Chapter Text
Trinity Santos was pretty sure she was a good person, no matter how much her brain tried to tell her otherwise.
And her brain was constantly trying to tell her otherwise.
The noise of Trinity's thoughts had been a presence for as long as she could remember. She was never good at tuning it out (weed helped, beer helped, getting fucked helped as long as she didn't let herself catch feelings)(and she always caught feelings). It never really went away, even then; she just sort of cared a little bit less. But the noise would inevitably start gnawing their way to the front of her consciousness.
It was distracting.
She spent so much time trying to create barriers in her mind, each one more solid: A box. A box with a lid. An upside down box with a rock on top. A box in a maze built beneath a stone fortress on a sunken continent, every possible path choked with thorns and vines and razor wire. But the thoughts always found their way through, even the parts she'd made most solid.
So, it was a surprise the day that they suddenly stopped.
Victoria had just passed her a pen and, just for a second, the litany of dark thoughts inside Trinity's mind went silent. The sudden absence was a gutshot. She couldn't help it: her hand opened and the pen clattered to the floor.
"What just happened?" She felt disoriented, a little nauseated. It had all happened so fast that she wasn't even sure anything had actually happened.
Victoria stared at her. "Are you okay?"
Trinity frowned. "Do that again."
"Do what?"
But that was the problem: Trinity still wasn't sure.
"You passed me the pen…" she said, a little doubtfully. She picked the pen up, put it back down on the counter. Stared at it. Picked it up again. It was just a pen.
"…Are you sure you're okay?" Victoria said again. This time Trinity shook her head.
"Pick up the pen." She could hear the sharp edges on her words and didn't care.
Victoria stared at her for a second too long and then reached past her and picked up the pen. She held it uncertainly.
"Now what?"
"Hand it to me."
Victora passed her the pen. Nothing happened.
Trinity huffed out a sigh. "Do it again," she demanded, putting the pen down again. "Like you did before. It was different."
"I don't know how I did it before. I just gave you the pen."
"You did it differently," Trinity insisted, like insisting would help Victoria figure it out.
She picked up the pen and passed it to Trinity. This time, as Trinity took the pen, their fingers brushed, just barely.
And that was it: her mind quieted for the flicker of a moment while they were touching. Then the noise was back.
Trinity yanked her hand back.
"Holy shit."
Victoria looked startled.
"Did something happen?"
"I don't know if I can explain exactly," Trinity said carefully. Victoria's hand was just resting on the countertop now. She could just reach out and touch it and, this time, she felt sure of what would happen. "But yeah."
Victoria looked skeptical. "You're being weird."
She wasn't wrong. Trinity was being weird, the situation was entirely weird and she couldn't figure out how to make it less so.
But she knew that she needed to find a way to touch Victoria again.
—
She couldn't stop staring at Victoria for the rest of their shift, trying to figure out how she could put herself in Victoria's path.
When she called put that the room was out of small nitrile gloves, Trinity hopped up immediately.
"I'll get a box," she announced and did exactly that. No one had commented in the moment, but even she could tell she hadn't it pulled off this new keenness smoothly. In the end, she couldn't figure out how to pass the gloves over in a way that was cool and casual and not at all out of the ordinary.
"You're still being weird," Victoria said, taking the gloves without touching Trinity at all, and turning back to the patient.
"You're being weird," Trinity replied, comeback queen supreme.
—
With all of the weirdness, Trinity wasn't exactly surprised when Victoria confronted her. Cornered her, really, by the lockers.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on?"
Unfortunately, knowing that the confrontation was coming didn't make her any more prepared for it.
So: Trinity panicked.
"What are you doing tonight?" She blurted.
Victoria sighed. "Don't change the subject."
"I'm not," Trinity replied quickly, a little desperately . "I swear."
"Tonight?" Victoria's eyes narrowed. She shifted her weight to one foot like she was ready to walk away. "Like, right now?"
Trinity tried for a smile. "Yeah, Crash: what are you doing right now?"
Victoria's frown deepened. "You're asking me out?"
The relief that flooded Trinity's body then was all-consuming. She'd thought she might just get Victoria to agree to a beer or something and go from there. But a date?
A date could have so much more potential.
She felt her entire body unclench. She knew how to handle asking a pretty girl out.
"Yeah," she said, and this time the smile came easily. "I'm asking you out."
Victoria nodded. "That's why you've been so weird all day," she said slowly, "With the pen. And the other stuff."
Trinity nodded: yes, yes!
"Yep," she said with a shrug. "That's why I've been so weird. I didn't know how to ask you out."
Victoria snorted. "Has this, like, ever worked for you?"
Trinity laughed back. This part was easy. "You tell me."
Victoria considered her then, like maybe she might just leave the conversation there, but Trinity doubted it.
"Okay," she said finally. "But I get to pick where we're going. If you're taking me on a date I want it to actually be good."
Trinity raised her hands, palms out, acquiescing. "I didn't realize Crash was such a princess." Then: "Choose whatever you want that doesn't have a dress code. We're going straight there from here."
"Deal," Victoria said. "Give me five minutes to think of something. I'll meet you outside."
Trinity's stomach was in knots. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been this nervous for a first date.