He doesn’t trust me in the slightest. I can’t really blame him, judging from how filthy and tired he looks, he’s been on the road for a long time. 

But I’m being sincere here, I don’t have anything else that makes sense to trade for the sneakers. Boots make my feet way too hot and I try to only keep shoes that are on my feet if I can.

“Uh, soles. I need soles,” he says, not looking me in the eye. He’s like a stray dog, I’ve seen a few hanging around the Hub. Too terrified to get too close to people, but desperate enough to accept scraps of kindness if you’re gentle enough while giving them.

“You mean insoles?” I ask, smiling a little at his mistake.

“Insoles? The things that go inside the shoe?” He asks and I hear Morgie give an exasperated sigh. He’s probably fuming, but I don’t really care. He was more than willing to fuck me over just a minute ago.

“Yep, the very same. What size do you need?”

“Size 10,” he admits with a quick glance at the exit just off to the side, as if he’s weighing his options. Wow, I need to be careful with him, he’s very skittish.

“Well Morgie, I’m gonna assume you got that, and throw in two,” I glance at the filthy stanger’s boots, “black shoelaces. Please and thank you!”

Morgie grumbles under his breath but I ignore him. I’ve seen him around the Hub enough to know he’ll get over himself in a little bit.

“What’s your name?” I ask the filthy stranger and he shrinks into himself a little under my full attention.

“Maveth,” he finally whispers, shifting his weight to lean a little further away from me.

“Maveth,” I echo, trying the name out. “I like it, my name’s Peter by the way. It’s nice to meet you,” I add as I stick my hand out to shake his. He just looks at me as if I’ve grown a second head. I let my hand drop. 

“Here, now get your asses out of here, I gotta close up shop,” Morgie suddenly says as he thrusts the items into my arms, his voice gruff but not entirely unkind. Like I said, he’ll get over it. I grin at Morgie and turn to Maveth, shuffling the items in my arms until I was holding his insoles in my hands. Morgie simply keeps the knife as I hadn’t taken it back after his little inspection.

“Here you go, thanks for keeping an eye out for me,” I say to him and he gingerly takes the insoles from me.

“Thank you, Peter,” he mumbles, still not managing to look me in the eye. He’ll get there, eventually.

“Say, Maveth, what else are you looking for? Maybe we could finish our shopping together? I definitely don’t want to risk almost getting scammed again.” I make sure to extend the offer while passing over the shoelaces I had gotten him.

He squeezes the bundled shoelaces up in his fist for a moment, as if trying to see if they were secretly a trick. They must have passed his little test though, since he shoved them into his pocket a second later.

“Alright, but we need to hurry, I haven’t reserved a room for the night and I don’t want all of the cheap ones to be taken.”

I smile and nod before starting to make my way to the door with Maveth on my heels.

“Where to first?”