To forgive and forget?

[Sage]

After his distraction in Moscow Sage was feeling a lot out of the touch with reality. And it did not help with Brian standing over him. Grim should not be allowed in the den, much less his apartment. But that's where Sasha had come in.

Sasha was stunning and a smart hacker too. Her purple eyes matched the purple tips of her blond hair. She had delicate tattoos along her neck and arms. She wore them like jewelry. Her skin was pale and soft and she was always warm to the touch never cold - not even in the heart of the winter.

Sasha was one of few people who had a key to his apartment. Who Sage let into his life without asking his permission. Sasha wasn't his girlfriend, or companion, or anything of that sort. They'd had sex on many occasions but Sasha was not a friend with benefits either. It was hard to explain their relationship - mostly because Sage didn't understand the need to be anything but what they were.

But as he looked up at his mentor - former mentor he chided himself, he frowned. He didn't like that Sasha had let him in the building much less inside his home. Sage pulled his legs up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them tightly and rocked back and forth, "Why are you here?"


***

Brian looked down at his friend, the boy he'd helped through worse than this and he was the one who'd hurt him this time. It was purely accidental. He'd not asked enough questions when a mutual friend, when Simon asked him to occupy Sage for a few hours. He hadn't asked him why? He hadn't cared. If he'd only thought a little harder that someone might want to hurt Sage.

And now the boy sat rocking back and forth on the verge of a break down. Brian wondered when the last time he plugged in was. Sometimes it helped, others it made matters worse. But he kept asking Brian the same question and then he'd drift off into his head again. Making answering pointless.

He couldn't even get into the system to talk to Sage that way. He couldn't even get into the Den without Sasha's help. She knew he was a mess, she didn't even touch him, and her touch usually helped bring Sage back to reality.

But he could borrow Sasha's. When he asked she passed her wallet to him and he typed a message to Sage inside his head.

  3ff3rv3sc3nt: I didn't betray you. I didn't know r3x was going to try to hit your server. I swear I didn't know. He asked me to keep you busy for a few hours. I didn't ask questions. I thought he was a friend. I'm sorry.