“Didn’t have time to bake them myself,” Kane says, mouth twitching. “Had Mariam follow my recipe, step by step. So it’s basically mine. You can trust they’re better than whatever Terra’s serves.”
Warmth stirs in Rafael’s chest. He can’t remember a time anyone gifted him anything. “I—this is so unexpected.” He gapes. “Thank you, Kane. I can’t wait to try them.”
“You’ve been pulling long shifts. Figured you deserved something decent for once,” Kane mutters, but even with the excuse, the sincerity under his words leaves Rafael off balance.
Before he can respond, Viper appears besidethem. “Baron.” He nods to where Echo is chatting with two strangers across the street. One is an older woman in a white lab coat, her blonde hair pulled back in a severe ponytail. The other is a younger, dark-skinned man with neon green braided hair and arms full of medkits.
Kane’s shoulders tense. “Wait right here,” he says to Rafael, voice clipped. Their eyes meet only for a moment before he turns and walks off with Viper toward the newcomers.
Rafael looks down at the box of donuts, turning it slightly in his hands. The gesture sits with him longer than it should.
He forces his attention back to the strangers instead. Kane stands beside them, caught in easy conversation, every movement calm and deliberate. When he lifts a hand to the back of his neck, the streetlight highlights the line of his jaw, and Rafael’s breath falters before he can stop it. He looks away.
He shouldn’t be noticing details like that. Not about Kane.
As the conversation drifts on, the past few days press in the back of his mind. Their bonding over food in the kitchen, the easy silences between them, the way Kane nudged him back toward cooking instead of more nursing. The tension between them doesn’t feel the same anymore. It’s somehow softened into something harder to place.
His gaze fixes on the street while his feet shift. Whatever this is, it doesn’t belong here—not any more than Rafael does outside Midtown.
“Rafael!”
Kane’s voice calls out, interrupting his thoughts. He runs toward the man before his mind can catch up.
“Yes?” Rafael breathes.
“This is Dr. Hayashi and her assistant, Jamal.” Kane’s voice is sharp and formal. “They’re here to…” Jaw tight, he gestures tothe blonde woman and the younger man. “Take over for you.”
For a second, Rafael doesn’t move.
Flashes of his old life rush back to him. His apartment in Midtown, his office at the hospital, Lian smiling with their friends at the club.
He’s going home. He’sfree. Finally.
Relief comes first, his shoulders easing. Then something heavier settles in his gut.
After this, there will be no more marketplace visits. No more laughing at stories from Echo. No trips to the Glass Alley. Or a reason to see Kane again.
Right. That’s how it’s supposed to be.
Echo, Wren, Pixie—they were kind to him while he was here, and the neighborhood isn’t as bad as he imagined. And Kane is—
It doesn’t matter.
This was temporary. Just a pause before he heads home and returns to his old life. Where everything makes sense.
“So I’m leaving, then?” Rafael’s voice wavers only slightly.
Kane nods.
A frantic shout erupts from above.
Below, the ground shudders, then lurches beneath them. A deafening roar rips through the street, and Rafael stumbles backward as the world flashes white. He gasps for air, ears ringing with a piercing buzz.
His balance fails, but before he can hit the ground, a strong arm hooks around his waist. The fall is broken by a chest against his side and a cool hand cradling the back of his head with another braced between his shoulder blades.
Slowly, the ringing fades, replaced by crackling wires anddistant shouts.
Shapes emerge through a haze of dust until his vision clears with a few blinks.