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"Phi! Where were you?" Babe shoots up from the couch, breaking the stillness of the apartment. When did he get so tall?
"Babe." Kant lets out a sigh that encompasses regret and shame as the door slides shut behind him. "I'm sorry, I had a friend who needed help out of town—"
"But you're okay?" Babe looks extremely worried and when he tugs at the hair at the nape of his neck, a nervous habit he can't seem to break, Kant can see his nail beds are bitten red.
"I'm okay," Kant says, trying to smile, stroking his brother's hair. "I'm more worried about you. How are you? Are you okay?"
Babe shrugs it off, the way he shrugs most things off, and gestures to the rat’s nest of school books and takeout containers.
"You told me to just take whatever I needed if you went away."
Kant remembers that conversation vividly, a callback to when he'd been less sure that he wouldn't get booked for grand theft auto. He feels only slightly safer these days, but he's glad Babe remembers and took care of himself.
He should have been here, he should have been more worried, but it's crazy how being in love, how the question of life or death sometimes makes everything else disappear.
"Good." Kant smiles. It feels fake, but he tries; he pets at Babe's hair and presses a kiss to his forehead. "You're getting too tall for me to baby!"
"Ah, Phi." Babe slips out of Kant's embrace. "You don't need to worry so much about me anymore."
"Yeah?" Kant says, trying not to sound relieved despite the weight that takes from his chest. "You wanna try being the man of the house?"
Babe scrunches his nose. Adorable. "Me? What would I do? I can't earn your money, I can only spend it." He smiles, but it doesn't go beyond a twitch of his lips. "I need somebody to take care of me."
Kant rolls his eyes, trying to play along. "Oh, that's all I am, am I?" He swaggers over to the kitchen and drops the bag of dirty laundry beside a stool. "Any leftovers? Or anything I can cook?"
"Mm! Yeah!" Suddenly bursting with life, Babe makes his way over to the fridge before Kant can. He laughs nervously. "Yeah, but some of it might have gone bad."
Kant waits. He still feels sore as hell, so he's happy to just lean against the counter and watch as Babe lifts the lid on two different containers and sniffs them both. He deliberates and then reluctantly slides one over to Kant.
"You're not trying to kill me are you?" Kant jokes, but Babe looks stricken, reaching for the container. "I'm kidding!"
Kant pulls away and peels back the lid and appraises the seafood curry, but it smells fine. He won't know for sure until he's heated it up.
"You don't have to eat it, Phi. I can go pick something up from the corner."
"Nah," Kant says, putting the container in the microwave and winking. "If leftovers are good enough for you, then they're good enough for me. Just be sure to toss the old stuff, I don't want you to get food poisoning."
Babe ducks his head and nods, but Kant feels a swelling of fondness for his younger brother. Babe then picks up the bag of laundry. "I'll wash this, okay?"
"What did I do to get such a good little brother?" Kant asks, the vice of worry around his heart finally releasing.
Babe quirks a too small smile, shrugs one shoulder and disappears from the room.
Kant sighs and once the food is done, he sits down. He really should shower first, but Babe won't get mad at him for that at least. He sniffs the food, deems it fine, and blows on his first bite. He then spots the bottle of chili oil that Babe left out for him. He adds some and keeps eating as he listens to the washing machine start up. When Babe comes out, he still seems a little distant.
"You sure you're okay? No problems at school?"
Babe stops from picking up his books and things and seems a bit wide-eyed as he shakes his head. "Nah, it was fine, Phi." He then continues to pile books and papers together.
"Anything weird happen while I was gone? Anyone stop by…?"
He's thinking about the captain, wondering how long it will be before that man stomps back into his life. He has no faith that he'll be left alone, but how long does Kant have?
"Mm…" Babe hesitates.
"Babe."
"There was this lady who was asking questions. I don't think she knew I was your brother."
Kant feels a chill settle in his stomach, suddenly the food in his mouth tastes sour. He forces himself to swallow.
"What kind of questions? Who was she?"
"I don't really know, Phi," Babe says. "She asked like, about your friends. For a second I thought she was talking about Bison though."
Kant blinks, appetite gone; he drops his fork to the plate.
"She asked about like… if you had any friends out of town you might have gone to stay with."
"Babe." Kant tries to stand, but he feels too lightheaded, grabbing for the counter. "When was this?"
"Couple days ago," Babe mumbles.
"She didn't know you were my brother—"
"I didn't tell her anything! She just seemed to know a lot."
Lilly found them. Of that, Kant has no doubt. But what did she want? Was she now waiting outside? Why was she hesitating? Bison wouldn't hesitate. Would the woman who raised him hesitate?
Kant tries to take a step toward Babe, to get his brother to turn toward him, but he feels too weak. He's terrified and his legs won't work.
"Babe." Kant is on the floor before he knows it and his vision is swimming. "Babe, I—"
He can't find the words, but when he looks up to Babe he can see how scared he is, how pale he is.
"I'm sorry," Babe whispers, the words not making any sense.
"I need a doctor," Kant says, not sure of anything else except how wrong he feels, how sick he is. "Please, tell Bison…"
Babe tightens his fists, but makes no move toward the phone before Kant's vision blacks out.
~
The tattoo studio is dark when Bison runs up the stairs and bangs on the door. He keeps his voice down, but the drive over has given him enough time to conjure images of blood and tears that he's on a short leash. He was in the safe room with Fadel when the call came in.
"I thought I told you to shut that off," Fadel groused.
Bison just held up his phone to show that it's Kant calling.
"I told you to shut it off." Fadel uncapped his pen and wrote something on one of the pages and Bison reluctantly sent the call to voicemail.
A minute later, the phone rang again.
"Turn it off!"
Bison ignored him and picked it up.
"Kant, I can't—"
"Bison." It wasn't Kant on the other end of the line, but Babe. His voice was choked and waterlogged. "There's something wrong with P'Kant."
"What's wrong with Kant?" Bison asked, eyes flying to his brother who stilled.
"I don't know. He only just got home—" Hours after Bison and Fadel had dropped him off at the garage— "and I don't know if he's drunk or high, but he's not acting like himself." Babe's voice dropped. "I'm really scared," he admits in a whisper.
Bison trusted Kant a scary amount, probably more than he should, but if Kant got into some shit, if — god forbid — Lilly managed to poison him, then Bison couldn't guarantee he wouldn't lash out at someone he loved as much as Babe. No one was immune to having their mind messed with. Bison let out a slow breath.
"I'll be right there," Bison said. "Stay somewhere safe. Don't let anyone but me in, okay?"
He hung up after getting assurances from Babe and finally met Fadel's gaze.
"Maybe you should check in with Style," he said. They parted ways, with Bison hiring a scooter. He needed to check on Babe as quickly as possible.
The kid might be nearly old enough to live on his own, but Kant has given up almost everything for that kid. Kant would more likely kill himself than let anything happen to Babe.
He slams his fist on the door and calls out for Kant, for Babe, trying not to think about what the neighbors will think. Slowly the door rattles open and Babe peeks his tear-stained face out.
"Babe." Bison forces himself the rest of the way inside, glancing from the boy to the rest of the apartment. He sees a plate of half-eaten food and when he takes another step into the apartment, he sees Kant prone on the floor. "Kant!"
He takes a step toward Kant before he realizes there's crinkling underfoot and the sense that something is very wrong overtakes him. He looks down to the plastic drop-cloth beneath his feet. It feels strange to find a tarp here when he so heavily associates them with the work he usually does with Fadel after dark. Behind him, Babe has his hand on the latch of the closed door and is all but shrouded in darkness.
"Babe," Bison asks, soft and quiet. "What happened?"
The shock of seeing Babe lift a gun, holding it with both hands like he's bracing for the kickback, taking in both the silencer and the juvenile stance in one glance, prevents Bison from reacting the way his mother taught him to. The bang and the pain in his chest feel like two unrelated phenomena. He's overwhelmed by fear that Lilly will be disappointed in him. He's terrified that Fadel won't find him in time. He's heartbroken that Kant will never see him again. His knees don't even hurt as he crashes down to the floor.
"It's okay," Babe whispers, shaking a little as he lowers the gun, swiping a hand across his face as he sniffs, his voice still choked. "It'll be okay."
Bison tries to hold onto that reassurance as he goes numb and cold, blood seeping out of him much too quickly.
"It'll be okay," he rasps back, even as his lungs grow weak, the wet sound of his breath alarming him. He turns his face toward Kant who hasn't moved, his gaze empty and distant.
He feels sorry he can't warn Fadel, but at least he got to see Kant one last time.