#tik... tik... ( queue. )

He waits until she's fully settled to rest his hand on the small of her back to keep her close, humming tonelessly for a moment. "... You know what today is, right? You should check your workbench." Before she scramble away, Ekko is sure she gives him one kiss to check said work station where she'll find a brand new hoverboard built to her size and carved firelight mask shaped like a raven's beak. "Lemme know if you need me to adjust anything."

“If you couldn’t then I wouldn’t keep offering every time you come by the hideout. We got an actual bungalow set up for you across the way from where we held you and your Piltie princess.There’s a cot, small kitchen and there’s some sheets and blankets folded in the chest.” He waves his nonchalantly as he eased himself back into his chair, tipping his head while he scrutinized Vi’s shifty movements. 

Discomfort written all over her face and... a touch of shame? News of Jinx’s stunt with the council spread like wildfire and since then he’s dispatched the Firelights on double shifts to keep the peace. It only took two days before Vi came limping in here with her hood on and looking like she was pulled through the actual gutter. It hurt to see her look so small, worn out. She was always the pillar of resilience between the lot of them.

Ekko pauses and points his crutch to an open entryway on the opposite side of the meeting room. “If you want to clean up we have communal showers. Towels and soap are left in baskets. No hot water but it’s clean. Leftovers from dinner should still be in the mess hall on the first floor.”

When she doesn’t budge he musters up enough strength to smile. “It’s okay to relax, you know? Take care of yourself tonight and tomorrow we’ll figure things out. Go clean up.”

       The world closes in on itself, noise of children laughing and playing and the occasional shout from their parents are lost when he feels the considerable weight and familiar cold metal placed in his hand instead of the wooden spoon he had asked her for. He doesn’t look at it, refuses to glimpse carved teeth and glowing paint and instead he pivots on his heel. His arm whips back as his free hand shoves the kitchen window open and launches the device as hard as he can toward the bright blue sky. With baited breath he watches it sail up, up, up and the timer goes off and before Ekko can shout a warning to those below to take cover it goes off with a ping and pop!

       Brightly colored confetti and glitter explode into the air, dropping as naturally as rainfall.

       Sound comes back to him, initial shrieks of alarm turn into joy and laughter. The trees and houses remain standing. No fire, no smoke, no blood.

       The boy savior feels her behind him, her braids brush against his shoulder and her lips press against the nape of his neck. An apology.

       Ekko exhales slowly and releases the windowpane to wave down at Scar who stands on the first step on the flight of stairs to his apartment. There’s a flash of reluctance in the other’s eyes but Ekko merely shakes his head while he turns around to look down at Jinx who’s biting her lip.

       “... I sitll need the spoon, please.” He mumbles, motioning to their half cooked dinner on the stove.

       Those hauntingly beautiful, borderline disturbingly pink eyes brighten with intent and Jinx darts off across the space toward the drawer to fulfill her task.

       Ekko inhales again, placing a hand on his forehead to wipe the sweat from his eyebrow.

       He’s fine.

"Oh you mean when you and Mylo sat on me until Vander pulled you both off? Yeah, kinda of hard to forget." Even if he had deserved it for not keeping his sticky fingers to himself. He about nine? Ten? Same age as Powder and he had stumbled across the pair with Mylo and Claggor in tow at the makeshift arade Vander has set up.

Benzo had sent him over with clear instructions to introduce himself to the quartet in hopes of them all becoming friends. Long story short he saw one of Powder's wind up toys in pile in the corner and attempted to make off with it in his pocket only ten minutes he was there. He almost made it to the top of the stairs too before Vi caught him and wrestled him back down until he apologized to Powder. Not his smartest decision but it's the day Vi earned his respect and he their interest since their later "extra curricular" activities proved to need his skillset. To this day Ekko swore up and down if Vi hadn't caught him off guard he would have put up more than a fight but... he rather not test her.

"... Things were simpler back then, huh? One punch and things were considered even and settled."