Author note: This is an extremely late birthday present for my amazing friend CovenantGirlLoki, you should go check her stuff out. It's better than mine. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY :D
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story. Any Loser characters belong to their rightful owner.
Day One
The first time he had met her, Cougar had been captivated, enchanted by her whole being. The team was in Spain, waiting for a contact to give them the information they needed for their new job but he was delayed by a week because of apparent 'travel issues' or so Clay had said. The team was now taking a week's holiday in the colourful country, in Barcelona to be exact. Clay was busy as usual, planning their upcoming mission as much as possible and doing God knows what else. Aisha had disappeared the moment Clay had told them that they had a week off and so it left Cougar and Jensen together. Of course the hacker had suggested that they go out for a drink, "Come on! It's Spain!" Jensen had said very loudly.
So, Cougar had consented in his own way, no words, he just followed Jensen to whatever club or bar he had wanted to go to. There wasn't much else to do anyway. The bar Jensen had chosen was clean, smelt strongly of alcohol and wasn't too crowded but wasn't too empty either. There was a small group of people in the right corner, talking loudly and happily to one another and it was clear from their accents that they were not from Spain. The sniper had been sussing out who they were exactly when he made eye contact with one in particular, and he found that he could not look away. The young woman blinked shyly at him and looked away as her friend beside her giggled and nudged her.
Cougar had to tear his attention away from her, and was almost thankful when Jensen placed down his beer in front of him, "And who is that?" the hacker asked, sitting on the bar stool beside Cougar and looking pointedly at the group, "I'm pretty sure she's interested buddy." Jensen grinned and nudged Cougar as he took as swig of his alcohol. Cougar said nothing though, and took a drink himself, taking a sudden interest in the bottles of alcohol lined up behind the bar.
Jensen let out a sigh from beside Cougar before he put down his bottled and stood up, "Don't be so melancholy and come speak to the pretty lady," he urged, literally dragging the sniper off the chair and over to the table. Instantly the chatter turned to a hushed whisper from the table of five females, who all looked like they were here for perhaps a school gap year. Cougar did his best to pay equal attention to all of them, but his gaze was drawn to one in particular. She was looking at Jensen, who was talking about something but he wasn't paying attention. She had long dark hair and brown eyes that held a spark of something hidden beneath them. Her skin was a lovely mocha colour, 'Mocha? Really, what the hell are you thinking?' Cougar scolded himself internally.
"Yo, Cougs," Jensen's voice cut into his weird train of thoughts and he looked at the blonde beside him, "This is Marissa," he said, pointing to the one who had captivated him, "and Skye, Paige, Samantha and last of all, Courtney." Jensen pointed to each girl as he said their name, Skye gave a slight wave, regarding Cougar with almost suspicion and he wondered why for a moment. Paige, Samantha and Courtney were a lot friendlier, and each said 'hello' to him brightly.
"Do you ladies mind if we join you?" Jensen asked, scooting in next to Courtney, who was on one side of the booth with Samantha and Paige. Skye in turn moved over so she was sitting at the head of the table, allowing Marissa to make room for Cougar. He stood there for a moment before he gave a defeated sigh and settled down. The chatter started up again immediately, Cougar listening to Jensen talk about this or that while the girls laughed or spoke themselves. He kept on glancing to the woman beside him; he liked what she was wearing. It was a strapless dress, a blue-green colour with parts more blue, and others greener. It looked kind of like those pictures of space you sometimes see. Her hair was done up in a bun of sorts, with a pin through it that had what looked like a wolves head on the top.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer," came the voice of the one named Skye, who was glaring quite pointedly at him. At that point, Cougar decided that he did not like the short haired girl at all.
"Skye! Be nice," Marissa said, gently (kind of) slapping her on the arm before she turned to look at him, "I'm sorry. She's just… Not very fond of strangers," she said, smiling apologetically at him as she ignored the mumbles coming from her friend, "She means well, most of the time."
Cougar looked at Marissa for a moment before he let out a sigh, "Que está bien," he mumbled softly, taking a swig of his drink before he stood up quite abruptly and looked at Jensen, "I'll meet you back at the hotel." With that, he began to walk out.
Jensen stood up as well, "Cougar wait! Dude!" he called, nearly tripping over as he slunk out of the booth and turned to the young women, "Sorry ladies, he just has an issue with his manners!" Jensen said, speaking louder so Cougar could hear him.
"Te voy a mostrar un problema con los modales que aburridos mente…" Cougar began to mumble when he felt a hand gently hold his arm. The sniper stopped his mumbling and turned to see Marissa at his side. She certainly was shorter than he thought, and the way she was smiling up at him made his anger seem to disappear.
"Estoy realmente siento. Disfruta el resto de tu noche," she told him in perfect Spanish. It caught him off guard for a moment, but only for a moment. Cougar dipped his hat to her and felt her hand slip from his arm before he walked out of the bar, Jensen following after him, the spot where her hand had been cold yet still tingling with her warmth.