Chapter 14
Things around the house were just this side of strange after Rhys and Vaughn learned of the existence of Handsome Jack's older twin, Timothy. Whereas the two Hyperion underlings thought the presence of his brother would mellow Jack at home and outside of the office, it seemed to do the exact opposite. Having two of them around only made their neighbors more wary, more suspicious of Jack and his family, as if they thought Timothy would just as much of a trouble-maker and eyesore that Jack was.
For this reason, Rhys noticed, Jack seemed to keep Timothy away from their neighbors, probably to keep them from finding out what a sweetheart Timothy actually was.
Which led to Tim being around Rhys' place with Angel in tow. The young Lawrence came by more often after their Bunkers & Badasses session, either seeking sanctuary or just to hang out with them, which none of the inhabitants minded, and minded even less when Timothy was there to act as her guardian for the time being. Both were spoiled rotten by Rhys, who cooked dinner for everyone when they gathered together and sent them home with leftovers.
(Angel later told him that both her and Timothy forbid Jack from eating any of the leftovers, and apparently told him that if he wanted Rhys' home cooked meals, he'd have to come over and get one himself. Timothy seemed to get some vindictive joy out of this.)
But life was moving on, Athena and Vaughn cooked popcorn to watch Jack get in verbal arguments with the neighbors, Angel frequently kicked everyone's ass in Mario Kart, and Rhys exchanged recipes with Timothy over glasses of wine when the elder twin decided to poke his head in.
True to his word, Jack had sent someone up to Rhys to finalize the details for his cybernetics upgrade the day after their meeting, prompting Rhys to wonder just when he'd see the final result. The days ticked by slowly with the end of the week steadily approaching, and already the upcoming event of that Friday night had slipped Rhys' mind.
"Uh." Rhys stared at Jack who stood on his porch holding some tin-covered dish. Rhys' eyes darted from Jack's face to the dish in his hands, at a loss as to what he was supposed to do.
"You really have a way with words, don't you, gingersnap? You gonna let me in or what?"
"Jack, what are you-"
"I'm starvin', pumpkin. Come on, let's go. Dinner tonight, remember?"
"Shit," Rhys gulped and looked over his shoulder to find Angel, who had come over not even an hour earlier on her own. She looked confused for a moment before realization dawned on her face and she groaned. Rhys was feeling much the same, having forgotten that self-invite Jack threw at him days prior after discussing the legality of beekeeping.
Well fuck.
"Come in, I guess...?" Rhys let go of the door jamb and pulled the door open wider for Jack, who strode in like he owned the place and dumped the dish in Rhys' hands, and Rhys closed the door with his foot. Before Jack could open his mouth again, Rhys took him by the elbow (holy fuck he's gonna get himself killed) and led him to the living room where Athena was spread out on the couch, her head in Janey's lap and her feet in Vaughn's as the three of them watched a shitty B-List movie on Netflix.
"Hey guys, uh," They looked up at Rhys and Jack, and aside from Vaughn coughing on his own spit at the sight of Handsome Jack, they were silent as they waited for Rhys to continue. "Athena, you already know him, and Vaughn, you too? Kinda... Anyway, this is Jack from next door. He'll be joining us for dinner tonight. Jack, this is Janey, Athena, and Vaughn, my roommates."
Janey only half counted because of how often she crashed with Athena, but she didn't pay rent or you know, actually live there , so she didn't really count, but Jack didn't need to know any of that.
"Sup." Jack gave them a two fingered salute, his posture relaxed and giving off an air of just not caring, like he was too cool for everything around him. Rhys scrunched up his nose at the display and went off to the kitchen, prompting Angel to follow him as her father made room for himself on the couch, much to the chagrin of its occupants.
"Rhys!" Angel hissed out in a whisper, looking frantically in the direction of the living room. "I'm so sorry! I totally forgot that he wanted to come over tonight."
Rhys groaned and set the dish on the island, scurrying about the kitchen to grab ingredients for their meal. Angel, bless her soul, helped too, grabbing a few pots and pans and setting them on the stove with a few non-verbal directions from Rhys.
"No, no, it's fine. With everything that's been happening at work this week, I forgot too. Ah hell," Rhys said as he opened the fridge, expression tight as he saw their lack of alcoholic beverages aside from wine coolers. "Jack said something about having wine or beer for him. By the way," Rhys turned from the fridge to point at the foil covered dish on the island, staring at it like it would come to life at any moment.
"What is that. " Angel looked to the covered bowl on the island and gave a shrug.
" 'Dunno. Did dad bring it?"
"He just kinda shoved it in my hands when he came in, no explanation for it." Rhys grabbed a few things from the fridge as Angel started to uncover the bowl, and tried to beat down the feeling of unease that cropped up. It was still weird to think that Handsome Jack would willingly procreate, alright? With his back turned, he didn't see the excited expression bloom across Angel's face, or the finger she snuck in to get a taste of the dish.
"So that's why he was holed up in the kitchen this afternoon!"
"Wait, Jack can cook?" Rhys peeked over his shoulder at her, catching a glimpse of her face, which just piqued his curiosity and had him turning back around. "He's not trying to poison us, is he?"
"Yes he can, and no," Angel laughed softly, uncovering the dish fully and gently pushing it across the island to Rhys who looked at it with trepidation. "It's not poison. He made arroz con leche. "
The fluency with which the syllables floated off of Angel's tongue surprised Rhys, and he gave her a confused look in turn before looking back down at the now uncovered dish. If Rhys was being absolutely honest with himself, it looked like undercooked rice with too much butter or milk, but it smelled sweet, and he could see cinnamon mixed in with it and sprinkled generously on top. He couldn't for the life of him tell what it was, however.
"Alright," He said, straightening up and crossing his arms. "I give, what is this?"
Angel ignored him in favor of digging around in the kitchen drawers to find a spoon (she'd been over often enough to be able to navigate the space), and offered it to him with a smile and a nod.
"Like I said, arroz con leche. Literally translates to rice with milk, but it's rice pudding. Try it, Rhys. Mí papá hace un arroz con leche fantástico. He'll make a lighter version for breakfast sometimes, but this one is a dessert."
"I'm just, going to...put aside your surprising fluency in Spanish for a moment and...yeah." Rhys took the spoon from her, steadfastly ignoring the amused snort Angel gave him, and scooped up a spoonful of the goopy dish, giving Angel one last look before he finally tried it.
It was delicious , creamy and sweet with just enough hints of citrus to not be overpowering. The spoonful he took had raisins in it too, which gave the pudding an added layer of texture to combat the thick, creamy rice. The sweetness of it seemed to come from...vanilla? Rhys took another bite as Angel watched on, smiling at him. Vanilla and honey, he decided, and another taste of the raisins told him that they had been soaked in some sort of alcohol before being added in. A spiced rum, possibly. Rhys hummed in delight and flicked his now clean spoon at Angel who beamed at him in a silent, empty threat.
"I didn't think Jack would have the time to cook." Or that he would bother to, Rhys left unsaid. The fact that he brought something was surprising in and of itself, but a homemade dish from Jack himself?
"He actually left work early to make this, I think. He was already home by the time I got back from school." Angel shrugged at him before leaving the kitchen to join the others in the living room, and Rhys could hear her laughter float through after a muffled exchanged between the other occupants. Rhys was stunned, however, and couldn't help the slight smile that grew on his lips.
Handsome Jack had left work early to make something for Rhys. No wait, that wasn't right. He didn't make it specifically for Rhys, he- he made it for everyone. It wasn't some gift for Rhys, it was only polite to bring something to a dinner like this, as sudden as it was.
It wasn't like that.
Despite his own adamant thoughts, Rhys felt his face grow hot and he struggled to keep his smile from stretching from ear to ear. The cybernetic man buried his face in his hands and groaned as he felt his blush spread to his ear and his neck as well, not noticing that he had new company in the kitchen. The sound of them clearing their throat snapped Rhys out of his episode, causing his head to shoot up as he looked wide-eyed at Jack who was leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets and a lazy smirk on his face.
"J-Jack, I uh- I was just," Rhys laughed, nervous and jittery, before he grabbed the rice pudding and made to put it in the fridge. "Thanks for this, by the way. Angel explained it to me. She said that you- Ah, that you made it, so thank you."
More nervous laughter escaped him as he found a spot for the bowl in the fridge, then bent further down to grab produce for the main course of that night's meal. When he rose up again, Jack had moved closer, his hand on the refrigerator door and preventing Rhys from closing it. His eyes seemed to bore into Rhys, and his smirk had faded into nothing more than a faint purse of his lips.
A heavy weight appeared in Rhys' chest, and the longer he stared at Jack, the harder it was to swallow.
"It's better warm, you know. Keep it out." Jack opened the door wider and reached into the fridge to grab the bowl, not caring that he invaded a portion of Rhys' personal space, and stayed close to the other male even as he straightened up, with only the coolness of the fridge keeping Rhys from practically overheating. "We can let heat it up at a low temperature in the oven later."
Jack closed the refrigerator door, which caused both of them to move out of the way and further into each other's space. Rhys was again reminded of how little of a height difference they had as Jack's eyes locked with his, some intensity burning behind them even as Rhys' heart hammered in his chest. Time seemed to stretch on, with each moment that they spent staring at each other dragging on into eternity. Then, Jack moved closer and parted his lips as if to speak, his eyes clouded with an emotion Rhys couldn't read. Rhys, panicking, clutched the produce to his chest and turned away, quickly moving to the other side of the kitchen.
"Could you set it down on the island then? Thanks, Jack. I'll just," Rhys steadied himself on the counter, his hands braced against the edge as he tried to calm down, reminding himself to how to breathe and how to think. "Get started on dinner, if you don't mind. Will Timothy be joining us? He usually comes by with Angel but I haven't seen or heard from him. Just need to know how much to make, how many plates to set out. You know how it is."
Silence reigned in the room until there was a harsh thunk on the counter top, coupled with the sound of glass sliding briefly on the tiles. Rhys didn't have to turn around to know that Jack had set the rice pudding down with a little more force than necessary.
"No," Rhys heard rubber squeak against the tiles as Jack moved, his sneakers probably scuffing the flooring. Jack's voice started to fade as he spoke, indicating to Rhys that he was leaving the kitchen. "He's not coming tonight. He went back to his own place, had some things to take care of."
Rhys turned around just in time to catch the sight of Jack walking away, hands shoved in his pockets and shoulders hunched forward as he went back to the living room. From that area, Rhys could hear Janey proposing a new game of Bunkers and Badasses until dinner was ready, followed by Vaughn yelling to Rhys and offering to help cook their meal.
Rhys didn't answer, couldn't answer. He was too busy trying to regain control over his heart that was still threatening to jump straight from his chest. Vaughn's questioning voice faded into the background, drowned out by the frantic thump of each heart beat.
There was a steady hum in Rhys' head for the rest of the night, like static interfering with his thoughts as he acted on autopilot to cook the meal and dish out helpings to everyone. Even as he ate, Rhys was off somewhere else, unable to get the static to leave him be and unable to get rid of the knot in his belly. While everyone complimented the meal, Jack stared at him from across the dining room table, eyes still burning like they had in the kitchen, and it made Rhys fidget in his seat.
Around him, his friends and roommates talked animatedly with each other, including Angel and even Jack in their conversations (after Vaughn got over his near heart attack from sitting and eating with the Handsome Jack). Their words floated through Rhys' ears and even though he made sure to hum and nod at the correct times, everyone knew something was off with him, and that made the knot in his stomach grow bigger.
He couldn't for the life of him figure out why it was affecting him so, or why Jack was hyper focused on him that evening, either. Their work relationship had been relatively normal after their meeting in Jack's office at the beginning of the week, with Rhys giving the CEO space after the Torgue blueprint incident. It was enough time for Jack to cool down, and the president had visited Rhys' floor at least once since then to bother the Department Manager, proving that the air between them had been cleared. Nothing had was out of place, and their home life was normal as well, minus the increased activity with Timothy and Angel.
Rhys swallowed the bite of food that he had in his mouth and slowly lowered his fork to his plate, hovering it over his food and staring at his dish. There was something in the air tonight, he thought, something that was causing Jack's strange mood and behavior. The CEO had been behaved tonight, but whether it was because of Angel's presence or this... thing between them, Rhys couldn't tell. There were too many variables to consider, and at the same, not nearly enough information to come to a solid conclusion. Rhys was too lost in his thoughts to notice Jack getting up from the table with Angel in tow, both of them offering to take the plates of those were finished. Jack's hand in front of his face finally snapped Rhys out of his daze, and the lanky man shot up with a jumbled apology as he grabbed his own plate.
"Jack, I'm sorry. Here, let me get those. You and Angel, both of you, sit back down." Rhys attempted to take the small pile of dishes Jack had grabbed, but was stopped with a look from the CEO, his mismatched eyes staring Rhys into submission.
"You're a guest..." Rhys started, trailing off as he grabbed his own arms to steady himself, crossing them over his chest. "You shouldn't be doing that."
"Too late, pumpkin. Sit your happy ass down, me and Angel are gonna serve dessert."
"Jack-"
"Uhp!" Jack tutted at him as he narrowed his eyes and pointed at the chair with his free hand. "Sit."
There was no room for argument, that much Rhys could understand, so he sat back down with pursed lips. Vaughn got his attention with a gentle nudge on his shoulder, and soon they were engrossed in a conversation about the benefits of building a healer versus a mage in B&B. Athena was roped in too, and Janey was quick to follow. As they talked and argued over the pros and cons of each, Rhys felt the knot in his stomach unwind slowly, comforted by the familiarity of his friends. The moment was broken when Angel and her father swept back into the room, Jack with the rice pudding in his hands and Angel carrying small bowls and spoons pilfered from their kitchen. She set one out in front of everyone, grinning from ear to ear and humming a tune that was only vaguely familiar. After everyone had a bowl and spoon in front of them, Jack took the rice pudding and heaped a healthy scoop into each bowl.
Steam wafted off of the pudding just slightly, and Rhys was hit by the scent of cinnamon and vanilla. Vaughn looked at the mushy rice like it was poison, which Rhys snorted at before he nudged him.
"It's not like oatmeal, bro. I know how you hate that stuff." Vaughn looked at him speculatively, but took up his spoon anyway and stirred it around a bit before bringing a bite up to his lips. Before he could take a bite, Jack cursed quietly and set the serving bowl down.
"I forgot something at my place." He said before giving Angel a quick kiss on the forehead. "Give me two minutes."
Jack rushed out of the house, letting the front door shut behind him with a soft thud. Rhys looked to Angel for answers, but the teenager had no clue either, shrugging her shoulders at him.
"Don't ask me, I don't know what his deal is." Angel took up her seat again and smiled at everyone. "Eat! It's arroz con leche, homemade by dad. I promise he didn't do anything to it."
At that, she gave Rhys a pointed look and a teasing smile, which he replied to with a sheepish grin. It wasn't Rhys' fault, he didn't know that Handsome Jack could cook a decent meal to save his life. How was he to know that Jack wouldn't accidentally get the sugar and rat poison mixed up?
Janey and Athena dug into the pudding without hesitation, and Vaughn only followed their example after they exclaimed how good it was. Angel watched all of them with thinly veiled happiness, eating her own portion with just as much gusto as the rest of them. The pudding really was good, and had them all stunned into a companionable silence as they ate their dessert. A rough pounding on the door broke them out of their comfortable quietness, and Rhys excused himself from the table to venture over to the door.
Upon opening it, he found Jack once again, this time holding a large cardboard box in his arms, the long container held with great care. Jack tsked at him and nudged Rhys out of the way.
"Kinda heavy, buttercup. Got a room with some privacy? I need you to take off your shirt." As Jack walked into the house again, Rhys was left dumbstruck, his mouth gaping open as he closed the door. His heart started pounding in his chest again and he felt his face heat up at the implications of Jack's words. The CEO turned around to look at him, giving Rhys a dramatic roll of his eyes.
"Keep it in your pants, Rhysie. It's your new arm and I wanna see your friends' faces when they see you with it on." Jack juggled the box in his hands as he shifted on his feet, barely even straining against the box's weight. "Can't keep it a surprise if they watch me hook it up to you."
"My new what?" Before Jack could answer him with a no doubt sarcastic comment, Rhys smacked himself on the forehead lightly. How could he forget about his upgrades too? "Right, right. I just wasn't expecting it so soon."
Or for your to hand deliver it to me, Rhys left unsaid, fighting off that curl of heat in his belly at the thought.
"We can use my room?" Jack shot him an unimpressed look at the questioning tone and tapped his foot against the hardwood flooring. "I mean, we can use my room." Rhys said more confidently, beckoning Jack to follow him down the hall with a wave of his hand. Neither of them saw Angel stare after them with a grin on her face.
"So uh, how does this work?"
They were standing in Rhys' room, each of them staring at the box that Jack had placed on his bed. Halfway to his room, Rhys had realized just what was about to happen, and cursed himself for feeling like a giddy teenager at the thought of having Handsome Jack in his bedroom. He didn't have anything incriminating (his Hyperion and Handsome Jack posters were packed away and hadn't seen the light of day since college, thank god ), nothing that he was ashamed of his boss seeing, but it the was principal of the thing.
Jack snorted and leaned down to open the box, revealing packing peanuts and plastic inside of it, hiding its true contents. Rhys waited with bated breath for Jack to pull out his new prosthetic, but instead, the CEO pulled out its new charging dock, a few cords, and a small manual, all of which he set on the bed next to the box.
"First off," Jack straightened up and again and walked around the bed to where Rhys was standing and poked him in the chest. "You need to get this shirt off, and then we'll go about disconnecting this old thing." Jack flicked his finger against the yellow-painted plating of Rhys' arm, ignoring the scowl Rhys sent him for the action.
"A-alright, I'll just, um," Rhys took a step from Jack and turned from him slightly so that he was facing the wall instead of Jack and began to unbutton his shirt. Even with his back turned to Jack, Rhys could tell that the older man was staring at him, boring holes into his skin with each passing second. Finally, with all of his buttons undone, Rhys took a steadying breath before he let his shirt fall from his shoulders, revealing expanses of smooth skin and his prosthetic. There was a sharp intake behind him before finger gently skirted over his skin, over the blue tattoos scarred into his left side. The action sent chills down his spine and Rhys knew that his skin had broken out in gooseflesh, and he felt himself involuntarily shudder. The wandering fingers left his skin at that moment.
"College was about me exploring myself," Rhys explained, nervous laughter tumbling from his lips. "And balancing out the prosthetic with another stark visual."
Again, fingers found his skin, but this time they hovered near his shoulder port, seeking out the locking mechanisms to undo them. Jack was silent as he did so, and offered no complaint when Rhys turned around so that he could reach the front ones, Rhys' own hand reaching up to help Jack with it. Together they detached his arm with ease and set the older model on the bed, ignoring it in favor of the stifling air between them. Jack reached out again, hand splaying over the now empty port, and Rhys didn't bother to hide his shudder and small gasp.
"I had the new one designed to fit your port," Jack started, voice low and filled with something Rhys didn't want to put a name to. "So the connection should be seamless."
Jack moved away without a sound and started moving the packing material out of the way to pull out Rhys' new arm. He cupped his hands around it gingerly as he lifted it up, treating the metal like it was a priceless artifact. Rhys watched him, heart hammering away as his new prosthetic was revealed.
The cybernetic man couldn't hold back his awe.
The new arm was sleek and smooth, the metal plates more streamlined and designed to match a human arm than his previous one, and it was nearly glowing in the light of his room. The light reflected off of the shiny chrome plating and revealed an opaque honeycomb pattern laid over the metal, only visibly at the right angle, and the effect of it stole Rhys' breath right from his lungs. Jack turned the arm this way and that so show Rhys the whole thing and revealed the palm where a shiny new ECHO lens sat in the middle, covered by small, retractable plates to keep it clean. The hand was smooth too, once again designed to be more human-like than robotic, with fingers that matched the length of Rhys' own perfectly. He reached out to touch it, then thought better of it and pulled back his hand.
"This must have cost a fortune, Jack, how can I-"
"I'm not having any of that, princess. Come on, let's get this monster hooked up to your systems." Jack offered no room for argument as he gestured for Rhys to turn to the side, which the Robotics manager did. Jack held up the arm to Rhys' socket, carefully lining up the port and connectors and gently pushing it into place. There was a soft click that reverberated throughout Rhys' body as the arm was locked in, Jack's fingers deftly securing it with little to no trouble. When Jack gave him the okay, Rhys booted up his ECHOeye and ran the startup sequences needed to link his systems together with the new prosthetic. Immediately, there was an alert showing on his ECHO system, telling him about the new hardware and asking if he wanted to allow it access to his subsystems.
With a final look at Jack, Rhys accepted the terms and conditions, allowing the prosthetic to integrate with the already existing cybernetics.
There was a quiet whirring noise as the arm booted up for the first time, its mechanisms doing their part to get everything settled correctly. Rhys's ECHOeye have him alerts as each function came online and successfully connected to him, his new prosthetic seemingly connecting flawlessly with his cybernetics and his nerve endings. There was no pain as it worked, no shocks or jolts to his body as everything came online. When it was done syncing up, it gave a small beep and the whirring stopped. Rhys looked at his arm in amazement and tentatively lifted it, the movement incredibly smooth and seamless as if it was a biological limb.
"Jack, this is..." Rhys trailed off as he lifted his hand, testing the mobility of his fingers. When the sequences had stopped, the spaces in between his plating lit up with a dim yellow glow, causing his arm to be slightly illuminated. "This is amazing. I... I don't know what else to say."
Jack took his hand in his own, running his thumb over the cool metal before turning Rhys' hand over to get a look at the palm. He pressed his thumb in and Rhys swore he could feel the heat from Jack's hand, but Jack was hyper focused on Rhys' hand, so he didn't see the flush rising to Rhys' cheeks.
"Jack...?"
The CEO kept running his fingers over Rhys' shiny new hand, now holding the robotic appendage in both of his own hands as he did so. Rhys didn't make a move to take his hand back, instead letting Jack do what he wanted, but watched the older man with equal parts confusion and nervousness.
"Me estás haciendo algo estraño, Rhys. No puedo pensar claro contigo, y quiero estar contigo más y más. No puedo entender, y no me habría dado cuenta si mi hermano no hubiera dicho algo, y me ha estado molestando desde entonces! No sé que hacer--quiero besarte, abrazarte, quiero que siempre estás cerca, pero no puedo hacer nada de eso porque todavía me confunde!"
Jack's brows furrowed as he ran his thumbs over the plating of Rhys' hand, just barely leaving smudges on the surface, but Rhys couldn't care less about that at the moment.
"¿Qué me has hecho?"
Rhys was thrown into a stunned silence at Jack's words and swallowed heavily around the lump in his throat. He didn't understand a bit of what Jack said aside from his own name, but something told him that Jack just revealed something deeply earth shattering, if the way Jack refused to meet his eyes was any indication. The hands around his own squeezed before Jack dropped them to his sides, clenching his fists before exhaling heavily and moving to get the box and packing materials cleaned up. The air between them was heavy with much left unsaid and it cut through Rhys like a knife.
"What does that mean, Jack?" There was no answer from the CEO which made Rhys even more frustrated. He bent down to pick up his forgotten shirt and pulled it on, not bothering to button it up just yet. Briefly, he focused on the way the lighting shined through the fabric of his sleeve before he looked to Jack again.
"Jack-"
"Nothin', pumpkin. It doesn't mean jack shit, I was just thinking out loud."
"Then..." Rhys grabbed the manual off the bed, dropping the subject of Jack's foreign speech with less grace than he hoped for. "How much do I owe you for this?" He asked, gesturing to everything from his new prosthetic to its accessories. Again, Jack snorted, laughing at Rhys for a reason the Robotics Head couldn't fathom.
"Again, nothing. This is me as your boss making sure you have the materials you need to be successful in your job." Jack finished packing up the remaining plastic and closed the box, folding the flaps over each other and lifting the much lighter package with less care than before now that its cargo was gone.
"I can't- No, I have to pay for this. It must have cost thousands-"
"Tens of thousands."
Rhys ran a hand through his hair, hissing through his teeth. "Jesus Christ, Jack."
"And you're not paying me a dime." Jack finally made eye contact with Rhys again, his expression hard and every line of his body speaking of finality on the matter. Rhys swallowed around the feeling of his heart in his throat and met Jack's challenge, holding the CEO's gaze for as long as he could.
There was no way he could realistically pay Jack back without working out a payment plan and possibly taking out a few loans, so part of him was enormously relieved that Jack wasn't looking to be reimbursed, but the other part of him was screaming. The arm was too much to just take, to just receive as if it was nothing more than a toy or a small trinket.
"There has to be something, Jack." He said finally, fighting to keep the tremor out of his speech as he continued to match Jack's eyes.
"There isn't." Jack replied simply, shaking his head with conviction. "Because you're already doing it."
There was a beat of silence punctuated by Rhys' pulse.
"What?"
Jack broke their staring contest and rubbed the back of his neck, sighing with the motion and sitting down heavily on Rhys' bed. He dropped the almost empty cardboard box at his feet and clasped his hands together as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Jack's expression was tight again, keeping his eyes on the floor.
"Remember when I started asking you something about Angel?"
Rhys blinked momentarily, letting out a questioning sound before he recalled their conversation in Jack's office at the beginning of the week. Angel's name created tension between them that day, so Rhys waited apprehensively for Jack to continue, not sure how this line of questioning was going to go.
"I was gonna..." Jack sighed again, rubbing a hand over his face. "I was gonna ask if you and your dweeb friend could keep her company while we stayed here and not at our penthouse, but you kinda started doing that already, so....thanks, I guess."
"Keep her company...?" Rhys tilted his head to the side, brows furrowed in confusion.
"Look, Rhys, Angel's a great kid," Jack started, still looking at the ground. "But she's leagues above her classmates and has problems socializing. Docs say it's a social disorder or something, but it doesn't help the fact that kids her age already avoid her because they think she's... strange. " There was pain in Jack's voice when he spoke, and Rhys could tell just from that that this topic taxed him and affected him more than he let on. The cybernetic man also felt the love Jack had for Angel, the undeniable love a father has for their daughter, and it made something in Rhys' chest swell with happiness.
"And she really seems to like you guys, fuck if I know why, but she's been more...open? I guess, since she's met you. I dunno, fuck." Jack stood up abruptly, nearly knocking into Rhys who had ventured closer without Jack noticing, and grabbed the box again.
"So you're already paying me back for that arm by making my daughter happy, alright?"
Rhys could do little except nod at him, wordlessly accepting that as an adequate way to repay the tremendous favor Jack had done for him. Without another word, Jack left the bedroom and shut the door softly behind him, leaving Rhys alone with his thoughts and his erratic heart.