the color of steel ~ rendoc

chapter 4 ~ Ren

**tw: mentions of unaliving

Present Day

The flowers swayed prettily in the light morning breeze as I wandered past on the winding, stony path leading through the shopping center. I pushed open the door to Scar's coffee shop, a cool breath of air rushing past.

"Morning, Ren," Scar greeted me, waving from behind the coffee bar. "How goes?"

I grinned, hoisting my backpack off my shoulders and wrapping it around the back of a bar stool. "Can't complain, mate, how're you?"

Scar sighed. "Could be better."

"Oh, why's that?"

His brow furrowed. "I- actually, it's nothing."

I groaned, sitting down into the too-tall chair and crossing my arms. "You can't do that, dude." Scar laughed, busied himself with starting the coffee maker.

"You're right, sorry. I just have a lot on my mind. The usual?" I nodded, and he pulled my favorite blue mug from the lower shelf.

"Oh, and one for Doc, too," I added. Scar reached up to grab the mug with a bent wrench for a handle. "So, what's going on?"

~~

"This one's on me," Scar said, sliding the coffees across the bar. He silenced my protests with a wave of the hand. "My treat, Ren. See you later." He smiled gently.

"Alright," I said, forcing myself to smile back. "Thanks, dude. See ya around."

"Anytime," he called over my shoulder as the door shut behind me.

~~

The sickness in my stomach dissipated as I walked into Doc's house. I shook my head to clear it of the news.

Clanking noises emitted from the door to the workshop. I tried knocking with my elbow but the muffled sound was drowned by the metallic scrapes.

"Doc?" I knocked again, much louder using my foot this time, then pushed the door open with my hip, balancing the two coffee cups in my hands. There was a flurry of movement, and Doc spun around in the center of the room to stand awkwardly, seemingly concealing the workbench behind him.

"Oh, hullo, Ren," he said. I couldn't help but laugh at his attempt to play it off.

"I brought you coffee," I said, then teasingly, "Whatcha hiding there?". Doc blinked.

"Uh, let's go into the kitchen, alright?"

He shooed me away from the workshop door and into the kitchen, taking care to shut the door behind him. I set our coffee mugs carefully on the counter, and he came to stand beside me, leaning against the marble. Idly, I noticed a streak of grease on his normally spotless metal hand and wiped it with my sleeve. He smiled.

"So, how're the Octagon blueprints coming?" he asked, referring to my newest construction idea.

I took a sip, then hissed as the still-hot drink burned my tongue. "It's... not going at all, actually, I spilled ink all over the pages yesterday," I said, and Doc laughed. "Hey! Look, I forgot I put the ink jar there, okay? But I'm restarting today. It's a blank slate."

Doc nodded understandingly. "Yeah, just like that time with the carrot farm, and the other time with the combination lock door..." I realized he was mocking me. I set my coffee mug down now, and he raised his eyebrows, readying himself for a debate.

"Okay, wait- The carrot farm I was multitasking and got distracted, alright, the fire wasn't my fault, and the combination door got water spilled all over the redstone by Grian so that one didn't count," I retorted, elbowing Doc in the side. He snorted.

"Well, what about that time you knocked down the entire castle wall by tripping and knocking out a brick? Like, how does that even happen?"

I grimaced. "That one- I was listening to music! There was a bird! How was I supposed to focus on where I was going?"

Doc smirked and took a casual sip of his coffee. "Maybe you're just clumsy."

"No, I'm just... creative."

"Creative my ass."

"Whatever."

"Jerk."

"Asshole."

We grinned at one another. I picked up my coffee mug again and leaned against the counter, blowing the top of the drink to cool it down. There was a comfortable silence as we both drank our coffees; then I remembered my conversation with Scar, and a heavy cloud descended in my chest.

"Oh, by the way. It's not a very happy thing but. Scar wanted me to tell you-"

Doc closed his eyes. "I already know," he said. "I heard him talking to Bdubs yesterday. It's awful."

I sighed. "I'm really sorry, Doc."

Scar had told me at the cafe that someone from town had been found yesterday, dangling from a tree deep in the forest.

"I never even met him, but..." Doc looked down.

I tried to shake the horrific image that Scar had conjured in my mind with the police descriptions; but still, behind my eyelids each time I blinked was a brilliant swirl of falling leaves and the thundering crash of a tree branch.

"I know. I feel the same way." I stared down into the inky swirls of my coffee. "It's funny, but... I just wish I could've done something, you know?" A strange, unreasonable guilt flooded through me.

"You can't save everyone," Doc said softly.

"I know, I know."

By some unspoken agreement, no more was said about the incident. We stood by the counter for a while, finishing off our coffee mugs as we discussed random meaningless things, plans for the day, the upcoming rainstorm predicted, until we'd both finished and I offered to take the mugs to the sink.

"Well, I should be off, then," I said, rinsing the suds off my hands. "Can't lay around every day watching you, you know."

Doc rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

I flicked the soap bubbles off my hands at him, and he shielded his eyes- ("What the fuck, Ren!")- then came running towards me threateningly wielding a spatula from the counter, chasing me all the way around his kitchen to the front door. We both bent over with laughter, trying to collect ourselves.

Doc, still laughing, eventually calmed down enough to open the door for me. "Alright, see you later then," he said with a grin.

I had to force myself to stop lingering and step out the door. The warmth of the sunny skies felt a bit colder now, standing outside the comfort of Doc's kitchen.

"See ya, loser," I said teasingly. Doc started to close the door, then hesitated, opening it again for a moment.

"Hey, Ren?"

"Yeah?"

He paused. "And take care of yourself today, okay?"

I knew what he meant.

As I walked away, his emerald eye glinted in the sun, the same color as leaves drifting to rest upon red spots on a soft forest floor.