn't budged. Harvey knew that that couldn't be a good thing, but it wasn't his business to babysit the guy anyway. It was going to be a hassle if Lunge ended up disappearing, seeing how he'd have to go through the same old song and dance of meeting a new roommate, but he'd make sure that people knew if it happened
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Well, he did have those snacks he'd pilfered from Doyleton, he supposed...which the staff had actually returned to him, surprisingly. But he would save those for another day ( ... )
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Badd didn't bother to knock. If Byrne happened to be changing it was nothing Badd hadn't seen before--if Byrne happened to be changing into a monstrous bleeding goat, that also wasn't anything he hadn't seen before.
He had a lollipop stick poking out of the corner of his mouth and his trenchcoat was hanging around his shoulders. Minus the smiley face shift and sweatpants he almost looked as good as the old says.
"...hey." Suddenly his previous haste felt a bit immature. Badd dug in his pocket and offered up another lollipop with the slightest, most awkward of smiles.
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But Badd - woah, what? He had his trenchcoat back? And--oh, hello lollipop, taking that offered treat now and eating it, thank you very much. B-but yeah, since when was this? How was this? Byrne stood from his chair, slipping his journal into the desk drawer as he did so, and stared at his partner with a very confused expression.
"Uh--" Gack. Wait wait, hold on, gotta take the sucker out of his mouth for a second. Unlike Badd, Byrne hadn't mastered the art of talking with candy in his mouth yet. (He could have made that sound so much worse, but he didn't want Badd to question any awkward trying-not-to-laugh ( ... )
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He took the coat by the edge and held it out, exposing the span of worn grey fabric pockmarked with bullet holes. Byrne knew them almost as well as he does...save that one in the hem. The one he'd taken while chasing down Calisto Yew.
Badd dragged his thoughts away from that moment. Lingering on Byrne's murder had already cost him too much precious time with his best friend. If he kept focusing on past failings he'd ruin what moments they had left together.
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Wait. Gun? Gun. GUN. AAAAH.
Byrne gasped, throwing a single finger up in the air and opening his mouth wide as if to shout OH YEAH I ALMOST FORGOT, and then he flipped around to get into his own box, which had been sitting on his desk untouched all evening. Right right right right, Badd's gun that was still in his possession, right, he kind of needed to give that back now that Badd was here. Was that clip still in there, the one he'd taken from the Sheriff's Office last night? Yes, yes it was. Good ( ... )
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"Thanks for hanging on to it for me," he mumbled, putting the gun into the pocket of his coat. Overwhelming guilt settled on his shoulders, twice as heavy as the trenchcoat but just as familiar. Badd slipped the lollipop from his mouth.
"Byrne, I...I was an asshole. I'm sorry." There was an odd frailty in his face and tone. He was not a man who asked for forgiveness often--he took responsibility for his own actions, but he didn't petition people to think well of him for them. But he owed Byrne more than a grunt and a brush-off. "I was worried about you but I treated you like a child. You deserve better than that. I've gotten so used to treating you like an ideal that I think I forgot how to treat you like a person. Like a prosecutor."
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That was why the smile never completely left the prosecutor's face. It faltered, true, but as his friend finished his apology, it then softened to express a mixture of understanding and light amusement. "Well yeah, you were an asshole," he said a little teasingly, "but c'mon, don't talk like you deserve to be hanged for this or anything. You meant it in my best interest, and that's all there is to it. I'm not mad, honestly. If anything, I'm just happy to see you again ( ... )
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"Yeah," Badd said, a mere murmur as he twisted the lollipop stick. Even if it didn't work, even if they spun their wheels for another full month, as long as Byrne kept up that smile Badd would be satisfied.
But back to business. "There's an area upstairs that I'd like to get a look at. There's a chapel above the sun room and cafeteria, but I haven't seen beyond the pews. Seems a good place to hide something, nobody snoops in a church."
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But first... "Hold on a sec - lemme grab a few things." Still grinning, the prosecutor popped his lollipop back in his mouth and then went about grabbing a few things. 'Things' meant the maps he'd copied down the other day, and, uh, that was about it, actually. He'd given his only weapon back to Badd and he had no flashlight, so the maps were really all he had at this point.
Or that would have been all he had if he hadn't instinctively looked back at his closet and noticed something new hanging in it. Something that made him nearly gawk at the sight. Wait--wait what??"...Holee shih," he mumbled - half-incoherently thanks to the lollipop, which he now removed once again - and he stepped closer to the closet to examine the new something ( ... )
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"Well," he said with a slight chuckle. "Looks like someone's pulling for us, if nothing else."
No need to ask if his partner would prefer to change. Badd turned his back to give Byrne his privacy.
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Whether Badd looked in his general direction while he changed or not, the prosecutor didn't care; it was no big deal to change clothes in front a guy he'd known for years. Even so, Badd's turning away was appreciated, if only for the fact that it was just plain polite. Even best friends should have good manners, after all.
A few moments later, the ugly gray pajamas were piled carelessly on the floor and Byrne finished tying his bangs back into a small ponytail with a hairtie he'd found in his suit jacket pocket (they must really know my style, he'd muttered to himself upon discovering it). With that done, he took another moment to adjust the familiar karakusa-patterned scarf around his neck. Ahhh, how he'd missed it. It was practically his lucky charm both in and out of court and he almost never went anywhere without it. This, plus his ( ... )
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No. He wouldn't screw it up this time. They had another chance and he wasn't going to run away from it.
Badd cracked the door, peeked out, and then gestured with a smile. "Come on, partner."
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