Because I've got troubles enough, no don't pick on me

[lastchancefor]

Obviously the answer to a broken little girl is for her to collect small children. Honestly, she probably shouldn't be anywhere near kids, but she can't help it. She hates to see people hurting and her time on the streets she runs across a lot of kids. More than is healthy for her. It breaks her heart. She wants to take care of all of them, keep

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[sittinontrains]

Jamal is running to the bench. He had actually been running home in an excited frenzy to show her how much money he had made that day, but as soon as he sees Jo, he runs for the bench instead. He's carrying a cinnamon and sugar pretzel in his hands.

"Hi," he breathes, sounding like he's been running for a while and he has. "I bought this for you."

He grins and holds it out to her.

"You like it, don't you? It is sweet. Very sweet. Like candy, but different. Like you. You want some, don't you?"

[lastchancefor]

Jo isn't fond of sweets. Dumpster diving too often results in sweets, rather than real food, so they tend to turn her stomach. But. Jamal himself is so sweet that she can't say she doesn't want some.

"From you?"

She gives him one of those awkward smiles he brings out in her. "Yeah."

Explaining how Jamal makes her feel is impossible. She doesn't really understand it herself. Protective? Safe? Either way, she knows she doesn't want to let him go.

[sittinontrains]

"Yes, from me," Jamal says, and then grins when she says Yeah.

He climbs up on to the bench next to her and sets the pretzel in between the two of them.

Jamal breaks a piece of it and hands it to her. His legs swing under the bench, and then he looks back up at her, again. His gaze clouds over with uncertainty.

"Do- Did you find anybody new?" He's trying to act nonchalant about it. Mostly he's gotten used to it, but sometimes he still gets jealous of the other kids. Jo is his.

[lastchancefor]

Jo nods slowly. So far she's mostly missed the way he feels about the other kids. "I don't think a bed will fit where we live," she says, as if that's completely related to the conversation. It is, in a way. She wants to keep more of the kids within her sight, and she can't, not where she and Jamal are currently staying.

Taking the piece of pretzel from Jamal she holds it in front of her face, licking the sugar off of it slowly.