Rowsdower Air Force Base

Hangar Three

To Prez, working on the Tomcat was almost second nature by this point. After countless hours of hard labor refitting, repairing, and refurbishing every part of her aircraft, well, it was technically Monarch's but it was hers as well. From the tires to the wings; she barely even had to consult her manuals on the plane anymore. It was truly a one-of-a-kind aircraft, and one that she was very proud of.

Her soft-spoken pilot was, as usual, rather helpful as well. Not only did Monarch like to stop by every now and then to lend a hand with the work itself, but he'd often bring her bottles of water and snacks to munch on while she worked. It was something that she greatly appreciated, and it was nice to know that her partner in crime was looking out for her off of the battlefield as well as on it.

Today seemed like it wasn't any different, as the soft sound of footsteps without any form of greeting was the telltale sign that it was Monarch that was approaching. Sure enough, she turned around to see the big man himself, holding something in his arms. It was a bit hard to tell what it was behind all of the oil that had gotten smeared over her goggles, but it was obviously a small box of some kind.

"Heya Monarch, whatcha got there?" She asked. She lifted the goggles up into her hair, and saw him lift the lid of the box to reveal… "Oh! Chocolate!"

She climbed down from her ladder and, without really thinking and tore off her oil-covered gloves and began furiously wolfing them down. Apparently she'd gotten a bit lost in her work given she hadn't realized just how hungry she was. Thankfully Monarch was kind enough to awkwardly stand there as she ravenously devoured about half of the box with the work ethic of a starving piranha. When she was done, she let out a loud burp and rested her back against the Tomcat's hull.

"Whoo, thanks Monarch, I needed that." She said, "Say, where'd you find a bunch of fancy chocolate?"

Monarch may have had his helmet on, but she could imagine his staggeringly flustered expression as he answered. "I uh… ordered them from out of country… I thought you might like them."

Prez paused and thought for a moment, being flustered wasn't something she'd ever really seen from Monarch before, given his rather stalwart nature. But then, when she took into account what he had said… her eyes widened and she felt her face steadily grow warmer as the realization clicked for her.

"Oh." She said, suddenly finding it incredibly difficult to keep eye contact, well, visor contact. "I uh… thank you, they're very good."

For just a moment, she and Monarch stood and stared at each other like a pair of deer in headlights, as she cursed the fact that she'd never learned how to talk to guys.

Monarch broke the silence after what felt like eons. "You know, there's uh, something I've wanted to ask you for a little while now."

Prez felt a lump form in her throat as Monarch reached up and removed his flight helmet, allowing her to get a good look at his face, well, as good a look as she could get behind her oil-covered goggles, and confirm that, yes, he was blushing just as badly as she was.

"Do you… want to go on a date?" He asked with the slightest hint of a smile.

After waiting just a moment to confirm that, indeed, Monarch of all people had just asked her out on a date, she realized that he was waiting on her for an answer. That was far easier said than done however, as truth be told, she didn't actually know what to say.

A lump built up in her throat as she tried to force an answer out of her clogged airways. It wasn't like she didn't like Monarch or didn't want to say yes; she absolutely did. But Prez had never thought he might feel the same way and thus wasn't prepared to actually give an answer. Still she would be damned if she let this chance pass. So she took a deep breath and gave her answer.

"I… uh…" She stammered, wondering why talking to him was suddenly so difficult. She clenched her fists and was able to say: "Yes, that sounds amazing, let's do it."

Monarch was beaming, his whole body coming to life. Prez wished she could have seen it clearer but unfortunately her goggles were still covered in oil and muck. Thankfully he appeared to notice her predicament as he hastily offered her a cloth from her work bench. "Here, let me get that for you."

He raised his right hand to wipe her goggles, but she hardly even noticed that as he also placed his left hand on her shoulder to steady himself. She took a sharp breath, caught completely off-guard by his strong touch that felt somehow just a bit warmer now that their mutual feelings were out in the air.

When he'd finally managed to get most of the oil off of her goggles, she felt her face get even hotter as she got an unobstructed look at him. She felt more than a little disappointed when he took his hand off of her shoulder, but tried to ignore the feeling as best as she could.

"So… what did you have in mind for our date?" She asked. Now that she'd gotten past the hurdle of saying that she did want to go out with him she felt a lot more confident with her words. "Candlelit steak dinner?"

Monarch also seemed a lot more confident, as he managed to speak without any of the trepidation that had been present in his voice earlier. "That sounds lovely. I think Mic's still got a bottle of wine from the Salvemini Vineyards, I'm sure convincing her to part with it wouldn't be too difficult."

"Well, if anybody can convince her to part with her liquor, it's probably you." She said, well aware that Hitman-Three was very protective of anything she owned. "Got anything planned for tonight?"

Monarch shook his head. "Not unless we get sortied."

"Good." She said, leaning forward and pulling him into a hug.

A lot of her previous fantasies about Monarch had involved hugs, like, a lot of them. So now that she finally had her shot, she was absolutely going to take it. Monarch certainly wasn't complaining, even though she was covered head-to-toe in all sorts of industrial fluids. Having his arms around her was positively intoxicating, making her wonder why she'd not said anything sooner.

Nevertheless, she reveled in it, enjoying the warm, fuzzy feeling in her head for as long as she could. She was so distracted, in fact, that she didn't even hear the sound of footsteps approaching.

"Hey Monarch, Hey Pre-" Diplomat started to say before his brain processed what he was seeing.. "You know what, I'll come back later, you seem busy."

Both of them ignored him, barely even registering there had been an interruption, heck, it wasn't like he'd meant to cause any issues either.

When Prez finally felt like she was perhaps holding onto Monarch for a little bit longer than was appropriate, she reluctantly pulled away with a big, dumb grin on her face. "Thanks, I needed that."

"Anytime." Monarch looked down at his Uniform, chuckling as he realized he was covered with oil, soot, and grime. "We're both gonna need a shower."

"Worth it." Prez argued, a confident grin on her face as she looked her boyfriend over.

Monarch went from a chuckle to a full-on laugh. "Agreed."

Author's note: I've always imagined that Monarch as being a bit like one of those Legendary Wartime Canadians. You know the ones, like Francis Pegamagabow and Leo Major. Polite, collected, unflinchingly confident, and capable of absolutely unreasonable feats in war. I've got a few other headcanons, but you've already seen most of them.

Might do more? Not sure. This one was the last of my half-finished chapters. Got at least one idea for another mission for Hitman Team to go on that I kind of want to explore, that I think would be interesting.