ɪᴛ's ʏᴏᴜ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴇ! @pulsepointe - Tumblr Blog

Dec 1, 2025

breaking the rules.

♡ PAIRING: iso (li zhao yu) / pulse (juniper jia hui chua) ♡ SYNOPSIS: when li zhao yu joins the scions of hourglass, he's given a set of rules. by the time he realizes he's broken them, it's already far too late. ♡ WORD / CHARACTER COUNT: 9,245 words / 50,014 characters ♡ GENRE: fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, colleagues to friends to lovers ♡ SOUNDTRACK: ♪ / ♪ / ♪

PROLOGUE. YOUNG SCIONS.

The last thing Zhao Yu expected when he was recruited into the Scions of Hourglass was to meet a girl around his age. He supposes he shouldn't be surprised. They had reached out to him, after all, so he supposes that another person around his age isn't out of the question.

Her name is Juniper, or Jia Hui, he learns.

"I like both, so either one works!" she says. "The organization takes in members from all over the world, and most of them say Juniper is easier to pronounce."

"Jia Hui isn't hard to pronounce," he says gruffly, annoyed for reasons he can't quite explain. She smiles like he's said something right, though, so he supposes his annoyance was justified.

She explains the rules of the organization to him in great detail, like she has them memorized. In the back of his mind, he can't help but wonder just how long she's been here. She seemed so used to the place and how it operated — either she had been extremely young (even younger than the both of them were right now) or she had acclimated extremely quickly.

As he ponders this, he tunes out her long-winded and detailed explanation of the rules — don't tell anyone about the organization, don't leave behind evidence after a hit, etc... The rules she gives him are all pretty standard-issue for this sort of thing. Well, except one.

"Last rule," she says. The cheeky grin on her face already tells him that this one is going to be different from the rest, and her next words confirm the thought as soon as it had come. "Not one of the Scions' rules. Just one of mine."

He raises an eyebrow at her, clearly skeptical yet silently beckoning for her to tell him, anyways. With the suspense she's built up, he has to admit that he's curious, now. The rule she gives him, however, only makes him scoff and roll his eyes.

“You can't fall in love with me, okay?” she says playfully, a cheeky grin on her face.

“...right. I don't think that's going to be very hard.”

I. HEARTS IN YOUR EYES.

It takes Zhao Yu a little longer than he’d care to admit to notice that Jia Hui has little hearts in her eyes when she looks at him.

Well, not at him, per se. Just in general. He’s guessing her heart-shaped pupils are a side effect of her radiance, the same way his eyes became bright purple, a hexagonal shape appearing in their irises. At the very least, they don’t have the added side effect of making him believe she’s got a stupid crush on him. Really, what is he supposed to believe when she looks at him the way she does, and talks to him on the way back from their missions like—

“Your eyes are pretty,” she says casually, like it’s not the kind of thing that makes his head spin. “Like little flowers. It’s ‘cause of your radiance, right? So cool.”

He merely grunts in acknowledgment at that, if only because he was sure any of the words he would’ve come up with in response were going to make him sound stupid. It’s not like he was particularly good with words in the first place, but for some reason or another he couldn’t help but feel like he always had his foot in his mouth when it came to her. Despite his lack of response, she keeps talking.

“Your powers in general are pretty cool,” she muses aloud. “The purple lights are sooo cute. That’s my favorite shade of purple, y’know? It’s also kinda funny that you can just yoink people into your own little pocket dimension. Can I see it, sometime? It doesn’t hurt you, does it?”

“Not really,” he answers her with a shrug. “If you’re in there too long, you do begin to get the feeling that it’s eating away at you. But I usually take care of business before that ever happens.”

“Humble brag,” she teases.

“Just a fact,” he says with a fond roll of his eyes. He can feel the corners of his mouth pull up into a smile, or something close to one, maybe. Damn it. “I’m good at what I do. The powers just help.”

“I’m jealous,” she sighs, shaking her head. “Mine are so lame in comparison. I want a little pocket dimension.”

“You control blood. That’s cool,” he assures her, though he’s not sure why he feels the need to. He isn’t just doing it for the sake of it, though. He’s being honest. Blood powers are cool, if a little edgy. At the very least, they were useful.

Every mission he’d been sent on included her as the cleanup crew, using her powers to coagulate his wounds until they could be tended to properly. After that, she’d use them to clean up the bloody aftermath of his assassinations more efficiently than hours of scrubbing ever could. He often thought to himself that her personality didn’t suit their line of work — but her powers were practically made for it.

“I guess,” she sighs. “Not cool enough to make up for me dying, though.”

At that, Zhao Yu nearly trips over his feet, stopping in his tracks at her words.

What? Where’d that come from all of a sudden?

“You’re dying?” is all he can muster in response.

“I think so. That’s what all the doctors back home in Singapore said,” she says. “And when my dad sent me here, all the doctors said the same thing. For some unlucky radiants, their radiance can be detrimental or even life-threatening. I’m just one of them.”

He’s only half-listening by the time she reaches the end of her sentence, far more interested in her situation than whatever is or isn’t normal for radiants, regardless of the fact that he is one.

“Your dad sent you here?” he asks, unable to hide his incredulity.

Nobody in his family knew what he did, and he couldn’t imagine they would ever approve. Naturally, he just told them he made extra money at his part-time job as a lifeguard, which was… half-true. He did. He just killed people for money, too. He couldn’t imagine any sane parent sending their own child to do the same. Especially not one like Jia Hui, with her bright smiles and delicate stature. Never mind the fact that she was apparently dying.

“For experimental treatment. To see if I could get better,” she says, tone far too flippant for the situation she’s describing. “Or at least that’s what he said. Once I got here, they were poking and prodding me like a little lab rat. Imagine! And according to one of the scientists, he got a real hefty fee, too. Even though I’m the one they were sticking with needles and stuff!”

He sold you, Zhao Yu thinks, unable to hide the shock on his face. Your dad sold you.

Of course, he doesn’t say that out loud. It’s a conclusion she had probably come to herself a long time ago, even if she wouldn’t admit it.

“Anyways,” she says, giving him a playful wink and a wag of her finger. “That’s why I’ve barred myself off from true love!”

He can only blink at her words, wondering what the hell that has to do with anything. By this point, he was well aware of her obsession with love and romance, but the sudden change of subject was jarring.

“...what?”

“Imagine if you fell in love with a super cute girl, but you don’t even get to be with her that long!” she says playfully, a hand over her heart as if she pities the fool who would. “Pretty noble of me, y’know? Preventing a tragedy like that.”

Zhao Yu can’t help but bark out a disbelieving laugh, despite everything. It feels so very like her, to be so vain and so flippant, even as she discusses her impending death. Maybe that’s how she coped with it, or maybe she was trying to cheer him up or lighten the mood in some way. An aching sympathy sits in his chest nonetheless.

“Pff… that’s the kind of thing you worry about?” he snorts, unable to hide the fondness in his voice.

“Of course! I’m very thoughtful.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

II. THE CRIME OF CARING.

Zhao Yu doesn’t know why or when Jia Hui decided that they should start hanging out outside of work hours. Apparently, though, she has, tagging along from headquarters to bother him at his other job.

She sits at the poolside in a frilly pink swimsuit, yapping about every topic under the sun while he attempts to be a good part-time lifeguard. It’s more distracting than he’d care to admit — not because she’s maybe kinda the slightest bit cute, but more so because his brain struggles to compartmentalize his life working as an assassin with her when he’s yelling at kids not to run by the pool or dive into the shallow end.

“Why’d you take this job, anyways?” Jia Hui asks, as if reading his mind. “I guess I don’t know you well enough, because I never imagined you as a lifeguard.”

“Because I like swimming,” he says bluntly. She gives a good-natured roll of her eyes, clearly not satisfied with that answer. While she doesn’t doubt that it’s true, she’s sure there must be more to it than that.

“You know what I mean,” she says. “Why would anybody work as both a lifeguard and…” She makes a little gun gesture with her finger, firing twice. He can even see her mouth ‘pew pew’ as she does so, and he hates how cute and endearing he finds it. If nothing else, he appreciates her ability to keep quiet about his moonlighting job, not even daring to utter the word ‘fixer’, ‘hitman’, or ‘assassin’ out loud.

“Why does anybody work at all?” he says dryly. “Money.”

“And you don’t get enough money from—?” she gets awfully close to saying it aloud, but cuts herself off and silently makes another ‘pew pew’ gesture with her hand. So stupidly cute… “You must be saving up for something crazy.”

“I’m not really saving up for anything,” he admits. “I mostly just use it to help support my family. My parents barely make enough to make ends meet, even though they work for hours on end. And it’s always been that way, too — I feel like I barely saw them growing up. It was always my grandma taking care of me, from what I remember. But she’s getting older and sicker, so a lot of my money goes to her medications and making sure she’s taken care of, too… of course, I tell them it’s all from this job.”

Zhao Yu doesn’t know what possessed him to dump all of his woes onto her like that, but somehow he doesn’t feel uncomfortable or regretful or ashamed. He doesn’t feel as if he’s made the wrong decision in being so vulnerable about his situation — maybe it’s because of the way she’s looking at him right now, her big brown heart eyes warm and sympathetic.

“Well… you chose a good gig. You look great in swim trunks,” she teases in an attempt to cheer him up, as if her face wasn’t already doing that. In all honesty, though, it’s working, because he lets out a snort of amusement. “Maybe I should pretend to drown.”

He scoffs and turns his face away from her to hide his flushed cheeks — something he’s found himself doing a lot around her. It feels like she always has a way of throwing him off his rhythm.

“Shut up,” is all he can muster in reply, playfully tossing a beach ball at her. Not with enough force to hurt, of course.

“Hey, hey!” she laughs, swatting it away. It rolls off towards a group of kids by the poolside, who take turns tossing it between one another, giggling as they attempt to make sure it stays in the air for as long as possible.

The two watch the children play fondly until one of the kids snatches the ball, attempting to keep it for himself. He’s clearly bigger than the rest of them, and has no problem throwing his weight around to ensure it remains his and his alone. The little ones scream as he pushes them into the pool, grabbing onto the ledge and yelling at him once they surface.

Doing his due diligence as a lifeguard, Zhao Yu blows his whistle. The big kid gives him the finger. He can only sigh, knowing full well the kind of brat he’s dealing with.

“Jia Hui,” he murmurs softly, and she immediately perks up and turns her head to him. She always liked it when he said her name. “Go wait over there by the gate. I have an idea.”

She nods, scampering over to the gate like he instructed. Once there, she watches as he gives the kid a talking-to from across the pool. She can’t make out what they’re saying, only that the kid nods excitedly at something he says.

The kid hands Zhao Yu the beach ball, and she watches as he dropkicks it far, far away, so far that it lands outside of the fenced-in pool area. It clicks for her when the kid runs out of the gate, and so she closes it the moment he does — thankfully, he’s too focused on getting that ball to notice. Realizing he has more time than he thought, Zhao Yu runs over to where she’s standing and locks the gate shut for good measure.

“You’re fucked up,” Jia Hui laughs. He just grins at her.

“It’s justice,” he insists.

“Hey!” the kid huffs once he’s made it back to the gate, gripping one of the gate’s metal bars between the hand that isn’t holding the beach ball under his arm. “Let me back in!”

“No,” Zhao Yu says bluntly.

“You said I could keep the ball to myself if I caught it!” he whines.

“Yeah. You can keep it.”

“I meant to play with! In the pool!” the kid yells, getting progressively redder in the face.

“Too bad. Bullies don’t get to play with the other kids,” he retorts. He isn’t budging.

“肏你妈!” the kid yells after him before turning on his heel in a huff, soaked and sulking as he gives up and walks home. Jia Hui puts a scandalized hand over her mouth, but Zhao Yu only rolls his eyes. Kids who thought that cussing made them cool and tough were a dime a dozen.

They laugh as he walks off, and the atmosphere between the rest of the kids seems to be more fun and relaxed now that their bully has been sent off. They chat for a while, and it seems that the rest of his work day is going to go off without a hitch — but then he hears his name blasted on the rec center’s speakers.

“Li Zhao Yu, please report to office 5-A.”

Fuck, that kid’s mom definitely made a call. Though he drags his feet, he does as he’s told, and it goes… about as well as he expected. Which isn’t great.

When he’s done getting fired and chewed out by his boss, he leaves the building only to see Jia Hui leaning up against the side, as if waiting for him to come out. He’s almost touched, but then he sees the grin on her face and heaves a sigh as he realizes she probably heard the whole thing.

“Mister Integrity, aren’t you?” she says, eyes crinkled in amusement. “What was it that you said before? About really needing the money?”

“The old man can keep his money,” Zhao Yu scoffs, shaking his head. “Bullies need to be punished. If you let them act however they want just because they’re young, they’ll grow into bad adults. If he doesn’t understand that much, I’m not interested in enforcing any of his rules.”

“I agree with you. But…” she begins, half-playful and half-serious. “...I dunno. It’s kinda ironic that you take a job where you kill people for money, no questions asked — but schoolyard bullying is where you draw the line.”

He bristles a bit at that. Deep down, he knows she’s kind of right, but still… it’s different.

“You say that like we aren’t in the same line of work,” he deadpans, the corner of his lip quirking up into a smirk when she huffs and gently shoves his arm.

"Oh, you know what I mean! I know the targets we’re sent after have their hands in all sorts of shady business, but… have you really never thought about the morality of it? Haven’t you ever wondered if it should really be up to us to decide who lives or dies?" she muses aloud.

Her tone is more thoughtful and less absentminded than the one she uses for her usual ramblings. While not exactly solemn, there is a sympathy to her words, a sincerity that makes his chest feel tight. He wonders how someone who’s been in the organization so long has been able to remain such a good person.

"It isn't," he responds after a moment of silence, one he takes to think. He decides to tell her the same things he has to tell himself every day in order to do what they do. "We don't decide anything. We just do the jobs that we're given."

"Still," she sighs. A spy rather than an assassin like him, she couldn't quite wrap her head around these things. "Are you really okay with playing executioner for the organization's higher-ups?"

"I don’t know," he responds with a shrug. A half-truth, really, one that has him making a face the moment it comes out of his mouth. Because he does know, and so the truth comes tumbling out of his mouth before he can stop it. "It’s like you said, the people they send us after have their hands in all sorts of shady business. It's not fair that you're dying and people like that who know what they’re doing get to live."

She stares at him with big, sparkly eyes, like he's just said something beautiful or profound, and it makes him strangely flustered. He shakes his head, attempting to explain away the fact that he cares so much.

"It's not that — it's just..." he struggles to explain his thoughts, in turn digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole. But honesty comes to him before the shame or embarrassment does. "You didn't even choose to join the organization.”

‘Like I did’ goes unspoken, but it hangs in the air nonetheless. It’s not like he didn’t have his reasons — being able to provide for his family and make sure his grandma got better was noble, and it wasn’t something he regretted.

But at the end of the day, he was staining his hands with blood, and he had chosen to do so of his own volition. Jia Hui did not.

“Your dad forced you in here,” he says. “And you’re not the kind of person who would’ve chosen to join if he didn’t. You're a good person, and — and you're dying. You’re dying, and these people get to live, and you don't? How is that fair?"

For as huffy and inarticulate as his explanation is, the point comes across.

I care, he says wordlessly. I care.

To her credit, she has the decency not to tease him the way she usually would whenever he got this tongue-tied. It doesn't feel right, right now, knowing just how much he cares. She doesn’t remember the last time somebody has cared this much, at least about her. It makes her heart lurch in her chest.

Wordlessly, she reaches for his hand, still wet from the pool’s chlorine. He doesn't swat her touch away, even when she intertwines their fingers. Silently, he decides to walk her back to her room back at headquarters, his hand in hers the whole time. It feels right, somehow, like a key in its lock.

“Your hand is real sweaty,” she points out cheekily, and he can’t resist the urge to roll his eyes. It’s less mood-ruining than it should be, though, because he doesn’t feel inclined to stop holding her hand. Playfully, she prods, “Do I make you nervous, Zhao Yu? Hehe.” He gives an affectionate scoff.

“Shut up.”

III. BANDAIDS AND HEARTACHE.

Jia Hui has a weird habit of putting bandaids on his wounds even after she’s already healed them with her radiant powers. Zhao Yu can’t hold back the scoff he lets out as she puts a Tactibear bandaid over his knuckles.

“Is that really necessary?” he deadpans, but he can’t hide the hint of fond amusement in his voice.

“Well, it’s good to remember what parts have been hurt! Even if I heal it right away, you need a reminder not to strain it. The skin is probably still tender,” she gently chides — like she worries, really worries. It makes his chest feel tight, even more so when she puts another bandaid onto his cheek, just below his eye. She’s way too close... “And it’s proof somebody cared about you enough to put one on, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he replies flatly, turning his face away when she’s done patching up his wounds in an effort to appear nonchalant. In truth, he’s red to the tips of his ears as her words repeat on loop in his mind.

Proof somebody cares, huh…

Zhao Yu really shouldn’t have become as attached to her as he has. Really, though, she started it — looking up at him with those big heart eyes, choosing to spend her limited time off the clock (hell, in the land of the living) hanging out with him, fussing over him every time he got hurt, telling him that she was somebody that cared about him… really, he didn’t stand a chance. It was unfair.

Becoming attached to anyone in this line of work was a liability, after all… Jia Hui’s a bit different, though, since she’s in the organization, too. But he's sure he only likes her this much because of convenience, or proximity, simply because they’ve been forced to work together. Or maybe it’s because they're the only ones in the business this young, so she's the only one who really understands what it's like to be in this position. Yes, he tells himself, something like that.

...but with each day that passes by with her at his side, that gets harder and harder to believe.

Eventually, the day comes that Zhao Yu can no longer deny that their relationship entered something of a limbo zone. There was nothing romantic about it, of course — surely not. She had explicitly told him not to fall in love with her, after all.

…fuck, he thinks. Yes, he was completely and utterly fucked.

But it’s not like she was making it very easy for him, either. Somewhere along the way, they had gone from colleagues to friends, and then after that they had gone from friends to… whatever they were right now.

Because soon enough, she takes to holding his hand regularly, even when they’re out in public, and he doesn’t pull his hand away. She gives him hugs after missions for a job well done, and sometimes even presses a kiss over the bandages she puts on his injuries. Really, what is he supposed to think when she does stuff like that?

He simply decides not to think about it, feeling his way through their interactions more than anything else. Being hugged and kissed and having his hand held by her feels… good. So he lets her keep doing it. No need to think too hard about it.

Unfortunately, though, he does think hard about it. As he’s in the middle of his current mission, putting bullets through his targets’ heads, all he can think about is her soft hands and bright smiles and gentle touch. He even hopes a bullet grazes his cheek so she’ll kiss him there. He’s never thought a thing like that before. Who the hell thinks things like that?!

Damn it, damn it, damn it…

Zhao Yu is so stuck in his head that he barely even realizes he’s neutralized all of his targets, not until Jia Hui comes out of her hiding place and steps into the bloody aftermath of it all.

“Flawless, as always,” she says, tiptoeing around the bodies to give him a hug that is equal parts comforting and congratulatory. He soaks in her praise and affection like a sponge, even if the awkward pat he gives to her back doesn’t exactly convey that. For as much as he liked it, he was never really good at receiving affection.

“I’m a professional,” he says, but it doesn’t have half the braggadocio it should — not when he’s sinking his face into the crook of her neck, unable to stop himself from nuzzling into the softness of her hair. He has to stop himself from letting out a noise of protest when she pulls away from the hug to do her job, dutifully cleaning up the bloody mess he’s made of his targets with her hemokinesis.

Unable to help himself, he watches her as she does. The movements of her hand are so elegant, her control over her powers so practiced and precise. He wonders if she knows how lovely she is like this, before realizing that that’s a sappy thought and immediately pushing it away. His focus on her is cut short by the sound of footsteps, which she must not hear because she’s still absentmindedly yapping about something or the other.

“Jia Hui, shut up.”

“Um, wow, rude—”

“I said—!” he doesn’t finish his sentence, because he’s cut off by the sound of gunfire. Fuck, there were more enemies here than just the targets he’d been sent to neutralize. Usually, the organization was better at informing him of this sort of thing. Impulsively, he grabs her by the wrist and pulls her up against his chest. “Stay.” He feels her gently nod against the fabric of his hoodie.

All she can see from the corner of her eye is purple flashes, all she can hear is the grunts and hisses he lets out as his shield breaks and reforms and breaks again. Her heartbeat picks up when they’re not enveloped in purple and she knows he isn’t protected. While she was always there for the aftermath of his jobs, she was never right here in the thick of it. This was scary. She was scared, but… more for him than for herself. She can’t help but wonder why, though.

She knows why, deep down. She just won’t admit it. Not yet, at least.

Heaving a sigh, he finally lets her go. She didn’t realize how tightly he was holding her until he did. Even more bloodied bodies litter the room, but she can’t bring herself to care about them — not when his hands, large and calloused and so very capable of killing, reach out to cup her face. His thumbs stroke gently stroke down her cheeks, and he lets out yet another sigh of relief.

“You’re okay,” he says, so unbelievably soft, and something in her brain just clicks.

His face is splattered with blood. She could clean it right up with her hemokinesis, sure. It would definitely be more convenient… but for some reason, it doesn’t cross her mind. The only thing that comes to mind is that he loves her, probably. And she loves him, too — definitely.

Maybe that’s why she doesn’t think to use her powers at all, wiping the blood off of his face with the end of her sleeve instead before pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. She relaxes against him when she feels him return it.

“Dummy,” she huffs softly when their lips part, but she doesn’t pull away, nose pressed affectionately against his. She can feel the warmth of his cheeks against hers. Her voice doesn’t have nearly as much bite as she tries to give it when she speaks next. “I told you not to.”

The ‘fall in love with me’ that punctuates the sentence is silent, but he hears it, anyways.

“I know,” is all he can say. “I fucked up.” But he doesn’t apologize. She can’t help but feel glad, because she doesn’t really want him to. She doesn’t want him to regret anything — regret her, more like — despite the voice in the back of her head telling her that he most definitely will, when the time comes. She knows that she’s a ticking time bomb, one that’ll only bring heartache when she explodes.

But maybe they don’t have to think about that right now.

“...Jia Hui, I—” he begins, but she cuts him off with a nod. If he says it out loud, it becomes too real, too irreversible.

“I know, I…” she begins softly. “I know. Me too.”

IV. A PLACE TO BELONG.

Zhao Yu has finally come to accept the fact that he and Jia Hui are dating in everything but name.

After all, they do all the cheesy, lovey-dovey couple stuff that people who aren’t just friends do. He’s also not too stubborn to admit that he’s in love with her, at this point. He’s certainly tried telling her that, and he’s probably thought it twice as much — but every time he does, she shuts him up with a kiss, and well. He’s not gonna complain about that.

Of course, he knows why. Even so, when she asks the kind of questions that she’s asking him right now, he wishes that she’d stop dwelling on the future so much.

“Do you think you’re ever gonna get out of here?” she asks, staring down at him with those big old heart eyes as he lays his head in her lap. “The organization, I mean.”

“Probably. Maybe. I don’t know,” he admits, not really having thought that far into the future before. “I always thought that I’d quit when I made enough to make ends meet. But I have, and I’m still here. Maybe one day, but I never really thought about the ‘when’.”

“I’ve thought about running away before,” she whispers, like it’s some sort of well-kept secret. “To live life like a normal girl, and stuff. Go to college and make friends. Become a ballerina or a phlebotomist or something.” He snorts at that, and she gives his cheek a playful pinch in admonishment. “I’m serious.”

“Sorry, sorry,” he says, a little softer. “You go be a phlebotomist, then. Why not?” Her face screws into an expression of thoughtful contemplation as she tries to find a way to word her answer.

“The Scions would find out and drag me back by the hair, for starters,” she reminds him with a soft huff and another playful pinch to his cheek. A bit more vulnerable, she adds, “And it's also just that my life has been like…” She pauses to make some vague, all-encompassing gesture with her free hand, the one that isn’t gently carding through his hair and playing with his face. “...this for so long, y’know? I feel like I’m gonna be a fish outta water, trying to live like a normal person. I can’t help but feel like maybe it’s just not meant for me.”

“Don’t say that,” he scolds her defeatist attitude with a click of his tongue. “If you want it, you should go for it. You’re giving up before you even try. You’ll adjust.”

“I don’t have time,” she reminds him.

Zhao Yu frowns, his stomach twisting uncomfortably at the implication. The imminence of Jia Hui’s death loomed over them like a dark cloud. It’s not like he could ever really forget about it, but he still never took the reminders well.

“So what,” he scoffs softly, though there’s no real fight or anger to it — just frustration undercut by his own resignedness. “You’re just gonna stay in the organization ‘til you die?”

“Where would we even go?” she sighs, and he has to relent at that. He lets out a soft grunt of acknowledgement, though, quietly pleased that she said ‘we’ instead of ‘I’. His heart thrums pleasantly in his chest at the idea that she imagines her future with him in it, no matter how impossible it may seem to her.

“We’ll figure it out,” he assures her. “Getting out of here doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Yeah?” she says, eyes crinkled in affection as she looks down at him. “You’re not just saying that ‘cause I wanna get outta here, hm?”

“I’m not,” he huffs, even though he’s not quite sure if that’s true.

“Tell me, then,” she hums playfully, pushing a strand of hair out of his face. “What do you wanna do in the future? When I’m off being a college student or a ballerina or a phlebotomist or something.”

“Mmh,” he hums softly, in equal parts acknowledgement and contentment as she plays with his hair. “Not sure. My grandma always told me I should study hard and become a doctor.” She giggles at that, and he can’t help the way his lips quirk up into a grin at the sound.

“You really wanna do that?” she giggles, giving his cheek another playful pinch. He groans and makes a face.

“Not really,” he says. After a long moment of quiet contemplation, he admits, “...I want to keep fighting.”

“Well, you are good at it,” she hums amusedly, not an ounce of surprise or disappointment in her tone, like she expected him to say something along those lines. It feels good to be understood by another person like this.

“Of course. I’m a professional,” he says, playfully smug. With a bit more sincerity, though, he admits, “But it’d be nice to fight for something… more, I guess. Something more than just killing people for money. Something… good for the world.”

“Yeah?” she hums, just as sincere.

“Yeah,” he admits.

“You should,” she says, without a doubt in her voice that he can. “If you ever find a place like that, somewhere you belong — like, really belong — you better go for it, okay?”

There’s nowhere I belong but here, a tiny voice in the back of his mind protests. With you. I belong here with you and you belong here with me.

“Yeah, sure. I will,” he promises anyway. “As long as you do the same.”

“Hm?” she says, tilting her head at him curiously. It’s so cute, he can’t resist the urge to reach up and poke her square in the forehead.

“You too,” he makes her promise. “If you find a place you belong, you better go for it, too.” She smiles.

“I will,” she promises, snatching the hand that pokes her forehead and pressing a gentle kiss to his calloused fingers. “If I have time.”

“You will,” he says, more to assure himself than her.

Despite this, it’s still bittersweet when she does.

Jia Hui disappears on a mission like any other — not a particularly risky or dangerous one, though, hence why he wasn’t sent with her. All efforts to find her lead nowhere, and it’s for that reason the higher-ups are all convinced she’s defected.

Zhao Yu hopes that’s true. Prays for it, even, and he’s not a religious person. He likes to imagine she found the perfect window to slip away through. Maybe she’s found a place she feels she belongs, a place where she can live a normal, quiet life the way she always wanted with whatever time she has left.

The thought comforts him. He hopes she’s happy, wherever she is, even if it’s not with him.

One night, he brings his camera out to the bridge, taking a picture of the moon as it attempts to hide behind the Chongqing skyline.

“At least we’re under the same sky,” he mutters softly to himself.

V. IN DUE TIME.

Zhao Yu — well, he supposes it’s Iso now — finds himself happy within the VALORANT Protocol.

It’s a far cry from the work environment within the Scions of Hourglass. When the other agents spend time together, there's a brightness to them. When they speak of the mission, they speak with pride. It feels like he’s fighting for something good, something meaningful, the way he’s always wanted. Yes, he thinks, this is the place he belongs.

But of course, there’s something missing. He won’t deny that.

Even during happy moments, Jia Hui’s absence lingers. He remembers how much fun he had last Lunar New Year with Jett and Phoenix, trying (and failing) to ignore the little voice in the back of his head that wished she was there to enjoy it with them. She probably would’ve gotten a kick out of the lion dance, and she definitely would’ve enjoyed the tanghulu—

Iso shakes his head, as if to rid himself of the thought. He was happy here in the Protocol, and she was probably happy wherever she was, too, living life like a normal girl, the way she always dreamed of. She had to be.

…and he had to focus on his current life, the here and now. He had scolded Jia Hui on more than one occasion for spending so much time worrying about the future, so it’d be hypocritical of him to spend all of his time dwelling on the past, wouldn’t it?

He supposed that the current mission briefing Vyse had called on him and Omen for was as good a place to start as any.

“One of the Hourglass bases I eliminated is showing signs of activity again,” she says. “...correction, sign singular: one of the relay dishes the bases used for communication has been turned back on. I intend to find out who’s responsible.”

“And this is unprecedented?” Omen mutters gruffly, the way things always came out in his voice.

“Not exactly. Their communication relays still sputter to life, on occasion, but it amounts to little more than background noise. The last groans of a hurt animal with a broken back,” she assures him. The cruelty of her description makes Iso frown ever so slightly. “But whatever activities are taking place in this Scions base look like they’re being done manually — as in, no use of proxy technology or other intermediaries.”

“So somebody is there, at the base,” Iso muses aloud. “Did you want us to join you?”

“Not necessary,” she insists, cold and clipped. “I suspect that it’s a small group who broke in, maybe even an individual — seeing as they gave no other entry signals aside from the activation of that relay dish. It’s best that I go alone, so as to not waste resources. I highly doubt this is the kind of operation that requires a strike team. Hell, it could be nothing. But if trouble does turn up, somehow, I’ll be calling you two for backup — you are both familiar with Hourglass bases, I assume.”

“Of course,” he says, resisting the urge to scoff. He’d been in and out of them since he was a teenager.

“Be ready for the call, then,” she says, giving them a half-hearted wave as she sets off to pack provisions for her solo mission. “But not too ready. I doubt it’ll be anything interesting.”

Iso and Omen give a nod and grunt of acknowledgement, content to push away thoughts of the mission now that they know they’ll really only be called upon in case of emergency. And so it’s forgotten about.

…but then Vyse’s findings turn out to be more interesting than he could’ve imagined.

She returns to the Protocol’s headquarters a bit scratched up, but wholly triumphant as she shoulders past everybody to speak with Brimstone. While she was yet to speak to anybody else directly, it seems that whoever was at the Hourglass base didn’t give her any trouble, just as she’d anticipated. Iso almost thinks everything is settled, but then the first words she greets him with have his heart stopping in his chest.

“Iso,” she says, cutting straight to the chase. “Do you know a Juniper Chua?”

He’s sure he confirms in some way, nods or says yes or something of the sort — but he barely registers it, his heart pounding in his ears and the edges of his vision going blurry, a million different thoughts beginning to race through his mind.

Vyse fills him in as she walks over with him to the infirmary, but he barely hears her as his brain struggles to catch up with his body.

Please don’t be a dream. Please be real. Please be true. Please be her.

He doesn’t realize he’s been holding his breath until he sees her himself, unconscious in the infirmary bed — but definitely alive. He exhales a sigh of relief.

“Just as I anticipated, it was just one person — but she was tougher than she looked. I suspect she’ll wake up within a day or so,” Vyse says when he finally comes to, leaning against the wall of the infirmary with her arms crossed. She wasn’t the type of person that many would call kind, but he guessed that this was her way of comforting him, of saying that Jia Hui would be making it through this without a problem. He responds with a nod of appreciation.

“Thanks,” he responds, an uncharacteristic softness to his voice as he stares down at Jia Hui’s unconscious form. He can practically feel Vyse raise a brow at him from beneath her mask, but she has the decency not to say anything about it, at least.

Iso steps forward, hesitantly, as if unsure as to whether or not he’s allowed to be this close to her after all this time. For once, his heart wins out over his head, and he gently grasps her hand. The immediate familiarity of it is comforting. He strokes a thumb over the skin, frowning at the thorn-patterned scarring.

“Did you…?” he begins with furrowed brows, trailing off when he realizes how accusatory he sounds. Logically, he’s in no position to be acting this way. Not when they’ve been separated for so long, not when Vyse is the one who’s brought her back to him in the first place. But he can’t help it.

“Relax,” she scoffs, putting up a hand as if to keep him at bay. “I didn’t put her in this state, if that’s what you’re worried about. We did fight when we ran into each other at that Hourglass base, but she was able to lay her weapon down and listen to reason. And of course, I listened to her side of the story, too — she talked about you, you know. That’s why I came to get you.”

“Oh, I… thanks,” he says awkwardly, squeezing Jia Hui’s hand tighter (but not too tight), as if for comfort. “Then why is… I mean… is she okay?”

“She’s fine. I think getting interrogated by Brimstone drained her more than the gunfight,” she scoffs softly, seemingly amused. “She’s got a… delicate heart.”

“She doesn’t like being yelled at,” Iso says, a bit more defensive than intended. He can’t help it — his protectiveness over her was built-in, at this point. He didn’t think he would be, after all this time, but his heart seemed to pick up right where things left off. Funny how that worked.

“He didn’t yell at her,” she sighs, shaking her head exasperatedly. She couldn’t believe this brat was making her defend Brimstone, of all people. “The questions he asked regarding her past and intentions were necessary and professional. He was just being thorough, the same way he is with every agent he accepts into the Protocol’s ranks.”

“I know,” he grunts in acknowledgement at that, brows furrowing together in realization as her words sink in completely. “Wait, you don’t mean—”

He’s cut off by Vyse reaching into her pocket and throwing something at him. With ease, he catches it with the hand that isn’t gently holding Jia Hui’s — reflexes of a hitman, and all that.

“Yeah,” she says. “She’s on the team now.”

He examines the VALORANT Agent ID card she tossed him, and it looks just like the one he has. It’s pink and red instead of purple and black, though, with a 33 in the bottom right corner next to the Protocol’s logo instead of a 24. The call-sign on the top right reads Pulse.

And of course, in the middle sits Jia Hui’s portrait, bright and beaming. She’s got big white hair clips that look like wings, and her hair is a little longer, but everything else is the same. Same bright smile and flushed cheeks and big brown eyes and heart-shaped pupils and—

Damn, he’s been staring at it a little too long, hasn’t he? He doesn’t realize it until Vyse clears the back of her throat, and he sheepishly hands it back to her. While he has half a mind to question why it’s even in her hands, he knows he’s already overstepped more than once because of his protectiveness over Jia Hui in just the few minutes that he’s been reunited with her — and she hasn’t even been awake for them.

“Pulse’s powers are a good fit for the Protocol,” she explains. “From what I’ve ascertained, they provide her physiological similarities to Interversal beings. As the one spearheading research on the Interverse, Brimstone and I both agreed that puts her under my jurisdiction. Her radiance is powerful, just unpracticed. In need of a little guidance. Her shooting, on the other hand…”

“...was never her strongest suit,” he finishes before Vyse can say something unkind, even if it was probably true. He still remembers the time he’d tried to teach her to fire his gun, back when they were in the organization… she let out a cute little squeak when the Sheriff recoiled in her hands and the sound made his chest feel warm. He tries to sound as neutral as possible, but he can’t quite keep the fondness out of his tone as he defends her. “It just wasn’t necessary for what the Scions had her doing.”

“Well, it’s necessary now,” Vyse says bluntly. “I might have you help her with that, since you two seem… acquainted with each other already.”

Acquainted, huh… he thinks, scoffing softly under his breath.

He supposes that was the only thing they could be called for sure, at the moment. They never even called each other boyfriend and girlfriend back then, and he doesn’t know whether or not it’s been too long since they last spoke to still call her friend. But maybe she’d take being called his friend as an insult, after all they’d done, even if they never quite put a label on things… damn, all this overthinking was making his head spin. Perhaps it’d be best just to ask her about it when she wakes up.

He tells himself that this confusion, this uncertainty, is what pushes him to stay by her bedside 24/7, not wanting to miss the moment she wakes up. It’s less embarrassing than the real reason — that he’s still overwhelmingly and unequivocally devoted to her, even after all this time.

He really only leaves to use the bathroom and eat. After all, the chances that she’ll wake up in the twenty, maybe thirty-minute window that he takes to scarf down a meal in the cafeteria are pretty slim.

…but of course, that’s exactly what happens. When he returns to the infirmary and sees her conscious, sitting up in her cot, he begins to think that the universe just has a fondness for playing these kinds of cruel jokes on him.

“Hey there, 帅哥,” she says, playfully flirtatious, a mischievous grin stretched across her face. “You come here often?”

“Only when I’m injured,” he scoffs, uncrossing his arms as he approaches her. The softness in his tone betrays any walls he’s attempting to put up right now. “So not often.”

“Humble brag,” she teases, and it takes him back to when they were teenagers. It doesn’t feel as strange as he feared it would. It feels right, like they’re picking up right where they left off.

“Just a fact,” he responds, the same way he did back then. She smiles at that, scooting over and making some space on the cot. She pats the empty space, silently beckoning for him to come over and sit next to her.

And, well. Who is he to say no?

When he takes a seat next to her on the cot, she sidles up next to him, close enough that their thighs touch. It takes everything not to exhale in bliss at how soft and warm she is, especially when she leans her head against his arm. He can’t help but feel relieved that she’s casually initiating this kind of affection with him, even now. It’s embarrassing, how much his body aches for confirmation that she still wants him.

They sit for a while, just like that. She wasn’t usually one to leave the silence unfilled, but he supposes she’s enjoying the moment, just like he is. Or maybe she’s just thinking really hard. It’s better than the alternative, that she’s no longer the little chatterbox he remembers. He may have found it a little annoying back then, but now he shudders at the thought of his girl having changed so much.

His girl. He bristles in embarrassment at his own thoughts. She giggles at that, though, and it makes him feel a little better. She must be able to tell that he’s in his own head, because she ends the silence for them.

“I’m glad you found it,” she says. “The place you belong, I mean.”

“Thanks,” he says. “You… too?” She laughs, endeared by his awkward politeness. She shrugs.

“Maybe? Probably,” she giggles. “I like the Protocol, so far. Everyone’s nice, and you’re doing good stuff here. It feels better than being with the Scions, that’s for sure. And everything before and after, too. So I could see myself settling in nicely.”

Everything before and after, huh? Her words spark a question in his mind.

“Where did you even go?” he asks. “After you left the organization.”

“I met someone,” she says, and his heart briefly sinks into his stomach until she clarifies, “An old man. A radiant, actually, like us. He protected me from the organization, and I… worked for him, for a while. Longer than I thought I’d be.” A pause. “I missed you, though. The whole time.”

She walks two of her fingers over to his, like they’re a little person. They settle next to his hand and she grasps it, hesitantly, like she’s unsure if she’s allowed to after all this time. Of course, she is. She always is. She’ll be allowed to forever, he thinks. He intertwines their fingers and squeezes her hand.

“Don’t leave again,” he says, the words coming out a little more desperately than he intended. Damn it all. “Not without telling me, at least.”

“Sorry,” she says sheepishly, but no less apologetic. “He kinda gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I had to jump on it.”

“What could he have possibly offered you?” Iso asks with a raise of his brow, an irrationally jealous part of his mind adding, What could he have possibly given you that I couldn’t have?

“Time,” she says. “Just like some radiants get the short end of the stick, there are those like the old man that get the good stuff. I can control blood, he can control time. And I just… I figured if I do everything he says, he'd give me some.” She swallows thickly, voice a little shaky when she speaks next. “And maybe it’s selfish, or wrong, or it disrupts the natural order of things — but to be honest, I don’t really care. I want to be with you for a long time. More time than I’m supposed to have.”

There’s a beat of silence between the two of them, during which he can hear his heart beat in his ears. He interrupts it with a click of his tongue.

“Damn,” he finally says. “I guess I can't stay mad at him, then. Even if he did take you away.”

Away from me, he stops himself from saying. It’s too cheesy, too much. She must know that that’s what he meant, though, because she’s got that glint in her eye that she gets whenever he says something she can tease him over.

“Did you miss me, too?” she asks in an attempt to sound playful, but the hopeful sincerity shines through. With a nod, he gives her an answer just as earnest.

“You know I did,” he practically scoffs, but there’s no bite to his words — only tenderness.

Suddenly, she leans in close and stares deep into his eyes, as if looking for even a trace of dishonesty. Of course, she doesn’t find any. With that, she sighs softly in relief and drops her head atop his shoulder, nuzzling into the crook of his neck.

And of course, he doesn’t stop her. His free hand — the one that isn’t intertwined with hers — comes up to gently stroke her back. In turn, her hand comes up to play with his hair. He stiffens slightly in surprise, at that, but he doesn’t pull away. Instead, he lets out a slow breath through his nose and tilts his head just enough to give her better access. His silent surrender.

Unable to help it, he lets out a soft grunt of protest when she pulls away. God, he feels so pathetic — but then suddenly, she closes the last bit of distance between them.

It’s not as bold a kiss as he would’ve expected from someone like her. Maybe it’s because of all the uncertainty between them, but the kiss is soft, chaste, notably inexperienced and nervous. Cute. So unbearably cute it makes his chest ache.

Maybe it’s too early, too much for them to jump into when there’s so much they have to talk about, so much they have to catch up on… but it feels right. It feels like things are exactly how they’re supposed to be. Exactly the way they always should have been.

The weeks that follow feel the same. They get to train together nearly everyday. He did promise Vyse he’d help her improve her marksmanship, after all. On top of that, Jia Hui — Pulse, he reminds himself — slots in perfectly with the rest of the Protocol. She doesn’t have a bad thing to say about anybody, and for the most part, they adore her, too. But really, he thinks, who wouldn’t?

It’s for that reason that he lets up a bit on his usual protectiveness when she sets out with him, Omen, and Clove on her first official mission. He can trust they’ll keep her safe, just like he does.

When he sets foot into the VLT/R to join her on the mission, she gasps in delight, affectionately clinging to his arm.

“Heng ah! Since you're here to look out for me, I can totally relax,” she says playfully.

“Don't let your guard down just because I'm here,” he scolds her, but there’s no mistaking the softness in his voice — a softness reserved only for her. “But... I will be looking out. For you.”

#valorant #valorant oc #valorant fanfiction #valorant iso #oc: pulse #lilacblood #oc x canon #my writings

pulsepointe

Nov 29, 2025

PULSE ♡ RELATIONSHIPS.

more info under cut! original template by @ellixxier! ♡

DUELISTS:

ISO: iso and pulse first met as li zhao yu and juniper jia hui chua, long before either had joined the valorant protocol. being a part of the scions of hourglass as a fixer and a spy, respectively, the pair grew extremely close as they found each other to be the only other person who could relate to the struggle of balancing life as a normal teenager and working for an organization that stained their hands with blood. though they never made anything official during this time, the romantic nature of their relationship didn't go unnoticed, with higher-ups in the organization calling them as 'lovebirds' and using them as leverage over one another. nonetheless, the two remained close until pulse went missing in action on one of the scions' missions. while iso was upset by her sudden disappearance, he let it be — to some extent, he was glad that she seemed to have found a way out of the organization that claimed their youth. upon reuniting in the valorant protocol, they seem to have moved past the period of separation and picked up where they left off, with voice lines where they flirt and express a genuine care for one another that goes beyond simply being comrades. their ship name is lilacblood, and you can read more about them here ♡

YORU: yoru and pulse actually get along quite well! he's shown to humor her interest in ketsueki-gata, a pseudoscientific theory from japan that posits that blood type shapes one's temperament and personality. while he initially calls her a poser and a copycat due to the nature of her radiant abilities, he expresses a sense of pride whenever she copies his, stating that imitation is the highest form of flattery. pulse thinks that he's kinda full of himself, but still considers him a friend and talks to him fairly often due to their shared interests.

WAYLAY: pulse respects waylay as a senior and is glad that someone like her is around, so willing to mentor and engage with the younger members of the protocol. she could've used a good influence like her when she was younger and in the scions, she thinks! waylay, meanwhile, likes pulse's attitude and sees her presence as something of a happy pill for the younger members of the protocol. they aren't super close, though, since waylay mainly mentors phoenix and pulse is mainly mentored by vyse. they both think highly of each other, though — southeast asian solidarity!

REYNA: pulse respects reyna and thinks she's super cool and tough and strong! she also admires the pride and control she has over her radiance/radiant abilities. in turn, reyna quite likes pulse and respects her radiant abilities as they have the potential to be very, very powerful. she thinks it's a shame that pulse is 'more of a lover than a fighter' and would have loved to take her under her wing like she has with neon and gekko — if only vyse didn't get to her first...

RAZE: pulse is friends with raze. they're both very into dance, albeit very different styles. with both of them being as chatty and extroverted as they are, they bring tons of energy to every hangout they’re a part of. however, pulse can be a bit of a primadonna, which tends to clash with raze's more chaotic, go-with-the-flow attitude. that’s not to say they don’t get along! they just don’t go out of their way to hang out one-on-one, and tend to hang out a lot more in group settings.

PHOENIX: pulse is friends with phoenix. she thinks he's strong and cool, while he thinks she's nice and that her mimicry powers are cool... but he also reminds her that "nobody can beat the original, baby!" they can be at odds on the battlefield since pulse tends to be a bit bossy and prefers to have a plan, whereas phoenix is more reckless and tends to charge in without thinking. when they do team up on the battlefield, though, they're a force to be reckoned with — phoenix proposes they call themselves 'team hot-blooded'.

NEON: neon is one of pulse's best friends!! that is her southeast asian sister!! they get along and understand each other as they're both relatively young members of the protocol, and are also both powerful radiants who are still learning how to best use their abilities. they also have a similar taste for food, sharing snacks and going out to eat together, whether it be for dinner or just a simple boba. pulse expresses a genuine care for neon and her troubles, even offering to copy her abilities in order to help her get to the bottom of learning how to properly control them. neon, however, doesn't want to trouble pulse with this, as she can barely handle her radiant powers herself.

JETT: pulse and jett are friends, and have something of a friendly rivalry. while nowhere near as intense as jett's rivalry with neon, pulse can't help but playfully jab at jett a bit, telling her not to be embarrassed if she ever uses her wind powers better when mimicking her. her cocky personality just makes her so easy to compete with! it's all in good fun, of course. when not competing in the range, the two get along quite well, and hang out in group settings. of course, when jett and neon race, pulse will always root for her girl neon. sorry, jett!

CONTROLLERS:

ASTRA: pulse likes and respects astra a lot! they're not quite close enough to be considered friends, perhaps because pulse seems to put her on a bit of a pedestal, regarding her and the astral guardians with a lot of reverence. while pulse can technically use astra's artifact whenever she drinks her blood and mimics her abilities, she states that it's something she tries not to do since it hurts, like the artifact is rejecting her — as if it knows she isn't its rightful wielder. as such, she also respects astra a lot for being a 'chosen one', in a way. overall, pulse is very friendly whenever they interact, but also more than a little starstruck. astra finds this adorable, and thinks pulse is a sweet girl who's tougher than she looks.

VIPER: pulse respects viper as a higher-up. however, she is quite a bit... wary... of her... if only because she's heard so much about her from vyse. she seems well aware that her senior agent thinks she would make a fine lab rat, which is far too similar to the treatment she received from the scions of hourglass for her liking! while pulse isn't hostile or cold towards viper, she's not really interested in being used for her research and is far too attached to her current mentor to assist her, anyways.

OMEN: pulse deeply respects and empathizes with omen as a fellow 'heretic of the hourglass', as he puts it. although he wasn't around for it (or at he very least doesn't remember), he feels remorse for the fact that she had been victimized by the scions of hourglass so young, and that he could have possibly been a bystander. pulse doesn't seem to mind, and if anything admires him for the reputation he's gained among the scions as both an assassin and a spy. she asks which persona is his real on — "is it john, fred, marcus, dimitri, or yohan?" — she swears that she won't tell, one spy to another! he regretfully tells her that he cannot remember himself, which she seems to take in stride. he is impressed by her radiant abilities and likes her positive, go-getter attitude, and is glad that the organization didn't take it from her.

HARBOR: pulse likes and respects harbor a lot! she holds the same reverence for him being his artifact's "chosen one" that she does for astra. though he isn't an astral guardian, she's still pretty starstruck by him, especially since he kinda reminds her of the male leads in a lot of her favorite cheesy romance novels and manhuas. he likes and respects her a lot, too, and states that she's a lot tougher than she looks! he went to one of the pilates classes she hosts at HQ and thought she was trying to kill him. ("haha, i think i'll stick to yoga...")

CLOVE: clove is pulse's BESTIE whom she LOVES! ♡ they grew close over not only their powerful radiant abilities, but their nerdy interests — clove is just d&d nerdy while pulse is cheesy romance manhua nerdy. it also helps that they're both so extroverted, as pulse is also always willing to humor clove's (oftentimes random) chatter, even in the thick of battle — the two have definitely annoyed the rest of the team by talking about some bullshit over comms on more than one occasion. clove also expresses interest in pulse's powers and even offers to let her drink their blood ("like in the vampire novels!"), but pulse seems to be flustered by their willingness. ("w-walao eh?!")

BRIMSTONE: pulse respects brimstone the same way all of the other protocol members do. like the other agents, she goes to him with updates and leaves messages in his office whenever something of note happens. she doesn’t really talk to him outside of work or mission-related stuff — she’s not sure what she has to talk about with an old man, anyways! it doesn’t help that he grilled her quite a bit when she was first recruited… she gets that she was a former hourglass spy and all, but geez!

INITIATORS:

BREACH: pulse has no problems with breach, but doesn't really go out of her way to hang out with him. his upbringing as a criminal and hers as a rich-kid-turned-spy make it hard for them to connect on many fronts. however, he has no qualms with her since she comes to his open mic nights to get drunk on singapore slings and laugh at his jokes even when they're lowkey not that funny...

TEJO: pulse isn't tejo's biggest fan, as he implies that he was aware of her father's illegal radianite dealings and had divulged information about it to certain employers in the past. though he assures her that that's all behind him, she can't help but think of him as a shady guy since her father's business affected her life so directly. for the most part, she respects his job as an information broker and acknowledges that he just takes jobs as a means to an end... but she can't help but be a little wary of him. he thinks she's a sweet girl with impressive powers, and finds her poorly veiled dislike of him amusing.

SOVA: pulse respects sova as her senior, and simply for the fact that he's very kind. sova appreciates his junior's sprightly, go-getter attitude, but tends to worry about how facetiously she approaches things, as well as her choice of dress, which... doesn't seem very warm, and is far from combat-ready, in his eyes. pulse is touched by his care, but would also rather die than let a man tell her what she should or shouldn't wear.

SKYE: pulse and skye are friends! admittedly, skye made a few assumptions about pulse given her prissy, girly-girl demeanor — but she's come to learn that there's more to her than meets the eye. her combat abilities and radiant powers are formidable, and while she may not be as outdoorsy and active as skye, she apparently runs a pilates class at HQ like the navy. pulse, meanwhile, thinks of skye as the tough girl type, and finds that very cool and charming! she also finds her animals quite cute.

KAY/O: pulse respects kay/o, but can't help but find him a little scary... she relies on both her and her allies' radiant powers to fight, so the idea of someone being able to completely disarm her like that is scary! especially since she's not great in a pure gunfight. so she tries not to piss him off. the feeling seems to be mutual — while kay/o acknowledges that pulse is a sweet girl, she was apparently quite he force to be reckoned with in his timeline. a one-woman army, he says! so he tries not to set her off, either.

GEKKO: gekko and pulse are good friends! gekko thinks she's nice and super cute to boot, while pulse thinks he's fun to be around and finds his little creatures adorable. she's especially fond of wingman, whom she notes has little head wings that match hers! due to her radiant powers granting her similar physiological properties to radivores, she jokes that her and his 'little homies' are basically family. gekko enjoys spending time with her, even if he jokes that she only hangs around for his radivores. he actually finds it really cute when she babies them and insists on dressing wingman up in little outfits.

FADE: pulse and fade don't have the best relationship. it seems that fade's visions have given her an inkling that pulse's old mentor may be connected to the person she is searching for, but pulse apologetically refuses to share very much information under the claim that the old man has sworn her to secrecy. this frustrates fade to no end, as she feels that the answers she seeks are so close, yet still out of her grasp. she dislikes pulse because of this, disdainfully referring to her as 'bloodsucker'. however, she tries not to be openly hostile in order to keep the peace. conversely, pulse herself has no problem with fade. she respects her for her control over her radiance and thinks that her prowlers are so cute!

SENTINELS:

CHAMBER: pulse and chamber can be best described as frenemies. they seem to get along due to their shared interest in fashion and culture, and enjoy discussions of ballet and dance, but don't really connect outside of that. she finds his fruitless pining over viper to be more than a little pathetic, and doesn't hesitate to let him know that. it's kinda petty, but she's also a bit wary of the guy purely because neon doesn't like him, and the enemy of her bestie can't truly be her friend by proxy... sorry, chamber! her southeast asian sister comes first.

VYSE: vyse is pulse's mother mentor, as well as the one who recruited her into the valorant protocol in the first place. due to pulse's radiant powers linking her to the interverse, vyse has decided that she is her responsibility and has subsequently taken her on as a student. despite her abrasive personality, vyse seems to genuinely care for and empathize with pulse, as both were former test subjects of the scions of hourglass. pulse, in turn, thinks that vyse is actually quite nice once you get to know her and doesn't know why everyone seems to think she is so mean and scary! the two also have a shared interest in fashion, which they discuss often, even designing outfits together. despite having the power to mimic anybody, it's likely due to vyse's influence/mentorship that her combat style leans more towards sentinel. let's lock down site with mama ♡

SAGE: pulse likes and respects sage a lot, but has just a tiny bit of a one-sided rivalry towards her — which is really more like pulse comparing herself to sage, who seems so perfect, and then being upset about it... and then getting more upset because sage is so kind and good and doesn't deserve to be the subject of her jealousy. this is made even worse by the fact that everyone on the protocol seems to go to sage with their problems, and pulse can't exactly talk to her about the inferiority complex she seems to have towards her. sage, meanwhile, is oblivious to this. she quite likes pulse, and is delighted to have another member of the protocol that she can speak to in her native tongue. pulse, sage, and iso often go out for hot pot together.

KILLJOY: pulse and killjoy are friends! they tend to hang out more in group settings than they do one-on-one — mostly with clove, since they’re a close mutual friend to them both. there is some playful ribbing when it comes to killjoy's fashion sense, as pulse is really not a fan of that bright yellow jacket, but it's all in good fun! pulse also finds the relationship between raze and killjoy really cute — nanobomb and lilacblood have definitely gone on double dates before. she just loves love!

DEADLOCK: pulse likes deadlock and thinks she's really tough and cool! they're more acquaintances than friends, but pulse ends up spending a good amount of time with her in group settings since she's close to iso and clove, who are friends with her. deadlock respects pulse for her combat abilities and her upbringing as a spy in the scions, which she admits she never would have expected given pulse's... vibrant personality. she doesn't dislike pulse, of course! she just... can't spend extended amounts of time with her without feeling a little drained.

CYPHER: pulse simply likes and respects cypher for his capabilities, and doesn't seem to worry about him snooping around for her info the way some of the other agents do. her past as a spy for the scions is kind of open information when she joins the protocol, so she doesn't really have much left to hide. cypher thinks she's a sweet girl, but is a bit wary of her mimicry abilities — the idea that she could see what she looks like under his mask with just a drop of his blood gives him the heebie-jeebies. at least until she assured him, "don't worry, i'm not gonna try to use my powers to see your face and stuff! unless you're, like, super hot. are you hot?" he thinks she's funny for that, so his fears are mostly quelled.

#i realize this looks super different from the original template um... i just like making stuff pulsecore to match my blog layout LOL #valorant #valorant oc #oc: pulse #oc x canon

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