Angela stretched her arms back, sighing at the satisfying pop her joints let out as she extended them. She'd spent most of the day cooped up in the medical bay, and while there were more people in the way of company after she called in the odd favour, it was still a fairly lonely place to be.
She was absently aware that she was supposed to have taken her lunch break nearly an hour ago, but the bar of chocolate she'd brought with her sufficed enough for now. After all, she could eat later when she'd finished working, and being the chief medical officer, it wasn't as if anyone could lecture her over the situation.
She popped the last square of chocolate into her mouth, and went to finish her coffee only…she already had done? She certainly didn't remember finishing it, but she'd been reading reports for the last hour and been absentmindedly sipping from her mug. She must've finished it at some point and not noticed, and while she could easily forgo food, she certainly wouldn't forgo coffee.
She was about to leave the room with her disappointedly empty mug when the door opened and Fareeha walked in. She wracked her brain; she didn't have a check-up today, and she certainly seemed fine, even if she did look as though she was shaking.
"Fareeha, can I help you with anything?" Angela asked, resting her hip on her desk.
"No…yes…maybe…" Fareeha averted her gaze, and took deep, calming breaths before she attempted to speak again. "I was just wondering when you finished work later?"
Now this was strange. Fareeha was normally fairly confident, and while she wasn't a total nervous wreck, something was clearly sparking some form of worry within her. Angela was determined to get to the bottom of it and played along. "6:30. Why?"
Again, deep breaths before Fareeha spoke. She closed her eyes and brushed a hand through her hair. "No reason…I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out later? Go to see a movie or have dinner or both or something?"
Angela certainly wasn't expecting that. If it wasn't for the fact she was already leaning against her desk, she would've been floored by the question. "Like a date?" She said, her heart soaring when she saw Fareeha's slight nod and hope fill her eyes. "Of course, I'd love to."
Relief flooded the other woman's face. "Great! I'll meet you outside your room at 7:30?"
Angela hardly had time to tell her that was fine before she was giving her thanks and making a quick exit from the medbay, she herself leaving after her to refill her coffee with a stupidly happy grin plastered onto her face.
From then, Angela couldn't wait for her shift to finish. She'd planned on pulling some overtime, even if she wasn't really getting paid for her work -Overwatch was still illegal, after all- but after her encounter with a certain Egyptian, she found herself clockwatching.
4 hours until the end of her shift, 5 until the date. 3 hours until the end of her shift, 2 hours until the date. Time to finish work, one hour until the date.
She'd never ran back to her room so fast in her life, wasting no time preparing herself for her dinner and/or movie, barely managing to remove her uniform before she dove into the shower.
Once she had finished and brushed her teeth, she set to picking out clothes to wear, suddenly becoming all too aware of the fact she wasn't sure whether she was supposed to wear something formal or casual. In any event, she had the grand total of one outfit for the former situation and three for the latter situation that weren't sat in her rapidly growing laundry pile, so she wasn't exactly spoilt for choice.
After much deliberation (and inspection of available underwear), she settled for the form fitting black dress. She couldn't see any other situation where she would be wearing it for the foreseeable future, and as long as she didn't go overboard with accessories and makeup, it'd look the perfect mix of casual and formal.
She was about to put her contact lenses in when there was a knock at her door, signalling her suitors arrival.
As much as she wanted to dart over to the door, she knew that appearing too eager would almost certainly put Fareeha off, so she took a few seconds to contain her excitement (and grab her glasses, deciding her contact lenses would take too much effort to put in now) before going to meet her.
When she opened the door, her jaw dropped.
Fareeha stood there in a plain shirt, black jeans and combat boots, the whole outfit appearing smart but casual, just like Angela's. She also looked drop-dead gorgeous and the swiss woman couldn't believe that she was about to go out with this woman!
The Egyptian didn't seem to be fairing much better, a hint of red creeping on to her cheeks as she took in the sight before her.
"Um…hi." Fareeha broke the stunned silence. "You look…amazing!"
Angela was certain that the room had heated up exponentially. "Thank you, Fareeha. You don't look too bad yourself."
"Thanks." Fareeha smiled her gorgeous smile as she rested one shoulder against the doorframe, clearly finding her confidence. "So, they're reshowing some old movies at Leisure Cinemas and I thought you might like to see something and then get food after?"
The plan sounded great, and Angela was about to agree when her stomach decided to chime in instead, making a startlingly loud growling noise at the mention of food. It was at that moment she realised that a single chocolate bar was not sufficient food for a day and she couldn't bear the thought of sitting through a two-hour long movie with hunger pains, even if she did grab the largest bucket of popcorn on sale.
"That sounds nice, although can we get food first?"
Fareeha chuckled and nodded. "Sure. Anywhere in particular?
Angela thought for a second, then remembered a nice wine bar she liked to frequent whenever she was over at the Watchpoint back when Overwatch was still a legal organisation, rather than one trying to function without alerting the authorities.
Yes, that would do quite nicely.
The wine bar was as nice as Angela remembered. The décor looked like something from the 90's, mixed with the odd modern touch. The smells were the same and the selection of food and wine seemed better than ever.
Of course, the better-looking menu didn't mean she'd order any different than how she used to. The spaghetti and meatballs served here were so much better than anywhere else, even the dishes she'd had while she was stationed in Italy didn't come close to the meal this particular establishment prepared.
Fareeha, for her meal, had opted for the vegetarian burger, which was funny because as far as Angela was aware Fareeha wasn't a vegetarian. Her only dietary requirement she had listed on her medical record was that she didn't eat pork. It was only when she started chuckling and told Angela to read the description did she understand why she ordered it; It had swiss cheese in it and Fareeha thought she was being funny. The glare Angela gave her was short-lived before she herself laughed at the choice.
While they waited for their meals to arrive, they talked about Overwatch and their lives leading up to now. At one point, they accidently got onto the subjects of exes, but instead of it ruining the mood, they dissolved into giggles when Fareeha admitted she was jealous of Genji at first because she thought he'd walked into the Watchpoint a month ago and immediately swept Angela off her feet again. She didn't realise that Angela gave him swiss chocolates for Valentine's Day because it was his birthday the following weekend and that is his absolute favourite food stuff.
They'd moved onto the subject of favourite sports (it turned out Fareeha was as knowledgeable on basketball as Angela was on football) when their food had arrived. One thing Angela could always commend this place over was that whenever they put up their prices, they either kept the portion size the same or increased it. In this case, it was the latter as she was presented with the single largest plate of spaghetti and meatballs that she had ever seen in her 37 years of life.
Fareeha's plate wasn't quite as filled as hers, but the burger in the middle of it was still large enough that when she picked it up and tried to take a bite out of it, she ended up having to remove some of the garnish in order to actually fit it in her mouth.
Angela would've laughed if she wasn't so preoccupied with all but vacuuming up her own food, the plate being almost completely cleaned by the time Fareeha had finished half of her burger.
"Wow, Angela. You really were hungry." She said between bites. Angela felt her face flushing with embarrassment, silently berating herself for demolishing the plate so quickly. She was going to apologise when Fareeha spoke up again. "You are the single most awesome woman I have ever been on a date with.".
She blushed from the compliment. It wasn't often she found someone who thought her ability to make food disappear in two minutes flat was endearing. In fact, her previous partner hated it so much that she refused to go out to dinner with her. It was refreshing to have someone who felt the opposite over it.
Fareeha offered her some of the chips she had left on her plate, but Angela refused, citing that she was too full to eat anymore. Really, she still felt hungry, but she knew from experience that that was purely down to the fact she'd eaten so quickly, and that attempting to eat any more in this present moment would lead to her feeling full, lethargic and possibly ill if she overdid it. Still, that didn't stop her from eyeballing the dessert menu and fantasising about all the dishes that she could possibly have.
"So you are still hungry." Fareeha smirked as she wiped her mouth with her napkin.
Angela feigned offence at those words; how dare she insinuate something that was entirely true. "Maybe I am, but if I eat anymore I'll fall asleep during the movie."
"Well I guess I'll just have to carry you back to base afterwards then, won't I?" Fareeha said without missing a beat, her eyes widening for a second before she averted her gaze. Clearly, she hadn't realised what she was going to say until she said it. "I mean it's entirely up to you. I'll pay either way."
With that extra piece of information, Angela decided she definitely wasn't going to have dessert. Nice as the place was, it was still ridiculously expensive and besides, they were going to see a movie, and movies generally meant popcorn. More food, and also a part of the date Angela could pay for, seeing as Fareeha had already taken the executive decision to pay for this part.
The walk down to the cinema was relaxing. Rather than talk on the way down, they walked hand in hand in silence, simply enjoying each other's company as the moon lit the streets.
When they got there, there was only one movie still showing. Superhero movies never appealed to Angela. She'd attempted to watch them before seeing as everybody seemed to love them, but she often found herself doing something else before she was even halfway through the duration of it.
At least this one had a female lead.
After picking up the tickets and a reasonably sized bucket of popcorn, they made their way into the screen (true to her intentions, Angela had paid.). It was surprisingly full for an 11:30 showing to the point that trying to get to their seats required a lot of awkward stepping on people and repeated apologies.
They'd just managed to reach their seats when the previews began to play, showing a range of other superhero movies that interested Angela despite the fact she knew she wouldn't care for them if she attempted to watch them. She glanced over at Fareeha, and could almost see her making a mental note of everything that came up.
"Do these kind of movies appeal to you?" Angela asked, gracelessly shoving a fistful of popcorn into her mouth.
"They're my favourite genre. I used to have a huge collection when I was younger. I gave them to my cousin when I joined the military though." Fareeha recalled. "I don't know if she actually watched any of them though. She was very girly."
Angela nodded along. It was hard to imagine someone such as Fareeha having such an interest. Then again, she knew from experience that someone may have surprising interests; she still had flashbacks to the anime marathons she used to endure with Genji.
Once the movie started, Angela found herself engrossed. The plot, the action sequences, everything about it was so…brilliant, and not just because she'd somehow fallen head over heels for the heroin of the film. On top of that, said heroin was also bisexual, and seeing her sexuality represented in a movie 65 years old made her feel incredible.
Alas, as much as she was enjoying the film, she still ended up falling asleep from food induced fatigue at one point. She woke up when someone started shaking her and calling her name.
"Angela. Angela!" Fareeha whispered in a hushed tone. "Wake up! You're about to miss the best part!"
Angela groaned, but opened her eyes just in time to see Wonder Woman going up into No Man's Land. As the scene played out, Angela couldn't help but stare with fascination. The whole thing was incredibly empowering, and judging by the look of pure amazement on her face, Fareeha was enjoying the scene too.
The movie went all too quickly after that. Both Angela and Fareeha waited for more people to filter out first before they left, knowing they'd get easily separated otherwise.
Fareeha wrapped her arm around Angela's waist for the walk back to the Watchpoint. It'd take the better part of an hour, but it was better than calling Lena to come and pick them up. As much as Angela cared for the brit, she'd just had one of the most amazing nights of her life and didn't want to be ribbed about the date before it was even over.
The first part of the journey was filled with the two of them gushing about the movie. Fareeha admitted to having seen it multiple times before, to the point the only one she'd possibly watched more was Black Panther.
"That movie was amazing! I've never seen one so good!" Angela gushed, gesturing excitedly with her hands.
"Yes, Wonder Woman is quite…wonderful." Fareeha smirked, exhaling sharply thanks to the elbow now firmly planted in her side. "Oh come on, that was funny!"
The second part of it was mostly spent complimenting the scenery and each other, which meant that by the time they got back to the Watchpoint, they were both blushing and giggling like schoolgirls.
Everyone had already gone to bed, so there was no chance of anyone catching them. It wasn't that they didn't want people to know about their feelings for each other, it was just that Angela had been bitten before from announcing a relationship while it was still in the early stages, and didn't want a repeat now. That, and the fact that she didn't want a lecture from someone about how dating someone you go on missions with is going to lead to distraction and therefore is a recipe for disaster.
When they got to the door for Angela's room, they stood awkwardly for a moment, Fareeha shuffling on her feet while looking at the ground. "So…here we are. I had a really great night."
"Me too." Angela smiled, leaning against the door.
Fareeha smiled and looked up, brown eyes meeting blue. "Really? Want to do it again some time?"
It was that moment where Angela realised how goddamn adorable Fareeha was. The whole night, she'd been acting confident but the occasional slip showed that she was still nervous over the whole thing, the current slip being the biggest indication that Angela probably wasn't the only one feeling like a hopeless gay idiot.
Her feelings for the other woman overwhelmed her, and for a brief second the part of her brain responsible for making good judgement decided to shut down as the threw her arms around the taller woman's neck and pressed their lips together.
It felt wonderful and right, at least until Angela realised that she was the only person actively taking part.
She moved backwards and looked up at her date, who was staring wide eyed and stood stock still. She felt her face get warmer and warmer as she contemplated all the different ways out of the situation: run into her room, run down the corridor, jump out the window.
Before Angela could vacate the premises, Fareeha grabbed her and mashed her lips into hers, Angela sighing into her mouth as she eagerly returned the kiss, both of them only breaking apart when their lungs began to burn from the lack of oxygen.
"I'll take that as a yes." Fareeha said, breathlessly, still holding Angela close.
"Of course, I'll go on a date with you again." Angela giggled, the sound only being cut off by a yawn.
Fareeha let go of her and leaned against the wall with the biggest grin on her face. "Great, although I think someone needs their bed now, don't they?"
Angela sleepily agreed, unlocking the door to her room and making her way inside, bidding a final farewell to Fareeha.
That night, she fell asleep feeling more content that she had in years.