grandtheftmecha | (no subject)

[Dryly,] Thanks.

[Viral hesitates, folding his arms.]

What's with that look?

...thinkin' about how those kids were out there. Shinji... Asuka...

[...made loud, aggressive love confessions with everyone watching.]

[Viral apparently doesn't read minds. Or he's just clueless. Either way, he thinks she's referring to their battle skills.]

Took some guts for those kids to do what they did.

Hell yeah it did.

[Even if she's pretty sure he's not thinking the same thing she is. Dammit... if Shinji can do it...]

I need to uh... unwind. Let's go, er, somewhere.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

[Suspicious catshark is suspicious, but says nothing about how Katina is acting for now.]

Meet me out front.

[She gets there first and waits for him.]

[It doesn't take him long to wander on out there. Viral is still slightly suspicious about Katina's behavior, but also completely oblivious as to why.]

So, where to?

The usual, I guess.

[The usual little local bar it is. Viral nods, and then heads down the street. The thought of small talk crosses his mind, but it's not like he knows of any topics.]

~~Am I gonna have to get drunk to say anything? Am I really that pathetic?~~

[She looks a bit preoccupied with her own thoughts anyways.]

[It doesn't take long for them to reach the destination. Once settled at a table and given their drinks, Viral relaxes visibly. He wouldn't admit it, but that last mission got pretty dark for a moment.]

[Katina... doesn't touch her drink for the moment.]

...that was some pretty crazy shit out there, huh?

[He nods, not hesitating with his own drink.]

It seems like the stakes are higher recently.

...hopefully that means the finish line is in sight.

Hopefully. Just so long as we don't screw it up along the way.

With everyone we've got here? I think all the screw-ups we've had so far have made most of us strong enough...

True enough. Learn from the past, right?

Yeah...

I've... been paying attention to what other people have done here, yeah.

Oh? Such as?

Stuff about... being honest with your feelings... and not letting life pass you by.

[She takes a calming breath and steadies her gaze a little.]

So I'm gonna do just that.

[Things were clicking together in Viral's head, but not quite fast enough.]

...What are you gettin' at?

[That's as much as she could hope for.]

Viral... we're friends right now. But...

[She fidgets, but doesn't break her gaze.]

This isn't a love confession, because I don't want to go running ahead of myself no matter how inspired by all the runts I am, but... but for a while now, I think, I've... wanted to think of you as... as more than just a drinking buddy, as something... more than a friend.

[She keeps going despite looking pretty damned flustered, because an interruption would probably shut down her whole rant right now.]

I don't need an answer right now or anything but... but I want to know how you feel too...

[And then she tops it all off by chugging most of her beer.]

....

[Viral's brain apparently flat-lines for a moment. He sits frozen, staring at Katina and her sudden - to him - outburst. When his thought process finally kicked back in, Viral knew he had to say something, even though he had no idea what to say.]

Uh. That... uh.

[How did he feel about Katina, anyway? Viral ignored his first instinct to avoid the question... now was not the time to deflect.]

I'd... be okay with that.

[The first part of his response is... pretty much expected.

Then he says that he's okay with it and she nearly chokes on her beer.]

You...

[No, asking if he means it would sound stupid and kinda degrading maybe. Um...]

...didn't... didn't expect it to be that easy.

Did you want me to play hard to get? ...You just caught me off guard.