Zack looked at his comm again. 11:34 AM. Xenth was supposed to be here over thirty minutes ago. The Advance Recon Scout was sitting on a bench in Deliverance Park, dressed in his casual black and grey sweatshirt and pants, still keeping his Veyes on as always.
It was several weeks after Xenth had revealed to him that she was a Definian. Since then she had told Athena, Jaynix, and Mavis about it as well. And as she suggested back then, they were meeting up at the park to plan the afternoon's activities. Whenever she decided to show up, that is.
He passed the time by observing his surroundings; civilians and off-duty BLADEs milled about the park grounds. A dog chasing a multi-colored butterfly. Looking over to the middle of the park he could see his friends Draco, Aeviann, Athena, and an unknown male in glasses. Zack assumed he was the husband Athena kept talking about. They appeared to be on some kind of double date.
"Sorry I'm late!" Zack turned his head in the direction of the yell, and sure enough there was Xenth running over to him. Dressed in a black jacket and leather jeans she skidded to a halt in front of him. trying to catch her breath,
"Had to talk to Erio about a few things, but I'm here now!"
Zack got up with a nod, "What do you have in mind for the afternoon?"
"Well, Athenie told me about some of these great new cafes opening in Barista Court, so we can start with lunch there, and then-"
As Xenth continued to speak, they were being watched from the bushes by two pairs of eyes. The owner of the fiery red pair narrowed them in anticipation.
"There're the targets, Scarlen," She said to the one with the blue pair, an impish grin splitting her face, "You remember the plan?"
Scarlen nodded to her with a smile of his own, "Sure do, Jaynix, I'm ready when you are."
Meanwhile Xenth continued to list off destinations. Zack arched his brow at how many suggestions were vintage comic book and video stores, but that was to be expected from her. At least she'd be semi-distracted during their conversations.
Lately an odd feeling formed in the pit of his stomach whenever she was around or when thinking about her, though he couldn't pin down what it was. Zack had noticed that Xenth was beginning to behave strangely too, no longer making eye contact when talking with him and occasionally stuttering. Perhaps with something to keep them occupied they could have a productive night out without any awkwardness.
His musing was interrupted when he caught a blur of red in the corner of his eye. The fast moving object moved in between him and Xenth, Zack feeling the air move across his face as his Veyes was torn from it.
"Wha-" Zack and Xenth both looked in the direction it had gone, catching the culprit rounding the corner to the Administrative District.
"Was that Jaynix?" Xenth asked, Zack nodding slack-jawed.
The raven-haired BLADE opened her mouth to speak again when a dark-skinned man in white armor bowled into her while yelling, "Hey Jaynix! Wait u- oof!"
The force of the impact knocked Xenth forward into Zack, who stumbled backwards to avoid being hit and in doing so tripped on the bench behind him. Like a domino effect Zack fell backwards with Xenth falling towards him, his large frame combined with their momentum tearing the supports out of the ground. The back of his head hit the ground with a thud while something slammed into his face, feeling weight on his torso and face.
The brief headache from the impact had made Zack shut his eyes. When he opened them he found himself staring into Xenth's own red pair, which were extremely close and wide in shock. Zack quickly realized why. She was on top of him. And their lips were making contact.
Every muscle in Zack's mim locked up in his usual response to physical contact, made worse by the compromising situation they were in. His mind raced as he felt his face turn a dark red. Neither of them paid attention as Scarlen got up and ran off after Jaynix.
Xenth was frozen in place too, her mind spinning uncontrollably as she continued to stare into Zack's grey orbs. A short while passed before she had the presence of mind to pull her lips away from Zack's and awkwardly slide off the large man. Once she was off Zack's muscles released so he could sit up, still in shock from what just happened. The two friends' eyes met again for a second and looking away from the other out of sheer emberassment, both blushing furiously.
Meanwhile, Cain had seen the chaos unfold and pointed it out to the others. Aevi mouthed, "Oh my," behind her hand, while Athena commented on how cute they were. Draco glanced at them over his glasses before taking out his comm device and took several photos of the 'kiss'.
Zack's hypersensitive hearing picked up the sound of the camera shutter and saw Draco. Throwing a death glare in his direction he scrambled to his feet and charged at the Squad Dad, who ran for the A.D. with the giant Curator hot on his heels and leaving Xenth sitting on the ground. Reaching up she lightly brushed her lips with the tips of her fingers, a jumbled mess of emotions flooding her brain as she stayed there while Athena came over to talk with her.
From the upper level of the Administrative District the blue and silver frame of an Urban model Skell watched silently. It nodded once, the incident providing the A.I. inside with the evidence it needed to confirm its hypothesis. Receiving a priority message from its Pilot to assist in hunting down a certain sunglasses-wearing BLADE, he sent his affirmative and took to the sky in the direction they'd gone, playing a track inside the cockpit that only it could hear.
"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down...~"
After the incident things became awkward for the two BLADEs; anytime they passed each other in the street or when with friends caused both to avoid eye contact and blush. Although Draco denied sending the photo of the kiss to anyone it spread like wildfire through FrontierNav, even Vandham and Nagi became aware of it. Zack went on another of his mission sprees to avoid the heckling he got from his friends, his fellow Scout Paige and his brother Max in particular, as well as try to clear his head with work.
But no matter how hard Zack tried, he couldn't stop thinking about the kiss. He knew it was purely accidental and that neither of them had meant it. So why was he feeling these foreign emotions when he recalling the incident, and why did they amplify whenever he was around Xenth?
Meanwhile Xenth was dealing with the same problems he was, although she knew exactly what she was feeling. She was terrified by it, especially since she was feeling this way for a close friend, and one who was like an older brother figure for her at that. Xenth wanted to adress the elephant in the room with him, but whenever the oppurtunity presented itself she couldn't find the words.
After a week Xenth had had enough. Athena had told her in passing that Zack was back from his missions and would be meeting a client in Deliverance Park, so that's where she was now, hoping to catch the giant Curator before he left. It was an overcast day, though there was no rain in the forecast today.
The Definian BLADE waited for what felt like hours, until finally she saw him. Zack was talking to an Orphean and handed him a specimen of a wild Miran flower, which the insectoid Xeno promptly gobbled up before handing over payment. Apprehension twisting her stomach, Xenth walked over to him as the Orphe left. He was typing up a mission report in his comm device and didn't notice her approach.
She cleared her throat to get his attention. Hearing the noise Zack turned and froze once he saw her. His expression set itself to his usual blank expression as she spoke, "U-uhm, can I talk to you for a minute?"
Zack nodded a small affirmative, so she asked, "Zack... remember when we kissed that time?"
"Ah...er- um..." Once she brought it up Zack's defenses crumbled and he became a stuttering mess. This was no way for an Advance Recon Scout to act. He had to keep a cool head, but no training had prepared him for this situation. All he could do was say, "Eh, y-yeah?"
Xenth gulped. She was going to ask him, she had to know.
"W-Well...uh...did you...uh...er...."
Zack's core processor accelerated while his plasma pressure was increasing at an alarming rate. She was having trouble saying what was on her mind, but he knew exactly what she meant, and he'd dreaded this moment. The Scout in him told him to deny his feelings like he had before, that he couldn't afford to be in a relationship when humanity was still far from settled on this planet. But... he wasn't just an amnesiac Scout anymore. In the few months since he was brought out of stasis, the experiences he's had and the friends he shared them with shaped him into a much different person than he was back then.
I
t was then he realized it wasn't just him, Xenth had just confirmed the feelings Zack had were mutual. Falling back into self-denial would hurt her, and that was last thing thing he ever wanted to do to.
He closed his eyes for a second. Opening them he looked straight into hers, giving his answer with a slow nod. But that wasn't enough. Zack got down to eye level with her, removing his Veyes shakily. Xenth was nervous too, her heart beating rapidly against her chest as they stared at each other. Slowly his face edged towards hers, Xenth's eyes closing in anticipation.
Stopping just before making contact Zack realized something: he didn't know how to kiss properly. So he went with how he recalled seeing other couples do it, and pressed his lips to hers. The sensation of her mouth against his own flooded his system with endorphins, an incredible sensation he'd never known until now.
In turn Xenth, overcome with warmth and joy wrapped her arms around the large man's neck and deepening the kiss, all the nervousness and apprehension she'd felt before melting away. Even though she'd watched this scene play out hundreds of times in anime and movies, none of them compared to this moment.
Breaking for air, they stared into each other's eyes for a few moments. Eventually Zack broke the silence with an awkward grin, "Does... this mean we're in a mutally exclusive romantic relationship?"
"You mean dating?" Xenth giggled, releasing his head to hug his body and lay her head against the chestplate of his Bodywear, "Then yes. Yes it does."
The new couple embraced, unaware they were being watched from the bushes. Jaynix lifted up her fist and Scarlen bumped it with his own with grins spread across their faces.
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