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Yoru was known in the Valorant Protocol for being closed off, priding himself on his self-sufficient nature on and off the battlefield. With the yearning to know more about his family ties, he decided he had concerns greater than silly outings or late-night movie nights with friends. Skye on the other hand was the opposite, when she wasn’t on the battlefield, she’d always be with someone; laughing over drinks or taking an early morning hiking trip with whoever she could wrangle out of bed. Even when there was no one around, she still had her pets Taz and Hawko by her side all the time. But to Yoru, Skye was just another face in the crowd at the end of the day. At least, that was until he really met her. Of course the two passed each other in the hallways, sat together in the dining room, and went on the occasional mission together, but they had never sat down to truly enjoy the company of one another, until one special day neither saw coming.
Their first real interaction happened in the Protocol’s training room. There, Yoru was practicing his shots against a swarm of flying bots, when he suddenly heard the door to the entrance slide open, making him turn around at whoever was interrupting him.
“Would it really kill you to wait?” Yoru bitterly grunted, not bothering to hide the disdain in his voice as he glared at the Australian girl standing at the entrance of the training room.
“Of course it wouldn’t kill me, but with that aim, I couldn’t say the same for you, Riftwalker.” Skye had been calling Yoru by that same annoying nickname since their first mission together, even though Yoru didn’t consider the two nearly close enough for nicknames. Skye was well aware of this, but still called him Riftwalker every chance she got, and he still begrudgingly answered every time.
“Since you’re already down here, it shouldn’t be too much of a bother to ask you to train with me, isn’t that right, Yoru,” The switch to protocol names didn’t go unnoticed by Yoru, but the weak attempts at winning him over didn’t work.
“No.”
Whipping his head back towards the course in front of him, Yoru began to continue shooting the bots in front of him, trying to focus on the machines crowding him as he felt Skye’s eyes burned into the back of his head.
“Okay, Okay! I’m sorry about the Riftwalker thing, but you can’t seriously tell me you’d rather waste your time against these buckets of bolts when I’m right here?” Skye asked while inviting herself in, continuing to walk with the rifle in her hand until she was only a few feet away from where Yoru stood; back still to her.
Though he was still annoyed about having his time interrupted, he couldn’t deny the fact that this target practice had gotten repetitive enough and he was itching for something new, just as Skye had guessed.
“Okay, but I’m not staying for any more than ten minutes.” Despite Yoru’s deadpan and monotone voice as he turned around, a big grin grew on Skye’s face as she began to stretch, “Well of course you won’t be in here for a ten whole minutes, I’ll have you limping to the infirmary in five!” Skye giggled at her own insult as her stretches finished up and she looked right at Yoru.
“So you ready, Riftwalker?” Skye said teasingly.
“Keep talking and see what happens, Flowergirl.” Yoru responded, returning the energy.
The two wasted hours down there; fighting each other until they were both out of breath and they had slouched on the cold, metal floor. Ultimately agreeing to a truce, the two tried to think of something to say so their heavy breathing and the air conditioner’s hum weren’t the only things filling up the silence.
“If you’re free at this time tomorrow, I’d love to rematch you.” Skye suddenly blurted out, turning to Yoru as she waited for his answer.
Yoru wanted to shoot back some witty response about making Skye beg if she really wanted a second chance at beating him, but somehow Skye managed to steal the words straight from him with the way her face was flushed from all the fighting and her usually energetic self was now calm in front of him.
“I’ll be free tomorrow, yeah,” Yoru finally said, standing up to leave the training room as their time together reached its close.
“Well then, I’ll see you.” Skye said as she got up and went to the girl’s changing room.
“And tomorrow I’ll have your ass on the floor, Riftwalker! Count today as a warmup!” She added as her energy came back to her, letting Yoru get a glimpse of her signature smirk before disappearing in the room. Deciding it was already too late for a rebuttal to Skye’s final remark, Yoru instead just cracked a smile at the joke as he walked to his own changing room.
What was supposed to be one rematch turned into many, and the more time they spent in the range together, the more drawn they became to each other throughout the days. Before either one realized it, their taunts and short insults became long conversations and breaks of comfortable silence between them, and their petty rivalry became an unlikely friendship.
♡
Which led Yoru to today.
He and Skye had just returned from an early morning walk, and the girl all-too generously offered to cook the two breakfast. So now Yoru was sat at an island stool as Skye happily stirred up strawberry pancakes; a favorite of his.
“Okay Skye, just be blunt with me. What is all this about really?” Watching Skye stack the fluffy pancakes on two plates and get some coffee brewing, Yoru really thought the anticipation of waiting for Skye to talk would do him in, having no idea what the girl was trying to bribe him into.
“Whatttt? It’s really nothing at all! Can I not be nice to my friend every once and awhile?” Skye unconvincingly said as she poured the coffee into two cups and sat next to Yoru with their breakfast now in front of them both.
“When it’s you, no.” Yoru bluntly replied. Skye could tell he was joking and laughed it off before finally giving Yoru his much needed explanation.
“Okay, you caught me Riftwalker! I was assigned to a mission in Icebox, and this wouldn’t be such a problem if it wasn’t for a whole weekend! Of course I took up the mission, but I just don’t have it in me to drag Taz and Hawko out to that cold ass place for the whole time, so I’ve been searching for a pet sitter and was hoping that…” Skye let her voice fade out as she turned to Yoru with pleading eyes, which according to Yoru’s blank face wouldn’t get her far.
“You’re… joking, right? I don’t know jackshit about pets, let alone two radiant beasts-”
“Not beasts.”
“...Two radiant pets. Regardless, I’m the last person you’d want to ask. I’m terrible with all animals, pets or not.”
“You don’t have to worry about that! I promise, every direction there is and question you’ll come up with I’ll have written down for you before I leave. It’ll only be two days anyway; my trip will go by way quicker than you think, so please, pleaseeeeeee Yoru?”
Skye knew full well what she was saying was complete bullshit, even as the one saying it, and Yoru definitely knew this too, with the uncharacteristic begging giving her away. Still, Skye really wanted Yoru’s help with this favor, and he didn’t have it in him to turn her down either.
“Well… I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try.” As soon as the words left him, Yoru felt regret creeping up on him, but the 180 in Skye’s personality wiped it as soon as it came.
“Oh, Thank you Yoru! I promise this’ll be way easier than you’re thinking, just trust the notes then Taz and Hawko will love you immediately!” When Skye got excited like this, Yoru noted that she’d talk with her hands much more and all eye contact was gone as her eyes darted around the room with a childlike shine to them. The way she told him about Taz and Hawko; rambling about everything from the most basic things about them to the small quirks the two had that she picked up over the years, made a big grin grow on Yoru’s face; part of him couldn’t believe he signed his weekend away as a pet sitter, but something about the way his heart fluttered when he saw Skye so happy made it all worth it.
♡
Yoru hated himself, so, so much. Waking up at four am to explore the nature trails and talk with Skye was one thing, but waking up at the same time to read through the essay Skye left him on how to take care of Taz and Hawko was something completely different, and Yoru thought just looking at the papers would take him out. Grumbling a little to himself, he sat down on Skye’s bed to begin reading, but was quickly interrupted by a heavy weight holding his feet down.
And then another, lighter weight perched atop his head.
“Oh, did I wake you two?” Yoru sleepily asked Taz and Hawko; Skye’s radiant wolf and bird respectively. Taz looked up at him slightly with his glowing green eyes standing out from the rest of his dark brown fur, before closing them again and resting on Yoru’s leg, and Hawko ruffled his feathers a little before also settling down. Yoru went back to reading, but the further he went on the less sense things began making to him. By the time he finished it was clear that these radiant pets were much different from non radiant ones, and Yoru, lacking experience in either, was left utterly dumbfounded with what he saw.
“Well, it’s only two days, I won’t be able to find that many ways to fuck up before Skye is back.” Yoru joked to himself, forgetting Taz and Hawko could fully understand English. His profanity earned himself a peck on the head from Hawko and Taz got up from his feet and walked to the other side of the room, with Hawko quickly joining him atop of his head instead.
Oh, this was going to be quite the weekend.
By early evening, Yoru wanted nothing more than to collapse and die where he stood, with Taz and Hawko only working to amplify that feeling as they followed Yoru around the base for the day. When Skye was around, they’d usually spend most of the day in her room or at her wood carving station outside, but with Yoru having mission reports to finish and research to do, Taz and Hawko had instead followed him around to his room and the library, and they made trying to write or read anything a living hell, at least, to his standards. Despite all the trouble they caused, Yoru found it impossible to hold a grudge against the two, who he knew at the end of the day had no truly bad intentions (right?), so he used breaks like dinner to calm himself down and reset as he prepared himself for the rest of the night.
“Dude, you look like shit.”
Now who the hell just…
“Shut the hell up, Gekko.” Sat down across from him, Yoru was greeted by Gekko, the protocol’s newest agent. He was a twenty-something year old with neon green hair and a group of pets with him at all times just like Skye. Yoru coupled his cold greeting with a dirty look towards his way, but Gekko didn’t as much as flinch.
“Hey, you know I’m only teasing… I guess. Why’re you even watching Taz and Hawko anyway; since when were you an animal person?” With not so much as an ounce of hesitation in his air-filled head, Gekko continued teasing an already tired Yoru.
“Do I really need a ‘why’?” Yoru retorted, more tired than angry at this point.
“Well, noooooooo, but can I not be curious about why you of all people volunteered to be a pet sitter for Skye? I’ve seen your lone-wolf attitude as well as anyone, so why the hell did she- ”
“Since when were you so noisy? I’m just doing a friend a favor, nothing more to it.” Yoru thought that’d be enough to shut down the conversation, but much to his dismay, Gekko wouldn’t let up on any chance to talk.
“Oh. Oh. So you two are friends, huh? Well she must be a damn good friend for you to put yourself through all of… this.” Gekko continued while waving his free hand in Yoru’s direction.
“Again, you look like shit. No offense.”
Even half asleep, Yoru looked like he could reach across the table and have him on the floor in minutes, so Gekko did his best attempt at damage control before things got out of hand.
“That being said-! If you need any help with them, my room is always open!” At this, Yoru’s face went from fuming to silently grateful, like his worst enemy had transformed into an angel and graced him with a miracle he didn’t know he needed.
“..Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind.” Giving a small smile, Yoru got up to wash his dishes and continue with his evening, having finished eating long ago.
♡
Yoru didn’t wait long to take Gekko up on his offer.
As a matter of fact, he didn’t even last the rest of the night, and was knocking on Gekko’s door only two hours after their unplanned dinner together. Though he promised himself that he could get through the two days by himself, it only took one of Taz’s baths to convince Yoru to take the extra help.
“Yoru, hi! You look… well… not as bad as you could!” Gekko’s shit-eating grin and small giggles said more than his actual words did as Yoru gave him an unamused stare.
“Thanks. Now please, help me get these two to bed.” He said, gesturing down to Taz, who was happily waving his tail and smiling as if he was tired of Yoru and was happy to hang out with someone else. Hawko, being perched on his head, was quite hard to miss. Without missing a beat, Yoru turned on his heel and led Gekko to Skye’s room, ready to get this first night over with.
“Did you seriously bring your pets, too?” When Yoru entered Skye’s room and finally turned around, he noticed Gekko had brought Wingman, Dizzy, and Trash with him.
“Yeah! Just trust me, the five will start playing with each other and will tire themselves out before you know it, then they’ll happily go to sleep in their cages on their own and I’ll go back to my room!” Gekko said his plan so matter-of-factly that Yoru didn’t even bother with arguing with it and just sat down on Skye’s bed while he watched all the pets run around happily. Gekko quickly followed, sitting down all-too comfortably next to him as a mischievous grin grew on his face.
“So, you and Skye, huh?” The way he purred out Skye’s name made Yoru’s blood run cold as he whipped his head to a now cackling Gekko. Now that they were alone, there was no conviction with anything to be said, and Gekko planned to take full advantage of that the moment he got the chance.
“Don’t even think about going there. We’re just friends, and that’s the furthest things will ever go between us.” Yoru’s voice tried to sound angry, but the blush that grew on his cheeks and the way he nervously broke eye contact all gave away what he was truly thinking.
“Hm, sounds like you’re just scared to me. You know it is okay to like someone here, right? Well, if you ignore that rule, at least.” He was still smiling when he said this, but Yoru still sensed a change of tone from Gekko; the conversation slowly turning into something more serious than either anticipated.
Yoru slowly turned back to Gekko as he tried to think of what to say, but his mind drew a complete blank. He especially was not prepared for the sudden interrogation of his love-life, and especially not from and about the people he practically met in the midst of war. Even if Yoru had ever thought about dating Skye, the no fraternization rule stomped out any ideas before they even started. Now though, with it just being him, Gekko, and their pets, the rules all seemed to blur together, and for the first time Yoru began to seriously consider what his life would look like with Skye there with him as more than a friend.
And this thought made his heart flutter in his chest, as he continued looking at Gekko with that dumb blank stare that said more than any words could. Yoru felt his face get warmer as his thoughts began to wander more and his mind finally made the long overdue realization.
He liked Skye, didn’t he?
But just as quick as the idea came, Yoru came back to his senses and dismissed any idea of it. Skye wasn’t some friend he casually met in college, or just some pretty girl he passed in a cafe. Skye was his coworker, a fellow fighter for the Valorant Protocol, putting her life on the line to ensure the safety of their Earth. The Skye he ate breakfast with when both were up earlier than the rest, the Skye he shared late night conversations with when sleep refused to grace either of them, the Skye he had grown to know all this time, that was just Skye; not Kirra Foster.
His face falling back into a frown and the blush slowly fading away, Yoru finally answered Gekko.
“If the circumstances were different, maybe. But not here, not now.” Even hearing himself say that aloud pained Yoru, but he didn’t want to give up all logic to pursue something he didn’t even know would last amidst their situation.
“Well if you ask me, meeting in a warzone is all the more reason to date them...weirdly enough,” Gekko calmly replied. “You don’t get to see all of someone’s true colors anywhere else in the world, when one thing goes wrong there’s infinite places someone can go and hide from themselves, but when they’re fighting for the entire Earth? That’s when they’re forced to confront their truest self…and you love Skye’s truest self, don’t you?”
“...Since when have you been so serious?” Yoru asked, trying not to think about Gekko’s words for too long before they got to him.
“Since I found myself in the same situation a week ago!” Gekko suddenly swooned, crashing onto Skye’s bed as he kicked his legs up in the air like a teenage girl with her first high school crush, completely killing the serious mood in the air (which Yoru greatly appreciated).
Shocked, Yoru whipped his body around to look at Gekko’s face again, which now had a cheesy grin painted across it.
“Since when did you… who?! You just got here, how are you already dating someone and who is it?!” He truthfully felt a little jealous of the man, who happily dated whoever he wanted while he could barely keep himself together when the topic of dating came up.
“Neonnnnnnnn!” Gekko excitedly announced, throwing a pillow Yoru didn’t even notice him pick up into the air and back onto Skye’s bed.
“Our rooms are next to each other and she really liked hanging out with Wingman so she started tagging along whenever Wingman was around then I realized we really clicked and I started liking her and she began liking me too and then things just grew from there and-” Gekko cut himself off by grabbing another throw pillow and burying his face into it, all while Yoru stared at him, trying to process the complete 180 in his personality.
As that rant came to an end and Yoru tried to rearrange Skye’s bed and all the throw pillows that had gotten scattered around, Gekko finally got up, seemingly calmer again as he went back to talking slower.
“Is Skye’s favorite color purple or something,” Gekko asked. Skye’s room, in fact, had much more purples, pinks, and blues than green, much to Gekko’s surprise.
“Yeah, purple is her favorite color, and she thinks blue and pink compliment it the most.” was Yoru’s nonchalant response, talking like his answer was common sense when Skye’s outfit made it anything but. Sitting back up as Yoru finished with the bed, Gekko looked around more around the room, taking note of all the details he missed before. Polaroids with people he’s never seen before and charcoal sketches of still life pinned against a bulletin board, one too many blankets he thought one person would ever need all over her bed and desk chair, and most shockingly, a shelf with nothing but children’s books.
For every question Gekko asked about Skye’s room, Yoru had an answer waiting. Those are Skye’s friends from university, she was studying to be a nurse before the First Light happened and she switched to animals instead…The art pieces Skye drew herself using her own wood carvings as reference, she also works with clay, paint, and anything else artsy…Skye swears up and down the base is freezing, whenever she’s in her room she has at least one blanket with her…Skye’s aunt is actually an author, and she likes to read those books to Taz and Hawko when they have nothing better to do. Even when Gekko was out of questions, Yoru still found more things about Skye to talk about, and he talked like he was there to see every moment unfold right in front of him, with the reminiscent look in his eyes as he rambled suggesting that wasn’t too impossible. The more he talked, the more impressed Gekko was with how he remembered all this, and the more shocked he was that Yoru believed that he didn’t know Kirra at all.
“Sure as hell a lot more than I ever knew about her.” Gekko joked as Yoru continued finding more things about her to talk about. “And you still don’t think you know Kirra?” At this Yoru paused, as he began to see the hypocrisy of his own words.
“Well, you haven’t been here as long as the others, so of course you don’t-”
“Don’t lie to yourself now Yoru, we both know that’s bull.” Gekko cut him off before he even got started, and the two stared at each other again as another wave of silence fell over them.
“I’m just saying, all the time you spend with Skye isn’t suddenly ingenuine because you guys are stuck in Valorant together,” he continued with a warm smile.
“If she, Kirra, I mean, makes you happy, then don’t let the protocol be what stops you from being with her.” Ending with that, Gekko stood up and got to waking up a now sleeping Trash and Dizzy and picking up a half awake Wingman, getting ready to leave.
“These guys look tired enough, I’ll see you again tomorrow if you need any more help.” Gekko opened the door and left to his room, but not before Yoru got one more word out.
“Thanks… for everything. I mean it. See you tomorrow.” Yoru said, also standing up and getting Taz and Hawko to their respective cages as he got ready to call it a night.
♡
Yoru would swear that it was just coincidence that he was awake earlier than usual the day Skye was due to return, and an even bigger coincidence he was at the landing dock the exact time Skye and the others landed, but it would be all too easy to see through that lie. Leading Taz and Hawko outside to where the helicopter had landed, the two immediately ran straight to Skye, who crouched down and began petting them both as they happily crowded her. Yoru felt his heart skip a beat watching the scene, realizing just how lucky he was to truly know Kirra. He slowly walked up to the trio, wanting to let them have their moment, then stopped a few feet ahead of them as he tried to swallow down the nerves beginning to build as he looked at Skye.
“Welcome back, Flowergirl. With how long you had me waiting I thought you had gotten lost in-”
Much to his surprise, Yoru’s banter was cut off by Skye shooting up and grabbing him by the cheeks, pulling him into a rushed kiss on the lips.
“You can save it, you stupid nut. Taz already told me everything.” Skye’s whole face was a bright pink, and the blush was even starting to creep down to her neck. Yoru glanced down at Taz, who was sitting at their feet and looking Yoru dead in his eyes as he wagged his tail and smiled brightly, tongue drooling and all.
“Your pets are complete bastards, you know that?” Yoru joked as he turned his attention back to Skye, embarrassed that both her and Gekko’s pets heard all about Yoru’s little crush.
“They’re only bastards to moody radiant guys I may or may not talk about constantly.” Skye admitted abashedly, while cracking a small giggle and a grin, “But now that a certain moody radiant guy is my boyfriend, I’ll force them to play nice” Skye giggled more while littering his face with more kisses anywhere she could.
“I’m your… so you’ll really be my girlfriend then,” Yoru asked. As the initial shock began to wear off, Yoru wrapped his hands around Skye’s waist and pulled her into a hug.
“Yes Riftwalker, I’ll be your girlfriend!” Skye’s hands drifted from his cheeks and rested on his shoulders instead as she returned the hug, and the two stood there simply enjoying the presence of the other.