When Blake finished her shower, she felt…better. Drained, but better. She put on a change of clothes. Herown clothes, unlike poor Hegsih, and made her way downstairs to find him sheepishly sitting in the dining area with plates of… tuna fish salad sandwiches and glasses of cold water from the tap. She looked a question at him.
"Uh…I… couldn't figure out how to operate the appliances," he volunteered, sheepishly.
"Oh. Well that's fine."
"Sooo I made these." He picked one up. "Bread I can do. And opening cans, apparently. I… you like tuna fish, right?"
Blake gave him an unreadable look. "Hegsih, why… exactly, would you assume I like tuna fish?" Her eyes bore into his, and her ears went alert. "Think carefully before you respond."
He stopped. His dark face showing a wash of several emotions as he opened his mouth, closed it, did it a few more times. Then he saw her right ear twitch. His eyes squinted. "You're screwing with me, aren't you?"
Hers narrowed. "What does that mean?"
"Taking the piss. Pulling my chain. Yanking my dick."
"Ah. Well…" her mouth twitched.
"Listen here, kitty cat."
"Watch it, or I'll toss your ass back out into the snow where I found y-"
Blake suddenly found herself with a face full of tuna fish sandwich, which flopped off and headed for the floor before she intercepted it. "You… you bastard."
He grinned broadly. "I assure you madam, that my parents were duly wedded in the finest Lutheran-Sufi tradition."
"You almost wasted a tuna fish sandwich. If I hadn't caught it…!"
"Whoah, whoah. Claws in please! Ow ow ow!" She snatched her hand back, and looked at where he was rubbing his arm. Multiple red spots marked where she'd dug in.
She'd only meant to be teasing! "Oh! Sorry! I forgot!" Her ears fell. Wait… "So you really don't have aura?"
He blinked. "Aura…like magic crystals?"
"No silly, that's Dust."
"Roll back. How about we start at the beginning. I'm clearly not catching some key points here. So, tell me of your world, Chani."
She gave him a side-eye. She was beginning to recognize these little quips of his as attempts at wit.
"Sorry another bad reference, but better than the last one. But seriously. I have a lot of questions."
"Right. Right. Me too." She eyed the sandwich. "How about we talk while we eat?"
And over the next several hours they satisfied both their hunger and curiosity. The questions and answers ranged far and wide, but a sampling would have sounded like:
Hegsih:
· So you don't have any hydrocarbons at all, but you have this stuff you mine and refine called Dust, and it does basically the same thing plus a ton more. Basically magical fuel?
· And these Grimm, they just wander the countryside fucking things up? And they are HOW big? And you guys just accept this situation?
· Ok wait. Magical Undead Demon Woman, I get that. Wants to destroy the world so she can finally rest. I can totally grok that.
· So this giant Dragon God of Destruction smashed into your moon God knows how long ago, and it just stayed all smashed up? Does gravity not work there?
· Alright. Aura is like a magical soul shield. More than that? I'll take your word for it. And what's a Semblance again?
· Your Team really are like Special Grimm Forces, but with serious Harry Potter vibes. I can see how that would turn you into something like family.
· Wait, you call them mom and dad? Isn't that kinda weird? Oh. Okay yeah I can see that.
· Tell me about your partner, Yang, again? Right. Remind me not to piss her off.
· This Adam guy? He sounded like a real piece of shit.
And Blake:
· None at all? Like zero magic? That sounds horrible.
· What do you mean no one has Aura. People must be dropping dead in droves from the slightest injury. And it all sounds kinda… sad.
· Ok well that's kinda cool. Like a ship actually in space? Yeah, we can't do that at all. Dust doesn't work up there.
· Well, yeah we have a military. Well at least Atlas does, but nothing like that. But we have Huntsmen.
· So you've been working as an apprentice and you volunteer teaching kids at something called a Maker Space? What kind of things do you make?
· No. No I don't think "nuking" Salem would have the effect you think. Ozpin says she just keeps coming back.
· Just humans? No faunus at all? Well that explains a lot…
· What the hell is a furry?
The conversation on both ends was by turns baffling and engrossing. Hegsih considered his personal life pretty boring compared to the world-shattering events she had experienced, but humored Blake anyway.
Which eventually brought them up to the present.
"So… you're telling me that you had some sort of vision quest dream, and it led you to this one specific clearing in an area of the world you'd never seen before, and you found me there floating in the air with a blue glow, instead of this super duper weapon the vision promised you."
"Basically, yeah."
Hegish patted her on the shoulder. "Yeah. You got hosed."
"Yeah."
At some point, they both paused and blinked, realizing that they hadn't actually had dinner. They'd just kept replenishing sandwiches all afternoon, taken quick bathroom breaks, and now they were both more or less talked out. "Hey, Blake," Hegsih reached over and patted her hand.
"Yeah?"
"I'm kind of tired. Why don't you check in with your… team, and we can talk some more upstairs."
Blakes eyes explored his face. There was no leering suggestion there. He wasn't obviously hinting at anything. She sighed. "Yeah. That's a good idea. Better overkill at this point."
When she made it upstairs, his brown form was propped up in the guest bed she'd claimed the prior day, skimming over a book.
One of her books.
She fought down the urge to murder him or flee from the room. Or both. Her expression must have been impressive. Because his eyes widened. "Oh! Sorry, I just figured, books are a good way to understand a culture… I'll" He paused, and shifted to very slow, very deliberate movements. "I'll just set this rightttt back here where I found it."
Blake forced herself to unclench, realizing her fingernails were out, and made an effort to speak evenly... "It's… fine. Just be careful with it."
Hegsih carefully set the book down anyway. "How did the follow up go?"
"Jaune was smug. Weiss was polite. Yang is still angry but playing it off."
"Well, that could be worse, right?"
"Yeah," her ears fell.
He patted the bed in front of him, and sat up, legs crossed. "Let's talk."
Her ears tipped outward, which he was learning meant she wasn't exactly sad or embarrassed, but more conflicted. That is going to be very helpful, until I screw up my interpretation. She warily clambered onto the bed, facing him.
"What did you want to talk about?" She started lamely. He gave her a pointed look. She slumped. "Fine. Yeah. All this."
"Yeah. All this."
"I'm not sure where to start."
He took her hand in his, gently. "How about this. You're stuck with me for the near future, because I can't even figure out how to use the stove," he smiled crookedly, "and I can't imagine trying to explain to anyone who I am and where the hell I came from without your help," A quiet laugh. "And I'm not sure about my marketable skills at the moment, so I'm not fancying homelessness."
Her eyes crinkled. "Of course not, I didn't save you just to kick you back out into the snow, even if you did throw a sandwich at me."
"Of course not. So that leads to the next question. What's our relationship? Are you my benefactor? My friend? Are we casual lovers? Dating? Possible mates?"
Blake blinked. She hadn't expected this kind of blunt frankness. The only people she knew who talked like that were Juane, once he stopped hiding things, and Ruby when she had half her brain turned off and was hopped up on cookies. She explored Hegsih's face, but saw nothing but openness. No hint of wariness or hope. "You… are a strange man."
He snorted. "I almost died last night. I'm in a strange world at the mercy of a lovely bossmang. It tends to focus the mind and reward being direct."
Blake smiled despite herself.
"But maybe I can make it easier for you than that, even." He squeezed her hand. "Do you already have a romantic partner?"
"Not recently. Nothing more than idle wondering from time to time."
"Ok that keeps at least one option on the table." He put a hand on her face, and she flinched slightly. "Blake, I just got a six hour crash course in Remnant and Blake Belladonna. From what you've told me, your Team in general, and you in particular, have been through some serious, psyche-scarring shit. I'm betting you are still dealing with a lot, though you hide it damn well if you are." Her face paled a little, and he could feel her stiffen against his palm. "So far be it from me to add to that." His face softened. "I'll take whatever you'll give me. What do you want? Do you want a friend? A lover? Have you dreamed of a tall, dark, handsome human to make your life complete?" He hadn't asked that question earlier, but he'd wanted to. Later.
Her thoughts scattered. This was making it easy? "I… I don't know."
He stilled for a few moments. "Ok then, we'll take it easy until you do. Right now, since you don't appear to hate my guts, we're going with provisional friends."
Blake blew out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. A knot in her stomach loosened.
Hegsih gave a wicked grin, "Exceptionally easy friends, mind you. And I do not promise I won't get handsy in my sleep."
Blake laughed and swatted his hand. "Mind your manners." She looked thoughtful. "That leaves us with the question of… how do I explain this to my Team?"
He cocked his head to the side. "That's not difficult at all. You tell them the truth."
"Wha-"
"You tell them the truth." He peered at her. "The things you told me. Seems to me that bastard, whose name we will not mention again, fucked over your fundamental trust of other people. Every time you'd mention him, your whole speech patterns changed. You got super careful in what you said and how you said it, until you loosened back up."
Blake felt like she'd been slapped, but he continued on, "Worse than that. I don't think you trust yourself. I could hear it in the way you talked about everything you've been through, I'm thinking you downplayed your part." He shook his head and squeezed her hand. "Yesterday I met an amazing, resourceful, and brave woman who traipsed out into the frozen wastes, found me out in the snow, dug me out of a slushy pit, and saved my ass. That's who you are, not the person you've been describing to me in those stories."
"You don't… that's not…"
"You're right, I'm working off incomplete information. I'm probably wrong around the edges. But look me in the eye and tell me, do you trust that Team-Family thing you've got?" He waved his hand at her. "No, let me rephrase that, I know you trust them with your life, do you trust them with your hope?"
Blake tore her eyes from him, and he watched as they shifted back and forth, then came back to his face. "What. The fuck. Are you?"
"I'm just some guy who likes to solve problems and make things better. I don't have a fancy Aura, and I can't summon a Luck Dragon, so I have to be observant and clever to make up for it so I don't get broke." He looked around at his current location. "Or in this world, deaded. And I overthink things."
Blake's ears pivoted outward, then back. She frowned. "You are a dangerous man, Hegsih. You are going to be a problem." She considered what would happen when he met Ruby. Oh Gods.
"Sure. So, it's settled then," he finished. "We are provisionally best buds, maybe a little overly affectionate, and you are going to spill your guts to your Team. The only real question is the timing."
Blake blinked. "I don't remember agreeing to any of that."
"It's called 'without objection'. It's extremely efficient in cutting through indecision."
Extremely dangerous man.
She felt a weight lift from her shoulders.
Terrifyingly so.
"Let me… think about it."
"Gotcha, it's late and we're both mentally and physically wiped out." He pushed down on the bed. "And this is an actual bed. And I'm in clothes that aren't trying to tourniquet my legs off, and I'm not freezing to death. Let's get some real sleep."
He was talking about them both sleeping in the same bed.
Of course he was. Overly affectionate, he'd said. She thought about asking him to take a different room, and the thought made her feel a little sad and lonely.
Oh.
Oh crap.
She sent a quick note on her scroll before she let sleep claim her. A group text to the entire team.
B- Long day, turning in early. Love you all.
J- I see you *can* follow directions. Good job kiddo.
W- Take care of yourself.
Y- I bet. Get some rest.
Drifting off, she was pleased to see that Hegsih had given her ample space, only reaching over to give her shoulder a squeeze before he rolled over away from her. She felt sweet slumber enfold her in its purple cloak.
She only woke once during the night, to find that they had spooned in their sleep. She lay still for a while, pondering the comfort and warmth, the ease she felt. And examining how terrified that made her.
She thought about the conversation that evening, and the source of that fear.
Fucking asshole.
If you'd asked her whether she meant Adam or Hegsih, she would have spit in your face.
A/N:
Ah yes. And thus our two unfortunates learn a bit more about each other's worlds and histories. I probably could have written several thousand words on the back and forth conversations, but I hope you found the "highlights reel" an interesting way of abbreviating that. And I also hope you found this chapter as adorable to read as I did writing it. Ah poor Blake. She is finding her life may have just become more complicated than she expected.