As always thanks to my lovely Beta Qrow and everyone who reviews and reads this story.
I quietly never imagined it would be this loved.
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Enjoy the fluffy chapter!
DROH
Entry Log 107 - 00:21:52
The feed flicks on with a scene of the busy part of town near the base of the Tower. It's focused on Cayde as the hunter weaves through people towards a destination, from his pace, it's clear he's in a hurry. Blink stepping past a roadblock of people he rounds a corner, cloak fluttering behind him. Finally, his destination seems to appear as the ramen shop he frequents is in front of him. He ducks his head, using an arm to pull back the hanging cloth that serves as the door, his breath coming out just a bit harder than normal.
The lunch rush is just barely over, given the time on the clock, yet the place is still pretty busy. As he passes the bar, he finds his goal and strides towards it. The camera pans to a table near the back corner, the bright hair of Skylar dominating the gray and dark blue decor of the restaurant. She's looking through a data pad, her other hand around one of two drinks on the table as Cayde saunters up to her. Her eyes slowly move from the words on the blue screen to him as she raises a brow. The Exo gives her an apologetic half smile and bends down to place a kiss on her temple which she leans into, color scattering on her cheeks. He just chuckles and sits down in the chair across from her.
"Sorry about being late. Some last minute hunters came in with reports," he explains, hoping it's enough. Skyler just hums, eyes back on her reading material, but her free hand moves from her own drink to push the untouched one toward him. He looks relieved and picks it up, downing a few gulps to help with his huffing. "Thanks Sky."
"It's not a problem. I kind of figured something came up." She finally lowers the data pad completely, setting it off to the side and then rests her chin on one hand. "I knew the risks of dating a Vanguard leader and I'm not going to get my pants in a twist like Zavala." She smirks at him, stretching the white scar on her bottom lip. "Hunters are just simply... fashionably late."
"I knew there was a reason I liked you," Cayde muses and she snorts.
"Really? Just one?" She takes a sip of her drink and sets the glass back down, giving the Exo the chance to grab at her hand with his. The worn leather of his glove rubs over the back of her bare hand, his eyes briefly catching the falcon feather decorating her arm guard. It's becoming her trademark look and it's a wonder if it's not to honor Tevis just like the stripes on the metal plating of her armor. He catches her eyes in his after that and returned her smile.
"Well, maybe more than one." They're caught up in each other's eyes for a few seconds, minds elsewhere and Sundance takes the opportunity to float over to the window near them and focus the camera in on them. A waiter appears a few moments later and the two hunters break away, realizing they should order food.
Once the waiter is gone again, Cayde gives a small chuckle and leans into the back of his chair. "Well..." he clears his throat and Skylar just smiles and tilts her head. "Banshee said he had some new stock in if you're interested after we eat?" he offers up. It's easy to see Skylar finds it amusing and maybe even a bit relieving to see him fumble. It's only been a month since the Dawning and half of that was spent apart. Still, they were close before, not much has changed besides opening up slowly about how they feel.
"Sounds like a plan," she murmured, eyes darting to the data pad she'd been reading. Cayde catches the small frown that flickers over her face and takes a sip of his drink.
"Everything alright?"
She shakes her head as if to clear it. "Yeah… just some new information Winter uncovered during her last mission. The Hive have been pretty inactive lately but recently it seems like they've been… disappearing." She taps her fingers on the table. "Winter went down into the moon and found one of their nests completely vacated." Her brows pull together and Cayde nods slightly, taking in the information.
Anything to do with Hive set Skylar on edge and he knows that. Even after months of time what happened to her is still clawing at her mind, memories that refuse to be buried. Even now the redhead is staring off into space, not seeing the data pad or the table and her fingers even stop moving. Two minutes tick by and the Exo frowns and reaches for her hand again.
"Sky?" His voice breaks her stare and she flinches, blinking rapidly and looking at him confused for a moment before regaining herself.
"Sorry," she mutters closing her eyes and sighing. Cayde grips her hand tighter, Ikora had warned him about it, about what some Guardians seem to experience after such trama.
"It's alright," he answers and she nods her head, a tired look passing over her features for a moment. Not uncommon among hunters but Cayde still seems worried though he says nothing. "I'm sure the buggers are just trying to regroup still from the loss of their prince. Nothing to worry about."
"You're probably right."
"Course I am."
That gets the smile he's looking for. She squeezes his hand for a moment before pulling away to take a sip of her drink. "We should go dancing again some time," she offers, changing the subject and Cayde raises a brow plate. She fiddles with a stray lock of hair. "I had fun before..." She wants to do something that isn't something a guardian does and Cayde gets that, nodding his head and smiling.
"We did tear up the floor last time, didn't we?" he agrees and the waiter appears again, setting two steaming bowls of ramen in front of them. The Exo leans forward and takes in a breath. "Yum! This is perfect, everything I could want in one place." Picking up chopsticks he points them at Skylar who is fiddling with her own, and trying to get them to work right. She's smiling all the same and he knows she's doing alright. Not great, not even good, but alright and that's a hell of a lot better than it use to be.
"Cheers," she states and taps her sticks against his before digging in. Cayde just chuckles and does the same, resting his free hand on the table, close to her own in case she ever needs it.
There's a part of me that really wants to write them dancing...
Anyway, please let me know what you think!
