To Hell and Back (Hellworlder pirates)

Ch 54 Rejection

Rejection

Vi had been acting weird all day, in fact she had been acting weird ever since the battle aboard the Capital. Gato had noticed that she had been distracted and unfocused during training, and almost flinched every time he reached out to correct her posture. Part of him wondered if she were afraid of him, but if she were afraid then she wouldn't go out of her way to drag him into Noctis. If she were afraid of him then why would she sit and chat with him over coffee then drag him off for ice cream, a treat she didn't even like because of her weird Torweni proclivities against dairy. He could understand it if she were afraid of him, but this? This he had no context for.

He mused on her strange behavior as he licked his mint ice cream, the ice cream shop was a little out of the way and had a pleasantly green park space right next to it. Not many people came this way, so they had a little bit of privacy. She had bought herself a lemon-berry sorbet thing and was eating it with a tiny spoon rather than licking it straight off the cone like a normal person, said she was worried about her face and hands getting sticky from it. they were sitting at the same bench, and he couldn't help but feel hyper aware of her presence, even when he looked away his skin prickled with the knowledge that she was right next to him. He tried looking away, but his wandering gaze always found its way back to her.

He shifted with anxiety and did his best to look away from her, but then she shifted, and his attention snapped back to her. Her sorbet had dripped onto her pants, and she was looking for something to wipe it up with, without thinking Gato took his own napkin and wiped at the stain. Only too late did he realize that he was rubbing at her thighs. He looked up at her apologetically as he realized the impropriety of his careless action, only to see she had gone an adorable shade of dark purple. She looked into his eyes, and he stared deeper into her steely grey eyes, and in that moment he realized why she had been acting so strange.

"Vi, is this a date?"

~~~*~~~

Sarah had been absolutely right, once Alwen got Gato away from all the crowds and it was just the two of them there was a noticeable change in his demeanor. The normally stoic Felinoid began to fidget, and every so often he would glance towards her, and she would pretend not to notice. She had been trying to figure out what she should do next when her sorbet dripped all over leg, she turned to find her own napkin when massive hand began to brush away the stain on her leg. She watched as Gato's hand wiped at the stain and she felt her face heat at his brash touch, and then before she could fight back her arousal and attraction he looked up at her. It felt like an electric current ran between their eyes, and her heartbeat sped up.

And then as if he knew the perfect words to ruin the moment he asked "Vi, is this a date?"

She felt her senses return in a rush and she straitened up. What had Alice said back on Femeri, just be straight forward and honest, they'll never see it coming. "Yes, wasn't that obvious."

He sat up straight as well "It probably should have been." He grumbled. "When, when did it happen?"

"When did I realize I liked you?" she asked in confusion.

"Yeah"

"After the battle for the confederacy, on that roof top, if Alice hadn't come up I would have tried to kiss you" she said matter of factly.

Gato looked at her and chuckled "You Torweni women sure are brazen, between you and those topless red skinned women we rescued from the Kruhur I'm wondering if your culture has any sense of shame" he teased wryly.

Alwen guffawed and lightly punched him in the shoulder "Don't compare me to them, those women would have mounted you the moment they got you alone."

His eyebrows shot up "Seriously?"