“You’re s-so, uh, sm-small,” Techie sputters, horrified. “H-how many p-people have tried to hurt you?!” He leans up on an elbow, jaw slack and eyebrows raised way up. Nao is a child, for fuck’s sake! A mature, resourceful one, but a kid nonetheless.
He thinks better of the question and corrects himself: “Who hurt you?” There’s an edge of justified anger in his voice, not at her, obviously, but at any and every asshole who harmed her. Techie thinks of his own son, millions of light years away, and fights back the wetness in his eyes. Useless. He’s always been so useless.
TechieHux 