Chapter 50 – Hot Date (1)

The words 'hot date' echo in Rain's head as he watches Tess's face twist into a bewildered expression. He can also feel Bright's amused gaze burning holes in him from the side, waiting for a response. 

'Fuck...'

Rain lets out a nervous chuckle, then quickly steps through the door and grabs Tess by the hand. Meanwhile, he flashes her an embarrassed smile, his voice coming out flustered. 

"On second thought, Tess, I'm ready to leave now."

With that, he pivots and walks swiftly down the hall, away from the devious Demigod in his room, pulling the startled Tess along with him. He calls over his shoulder in a strained tone, not slowing down or waiting for an answer. 

"Okay, Bright, nice seeing you! Please escort yourself out!"

Rain continues walking for several more seconds as Tess jogs to catch up to him and match his pace. 

'That woman is a demon...I might need to rethink this whole proposal thing. Where's her tact...doesn't she know I call everything a hot date!? I am obviously full of shit!'

As they round a corner, escaping Bright's potential line of sight, Rain's pace slows a bit and he breathes an internal sigh of relief. Tess's voice resounds from his side, equal parts curious and nervous. 

"Hey...uhm...Rain? I know it's probably none of my business what women you have in your room, but...that was a little strange, and...I have questions."

Glancing at Tess in surprise, Rain sees her staring at him with an apprehensive expression as they continue walking. He gives her an apologetic smile and nods. 

"Err, of course you do. I'm really sorry, ask away."

Her emerald eyes study him for a moment in silence.

"Well, for starters, who was she? Like, how do you know each other?"

Glancing around the hall briefly, Rain sees that they're alone. Tess already knows that he's an orphan, and he trusts her not to repeat anything if he asks. He doesn't see the problem with some honesty after the awkward nightmare they both just endured. 

"Ah...right. Her name is Master Bright. She works for the HSW-3 military, and she's actually the one who got me a spot in the Academy after I woke up from my Trial, even though I'm just an orphan. She's from the Rim, like me, so we keep in touch."

Tess's face briefly flashes with relief, though Rain isn't watching her at the moment, and her tone becomes a touch more relaxed. 

"I see...so, not your girlfriend? Or...a lover?"

Rain snaps his gaze towards her, his expression bewildered. 

"What? No. Actually, I'm a little cross with that demoness about the stunt she just pulled...of all the crap..."

He trails off in exasperation, shaking his head at the embarrassing memory.

*****

Tess is walking down the hall with Rain, still being pulled along by the hand. He just confirmed that his relationship with the strange woman she saw in his room isn't romantic, like she first feared. She lets out an internal sigh. 

'Why am I so relieved? I need to get a grip...'

Remembering what she heard the beautiful, silver-haired Demigod say, a touch of color rushes to her cheeks nonetheless. She glances at Rain, her expression a mix of nervousness and curiosity, wanting to probe him about what she heard. She tries to keep her tone nonchalant as she speaks. 

"Hey, Rain...about that...uhm...she said that you called us going to the movies today a hot date?"

Rain's face goes stiff, a bit of color rushing to his face. He rubs his neck sheepishly and turns towards Tess with an awkward smile. His voice comes out quite flustered.

"Oh...uhm...see...yeah. Err, yeah, I did say that...technically. But, like, you know how I am! I call everything a hot date! She shouldn't have taken me so seriously!"

Tess watches his reaction, subtly feeling a twinge of satisfaction that he seems so affected by the idea of being on a date with her. Feeling emboldened by his nervous behavior, and more like her confident self, she directs another question at him with a mildly amused tone. 

"Yeah, I guess that's true. But you can't blame her for getting the wrong idea. I mean...you have been holding my hand for several minutes now." 

Tess watches as Rain freezes on the spot, stalling their walk. She feels his hand tense in hers, then he slowly looks down to where he's holding her hand. He glances at her, wearing a mortified expression. He hastily releases her hand as more color rushes to his face. Seeing him become visibly embarrassed, Tess smiles to herself in satisfaction. 

'Oh, I love teasing him...I just wish it was easier! Nothing seems to faze the guy...'

She's thought for most of the time she's known Rain that he has a kind of unique charm – he's cute, in an aloof and slightly damaged way. Either because he's grown up with harsher concerns than most, or because he's just too clueless, he doesn't seem to feel embarrassment the same way as most people. He's always just...him...no apologies. She likes that about him, but...she really likes this embarrassed Rain. 

'That dumbass look on his face is adorable.'

She watches as his mortified expression seems to slowly, forcefully shift into a calmer one. However, when Rain speaks, his voice is still somewhat flustered, and his mirror-like eyes are watching her nervously. 

"Oh, I...uh...guess I got carried away. Sorry about that, Tess. I promise, though, I didn't mean it that way! I was just a little annoyed by Bright's antics, and I wanted to make a quick escape, you know?"

Tess watches him squirm, trying not to let her satisfaction show on her face. If he figures out that she's teasing him, he'll quit being so affected...that would really ruin her fun. She hasn't finished burning the image of his embarrassed face into her mind. Wondering how she can press him a little further before relenting, she remembers something else the Demigod woman said. 

Tess cocks her head to the side and tries to flash him her best, dazzling smile, studying him with her emerald eyes. She responds to him in the most charming voice she can manage, careful to make her tone more innocent than teasing. 

"Oh, I see...that makes sense. Didn't she also say that you called me beautiful, though?"

She studies Rain's expression intently as she poses the coy question, feeling a rush of giddy anticipation over how flustered it's going to make him. She already knows that he thinks she's beautiful...he said as much within a few minutes of meeting her.

That's something strange about him, though...he doesn't seem to be embarrassed to say that under normal circumstances. It's like he just considers it an observation that he's sharing, not some confession of a romantic interest in her. Despite her teasing and Rain's clearly embarrassed behavior right now, she's fairly certain that he's not actually interested in her that way. Nor does he consider their movie plans a real date. 

Truthfully, she finds those facts...disappointing. Because while he probably isn't romantically interested in her, she's not sure that the reverse is true. She's not sure if what she's feeling is a crush, but...she definitely likes Rain...enough to wonder about him romantically.

She's thought he was uniquely attractive since he first sat down at her table weeks ago. Objectively speaking, he's only slightly above average by Champion standards. But his jet black hair on flawless, marble white skin...and those shimmering eyes of his, especially...he really stands out. She is also shocked by how...fit...he seems to be. She had the pleasure of finding out during a water-treading exercise in their survival class, when he opted to forego his shirt.

Still, her time at the Academy has had her swimming in attention from hot guys. So, Rain's looks, unique or not, don't really faze her much on their own. Him, though...the way he makes her feel...the way he acts...that gets her every time. She's not sure exactly when she started wishing that he'd be a little more...partial...to her. 

At first, the thought of him made her seethe. He mentioned another woman being more beautiful than her, shrugged off her Talent like it was nothing, called her a slaver and unlikable, then walked away like she was an insignificant blip in his day, not even worthy of waiting for a response from. But things started to change after she laid into him on the first day of class, and she found out who he really was. 

She's always identified as the most disadvantaged person in any room she's been in, someone with priorities, drive, and even desperation that nobody else could relate to. Somewhere along the way, she really did come to believe that nothing she did to anyone else could be worse than what the world had done to her.

Then Rain, someone with an unquestionably shittier past than her, pulled her head out of the sand and rubbed her nose in it for good measure. He shattered every rationalization she used to tell herself for her actions. That...was hard...and it took her a while to learn how to move forward with the consequences of her actions no longer invisible to her. 

She stopped using her Talent at all, and she realized something quickly – nobody chose to be around her. Without even realizing it, she'd become someone so ugly on the inside that the only friends or admirers she'd have would be the ones she charmed. The one exception to that, ironically, seemed to be Rain. Despite being the one whose disdain shook her to begin with, and being immune to her supernatural and mundane charms, Rain also was the only person to still treat her like a person. 

She assumed that he'd make their class awkward for her, being cold and making petty remarks about her behavior. However, not only did he act completely neutral towards her from the second day of class, but he was outright agreeable and supportive in their team exercises. It's as though he put her in her place with their first conversation, then felt the matter was settled...their personal history reset to zero. She...deeply appreciated that opportunity...to start fresh. 

She was already taking a liking to him at that point, she thinks, but it would have remained completely platonic if that'd been it. She just found his company...grounding. However, that little stunt of his with the campfire lunch for two...it still makes her melt. She was suspicious of him at first, sure, but when he looked at her with those flashy, silver eyes and mischievous smile of his, and said that they were friends and he'd love her company...her heart rate nearly doubled from the excitement of hearing that from someone, especially him.

She's also not clueless...when she tried to play coy with him and act like she was doing him a favor by agreeing, she was angry at herself for saying something so stupid. To her surprise, though, he was polite about it and even agreed to owing her one. If she's being honest, that's probably really what sent her over the edge for him. Amidst a low point of her life, politeness-driven or not, he clearly sent a message that he valued her company when nobody else did. 

Before she knew it, she spent at least some time every day thinking about what favor she should ask him for in return. She considered asking him for an alliance, like with Nik...she liked the idea of spending time with him outside of class and having his support. However, that seemed like it was going to lock their relationship into a dynamic she was quickly realizing that she might find to be...restrictive...later. She also considered just outright asking him out on a date, but she was still sorting out exactly how she felt, and she was nervous how that might blow up in her face. 

So, she decided on the movie outing together. She was genuine about all the reasons she told him for wanting to go, and about wanting company in general. But she also wanted his company, with prolonged time alone to try and see if he was even open to a closer relationship with her, romantic or not. That's what she intends to probe him for today. 

As a smile unconsciously starts slipping onto her face at the recollection, Tess is snapped from her reverie by the sight of Rain giving her a puzzled look. 

'Oh, right...I was teasing him by asking if he told that woman that I'm beautiful. Why am I not getting that cute, embarrassed Rain!? He just looks confused!'

As he continues to stare at her with a puzzled expression, his mouth slowly twists into a wry grin, and his mirrored eyes seem to grow brighter, flashing at Tess like two pools of pure silver. His voice comes out with an amused and unashamed tone. 

"Well, yeah, of course I told her that? Did you forget already? I meant it when I told you that you're the most beautiful girl in this whole Academy...that didn't change in a few weeks."

Tess feels her chest tighten dangerously, her heart rate double, and heat flash across her chest and neck. 

'Oh that...damn that clueless bastard...gods help me...'