#geeeeee

Once they’ve arrived there, Leroy dismisses himself from the duty of taking care of Ingrid’s swollen ankle, and throws the ball to Honey instead, who doesn’t complain, but she doesn’t treat Ingrid more tenderly than Leroy either.

Nova watches the scene as she bites her nails. Ingrid’s ankle has gotten so big she can’t help but compare it to a frog, and as Honey pokes it (instead of massaging it) to try to find out what’s wrong with it, the bruises on her skin become more evident.

“I don’t think it’s broken.” Honey concludes. “It’s more likely…”

“Sprained.” Leroy nods.

“Yes. Sprained. Little Nightmare, would you please hand me some bandages?”

She skips the part where she asks Honey to not call her that (Little Nightmare) and obeys without hesitation. After all, she knows where Ingrid keeps that type of stuff. She’s been here bleeding or with injured limbs many times before.

“What the hell happened to you?” Winston laughs. “Are you still this dumb? Really?”

Nova holds her breath as she takes the bandages.

“Actually, no. Like, you’re not gonna believe what happened.”

“Please, if any of the Renegades’ little brainless patrolling units did this to you, just…skip the story, because I’ll get really mad.”

“Nova tackled the shit out of me during training.”

She hugged the bandages really tightly against her chest, waiting for someone, anyone, to say something. It was like a small piece of glass trapped in her skin and she wanted it out as fast as possible. She wanted the lecture to be over before it even started. She wanted…

“She did?”

“She did. And it was awesome.”

What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what

“OH MY GOSH! NOVA!” Ingrid screams in pain as Honey violently lets go of her ankle and runs towards Nova, who turns around and accepts her effusive hug just because it’s too late to reject it. The bandages fall to the ground as she pats Honey’s back, confused.

“Really, you should’ve seen her!” Ingrid screeches, already recovered. “She was great! HECK, WAS I IMPRESSED.”

“Ingrid, what the fu—“

“SHE TACKLED ME! TO THE GROUND! THERE’S NO WAY SHE COULD’VE DONE THAT LAST MONTH! SHE WAS AMAZING!”

“Sounds like she was.” Leroy smiles. It’s not a wide smile, but still a smile. “Congratulations, Nova.”

Honey, who has stopped hugging her and now has her arms around her shoulders, laughs.

“We knew you were better than that. You were just playing dumb, weren’t you?”

“I…”

“So…she…sprained your ankle when she tackled you to the floor?” Winston asks.

“NO, NO, NO! BECAUSE AFTER SHE TACKLED ME, SHE MANAGED TO THROW ME OFF A FUCKING FENCE! I MEAN, HOW COOL IS THAT?!”

Winston blinks. And for a moment, she sees something weird in his expression. Something…different.

But maybe she’s just paranoid.

“…Yeah. Pretty cool.”

Nova blinks too.

And the only thing she knows right now is that…

Well.

Perhaps she doesn’t know anything.

“Heck. I’m proud of you.”

And Ingrid smiles. At her.

And Nova feels the corner of her lips shaking as they correspond that smile. Next thing she realizes is that that’s how it feels to get it right for the first time.

“You’re finally getting stronger. Next time…”

“Next time I’ll wreck you.” Nova says, her smile widening. “And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Ingrid raises an eyebrow at her, jokingly.

“Promises, promises, Nightmare. I hope you can keep them.”