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The small sliver bell hanging in the doorway that led into your shop chimed softly, alerting you that someone had entered. Before you even had a chance to turn around and greet whoever had just entered, the person called out to you. “You...” Stopping dead in his tracks, Nero stared at you suspiciously. “What are you doing here?”

Grabbing a nearby towel, you went to work wiping away the dirt and oil from your hands. “Nice to see you again too.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Ignoring your sarcasm, Nero slowly stepped closer to the bar that separated the two of you. Though only a few steps away, the closer he got, the more he seemed to frown. By the time he actually reached the counter, he was scowling. “Answer my question.”

“I work here.” Shaking your head slightly, you clarified. “This is my shop.”

“Your shop, as in you own it?” The scowl on Nero's face suddenly lifted, revealing an amused smirk. “Yeah right. You actually think I'm going to believe that someone like you owns an underground weapons shop? Where's the actual owner?”

It had barely been a full five minutes since Nero walked through your door and you were already ready to throw him out. Not about to deal with his bad attitude, you gave him two options. “Look, if there's something you need, hurry up and spit it out. Otherwise, you know where the door is.”

A bit surprised by your last sentence, Nero silently stared at you for several seconds. You could tell just by the look on his face that he still didn't trust you, but since there was quite obviously no one else in the shop, he had little choice but to believe that you were telling the truth. Finally, he reached into his pocket, retrieved what appeared to be a duel barreled pistol and slammed it on the counter in front of you. “Here.”

“Here?” Though you glanced down at the gun, you didn't bother to pick it up or even touch it. As long as he was giving you an attitude, you weren't going to go out of your way to help him. “Here what?” You questioned, despite the fact that you probably could have guessed the answer. “Do you want to sell it or do you want me to repair it?”

All too aware that you were only asking to annoy him, Nero's brow twitched with frustration. “What do you think?”

“I think you need to find another shop.” Leaving the gun exactly where he'd placed it, you turned around and went back to work. You had plenty of other items in need of repair and no shortage of clients. You certainly didn't need Nero's business, and at this point, you weren't even sure that you wanted it at all.

“Who would sell a gun like this? It's a custom gun.” When you didn't respond, or even acknowledge that he'd said anything, Nero groaned out a several vulgarities before finally giving in. “I want it repaired.”

“See, now that wasn't so hard, was it?” After cleaning your hands once more, you picked up the gun and thoroughly looked it over. It took you only a couple of seconds to locate the problem. It was an easy fix, and probably wouldn't take you more than a half our or so to repair. “This won't take me long. You can come back for it in the morning.”

“If it won't take long, why not just do it now?” As Nero spoke, you quickly tagged the gun and wrote out his receipt. When you tried to give him the receipt, however, he simply crossed his arms and shook his head. “I'll wait.”

“No, you can't just wait. You're not my only customer, and you haven't exactly done anything to warrant me doing you any favors. Come back tomorrow or find someone else.” Leaving his receipt on the counter, you placed Nero's revolver on a nearby shelf and went back to work as if he wasn't even there.

Not at all expecting your decision to be so firm, Nero blinked back his confusion. “I don't remember you being like this last time we met.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.” There was no way you were going to agree out loud, but he was right, in a sense. The last time you and Nero had spoken, however, you had been completely out of your element. “Besides, the last time we met, we spent all of seven minutes together, and most of that time was spent in silence.” Grinning to yourself, you suddenly remembered how that short time had ended. “If I'm remembering things correctly, you hit your head after the fact too, and pretty hard. I'm surprised you remember me at all.”

“Right, like I'd forget all that squirming and blushing you did.” You couldn't see Nero's face, but you didn't need to. You could tell just by his tone, that he was smirking at you. “Not likely.”

“I didn't squirm or blush.” As the memory played in your head, you realized just how much of a lie that had been. By the time you walked out of that game, your whole body had been on fire. Blushing, wasn't a strong enough word. It didn't matter though, you weren't going to give Nero the pleasure of being right. “You must be confusing me with someone else.”

Letting out a snort, Nero took a seat on the edge of the counter. “Right.”

You could have argued with him, but what was the point? He was right, and he probably already knew that. If you tried to fight with him, you would have only dug a deeper grave for yourself. Unfortunately, with only the quiet clinking of metal and crackling of your forge keeping the silence at bay, the atmosphere of your tiny shop quickly became awkward and strained. “You can sit there as long as you want, it's not going to make me work any faster.”

“I didn't think it would.” Shrugging, he lifted his feet onto the counter and lied down with his hands behind his head. “But, until I have my pistol back, I'm out of commission. I could fight without it, but I'm not in the mood.”

His words made your heart sink. He really had no plans to leave until his gun was done, or you closed up for the night. Closing might not even be enough to get him out the door. “So you just plan on sitting there until I kick you out?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “More or less.”

“Great.” After half growling out your response, you inwardly swore that would never take him as a customer again.

“Don't be mad at me, you're doing this to yourself.” Eyes now closed, Nero let out a loud yawn. “All you have to do is fix the Blue Rose first. As soon as you do, I'm gone.”

Before you thought to ask, you realized he was referring to his pistol. He had actually given it at name. If he had seen fit to name it, he must have been pretty attached to the weapon. This made him not wanting to leave without it a bit more understandable. You still weren't going to push him in front of other customers though. “Not going to happen.”

“Why not? Seems to me like you actually want me to stick around.” When you didn't try to defend yourself, Nero shot up to a seated position. “You're not denying it.”

“I shouldn't have to.” Almost amused by his accusation, you snorted. “If you're too arrogant to know that you're wrong, that's your problem, not mine.”

Swinging his legs over the counter, he came to stand directly behind you. “Say that again.” You could hear the malice in his voice, but you weren't worried in the slightest.

“Do you want your gun fixed or not?” Not bothering to even look at him, you waited for an answer. Nero didn't say a word. His silence told you all you needed to know. “Then either leave, or sit down and be quiet. The longer you distract me, the longer it's going to take for me to get anything accomplished.”

Still silent, Nero hopped over the counter and took seat on the other side. Almost as soon as he sat down, you could hear him mumbling to himself.

Unable to take his complaining any longer, you snatched the revolver off of the shelf and angrily started tinkering with it. Just before you actually got around to fixing the broken piece, you stopped yourself. If you fixed his gun now, after clearly stating that you wouldn't, he would expect this sort of treatment every time. Not wanting that, you decided to only make the gun appear as if you'd fixed it. You knew you would probably regret it later, but right now, it seemed like a good idea. After all, he had stated that he could fight without his gun. Refusing to think on the subject any longer, you placed the gun on the counter. “Just go.”

“I knew you'd come around.” A prideful smirk on his face, Nero snatched his gun, twirled it around his finger and slid it into it's holster. “See you soon.” After giving your head a sarcastic little pat, he turned on his heel and marched out the door.

The minute the door shut behind him, you couldn't keep yourself from snickering. “Very soon.”