Calm, gentle winds blew over his face as Zer0 shut his eyes and let out a light sigh. Receiving a squeeze from the fingers entwined with his own, he glanced beside him and saw Athena with the same expression on her face: completely peaceful and relaxed, something he rarely saw. Her legs were pulled up to her chest and held in place by her right arm, chin laying on her knees. She stared blankly out at the hills, eyes glazed over and quietly humming a fabricated tune.
"Something wrong?" Zer0 returned the squeeze with his own, tightening his fingers on her hand.
"Hmm?" She turned her head to face him. "Oh, uh. No. Nothing's wrong."
"Positive?"
"Just thinking about some things." She shrugged and looked around. "I'm actually kinda surprised that there's no stalkers around here."
Looking around, he found no sign of stalker nests in the rolling green flats of the Highlands. Save for the occasional coo of the threshers by the dam, the area was completely bare. Exempt of life except for them.
"They build in cliff sides."
"Why?"
"Easier to expand them. Flat land wouldn't work."
Athena nodded, considering and agreeing with it. Slowly, she began to rub circles against his thumb with her own. "And threshers are plants, so it would make sense that they live near a source of water."
"Wait, threshers are plants?" He cocked his head to the side.
"Were you not aware of that?"
Zer0 shook his head. "I assumed they were large worms."
"If they're worms, then explain to me why a few have tentacles and some can suck you into them like Hyperion Singularity grenades," she deadpanned.
"You... have a fair point."
"I also know because Hammerlock mentioned they were a type of plant on Elpis." She cleared her throat. "When I was employed by Jack."
"Were they just as annoying?"
"Even more so." She chuckled lowly. "I remember that Timothy kept being sucked into the methane pools while we tried to pick up the little ones. Didn't know at the time we had to freeze them until Hammerlock pointed it out." She lifted her free hand up and brushed a few loose strands of hair out of her face. "The parent threshers were very protective of their young."
"Some things never change," he mused.
"Yeah." Athena nodded. "Yeah, you could say that."
Averting his eyes from the her, Zer0 glanced at the flats. Elpis was just barely showing through the daylight, a dim gray sphere in the distance. The gentle breeze had stopped, and with it returned the near overbearing heat of the Highlands. It didn't help that the region was located next to the Dust, a vastly large mountainous desert that could reach extreme temperatures during the planet's hottest season. However, somewhere in the air, he felt that thick blanket of humidity.
"It will rain tonight," he blurted out.
"You sure about that?" Athena asked rather skeptically.
She was correct to be skeptical, as even he was rather doubtful on whether or not his weather prediction would be correct. Looking up into the sky, he saw a few wisps of light gray clouds approaching over the horizon, soon to form into large thunder clouds that would drench the Highlands in rain.
"It will be a thunderstorm."
From his peripheral vision, he could see Athena cock her head to the side.
"How can you tell?"
Zer0 breathed in deeply, taking in a warm breath of air. "The humidity."
Turning back to face her, he noticed that she had a face of confusion. Her eyebrows furrowed, jaw set tightly as if she had been angered by someone or thing, and her eyes were glazed over, an indication that she was in thought. Leaning down, he softly pecked her cheek, stirring her from her thoughts as she lifted her free hand up and placed it over the spot.
"Just trust me on this/ It might rain, it might not rain/ I could just be wrong," he assured her. "We can't know right now/ Not until night has fallen/ Don't worry of it."
Athena inhaled deeply, turning to face him and nodded. "If you're sure about it, Zer0."
"I'm not," he stated bluntly.
"That's… that's very reassuring."
Zer0 smiled and winked at her. "I do try."
She rolled her eyes, but a small smile adorned her face. "Be quiet."
"As you wish."
A comforting silence covered them as their conversation halted. Still smiling, he unentwined their hands and slung his arm over her shoulder, attempting to pull her closer as he did so. Athena, not resisting, slid over towards him. Slouching slightly to allow her to rest her head on his shoulder, he leaned over and kissed the top of her head.
"You know," she began, looking up at him. "We should come out here more often."
"We come here daily."
She shook her head. "No, no. I mean, we should come here like how we are now. Just relaxing, no enemies to kill, no blood covering us, no distractions."
"You know, you're a distraction," he whispered slyly.
"Shut up."
"Just stating the facts." He smiled.
"Okay, but I'm serious." Athena rolled her eyes. "We should do this more often. No distractions, no people trying to kill us. Just us and the Highlands."
"Just... us," he repeated slowly.
"Yeah. Just us. No one e-"
"Athena, darling!" Someone interrupted.
Instincts took over as he slid his arm off Athena's shoulders and quickly picked up his mask to the side of him, slipping it over his head and pushing the clasps back in place. Athena reflexively turned around, towards where she had been called.
Turning around, he noticed a lone figure, standing significantly taller than Athena but slightly shorter than himself, approaching them. Arms swinging at its sides, posture straight, and an undefined purpose in each footstep. A person full of confidence and brass if he ever saw one. A royal blue fur coat that was unzipped to reveal the white shirt underneath was almost instantly recognizable.
"Athena!" It called out again.
She perked up at the sound of the voice being called again. "That's Aurelia." She lifted her hand up in acknowledgement. "Aurelia!"
Aurelia turned towards them, having previously faced nearly the opposite direction of where they sat. Upon noticing them, she smirked.
"Ah, darling," she greeted as she quickly walked over. "I've been looking for you."
"I've been here almost all day."
"And you had no reason to tell me?" Aurelia asked, feigning hurt in her voice.
Athena's eyes narrowed slightly. "You had no reason to know."
"Touché." Aurelia faced him, seeming to have just noticed his presence. "And, hello..." She paused, bringing a hand to her chin in thought. "Zer... 0?"
"Hello," he greeted curtly, slightly irked at the lack of knowledge about his simple name.
"And how are you two this fine day?"
She turned away from them, hands clasping behind her back as she faced the direction opposite of them, staring out into the distance.
"Do you really care?" Athena leaned forward, almost intimidatingly. "Or are you just bored?"
"Oh, darling. How dare you accuse me such egregious boredom!" Aurelia scoffed. "Athena, I'll have you know that I have been bored once in my life."
"You took a vacation and met Handsome Jack because of it." Athena's eyes narrowed. "I'll ask more succinct this time. What are you doing here?"
Aurelia paused and took a deep breath, turning to face him and Athena.
"Just straight to the point, I suppose." She sighed. "You're no fun anymore, darling." She cleared her throat and smiled. "Have you heard any of the wondrous gossip over the ECHOnet as of recent?"
"You know I haven't."
"Ah, so you have no knowledge of the space station I built over Pandora?"
"You did what now?" Athena asked.
Aurelia ignored her question with the wave of her hand. "A lovely restaurant if I say. Complete with the galaxies best cooks, servants, and free labor."
"Why did you build it?" He asked curiously.
"The executives on the Helios Space Station would pay anything to get something more delicate than lunch meat and water." Her eyes twinkled mischievously. "But alas! Who would deliver to them other than me? So I committed myself to this project and delivered."
"It doesn't seem like you will receive as much as you gave," Athena pointed out skeptically, crossing her arms over her chestplate. "It must have cost a fortune to build the station."
"Pocket change."
Athena sighed. "I forget sometimes that you're ridiculously rich."
"Why are you telling us this?" He asked.
"And this is where you two come in!" Aurelia laughed. "I want you to be the first people in the station."
Athena snorted. "As what? Bodyguards?"
"I wish." Aurelia sighed. "But not for this."
"Well… what do you need us for then?"
"Darling, I want you two to experience a date."
Immediately, Zer0's eyes widened and his breathing hitched. Athena seemed to be just as shocked as he, her mouth slightly agape and her eyes wide. She lifted a hand and scratched the back of her neck, turning her eyes to the ground as she struggled to find words.
"I'm sorry, but what?" He blurted out.
"You heard me. I want you two to experience a date on the elegant restaurant I had built," Aurelia responded.
"W-Why?" Athena stuttered.
"Darling, the others may not notice it, but I do." She pointed at the two of them with her index and middle finger before crossing them. "How they don't know constantly surprises me. You don't really try to hide it."
Athena's face reddened and suddenly he found heat prickling at the back of his neck and cheeks. They truly hadn't been trying to hide their relationship, but the obliviousness of the other Vault Hunters and citizens of Sanctuary had kept them out of the loop. The only other person who might have known about it was Moxxi; though this was quite obvious as she nearly knew about everything involving someone's personal life.
"How did you find out?" Athena managed to say without a stutter in her voice.
"As I said, you don't try to hide it," Aurelia pointed out slyly. "You hold hands, I've seen you kiss, and you're both fairly protective of one another." She looked directly at him. "And yes, I do know what you look like under your silly mask." She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. "Why, while I was coming to find you, I had assumed you two had ran off to have copious amounts of sex."
He choked on his spit as he heard this and wrapped a hand around his neck, coughing. Looking at Athena from his peripheral vision, he saw that she had pulled her scarf over her head and was tugging the edges of it, trying to cover her scarlet red face. Her contrasting blue eyes were wide and her lips were pursed together.
"Now, now. Don't be embarrassed by my words. Be glad that I didn't catch you in the act." Aurelia smirked slyly, arms crossing over her chest.
"Aurelia, please," Athena whispered. "Shut up about that."
"C'est la vie, I'll be quiet now," She paused and stared devilishly at her. "As long as you will be in bed."
"Aurelia, please," Athena begged. "Please just shut up."
Aurelia held up her hands in a forfeiting manner, but still retained the irritating devilish smirk on her face. Her icy blue eyes glared mischievously at the both of them, seeming to feel accomplished over the effect of her words. She cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest once more.
"Now. Would you like to go on a… date? Do you call them 'dates'? On the restaurant space station I built?" Aurelia asked.
"Why us? Why not bring someone else up there?" Athena lowered her hands from her still red face.
"Darling that is for me to withhold and for you to never find out."
There was a tense moment of silence as they considered. Athena looked up at him, questioning his decision through her eyes. His answer was a simple shrug, not really caring if they did go or not. She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her right hand. Brushing some of her hair out of her face, she looked back up at Aurelia.
"I… I suppose we wouldn't mind… if we went," Athena concluded, nodding while she did so.
"Excellent!" Aurelia quickly strolled past them, going back the way she came. "Meet me here in a few hours for your ride!"
Athena turned around. "Wait! What ride?!"
"Darling it is on a space station! Did you forget?" Aurelia called behind her.
She turned back around and began to awkwardly rub the back of her neck. Zer0, feeling bad for her, wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her towards him. She rested her head against his chest and inhaled deeply. Exhaling slowly, she looked up towards him and began to fiddle with the clasps of his mask.
"Why do I feel like I made a mistake?" She whispered to him.
He shook his head. "You didn't make one/ Everything will go smoothly/ We'll go on this… date."
"Do you even know what a 'date' is?" Athena asked.
"Nope."
"Well, this evening will go wonderfully then."
Author's Note: This is why I haven't updated "Owl" in the past four weeks or so. I don't usually work on two stories at once (and when I do, the other story that I work on is a one-shot), but I decided to make an exception after somewhat discussing this, rather vaguely, with CGAdam. I just wanted to try my hand at this and I'm honestly having a lot of fun doing it. So, "Owl" won't be updated at all (and if it is, it'll just be a surprise) while I work on this for the next few weeks. But, hey, it's another Zer0/Athena story, so I'm happy to work on it. Beta-read by Foryewhoartliterate. Thanks for reading.