For Nate, the few days leading up to the finals were totally different from the first day of studying. Nate had always thought Lindy’s beauty transcended time and space, but now he might be able to turn their relationship into a romantic one. Instead of hearing what Lindy was actually saying, he saw a vision of a dolled-up Lindy speaking sweet, angelic, muffled “blah blah blahs.” It was like something had unlocked for Nate, and he couldn’t help but see Lindy in a whole new light.
Nate was startled out of his trance by the feeling of pain in his shin. He looked down and saw that Dee had kicked him under the table. She made a gesture with her hands as if saying, “What the hell are you doing?” Nate looked back up at Lindy as she turned around from the interactive TV to see what the commotion was about.
“Everything ok? We are almost done, like one more hour, ok?” she said in a kind and sincere tone.
Nate was back in a trance, though, and instead of Lindy displaying her intellect and teaching the team what they needed to know for the final, his male gaze laid upon an angel who he imagined was whispering sweet nothings in his ear.
After the last hour had passed, Jax and Dee thanked Lindy with a hug for the tremendous work she had put into making sure the team was ready for their tests the next day. Nate stepped forward and pulled Lindy in by the waist, giving her a deep, long hug. Lindy wrapped her arms around his head and laid her face against his chest. Nate laid his head on hers, so he couldn’t see how wide Dee’s eyes were at how intimate the hug was, nor could he see Lindy mouthing “Oh my God," to her.
Nate broke the hug first and audibly thanked Lindy for all the extra work she had done for them. Lindy was blushing uncontrollably but was able to eke out a, “You’re welcome guys, should we go get some dinner or, uh, something?”
“I’m down, if you are.” Nate replied with an attempt at a sultry tone and look. Nate thought about biting his lip but figured that might be too much.
Lindy ate it up, though, while Dee and Jax both rolled their eyes, each having had their own separate conversations about how Lindy was struggling with maybe making a move on Nate, and Nate not realizing that there was a mutual attraction between the two.
“Where should we go, Nate?” Lindy returned the soft, sexy tone, letting his name escape her lips as if it was the last breath she would ever release—and she had saved it for his name.
Dee looked at Jax with a confused look then turned back to the pair of grown adults that had devolved into lustful teenagers and decided to interrupt whatever lusty eye sex was happening between them.
“Slop? Usual booth? I’m going to, uh… go get changed and get the hell out of here.” Dee said, looking up and down the awkward scene that Nate and Lindy were creating.
“Sammmmmme.” Jax added, but drew it out before shooting finger guns at Nate and Lindy.
Nate and Lindy broke eye contact for the first time in what felt like a millennia, and followed the rest of the team out of the study room and back to the dorms.
Lindy was pacing back and forth in her dorm room while Dee, who had long ago already gotten ready for what would be for her a normal team dinner, was sitting patiently, looking at her cuticles and listening to Lindy spray her emotions across the room.
“Ok, so we didn’t make that up, right? He’s into me, that’s clear now, right?”
“Yes Lindy, it appears he has an attraction for you.”
“You didn’t say anything to him, right? From when we talked at Cat’s?”
“No Lindy, I didn’t say anything… Or did I?” Dee responded with a fake frown as she held out her hand, wondering if she should paint them later or not.
“DAMMIT DEE, I’m not screwing around here!” Lindy stopped her pacing and was staring Dee down with a finger pointed at her. Dee gave Lindy a side eye, only slightly turning her head to acknowledge her.
“Dam girl, I know, I didn’t say anything, promise.”
Lindy continued pacing. “Ok, so what do I wear? What do I do now? No guy has ever made me play this, like, flirty game. It’s usually players that want to get down to business or suitors thinking they are going to marry into the crown, so they do nothing but talk about business. Actual business though, not sex.”
“I got the idea.” Dee responded with the same calm, slightly mocking tone, trying to both let Lindy’s emotions run their course and not set off a volcanic explosion at the same time.
“But what do I wear! Is this like a date now? Should I hold his hand? What about makeup? Should I do like everyday makeup or do I do date night makeup?”
“I think you should land the fish you’ve had your line in the water for, for over a year now. Wear something that will catch his eye but don’t be a spotlight. Do your usual makeup, not first date level. Here, wear these, and this, and that.” Dee said while throwing clothes from Lindy’s closet across the room at her.
***
"I wonder where they are?" Nate said to Jax. Nate and Jax had changed into normal street clothes out of their training wear they wore around school before heading to Slop shortly thereafter. Gemma sat them down at their normal booth and took their drink orders before walking off to fill them.
"They did say they were going to change, so who knows how long that will take." Jax said.
"Jax, are you worried about the Draft? What if no one offers us anything?" Nate said, refocusing the conversation on something else. "I trust Jarris. I can't say I'm not nervous though, you know?"
"I'm not nervous at all. We are all going to get great offers, multiple even. The sponsors aren't allowed to tell us about deals so we avoid getting used to one potential placement over another. The offers are going to come in all at once. You most of all."
"Why do you say that?"
"Look, I know you're new to the galaxy and whatnot, but you gotta recognize that you're something of an oddity, right? That and you have a well-established track record."
"Yea ok, I am undefeated, that's obviously a big deal in any sports setting."
"Yea. You're undefeated as the number two seed in the finals tournament, your team is the sixteenth seed, again, very few losses. Your powers are insane, and your attunement is Void. The draft is a big thing in my family, granted we only watch for arena league placements, but still. I haven’t seen a Void attuned in my lifetime, that alone is going to give you a boost, plus everything else you have going for you."
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Nate nodded, accepting the gracious things Jax was saying about him.
"You're going to do great too, Jax. Look at our gear compared to everyone else's. It's a night and day difference."
"Ah, you can pick up stuff like this at any contractor outfitter."
"But you tailor-made everything to our powers, Jax. Remember that Lizzan guy we fought who only had a shield?"
"You have just a spear though, it's not that much different."
"My spear can split in two, extend up to ten feet from me and retract all on its own. Let alone transfer my shield to it."
"Alright, alright. Look on the bright side, if I don't get a good offer, my family is still crazy rich." Jax said with a smug smirk.
Nate laughed and attempted to take a drink, but then he laid eyes on Lindy and Dee walking into Slop. Lindy was wearing high wedge heels, tight jeans she bought from a designer that brought some Earth fashion to The Hub, and a white low-cut, flowy cotton t-shirt. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail with a light blue bow, except for a number of strands she let hang down in the front that she tucked behind her ear. Nate’s heart began pounding instantly. He had seen her in casual clothes so many times before, but just like in the study room, something had been changed for him, some barrier that was holding him back from giving into his desire for her was gone now. He could feel that she was within reach. So now he wanted her. He wanted her really, really bad.
Nate got up like a gentleman, hugged Lindy tightly, and kissed her on the cheek before ushering her to their regular booth. Nate couldn't help but take in the smell of her perfume, which exuded beautiful, mature flowers. Nate didn’t know anything about flowers, but those were his favorite ones now.
Jax did not show the same amount of chivalry to Dee, and as a result, Dee pushed him to the end of the booth before seating herself next to him.
"Did you guys already order?" Lindy said as Nate sat down in the booth next to her.
"No, but uh, I, we, got you your normal drink."
Nate slid a glass of red juice to Lindy that he couldn’t remember the name of the fruits it was composed of but thankfully remembered how much she loved it from all the times they had shared a meal at Slop as a team.
"Ah yes, thank you! I love this stuff!" Lindy said in excitement.
"You guys look nice." Nate said, only looking at Lindy.
Lindy blushed and was about to thank Nate for the compliment, but Dee interrupted her with a very frank tone.
"OK you two. Cards on the table, I think you’ve both figured out now that you are of the opposite sex and obviously have feelings for each other. Not that people of the same sex can’t be attracted to each other, that’s just not the case here. SO! I have rules for you two."
Lindy’s red cheeks from blushing quickly turned to anger from Dee outing her attraction to Nate.
"No sex before marriage. We are running a tight ship here, and we can’t have you two going at each other all the time."
"DEE!" Lindy shouted, making the patrons of the restaurant in their vicinity all turn and stare at their booth.
Dee laughed it off, however, her attempt to get a rise out of at least one of them succeeded.
"Ok, ok, but seriously. You guys need to have a night to yourselves and get this out of your system, and then you need to lock it up. I don’t know about you two rich kids, but Nate and I don’t come from dynastic multigenerational wealth, and I for one was hoping the draft would make a dent in my plans to become obscenely rich. I’ll have to work at it unlike you two, but since we are actually doing incredibly well, I might make it out of this place with a really decent offer. But you two need to keep it in your pants until after the tournament. I’m the only one at this table with a questionable future."
Dee hesitated, choking up for the second time the team had ever seen in the past year.
"I’ll be damned if you two start going at each other and ruin that for me. Also, I'd like to keep this friend group intact, but I don’t want you two to be unhappy, so don’t..." She said gesturing her hands in a way to show Nate and Lindy coming together. She had tears in her eyes though. Lindy and Nate each grabbed one of her hands while Jax rubbed her back with his small Racoonan paw.
"No one gets left behind, remember?" Nate said calmly but with a firm confidence one could only convey when being truly genuine.
Dee held Nate’s hand tighter and collected herself.
"Please don't ruin our team with your penis." Dee started again with a frank attitude that startled Nate due to the quick emotional turnaround.
Lindy’s face went beet red, Jax buried his head in his hands, and Nate replied with an embarrassed nod.
“Let's go fur ball.” Dee said to Jax as they left the table for another across the dining hall to give the budding couple some privacy.
"Hey kid, you looking forward to the tournament? Wait, don’t you guys have-"
Before Hal could finish his sentence, he was flung to the side, stumbling from view, having been shoved away by Peggy who simply smiled and walked away.
Nate and Lindy giggled to each other as they knew Peggy was picking up on what was happening.
"Are you hungry? Should we order something?"
Lindy smiled and nodded her head without a word.
"It’s been a while since I’ve done this…" Nate said sheepishly.
"I’ve actually never done this myself, everything is always arranged when you’re a princess. But we can try to do… this… together?" Lindy said as she smiled curiously.
Nate took a deep breath like he was letting all the tension out of his body, then he looked deeply into her eyes, taking in every detail like he was noticing them for the first time. When she smiled, her eyes smiled with her. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of brown, like the bark of a pine tree from back in Denver.
That’s when it hit him, why he’d been so comfortable around her beauty all this time. She felt like home, like she fit into his life in the most natural way possible, like she was the puzzle piece he had always been missing. Nate took hold of her hand across the table, still gazing into her eyes when he decided to take the leap and try to fall in love for the first time.
"You have the most beautiful eyes." he said first.
Lindy couldn’t blush any more than she already was. She was just happy to be there with him, alone for the first time in a long time.
"Thank you." She said softly.
"You know, this is the first time we’ve really been alone like this since we first met." She continued.
"You’re right. So much time wasted, I should have-"
"No." she stopped him. "Not wasted. We got to be friends first. Now we can try something new. A little more… intimate." she smiled slyly.
"I like the sound of that." Nate said. "Hey, should we just get out of here?"
"Lead the way." Lindy replied.
Nate took Lindy by the hand and led them out of Slop, to the nearest portal to the Nexus, from there they walked out to see Memorial Park.
Nate and Lindy walked around and found a food cart and bought each of them a sandwich wrap before walking out to the park under the tree. There were only a few other couples sitting out there, so Nate figured it was okay. Lindy was hesitant but followed anyway.
The couple talked, laughed, and reminisced about the year they’d spent with each other as friends before the topic transitioned to a more somber tone.
"Nate, what if we don’t get the same draft offer? What if we drift apart because we don’t get to be together every day?" Lindy said worriedly.
"What if we don’t worry about it? What if we promise to make time for us after we graduate?" Nate questioned.
"Will you promise me? That we will try ‘us’ after school?"
"I promise." Nate held Lindy’s cheek in his hand.
"I promise too." Lindy rested her head in Nate’s hand.
Nate pulled Lindy in for a passionate kiss, but before their lips connected, sprinklers turned on, shocking both of them with cold water now soaking them and their clothes.
The couple jumped up and ran for the edge of the park, still holding hands, but Nate stopped with a big smile on his face, letting the water continue to drench him.
"Nate! Nate! What’re you doing?" Lindy squealed as she stopped, not letting go of his hand.
Nate pulled Lindy in by the hand and gripped her waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck, and they each buried their lips into each other’s for their first kiss.
