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Even on a quiet Sunday evening, Los Angeles still hummed, the sound softened on the street, where the shops were closed and the streetlamps threw long, warm bands of light across the sidewalk. Robert and Courtney walked side by side, shoes tapping in uneven sync, their shadows stretching behind them.
“You know,” Robert said, “you look incredible with this fit.”
“Robert.” Visi didn’t even turn her head. “That’s the fourth time you’ve said it since you picked me up.”
He opened his mouth, but she added, “…but thanks.”
Silence slipped between them. Filled with things neither of them had figured out how to say out loud. And finally let the quiet run a bit before speaking up.
“You know… for a fourth date this is a little-”
“Underwhelming?” he cut in.
“Well..I mean.” She smirked, hooking a thumb in her pocket as they walked. “First date was the movies. Second date we fucked over an entire bar of villains. Third date we saved the city from Shroud and you kissed me on a stretcher. Kinda feels like you’re slacking now.”
“Slacking,” he chuckled. “Right. Depends where fifty dollars can get us.”
She snorted. “Dude, fifty dollars won’t even get you back seats at some shitty-ass cinema for a shitty-ass movie these days.”
“We could grab something at a cheap place and hang out at my apartment, I got few good movies in mind,” he suggested.
She glanced sideways. “Oh wow. Now you sound desperate.” A beat. “Lucky for you I like desperate.”
Their steps fell closer, close enough their hands drifted near each other. Visi stiffened at the brush of his knuckles. For a second she considered reaching. For a second she almost did.
But instinct won. Instead she pulled out an almost-crushed cigar and a lighter instead. Flame flared. She inhaled, shoulders settling the way they always did with her first drag before resting her free hand back.
“Courtney, what did we agree on?” Robert asked.
“Come on, it’s just a few drags and I’ll-”
“Stop smoking?” he finished for her. “You’ve said that seven times in the last two days.”
She squinted at the cigar. “Shit, Guess I lost track of my detox.”
“Beside the obvious health concerns you know smoking sets a bad example for the kids who look up to you,” he said. “You’re a hero.”
“Fuck off Robert,” she muttered, exhaling smoke.
“Well, guess some things never change,” he said, stepping closer. He took her free hand gently, fingers curling around hers. She tensed again, not pulling away, just…bracing.
He noticed. “You good?”
“Yeah. I’m just…” She frowned at their hands like they belonged to strangers. “…not used to feeling all gushy and….shit.”
“I can let go-”
“No.” Her grip tightened instantly. “No need.”
Those two words hit him harder than anything she’d said recently. She was trying. Awkward as hell, uneven as her breathing, but trying. He felt something warm rise in his chest, bittersweet and steady…but a thin, sharp cry cut through the street.
Robert let go of her hand and faced the sound without thinking. Years as Mecha Man had wired him to respond before he had time for questions. A kid stood by a tall tree, face blotchy from crying. A ball rested high in the branches.
“Visi?” he asked, scanning beside him.
Empty.
He checked behind him. Nothing aside from her fallen cigarette. Then he checked the other side again, irritation stirring. “Courtney?” Still no answer. Either she’d vanished on purpose or wandered off to mess with him. Both were equally likely.
But before he could call out again, the ball dropped into the kid’s hands as if gravity had finally remembered its job. The boy lit up, clutching it to his chest, and ran off without a clue that anything strange had happened at all.
Robert recalled the odd path of the falling ball back to the branches. No obvious movement. No flash of light. But the truth settled into place anyway.
She’d helped. Quietly. No show. No poses. Just a small, unseen act of kindness.
He exhaled slowly, the warmth in his chest tightening into something heavier. She had taken a bullet for him a week ago. And now this, small acts no one saw, no praise waiting on the other end. She wasn’t proving something to the world. She was proving it to herself.
He felt proud. Proud in a way that surprised him with its force.
She materialized at his side snapping him out of his trail of thoughts, making him jolt.
“What?” she said. “I always do that around you.”
He shook his head, unable to stop the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah. Guess you do. So…restaurant now?”
“You’re the team leader,” she said, bumping his shoulder lightly. “You choose.”
“Alright. Burger King?”
She barked out a laugh. “Burger king?”
“We can uh try something else if you want?”
“It’s fine, I fucking love Burger King.”
They started walking again. This time, Courtney’s hand reached for his first, her fingers hooking into his like she’d finally figured out how to trust the feeling instead of fighting it.
And she didn’t let go.