Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Uzi Doorman is a strange case. 

She pushes people away, yet yearns for praise, longs for closeness but would rather jump off a bridge then indulge in physical contact. The very thought of a genuine compliment makes her feel like ripping her jumping heart out with her bare hands. The combination of all these feelings made for a sharp tongue that lashed out at all those around her. In response people also lashed back at her.

“Doorman? The weirdo who cackles to herself as she draws ON shared desks in Uni? During class no less.”

“I swear I’ve heard her talking to herself in the mirror in the locker room.”

“She creeps me out, it always feels like she’s setting my head on fire in her mind.”

One would say it was upbringing that caused her to become what she is, people always ask ‘where are her parents!?’ but her parents are a whole other bag of issues. 

Nori Doorman is a force to be reckoned with. An established artist, academic and Mixed Martial Arts Fighter. She is the whole trifecta, a whirlwind of purple that blew through Khan Doorman’s life that he could never hope to fix (nor did he really want or attempt to). With the proverbial Midas touch, whatever Nori touched it became an instant hit. For this reason she was almost never home, and when she was home she was so exhausted she mostly slept only to wake and leave again.

Khan Doorman on the other hand was stalwart, stubborn and protective. On paper these attributes seem to be for the greater good. However, when applying it to his daughter one would say overprotectiveness was too limited a word. He founded and created Doorman Defense, a martial arts dojo made with the intent to create body and security guards for the elites. Begrudgingly he allowed Uzi to join, if only to teach her discipline in her art and hopefully some semblance of defending herself should he, or Nori not be there.

Khan and Nori complimented each other like yin and yang, balancing out any shortcomings in each other. That balance would combine into one famous duo of a well known martial arts dojo. Khan Doorman was the shield and Nori was the sword. A duo so powerful it couldn't be brought down by anyone or anything.

Together they built a foundation of defense and offense, and produced Uzi, a supposed combo of the two. Balance personified, at least how they saw it. Everyone else in the small town saw chaos the likes the world has never seen.

As soon as Uzi could stand and make a conscious effort to articulate herself, she was in martial arts. She tried all kinds, from basics like tai chi. Dumb and slow. Tae Kwon Do; kicking was fun but her legs could never quite reach their mark. 

Make a short joke. I dare you.

Wing Chun was cool, it looked just like the movies! But, Judo…Judo really spoke to her on a personal level, something about throwing someone else who was nearly twice her size and weight made her cackle with glee. Seeing their dumbfounded faces as a small girl tossed them to the floor like a bag of sand was her favorite part.

Oh, she knows one of the fundamentals of martial arts is discipline, one of the main rules being to never initiate a fight. Martial arts is about self-control and Uzi had so little of that, that she might as well NOT have it. Not that she cared, her whole life she's been sheltered under her parents overwhelming shadows. 

But she was going to overshadow both her parents. She was going to be the greatest judoka in the world…and she was going to prove it by any means necessary.

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Uzi stood in front of a floor length mirror in the locker rooms of Doorman Defense Martial arts Dojo, deftly tying her white gi, left over right, tying the small ties within then moving to the tie on the outside. 

To keep her modesty a purple undershirt was worn under the gi peeking behind the semi deep v the gi makes naturally. She deftly brought the length of her brown belt against her waist, the traditional way to tie it nearly so ingrained in her she could probably tie it in her sleep. Taking the right end of the belt and looping it under the left and pulling tight, then slipping the right end through under and up through at the waist she took the left end and looped it with the hanging right end into a tight knot.

She stared at herself in the mirror for a little bit letting out a long sigh.

“Black belt is within your grasp Uzi, after this its a clear path to becoming top Judoka in Copper City then Nationals, forget about being a bodyguard to a stuck up, I’LL BODYGUARD THE WHOLE WORLD!” She raised both her hands to the ceiling and let out a deranged cackle before abruptly stopping when she heard a locker slam shut near the showers. 

Fixing her gi into place she turned from her reflection she was using to hyper herself up and grabbed a plain black elastic hair tie from her duffle bag. Quickly tying her bangs out of the way and into a small ponytail at the back of her head whilst swinging a small towel across her shoulder and grabbing a small water bottle, she turned to leave the locker rooms.

The dojo was simple enough, four cream painted walls one of which contained a whole wall of mirrors to allow students to check their forms as they went through their exercises and techniques. Parallel to that was a concave area where a small but intricate Zen garden with large sliding doors to an outdoor koi pond. Between the two walls was a floor covered in cushioned mats, the wall with the door to the locker rooms was also covered in padding in case someone got too zealous in their techniques.

The reception was small, having only a tall desk with a company computer and two tablets attached to the front for returning and registering patrons and small pamphlets littered around for upcoming community events. Scattered along the walls were scrolls depicting wise sayings from bygone eras to encourage and uplift patrons.

Wooden benches line the wall of glass housing the entrance as well as the name and symbol of the dojo proudly displayed in a large white decal to the outside. The symbol of the dojo was a simple rectangular tower shield with a circle surrounding it, with the Japanese kanji of protection and courage on either side filling the gaps.

Further encompassed by a bigger solid circle. Lines forming four equal rows across the shield gave it a reinforced look and in Uzi’s opinion made it look like a lame medieval door.

This was all hidden behind Japanese style paper sliding doors. To give both the reception area and the practice area some privacy from each other and the public.

Which brings everything to the present.

Khan Doorman was standing before the wall of mirrors, talking to a group of students on the center mats who were neatly lined up in eight by six rows. Uzi was near the back off to the side nearest the locker room doors and zoning out as she usually did when her dad starts to speak.

“...And that is why, in the spirit of defense and camaraderie, Tessa Elliot’s Absolute Elite School of Martial Arts will be joining us for both a demonstration of Wushu as well as following us through our exercises and sparring!” At this proclamation a murmur between the students began and whispers of ‘Wushu? As in the Eighteen Arms of Weapons wushu?’, ‘Judo is hands on and close range…how are we supposed to deal with a spear?’.

Uzi’s mind snapped back to attention at the mention of a new art. Wushu? An art that deals in weapons sounded badass! She always wanted to make some sort of gun javelin! Excited at the prospect of possibly learning how to use various weapons in addition to throwing bigger opponents off her she’d be unstoppable!

A loud clap from Khan broke the murmurs and her train of thought. “Alright that's enough chatter everyone! Warm up and be in top shape for our guests.”

A loud chorus of ‘Yes, Sensei!’ followed by shuffling and spreading out to begin stretches.

Finger and arm exercises were important for Judo, both for grip strength as well as flexibility. The amount of times someone has used the wrong grip to throw that resulted in broken fingers was too many times. It was said that even the best judoka broke their pinkies at least four times throughout their career. 

Uzi wasn’t going to take that chance.

Sitting down and began slow wrist warm ups, rotating her wrists first clockwise then counter. After sometime she begins to flex her fingers pulling them into slow fists and then splaying them out. 

Slowly she stood up and rotated her knees and ankles to loosen them and minimize sprains. Just as she was finishing the bell above the door leading to the reception area let out a small jingle of multiple bells hitting each other.

“Ah, they’re here! Please come in and introduce yourselves!” Her dad’s voice sounded to the new arrivals who slid the paper door panels to the side and peeked in, after seeing that they were not interrupting a class they entered.

A group of three people walked in, two women and a man. One of the women was in a navy blue jumpsuit of sorts that looked like small specks of white paint were littered around giving it a bit of a space or nebula theme. Her hair was dark brown and tied back with a ridiculously large black bow into a high ponytail with longer pieces hanging from the sides brushing her shoulders. Her face was tanned and heavily freckled, but her emerald eyes were bright and clear looking around excitedly. She seemed so excited she was about to vibrate into the next building.

The next woman was shorter than the first by a few inches but could be due to her stance and bored aura. Her hair was a near platinum blonde and cut into a neat bob that hung just above her shoulders and side swept curtain bangs. Her hazel eyes appeared almost golden in the lighting and she was perusing the environment lazily crossing her arms over her chest. She was wearing a silken white competition gi that gradient into a muted yellow near the bottom. Golden embroidery of a tiger came up over her right shoulder and across her torso, nearly reaching the yellow fabric buttons that kept the uniform shut. On her left arm was a circular patch with a strange hexagon symbol with three lines tipped with arrows leading away from the center in black. Under the symbol were her initials ‘S.D, V’ in golden curvy lettering and above it following the curve of the patch was the name ‘Absolute Elite Martial Arts’. Adorning her feet were simple white flats with golden laces.

Next to her stood the last guest, and sole male of the group. Towering over the two women next to him and shifting a large, long black bag over his shoulder with a frown, making it clank quietly with each movement as well as adjusting two heavy looking duffle bags in his other hand. He was slouching a little bit as if attempting to make himself seem smaller than he was.

Like the previous woman, his near white platinum hair was on the medium side and wildly unkempt, looking as if it had been windswept and somehow stayed that way. Despite its wavy nature, it also looked incredibly fluffy to the touch ( uh, Uzi, reel it back in and focus ) . Golden brown eyes shifted from the two girls to the people in the room slightly analytically, as if he was looking for a place to set down his bags as well as memorizing the layout and people at the same time. 

Like the short haired woman, he wore a matching white uniform that faded into a golden gradient, and on his left shoulder was an elaborate embroidered phoenix in flight upwards. The patch on his right arm read the same as his pair with the difference being the name ‘S-D, N’.

Uzi stared at the group alongside her peers, almost star struck. 

Did a couple of models walk into the wrong place? 

Are they advertising the competition gi’s they’d have to wear to nationals? That can't be…that thing would rip on the first throw. 

How could these people be martial artists? She always tried to not judge a book by its cover but when this cover was written in pure gold it was kind of hard not to assume.

“Alright everyone, line back up and give our guests your full attention.” Her dad said unfazed by the interruption.

Everyone scrambled into their line formations again while the newcomers removed their shoes, paid their respects to the mat with a bow and joined Khan near the front.

Quickly shaking hands with the trio and keeping his attention on them he vaguely gestured to his side. “Please, introduce yourselves!”

The woman with the large bow practically flew forward and with a to cheerful Australian accent.

“Harzitgarn all! Name’s Tessa Elliot, founder of the Absolute Elite School of Martial arts! We’re so excited to be here and hope ya like the little demo my two darlin students will be showin’!”

At that the man made a small wave and with a voice to entirely cheery quipped “Nice to meet all of you! My name is Nicholas, but my friends call me Nick, Niko, or just N! You can even make up a new one for me if you want!” Uzi didn’t miss all the giggles from the girls around her.

His twin made a scoff and just bluntly said “Name’s Victoria Dragova, but if you call me anything other than V, I’ll break all the bones in your body.”

The students mumbled nervously at their intros, particularly that last part.

Khan however didn’t seem to notice. “Great! First we’ll have the Elites do their demonstration then move into sparring with them! Please clear and prep the mats.”

Some shuffling as the students moved off the mats and surrounded it, the twin pair martial artists retrieved the long black bag from the side and revealed four ornate straight swords with yellow tassels dangling off the yellow banded hilts.

Uzi’s eyes widened at the swords, they were unusually rigid…these weren't practice swords. They were real.

As the two approached the center of the mat, each gripping two swords in both hands the air in the dojo dropped to a sudden chill. Their demeanors totally changed as they faced back to back one sword in an arc over their heads and the other held loosely in front of them.

Perfectly mirroring each other's movements they began to move in the most precise dance, before eventually splitting the illusion of mimicking temporarily to move in opposite directions of the mat.

Facing each other they stood swords pointed to each other in silence for what seemed like hours but was really only a few seconds before rushing into aggressive strikes, you could see sparks coming from the swords connection. Each clank made more fireworks that some of the students flinched and secretly looked for a fire extinguisher should the flickers create a fire on the mat.

The demo went on for only a few minutes but Uzi felt like she had just watched an hour long movie. Wushu was so cool! Or was it just these two who made it cool? But she wanted one of those freaking swords! The atmosphere instantly changed once they loosely held the swords at their sides and bowed to each other then the students around them. The cold look on N’s face was replaced by a big smile with not much change from V other than going back to the bored look she gave earlier.

Once the oppressive air had cleared the Judo students suddenly stood up cheering and clapping rushing the mat to drown the two with questions.

“Alright! Alright! I know you’re excited to talk to these two but get into your sparring pairs and begin your training!” Khan said, breaking his way into the circle.

“To make things fair we’ll change partners over the course of ten minutes. Do try to explain the throws to the two Absolute students if paired with them, don’t just chat or throw them into the wall!” Some eyes flickered to the purple girl near the sidelines, but quickly went back to the two in the middle where everyone was begging them to be partners.

Rolling her eyes, Uzi turned to the far side of the mat and grabbed her one and usually only partner…the grappling dummy.

“Hey Chuck, guess we’re buddies again huh?” dragging the dummy into place. Before getting into position a small ‘ahem’ caused her to stop and turn only to be face to face with a very deep cut ‘v’ gi with no modesty shirt to be seen. She slowly looked up, and up again into the golden brown eyes of N. His bangs being pushed back with a thick black headband and his competition gi being swapped out for a plain white practice gi with a black belt wrapped around his waist.

Uzi quickly turned her head and covered her face to hide a growing redness, why wasn’t he wearing a shirt underneath!?

“Can I help you?” She managed to squeak out.

“Can I be your partner? Everyone seems really nice but I have a feeling they’d take the word partner more literally if I were to match with them….” a shy look, before clearing his throat again. 

“And you look like you’re free! I said it before in the beginning but I’m Nicholas San-Denali! You can just call me N” 

She glanced at his outstretched hand and tentatively grabbed it. “...Uzi Doorman, you can just call me Uzi?”

Behind them V had effortlessly tucked and rolled before launching herself into the midsection of a boy with dirty blond hair and green eyes, straight into the padded wall with so much force it looked like the wall was about to buckle. A breathless groan with murmurs of her being a great football player and should tryout as he held his stomach struggling to stand, his opponent lightly dusting off her practice gi with a smug look.

Tackling definitely wasn’t a Judo move, what were those two doing?

Before Uzi could think more on it, N spoke again .

“Doorman? Like Doorman Defense Martial arts, the owner of the Dojo!?”

“Yeah…”

“THAT’S SO COOL, I CAN SEE THAT YOU'RE A BROWN BELT EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE SO SMALL YOU WERE ABLE TO FIGHT YOUR WAY UP!!”

If this were an anime, you would see multiple red tick marks of anger slowly filling up her forehead. 

Realizing their hands were still grasped she slid her hand from his up to his wrist grabbing his gi sleeve and quickly grabbing a lapel with her other and shimmying her back against him her leg shot outside of his and hooked it, forcing it to bend.

With a small huff she used his body collapsing as inertia that threw him up and over her shoulder and strait into the mat below.

A small gasp left his lips as his back hit the floor and the air was pushed from his lungs. He found himself staring at the ceiling of the dojo wondering what just happened when purple flooded his vision.

“Being short has never and will never stop me from doing anything, so you can just bite me you pompous prick!” 

A stunned silence overcame the dojo as Khan sighed deeply, covering his face with his hand massaging his temples, Tessa gave a small sympathetic smile. However, a cackle of laughter suddenly spilled out breaking the stunned silence of the area.

“You got manhandled by a grape!” V managed to stutter out with tears in her eyes.

“Oh god my stomach, I’m gonna pee myself, wait till Liz hears this she’s going to die!” She was on her knees at this point gasping for breath.

N taking a deep breath managing to slowly sit up with a small blush and rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. A purple flash passed his peripherals and the gentle toll of the bells indicated that the girl…Uzi had somehow changed and exited the dojo in record time. He stared at the slowly closing door and wondered why his heart had started to speed up when he already caught his breath.

Slowly moving his hand over his heart as if to calm it, a small thought came to his mind.

“Maybe I should sign up for Judo classes here…”

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Chapter Text

Ican’tbeliveijustdidthat…

I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST DID THAT!!!

The rage subsided a few moments ago in the frantic race from the dojo to her apartment, never was she so glad to have her own space before she started university. As she was now standing on her coffee table in the middle of her living space, hands roughly pulling her own hair from her scalp.

“Uzi why are you like thiiiis!?” She nearly screamed, to no one but herself. 

“Dad literally just said to NOT throw new students who didn’t know how to land right, and what did I do? I THREW A NEW STUDENT WHO DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO LAND RIGHT… to be fair I rarely listen to dad to begin with…BUT NO! I threw not only a new student…I threw someone from a sister dojo we were trying to make a good impression with!

This is fine, I’ll just change my identity…start over from scratch, MOVE AWAY AND BECOME SOME SORT OF FOREST WITCH!”

By now she was kneeling on the small coffee table before flopping face forward into her carpet, the lower part of her body still on the short wood. A small groan left her lips as her mind raced for solutions.

“Wait…They should only be at our dojo for at most a week! I can wait them out, everything will return back to normal afterwards like nothing happened. Yeah…YEAH!” She did a small push up and slithered off her impromptu stage and stood up.

This was all going to be fine.

Probably.

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The following day Uzi groggily got up from her purple sea of blankets. She made her way to the bathroom to do her morning maintenance.

Brushing her fingers through her purple locks, in an attempt to tame her wild locks, she thought about what errands she needed to do today.

Her first day at university started next month, she could probably go to the book store and price check the books and supplies she needed. Even with most of her expenses being covered by her parents she was still going to try and get the lowest prices. 

She had her pride after all to not be a spoiled brat, she thought as she spat her toothpaste into the sink and quickly washed her face. Returning to her room and changing into a simple purple tank top, heavily distressed jeans and equally distressed black zip up hoodie she grabbed her worn grey tote with the words “AFK” in big bold letters on it, threw her keys and phone into it and made her way to the bookstore.

The walk was refreshing, and for once she was in a good mood. Since she was going to skip the dojo for a week she had some time to loiter around the bookstore after she price checked her school books. Maybe look for some updated volumes of manga to catch up on, if she finds them she can grab something sweet to bring home and something equally junky to eat for lunch to make a self care lazy day of it!

Opening the glass door to the bookstore with a big grin on her face, she took in the smell of paper and ink and made her way to the school book section whilst taking out her phone to check what book titles she needed. Cross referencing prices with some online stores she marks everything down in a neat note for later. As she was finishing up, pocketing her phone she caught a flash of platinum hair and subconsciously jumped behind a bookshelf to hide herself.

This couldn’t be happening, she was having a good day!

Slowly sneaking a peak from around the books she spots the one person who she thought she was doing a good job of avoiding till now.

N stood a couple aisles down, looking through a book in the animal section that she couldn’t quite make out the cover of. He had a small smile on his face as he thumbed through the pages looking serene and at peace. He looked so different in casual clothing she noticed, a simple crisp long sleeved white button up untucked over some straight black jeans and white sneakers. His form slightly illuminated by the window he was standing near, the morning light filtering through his light hair giving it an angelic tint. As she was stuck in her stalk-OBSERVATION, he tucked the book under his arm, and turning his back to her, he made his way to the registers none the wiser that he was being carefully observed.

Uzi watched his fleeting form and made sure she saw him leave the bookstore before scrambling to the manga section, avoiding the windows and catching her breath. The other patrons in the aisle gave her a strange look before shrugging and resuming their shopping. 

Hovering her hand over her heart to calm it, she took one last peek towards the entrance to make sure he didn’t walk back for something he forgot. Once the coast was clear she stood up straight and tugged the button half of her hoodie to release the stress in her body.

Ok, this was just a fluke, can’t expect visitors to just stay inside all day and not explore a city they've never been to before while they weren't in the dojo, she reasoned with herself. Nothing she can’t work around, the plan she had for today is still in place.

Smacking both her cheeks to hype herself back up, after perusing the isles for a few hours she found two manga volumes she needed and made her way to the front to purchase. Happily placing her books into her tote she exited (and made a couple more cautionary looks around each block) she thought about what she would want to pick up for lunch.

A greasy burger combo sounded good, and maybe she’ll grab some groceries for dinner tonight after grabbing her drink treat. She was thinking coffee, or maybe boba, or maybe even a coffee boba. Who needs sleep anyways? She had manga to read and not like she had to be at the dojo early since she was avoiding it for this week. 

She could stay up all night after reading and play some video games, the one place where she wouldn’t run into the person she was avoiding, she was sure. Yeah! The plan was back on track and even had more fun things added to it! 

Before she knew it she was brought out of her thoughts as she reached for the handle to the burger joint only to see that familiar silver halo on the other side cleaning up his trash from lunch. She dropped her hand from the knob as if it had burned her and fell backwards, scuttling like some demented crab into a narrow alleyway, pressing her back to the cool brick and heart beating out of her chest.

She heard the familiar swoosh of a door opening and closing and quiet steps that were steadily growing louder as they neared. She turned her face from the alley entrance and closed her eyes to will herself invisible. The steps grew in intensity and then started to fade as a brush of air hit her side. A puff of left her lungs that she didn’t even know she was holding till now and sighed deeply as the steps wandered away leaving a faint trail of cologne.

Cautiously she left her hidey-hole, peaking left and right to make extra sure. Seeing a familiar broad back clad in a crisp white shirt and wavy windswept white hair walking away towards a crosswalk.

What the hell is going on today? How could she run into him this many times in a city this large? Is the universe conspiring against her, forcing her to face her fears and apologize?

Yeah no, this was just one big coincidence! The bookstore isn't that far from the burger place, logically one would stop to eat at a nearby place, it's lunch time after all! Nodding with her reasoning she ordered her food to-go, she wasn’t going to be caught mid-bite and embarrass herself even more. Her take out would get cold at this rate but it was a chance she was willing to take.

To err on the extra side of caution Uzi decided to take the bus to her favorite boba shop nearest her apartment and a small grocery store around the corner. On the trip there she took out her phone and decided to make a mobile order, opting for a coffee milk tea with boba, 100% sweet. She got off the bus and made her way a couple of blocks to the boba place, noting the long line and groups of people idling near the entrance waiting for their orders.

She smiled to herself for her forethought and entered the building, shuffled around the crowd of people to reach the counter. Where a few drinks were sitting around waiting to be picked up. She spotted her order and grabbed it just as another was being set down, a familiar breeze of cologne filled her senses.

Her fist tightened on her drink.

Don’t be a freak Uzi, maybe it's a popular scent. Tons of men could be wearing it, it's not like he owns it. She released the tension on her drink, nodding to herself. Until a soft voice tentatively called out from in front of her.

“Uzi?”

Violet eyes met golden brown, the former opened in shock as they snapped upward. 

Oh God this couldn’t be happening. 

There he was behind the counter, in generally the same outfit from the bookstore and fast food place, with the sleeves rolled to his elbows and a green apron with the store logo on the front.

He works here? I’ve never seen him here before. Did he just start today? What happened to visiting?

No…she thought back, her dad never said they were only visiting, only that they were guests. She had made that assumption that they were going to leave at some point. She jumped to that conclusion all on her own and never even considered that they have other things to do in their lives other than martial arts training. Her eyes slowly made their way to the floor as she frantically speed walked towards the front door.

“Uzi, wait!”

Ignoring his call, her face filling with heat. This place was packed, he was making a scene! She spared a glance back when she heard multiple splats hit the floor. There was a sticky puddle in a rainbow of colors now gracing the floor under his white shoes. White shoes that were now in front of the counter and not behind it. Did he vault over the counter to get to her and spill all those drinks? 

She couldn’t raise her eyes to meet his again and she pushed the door open to rush out, hearing a feminine yell out ‘N, YOU MORON! CLEAN THIS UP!’ So focused on these thoughts of escape she failed to notice the group of guys coming in and promptly ran face forward into them, the drink squished between them and erupted in a dark mess.

“What the FUCK!” holding his arms out watching the dark liquid seep into his shirt. His two friends behind him erupted into laughter.

“Bro! Your shirt!”

“Chad, that shits gonna stain hardcore.”

Using her hoodie sleeve to wipe the coffee from her face, her embarrassed state swiftly changed to enraged. 

“Watch where you’re going shit-head!” further using her sleeve to dry off the front of her she lamented her ruined drink and possibly her ruined night as she grumbled, pushing past the group of men.

Only to be roughly grasped by the hood of her coat and pulled back.

“You little bitch, you think you can pour your drink on me and just walk away scot-free? Are you crazier than you look?” 

Swiftly getting annoyed with this situation, Uzi slipped closer to Chad turning slightly to reach up into the sleeve of his soiled shirt to grab his collar together and twisting it together in her fist. Maneuvering into his shoulder, her back against him, she looped her free arm to grab his extended arm and threw him over her shoulder onto the pavement.

His arm released and he clutched his head in pain gasping for breath. The rage in his eyes as he struggled to turn from his back to his front struggling to stand as Uzi looked down on him with contempt.

“Don’t touch me asshole!”

The thing about Judo is it's great for one on one, not so great in group settings. She forgot about his two buddies who had creeped up behind her, each grabbing an arm. She yelped out in surprise as she struggled in their grasp watching as Chad slowly stood up, wiping a thin trail of drool from the side of his mouth with his thumb. His shirt was slightly ripped at the collar now from the throw, as t-shirts don’t have the greatest grip a gi does.

“Little girl wants to fight so bad, fine. I was going to let you off in exchange for a date, but then you had to go and blame me for shit I didn’t do.” He said, grabbing the front of her hoodie tightly as he reared back his arm, fist clenched.

Only for a wet slop sound to be made, the smell of stagnant water and a nauseating amount of fruity and milky smells filling the air. Uzi stared at the scene in front of her, her struggling calming to a still as she tried to make sense of what just happened. She could feel her two captors freeze beside her as well.

Was that a soaking wet mop head currently in Chad's face? She followed the mop head down to the solid wood handle which was just over her shoulder and tried to crane her neck to see who was holding it.

“Hiya fellas! Don’t mind me, just cleaning up a spill.” A voice said cheerfully. A shudder involuntarily went down her spine, that line that was said so cheerfully didn’t feel cheerful at all; in fact it sounded downright enraged. Also, she knew that voice, that was the voice she’s been trying to avoid all day, and can’t seem to get away from no matter what. It was official, the universe hated her and was doing everything in its power to make sure she was thoroughly embarrassed.

Her thoughts were suddenly cut off when the mop head reared back and thrust forward with enough force to shove Chad backwards into the parking lot. Before either of his two friends could react the wooden barrel retracted and quickly went between the guy on her right legs, where it was brought up swiftly and without mercy, causing him to release his grip on her in favor of cradling his abused genitals.

The guy on her left, released his grip to turn and confront her would be savior only to turn around and get wacked on the side of the head, and then also pushed back with the butt of the mop straight into his stomach. He fell over clutching his gut, desperately trying to get back all the air that was pushed out from the harsh thrust of the mop. 

The two friends slowly collected themselves and made their way to Chad to pick up his unconscious form, all while keeping their eyes on the figure standing behind Uzi.

“We apologize for the mess, please come back later when the rest of the trash gets thrown out!” N chirped out. Causing the two men to look at each other and quickly drag their friend away. Uzi stood stock still, watching their retreating forms before she herself attempted to make her way down to the corner street to make a mad sprint for her apartment like she did yesterday only to be stopped by that very same mop handle.

“Uzi.” He said softly, frowning slightly when she refused to turn to him.

“You’re all sticky, let's go back inside to the break room, I have extra pairs of shirts you can borrow and you can use the bathroom to clean up the mess.” He slowly removed the mop that was barring her, but not before taking her hand to make sure she didn't take off again and leading her back inside the boba shop. Uzi kept her eyes on the floor hiding her blazing face from the crowd who was silently watching from the window-paned entrance. She could feel their stares as she was quickly led behind the counter and into the back break room. 

Once the door closed an eruption of cheers could be heard although slightly muffled, all excitedly talking about what they all just witnessed.  Like how that small girl tossed someone larger than her into the floor or how that worker spun that mop around so quickly all they saw were dudes falling left and right!

N was busy digging through his locker for a spare shirt, before making a humming noise to himself while holding up a black button up with a white spray painted and dripping ‘X’ emblazoned on the breast pocket. He turned to the girl who was currently sitting uncharacteristically quietly at the table and pressed the shirt into her view.

“Here, you can borrow this one, it might be a little bit big though…sorry about that. The bathroom is down the hall to your left and I’ll grab you a plastic bag to put your wet clothes in. Be right back!”

Uzi looked at the shirt and then back to where he indicated the bathroom was and then proceeded down the hall. Pushing open the bathroom door and locking it behind her she made her way in front of the mirror and peeled off her sticky, cold clothes from her body and scowled as she dropped them into the sink next to her. She took some paper towels from the side and wet them down with some soapy water and cleaned and dried herself up as best as she could under the circumstances.

What happened to her lazy day? She idly thought while drying herself with more paper towels and slipping on and buttoning up the oversized shirt, this thing was huge on her small frame. It was basically a dress hitting her at the knees, she had to roll the sleeves several times just to get her hands to appear. It smells like him…her face burned brighter at that thought, WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? 

She grabbed her soiled clothes and looked around for her tote only to walk outside and back down the hall to see N standing there, his back to her with her tote at his shoulder, a fresh drink in his hand and a plastic bag in the other as he promised. When he turned to face her he suddenly froze, raising his arm with the plastic covered drink in it he used it to shield his face from her. Was that a slight blush at the tips of his ears?

He thrust the plastic bag towards her which she graciously took and dumped her clothes into, tightly tied it shut and threw it on a chair.

“Why do you have multiple shirts readily available?” She asked glumly, reaching for her tote at his shoulder to check if her phone and manga were safe from the impromptu sweet bath.

“H-huh? Oh…I just started today and I’m kinda clumsy, so I figured when I make my inevitable mess, as you saw earlier, if any of it got on me I could just change quickly and get back to work!” He said proudly, no longer covering his red-fading face with his arm. Slowly he sat down next to her and presented the drink he was holding. 

Coffee milk tea with boba, 100% sweet.

“You dropped yours,” he said simply, looking at her side profile. She still wasn’t looking at him as she took the drink from his hands and stared at it. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes before they spoke.

“I’m sorry OK!”

“I’m sorry…by the way”

They both said at the same time. Her eyes finally turned to him as she frowned a little, he smiled a bit and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“What are you sorry for? I’m the one who insulted you the other day, sometimes I say things without thinking it through, J says I need a filter or a muzzle.”

“I threw you to the floor, knowing you didn’t know how to land right…and you were just trying to make conversation…I tend to hear insults in everything and just react and deal with the aftermath later.” Failing to add that she was trying to avoid the aftermath of yesterday by staying away from the dojo today. 

“Also… thanks… for outside and this.” she spoke quietly as she slightly raised the drink in her hands returning to not looking at him. 

“I’ll clean your shirt and bring it back to you here.” She stood up and made her way towards the front but had to stop short as it swung open, and nearly cracked off its hinges from the force. At the same time she felt him grab her hand to stop her.

“N GET YOUR SORRY ASS BACK IN FRONT-Oh” A taller girl with her silky hair pulled into a long ponytail stood at the door way, her peridot green eyes that were full of fury were now looking at the two infront of her through her long bangs suspiciously.

“I thought V moved fast, but in the breakroom N? And on company time.”

“J-J! It’s not what it looks like I swear!” He sputtered out, face flaming; he felt like he was going to pass out.

“Whatever, get back outside and get back to work. The line is insane and now they all want to see Jackie Chan with the mop to take their orders.” J scowled, turning on her heel and back out the door. They both watched as the door swung shut after her before he spoke again.

“Y-you can leave out the back exit Uzi, to avoid the crowd.” He said corralling her to a heavy back door with green blocky letters that read “EXIT”.

“Don’t worry about the shirt, just bring it back to the dojo tomorrow or whenever. I’ll be there early all week, got some stuff to bring in that your dad requested.” He smiled as he held the door open for her and watched her walk out.

“I’d walk you home but I’m on the clock, sorry, next time ok!” with a small wave he closed the door leaving her stunned.

Did he say bring it to the dojo? What did her dad ask for and why did it include him? 

Next time? What next time!

WHAT HAPPENED TO HER PLANNED QUIET WEEK!?

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Chapter Text

Uzi was sitting at her kitchen counter staring at a long sleeve shirt hanging crisply from a cabinet knob. Thinking back a few nights ago and how she acquired said shirt and scowling softly to herself. She had indeed holed herself away in her apartment for the past week in order to avoid whatever other mess the universe decided to send to her. Her self isolation would be extended into the next few years if she had any choice in the matter but she knew she had to suck it up and return what was not hers. Also, her parents were texting her phone into combustion about her whereabouts and why she has not been showing up to the dojo but all she replied was she wasn’t feeling well and has been resting.

Slamming her hand on her counter and standing up with another irate growl she snatched the shirt off the hanger, folding it neatly and then stuffing it not so neatly into a paper bag. Snatching her keys and bag she slammed open her apartment door and abruptly stopped at the threshold, slowly poking her head out and peeking to her left and right.

No moving boxes, no fluffy silver hair. Good, the universe is finished with its practical jokes (for now).

Locking her door behind her and shuffling towards the stairs, she jumps the railing with bags in tow and rolls to her feet as she hits the ground floor. Stairs are for regular humans, not her. FItting her headphones over her decorated ears she began her wait at the bus stop.

The bus trip was uneventful as she stepped off making her way to the dojo. She noticed some debris near the adjacent building boarding the dojo but thought nothing of it as she pushed through the glass doors, giving the receptionist a bit of an off handed wave as she slid the paper door to the side. Failing to see and or hear said receptionist waving frantically at her to get her to stop.

Taking her phone out and pausing her music she finally lifted her eyes only to be met with multiple new pieces of training equipment. Several wooden dummies with three rotating bases and blunt stick ‘arms’ and ‘legs’ jutting front them were lined up in what used to be the central mat which has since been removed. The wall of mirrors had also been switched to a long set of paper doors that were currently pushed open to reveal a new room.

The former mentioned central mat was now located in the new room, along with the wall of mirrors pushed to the far wall. It looked as if the original room had just been picked up and placed into the created space with exception to the door leading to reception, in its stead now stood a paneled pane of foldable glass doors, which have also been pushed open to let it some air.

Turning her attention back to the wooden dummies Uzi noticed a few more additions including a few all-in-one gym racks which were placed somewhat near the locker rooms lined neatly against the wall. These new work out tools included small foldable weight benches, pulley system for weight lifting, and all-in-one bar set for pull ups with heavy ropes dangling from the side.

She started to question if she was in the correct building as all these new items were being used by nearly every male presenting student in the dojo. If they weren't using it they were hyping up the guy using it, goading them into adding an extra weight and repeating the process once they could no longer lift. 

Even the wooden dummies were spinning and whacking inexperienced users in unforgiving force, all except the two platinum users near the end who each of which was deftly blocking each spinning pole with precision, nearly in sync with their movements dodging their perspective poles and blocking when necessary. Every part of their bodies was in constant movement, no foot placement wasted, everything was calculated and planned out.

Slowly backing up and closing the paper door in the reception, Uzi slowly turned on her heel, walked back outside ignoring the amused look of the receptionist once again as she exited. Once outside she looked at the Doorman Defense symbol on the front window.

No, this was definitely the right place.

Walking back in while simultaneously removing her headphones she turned to the receptionist.

“What happened?”

With a small shrug making her brown braid bounce off her shoulder, “Your dad expanded with the Elliot’s help. Guess it’s a joint effort to expand.”

“They did all this in a week?”

“It would have taken longer but apparently it's easier to knock down a wall then build a whole new extension. The building next to us has been vacant for a while, so they just…bought it. Must be nice to be rich huh?”

“Ain’t that the truth…”

Slowly turning back to the paper door and sliding it open she noticed the pair had finished their work out with the wooden dummies. N, bounding his way over to V and offering her a towel and water bottle. Uzi could practically imagine a frantically wagging dog tail at the gesture. V all but snatched the towel and bottle from him, wiped her face and systemically threw it back in his face while taking a swig. N just laughed cheerfully as he removed the towel with a smile so wide and genuine he nearly brightened the whole room.

Oh.

Uzi knew they were partners but she didn’t think they were THAT type of partner. She took a glance down at the paper bag holding the crisp shirt, he genuinely is just a nice guy who helps out anyone …

Gritting her teeth slightly and clenching her hands tightly she stepped through the threshold and slammed the paper door closed behind her making her way to the locker rooms which seemed to still be in their original location thankfully.

She was intent on ignoring everyone in the newly dubbed pseudo gym, getting changed, practicing her forms and getting out, just like it's always been. Her momentary lapse of reading into things was getting scrubbed as she walked, only to be nearly tackled just as her hand reached out to push the door open.

“Uzi!”

“Ugh! Nick, get off you’re all sweaty and gross!” Pressing her hand against his face to put some space between them, she struggled in vain as her booted feet dangled a foot off the floor uselessly.

A small rumble tingled the palm of her hand and she realized he was attempting to laugh although muffled, then more muffled mumbling in an attempt to talk.

Rolling her eyes she removed her hand and let herself be held like a ragdoll. “I have no idea what you just said.”

“You’re finally here!”

“Uh duh, I’ve got shit to do and things to return. Here’s your shirt” she pushed the paper bag into his face, mostly to show it to him and most definitely not to block his way to close face.

He put her down and let her go to reach both hands to the paper bag, “Than-! …ks?” Looking down and all around only to be met with the swinging of the locker door.

Uzi rushed to her locker, hastily unlocking it and grabbing her gi and belt. She made her way to the women's bathrooms and began to change at the slowest pace she could in hopes that he would get bored of standing in front of the door.

After about fifteen minutes had passed of slowly doing the knots in her gi and belt, she began to remove all her piercings, placing them in a plastic bag to keep them all together which took another twenty minutes. Deftly tying her hair back into a small ponytail she deemed enough time had passed in which she could safely exit the locker rooms and begin her self practice.

And she was right, no more N, in fact he seemed to have joined the other guys in their struggle to lift the pole with all the weights on it to no avail.

Passing the gym area she made her way to the central mat to begin her warm up stretches. After a couple of wrist stretches, a soft thump landed to her left. Giving her new visitor a sideways glance she continued her stretches placing her legs in front of her and touching her toes.“The mat is not for naps, Thad.”

The darker blond haired man next to her let out a short laugh, “It is if you’ve been thrown so hard into the floor it knocks you out.”

“You were lifting weights, not practicing throws.”

“You should try the new stuff Zi, it's great! I’ll spot you!”

“Mmm maybe, we’d have to start small though I haven’t been here in a week.”

Thad shot up, placing his hands on the mat on either side of her hips “Really!?” 

“I said maybe! Now get out of my bubble dude, what the hell!”

She watched as he jumped to his feet and bolted to one of the free weight racks and set it up in excitement. Shaking her head slightly she caught golden-brown eyes on her then flicked over to the weight rack, she chose to ignore the golden gaze as she stood and stepped off the mat turning to pay her respects to the arena then walking over to the weight rack where Thad stood.

“Where are the weights?”

“You said start small, so we’re starting with just the bar!”

Groaning in frustration, but knowing he would know more about this then she would, she ungracefully layed down on the bench placing her arms up to grab the bar above her. Thad gently moved her arms into the correct positions directing her step by step on how to lift the bar, bring it to her chest and back up effectively. After a couple of repetitive movements he placed two five pound weights on either side of the bar, she struggled a little after two reps and he helped put the bar back.

“Not bad Zi!”

“Not bad? I can’t even lift like five pounds! How can I throw a grown ass man and not even lift this?!”

“Yeah but Judo is all about using momentum and grip, and the bar itself is like fifty pounds so technically you did like sixty!”

She narrowed her eyes and gave him a light punch to the shoulder where he proceeded to act like she had just broken his arm. Struggling to keep the grin off her face at his antics she let out a genuine laugh.

“Whatever dude…uh thanks… for the help”

Thad seemed stunned but quickly broke out of it with a laid-back grin, “No worries Zi, anytime. You wanna try the spinning wood dummies of death next? Always seemed cool to see movie martial artists use those things!”

Gazing around she noticed the students starting to file out for the day, and seeing no silvery blondes around she nodded.

“Sure, since people seem to be heading home and there's no way I’m going to embarrass myself in front of people by getting knocked out by a training tool.” She helped him put the weights back to their proper place and wipe down the equipment they used while they waited for most of the dojo to clear out.

After most of the people had left for the day, with a few stragglers sliding the large paneled glass doors and locking them securely, Thad and Uzi made their way to the wooden training dummies.

Uzi took a few tentative steps around it, analyzing where to start while Thad just jumped right into it keeping his left arm at a ninety-degree angle and close to his side he stepped forward and raised his right arm out to strike a wooden pole sticking out from the dummy with so much force it swung around and hit him in the face with a loud thwack! It caused the boy to stumble to the side where his shin hit the bottom prongs which also swung around and hit him in the back of that same leg.

Watching all this unfold, Uzi raised a brow and shook her head at his antics. She raised her left arm up to lightly push the first panel of her own wooden opponent, seeing it swing around slowly before catching it with her right hand. Repeating this a few times she decided to implement the second panel until a soft voice came from behind her.

“I could help you learn how to use it, you know.”

She jumped so high she could have stood on top of the wooden dummy all arched up like a scared cat. Was this guy a freaking assassin in a past life? She watched as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, a sympathetic smile gracing his lips. 

“Geez Nick, you training to be the first Copper-9 Ninja? I didn’t even hear you.”

“N & M’s! Thanks for bringing in all this new equipment bro!” Thad's voice came from the floor where he was cradling his legs.

N looked down and raised a brow at Thad, “No problem, you good?”

Thad just shot him two thumbs up, as he stood up shakily. “All good man, I think I should head home though now and ice these bad boys!”

Uzi’s brows furrowed as she watched Thad hobble away. She turned back to N only to find him staring at her instead of watching Thad leave and she jumped again.

“Is this the stuff you mentioned you had for my dad?” She said turning to avoid eye contact and gesturing towards the gym area. They hadn’t spoken since that night, when she decided to avoid him like the plague, until she couldn’t possibly hold out anymore. 

Today though she decided to put on her big girl pants to face the awkward situation she knew was coming and yet somehow it didn’t seem to be any less awkward in person than it was in her head, in fact it seemed even worse then what her head had come up with.

After the looks she spotted him giving V, she decided that keeping him at arms length so to speak. She’s not the type of girl to push her way into other people's relationships. Acquaintances, not friends; maybe even business partners since it seemed like her dad was merging two sister dojos into a singular dojo at this point. Although she had no real say in the business part of the dojo either.

Breaking her out of her internal conversation he spoke again, “Yeah, I thought you knew about all this beforehand so I didn’t mention it but you seem surprised?”

“Ah, yeah no, me and the old man aren't really on daily talking terms. He checks in about once a week to make sure I’m alive.”

“And mom?”

“She’s better, checks on me daily but I can tell she's busy with each call so I keep it short. Also, she rarely comes to the dojo anymore, keeps the paparazzi away. Anyways, I better get going.”

She turned and started to walk away from this conversation, not liking that they were rapidly becoming the last two people in the dojo. She stopped when he stepped in front of her, mostly to avoid slamming into his chest.

“What the hell?” glaring up at him, “Nick, get out of my way before I throw you out of it like the first time.”

“Uzi, are you avoiding me?”

“Huh?”

“I dunno, it just feels like you are after what happened a couple of nights ago, I haven’t seen you around…”

A cold sweat started to form, sending chills down her back. Her eyes darted around until they reached V, who was rapidly texting on her phone and walking out with her arm slung around Thad’s shoulders. Less in a “we’re together” way and more of a “he owes me money” way. She could hear the jingle announcing that they were leaving the building.

“Uh, V’s leaving, shouldn't you be going too Nick?”

“How come you don’t call me N like everyone else…?” a quiet downtrodden question to her question.

“You said we could call you anything in your speech.” she said matter-of-factly.

“...Yeah, but all my friends call me N.” He responded with a faltering smile.

“We aren’t friends Nicholas, we barely even know each other, it's only been a week and I was gone for like half of it!”

He flinched a little at the use of his full name and the rejection friendship, and began rubbing his arm in self soothing. “Well…we could be friends starting now! I’ll teach you how to use the wooden dummy!” He put his hands on her shoulders and abruptly spun her back around to face the dummy.

Taking her arms and putting them in the correct positions he started explaining the movements, “You block with your forearms with enough force to get it to spin to block with your other arm! To get the other panels moving you implement downward strikes as well as your legs, using the side of your leg to block and push back.

We should probably just start with the focus on the first panel though when you’re more familiar with the timing we can add in the others!”

He reached around her and stopped the lower two spinning panels before they hit her then moved back up to put her arms back in position. In doing so she could feel his chest press against her back as he moved her arms up and forward before stepping back and allowing her to begin at her own speed seemingly oblivious to what he just did.

Uzi felt her whole body heat up but kept her back turned to him and began to knock the wooden post around more firmly then when her and Thad were just messing around. She wasn’t going to let him see her fluster, and if she had to stand here all night for her blush to go down she would. Thankfully she got a hold of herself quickly and sped up her assault on the wooden dummy, she grabbed the post after the last rotation to get it to stop.

Turning towards him but keeping her eyes to the floor she ground out a small almost whisper ‘thanks’.

“Hm? Didn’t quite hear that, say again?”

“Ugh! I said thanks! For teaching me this…and for the other night and the shirt! I don’t like owing people shit so name your price.”

He smiled so widely she realized what she had just said, "No, wait- price as in monetary not-!”

“EEEEEEEE we’re friends now!”

“N-no! God dammit I ran right into that one…Guh FINE, we’re friends now.”

Loathed as she was to befriend this literal incarnation of a golden retriever, she felt a weight lift off her chest as she walked towards the locker rooms once again, N following behind like a happy puppy. She had a loner reputation to uphold, but she was glad to see her acceptance of this strange friendship had cheered him up. When she had denied it before he looked as if she had ripped his heart out with her bare hands and watched her eat it infront of him. If this friendship made him this happy, she could deal with the aftermath later.

She changed quickly putting her piercings back in place before walking back out to find N waiting patiently.

“Oh, thought you’d have taken off by now.”

“Nah, I was waiting for you. Since I don’t know when you’ll show up here again, do you have Discord?”

An innocent enough question, but her cheeks suddenly flushed deep red again as she remembered her screen name. Was she really going to say it out loud to a living person? Sighing deeply and reminding herself to change her display name later she muttered out “It’s darkXwolf17…”

Surprisingly he didn’t react, he just pulled out his phone and began typing. A small ping resounded on her own device and she pulled it out to see the friend request from ‘GoldN_Boy’. She looked up at him with an arched brow only to find him smiling giving her a small shrug as she rolled her eyes and hit accept.

Chapter Text

To say that Uzi was sore was an understatement.

Groaning and shuffling from under her purple nest of blankets and pillows she wondered what sort of noodle arm weakling she really was. Shifting slightly so her face was embedded into her pillow to stifle another moan of pain as she moved her pained limbs to her side she briefly entertained the idea of staying this way until she either healed or asphyxiated herself. 

Alas, as usual the Universe wasn’t on her side.

Incessant pings on her phone interrupted her pain pile in such intervals that it couldn’t be ignored. With more effort than she’d care to admit she lifted an arm out of her blanket cave and felt around for her phone, slowly unlocking it.

GoldN_Boy Today at 7:15 AM

Uuuuziiii

Uzi?

U awake yet??

GoldN_Boy Today at 7:18 AM

:(

Wake uuuup

Scowling to all gods that existed and whichever one decided to make this literal ball of sunshine  rise with the sun needed to be killed immediately. Once she found out which one it was, she would do it. She would kill god. Until then she decided to respond as naturally as possible.

darkXwolf17 Today at 7:30 AM

dude its the weekend…

why are you waking me up

i should be in a coma right now till like noon

GoldN_Boy Today at 7:32 AM

:D there u are

want to come run around at the park?

This freaking guy, it was like she was talking to a dog who gained sentience and thumbs to text.

darkXwolf17 Today at 7:33 AM

bro i am so sore right now just let me rot

GoldN_Boy Today at 7:33 AM

Nooooooo!!!

sore where

darkXwolf17 Today at 7:34 AM

arms

i blame you by the way

GoldN_Boy Today at 7:34 AM

????

wut

if anything this is thads fault

anyways park? run?

ur arms have nothing to do with ur legs

darkXwolf17 Today at 7:34 AM

i changed my mind youre actually the devil

Ugh fiiiiine park by the church?

GoldN_Boy Today at 7:36 AM

Yus! Yaaaaay see u soon

wait wut was i before i was changed to devil??

Narrowing her eyes at her screen she decided to ignore that last message in favor of promptly slamming her face back down into her pillow to muffle another pained groan. Shakily lifting herself to sit upright. You will listen to me, body, being sore means not enough training and not enough training means not enough to win nationals. Standing and shuffling her way to the bathroom to complete morning maintenance she finished slower than usual. Either through reluctance or being up this early in general. Or both.

Quickly dressing in shorts with leggings underneath for warmth and a striped tank top covered by a purple windbreaker with a hastily ‘did-it-myself’ spray paint of a white skull emblazoned on the front. She kicked on her running shoes, tied back her hair and made her way to the bus stop. She arrived at the church quicker than she’d like, wishing the trip was slightly longer due to the sheer revulsion of what she was about to do. Running wasn’t her favorite thing, running in the early frigid morning especially so.

The park was a couple blocks down so she turned from the church corner and soon came up to the park entrance. When she rounded the corner she expected to see the personification of a sun beam, what she did not expect was a second person. Not that she expected this to be some sort of one on one thing…gross, definitely not.

“V?”

“Short stack.”

Clenching her teeth and rolling up her sleeves to her elbow ignoring the aforementioned pain, she started making her way to the taller woman. “That's it you bit-!” she strangled out as the tallest of the trio grabbed the back of her jacket collar holding her back to prevent a fight.

V smirked a little, crossing her arms while leaning down towards Uzi “let her go N, I wanna see what the little grape thinks she can do.” only to have the rabid girl pulled away even further, arms and legs reaching out to her wildly.

N sighed a little pinching his nose bridge with a free hand “V, be nice. We’re here to bond with our peer and to learn new things about her outside of the dojo.” he noticed the struggling stopped and looked down towards Uzi who now had taken a wide stance and was pointing accusingly at him as best as she could while he still had a hold of the back of her coat.

“Nuh uh! No bonding thing! We’re gonna run a couple laps, and then we’re going to head to the dojo and then go our separate ways!”

“I’ll get you boba if you show up at the shop tonight, on me.”

Uzi’s response was immediate, “Deal.” 

“Damn that was quick, N’s got you on a leash already.” V leaned back as Uzi lunged for her again, N not having let go yet pulled her back yet again.

“V, get a head start, because once I let her go she’s going to be after you like a small rabid badger.”

Uzi ceased her struggling to slowly turn her head towards N, if looks could kill he’d be dead by now. She could see him start to sweat nervously 

“I-I mean uh…like a very tough and tall..uh..”

With slowly growing rage in her eyes as she began to turn, grabbing his arm that was latched to the back of her coat with a firm grip, she stepped forward into his space before slowly lowering her head and bending at the knees at the same time before releasing and headbutting him right in the chin. N’s head snapped back from the force, he staggered back clutching his now bruising chin which in turn caused him to release his hold on Uzi’s coat.

“Gah! I bih muh tung!” but neither woman had heard him as V was already halfway across the park cackling, with a enraged Uzi sprinting after her.

Once again Uzi found herself lined up on the mat peering down the lines at her dad at the front. Khan seemed giddy at the new improvements and extra addition of doors, but reeled himself in coughing to clear his voice a little.

“Good news everyone! Nori, my wife, who is an accomplished martial artist herself (and love of my life and also my wife, did I mention that already?) has landed a movie deal! And for the next few months I am going to be staying by her side as she works through her own stunts while filming!”

Uzi nearly fell into the aisle, she was excited sure, but what about the dojo? Khan continued on oblivious to the concerned looks that were starting to pass around.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering what will  happen to the dojo in my absence, and I am additionally excited to announce that our sister dojo has accepted to oversee operations along with my own daughter Uzi as an additional test to her belt graduation to black belt!”

“WHAT!” This time she did jump into the aisle as she stomped her way towards her father.

“There you are Uzi!” Her dad put his hands on her shoulders, deftly spinning her around to face the rows of students who were now looking at her in apprehension, some even in confusion as to who she even was. Violet purple eyes opened in shock as suddenly being at the front and center of everyone's curiosity. She knew it was a possibility that she would have to lead a class on her own as part of her belt graduation but she didn’t think it would feel this way with so many eyes on her now.

“She’ll start today under my guidance, but after today and through next week it will be her and our two new wushu students leading the class into practicing and perfecting their forms while also learning new techniques from our sister dojo!”

Uzi glanced to the left where N and V were standing at the front of their rows, N waving and giving her a thumbs up while V rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Her attention was brought back to her dad who was patting her back with a little too much force, making her stumble forward before he leaned in close and whispered ‘you’re going to do great kiddo! I can’t wait to present you with your new belt when I get back!’ Leaving no room for rebuttal he ignored her sputtering to address the class again.

“Now! Pair up, practice your throwing and your falling, Uzi and I will come to each pair to observe and offer suggestions or corrections. Afterwards, we’ll begin to learn the basics of wushu!” 

“Yes Sensei’s!”

Uzi sighed into her locker, holding onto the swinging door tightly because if she let it go she's sure she’d pass out.

Nearly all of the students had cleared out of the front rooms of the dojo, she was taking her time leaving and making sure there were no stragglers, being one of the people overseeing other students was not what she was thinking when she walked in today.

She knew the promotion from brown belt to black was more than just showing learned moves and applying them in point matches, but she didn’t think this is the path her dad would take. Also, why was she the last to know about all this? She took out her phone and glanced at her mothers text thread that had last mentioned ‘something exciting to share’ this morning but radio silence afterwards. 

Was this the great news? The movie deal and Uzi taking over for a few months? 

She was broken from her thoughts when a loud cacophony of noises came from the men's side shower room. Said door was thrown open so hard it rattled in its frame, steam pouring from the entryway like a 80’s rock show, two towel clad figures rushing out of it before the shorter of the two jumped onto the bench across from Uzi’s aisle, winding up a spare towel into a thin line and pulling it taut, in a makeshift whip before exclaiming 

“c’mon N&M’s!” the dirty blonde's voice deepened a little, mimicking a certain video character “SHOW ME YOUR MOVES!”

The taller silver blond smirked as he put both his hands up in a loose guard, also speaking in a pitch lower than usual, “you might have the high ground Thaddeus! But you’ll never take me alive!”

Uzi sat there dumbfounded at what was unraveling before her, they didn’t even notice she was here. Obviously, as she’s sure they wouldn’t be running around half naked if they had known anyone else was still left in the building.The sound of a towel cracking and a small struggle as she watched N take on a defensive block gripping the towel-whip tightly. She stood there a little watching their play fight and totally not ogling their shirtless bodies before shaking her head deciding that she should probably announce her presence.

“Those quotes aren't even from the same genre.” she called out loudly.

The dual high pitched girly scream of surprise that came from the two supposed grown men was something she wished she had recorded as she struggled to keep a strained grin off her face. She folded her arms and cleared her throat to beat back the chuckle that was threatening to break her angsty facade. After successfully keeping her face straight she waited as the two men quickly faced her, crossing their arms across their bare chests as if they were hiding intimate parts.

“Zi, you’re still-” Thad cleared his voice trying to shake the high pitch squeak from it “you’re still here.”

“Duh, I gotta lock up now, I thought you guys went home already.” She turned to look at N who looked away just before his eyes met hers, his whole body flushed red in embarrassment. She turned back to Thad, if only to not blush at the sight of N, and keeping her eyes from wandering any lower than the shoulders.

“Put your clothes on, I’ve got things to do today that do not involve babysitting two naked grown-ass men.”

N turned even more red at that statement she was surprised his hair didn’t turn as red as the rest of him as she watched him nearly sprint away. Thad pushed his damp bangs back and broke out into a grin, giving Uzi a short salute, following his embarrassed friend back into the shower rooms.

“Aye aye sensei!”

Uzi rolled her eyes but quickly gathered her things and rushed out of the shared locker room area, double checking that all the entrances were locked besides the reception area. She pushed the final door open and took in a deep breath of the chill air putting her hands to her warm cheeks. Nope, she wasn’t going to think of what just happened, she was going to be a grown adult and repress this whole day. That’s what adults do when they’re embarrassed right? Repression?

Thinking back to it again, she didn’t even know the showers still worked here, despite the shower areas being blocked off by pin pad guarded doors, the women's side only used the stalls to change on busy days where they didn’t have time to change before arriving; whether that be from lack of faith of the pin door in general, or distrust of the guys attempting to brute force the code for entrance while they were at their most vulnerable.

She shook her head of these thoughts attempting a memory wipe, said figure whose particular image she was attempting to erase from her brain had walked out slowly, still avoiding eye contact and slightly less red as far as she could tell although there was still a light pink dusting his cheeks and the tips of his ears.

“I uh…I’ll see you tonight?” N murmured out quietly. Uzi almost forgot from this morning he was going to treat her to boba, maybe the thought was knocked out of her brain when she headbutt him in her fury of being called small; she wasn’t small, they were just freakishly tall!

She couldn’t help but tease him a little, even if she was trying her best to erase what was now becoming a core memory. “That depends, are you going to be dressed this time?” 

A new fiery red filled his features as he covered his face with both his hands which were also quickly changing color to match his face. 

A muffled “Please forget what you just saw!” creeped through his fingers as he slumped his back a little, turning from her, trying to make himself small enough to disappear.

This time a genuine laugh left her lips, unable to contain it any longer she burst out laughing clutching her stomach but still managing somehow to choke out a response, 

“When you said bonding this morning I gotta admit I did not expect THIS type of bonding! I guess I’m one of the guys now huh?”

While wiping a tear from her eyes she noticed he hadn’t responded right away, and looked up only to find him looking at her in awe, hands that had previously been covering his face were now slightly lowered as if he needed his face free to take in her genuine glee. A few beats passed before it was her turn to light up in a bright red flush as she glanced to her left, and began to fumble with the master key ring.

The awkward moment was broken when Thad burst through the doors loudly, mimicking the jangling bell above them to announce both his exit from the dojo and the entrance between them breaking the silence and N’s line of sight of the cutest thing he thinks he's ever witnessed (that wasn't dog related).

“See ya tomorrow Zi, N&M’s!” a laid back and nonchalant response from the sports obsessed man, Uzi had to wonder if he even remembered what he had been caught doing or if he even cared. Probably the latter as Thad never really cared for the negative opinions of others.

Shooting them both with a finger gun and a wink, he dropped his skateboard from under his arm and took off down the street, purple and golden brown eyes following him until he was out of sight.

Said eyes turned back to each other silently, until Uzi just nodded, turning on her heel to make her way to the bus stop. With her back turned she gave N a backwards wave and a simple “See you later tonight Obi Nick-kenobi.” she smiled to herself as only a strangled embarrassed sputter answered back.

Uzi pushed away from her desk where she had just finished ordering her class books online, and maybe perhaps downloading a few of them in totally legit ways from totally legit places; she checked the time in the corner of her desktop, 7:28 PM. Humming to herself she stretched and stood up following up on her promise to meet again and also free sweets. 

While waiting for the bus for the second time today she frowned, I should really get some sort of transportation, once school starts I won't have to wait on anyone if I had a super kick ass motorcycle to get around. I could get to and from school to the dojo in no time.

However, a bike required money, and money required getting a job. Scowling to herself she stepped onto the bus, sliding her headphones on and bringing out her phone to plan out the logistics of having a job, practicing in the dojo and going to school full time. 

After crunching the numbers and messing with her schedule a little she found a somewhat balance that wouldn't have her murdering everyone in her way. By the time classes started, her mother should be done filming, leaving her dad free to take up the sensei mantel again leaving her mornings free for school and perhaps a job at night. She could squeeze in practice time in between gaps, studying and the weekend. 

Biting her thumb nail in contemplation she got off at her stop and walked towards her favorite boba shop. Not because a certain someone worked there now, she liked it before he appeared thank you very much!

As usual it was packed, she pulled out her phone looking at the menu before glancing up and locking eyes with N who was waving at her from behind the counter, he had his phone out and was holding it out to face her, pointing at it with his free hand before typing on it. 

She looked down at her own phone when a message popped up.

GoldN_Boy Today at 8:15 PM

ur here!1!

u can step out of line just text me what u want

darkXwolf17 Today at 8:16 PM

wow personal service 

i could get used to being bribed into silence after what i witnessed today

still lookin get back to you in a sec

She heard more embarrassed squeaks through her headgear and a couple of plastic cups being dropped but didn’t look up to hide her growing smile. He was making this too easy. 

She stepped out of line and managed to find an empty single seat against the wall where a long floating counter was built in, just big enough to hold a laptop and a small book. This would probably make a good study area once she started class. 

Satisfied at her semi-secluded spot she opened the messaging app again.

GoldN_Boy Today at 8:16 PM

gkljdsfoai

yySI!!!

*UZI

darkXwolf17 Today at 8:17 PM

hehehehe 

cookies n cream smoothie w boba

get to work jedi master

Chapter Text

Turns out, getting a part time job isn’t so easy these days.

Who’s idea was it to need experience when you’re trying to get experience? What sort of roundabout logic was this?

Using the palms of her hands, Uzi slowly massages her eyes, attempting to release the stress from looking at job applications all day as well as relieve a headache she could feel forming from frustration.

What other ways could bring in some sort of income…she could open commissions again, but it's been so long she isn’t sure she has the followers anymore. Online anonymity had been her shield for so long she nearly forgot it was her who was posting at all. Slowly bringing up her profile she scrolled through her portfolio only to be interrupted by the chirp of a Discord message.

GoldN_Boy Today at 11:32 AM

wyd?

Squinting her eyes at the innocuous message she couldn’t help release a little chuckle. Since this was N, he probably thought it was a simple question with no underlying meaning but she couldn’t help but tease him in times like this.

darkXwolf17 Today at 11:32 AM

sorry not accepting booty calls at the moment

It took some time for a response but she could see the “GoldN_Boy is Typing…” indicator appear and then disappear then reappear, the smirk on her face growing as she imagined him frantically trying to formulate a response to her tease. Feeling generous she decided to be guh…nice. Just this one time.

darkXwolf17 Today at 11:37 AM

lol

jk 

just job searchin

GoldN_Boy Today at 11:38 AM

(⸝⸝⸝O﹏ O⸝⸝⸝)

u want a job?

darkXwolf17 Today at 11:39 AM

ya

saving up for a badass bike

to get to school of course

purely transportation and for no other reasons

>)

GoldN_Boy Today at 11:39 AM

hehe of course

y not check ur campus board, probably some student stuff available

Uzi put her hand to her chin, thinking. That's not a bad idea, school was starting soon and a job through the university would be flexible with her classes and general work life-balance.

darkXwolf17 Today at 11:41 AM

not a bad idea

thanks N

once i get the bike youll be the first person to ride it 

behind me of course

Unbeknownst to her, on the other side of the phone screen, N had dropped his phone onto his already red face at that statement. He praised all that was good in the world that he was currently home alone and laying on his bed because he’s sure he would have fallen over at the picture his brain had conjured of him riding behind a purple clad girl, arms wrapped around her waist as they flew through the town.

Removing his phone from his face he stared at the screen again, typing back a simple:

GoldN_Boy Today at 11:45 AM

yw!

Ignoring the images his brain was replaying and repressing them.

Standing at the front of the group of students N waved a stack of papers in his hands, “Alright everyone! We brought some interest forms for any of you who would like to learn some simple weapon work while Sensei Khan is out.” Uzi was sweating bullets to his right, not used to being the center of attention and certainly never having taught a class before. V was to his left inspecting her nails, looking utterly bored out of her mind.

“If you’re interested, please sign these and return them at the end of the day so we know how many training swords to ord-” A sudden wave of people rushed up to the front all reaching for a scrap of paper that was being held out of reach. Roaring chatter and grabbing hands made Uzi feel like she was being rushed by a zombie hoard, she’d never been pressed up between so many people before. She shimmined her way behind N, using the poor man as a meat shield, she’d rather be pushed up against one person then many.

“Ugh, no need to rush there's plenty for everyone!” As fast as the wave came, it dispersed just the same. Leaving Uzi to peek from around her hiding spot behind N, who looked like people were trying to take his uniform as well as a paper form. His gi was slipping from his shoulders and his belt was pulled somewhat to the side slowly unraveling, and it looks like someone had successfully stolen his headband as his hair was springing in all directions like he had been put through a washing machine. 

Suppressing a laugh and schooling her face to indifference, the shorter girl stepped back to his right. Even V had turned her head from him to hide her face behind her hand, her shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

He gave them both a look that made them feel like they were looking at a sad puppy caught in the rain while he pulled his uniform back together.

“That went differently in my head…”

“Probably should’ve had V pass those out.” The shorter of the trio quipped, face finally under control to show slightly sympathy.

“Yeah N, stop being a pushover. Use your height to your advantage or something, pick them up by the collar and glare at them, it always works for me.” 

The sudden image of an angry N,eyes narrowed and teeth bared in a snarl, holding up an unruly student one handed invaded her mind. A bright flush flashing her cheeks. Oh god no. NO. NO! You stop that right now Uzi Doorman!

She coughed into her hand and willed the heat in her cheeks away to shift the conversation; Uzi turned to her taller temporary co-teachers, “Annnnyways, do I get one of those forms? I want weapons!” 

Patting down his fly-away hair and letting out a small sigh at his missing headband he looked down at the feral girl beside him. 

“We included you in the count beforehand because we knew you would be all for it considering you tried to steal ours after the demonstration that first week.”

“I-I wasn’t going to steal them! I was just admiring them…closely!”

“You had one half way into your gi by the time we noticed.”

“Bite me!”

A sudden calloused yet manicured hand was placed on her head, and slowly forced to turn and look into a crazed grin and dull eyes. A manic giggle bubbled forth from a deceptively sweet voice, “So, seeing as how the weapons aren't here yet and that this was originally a judo dojo, howz about a little sparring teach.”

An involuntary shiver rolled up Uzi’s spine as she stared into V’s eyes. She deftly smacked the taller girl's arm off her head and turned her neck to the side eliciting a small crack and loosening her tension. Her own creepy grin growing to match, she turned and straightened her back then clapped in a familiar way. The students immediately fell into line, all eyes on her. She faltered slightly but decided to summon some confidence that she’d need to do this next part.

“Pair up, I’m going to demonstrate the third most used form, ‘O Goshi’ also known as the hip throw, after this demo we’ll be practicing the movement and then sparring.” Seeing that most of them had a pair and were watching intently, Uzi smiled to herself then turned to V, bowing to her. Before V had even finished reciprocating the bow, Uzi rushed in quicker than expected, bringing her right arm around the taller girl's waist, tucking her back into her front and using her left hand to grab the underside of her opponent's gi sleeve. Bumping her hip up she used the momentum to slam V into the mat.

A shocked silence permeated the air before, N stood back with a hand over his mouth and a conflicted yet sympathetic look. 

A small growl broke the silence as V slowly stood, before she rushed for Uzi. “Why you little worm!” only to be grabbed again and flipped to the other side. Uzi looked down at her for a second before looking back into the faces of shocked students and smirking a little.

“What are you looking at? Begin practicing!”

She turned back to the taller girl who was getting up again, her head tilting just slightly with a more crazed look in her eyes along with a smidge of rage. She braced down ready for the inevitable rush, only to have N step in between them, ever the mediator. She kept her defensive stance but loosened the tension in her legs.

“Now now, we’re supposed to be learning throws, not starting un-regulated fights.”

V was now being held back by two hands on her shoulders but she was still glaring at Uzi “She started it!”

“We’ll technically you did V, a couple of days ago at the park.”

“Ugh, you always take her side!”

Uzi couldn’t see N’s face from where he was holding V back but she noted that the tips of his ears were turning slightly red. Tilting her head a little she wondered if he was straining to hold his friend/crush(?) back despite their size difference, maybe V was stronger then she looked.

“S’all right N, V seems to want to learn more throws. I’d be happy to throw her more to get it in her head. She’s such a good student.” she snickered. 

N turned his head over his shoulder to look at her, letting out a small sigh. “I don’t think that's a good idea Uzi, I’ll be V’s partner for now. I’ve got to learn the throws too. You should go around and supervise everyone else's form though!”

Nodding, somewhat reluctantly, she turned and began walking the mat supervising, adding input and correcting forms. Watching Uzi leave, he turned his attention back to V, who was now standing there with her arms crossed pouting a little after wriggling from his grasp.

A scene that should have been making his heart race and his knees weak, but instead he felt nothing of the sort. He hovered his hand over his chest nestled between the small opening of his gi only to find that his heart was beating steadily and evenly. 

He turned back to V to placate her a little, pushing the issue (or non-issue) with his heart into the back of his mind. “If you have the movement down from before can you teach me?”

V met his eyes and unfolded her arms, clenching and unclenching her fists. “I got the gist of it, I’ll have to throw you around a couple of times to teach you though.” The grin was slowly creeping back into her face at the idea of throwing N.

His plan had worked, he diffused the situation and cheered up V. A happy smile graced his face but quickly downturned as he felt a fist grab the front of his gi in an oh so familiar way.

>

“Oh biscuits…”

The familiar weightless feel and the inevitable hard greeting of the mat met his back.

A couple of weeks later, large boxes arrived at the dojo. Excited chatter and groups of students were surrounding the packages. V strolled in, a lollipop stick lazily hanging from her lips. Tilting her head slightly she walked over to the crowd which dispersed around her like a school of fish making way for a shark. Pulling a small knife from god knows where she spun it deftly in her fingers before bringing it down on the top most container ripping through the tape and simultaneously ripping the box aside.

Black foam, coating shiny silver each in their own protective space met her eyes. The training swords were in. It was time for some payback. 

Uzi strolled in an hour later, to be met with various people holding their brand new swords. She felt her heart kick up in excitement as she ran up to the nearest group. 

“Today's weapons day!?” she exclaimed, ignoring the startled look of the group in favor of looking at their new training items. Luckily Thad had been a part of said group, and he broke the silence with an excited “HELL YEAH!” The rest of the group followed suit as they all turned to their pseudo-sensei showing off their weapons.

Unable to contain her excitement, Uzi dashed into the locker room, changing in record time. One would think she had her gi on under her clothes with the speed she came rocketing back out. The locker door had barely just begun its close by the time she tackled N who was across the dojo helping distribute the last of the swords, marking off names on a checklist.

Stumbling forward a little at the force, he juggled the clipboard he nearly dropped before firmly grasping it. Turning down to look at the purple mess of hair currently pressed into his side, only for pleading violet eyes to meet him. He felt his heart stop, and a sudden jolt of lightning to start it again as he sucked in a deep breath. Hiding his face with the clipboard in both hands to hide his quickly reddening face he spoke in an octave higher than normal.

“Y-your sword is with V, she wanted to personally give it to you so you can practice with me-her…u-us! a-after we show the students what to do.” His face turned even deeper red with the higher pitch and he coughed quickly to clear his throat. 

She scurried away after giving him a quick barely there squeeze around his waist. He felt his heart jump into his throat again from the hug as he watched her tackle V to the floor. Ignoring the various expletives spouting from both of the women, he ran his hand over his chest again feeling the fluttering heartbeat. 

Oh.

Oh no.

He’s had a one-sided crush on V for years, this can’t be happening! At some point in this very short month, this purple gremlin with her crazed cackling, quick wit, and strength beyond her stature wormed his way into his heart. When did that happen? How did that happen?

He turned back to the two women to see them both standing, V holding her arm up containing Uzi’s sword just out of reach and the latter jumping up and down with both hands stretched out trying to grab it.

He cleared his throat further, re-checking his list to see all weapons had been signed out and accounted for. He never did find his headband after signups, so he had to dig up a new one from his collection. He removed the thick, vibrant yellow fabric, re-orienting and replacing it to the center of his head pushing his bangs from his forehead. 

With a quick check to the mirror wall at his back he took a step up to the mat grabbing his own sword from his case, he bowed before getting on and then called on all the students to gather up to begin with the first wushu form lesson.

Standing with feet together and a single sword held loosely in his left hand, its blade hiding behind the straight of his arm he slowly brought his right hand up facing the students before slowly pressing it palm down to the floor.

He brought his palmed hand back up and over his head while bringing up his sword arm up, maneuvering it up along his forearm, stepping forward widely he brought the sword hilt facing in and grabbed it. Swinging it forward then up and over his head behind his back quickly he brought it up to his face stepping with his legs pressed together back in the original starting stance.

The usual kata, or routine, was longer than this but with new wushu warriors there had to be baby steps involved to learn the whole routine. They had time.

He looked out into the rows of students and smiled brightly back at their dumbfounded stares.

“We’ll go through it step by step so just mirror me!” and so he began the steps again, slowly moving through the form and only moving on after they had correctly mirrored him. V was walking along the rows repositioning arms and fixing foot placement as she monitored the students following along.

>

After about an hour, N let the students disperse for free practice of whichever art they preferred. Of course since the swords were new many of them were swinging them around getting a feel for the weight and movements again. Which included Thad and Uzi who were clanking their swords together in a mock fight.

N stood and watched them until he felt a presence beside him. 

“She’s not bad, form wise…she learns quickly and if you tell her I said that I'll kill you.” V said watching the two friends clumsily mimic her and N’s mirror demonstration from the first day. “She’s already got an ego the size of the planet.”

Chuckling softly, his eyes never heaving left the friend duo, “imagine if they made her tall enough to fit said ego.”

“Oh god, don’t even imagine that N! She’d be a freaking amazon! The universe nerfed her for a reason!”

After a quick laugh from them both at the image of an amazon Uzi, a comfortable silence formed between them as they watched their new friends resort to some strange mixture of wushu and judo that involved throwing a person and then attempting to stab them instead of pinning.

V turned to N, clearing her throat and avoiding direct eye contact, a small blush on her own face. “You like her, don’t you?” she said after a while.

He was silent for a moment before turning to her, giving her a small smile, “...Yeah. I think I do.” As awkward as it was talking to his former crush about his current crush, the air felt clearer to have admitted it out loud even if it was only between them.

V grinned a little before turning to watch Uzi and Thad roughhousing again. “For what it's worth, I’m happy you’re happy N and I’m sorry I couldn’t give you what you want, not in the way you want anyways.”

The taller of the two jumped slightly before turning fully to face the girl beside him. “You knew!?”

“Duh, you aren’t subtle N, you love with your whole heart on your sleeve. You think I couldn’t see those longing stares, or hear your mumbled confessions? I’m not stupid.” She turned and gave him a genuine smile, missing the usual contempt. “Don’t think that this gets you out of being friends with me though!”

Trying his best to get the startled look off his face, he smiled back, “Wouldn’t dream of it!”

Nodding her head she somberly mumbled, “at least one of us can admit it anyway…” She flicked her eyes to her phone, where a ping from Lizzy came through, a link to some store full of fancy clothing. 

She smiled at the name but put off replying instantly to look at the blond boy who was now pinned to the wall by Uzi who was ceremoniously holding two swords now and arcing them back for a blow to end it all. As much as you can end with blunt training swords anyways, it would leave a nasty bruise that's for sure.

“You should probably stop her, you know, before she decapitates Thad with the equivalent of two spoons to the neck.” She said her eyes lingering on Thad, who was smiling nervously but making no movements to free himself.

“Oh, sweet honey iced tea…! UZI NO!”

Chapter Text

Uzi was trying, she really was.

Why wasn’t this sword being as fluid as she imagined in her head?

N and V made it look so easy. Although, that would be due to the fact that they had been training with weapons for a good portion of their lives. She wouldn’t be surprised if they could fight perfectly even while blinded or asleep even.

She hoisted the nimble sword over her head to get back into position, taking a deep breath she began the movements she learned from prior classes.One step forward, bring the free arm up and infront, arc sword down and behind then back up while simultaneously bringing in the lagging leg.

Flipping the sword around, the straight edge resting against the back of her arm. Bringing her feet back together she sighed deeply, taking a couple steps back to begin the beginning form again, this time without consciously thinking about each movement. It wasn’t as fluid as she would have liked, she still wasn’t quite used to the weight of something in one of her hands but not the other. Maybe this is why they used double swords in the demo, and she would never admit it out loud but a singular weapon was probably all she could handle at the moment. Unless she grew an extra limb at some point to hold another item comfortably or something.

Scowling to herself, she looked around at the mostly empty dojo. She had come in a little earlier than normal to get some practice in before classes started. The lights were barely on, and the receptionist was still setting things up.

Making her way to the lockers, she quickly changed – gave her face a quick wash, removed her small hair tie and ruffled her hair before shoving her beanie over the plum mess. Good enough, well, good enough for class.

It was official. Uni was boring.

Tapping her mechanical pencil against her thumb, Uzi rested her head in her free hand, lazily looking at white board where the lesson on advanced circuits was currently being projected. The lab couldn’t come soon enough, then she’d be able to build something interesting for once!

It didn’t help that this certain professor had the most dry, monotone, droning voice. He also spoke slower than she thought humanly possible, by the time they got through one slide the class would be over. Tapping her pencil even faster she resisted the urge to crush it in her hand in frustration. She glanced at the time in the corner of her laptop for the thousandth time, seeing it had only been two minutes since the last time she looked. Groaning in defeat she hit her head against the small desk space of which most of her laptop was taking.

Her phone vibrated silently in her pocket, just once indicating a message and not a call. Keeping her head firmly planted she used her free hand to fumble around blindly for her phone; firmly grabbing it and bringing it to the side where she could side-eye it from her prone form.

GoldN_Boy Today at 3:32 PM

so hows class?

darkXwolf17 Today at 3:32 PM

im dying

i quit

She wasn't really, she was being dramatic of course. Once Uzi Doorman gets something in her head, she follows through. However, Dr. Ataya’s class might actually break her for once. Who knew the thing that would kill her would be sheer boredom. More buzzing brought her out of her ruminating, eyes drifting back to her small screen.

GoldN_Boy Today at 3:33 PM

???

u just started

u cant quit!

darkXwolf17 Today at 3:33 PM

Nope im definitely quitting

i’ll just build things in my apartment fr

who needs a piece of paper to tell me what to do

GoldN_Boy Today at 3:33 PM

ethics i think

darkXwolf17 Today at 3:33 PM

who needs ethics when youre a god??

this professor might be a god kilelr though

*killer

he talks so sloooooow

She quickly sent a gif of a DMV sloth from the movie zootopia. She nearly burst out laughing when N replied with a gif from that same movie of the main character slamming herself onto the counter in frustration.

darkXwolf17 Today at 3:34 PM

yeah its exactly like that

GoldN_Boy Today at 3:35 PM

after this u done for today?

darkXwolf17 Today at 3:35 PM

got one more class at 4:30

then i can go home and rot

Leaning over the counter a little, N raised his fisted hand to his face, gently bumping his index fingers knuckle against his lips. Staring at the phone in his free hand he contemplated on how to reply. He could ask her to come to the shop with the lure of free food and drinks, but would that be too obvious? She herself said wasn’t doing anything after her last class and it would be around dinner assuming the class was the standard hour-thirty. 

“Over V already?”

Startled out of his thoughts and from the sudden appearance next to him, he threw his phone into the air, before diving over the counter to catch it before it hit the floor to an untimely demise.

“Jeez, N, I know the shop is empty before the dinner rush but I’ve been standing here the whole time.”

Untangling his long legs from their resting place on the counter, he pushed himself up to a sitting position. Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, giving an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry J, a lot on my mind.”

“That’s a first.”

The sharp jabs J gave him, both physically and mentally, didn’t bother him much anymore; she was always looking out for him and V, ever since they were kids in her own strange way. Tough love he’d like to call it.

“...we’re still on the clock but I have time to listen.” She had said it so quietly he almost missed it. By the time his head shot up in her direction she was already looking away with a small frown, red faintly dusting her cheeks.

He quickly stood, making his way past her and back to his original spot behind the counter before his impromptu parkour. He pocketed his phone into his jeans, and took a deep breath before finally speaking.

“I still like V, but it's…different now. It's...been different for awhile now.” 

“Because of that purple thing?”

He tilted his head a little, flinching. Poking his fingertips together nervously.

“H-how did you know?”

“N, you threw yourself across the counter just to talk to her a couple weeks ago. You knocked over all the pre-made drinks and used the mop you were using to clean, to man-handle three thugs in front of customers and then practically gave her the shirt off your back.” Crossing her arms she stared at him as if that was the stupid question he ever could have asked in their lifetime.

She continued, “You’ve been staring at a chat window that has an edgy tag name in it, for the past hour before you actually typed anything. When you finally did type something, you looked like you were about to pass out.” she crossed her arms after this statement but raised one to freely wave it into the air.

“How did V take it?”

He fumbled for a bit after that verbal lashing, before getting together his thoughts. “She, uh…she’s good. In fact I think…she knew? So probably better than good.” 

“V may need glasses N, but she's not blind. Honestly watching that one-sided thing was painful. But you learned eventually right?” She slapped her free hand against his back a couple of times, causing him to stumble forward. Assuming it was supposed to be a ‘job well done’ gesture he glanced at her from the side and nodded slowly.

“...yeah, and now I’m trying to figure out a way to not mess up this time.”

“Well, what's she like, other than being a mouthy little goth who seems to be able to hold her own most of the time?”

He sighed wistfully before responding, “She's so cool! And strong and amazing, she’s learning so fast it’s almost super human. She has this confidence that she doesn’t really seem to care what everyone else thinks…she’s just being true to herself and making her way through life her way.”

“Wow, sounds like V but goth. You seem to have a type.”

“Emo.”

“Huh?”

“She’s emo, I think. Not goth.”

“Don’t make me hurt you on company time N…Anyway’s what’s your plan?”

He hummed a little to himself before reaching into his pocket for a carefully folded post-it note. Slowly unraveling it he put it on the counter and slid it over to J for her to take a look. She slowly read out the steps.

“Step 1. Become friends” it had a sticker shaped like a little star next to it, which J assumed was some sort of check of accomplishment.

“Step 2. Hang out.” This too had a sticker, shaped like a small barking puppy. “Step 3. Get married. Step 4. Live happily ever after in this universe and every reincarnation henceforth…” She glanced back up at N who was looking at her like a dog who was awaiting praise from doing the most amazing trick.

“I feel like you skipped a couple of steps between two and three…”

As she handed the note back to him, he tentatively grabbed it before noticing a third hand was grabbing onto it from the side across the counter. Said third hand had painted, chipping black nails and several different bracelets along the wrist.

“You guys trading notes at work? Can I get in on this team building?”

Both the platinum blonde’s jumped in surprise, both snapping their heads to the side to witness the very person they were talking about. Donned in a very casual ripped black jeans and a long-sleeved purple striped top that was pushed up to her elbows. Her signature teasing smirk and general mischief in her eyes.

“U-uzi!?” N screeched, desperately ripping the note from both her and J’s fingers. He clutched it to his chest as if to protect its precious contents from the world.

He spoke again in an octave higher than normal, “w-what are you–” cringing at the high-pitched noise his body just produced he cleared his throat and reset his voice. “What are you doing here, shouldn't you be in class?”

“I was, but the professor just went over the syllabus then set us free. Pretty cool if you ask me.” She shrugged, and continued. “So I figured I had some time to kill, and also needed a pick-me-up after Ataya’s class. So here I am.” She smiled slyly and began to reach out towards his chest again where his hands were still covering the note. “Anyways, whatcha guys reading? Did you get a hot chick's number?”

N frantically took two generous steps back before his butt hit the parallel counter, rattling the plastic cups in the process. Uzi, was undeterred, now on top of the counter on her hands and knees, still reaching menacingly. His mind racing, he decidedly crumpled up the note and popped it in his mouth, moving his mouth frantically to build up saliva and chew it up, before making a dramatic gulping noise. He hit his chest with a fisted hand a couple of times as if willing the paper to travel the rest of the way down his esophagus. Only after he felt like the note wasn’t going to make a triumphant adventure back up his throat did he look back into the shocked faces of both J and Uzi.

J sighed deeply and pinched her nose bridge. Uzi however broke the awkward silence first, “wow ok, chill out N, I was just teasing. You can keep the number secret.”

Oh god, she thought he was being propositioned! At work! Before he started to spiral, surprisingly J’s voice cut in rather professionally.

“Miss, I’m going to have to ask you to get off the counter please. And to not harass our staff during work hours.”

Uzi startled a little, as if she just realized J was still there before she slowly backed up and off the counter, her booted feet hitting the ground with quiet thumps. Fixing the beanie on her head she gave a small embarrassed smile.

“Haha whoops, uh can I just get a brown sugar milk tea to go? I’m self aware enough to know I made shit awkward.”

“NO! I-I mean, yes you can get the drink, but you don’t have to go! I’ll throw in something from the snack menu even, my treat!” Yes, nailed it N, he mentally pat himself on the back.

“O-oh, sure, yeah that's cool, guess I'll stick around then. So the drink and uh, popcorn chicken?” She turned to J who was methodically punching in the order. She gestured to the payment option to which the short girl hovered her phone over the card reader, a small beep indicating the purchase had been completed.

Watching the smaller girl walk away J then turned to N who was also staring after the purple girl for longer than necessary with a wistfully dumb look. Gritting her teeth she picked up an empty cup and threw it at the back of his head where it ceremoniously bounced off and fell to the floor with a light clatter. 

“You’re going to spend your whole paycheck on that girl giving her all these free drinks and food!”

N rubbed the back of his head where the cup had made contact as if it hurt even a little, ruffling his hair in the process before he turned to look at his coworker.

“Eh, not like we need extra money anyways. Tessa lets us stay at her place rent free. She even does the cooking!”

“N, with that attitude you’re going to be a free-loader forever!” She stepped forward poking an accusatory finger into his chest. “We need to be productive citizens in society in order to make our way up in the world! Now…get.back.to. work !”

He saluted genuinely at her before walking through the swinging door leading to the kitchen where he threw a few pieces of frozen chicken into the oil basket. The interaction had just happened but he couldn’t help but wonder how she snuck up on both of them so easily. Although J will  never admit it, she was a top performing martial artist in her own right, then abruptly switched to a money making mode, dropping it all together. Either of them should have noticed Uzi walking in easily…she was like a ninja…

A ninja…?

THAT’S IT! He knew what to get her that would stand out from food! He hurriedly tossed the fried meat into the basket and sprinkled over some seasoning. Meticulously placing some dried basil on top before rushing back out to the front to put the drink together. Once done, he took both the drink and the food, rushing around the counter ignoring J’s sputtering that they have to call the customer up to get their items and not hand deliver it to them.

He made his way to the small table Uzi was sitting at, an open sketchbook before her with scrupulous doodles of various weapons such as a three-section staff and a chain-wire weapon with a vicious looking hooked dagger at its end. The blank page she was currently working on had the beginning parts of a sketch of a person, who seemed to be holding two swords that looked suspiciously familiar.

He cleared his throat to get her attention before placing the order before her. She jolted in her seat a little and slammed the sketchbook closed. She took her drink, shook it a couple of times to mix it and popped in the straw taking a small sip.

“Thanks, I must have missed the ready call.”

“You didn't, I just brought it over.”

Her brows furrowed a little in confusion and he nearly leapt over the table to kiss the little wrinkle that formed. She was so cute!

“That something new you guys are doing or…?”

“Nah, that’s just what I do for friends.”

“Yeah? Jade over there doesn’t look too enthused about special friend treatment.” She pointed with the small toothpick that came with the fried chicken, to the ponytailed woman who was silently seething at them before she turned to grab a broom to angrily sweep behind the counter.

“Ah, J’s a…stickler for the rules sometimes, no big deal!”

Uzi snorted and teased “N, I had no idea that you're such a rebel!”

He grinned back after gesturing, taking a seat across from her, a slight nod from her and he sunk down into the chair, leaning with one arm resting on the back of it, legs splayed wide. 

“I’ve been a hardcore rebel my whole life!”

At that Uzi burst out laughing, hiding her face in her hand. She was glad there weren't many people today other than the occasional take out order.

“Okay hotshot, take it down a notch. Are you even on break?”

“I am now.”

“Alright, who are you and what have you done with N?”

“W-ah!?” Clutching the front of his apron cladded chest dramatically, feigning offence, “I’ve always been like this!”

“You sure? I recall seeing some tall lanky guy attempting to hide behind two women who were a full head shorter than him walking into the dojo a few months ago.”

He stuttered a little recalling the memory, “Ah, we’ll…I think that N got reset when a Judoka pro slammed his novice self into the floor. Knocked a few of the wires loose” he tapped his head for emphasis, shifting his weight in the chair to sit upright and more proper. 

“Or connected a few” she retorted with a faint tinge of red as she skewered another chicken on her toothpick and popped it into her mouth as a distraction.

He continued on seeing his opening she had unknowingly given him, “which is why the new synapses connected, N, is going to get to know his friend Uzi again.”

She arched her eyebrow, sipping her drink casually but indicated for him to keep going.

“What's your favorite color?”

She sputtered and choked on her drink giving him a confused look. Before gesturing to her purple hair and shirt. “Its green isn't that obvious?”

“Really?”

“No, dummy. It's purple.”

“You know what they say about assuming.” he smiled innocently.

“Now I really know you’re a new N, you referenced a joke with a curse in it.”

“Hey I can curse!”

“Yeah? Show me what you got, big guy.”

“ Ffff …fudge.” 

She put her hand over her mouth in mock-shock, “N, you potty mouth!”

He pouted, slouching to move forward to the table, his elbows and forearms resting comfortably. “I just prefer not to do it is all…”

“Nah, it's all good. It shows restraint I’ll say. You really are a rebel, a social one at least. In a world full of cusses, you stand strong against it.” She grinned, pushing the box of chicken towards him and handing him a spare toothpick at his questioning look. “Help yourself.”

His mind took over, a vision of her holding a piece of food out for him, a sly grin gracing her lips as she prompted him to open his mouth as she playfully fed him. Shaking his head of the image he stared back at Uzi who was tapping idly on her phone. What the heck was that ? His own mind betrays him, he hasn’t even dreamed anything like that before, nevermind that he was fully conscious right now – at least he's pretty sure he is. What’s next, is his body going to betray him too? Please no.

“I’m running low on break time, and the after dinner crowd should be rushing in soon so I’ll ask one last question.” She peeked over her phone before glancing back at him with a small head tilt. He stood from the full body tremor that ran up him, ugh how can she do this to him without even knowing what she's doing? He had to do it now before J knocked him out and dragged him across the drinkery by the leg to get back to work.

“When’s your birthday?”

Chapter Text

Waves of platinum shifted to and fro. Nimble fingers combing through in confusion.

“Where did I put them…?”

N knelt down, torso deep into his closet, shifting neat piles of boxes onto a slowly growing new tower of boxes. Lifting the lids of chosen smaller boxes, taking peeks at the contents then closing and placing the aforementioned box onto a new tower. Repeating the process for a time before pushing the new towers back into the closet floor and beginning a new search on the top shelf.

His hands touched a simple, light colored wooden box, uniform on each side. On top, a burned in image of a three pronged symbol encased in a circle representing the Elliot school on the front. With a quick glance at the contents a sharp smile appeared. 

“Gotcha.”

Today was the day!

Weapons sparring day!

Uzi could barely contain her excitement as she shifted the weight of a black case off her shoulder. She practically spun through the paper latticed door before stopping in her tracks.

On the mat stood multiple long black poles of various heights, all ending with a curved tip with a flat clasp at the end. Clutched between the clasp were wooden planks.

Before the poles was N, swinging a wire whip lazily in a circle. The wire itself was unremarkable, lithe but thick enough to hold comfortably. Two pieces of multi-colored fabric were creating a green and yellow blurred circle, concealing the simple knife that was between them. As usual, he had a crowd that he mostly ignored; he was starting to get used to all the ‘ooo-ing’ and ‘ahh-ing’ with the occasional ‘he's so hot’. That last one he put extra emphasis on trying to ignore.

Shaking the thoughts away, he spun the wire a few more times to his side before focusing on the various wooden targets. He arced the wire forward, letting the momentum curve the wire around his left shoulder and around until it wrapped his body twice. He shifted his body towards the right, using it to force the wire to unravel quickly from his form using his right hand to guide the speeding wire into the first wooden target, splintering it.

Keeping the flow, he jerked the wire causing it to cross to his left side. He allowed it to wind around his waist causing the image of a deadly tail lashing behind him before he jumped up and propelled his body, unraveling the wire where it slammed down onto another wooden plank without him having to aim.

Standing quickly from a crouching position, his last jump forced him into, N brought the wire back. It twisted in a half arc around his neck, he kept moving to keep it from wrapping around completely, appearing to be dancing with it. Lowering his head he spun with his hand out and cracking through three more wooden planks.

He slowed his spin, before lifting his right leg into a kick. The wire spun around his thigh before he took one, two and three steps into a round house using his leg to guide the unwinding wire straight into the final plank. Before the shards had even hit the ground he tugged the wire back folding his elbow into it where it wrapped around his wrist like a sentient snake and promptly stopped moving. Tucking the knifed end safely into his fingers he turned to his audience and bowed at the waist, indicating he was done with his form warm-up.

The cheers and questions exploded. What the heck was that! Are they learning the whip next? How long did it take him to learn? Was he an expert in all eighteen weapons of Wushu? Could V do that too? 

N held out his hands palms forward attempting to calm the crowd before he was harshly pushed to the side.

“Everyone SHUDDUP !” V stood in his place, fisted hands resting on her hips.

The crowd of students quickly scrambled into line formations and stood at attention.

“N, clean up your mess. As for everyone else, I’ll answer all your questions. No, you will not be learning the wire whip.” The class groaned in protest but quickly quieted at her burning glower. 

“It takes too much time to learn and has too many ways to strangle yourself if you’re a beginner…which all of you are. Hell, even N managed to hog tie himself the first time despite that show he just put on.” She ignored the protests of ‘V! You weren't supposed to tell them that!’ behind her and continued to berate the class. 

“Yes, we are experts in all types of weaponry in Wushu, like the rest of our school. However, N and I are and will always be the best.

Now get your asses warmed up and partner up. Today we’re gonna be grading your sword forms. N and I will go around watching your fight and give you a pass or fail depending on what we see. And you better hope you get N to grade you because I will not be nice!

As for those who don’t have a partner- I’m talking to you Doorman!- one of us will be your pair while the other grades.” a loud ‘BITE ME!’ came from the back rows.

“A pass will tell us that you’re ready to learn the next form, a fail will earn you one retake or keep you at your current level until we think you’re ready. Got all that?”

A chorus of ‘yes, sensei!’ rang out to which V nodded her head. “Get started!”

Uzi sighed to herself, she could sense that V was going to be paired up with her, revenge for the last Judo demo. She could feel it in her bones. Nevertheless she started going through the movements of the first part of the sword form. She began her warm up and prepped herself the inevitable ass-kicking V was about to rain down on her in the guise of sparring. 

She wasn’t about to go down without a fight though, she wasn’t going to make it that easy to take her down even if it was against a master. If there was any brightside to this, N would be judging her sword form, which meant she’d be moved forward just from taking one strike from V.

She looked at the two silvery-blondes conversing over a piece of paper, V pointed furiously at a certain line before N turned from her with a comforting wave and handed the team before them a green passing paper. 

She put her hand over her heart, which was now swelling with a slightly growing, heated pain.

What the hell was this? What did she have for breakfast? Did it give her indigestion maybe? Heartburn?  Maybe she should lay off the coffee mixed with energy drinks. She was startled out of her thoughts when a lithe form appeared before her. She slowly looked up to find V with the biggest shit-eating grin imaginable.

“Doorman, today your sparring partner is me. N will be grading.”

Called it.

Some students who had passed, or failed started to file out of the dojo. A few stayed behind to converse about results or even watch other sparring couples get graded but thankfully it wasn’t too many. 

There wouldn’t be a bunch of witnesses to see her getting woman handled. 

Her eyes landed on Thad from the side-line, he gave her a thumbs up while also holding up his green pass card triumphantly. Mouthing the words ‘you got this Zi!’ she gave him a weak thumbs up in return before stepping into the middle of the mat. 

She bowed towards her opponent and before she even had a chance to take a stance V was already inside her defenses. Yelping in surprise, Uzi instinctively raised her sword and blocked but just barely. The force of the hit caused her to stagger back a step.

“V! I wasn’t ready!” The shorter woman snarled out, only to be met with silence and for the taller woman to shift her body quickly, sliding her sword along Uzi’s and spinning the sword up and around her head in a small circle before bringing it back down at an angle. 

Uzi used her sword to protect her side, bracing herself, but the hit still had power behind it, her own flat of her sword denting into her arm. Grimacing a bit, she put some distance between her and V who was deftly spinning her sword in small circles before opening her stance wide. V’s back leg was slightly bent at the knee and her forward leg was straight before her she grinned before arcing the sword above her head the point facing Uzi.

If Uzi didn’t know better she swore she saw several sharp teeth in her opponent's sadistic grin before V came rushing at her again somehow even faster than before. However, she was getting used to the speed and the two swords met in the middle with a clash, V holding the sword with one hand, and Uzi bracing with both hands. They both broke apart before Uzi shifted her sword down, then bringing it up in a quick upper strike to parry another downward strike from her opposition. 

They continuously met swords multiple times, until V finally broke through Uzi’s protective moves. It caused her to fall backwards onto the mat where V slowly stood over her, her sword pointed down towards Uzi’s torso. Uzi was sweating and breathing hard, but still managed a glare at the woman who had her pinned. V had also broken a sweat but she was grinning triumphantly and used the tip of her sword to slowly lift Uzi’s chin.

“The score is 1-1 now, Doorman.” She retracted her sword, holding out a hand to help Uzi up. The downed woman stared at the extended hand suspiciously then remembered she was still being graded and sportsmanship counted. She grabbed the other woman's hand and was hefted up, V let go quickly as if the very gesture disgusted her. She brought her hands in front of her, sword dangling in between them before bowing her head and sauntering off the mat to grab her phone.

Uzi bowed back, she gritted her teeth at the expected loss and made her way to the edge of the mat. At least she held her own for a few minutes she thought to herself bitterly. However, just as she was about to exit the training area long arms enveloped her from the back and began spinning her around in circles.

“Uzi, that was great! Your form while blocking was steady and precise.” N gushed out. “I probably don’t have to say it but you passed! I was a little worried about V getting carried away but you were both great!” 

“N cut it out! Put me down, I'm getting dizzy, also I’m all gross and sweaty!” He put her down quickly and handed her a green pass card with a little glittery crow sticker. She looked at it and looked back at him, “did everyone get a sticker?”

He laughed sheepishly before shaking his head, “Nah, I just thought this one would fit you.”

She grinned and looked back at the crow. “Thanks N.”

She felt a slight sting in her palms, lifting a hand up she noticed small blisters forming. She sucked some air through her teeth and held her palm face out towards him. 

“How long does it take for these to callus over?”

He grimaced looking at the red welts taking her hand in his, causing her heart to jump at the contact. Her brows furrowed in confusion at the feeling while he inspected her wounds carefully before letting go of her hand slowly and raising his own up to her showing her his hardened skin.

“A few weeks, clean them up and bandage them loosely and you should be good to go in no time.” 

She stared at his hand before grabbing it in her own, flipping his hand this way and that, and lightly running her hands over his thick bumps on his palms. Missing all the while the way his face turned bright red at the contact. He had multiple silvery scars running up his arms from previous weapons injuries all over his body but he watched, face growing hotter as her fingers idly traced each line up his forearm. 

“U-uzi…” He managed to stutter out, halting her exploring hands with his own. She didn’t seem to realize how far up his arm she had touched, her mind snapped back to reality and she dropped his arm like it had burnt her.

“thanksNi’llseeyoulater!” and she made a hasty exit to the locker rooms. 

He watched her go, arm still hanging in the air at the level she raised it.

The next day, sitting on the floor and propped against her coffee table, the purple woman rubbed her arm that had formed a long bruise the length of her sword across her shoulder. Uzi idly sketched in her book ignoring the fading pain and struggling to hold her pencil with all the bandages between her fingers, she took a long sip from a free coffee she got from a local place for her birthday. Alongside it were wrappers from a free lunch from the burger joint near the bookstore.

Birthdays were never really her thing, but free food and drinks were something she could never really say no to. She never had a huge group gathering before like others in her peer group, her birthdays were more quick little one hour things her parents had put to the side in their busy schedules. Her mom always made grand gestures for that little time, with huge towering cakes that barely fit through the door, or buying her a few full sized arcade machines. And even if it was just her and her parents for the little time they spent, she still remembered each one of them.

And today was no different. A gentle knock at her door caused her to crane her neck to her left, she began to stand up to answer it before it was suddenly flung open by a familiar booted heel. Her mother, Nori Doorman sauntered in with a flourish. Her father followed in after her struggling with various shopping bags and boxes, he still managed to close the door with his foot, nodding at the silent click of the autolock.

“My little batling!” Nori dropped her bag to the floor without a care and tore off her sunglasses before enveloping Uzi in a tight hug. “Happy birthday babe!”

“Mom!? What are you doing here, shouldn't you be filming?” 

“I snuck away for a little while to come here! How could I miss my little girl's twenty-first birthday?”

“I’m not a little girl anymore mom…” She gestured for her dad to place his cargo off to the side to go through later.

“That’s what you think, you’ll always be my little bat, even when we’re both old and wrinkly bog witch hags. Anywho we popped by to drop off some b-day gifts, but the real gift is this!” She dangled a silver key in front of her.

“YOU GOT ME A CAR?!” She jumped for the key but her dad grabbed it before she could grasp it.

“Nori dear, I thought we agreed that it was too soon, she doesn’t even have her license yet!” He held the key up high, his daughter jumping for it.

His wife huffed and snatched the key back, “First of all it’s a motorcycle and it will only take like 6 months to get a license, she’ll get it in no time because she’s smarter than everyone combined at the DMV. Second of all, I agreed to not driving the bike, up the stairs, through the door and into her living room.” She firmly placed the key in Uzi’s palm which then closed like a bear trap around it. A smug look given to her husband who just shook his head. 

Her eyes landed on the coffee table, to a sketchy yet finished page of a tall boy with fluffy wavy hair wielding two straight swords at his sides. His form was precise and yet fluid, swords held loosely and legs slightly parted in a laid-back way but still defensive and solid. His back was drawn steadfast and firm with the side of his face barely visible over his shoulder.

“Hm?” Nori walked over to the sketch book, picking it up and inspecting the detailed drawing. “Who’s this?” 

Uzi, who was cradling the key to her face in joy, looked over to see the page her mother was on. Her face quickly flipped from joy to horror as she ran over and snatched the book, closing it tight and clutching it to her chest protectively. 

“He’s nobody!” Her mother gave her a deadpanned look before looking towards her husband who had a contemplative look on his face, his right hand cradling his chin.

He finally spoke after a small while, “That's the Elliot Elite boy, Nicholas right? Wushu master at only twenty, nice kid,” he narrowed his eyes on Uzi who was pointedly looking away, “but not nice enough for my daughter.”

“ Dad ! It’s not like that!” Uzi snapped her head back to face her parents and tried to ignore the fact her dad had let out that N was only twenty, during their ‘bonding thing’ she hadn’t thought to ask his age, she just assumed they were the same, or that he was even older.

Her mother, uncharacteristically silent, smiled at her daughter in a knowing way. She hummed to herself and grabbed her husband's arm tugging him along to the front door. “Well hun, we should leave Uzi alone with her ‘ nobody ’ and get back to the filming. Maybe we’ll drop by the dojo later to watch one of his classes, hm? Get to know Mr.Nobody.” She grinned mischievously. “Ta-ta my little ghoul see you soon!”

And just like that her mothers larger, deeper purple tornado stormed out of her small apartment. Her eyes swept over the various shopping bags. She’d deal with that later, right now, she had to sign up to get her license. The sooner she got it, the sooner she could joy ride that thing around town!

Dragging herself to her desktop and placing her sketchbook off to the side, she researched upcoming weekend classes for some lessons.

Later that night Uzi walked through the doors of the boba shop. She waved at N who waved back before turning his attention back to the growing line. She scanned for a spot to sit but found a silver haired bob seated among the sea of people. A blond ponytail held up by a huge pink bow sitting shoulder to shoulder with the taller woman, a wire shared between them connecting to a phone with an obnoxious glittery pink case. Uzi made her way over before standing at the table of two women who hadn’t seemed to notice her yet. 

“Lizzy? I thought you moved away after highschool.” 

The pair startled being broken out of their little world of music sharing.

“Doorman? What are you doing here?” V asked in place of her tablemate, shifting in her chair. Whether to put some distance between her and the blonde girl beside her or to play off nervousness, Uzi wasn’t sure. Nor did she care.

“I’m coming for my free drink, birthday perks. Free shit is always good.”

V scoffed and jokingly spoke, “As if N hasn’t been feeding you everything here for free like a stray dog he found outside.” Uzi grinned and shrugged lightly.

“Being friends with the staff has its perks, what can I say?” 

Lizzy watched the conversation uncharacteristically silent before she cleared her throat to get the other two women's attention. 

“Uzi, long time. To answer your question, I did move away but came back to visit family. In fact I might be around more often for a more permanent place to stay,” she said with a glance at the silver girl next to her who was sipping her hot tea. “You know V?” she added on looking back at the still-standing woman.

“She’s crashing at my family's dojo for a joint effort in ‘camaraderie and learning’” Uzi emphasized with air quotes. “She’s teachin’ us Wushu and we’re teachin’ them Judo. Didn’t know she found a permanent place around here though.” 

“We’re staying with Tessa, she has a place off Sentinel street.” A cold drink was pressed into Uzi’s cheek. With a shudder she snatched the drink from N’s hands. All eyes turned to the newcomer who was now fending off light punches from Uzi to which he was just laughing off.

“As in…together?” Lizzy gestured to V and then N.

“Yeah, we’re roommates, Tessa and J are there too.” 

Lizzy visibly relaxed. “Jeez, how big is this place?”

“Big, the Elliots are loaded, we each get our own room and everything.”

Holding Uzi in his arms like an angry cat who gave up fighting with her boot clad feet dangling just above the floor, N jumped into the conversation aghast “You make it sound like we’re using Tessa for her money!” Uzi, having checked-out, popped the straw into her drink and sipped it whilst hanging like dead weight. 

At the slurping sounds, N looked down and smiled suddenly remembering why he took an early break. “Ah, right Happy Birthday Uzi!”

He set her down and pulled out the small light colored box with the Elliot school logo, now adorned with a purple bow from his apron pocket, handing it to her. She narrowed her eyes, putting her drink down and slipped the wooden cover off.

“Did you get me freakin’ ninja stars !?”

Chapter Text

Motorcycle classes weren't all that bad. And she only had to do it for a couple of days since her 21st birthday just passed! The hardest part was remembering to slow before leaning into a turn. 

Uzi shifted with excitement on the class provided motorcycle, she couldn’t use her own newly gifted bike to practice on because how would she have gotten it to the training area to learn on and earn a license with no license? No, her perfect baby was sitting all alone in its designated parking spot at her apartment. She couldn’t wait to get back to work on decking it out to make it cool as hell with custom lights and stickers. Nori had taken it a step further and had the bike detailed to be purple, as it originally came in a lime green color with ebony accents. Her mother knew lime green wasn’t the mood, the apple doesn’t fall far in that regard.

Resisting the urge to pop a wheelie, Uzi pulled the bike into the training garage and lifted her helmet, her confined hair raining down from its containment and making a break for it in random directions. Giving her instructor a thumbs up goodbye before making her way back home via bus, fussing to get her unruly helmet hair under control all the while.

Once she got to her apartment building, she all but ran to her new baby, posing in front of it in a rare selfie. Mussed hair and all, a peace sign and her tongue slightly poking out from between closed lips, she sent it to the group chat.

darkXwolf17 Today at 6:03 PM

guess who’s gonna be bus bum free in 2 more weekends

ThadsThaMan Today at 6:04 PM

Yooooo WHAT

Party 4 tha new ride!

(also can i ride it)

Vespidae Today at 6:10 PM

can your legs even reach the pavement

darkXwolf17 Today at 6:10 PM

stfu

Inb4 i run you over V

Uzi scowled, making her way up to her door before noticing a certain absence.

darkXwolf17 Today at 6:18 PM

wheres N? Work?

thought hed be the first to respond tbh

Vespidae Today at 6:19 PM

He had a nosebleed and passed out on his bed

V took a quick pic of N sprawled out on his bed like he took a one hit K.O., long limbs hanging off the side of sunny sheets, torso barely centered and one hand clutching his phone with an open chat picture enlarged. She turned from his open doorway and shook her head, he's down bad. Grinning, she sent it to the chat humming all the way back to her own room before an idea hit her, she promptly returned to his prone form with a marker and mischievous eyes.

Vespidae Today at 6:20 PM

Hes fiiiiine

Probably

“Alright, everyone line up!” V barked out to the students. “Today, you're gonna be demonstrating your newly passed selves in the main weapon Wushu uses… the body. And this time, the Doormans are taking time out of their busy schedule to spectact. So be on your best behavior!”

She gestured to the side where Khan and Nori were standing, the former blank-faced and arms crossed, the latter giving a small wave with a roguish grin. Her eyes were wavering around the dojo and the students but were mostly focused on the tallest of the trio standing at the forefront of the mat, as he was vigorously trying to rub off semi-faded markings of a fake mustache, glasses and various other doodles off his face with his forearm.

Uzi was standing as still as she could, back straight, hands crossed behind her back relaxed. However, controlling her face was a different challenge; her cheeks were puffed out as if she was trying her hardest not to burst out laughing at her co-teacher’s choice of exterior decorations, unbeknownst to her that it wasn’t exactly his choice, tears pooling at the corners of her eyes indicating the struggle. She was hyper aware of her mothers stare boring into her side, no doubt linking her sketch to the man standing next to her - despite his current unassuming form of despair. 

V, undeterred began to explain what they will be practicing. She gestured to a singular pole about 3 meters up, holding up a singular wooden plank not unlike the one during N’s wire whip practice.

“The goal for today is to break this wooden plank through practiced form.” As she was speaking she was slowly backing up to the edge of the mat, N stopped his futile scrubbing to kneel down with one leg up, cupping his hands somberly. V then began her running start, before jumping up and placing one foot on N’s hands using them as a springboard, she twirled in the air before cleanly striking the board with her foot and landing gracefully.

On the sideline, Nori lifted a brow at the advanced level just before elbowing Khan in his side and whispering, “I thought this was Judo related, why are they doing performative Tae Kwon Do?”

Khan, still staring ahead, simply shrugged “It’s been some time since I’ve been in, but they seem to be mixing arts beyond just Judo and Wushu. Creating something new…if any student's goal is to become a bodyguard having a variety of different arts wouldn’t hurt.”

The parents turned their gazes back to the mat, where their offspring was circling the pole - inspecting it and measuring the height. V and N also had their eyes on Uzi, V with a smug look and N with a more curious one. 

Uzi, ignoring all the attention on her, finished her calculation. She then backed up similarly to how V did with a running start, but with no N waiting at the end of her sprint. Instead she ducked down and spun slightly with her left arm arcing across her body and using the momentum, three soft thunks were heard before part of the wooden board shattered.

V’s smug face was quickly replaced with bewilderment as she looked from Uzi, to the broken wood on the floor to the tip of the pole, before her eyes finally settled on something shiny embedded on the far wall. Three ninja stars flashing in triumph in the same way Uzi’s face now showed as she slowly stood from her throwing pose. 

The silver-haired woman sent a glare at the man standing next to her, who was feigning ignorance and pointedly looking away from all the stares now directed at him, staring at the ceiling as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Scowling she stomped over to Uzi jabbing her in the chest with a finger, 

“Doorman! You were supposed to use your body to break that board!”

The purple haired girl smacked taller ones accusing finger away, “You didn’t say anything about using the body, you said and I quote ‘ practiced form ’. Throwing ninja stars has a form!” 

“Listen here you little gremlin…!” A hand dropped onto V’s shoulder, she didn’t even need to look to know it was N, mediating their fight before it even began. Growling, her shoulders dropped as she massaged between her brows. “Fine…I didn’t know we were going by djinns rules, you little stain”

She scowled a little before pointing her finger into Uzi’s face, “One of these days N won’t be around to save you, and when that time comes I hope I’m there either causing the chaos or watching it,” She promptly pulled her accusing finger away before teeth snapped down where they had been just moments before.

“Bite me!”

“Looks like you’re the one trying to bite me , in this situation.” Turning on her heel and shoving past N, she clapped her hands together indicating for everyone to begin their stretches and to raise or lower the wooden plank in order to successfully complete their demo.

Touching his finger tips together and turning slightly watching V’s retreating back, he turned back to Uzi and smiled.

“You’re sure getting some use out of those!”

Avoiding his gaze for the first half she eventually met his eyes and began to cackle in victory, “I fucking did it! This is one of the best birthday gifts ever. Nothing is out of reach for me now!”

“If your intention is to destroy it, sure.” that earned him a quick elbow to the ribs.

They made their way over to clean up the wooden mess as well as retrieve the stray star stuck into the wall. Uzi stared up at the weapon just out of her reach like the North Star, and reached out a hand to grab it. She was nowhere close to reaching it even while jumping, narrowing her eyes she turned to the inner dojo area looking for a step stool or something she could drag over to retrieve her star. 

She never noticed a shadow approaching and a torso suddenly pressed up along her side. A long arm reaching up and over her head and plucking the star from its perch. Eyes widening and head slightly tilting upwards, dark met light. N, stood well within her personal bubble and time seemed to slow between them as he brought his arm down between them holding the weapon between his fingers. Her eyes moved down to the gleaming silver but his eyes never left her form as she gingerly reached out and grabbed her item, slightly brushing his own hands in the process.

Time regaining its trek ever forward she opened her mouth to mumble a quick ‘thanks’ willing her heart to stay inside her chest. Unaware of his hand slowly making its way to the crest of her head before a loud, “DUDE THAT WAS SICK” startled it away. Both figures jumped apart trying to temper down their beating hearts from the previous situation and the jump scare. 

Purple eyes quickly turned to glare at the blond man.“Thad! What the hell!”

Even the usually soft golden eyes turned hard for a split second before returning to their peaceful state.

Thad, none the wiser to his two friends' plight began to shoot off questions about where she got them and could he use them for a weekend in fact they should come over when Uzi finishes her motorcycle classes! Leaving before either of them could refute the offer he ran off with a swift ‘See you guys at my place then! I’ll send you the address!’

The pair watched the sporty man run off towards the lockers before their eyes briefly met, then darted away from each other. Breaking off the awkward silence that followed after, Uzi gave a half-hearted wave in N’s direction, “We’ll see you later N…” before she too set off to the lockers. He just watched her fleeting form, wistfully recalling how close she just was before a sharp smack to the back of his head brought him out of his daydream. Rubbing his head he turned to find sharp hazel eyes glaring into his, “oh, hey V!”

“Why did you give her those!”

He shrugged with a small smile, as if that was an answer. She folded her arms against her chest  still scowling, “Go wash your face, I can still see the marker…and maybe it will help cool your head so you start thinking clearly for once and not give crazy women sharp things!”

A flush of red coated his face and a N-themed curse left his lips “Oh biscuits!” as he rushed his way to the bathroom to scrub away the embarrassment. He thought he was being assertive, getting close and grabbing that throwing star from the wall, but he forgot about the drawn on glasses and mustache! Sighing deeply, lifting his water soaked face from the porcelain bowl he stared at his mostly clear reflection and frowned. Adding a mental tally under the ‘failure to flirt’ list in his mind.

Meanwhile a thoroughly flustered Uzi was losing her mind in the women's restroom, feeling residual body heat fading from her side where his body had leaned against hers. 

Two weekends had flown by in a flash and Uzi was now holding a square of flat plastic between two hands staring at it like a priceless treasure.

“I’m fuckin’ FREE !” She lifted the license over her head in triumph with nothing but the birds in the trees to revel in her accomplishment. Rushing over to the bus stop for the last time she sat in the uncomfortable alcove, her legs kicking up and down in excitement, glowing violet eyes still staring down at her precious card. Nearly missing the bus idling to a stop in front of her, she jumped into the open door and made her way home in no time. 

Stopping first to her parking unit she let her eyes settle on the black protective covering shrouding her bike protectively. What should she do? Where should she go first? So many thoughts rushed through her head before she tore off the fabric to reveal her purple Kawasaki 400. All through the week she had been tweaking and personalizing the bike to her tastes and now she could finally start her up. 

Throwing her leg over the seat she sat for a while to marvel at her newfound freedom. Zipping up her purple and black motorcycle jacket and lifting the kickstand, she inserted the key and revved the engine, nearly crying at the purr. Quickly grabbing her helmet from where it was hanging from one of the handles and shoving it on her head, she grabbed both threaded bars and backed out. Uzi didn’t really have a location in mind, she just wanted to get used the weight and travel that she was completely in control of, but she still found her way in the parking lot of her favorite boba place…not her favorite because of someone who worked there, it was always her favorite…shut up!

Putting her bike in park, she stepped off and slowly made her way inside pulling off her helmet, tucking it under an arm and patting down the rebel tresses simultaneously. She zipped down her jacket to let out the accumulating heat and tugged at the front of her tank top to further cool herself, raising her eyes up to the counter she was met with a slack jawed N.

After some time of him not speaking she decided to break the tension, “Helmet hair amiright?” 

He cleared his throat and shook his head a little, “Uh, yeah! Did you ride all the way here?”

“I was getting used to controlling my bike, the ones they let us practice on are a bit…quirky.”

“Cool cool, the usual or something new?”

She hummed a little, scanning the menu behind him, “Surprise me?” 

“I gotcha!” slight tapping at the screen in front of him, Uzi watched from her side for the final price and pulled out a crumpled 10 dollar bill.

“You can keep the change by the way, or add it to my ever growing tab for next time.” She raised a brow at his tiny giggle, when he pulled out a sticker covered jar with her name on it and put the change in it. 

“Tab created!” he grinned. “I’ll bring it to you after I’m done!”

“When did you make that!” she made a grab for the mason jar only to have it held out of her reach. He turned and ignored her question in favor of preparing her drink. Glowering at his turned back she stood there in anger for a few tics before she turned and made her way to a table near the window where she could look at her bike sitting in the parking lot. 

A wistful look took over her face as she gushed about her newfound freedom. A little further out she could see the freeway where a group of old school bikers on souped out Harleys traveled as a pack. She leaned toward the window, nearly pressing her face against it watching the leather vested riders easily weave around cars, her eyes widened and one could have sworn they saw stars glittering in them in awe.

Uzi was startled out of her fangirling by a soft tap of a plastic cup hitting her table. N took his place across from her as she glanced down at her multicolored drink. Vibrant purple paste on the bottom, a milky middle layer and a deep brown topping the three tiered drink.l. She looked back up at him questioningly, “What is this?”

“Ube coffee latte” came his curt reply.

“How do you drink it?”

“Mix it all up!”

She glanced back at the drink and hesitated a little, it was rather pretty looking and if she mixed it she knew that purple would be overtaken by the coffee and milk. Pulling out her phone she snapped a quick photo to his surprise before she shook up the drink and popped the straw through the plastic cover and took a large sip.

She sighed at the sweet yet bitter flavor that rushed over her tongue, the added coffee as a pick-me-up helped perk her up. She never tuned into her south-east asian side much, as she liked it to her dad’s side too much and her darkish skin tone, but maybe Ube would be her gateway in. She looked across at her table company and smiled genuinely, “Did you make me this because it was purple and I said that was my favorite color?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” a slightly gaslighting tone, then after some time his confident smile dropped, “Do you not like it?”

A small laugh escaped her lips, “No dude, it's great! Not sure how you knew I needed coffee, but I feel better already.” 

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in, putting a hand over his heart, “Phew, good. Not a ton of drinks handle Ube well, either it covers it up or it's overpowering and puts people off.”

“Nah, it's perfect, really putting me in touch with my roots.” 

He leaned forward a little, suddenly invested in learning even more about her, “Oh? You're South-East Asian?”

“On my dads side, mom is East asian.” sipping her drink gingerly, she answered offhandedly before a chime from her phone and a vibration in his apron pocket made them both retrieve their phones.

ThadsThaMan Today at 8:04 PM

Party at my place this weekend!

Zi’s mandatory on attendance

darkXwolf17 Today at 8:04 PM

Ugh, why

ThadsThaMan Today at 8:04 PM

To celebrate you Zi!

Late birthday and congrats sorta thing

Don’t worry about food or drinks

GoldN_Boy Today at 8:05 PM

You sure?

ThadsThaMan Today at 8:05 PM

Yeah it's all good man!

A thumbs-up emoji popped up on the original message from V.

Vespidae Today at 8:07 PM

Bringing Liz.

Another silly custom emoticon of a happy face with shades on shooting double finger guns appeared on V’s message.

Uzi groaned a little, “Ugh, whyyyy? I can’t even stay home, Thad knows where I live and he’ll drag me out kicking, screaming and biting if he has to.”

“Thad knows where you live…?” she missed the way his voice darkened slightly.

“Yeah, dad called him over to help move some stuff the first day I moved in. Wasn’t voluntary.”

Tension released in his shoulders as he cleared his overactive imagination. 

“So since your attendance is mandatory, guess I’ll see you there! I don’t go to many parties.” He admitted, “it’ll be one of the first ones in a long time.”

“Yeah no, I don’t do parties and Thad usually throws ragers, I’ve seen the video proof of him dancing on his roof with a red cup in hand singing California Girls off key.” She visibly cringed at the memory, ruing the day of whichever entity gave her the ability to ever hear that horrible yowling.

“Oh wait, I know that song!” suddenly excited he picked his phone back up leaving a quick reply.

GoldN_Boy Today at 8:13 PM

I’ll be there!

Uzi just sighed, slouching in her chair a little, muttering under her breath “of course you do…”

Chapter Text

House parties weren't really Uzi’s thing.

Too many people.

Too little room (depending on the size of the house).

It was loud and stuffy.

And she totally wasn't pulling out her hair standing in a sea of thrifted clothes flooding her bedroom floor in excitement preparation.

N was standing awkwardly in a crowd of people he both recognized and didn’t. Some were from the dojo, some seemed to be old classmates from before he had even met Thad and others just seemed like Thad invited them off the street.

The house was packed to say the least, and he could barely hear what the person in front of him was so animatedly saying. He just nodded politely and took a sip from the soda Thad had shoved into his hand upon N’s entrance into the house before mysteriously disappearing. After some time the person patted N on the shoulder and walked off to converse with another group. 

Taking idle sips of his drink he looked around, trying to spot his immediate friend group. The blond sporty man was still running around and yet somehow conversing at the same time while keeping ice chests and snack plates full as well as mediating music choices and generally good host stuff. Probably best not to hinder the host, on his way past the snack table N snatched a soft chocolate chip cookie and made his way to the living room area with the cookie dangling from his mouth as he nibbled it hands free.

Several different types of chairs were set up, including the original couches, arm chairs, and camping chairs. In one of said armchairs sat V, wearing leather pants and a matching cropped leather jacket with studs dotting the collar, underneath an equally cropped white tank. On her lap is Lizzy, wearing an off-the-shoulder oversized, cropped pink top and distressed short shorts. Her carefully manicured pink nails are resting along V’s chin as she whispers conversation into her ear. Whatever she said made V’s face erupt into a blush.

N smiled a little at the scene but figured it would be rude to butt into their conversation. Finishing off his cookie, he sighed a little seeing no purple in the ocean of people. He didn’t see the host juking around people either so maybe Thad had made good on his threat to drag Uzi out of her apartment kicking and screaming. 

He wasn’t sure how he felt about Thad knowing where Uzi lived but he couldn’t really complain when he was physically living with a previous crush. It was complicated and yet it wasn’t, staring mindlessly into the opening of his soda can, N swirled the drink in an idle circle watching the amber liquid slosh around when the ding of the doorbell made him look up.

“Zi, you made it!” Thad said as he stepped to the side to let in his friend.

“Ugh, bite me Thad…You and I both know I had no choice.”

“True that true that! I was just about to get some rope and my keys.”

Uzi stepped past Thads grinning face and extended hand inviting her in, with a scowl on her own face and giving him the middle finger.

N crushed the soda in his fist, the sticky liquid pouring over his hand and onto the floor and maybe even some of the people next to him but that was a forgotten annoyance as he witnessed her. In a seemingly rare event she had pinned her purple locks just above her heavily pierced ear with a small bone clip, her bangs still side swept to the other side concealing some of her eye. Wearing a simple purple spaghetti strapped top under a plain black hoodie, and a short cargo skirt with fishnet stockings that disappeared into her trademark knee-high combat boots. Her neck was decorated with a studded choker with a dangling crescent moon and her arms had various colored beaded and studded bracelets.

Most surprisingly, peeking just under her skirt was a large tattoo of a hyper realistic crow standing perched on an equally realistic full moon, the craters were shaded in a way that appeared as if it was a skull if someone looked at it from a distance. Various flowers and constellations dot the surroundings of the bird covering most of the side of her right thigh in art. The fishnet framing the art in small diamond sections.

If he wasn’t already standing he would have shot to his feet when she stomped over to him.

Was she walking in slow motion with the wind blowing her hair just right or was it just him?

“Hey, N” her stomping became noticeably less angry and steadily started to veer into exhaustion even though she had only just got here. Her social battery was about as small as it could get, but at least some people she knew were already here.

N however was staring at her dumbfounded, ‘she has tattoos? Singular? Does she have more? How could one person be so amazingly smart, pretty and hot at the same time?’

“What?”

His consciousness snapped to, “What?”

Uzi looked up at him with her brows slightly furrowed, “You just mumbled out ‘pretty hot’?”

Redness slowly filled his face like a thermometer marking the weather. Biscuits ! He said that out loud !? Stuttering a little he tugged at his yellow mock-collared button-up undoing a couple of the higher fasteners at his neck, “Y-yeah, it's hot…PRETTY hot in here! I’ll have to get some air later, ha haha!” 

Nailed it .

Her small hum of agreement settled his nerves a little, enough to ask her, “You want to step out into the back for a bit and get some fresh air?”

“Anything to get out of this fucking mess of people. Did Thad invite the whole town into his home, what the hell.” She pointed at some unsuspecting man standing innocently beside them munching on some chips, “Who the fuck are you!?”

Steering her away by the shoulders, N gave the poor man a soft apology. He ushered the agitated girl outside before she started a fight. Outside was lightly lit with the soft glow of some string lights, groups of people were sitting on the porch talking softly to themselves in the calmer environment. N plopped Uzi down into an oversized cushioned lawn chair where she crossed her arms in a huff, he pulled up a seat across from her but before sitting down he tentatively asked if she wanted anything to drink. She nodded with a query about a hard lemonade to which he swiftly found and brought back to her before taking his seat.

They sat in a comfortable silence with N’s eyes struggling to not stare too long at her legs. Clearing his throat to get her attention he carefully asked, “...So you have a tattoo?”

She seemed surprised at his question, absentmindedly running her hand over said tattoo. “Yeah, I turned eighteen and spent all my savings to get it…Mom thought it was sick, dad not so much.” she laughed a little before looking off to the side sheepishly, “it's my own personal ‘Edgar Allan Crow’. I have other ones but those are a secret” She gave him a small wink that stopped his heart.

Whatever gods were listening, please help him fortify his self-control. 

If she got any cuter he was sure he wouldn’t make it out of this party alive.

“Clever,” he gave her a sunny smile “You look nice by the way…I guess I’ve never really seen you in anything but gi pants and baggy jeans so the tattoo caught me by surprise!”

“Ah, it was just something I had laying around…” she waved the image from her thoughts of her on her knees in her room, hands in her hair and screaming earlier today. 

“This is one of the few times I’ve started to show up to Thads ‘shindigs’...It’s nice having someone to talk to here for once.” 

Looking around and people watching around her she spotted something. Tapping her fingernail against her bottle she took a small sip hoping it would give her a little bit of liquid courage to ask her next question.

“Hey N?”

He hummed a response urging her to continue.

“Shouldn’t you be getting in on that instead of being out here with me?” He tilted his head to the side and turned to see where she was gesturing. A window pointed in towards the living room they had passed to get outside and inside V and Lizzy’s secret chatter had turned into a heavy make-out session. Dark red lipstick meshing with pink. Lithe fingers sliding upwards underneath the back of tight shirts…

His head snapped to face her and he sat up straighter, putting his palms in his face as if he had just looked right into the sun before sputtering out, “Wha-! You-? Why would I be in the middle of that!?”

She seemed confused, “I dunno, aren’t you and V dating or something? I thought you guys were getting into a poly thing when Lizzy showed up again.”

His brain blue-screened before rebooting, the very thought that he could pull a singular date much less multiple at once was laughable. It was nice of her to think he was capable but he should probably clear up…whatever this was. He rubbed his face before removing his hands and sighing deeply.

This was it N .

Tell her .

He took a deep breath, “Uzi-”

“Yo, Zi’, N&M’s! Karaoke starts soon, come sing with me!” 

N suddenly had vivid images of his arm wrapped around his friend's throat, hand covering his mouth and nose and cutting off his oxygen. Shaking away the violent urge to murder a friend, he instead put on a strained smile and responded with a sharp glance towards the patio door that sent a chill up the other man's spine, “be right there give me a minute...!” 

Thad nodded numbly, rubbing his arm and wondering if he should put on a hoodie with the chill that hit him before stepping back and sliding the porch door closed.

N ran his hand through his hair, he let his arm fall into his lap before leaning forward.

“V and I aren’t dating…we’re just roommates.” 

“Like, ‘#Oh and They Were Roommates' roommates?”

“No, like she's probably closer to my sister these days, sort of roommate.”

…

She was silent for a bit before her whole face lit up “ oh shit ” she muttered slowly before standing up and screaming “oh shiiiiit!”

“Well this conversation has been great, I’m going to go throw myself into the pool. See you never N!” She started to make her exit only to have her hand grabbed stopping her in her place. She didn’t dare look back, coming here was a mistake.

Thad might have known where she lived but she had the power of her dad’s reinforced doors he installed when she moved in! She could have out waited him if she had stockpiled food before-hand. Safely tucked away in her apartment for months. Her scrambled thoughts came to a screeching halt when she felt a hand running from her hand up her arm to her shoulders and was slowly spinning her back around.

“No more running.” the soft voice above her head said.

Was this a good time to mention her fight or flight instincts had kicked in? She tried flight, all that was left was…

Almost as if he could read her thoughts, N’s hands slid from her shoulders down her elbows to pin her hands to her arms to her sides. He quickly added, “please, don't throw me into the pool either.”

With both instincts being currently subdued, her mind started to panic sending tremors into her body. Her heart rate started to spike and she took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. She didn’t know whatever was happening between them right now but hyperventilating probably won't help.

She could feel herself being ushered back and  lowered back into their previous seats but in order to not release the firm grip on his hands she idly watched him push one of his long legs back, hooking a foot around his polite distance chair and dragging it closer.

So here they sat, knee to knee, hands clasped together and yet neither looking at each other in the eye. An uncomfortable silence started, but both of them felt like the other could hear how loud their hearts were pumping.

“Uzi…” N’s voice cracked and they both flinched for different reasons. N at the way the name came out, and Uzi for him even speaking.

He cleared his throat a little before looking up at her. Her head was still down, eyes boring into her lap stealthily avoiding their joined hands as well as his gaze.

“This went a lot differently in my daydreams.” 

She scoffed a little before quietly saying “You daydream about me running away from you and-or throwing you into pools?”

He grinned a little, “Maybe, you don’t know what I’m into.”

“Besides messed up emo girls with god complexes apparently…?”

His grin dropped, “Uzi…You aren’t messed up.” She had finally looked up at him with a quirked brow, seeing as she was willing to at least look him in the eyes he continued, “You’re like the coolest person I’ve ever met, despite the odds you persevere and you come out victorious! You set your mind to something and you carry through, sure you lash out at people sometimes but usually it for a good reason.”

Now that his feelings were pouring out of him, he couldn’t stop.

“And gosh, even your aesthetic is the prettiest thing I’ve encountered! I love learning new things about you and I want to learn even more in the future!” he had leaned in closer than he anticipated during his torrential feeling dump and their foreheads collided. Releasing the grip he had on one of her hands they both rubbed the sore spots on their own heads. 

Their eyes met again at the sight of each other rubbing their foreheads. Both of them started to giggle a little which soon broke out into full on laughter.

Uzi reeled in her laughter with a sigh, pushing her bangs to the side.

“So…what now? What is this” she gestured to their interlocking hands with a tilt of her chin “I’m not an expert and I don’t care for physical touch, but I don’t think friends touch each other this much, platonically.”

N hums a little contemplating, he knew what he wanted this to be.

“What do you want it to be?”

“I don’t know…” She was silent for a long time. He was starting to think this conversation might be over before it started before he slowly heard her whisper, “I’m scared , N…”

He grabbed his shirt right over his heart that had clenched painfully at her words, his brows furrowed. She was scared? Of him? Tentatively he voiced that question and at her bark of laughter and the shake of her head she continued.

“N, you’re like the number one hot guy in Copper-9 and thousands of people live here, people mostly backed off cause they thought you and V were a thing and possibly even a thing with Thad the jury is still out on that one. You’re way too nice and sociable if you end up with Uzi ‘chaos incarnate’ Doorman your ranking might go down.”

“People were shipping me with Thad??”

“Who taught you that word? Also, that's what you got out of that?”

He shrugged and then smirked before leaning forward again grabbing both of her smaller hands in his, careful to not repeat the headbutting incident again.

“I don’t care much for whatever imaginary rankings people have in their heads. I’m just me, a clumsy screw up who is too trusting for his own good.”

She stared at their joined hands for a moment before looking back up at him. “You’re not a screw up N, don’t talk about yourself like that.”

“Sure, but only if you take your own advice.”

She sighed as if this whole conversation was taking the rest of her social stamina bar. Before giving him a small nod with a quickly added ‘no promises’.

“We can take baby steps, together?” He added hopefully.

“Together.” She mimicked his words affirming them, turning her head to the side to have her bangs conceal her ever redding face under the dim lightning.

“So you’re like…my girlfriend now?”

At her small nod he squealed in delight pushing forward into her torso and enveloping her in the biggest bear hug. Uzi sat frozen for a few seconds before attempting to struggle out of his grip.

“N! Gross get off!”

His only response was to lift her up and over his shoulder like a sack of rice before making his way to the patio door. She squawked in surprise at the sudden movement and began to see the floor moving quickly under his long legs.

“N! What the hell are you doing, put me down!”

She couldn’t see his face from over his shoulder but she could hear the smile in his voice, “we’ve got to sing some karaoke together to celebrate!”

“Sing?! N! No, absolutely not! Put me down right now!” She struggled in earnest now hitting his back and kicking her legs as much as she could with his arm securing them in place protectively before inevitably being dragged inside.

Earlier the next day at the dojo.

Uzi and N stood across from each other on the mat, Uzi needed a sparring partner for nationals and N needed more hands-on training with Judo. A win-win for both.

A bit of back and forth between the two happened with Uzi pinning N more than once. She jumped up triumphantly on the last one, fist pumping in the air and a small celebratory ‘yes!’

Feeling cocky and on a winners high she helped N to his feet and smirked as they got back in position.

“C’mon N, if you can pin me once we’ll go on a d-date later today after class.” She held her head up high as she spoke, willing the blush off her face. She was in public after all, no way would she be a giggling girlfriend in front of her peers.

Girlfriend…what a weird concept, she was sure she’d be fighting through this world on her own her whole life. Despite her mothers’ constant claims that she’d have people lining up to have a chance to date her.

Her thoughts were interrupted; it was as if a switch had been flipped, suddenly the dojo got a lot colder despite it being late spring. Uzi suppressed a chill that crawled up her spine as she looked over at N. His head was tilted down a little, stray pieces of silver springing from his headband obscuring his face, slowly he looked up and she swore she saw his eyes glow gold for a split second. He grinned his usually sunny grin but Uzi could feel something slightly sinister just underneath.

She tensed and all of sudden he was charging her. Yelping she locked arms with him, sliding back slightly. Shocked violet met determined golden-brown, all this over the mere mention of a date? Realizing she was losing the strength battle she stopped pushing forward to overpower and instead fell backwards pulling him along with her. Her back hit the mat and she used the momentum of the fall to swing him up and over her using her legs to flip him on his back.

He yelped in surprise at the impromptu flight and then his back hit the mat knocking out a groan. Uzi, however, wasn’t finished, she used the remaining movement of the flip to push herself up and over him and landing roughly on his chest. Looking down at him she smirked about to declare another win when he shifted to his left, locking his right leg into her left and reversing their position. N grabbed her right hand and leaned forward, pinning it between their chests as he kept her other hand pinned above her head.

Shocked, Uzi just stared at him. Did he just use the Uki Gatame hold? She hadn’t even taught them that yet! She just got hustled ! Growling she used her free leg to hit the mat three times indicating she surrendered. Immediately the pin was released and N sat up, his own legs still caging her hips on either side, but he was too busy being absolutely giddy and mimicking her earlier fist pump of victory.

From the sidelines a mocking whistle pierces the air from Thad snickering while yelling out “Get a room!” V stands next to him, face scrunched up like she looked at something absolutely revolting. N flushes deeply and wails while scrambling off his much smaller girlfriend and helping her up.

Girlfriend, a maniacal grin twisting on his face. He had a girlfriend now, he didn’t screw it up this time and now he gets to go on a date! Uzi notices his dreamy staring-into-space look and elbows him in the ribs to snap him out of it.

“You’ve been practicing on your own, I haven’t even shown you guys pins yet! You were just waiting for me to get a big head and make a deal in your favor!” 

She twirled on her heel and started stomping her way to V with her arm outstretched pointing at her accusingly “And you! Don’t give us that look when you attempted to eat Lizzy’s whole face last week at the party! This was sparring! Sparring not the - the other…whatever you were thinking! And you!” she pointed at Thad who held his hands up in mock surrender “G-grow up! This is all your fault!” Maybe going to that party wasn’t a mistake for once.

Finals were starting soon, but Uzi was having a hard time focusing. How did she manage to land a romantic partner? Much less someone as sunny and upbeat as N. He literally just got here some months ago. Wasn’t this going too fast? Not that she had any real life to compare it to, other than her parents and she was not going to ask them for advice. 

Her dad was already against the mere thought of her being involved with N, and her mother would tease her for days, maybe even the rest of her life. She wasn’t ready for that bomb just yet, maybe let her settle into this…relationship before revealing it to people who didn’t otherwise know. 

Checking the time on her phone, she reviewed the messages she had sent to N in the beginning of class.

They were going to meet at the boba shop as usual, but they were going to just talk a little about each other's interests. Start off small with various questions and maybe work out a place for an official date later on. She could feel her cheeks warming up as she sent him a quick message about needing to fill up her bike with gas before meeting him later so she might show up a little later than normal depending on the lines.

Re-adjusting in her seat she sat up and flipped to a doodle free page in her notebook to write the remaining notes for this class. Time passed as the professor droned on and one about resistors but he finally dismissed the class with a reminder about turning in the homework at the end of the week.

Uzi stood, shoving her textbook and notebook into her bag and all but rushed out. She wasn’t excited, shut-up!

Zipping up her armored jacket and placing her helmet on, she made her way to the gas station. There wasn’t much of a line she noted but there was a group of motorcycles on the far side away from the cashier. She took an open station beside the cashier window before removing her helmet and letting her head breath. Glancing at other motorcyclists in reverent awe at such a group collected in a singular interest, she made her way up to the window and asked for twenty to be put into the station where her bike was located.

Maybe one day she could find a group to ride with! Idly she put the hose into the bike and turned around to watch the numbers flicker across the screen.

“Iffin it ain’t Zero-two, walkin’ around an’ not greetin’ ol’ friends. Recognize that purple hair anyday.”

Uzi’s brows furrowed just slightly, surely they weren't talking to her; she didn’t know anyone with a southern drawl nor did she know a ‘zero-two’. Although she did have purple hair, shrugging her shoulders she took out her phone to write down some questions she could ask N before she was shoved forward into the gas dispenser.

“Still ah stuck up bitch, eh Nori? Ignoring' me eh? You really think I wouldn’t of found ya with you just waltzing around without a care?”

The purple haired girl's eyes widened in surprise then promptly narrowed in a glare before she whirled on the woman. She was on the taller side with long auburn hair braided in a fishtail braid, her side-swept bangs had a black streak of dye. She was wearing a typical biker garb of a leather vest peppered with patches declaring their group as well as leather pants, fingerless gloves and boots and a ratty white t-shirt under the vest.. Her grin seemed to split her whole face as her brown eyes widened maniacally.

“Look lady I don’t know who the fuck you are, but I’m not my mom. Take whatever shit this is up with her I've got more important shit to deal with.” She grabbed her helmet and moved to mount her bike. A fancy car had pulled up a few stalls back and had flash their lights at the cyclists, and before Uzi even had the chance to glance at the driver a hand suddenly gripped a fist full of hair and her face was slammed back into the station. Her head was ringing at the strength of the surprise hit.

A crazed laugh sounded behind her before she heard “Ey boys! We got Nori’s kid over here!” more footfalls sounded as Uzi heard them all start to grumble about betrayals.

“Apple ain’t fall far from the tree looks like. Yer a spittin image o’yer mom I’ll say. Guessin’ you’ll have to do for now, ya know what they say ‘the sins of the mother are the sins of the daughter’ n’ all that.”

Uzi bristled at that before whirling the hand holding her helmet straight into the other woman's head. She watched as the woman staggered back holding her now split eyebrow, trickles of blood beginning to run down her face. 

“That's bullshit and whatever my mom did has nothing to do with me!”

“Ah, but now it’s personal ain’t it? Might as well introduce myself, I’m Alice.” She stood up straighter, wiping the blood from her eye. Snapping her fingers the rest of the gang started to close in on Uzi.

The thing about Martial Arts is it is at its core self-defense. The golden rule is to avoid getting into fights but if a fight is unavoidable prioritize defense and don’t run away. Street fights were unpredictable and did not follow the honor code of Martial Arts. 

De-escalation was never a choice Uzi decided, so with her helmet in her hand she swung it to her left into a man who was getting uncomfortably close, as he staggered back she drove her booted foot into his stomach kicking him along the pavement. She turned and hooked her arm under the man to her right and flipped him into a woman who was pulling a small knife out. Before said woman could switch the blade out the man fell on top of her causing the knife to skitter across the pavement

A much burleyer man grabbed Uzi’s makeshift helmet weapon and threw it to the side before pinning her arms behind her. Uzi struggled for a bit before she turned terrified eyes towards Alice who was calmly walking up to her, she bent down and picked up the small blade that slid away.

“Ya got spunk, I’ll give you that kid.” She stood before a pinned Uzi glancing down at her for a second before rearing back and driving a fist into her gut. All the air was knocked from her airways as she gasped to desperately fill her lungs with air, but her head snapped to the side as she was struck again in the jaw, pain blooming quickly in her body. 

The car was honking, Uzi noted but she could barely hear the blaring of the horn before she was dropped to the floor where she took care to protect her head before a steel toed boot collided with her ribs. Alice was monologing again but Uzi was starting to black out from the abuse of being stomped on. She could hear and feel cracks and breaks with each kick but was prioritizing protecting her head and neck before putting her hand against the back tire of her bike to try and move her broken body behind it.

“None of this would be happinin’ right now, iffen yer mom took her lickens like she shoulda. You ain’t leave the group with no consequences. An’ now you'll pay her due for her.”

Blearing pain and a hiss from both the tires air escaping and Uzi’s lips as she opened a swelling black eye to witness a knife boring through the top of her right hand and into the back tire of her bike. A scream of anguish tore out of her bloody lip as Alice slowly spun the knife sideways before pulling it out and plunging it into Uzi’s side while grabbing her by the purple locks. 

“One payment fer yer mom, and one fer you.” She threw the shorter purple woman to the side while releasing her head, leaving bloody marks and started walking away.

A sharp ringing tone was filling Uzi’s ears, blocking out the sound of tires skidding near her. She glanced at the gaping bleeding hole made by the blade and tucked it into her broken body before everything went black.

J was frantically hitting the horn to diffuse the fight before her, she was just trying to fill up before her date tonight! It was supposed to be a nice night out on her rare day off. She wasn’t supposed to be diffusing gang fights! 

She had called the cops as soon as she saw that biker chick shove N’s little girlfriend into the refueling station and flashed her lights to indicate they were being watched. Now she was furiously trying to call N, who she knew was at work because he said he’d cover her. 

Damn him for not picking up his personal phone while on the job like she had taught him to do!

The whirring of police sirens and ambulances were filling the gas station, but the damage had already been done and everything had happened so quickly. The emergency services took so long to arrive the biker gang had time to mount up their bikes and slowly drive away. J growled at the incompetence before snapping a few pictures of the bikers to be used as evidence in which she was now an eyewitness. 

She punched in V’s number.

N stood at the counter humming, he glanced down at his watch noting it was a little later than the agreed upon time with Uzi, but she did mention she might be late. He looked at the special drink he had made for her off to the side sitting in its own puddle of condensation. Hmm he might have to remake that one, it's probably been so long it's watered down by now.

His phone was vibrating in his pocket indicating a phone call but there were customers around and he wasn’t on break yet. N was given a job and he wanted to do J proud! The door to the shop burst open and a very frazzled V stood there gasping for air as if she had just sprinted the entire way.

“Welc- V?”

“N! J’s been trying to call you, it's Uzi!”

His entire world froze and then shattered as he slowly rounded the register, tearing his apron off and handing it off to a very confused co-worker before tearing out the door.

Chapter Text

A steady beeping caused Uzi to blearily crack open an eye. The overhead lights proved to be too much of a burden for said eye and she clamped it shut. She reached out a hand to blindly search for her phone to silence the beeping alarm only to find that a tug kept her arm in place. Groaning, slightly and taking a deep breath she opened both eyes, blinking multiple times to clear them.

Gods her head hurt…come to think of it, everything hurt.

Slowly gaining consciousness she realized, this wasn’t her room. 

The steady beeping started to increase in pace. 

With some effort she looked around at the blue curtains surrounding where she lay, shielding her from view; she was in a medical bed with various tubes and wires either buried under the skin of her arm or surrounding her head. Her arms were bound loosely to the arm rests of the cot keeping her from thrashing about and pulling out the tubes. 

The beeping increased once again as she tried to recall what she was doing here. Lifting her right hand she noticed it was heavily bandaged. She also noticed she couldn't move it from the wrist down.

While looking at her damaged hand she set her head back and took another deep breath. Ah, right. She got the shit beat out of her by someone she didn’t even know but apparently knew her, or at least knew her mom?

As the brain fog cleared she noticed she could hear harsh whispering from the other side of the curtain. 

“Khan, what are we going to do? How could we let this happen??”

A silent grunt before her dads rough voice came out slowly and steady, “we find out who's responsible…once Uzi wakes up she can give us a clue on where to start.”

The conversation quieted down as she heard a new set of footsteps enter the room. The curtain slowly slid to the side.

There stood the doctor, her parents worriedly looking over her white coated shoulder. Her light wavy brown hair was neatly side swept into a short bundled ponytail at the base of her neck. She was on the shorter side standing with her hands in her coat pockets. Behind her spectacles were a set of warm brown eyes and two beauty marks just under her left eye. 

She adjusted her round glasses and smiled, “ Hello there, I’m Doctor Alma Keola. Would you mind telling me who you are and how old you are?”

Uzi turned her head and blinked slowly before croaking out, “I’m Uzi Doorman, and I’m 21… “

“Good very good Miss Doorman, can you tell me where you are?”

The pounding in her head was throbbing at the forefront of her skull but she forced the answer out. 

“I’m in the hospital…cause I got my shit-” she quickly added a ‘Sorry doc’ but was waved off, “-rocked. By some crazy lady named…Alice?”

The response was immediate. Her mother flew into an enraged state and the heat from the bubbling rage that radiated off her dad in waves so hot she could feel it against her skin.

“I’m going to cut her head off with a spoon and mount it in that gas station bathroom as a warning!! How dare she touch my baby bat, fucking cowardly ass bitch!” She was frantically dialing a number into her phone that had immediately connected. “It’s Alice, find her and find her quickly or your head will be joining hers!” she cut the line growling and grinding her teeth.

Uzi smiled a little, guess she’d have to get in line if she wanted some revenge.

She could still feel the brooding aura of her father just beside her mothers raving and ranting, she didn’t even need to look him in the eye to know he was already putting together a plan. He had trained plenty of bodyguards and pro fighters throughout his life. Perhaps it was time to call in some favors.

Doctor Keola seemed adept at ignoring her enraged parents, focusing solely on her patient.

“Very good Miss Doorman, I’m going to need to run some quick tests. I’m going to flash this light into your eyes to check for any neurological issues that may or may not have appeared due to the concussion.”

She produced a small hand light to show the purple haired girl who nodded. She quickly flashed the light directly into Uzi’s left eye, and then the right before quickly clicking it off and flipping it up, pointing it to the ceiling.

“Alright good, please follow this light pen with your eyes only.”

Slowly she moved the pen back and forth, to which Uzi’s violet eyes followed.

The doctor nodded her head and returned the light pen to her chest pocket.

“Preliminary checks seem good, but I’m going to set you up with a scan to be extra sure. Head injuries are always sneaky.”

Uzi nodded again before speaking, “If you don’t mind doc, how long have I been out?”

“A few hours, a witness had already called the police the moment you were assaulted and we were able to get you in and out of surgery rather quickly to stitch up the damage to your side and right palm.”

She pulled a clip board up from the bottom of the bed flipping through some of the paperwork.

“You have various fractures and bruises and your seventh and eighth ribs have been broken on the left side. We’ve set you up with anti-inflammatories as well as morphine to dull the pain. You will also get set up for physical therapy for the biggest injury to your hand. Since the knife was twisted instead of embedded it tore through some of the blood vessels, nerves and muscles that will need to be relearned to strengthen.”

“How long is that gonna take?”

“It could take a few months to maybe a year, depending on your level of effort. However some side-effects may be numbness or complete loss of feeling if and when you are able to use that hand again.”

A tired sigh escaped Uzi’s lips followed by a slight flinch, damn it hurt to breathe. She attempted to shimmy herself up into a sitting position ignoring the various aches and pains but only managed to slide slightly upwards remembering the restraints.

She lifted an arm as high as she could, “Ah, could I get these removed?”

The doctor smiled and said nothing, quickly untying and freeing her. “We didn’t want you to wake up fighting, sometimes head injuries leave people confused. They sometimes think they are still being attacked.” She placed the bindings onto the side table to be collected by the nurses later. “We also didn’t want you to unintentionally reopen your stitches while you were out.”

She grabbed a remote from the side of the bed and deftly hit some buttons, the mechanical bed slowly sliding her torso up into a sitting position. Satisfied at the height she placed the remote next to Uzi’s hip.

“I’ll have a nurse come in to help you sit up, take you for a walk and monitor your motor skills. Any immediate pain we should address?”

Uzi shook her head giving her a weak thumbs-up and at that the doctor nodded before making her exit to the next patient.

Her mother rushed to the bedside with her father trailing slowly behind. She slowly took a bruised hand into her own so slowly as if she was afraid of Uzi literally shattering from the simple movement. Un-released tears made her mothers matching violet eyes blurry, but she refused to let the tears fall.

“Don’t worry my baby bat, momma and papa are gonna make that witch pay dearly.”

The younger purple haired woman nodded back to the older with a small smile and a squeeze. “Don’t worry mom, I’m fine. You guys didn’t raise no push over, I took down three of them and even Alice herself before some big troll man got me by surprise!” She crowed proudly, but her grin was quickly turned upside down when she remembered she had had somewhere to be.

“Crap! Where's my phone?? What time is it!?” Uzi tried to shift her aching legs to the side of the bed in an attempt to get up but her mothers gentle hand stilled them. Around her side her father brought her her phone and she frantically clicked the button to wake it. It flickered to life, showed a time of 9:42PM and then promptly died at 1% charge just before a barrage of messages hit it. 

Damn it! And damn her past self for not charging her fucking phone!

“Can you guys charge this for me? I was going to meet someone earlier today and they’re probably freaking out.”

Khan narrowed his eyes but produced a small USB that he connected to her bed side and handed to her. She quickly stuck the end into her phone with some struggle, holding the phone steady with a forearm since her hand wouldn’t close over the electronic. A little lightning bolt over a red battery with a 1% showed up on her screen as she waited for it to charge enough to turn on.

“If you’re worried about your friends, they have already been here. Visiting hours for friends was over at eight.”

Her eyes finally met her fathers cold grey ones in shock. She coughed a little before awkwardly shifting her eyes to the side.

“Oh, ok, cool cool…”

“We have to have a bit of a talk about one of them specifically who was hysterically crying and had to be dragged out because he kept screaming ‘that's my girlfriend!’ while attempting to protect your form from everyone else in the room.” his intense stare made her shrink into her sheets. 

“I seem to recall you mentioning that it was nothing to worry about and he was nobody...He sure didn’t seem to be acting like a nobody.”

Uzi flopped backwards with a groan, not ready for the verbal lecture, all while her mom tittered on the side hiding her grin behind a hand.

Physical therapy sucked. She's been trying to squeeze this tiny blue ball between her numb fingers but they weren’t cooperating. She couldn’t feel anything other than an incessant itching deep within, conjuring the most useless feeling she actually could feel in her opinion and general pulsing pain under her stitches that she probably couldn’t scratch even if she tore them open and stuck her fingers inside to directly touch the offending nerves.

At least it wasn’t her left hand she thought optimistically for once. She could still write and draw and do most generally everything in that aspect. Once the bruising went down she’d practically be back to normal minus her right hand which was currently useless.

Her physical therapist came back over to see the ball still sitting between her pointer and middle finger, unmoving. He gave her a sympathetic smile before giving her a set of hand stretches to help with the numbness and mobility and sent her on her way.

She managed to hobble her way to the bus station and sat down in a huff. She hadn’t even managed to ride her bike for very long and now it was just sitting back at her apartment collecting dust again. 

Her parents had managed to get it back from the gas station it was parked at, after the police had taken everything they needed from it as evidence. They had even graciously replaced the pierced rear tire, and it was cleaned and waiting for her recovery.

Finals were tomorrow and she was still required to appear for them in person even with her injuries. Schools were freaking assholes, how was she supposed to recover when they wont even let her reschedule!? Nevermind she could still write just fine…it was the principle!

The bus had arrived to cut her grumbling short, and she made it with some effort and minimal aches up the three steep steps before settling near the front of the bus where she leaned heavily against the window staring at the static scenery.

A sudden heaviness weighed on her heart, all that practice and training and work and she wouldn't be able to participate in the national judo competition…she clenched her fingers on her good hand and trembled slightly.

How can I prove myself now?

Where will it even be hosted if there is a next time?

Will there be a next time?

What if her hand never recovers and she can never do Judo again?

Her frown deepened as her body began to tremble, she bit her lower lip to distract her thoughts and re-route to a pain she could control.

The bus started to move and arrived at her apartment before she knew it. She slowly made her way up the stairs and unlocked her door stepping into the darkness with her head lowered. She closed the door and locked it behind her.

Her phone chimed and she lifted it slowly to read the message.

GoldN_Boy Today at 3:02 PM

Uzi!

How was pt?

She ignored it and scrolled up to read previous messages. N was always so invested, he cared too much and he shouldn’t be worrying about her like this. She’d make him forget her, her finger hovering over the block button. For his own good and for hers. She’s always been on her own and getting by just fine and then he appeared and all of sudden she’s in group chats and hanging around outside and going to house parties…

She didn’t deserve it. Any of it.

Her finger hit the red letters with a tremble, a dot of liquid hitting her phone at the same time.

N was pacing his room tapping a knuckle to his lips, contemplating. After about the twentieth lap around the room he finally settled at the edge of his bed. Pulling out his phone he stared at it for a while before resolutely opening the text channel.

GoldN_Boy Today at 11:22 AM

Thad

i need a favor

ThadsThaMan Today at 11:23 AM

HELL YA

anything for my bro!

whats up

GoldN_Boy Today at 11:23 AM

I need Uzi’s address

The response was almost instantaneous, and comically mimicking Thad’s previous enthusiasm with defiance and a will to live.

ThadsThaMan Today at 11:23 AM

HELL NAH

anything but that for my bro

Uzi will literally kill me

GoldN_Boy Today at 11:23 AM

Pleaze??

She isn’t answering any of her messages!

I don’t condone this but V has eyes around town and no one has seen Uzi since the hospital

What if she hurt herself at home

And she's just laying on the floor waiting for help!

ThadsThaMan Today at 11:24 AM

shes going to skin me alive and use it as a flag for the dojo as a warning!

cant we just wait…maybe a day

Another week?

enough time to let me get my will written down on something other than in my own blood on the concrete

GoldN_Boy Today at 11:24 AM

If shes hurt she’ll be dead by then!

N stared at his phone, waiting for a reply but none came. Thad was probably weighing his options. His leg began to bounce and he clenched and unclenched his hand nervously. His phone fell dark and he gripped it so hard he thought the screen would shatter. Then, a small ding of an incoming message.

ThadsThaMan Today at 11:41 AM

…Make sure they use nice flowers at my funeral

also im coming with

i’ll face my death with dignity and honor

N let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He didn’t want to go about learning where Uzi lived this way, preferring that she’d eventually invite him in on her own time and comfort, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

“I’m coming too.”

A shrill shriek erupted from N’s mouth as he nearly jumped to the top of his single bookshelf type-headboard rattling all the books and trinkets he stored there. He turned, pointing his phone towards the intruder as if it was some sort of weapon he could use in self defense.

V sat nonchalantly, legs crossed and leaning back on one hand while she scrolled through her phone with the other. A small pop from the bubble gum popping before being deftly pulled back into her mouth to further chew. She grinned at his frazzled state, visible canines gleaming.

“V! Can’t you knock!? You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Where would be the fun in that? Also, I've been here, like, the whole time! Not my fault your martial art senses are broken when it comes to issues surrounding Uzi.”

In a lower voice half muttered she added, “...and I sort of feel bad…or whatever”

The taller of the duo stepped down from his bookshelf and lowered himself to sit on the bed next to her slightly tilting his head at the woman.

“Feel bad for what?” he questioned.

She grumbled turning her head away from him and simultaneously crossing her arms, “...when I told her I hoped either of us wouldn’t be around to save her when shit went down I didn't mean to literally will it into existence!” 

“Oh V…This wasn’t your fault. Some crazy lady with a vendetta against Nori wasn’t something anyone could’ve anticipated.”

“Yeah, but why’d it have to happen after I told her that?”

“Sometimes the universe sucks that way?”

His friend gave him a withering stare down before she got up so abruptly the shift in weight on the bed caused him to topple backwards with a yelp.

“I’m going to look for my lock picking set. Khan is big on defense and Uzi’s probably using that to her advantage by hiding behind a stupidly locked down door.”

“Uh, wait, are we breaking in?”

She nodded with a smirk, “gonna drag Uzi out kicking and screaming if I have to.”

“Wait! Let me go by myself first, maybe we can skip all the illegal stuff and I can check up on her peacefully?”

“I’ll give you three hours before I grab my gear and head over to handle it myself.”

Uzi sat listlessly on her couch, the right side of her body hanging off. The doorbell had rung a couple of times during the day, and she was aware that Thad had been on the other side. She just hadn’t the will or strength to open it to receive company.

Besides, it was better this way.

Everyone else could go on with their lives.

Free from the burden she had become.

Once she faded from their lives she could fade from this useless existence.

Bringing up her injured hand in front of her face she stared at the ceiling past her limp fingers and willed them to move. Not even a twitch to reward her efforts. She let her offending limp fall back into its useless place dangling off the couch.

Then the doorbell rang again.

Using her other bruised hand to tiredly and slowly rub her eyes, she whispered under her breath. “Go away Thad…” repeating the mantra like a spell that could magically answer her whims and he would vanish from her doorstep.

Instead she was met with a different voice, one she wasn’t expecting.

“Uzi…I’m not sure you’re even in there, but if you are, could you open the door?”

N.

What the fuck was N doing here? She sat up, peeking over the edge of the couch, staring at her front door as if N had just announced he was there to murder her. Her eyes narrowed as she realized what must have happened, Thad . She was going to end him.

She slowly sat up and made her way to the front door, deftly avoiding the peephole. She wasn’t going to open the door but she turned her back and leaned against it, listening. N was still talking, unsure if she was even present to hear his pleas.

“Please, I just…I just need to make sure you’re ok. You don’t even have to let me in…”

The purple haired woman quietly and slowly slid down the door to sit on the floor. She pulled her legs in close with some effort, biting through the pain specifically in her side as she wrapped her bruised arms around her knees. 

On the other side of the door he was now leaning his forehead against the firm barricade, forearm and hand fisted and parallel to the sturdy material, keeping him steady. In his other hand a bag containing various snacks and drinks for both recovery and just plain out enjoyment was quietly set down next to other objects near his feet.

He pushed himself back with an open palm still flat against the barricade. Noting the various other bags containing long warmed drinks and cold food left at her front door from previous visitors. There were even some flowers and cards littering the area, ‘get well soon!’ balloons standing as dutifully sentries. Either she wasn’t home, or she was and was unwilling to let people in.

After some time standing at the door he pushed off, severing his only connection and only block to the safe haven of the woman that was presumably on the other side.

This wasn’t over.

He wouldn’t let it be.

Narrowing his eyes, he continued whether Uzi was in there or not.

“Don’t get too mad at Thad, he put up a good argument on whether or not to tell me where you live by the way.” 

His voice dipped down to dangerous levels as his head tilted back just slightly, flashing golden eyes through darkened bangs as he stared at the door.

“We’re both out of time now. See you soon Uzi.”

Back on the other side of the door a shudder ran through her body and her eyes opened in surprise. She pressed her ear to the door listening to retreating footfalls. What the hell did that mean?? And who the hell was that because it sure as heck wasn’t her happy-go-lucky N. 

Or, not hers anymore…She was going to go down in history for one thing, having the shortest relationship ever.

Violet eyes were staring at a star dotted ceiling, a soft sigh escaping dry lips. Uzi couldn’t sleep, despite one of the side effects of the pain meds allegedly being drowsiness. She turned her head to a large digital clock to her right, the numbers three thirty-five AM blaring back at her in green.

Her stomach grumbled in protest and her whole body felt heavy with fatigue and general undernourishment. She hadn’t felt like eating for a few days now, reluctantly taking a few sporadic sips of water along with her medicine. Maybe she should just make some instant noodles and force herself, something is better than nothing.

Pushing off her plush blankets, her bare feet touched the carpeted floor. She stood up achingly and tried to stretch out her back by leaning backwards a little. Then she heard it. 

Very faintly the tinkering of metal against metal. Furrowing her eyebrows she pulled the curtains aside her bed just a crack, faint moonlight spilling in. Two darkened silhouettes sat just beneath her second floor balcony, speaking in hushed voices and gesturing upwards towards the rather empty terrace.

Narrowing her eyes she let the curtain fall. She was willing to fade into obscurity and crushing loneliness but she wouldn’t go down without a fight. If those bikers were back to finish the job, they were on her turf now and she knew where all the twists and turns in her own home were even in the dark.

She turned to her bed side and grabbed a wooden bat in her left hand and slowly opened her bedroom door. She could hear shuffling down the hall near the patio sliding doors, and a small click and a wheel on tracks. The door was opening slowly and nearly silently, if she had been asleep she wouldn’t have even awoken from it. 

Uzi put her back against the wall beside her, raising the bat over her head one-handed as she side-shuffled to the end of the hallway.

The clatter of empty cans and various paper she had littered the floor startled both her and her intruder, judging from the gasp and sudden slapping noise of a hand covering a mouth subdue a scream. A moment passed in silence as the assailant seemed to be waiting for movement from the hallway, but Uzi stood her ground as booted footsteps made their way across the room and towards the front door probably to unlock it and let in more robbers she guessed.

As the silhouette passed by the darkened hallway Uzi swung her bat down into its torso and a small ‘oof !’ emitted from them earned a grin sprawling across her face, she quickly turned and slammed her left foot into the lean yet sturdy body, kicking them into the back of her couch.

She walked up to the groaning figure barely illuminated in the dark and raised her bat again.

“You chose the wrong bitch to mess with.”

“Uzi wait! It’s me!”

The bat froze high above her head. She knew that voice.

Slowly she lowered the bat out towards her side and flicked a light switch to the living room area with the tip of the bludgeon. She was met with the disheveled sight of N, clad in all black and arm protective wrapped around his torso where he had been hit and kicked. One of his arms was shielding his eyes from the sudden light source as he blinked blearily up at her with a small smile.

“Hey…?”

Growling she raised her weapon again.

“No wait! We were just worried about you is all!” he cried, crossing his arms above his head defensively.

“You were worried so you BROKE INTO MY APARTMENT FROM THE BALCONY AT 3AM!?”

“You weren't answer texts, phone calls, or the door! What were we supposed to do!?” he was starting to raise his voice in retaliation even though he looked less intimidating while sitting on the floor.

Realizing the time she lowered her voice. If her neighbors called the cops they’d arrest N on the spot. She wanted solitude and space, not for him to get a felony.

Wait, he said ‘we’ as in the royal ‘we’. She recalled that she had seen two shadows on the ground floor. Dropping her bat to the floor she made her way to the still open sliding door and peered down, only to be met with the sight of Thad giving her a double thumbs up.

“Hey Zi! You’re ok!”

Uzi pinched the bridge of her nose trying to rub away the headache that was beginning to form when she heard scratching and an audible click of a lock being undone. She turned back in, walked past N, who was struggling to stand and stood at the inside of her front door which had soft curses being cast from the other side of a jiggling lock.

Nimble flingers undid extra inside locks and slid protective braces to the side before flinging the door open to be met with V, crouching with two small pieces of wire in her hands. The taller woman stood up pocketing the picks in her black jacket, pulled out her phone and typed out a text while walking inside nonchalantly as if she hadn't been trying to lockpick the door open.

With a hand on the door she turned back to her two partners in crime giving each a withering glare.

“Get out.” she growled as softly as she could.

V scoffed and rounded the couch, settling on it like she owned it and N stood there poking his finger tips together.

“No?”

Uzi’s eyes widened in surprise, did he just tell her no ? As she stared at him he stared right back in equal shock as if even he couldn’t believe he just said that. N recovered quickly however and straightened out his stance, squaring his shoulders and looking a little more confident,and cleared his throat repeating his statement more sternly.

“No we’re not going anywhere, at least not tonight.”

Uzi just stared at him wide eyed for a moment that was quickly broken by a loud whoop! from the front door. Jumping slightly she realized she was still holding the door open and Thad had made his way around the building and stood with his arms in the air holding a few very large backpacks.

“Hell yeah, sleepover!” The dirty blond pushed his way through the door frame and past Uzi before placing all the bags down. Uzi turned back to staring at N who had slowly shrunk from his previous bravado and was now avoiding her gaze in favor of a grasping handshake with Thad. 

N covered his mouth with his free hand, mocking talk through a radio and simply said “hacker voice. I’m in.” to which the other man guffawed loudly.

Scowling Uzi slammed her front door shut and re-engaged all her locks. She couldn’t throw out all of them in her current condition.

Besides, she had a lecture brewing, but first “This is not a sleepover! This is breaking and entering and then not leaving!”

Chapter Text

Uzi was sitting on a small bean bag she had dragged out from her room, chin in her hand watching as her friends (?) re-arranged her apartment.

N was dutifully humming as he picked up random trash and scattered papers, maybe she should have cleaned up before-hand but she wasn’t really expecting company. If breaking into one's home counts as company. None of the random paper he was picking up made it to her sketchbook, therefore she didn't really have anything to hide in that aspect but her brow was still furrowed as her gaze shifted to V who was unceremoniously repositioning her living room by shoving the small coffee table to the side and shoving the couch further back so Thad could place sleeping bags down.

Guess this was happening.

Was it too late to call the cops? Probably. Could she do that to her, what were they…friends? How was she supposed to know, she's never really had anyone to hang out with before.

What do you even do at sleepovers? Uzi always assumed sleep but maybe the naming needed work. It was already four in the morning, but these people seemed like they were setting up for a movie night (morning?). N had flopped down onto the new pile of blankets and pillows that had been set down, pulling a pillow close and burning his face into its comfort. Thad grinned, jumping and pile drove into N’s back causing him to squawk out in surprise where a wrestling match between the two quickly started. V just lounged on the couch, arms folded rolling her eyes.

After things seemed to get settled Uzi stood up, dusting off her skull patterned sleep shorts and matching oversized black shirt as if she did any of the major rework instead of just watching in abject confusion.

“Well, I’m just going back to my room then, bathrooms down the hall on the right or whatever…” She began to walk away only to have her ankle grabbed, stopping her mid stride. She looked down and followed the arm all the way into N’s puppy dog eyes. Thad was still on his back keeping him pinned, but N continued on like he wasn’t currently hindered.

“Please stay?”

Uzi’s shoulders dropped as she groaned tiredly, “ugh fine, let me get my pillow and comforter from my room.”

Everyone had changed into their pajamas and loungewear to laze around on the floor. They were chatting and making jokes, telling stories or talking about themselves in general. They even talked about how the idea of breaking in had even come up, but had quickly shifted to relationships.

“We should let the only couple here explain!”

Scowling from under her comforter that she had wrapped around her like a cloak concealing her identity and pulling it tightly to further hide her form, Uzi scathingly replied, “We aren't a couple!”

N looked at her with a mixture of hurt and confusion. “We aren’t…? When did this happen?”

“When I ignored your messages for a week, I thought you’d get the hint but I guess not since you decided it was better to break into my apartment then to move on!” Uzi refused to look anywhere near his vicinity.  Batting away the guilt eating away at her subconscious, she felt like she was kicking an abandoned puppy but it was still wagging its tail feigning happiness and trying to get close to her still even though she was actively hurting it.

“Well you didn’t bring it up to me!” Something very warm was bubbling up inside him. A rare feeling he usually buried deep down. Anger.

V had stopped texting to briefly glance up at the tone change and then to Thad who was looking between Uzi, N and her awkwardly. She glanced back at her phone and noted how it would be a good time to grab something to eat. Also this was getting awkward and they needed to talk things out privately. She stood up whilst grabbing the back of Thad’s hoodie causing him to stand up and stumble, awkwardly following the taller woman.

“We’re gonna pick up breakfast, and Lizzy. You two talk out whatever is going on, we'll be back. Don’t kill each other while we’re gone, I’d like to be here to watch that.” She said nonchalantly, unlocking all the locks proficiently then shoving Thad out into the bright morning light.

Uzi stood up stunned looking at the slammed door, before feeling a slow burning at her back. She straightened to attention, her instincts telling her danger was imminent and started to make a beeline for her room, but N was faster, he vaulted over the couch and positioned himself in front of the hallway to block her escape, she ran right into his chest stumbling back a little. Shaking her head to clear it from the collision the woman finally looked up at him, piercing violet eyes meeting increasingly darkening golden-brown.

“Get out of my way N.”

“I told you before, no more running.” 

She tried to move past him by ducking around his body that was currently blocking the way to her safe haven. 

“I’m not running, I’m just done with this conversation!”

“Well I’m not!” He grabbed her hand probably a little harder than intended judging by her flinch but continued nonetheless “You can’t just decide these things on your own and not tell me, that's not how relationships work!”

She tugged her hand from his grip before whirling on him, holding her finger to his face. “Well I’m telling you now N, we’re over!”

“No!”

She slowly lowered her accusing hand and blinked. “No? What do you mean no!?”

“We aren't over!”

Sputtering at the pure audacity she felt her eye twitch in irritation, “who are you to decide that?!”

He frowned at her and spun the words right back around “who are you to decide that we’re done??”

Growling, she raised her hand again and poked him in the chest. Hard . “Break up with me!”

“No!”

“Why the fuck not!?”

“Because I know you don’t really want to, you’re just scared!”

She physically recoiled at that statement. Yet again he had somehow seen through her rough facade. She should be alone. She shouldn’t bring anyone else down with her, emotionally. Bringing people down with her in a physical fight was a different story. Yet here N was jumping off the proverbial cliff with her, willingly and hand-in-hand, a huge smile on his face as they jump to their demise.

“I’m not…scared…” her gaze turned downward, and the statement fell off without any weight behind it. She found herself limply leaning against the wall behind her, letting out a shuddering sigh. Her arms started to fold in around her own body, self soothing and self-comforting.

Even quieter she added, “You deserve so much more than…this, so much more than me . Someone who's not broken, mentally and now physically.” She held up her limp limb as if it was the final punctuation to that sentence.

A large hand softly wrapped around her injured hand, carefully and gently. Its matching pair settled just under her jaw, the thumb lightly rested against her chin. A slight push forced her head up and her watery eyes to meet his clear ones. 

All of a sudden she was hit with the intimacy of the situation. They were alone in her apartment, he had her pinned against the wall with control of her face and body. She was still quite sore and maybe in a bout of adrenaline could fight someone off but the stitches in her side might re-open and her right hand was useless. She had no weapon or anything to defend herself with close by, not that she had any reason to believe that N would do anything malicious towards her, but her mind was willing and pleading for her body to defend itself.

Her body started to heat up like a thermometer.

N began to speak, oblivious to the turmoil in front of him. “You aren’t broken, Uzi, you’re just injured and injuries can be fixed with hard work and determination most of the time. Just keep walking forward, even if you stumble or have to crawl. Keep going, you have me and other people who care for you to pick you up off the ground if I’m not enough. We can get through anything, as long as we’re together.”

The rising red line of embarrassment that was steadily rising began to cool at his words. He wanted to stick together even after everything she's done and said to him? Something deep inside began to warm in her chest, and her heart fluttered. Gross, what the hell was that?

“Oh I’ve got an idea, there's someone I'd like for you to meet!” 

She blinked a couple times before tentatively asking, “Who?” 

He giggled and leaned in close, causing her face to start to warm again. “My little sister! I think you and her would get along in the injury aspect! She’s  strong in that regard so maybe she can help shift your perspective.”

“You have a sister?”

“Yep! Her name is Cynna, but we just call her Cyn. Oh, but sometimes I call her cinnamon!”

Clearly she needed that meet up before her accident more than he did. She felt like she didn’t know anything about his personal life. His martial arts life was in magazines and interviews so she at least that much, and his physical information and work out routines was easily searched for online.

Uzi was so caught up in her thoughts she didn’t hear or notice they now had an entourage. V and Thad had returned with Lizzy in tow. The flash of a phone camera went off with an audible click that caused both their heads to snap towards the sound. A smug looking Lizzy lowered her phone before nudging V gently in the side with her elbow.

“Ok ok, you were right . Something juicy was here.” The blonde girl sighed.

Uzi blinked owlishly before remembering the pinned against the wall position they were in and promptly hiding her reddening face in N’s simple shirt. N, although also blushing furiously wrapped his arms around her protectively, his cheek resting on her hair faced away from the group. Hiding both her and his own embarrassment at the same time and maybe secretly elated his girlfriend was accepting the hug and not clawing his eyes out at the physical affection.

Thad sensing an impending awkward silence decided to break it before it even began. He triumphantly held up multiple large paper bags, grease stains nearly dripping from the corners.

“Greasy diner breakfast food! Let's eat and pass out from the imminent food coma!”

Uzi perked at the sound of food, and gently tapped N’s arm to release his hold to which he did, smiling gently down at her. She sheepishly returned the gesture with her own smaller one but genuine none the less before clearing her throat and addressing Thad.

“There better be a spicy super breakfast burrito in there for me Thad or I’m kicking you out! Also, how the fuck did you guys get back in, don’t tell me V’s lockpicking actually worked?”

V scoffed and took out a pair of bronze and silver colored keys with a dangling gun charm. “I could lockpick that door no problem,” she dangled the keys in front of Uzi. “but stealing your keys was faster.” She cackled as Uzi sputtered out curses and tried grabbing for the keys only to have them yanked out of her reach as she stumbled forward.

N steadied her before she fell forward, patting her on the back softly before making his way to the kitchen area to help Thad allocate food.

V watched him leave before putting the keys into Uzi’s hand. “You guys good now?” She added quietly, as to not let the two guys overhear. The shorter girl sighed a little before nodding solemnly. 

“Yeah, we’re good.”

V nodded, Lizzy looked between the two women then smiled. “I call dibs on the waffles and fruits!” V startled a little before her own face started to redden,

“What! You don’t even like waffles! You’re team loser pancakes!”

“First of all, how dare you! And second of all I want them so you can't have them!” Lizzy replied matter of fact. Uzi just looked at the two and smirked at V, “We all know french toast is the top tier carb here, so you’re both on the loser team!”

Both blonde women gasped in offence before demanding the purple haired woman take the statement back, the men just looked on smiling at the now lighter atmosphere as they set out the food.

“You guys are so lucky it's the weekend and I don’t have class or I’d be calling the cops to remove you squatters!”

“Oh shut it you little gremlin!”

“I’m not sure about this N…” Uzi tugged at her sleeves uncomfortably. Shifting her weight from side to side trying to dispel the feeling of unease that was building. Meeting a family member was already nerve wracking, but meeting someone as close as a sibling was even more so. Despite N’s constant reassurance that Cyn was great and wasn’t going to judge her, Uzi still felt a little self conscious about what to wear.

She had picked out a hoodie dress that hit her thighs, it had little bat wings on the back and horns adorning the top of the hood which she had pulled up in an attempt to both hide her face and her hair that she couldn’t get to look right no matter what. She had long striped socks on with white bands around the thighs that she used spiked garters to keep up and in place and her trademark platform combat boots. The socks and the hoodie dress left a small line of skin that was covered by fishnet.

She had re-done her nails in matte black and nervously twisted some of the silver rings adorning her numb fingers.

It had been a couple weeks since the accident and the bruising and sores have faded. Her side had healed up and her stitches had been removed the day before. Uzi Doorman was almost back to one hundred percent health…but her hand still refused to move. Could be because she stopped going to physical therapy, they keep telling her to do the same things over and over again and she couldn’t take the nagging anymore.

N stared lovingly at his girlfriend, his eyes softening at her nervousness. He was wearing a simple white collared shirt untucked and with various bright pins dotting the chest pocket. His pants were khaki straight legs and he was wearing his usual white sneakers. He had unbuttoned the first three buttons at his neck and rolled his sleeves to his elbows.

He had driven them just outside of Copper-9 to the larger sister town Proxima. Much to Uzi’s surprise he even had a car much less could drive, to which he just chuckled and queried out loud how she thought they even got to Copper-9 in the first place. She said she thought he and V ran there like a pair of super saiyans which earned her a loud laugh.

They were standing just outside the front door, waiting patiently for Uzi to calm down before they stepped inside his childhood home. Whilst standing outside she noted a small ramp and decidedly lack of stairs leading to the dwelling. It was a moderately sized home, with light beige paint and white trimming. A neat little garden with bright flowers lined the walls with a neat lawn with a large tree providing shade and a small, single person, tree swing.

Taking a deep breath Uzi resolved herself. “Ok, I’m ready.”

Chuckling, N unlocked the front door holding it open for her to step in. She was immediately met with the calming warm scent of fresh snickerdoodle cookies and milk. Whether or not it was actual cookies or a scent made to mimic it was certainly helping calm her nerves. She wouldn’t say no to a cookie though. Nevermind, she might not be able to keep it down with how nervous she was. That would make a great first impression, throwing up all over their house mid conversation.

As she was taking in the sights and stuck in her inner monologue, a blur hit N right in the torso and he grunted a little before spinning the small figure in a circle then lifting and throwing it high up and catching them close to his chest. Playful screams turned laughter turned giggling as the small figure hugged N close.

“Big brother N!”

“Hi cinnamon roll!”

Uzi’s eyes widened to the younger girl, who was wearing a pastel gothic lolita dress in yellow and white. There were so many bows and ribbons and frills they were making Uzi’s head spin but what really caught her attention was her legs. Near the knees were entirely metal, the slick limbs were white and hollow, with hexagonal shapes around a strong metal pole leading to plain silicon black feet. 

“Big brother, is this your girlfriend?”

The statement brought Uzi from her gawking thankfully and into golden-brown eyes and long fluffy platinum blond hair that fell in waves down her back and two longer strands in the front in a very familiar way. A giant yellow bow pinned back some extra hair in an elegant half up-do.

“Yep!” At some point N had put his sister down and she had hobbled her way over to Uzi. They were nearly the same height she noted with the tip of Cyn’s head barely reaching Uzi’s eyes. The older woman wondered if she would need to change her leg size as she grew and if she would need to start the walking process all over again.

“Uh, hey, I’m Uzi.” she held her hand out to which Cyn reciprocated.

“I’m Cynna! But everyone calls me Cyn. You’re so pretty, I like your clothes!”

“Likewise, pastel lolita is a bold fashion statement.”

Cyn’s eyes widened further, “You know about lolita fashion!?”

“I dabbled a little here and there, finding my own style…sorta.” The attention was starting to make her embarrassed, and it felt like Cyn’s eyes bore into her very soul. All of a sudden she was being tugged along towards some rooms. She looked back at N for some back up but he simply shrugged and waved at her departure, seemingly enjoying seeing his sibling and his girlfriend get along. He turned towards the kitchen to help Tessa finish making dinner, humming and letting his two favorite people bond.

“I need to show you my collection, I even made some myself!” Cyn proclaimed proudly. “I can make you something too! Maybe ribbon style leg straps for your long socks!” The younger girl had led them to a room filled with fabrics and lace, a simple bed clad in white sheets with a singular neat pillow and surrounded by a heavy lace curtain to fend off the morning sun. 

Off to the side was a large work tablet with an industrial sewing machine with various projects towering on either side. The piles were so high they threatened to topple if a sudden shake happened. The walls were filled with fabric rolls of different types and the closet was so full of dresses the door could no longer close. A halfbody manakin stood near the center of the room with some sparkling black lace pinned to an even darker colored satin like slip.

A roll of fabric was shoved into her hand, coincidently her uncooperative one and she dropped it unintentionally.  Sputtering out kid friendly curses – is that why N ‘curses’ are weird? – she attempted to pick up the roll with her good hand. Only to have it pulled up by Cyn who stared at her and then her hand for a bit then smiled widely.

“Oh wow you're like me!” she kicked out her legs for emphasis “my legs didn’t work before and now they do, Big brother says its because I was brave and worked so hard!”

Uzi blinked, startled before cautiously asking. “If you don’t mind me asking Cyn, what happened?”

The younger silver haired girl smiled but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I was in a bad car accident with mom and dad when we were on our way to one of big brothers tournaments. A big truck crushed the front of the car. Tessa said dad swerved the car so it would hit their side instead of mine.”

Uzi’s heart plummeted into her stomach as that cold feeling started to well up again. This is why N wanted her to meet his sister. She had been through so much at such a young age but was able to push through with support from people who loved her. He wanted her to see what pure determination resulted in even in the pit of devastation. Cyn lost her legs but here she was walking again and without aid from others, she had become fully autonomous again through sheer will and mechanical help.

The purplette started at her hand for a long time contemplating, with a resolved sigh she decided to return back to physical therapy, she wasn’t going to lose the ability to use her hand, and while it might take more time then she’d like she was going to push forward with her boyfriends encouragement. A finger twitched in response to her revelation and she gasped, violet eyes widening.

Cyn grinned but didn’t say anything, instead she began a barrage of questions about what color thigh harness Uzi would want and how big the bow should be. Maybe a matching dress could be made later that was pure gothic lolita! Uzi shuddered imagining herself in the mess of frills, maybe they could make something to fit N too as revenge. She grinned to herself before suggesting it to Cyn who laughed so hard her eyes started to water and she gasped for air. 

The commotion caused N to rush in to see what the emergency was only to be met with two mischievous glowing eyes, both violet and gold flashing glowing ominously amongst the swaths of fabric. Nervously he took a step back and tried to make a run for it but was pulled into the room, the door slamming shut.

Chapter Text

Uzi sat along the dojo wall clutching an article in her hand depicting her mother laughing maniacally in front of a burning bar. The title suggested that it was a piece of her movie set, a controlled, planned burn and that they were excited to see what the moment in the movie entailed, but Uzi knew her mother was just pictured burning down Alice’s place and getting away with it, apparently.

Placing the paper down, she moved her eyes towards the mat. In front where her, N and V would have stood is now Thad and Khan. Thad had stepped up to lead on in Uzi’s place while she was recovering, and he was the one who probably taught N those defensive pins. Khan had come back for the belt ceremony, the ceremony she was not participating in. He must be so disappointed in her.

“You’ll get it next time when your hands’ all better.”

She didn’t even look up, instead looking at her hand which she could now clench into a fist weakly. “I still can’t grip anything…it’s been weeks N.”

“Weeks with tons of progress! You couldn’t even move your fingers a while ago!” He settled down next to her, but frowned when her mood didn’t lift. Tapping his finger to his knee he brought out his phone and faced it towards her.

“Theres an old Judo story about a one armed boy who trained a singular move till he mastered it. He went on to win and become a champion with just that one move!”

A small smile curled at the corner of her lips, “That's just a story N, it's not real.”

Pocketing his phone he grinned, “No, but the point still stands. Hardwork and dedication can turn weakness into strength and you’re already doing all that. Eventually you’ll be back to one hundred, maybe even past that because you’re you!” 

Giggling a little, she punched him lightly in the arm “You’re right,” switching the subject to gesture to the last person receiving their next level belt color, “Guessing you don’t need more belts seeing as how you already have a black belt.”

N removed the black headband, allowing his bangs to spring forward wildly before humming in acknowledgement. “I could always get red, but that's like, grandmaster status. For people who’ve created their own style of martial art.” He tugged at the silver strands in front of his eyes attempting to corral them into some sense of style.

“And you don’t want that? Think of all the respect you’d get! Nick’s Badass School of Martial Arts! Known worldwide, people would be booking time just for a chance to register!”

He chucked a little “nah I’m good, if it happens it happens, I’d rather spend my time learning then get worldfamous.”

Uzi narrowed her eyes before turning to her side and digging through her backpack before throwing down a magazine in front of him. On the front cover was him, with an awkward smile on his face posing with his swords, back to back with V in the same pose but a far more confident smile on her face.

Coughing he flipped the magazine over, only to be met with another photo of him on the back. He curled the magazine into a cone and turned his warming face from Uzi’s piercing gaze. Before a thought hit him, “Wait, why do you have this in your bag?”

It was Uzi’s turn to be the blushing beam, before she scoffed and crossed her arms slightly leaning away from him as he leaned in closer. “‘Cause my boyfriend is cool…or whatever.”

A huge grin crossed his face as he lunged forward to hug Uzi around the waist causing both to tumble to the floor. He was rubbing his cheek affectionately against hers as she was half struggling half laughing, weakly attempting to push him off. 

A throat cleared near them and they both froze and looked upwards towards Khan, who was smiling in the way that suggested if there were no witnesses, N would be dead by now.

They scrambled to make some space between them, Uzi crossing her arms and N with his head turned away from both Khan and Uzi, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. Khan narrowed his eyes at N before turning his head to address Uzi.

“Uzi, once your hand is fully healed we’re going to hold another belt ceremony outside of the normal timeline. The sooner you’re back the sooner you can get your black belt and resume teaching.”

Violet eyes widened before looking up into her fathers grey eyes. “Seriously?!” At his slight nod she immediately lunged for her bag throwing out various objects before bringing out a small grip trainer, clenching her teeth as she tried to close it in her hand. 

N and Khan smiled at her attempts, only for Khan to glare back at N for even attempting to glance his daughter's way.

Uzi was propped up on her couch staring at an aging laptop that was displaying the Judo nationals live. Some Russian girl was dominating, she moved so fast it was almost like she was teleporting, either that or the feed was glitching; that laptop was pretty old. It was held together with duct tape and dreams at this point.

 N was settled on the floor by the coffee table doodling with colored pencils in a fresh sketchbook Uzi had laying around.

“Uzi.”

She hummed back in response, eyes never leaving the screen.

“Do you…do you think you might be healed enough to go on that date you promised?”

A crack was heard, as Uzi gripped the laptop with her semi-healed hand so hard it cracked the corner she was holding it upright with.

“Ah, shit! I’ll just…here,” she grabbed a sticker sheet laying on the table and pasted a skull sticker over the crack covering it completely. “There no one will ever know…” 

Setting the “repaired” laptop to her side she looked down at N who was waiting patiently for an answer.

“Right… the date. Not only did Thad teach you how to win, he also freakin’ dox’d me.”

“It was an emergency! I pushed him into it because I was panicking!”

“Chill out N, I’m not gonna kill your wingman. Yet.” she cackled a little to herself but stopped when N gave her puppy eyes.

“I’m joking , mostly. Anyways, date. Uh, well school is done and seeing how I’m not kicking ass and taking names at nationals right now I’m pretty free this weekend.”

N perked up and little and swung to the side of the couch where he rested his arm on the cushions. Looking up at Uzi, who was fighting tooth and nail to keep the blush off her face. 

“So next weekend is good? We can go to that fancy new restaurant in Proxima, it looks like a grandball room with an organ and everything!”

“That sounds fancy as fuck N, I don’t think I have the clothes for it.” For emphasis she gestured towards her oversized striped shirt, short shorts and equally baggy thigh highs she wore as loungewear.

“You can borrow a dress from Cyn! She’d probably modify it and let you keep it too to be honest.”

Uzi hummed and then nodded after mulling it over, “Sounds good, she's been wanting to hang out lately after the little dress up party we had last week.” A small grin graced her lips as she pulled out her phone. 

She had replaced her background with a picture of a flushed N, who was pulling down the front of a very frilly and short yellow maid dress in an attempt to cover unmentionables in a dress that was clearly made for a woman several feet shorter than him. His hair had been pulled up into short pig-tails held up by sparkling ribbons. Giggling and turning her phone before he could see it she sent a quick text to Cyn who promptly replied with a big sparkling eyed excited gif.

“There, it's a date.” Throwing her phone to the side, she threw her arms in the air stretching out her back before slumping forward covering her mouth from a yawn. 

“I need a nap.”

N nodded yawning openly, he was about to reply when a finger poked the back of the throat making him gag, “glurk!” coughing dramatically with a hoarse voice he looked up at a cackling Uzi. “Why!?”

“Cover your mouth when you yawn, or you’ll be open to attacks!” She had grabbed a decorative ghost shaped pillow and slammed it into his face before vaulting over the couch and racing to her room for safety.

N slowly lowered the pillow and looked towards the hallway with narrowed eyes and a slight grin before he got up and slowly made his way down the hall.

N was standing in front of a floor length mirror nervously tightening a muted golden tie around his neck.

“If you tie that any tighter you’re going to strangle yourself.”

V was nonchalantly leaning against the doorframe of his room watching him unravel the tie for the upteenth time. N didn’t even look towards her, instead addressing her reflection in the mirror.

“I can’t get this stupid thing to work!” his fingers fumbling with the fabric. V made her way across the room with a bored look on her face, taking the tie from his hands and deftly knotting it to perfection.

“What are you so nervous about anyways? You see Uzi all the time literally everywhere in this town.”

“Yeah, but this is like a date! A real official date V! What if I do something stupid, what if I choke on my food and look like a fool in front of her!?”

“Thats no different from how you’re usually like.”

He frowned at himself in the mirror, “You’re right…I’m useless and terrible all the time…I’m going to fumble this relationship like all the other ones before…”

V stared at him visibly shrinking in on himself before rolling her eyes, she’s heard those words spoken to him before and she did nothing then. Now he was just repeating them like they were a mantra to follow in his life. She wasn’t really the kind of person to say uplifting words and make people happy, that was his job, so was she really going to do this?

Tentatively she spoke, “You aren't useless N…J just has high expectations of people and when they don’t meet them she lashes out. Also, don’t say ‘fumble’ you’re starting to sound like Thad.”

She put a hand on his shoulder, fixing the collar of his dark grey dress shirt. “Lastly, this is your first real relationship, crushes that went nowhere are just that. So it's understandable you don’t know what to do.”

“You got Uzi by just being you, what makes you think you have to do anything more than be yourself in order to impress her?” She grabbed a dark pilot cap and placed it on his mess of wavy hair. His frown was starting to turn into a small smile as he looked at himself in the mirror again, adjusting his cuffs.

Seeing his back straighten with confidence V smiled but it quickly turned into a scowl, “Also, if this pep talk leaves this room, I will disembowel you in your sleep.” 

He flinched but nodded enthusiastically, “Thanks V.”

She pat him a couple times on the back causing him to stumble forward before she walked out with a wave.

The drive to Uzi’s place was more nerve wracking the closer he got, N felt like the suit was suffocating him. Everything was too tight and simultaneously too loose, grabbing him in places making him even more uncomfortable, he could feel the sweat starting to bead on his body. All the cologne in the world wouldn't cover pit stains.

He tugged at his collar in an attempt to loosen what felt like an ever tightening noose and release some of the heat permeating off him. Parking in the guest parking of Uzi’s apartment complex he pulled the car visor down and moved his sweat soaked bangs from his forehead to dab up the moisture with a napkin, he pocketed the soiled paper and made a mental note to toss it later.

His car wasn’t fancy by any means and he did make a point to clean it earlier, but still he looked over the floor and chairs making sure they were clear of any debris before he pulled out some plain lip balm and shakily put it on. Just in case, and not because he was nearly hyperventilating and drying out his lips.

Taking a deep breath he exited and made his way up the stairs to her door where pushed the door bell, taking a step back and holding the bouquet of black roses tightly in both hands to stop them from shaking. Only to have his heart nearly stop when Uzi opened the door.

She was wearing a simple deep, nearly black sweetheart dress that hit her knees. She was wearing heeled lace-up boots that gave her the elegance but also edgy look of her combat boots. Her hair was brushed and curled into little waves and pinned to the back with a small glittery black bow. She was wearing minimal make up, but what really stood out was her deep-purple lipstick, he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off her lips no matter how he tried to rationalize how freaking creepy he was right now. The usual piercings were in place but they seemed less random and more carefully chosen to look as elegant as one could look with multiple hoes in their ears.

“Hey come in, let me grab a jacket real quick. Maybe we can put those flowers in some water or something too.” Uzi stepped to the side and gestured for him to come in, only to be met with him still staring frozen in place.

“...N?”

“You’re beautiful…” the words came tumbling out of his mouth involuntarily and he quickly took control over his motor functions again from his clearly out of line heart. Covering his mouth with a free hand he groaned in misery. Too little too late.

“I-I mean, ah biscuits…”

When he didn’t hear a retort he flicked his eyes up towards the door to the blushing woman. At his growing grin and confidence that he was probably the only person to turn her into a blushing mess she scowled.

“S-shut up! Get in here you dork!”

He quickly walked in following her to the kitchen area where she was digging through cupboards for a big enough vase or cup to put flowers in. The best she could do was a pitcher she used to use for lemonade, people didn’t really give her flowers much, Uzi wasn’t really prepared to receive a bouquet.

Filling it up with water she brought it over to N and he gingerly placed the flowers into the container. 

With her eyes on the flowers she pushed back her bangs shyly, “Thanks for the flowers N, they're pretty, I didn’t know black roses existed.”

He looked towards her, his smile widening “They don’t technically. These were specifically dyed about a week ago.” He noted her heeled boots gave her more height, the tip of her head was brushing just under his nose. She didn’t have to crane her neck so far back to look him in the eyes now. Interesting.

After staring for each other, N broke the silence, “So uh, reservations are for 7, we should…probably get going?”

That seemed to snap Uzi out of whatever daze she was in staring at his suited form, “Oh shit right! Let me grab my jacket!”

He watched her hurry off to the closet near the end of the hall and pull out a cropped leather jacket. It was rather plain but it was simple enough to accent the dress without making the outfit confusing. As they shuffled out of the apartment side by side, they made their way down to his car where he guided her to the passenger side by opening the door for her. 

Not used to this type of treatment she quickly started to turn red again. Hopefully she didn’t pass out from all this blood moving to and from her face.

He closed her door and then rushed around the front of the car to the driver side and got in. 

The drive to the restaurant wasn’t too bad, they filled the silence with the usual ‘get-to-know-you’ type questions. Like, what's your favorite music type, or what food could you eat for days on end and not get bored. 

N repeated his movements from earlier but in reverse, opening her side of the car door and holding a helping hand for her to get out. They made their way hand in hand towards the huge ornate doors that were opened for them by two workers dressed in black and white.

Dinner was strange to say the least, it was a fourteen course meal with the smallest pieces of food they had ever seen. They giggled to each other, ignoring the other patrons' looks of disapproval as they chatted about silly childhood memories, whilst making fun of the portion sizes. After an hour or two they left after paying, Uzi refusing to let him take the whole bill and insisted on halvies to his dismay. 

“You give me free food and drinks all the time N, this is me repaying the favor.” she explained on the way up the stairs to her apartment he followed just behind looking like a sad dejected puppy.

She unlocked her door but didn’t enter, instead she turned to him and sighed at his sad form. “If it makes you feel better, you can pay for the next date. Where it's ‘all you can eat’ and not hundreds of dollars.”

N finally looked up and tilted his head, contemplating the offer before nodding “ Sure! But maybe we can order some take-out or something for tonight though, I’m still kind of hungry…”

Uzi grinned slyly, grabbing his tie and pulling him to eye level “Oh? Don’t men usually go back to their own homes after a successful first date? We haven't even kissed yet and you’re inviting yourself over for the night huh? Scandalous N.”

“N-no wait! Let me r-rephrase!” Holding his hands out to balance himself from falling into her. Only for his whole body to freeze, feeling something soft pressing against his lips and then quickly retreating. Blinking multiple times, his mind tried to process what had just happened, did she just give him a quick peck on the lips? Instincts quickly took over as he looked into Uzi’s shy face.

Slowly he brought his hand up and gently cupped her cheek bringing her close again, golden eyes closing and lips placed softly over hers. His movements were tentative at first, but it quickly turned more firm and assured. His free hand wound around her waist and brought their bodies closer together as their lips started to move against each other with more fervor. She still had her hand tightly gripping his tie as her body started to grow warm, he pushed her up against the cold wall of her apartment door and attempted to deepen the kiss.

Uzi’s mind started to spin as she pushed him back with some effort, breathing heavily. 

“N we’re outside…”

His darkened eyes started to fill with more clarity as his face quickly filled with red when he realized the position he was putting them in. 

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry Uzi! I didn’t even ask, I just went for it! I’ll leave now, I’m sorry!”

N attempted to escape but she still had a grip on his tie, “N take it easy, you don’t have to leave, especially now that you’re wearing my lipstick and you look like you lost a fight with a dryer. Also, I didn't ask either so we’re even…or whatever." 

Clearing her throat she let go of his tie and smoothed out the wrinkles. “We’ll order take out, have a movie night and maybe talk about some ground rules around…affection. Okay?”

She opened her door and stepped over the threshold into the dark before looking back over her shoulder and giggling at him staring dreamily into space as if that kiss left more of a mental mark than the lipstick currently smeared around his mouth. 

She guessed now she knew what all the fuss was about, it wasn’t quite a full blown make-out session…but maybe they could fix that later tonight. Grabbing N’s hand she gently led him back into the apartment.