Chapter Text
Once they were safely placed in a room, alone, door locked, Punz turned to crouch in front of the kid who had moved behind him, watching.
“Hey kid.”
“Hey kid.”
The kid echoed back, crouching down as well, hunching smaller, as though a mindless replica. But there was an intensity to their eyes that told Punz they weren’t just imitating, and he tried for a smile.
“Not quite, but you’re doing great.”
He sat against the wall. The kid sat too, limbs moved incrementally precise to sit the way that Punz was.
Punz held out his good hand.
“Nice to meet you I’m Punz.”
The kid stuck his hand out as well, stiffening slightly when Punz grasped their hand, but following suit anyway. They spoke, voice like cut together audio, no inflection other than Punz’s own.
“Nice to meet you—.” “—Punz.”
He shook their hand, explaining.
“This is a greeting, it shows we acknowledge and are friendly with one another, and we share our names. Especially since we’ll be in partnership.”
The kid stared back, flat, retracting their arm when he did, but placing it on the floor between them instead of at their side as he had done. They leaned forward slightly.
“Partnership.”
Punz nodded, smiling.
“Yeah, exactly, we’ll be working together to help keep each other alive.”
The kid nodded back, tentatively placing a hand on Punz’ shot hand, which, while improved, still held a phantom ache.
“We help each other.”
“Exactly kid, you seem to be handy with a gun, a little hand to hand, some practice, I’m sure we can make a great team. And, if you can pick up all languages so quickly it will make infiltration and information gathering a lot easier. Though, you should work on your inflection. For example…”
He shifted their hands to be clasped together, the ache of his injury unnoticeable. Thinking of the kid’s hoodie and spiky ball form, he spoke deliberately warm.
“Hello Purple, I’m glad we’re collaborating.”
Purple copied his smile back and replied more organically.
“Hello Punz, it is good to keep one another alive.”