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The day that Juno Steel almost lost his brother is not one he would soon forget. It was etched into his memories and dreams for all time.
Juno had been avoiding visiting home for a while, knowing all too well what would await him when he finally went back there. Sarah Steel, mother of the decade, would be there with her words that cut into him like a precision laser. No one else was able to pierce through his walls quite like Sarah Steel, and she knew all the worst spots to aim. So really, who could blame Juno for avoiding his childhood home more than he avoided the sewers? Sewer rabbits were better company anyway.
Well, there was one person who would blame Juno. Benzaiten. The little shit always gave Juno a hard time for skipping out on visits. Always the optimist, Ben would insist that this time would be different, Mom had been better lately, really Juno, the new pills are helping, please come visit for dinner, just a few hours. And, eventually, Juno would cave, show up, get in a screaming match with Mom and storm out to get drunk with Mick in some Oldtown shithole bar. (So any Oldtown bar.)
Ben had called him that morning, and he had sounded more tired than normal. Less annoyingly chipper. The kind of attitude Juno would claim he wanted from Ben but secretly despised because he knew it was a sign that something was wrong with his brother. So, Juno had agreed to come by the apartment after his shift at the station ended.
He had known something was wrong when Bentizen wasn’t waiting for him outside the building. Benten always waited for him outside the building, said it was to keep him from chickening out. Hell, Juno was running late, the other man should have been waiting for him at the corner too flag him down, where the hell could he be? A feeling in his gut had him checking his gun while he walked quickly to the lift. He stormed into the shity apartment his Mother and brother lived in.
“Where is he.”
“It’s been months since you’ve seen old Ma, and I don’t even get a hello?”
Juno had frantically looked around the apartment while his mom did her fucking monologue at him. She always did this, every time he showed up. But this time something was wrong because Benzaiten wasn’t there to roll his eyes behind her head and to try and keep Sarah and Juno from killing each other.
Juno ripped open Ben’s door and saw his brother lying on the ground, splayed like he hadn’t tried to catch himself. Like he had been shot in the back. Juno’s mind had turned to white noise as he fell to his knees next to his brother. He had reached a trembling hand out to touch his brother's face.
And he felt a breath.
Ben was alive.
Juno stood up, pulled his gun and stunned his mother mid monologue. He jumped on his comms and ordered back up to the apartment. One civilian in need of emergency treatment, blaster to the back, breathing but pulse slightly erratic, needs treatment now as unsure how long since he was hit. One civilian stunned, hostile, needs to be brought in for questioning.
The rest of that day was a blur. Ben was whisked to the nearest clinic. Sara’s blaster was a cheap piece of shit and had managed to malfunction in the perfect way to only stun Ben rather than kill him. Ben didn’t even have to spend the night at the clinic. Sarah was taken to the station and had managed to rant and rave her way into being charged was assault and attempted murder.
Juno and Ben had sat on the curb outside the clinic, staring at the filth of Oldtown for a while before either of them said anything.
“So… Mind if I crash on your couch Super-Steel? I think the apartment is technically an active crime scene…”
“Yeah your probably right. Well, I guess you can have the couch. I do expect rent though.”
“Do you accept payment in pancakes? Because I’ve got to tell you, teaching dance is my passion and all, but doesn’t exactly pay well Mr. Cop with a steady paycheck.”
Juno and Ben had bickered their way back to Juno’s apartment, where Juno had set Ben up on his fourth-hand couch and the who-knows-how-many hand blanket. Juno had found the old knitted thin in a closet when he moved in. Oh shut up, it was warm and he had washed it.
“Thanks Super-Steel. I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I get set up with a better paying gig.”
“Don’t worry Benten. You can stay as long as you need.”
~~~
God it had been a long day. Somewhere between the death threats and getting one of his old friends arrested Juno had passed exhausted and barreled straight into dead-on-his-feet. It had probably been when he and Glass had ended up tied to a chair made of knives. Or maybe when Cecil had gotten his robot arm suck in his meat arm. Really it was anyone’s guess which of the several tons of straw was the one that broke Juno Steel’s back.
Despite his exhaustion, Juno couldn’t help but invite Glass in and up to his apartment. There was just something about him that Juno couldn’t quite put his finger on… Well besides the fact that he was clearly a skilled liar and probably some kind of professional thief. That Juno had been sure about as soon as Rita had gotten back to him about those sneaky little needles on the doors. No, there was something else… Something in those clever eyes of his that probably betrayed more of Glass’s character than the not-agent would like.
Maybe that was why Juno let himself be kissed. And it was a nice kiss. The kind Juno hadn’t had in… well, let’s not dwell on how long it’s been. That said, it would need to be one of a kiss to keep Juno Steel, reformed street rat, from missing the fingers that dipped in his pocket to grab the safe key. And this kiss wasn’t quite that nice.
“Rex…”
“Juno.”
“Has anyone ever told you… that you’re under arrest?”
Glass laughed like having handcuffs slapped on him had only made his night even better, and tried to wave it off, but Juno wasn’t buying it. They bantered a bit, and Juno had to admit that he was a sucker for a nice dramatic reveal. He was enjoying the back and forth a bit too much really. Then Glass’s voice shifted, his eyes getting more serious.
“Allow me to shift the focus of our conversation, will you?”
Juno raised his hands to his comms, checking the status of the cops. They were still several minutes away, might as well indulge the man. But, before Juno could give a blasé quip, his apartment door slammed open.
“Juno! You got cursed and you didn’t call me! What the hell dude, I had to find out on the Kanagawa’s streams!” Benzaiten stormed into Juno’s shithole of an apartment, waving his arms around his head.
Juno and Benzaiten no longer looked as identical as they had when they were younger. For one thing, Juno had experienced roughly ten times as many broken noses as Ben, and a few dozen more assorted head injuries. For another, Ben had a roughly two-hour skincare routine that he kept religiously. The man said was necessary to keep his face performance-ready. Juno was only mostly sure that the soap he had bought on clearance was actually soap, and not some sort of weird industrial byproduct that only looked vaguely soap like. This had led to Benzaiten looking amazing for a thirty-year-old, never mind someone pushing forty, where Juno… Well he didn’t look bad, but he definitely looked his age.
“Benten! Aren’t you supposed to be at work tonight?” Juno tried to nonchalantly position himself so that his body was blocking Glass from Ben’s view. A feat that was defiantly not working, as even sitting down Glass was kind of ridiculously tall, and Juno was much more… compact. Juno could tell that Glass’s eyes were peering at Ben from over the top of Juno’s head.
“Vicky let me switch shifts with one of the girls so I could come check on you! You moron, why didn’t you tell me that a creepy Martian mask had cursed you! What if something bad had happened!”
“Well, first, I wasn’t cursed, because second, curses aren’t real!”
“Oh sure, then I guess your name just got written in blood on the Kanagawa’s wall by itself?”
“No you dweeb, it got there when Min wrote it there, so she could do a whole convoluted scheme!”
“Oh. Yeah no that does make sense. Classic Min. God, I really need to catch up with Cecil and Cass and find out what’s going on up there.”
“Well Cassandra’s on her way to Hoosegow, so address your mail there.”
“What! Juno!”
“Hi, so sorry to interrupt what is truly a fascinating family moment, really, but I was just going.” Glass stood up, handcuffs mysteriously gone, and started to edge around Juno toward the door.
Juno snapped a hand out and grabbed Glass’s arm tight. “Nice try Agent.”
“Oh well, it was worth a shot.”
“Oh well hello there tall dark and angular.” Ben eyed Glass up and down like he was a particularly tasty snack. “Now who is this? One of Sasha’s boys?” Ben had his work face on now, the one he used to great effect over at Valles Vicky’s Vixen Valley. He stepped forward to trace a finger down Glass’s arm. “Well Super-Steel, I guess I know why you didn’t call me.”
Juno made a face at him. Ben was such a shit. He knew full well that Juno wasn’t the type to get distracted by an admittedly incredibly attractive man when there was a death threat to focus on.
“Oh, go away Ben, I’ll talk to you later.”
Behind Ben the cops finally showed up in Juno’s door, faces already set in scowls special for Juno. Scowls that shifted to bright smiles once they saw Ben.
“Well if it isn’t ol’ Benten himself! How’s life treaten ya?”
“Hey McCrory! I’ve been great, you know Vicky takes care of us.”
Ben and the officers started chatting, family, life, the shitty Martian weather. Ben was like that, always ready and able to make you feel like the center of all of his attention, even if he couldn’t stand you. Kid had a gift for bullshit.
Glass pulled Juno back a step and leaned in close.
“Hyperion City isn’t safe for you Juno, the Kanagawa’s showed that today. You may need to disappear… and I happen to be quite the expert in disappearances.”
“Oh really. We’ll see about that after Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb over there take you in.”
“Oh Juno, it could be so simple. You can leave your city behind, for a while, and I can leave my powerful friends behind. We’ll sell the Mask and live a life of thrills and decadence across the Galaxy, always running, never looking back. We could have quite a time together, Juno. Who knows what kind of trouble we could cause? It could be quite an adventure.”
Juno looked Glass in the eye for a moment, it was tempting. Very tempting. More for the company than the promised adventure. Hell…
“I’m sure it will be an adventure… I’ll be seeing you around Glass.” And he slipped a business card in Glass’s overstuffed pocket, watching as the man’s eyes widened ever so slightly, clearly noticing the sleight of hand. Ben and Rita had made fun of his business cards, little bits of cheap paper with his name and comms stamped on them. He had really only ever used them as scrap paper before, but they suited his needs just fine right now.
“Well Steel, spending the night with a treasure thief. Can’t say I’m surprised.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Juno didn’t take his eyes off Glass even as the officers slapped a new set of cuffs on the thief and started to push him out.
“You take care now Ben! Don’t let your brother be too much of a bad influence, eh!” The officers chuckled as they left, clearly thinking themselves hilarious.
For a moment it was silent, just a whiff of that cologne of Glass’s hanging in the air. Tha\en Ben opened his stupid mouth.
“OoooOOoo Juno!”
“Ugh no shut up Ben. Go away.” Juno flopped on his couch, burying his face in the ratty cushions.
“Oh, come on Super Steel! He seemed nice! He didn’t even leer when I did my Vixen deal!”
Juno tried to become one with the couch. “He’s a thief who managed to trick Sasha. He’s dangerous.”
“Well then he’s perfect for you!”
“Ben!”
“What? You have a type Juney, and its people who could kill you. Admit it.”
“Oh, come on, I do not have a type.”
“Oh, come on, you so do.”
“Do not.”
“Do too.”
“Real mature.”
“You started it! Come on Juno don’t pretend. They could see the sexual tension between you two in the asteroid belt.”
“Fine, so Glass, or whatever his name is, he’s attractive. So what. Lots of criminals are attractive.”
“Ah, but this one got under your skin.”
“Okay so maybe he did, so what. He’s on his way to the station now, so guess it doesn’t matter.”
And then, a siren in the city below. And a sinking in Juno’s stomach. Well. That was fast.
Ben raised a perfectly done eyebrow at him.
“Shut up.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You thought it loud enough.”
Ben just laughed at him and turned to leave. “See you around Super Steel.”
“Hey, Ben wait.” Juno hesitated and sat up. What the hell. “I was thinking… this whole, not a curse deal was exhausting. I think I need a vacation for a while. I might get out of the city.”
Ben spun to look at him with wide eyes. “What really?”
“Well I mean it was only an idea...”
“That’s great! Oh, Juno finally! Rita and I have been trying to get you to take a freaking break for ever now!” Ben did a little pirouette, the show-off. “Thank god. Go! Rest! Relax before your eyes explode or something!”
Juno rolled his eyes and flipped his brother off. “Get out of here you brat.”
Ben giggled and blew a kiss at Juno. “See ya Super-Steel”
“See you Benzaiten.”
Juno sprawled on his couch, staring at his ceiling and thinking about what a long goddamn day it had been. Thinking about how fast things could change. Thinking about that godforsaken smell that still lingered in the air.
And then, a knock at the window. A knock at Juno’s twelfth story window. Juno sat up and look out the window to see clever eyes and foxes’ teeth.
“Long time no see, Detective.”