Winter POV
"So why did you not run after him?" the general asks Clover who I feel for right now. It could've very easily been me getting a lashing had I been the one on Dominic Duty.
"He's very fast sir, and I felt confident that he wanted to apprehend the culprit over "escaping"," I can tell he hated using that word. Clover for his due was the picture perfect solider in this moment, "And as you said yourself sir he hates authority and most likely would have been more discouraged had I followed him rather than allowing him the freedom to act. I take full responsibility and will make sure to talk to him as well."
After a moment the general sighs, "Trust me I understand Clover. He's only 15 and a handful already, I didn't expect him to actually take the role that seriously and go after a purse snatcher."
"Teenagers are remarkably impressionable sir, he has no family, no friends his age. We secluded him and personally trained him after he lost everything memory included. In the time I've known him, he's demonstrated a sense of maturity, and doesn't let anyone get to close, but he has a strong sense of right and wrong. I worry about him, kinda like he's my little brother," the mans stern military facade falls and is replaced with a forlorn look. "It's been a month and I've barley scratched the surface with the kid, Harriet constantly flirting with him doesn't help with his guard."
"Tell me about it," the general sighs and I feel a strange urge to punch that horny rabbit. "It is a weird world we live in Clover, but I have faith that you can help Dominic reach his true potential. I wouldn't have placed him in your care otherwise."
"I'll do my best sir." Clover salutes and walks out of the office.
The general heaves a big sigh and leans back, "What am I going to do with that kid, how do you handle Weiss when shes like this?"
"Him and Weiss are vastly different, my sister though I love her. Is still a spoiled little brat who craves for Fathers affection and approval. Dominic is brash, and bold. He doesn't need affection or approval, weather that is a factor from his lost memory..."
"You still believe he has amnesia?" He interrupts looking at me slightly confused.
"He… Excuse me sir?" I blink at the general.
"He's been lying since day one, I saw it in his eyes. I didn't tell you about the incident right after he was brought to Infirm, he almost ripped my arm off and killed himself in the process." He rubs his metal shoulder and attempts to pop the socket. "But he referred to that bottle as "his medicine" not "my medicine".
"Lingering memories possibly? I don't think he's a lair sir. And if he is lying he probably has a good reason for it. He fell out of the sky into a tundra filled with Ursa's and worse. He's lucky to be alive."
"Looks like he has another one," the general rolls his eyes and I start to stammer.
"What are.. That's ridiculous…."
"Blah blah blah, well you'll be getting to spend plenty of time around him. You get to show him around Atlas tomorrow!" He finishes with a wide grin.
/
"Stupid bet," I mumble to myself as the only sound in the halls are my heels clacking. It's later, later than is should be, I had to catch up on paperwork and get slightly ahead in order to not fall behind. Knowing Dominic he's gonna run me ragged around Atlas and Mantle, can I blame him though?
"Burning the midnight oil princess?" I hear a voice behind me and turn to snap at them when something cold gets pressed against my forehead and I jump back yelping in surprise. My hand instinctively going to where my saber should be, but I haven't been issued a new one just yet. They insisted on making it more durable because of the man in front of me. "Whoa sorry I said anything," he takes a swig out of a bottle of iced coffee and offers me the other unopened one.
"Sorry I'm tired," I take the offered drink and we start slowly walking together. "It's past midnight what are you doing out?" I ask trying to get rid of the awkward tension.
"I don't sleep much," he waves at a passing night guard and addresses them by name. How often does he do this?
"Drinking this stuff so late won't help," I comment but take a sip myself.
"Doesn't really work on me," he shrugs and tosses his now empty bottle in a trash bin.
"Well do try to get some sleep," I advise.
"Hows your back?" he asks unexpectedly while ignoring my advice, I must have looked taken aback too because he follows with. "I noticed you icing it in Ironwoods office."
"Its doing fine," I fully expect him to tease me about the "incident" just like James.
"That's good," I glance over at his face to see him staring ahead obviously lost in thought. I take a minute longer to look, his slender jawline is set and his eyes are darker than normal. His eyes glance over and I turn my head away covering my staring with another sip of coffee. "So why're you here so late princess?"
"Paperwork, I'm Ironwoods personally assistant so in order to be your escort even for a few a day I had to pull extra hours." I explain still walking. Where are we going? I had stopped paying attention.
"Oh…. I'm sorry for that. I could just make him send the Ace Ops out on patrol again?" He offers with what I know is a sincere apology and I feel the corners of my mouth twitch a little.
"No it's quite alright, I don't mind some time out of the office so to speak, have you thought of anywhere you would like to visit?" I turn to look at him again and notice he has his full attention on me.
He looks away and his face softens, "Not really, other than going back and finding that kid a job like a paper boy or a food stall. Har suggested a bar but I'm only 15," he shrugs raising a hand and scratching the back of his head.
"You're still an adult now by law, so you can buy alcohol legally with your hunters license," he raises an eyebrow. "You're responsible for paying taxes now, which will come out of your weekly paycheck," his jaw drops and I feel myself smile. "And it bypasses age of consent so age is just a number to you now."
"Phfttt already was so nothing new there," I shoot him a serious-sh look which he doesn't see.
"What about Harriet then? I heard she's basically done everything but strip in front of you."
"Ew, no way to old. She's about to be like 32 or something, what're you 19, 20?" He asks then continues, "That's about my upper limit right there. For younger probably like 13," he shrugs and the conversation continues about more mundane matters before he leans against a wall. I blink and look around noticing we had reached the entrance to the Acadamey.
"I didn't even notice we were here."
"Been here like 5 minuets walking in a circle, time flies when you're having fun," he crosses his arms with that crooked grin of his. "So got anything else on your mind?" He asks and when I shake my head he laughs softly, "Then I've done my job, good night princess," he pushes away from the wall and walks away.
"About tomorrow?" I call to him and he stops not looking back. "Tomorrow at noon, is that okay?" Why did I ask like that?
"I'll see you then, get some sleep," he waves and starts walking again stopping only to greet the night time desk clerk. He asks about his kids and wife before disappearing back down the hall.
After a few more minutes of standing there confused, "Miss Schnee?" The old man at the desk addresses me and I snap back to reality.
"Yes?…." Fuck I don't know his name…. Or any of the other night guard names...
"Jameson, He'ron (HE-ron) Jameson," he smiles gently and I breath a sigh of relief that he wasn't insulted.
"That Dominic, he's something ain't he?" He gives a wheezy laugh, and I nod and give a small smile in reply. "He's here every night, 25 in a row now, say's he can't sleep and when I ask 'im why he just says he's got too much on his mind." He checks his scroll, "Huh should be time for his smoke break with 'Lissa." He offhand comments and I turn to leave and freeze before I press the button to open the door, why should I care?….
I quickly make a show of checking my pockets and spin on a heel and quickly heading back to hall, "It seems I forgot something…." I say to He'ron
"Third floor, east wing balcony," he responds not looking up from his scroll that was now turned to the news of the day. Good my face feels really hot right now.
/
I brace myself against the wall my to catch my breath after damn near sprinting through the halls to get here. Why did I rush here? So what he's meeting a soldier name 'Lissa in the middle of the night… He's an adult now I just said that to him. "Mhmmm Dom that feels great, keep going."
"Harder?" I hear a grunt and groan and my face gets hotter.
The door to the balcony stays open constantly unless the weather turns, so I peak around the edge of the door to see a female guard sitting in between his legs. His hands working on her shoulders, "Ahhhh this is blisssssss," she sighs out. So he already found a girlfriend among the soldiers….. At least he's adjusting. Why am I feeling disappointing?
"My man love my girls but damn are they a killer on the back," I look down and see how… Well endowed she is, wow.…. And they've gone that far already, he could've at least waited until he had his license.
"Tell him to do this more often then," Dominic laughs and I almost fall as the strength leaves my legs. I raise a hand to my mouth disgusted. He's more of a playboy than I imagined, manipulating this poor woman into cheating on her significant other.
"He works more than I do, I'd feel bad asking him to do this," she giggles and bounces up. She pulls something out of a pocket on her Uni and hands it to him. "Your payment good sir!"
"Well thank you madam," he makes a grand show on jumping down from the ledge to give an extravagant bow. He takes the offered item and opens the fresh pack of cigarettes, leaning against the railing again he lights one and slowly lets out the smoke. I think I've just misunderstood the whole situation and almost leave right then and there.
"So any more dreams you wanna talk about tonight?" She asks and I stay glued to my spot.
"Not in particular," he shrugs and takes another drag.
"Hmmmm, nervous about your date with the Iron Queen tomorrow?" she pokes his shoulder.
"It's not a date, now I regret telling you," he rolls his eyes but he's still smiling.
"It so is, she asked where you wanted to go and everything! Come one every one's seen the video, and you even said it's been awkward around her ever since you made her blast off in front of a live TV audience." My face could probably light a cigarette right now.
He chokes on the smoke and spends a minute coughing, he's usually so calm and collected. So he can get flustered too huh? I smile to myself. "I told you we don't talk about that!"
"You're so adorable Dommy," she gushes like an older sister and something in me relaxes more. "But I gotta get back to patrol, I want all the details tomorrow. I'm so proud of you, you've changed so much from that crying kid I gave a hug to." She ruffles his hair and he swats at her hand smiling widely.
"Yeah yeah, go on get before you get in trouble," he waves her off.
"Sir yes sir," she salutes and they both break down laughing before she walks away. Thankfully she left out of the other balcony door so my hiding spot was safe.
I keep watching him, he crosses his arms and his eyes lose focus. Going into an internal world again. He takes a few more puffs of his cigarette before flicking it over the edge and walking right towards where I'm standing. I start to panic and imagine the teasing I'll get from him and James if he finds me. God I wish I had her semblance right now.
I look around and wrap myself in a curtain right as he rounds the corner… Did he notice? He stopped walking he had to have noticed? "Nah ill get some sleep," he says to himself and I hear his boots as he walks away. I give it another minute or two before peaking out of the curtain to make sure he's really gone.
I sigh in relief before the conversation I overheard sinks in more… One word sticking out more than anything. Date…. I look down at my uniform and realize I only have about 2 regular outfits neither of which are good for going out in. One just being a pair of pajamas. I comb through my brain and look at my chest, I'm too big to borrow cloths from Weiss and I don't really have any friends except…..
I whip out my scroll as I walk through the halls and dial a number, "Hello," a surprisingly alert for the time voice answers.
"Hey can I borrow some cloths?" I ask in a rush.
"Ummmm….. Yeah why? Got a date or something?" She teases and I don't answer fast enough. "NO WAY!"
"It's not a date! It's just I'm spending my off day showing someone around and I don't have any good outfits," I admit; though do I see this as a date? I'm the one who made the bet in the first place and placed this condition. I do want to spend more time around him… Out of curiosity of course, and James thinks he's lying about his memory so I can find that out too. Yeah…
"If you can make it to Mantle I got you girl," I hear the smile on my friends face.
"Thanks you're the best, I'll be there in an hour."
/
Dominic POV
"What in the…." I say staring speechless at Winter Schnee waiting at the entrance to the Academy. Her hair, normally done up in a bun tighter than a librarians is lose with strands hanging on the shoulders of a black leather mid-drift jacket. Light white and blue eye shadow complements her eyes as well as an ice blue V-cut halter top that shows her belly button, while a chain choker belt draws the eyes down to the skin tight acid washed black jeans. Ending with a pair of black strap high heeled pumps, why are women in this universe so obsessed with heels? Doesn't that make it harder to fight?
I turn to the rest of the Ace Ops and Ironwood, I struggle to not laugh at their expressions having to hold onto my sides. James face is the most priceless, like a dad wanting to yell at his daughter for daring to ware that. Harriett's is pure murder, Marrow's jaw is on the floor pretty much and Clovers just in shock. Elm is giggling to her partner and Vine is just smiling gently. "I um," Winter squeaks out, "didn't know everyone was coming to see you off."
"Neither did I, it just kinda happened that way," I admit the memories of running into them one by one on the way to meet her flash through my mind. "I wasn't expecting this," I waved a hand up and down the cock a hip while crossing my arms and raising an eyebrow. Determined to not let what Melissa said last night get in my head.
"I don't live in a uniform," she rolls her eyes at me and I raise my hands in mock surrender.
"Fair enough, so where we going after my errand princess?" I walk foreword letting my arm fall and settle around her waist. Letting all the careful crafted natural looking moves from being a player back home hide how nervous I am. I mainly acted out of instinct, more students had started to notice it was her and the boy looks were starting to get on my nerves. She can solo your whole crew, but you have the balls to be undressing her with your eyes. Am I really their age?
I fully expected to get punched or shoved away, instead she leans into me letting me take the lead while walking. "Well I was rethinking about what Harriet said about a bar, I was thinking about this club my friend told me about that just opened up in Mantle. But if you want to just explore and take in the scenery I'm not opposed, it's your first time going around not on active duty."
"Then we'll just see where the wind take us."
/
A about an hour later and we're standing at the sweet stall that Harriet had stopped us at yesterday. The kid from yesterday is handing out cake pops with a smile on his face, I look to the short and I wish I could describe him as grubby but he's actually quite clean cut and handsome, stall owner. "There you are," the shop owner smiles at me and takes in Winters appearance for a second before shaking his head and turning back to me. "Well you don't have to worry yourself to much. I decided to give little Kian (Kai-an) a chance and he's been doing great all day. I've had to force him to take breaks."
The kid notices me, and pulls me over with a smile and a wave. "Hey mister, I got a job!" His smile reminds me so much of Dim that I can't help but smile back, I feel the sadness behind it so I turn it down.
"That great Kian, I'm glad. No more stealing in the future for you my dude, or I'll arrest you myself," I poke his nose and he laughs rubbing it.
"Here." he hands me two cherry cake pops. "On the house, I'll take it out of my pay for the day." He gestures for me to lean in close, "She cuter than that bunny girl . Gotta make big bro look good for his girlfriend," my heart skips a beat at the big bro comment.
"She's not…." I sigh and stop myself not wanting to disappointing the kid, "Thanks Kian, I'll stop by every now and then okay?"
"See ya big bro!" He waves as I walk back to Winter whose smiling her cheeks flushed.
"What?" I ask handing her the treat.
"Nothing, I was just thinking you're different than how I perceived you," she answers and takes a bite.
"Then I'm not trying hard enough," I scoff. "I have a soft spot for kids," I take a bite myself. It's delicious, why didn't I eat it yesterday? Why am I eating it now? I usually hate sweet things.
"Women too from what I heard about yesterday," I shoot a scowl at her.
"It wasn't cause she was a woman, it's because it was the last of her money. And people down here look like the have it hard enough as is."
"They do," I look over and see a regretful look on her face.
We continue in silence for a moment, "So are there like, any good parks nearby?"
"A park? Why do you want to go to a park for?" She asks confused but takes out her scroll. "There's one about a mile away. DOMINIC!"
I had grabbed her arm and start dashing through the streets, "Lets go then!"
/
Winter POV
"Too high, too high!" I scream as he continues pushing me higher and higher on the swing set, using his semblance for maximum efficiency. Something about swings, no matter how old you are makes you scared, the rocking motion is so much different from a Chopper it just unsettles your stomach.
"Around the bar time? Got you princess!"
"No, no. NO!" I let out a high pitched sequel preparing to go flying when I'm slowed down and barley pushed. I slowly come to a stop and have to let my heart catch up.
"Fun huh? I call that swing roulette, you don't know weather I'm about to stop or send you up and over," he laughs and sits down on the seat next to me. "Oh come on, it couldn't have been that bad? You can jump from the top of a building and be fine because of your semblance, how did a swing set scare the shit out of you?"
"I'm still scared when I do stuff like that, everyone is. Even Clover, many things could go wrong. One wrong step, one wrong glyph, I mistime and misjudge the force even the slightest bit wrong and I'm just another splat," I shrug. "It's just a matter of knowing the alternative. If I don't jump down this building, how many people are gonna die? How many could I have saved? If I took the longer safer way, how many got hurt and died in that time?"
I look at him as I gently drift on the swing and our eyes meet, neither of us look away for the first time since we met. The sun starts to set turning the edge of the sky visible around Atlas a nice pink orange. We had been at the park for hours, running around playing, eating snacks at the local stalls. When he had finally answered my question all I had gotten as a response was, "I wanted to feel my age."
"So answer me a question princess. You've been flirting with me literally all day, and you wore that amazing outfit," I feel a fuzz overcome my brain at hearing the compliment. "You also wanted to be my personal escort, why?"
"To which part?" I try to avoid the question.
"All of it," he says seriously and sternly. I know if I don't answer he'll go back into a shell and it'll be ten times harder to get him out of it again.
"Well, as for requesting to be your escort if you won. I wanted to talk to you more, get to know more about you past the rumors the guards spread about you. As well as thinking I'm the only one capable of keeping you under control if you decide to run," he scoffs.
I give a light glare but continue, "After our spar the other day I thought allot about what we said in the arena. And your right, it's far to late for us to apologize for locking you up for a month. Forcing you to spar everyday, making you train your aura and semblance to such a degree in such a short time, we should be grateful to you Dominic. That you're even alive after falling into that tundra, that while you're a pretentious, flirtatious, asshole. You're very sweet and kind even after all of that, and I got even more curious about you. You've been fidgeting for a while now by the way, you can light up a cigarette I don't mind," I giggle at his surprised look.
He pulls out his pack and searches his pockets for a lighter, I pull a vial of fire dust out of my pocket and using my aura send a spark to the cigarette for him. "Always ready for a fight huh princess?" I shrug.
…
…
"Fuck it," I hear him whisper and the next few seconds happen in slow motion. He grabs the chains, and one of my legs with both of his, "Pull," he commands and the familiar tug as his semblance pulls the swings together. One of his hands releases the chains and slips behind the nape of my neck and into my hair, by instinct I let go of the swing and wrap both of my arms around his neck. "So princess, was this a date?" He whispers in my ear and I shudder, our faces inches apart and our eyes locked.
"You tell me," I drag him across the empty space and capture his lips with mine.