Nina blinked at him.

"Because, like, if I was captured then my phone had way too much information on it," she said reasonably.

It had made sense to her! It… still made sense to her.

"Who even said I was in my world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she protested, riled. Because, well, he was right. If she'd been in her world, she wouldn't have worried about it.

But, at the same time, Nina didn't want him to fixate on that bit, so she hurried on.

"Besides, like, if I needed help, I had a burner phone with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I needed it, I'd have been able to reach help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Not that she would have called—years of working solo, of never being able or intended to work with others meant the habit of being self-sufficient was hard to break—but she could have.

Even if Nina hadn't brought the burner phone along for that.

"Who even ignores a pet owner's instructions about their pet anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she snapped, because yes, she was still mad about that, even though the fact he'd done it because he was worried about her, like, touched her too. "He's not allowed it for a reason!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"And as for why I didn't think that--why would I?" Nina demanded. "No one ever cared before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I came back alive then that was good enough, 'Good girl, Nina, did you get what we needed' never mind how many times I could have died or been injured on the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why do you think I always have healing magic on me????????????????? Because no one else is going to help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

But, hey, being mad at him meant she was stepping back enough to resentfully take a sip of her drink.

It… it was a good thing that most the people around them spoke Spanish, wasn't it?

Foomy was not obviously fine! He had a terrible peanut butter swirl in him! Owen had agreed that it was wrong.

"It's not about thinking badly about either of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know you both care!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Though knowing and understanding were two very different things and Nina was… not super-hot on that second one. "I know you both say you'd come help me if I needed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But what if you can't!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Because… because Nina wasn't the most important person ever. She wasn't even a little bit important. Sure, she was maybe important to a few people, but that was a different kind of important.

"What if you're out with Noctis and he needs you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're part of his guard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It doesn't matter how badly I need help, then, you're with him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has to be your priority!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even worse, what if you're on your way to help me and he calls and needs you????????????????????????? And Vette------------------------"

Nina stomped her foot.

"There's places Vette can't go because she's not human!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know she'd come for me if I needed help but I'm not going to call her just to get her killed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not worth her life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"But I didn't need your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she insisted. "I was fine, Prompto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So there were a few monsters, I took care of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're mad because of a what if too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sorry I worried you and Vette, I didn't mean to, but if I'd needed real, true help, I still had a phone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

… Again, not that she'd have used it to call for help, but…

"How is a team supposed to work????????????????????" she demanded. "Because, like, there's no such thing as a team of spies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At most they might operate with a partner but most spies work alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It doesn't mean I love you any less!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you and Vette so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just………………. don't know what you want from me………… I don't want to bother people, or expect things from them when I have no right to expect them…………….."

"I'd hate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said vehemently. "I'd hate it, hate it, hate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But when Vette goes off with Hera for a week without saying or if she and Sidon were to disappear for an off-world date that I find out about after the fact I wouldn't get after her for not having said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never gave you garbage for running home without talking to us after a traumatic thing either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

True. But she'd bombarded him with texts every two days until he'd come back.

"But I can't stay in constant contact while I'm on a job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I bet your parents don't either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's not safe to always be in contact with people back home when you're in the middle of work like that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's not safe to make those you love a target!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

She wanted desperately to tell him that, yes, she did expect him to be okay with that, but even to herself that sounded hollow. Nina did want him to care. She wanted him to keep caring, even when it was weird and inconvenient for her.

Nina took a deep breath.

“What if, like, when I’m off I contact you every three days?????????????????” she offered. “And, if, I know ahead of time if I can’t make contact on time, I’ll let you know???????????????? In return, though, if I don’t make a contact don’t freak out right away———-wait a day, sometimes things come up………………………”

She hesitated. “Would...... would that be better?????????????”

They... they did have a tendency to argue in circles, it was true.

“But————,” Nina cut herself off before that objection got too far. Oh, but she hated it! “How about what world I’m going to?????????????????”

She didn’t like that either, but she was trying to compromise.

“I do trust you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” she protested, stung. Nina was just the sort to try and keep secrets from herself if at all possible too. “It’s not about trust!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want you guys safe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And, like, this time I needed to be able to do it myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

It… it didn't really work to lighten the mood, no. Especially not when Nina realized, as the words sank in that, like, she'd just… upped her odds of dying that way quite a lot, simply by how much more she'd tied herself to his world now. To him.

And he didn't even know it yet.

"I know you care," she said, finally, after wrestling with herself over it. "But, like, I still keep thinking that……………… you're going to stop…………….."

She couldn't help it.

But it was good that they'd gotten the emotional bit sorted first.

"You're super stuck with me too," she said, wondering if she should try telling him that—but, no, Nina didn't think he'd believe it, not right now, and that would hurt if he didn't. "Super, super, super stuck with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The paperwork didn't lie!

Rude and… not untrue in about equal measures there…

But Nina snuggled into that hug, letting herself, for the moment, believe that she could trust that protection.

"Did you want to get dinner with me later oh so handwavily?????????????" she asked. "Because, like, Wayne says today's a holiday for families so I……………….."

So she'd gone looking for him.