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Reyna watched with disinterest as the agents decorated the base in many shades of red. The last of the balloons were being pumped - helium-filled, heart-shaped balloons strung up on chairs and rose petals ceremoniously scattered over the dining table like an offering.
If Reyna was being honest, it was quite… disgusting. Incredibly cliche and something that would come straight out of a badly produced movie. One where the movie director clearly has never been in love before.
That didn’t mean she hated the idea of Valentine’s Day though. She would consider herself quite a romantic person - taking people out on nice dates or buying them flowers and gifts, but the day anyone catches her partaking in this ‘tradition’ of boring, red flowers would be the day pigs fly.
The others came out with another giant bundle of roses - the ones packaged in baskets with a ribbon that had suspiciously fancy lettering. She got up from her seat, checking the label on the ribbon and confirmed her suspicion. She recognised the brand too well, having brought flowers from them before on multiple different occasions. It wasn’t cheap, and if she had to guess, this was the reason why the protocol coincidentally couldn’t afford enough groceries last week.
“Lay of the roses will you, throw down any more and we’ll be eating roses for dinner.” She called out, looking at the other duellists with a disapproving glance as she placed the rose back onto the table.
Raze smiled sheepishly, “Sorry, Killjoy had already ordered some but the others didn’t know so we ended up ordering it twice.”
“Seriously? After all those lessons about teamwork you still couldn’t communicate?”
Raze shrugged, grabbing another basket from her pile and held it out to Reyna, “Take one, we have too much.”
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
“I dunno, who knows. Maybe you have someone in mind to give it to.” Raze winked, running off before Reyna could shoot down the idea.
She sighed, inspecting the bundle of roses in her hand with dismay as she cringed at the thought of even handing this to someone. For a moment, she considered throwing the flowers out, until she caught sight of the price tag hanging from the corner. Already dreading the numbers in her head, she slowly flipped the price tag around as her jaws almost dropped.
Nevermind, she thought. She better keep it after all.
```
Soon, night fell and dinner was approaching. Reyna walked into the common room, having taken a nap instead of dealing with the hassle only to find now that the place had been pretty much completely transformed into a whole new room.
In any other day, because of everyone’s different sleep schedules and all the missions taking place away from the base, it wasn’t often for many agents to eat together. Because of that, they only ever needed at most six chairs around a table. However, just for today, the others had pieced together a grand, long table for everyone to sit at, enough chairs to fit every single person in the protocol they had somehow convinced to join the dinner. She looked between the round, wooden table on one end and then at the metal, square table on the other end connected to the stone counter in the middle of the room. Like taking pieces from different sets of puzzles.
Most people had already arrived; some either idling around, wishing to escape already, or enthusiastically setting out the tables - mostly the younger agents partaking unlike the older agents who all were ready to leave. Amongst everyone, Reyna noticed all but one person there.
The sound of sizzling came from the kitchen, drawing Reyna in as she went to investigate. She found Sage hunched over the oven, checking in on whatever she was baking whilst simultaneously taking care of two additional pans, cooking on the hob.
“Seriously? They got you slaving away in the kitchens?” She couldn’t help herself, the snark comments come before she could control it.
Sage turned to Reyna, surprised to see that the woman had finally decided to show her face before she smiled, “They asked me, I agreed to.”
“Alone though? They can all cook for themselves.”
“It’s better than being in there with them, I could use some peace and quiet.”
Reyna scoffed, but didn’t argue on that one. They were making too big of a fuss for the day of so-called ‘Romance’.
“Well, at least let me help you.” She offered, gesturing to the many unoccupied pans and pots Sage was trying to maintain. “We can do it faster together.”
“That would be nice actually, thank you, Reyna.”
Reyna immediately stepped in, assisting her with her dishes. She listened, following Sage’s instructions of what to do as she obeyed carefully - probably the first and only time anyone would ever catch her doing something like this.
She stirred a pot of sauce, sparring a glance over at Sage’s direction before turning away just as Sage looked back. “So, what do you think about today?” She asked, hoping to strike up a conversation.
A moment of silence settled between them, Sage trying to decrypt her vague question before she clarified, “Valentine’s Day, I mean.”
“Oh! I think it’s nice everyone gathered together for once, don’t you think?”
She grunted with disagreement, shaking her head, “Those guys spent so much on roses we might as well call it the day of roses! They’re making it too much of a big deal, just take someone out for a nice dinner and call it a day.” She complained, “I mean some of these people are total mood killers, why would you want to have the whole base together.” In her head, she could already see Chamber flirting with a completely uninterested Viper.
Sage laughed, “I don’t mind. As long as no one destroys anything I don’t see the problem in one day of excessive-ness. Why are you here still, surely you have someone to take out instead if you’re so reluctant for this dinner?”
Reyna looked at her confused, unaware of where the sudden assumption came from, “Why would I have someone to take out?”
“You don’t?” Sage looked at her surprised.
“No? You think I did?”
Sage tilted her head, looking at her quizzically like the answer is obvious, “Well, it would be more shocking if you didn’t have a date, anyone would be begging to have a chance with you if they had the opportunity to, you know?”
Her face suddenly heated up, turning away as her cheeks tinged with the slightest blush. “Well I… you know it’s not like everyone would..” she tried back, her voice weak.
For once, she was at a loss of words. Nothing to bite back with, no teasing remark and certainly no playful flirting. She cleared her throat, glancing away as she tried to maintain a look of nonchalance. “Well, there is someone.” She started, letting the words hang for a moment of suspense before continuing, “but I’m not sure what I want to do with her yet.”
“You should tell her, I think she’d love to be with you.”
Curse her and her unintentional sweet words, Reyna thought, her mind thrown into overdrive. Too sweet, like honey, just like her. “Yeah.. yeah thanks.” She muttered, focusing her attention back onto her now overstirred sauce.
After the brief interaction, all her senses seemed to feel elevated. Every brief glance made her heart skip a beat, every brush of fingers whilst they passed the spices between them, a hand on the shoulder as Sage moved passed Reyna with a boiling hot dish - it was all too much.
She spared another look over to Sage’s direction, her words replaying in her head on repeat like a mantra. Too convincing to ignore. Maybe she should confess.
Fortunately, their shared efforts finally paid off, and Reyna’s endurance did so too. They finished up every plate, each dish arranged neatly distributed on the dinner table as everyone took their seat.
Three bottles of champagne had been popped open with the sound of a gunshot before anyone could stop it, Reyna watching with both annoyance and unease as Jett filled everyone’s glass to the brim.
“That’s good champagne, you know? You’re pouring too much.” She commented grumpily, pointing out the excessive amount of expensive, liquid gold filling the glasses.
“Okay, okay. Just this once, I’ll pour your glass properly next time, your majest- shit!” Jett fumbled the bottle, almost dropping it into a plate before Sage reached over and swiftly caught it.
Despite the close call, something always had to go wrong. The champagne spilt over the steak, marinating the plate in a pool of champagne as Reyna stared, aghast at the sight.
“You!” She pointed a finger out at Jett, fuming at the sight of her hard work ruined, “We worked hard on that.”
“Reyna.” A warm hand grasped her arm. Reyna froze momentarily, her brain short circuiting just long enough for Sage to pull her back down into the seat. “It was only an accident, it’s okay.” Her heart stalled, heat blooming faintly over her cheeks as her shoulders slumped in surrender.
“Yeah, sorry.” She muttered. She could feel everyone’s eyes on her - all curiosity. But the gentle voice calmed her, and that was enough for her.
Her hand was soft though, Reyna thought, and her touch impossibly calming. The anger had long melted away already.
Sage set down the bottle with a faint thud, bringing everyone’s attention back to the meal as she raised her glass. “To a happy Valentine’s Day?”
Cypher was the first to raise his glass despite being the first to decline the initial invitation, “For a happy day of love, everybody.”
“For a happy day of love!” Jett piped, raising her glass.
The dinner was peaceful, just a group of outcasts all pretending they belonged somewhere. After all, there was nowhere else for them to go. Everywhere they went in public, it always ended the same - either being put on an enemy’s radar or Kingdom’s, leaving Cypher to scrub them clean off the system.
Someone popped another bottle open, somehow going through their fifth of the night despite the initial promise not to drink too much. Even Viper had put down her work, instead focusing on the dinner as she joined in on the conversations.
Reyna turned to Sage, who was absentmindedly picking at her food. “What’s wrong? You’re not eating.” She pointed out lightly.
Sage slowly turned to her, looking as if she had just come out of a long dream. “Sorry, I was thinking.”
“Thinking?”
“About us.” She answered, the answer fast as if it had been on the tip of her tongue since the beginning.
Reyna couldn’t help it, her mind branching off into a hundred different scenarios - all but the singular, sensible, and obvious one. “About.. us..?” she asked slowly, her voice almost hopeful.
“Yes, the protocol’s been on edge ever since the last attack, especially after the.. costs.” she hesitated, but Sage didn’t need to explain any further. Reyna knew.
The deaths. The revival.
The day Reyna had seen too much of what Sage should have kept buried away.
“Anyways, I'm glad everyone’s had a chance to have this. I think we need this, and a proper holiday soon.” Sage finished, the subject shifting faster than Reyna could process it as she glanced at Reyna. “Don’t you think?”
Reyna’s hope dimmed ever so slightly. Of course she was talking about the Protocol, what else?
She cleared her throat, brushing the thought aside as she answered, “Yeah, you know the weather is starting to clear up, we can go somewhere together.”
She let a beat pass, just enough to give a subtle hint at her words, “There’s a beach in Mexico I’ve been meaning to visit for some time now. I can show you around?” Reyna offered.
Sage smiled warmly, “I would like that, I’ll talk to the Brimstone and others about it later.”
Reyna deflated.
```
After dinner, everyone began clearing the plates away. The table was dragged away back to its original position, the common room finally organized again.
Reyna exhaled sharply, kicking back in her seat as the last of the clean up was completed. The suffocating scent of the dozens of different candles swirling together had finally cleared out, and the harsh, gunpowder smell of the protocol base suddenly felt like a breath of fresh air.
Almost everyone had cleared out, only the remaining, lingering agents stayed for the afterparty to nurse a cup of hot coffee or tea in their hands after the exhausting day.
She glanced at the clock - only ten. There were two more hours to burn before the fifteenth, one more chance to take a leap already.
Scraping together what remained of her pride, she gathered her courage and marched off to her room. Everything had been prepared already - the gift carefully wrapped in blue tissue paper and ribbons, the crumpled piece of paper Reyna had spent hours rewriting and furiously scrubbing mistakes off only to throw the paper away in the end (but then dig through her garbage an hour later looking for the scrunched up ball), and now the basket of roses too, she supposed.
She recited the words in her head over and over again, trying to perfect her speech but nothing stuck. Every word suddenly felt foreign, like her voice didn’t belong. Frustrated, she rubbed her temples with a mutter of curse under her breath as she reread her notes again.
Somehow, it sounded worse and worse each time.
She scrunched up the paper again, throwing it across her room in a fit of anger. Somehow, right when she thought she was ready, everything began falling apart. Like the universe itself was trying to tug Reyna away.
Looking around her room, she hadn’t taken account of the state it was in. A lump in the corner where she had lazily dumped her clean clothes down, the unmade bed covered in ripples and wrinkles, and all sorts of trinkets and scraps accumulated over the years scattered over her desk.
She sighed in resignation, forcing herself to move. Dragging her heavy feet to her bed, she began the long, dull cleanup.
```
The door was unlocked, partially ajar as Reyna waited, restless with impatience. Her eyes remained trained on the door, almost ready to manifest Sage into existence herself.
Somehow she did, or she thought so for a brief moment.
The door pushed open, her eyes lighting up like Christmas lights on a tree before it was immediately cut down.
“Reyna! There you are, did you need something?” Raze popped out from behind the door, her brows furrowed in concern at Reyna’s call.
“No.” Her voice strained, shrinking away mortified. She didn’t know when or how it happened, but the healer had absolutely ruined her. Made her lose her touch, and now all she could do was cower away like a thief caught stealing.
Raze looked at her confused, thinking she misheard, “Huh? You did call, didn’t you? Sage had me come here after your message.”
“I need Sage, not you.” She muttered.
Raze stared at her, then to the gap in her bedroom door where a familiar basket of roses peaked out from behind the wall. Her mouth fell open, processing the depth of what Reyna meant before she took a slow step back. “I will let her know.” She answered, thankfully sparing Reyna the embarrassment of clarification as she quickly left.
The minutes felt like hours, her mind screaming in protest at the idea but she remained sat, waiting. They had a perfect dynamic already - Reyna pulled and Sage pushed. Reyna liked to tease, say something just to get a rise out of Sage and it worked every time, even when Sage didn’t know it herself. But now, sat here waiting for someone who might not want her, it may just ruin that dynamic forever.
She didn’t get a chance to change her mind.
“Reyna! Raze SOS’ed me, said you needed serious help, what happened.”
She slowly lifted her head to the woman in front of her, unable to speak as she just stared. Her hands clenched into her palms, the tip of her nail prickling into the flesh of her hands but she welcomed it happily. Anything for a little distraction from the sudden tight space that surrounded her.
“I just wanted to see you.” She blurted out.
Sage was as serious as always, “Reyna, you know emergency calls are only used under special circumstances.”
The proximity between them was too distracting, and she could feel her cheeks heating up involuntarily. She hated the loss of control.
“I’m sorry, I just…” she trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.
Sage sensed her hesitancy. Seeing that today was already a free day for everyone, and there wasn’t anything particular going on, she decided to let her off. “It’s fine, just don’t do it next time. What did you want to talk to me about?” She asked, obviously to the growing tension.
She gestured to her room, “Would you like to come in?” And immediately cursed herself in her head. It was a stupid question, if Sage said no then everything would be over within seconds.
But she didn’t.
Sage smiled, the same, patient smile she always gave to Reyna no matter what she did - or how badly she messes up. “Of course.”
She opened the door, leading Sage inside. It had been briefly decorated, not to the extent of what the common room had been flipped into but just enough to show meaning.
Sage’s movement faltered at the door, her calm composure cracking ever so slightly at the display. She stood in the doorway, her gaze unreadable as she looked from the room to Reyna, “Reyna?” She asked, her voice unsure and unsteady.
Reyna took a shaky, deep breath.
“I know it’s late, and well..” she chuckled nervously, heart hammering in her chest as she glanced at the time, just moments before striking twelve, “I probably should have asked earlier but would you like to be my Valentine’s?”
Sage’s look softened, slowly turning from the flowers back to Reyna again. The hopeful glimmer in her eyes told her everything without needing to be said. “Is that really all?”
Her breath hitched. She knew.
“No, it’s not.” She started, her voice uncharacteristically shaky for someone usually so confident.
She tore her eyes off Sage for a moment, staring at the ground as she pieced her thoughts together. Then looked back at Sage, meeting her gaze again.
“I really like you, for a long time now, really.” She confessed quietly, ignoring her racing heart, “Well I guess that’s a bit of an understatement.”
She let out a small laugh, more at herself than anything at her own comment. It was true, the protocol agents joking around about Reyna’s obvious favouritism whilst Reyna always denied it. How could she deny it now when she’s faced head on with the truth right in front of her?
“I didn’t want to ruin anything between us so I guess..” she trailed off, searching for the correct word, “I was just scared, I guess.” She shrugged.
Sage didn’t interrupt, didn’t reject her or stop her and throw everything back right in her face. She just listened, her eyes patient and warm.
“But, everyday it feels harder and harder to stay away from you and I don’t think I can hide it anymore. I’m in love with you and I want you to be mine.” She finished, steadier now as she regained a part of her confidence back. Her voice was firm, like a declaration.
For a moment, the only sound was the soft ticking of the clock as the hand slid closer to midnight. Then Sage stepped closer.
She leaned in, leaving only a breath’s worth of space between them as her hands gently intertwined with Reyna’s. “Reyna..”
Her heart skipped a beat at the sound of her own name.
“I already belong to you, ever since the day you set your eyes on me. I said, didn't I? Anyone would be lucky to have a chance with you,” Sage teased softly, her voice humorous yet the underlying implication was clear.
Sage belonged to her, always have, always will.
She couldn’t stop herself, her self control snapping. She leaned in, finally being able to do what she had wished to do for so long as her lips pressed to Sage - deep, like she never wanted to let it go.
It took both of them to become short of air before Reyna finally pulled away, breathing heavily from lack of oxygen yet too ecstatic to care.
“Gods, you’re going to suffocate both of us if you keep going.” Sage laughed breathlessly, her hand clasping round Reyna’s wrist as she brought it from her cheek to her shoulder.
“That’s okay, it wouldn’t be the first time you’ve taken my breath away.”
She watched proudly as red bloomed across Sage’s cheek. She hasn’t lost her touch after all.
“..also are those the roses the others brought for the group dinner?” Sage asked, raising her eyebrow in question.
Nevermind, she has lost her touch. “What?! No!” She denied, too defensively.
“Really? I didn’t take you to be a rose person.”
Reyna groaned, shaking her head as her hands fell limp from Sage to her side again in defeat, “Fine, yes. They brought too much so Raze told me to give it to someone special, happy now?”
“Very.”
“Well, I did personally get you this, I didn’t know what exactly you would like so I went for generic.” Reyna said, holding up the gift box she had meticulously wrapped.
Sage accepted it, unwrapping it carefully as she brought out the necklace inside - a chain adorned with a crystal blue pendant. “I love it, thank you.” She murmured, holding up the crystal to the light.
It glowed faintly, like the pendant itself was alive. “Here, help me put it on?” She asked, holding out the necklace to Reyna.
“Of course.” Reyna grabbed the necklace, crawling onto the bed behind her as she helped clip the chain around Sage’s neck. It sat comfortable just between her throat and chest, resting against the beat of her chest.
Sage glanced in the mirror, running a hand over the crystal. “Thank you,” she repeated again, pressing one grateful kiss to Reyna’s lip again, “I love it. I love you.”
“I.. I love you too.”
The bed creaked under their combined weight as Sage shuffled herself to face Reyna. Her hand pressed into the bed as she shifted herself around, only for her finger to brush against something on the bed. She glanced down, picking up the half crumpled piece of paper as her own name written in bold caught her eye.
“Whats this?”
“……yeah you don’t want to read that.”