The silence that fell between them was heavy, and this time, Toni was the one to duck his head in shame. Rusty’s chest heaved, and he fought to get himself back under control. He’d ignored the pain Toni’s attitude andrejection had caused him, but it was there all the same. He was only now naming it.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. “For being an asshole and talking shit about all of you when none of you deserved it. I’m sorry for the part I’ve played in this.” He motioned between them vaguely. “You’d bite first, but I always bit back. So I’m sorry, okay?”
To Rusty’s surprise, Toni sniffled, and when he grudgingly met Rusty’s gaze, his black eyes were glossy. “I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to make you feel like you didn’t have a place here. There’s always a place here for anyone who wants it, and it was shitty of me to hold a grudge for six years about something that technically didn’t even concern me.”
Rusty scoffed wordlessly, and Toni offered him a wry smile. “If Gem can forgive you, then so can I. And you’re right, I can be judgmental. It’s something I’m working on, okay? It wasn’t okay that I judged you from the start, and it definitely wasn’t okay that I never gave you a chance to change my mind, and that’s on me.”
“I didn’t try too hard,” Rusty said, and Toni propped his hands on his hips and nodded.
“Maybe not, but I don’t blame you. I was a douchebag,” he said.
“I was an asshole,” Rusty said.
Slowly, Toni extended his bluish-gray hand, framed with darker blue stripes. “How about we start over. Clean slate?”
Feeling awkward, but somehow touched, Rusty reached out and clasped Toni’s hand in his. “Yeah, okay.”
“I mean, we may never be bosom-buddies,” Toni pointed out, and Rusty nodded his agreement. “But Gem seems to think you’re alright, so…”
“I think the world of him,” Rusty admitted quietly, and Toni’s fingers twitched in his hold.
“You’d be an idiot if you didn’t,” Toni retorted, pulling out of the handshake. “Gem’s the best person anyone anywhere could ever know.”
They stood in awkward silence for almost a full minute before Rusty shuffled toward the door. “I guess we should get back.”
“Why now?” Toni asked as Rusty’s hand curled around the door handle. “You put up with me in silence for six years. What changed?”
Gods, what could Rusty even say to that?
“It hurts Gem,” he said quietly, tail flicking anxiously. “Us fighting or whatever. It puts Gem in the middle, and it hurts him, and I don’t like hurting him.”
Toni was quiet for several long seconds, and Rusty’s hackles rose instinctively at the subtle shift in the atmosphere. It wasn’t animosity, but it was… ominous.
“Why do you care?” Toni asked, and Rusty sighed, glancing at the Elas over his shoulder.
“I think you know the answer to that,” he whispered, hating the vulnerability of the quasi-admission.
A deep growl rumbled in Toni’s chest, expression scrunching into a comically exaggerated scowl. “If this is you trying to get my blessing to ask Gem out or some bullshit, I ain’t ready for that! I need time, and maybe a drink or two. And I kinda wanna make a manicotti.
“Plus, I’d love to break it to you that Gem’s dating someone, so he’s gonna say no, anyway.” A gleeful smile lit up his face. “Oh, you should definitely ask him out so I can watch him reject you. It will go a long way in repairing our friendship. For me,” he clarified, and Rusty huffed.
“I don’t need or want your blessing,” Rusty said as he inched the back door open. “And it’s too late for it anyway, since I already asked him out, and he said yes, and we started fucking a month ago. Okay, good talk.”
Adrenaline coursing through him, Rusty slid through the opening of the back door and broke into a run as a furious roar sounded behind him. He sprinted past Glyma, Willow, and Zef, heart racing, a half-hysterical laugh bubbling up his throat as Toni’s boots thudded in pursuit.
Bursting through the kitchen doors, Rusty met Gem’s frantic eyes. “You were right, Gem, I don’t got this.”
“Oh my gods, run!” Gem wailed, and Rusty ran.
Shoving through the still swinging doors, Toni pointing a furious finger at Rusty. “Your ass is mine, Róisyn!”
On the other side of the bakery case, Rusty bared his canines. “Only if you can catch me, Maryno.”
“Toni, don’t kill him,” Gem begged, lunging to stop the enraged Elas.
Ducking around Gem, Toni hurled himself over the counter, nearly knocking the register over and kicking Oliver in the face. With a chitter of alarm, Rusty scrambled to add distance between them. The front door was blocked by a shocked pair of Ursydae, so he scampered over an unoccupied table, barely dodging Toni’s swiping hand.
“I’m going to murder your face,” Toni spat between jagged, clenched teeth.
