Vida opened the doors to the gymnasium, catching Hendrix just as he was about to leave.
"What happened? I think I just saw Chase crying." Vida pointed at the hallway as she made her way through the doors.
Hendrix sighed, dragging his fingers through his pink hair. "I don't know how we're gonna get through that mission. None of us know how to control each other when it comes down to it. I wish we were like you."
Vida was taken aback.
"No, no, no. It was all Akilah and Amora, I-" Vida was interrupted by a groan from Hendrix.
"There you go again. One day, I'll figure out how to show you how amazing you are." Hendrix chuckled as Vida looked down to hide her flustered look.
"Well… I think I get it now." Vida said, piecing together what probably happened in her head as she recovered her composure. "I'd just try to meet Chase where he's at, instead of trying to make him into something he's not."
Hendrix's eyes widened.
"I hadn't even thought of something like that. Here I was, thinking the team could only work if Chase gave up the attention he was working so hard for." Hendrix thought as his eyes lit up.
"You're a genius, Vida! See?! You're amazing." Hendrix shook Vida's shoulders in excitement, oblivious to the flustered look on her face.
"Um- thanks." Vida giggled, watching Hendrix's eyes light up like a little kid.
Hendrix made his way out of the gymnasium, stopping just one step short of the door.
"You know what? She deserves it." Hendrix thought as he remembered the sixty dollars he made from helping Ginji and Asuka move their bed into their room the day after they arrived.
"I heard Bloom and Alex talking about this sushi place in town, you wanna go tonight? I'll pay!" Hendrix chuckled.
"Um- I, yeah. Sure." Vida stumbled over her words, trying to get over her awkward surprise.
"Alright, then it's a date!" Hendrix's eyes immediately widened as the words exited his mouth. "I mean, I'll see you there. At the van, at like… Five."
Hendrix walked out of the gymnasium, both of them five times more nervous than just ten minutes before.
In Chase's room:
Chase watched a VHS recording of Predator on the old television Jason gifted him as a welcome gift, back when they first made it to Tokyo.
The movie had slowly become his choice when he needed comfort. It reminded him of Milo's copy, back in D.C. One of the movies he used to manifest his first pistol.
He wrapped himself in his blanket like a toddler, huddled in front of the screen as he watched the soldiers trudge through thick jungle.
"What's wrong with me…? No, what's wrong with them?" Chase thought, going back and forth on the two questions in his mind.
Chase heard a knock from behind his bedroom door.
"Babe?" Amora's voice called, muffled through the door.
"What's wrong?" Chase asked as his girlfriend opened the door.
"I came here to ask you that, silly." Amora chuckled, closing the door behind her before sitting on the bed next to her boyfriend. "Did something happen in the gym?"
Chase went silent. He didn't expect Amora to catch onto his mood so quickly, so he had no excuse ready.
"I… I think I'm gonna switch out of the mission." Chase muttered.
"Why? You were so excited about it this morning!" Amora leaned in, trying to read Chase's expression.
"I tried… I'm just a failure." Chase said.
"But-" Amora was interrupted.
"I just wanna be as strong as you guys!" Chase stood up, his frustration building up once again. "I swore I'd protect you! Now, I just have to watch while you come back with a bloody shoulder!"
"Chase, that wasn't your-" Amora couldn't finish her sentence.
"Then, when I'm finally put on a mission, I feel like I'm just supporting Hendrix, the freak of nature!" Chase continued. "And when I try to prove myself, I get my pistol-"
"Chase!" Amora yelled, her expression had switched from one of worry and concern to pure confused frustration.
Chase's eyes widened, going quiet from wholehearted surprise.
"How DARE you." Amora stood up, taking a step towards her boyfriend. "First, I am my own person. I said you could protect me, but I never said my mistakes were yours. I'm my own person, putting my life on the line to change the world just as much as you are."
Amora put up a second finger as she continued.
"Second, how DARE you call our friend a freak of nature. No one knows what's going on with him, but we know that first and foremost he's our friend, and he's on our side, even if it kills him." Amora said, the memory of Hendrix's fight with Shezmu flashing through her mind as tears welled up in her eyes.
She felt her face heat up, the frustration making her head feel tight.
Chase fell silent. His own words repeated as he winced in regret at each one.
"Babe, I-" Chase was interrupted.
"And third! You're not gonna quit on everyone just 'cause you can't be some superstar!" Amora held up three fingers.
After a few moments of silence, she sat back down on the bed, rubbing her head as she tried to calm down.
Chase stood still, staring at his frustrated girlfriend.
"Why am I like this?" Chase thought, repeating the question over and over in his head.
"You're right." Chase said. "I'm… I'm sorry."
Chase felt like he was choking on his own words, unable to get them out of his throat.
"I just wanted for them to… See me." Chase looked down, those words just as much a surprise to him as they were to Amora.
Amora let out a little chuckle. "I could've guessed that. I knew you would be trouble, ever since that day in the orphanage." She smiled up at her boyfriend. "I love you. Just be you, babe. You turn heads already."
"I love you, too." Chase smiled back, sitting on the bed next to his girlfriend. "Y'know, you've never talked about what you think this much."
Amora's eyes widened as she realized he was right.
The two of them laughed, loud enough to hear it through the walls.
A knock came from the door.
"Oh, god. Why is there a meeting happening in my room?!" Chase chuckled.
"Amora?" Vida's voice echoed through the door.
"Come in." Amora said.
Vida opened the door, twisting one of her dreads between her fingers as she looked down at her boots. "Um, don't take this the wrong way, but… What do you guys usually wear on dates?"
Amora's eyes lit up. "C'mon!"
She dragged Vida down the hallway turning into her room.
Chase thought to himself before coming to the same conclusion his girlfriend did.
"Hendrix and Vida on a date…?" Chase thought as he dawned his mischievous grin.
In Amora's room, she sat her friend down on her bed.
"Wait here!" Amora ran out of the room with a grin as Vida looked down the hallway confused.
After a few minutes of silence, Amora came rushing back, dragging Akilah and Bloom in with her.
She closed the door behind her as her smile only grew bigger.
"What is this about?" Akilah fixed her glasses as she put a bookmark in her book.
"So, when is your date with Hendrix?" Amora asked Vida as Bloom and Akilah went silent.
Everyone in the room locked their gaze on Vida, who was only twisting her dreads faster as her heart raced.
"Um, in like… six hours." Vida looked at the clock hanging over Amora's bedroom door.
"Let us give you a makeover!" Amora exclaimed as Bloom chuckled, nodding in agreement.
"Us?" Akilah pointed at herself.
"Wait, um." Vida put her arms out in an attempt to slow the conversation, but it was too late.
Amora was already looking through her dresser, gathering the supplies as Bloom pointed at the ones she liked
Vida let out a groan, looking to Akilah just in time to see her shrug with an equal amount of confusion.