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Waking up in a bed had been enough of a novelty that Taym had decided not to interrupt it, for a while. In truth he'd been lying there motionless, eyes closed, aware on some instinctive level that he wasn't alone and figuring it was probably his Argus teammate, too much absorbed in the pleasure of actually being comfortable (for all his aches) to muster up too much indignant rage or worry too much about what she'd seen--what anyone had seen.

So when she spoke, finally, she might have been surprised by the fact that she got an instant answer, tranquil-sounding enough (for the time being). He didn't even bother to open his eyes.

"I'm willing to open negotiations, if that was an offer."

"Great," he said drily, the drowsy humor instantly draining away, opening his eyes specifically so that he could roll them, assess whether he was hooked up to anything--he wasn't--and haul himself into a sitting position, leaning away from her pointedly. He immediately folded his arms over his waist, an instinctive move to hide them. "Just what I ********' wanted."

He leveled a flat look at her and let a long silence stretch, and his fingers when he reached up to gently touch his fresh injuries trembled again, just a split-second tremor.

He was doing that thing again. That thing where he wouldn't look away. The dog had its hackles up.

"What's under that bandage?" he asked finally, tone unreadable.

Well, that, at least, succeeded in making him look away: not a flinch, or out of disgust. Out of guilt, if anything. But not before levelly meeting her eye.

"I dated a girl with a glass eye." Dated. Understatement of the century. "Total bombshell anyway. Way out of my league."

He paused, and added suddenly: "Not big on soda. You'd be wasting your time and your coveted commodities on me. Anyway," he said, struggling to keep the bitterness out of his voice and failing, "I'm pretty accustomed to the whole people-trying-to-feed-me thing, don't dress it up like you want my company. It's insulting."

His eyes absently roamed the far wall and a long few seconds elapsed with his mouth set in a hard line and his jaw working distractedly. Whatever she'd been trying to convey, he'd apparently taken it poorly. He looked, in a word, pissed.

"Tip for the future," he said finally, without looking at her. "It's best not to describe someone you're trying to--" the tiniest hitch of hesitation "--befriend as a problem to solve. Seems condescending, you know? So thanks for your help, sorry I was an enormous a*****e about your eye, but no thanks on the dinner invitation."

He wished he were anyone else. Anywhere else, any time before Deus, he'd have played up that angle for her, shamelessly, and enjoyed doing it. But he knew that was a stupid idea now even without Fiona murmuring a reminder about it in the back of his head, which she was. So now it was an insult. Now it was condescension. It was easier to frame it that way.

"I'm sure you won't have any problems charming someone else into it. Send them my well-wishes."

He swung his feet off the bed and reached for his coat. Taym lived in his coat even more than most Hunters, and now maybe she knew why.

Tit for tat. Wordlessly and deliberately, he put his arms into the sleeves and met her eye as he did so. She'd showed him something she was self-conscious about. He could deal with it, maybe, if she was the only one who saw the things he was self-conscious about.

"I feel fine and I'm going back to my room," he informed her flatly. "I am not stupid enough to think that I can just tell you not to accompany me, so if you insist on doing that, be... not my guest. Be unhindered. Best I can do."

He moved a little stiffly, but that suited him--just reinforced the wary, feral animal aura. He kept his hands in his pockets, his shoulders bent forward. Taym went everywhere like he was walking into a stiff wind.

He was silent for a second, but he did speak, finally--largely to stave off her doing it instead and offering some bit of unwanted personality analysis in the process. "I know you're going to go spread your clever ******** sobriquet for me all over the Island and the story of how I got it, if you haven't already, but I'd take it as a kindness if that's the only thing you spread around." He didn't elaborate.