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Angela’s heart sighed as she watched Fareeha talk to Lucio from across the room. She tried to keep her glances at the woman subtle, so that no one else would notice. She admired her tall, strapping stance, the way she kept her feet firmly planted on the ground, the lean muscles in her arms, her graceful, long fingers…
Ok, Angie, she chided herself, that’s enough of those thoughts.
Fareeha was so devilishly attractive. It almost wasn’t fair. Everything about her was so poised, so robust and strong, from the way she ran laps with the stamina of an antelope on the base’s training track, to how she careened through the air in her Raptora flight suit with the grace and skill of a hawk, even to the way she ate - definitely with an appreciation for the food yet never sloppy or greedily, her full lips forming quiet smacks and presses. Not to mention how her eyes were a beautiful chocolate brown, with hints of liquid gold when the sun shone in them, her eyelids deep and her eyeliner always accentuating the almond shape to her eyes, and that Eye of Horus tattoo that curved under her right eye, highlighting her beauty.
But of course, Fareeha’s looks weren’t where her appeal ended. She was absolutely enthralling at first glance, sure, but once you got to talk to her, you were even more drawn in. She kept a stern demeanor while on the battlefield, which was certainly intimidating, but you knew her constant hawklike glare stemmed from her burning passion for serving others in need. She was always hyperfocused, her mind set on some ambiguous higher purpose, and it burned through her blood. One could tell that everything she did came from a place deep within her, somewhere no one else really knew but herself.
But talking to her off duty, away from the battlefield, away from the smoke and ash and danger - Fareeha had a confident, somewhat quiet manner of carrying herself about. She smiled at Lucio’s dumb jokes. She appreciated Mei’s adorable puns, and was prone to cracking her own (groan-inducing) ones. If one paid attention, they would notice that Fareeha had quite the sharp wit and tendency to banter back and forth with rapid fire comebacks. Angela could tell that as a teen she must have had a smart aleck streak with talking back and being snappy. However, years of discipline had long since taught her to curb her tongue, and to listen. Still, she had an undeniable cocky streak to her, and even a tendency to want to show off, but it made her all the more charming. Angela had always admired confident people with a respect for limits and simultaneous desire to challenge them.
Angela also knew that Fareeha was very kind. She cared deeply about her friends, and her family, and her home country of Egypt. When Angela forsook eating and sleeping as she buried herself in her work, Fareeha had been the one who knocked on her door and brought her food. When Satya Vaswani had defected from Vishkar and joined Overwatch’s disaster relief team as chief architect, most of the team was wary of her and kept their distance, but Fareeha had made the effort to reach out to her and make her feel welcome. Even Angela hadn’t had the decency to do that, she admitted with shame.
Fareeha was quite awkward around children, but clearly had a deep drive to protect any and all of them. She remembered when she was stationed in Giza, and after Fareeha had led her Helix squad on a mission to save the city from a siege by rogue omnics, a few children had come out of the dust and the hiding and hugged her, soft arms wrapped around her steely blue armor. The sight had melted Angela’s heart.
As far as Angela knew, Fareeha was far too focused on her duties to make time for romance. It saddened her to think she might never have a chance with Fareeha (not to mention Angela didn’t know if she was even interested in women, or in anyone), but Angela understood. With their occupation, personal lives had to be put on the sidelines.
Serving the people always came first.
In the meantime… Fareeha was the star of her dreams, the one her heart most desired, who she would drift off in a fantasy with when the nights grew long and lonely, as they did often.
And that was enough for her.