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Idaho - "Deckerd/Shadowmaru friendship/budding romance"

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Kagerou was lost almost before either of them could actually live. It was so senseless, so stupidly wasteful, and Shadowmaru's systems seized in hitches he likened unto sobs whenever he thought about it took closely. His prototype was gone. He was the end result, and the world would never know what Kagerou might have become. It was such a tragedy, and a senseless loss.

"That's not true," Deckerd said softly on one of the days he found the ninja first. Yuuta's well-tuned sense of empathy sought him out often, but sometimes Deckerd heard the stuttered sounds not even stealth systems could hide. "Calling his sacrifice a waste takes away the self-awareness he fought to keep. It's a tragedy, but it's not senseless. A criminal took his life, but I strongly believe he made a decision in the end."

"Humans didn't respect him to make a choice!" Shadowmaru spat. His wings stood out, pushing comfort away, and his expression held fierce anger.

Deckerd was silent for a minute. When he spoke, he countered the cold prickly bristle of the ninja with calm gentleness. "I befriended Yuuta knowing I would not remember him once they wiped my memory. They didn't give me a choice. They did it. I shouldn't have rebooted able to remember him, but even if I hadn't remembered him, my heart was on the line. I loved him, but I knew my duty. I chose to die knowing that my personality would be wiped away to serve a greater purpose."

Shadowmaru's lips tightened, but he refused to look away as Deckerd smiled at him, pained as only someone with a heart could be. "Rebooting was a shock, and I was lucky. How much worse would it be if Yuuta thought my choice unimportant? What if he told me what I'd done was senseless, or without value? The memory wipe would have killed me, but I chose that in order to be a BP-Unit. Yuuta loved me too much to let me go, but he has never told me I did the wrong thing."

Doing his duty had meant he'd accepted dying, even though he'd been scared and sad. But his choice, however forced, was an important part of who he'd been.

Saying the world wouldn't know whom Kagerou could have been disregarded who he'd been. What-ifs sometimes damaged the reality of what had really happened. The world knew Kagerou, and he had died a hero. To call his death senseless threw aside his sacrifice.

It hurt, though. It hurt to think of his protoform's life instead of focusing solely on the injustice of his death. Shadowmaru turned his face away, frowning. It was hard to think of death as a final choice as well as of a horrible thing inflicted upon a victim. It was hard to accept the sadness instead of railing against it.

Deckerd watched him think. He stayed where he was, offering companionship and proof that a tragic death and heroic choice didn't have to be mutually exclusive. And, when Shadowmaru's wings relaxed enough, he edged close enough to offer a hug as well.

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Idaho - "hurt/comfort/banter for Shadowmaru & Gunmax"

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"I don't understand," Shadowmaru said, flopping down at his desk.

Gunmax didn't look up from scrawling on a report. "Didn't work, huh?"

A pair of handcuffs beaned the Motorcycle Detective on the head. "He liked it when you did it!"

"Yeah, I'm not a loser," Gunmax said rather snidely, although he only reached down to grab the borrowed cuffs instead of chucking them back at the ninja to start a fight. Welcome to the Gunmax brand of relationship counseling. Remember, sarcasm meant he cared.

Shadowmaru's databanks came up blank for the English word, but he bet it was an insult of some form. Hmph. Well, at least Gunmax was being supportive of his angst today. The ninja crossed his arms and glared daggers across their desks, muttering, "It makes no sense. They're a sign of affection when you do it, but it's 'controlling' and 'inappropriate' when I do." And how those words had stung. Deckerd had pulled out an offended, disappointed look that would have put Shadowmaru's tail between his legs if it wasn't a stub.

Gunmax signed the report with a flourish before looking up. The ninja was looking awful droopy, and Gunmax frowned at him. Right. This called for something harsher than mere sarcasm and bad English. "It's not that hard. I don't want to date the boyscout, and we have trust issues," he stated bluntly. "We get cuffed together, and it's our thing. It gives me better footing." Equality, although he didn't state it. When they were cuffed together, Gunmax wasn't just a tool to be used. Deckerd couldn't combine or fire him; they could only trust one another. They had to work together as equals. "When you do it, it's just kinky."

Shadowmaru stared at him blankly for a moment before that last part processed, and suddenly Deckerd's disapproval made a lot more sense. "Perhaps I shouldn't have attempted to cuff him in front of Yuuta."

Any other BP-unit probably would have started sputtering in affront or embarrassment, but Gunmax was made of sterner stuff. All expression disappeared from his face. With his shades, he had such a wonderfully flat stare. Shadowmaru shifted uncomfortably as the patrolman, still staring at him, opened the top desk drawer, swept the cuffs off the desktop into the drawer, and slammed it shut.

"Bad ninja. No biscuit."

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[A/N: *If you don't know what the voter incentive ficlets are, they're me offering fic in return for people voting in the American Presidential primaries. If you've voted, you can send me a Tumblr Ask with your state and claim a ficlet or ask for the writing time to be applied toward an actual fic. Until the curtain rises next time, m'dears. ]