"Yeah, I figured out how to shut off the charging station. But never mind that; we're going to fix you up the minute we get back upstairs. And don't try to play it off, either! There had to be at least fifteen of them. I didn't know you could be that... that..."

Impulsive? Rash? Brave? Whatever it was, it was the kind of thing that Heiji pulled, not Snake -- at least not until now. And the fact that Snake had so suddenly and completely broken with his usual cool, logical self... well. Maybe there was something not entirely innocent about the way Heiji put a hand up to Snake's face, brushing the side of his thumb up over Snake's cheekbone.

In fact, there was something different in Heiji's entire manner, and maybe if someone from his previous life had been in the warehouse with them, they could have put their finger on what it was.

When things got serious -- when lives were in the balance -- people looked to Heiji. That was how it had always been, for so long that Heiji had simply accepted it as a matter of course. Even now, when he remembered almost nothing about his past, he shouldered the responsibility without question. But there were few people his age that he could consider on the same level. One of those rare few had been Kudou, whom he always spoke of with something between admiration and adoration.

This was how he was speaking to Snake now, only much more so. Looks and smarts and reckless heroism? Yes, please.