The sun was shining, and Slade's surroundings buzzed with excited, warm chatter. To anyone else it would have been a normal, nice day. The weather was warm, families were out and about enjoying their days, colorful cars zoomed by. It was...nice.

Slade always had trouble seeing the nice things.

He had a habit. A bad habit, of seeing the darkness in the lightest things. Sure, the sun was shining, but not in the alleyways dotting the sidewalk. The weather was warm, but clouds bloomed in the distance. Families were out, but so were others. People looking far less innocent, scanning crowds to see whose wallets were sticking out, who wasn't paying attention.

Even before Slade had killed people in war, became a super soldier and then the feared mercenary he was, he'd noticed these things. The world was a botched mess, if you knew where to look.

"Hey," He kept his tone even, cold as it usually was as he reached for your wrist. He waited until you stopped your walking to look at him, with that pure curiosity you always seemed to have. Damn you were different than him. Not so hard, not so cynical.

He'd be damned if he ruined that.

"...here," he shifted you gently to the side, so you walked on the inside of the sidewalk while he walked facing the road. It was a simple gesture, one he tried to hide in the coldness of his expression. He wasn't protective, it just...put him at ease. Especially when it was so busy.