What if... we kissed at the Rubicon arcade game... under the bisexual lighting?? And we were both girls?! haha jk... unless?

## May 30th, 2020 - Hana’s Apartment below the community center

Hana paces back and forth across the floor of her bedroom, nervously biting her lip. Her eyes stare down at her phone and the text written out, ready to send whenever she could build up the courage to press the button, and not rewrite it. Again. Part of her was tempted to go for a run or go train at the base for a while to wear herself out. Seems she has more interpersonal courage when she’s exhausted and beat up, which was how she’d been able to ask out Hayeli in the first place. “Okay Hana deep breaths. You’re a freaking superhero, asking a girl out shouldn’t be this hard” She grumbles to herself, turning and walking out of the bedroom into the main space of her hidden base/apartment/hideout.

“Just send it. It’s fine. She already said she wants to go out, if she didn’t you wouldn’t have her number. It’s fine. It’s fine” She says, taking a deep breath. Her fingers quickly backspace through the message and somehow work out another different way to say the same thing. Finally she looks away and hits ‘Send’ on her phone.

*`Hey Hayeli! What’s up? Merc stuff good? If you’re not like, busy tonight or whatever, you wanna hang out? Like a date hang out?`*

Waiting for the response doesn’t take long. A few minutes later the notification pops up.

*‘New dis who phone’*

It’s quiet for a few moments, before more messages pop up.

*‘Haha jk.’*

*‘Stuff’s good! Tonight? Hm yeah, not busy. A date hmmmm? What do you have in mind?’*

Hana looks at her phone immediately when it buzzes from getting a response. Her eyes get big and her brain starts to rapid fire the possibilities. New dis? Who phone? Was it a code? Was she in trouble? Was this a bodyswap situation? Did she suddenly have to change her number in the last few days? Then the next texts came and she took a deep breath of relief. “Oh god. Okay, it’s fine. She’s funny, remember? And cute and cool and...oh god” Another deep breath, and she sends her text.

*`Awesome! Stuff being good is good. Stuff is good here too. Yeah, a date, if that’s like, cool or whatever. There’s a new taco truck that I’ve heard is super good, then like, maybe hit up an arcade or something? Unless you wanted to do something else, I’m like, down for anything ;)`*

Hana hits send, then immediately regrets the addition of the winky emoji.

...

Meanwhile, Hayeli is lying on a couch in a room with bare concrete walls. She sits up more as she reads Hana’s second text. A smile plays on her face and after a few moments she notices that she’s hugging a pillow close to her. She hurriedly hides her expression and shoves the pillow aside, casting a look across the room to a table where Mirror is sitting with Keith and Misery, working out some plan. They don’t need her for that. She doesn’t even want them to need her for that. With a serious look on her face, she resumes typing.

*‘You are so bold.’*

*‘Date’s cool. Today’s date’s cool. Or will be?’*

*‘I love tacos! I like them soft. Never been to an arcade. Up for giving it a shot. Might have an idea for something after, maybe.’*

She waits for a few moments, a crinkle forming on her forehead as she thinks. Something tells her she’s coming across as insecure in her texting and she doesn’t like it. She’s never insecure. She’s always very certain of herself. It’s what gives her an edge over others. It’s what Mirror hates about her and what Vic likes. The whole job in helping break out Smoke had been one big act and it had paid off beautifully.

What if there is something that hadn’t been act?

She shakes her head. Nah. Couldn’t be.

She sends Hana a winky emoji.

…

Hana’s phone buzzes again and she fumbles it slightly before unlocking it and checking the responses. She giggles slightly and smiles, glad she hadn’t made it weird with the wink. Oh god now she sent one back. Hana blushes and falls onto the couch, thinking of how to respond, the smile still hanging on her face. She liked tacos, that was good.

*`I can be bold when I need to be`*

*`Cool, tacos and arcade it is then! You are so right about soft tacos, hard shell is okay but like, I could just have nachos instead? Uh, yeah, so those, then like whatever your idea thing for afterward is, like I said, down for whatever, bring it on`*

*`I could pick you up at like, 7? No flying cars this time, so hopefully you’re cool with my motorcycle`* Attached is a picture of her bike in the garage, which Hana made sure to clean and do all the maintenance for so it would be ready and pretty for tonight.

...

Hayeli grimaces at the mention of flying cars. She’d be happy to never be in a crash like that again. She remembers how long it took her after that breakout to fix all the cracks it had left her with. Mirror owed her bigtime. She reads over Hana’s texts again. “She can be bold when she needs to be, huh.”

She thinks to herself for a while, then the realization dawned on her. “Oh reflect, is this flirting?” She started to think--and overthink--about the differences between being friendly and flirting. She knew what flirting was like, but she had done it with so few people before. Mostly guys. Mostly as an act. She could do anything if it was an act. “Maybe I should ask someone how girls flirt with girls. Cambria maybe? ...nahhh.”

Hayeli looks back in the direction of the table, where Mirror, Keith and Misery have been joined by Cambria, Greta and Jemma. Cambria gestures towards her. Hayeli narrows her eyes, before putting on a smile and waving her off. She needed to finish this first.

*‘Damn, that’s a cool bike.’*

*‘I’ve always liked the idea of riding with two. A “friend” of mine has one, but has refused to so far.’*

Hayeli’s expression is sad for a moment, then her resolve steels.

*‘Alright then, Bold Girl.’*

*‘You’re on. 7pm. I’ll be at the corner of Copperfield St and Blackstone Way, by the silverware store.’*

“Alright everyone, gather together!” She hears Vic’s voice call out as he walks through the door. Hayeli hurriedly sends her last text before getting up.

*‘It’s a date.’*

…

Hana gets a big grin on her face at the compliment to her bike, and talk about riding together.

*`Heh, thanks! It’s pretty good, I try to keep it all maintained and looking nice and stuff`*

*`Oh yeah? I’m excited then! Sorry the friend is like, not wanting to, it’s fun!`*

She chuckles to herself, happy the conversation seemed to be going smoothly. The real challenge would be in person conversation though, expert mode of the ‘don’t look like an idiot’ game. The next texts come through, and she stands up from the couch as she reads them. “It’s a date. It’s a date? It’s a date! Okay, okay! Cool, awesome! Oh, right” She says to herself, forgetting for a moment she needs to actually respond to the texts too.

*`It’s a date! Awesome, sounds good, I’ll see you there. Watch for me, I’ll be the girl looking good on the awesome bile :D`*

*`Bike, I mean bike. Freaking autocorrect`*

Hana facepalms, hoping she didn’t ruin things by sending ‘bile’ instead of ‘bike,’ then looks up in a hurry. “Oh shoot, clothes! I didn’t even think of that! Crap crap crap crap” She says, hurrying off to her room and nearly diving into her closet.

## 7PM - the corner of Copperfield St. and Blackstone Way

Hayeli stood in front of the silverware store as promised. She was looking through the window into a mirror inside of the store, brushing her fingers through her dark hair. She hoped she had appropriately dressed for riding a motorcycle, having opted for tight jeans, combat boots, and a loose button-up top that had a jungle print with patterns of orchids and praying mantises hiding within the mix of colours. She pulled on her leather gloves and stared at the scars on her arms. Maybe she should hide them. It would draw too much attention from other people.

She looked down the street both ways, but there were too many people around to do her usual tricks. She sighed, and let down her backpack from her back and began to search through it for something to further cover up with.

The sound of a motorcycle comes from down the street. A purple helmeted Hana almost runs a red light, but waits, then pulls up in front of the silverware store. She has a faux leather jacket over a haltered top, with riding jeans and boots, and of course fingerless gloves. Her helmet is styled much like her mask, purple with a white visor and black lines. She stops the bike and flips it off, then leans up and pulls her helmet off. Her hair is tied back gently, the longest pink tufts at the end pulled together while the rest of her hair is a sort of deliberately messy look. She glances at the woman and gives a big smile.

“Hey! Hayeli! Sorry I’m a little late, uh, traffic and stuff, you know how it is. How are you?” she says happily, eyes taking in her outfit and such. “Uh, you look great. Uh, not that I was like ogling or anything, or like, uh, just, you look nice. Cute top!”

Hayeli clutches her backpack as she watched Hana arrive. She smiles and looks down at her top. “Yes, I quite like it.” She looks back at Hana and gestures at her. “I see you’re geared up well for riding. I was almost afraid I wouldn’t look nice enough for a date, wearing my boots, but you’re looking badass yourself.”

She fishes a thin red suede leather jacket out of her backpack and puts it on. She gently moves her hands along the sleeves and pulls on the ends, covering the last bits of visible scars. “Alright,” she closes the backpack and heaves it back up, “I’m ready. Do I just get behind you?”

“I don’t think you ever have to worry about not looking nice. Uh, I mean, like, yeah, you’re totally good for a date!” She gets a bashful grin and scratches the back of her neck at the compliment. “Thanks, uh, I wanna say that I just picked whatever but it took me a while to get something I liked together”

She grins and nods as Hayeli lifts her backpack up with her. “Awesome! Yeah, I got an extra helmet if you want it, I promised Temperance I’d wear one now cause I kinda didn’t used to. Apparently you can still get head trauma with super strength, weird” She shakes her head in confusion, then pats the spot behind her. “Yup! Hop on, if you want to get close and wrap your arms around to hold on you can” Her face gets red after that. “Or, uh, just if you want, you know, you can like, hold on to other stuff or whatever” She distracts herself by fishing the extra helmet from where it hung on the side of the bike and offering it.

“Hmmm, well, we wouldn’t want to disappoint someone named *Temperance* now, would we?” Hayeli says coyly, accepting the helmet. “Getting head trauma with super strength sounds… not fun. Considering I don’t have super strength, I guess I’ll be the brain to your brawn and wear a helmet too.”

She thinks for a moment, smiles again, and winks. “Though the beauty is well covered too.” She doesn’t give Hana time to respond before she moves to the back of the bike and waits for Hana to get on first.

“Heh, yeah, cool cool, guess we make a good team then” She says at the comment of the brain to her brawn. With the wink and following comment, her blush deepens and she hurriedly puts her helmet on to cover it. *‘Oh gosh she’s good’* she thinks to herself, nodding and getting on the bike first.

“Right, yeah, so just hop on, hold on, and we’ll be off! Uh, you want to ride around first or something? I can show you what this thing can do, if you can handle it. Or, well, if you wanted to go real fast and do some dangerous stuff, I mean, like, not to say you can’t handle it, more like, if you want to handle it. I can go slow too” The blush behind her helmet is nearly fogging the visor as the disaster catches the double meanings of her words just moments after they come out.

Hayeli gets onto the bike behind Hana and moves around a little to sit down comfortably. While outwardly appearing confident, she’s never done this before, and a cold feeling fills her up inside at first. *‘This is not like a spaceship, where you’re inside and protected,’* she thinks to herself. She takes a breath. *‘Fake it ‘til you make it.’*

“You can start slow, tour around the sights a bit?” Hayeli suggests, sliding forward a little bit and putting her hands on Hana’s waist. “Unless you’re really hungry for tacos.”

“Oh, sure, yeah! We can cruise around and stuff. Uh, I hooked up comms in the helmets so even when we’re going we should be able to talk, so like, yeah! Cruise around, then figure it out” She says, her breath catching as Hayeli’s hands grab her waist. She glances back, smiling through the helmet, then taps a button on the side of her helmet.

“Hi! Mic check. Uh, I’m hungry for tacos any time, but I’m totally happy to just drive around with you for a bit” She says, making sure Hayeli is holding on before she lifts the kickstand and heads off. Hana tries to go easy at first, being careful with turns and acceleration. She gets them out of the downtown area they were in, and on a highway through the city. “So, like, uh, you new to Halcyon? Anything you haven’t seen yet you’ve heard about?”

Hayeli holds on tight to Hana’s waist as she weaves through the city. She laughs, a little nervously. “I am new, yes, in a manner of speaking.” As they hit the highway and go faster, she shifts, leaning closer and holding on more tightly. “So many things I’ve heard about… the spinning restaurant of Bishop Tower, the Funplace paintball zone, Camelot Park… I suppose I’ve also heard about your team base. Is that open to the public? I heard there were tours a few months ago.”

“Cool! It’s, uh, it’s pretty wild sometimes but it’s a cool place to be” She says, leaning into a turn, a smile on her face as she feels Hayeli hold on tighter. “It’s like, kinda open? I’ve seen other people there sometimes, so if you wanted to get a tour or whatever that would probably be okay. I can ask!” Hana says. She turns off an exit with a sign that says Camelot Park. “We can drive by or stop if you wanna check out the park! We’re close by, it’s pretty cool. I’ve lived here my whole life so like, whatever you wanna see I can show you!” Her voice is happy and excited.

“We can… we can just drive by for now. I’d like to see Excalibur Rock and Lancelock Bridge, and your base definitely too! I’m just… actually getting quite hungry.” Hayeli tries to not hold on too tightly. On the one hand, the ride is exhilarating and fun! On the other, it is terrifying. It feels as if she’s only one wrong movement away from falling off. “You’ve lived in Halcyon your whole life, huh? That must’ve been exciting, growing up surrounded by supers. It sometimes seems as if every other person in this city is a super. Maybe your taco seller is one too.”

“Cool, sure thing. Drive by the park, then tacos!” She says, slowing down once they’re off the highway and back in city streets. The park is a minute or so off the exit, she heads there and drives slowly past it. “Yeah, so, there’s the park! A few years ago a bunch of stuff went down here, it was back before I was involved with anything. I guess I had my powers, just, wasn’t on the team or anything. It’s been...something, yeah. I guess if you grow up around it it’s not as weird, like, seeing people with powers and stuff is just my normal. Heck, they might be!” Hana explains while they go past, being sure to take Hayeli past the bigger landmarks in the park like the sword in the stone. After a bit of looking, she turns away and starts to head to another section of downtown. “Okay, taco time!”

“Taco time!”

When they come closer to their destination and slow down, Hayeli relaxes. She waits until Hana comes to a full stop to quickly but carefully get off. She takes off the helmet and shakes her head, running a hand through her hair and tucking some behind an ear. “That was… super!” She gives a nervous smile. “Thank you *so much* for the tour and the history lesson, professor. I can appreciate knowing a bit more about this city.” She holds out the helmet to hand it back to Hana.

Hana pulls them up to a parking spot near a collection of food trucks and some other shops, putting the kickstand down and turning the bike off. She turns and sees Hayeli get off quickly, then slips off herself and pulls away her helmet. A smile is still on her face as she takes the helmet Hayeli wore. “Yeah! Really fun. Heh, professor, I would really feel bad for any students that had me as a teacher” She chuckles, hanging the helmets from the bike. “How was it riding in the back? Have fun for your first time?”

“Oh, y-yeah.” Hayeli nods. “It was… very fun. You uh… really know how to take those turns and go fast.” She makes a motion with her hands as if steering an invisible motorcycle. She keeps quiet about her reservations. No need to bother her with that, right? She has a persona with a reputation to uphold: a badass mercenary who can get in and out of everything and has no trouble with fast vehicles of any kind! Besides, it wasn’t like she needed to do it again, right? *‘Wait, I still need to get back after this. Shit!’*

“Good, good, cool. It’s not everybody’s thing, sometimes when we gotta go somewhere for the team I end up going myself while the others take a car or whatever else is there” She nods, then grins. “Heh, thanks, I’ve practiced a bunch. Actually I was pretty nervous when I first started riding it. Like, once you get it you get it, but it took me a while to get it. You were definitely right when you said you were the brains to my brawn, hehe” She says, blushing a bit and looking to the trucks. “Okay, tacos! Uh, it’s a date and stuff so like, I can cover you, if you want, or whatever”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. I--” Hayeli pats her legs and tries to slip a hand into her pocket, before freezing. *‘Right. These pants don’t have proper pockets. I am so not the brains today. What the fuck, me?’* She sighs and awkwardly tries to laugh it off. There was no room to perform any magic tricks here and suddenly pull out a wallet after all. “You know what, sure. You can cover me now. I can cover you later. Tip for tap, right?”

Hana nods and grins. “Cool! Sounds good! Let’s do this” She says, nodding toward the trucks and starting to walk. At least she hoped it was the right truck. Currently her mind was running a mile a minute on making sure things were going okay. Now that they were walking should she try to hold her hand? Would that be too presumptuous? It was just a date, nothing serious yet, right? Yeah she’d probably scare her off if she did something like that. Play it cool, girl. “Okay here we a-oh wait this is the pasta on a stick truck. Uhhh, there’s tacos. Heh, whoops” She turns and leads them to the correct one. “I’ve heard good things about the whole menu so get whatever you like”

“Pasta on a stick?” Hayeli mutters to herself with a look of horror and curiosity, before following Hana to the other truck. “Oh. Hmmm… I’ll go with a soft shell taco vegetal with mushrooms? Extra spicy.” She takes a step back from the truck, smiles at Hana, then suddenly looks with a thousand-mile stare past her. “The spiciness is the only way I still get to feel something.”

“Nice! Cool cool” She says happily, then tilts her head and looks with some concern at the next part. “So like, super extra spicy then? Uh, you got it” Hana thought she might be joking, but then she also might not be, who knows what kinda stuff she’d had to do as a merc? Either way it sounded badass. “Uh, you alright?”

Hayeli shakes her head as if coming out of a trance. “Huh? Uh, yeah.” She smiles awkwardly and looks down. “I had intended that to be a joke. I’m a little off today. I do better in a professional environment. Usually.” She straightens her back and nods at Hana to reassure her. “But yes, I do like food to have a strong flavour. It’s the best that this Earth has to offer. Spicy food is great.”

Hana waves her hands back and forth. “Oh! Okay, no, like, it was funny, I just, I’m bad at reading people so like, wasn’t sure if it was a joke or like, you got reminded of something or like, something else. I dunno” She blushes and looks down as they step forward in line. “Uh, to be honest, I’m like, worried I’m gonna say something wrong and mess the date up. I do that a lot. Not with dates, like, just, life. I’m bad at talking” She chuckles. “But, yeah, spicy food is great, I’m gonna do the carnitas extra spicy”

“For what it’s worth, I admire your honesty. You’re not too bad with talking so far. Bit of a motormouth, even.” Hayeli says, looking approving. “Extra spicy carnitas? Nice choice.” She looks around for a place to sit and ends up leaning against a streetlight while they wait for the tacos. “So, Shade, what are you good at? Other than going fast.”

“Motormouth? Me? Heh, well, I guess” She smiles and stands to wait with her. “What am I good at? Uhhhh, well, I guess punching stuff and breaking stuff I’m really good at. I’m a pretty good hacker, not so much other tech stuff but like, computers I can handle. I hooked up those communicators in the helmets, but like, that’s about the extent of my smart stuff I’m good at. Uhh, I play drums, which I guess I’m pretty good at since I’m in a band with some of the other team people. Things have been weird since our members have been going through stuff, but we still play and jam together and all that. That’s like, pretty much it. Mostly I’m the muscle” She shrugs, but has a smile on her face. “What kinda stuff do you do? Like, when you’re not being a badass merc? Well, I guess like, when you’re not on a job, cause like, you’re always badass. Hm. Yeah, that”

“That’s a lot of good things to be good at. Impressive.” Hayeli makes a mental note of the hacking skills. She’d seen some of that during the prison break, but it is nice to have confirmation it wasn’t just a fluke. That is useful. Probably best to ask about the other things for now to appear casual. She opens her mouth, but is caught off guard by Hana’s question. “What kinda stuff do I do?”

She freezes up a little. Her mind races to come up with answers. *‘Black magic is probably a bad idea. Her witch friend from last time could give me trouble. What stuff do I know enough about that I can fake it? What have I really done?’*

Hayeli rubs at her neck as she’s overthinking things. She hates feeling like she’s losing her cool already. “I uh… follow some classes. And I do… internet things. Some of that… Dataverse stuff? And I uh…” an idea hits her and her silvery eyes light up. “I act.”

Hana smiles and nods as she listens, happy to learn more about her. Her mouth opens when Hayeli mentions the Dataverse. “Oh really!? I went there! Like...twice! I was a motorcycle! Like it’s a thing where when you go there your form can change, and I became a motorcycle! It was really cool!” She grins excitedly, then her eyes light up when she mentions the last thing. “You act? Like plays and stuff? That’s super cool! Are you doing anything right now? I wanna watch! Uh, like, if that would be okay, or whatever” She says, pulling it back some. Be cool, Hana, be cool.

“Kerrigan!” Hana turns as her last name is called. “Oh, one sec! Tacos!” She hurries over and takes a container and a couple glasses, then returns. “Let’s find somewhere to sit, uhhhhh, there!” She says, nodding to a little seating area and heading that way to sit and eat with her. “So, acting stuffs!”

With great strain, Hayeli manages to keep a straight face as Hana happily talks about turning into a motorcycle while in the Dataverse. *‘Wait, that was her? I remember that fucking weirdo Wizard told us about the Big Team, including a talking motorcycle, right before he got undone.’*

She mulls over her thoughts and tries to dig up more of her memories while Hana runs off to get their food and drinks. She follows after her to the seating area and sits down next to Hana, accepting her spicy vegetarian taco and a glass of bubbly strawberry lemonade. “Right, acting.” She says, thinking of how to talk about it without revealing too much. “Like plays and stuff, yes, totally. I, uh… I almost participated in Romeo & Juliet last year, but some people I can’t stand were in it, so I neglected to sign up for it.”

She tries to think of more stage plays she’s heard of that she can bullshit around. At least the Romeo & Juliet thing was real. “And uhhh… I was in a production of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet).” She really hoped Hana didn’t know more about stage plays. All Hayeli knew about it was Jemma telling her that it was gay. She hoped that would be enough.

Hana nods, taking her own strawberry lemonade and few tacos, taking a bite and looking at her to listen. She nods a bunch, then rolls her eyes at the mention of people she can’t stand. She makes sure to be done chewing before talking. “Ugh, that sucks! Freaking people ruining stuff” Another bite and sip, Hana shuts her eyes as she tastes the tacos and savours the flavor.

“These are super good by the way” She says, chuckling, then listens more. “Oh! Cool! I’ve heard of Romeo and Juliet but not that one, sounds cool! What’s it about? Who were you in it?” She asks, grinning.

“Yeah, at least those people are gone now,” Hayeli waves it off. “Freaking… Morgan, or whatever her name is. But yeah, uh… it’s about…” she tries to remember what else Jemma had told her about it, but was drawing a blank. “A… demon lady… who saves Juliet at the end of Romeo & Juliet, so she doesn’t die… and then they… become roommates. I played the demon lady. Uh, Desdemona.”

Hana nods, noting the name ‘Morgan’ in her ‘Punch if you meet them’ list. Her eyes light up at the description of the play. “Oh shit, that’s super cool! Wish I could have seen it, would have really fun, especially seeing you all done up like a demon lady. Uh, like, cause I’m sure you totally pulled it off. Yeah. Uh, so like, sounds like it was a pretty big role then if she’s in the title. You remember any lines from it?”

Hayeli hums a little trying to think of something on the spot. She then makes a wide gesture with her arm, rising up a little from her seat. “Oh, good morning, Juliet! Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? For ‘tis like you are the day as I am the night. A dark and stormy night, that may be or may not be your end, as I come bearing soft, gentle… uh, kisses.”

She feels her face growing hot. She’s pretty sure she plagiarized a thing or two and rapidly tries to think of reasons to cover for herself. Parody, maybe? Was it a parody? She couldn’t remember what Jemma had said. Like many Shakespearean characters, Hayeli now felt like her day would end in death.

Hana grins as Hayeli starts, having no idea it’s fake. She claps a few times after she finishes. “Nice! So like, Desdemona and Juliet are together in it? That’s awesome! I wanna see it more now. Wait, do they get to end up happy or is it a ‘oh they’re gay but they kill them off anyways’ kind of thing? That gets super annoying” She says, then realizes she’s rambling again. “You gonna be in anything soon? Like upcoming?”

“Uhhh…” Hayeli tries to think of a response. On the one hand, if she says that the couple dies, she probably won’t get further questions about it. On the other hand, that might also be a downer on the date for Hana. “They live… happily ever after?” She tries carefully. “But it’s like, in the midwest, so it’s also weird and boring.” No! Too many details!

“Uh, yeah!” Hayeli quickly tries to move on to the new conversation topic Hana offers. *‘Wait, shit, now I have to come up with another play!’* She quickly shakes her head. “Actually, no. Well, there’s auditions. I’m not in anything yet.” She thinks back to overheard conversations she’d barely been interested in, where the girls in the Black Magic Club had talked about stage plays. Finally Cambria would have some useful information for her. “Mean Girls. It’s Mean Girls.”

Hana’s eyes light up. “Really? That’s great! It’s cool to see stuff like that where they get to be happy like that. Would be cool to see it sometime” she says, giving a nod. She finishes off a taco, then takes another sip. “Gotcha, cool! So you’re gonna audition for that? Had no idea they made a play out of that, awesome! You gotta let me know when all that happens, I’m excited for you!” She gives a big smile. “It’s super cool that you like to act and stuff. That must be tough. I’ve had to like, pretend sometimes, like, I pretended to be an intern to sneak past some stuff when we were fighting a bad guy, but like, acting in a play must be so different and like, take a lot more skill and stuff. It’s awesome” She nods a bunch and finishes off her last taco. “So like, you act and do some computer stuff, and some classes? What you taking?”

“Oh, uh, yeah they did make a play out of it!” Hayeli can’t remember what, if anything, there was before the play. Maybe a book? “I’ll uh, let you know so you can come watch!” No! Don’t commit to things you can’t do! “I mean… if I get in at all.”

She quickly takes another bite of her taco to stop herself from talking more. Couldn’t she have just stuck to the mysterious, strong and silent type of persona? This act was developing in a direction she felt she had little control over. “I hate improv,” she mumbled, before realizing she’d said it out loud. “Oh! Improv classes. I’m terrible at it. I take my characters in the worst directions and then get stuck. I’m also taking language classes. I’ve got a knack for them. I’ve done some Arabic and Urdu, I’m considering taking German, but right now I’m doing Armenian. Don’t know for how long I will continue, though.”

“Cool! I’d definitely wanna come. Be really fun to watch you act sometime” She says, nodding. Hana drinks some more lemonade and finishes her glass while Hayeli talks about her totally real classes. “Oohhh, yeah, that makes sense! That’s really hard. I can relate, like, to realizing halfways through doing something that maybe it wasn’t the best idea, hehe”

Her eyes widened when she mentioned the language courses. “Woah, that’s super cool! Learning that many must take some serious brains and study powers. How many do you speak? I don’t know much about Armenian, what made you pick that?”

“Luckily, I have a very serious brain and very serious powers.” Hayeli taps the side of her head. “I picked Armenian to study, because… because…”

Hayeli thinks over her options as if she’s taking a multiple-choice test. Heritage? No, she can’t fake culture or history. Maybe if it’s distant? She’d likely get questions still, and though she could wave it off by saying her name is Armenian, that would be even worse. Maybe it’s for a job? No, that’s crazy. Mercenaries would have crazy Non-Disclosure Agreements about such things. “Uhhh, I… dated an Armenian guy once and I just liked the sound of it.”

Nailed it.

Hana chuckles and nods. “Mhm, definitely do” She smiles and rests her chin in her hand as Hayeli explains. This was going well! They were learning about each other and tacos were great and joking around and stuff, that was good! Right? She was pretty sure that meant a date was going well. She hoped so. At least for now, she just liked listening to this pretty girl talk about herself, and that worked for her.

“Gotcha. That’s cool though, even if it didn’t work out. How long you been learning those other languages? I bet that really helps with jobs and stuff, huh? Oh, you want any more lemonade? I can refill yours if you want, you might have awesome study powers but I have very good ‘go get a thing and bring it back to the table’ powers” She says, then turns slightly red at her terrible joke.

Inwardly, Hayeli breathed a sigh of relief. She makes note of the look Hana gives her as she’s talking about “herself”. She hasn’t seen such a look before, but something tells her that it’s a good look. “Yeah, it helps with jobs for sure. I haven’t been doing it for very long. I’m very much a beginner when it comes to speaking. Languages.”

When Hana offers to refill her lemonade, she happily accepts. “I guess you might be getting refills, but I’ll be the one waiting. I might go to the bathroom for a bit though.” She takes out her phone to look at the time. Still plenty left in the evening, but it was later than she expected. Time flies.

“Okay! Sure! I’ll be right back! Do your thing, uh, we can stay and keep talking if you want or we can head to the arcade in a bit, whatever you’re thinking” She says happily, taking both cups and heading for the truck. It’s hard for her to hide the smile on her face as she walks over and gets some more drinks for them.

Hayeli nods as Hana leaves. She quickly turns her attention to her phone, opening her internet browser to search for Armenian phrases. She sends a text to Cambria to demand politely request that she help her find a place to audition for Mean Girls. She puts her phone down on the table and sighs. Were dates meant to be this intense? Maybe it was just because she hadn’t been on a date with a girl before. Maybe girl-dates were different somehow. At least she could still manage to act suave. She hoped it didn’t come across as artificial, that would ruin the whole thing.

She gets up from her seat and walks in the direction of a small public bathroom building near the trucks, forgetting about her phone.

A bit later Hana comes back with refilled glasses that have lids and straws, to go versions in case they wanted to head out. She saw Hayeli was gone, but left her phone, so she assumed she’d gone to the bathroom. Taking a seat, she sets a glass down and sips from her own. While she waited, her hands absent-mindedly start tapping, drumming along to a Flex Girls song. Her strength makes the thuds a little thuddier against the table.

## The Bathroom Breakdown

In the bathroom, Hayeli stands over the sink, taking off her gloves and running a finger over a crack in the back of her left hand, looking like broken stone. “Need to wear these gloves just a little longer,” she mumbles to herself, washing her hands and putting her gloves back on. She stares into the mirror, and her eyes reflect the vision of herself. It’s as if she stares into two small infinity mirrors. “Alright, this is… surprisingly very fun so far. Also surprisingly stressful. You accepted this when you accepted the invitation to a date. You just had to accept, didn’t you? You were so amused and proud that you got a girl’s phone number after one mission, when Mirror never did with all of her flirting. You want to rub it in her face, but the others… what would Vic think if he thought you were serious? If you’re not loyal?” She turns away from the mirror and mumbles to herself. “...what if you *are* serious?”

…

Back at the table, Hayeli’s phone buzzes as a new notification pops onto the lock screen.

Hana pauses her table drumming when the phone buzzes, much to the relief of others around her. She glances when it goes off, wondering if it was something urgent. She’d been looking at it earlier, hopefully things were okay. Thinking she’d be helpful, she picked it up to bring it over to the bathroom, glancing at the name but not the message as she walks over.

A glance at the phone screen reveals a background picture of a lavish palace hall. The message notifications bear the names “Cambria Newcringe”, “Jemma (:” and “Misery >\_>”.

The names sound familiar, but Hana can’t place them. She taps on the door when she gets there. “Uh, Hayeli? Your phone went off, wasn’t sure if you left it at the table accidentally or something or whatever”

On the other side of the door, Hayeli is startled. She pats her pockets, before remembering again that they’re useless. She swears under her breath for being so careless. “Oh, okay! I’ll… be just a second!”

Hayeli looks around, grabs some toilet paper, tosses it in one of the toilets and flushes. Feeling satisfied with her faking, she walks out the door. “Ah, I’m sorry about that. I’m an idiot.” She smiles at Hana.

Hana waits a bit away from the door, then looks up as it opens. “Heya! All good, phones are like, super easy to just leave somewhere, trust me, I’ve done it. You’re definitely not an idiot” She returns the smile, then hands the phone to her.

“Everything okay? Looks like there were a few on there. Don’t worry, I didn’t look or anything, just saw them when I picked it up to bring it over, I wouldn’t just look at your phone like that. Besides, if I really wanted to see the messages I’d just set up a relay to hijack the signal, then put a sniffer on my phone to capture packets until I could break the encryption. Uh, like, not that I’d do that, just, like, that’s how I’d do it. If I had to. Hack a phone that is” She says, turning red as she keeps talking, telling herself *‘ohmigosh just stop talking’* in her head until she does.

Hayeli takes the phone and stares at Hana as she engages her motormouth again and figuratively runs a red light. “Well…” she says slowly, carefully. “I am glad you don’t want to see my messages. Or hack me.” She slowly circles around Hana, holding her gaze with her own mirror-like eyes. She puts one hand against the wall, blocking Hana’s potential escape route.

While her outward demeanor is confident and intimidating, inwardly Hayeli is screaming. *‘Is she telling the truth? Have I been made? Fuck! This date is over! Shit, and it was just getting fun, too. Do I need to ‘take care’ of her? I don’t know how to do that, that’s not my job description! The Big Team can’t find out I’m part of the Black Magic Club, not under this persona. How do I recover from this? Shit, I should have just not tried to look threatening in the first place, shouldn’t I? Now I’ve ruined this date myself!’*

Hana rubs the back of her neck bashfully, hoping her dumb rant about hacking didn’t ruin stuff. If only they both knew how much the other was worried about ruining things. Alas, they did not, and so Hana watched with a blush as Hayeli moved and spoke slowly. *‘Idiot! You can’t just tell people how you’d hack them! That’s like asking someone if they’re cursed! Ahhhhhh she hates me now oh crap that was so bad how do you eff up that bad yo-’*

Her internal freak out paused momentarily as Hayeli’s arm came up over her to block the escape. Her eyes widened and her blush got deeper as she saw and realized the position they were in. Hayeli’s slight height advantage seemed multiplied as she stood over Hana, whose brain was currently in restart mode from the jolt of surprise it had taken by the action. Hana.exe finally came back up as she blinked a bunch and stammered a bit. “Uh, that, well, it, I, yeah, um, def, definitely don’t want to hack you or like, invade your privacy, or stuff, like that, with computers, phones, things, stuff. I, you, that is, we could, I would want, you, we, I want to do other stuff to you, with you, I mean, with you, around you, date, stuff, things” Her face was beet red as she looked up at the girl. “I, uh, your eyes are pretty”

Hayeli comes back to reality as Hana’s rambling cuts through her own internal panicked musings. Were things… actually okay, maybe? “Uh, th-thanks.” She mumbles, as if she’d never sincerely thanked someone before. She looks away from Hana, suddenly feeling awkward about her own panic. *‘Here I am trying to threaten her and thinking of ways to destroy her, and she just compliments me? This is strange. This girl is strange. Then again, I’ve seen how appealing someone can be while threatening someone else… maybe some people just like being threatened?’*

Hayeli pushes away from the wall and puts her phone away. “I’m sorry about that. I’m… I’m a pretty private person. And I don’t want to involve people in the wrong parts of my life.”

“Sure, yeah” Hana says, blinking a few times as Hayeli looks away, then leans back from the wall. She leans up from it as well, though the blush on her face is stuck for now. Her eyes widen at Hayeli’s words. “Oh! Oh, crap, I shouldn’t have picked up your phone and stuff then. That’s like, yeah, I get that. I’m super sorry. I was, like, just worried something was wrong cause you’d been on the phone and stuff, wasn’t sure if like, you were getting important messages and needed to respond or something or whatever. But like, yeah, I shouldn’t have looked at all. I’m sorry”

She bites her lip nervously, tilting her head a bit as she looks to her with a bit of worry. “Whatcha mean wrong parts of your life? Oh, shoot, no, you don’t have to say anything, private stuff, all that. Uh, just, like, uh, I’ve got some crappy stuff in my past too so maybe I could like, just listen or whatever...probably dumb. Uh, d-do you still wanna grab our drinks and hit the arcade? Or whatever?” She asks, her head tilting back, face a mixture of worry and hope, scared she’d wrecked things but hopeful Hayeli would want to continue.

“I’m sure you’re a very good listener, but I’m not a very good talker,” Hayeli says. “Sorry, there are just some things I cannot share. I… I think I’d like to hit that arcade now, yeah. Get my mind off things.”

She stands silent for a moment, then reaches out and puts her hand on Hana’s shoulder. “I’m… sorry to hear you’ve got crappy stuff in your past. I can’t talk much about my past, but… if you like we can talk about yours? Not right now, but maybe… after I kick your ass at the arcade?”

Her eyes light up some when she mentions the arcade. “Okay! Sure! Totally, let’s go!” Her smile returns, the date wasn’t over! Hana starts to walk with her back to the table and direction of the bike. She takes a deep breath to calm herself and try to remove some of that freaking flush to her face.

Hana glances at her hand when it touches her shoulder, then up to her face, and her smile warms again. “Yeah, sure, if you’d want to hear about it. I’m fine to talk about my stuff. I, uh, I think you’re a good talker, and I like talking with you and listening and stuff” She says, then scoffs. “Kick my ass, okay, sure brag while you can” Her eyes get a glint to them, the same that comes when she’s doing a mischief with Bolt or some kind of mission with the others. Hana grabs the cups and walks back to the bike, opening up the seat to the small containment area that has a couple cup holders for just this occasion. You couldn’t get at them while driving, but at least you could take them with. “Ready to head out?” she asks, offering the helmet.

Hayeli takes the helmet, her nerves firing up again. She hopes she’ll feel a little better about it this second time around, but the hopes aren’t very high. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she answers truthfully, though she looks more confident than she feels. She puts on the helmet and taps the side as if to check if the communicator is working again. “We’ll see who’s bragging later, shall we?”

Hana slips on her helmet and gets onto the bike, taking hold of it and getting ready to ride. She grins at Hayeli’s words and glances to her. “Oh heck yes we will, gonna be bragging about all my wins” She pats the seat behind her, ready for Hayeli to sit. “Let’s do this! Gotta get back on the highway then head uptown some, there’s a little shopping district up there where the arcade and some cool shops and stuff are”

Hayeli sits down behind Hana and puts her hands around Hana’s waist. “Cool shops, huh? I guess you can find all my prizes there, then.” She readily responds to Hana’s boasting. “Don’t worry, if you drive slow I’ll have less time to beat you.”

Hana chuckles and shakes her head. “Yeah, consolation prizes, for participating but not winning” She says. Her sentence stops when Hayeli’s arms come around her again, and she looks ahead. “I’ll drive slow so you can think of a strategy, gonna need all that time” She adds on, then pulls away into the street to head out. She does take it slow and easy, then gets onto the highway and speeds up some. She gets a little fancy when some trucks are being super slow and annoying, but passes them and gets back to just cruising along. “You’re pretty confident for someone who’s never been to an arcade before” She says, teasing back at her as she heads for her exit.

Hayeli’s grip tightens a little when Hana weaves between the trucks. “I believe the saying is ‘fake it ‘til you make it’. What I do not know now, I can learn.” Her smile was almost audible through the communicators. “Plus, a wise man once said something about knowing your enemy and knowing yourself. You don’t have to play the game well if you can play your opponent.”

Hana laughs again. “You’re so confident! Can’t wait to beat you in spite of it” She grins, then leans to turn off on the exit. “Think you can play me, huh? Got me all figured out?” She heads down off the highway, aiming for the place ahead with the sign reading One More Turn, their destination. They had a parking lot and were decently busy with it being Saturday, an arcade that had some other sorts of gaming things going on.

“Perhaps not,” Hayeli admits. She looks around as their destination came closer. Seeing the busy parking lot lifts her spirits. While the ride had been less terrifying than the first time, she’d be happy to be standing on unmoving ground again.

“Perhaps you are a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, so dense and secretive as to be totally indecipherable or impossible to foretell. Perhaps I can’t play you at all. Or perhaps I’m already playing.”

Hana pulls in and parks, then turns the bike off and flips the kickstand down. She pulls her helmet off, and looks back to Hayeli with a big grin. “Oh totally, I’m very complex. Just you watch, you’re not gonna stand a chance, bet you anything” She says, slipping off the bike and hanging her helmet up, she then takes a pose with her hands on her hips and a cocky smirk.

Hayeli gets off the bike and takes off her helmet. She wipes the hair out of her face and straightens it, putting it behind one ear. She sizes up Hana, looking her over as she poses. Hayeli tilts her head slightly. “You’re cute, you know that?” She says in a matter-of-factly kind of tone.

Hayeli hangs her helmet up with Hana’s and turns to look at the building. Unfamiliar territory. This was going to be a challenge. Then again, she’d broken into places she didn’t know much about before. How hard could it be to go into an arcade and come out victorious?

The cockiness vanished as soon as Hayeli spoke. Her eyes widened and the blush returned. *‘Crap, she does have me figured out’* Hana clears her throat and looks to the arcade. “Um, uh, right, yeah, so, like I said, let’s do this, time to totally win” In a moment of not thinking, she offers her hand to Hayeli. “Shall we?”

Hayeli looks amused at Hana’s response. *‘This won’t be as difficult as I thought it would be. Perhaps these games will even be fun? And even if the games aren’t fun, perhaps this time will be fun in spite of that.’* She looks at Hana’s extended hand, standing still for a moment. She hums softly in thought, before she slips her own hand into the extended one. “We shall. Lead the way.”

## One More Turn Arcade Hall

Hana holds back making an excited noise when she realizes both that she’d held out her hand, and that Hayeli took it. She could not hold back the big smile on her face when she felt their hands together, just nodded and led them on into the arcade. It was luckily an older crowd around their age, so not a lot of little kids or anything, other places were more that kind of vibe. The sound of bells and dings and all the different sorts of game sounds rang out as they came inside. It had a sort of angular, geometric design to its aesthetic, the lighting various shapes above them along with the patterns on the floor. Hana took them to the counter to get some game cards. With the noise, she had to lean in a bit close to speak with her as they waited behind another group. “Did you still wanna get this, or want me to? I totally can!”

When they walk inside, Hayeli is overwhelmed by the sights and sounds. She can see all the cabinets lined up, the people playing them, the lights flashing and sounds of bells and other vaguely familiar instruments coming from various directions. None of it makes sense to her. She has some sense of what noises mean victory, where she sees people at cabinets cheer. Some of the cabinets show words in English, making the meaning of the lights a lot more clear. When Hana asks her if she’d like to pay for the arcade, Hayeli curses herself. *‘I should have taken the time at the bathroom to magick up a wallet.’* She gives an apologetic smile. “I’ll pay you back later?”

Hana chuckles at that. “If you want, you don’t have to though, I got it covered, really” She smiles and winks. “Just gonna hurt that much more when I win” She sticks her tongue out and steps forward when the group in front of them is finished. “Hi, uh, just one play card for us both” She handles the payment, needing to let go of Hayeli’s hand to sign the receipt when she uses her card. “Thanks!” she says to the person, then looks back to Hayeli with a smile. “Okay, what do you want to be beaten at? We got shooty games, fighting games, sports games, luck-based games, uhhhhhh, there’s a Rubicon-piloting game that I both hate because it’s Bishop but it’s like actually a really good game, anything sound fun?”

The list of games and genres doesn’t ring familiar to Hayeli, who relies on the descriptors and cultural osmosis for her understanding of them. “Luck-based games, huh? I’m sure you’ll have a better chance at winning then.” She smirks a little. “The shooty games and fighting games sound good to give a try, but that Rubicon game sounds too interesting to not give a go first.” She’d like to see how accurate it was. She remembers when Mirror had granted them access to a Rubicon, though it got busted when Greta used it. She drops her voice to a whisper and leans a little closer to Hana. Referring to their first mission together, she says “First AEGIS, next Bishop, then?”

Hana gives a grin, enjoying their playful back and forth about winning the arcade games. “Right, luck ones are the only way I could win, sure sure” She says, chuckling. The smile stays as she leans in closer and speaks of the mission, bringing another chuckle from the girl. “Absolutely, those jerks always deserve a good break in” She gets a case of nerves but shakes them off as she reaches for Hayeli’s hand again, taking it in hers very gently. “Hehe, good idea for a second date?”

Hayeli flushes when Hana takes her hand, heat rising to her face. *‘Gods-damned me, why couldn’t I have been a non-physical entity, with no body or face to betray them?’* She gives the girl a nod. “A good uh, idea. Yeah.” She stares at their hands for a moment, then coughs and turns around, pulling Hana away from the entrance. “Hey, let’s go do that Rubicon thing then, huh? I’ve seen a real one up close only once. How real could this game possibly be?”

Hana pauses for a moment, not sure if she caught a blush or just a weird thing with the lighting of the arcade. She smiles anyways, and nods. “Yeah! Let’s do this! It’s like, not super realistic, they’re a lot cooler in the game than in real life. In real life they’re pretty fragile really, can barely take a punch” Hana shakes her head in disgust. “But like, the game is cool cause it’s like you’re piloting it and you can do a monster fighting thing or fight each other, and it’s great. Ready to be destroyed by my superior piloting skills?” She asks, the cocky smirk back on her face.

“I’m sure many things barely can take a punch from you,” Hayeli muses softly as they walk to the game. “Sure, let’s go.”

They come to the game, set up in a similar way to the racing games with the two seats and controls, the game’s screen cycling between various scenes with “Swipe Card To Play” flashing at the bottom. “So like, you sit, then there’s the control sticks and the pedals below make you move, you’ll get the hang of it. Gonna have to if you wanna win” she chuckles, letting go of her hand to sit in one of the seats and swipe their game card, setting it up for two players.

Hayeli sits down in the seat, placing her hands and feet one by one as she feels things out. She rolls her neck and shoulders and takes a deep breath. She fears this will be disastrous, as she’s never done anything like this before. Then an idea strikes her. “Hey, why don’t we do a one-versus-one first, then go fight some monsters in a round two? And, to make it more interesting, how about whoever wins gets to ask the loser a question about them? As long as it’s not about my job.”

Hana adjusts the seat a bit for her height, then makes sure everything is working alright. She really had to hold back for these plastic joysticks and buttons. As Hayeli speaks up, she looks over and gets an excited grin on her face. “Sure! Sounds great! Guess I’m gonna have to think up a lot of questions then” She chuckles, then gets it ready for them to play versus for the first round. “Okay, pick your Rubicon then we’re dropped in. You ready?” she says, glancing over with a warm smile.

Hayeli smiles back, selecting a black Rubicon. “Ready.”

She wasn’t ready. She absolutely wasn’t ready and her playing the game showed it. She moved the pedals like she was running up a Stairmaster balancing three bags of potatoes while moving the joysticks like she was in a boxing match with a rabid kangaroo. She twisted in her seat, almost jumping up out of it as if she was moving along with the movements her Rubicon character was making--or at least the moves she wanted it to make. Nothing made sense. The words on the screen were familiar, but the flashing lights were meaningless to her. She kept looking at Hana and how she was moving her pedals and joysticks, but it distracted her. Not that it mattered. She had already lost.

“Shit.”

Hana grins and goes with a red one, then the two are dropped into an arena. She’s played before, and knows at least how to move around decently and use the controls. Her eyes keep glancing over at Hayeli moving herself around and twisting the joysticks a bunch, and she bites her lip to stop from giggling. It was incredibly cute. Finally the match was over and Hana’s Rubicon stood victorious over the remains of Hayeli’s.

Hana smirks and leans closer to Hayeli’s seat. “Soooooooooo, where are you from? You said you’re pretty new to here, right?” she says, giving a wink, already taking her winnings of a question for the girl.

“You’re quick to the looting, aren’t you? Well, a deal’s a deal. I ought to know better than anyone.” Hayeli sighs. “I’m… from the other side. Y’know. Canada. Across the beautiful reflective waters of the bay, yet from a faraway land at the same time. New Brunswick.”

“I am when I like what I’m getting” She says, the smirk still there. Apparently winning made her more bold. Hana nods as she explains. “Oh, cool! Glad you came over, then. I haven’t been across myself, just kinda like, looked at it and stuff. When did-oh wait, just one question. Shoot, gotta beat you again I guess” she moves the joystick to go back, and puts them into a monster fighting match. “Most monsters beat wins, then?” She says ready to push Start.

“Just one question, yes.” Hayeli smiles. “Most monsters sounds good. Let’s go.” She settles down in her seat again. As soon as the game starts again, she kicks off, controlling the pedals and joysticks much more delicately. She makes fewer unnecessary movements, the black Rubicon character firing off blasts at the monsters in front of it, exploding a dragon and punching through a giant shadowy canine. She doesn’t know which of the numbers is the one keeping score, but she sees her numbers going up, and that’s all that matters.

Hana grins and starts it off, heading in to wipe out some baddies. She keeps an eye on Hayeli’s score, and does not expect it to be rising at the speed it is. Her eyes widen and she glances over at the suddenly much better Hayeli, and grins. “Did you hustle me? Really?” she laughs and keeps going to try and come back, trying to sweep through a bunch of rock monsters. At the end of the time Hayeli has a pretty significant score advantage, and Hana leans back into her seat. She crosses her arms and smirks at her date. “Wow, I got played, dang. Whatcha wanna know?”

Hayeli looks at the screen, then at Hana, then at the screen again, before she seems to realize that she actually did win. A smiles happily, surprised at herself. She tries to play it cool and shrugs. “Apparently, I am better than either of us thought. So… you’ve already told me what you’re good at. I’ve seen some things you’re bad at. What are things you’d like to do, but don’t, because you’re afraid you’ll be bad at them? Things you haven’t done yet?”

Hana leans closer to hear better, and her eyes widened at Hayeli’s questions as she asked it. Her face gets red again, and her hand slips up to rub the back of her neck in habit. “Uh, stuff I don’t do but wanna do? I, well, that’s, like, uh” she stammers around a bit and glances up to the ceiling, then down, then back to Hayeli, and leans closer again. Not that anyone could hear them in the arcade with all the buzzes and dings and laser sounds, but since when did Hana care about logic?

“Well, so, like, I got a friend that’s good at baking, and like, I think it’s pretty cool to start with just a bunch of stuff and at the end of it get something yummy and cool. She does cupcakes all the time and like, they’re always really intricate and stuff and it’s super impressive. Dunno if I’d wanna go all in on that but like, I dunno, cooking and baking would be cool, just like, making a thing that somebody likes” Hayeli would catch Hana’s eyes glance at her when she said the word ‘somebody’. “Uh, there’s more but like, I
dunno how deep you wanna get right now, don’t wanna just unload everything and have you be all ‘woah way too heavy, cool it weirdo’”

“You can get deep, if you like. I’m used to ‘heavy’... weirdo.” Hayeli smiles disarmingly. “But you don’t have to. So… baking huh?” She lets out a giggle. “Not something I expected you to say, but that’s what these questions are for, aren’t they? That does sound very good. Making something with your own two hands… affecting shape and texture and colour… it’s a good feeling. I hope you do try that sometime.”

Hana gives a small smile, chuckling at that. “Okay, yeah, sure, then” She says, then blushes and glances away. “Yeah, like, I dunno, it’s cool, you start with like these powders and liquids and you put them together and then you got a cake” She chuckles again and pulls out her phone, then shows Hayeli a picture of some kind of mash of brown stuff in a pan that looks like it’s somehow collapsing in on itself. “I tried it once, but totally messed it up. Those are not supposed to be brownies, but they somehow became brownies, kind of”

After showing the picture and laughing about it, she puts her phone away and bites her lip nervously. “I, uh, well, I dunno if this counts, but like, I’d kind of like to meet my family. I have a mom here in Halcyon that...I guess she technically raised me. I had a home, but she was never around, just kinda made sure I had necessities. Neighbors would watch me more than she did, and mostly just making sure I got home okay. But like, I don’t know anything about the rest of my family outside of her. Like my dad, or whatever, no idea. I’d want to meet them, but like, I figure I’m going to be bad at it, so I haven’t ever really tried” She shrugs, then tries to lighten it up with a chuckle. “You said you wanted deep, soooo yeah”

Hayeli nods solemnly and leans closer to put her hand on Hana’s. “Thank you for trusting me with that information. Meeting family you don’t know or haven’t seen in years… that does not come easy. They may well be very different from what you imagine or hope them to be. Yet in spite of it all, you are here. You are strong, you’ve said as much yourself. When the opportunity arrives, I’m sure you’ll find yourself capable of fulfilling your wish. And who knows? Perhaps you’ll be able to break the ice with your father by offering him a perfectly-crafted cake. All magically put together from powders and liquids.”

Hana looks up as the hand touches hers, causing her to blink a few times before looking to Hayeli as she speaks. Her smile comes back at her comforting words, happy to hear them from her. “I, uh, thanks, Hayeli. That was like, really sweet” She says, smiling still as she looks to their touching hands. “I’m strong physically, like you’ve seen me break down a wall and punch out a bunch of guards but like, I dunno, I’m not strong in other ways. You would laugh so hard if you heard how many times I rewrote that text asking you out” She chuckles. “But, like, hearing you say it makes it seem like it could happen. It’s nice. Magic cakes or no magic cakes” She says, glancing back to her. The neon-tinted lights cast down on the two of them, mixing with the dancing of the screen’s glow cast her in a mix of blue, pink, and purple light. “Uh, I, uh, you, um, you’re really pretty” She says, blushing.

Hayeli catches herself with an inability to stop smiling. *‘I am sweet? Well, it is said the amanita is very sweet too…’* She looks at Hana’s hands as the girl talks about her strength. Her eyes raise up and she freezes as her gaze meets Hana’s again. Through the neon cascade that dances over them and reflects off Hayeli’s eyes, she can see Hana looking more flush than before. *‘Oh no. Is this…? This is better AND worse than that time in Zodiac City.’* She bites her lip. “I know. It takes a lot of effort to keep me looking this good.” She squeezes Hana’s hand gently. “Thank you.”

Hana chuckles, her hand returning the squeeze. “I bet it does, I’m sure it’s an all night thing” She says, her gaze finding itself on her lips as she kept happily looking to her. “I” she says, leaning a bit closer. Strong and bold, right? Strong and bold. Hana steels her nerves and leans in to kiss her, keeping her hands where they were because that was just more limbs that she could not focus on at the moment.

Oh dear. It is happening. Hayeli’s internal alarms go off again. This is real. Dozens of reasons to do it race through her head. Dozens of reasons to *not* do it follow right after. Hana’s cute. It would be betrayal. This isn’t a job. She could prove useful. Why does it all have to come down to manipulation and being professional? Sometimes, she wished things could be simple. She’s never gotten what she truly wanted. This, right in front of her, right now, was something good. She doesn’t know what would follow. There were plans in place that could unravel, but there is no clue how her future will change if she accepts what was happening. Perhaps all that she needs is a leap of faith.

She leans in and kisses Hana, and for a moment the mercenary is just a girl.

Warmth and excitement spark as their lips meet. Her hand squeezes on hers, still gentle and controlled. Her lips press softly against Hayeli’s, head tilting slightly as she continued the kiss. Hana wasn’t sure what made her bolder in this moment, it came and went for her, usually leaving when things like this were at hand. Even so, she’d done it, without too much hesitation, like Hayeli made her want to risk it, to try things and express herself. She wanted to kiss her, and now Hayeli was kissing her back, and it felt lovely. She wasn’t breaking anything or destroying a wall or punching someone, yet she felt right, and happy, like maybe she was good for more than her strength. Their kiss lingers for a few moments before Hana’s lips part for a breath, remembering she did in fact need to breathe and couldn’t just keep kissing forever; much as she wanted to.

Hayeli’s eyes are closed as long as the kiss lasts. Her anxieties from before wash away, with nothing distracting her anymore. She’d almost find it peaceful if her heart wasn’t beating so fast. As they kiss, in the flashing lights of the arcade, Hayeli’s hair for a moment seems to light up as well, as its black colour shifts to a silvery blonde, crawling up from the roots to the tips. When their lips part, the black colour quickly returns, and Hayeli rests her forehead against Hana’s. It feels cool compared to the heat filling her cheeks and the warmth of the arcade. She takes a few breaths. “It seems that there is at least one question I won’t need to ask you now.”

Hana draws in a slow breath as the kiss breaks, her eyes opening when she feels Hayeli’s forehead against hers. Her dark blue eyes stare into her silvery ones, as her lips curl up into a warm smile. The sounds of the arcade come back to her, for a moment her senses had been captivated just by the kiss. “Oh, were you gonna ask to do that? Whoops” She giggles a bit and her face keeps its flush. “Like, you still could, if you wanted to, or whatever, I’d be fine with doing that again”

“Maybe,” Hayeli says. “I considered it for a little later, perhaps. Building up to a climax. A good finale requires good foreshadowing, y’know?” She leans back and lets go of Hana’s hand, pushing herself out of the seat of the Rubicon game and stepping away from the cabinet. She looks around for a moment, considering the other games, then turns back to Hana. “If you’re still up for shooty fighting stuff, let’s go. I also have seen people play tennis recently, and I’m pretty sure I could beat you at that. And if you can’t think of a good question… well, I suppose we can call our meta-game Questions & Kisses.” She gives a little smirk and holds out a hand to Hana.

Hana chuckles and nods. “I rush into things, I’m no good with foreshadowing or building up” She rubs her neck bashfully, then nods with a grin. “Cool! Yeah! Tennis sounds fun, though you’ll probably definitely beat me at it” She stands up out from the game and glances at the offered hand, the smile essentially plastered onto her face at this point. She takes it and nods. “I like this change to the game, I approve and can’t wait to win. Or lose” She squeezes the hand gently, then moves with her over to the next game.

Hayeli gives Hana an amused look at the girl’s newfound enthusiasm for losing. She chuckles and shakes her head as she pulls her along to the tennis game. She explains to Hana the rules of tennis as they walk--while she tries to recall every bit of information from the time she’d spied on a tennis tournament, which had had nothing to do with her hoping to see Cambria lose--and hopes that the arcade game functions the same way. They find a pair of controllers shaped like small tennis rackets and at that moment Hayeli realizes that it may not be a video game at all. The small tennis rackets look more like very short rowing paddles, red on one side and black on the other. Hayeli looks at the game cabinet. It’s not a cabinet. It looks like a table. “This isn’t tennis.” She says.

Hana nods as Hayeli walks and talks, liking to hear her speak but confused why she seemed to be talking about rackets and courts. They reached the table and Hana grinned, then looked to Hayeli and blinked a few times. Her mouth opened slowly as Hana came to the realization. “Ooohhhhh, yeah this is table tennis, or ping pong. It’s, like, super similar, but you play with these little plastic balls and just here on this table. You still wanna play?” she asks, a smirk crossing her face as she squeezes Hayeli’s hand and leans closer to her. “Worried you’ll lose if it’s not regular tennis?”

Intinctively, Hayeli scoffs at the notion. “As if! I am a *queen* of table tennis. I will ping you and pong you so bad.” She gives Hana a little glare, but her smile betrays her. She presses a paddle into Hana’s hand and picks up the other one for herself. How hard could it be?

As she found out: still pretty damn hard. The differences between tennis and table tennis were significant, even if the basic movements were the same. The sense of scale was different, the physicality of it was much more subtle. The movements she had picked up previously didn’t quite match, making Hayeli lose a few points early on. She began to adjust little by little every round. She eyed Hana, trying to size her up again and see if she was doing any better at it.

Hana blushes when Hayeli says she will ping and pong her, and grins. She takes the paddle and heads to one side, serving the first round. Hana was not so good at these kinds of games, mainly because she held herself back so much. If she just let go and played hard as she could, the arcade would have several holes in the wall and likely need new paddles. So she moved carefully, hindering her ability to move quickly. She could keep up some, and got a lead early on, but by the end of the match Hayeli had won by a few points.

“Ugh, you’re right, I bow down to your rule, queen of table tennis” Hana says with a laugh, then crosses her arms. “Welllllll? Question or the other thing? Collect your spoils”

Hayeli breathes a sigh of relief once the game was over. She looks visibly worn out by the much more physical game than the previous one, though she isn’t sweaty. She collects her bearings and manages a smirk. She walks around the table tennis table, twirling the paddle in her hand, stopping in front of Hana. “Collecting *my* spoils, hm?” She muses, lifting her paddle to Hana’s chin to get her to tilt her head upwards as she comes closer to her face and lingers there for a moment.

“Well… let’s not spoil *you* then.” She flips the paddle and puts it in front of her mouth, between their faces. Hayeli looks over the edge of the paddle at Hana. “You’ve told me a bit about your family, and I’ve met your friends. Do you have anybody you look up to? Someone you admire or want to be like?”

Hana nods as Hayeli walks around to her. “Mhm” she says, smirking, still being a bit cocky though she’d lost. That bravado immediately fell away as Hayeli used her paddle to lift Hana’s chin, causing her eyes to widen and her cheeks to flush yet again. ‘Holyshitsheissohot` flashes through her mind in the moment her paddle holds her there. Then she speaks once more and the paddle moves, instead now blocking her mouth, though their faces were still so close together. Her eyes blink a lot and she lets out an inadvertent huff as she collects her breath.

“You, I, that, it” She stammers out, glancing to the side as her cheeks remain flushed. This girl...Hana’s gaze moves back to her. “Uh, yeah. I didn’t for a while before joining the team, I was kinda lost really, but when Sledge got me to join and like, helped me out with the new place to live and all that stuff and the training and mentoring and everything, I, like, I kinda really look up to her now. I didn’t know it at first, but like, she used to not be all shiny and heroic, she did some stuff back in the day, but now she’s this awesome person with a super cool wife and still all badass and stuff. She’s way better at everything than me but like, I dunno, seeing her where she is helps me think I can be better too. If she can come back from doing some bad stuff in her past, maybe that doesn’t have to hold me back either”

Hayeli falls still and quiet at Hana’s answer. She knows of Sledge of course, but nothing of her history, certainly nothing criminal or villainous. The mention of ‘a super cool wife’ makes her smile. When Hana finishes, she lowers her paddle. “Your mentor sounds like an impressive woman. I can see why you look up to her. I hope the bad stuff from your past won’t hold you back either.” She looks pensive, considering her own past for a few moments, before turning her attention to Hana again. “What bad stuff is in your past?”

Hana bites her lip, glancing down. “I, well, when you’re a kid growing up with super strength, then you teach yourself how to hack stuff, and you have like zero supervision, you’re probably gonna do some dumb stuff” She says, giving a shrug. “I broke into my mom’s office a bunch, like, physically and electronically, tapped their phones and messed with stuff. I had a backdoor into their system so when my mom pissed me off I’d do stuff like set off the sprinklers or corrupt their database. Then I moved to other places. I figured out how the scanners at stores worked and hijacked the frequency that set them off, so I could nab stuff and it wouldn’t ding, or if some jerk from school was there I could make it go off. Uh, there was a bank that kept sending us letters about owing stuff so I broke their parking lot a few times” Hana glances up and looks to Hayeli with a worried look. “Uh, sorry, hope I didn’t freak you out”

Hayeli looks and listens with a flat, serious expression, eyes firmly locked on Hana with interest, but when Hana finishes and looks worried, Hayeli cannot help but laugh. “For dumb stuff you sure pulled it off in a very intelligent manner, my dear. Freak out? No, you haven’t. You had me worried you were as bad as I am.” She winks. “You sound like a bona fide trickster and a bit of a thief. You might say you were a ruffian and a scoundrel. Yet that is all in the past, isn’t it? The past is not a mirror for our future. Then again… if that bank does that again, I’m sure they’d deserve worse.”

Hana nods, her worry melting away into a smile as Hayeli spoke. Her words seemed to be doing that a lot. She sighs, then leans closer to her so their hands brush together. “Th-thanks, Hayeli” She chuckles at her words. “Ruffian and a scoundrel, huh? Shoulda had you when I was picking a name to go by” She glances up to her, finding comfort once more in her eyes. “Oh they totally would. I, I’m trying to be better about not doing dumb stuff like that, but I don’t always succeed. Sometimes doing that stuff for the right reasons is good though, right? Like when we break into a base and stop some weird villain stuff from going down. I dunno. It’s hard. Uh, do I gotta win a game to ask what you mean by as bad as you are?”

“You would’ve made a great Ruffian.” Hayeli laughs. “Hmmm, yeah, breaking into a base to take something dangerous out of the wrong hands is a good reason, I think.” She recalls the time that the Black Magic Club conducted a ritual to bodyswap with members of the Big Team and broke into the vault of the Big Team base, successfully whisking away several artifacts they had accumulated from defeated supervillains. “I’ve… well, I can’t tell you everything. Like I said, nothing about my job. Still, you did answer two questions instead of just one, I suppose. You deserve a question. Or a kiss. Tip for tap, right?” Hayeli looks around them at the people present in the arcade, then takes hold of Hana’s arm and pulls her to a quieter part further inside.

Hana nods. “Yeah, done that a few times now, hehe” she says, chuckling at the memories of the several break ins she’s done for those sorts of reasons. Several were with Big Team, usually to stop some villain. At her words, Hana smiles and nods, eyes lighting up at the mention of a kiss. “Oh, yeah! That makes sense, yup, yup, tip tap and all that” she says, then lets Hayeli pull her away to the secluded part of the arcade.

Once they’re in a corner and another look around makes Hayeli feel safer to speak, she continues as she keeps an eye out. “I can tell you one thing: I busted someone out of prison before I started my job. I did some things that I’m not proud of, but the end result was worth it.”

Hana watches too, knowing she kept things private, she wanted to make sure no one came up on them and heard something. “Oh, yeah? Like, in addition to the job we were on? I...sorry, I wanna ask but I know you can’t talk about it, so I don’t wanna press more. Uh, just, like, uh, I guess I wanna say you can trust me, if there’s stuff you wanna talk about or whatever. But it’s hard to just accept someone saying they’re trustworthy, so...yeah…” She just gives Hayeli a smile. “I’m glad it was worth it for you. Starting whatever your job is means we got to meet, so I’m pretty happy about that”

Hayeli smiles tentatively, choosing to forego commenting on the job they’d done together. “What you say sounds wise. I wouldn’t ever tell you to trust me, for one. I’m very happy that *I* can trust *you*, however. I wouldn’t have told you this if I thought otherwise. A hacker who doesn’t dig into my personal information? A super strong girl who’s careful and gentle? Your actions speak for you, Shade.”

Hana blushes once again when Hayeli calls her ‘careful and gentle.’ “I, uh, dunno if I’m gentle” she says, glancing down for a moment, then back up with a smile. “I, uh, you might not think you could be trusted, but like, I trust you still. I like telling you stuff about me. I like that you know me better and even if it’s not a lot, that I know you better. You’re, like, you’re pretty awesome”

“Well,” Hayeli reaches out and takes hold of one of Hana’s hands with both of her own. “I would’ve sooner questioned you being careful, given what we did together last week.” She smiles. “Punching through obstacles, getting chased by guards, causing explosions? It was quite a show. I’d almost forgotten what I came there to do. Yet you never did lose sight of our goals. I like that I know you better too.” Her smile fades and she places one of her hands on top of Hana’s. “The hour grows late. The sun must be setting by now. What say you we leave these other games for another… for another time? There is one last thing I want to show you.”

A smile hangs on her face while Hayeli talks about their mission. It was nice, hearing someone like her compliment how she’d done. Hana had been down on herself about it, but this helped. “Oh, sure, yeah, we can get goi-another time? Liiiiike, you’d maybe wanna do this again? Or something else where we hang out, like a date hang out?” Her smile grows into a grin. “Okay! Cool, sure thing, I can’t wait” she says happily, keeping their hands together as she started to head for the exit of the arcade.

“I--um… well, I, y’know,” Hayeli stammers as they walk towards the exit. “No promises, honestly. I can’t know where my job might take me, or when. For what it is worth, I’ll say that I wouldn’t mind a… hang out?” She presses her lips tightly together. She didn’t want to set expectations. It was hard enough to respond to changes in the present to then also have to worry about plans set in the future that required keeping up an act. It had already been slipping this entire evening. *‘At this rate, I’m not going to be acting at all.’* The thought terrified her. Being real? To strangers? That was the worst.

## 8:30PM - Outside One More Turn

They stopped outside. The sun was touching the horizon, casting the parking lot and surrounding buildings in a reddish golden light. Hayeli holds up a hand to shield her eyes, a brief sparkle coming from them before she does so. “It’s warm…”

Hana walks with her outside, nodding. “Sure, yeah, I getcha. Your job stuff could probably take you a bunch of places” She can’t help but frown some at the thought of this being their only date. The fact that Hayeli would like another made her happy though, so she would just have to hope the girl would be in Halcyon for a while.

“Mhm, June in Halcyon” she says, glancing up at her. She bites her lip nervously as a thought occurs to her. Should she? Privacy though. She didn’t have to share it though. Ugh, just ask! “Uh, if you don’t wanna that’s cool, but, like, uh, you wanna take a picture together, or something? If I don’t get to have another date with you…” her face blushes and she looks down. “I want something to remember this one”

Hayeli blinks at the request, looking surprised. “Oh. Oh! That’s… um… that’s very sweet. Hmmm, would that be a problem…” She looks pensive for a moment as she does some mental math, trying to think of excuses to not do it… and of excuses to do it. Since she is sure this was going to be their only date, then… “Yeah, that should be okay. I get my jobs through secure lines and I don’t have any social media, unless you count messaging apps, so nobody dangerous should be able to find it if it does end up online… Yeah, alright!”

Hana smiles, though her face was still flushed. “Uh, I wasn’t gonna post it anywhere, since you like your privacy and stuff, just…” Her voice gets quiet as she trails off “just kinda wanted it for me” She adds, but glances up at her. “Cool, cool, great” she says, pulling out her phone and turning to get close to Hayeli. She leans in close, putting it in selfie mode so Hayeli can see herself. “You good? I mean, like, you’re definitely good, but like, I mean, ready to be pictured?”

Hayeli frowns at Hana for a moment, but then smiles and squeezes her free hand. “Yes, I’m ready to be pictured with you. By you!” Darn, leaned in too much into the act! *‘This is how I die. A real actor’s end: character death.’* She turns her face towards the upheld phone, trying not to look at Shade again in her embarrassment. She holds up her other hand awkwardly, trying to figure out what to do with it--people usually made signs, right?--before settling on just holding it there.

With you. At those words Hana’s hands fumbled the phone and nearly dropped it. “Ack, sorry! Uh, it’s the phone case, it’s...slippery...yeah” she says, nodding. Nailed it. She tries again, putting it up and leaning in close so they’re both in frame with the shops and such behind them colored pink and orange by the sunset. She takes the picture, and her smile stays as she sees the result.

“Wait, is that…” she glances up, seeing the helicarrier. “Jeeze, AEGIS, they work quick” she chuckles, then shows it to Hayeli. “Uh, it’s nice, right? That one okay? You look really pretty in it. Uh, I mean, not just the picture, like real you too. I mean, picture good, unless you wanna retake it, that’s what I mean, right, yeah”

Hayeli looks at the picture on Hana’s phone and nods. “Yeah, that looks good. Do you want to retake it? I don’t think you need to. I like how I look and you too.” She pulls at her jacket and zips it back up, getting ready for the ride again. She distracts herself from thoughts of falling off the bike by thinking of their destination. “The place I’d like to go to is a bit of a long ride away. If that’s a problem, we don’t have to go. I have to be back by midnight. I understand if you might have a curfew too.”

Hana smiles and shakes her head. “No, it looks great, I’m good. Uh, thanks for taking it with me” she says, the flush on her cheeks staying as she put her phone away. She listens as they head for the bike, Hana opens up the seat and pulls out her drink for a quick sip before putting it back. “Sure! No problem at all. I don’t have a curfew or anything, I’m free to take you wherever you want and get you back, I’m yours all night” she says it happily, then blushes. “Uh, I mean, like, so. Um, where we headed? Or just direction wise, if you wanna keep it a secret”

“Southwest.” It is the direction in which lays the Halcyon Nature Reserve. Away from the busy highways. “I can give you more precise directions once we get near.” Hayeli says. She picks up her bag and the helmet and puts them on. She says something inaudible through the helmet and laughs, not seeming to realize Hana can’t hear her without wearing her own helmet with the communicator in it. Hayeli puts her hands on the back of the bike, getting ready to get on after Hana.

Hana picks up the other helmet and taps the comms. “Okay, can hear each other now. Sounds good! Southwest it is” she says, nodding to her, then slipping onto the bike. She undoes the kickstand, looking back to watch and make sure Hayeli was on and settled. When she was all good, Hana pulled out of the parking lot and started to head for their new destination, wherever it may be. “You got a curfew, then? Who’s making you come home at a certain time?” she asks as they cruise.

“A… friend,” Hayeli says vaguely, looking around at their surroundings as she holds onto Hana. This third time riding together, she feels less afraid, growing accustomed to the movements and speed of the motorcycle. With the sun setting, the world grows darker, and the city’s lights begin to turn on. It was a different world to her. A more… professional world. “Someone I’m staying with. He doesn’t like it when I’m out all night, unless it’s for a job.”

“Oohhh, gotcha, that’s fair. Is this a job friend or a friend friend? Don’t have to talk about it if it’s a job friend, I won’t push” Hana says, chuckling. She heads out of the district and towards the Reserve, out of the city. Her light on her bike turns on as it gets darker, keeping the way lit as they get away from the highways and continue on. She tries to keep the ride smooth, since they’re off highways the speed is lower, so it’s a nice cruise while she follows Hayeli’s directions.

“He’s… a job friend,” Hayeli half-lies, tensing up for a moment. “Sorry.”

As they leave the lights of the city behind, she relaxes again. The darkness is comforting. Having only the noise of Hana’s motorcycle fill the air makes it feel almost zen compared to the many sounds of the city. Further out from the city, as more and more trees begin to appear around them, more and more stars begin to appear above. “Take the next exit, and then a left turn, up the hill.”

“All good! No need to apologize, I know job stuff is kinda hush hush, just figured I’d ask” she says. Her hands would have been up and moving to give emphasis to her words if they weren’t controlling the bike. Hana continues on, a smile on her face as they start to get more into the woods and the stars start appearing. “It’s nice out here, can’t wait to see whatever you’re gonna show me” she says happily, heading off on the exit she mentions, then going around up the hill. Hana didn’t head out this way much, usually preferring to stay in the city, save for any Big Team stuff that took her out. Her bike heads up, keeping a push on the throttle to get them up the hill.

Hayeli’s grip tightens a little at the roar of the motorcycle as they go up the hill. As they rise up, the dark outline of the hill against the light of the moon and stars shows the trees opening up, the top of the hill being mostly bare, save for some kind of structure. Hayeli points at it. “That’s where we’re going. The road doesn’t go all the way there. Take a right and then you’ll have to park there.”

“Got it!” she says happily, pulling in to the right and finding a place to park the bike. She’s a bit awkward, not used to parking it in gravel, but gets it standing upright and turns it off. She pulls her helmet off, then looks back and grins. “Okay! Let’s do this!” she says, the excitement just always seeming to be present with her tonight. She slips off the bike and hangs up her helmet on the bike, then as she readies to walk, she glances at her hand and then Hayeli’s hand, internally debating if she should try to hold her hand again.

Hayeli swings off the bike carefully and digs her feet into the gravel, steadying herself. She takes off her helmet and puts it away, taking a deep breath before straightening up and setting off down the path leading up the hill through the trees. Her eyes gleam in the darkness. She pats Hana’s shoulder as she passes by her. “Let’s go, strong girl.”

“Huh? Yeah! Right, gotcha, yeah” she nods, hurrying to follow along. She decided against it, didn’t want to push things too much, even if she really really wanted to hold her hand. Hana catches up and walks with her, looking all around them at the trees and the stars. “It’s super nice up here. How’d you find this place? Just random exploring when you got here?” she says, her curious gaze continuing to look around as they move through the trees.

“Something like that,” Hayeli smiles coyly. “I just kind of… happened upon this place. Like I was drawn to it. I suppose that, sometimes, a place can make you feel a little bit more whole. That’s how I feel when I’m here.” She finishes as they reach the top of the dirt path and the trees open up to a large clearing. Three jagged, angular pillars rise up over a dozen feet out of the top of the hill, jabbing into the sky. Nearby, along the path, stands a bench looking out over the side of the hill and the waters beyond, with Halcyon City in the distance on one side, the silhouette of the Zodiac Tree behind it, and Canada in the distance on the other. Hayeli stands still for a moment to take it in, then looks silently at Hana, before motioning at the bench and walking towards it.

“Oh, uh, I’m glad it’s here then, that you can have a place that makes you feel like that” Hana says happily, returning the smile. Did she have a place like that? Probably her apartment/base/hideout, mostly, the first place that was “hers”. She follows and reaches the top with her, and her eyes widen as they take in the sight. The pillars, the view of the city and bay with Canada on the other side, and stars lighting above them. “Woah. Dang. That’s...yeah...really pretty” she says, turning to look at it all, then catches Hayeli motion to her and head for the bench. She nods and follows, taking a seat with her. “Thanks for showing me this place”

Sitting down, Hayeli takes in the view and nods. “Yeah… you’re welcome.” She leans back and puts her arm on the back of the bench as she turns to look at Hana. “I appreciate having been able to spend this time doing these things with you, Shade. I spend a lot of time on my profession, to the point I forget that there are other things in life. One of the few people that I can call a friend reminds me on occasion, but we can’t spend our entire lives with one person so they can constantly remind us of things.” She pauses and looks away. “Well, I suppose we’d like to, maybe. Yet wishful thinking never got anyone anywhere…”

Hana looks to her, giving a nod. “Uh, yeah, me too! I had a really good time tonight” she says, continuing to listen as she goes on. Her head tilts slightly in confusion, now that she was starting to get into deeper things. “Oh, so, uhhh, you really focus on work, then, huh? I’m glad you have a friend that can remind you of stuff you like, though!” she says, smiling. “I guess like, stuff can happen and drift you apart, yeah, but like, you know, if you like someone and want to be with them, you should be able to. You know, as work friends or regular friends or more than friends or...whatever” She blushes and glances up at the stars.

Hayeli considers this and nods. “I suppose that’s true. You’re better with matters of friendships than I. You have a whole team of them. I--” Hayeli presses her lips together and scratches her head her in thought. *‘If I never see her again and she never finds out about who and what I am, then it doesn’t matter what I tell her, does it? Even telling truths won’t matter.’* She considers her words. “Shade, there is… something I think I may have to apologize to you for. Something I do a lot in my line of work and something that I’ve been doing this entire evening.”

Hana chuckles and shakes her head. “Oh, uh, I’m super not, I’m part of the team but like, only kind of just starting to have some of them consider me as a friend. A bunch of them probably don’t still” she says with a shrug. “But like, I’ve been that way my whole life, so it’s fine” she says, then glances over when she mentions an apology. “Oh, uh, yeah, sure. Were you working tonight? Is that what the phone stuff was? Shoot, sorry, I keep asking when I shouldn’t. Dummy” she bonks herself on the head. “Um, so, uh, whatcha wanna apologize about?”

Hayeli briefly smiles at Hana’s talk of her friends. “You’re not as much a dummy as you give yourself credit for.” She instinctively raises her hand from the bench and pats the spot on Hana’s head that Hana bonked, before putting her hand back on the bench’s back behind Hana. “I have been doing this thing that people in my line of work do a lot in order to survive tenuous situations, something that actors do often. It’s called ‘mirroring’. I’ve been mirroring your actions and tone and attitude a lot tonight. When I don’t know how to act in a situation towards another person, I instinctively and actively mirror them. It can make people subconsciously like you more, because you’re more like them. You have introduced a lot of new things to me in the span of a few hours and I fell back on habits that have saved my face or my ass on many occasions. I mentioned a friend before? She has informed me that this is something other people often hate. I do not wish to be hated, but I have accepted that most people will. Most people don’t matter. Most people I meet are enemies at first and get worse with every interaction. Yet she has told me that this makes it impossible to see who the real ‘me’ is.” She takes a deep breath. “That makes it difficult to make friends. That is also why I went into tonight assuming that this would be the only time.”

Hana giggles as her head is patted, then turns in the bench so she can face Hayeli, sitting on her crossed leg. Her eyes widen a bit as she explains, nodding every once in a while to show she’s listening. As she finishes, Hana looks down, her brow furrowing in thought as she lets all of it soak in. After a few moments she looks up, her eyes mixed with some sadness, some confusion. “So, like, you did wanna go out, but kinda just, defaulted to doing what you’d think I wanted you to do?” She asks, leaning closer a bit on the back of the bench. “W-was us holding hands and kissing, did you...did you not want to do that?”

“I did want to go out, yes.” Hayeli says. She watches Hana’s face, lit only by the light of the moon and stars. She feels something in her gut twist as Hana’s expression changes. She finds her own expression turning sad as well, but instead of confusion it is mixed with apprehension and worry. She considers her options to respond to Hana’s question, like the multiple-choice options she imagined having before. She lifts her other hand and puts it on Hana’s. There was only one option she imagined now. “I don’t do what I don’t want.” Hayeli says, leaning closer, her expression still a little worried and sad, but a smile appearing on her face. “And I am not mirroring right now.”

Hana listened, her eyes softening and her smile returning when Hayeli spoke and told her that she’d wanted it, going out in the first place, their touches, the kiss. Her hand squeezes on Hayeli’s, gentle as ever even if she didn’t think so herself. “Okay, good, I, I got really worried I’d kissed you and you didn’t want to and just kinda did it anyway to make me happy or something, I woulda felt so bad. Uh, okay, okay” she nods a few times, thinking some more. “So like, I get needing to do that. I’m sorry you felt like that, needing to pretend and stuff. Uh, but like, I dunno, it’s...it’s okay. If like, the big stuff was you, and you wanted to be here, and you had fun and uh, like, uh, like me, or whatever, it’s...it’s okay. I don’t hate you. I...if it’s like, too much, I’m sorry, but...uh, like, gah, this is hard” she says, stammering on her words and blushing. “I like you, and I know that you might have been doing your mirroring and some of it might have been not exactly real. I get it. If it takes you a while to trust or open up, like, it’s okay. I want to know you and date you again and spend time with you and kiss and stuff” she motormouths, looking back to her, and her cheeks get flushed again. “I, uh, like, only if you want to, you know, if you don’t I get it, and stuff…”

“Yeah, I… no, I… I mean,” Hayeli stammers. “Shit, I’m supposed to be good at words. I think I mean to say that I don’t know how much of it was that, and I wish it wasn’t any, but… I feel like I can’t be certain of myself. I don’t want to be fake. I *hate* being fake. That’s why I want to hold on to the things that feel real. I’m not making any sense, am I? I…” Hayeli gestures with her hands, shaking her head, trying to find the right words. “I like you. I like you and that feels weird, because it doesn’t feel like how I like my few friends or like I like V--” She freezes up, realizing she herself is motormouthing now, and takes a deep breath. “I’m going off-track. My point is…” She puts her hand back on Hana’s and shifts her position closer, straightening her back and looking down at the shorter girl. “I have liked spending time with you. Evidence suggests that I would like spending time with you again. I liked kissing you. I would like to do it again.”

Hana nods, listening, trying to parse everything that was being said and going on. “You’re making sense, totally. If things are like, kinda vague and you’re trying to figure out what feelings were real and what weren’t, that must be kinda scary and stuff” she says, trying to assure her. Hana leans in and gets a big smile when she finishes, saying that she’d want to spend time with her again and kiss again. “I, uh, I did too. I had a ton of fun tonight. And, uh, I, I wanna see you again. I wanna see you a lot” She says, her eyes glancing down as her face flushes up, but she looks back and nods. “I’m super nervous about like, being so open and stuff but, yeah, it’s what I want. And…” She leans in closer and rests her forehead against Hayeli’s. “I want to kiss you again, and a bunch more times, if you’ll let me” She says, pressing their lips together once more.

Hayeli cannot help but smile as Hana rests her forehead against hers. She shivers a little--from the cold or the excitement?--before she consents. “I will let you.” She says, returning the kiss, and feeling a little bit warmer.

In the sky above them, the stars twinkle, and a few bright streaks flash across the sky as a pair of stars falls down together.

## 11:30 - the corner of Copperfield St. and Blackstone Way, again

The whole ride back, Hana has a smile that won’t go away under her helmet. She takes it nice and easy down the road back into the city, heading for the downtown area she’d picked Hayeli up from. Does her slower speed on the way back have something to do with wanting to have Hayeli’s arms around her longer? Perhaps.

Pulling in to downtown, she stops in front of the silverware store and puts the kickstand down, pulling off her helmet. “Here you go, silverware store. Little different than a hotel, but it’s unique, good choice” she says, chuckling at her own joke. She takes the helmet from Hayeli and attaches it to the bike for the ride back, then looks to her, smile still hanging on her face.

“Thank you,” Hayeli chuckles, getting off the bike and leave her helmet there. “I can find my way back home from here, no worries.”

“Uh, so, I, uh, I said it before but I wanna say it again, I had a great time tonight. Thanks for letting me take you out and answering my text in the first place and being so cool and pretty and awesome and stuff” Hana rubs the back of her neck bashfully. “Uh, before we like, totally head our separate ways for the night, you wanna, like, uh, have one more kiss?” She asks, flushed as heck but still smirking at her.

Hayeli looks pensive for a moment. She turns up her collar and brushes her hair out of her face. “Just a little one, maybe, then.” She giggles, and leans in. She places her lips gently onto Hana’s. She breathes softly through her nose as she tilts her head and betrays her words immediately by turning one little kiss into a series of little kisses. She sets a step closer to Hana, pressing closer to her and bringing up her hands to Hana’s face. She breaks away from her kisses for long enough to speak. “This has been a great time for me. You’ve given me much to ponder. You’re a… a good person, Shade.”

Hana giggles and tilts her head into the kiss, smiling as she returns the surprise barrage of other kisses. When Hayeli pulls back just a bit and keeps her hands on her cheeks, Hana’s eyes open to look into her eyes, her cheeks flushed just as they’d been pretty much all night. “I’m glad you had a good time, I did too, like, just the best” she says, then chuckles. “It’s kinda cute that you kept calling me Shade all night instead of my r-wait, shit, did I never tell you my actual name?!” She groans at herself. “I’m an idiot. It’s, it’s Hana. My name’s Hana”

Hayeli laughs. “Oh my stars, of course! I should have realized sooner. I didn’t even think to consider Shade might not be your preferred name. I thought I was being respectful by not asking. You superheroes sure like having multiple names.” She shakes her head. “Well then, Hana…” Hayeli leans in and places one last, long kiss on Hana’s lips. She breaks away slowly and sets a step back, hugging her arms to herself as she shivers a little. “Good night.”

“Hehe, yeah, gotta have that persona and everything” She says, leaning back and returning the longer, final kiss. It ends, and her eyes open back up when Hayeli pulls away. “Good night, Hayeli. Than-you cold? You can borrow my jacket if you want”

Hayeli waves her off. “I appreciate you offering, but I’ll be fine. It really isn’t a long walk from here.” She can’t stop smiling. “You go off, strong girl. I’ll be seeing you.”

Hana nods, chuckling. “Okay, sure. Uh, I’ll text you later? Thanks again for tonight” She says, putting her helmet back on. She puts the kickstand up and starts the bike. After a final wave, she heads off into the night, back to her apartment at the community center.

“Yeah.” Hayeli waves Hana off and gives a little satisfied sigh. “Gotta have that persona indeed.” She looks around and, seeing nobody else around, turns towards the silverware store and steps forward, disappearing into the glass.