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He'd cleared all the rest of the crew out of the main room. Some excuse or another, not even caring it was transparent.
Enough between himself and Marvelous was transparent, anyway.
He'd brought Marvelous by the wrist to the living room. Near the captain's chair. Marvelous's chair.
He's never gone close to it since. . . Well, since then. Since things between he and Marvelous ended, once and for all, in the single outcome Basco never could have, or would have, guessed.
Marvelous had him on his knees. Covered in red blood, and Marvelous in Basco's green. He was disarmed, wearied, and Marvelous had his own blade pressed to the back of his neck. Green blood trickled in rivulets from his nape to his throat, encircling his neck like jewelry.
Marvelous's stance was strong. Basco could see Marvelous's feet and the dusty, bloodstained ground. He could hear little from the others - no sounds of movement, no cries of alarm. They stood witness at the gallows.
Basco watched the leather of his ex-teammate's boots flex as he adjusted his stance. Gokai Red was prepared to kill.
The pressure of his serrated blade lifted from his nape. Basco could still remember the laborious work he put into honing each point, crafting it precisely to his own tastes. The weapon was a part of him, in more than one way. Fitting he should be ended by it, by Marvelous's hand.
He closed his eyes, preparing for Marvelous's strike.
It never came.
"You showed me mercy," Basco begins, carefully, holding Marvelous's gaze. His Captain's eyes narrowed, seeking the core of Basco's intent, already impatient with preamble.
"You welcomed me back onto your ship. With conditions, but you did it at all."
"You're part of my Crew," Marvelous says, frowning. "I never stopped loving you, even when I couldn't forgive you."
"And you can, now?"
"I can work towards it. I can put that behind us."
"Why?"
"Stop being an asshole," Marvelous grumps, crossing his arms. "I already said it. What's your point, Basco? Why all this?" He gestures at the empty room around them.
"Because I love you, too, Marvelous." He uses his proper name. "Because there's something I want to show you."
He changes, bringing the kaijin out from under his glamour. Revealing his scales, leather, hide, spikes, bone.
Marvelous is unimpressed. "Are we going to go through this again? You're a monster. Yadda yadda, I still love you, you're more than--" Basco raises one hand, asking him to stop. "What, what is it?"
"I thought it was important that I show you my true self. Here, like this. Like I should have done at the very beginning. Years ago."
Marvelous' brows raise. He wasn't expecting that. And Basco hadn't expected him to be.
"I don't want you to only know my true face as an enemy, Mabe." He uses the nickname because it feels right, it feels close, intimate. Dependent.
He swallows. Hard.
"I thought it was about time I gave you some honesty."