Ambling along the road to his apartment in the middle of the night, Sigmarus nearly bumped into someone walking out from a side-street with a slight limp. Since he had already been paying close attention to his surroundings, he nimbly stepped around the person who looked tired and unfocused. The man jumped backward and nearly fell over, yelping out in shock. His face contorted with a frightened expression.

Observing the frightened man’s appearance, Sigmarus noticed both the man’s meld-suit and his familiar face.

“You are… Tahm?” Sigmarus asked, unsure if he got the name right.

“Eh?! Grayson?!” Tahm exclaimed in response. His eyes lit up but then darkened. His lips curled downward as he asked, “Did you just get off work, too?”

“No.”

“Huh? Did you… not go to work?”

“I paid my severance fee.”

“Oh,” Tahm mumbled. His eyes fell, displaying a hint of disappointment. “What are you going to do for work, then? You’ll get kicked out of the apartment if you don’t have an income.”

“I’ll be fine,” Sigmarus calmly replied, waving him off. At this point, he noticed slight bruising on the man’s face, though it was hard to notice under the dim lighting of the main street. Feeling a bit of pity for the man because of their last meeting, Sigmarus asked, “Are you alright, though?”

“Hmm? Oh, this?” Tahm asked, pointing at his face. He then sighed and answered, “It’s not too bad. I really wish you had warned me that my stuff might get stolen, though.”

“I did say to be careful.”

“Well, yeah, but how would I know what you meant by that?” Tahm retorted, his voice rising slightly in pitch.

“Maybe, but now you’ll be more careful next month, right?”

Tahm blinked a few times while trying to process what he just heard. Then, he asked, “Did you not tell me on purpose?”

“It’s something like a ritual. It would happen whether I told you or not just because of your inexperience.”

“Ah. Is it really like that?”

Sigmarus shrugged, but then his recent encounter with Doctor Oslac passed through his mind again, causing him to think, That quack said my rad count was abnormally low. Maybe...

Thinking along those lines, Sigmarus asked, “Did you give up your pills?”

“Yes...”

“Want mine?”

“Huh? Really? Wait, no. I can’t do that.”

“Whatever. Come on,” Sigmarus said as he started walking toward the apartment with Tahm in tow.

A few minutes later, Sigmarus led Tahm to his apartment, not giving the man room to refuse. Once inside, Tahm looked around with a curious gaze. His eyes quickly landed on the large bookshelf which occupied a large portion of the main room.

“You like to read?” He asked.

“Yeah,” Sigmarus said, not paying much attention to the man as he walked over to a nearby drawer and pulled out the small bag containing two iodide pills. He had already taken one the other day, but he could still give away these two. Handing over the bag, Sigmarus said, “Here. Don’t refuse.”

“Are you sure?” Tahm hesitantly asked, though his eager eyes betrayed his words.

“Just take it. Also, be more careful next month.”

“Thanks.”

“Alright. Shoo. I need to sleep,” Sigmarus said, waving for the guy to go home.

“...Is it alright if I come by to hang out sometime?”

“Uh… Sure, but I’m not here often. If I don’t answer the door, then I’m probably out.”

“Thanks, Grayson. I really appreciate this. I’ll see you later.”

“No problem. See ya.”

After the man left to head to his own apartment, Sigmarus rubbed his chin and thought to himself, He’s a bit immature, but it’s kind of nice to know that there is someone to talk to around here. Now that I think about it, I’ve interacted with people more in the past week or two than I have in the past eight years outside of work. Grace, Elizabeth, Duke, Shad, Torin, and now Tahm. Strange. Really strange. It’s not like me.

While contemplating the fact that he might not have to be as lonely anymore, his lips curled up ever so slightly. He rubbed his throat which felt overused for the first time in his entire life thanks to talking to others so much these past few days. Snorting at his own satisfaction toward these interactions, he removed his clothes and plopped into his cot. That night, he experienced a pleasant dream for the first time in years.