[Because she doesn't know how to talk about any of this otherwise. They appreciate one another, and that needs to be how they leave it, because what other words are there even?
She bends down to retrieve the bag she dropped earlier, though one arm cradles the doll against her chest.]
[He smiles a little at that.] Yeah, I have some pretty great friends. The not-so-great feelings about myself are cemented from years of sucky parents and a jerk older brother. [That's putting it lightly, really, but he's been heavy enough with her today.]
Some families don't work that way, Maya. Mine happens to be one of 'em. [He gives her a small, sad smile. What she's saying reflects her age a lot, and the belief she still has left in people, and the world. It's nice to see, despite everything.]
I would if they ever bothered to care. I've been the outsider in my own family with everyone but my grandmother since I was nine years old. They don't care, Maya, why should I?
You're right. I left. At nineteen...because I didn't fit what they wanted for me, I didn't belong in my own family. [He wouldn't say it out loud, but he definitely didn't feel wanted there. Why stay in a place like that?
But he does pick up on the significance and the weight in her words. His voice is soft with an edge of careful caution-- there's no pressure for her to answer him, if she doesnt want to.] Who left you?
Not for a long time. The family I have now is built around my friends. [But he realizes he needs to point out something important.] I do still talk to my parents and my brother, and see them, it's just...in small doses, because we really don't get along at all.
[He doesn't know her story, but he thinks given how young she still is, it must have been one of her parents. He can't pretend to know how that feels, but he can imagine it's harsh. The kind of reality someone so young shouldn't have dropped on them so early.]
Know what? [He leans forward a little, smallest of smiles tugging at one corner of his mouth.] Found family can be a thousand times better than your real one, sometimes. You can have that, Maya. The people you care about, the ones that care about you, the friends you surround yourself with? They can be family, too. Family's more than shared DNA. What counts is they care.
[But she bristles at the sudden heart to heart. This guy brings her out here to try turning her against her found family, just to tell her that found families are important? What can he possibly know about that?]
[He nods slowly. He can understand that instinct. It's why he's made a good number of the things he's made for The Flash, after all. Because he wants Barrh safe.]
Do you think this is the only way you can do that?
[He doesn't sound judgmental or like he's making assumptions at all, it's just a genuine question.]
[He thinks it's great that she wants to go to these lengths to protect her friend, but he still can't agree to this.]
Think we could find a compromise, here? I don't disagree, you could do with a way to protect yourself. [Just not with a gun like Leonard's. She can hate it or not, but there are things that just aren't age appropriate, and that he can't hand her in good conscience.]
[He's come this far. Might as well spit it out, right? It's been weighing on him since his talk with Snart, trying to figure out exactly why as much as he already liked doing things for his friends, he always felt like he had to put in a little extra effort for Maya.
It was a tough feeling to put words to. He'd felt it before, he was pretty sure, and feeling it here--
It almost felt like it wasn't fair to someone else, but that didn't make it any less true.]
I, uh... what I'm tryin' to say--
[Damn it, why was this so hard? Other people said stuff like this all the time, and it wasn't like he was a wimp or anything.]
Of course they like each other. They're friends, right? Why would anyone have to come out and say something that simple? Kanji can be so weird sometimes.]
I like you too, Kanji.
[Except... It feels like it means more to him than just that. She clears her throat.]
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