A Little Fire Never Hurt (tf2 fanfic)

Distant Memories

As the double doors swung open then closed, silence filled the air again. Soon after Annie continued her workout, her blood pounding and rushing in her ears.. She was tired but her body pushed her to her limits, earning herself another bruise, another ache, another scratch..

Two more hours had passed and she was exhausted. Annie went to dry herself off from her sweat drenched clothes with a nearby towel laid out for her, possibly gifted by Spy. Wiping the towel over her forehead she exhaled harshly. Today was a pretty day, and she'd love to lounge around, but, she had work to do.

Grabbing her belongings she headed out of the doors, the drastic temperature raise blasted a wave of heat in her face, making her eyes water for a moment.

Annie trudged across the desert patch back to the main building, opening the doors to head inside. A cold blast of AC welcomed her back, and she made her way inside to her room to shower, then change into something less.. wet.

Unlocking her room she stepped inside and quickly went into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her. She huffed then darted her eyes around the small bathroom, her blue eyes flicking around the toilet, then sink, then catching her own reflection in the mirror. She looked rough, to say the least. The scratch from her and Spy's fight had stopped bleeding but was raw and pink, tender to the touch. Her skin started forming a couple of fresh and rather tender bruises across her arms and legs, probably again, from the fight.

She exhaled and her lip curled up in disgust..

'Jesus i look awful.'

She slowly peeled her sticky clothes off and dropped them on the floor next to the toilet. Next she grabbed two towels and turned the shower on, the sharp hiss of the water beating against the tile floor. Stepping in she let the water course and run atop her skin. It felt amazing compared to the sweat and heat of outside. The water was cold, and felt amazing on her tense shoulders and joints, screaming out from the workout. Shes definitely gonna be sore..

Scrubbing and lathering shampoo into her hair, she inhaled the soft, flowery scent it gave off. She exhaled and letting the lather fall off her red hair in clumps, soon washing the excess off to finish up.

Soon switching the water off, silence once again filled the space, almost deafening. The squeaks of Annie moving within the shower soon stopped as she stepped out. Grabbing one of the towels she dried herself off and was deep in thought.

Her eyes were distant as she thought back to the fight. She went a little overboard, she didnt deny it, but she was worked up, stressed out and overwhelmed by everything lately. The stress gnawed at her brain, consuming her every thought and desire until she was a shell of worry, constantly on edge and overthinking everything..

Her thoughts soon darted between her interactions with everyone on base.. Her and Sniper were good, Medic was nice to her.. Sadly she hasnt really gotten around to talk to Demo and Heavy, a shame honestly, they were really nice towards her. Her and Soldier were.... something.. she guesses. Scout was ok around her, sometimes a little overbearing but hey, hes a chatterbox.

Her thoughts swiftly glazed over her relationship with the engineer, sure they had made efforts to patch the really shitty 'coworker like' companionship they formed, but its nothing to honestly brag about right now. Her thoughts soon flicked towards Spy, sure between Medic and him they battled in her head for who was closer to her. But, she kept going back to their little talks.

He wasnt very open with Annie, no. But he was.. gentle with her. His smooth demeanor, his weird charm being able to make her open up more. His father like encouragement to get her to push herself to better expectations was all good to her, no doubt. But there was something in the back of her mind, lurking, but there..

His voice changing around her, the way he was guarded but soon cooled off around her. She shook it off soon as she continued to dry off, but she kept coming back to it, like a sickness taking over her brain.

Maybe he was her stress reliever? Someone to rant to? A friend, maybe? Hopefully..

Her breath released from her lungs through her nose as she was mainly dry now, but she didnt grab any clothes with her. Stepping out of her bathroom she went and grabbed clothes to change into. A black plain tshirt with grey sweats were fine for right now, nothing fancy and nothing that was the end of the world if they got dirty.

Slipping them on she looked around the room. Remembering the incident with the Blu scout in here, kinda creeped her out. Her damp hair was released from its confinement in the towel and fell onto her shoulders. Looking at herself in a standing mirror near the dresser made her feel better, she looked normal.. which is enough right?

'Enough for right now.'

She put the wet towels over and into the laundry basket in the corner of the room and headed out the door. Locking it, she made her way down the hall and passed by Demo going into his room, and greeted him quickly. He wasnt piss drunk this time so he bid her a 'hello' then went inside his room, shutting and locking the door. Rounding the corner going into the common room she opened the door, Scout was watching TV, and Engineer was reading a book, with worksheets nearby. Heavy was in the kitchen, connected to the room, making something to eat. She said hello to everyone and sat near Scout, who had the TV tuned into a baseball game playing. Sports really didnt bother her, and it was something to focus on for the moment, but it was kind of boring. Her eyes distanced off again and she was back in her thoughts..

She thought of her life outside of the base, honestly it was just couch-hopping of sorts, no place permanent enough for her. Going all over the states was annoying, but for some reason she couldnt just stay in one place. No job really took her, nor did she want them too. Her being confined was like torture to her, yet, this place was different. It was like she was back at the academy, except there was actual people here, not people looking at you like you were a dangerous animal, waiting to be hunted for sport. It was nice, she admitted, being friends with people wasnt her thing until recently. A nice change of pace honestly. It was like a new found breath found its way into her lungs, finally letting her breathe comfortably after so long of being on edge.

She snapped back to her surroundings, Scout intensely watching the TV, Heavy had left the room, with his food. Engineer was still nose deep in his worksheets, the book cast aside on one of the many tables in the kitchen. She sighed loudly, getting a look from the young boy next to her.

"You ok?" Scout asked, his thick brow pinched together, yet his blue eyes darted between her and the TV.

"Yeah im good, sorry" she explained, making an awkward smile, hopefully not letting her anxiety peek through.

He nodded then turned his attention back to the game. Annie grew bored of the silence between people and soon stood up, excusing herself to no one, then left. She headed down the hall back to her room, she'd rather spend her afternoon in there than out of it with nothing to do.

word count- 1314
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