A Piece of Me

Morning's Due

"Hey Genji, is that a wedding ring box in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

"I'm happy to see you."

"Wow no hesitati- ... Wait, Ge-Genji? Are you ..."

"Will you marry me, Angela?"

...

"Angela!!"

...

"We'll do our best."

"Please. Please do. I beg of you."

"We promise. We would have brought in the best in the world for this but ... that would be her ..."

"I know."

* * * * * * * *

Angela woke up, her eyes blinking as she found herself in darkness. Well, it wasn't darkness, it was just not the bright light of her lab. She was used to falling asleep there she supposed, so even the dim lighting of the dorm room felt unfamiliar to her. A soft yawn came from her lips as she sat up to stretch.

A quick survey confirmed that it was, in fact, her room. Her eyes naturally came to rest at a spot on the wall near the door but not quite in the corner. In the haziness of her vision, she could have sworn that she saw a chair there along with ... someone. But a single blink was all it took to erase that image and leave her with a frown and curious thoughts once more.

As she brushed her teeth and fixed her hair, her mind went over the content of her morning vision and dream despite most of her recollection already becoming much too hazy for her to comprehend much of it. Soon enough, these thoughts returned to the event that happened the previous day, leading her to groan and cup her reddened cheeks in her hands.

Somehow, she has felt more awkward interacting with Genji in the recent days. Well, when he engaged her in a conversation or when she needed to ask something of him there were no problems. She could do that and she loved to have a reason to hear his voice and let him take all of her time.

It was when she did not have these reasons that she faltered. She knew gossip and topics of interest that she could use to chat with the other team members when they happen to not start the conversation, which is rare at best.

With Genji, however, all these basic conversational skills went right out of the window once she saw him. It did not matter that she thought of a handful or two topics to talk to him about beforehand. There was something about the way he immediately dropped whatever he was doing to turn around, giving her that dashing smile and a gentle gaze full of attention just for her as if she was the most important thing in the world.

Something about that made her words disappear and her heart shy away from wanting to say anything further, lest that look and smile diminished.

However, he was kind enough to spare her the awkwardness. Sometimes, he would ask something about her day or her work. At other times, he would inquire about something he was curious about or that he was working on. The remainder, he asked whether she had eaten and whether she would like to join the rest of the team in the mess hall. Never him. It was always, him and the rest of the team.

Now, after that breakdown in front of him ... no, right on him, she did not know how she could possibly ever hope to approach him normally ever again. The thought saddened her yet at the same time it made her angry at herself. She's was the Angela Ziegler, world-renown okayest doctor and nanobiotics expert. A single man was not going to shake all her confidence.

She nodded to herself confidently as she looked at her finished look in the mirror. With a smile to the woman in the mirror, she turned off the light in the restroom and headed out from her room, finding herself terribly hungry and desiring something from the mess hall.

Now, if only she could conveniently bump into Genji and get him to invite her to lunch.

Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case. Her walk to the mess hall was extremely uneventful, almost to the point of making her anxious. Being completely out for over half of the day is not something she was used to and she wanted someone to update her on the situation of her lab and things around the base.

Being so deep in her thoughts was the reason that she almost ironically missed seeing the exact person that she had been hoping to meet. But once she heard his voice, all her other thoughts promptly excused themselves, leaving her speechless as she snapped her gaze up from her shoes to the piercing eyes of a very familiar cyborg.

"Doctor Ziegler?"

Angela stood there staring for a moment, her lips open as she instinctively tried to respond but finding no words coming out. Her cheeks reddened a bit as embarrassment struck her from the thought of how she must look and how she must have looked from the previous day. Despite it all, she coughed and mustered her confidence back enough to respond.

"Yes, that would be me. Are you surprised that I'm still alive? It'll take more than an exploding test flask to kill me you know."

To Genji's credit, he had not smiled or pointed out her blush and apparently awkwardness. Furthermore, Angela rather quickly realized that what she said might have been taken to be insensitive considering what actually did happen to her and what it did to him. However, he simply chuckled and smirked back at her.

"Oh I'm well aware. However, I thought that the hunger might do you in so I was actually planning to ah ... This is actually for you."

Only now did her eyes find its way below his eyes. She had seen him wear a casual t-shirt and jeans over his cybernetic parts before of course but after the event of the previous day, something in her mind just wandered to mentally comparing the softness between the shirt and his chest.

Even with a shirt on, her eyes lingered on his exposed arm before quickly snatching itself away to look at the object in question. On it was a tray nutritiously balanced yet perfectly suited her favorite meal choices from the mess hall. There was not a single missing item nor a single piece of corn in sight.

"For ... me?"

Genji nodded as their eyes met once more. "I thought you might be hungry once you woke up so I thought I would bring your meal to you but I suppose that plan is ruined now."

Angela giggled softly behind the cover of her hand and gave him a sweet smile as she crossed them behind her back. Well, that was very sweet of him, to say the least. It sounded like something from a soulmate's story or fairy tales. Well, he definitely had the fairy tale aspect at least, with the dragon and all.

"You're welcome for not making you bring it all the way~"

She thought for a moment, her finger on her lips as she looked at the tray. She then smiled at him as she clapped her hand together gently as if she was suddenly struck with an idea.

"Well since I'm here already, why don't we head back to the mess hall and join the others? You've been wanting to do that for a while so."

Genji smiled and nodded. "That would be a fine idea. As expected of the brilliant doctor."

Angela giggled at the compliment before joining him by his side, knowing better than to even attempt to take the tray from him. He had never allowed her to carry anything when he still had enough hands to do it for her. No matter where they were or what they did, he was always insistently offering and stealing the opportunity to do so. Even when he didn't have any hands remaining, he would somehow find a way to do it all with his shoulders and under his arms. That was perhaps the most powerful skill of a ninja by her reckoning.

As they walked, a thought struck Angela and made her look over at him with a coy smile.

"Say, you weren't looking forward to eating with me alone in my room were you?"

Once again, Genji had a curious expression on his face, though this one was much lighter compared to the others. It seemed ... fond and pleasant, as if recalling a happy memory rather than a regret or mourning a loss. He simply gave her a mysterious smile after gazing at her for a moment before looking forward again.

"Perhaps, in due time."