I come back from my slumber only to share this cuz I’ve been obsessed with Apex recently.
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Tanjiro - Lifeline.He’s definitely the kind of person to want to help out his teammates to the best of his abilities. Usually the one to calm down any raging teammates, although he gets a bit agressive over Ultimate Accelerants.
Nezuko - Lifeline/Loba. Nezuko is a cute and badass girl, and she likes cute and badass girls. Nothing to it.
Zenitsu-Wattson/Loba. Do I even have to explain this one? But he’s also just a camper and Wattson allows that technique. He’s actually pretty good when in a fight but you know. He gets spooked easily.
Inosuke -Octane. This boy is the definition of an Octane main. Runs in blindly, gets downed and rages, but at least he’s having fun. He’d play Pathfinder to go faster but he can’t figure out the grapple so he rage-quit.
Kanao -Bangalore. I just feel like she’d enjoy a nice, balanced legend that’s badass and reliable.
Genya -Crypto/Pathfinder. I don’t really have an explanation for my choice of Crypto for Genya. I just feel like he’d like the cool vibe Crypto has. And he’d play Pathfinder solely for the Watermelon Skin.
Giyuu -Gibraltar. He rarely ever plays and only plays Gibby cuz Zenitsu told him it’s the best legend (pre-buff). He doesn’t get why Shinobu makes fun of him.
Shinobu -Lifeline. Their energies are so similar that it would be a CRIME not to put them together. Just the badassery and cuteness of them both?? Chefskiss.
Mitsuri -Wattson/Mirage. She mostly plays Wattson becouse she’s scared of confrontation and gets startled easily, plus she thinks Wattson is suuper cute. Her second main is Mirage just cuz she thinks he’s handsome and an interesting character.
Obanai -Caustic/Bloodhound. Usually plays Caustic while playing with Mitsuri, but his true main is Bloodhound. Artur makes him think of Kaburamaru.
Uzui -Loba/Revenant. He wants that flamboyant look on his mains, and Rev’s and Loba’s Legendary skins offer just that. He used to not really play while Rev was out, but once Loba came out, he’s been playing non-stop. He loves her personality and aesthetic. Owns the Gold Digger skin on Loba and the False Idol/Shadow of the Sun skin on Rev.
Muichiro -Wraith. The signature, tryhard, TTV Wraith. Definitely has both the heirloom and all the legendary skins. Don’t get me wrong though, he’s probably the most skilled player out of all them.
Himejima - …he’s blind. But he’s very supportive of Genya. He’s the definition of that “Are ya winning, son?” meme. Doesn’t really get what’s going on but he’s trying his best. His favourite would probably be Bloodhound becouse of how respectful they sound.
Sanemi - Pathfinder/Revenant.He doesn’t play much, but when he does, he usually plays one of these two Legends. Owns both of their Watermelon Skins but won’t admit that he got them cuz he wants to match with his little bro.
Rengoku - doesn’t have a main? I feel like he’d be pretty versatile with the Legends he plays. Maybe he’d mostly play GibraltarorWraith? He’s not really here for the Legends, he just wants to play and have fun.
Chapter Ten (previous chapter)(next chapter)|(start over) SUMMARY:The legends are in Psamathe for three weeks for press week. It’s week two and Wattson and Octane haven’t seen each other since we last saw them. RATING:K-T SHIPS: Wattson and Octane TAGS:alcohol, food mention, anxiety, fluff, angst, slow burn around 12.5k words
Natalie sat in the restaurant downstairs slumped over a bit, her elbow on the table and resting her head in one of her hands. She was shoving the food around on her plate, looking uninterested and lost in thought. Her feet tapped under the table, a sigh leaving her as she took a small bite.
It was slightly packed this afternoon, each table having someone sitting at it, the crowd moving in and out at a quick pace and tables rotating faster than normal. Natalie was grateful for her reserved seating right now, otherwise eating here for lunch seemed to be a stressful event she wouldn’t want to be a part of. She was growing annoyed at the sound of laughter, though, not being able to summon the feeling in herself authentically all day.
She just felt down in her spirits lately, and maybe that was her own fault.
Across the table from her sat Ajay who was finishing her plate, eyeing her friend as she took the last bite of her own food.
Ajay clicked her phone screen on, checking the time and her notifications to see if Octavio had replied yet with no luck.
She grabbed a napkin to wipe her face, clearing her throat as she looked at Natalie.
She knew that Octavio could be anywhere in the hotel – or literally anywhere on Psamathe, really – but Ajay wasn’t going to go tracking him down. She knew he was probably doing something that took his attention away and not to waste her time trying to get it from said activity. He would come back after the fact. He always did, it was annoyingly reliable and also unreliable at the same time. Example alone he even followed her to the games; he just showed up and she had to accept it.
Luckily, they had a better relationship since the incident with his legs but they still rocked back and forth from time to time. No matter what though, she wanted the best for him and Natalie seemed to bring it out of him. She wasn’t so sure about the reverse just yet, but knew at least that Natalie wanted him to care about her too. It was enough for her to feel like she had room to prod at the topic.
“Yuh good? You’ve barely touched your lunch today. I thought you liked what you got.” Ajay asked, trying to hide her concern for the blonde who had been somewhat quiet all morning through interviews and now during lunch.
All Ajay had heard all day in passing was small mentions of Octavio scattered throughout each conversation with one another; and she had seen her a lot with having to be in most interviews and press conferences alongside each other since 6 this morning. Ajay had tried to find Octavio for Natalie unbeknownst to her knowledge, just wanting to push the two of them together at this point. She was growing tired of watching them spin around, it was normal for him to never make up his mind but painful to watch from the sidelines when she could see an easier route; which there was.
Natalie looked up from her plate of half untouched food, sitting up slowly and shrugging tiredly. “Je vais bien.”
“Uh huh, but is that a lie?” she persisted, poking Natalie again with another question.
All it did was result in another heavy sigh, Natalie slumping backwards into the booth and looking down at her feet under the table. She anxiously ruffled her bangs, and avoided eye contact with Ajay. Her mind was racing around ways her week could have gone better but she was sat regretting the choices she didn’t take.
It had been over a week since she had the time or opportunity to see Octavio, and she ran from it the second the option appeared at her doorstep. Even though all she had wanted was to see him, she couldn’t get herself to let it happen.
He had shown up to see her late last night and she hid in her suite, pretending to be asleep although she heard him outside the door. He knocked a few times and she was certain he stayed for a minute before leaving, the mechanic whir of his legs giving him away.
Her mind was becoming more and more consumed with negative outcomes and because of that she had ended up keeping him at arm’s length. She knew she missed him but also knew she couldn’t help herself from wanting him when he was around. It was an issue for clear thinking. She just couldn’t think straight around him and she wasn’t sure if she loved it or was just fearful of a devastating end too much to try any further. She knew heartache and the searing pain it could cause. That couldn’t be the story for the two of them.
It was easier to sort through her feelings on her own; but being on her own meant a gnawing settling in her as she thought about seeing him. She hated missing him like this, undetermined factors at play. She just wanted to see him, hearing his laughter and thick accent wrap around her, but it felt too dangerous of a desire.
No matter what way her thoughts swayed, the last time they spoke was a broken record in her head.
She was wishing she hadn’t ever made the error of dipping her toes in instead of jumping. She didn’t do what she should have done, and she knew of it already.
It was too cold, too new, and she pulled back too fast because of it. She was scared of freezing – leaving something left unnoticed, losing him, losing the happiness he brought her. All while panicking about whether she was causing just that by trying to stop what felt inevitable at its core. Heartache. She did desperately want him, but at what cost? She told him she would see him, and now it was obvious this wasn’t as easy of a task to complete as she thought it could be. It entailed so much more than just being around him.
Self-sabotage at its finest; she was letting it all slip away.
“Nat?” Ajay asked again, trying to get her attention while trying to not show her concern.
“Hm?” Natalie replied, looking over at her and tilting her head in confusion. She felt too scattered to think properly about anything at all and she hated it, a weight in her chest throughout the day. If she couldn’t think properly, how could she make the right decision? She couldn’t ever forgive herself if she made a mistake with this, there would be no repairing it.
It was odd knowing that seeing him would most likely solve some of her worries, but only for as long as she was with him. His presence made her anxieties fade into the background, making them barely noticeable and hidden from her mind. Once she was alone again, she had too much time to think and then think again and again. It was becoming draining to never escape her own worries and she had minimal ideas for getting out of it; one of them being just caving and seeing him no matter the repercussions. She was mentally prepping herself all day for the task, even if she wasn’t sure of completing it.
Natalie grabbed her water, gulping down the last remaining bit and set the glass back down with a clunk on the table that she wasn’t expecting.
She looked at Ajay, who was giving her a look back that said everything.
Ajay clearly knew what was going on and wanted Natalie to speak the truth first but it didn’t seem plausible to pull the words out and say them. She was actually quite scared of the reality outside her daydream; the two were combining and she didn’t know what to do if both collapsed around her. It seemed simpler to keep them separate out loud, even though it didn’t stop them from intertwining in her mind.
She didn’t even wantto think about it, but it was all that was on her mind. It still seemed like he could vanish at her fingertips, like it wasn’t really happening and she was quite scared of when it could become real. Months ago it wasn’t even on her radar, what was to say it would stay for either of them in a few more?
“Nevermind.” Ajay shook her head, realizing that this wasn’t going to be a conversation to be had right now or maybe at all.
She stood up from her seat and looked back at Natalie to see if she would be coming along with her or sticking around to finish her food.
It took a moment with Natalie looking at her plate and deciding to leave the remaining scraps behind, she just didn’t have an appetite right now, before she stood and followed to leave.
“Have you-” Natalie started, but trailed off almost instantly as they stepped through the doors of the restaurant and into the hallway. She had been trying to slyly mention him throughout the day, but now that it was growing later so was her patience. She had minimal confidence to move forward despite her worry, but still was attempting the question again. “Uhm, are you planning on seeing Octavio later today?”
“Not tonight. I have a gig booked that I was planning on breaking curfew for.” she smiled patting her back with her sticks attached, nudging Natalie with an even bigger grin now. If she couldn’t track down Silva, then she could invite her friend to a distraction. “Yuh want to come?”
“To your gig?”
“Yeah! It might be fun! It’s a bit loud, we can get you some headphones if you’re interested in coming.” Ajay offered, checking her phone one more time before giving her full attention back to Natalie. “I know you wanna see O, but why don’t you try to just do something to take your mind off whatevers going on. He might come by it later tonight, he sometimes does.”
Natalie pursed her lips together, shaking her head ‘no’ nervously. As much as the idea of trying to forget about him for a little while to clear her mind seemed like a smart choice, she wasn’t sure if another party of kinds was the way to go. “I appreciate the sentiment, mon ami. I just don’t think so, though, not today! I may go back to my suite and take a nap before dinner. Maybe some other time, if that’s alright?”
“For sure, just say when you ever wanna come by – you know we’ll always make room for you at our shows!”
She smiled slightly, reaching her arms out for a goodbye hug and the two embraced tightly for a second. It was comforting being with someone she considered her family. At least a small portion of her felt better.
“Merci, I appreciate that greatly. Have an amazing show tonight! They always are.” Natalie grinned, waving goodbye.
Ajay laughed, walking off down the hall with a wave over her head. “See ya, Nat!”
Natalie took a deep breath once she was alone in the hall, stepping out of the way of the door to lean against the wall. She rubbed her cheek anxiously, resisting the urge to pull out her phone and try to find Octavio on her own right now.
Maybe she should have gone with Ajay despite not wanting to be around crowds right now, she just was tired of being alone with her thoughts.
A small group of three people left the restaurant, the door opening at her side and causing her to go stiff. She let the group pass by with her undetected against the wall, thanks to her silence right now, and watched the three people laughing and talking as they disappeared around the corner. She felt exposed even though all of her thoughts were tucked away in her head.
She took it as a sign to get walking to her room, as she didn’t want to run into anyone else seeming to be having a better day than her. It shoved her mood even further down to see smiles on strangers faces, sending her wondering if they would be better at this than her. Would they make the right choices, would they stumble?
She didn’t get people, at least she never assumed she did. It was her biggest fault that she eventually realized was a strength later in life. No one is perfect at everything and she had her intelligence in science.
No, she did not get people, but she understood everything else she did and better than most. It was a price to pay for her own self and willingly she came to terms with that at a young age. She didn’t need to understand how people functioned to befriend them, to have them around or in her life. She did enough research to hold over the bare minimum, and learned as much as she could from books and experience. Until Octavio she hadn’t thought that much into what to say or do, she just tried her best. Now, she was overthinking trying to analyze something that could never be - by anyone.
She felt like she would break the two of them in her fingers, crumbling it to pieces because she would make the wrong move. Was there a wrong move? Maybe stalling was the wrong move.
Natalie swallowed the lump in her throat, hurrying while she was alone in the hall towards the elevator. She pressed the button repeatedly, impatient for it to arrive. Once it was cracked open, she slid inside of it as fast as she could to seal herself off from the rest of the hotel.
She clicked the force close button, leaning back against the wall and trying to space out the rickety sound of the ride up. It was a risk taking the elevator right now with people everywhere but she assumed it was faster than trying to run up a few flights of stairs. It paid off too, because she was alone on the way.
It would be a lie if she said she wasn’t hoping Octavio would be outside her suite when she arrived. She loved that he kept magically appearing out of nowhere, something he had always done prior but now it was bringing her a different kind of happiness.
He was the first thing she looked for the second the doors slid open to her floor, and a wave of disappointment came over her the second she realized he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
Well-deserved in her mind considering she let him walk away last night. It didn’t stop the disappointment at all, though.
She accepted the truth and pushed herself off the wall of the elevator to start walking forward to her suite, trudging along.
Her hand was in her pocket trying to fish out her room key when she slowed down, stopping her search and stepped forward to place her forehead against the door to her room instead of unlocking it.
She closed her eyes tightly as she tried to push past the uneasiness she felt, but it wasn’t working.
She needed to just see him; she needed to stop running from this like distance would answer her questions magically.
She yanked her phone out of her pocket instead of her key, opening her eyes once she steadied her breath somewhat. Her fingers were typing too fast for her, having to go back multiple times to fix a letter and eventually just scrapping the whole long paragraph she was attempting to write. It was too wordy, too long, too honest. She retyped the new message, just five words and simpler than a half-baked admiration confession over the phone.
TXT TO OCTAVIO – UNSENT 2:56 PM
Can I see you again?
Natalie looked down at her phone, hovering her finger over the send button but just shut the screen down entirely after she couldn’t decide what to do.
Was it too needy to ask for him to see her this way? Especially after she let herself miss an opportunity already, she wasn’t sure if this was rude to do – although he had no idea she let him walk away that night. Maybe this was just another excuse to stop it all before it got too far.
She exchanged her phone for the key and unlocked her door, pushing it open and shuffling inside.
The door swung closed behind her with a flick of her hand, it clicking shut and letting the darkness of the suite consume her. The curtains drawn closed and all the lights off, she felt safe and hidden within it from the crowds and it instantly brought on a sense of tiredness she had been ignoring.
She kicked off her sneakers and collapsed onto the bed on top of the covers, laid up on her side.
Nikola hopped up beside her, curling up in front of her stomach an began to purr. After that she didn’t recall dozing off, it happening rather quickly from the day and her stressors.
- - -
Natalie awoke groggy, and now alone on the bed with the imprint of where Nikola once was under her fingers on the comforter. She yawned, propping herself up with her arm slowly and looked around the dark room to gain her bearings. She was a bit disoriented, but that was most likely just the nap and would fade in time.
Rubbing her eyes, she got up from the bed and stretched her arms out. Her vision was slowly adjusting to the darkness, but she clicked on the lamp beside her bed to lighten the room a little to speed up the process.
She let out another yawn as she stood and tried to wake herself enough to change clothes for the night. She should’ve just put on something to sleep in earlier. The shirt and jeans she was in were now slightly wrinkled and spotty with cat hair from the nap.
She walked across the suite as she wiped as much of the fur off as possible, clicking on the light in the bathroom as she entered it.
Natalie leaned on the counter to look at herself closely in the mirror, staring herself down and trying to mentally convince herself to do something. Anything with the Octavio situation.
Her unsent message sat taunting her in her phone and she couldn’t ignore its’ nonstop begging to be thrown into the world. She wasn’t one to just let things go, to just leave things behind, and it felt a lot like she was doing that on accident out of fear.
She sighed heavily, hanging her head in her palm and pulling away from the mirror. She couldn’t even look at herself because all she saw was someone who was running from her problems, and she hated how controlling her worries were to the situation when she didn’t want to be sitting on the sidelines forever. She didn’t want to be sitting on an unsent message, not when nothing is guaranteed.
It was never who she was to just watch opportunities of something new pass her by, the chance to learn or grow was something she strove to find. Simply put, she went after things in its entirely and devoured it until she understood it from top to bottom. If she cared, she cared with her whole being. So, the fact she was avoiding the option to feel something she never felt before with him sat unwell within her and couldn’t be explained past an impasse.
She patted at her pockets, taking her phone out and sliding open the unsent message to Octavio. It was hours later from when she originally wrote it, originally wanted it.
She wasn’t sure why she was left to sleep through the last set of interviews for the night but considered it a blessing: the extra sleep and a few less events. No one had come to get her like she assumed they would’ve, just letting her take the absence, she supposed. Either way, she was glad no one had shown up to wake her because she wasn’t going to be willing to go anyway with how she felt. At least she wouldn’t have been going in the best mood or spirits.
Now that it was late enough in the day she hoped that Octavio would be back at the hotel. He was out doing who-knows-what all day and she was hoping that it would mean he was back by now.
The screen light burned into her eyes making her look away, and after a second of doubt she closed the message again and left it unsent.
Instead, she left the bathroom to find a fresh pair of clothes and changed into them. She opted for a knee length skirt and sweatshirt with an apex logo on the back, switching into them quickly and looking for her shoes as she changed. She had been wrangled into one of the merchandise booths earlier today and ended up walking away with items for most of the legends – which is where the branded clothing was appearing from and her light-ish wardrobe she packed for the trip was grateful.
Natalie spotted her shoes laying on the floor and snagged them on her way out her door, pulling them on as she hopped out the door and down the hall alternating to each foot as she slid them on.
She hurried downstairs to the main lobby using the stairs, but once she arrived there, she realized it was the last place she actually wanted to be.
She slunk into the corner of the lobby to escape the bulk of the crowd, finding the doors to the banquet hall that weren’t locked off for once by a rope barrier.
The entire first week she was curiously popping her head around workers to try to see what it looked like inside the room. She wanted to see where they would be broadcasting from this year, a theme always taking place and the legends all dressed up in fancy clothing to accept awards and dancing around the floor together.
She tried to open the door but it barely budged, the hinge catching on the lock and stopping short. She groaned under her breath in defeat, turning to sit on the bench beside the doors and pulled out her phone. She ignored the unsent message and instead opened her socials, scrolling quickly and not really looking at anything on the feed in front of her.
It was just a distraction at first, but she scrolled back up at the sight of blue on her screen as she went.
She found the post she previously went past, the red LIVE button in the corner of the video and Octavio in the screen with a skyline background behind him. The sound was muted for her while she stared at the video waiting to be opened, him throwing his head back and readjusting his mask in the video.
She hesitated but brought up his livestream, the audio starting to play back at her as she watched the comments fly on the side. He was laughing, answering questions for fans and hanging precariously on the edge of what looked like a roof in the video but she couldn’t make out much besides the skyline.
Seeing him made her regrets grow larger, wishing she was wherever he was right now.
She swiped the live closed, switching to her unsent message to him and stared at it intently. The idea of just shoving herself towards the idea of no return was bouncing in her head and she knew she had to try to do something.
She had given it a rule book in her head to what made it real, and it meant just that the next time she saw him because seeing him twice solidified all of it into reality. Once was to give it a try, but twice would be her willingly wanting it again.
She was really hoping he was at the hotel, the stream seeming to say that he could be. She finally had a smidgen of confidence to push forward, taking it and running, fighting the fear within her and doing what felt right though terrifying.
TXT TO OCTAVIO – 10:03 PM
Can I see you again?
Natalie pressed send in a panicked motion, closing her phone instantly once it sent through and leaning her back on the bench as she waited. She let out a shaky breath, tapping her foot nervously. It didn’t take long for him to reply to her, which she was surprised yet happy about. She didn’t think he would get back to her that fast while he was on a stream; she was fully expecting to be left unanswered, so it was relieving to hear back so suddenly.
-TXT FROM OCTAVIO – 10:07 PM
Been waitin for u to say that chica
-TXT FROM OCTAVIO – 10:07 PM
Meet me up on the roof????
She bit her cheek, regretting taking this long to reach out to him now with his reply being so quick – so she began heading straight there the second she finished reading his words.
She took the elevator to the highest floor she could, having to take the stairs the last two floors and emerging on the roof in the cooler night air after her trek. It was refreshing to be in the fresh air after the walk up, her pausing at the door to take in the coolness of the night.
There was a slight wind being this high up and it was carrying the smoke from the far side of the roof in her direction. She followed the smoke like a trail of breadcrumbs, spotting Octavio sitting on the edge of the building with his legs hanging over the side. He had a cigarette in his one hand and an energy drink sitting beside him on the edge. In the other hand he held his phone, streaming himself for his fans. The glow of the city beneath him looked like stars from this height, and he was relaxed as ever inches from slipping. He flicked the ash over the edge, watching it fall and turned to look over at the sound of Natalie’s footsteps beside him.
“Aye, you made it.” he grinned at her before turning to his phone to bid his fans goodbye with a cheeky chuckle. His fans pleas echoing from the phone to stay longer or show who had arrived on the roof with him, unable to see who it was, failed as he disconnected the feed suddenly after his farewell.
He threw one leg over to stand up on the roof, rubbing at the back of his neck at the sight of her. He forgot how much he missed her until he was looking right at her, and the parts of him that missed her screamed for him to wrap her up but he shoved it down. He hadn’t seen her in a week, and wasn’t sure if it was the busy parts of work that got in the way or if she had been avoiding him. He didn’t want to push her too far, or too fast.
He knew she was the source of his inability to find a rush with his normal stim, it just didn’thit the same right now and it was because something felt missing. He felt the surge flow through him but it wasn’t the same, aggravatingly so. He got the biggest rush from pushing his boundaries with her lately, it had somehow become better than what he was used to. The novelty of the relationship made it richer, and in time he knew it would fade back to normal and level out but she was new and enchanting.
He knew better than to just push forward but he couldn’t help wanting to ask for more every time he saw her. She was taking her time, not wanting to ruin anything between the two of them, but it was digging into him like a painful thorn every time she walked away without him. He was trying to respect her space and patience but it was growing harder as the days passed.
“Is this where you’re always hiding, Tavi?” she asked him, a faint smile starting in the corners of her lips as she stood beside him.
He was slipping his hand under his mask to take the occasional puff, but now that he was off of the stream with his fans’ he could take his goggles and mask off entirely. He stuffed both of them into his pocket, looking at her as she walked over to him.
“Ah, don’t rat me out now.” he winked, taking another puff of his cigarette to distract his hands from wanting to pull her in instantly.
Natalie stepped closer, sitting down on the edge where he sat previously and looked down over the side towards the ground. The people were barely visible from here and she knew one wrong movement and she could tumble but tried to shove that feeling off, scooting closer to the inside of the roof than the outer edge.
Octavio sat back down beside her, hanging his feet back over the side and finished off his cigarette as he did.
“I won’t. As long as I can borrow your hiding spot sometimes.” she replied, looking at him beside her and turned fully to hang her feet over the side too.
“Anytime, hermosa.” he bit back the grin on his face, not hesitating to snake an arm around her waist once she was sitting alongside him.
She scooted closer to him, looking out at the skyline and tried to think of something else to say but could only conjure the mundane of typical questions. “So, how has your week been?”
“If I’m honest, without seeing you it was kinda… boring. I cut out of here few times though. It just was a bit ‘bleh’.” he shrugged slightly, swinging his feet under him. “What about you? Any cool new fans who realized you kick ass? I know you had interviews all day.”
“I did meet one person today who was quite friendly! She seemed to like a lot of the legends, mentioned you a few times! We talked for a bit.”
“Well everybody digs the Octrain, so I’m not surprised. She’s got great taste for wanting to meet you.”
“Are you just trying to find ways to compliment me?” Natalie asked, holding back a laugh.
“Si,” he winked back in reply.
She shook her head with a full-blown laugh now, it fading slowly with her racing thoughts and him noticing as it did.
“Hey, qué ocurre?”
“I’m fine!” she said, lying though it felt wrong to do so.
He gritted his teeth, the feeling of wanting to put forth the effort for someone else this much was a new sensation for him. He wasn’t sure how, but the inflection in her voice gave her away despite sounding as peppy as always. The look on her face was what initially gave said lie away to him, but her tone confirmed it. He forced the weariness in him aside, looking down at the ground and rubbing his thumb in circles on her hip. “Please don’t lie to me…”
She sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder in defeat as she was caught in her lie. “Are you sure this is worth risking our friendship?”
“You’re still on that?” he half joked, squeezing her side gently to reassure her before lowering his tone to something more serious that was harder to get out. The more honest he was with her the harder it was to be serious, to be vulnerable without running. He used his free hand to turn her chin towards him, looking into her eyes with a cheeky grin. He wanted to bring her smile back to her face but knew it probably wouldn’t be as easy as he hoped. “You’re worth the risk.”
Natalie caught her breath in her throat, looking back into his eyes as she tried to find her voice. Her cheeks warmed, and she felt like he had all the right answers and her heart couldn’t keep up. It felt too good to be true, a whirlwind she surely would have to crash from. She pursed her lips together, looking down away from him and towards the ground below.
“Watts?” He mumbled softly after she didn’t reply, losing his humor completely as she stayed silent.
“What if you become someone you are not because of me? What if you-”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where’s that coming from?” He stammered, stopping her from saying anything further.
Natalie took a deep breath, sitting up to look at him with concern in her eyes. “You were so kind, so attentive… it was so out of character for you when I was taken out of the match and brought to the med bay. You won alone, and you spent your day with me instead of flaunting that rightful win. I was going to be fine and we all knew that, but you stayed in my room that whole night. I woke a few times and every time I did you were there. I never forgot about that.”
“You saw me?”
“I didn’t think anything of it at the time, truthfully. I just don’t want you to resent me later because of this, I don’t want you to just be trying to be someone you think I would want. I want you, Octavio, but not like that. I do not want to be a negative impact on your life.”
“You? Negative?” he laughed, trying to move past her words but it didn’t work. He sighed heavily as she stayed silent, leaning his head into her shoulder and closing his eyes tightly. “Natalie, por favor, I’m begging you to realize that’s not the case.”
“Even Ajay noticed you were acting different that day. I noticed you all in the hall whispering amongst yourselves and even she seemed pressed about something at the time. You cannot tell me in full honesty you aren’t becoming someone you are not.”
“Is it so bad that I’d at least wanna do that for you?” he began, lifting his head to look at her and using his free hand to turn her chin to look into his eyes again when she broke away. “I care about you, alright?”
She was slightly taken aback and nodded in reply, but sat and listened as he spoke. His hands leaving her face left her breathless and she couldn’t have replied if she tried. He shook his head with an impatient sigh, reconnecting his gaze with hers.
He had a nervous adrenaline building in him that only propelled him forward towards admitting more of himself to her, more of how he felt about her. He had thought they were past this part, past her worry but apparently he had thought wrong.
“It wasn’t about winning that match after you were gone, I can win whenever I want.” he started, running one of his hands through his hair anxiously. “I was wrecking on myself all match for letting you down, I had to see you after. I thought you’d, I dunno, hate me or something. I thought I ruined my chances. I made a lot of… mistakes in that game and I never stopped to realize where I fucked up in the arena before you. I go in full force each time without thinking and maybe that’s holding me back in some ways. I can spare a secondor two to plan a route, you know? I could’ve helped, probably done a lot more but I didn’t. You made me realize that I could do more… at least sometimes.”
“Tavi, how could I possibly ever hate you?” she frowned, looking down towards the ground below them to watch the lights passing below whenever she couldn’t bare looking into his eyes. She pinched the bridge of her nose, and took a breath.
She forced herself to look at him while she spoke again. “You may run in spontaneously most of the time, but you always do damage and change the course of the game doing so. You are so certain of yourself; it is one of the things I admire about you… I do not want to be the one who changes that somehow. You don’t believe it’s bad for you and who you are as a person?”
“I’m certain I want you and everything that brings with it.”
“Octavio.” Natalie sighed heavily, pulling her sleeves down into her palms and placing a hand beside her to balance herself. “That doesn’t-”
“Que? I’ll keep doing this for as long as it takes. I’ll keep going in this circle for you until you’re ready, but you gotta give me an actual chance sometime.” he replied quickly, leaning in closer to her as she looked away. He sighed, brushing her hair away from her cheek to expose her scar more before wrapping his arm back around her waist. “At first, I didn’t know if I liked how it felt to feel like… thatafter I let you down, chica, but I kinda get it now. You may be making me different, but it’s not a bad thing to me. I’m better. A better champion, stunt-man, and uh well, I guess person. Don’t tell Ajay I said that.”
She giggled under her breath, looking up at him with a nod as her nerves settled around her worries slightly. “You really think I make you better?”
He huffed, embarrassed as she pointed the words back at him. He tried to detour the conversation almost instantly while still answering her, rushing through his words. “You reminded me there’s always something more beyond what we have. I hadn’t forgot about it or stopped wanting it, nah, I just lost focus once I joined the games.”
“Non terrae plus ultra.” she remarked back.
A small smile broke at the corners of his lips hearing her recite his motto back to him, nodding along. “So, you get it, then?”
“As much as I can understand in my own way. I do believe you may make me better too, though.” she whispered back to him, not able to bring her voice above that decibel. She slunk into his arm around her, reaching her hand over to take his free hand in hers.
He took it willingly, letting their fingers intertwine with a smile and a flirtatious taunt. “You do, huh?”
“Oh, shush.” she giggled quietly, looking at him with a smile on her lips that only made his grow bigger.
He paused to gaze at her face, his eyes trailing to her lips with a desperate want to pull her in closer. He couldn’t as much as he wanted too – not yet. He felt like she was just convinced they wouldn’t damage one another, and he feared pushing her away again so he held himself back. He glanced up as a drop of rain hit his head and cheek, chuckling slightly as he looked up at the sky. It had blown over with dark clouds covering the once present moon and he knew it would start to pour soon by the looks of it. “Come on, unless you wanna get soaked we should head in.”
She placed her other hand out, catching a few drops of rain in her palm and watched it pool in the center before nodding in agreement. “Oui, alright, lead the way, Octy.”
He stood up from the ledge, the two keeping their hands connected, and he helped her to her feet as well.
She skipped through a few steps along the way, him smiling to himself as she disconnected from his grasp to spin once in a circle as the rain started to come down a bit quicker. He caught up to her pace, reaching around her body to grab the door handle and pressing his chest against her back as he did.
Natalie leaned back into him as he pulled the stairwell door open, and the two hurried inside just in time as a crack of thunder caused a sudden downpour.
Once they were standing together in the stairwell the door shut slowly on its hinge, closing them off from the rain and growing cold air. She brushed her hair out of her face, it starting to stick together from getting slightly wet and let out a lighthearted laugh. She glanced up at him, subsiding her laughter as she looked into his eyes. For once, she didn’t feel nervous that something terrible would happen between them and it spurred new feelings she had been shoving away. His face was glistening from the rain and she wiped a few drops of rain from his forehead with her thumb, unable to hide her staring eyes at his features.
She cleared her throat, looking down and shaking her hair out a bit more even though it was fixed now.
Octavio held back his smile, catching her staring and choosing to leave it unnoticed to her. Instead, he hopped over the railing beside them, dropping down a floor and landing with a thud hidden underneath his cackling laugh. “Vamos!”
She shook her head with a bubbly laugh, leaning over the railing on her forearms to look below at him for a minute before choosing to just take the actual stairs to catch up.
“This isn’t a race!” she giggled, bounding down the stairs with him.
“Everything is a race, Princesa.” he laughed in reply, but never straying too far from her on the way down.
They made the way down the rest of the floors to his suite together, hurrying through the hall and he unlocked his door with a swipe of a card.
He opened it up, letting her walk inside first and following behind shutting the door behind him with his steps in.
Natalie looked around at the messy suite, it an exact replica of hers but replaced with stim and energy drinks scattered on the floor instead of her notebooks and clothes. She looked around the room, spotting his gaming system hooked up disorganized under the television and a headset sitting atop of it and curiosity piqued her.
He tossed his mask and goggles onto the counter from his pocket, watching her walk into the living area out of the corner of his eye and trying not to stare like they continually kept doing to one another. Always catching moments when the other wasn’t looking.
He looked away from her, opening up the fridge and grabbing himself an energy drink.
She took a seat on the couch, sitting upright and crossing one leg over the other. She picked up one of the games sitting on the table, flipping it over to look at the back of it.
“You want somethin’?” he inquired, his head half sticking in the fridge.
“Non, I’m alright! Merci, though.” she replied, half listening as she read the description of the game in her hands.
He shook his head once, taking his drink and shutting the door to the fridge. He looked over at her again, spotting the game this time and squinted his eyes in confusion. “What’cha got?”
“It was on the table. One of your games, I think?” she replied, gesturing the game up to show him the cover.
He nodded as he realized what she had. “Wanna play?”
“Oh, I don’t know how.” she shook her head, setting the game down and crossing an arm over her lap nervously.
“I could show you.” he offered, stepping around the counter and coming over to sit beside her. He set his drink down on the table, sliding the clutter aside with the can as he placed it.
“Or you could play and I could work on my-” she started before he cut her off with a laugh.
“Did you just say ‘work’? You’re killing me.” he chuckled, rolling his eyes at her suggestion and booting up his gaming system. “No work tonight, come on. Thought this was supposed to be fun, Watts.”
“Fine, fine. You’re right.” she admitted, kicking her shoes off so they sat below her in front of the couch. She tucked her feet up underneath her, leaning towards him and grasping for the controller in his hands. “Show me?”
He gave it to her willingly, having loaded into a game for her to try. A few notifications popped up in the corner of people wondering if he would go live anytime soon, but he ignored them and hoped she would do the same. He didn’t care about doing anything with fans right now, he had spent most of his day streaming to distract from not seeing Natalie. Now, he was finally with her for once and this was his new priority for the time being. He could blend the two together later – right now he just wanted to spend time with her to take in how much his heart raced every time she brushed against his skin.
Octavio put his arm around her, scooting closer as she fumbled with a few buttons to see what they all did. He pointed out a few things, trying to explain it at a pace she would be comfortable with and watched her eagerly as she attempted to play one of his games. It was admirable to see her trying to enjoy something new, even if she did seem frustrated with it at times.
“What do you do for fun?” he asked. “It’s obviously not this.”
“I work on my inventions. Electricity isfun to me.” she replied, her tone serious as she looked over at him and took her attention away from the game. She shrugged, knowing her answer bored most but she didn’t care. “I also have some other hobbies that I’ve been picking up. Hound was teaching me how to take care of a garden, so I have that set up back home. I have an old vinyl collection, listening to it is magical, like another world when you play anything off of it. Papa found the player for me one year for my birthday. It was stuffed away in my mother’s things that we thought had went missing. I also found a Nessie that year I thought I lost!”
She paused to think, tapping her finger on the controller with a ‘hm’.
“I enjoy morning runs! We may have that in common, since well, I know you adore running everywhere.” she exclaimed, looking to him to find an amused look on his face causing her to stop and shake her head in confusion. “What?”
“Has anyone ever told you when you get talking about stuff you care about your whole face lights up?” he grinned, captivated by her as she was speaking. He ran his thumb over her shoulder and it only made her flush a deep red in the cheeks.
“You asked!” she laughed, trying to brush away the look on her face and steady her breath though it wasn’t working.
“Keep talking about it.” he urged, scooting in closer on the couch. “What are you working on right now?”
“W-what do you mean?”
“You said electricity is fun, chica! What are you working on?”
She widened her eyes slightly, her mouth forming an ‘o’ shape as she realized he was truly interested in her words. She was so used to people not understanding or taking the time to care that it was a breath of fresh air to hear him ask her about it.
“Oh! I’ve been working my own abilities lately. I’ve found a way to channel my electric charge through my suit and into my shield. It took a while, considering if it malfunctions I could fry myself from the inside.” she giggled softly before continuing, “It’s still very low powered. Mainly because I was planning on easing into a higher voltage after preliminary testing. I’m hoping to boost it a little so it does more of a difference in the arena later. I just want to test it first before I go tweaking anything, that way I know what the problems are before I go back to alter anything. It’ll save time so I don’t have to pry the whole thing open each time I find a problem.”
“Whoa, okay so, you figured out how to cheat your shield?” he replied, asking for clarification. He liked the concept of it, it was similar to his own abilities but he was already hopeful to see if he could borrow the tech in game to try himself.
“It is not cheating! You regain your own health back, it’s just as fair as that.” she said defensively.
“I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” he said trying to reassure her, “it’s actually pretty sick you can do that. It’s like a running current through your suit then? You’re literally carrying around electricity all the time – why hadn’t I realized that sooner?”
“It’s pretty flash-y.“ she sputtered out, a giggle following her pun.
He shot her a look with a laugh, shaking his head. “That was decent, I’ll give you that.”
“Merci!” she replied with another laugh, looking back at the screen that glowed back with a pause screen. She clicked it back into the actual game and attempted to play again.
She fumbled with the controller for a little while but started to understand the mechanic after sometime, becoming more fluid with it as he helped where needed. He had moved behind her on the couch overtime, reaching around her whenever she accidentally came too close to death to swoop her out of the bad situation. She got through a few of the levels with minimal assistance from him, but was growing tired as her eyes were wearing down from staring at the screen. Octavio hadn’t seemed to be bothered by it but she was becoming sensitive to the light after a few hours. She had leaned backwards, sitting in between his legs and resting against his chest as he played the game with his arms wrapped around her.
She glanced over at the clock on the wall, shocked to see the time had ticked far past what she thought it was. She must have been distracted from the night, getting too involved with the game and her company with Octavio to even notice the passing of the hours. It was too late into the night now to salvage her sleep. It would be 4 in morning soon, and following quickly after that at six was going to be when she had to get up for the day. She was accepting the lack of sleep part already when she tapped his arms to let her out of his grasp.
He did as he was asked, though bummed about it, and watched as she stood up to gather her shoes.
“I should go…” she said, quietly.
“No…” he grumbled, setting the controller down immediately at her words and grabbing for her hands. “Come with me, instead. We can go get breakfast before everyone is in the restaurant.”
“You haven’t slept, Tavi.” she replied, shifting on her heel as she looked down at him on the couch.
“And?”
“…Neither have I?” she said with a small laugh, unsure of why this was a conversation when they had to be up soon for work.
“But they serve coffee,” he paused, “and tea.”
She groaned softly, smiling at him despite her annoyance with his battle for her to say yes. It was endearing to see him try so hard to get her to stay, and she did really want to stay.
“Can I swing by my suite first so I can take care of Nikola for the morning and change?” she asked, looking down at her clothes and then back at him.
“Duh.” he nodded with a smile, hopping to his feet to pull her in by the waist. “Anything, Watts.”
She smiled at him, holding back the flutter of butterflies in her stomach at his words. She hesitated, moving away from him and towards the door putting her shoes on one at a time. “I’ll meet you downstairs?”
“You bet.”
He sidestepped ahead of her, beating her to the door and opening it up for her with a cheeky grin. He leaned on the door frame as she walked into the hallway past him.
She turned on her heel, partially waving at him as she hurried down the hall to the elevator and tried not to think about how she wished she had done something to say goodbye besides wave. It felt so formal when she was daydreaming about the taste of his lips, wondering if he would wrap her up in his arms or they would share a quick peck before parting.
She was floating on air the entire time she was running around for the morning, her head in the clouds and incapable of thinking about anything but Octavio. She regretted missing those few days with him, wishing that she hadn’t of wasted them in her own worry but was at least happy to know it was in a better place now with the two of them. She swapped into a pair of jeans and a v-neck shirt, grabbing a jacket on her run out the door.
Octavio and Natalie weren’t apart for long, only about twenty-five minutes, mainly because the both of them hurried through everything to get back to one another as fast as possible.
Octavio was already downstairs waiting outside of the elevator door, his foot against the wall and typing away on his phone. The clicking under his fingers going speedily and sending away a few messages in a row.
The elevator dinging open brought his attention up, looking over to see if it was who he was hoping it would be; and when he caught sight of her blonde hair, he knew it was Natalie.
He quickly adjusted his mask and goggles so he looked alright, running a hand through his hair as she approached him. Every time he saw her it was like the first time now, hitting a brick wall and falling to pieces repeatedly. The thrill of knowing she felt the same for him made it that much more fulfilling.
He instantly hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her in and over to the side of the elevator he was tucked up on. She shrieked slightly from him popping out of seemingly nowhere, but it settled into a laugh once she realized it was him. He pulled his mask down to his chin, giving her a quick peck on the cheek along her scar before putting it back on.
Natalie blushed furiously instantly and looked around to see if they were alone, making him chuckle to himself at her instant concern. It was adorably easy to rile her up.
“No one’s awake yet, we’re fine.”
“I just don’t want to ruin this just yet by including fans, and they happen to be everywhere here.” she said, smiling slightly at him as she looked him up and down. He had partially changed into one of his normal outfits in the arena minus the battle gear; his shorts sitting at his hips, and his abs peeking out from underneath his t-shirt slightly. She hated staring at him because she didn’t want to get caught, but she never really stopped to let herself do it prior and she was finally letting herself admit the attraction she had for him to herself.
He shrugged, understanding her concern but not wanting to stop with his affectionate displays. He enjoyed watching her face blush up too much; it being the opposite color of her eyes shining back at him. He tapped her gently on the chin once before pulling out his phone to check on his messages. “So, hermosa, change of plans from breakfast. We really won’t be running into anybody because Che needs a ride back into town, her van broke down. Plus, says she’s unfit to drive anyway. Don’tknow what that means but I imagine we’ll find out.” he shook the keys to one of the cars sitting out back in his hand, smiling widely under his mask. “Care for another joyride, instead?”
“Oh, I was going to get some-”
“Tea?” he replied, scooping a cup off of the bench beside him and handing it to her.
She took the drink partially flustered but thanked him quietly. It was a kind gesture that didn’t serve him in anyway and it made it that much more thoughtful, especially when she never thought he had stopped to notice these sorts of things before. “Merci. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I felt bad the plans changed so suddenly, figured you’d want it for the road.” he shrugged, trying not to linger too much on the sentiment. He stopped, back tracking and rubbing at the back of his neck. He hadn’t stopped to ask her if she wanted to even come along, he’d just assumed.
“Unless you don’t wanna come, that’s fine too.” he added on swiftly.
“Do not feel bad, I understand! Ajay needs assistance, that’s more important. I don’t want her getting busted being off property, not all of us can sneak around like you in the daytime.” Natalie smiled, zipping up her jacket since they would be going outside and pulling up her hood. “I’ll gladly tag along!”
He snickered at her words, offering his arm for her so they could walk out together. He was half expecting her to turn him down because of her worry of being caught but she glanced around once and must have decided it was alright to do, and he was happy for it. “The trick is to act like you belong and no one stops you until you break something; at least in my experience.”
She took a sip of her drink, giggling into the cup as she hooked her arm into his to start the walk to the back lot. “You are basically a professional at this point, I suppose, then! How many places are you banned from again?”
“A handful.”
“How vague.” she teased, disconnecting their arms and pushing open the back door with her hip. She turned on her heel, looking back at him as the door rested against her side and held it while he caught up. He wasn’t lingering behind for any reason other than he couldn’t stop watching her move, and he felt badly for it every time it happened but couldn’t stop wondering about what stopped him from noticing her before. Each time he saw her he spotted something new and added it to his list of things that drew him to her. She had her own air about her – down to the way she bounced on her feet to walk around, her resonating laughter, the way her hips swayed, the sparkling excitement in her eyes whenever they came across something fun.
He placed his hand on the door above her head, propping it open for her.
They walked outside together, slightly in a hurry to pick up Ajay on the outskirts of town. The pavement was still wet from the rain through the night, but the clouds above finally started to dissipate and fall apart. Natalie took a deep breath, stalling partially, the smell of wet soil prominent in the air and the quiet chirping morning starting to appear though it wasn’t light out yet.
The two hurried to the car, Octavio snagging her door and opening it for her before sliding over the hood to hop into the driver side; simultaneously sliding open his messages to Ajay as he started the engine up.
She huffed at him, laughing under her breath as she got into the car. She didn’t even have enough time to react, him moving too fast for her to stop it.
She dropped back into her seat, stretching out and watching him typing away on his phone.
He replied quickly to Ajay, telling her he was on the way and tossed his phone on the dashboard before pulling out of the spot to drive off.
Natalie took another drink of her tea as she leaned forward, turning on the radio and leaving it on a lower setting. The hum of the morning news came from the speakers and she skipped around the channels until she found something that was playing music. The base beat of the song reminded her of the fact that Ajay had thrown the event last night, wondering if Octavio had given up going or was never planning to go at all.
“I was kind of surprised you did not go to her gig last night.” she started, looking over at him in the driver seat as she rolled her window down slightly to let fresh air through the car. “I thought that’s where you would be, anyway.”
“I’d be anywhere you are.” he cleared his throat nervously after his words, gripping the steering wheel under his fingers. That was a bittoo honest. “It’d be great going to one of her shows with you, though. Would you wanna do that sometime?”
“Of course!” she eagerly agreed, reaching out to wrap her hand around his arm. “Just tell me when and where.”
“I thought I’d have to convince you.” he chuckled, easing his nerves and letting out a shaky breath though riding the high it was giving him to feel that way.
“Non, I promised you I would try new things, didn’t I?”
He tilted his head to the side, pursing his lips together with a nod. He wasn’t going to fight that logic, especially when it benefited him.
Natalie rested back in the passenger seat, taking a sip of her tea as she looked out the window and mindlessly drew shapes on his arm with her fingertips. She was watching out the window as the buildings passed by, them driving through the downtown area again but this time passing right by the road to where they got shakes and continuing further out of the city instead of turning.
Her touch sent chills down his spine, him sitting up more as they got closer to where they were headed to get Ajay but unable to shake the feeling in his chest that pounded and swirled. It felt false to know she was beside him, wanting to be here with him just the same as he wanted to be with her. Yet, the touch of her fingertips and his pulse racing in his chest told him it was all very real.
He pulled into a dirt parking lot, slowing the car down as he circled the lot to find the van. In the middle of the lot stood a warehouse with a few cars and the van parked out around it. Ajay was propped on the side of her van and sitting in an oversized hoodie and yawning slightly as the car pulled up. She had a can in her hand, crumpling it up and tossing it into the back of the van as she finished off the last gulp.
Octavio parked, rolling down his window as soon as it halted in place. He hopped out of the window, standing on the driver seat to look over the vehicle and yelling over the top of the car. “Che!”
Natalie giggled to herself at the scene, rolling her window all the way down to watch as Ajay caught wind of his yells.
Ajay closed the van door it sliding shut with a click, taking her bag with her and strolled over to the car with a confused look on her face. She squinted, looking into the passenger side to see who was there but couldn’t make them out of the shadow from the lights overhead in the parking lot.
“Hey, how’s it?” she asked, leaning down slowly and into the window to see who was in the passenger seat as Octavio dropped back down into the car.
He bounced once, leaning onto the passenger seats back to look out the window at Ajay who was letting her eyes adjust to the interior of the car.
“Who didjya- oh, hey Nat.” Ajay said, smirking to herself before moving to get into the backseat of the car.
“Been alright, we’ve been up all night.” he said, looking into the backseat as the door opened but let his hand trail along Natalie’s leg for a minute.
Ajay faked a retching noise, sliding in as she did and dropped her bag at her feet. “I do not need to know anything else. Bit soon, huh?”
“Get your head out of the gutter,” he laughed, looking over at Natalie to make sure she wasn’t uncomfortable with the conversation.
She must have caught his glance of worry, because she squeezed his hand gently and turned to look behind her at Ajay. He readjusted how he was sat in the driver seat, gripping the steering wheel to leave.
He tapped his foot impatiently, partially from waiting until the door was closed so he could drive off again; but he would be lying if he wasn’t anxious to hear what Natalie had to say.
He focused on his driving but occasionally peeked at Natalie out of the corner of his eye as she spoke.
“We played video games! He showed me the controls and I got to level nine basically all by myself. So, I would say that I obtained a new skill, kind of! It’s been a productive night. We were going to get breakfast, but you needed a ride so I decided to come with. I hope that’s alright.”
“Yuh were gonna go get breakfast after spending all night together?” she declared back with a wide smile, eyeing Octavio in the rearview mirror. It was some kind of progress and she couldn’t deny how happy it made her to see, especially when she was worried that he wouldn’t be able to commit to the idea in the first place. It was a start and she was hoping there was more to it than just a night spent together.
“What about it?” Octavio asked, speeding up the vehicle to get back to hotel before anybody would be back at the front desk. He also wanted to get away from this conversation with Ajay, he was weary of the ground underneath Natalie and himself and wasn’t sure if anything could break it just yet. He wasn’t ready to let go of Natalie; and a slightly intoxicated Ajay, as he was beginning to realize he was dealing with, was knowledgeable enough to say just the wrong things.
“What do you mean‘what about it’, seriously you two?” Ajay groaned, raising an eyebrow in confusion. She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. Her head dropped back against the headrest, her eyes closing momentarily.
She sighed, shaking her head at them and opened her eyes with a squint. “I’ve had quite a few tonight and am still sort of runnin’ on a buzz, and while I appreciate yuh both coming to get me and all I gotta ask… are you two dating now or what? It’s been clear for a minute now that yuh both have some kind of feeling for-”
“We’re just seeing how things go, hermana. Mira, do you want me to stop for some food or something?” he interrupted to ask her; a bit worried at the state of her but more at her words, glancing back in the rearview mirror as he drove. He darted a glance at Natalie, worried about her reaction too. He could tell he couldn’t stop anything Ajay would say, her filter uncapped, but he hoped Natalie wouldn’t take it too strongly.
“M’ sorry, I just can’t stand that you both keep talking to me about each other and it’s like – just kiss already, you know? I got one of yuh in this ear and the other over there. Stop tellin’ me yuh wanna but can’t.” she exhaled heavily, hiccuping. Her arm stretched out over the backseat, and Ajay slid down onto her stomach in a slow motion. She rested her cheek against the cool fabric of the seat, yawning once and closing her eyes again.
Natalie hid her smile as she glanced back at Ajay, biting down on her bottom lip to hide her amusement and leaning over to Octavio with a stifled giggle. “Is she going to be alright for interviews today?”
Chapter Nine (previous chapter)(next chapter)|(start over) SUMMARY:The legends head to Psamathe for three weeks. [CONT.] RATING:K-T SHIPS: Wattson and Octane TAGS:alcohol, food mention, fluff, angst, slow burn around 16.2k words
An alarm blaring at his side and knocking coming from the door awoke Octavio from his slumber. He had a headache pounding profusely as he came to his senses. It was morning, that much he knew from the light pouring through his curtains, but he wished for more time to sleep away the hangover.
He grumbled out, pulling the pillow over his head to block out the noise and light. He had no desire to leave his bed, knowing that the first event was awaiting him downstairs. He was going to have to face cameras and questions when all he had was questions of his own.
The alarm continued to beep insistently and it only made his headache worse but he was stuck laying in the bed, forcing his eyes shut to try to block it out.
The flashbacks of everything that happened last night came back like a stifling nightmare.
He wanted to waste away and just disappear into the bed, though he knew whoever was behind his door seemed too persistent to leave.
He wished he could rewind time and redo the entire day over. He would’ve spent it differently and appreciated another kind of day with Natalie, one he could actually remember. Instead, he was dreading seeing her after he vaguely remembered showing up at her door. He couldn’t really remember anything from the party besides Natalie; she was all that he could summon in his foggy brain shrouded by the alcohol he drank that night. He knew because of this the majority of the day would be rocky at best trying to piece his memory together.
Octavio peeked over the pillow as the door opened, the sound of footsteps approaching the edge of his bed. They must have gotten a key from the front desk, he thought. He spotted the shoes at the floor, knowing they were now standing above his bed and groaned quietly.
“No.” he grumbled as the barrier between him and the world was torn from his hands, the pillow flying across the room.
Above him, Elliott stood with an impatient look on his face. His arms crossed over his chest and his foot tapping sarcastically, shaking his head with a ‘tsk’.
“You don’t get a say so here, man. I’d say I’m sorry but it’s not my fault you’re this wrecked. I’ve never seen you drink that much.” he said, pulling the blankets back from Octavio and onto the floor. “You are so late it’s not even funny and I don’t have time to stick around to make sure you get up. I told Ajay I’d come do this because she’s already in an interview and mine starts in fifteen. So, if you follow the problem here… maybe get out of bed.”
Octavio glared at Elliott as he spoke, throwing one of the other pillows on the bed at his head. It missed and flew past, landing on the ground near the other one. Octavio groaned faintly, watching Elliott walk around the room and shot him a pained look. “Compadre, begging you to keep it down.”
Elliott shook his head, wandering to open each of the curtains for extra measure. “Yeah, well, get over that because it is loud and it is busy downstairs. Oh, and guess what you have to go. It’s nine and you have no time to get ready. Good luck.”
The light shone in and Octavio put his hand to his eyes, wincing from the piercing headache. He let out a frustrated sigh, reattaching his legs and standing with a lazy stretch.
Elliott gave him a thumbs up, leaving out the door he never should’ve been able to open if Octavio had a say.
Once the door latched closed, he was left alone with his headache and regrets from last night again. Now, torn too far from sleep to be able to lay back down to hide from the day.
He’d rather be late to his interview, which wasn’t something he’d ever think he would say.
Normally, he would sprint at the chance to be in front of a camera, he was consistently in front of one by choice anyway with his livestreams, but he had no mindset to answer questions today. He didn’t want to even try. He could try to dodge most of the event if he tried and hope he could talk himself out of it later, though knew it was inevitable for him to have to go. He just had to hope that he could find Natalie amongst the chaos of the day, he needed to see her after last night. He needed to make sure he didn’t do something unmanageable.
The idea of damage control was never in his knowledge. He wasn’t the type to follow up a mistake with an apology, not unless it benefited him in some way. He never did anything wrong, just things other people found discouraging. He scraped by to keep people from being mad at him, and it was normally enough with his grin and excuses. He just didn’t feel alright with leaving last night alone, even if he wasn’t sure what exactly happened. It involved Natalie, it felt off, and that alone propelled him to change trajectories.
A new plan; focus on Natalie and hope maybe he could find a quiet moment to tell her how he felt.
If he could just tell her how he felt things would change, they would be different, he was sure of it.
Even though the thought of telling her how he felt meant being vulnerable, and that was almost enough to send him running the other direction like it always did. Natalie had become a guiding force, though, and even if he was terrified, he wasn’t turning back. He decided that a while ago and it only cemented itself now.
He would find her and talk to her and sort out everything – though it seemed all too familiar in hindsight. Did he do this last night? He wasn’t sure. He just felt like something had happened and didn’t know what. The looming disaster sat in the back of his head but he wasn’t sure why. He could muster the memory of dancing and Natalie, that burning of the alcohol going down, and the thumping of his heartrate all night; besides that, he was running on empty for ideas of what had went down entirely.
He only knew so much from what was real last night and it all felt like sorrows of things he did wrong.
It put a weight on him not being able to figure out what happened while feeling so terribly. He had to find someone to set the story straight. He knew one of the best choices, though most likely uncomfortable, would be Natalie. She was the one thing striking through his memory of the night, so it was the best place to start to put it all back together in his head.
The option to talk to anyone who was at the party was there but he actually wanted to see Natalie, and this was an easy way to do both at the same time. Even though he was going in unaware of if he may had done something terribly wrong last night. He had no idea if he told her how he felt and it made him slightly apprehensive. He wanted to tell her, truthfully, but what if he had but forgotten it?
What if he told her and she shunned him?
He tore through his luggage on the floor, tossing a few things to the side and tried to find something presentable to wear. What exactly was determined presentable to them he wasn’t sure, but he knew it wasn’t going to be his normal wardrobe. He was also struck with the new question of Natalie and her opinions on what he would wear – since when did that matter? He never cared about anyone’s opinion but his own, but now he was subconsciously double checking for pieces in his bag that he thought would catch her attention.
He rummaged through the suitcase, tossing through some of his clothes and tried to find the most suitable thing he could use.
He found a pair of looser fitted black pants that were tailored a bit higher on his leg, retching slightly as he realized this was going to be his life for the next three weeks before continuing to search for a top.
The room was too quiet compared to how much he was thinking right now, and it didn’t help soothe his nerves at all. Now that he had decided to just try to tell her how he felt, he couldn’t relax. He paced into the bathroom as he adjusted his goggles and mask onto his face with the shirt he chose tucked in his hand.
He thought he’d assembled a decent outfit, pulling the sheer white button up on and tucking it into his pants. He looked at himself in the mirror as he got ready, looking himself from side to side with a sigh. Given the fact he hated having to wear it, at least he looked decently good. He rushed through applying some hair product, and decided it was as good as it came right now with the time limit he had.
He was late but he didn’t need to make it worse. He already knew he wasn’t headed directly to his interview.
He cracked his neck from side to side, shaking his fingers through his hair one last time and checked his appearance in the mirror. Satisfied, he turned the light off, hurrying around and making sure he had everything for the day.
He bolted out the door, letting the door slam behind him as he took off down the hall. A small line of fans waiting at the elevators detoured him to the staircase instead, pulling open the doors to start his descent to the main floor. He didn’t need the quality time with his own mind, but he had it, and all that he could think about was Natalie.
The thought of her morphing with his desire for adrenaline – as it felt the same in his heart, beating wildly in his chest.
The sound of his feet on the concrete stairs made his headache worse, and he was trying to get the walk over with as fast as possible for more than one reason. The distant sound of chatter that grew louder the closer he got made him realize just how busy the event was this year and hoped it would make sneaking around that much easier.
Octavio slammed through the doors at the lowest level, using his elbow to push the door open and slowed his pace once he entered into the crowded lobby. A few people spotted him, taking some photos and gaping at him as he passed them by but the majority of the crowd didn’t notice his entrance. He glanced around the room, scanning the faces.
What was filled with workers yesterday was now filled with fans and executives of the games today. Vendors and people with lanyard passes around their necks walking from room to room. It was flooded with people and he knew Natalie would hate it, so the chance to find her would be slim since she wouldn’t stay long in the lobby. He didn’t know when her interview started or where to look, but he was determined to track her down before he did anything else today.
A piece of himself was telling him he had to see her, and he couldn’t argue with that.
He was on the edge of the lobby near a few of the boardrooms sectioned off for interviews. Some of the doors were closed tightly during interviews, and some doors open to welcome people to sit before one was about to start.
He walked casually through the crowd, the loud chatter shattering his headache to oblivion as he went. He rounded a corner from the stairs, peering through a few of the doors to see who was inside as he went.
He aimlessly walked past three rooms before he found what he was looking for: Natalie.
The door was almost menacing, staring through the glass circle in the door to see her on the other side. All he had to do was go inside and get her attention, he would figure out what to do from there. That was his plan, at least so far. He just needed to talk to her, he reminded himself, it was only words. If she was anything like him during these events, there was a chance she would be grateful for the excuse to leave.
He checked his surroundings to see if anyone had noticed him at the door, slinking into the room as quietly as he could, but the whirring mechanics of his legs didn’t help his stealth too much in a quiet boardroom.
A few people sitting in the back row turned to spot him. He put a finger up to his mask and then pointed back at Natalie who was speaking at the front of the room, signifying them to stay quiet and turn their attention back to Natalie as he made his way to the back wall. He didn’t want to take attention away from her by any means while she was speaking, he just needed to steal her away for a minute – or hopefully more.
He waited there silently undetected by Natalie while she answered a few questions, but she spotted him after about five minutes.
She looked over at him with a confused gaze, trailing off her sentence as she looked back at the crowd. She stalled her words, letting out an ‘um’ and a small sigh. Her eyes looked back and forth between Octavio and the rest of the crowd, unable to figure out where to go from here.
She couldn’t tell his expression because of the mask and wished they were somewhere private so they could talk one on one. The legends never normally had time to be an audience member at another interview – so why was he here? Her instant thought was worry that something had happened but knew he may just interject if it was that urgent. So, perhaps, it was because of last night.
He gestured his head towards the door, tilting it to the side when she locked eyes with him.
He wanted her to follow him. If she didn’t want to walk away from her interview she didn’t have too, but he had to try to pull her away from it. It was worth giving it a chance to see if she would come talk to him now, he couldn’t wait. Natalie had a better work ethic than most of the legends on the roster, he actually admired her for it, sometimes. It was a low percentage he would get her to come talk, but he was optimistic; as always.
Natalie tried to turn her attention back to the questions being thrown at her, most of them revolving around her pylon and some of her memorable matches that occurred over the year. She couldn’t answer them properly though, not right now. She had distracted herself all morning over her thoughts of Octavio, finally getting them to subside shortly ago. Now, that was impossible with him standing at the back of the room and beckoning her to follow.
She had wasted most of her morning lying in bed, unable to get up because her heart hurt. A feeling she hadn’t felt in a long while, and it took its toll that morning as she dragged herself around. She felt heavy as she went about the day and got ready, and even now she wasn’t feeling her normal self. Even though she and Octavio left off on a decent note it still sat sour on her tongue. Perhaps because she didn’t get what she wanted in the end and someone else could have so quickly. She felt foolish to assume she could get that attention from him, to assume anything would happen.
She felt as if she was leading herself on. It wasn’t a thought she wanted to give any more time, but it always crept back in.
She felt badly for thinking of him so often when she had no idea how much she ran across his mind, or if at all. Was it selfish to wish she was on his thoughts as much as she thought of him? She wasn’t sure, but couldn’t break the new habit.
Now, he was showing up places trying to whisk her away and she couldn’t help but want to follow the lure.
She smiled politely, folding her hands in her lap and scrunched her fingers at the yellow fabric wrapping her skin. A sundress for the day seemed ironic, when nothing about this felt bright. If anything, she was worried he had come to apologize for being so forward and put distance between the two of them. Her mind searched for the worst outcomes, trying to prepare herself for the upcoming shatter if it was around the corner.
She stood up slowly, biting at the inside of her cheek nervously while flashing a fake smile to the cameras and reporters. “Excusez-moi! It seems I may have something to attend.”
Natalie descended the few stairs from the small stage, waving at the crowd with a smile and hoped they wouldn’t mind her departure. She couldn’t turn down Octavio though, the sight of him pulling her in. She wondered if this is how it felt for him with his stim; the want and need to be around him becoming more addicting and sending her on a rush whenever he was near her.
Octavio waited as she walked towards the back of the room, taking her hand to guide her to a hiding spot and tugging her along out the door.
She followed willingly, leaving the interview she didn’t want to be at behind and tucked up around the corner with him behind a large overflowing plant. Once they were out of sight from the majority of the crowd, he rubbed his hands together and looked at her with an unnecessary chuckle because of his nerves. He felt clammy now that he was looking right at her, trying to figure out where to start now that they were face to face. Was this the wrong place to tell her this or was he making an excuse for himself?
She pulled the sleeves of her cardigan to her palms, wrapping herself up and hiding the sundress she wore under the knitted pattern. She could tell that he seemed anxious about something, and when his constant state was jittering around without pause it was harder to tell the difference. Yet, something seemed off.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, concern in her voice though quiet. She had a lot of things she wanted to say last night but knew they weren’t going to be heard so she kept them to herself. She wanted to ask him how he felt towards her after the compliments from last night, though knew it would scare him off and were most likely nothing coming from him so intoxicated. “You were really drunk last night, then you were late this morning to your interview. I was worried about you…”
He laughed, rubbing at his temple slightly and tossed an arm up in a shrug at her though it felt impersonal. He didn’t know how to defend his actions, the sound of her concern making him regret his choices even more. He was so caught up on her words of worry towards him, it always coming with such integrity that he couldn’t help but believe she actually meant it. It made him letting her down in any way that much harder to swallow. “I’m decent enough. Don’t stress about me, Watts, just overdid it. How’d you know I was running late?”
“I saw Ajay this morning.” she shifted uncomfortably in her flats, looking at him with a pain her eyes that he worried was because of him and something he had forgotten.
“Que? Did I do something?” he asked, trying to search the fuzzy memories of last night but failing to find anything reasonable. It didn’t help he had no recollection of the night besides fragments of moments that all added up to a messy timeline that made no sense to him, now he was starting to believe Natalie was the reason he felt weary towards everything.
He hated not knowing what was reality and what was his mind creating false narratives.
“Do you not remember last night?”
“Bits and pieces… care to fill me in?”
She looked around the hall they stood in, watching a few groups of people walk back and forth. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looking to the ground away from him and slid her foot from side to side across the smooth marble surface trying to gather her words. “I did not see you for most of the night, let’s say that. You were with some other… people, some people I don’t know. This being said, I’m not sure who to guide you to. I can only fill you in on what I know and, again, it isn’t much. What can you recall from last night?”
He squinted his eyes, leaning against the wall with one foot up behind him. He couldn’t understand how he wasn’t with her most of the night when all he could remember was her, but distortion to the night was evident he may not know what actually happened. He just had to ask, though he worried that asking the wrong thing would make it harder to salvage. “I remember you.”
“You remember me what?”
He hesitated to try to grasp at any little memory in his head, faltering as he spoke. “I remember visiting you.”
“You came to see me, yes. That is correct. After I left the party, you came to my suite and I saw you again. You said some things, you left. We barely spoke though aside from when I had first arrived.” she mumbled out the last few words, not wanting to relive the fan swooping in and tearing him away – and him willingly leaving her. She let him, too, which made it all the more worse. He had made amends while he was drunk but it still stung like a paper cut, minimal but existent. Now, she wasn’t even sure if he remembered what was permanently burned into her brain and it stung even worse. She wished she had his hazy film over her own memory, but she could remember him dancing against a petite blonde vividly and it filled her with such an uncomfortable ache to watch. It had sat with her all night, past him visiting her, into the morning, and now looking at him and picturing it again.
She looked away from him again, not able to keep eye contact as she just saw his goggles staring back. It felt naked to her to be showing her emotions plain as day but he had a buffer between them. She didn’t want to seem exasperated with him, but she couldn’t continue this conversation if it kept going in the direction she thought it was headed. She was dreading him asking her to track down the fan, and wanted to escape that before it started. She wouldn’t be able to return to her interview if he asked her that, she knew it would be impossible to hide her sadness. This just couldn’t be something they spoke about right now, not if she didn’t know what was coming. “Is this dire or can it wait until after the interviews?”
“Oh, come on!” he proclaimed, stepping closer to her and lowering his voice from the passerby’s. He brushed his hand along her arm, trying to get her to look at him but it didn’t work. He didn’t know what to do but he could see her closing off from him and he hated it. He tried to play off the topic, trying to draw her back into talking to him. “You know you don’t care that I took you from that. You don’t really wanna go back, right?”
She pursed her lips, looking back down the hall from where they came for a minute to see if anyone would return for her. She finally looked back at him with an uncertain look, not able to decide what was best right now. She didn’t enjoy the interviews he was right, especially today when she couldn’t think straight and just wished the questions would stop but they wouldn’t. They kept asking her the same things and it was becoming draining to try to act like she cared at all.
All she could think about was the fact she wished Octavio cared for her the same way as she did for him, but she also couldn’t fathom being able to trust the chance that one day he wouldn’t rip out of her life. He wasn’t one to provide stability, he never stayed in one place that long. So, why would he change for her? It would most likely send him leaving sooner if they tried to be together, if he even thought of her that way. At least, she worried for the absolute worse and the worst was him leaving her life.
It wasn’t an easy choice for her to decide what to do right now, if anything she felt like running out the front doors and avoiding everything. She knew it was her job to sit through these events, though, and the interviews were a part of it. It was only the start of a very long three weeks and she didn’t think that starting to sway from being punctual now was a good idea, though tempting.
A heavy sigh came from her lips and Octavio knew he lost her back to the interview. She frowned at him apologetically, taking a few steps away backwards from him before he was able to pull her in with a touch that would make her swoon. She had to think clearly right now and knew her weaknesses with him. “We could talk tonight if it’s that important. Swing by my suite before dinner?”
He nodded along, knowing he had no room to argue with her on the topic. He wasn’t going to push his luck when he didn’t even know what happened entirely last night and she seemed bent up about it. He would just have to go through the day with his worry and hope that seeing her came sooner than later.
“No problemo. I’ll be there.”
“You better.” she teased, a more playful smile briefly coming from her before it faded back to a weaker one. She couldn’t muster her normally peppy demeanor, her weariness tearing her down quickly.
She left the spot they found, hurrying back around the corner and into the room for her interview giving everyone an apology for the delay as she entered.
Octavio stood in the hall, trying to figure out what she could’ve meant by those words and knew it had to be the result of himself last night. Too many pieces were missing from the timeline and he was worried something would fall through the cracks and ruin his chances with Natalie. It was even harder to deal with the fact he knew he caused most of it by his overdrinking and poor choices, which he wouldn’t admit to anyone but himself.
He shuffled off to his own interview, feeling lowly about the entire conversation with Natalie. He had high hopes going in to it and he left it with a heaviness resting on his shoulders he wasn’t anticipating.
He put on a fake happy demeanor, slinking into the room that was already filled with people awaiting his arrival and took a seat on the stage. He readjusted his mask, zoning out slightly as the doors were pulled closed to lock him in this premade hell. He did his best to answer questions as best as he could as they fired them at him, but he didn’t have the same focus he normally did and a few people noticed. Typing on phones and whispers among the crowd. He was hopeful no fans would poke at him on his social, not wanting to deal with them calling him out for acting just slightly different than expected. He was already shoved into clothes he hated, even though he did tweak the dress code for his own comfort and style. He had to deal with the devastated feeling in him with no escape from it right now.
He let the time pass him by without paying close attention to much that was happening in the room, despite being the main focus of the crowd. His mind was on what to say to Natalie later. How to ask her out of the blue to give him a shot on the romantic venture seemed like a fever dream he just concocted. He had spent so long trying to avoid letting her know, trying to find the best possible moment to tell her and plan to win her over then and there. Telling her meant giving her the chance to say no and it was being subconsciously avoided by always finding an excuse to wait. Yet, he was sick and tired of waiting; it wasn’t in his blood to sit around and wait. If he we wanted something he took it, he conquered. In his head, it went like clockwork, but he knew it most likely couldn’t ever get anywhere substantial the way he had originally planned.
He was being too careful about it and lost his courage somewhere along the way, but he had somewhat found it after this morning when he woke to the lack of memory and the fear of losing her.
He’d never been scared like that before, feeling helpless to something you can’t watch break. He needed to put himself back down firmly on the ground in order to shove himself off the metaphorical cliff that was telling Natalie how he felt about her. He felt ready enough to do that, ready enough to stop caring about his worries and just drive forward.
After an hour of questions that felt like longer, he finally was released into the main lobby from his interview. He was given a break for a few hours until his next event, which would sadly be more questions that mimicked the first round but with new people who thought it was fresh news. This time was normally to be spent getting a snack or taking a break, the break in the day for them to use wisely. They didn’t get much time to themselves normally during the day.
The second he was freed from the interview he was looking around for Natalie, and wandered the main floor for his entire break trying to track her down. He popped a few stims to hurry his search, getting a few people to notice him walking around as he passed in a breeze and had to stop for some autographs.
He ran into a few fans, Ajay, and Fuse; but, to his dislike, no Natalie.
He knew he would see her later. It was guaranteed that he would, but he still wanted to see her again – now. The reason was only partially because she looked appealing in a sundress that wrapped her up in all the right places to expose her curves, peeking out from behind the cardigan when she walked. It was hard to avoid now that he was taking notice of her, things he never saw before were becoming apparent to him. He also couldn’t wait much longer because he was desperate to move things into something more and soon. He felt like he was losing his mind from all the waiting, a sickness inside of him that nestled in his heart and wouldn’t leave him alone. He kept it all to himself, bottled within him and made a long day longer.
Ajay brought him up to speed on what had happened, including the conversation he’d forgotten in the bathroom with Loba and Anita. That wasn’t a pleasant conversation by any means hearing her tell the tale, which he was putting up there as one of the worst nights he’d had overdrinking. He didn’t like hearing any of it but had to sit through it, unable to control the outcome.
Now that he was caught up on the events of the night, he was desperate to see Natalie but incapable of tracking her down or having the time to talk.
He gave up his search for her during the off time as his break came to an end, going into his second interview for the day though he didn’t want too and just wishing it passed faster than the first. He reluctantly did as he was expected this time, though he wasn’t as engaged as people hoped today.
- -
The screaming of fans as Natalie passed by them at the end of the day was enough to hurry her pace back to her suite. Though she loved them dearly for all they gave her she was wearing thin on the noise and commotion.
All day she had been daydreaming of the camping trip, the clearing and the melodic chatter of birds – Octavio at her side as the two had floated around and played in the water together as the night passed them by. It was the saving grace during the interviews for her, thinking about that day and everything it was. Even if she was split with how she felt towards Octavio, it kept her sane through the day reminiscing. If she hadn’t of been daydreaming of it, she assumed she would’ve snapped and started crying five minutes through the second interview from mental exhaustion alone.
She wanted to get out of the hotel and away from the ruckus of the high-scale event, but knew it wasn’t possible with curfew for the legends. It was becoming later in the night, the clock going to strike a new hour for dinner soon. To make matters worse, it seemed no matter where she turned she found a group of people awaiting someone eager to talk with. A majority of the legends, like herself, most often than not were too polite to turn away a fan. Most of them did care about the people who supported them in the arena, wanting to give that back during these kinds of events. It leading to constant streams of people wanting a minute of her time, which turned into an hour or three because she couldn’t say no.
It was nice until she remembered that she had meet and greets to attend to this week. So, most of these fans were just fate in passing her in the hall and she was offering more of her time than needed; but as always, did it kindly even when it drained her.
Right now, she didn’t have any spare seconds for anyone knowing that she had to meet Octavio soon. So, she did her best to avoid groups where possible.
She had the entire day to cope with the chances of him wanting her to help him track down the fan from last night, and was feeling lighter on that being what could come from him. She had gotten herself back into a better mindset revolving around their friendship, using her desire to be around him as an excuse to push past everything else. She was hopeful his company alone would be enough. Longing for a friend to be something more had become so painful, but unable to avoid. This was her only solution, one she kept having to shove back into her head as what she should be doing. She couldn’t lose him if they were friends, they couldn’t hurt one another in that way if they werejustfriends.
She was walking tiredly down the hallway of her floor, her arms wrapped around her cardigan that she took off on the walk upstairs. She would’ve taken the elevator but it was swarmed with people and the walk gave her a bit of peace.
She was running low on caring to be social with people and blamed the never-ending interviews she had to sit through today for causing it to be so. The only person she even wanted to see was Octavio, knowing that his presence always brought a sense of happiness or calmness to her.
A familiar metal tapping from down the hall made her quicken her pace to her suite, finding Octavio already standing outside her door.
He was leaning against the wall, one hand shoved in a pocket of his shorts. He had apparently wasted no time changing out of his formal wear, and Natalie wasn’t surprised.
He had on his normal tanktop and short combo, but added a larger fit jacket that ran long on him over it all. He’d redone his hair, doubled up on his piercings, and found a few rings to wear in his bag he’d thought he lost. He had on his mask, but no goggles.
She giggled faintly to herself, surprised to see him here so soon and already prepared to leave, and skipping to a stop in front of him.
“Tavi! You’re here already!” she said, smiling softly at him with a tiny wave.
He looked up from his phone once he heard her voice, shoving it into his jacket pocket. He took a large breath to prepare himself and let it go after a few seconds. “I talked to Ajay. She told me what happened.”
Natalie’s smile faded a bit, nodding at him as she walked past him to open her door, unlocking it. She wasn’t sure what that meant exactly, and it rocked her confidence knowing what she knew. “Oh. And?”
“I don’t even know who I was with all night, they weren’t important.” he expressed quickly, following behind her into the suite. He closed the door with his foot and lingered there trying to think of how to explain himself correctly and concisely.
“Is that all?” she asked, not stopping to talk face to face. Instead, Natalie walked into her kitchen, placing her cardigan on the lounge as she passed it. She opened the cabinet to retrieve two glasses, putting them on the counter and grabbed a pitcher for some water. She opened the fridge to her side, grabbing an energy drink out of the door and cracking the can open to pour it over ice for him.
He held back a smile as he watched her slide the glass towards him. She hadn’t even bothered to ask or wonder about the gesture. She just knew him in a way that he didn’t think other people cared too, she did things to be kind not for benefit. This wasn’t just shield cells in the arena, this was her taking the time to memorize him as a person even though he barricaded most of his past and personality from everyone. He never mentioned his favorite drink, but it sat in the door of her fridge clearly placed there for if he visited her suite. She chose to pay attention to him and learn things when he wouldn’t tell people them, and he couldn’t help but notice the small things adding up with the two of them. His heart swelled as he realized all of this at once and then he began to belittle himself for feeling so weak in the knees from a drink. He was off in his own world realizing how much she cared for him, and because of that trying to know what to say became much more difficult.
“Gracias.” he took the glass in his hand, tugging his mask down momentarily to take a sip as he eyed her walking around the kitchen getting food together for Nikola.
“Mira, I’ve been trying to figure out how to say this but I don’t think I’ll ever get the right words-” he trailed off, looking down into his glass and watching the ice move around. He tugged at the corner of his mask, trying to readjust it slightly even though it sat perfectly fine on his face.
Natalie turned her gaze to him as his voice got more serious, setting down the dish of food on the floor and walking over to him on the other side of the bar to give him her full attention.
“Did I do something?” she asked, a bit worried now that it seemed to be a long running topic coming to light with how he phrased it.
“No! No, nothing like that.” he reassured, having to backtrack to another phrase. He paused, taking off his mask and set it on the counter next to his drink. He exhaled a shaky breath, the feeling resembling adrenaline but more so labeled as fear as he tried to find a way to preface his questions. “Can I ask you something?”
She looked at him intently, trying to read his face for any sign of how he was feeling and nodded in reply. “Toujours, what is it?”
He reached his hand up, running his fingers through his hair and down to the back of his neck. He looked at Natalie who was leaning against the counter to look up at him with worry in her eyes and knew he wasn’t going about this in a very suave manner. He was embarrassed with himself that he was acting such a fool around her, unable to spit out flirtatious one-liners because his thoughts vanished the second he looked into her eyes. Would she turn him down? Was this a bad idea?
Was it too late to stop now?
He felt like backing down in that second, so naturally, it only made him jump head first instead. One step backward, five forward.
“If I asked you out to dinner, not like for just… fuck. This is so lame, isn’t it?” he laughed nervously, looking up towards the ceiling to find his bearings to speak. He was terrified now that she was standing right in front of him despite preparing himself for this question all day – really for weeks now he had been thinking about how to ask her this. He just didn’t know what she would say back, and it could be what he didn’t want to hear. He didn’t want her to say no. “Natalie, I know we’ve been… you know I’ve considered you just an… my amiga… for a while now, yeah? If I asked you out sometime, would that be… okay with you?”
Natalie froze as he spoke to her, taking in each word as they came and tried to process each as quickly as possible while he looked to her for a reply. She had felt like this had been an emotional rollercoaster she was stuck on with him in the forefront, and it had just reached a new height she didn’t see coming where he apparently liked her too. She had her theories, but they were just theory not fact. It wasn’t at all what she anticipated him to say, if anything she was blindsided but slowly adding up past interactions in her head to find that maybe this wasn’t all that out of the blue; the problem might have just been her missing signs that stood so brightly in front of her it blocked out reality. All the comments she passed off as friendly, maybe weren’t only just.
She knew how she felt about him lately, knowing that the questions of whether he would be interested in her could be true were all she thought about; but the fact he was asking her out to dinner felt like a fantasy. She could’ve pinched herself, it felt so unreal considering not even twenty-four hours ago she was questioning whether he even noticed her existence that way and if she would ever get that option. She was spending the entire day trying to remind herself of the exact opposite of his proposal now. Even with the backlogged compliments she seemingly forgot about until now, she couldn’t believe he was standing in her suite asking her to go out on a date. Was that what was happening? Had she dreamt it up? She was quite tired from the day.
Natalie crinkled her nose, taking a breath but no words came out. She wanted to blurt out yes, wanted to put caution to the wind and take the chance, but it was hard not to avoid the whole reason it worried her to begin with.
The idea of losing him still stayed even though he was asking her to give them a try, that she knew. Just because you want it doesn’t mean you can have it, and it surely never means you’ll be able to keep it forever. In her world, nothing lasted forever. Everything would always drift itself away from you somehow, unable for you to grasp it back into your life no matter how hard you tried. She feared the flow of life, though she tried to ignore it through science based fact. Change was not her strong suit.
She didn’t want Octavio to have the fate of leaving her life forever. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing him, even if it meant hurting herself in the process but she couldn’t hurt him either. It was a twisted mess that rattled both of them, and she stood silent far too long for Octavio to keep quiet any longer.
“I’m begging you to say something.” he said, his voice breaking as he shifted nervously where he stood. He was panicked that she was trying to find a way to turn him down politely, not sure if he was ready for the answer that he dreaded if it did come.
She pursed her lips together, smiling slightly at him though the worry was stricken through her. She tried to focus more on the positive aspect of all of this: the fact he may feel the same towards her. It was a small part of the whole picture, but it fulfilled one part of her that wished for more. “Are you… asking me out on a date, Octavio? ”
“Do you want me to be?” he replied, quietly. He looked into her eyes, trying to find the answer to the question that was eating him from the inside out but could only see hesitation coming from her. He didn’t know why she was holding back, but only assumed it was because of his actions from last night.
“Are you sure this would be a good idea for the two of us?” she asked him instead of answering his question. She just couldn’t stop worrying about losing him and it crept in to warn her of the downfalls, one problem causes another. Her stress outweighed the drive to step forward into trying.
He sighed heavily, reaching in to take her hand into his.
She looked down as they intertwined their fingers together with a buzz of a feeling in her heart, him pulling her closer and resting their hands in-between the two of them.
“If we get to the end of press week and you don’t think it’s a good idea, we can just… pretend we never tried.” he offered, trying to give her some sort of reassurance that it would be okay for the two, no matter what, but her face read that it didn’t change her thoughts. She still seemed just as closed off as she did before. “Come on, pleasegive me a chance.”
“You know that’s not it.” she whined, refusing to look at anything but their hands. “What if you can’t look at me one day because of something that happens and we never speak again? I really do cherish you in my life and I don’t want to risk-”
“Youcherish me?” he teased, tilting her head up by her chin gently and grinning at her.
“Oh, stop it. I mean that your friendship is important and risking that seems to be fruitless in nature.” Natalie blushed a deep red, shoving his hand away and looking down away from him. She tore away from the embrace, creating a few steps of space between them and looked out towards the balcony instead. “How will we know it’ll work out after press week? What if it fails down the line and we grow to resent one another? I’m not certain that one day something won’t just change with us. People grow, become new beings, want new things. That is a process of life, sadly, le changement est inévitable.”
“I don’t really know how people stay in long-term happy relationships, it’s not my forte to understand. I just know that I really like being with you and I think that can be enough to try.” he said, closing the space she created between them and placing his hand on her shoulder to turn her to face him.
She turned on her heel, looking up at him. He seemed sincere and she didn’t normally see this sort of tone coming from him.
“I don’t know…”
He brushed her hair behind her ear, swallowing his worry that she wouldn’t even give them a chance. He was putting his entire heart on the chopping block for her, giving her the ability to smash it into pieces. It was something he never entrusted anyone to hold, out of fear they would drop it.
He never got attached to people he had dated before; they were always distractions in-between the mundane. He never gave them that part of himself, it stayed closed off. Natalie was so far on a different scale he never even went before. He never thought he would ever even allow someone this close to him to be able to even hurt him at all. He was actually asking for love for one of the first times in his life but his vulnerability was showing for the first time as well by doing so. He felt raw and he hated it, but also sent him on a spiral that made it impossible to think or breathe. How he could hate feeling so open but also want to split himself apart more because the rush of her knowing him was a drug within itself, he had no idea.
He just couldn’t keep walking away from her, he didn’t care if the world moved around him even though he wanted time to stand still. He didn’t care if he had no idea what could happen. He didn’t care there was no certain chance things would be okay. He would do whatever he could control to keep her around, to make it work. He couldn’t get her out of his head, there was no other option.
He couldn’t let her walk away before it started.
He paused to catch his breath, adrenaline racing as he sputtered out his statement. “I wanna try for you, which I’ve never been… willing to do for anyone before. I mean, fuck, I’ve been trying to find a way to ask you for- just, mira, I’ve been thinking about you a lot. I know I’ll never be able to dislike you, so can we start there? Just give me these three weeks to take you on a few dates. We can test out… us. I feel like you wanna do this too, stop me if I’m wrong and I’ll go. I just know you wanna say yes. Please say yes.”
“Where would we go first?” she asked quietly after a beat. She knew nothing had changed in her worries, but she couldn’t say no when he was so adamant about it. His drive wore on him adorably to her and it wasn’t possible to turn it down. She had seen him determined with stunts plenty of times, the ambition the same as he would refuse to back down.
She couldn’t argue with him when she hadn’t even given it a shot. Her fear rested in trying at all, but she wouldn’t be able to know if it would work if they didn’t give it a try. She was torn in between the two in her mind, moving forward with the outing anyway knowing she would at least be with him was the more appealing option. That was all she ever wanted if she was truly honest with herself – to just be around him.
He grinned at her widely, not wasting any time now that it was becoming a reality in front of his eyes. “Care to have our first date be right now?”
She shook her head at him with a smile, looking down and with a blushed face. She shouldn’t have been so surprised he was so quick to suggest it to be so soon. “Now?”
He squeezed her hands tenderly, separating from where they stood together to get his glass of the counter. He took a few gulps of his drink which was now watered down and gaining condensation from sitting untouched, but pushed passed the lack of flavor to down the rest.
He grabbed his mask from the table, pulling them on to go back out into public. He turned to her once it was on, jittering from foot to foot. “Everyone is going to be at dinner, it’s the best time to sneak out. No one will notice us if we slip out the back and we’ll be back before morning. I’ll tell Ajay to come check on Nikola. Let me take you somewhere besides this boring stuffy place.”
“We’re leaving the hotel? Is that allowed? I am quite positive we have a curfew.” she cautioned him.
“Bummer, you really think I’d bother to ask for permission? Nothing about this idea screams legal or allowed.” he chuckled, pulling the hood to his jacket up over his head and revealed a graffiti version of his name on the back. He gave her a playful look but offered his hand to take, changing his tone to be a bit more serious. “Is that cool?”
She laughed quietly, stifling it under a breath. She truly had no clue what he would have planned for them considering she just agreed, but she felt confident enough in him to know it would be worth it despite the downsides of her fears. Though she could only hear Ajay and Renee in her head telling her that Octavio wasn’t one to put all of your cards down for, seemingly unreliable at times, but she was willing to be the one person to doubt that.
In her opinion, he had proven himself to be reliable and honest. Even if he did fumble at times trying to do what he wanted with resistance from others. He was still kind to her. He was always kind to her. It showed in him asking her permission for something he would have ran into full speed otherwise.
“I trust you.” she said, a soft smile on her face as she tried to relax more into the idea of the two of them. She so badly wanted to sink into the idea of them without a care in the world, but it wasn’t possible. She had worries lingering like dark shadows but was trying to put those aside for the sake of desire. She did want him, she wanted it to work but the opportunity for failure refused to let her stay optimistic long. “Just give me a second.”
She quickly switched her flats to her sneakers before they left. She didn’t have enough time to change out of her dress from the day, but it wasn’t uncomfortable by any means. So, she chose to just change the shoes, since it was the only part of the outfit that bothered her.
He was glad for his mask to hide the smile on his face, the joy overflowing him once he realized she was authentic in her trust. Not many people told him that an also meant it earnestly, and he was planning on keeping that trust with her. This new found bond being more fulfilling than he’d thought it’d be. He didn’t know how, but he assumed that being open with her was a decent start. He moved towards the door, lingering a few paces from it as she changed shoes.
Natalie skipped a few steps to meet up with him at the door, grasping the door knob and pulling it open for the two to leave the suite together then closed it.
The halls weren’t that busy anymore as dinner service had begun for the hotel, and the main lobby would be the most crowded despite the day dwindling to an end.
“Where are we going?” she asked, still following despite being unaware of the destination.
“You know, hermosa, I grew up here. I thought I could show somewhere I used to go, take a trip there and revisit an old past time of mine.”
Her eyes widened slightly as the knowledge came crashing back to her, tapping her hand to her head from her forgetfulness. “Bien sûr! I cannot believe I almost forgot you’re from here originally. You’re really showing me all of your hiding spots, aren’t you?”
He laughed nervously and nodded along, feeling caught in the romantic gestures he didn’t realize he kept doing. First the camping trip, and now he was planning on taking her to another reminiscent location. Was he overdoing it? He wasn’t sure, he didn’t normally get this close to people on a personal level. “A few of them, maybe.”
“I’m quite honored. I know how secretive you can be.”
Octavio tried to ignore her statement of his secrecy but it stuck to the back of his mind, slipping away for him to fester on it. He knew it was something he needed to work on if he wanted her to trust him, he was already worried about it. Now, she was reiterating that he was what he already feared; that maybe he wasn’t capable of being completely sincere when it came down to it.
He guided the two of them down the elevator and through the main lobby towards the front desks. He turned to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and stopped her near the fountain in the center of the room. She gave him a confused look but he immediately tried to reassure her, giving her a gentle squeeze on the shoulder.
“Just stay here for a second.” he said, already gone before she had time to protest. She sighed, crossing an arm over her side and dipping a finger into the fountain while she waited. An odd start to the night but she was patient in whatever he was planning.
He snuck along slowly, crouched down slightly as he went into the front desk room. He began scanning the wall for the keys to the cars he knew they kept here for dropship pickup. There were about ten cars, and each were custom to make for a comfortable ride to and from the hotel. He had been in them more than a few times as a kid when his father didn’t show up to get him and instead a driver did, or a maid, or a worker – anyone but his father.
As a teen he was no stranger to snagging one of them for a joy ride if he got stuck here some nights, eventually falling into the racing scene in Psamathe because of the amusement and rush he got from a speeding car. While he wasn’t about to bring Natalie to a race, he did know the best roads to push the cars to its limits and wanted to show her a piece of him no one knew about.
He plucked a set of keys off the wall, retreating back and out of the main office without being seen. He’d bring them back later when he was finished using them, besides, he knew no one would be staying here due to the event.
No one would notice a missing car if it wasn’t needed to be used.
He rushed back to the center of the room, tapping her on the arm as he passed and gestured for her to follow him. “Come on.”
“Did you just steal-”
“Ah, no.” he stopped her sentence, shaking his head as she caught up to his pace. “Borrow.”
She rolled her eyes, giggling playfully and following behind him down the hallway towards a back exit.
They were lucky to get by without being caught by anyone, especially any of the photographers. Natalie wasn’t sure if she wanted the world to know anything about them just yet, the fragility of something new that was already on unsteady ground she assumed it would need to be cradled from a harsher lens. That harsher lens was everywhere at this event and in his life with a heapful of a following in his fans, so she hopped they could manage everything without stumbling into problems.
Octavio propped open the door, waiting for her as they stepped outside into the night air.
She was instantly relieved, the quiet surroundings being a contrast from the loud crowds she was within all day long. She no longer was worried about being caught leaving the hotel this late, not when it was this peaceful outside the walls. She half walked and half skipped through the parking lot alongside him, taking in a deep breath of the air and letting out a happy sigh.
He clicked the key, unlocking the car and making the lights flash on. He grinned at her, dramatically showcasing the car for her to step up to and opened the door to the passenger seat.
Natalie hesitated, looking around the parking lot once over for any people before submitting to his suggestion. It was only borrowing, after all. It was only partially nerve wracking, her heart racing as she stepped forward to slid into the car. Octavio’s hand guiding her lower back momentarily as she sat. He closed the door on her side, sliding over the hood of the car and hopped into the driver side in a fluid motion.
The interior of the car was sleek and clean, a black matte finish over the entire thing. Natalie had her hands balled up in the center of her lap, looking at him as he turned the car on and pulled out of the spot casually. She relaxed into the seat, rolling her window down to let fresh air through the car and to be able to look up at the sky above.
He drove slowly out of the parking lot, taking a turn and driving further away from the hotel and gaining speed as the space grew from being noticed leaving.
He tossed his hoodie back from his head and took his mask off to shove in his pocket, glancing over at her out of the corner of his eye. He caught glimpses of her in the dim lights passing by the top of the car. He briefly smiled when he noticed her leaning back in the seat. His fingers tapped on the steering wheel, clearing his throat.
“You really think I’m secretive?” he asked, breaking the silence between the two as they drove to bring up the topic from earlier. It had been stuck in his head since she mentioned it, and found it to be a decent start to show her he wanted to get closer to her. If he opened up in ways that he couldn’t with anyone else maybe she would trust him enough to keep seeing him. It was a shot in the dark but it was worth it. He was sure this was a good idea to prove himself to her, even though it was a task he gave to himself. He wish he knew more about what he was doing, there had to be a handbook or something… right?
It was almost aggravating how he was willing to do anything to keep her around, but at the same time he was desperate for her company these days – she was addicting. The push and pull of his feelings, though dreadful, were a high he never felt before her. A new kind of rush, all the same adrenaline he craved. He’d give whatever he needed to keep feeling it. He wanted more. More of her and more of how this felt.
She stopped looking out the window, leaning on the middle armrest instead and shrugged slightly at the question. She was certain of his secretive nature; always having questions for him that he merely gave her jokes to cover the lack of an actual answer. She could be honest, straightforward, just tell him how there had been multiple times where he detoured a conversation when it got too personal. She learned to avoid certain topics, knowing they’d be avoided the second you even tried to ask. He was a master at the game of chess he made his private life. You’d never be able to breach the walls he hid some of his memories behind, and Natalie didn’t want to try in fear of causing him harm. She had no idea why he was so closed off and trying to break into someone’s past without thinking of the repercussions is selfish.
She knew sometimes it’s harder to talk about things that break you up on the inside, letting them out can only make it worse in some cases. It was best not to delve too far into topics he didn’t want to speak about, so she left them alone though curious. She was hopeful he would speak to her about those things if he ever became ready. Til then, she took the small bits of details she could overhear.
“I don’t know many details about you besides what I know from the games, or vague things in passing. Like your bunny, Navi, whom you’ve mentioned, for instance.”
“You paid attention to that crap?”
“Of course, I did.” she replied, almost shocked he was surprised she remembered. “It’s about you, why wouldn’t I listen?”
He held back a smile, gripping the wheel tightly to lessen his nerves. He had become so attached to the rush of his stim, using it in and out of the games for fun and the sensation but he never thought when he first met her that he would feel that same rush just from being around one another. Just talking to her and realizing she wasn’t what he thought made him re-look at the whole relationship they had prior.
She had more to her than what was on the surface and he couldn’t help but admire the fact she cared enough to get to know him, even when he was doing his best to put up a façade to keep others out. She had found a way to get to know him over the last few years as friends, somehow getting him to open up little by little until he realized what had even happened. It was one of the reasons he was so adamant now about wanting to try with her. She had been the only person able to crack his exterior that no one even thought existed. Everyone but her thought his spontaneous ‘junkie’ nature was the whole of him, or at least it was the only portion of him they acknowledged in the light of day.
She looked back at the labels and the stereotypes people had given him throughout the years, and after he entered the games, and chose to make her own decision. All the while he chose to harbor as much personal information from her as possible while she did so. Now, he regretted being so closed off to her and wondered where they would be now if he realized the comfort they had within each other at the time. How much of her life would he know by now if that was the case? If he had stayed behind just one time, during one match or one afternoon training, to be alone with her instead of taking off to do who knows what… would he had noticed her sooner? Or was it inevitable that he had to be stopped for the first time to even notice a thing?
Either way, he felt at fault for not having even attempted to become closer with her sooner. She saw through him almost instantly, always being the one to double check and ask if he was okay or needed to talk about something when he was hiding his bad mood. Always opening her door to him whether he deserved it when he needed help, and he never took the offer to come to her. Maybe it was why he kept a partial distance from growing closer to her at first. He wasn’t used to someone caring about him, and he chose to ignore it was even happening.
Why he never thought she cared before, he didn’t know – maybe he couldn’t believe it when they first met and she was bringing him baked goods and birthday cards without a reminder, maybe he still couldn’t.
He was asking her for a shot but he had to open up to her too, or else he would reap what he sowed and the entire hypothetical of them being together would combust at the seams. He knew this despite the fear that settled in thinking about being vulnerable with someone. He’d opened up to D.O.C plenty of times, but it was not even remotely the same being another person.
He shook off his thoughts, looking over at her beside him briefly with a new cheeky smile. He didn’t want to ruin his first night out with her with him locked up wishing he’d done something sooner.
She was here now.
She was leaning on the window of the car, having rolled the glass all the way down now and letting the wind hit herself in the face, sending her hair flying. Always staring up at the stars he considered to be just dust, proving that beauty in life was perspective and opening his eyes to a new way of thinking by doing so. He couldn’t dwell long there, but she got him to notice it to be what it could be besides only wasting away. It was like her electric pulse, glistening back down at him and reminding him to stop time an again to notice how brightly they could shine.
Natalie Paquette has dreamt of going to the Solace Ruins ever since her first visit with her father many years ago. Her chance finally happens when an unexpected donor funds an expedition for her and an assortment of odd personalities to journey to the Ruins once more. But upon arrival, Natalie is haunted by vivid dreams and strange occurrences that lead to a revelation about Natalie’s connection to the ancient ruins, a beautiful statue encased in marble, and a promise that still needs to be kept.
Are we sharing our AU ideas from the Lost Treasure Collection? If so, here’s my DarkSparks AU
Natalie Paquette is an excavator with a love for the mysterious ancient ruins on the edge of Solace, a place Natalie has felt has been calling to her all her life since her father first took her there as a child.
Her and a team of experts are granted the funds to do an in-depth excavation of the ruins, this includes the chemical scientist Dr. Caustic, the tech expert Taejoon Park, medical aid Ajay Che, tracker and navigation expert Loba Andrade, researcher and wildlife expert Makoa Gibraltar, the wealthy, adventurous funder Octavio Silva, and the research assistant bot, Pathfinder.
Upon arrive, they meet the mysterious and shady Mirage, a man who seems to know the ruins like the back of his hand, who says he’s a tour guide. He warns that the ruins are haunted, but the team of scientists ignore his warnings.
As they progress their research, weird things happen. They see shadows and people who aren’t actually there, things are moved when no one is around, and odd sounds moan throughout the ruins walls. Natalie gets lost trying to follow the voices she hears, when she stumbles upon a secret cave, with a beautiful statue of a warrior woman inside. Her skin is fair marble and encrusted in gold, her eyes bleeding the shimmering metal like tears.
She is entranced by the statues beauty, feels an overwhelming longing for the woman. She can’t help herself as she places a chaste kiss to the lips of the statue, before remembering where she is. She and the team take the statue, which has been carefully kept in perfect condition somehow. They place the statue away in their make shift camp, and go to bed for the night.
Natalie is woken in the middle of the night by a startling scream. She runs out to find something incredible. The statue has come off It’s pedestal and is walking about with an angered look, she looks frantic, and grabs at Makoa, demanding to know where a ‘Revenant’ was. Natalie begs her not to hurt anyone, and the statue meets her eyes. The woman let’s go of the man immediately, looking shocked.
In a slow, soft voice, trembling and quiet, she whispers, “Natalis?”
There’s a lot more to this (That includes other characters like Bloodhound and Bangalore) but sort of a soulmates, ancient royalty, supernatural AU. I do have plans to write it but it’ll be awhile before I can get the first chapter out :)
Months and months later….
Im gonna be posting the first chapter on Sunday so look out for that’d you’re interested
