Why are you here?

Eight Days

Radlynn watched Sarge take a seat on one of Radley's arm chairs. They were silent for the first few moments, staring at each other, sizing each other up. Radlynn decided Sarge was huge and terrifying. Sarge decided Radlynn was either more dangerous than she led Radley to believe, or a stupid kid.

"So," he finally spoke. His voice was smooth and deep, and nowhere near as sophisticated as Radley's. "Radlynn, hm?"

"Yep," she shifted in her seat, trying to avoid his eyes. "That's my name."

Sarge leaned forward, still eyeing her. She understood now why he was a sargeant, his troops were probably terrified of him. "And how old are you now? Sixteen?"

"Nineteen, actually." She corrected. He leaned back in the chair, eyes flicking over to Radley in the kitchen. "...so how long have you been here?"

"A week?"

"Eight days, actually." Radley answered from the kitchen.

"Eight days." Radlynn murmured. Sarge looked over at Radley in surprise. She didn't dare turn to see his reaction however. Sarge looked back at her.

"I see." He said simply. They fell into an awkward silence then, just listening to Radley in the kitchen mumbling to himself. She looked at Sarge, who seemed to be taking in the house, like it was his first time there. The two obviously knew each other, at least enough for Sarge to care about coming to check on Radley. She wanted to ask him, wanted to know their history, though that would probably make Sarge dislike her more than he already did.

"How much sugar do you take, Radlynn?" Radley's voice broke the silence, thankfully.

"Uh- one. And lots of milk." And back to the silence they went.

Radley walked over to them and placed a tray on the coffee table. It didn't hold much, just three mugs, a couple of them chipped somewhat badly and a small plate of cookies. He sat down on the opposite end of the couch from Radlynn, close to the chair Sarge had taken. He patted his knees, nervous. Radlynn couldn't blame him, this whole thing felt awkward.

"So, Radley..." Sarge finally spoke. Radley looked over at him. "What uh- what have you even been doing these past few years?"

"Oh! Well first I carved out the house, that took a long time. And I mean long, I had to hire an entire team of people to get it done, then I had to get the furniture and the generator set up so I'd actually have WiFi and things and-" he paused for a second, and cleared his throat. "I'm rambling, sorry."

"It's fine."

"And then for a while I just...existed, I guess. Tried to get a job, didn't work out, then I um-" he glanced at Radlynn, though she didn't see him do it because of the thick lenses of his glasses. "I started the second plan with the um...the sundaes-"

"How many years did you spend on those?" Sarge asked. Radley looked up at him, surprised.

"Oh! Well uh-" he smiled sheepishly. "The whole two years. I had to start from scratch because I left my blueprints in my old lab then I had to actually get the supplies and start building everything, not to mention finding troops and everything..." He adjusted his glasses.

"Two years? From scratch?" Sarge asked, more than surprised. Radley nodded. "Last time it took you seven! How did you even-?"

"The sundaes were actually a lot weaker than the burgers, I made them quickly, you see, so they could go down in only two or three hits but the burgers if you remember could take maybe four or five."

"I still can't believe I could take out those things by throwing a doll at em." Radlynn murmured. Sarge had forgotten she was even there.

"Exactly!" Radley piped up. "They were weak, flimsy things! I should've waited longer to do the plan honestly..." He stared at the ground for a few moments, lost in thought.

"Hey Radlynn." Sarge began. "Why exactly are you still here? You said you chose to stay instead of going home, right?"

She looked at him. This was probably the first time they'd locked eyes and she hadn't been terrified immediately. "Well-" she glanced at Radley, watching her. "I wanted to meet Radley. I'm his biggest fan, and this was probably the only chance I'd get so," she shrugged. "Here I am."

Sarge was silent for a second, just staring at her in disbelief. Then he sighed. "And I thought Radley was crazy..." He muttered.

"Hey!"

Radlynn snickered at the radish man and glanced back at Sarge. He wasn't so scary now, like he'd given up trying to intimidate her. She tilted her head. "How do you two know each other?" She asked. Sarge's eyes widened in surprise.

"I suppose it was inevitable that you'd ask that." Radley answered as he sipped his tea. He looked more relaxed now. "We've been friends since we were kids," he explained, smiling at Sarge. "We were even roommates in college. I lived in fort onion for a while too."

"So why wasn't Sarge helping you this time?" She asked, curious. Radley frowned, his smile dropping. Sarge sighed again. "Sorry, was that-?"

"No, you're good." Sarge cut in. "We had a fight after the burger plan failed. Radley moved away to the caverns here after that," he looked over at Radley, who was fiddling with his hands. "...we haven't spoken since then."

"I sent postcards." Radley murmured. Sarge smiled softly at him.

"Anyways- that's over now, I hope," he looked over at Radley, who looked surprised. "I've missed my partner in crime."

"You-?" Radley began. He grinned widely, like an excited child. "Oh! Oh yes of course I'm not mad anymore I-I mean I..." He trailed off, still grinning at his friend. "I'd love that."

And just like that they were back to normal, like those two lonely years never uhappened. Not that Radlynn would know. Still, she liked seeing Radley happy. He had a rather nice smile, and Sarge actually seemed like a friendly guy. She was perfectly content to sit on Radley Madish's couch and listen to the two villains trade banter.