Chapter Text
As was always the case when returning to the land of the living from the Zin simulations, the Boss took a second to shake his head, dusting off the metaphorical cobwebs as he reacquainted himself with the ship’s surroundings. Some things, for better and for worse, tended to carry over from the virtual world into the real one. Aches, pains, headaches from a weaponised sound blaster that wreaked havoc upon a stereotypical 1950’s American city, the usual things the remnants of the Third Street Saints had come to expect during their time fighting to undermine the technological prison of Zinyak’s creation.
Preoccupied by the question of just how long he’d need to lie down to nurse this number back to health, the leader of the Saints barely had the time to register Kinzie brushing past Matt and his relief in regard to her safety, along with her subsequent and surprisingly forceful effort of slamming him back into the vertical chair he was about to step out of.
“You don’t tell anyone what you saw. Do you understand me?” Kinzie stated in no uncertain terms, holding him back with her arm to ensure that he would listen.
Rolling his eyes in a mixture of light pain and exasperation, the Boss tried to allay her concerns, “C’mon Kinzie, it really wasn’t that ba-”
He was quickly met with the hacker glaring at him and pointing right at his face, “I. Said. Anyone!” With a scowl like that and a gaze that felt like she was staring into his soul, he got the message. This was going to have to be something he and Miller took to their graves. A quick glance to the left and he could see Matt nodding towards him with a grave look in his eyes, motioning him not to rock the proverbial boat.
“Hey, c’mon, you got it,” The Boss replied softly, visibly uneasy. After seconds that felt like minutes, Kinzie relented, pulling her arm back and letting him drop down from the hanging chair. She started to turn away, safe in her assumption that the specificities of her stay in that backwards version of Steelport would remain under wraps.
Free from being held up, the Boss took a quick glance around the control room once more. Matt was halfway out the door, presumably in a rush to try and relax after what the crew had just been through. With the two-pronged ambush the Zin had performed on them, leading to Kinzie’s mental abduction and the trials that came from defending the ship and dealing with the fallout, he couldn’t exactly blame him. Hell, as much as he wanted to get to work so he could tear Zinyak’s head off faster than you could say ‘Super Excellent’, he figured it’d be best for the crew to rest. At least, for a short while. Everyone was there, Keith had un-double crossed them and Kinzie was safe and sound…
His eyes turned towards the redhead, who was also starting to walk away. A quiet ‘Fuck’ escaped his lips, one that Kinzie thankfully didn’t pick up on. Things were going to pick up soon. They were likely to come up with some sort of plan for dealing with the Zin, a plan which would need their undivided attention. Still, there were some things he needed to get off his chest before then. His face fell slightly, but he steeled himself for what was to come.
Kinzie had been mumbling to herself, cursing the skirt shaped horrors, among other slights she’d suffered whilst stuck inside that nightmarishly retro prison. Before she could make a note to apologise to the Boss for her flippant attitude in leaving him in similarly outdated clothing, her train of thought was interrupted by a hand lightly falling on her shoulder.
Puzzled, she turned back around to face its owner. What she saw was the Boss wearing a rather sombre look. In all the time she’d known the leader of the Third Street Saints, he could be expected to be outwardly furious, braggadocious, or completely stone-faced in times of duress. Sombreness and vulnerability were a face that he had rarely ever worn since his canonisation, something which had only grown less prominent as time went on, if what Pierce and Shaundi had told her was any indication.
“Look, Kinzie…,” He paused, trying to collect his thoughts. Kinzie swore she could see the gears turning inside his head, though she started to wonder if he’d earned himself a headache for his blatant overuse of dubstep-based offense during her rescue.
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” He continued, his usually affable and carefree tone gone, at least for the moment. While this wasn’t the first time she’d seen him like this, it still felt weird seeing it in action.
“For what? The possible shortlist alone is longer than Ben’s book,” She replied, coupled with a quiet chuckle. The Boss’s mouth fell into a frown, as she silently cursed herself for pulling what she referred to as a ‘Miller’.
“Kinz’, I’m tryin’ to be serious here,” He replied solemnly, taking a second to breath before continuing, “I’m sorry for bein’ an asshole back when you and Matt were getting ready to help bust Johnny out… I wanted my best friend back and didn’t think about how it’d fuck up the crew. Sure, Keith sold us out an’ all, but I dunno if he could’ve if we didn’t- “
Kinzie sighed, shaking her head before he could continue. She looked back at him, trying her hardest to give him the benefit of looking him in the eyes. Those blue, oh so uncannily blue eyes. She broke the silence, “First off, apology accepted. Yeah, you were a dick, but Matt and I still agreed to help find him. Much as I hate to admit it, those consequences are also on us.”
The Boss could almost swear a smile had made its way onto Kinzie’s face for a second, but it changed back into a look of concern as she looked to continue, “Secondly, you’re not about to start blaming yourself for what happened, that’s not really your thing. Look, I’m out of that horrible pastiche and we still have a plan to deal with Zinyak.”
“Not exactly hard to blame yourself when you’re reminded of it about as often as Pierce sings in the car,” The Boss replied, zeroing in on the part Kinzie didn’t want him to, “Hell, guess Earth not bein’ there anymore is my fault too. Everybody’s gone!” With each word he grew louder and Kinzie grew more worried. Him being this flustered wasn’t something she was used to, and she couldn’t think of a way to calm him down.
“Everybody at the White House, Stilwater, Steelport, people like Josh, Viola and Oleg!” He continued, his voice starting to become strained as he reached a fever pitch. Kinzie winced at the mention of Oleg. The two were close, that was no secret. Still, to think that the Boss was carrying the weight of their lives on his back like this.
“People like Zimos and Angel… People like Moms…” Though he’d gotten louder the longer he went on, his voice dipped down to a whisper, jarringly so. He had stopped speaking, choosing to look down at the floor, his hair shielding him from her gaze.
It nearly broke Kinzie’s heart to see him like this. Their steadfast leader, closer to the brink than any forced stay in a bad sitcom could bring him to. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, only opening them once more after a quick bout of murmuring to herself. With one last deep breath and what felt like an eternity, she brought a hand up to his cheek, moving his fringe aside so she could see his eyes once more.
“Jeremy…”
That certainly caught his attention. His eyes darted towards hers, meeting a comforting gaze not usually seen (or employed) by the redhead. Kinzie knew the weight that came with using the Boss’ actual name. She’d found it on some obscure message board during her first outings with the Saints, but quickly came to realise it was not something to be used lightly. Even after his inauguration as President of the United States, she’d only ever spoken it once or twice in his presence, all for the same purpose of trying to pull him out of a hole he wasn’t going to escape on his own.
“Please, you can’t shoulder all that alone,” She continued, speaking softly as she summoned as much social tact as she could muster, “That bastard was never going to just leave Earth alone. You’ve seen those memoirs of his from the simulation too. He can act as dignified and debonair as we wants. Underneath that veneer of scholarly learning, he’s still just a genocidal maniac. We’ll kick him off his throne and then find our way from there. Whether that’s finding a new home, or some technological macguffin that lets us restore Earth somehow,” His head turned slightly at those last words, though she quickly clarified, “Granted, I can’t be one hundred percent sure that the Zin’ll have something like that, whether it’s related to direct time travel, space-time manipulation, if that’s even a…”
“Kinzie?” The Boss asked hesitantly, trying his best to sound grateful and not at all confused at the rant she was no doubt about to unknowingly jump into.
“Oh, s-sorry,” She replied, shaking her head once more before looking back at him, “What I’m trying to say is that we’ll figure things out, but for that, we’ll need you, so don’t go grieving for everyone on your own or pulling the ‘leading by example’ shtick, okay? Even if it’s just talking to me, or Pierce, or Johnny, or even- “
Kinzie didn’t get to finish her pep talk or her list of names. She’d already been scooped up into a hug which had caught her off guard. She didn’t bother thinking about the frequency of physical embraces he’d doled out to his friends and family, choosing to simply return it and move into him. She smiled once more, happy in the knowledge that Jeremy was going to be ok.
“I don’t say this enough but thank you Kinz’, really,” He whispered succinctly. Despite everything that had happened to them, she was right. He still had her and the crew, and they weren’t going to let this be the end.
After what honestly felt like an eternity, they slowly pulled away from each other and smiled at one another, content in each other’s company.
Kinzie was the first to break the silence, “I should probably get going. We’re probably gonna’ need more info before we really take it to the Zin.”
“Take your time girl, really. And I ain’t just sayin’ that cause I’m gonna go lie down and hope this headache goes away,” He replied with a half-hearted chuckle, bringing a hand up to the back of his head to nurse the now duller pain.
“Noted. Get the rest you can Boss; we’ll be needing your talents soon.”
“A’ight girl, I’ll see you in a bit.”
The two motioned towards the exits, turning away from each other, but not before the Boss remembered one last bit of business.
“Hey Kinzie, one more thing?”
“What’s up?”
“…I’m just sayin’, it was a cute poodle skirt.”
…
If it weren’t for the fact that space was a vacuum, the Boss could’ve sworn he’d heard crickets.
“I’m going to smother you with a pillow.”
He stifled a hint of laughter, “I look forward to it.”