“it’s complicated.”

“complicated like your relationship with aiden is complicated?”

a glare. “watch it.”

she shrugs. manicured fingers reach across the table and pluck the drive with pink talons, regarding it with a dull sort of interest two notches above boredom. this is currently more interesting than whatever thing she’s avoiding, so he gains the pleasure of her company. for now.

“so…” she turns the drive over in her hands. “we just appreciating the aesthetic, or are you gonna plug it in?”

“I wouldn’t plug that into a computer I hadn’t physically ripped the network card out of,” he deadpans. “it shouldn’t even be in the hackerspace. but I already took it apart to make sure it’s actually a drive.”

“living on the edge, james.”

“there’s no such thing as too careful with defalt.”

“no such thing as paranoid with you, either,” she murmurs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “remind me why you haven’t just killed him, again?“ 

the look he levels at her draws a shiver up her spine. it’s a warning, frigid and burning at once like holding ice in your hand. "we don’t just kill anyone.”

“I know, I know,” she raises her hands defensively. “all I’m saying is you’ve gotten rid of people for far less. if the 929s tried a tenth of the shit you left him get away with, we’d be scrubbing their remains off the walls of an abandoned jcpenney factory.”

“first of all, I have better taste. tiffany warehouse, bare minimum. secondly, going after defalt would be—”

“complicated?” she cuts him off. 

“yeah.”

sher rolls her eyes, whole head coming with it. a caramel curl falls over her shoulder.

“look, james. it’s not really my place to say, but… we’re going to have to deal with defalt eventually. and whatever you two did back in chicago, that’s done now. he’s not that person anymore. and neither are you,” she says. “and the james park I know wouldn’t tolerate someone who made him lose sleep over a 12GB flash drive.”

he’s quiet for a time, letting his head cant to one side. his gaze has drifted now from the drive grace toys idly with to some imaginary point through the table and into the earth. 

“I’ve lost more sleep over less,” he says.

the laugh she lets out is two parts bitter, one part sweet. “I know. so let’s go throw this hunk of metal into the east river so you can get back to things that actually matter, hmm?”

he hums. “think I’d like to see what the laser cutter can do to it.”