"Good game today, Danvers."
"Yeah, Woods good game." Alex agreed hitching her towel into a higher and more secure hold around her shower-wet self still in a somewhat daze since spying her crush that was Maggie Sawyer sitting in the bleachers seeming to be watching the just for fun one on one game the two friendly rivals had decided on after actual practice had finally been called instead of focusing on reading the textbook propped open in her lap.
"And Sawyer seemed to think so too, she could hardly take her eyes off you." Lexa goes on seeming to be following her dazed friend's thoughts as they each kill even more time waiting around until Kara and Anya's after-school clubs wrapped up so they could finally head home for the day letting their respective adopted sisters chatter on about their equally respective clubs during the shared drive considering the four live in the same neighborhood.
"She's studying to be a cop one day; it will be her job to notice people." Alex argued already feeling her heart flip in her chest at the idea of her crush actively watching her, so she had to make a third attempt to remember her combination to open her gym locker.
"Sure, Danvers." Lexa laughed only to pause with a curious "That's weird" murmur when she pulled out her sports bag to find the thing had been zipped up when she knew for a fact, she'd left it unzipped when she'd stowed the thing away after coming in late for practice due to losing track of the time in watching her own crush focusing so intently on her latest art creation during their last shared class.
Clarke was just so beautiful when she was creating something she was passionate about. Granted Lexa always thought Clarke was beautiful but there was just an extra jolting of beauty when she was in her 'artist mode' as Lexa jokingly thought of it.
"What's up?" Alex questioned pausing in the act of tugging her own stowed-away bag free of her locker to glance over at the slightly taller girl standing a few lockers down from her own.
Lexa shakes her head unable to think of anything to say as she slowly unzips the bag. Once she'd at least assured herself nothing inside it wasn't ticking.
"Oh. My. Plushy." Alex gaped leaning over Lexa's shoulder to get a better look at the half-opened sports bag.
A fluffy stuffed animal just the right size for a good snuggle after a long day and held between the fluffy raccoon's soft gray paws an equally fluffy heart with an embroidered 'You Stole my Heart' message sown with purple and pink thread.
"So cute, can I feel it?" Alex asked already reaching for one of the plushy toy's black-furred ears only for her hand to be quickly swotted away as Lexa's free hand closed possessively over the gift with a hissed. "Back off Danvers."
"Geeze easy Commander." Alex scoffed rubbing the very real sting of her hand away as best she could with an overly exaggerated pout from the slap itself. "I was just trying to see if there was a tag or something, so we knew who sent it to you no need to break my hand over it."
"If I did you could always go ask Sawyer to kiss it better and bandage you up." Lexa mused her words muffled now considering she was nuzzling her face into the oh-so-soft plush animal's head after making her own inspection of the thing for any signs of either a sender's tag or worse some small hidden cameras stashed inside of it. "But if you're going to go that route, I could always sock you in the jaw and then ask Sawyer to kiss you better."
Alex only tosses her balled-up neck towel in her distracted friend's direction in retaliation as she grumpily succeeds in pulling her own gym bag free regardless of the new flip in her chest at the very mention of Maggie's name let alone any thought however teasing of Maggie actually wanting to kiss her, injury or no. "You would get a secret admirer before Valentine's." The auburn-haired girl huffed. "Must be nice." She added bitterly not intending to speak the words aloud as she glared jealously at Lexa's happy expression.
"Maybe you could take a page from their book and do something like this for Sawyer." Lexa offered guilty now at her friend's soured mood "You still have time to go get something nice for her and if you want help, I can always be a wing gift woman."
"Maggie hates Valentine's Day, Lex everyone knows it." Alex sighed dropping down to straddle the bench between them her gym bag dropped into the open space with more force than really needed in her agitation. If she thought about it, her crush despised Valentine's day as much as Alex herself adored it. "So, I don't think she'd take too kindly to having random Valentine's related gifts just appearing in her locker or…"
"Or you know actually handed to her like a normal person." Lexa cuts in once more attempting to lighten her fellow classmate's mood. "unless she flashes that dimpled smile at you then you'd have to hand it to her from the floor from swooning too hard." The taller teen laughed expecting another tossed attack maybe this time by Alex's water bottle at the teasing comment. "Alex?" the dark-haired girl asked when no such attack was made.
She turned now with the raccoon plushy hugged jealously close as she moved.
Alex was just staring down into the depths of her own gym bag, her expression truly unreadable even for Lexa. "Alex?" Lexa tries again talking a little louder now.
Actual tears start to well in the other girl's eyes as she reaches into the bag with shaking fingers pulling out a plushy gifted toy of her own. this one is a cute brown-furred otter instead of a gray and black raccoon. And on the soft heart tucked between the stuffed toy's paws a sown message of its own.
'Love u like no otter.'
"Okay, even you have to admit that pun is weak, Danvers." Lexa chuckles and then needs to dodge quickly when Alex truly did throw her water bottle at Lexa's head in retaliation.
"It looks kind of like the one my dad got me when I was little." Alex says now balancing the stuffed toy against her knees.
Lexa approaches cautiously to straddle the bench opposite her lost-in-thought friend. The fluffy raccoon rested against her lap once she'd settled in to listen.
"He took me to the zoo, just the two of us. We hadn't gotten to spend much time together after he started his new research job, but he seemed determined to take me anyway." Alex sniffed "I can't remember how but I got hurt somehow." She goes on letting her fingers continue the slow tangled brushing of the stuffed toy's soft pelt as she spoke. "nothing major well what any normal person could considering major anyway but to litter me it was like bone breaking painful I do remember that." She laughed at the memory.
"And your dad got you an otter because of it?" Lexa asked honestly curious.
"He made it do this funny voice when he gave it to me. 'Alex your dad wanted me to tell you he is so Otterly sorry you got hurt'" she imitates with a shaking laugh hugging this new otter tightly against her front at the memory. "I would take it everywhere with me after that." She keeps going nuzzling her chin against the plushie's head as she spoke.
"You still have it, right?" Lexa asks aloud.
"Duh." Alex answered, "It's just until now I'd forgotten that was the reason, I like otters so much."
"I always thought it was cause you surf so much everyone just thinks you are half otter cause you are always in the water in your free time." Lexa reasoned
"I'm swearing you to secrecy on this one Woods," Alex warns dabbing at her watery eyes with the edge of her shirt sleeve.
"Don't worry I won't tell anyone you're a total softy." Lena promised with an honest smile before her face falls a little as she gently pets one of the raccoon's soft black ears "I just wish I had an equally cute backstory of why I ended up with a raccoon other than whoever gifted it liked the heart message."
At this Alex laughs a more genuine snort of mirth at the words with a pointed "You're kidding right?"
"What?"
"Come on Lexa with how heavy-handed you can get with your 'war paints' sometimes before a game?" Alex laughed
"It's not 'war paint' seriously why do the rest of you keep calling it that?" Lexa tries to defend
Alex rolls her eyes at the more whined asking as she copies the almost fully changed Lexa in hastily finishes pulling on a cleaner, dryer set of clothes allowing her friend's mini tantrum a few seconds longer. "Get over it, it's war paint end of story, and you look totally badass with it on hints why no one wants to be around you when you're wearing it." Alex sighed letting her locker thump close before leaning back against it.
The sounds of a not to muffled laugh follow the light teasing making both teens tense up at the sound. No one else was supposed to be in the locker rooms this late in the day and everyone who would be staying so late was meant to be in one of the social clubs meeting almost on the other side of the school building.
Whoever it was obviously noticed they'd heard it too considering the hard-to-determine curse that followed it. Neither listening teen could easily discern the tone but the sounds of whoever it was making a hasty retreat were easy enough to catch in the now deathly silent locker room.
Lexa and Alex were on the move a half beat later each of them darting around opposite ends of the locker rows, each determined to corner whoever had been spying on them.
Each had their own suspicions Alex thought it could be that loser Rick someone who'd been following her around like a lost puppy the last few weeks and really getting on her last nerve in his quiet frankly stupid attempts to turn her head from what even she can see was her obvious crushing on the beautiful Maggie Sawyer. Why he would think spying on her would raise his chances of dating her she couldn't understand but no way in hell was she going to let something so creepy slide.
Lexa considering two other options. Finn Collins or Bellamy Black. Both consider her an obvious rival for Clarke's affections and both wouldn't be above snooping on her to find a way to torpedo her chances with the artist she's crushing on before Lexa can even work up the nerve to talk to her first let alone probe for the possibility of anything more than friendship.
"Who the hack is this creeper Houdini?" Alex huffed considering the only one she saw when she'd sprinted the last separating locker rows was an equally out-of-breath Lexa rounding the row from the other side.
"No way whoever it was got passed, we would have seen them." Lexa agrees "Unless they're hiding 'cause they heard us both coming at them." She reasoned now taking a much harder look at the 'empty' space separating her and her best friend.
"They'd need an invisibility cloak for that one Lex, face it they somehow got passed us. Simple as that." Alex sighed her breath coming in a small sigh seeing as the look on Lexa's face reminded her slightly of the times, she'd catch Maggie trying to work out a problem. That adorable crease furrows her brows as she concentrated on one thing or another.
"Stop gushing over Sawyer and focused Danvers." Lexa barked "Otherwise I'm tossing your baby gay ass in the pool to cool you off."
"Hey, easy Commander cool those jets alright, I know you don't like someone invading your personal life like whoever was listening in on us but come on they can't all be like Costia and stab you in the back, you really have to loosen up." Alex rambled. She knew bringing up Lexa's ex was a low blow, but she also knew if she didn't do something soon Lexa would rip open every locker to check if whoever their eavesdropper was had crammed themselves in one to keep the hunting pair from finding them out.
"Besides worst case is now someone we don't know, knows a sweet story about me and my dad and that you, our very intimidating teams captain turn into a total softy over a plushy raccoon that had been randomly left in your locker." Alex reasons with a quick glance at her watch to check the time. "Now come on, Kar and Anya have to be done soon and you know how snakry they can get."
Lexa gives a very believable shudder at the reminder. "Sometimes I swear your sister is an alien with how much that girl puts away."
"A little cliché don't you think?" Alex questions and then has to immediately attempt to catch herself when she seems to trip over nothing crossing towards Lexa's side of the locker row.
"As graceful as ever Danvers." Lexa jokes reaching out to steady her.
"Careful Lex else your imaginary artist girlfriend might think your heads been turned." Alex joked leading the way back toward their own lockers to finish collecting their belongings for the day.
"Not a chance. Clarke is special." Lexa reminds her words ending in that soft sigh Alex always notices whenever her best friend talked about her artist crush.
"Cavities, will you just woman the hell up and tell her you like her for crying out loud?" Alex huffed tugging the strap of her gym bag over her head as she cradles her otter gift against her chest.
"I will as soon as you tell Sawyer you are completely crushing on her." Lexa fires back shouldering her own bag now cradling the raccoon in the crook of her arm.
"Stalemate it is then." Alex sighed as the locker room door groaned closed behind them.