The Calm in His Storm (Octane x Wattson)

twenty-one

Ajay yawned and climbed out of bed, her hair in her face as she left her room in search of some snacks. The buffet was downstairs but she didn't mind. For some reason she just couldn't sleep.

Okay actually, she knew the reason why she couldn't sleep.

It was because of Octavio and Natalie. Not to mention Elliot and Renée. They were all happy and in a relationship and she was feeling envious. She had never really had a relationship before.

There would be a guy or two she liked but they never worked out.

She sighed to herself and flinched when she bumped into something hard.

"Oh, I'm sorry." she said, looking up to see Crypto. The hacker seemed tired and he was shirtless. She hadn't been paying attention to him really but she now noticed that he had a nice body.

"It's fine." he muttered and began walking by, only to tense up when Ajay stopped him. "Hey um, do you wanna go get a snack wit me? Everyone else is asleep and you definitely need to socialize more." she said and he snorted, looking away slightly.

He sighed under his breath and turned around.

"Fine." he replied and she smiled. "Now was that so hard, Crypto?"

He cringed and frowned.

"My name..is Tae." he said and she blinked. "Tae?" he nodded and she looked him over. "Tae. I tink it suits you. Though, I was honestly expectin' someting more difficult." she said and he let out a snort. "You are stereotyping Asians." he said and she felt her face warm.

"Sorry. I didn' mean to. But you can't blame me." she said and he hummed in response.

They finally approached the buffet and Ajay decided to grab a slice of pizza and a soda before taking a seat at a random table. Tae grabbed a cup of tea, then sat beside her, silent.

"You know, everyone would be nicer to you if you were nicer to dem." said Ajay and Tae tensed up. "I know.." he replied quietly and she peered over at him, staring into his dark eyes. He wouldn't look at her. "Den why do you act de way you do?" she asked and he seemed reluctant to speak.

"I am..not used to the company of others anymore. The last time I got close to others, they betrayed me." said Tae, a tinge of anger in his voice and Ajay frowned, her expression sympathetic. "I know how that feels. My family aren't de best people. You'll find dat a lot of us have tings in common. But you can trust us. Or at least, I know you can trust me. We aren't like other people. But if you keep being de way you are, de others won't warm up to you. They won't trust you. It'll be harder for you here." she said.

He sighed at this, sitting his tea down. It was cold now and he didn't think he wanted it anymore.

Ajay shrugged and bit into her pizza. It was silent as she ate and Tae looked over at her. He hadn't noticed before but she had taken her hair down. It was a frizzy red mess on her head but he thought it looked good. She was in shorts and a tank top and he could see faint scars on her arms and legs.

He wondered how she got them.

"I can try..to be nice.." he said and she looked at him, swallowing her pizza before smiling. "Good. You don't still like Nat, right?" she asked and he shook his head. "No..I realize I was only infatuated with her because of her intelligence. Not because of her in general. She is nice and I still think that she would be better with someone else but I won't pursue her."

Ajay nodded. "Good. You don't want Silva as an enemy. He can be scary when he wants to be. It's rare but it happens." she said and Tae nodded. That punch was still fresh in his mind. He didn't think the daredevil could hit so hard. When he had a gun sure he was a formidable opponent but he hadn't thought he could actually fight.

"Oh and, you should really stop talking down on everyone. We may seem kinda.. I guess stupid in your opinion but we all have our thing. We just like having fun." Tae nodded again. He noticed that even with Elliot's antics, those decoys were impressive. An idiot couldn't make something like that.

"I can do that. I'm just used to being.." he trailed off and Ajay smirked. "Better than everyone?" Tae felt his face warm and he forced the blush away. "Something like that." Ajay laughed at this and he found himself smiling slightly.

"Get unused to it cause we'll definitely surprise you." she said and he hid his face as he chuckled. "Some of you already have." he said quietly and Ajay found her heart racing strangely. She was surprised that he was talking to her like this. And laughing. She almost thought he couldn't.

She liked this Cryp..this, Tae.

"Does this make us friends?" she asked and he was silent a moment. "...yes." she beamed and he stared at her, wondering why he felt so warm in her presence.