Chapter Twenty-Seven: Match

Once again, I lightly bonk my head against the side of the shower. As it has for the last twenty, maybe thirty minutes, the water continues to fall onto my skin as I slowly but surely sober up from the alcohol and adrenaline. It’s really unfortunate that water can’t wash away anything but surface level grime, since I really wish the decisions I’ve made today could vanish down into that drain.

Maribelle might just actually kill me if she hears about this. I doubt it’ll become public knowledge outside of just the greater area of Kansas City, but there’s no way news of me doesn’t spread among the local Engines after what just happened. Drama like this doesn’t just go forgotten among our spaces.

My hand idly brushes up against the top of my left ear, or well, the gunshot wound where it used to be. I wince at the slight sting my fingers bring, but the notch remains there nonetheless. It’s unfortunate that I don’t have the enhanced healing that higher Ignitions tend to have yet, but I suppose I’ll have to do with this. I don’t even know what Jun put on my wounds but it sure is working.

Holding back a yelp as I hear the bathroom door open, a flush comes on my face as I realize who is in my sleeper at the moment. She wouldn't? Would she? No, if what I’ve been told about her is true, she totally would?

“Hey don’t worry, I can’t see you through the shower curtain.”

I yelp at that, a deep heat spreading over my face.

With a snort, Jun explains, “I quickly looked through the boxes you got sent, so I’m leaving you out some comfy looking ones I chose for you to wear.”

“U-Uh, okay?” I glance down and find that I’m covering myself. “Thanks?”

“I’ll be uh, out here.” She coughs. “Probably sitting on the floor.”

I tilt my head, but don’t respond. Why on the floor? There’s a perfectly good chair- Oh. Then why not on the bed- Right. I hit my head against the wall again for good measure. Staying in the shower for a couple more minutes, I eventually work up the courage and meekly pull back the curtain while holding my body behind it.

Breathing out in relief, I step out onto the fluffy floormat, then reach over and grab the towel. I sort of immediately regret this as the soft fabric somehow finds a thousand microcuts I didn’t even know were there, something that continues wherever I touch. With a sigh, I place the towel down, and bite my lip as I think.

After a few seconds, I walk over to the door to the bathroom and put my hand on the doorknob. “Hey, Jun?”

Muffled, the response I hear is, “Don’t be afraid?”

Rolling my eyes with a smile, I say, “Don’t come in, the towel is a no apparently so I have to air dry a bit.”

Snickering at her own joke, Jun still responds with a: “Heard!”

With a sigh I step deeper into the bathroom, flinching when I look at myself in the mirror, upon which I pointedly look away. Wringing my hands, I look down at myself then jerk my head up immediately to look up at the ceiling. The deep and complicated pit of mixed emotions looking at myself brings has opened once again.

It’s hard to quantify each single emotion by itself, but at times like this I find myself trying. Euphoria rising from the femininity I once longed for and now embody to a certain degree. Despair birthed from the knowledge that I will likely never look how I truly feel like I should. Envy aimed at the women in my life that did not have to go through this. Humiliation crushing me for even having these emotions in the first place.

Despite still basically being soaked, I shake my head and fill the hole with will as I walk over to the pile of clothes Jun brought me. When I see that sitting atop the stack is a pair of lacy white panties that I definitely did not have before, I find my cheeks heating up once again. I knew Melody said they supposedly have everything there but I did not take underwear into consideration when they said they want me to wear only their clothes.

It’s also really hard to ignore that Jun picked these out for me. I mean, it’s not really that big of a deal but.

But.

Warmth growing in my stomach, I pull on all the clothes she brought me, the soft pastel pink shorts go on pretty easy but the matching tanktop is stubborn and a bit painful at first. I stand there in a slight daze for a moment enjoying that warm feeling in my core, one that I’ve done my best to ignore over the years.

Slapping my cheeks, I take a breath to prepare myself a bit. Okay Minea, you can do this. Probably. With a very forced step I reach out to grab the doorknob and throw the door open, a rush of cold air hitting me instantly.

Shivering, I step out into the main room of the sleeper, where I find that Jun is not sitting on the floor like she said she would be. Still in the tanktop and pair of cargo shorts I saw her in earlier, she is reading her phone as she leans against the wall across from my bed. She doesn’t look up as soon as the door opens, seemingly ignoring me on purpose until I clear my throat to get her attention, at which she looks up and gives me a smile.

“Hey.” My heart does something it really shouldn’t at just that single word. “What happened to airdrying?”

My hands meeting behind my back, I pause a few feet away from her. My excuse is a bit flimsy: “Um, it got a bit stuffy. I figured it’d be fine to just let the clothes get a bit wet.”

Putting her phone into her pocket, Jun nods. “I getcha, after a long late night shower sometimes I just want nothing more than to rush out of that damn bathroom and get under some covers.”

Nodding slowly in agreement, I glance over at my bed. “About half right for me at the moment.

Jun winces, biting her lip for a moment. “Right. The thing from last night. I don’t exactly blame you.”

“It’s just…” I look down at the ground. “It’s slightly terrifying.”

Frowning, Jun tilts her head at me. “Going to sleep in general or just being in bed?”

I barely manage to whisper, “The former.”

Jun nods, then looks at me in thought for a second before she steps away from the wall. Slowly, she begins to move towards me, each step she takes causing my heart to clench more and more. She pauses barely a foot in front of me, reaching up and brushing one of her electric blue locks behind her ear. “May I touch you really quickly?”

My eyes wide, I immediately nod without thinking. She reaches down to touch my arm, then ever so gently drags me with her towards the bed. Jun sits down on the bed’s edge, pulling me down to sit right beside her as she does. She lets me go after that but my focus is still entirely on her at this point.

Then with concern in her tone, she states, “So, the local news is all up in arms about an attack at one of the upscale casinos, and the description of the attacker…”

Awkwardly, I chuckle as I look down at my hands. “Yeah, that was me.”

“And the two dead people?”

I nod, and Jun hisses through her teeth. “Why, Minea? I know you’ve had a couple of difficult days but…”

Frantically, I look up at her. “N-No, this really wasn’t my fault this time! I wanted to go have fun and try gambling and getting drunk and all that for the first time! It was going well until…” My gaze lowers back down as tears threaten to fall. “Until…”

Her hand moves to rest upon my knee as she says, “Take your time.”

I take a deep breath, then ask in return, “Do you have any exes?”

“Ah.” Jun smirks. “More than I care to admit?”

My cheeks heat up again. “Right, dumb question. Long story short, I was playing poker with other Engines and got a little drunk, and one of them kind of maybe seduced me a little bit and got me alone.”

“Uhhhuh,” She drawls, “I think I see where this is going.”

I can’t help but giggle a bit ruefully. “So she kisses me, and then reveals that she was a rich ex-friend I didn’t recognize!”

Jun is silent as I continue.

“I’m obviously hesitant to interact anymore because the concept of being around this girl has been beaten out of me by her father.” My hands begin to clench. “Seriously by the way, when I was seven he was the one who gave me my face scar and literally stole my best friend!”

The concern in Jun’s voice is palpable as she says, “Minea…”

“So yeah we talk for a few moments, a quick back and forth where we trade info and I learn that she’s still a completely stuck up bitch,” as the words just flow out, they begin to speed up, “Her daddy’s guards arrive outside then, and I’m like well guess I’m gonna have to fight my way out. I take off my shoes and start closing out the conversation early even as it gets slightly heated."

“Minea.”

“They literally kick the door down and the moment that happens she also tells me she still LOVES ME?!” I throw my hands up a bit. “What the fuck am I supposed to say to that?! Oh, I maybe liked you before your father ruined my fucking life!? Then the fucking guard literally shoots me!”

“Minea!”

“So I use my new power upgrade from V2 and they all freeze and then I smash the guy who shot me into pulp before grabbing his gun and almost getting my head taken off by-”

“MINEA!” My face is forcibly jerked to the right, and I find myself looking right into Jun’s black eyes with her hands on my cheeks. “It’s okay! You’re safe now! Safe here!”

I blink, finding that tears are coursing down my face. “Ah. I-I-I’m s-sorry.”

“I’m sorry for doing that, but your power was going crazy the more distressed you got.” Jun reaches over and takes my hands, whereupon I see that I had dug my nails into my skin hard enough to break it. Her warmth is almost all I feel as she squeezes me tightly and explains, “And, it’s not your fault. You were assaulted, Minea.”

That takes me a bit aback. “I-I was?”

Jun nods. “Not just by the guards who attacked you, but by this woman who abused your inebriated state to get you alone and kiss you.”

“Ah.” I gulp. “But I willingly went along with her, willingly didn’t comply with their requests.”

Jun sighs. “Minea, what would have happened had you listened to them?”

It doesn’t take me long to come to an answer. “I probably would have died.”

“Exactly,” Jun agrees, “and I’m sure you understand why taking advantage of a drunk person is wrong. It’s not your fault, and I don’t want you to say it was again, you hear?”

I nod twice, but then a doubt rises up in my head.

“But Jun…” My voice is slightly hoarse, and it’s probably barely even audible. “What if she’s the only woman who ever loves me? What if I never find anyone else?”

If there’s anything I expected to hear Jun respond to that with, it definitely wasn’t a scoff. “Minea, in the roughly three days I’ve known you, you’ve proven yourself as one of the cutest individuals I’ve ever met. I refuse to believe that you cannot find someone that will love you for who you are.”

A complete veil of embarrassment falls over me. “I-I don’t think that I’m cute, but thank you?”

Jun groans yet a smile rises on her face.

“That’s so cliche of you to say it’s crazy,” then after a moment adds, “okay, how about this? I know this is a bit manipulative after what you just went through but…”

I tilt my head just a bit, “but?”

Jun lifts up my right hand and gingerly kisses it. My entire body heats up at the sensation of her lips upon my skin, and my mouth involuntarily opens as I stare at her. Looking at me from just behind my hand, the engineer whispers:

“If you’re willing to endure the consequences that we both know will happen with me, I’ll prove it to you that someone else can find you attractive.”

I was so, so wrong in the past when I thought the heat I felt when someone flirted with me was truly hot. Jun’s words cause a match in my core to come alight, the flame she lights something that I simply have no hope of resisting. Squeezing her left hand, I find that there is no way I could ever help myself.

“Okay. I’m okay with this,” I say in the smallest voice I think I’ve ever spoken in, “If you’ll have me, Jun.”

I about melt as she smiles ear to ear upon hearing that answer.

“I promise you Minea,” she whispers into my ear, “that you will not regret this.”

♡♡♡

If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.