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From:

falkeditupagain

Hanna probably should have said something earlier, and he hasn't been avoiding Malcolm, but he certainly hadn't tried striking up any conversations with him. Catching him just before he heads in to work though is entirely on purpose. There is no way he's going to sit down with him in one of those offices, but he will catch him in the little lobby.

"Hey, Malcolm. You have a minute?"

From:

abrightboy

Malcolm blinks as a familiar voice calls him just as he arrives for work.

"Hanna. Hi. ....Sure. What can I do for you?"

From:

falkeditupagain

What can he do for him. Hmm.

"You want to show me the memorial room? I heard about it but I've never walked around in here before, so." He also heard there is a room full of cats, but sometimes Animals get thrown off by his smell, so maybe not that one. Being eaten by cats cause he smells dead isn't it for today.

From:

abrightboy

"...The memorial room? Oh. Sure." He leads Hanna in that direction, glancing over at him. "Are... you looking for someone in particular?"

From:

falkeditupagain

Hanna shrugs, "I've never even been in there. Kind of curious what that's supposed to look like, I guess. Not looking for anyone, but the fact that we have one is nice, but maybe I'm misunderstanding the purpose of it?" Which, he might just. Really though, it's to get Malcolm somewhere quiet that isn't his office or one of the session rooms to talk to him without it being too weird.

From:

abrightboy

Malcolm lets them in and gestures to the wall of little lockers.

"If you want to put anything in here for people you leave behind if you disappear... you can do that. Or you can make a shrine to remember someone who's disappeared by."

From:

falkeditupagain

He's still carrying David's letter in his pocket, though he thinks that he must have left it in the spare room he was using in Saga's cabin rather than in here. "Huh. That's thoughtful. Do people actually use them often?" He trots forward to fiddle with one of the open lockers with a key, "Do I check out a key and you keep it in the office then? Like a security deposit box?"

From:

abrightboy

"We can," Malcolm tells him. "Or you can leave it with someone you trust."

From:

falkeditupagain

He has to wonder if he kept it in his own room if it would just pop back here anyways once he left. It would be more safe, responsible to leave it in the office he supposed.

"I think I just might, better to leave it somewhere that wouldn't get a fresh slate if someone disappeared."

He pulls out his communicator, picking one of the lockers and takes a picture of it before shutting it, locking it and offering the key to Malcolm. When he goes to take it he'll pull it back just before he takes it, "Before I give this to you, I wanted to say something. You wearing your listening shoes?"

From:

abrightboy

When Hanna holds the key out and then pulls it back just when Malcolm goes to take it, for a split second, Malcolm thinks Hanna is screwing with him and maybe came here to screw with him. But then... that question.

"...Listening... shoes?" he asks.

From:

falkeditupagain

"Pants, hat, goggles, what ever. It doesn't matter. Just wanted your full attention." And while Hanna might do that, he wouldn't do it to be mean. Screwing with people was supposed to be at the very least low-key funny for both people, which was why he'd been frustrated with Arthur for not saying anything when he'd not been okay with his little trap prank.

"Do I have it?"

From:

abrightboy

"...Yes."

From:

falkeditupagain

He nods, good enough for him.

"You and Sheehan, you've both got a background in psychology, and while neither of you usually bother me that much, that can, if and when you decide to pull out the psych card." He doesn't like the idea that someone is looking at him and his behavior and dissecting it to discover what the hell is wrong with him. "I was straight with him, that if he wanted to puzzle my shit out, that isn't what friends do and he can fuck right off, but I never said anything about it to you. So, I'm saying it now, and I forgive you, for being forward as fuck in the library last week. It was a shit thing to say, and if I didn't know I would miss, I would have tried to punch you again, but I accept your apology, cause I can tell you meant it."

He holds the key out to Malcolm, looking up at him rather than at anywhere his hands are, clear that he won't pull it away this time, "I had a social worker assigned to fix my bullshit for a little over a year, I hated it and it wasn't helpful at all. She thought I was fucking crazy, so I'd appreciate it if we stayed friends, and you can at least keep the analyzing to yourself. I'm not the thought police, just not to my face. We clear?"

From:

abrightboy

Malcolm looks at the key warily for a second. “Okay.” He moves to take the key, pauses and, when it’s still there, takes it.

“Want a coffee or something?”

From:

falkeditupagain

He wouldn't do that to you twice, Malcolm, he was just making sure he had your attention.

The question throws him a little off guard, and he snorts, nodding, "Sure. I'll take a coffee. Thank you."

And, because he would like to give Malcolm a little more advice, he adds, "I don't fault friends for being curious, by the way. You can ask me questions, just...don't start talking about my random abandonment issues as if you were reading out of a text book." And yes, Malcolm, he knows they aren't random, but still.

From:

abrightboy

Malcolm starts to step away to get the coffee, stopping when Hanna clarifies, turning the key around in his hands.

“It’s a hard line for me to parse. So… if there’s no room for error, I’m going to… be cautious,” he explains with plain honesty. “Cream and sugar?”

From:

falkeditupagain

"You're allowed to make mistakes, Malcolm." He sure does, a lot. If he wasn't, man. He'd be in trouble.

"I'll tell you when you've crossed the line, just might not be so nice about it. Dunno if you noticed, but I get defensive and dickish real fast if I don't like where the conversation is going." Well, if it's going places he's not comfortable with anyways, and that is a narrow gap with a wide range of shit on either side. "Both, doesn't need much. I'll drink it black if I have to, but it isn't as good."

From:

abrightboy

That’s promising. At least until it gets too exhausting, as Jedao pointed out when he friend-dumped Malcolm a couple months ago. He manages a slightly unsteady smile, then disappears, returning a few moments later with two mugs of coffee, one black and one creamy. He hands the creamy one to Hanna.

He opens his mouth, then closes it, then asks “Who made you go to the social worker?”

From:

falkeditupagain

Unfortunately for Hanna and his lack of boundaries and overwhelming empathy, he gives chances like he's handing out candy at a parade. It's hard to get him to leave once you've got him hanging around, returning even if you don't want him to like a bad penny.

Hanna takes the offered cup when he comes back, blowing on it and taking a careful sip before glancing up at Malcolm. Well, that's definitely better. "The state. I was in one of those facilities they put you when they don't have a foster ready, never got one either. I stayed there until I was able to apply for legal emancipation when I turned seventeen. I think when I did they were happy about it cause I wasn't their problem any more. Never really followed up afterwards."

From:

abrightboy

"You weren't... their problem. You were their responsibility," Malcolm tells him.

From:

falkeditupagain

"Same difference. I couldn't be placed anywhere cause I wouldn't shut up about ghosts, I sounded crazy. I'm sure it wasn't fun, working with me and I was a problem when no one knew if the brand of crazy they thought I had was violent or not, especially with the investigation going at the speed of slow."

Hard to trust that the kid who talks crazy wasn't going to try and stab people like he might have stabbed his parents and himself when everyone and their mother knows that his prints along with someone elses were on that murder weapon.

From:

abrightboy

"It still just... doesn't seem right to assume a kid is violent just because he has what they assumed were hallucinations. You needed support, not... judgement," Malcolm points out.

From:

falkeditupagain

Hanna pauses in the motion to take another sip of his coffee. Glancing to the side, he sets it down next to what looks like an incense tray, "Okay, so you've work on fucked up cases, right? If there is a survivor at the scene and their prints are all over the murder weapon, you don't rule them out until its case closed, right? No matter how old they are."

From:

abrightboy

"That depends. Sometimes it's obvious it's not the person whose fngerprints are all over the weapon. Sometimes they pulled the weapon out of the victim in a panic, for example," Malcolm points out.