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"You look good, Ratch," Deadlock said softly, and Ratchet scoffed at him.
"I got old and fat you mean," he said, and it wasn't like he was vain or anything, but - here Deadlock was, all lean muscle and casual grace, grown into his shoulders and grown out of being nothing but bones and hollow eyes. Steady, settled in a way he hadn't been before, dark eyes clear and his hair long and tied back in a fall of wet silver, strong callused fingers pushing strands of it out of his face... Gorgeous, in other words, and Ratchet dearly wished he'd at least worn a nicer shirt before poking his head out the back of the pharmacy. He'd only stopped in to say hi, and then - then the rain had kicked off, and the bell over the door'd rung while 'Aid had his hands full, and he'd looked out...
"Like I'd lie t'you," Deadlock shot back, and there was the heat Ratchet remembered. "You're gorgeous, always have been. ...fuck, I thought I'd never see you again, 'less I got real lucky."
"I just moved back, actually," and Deadlock's eyes lit up. He lit up, and Ratchet's mouth went dry even as his heart turned over.
"Me too. ...us too. Movin' here, I mean." Deadlock hesitated, and this was where he said he'd got some handsome husband, or a gorgeous wife with a PhD, or- "There's. There's somebody y'gotta meet, Ratch. Couple years late, but I - I went witness protection. For her."
Oh. Gorgeous wife, then. Good for him. Ratchet was just gonna stuff those cracked-off bits of his heart into a box somewhere. "Good for you," Ratchet rasped, and could've kicked himself for how it came out. Deadlock looked at him, that searing honesty of his clearly gearing up for something that was gonna kick Ratchet in the heart once and for all-
"So I. When I left- when. When the clinic got turned over. I, uh. ...I was pregnant, Ratch."
Holy shit.
"You wh," he managed, and Deadlock shifted in place but didn't run.
"Yeah. ...I kept her. Had a million reasons why. 'M sorry I couldn't tell-"
"Kid," Ratchet choked out, and whatever his face was doing Deadlock took one look and finally, finally crashed into Ratchet's arms and clung.