#mtas fic

Marcina hadn’t been thrilled to see the director of research at her gate first thing in the morning. In fact, she had actually been dreading that exactly this would happen ever since Qi had begun acting strangely around her.

With all the sudden issues popping up, both of Logan’s doing and the general neediness of the town that came with the colder seasons, she had inadvertently been spending a bit of time at the research center looking into new blueprints. Qi was never exactly… kind to her, but she could sense that he had become fully accustomed to her presence around him. His behavior had definitely changed, even if the disrespectful way in which he spoke to her hadn’t.

In general, Marcina knew that his character was simply one that didn’t quite align with hers. They had gotten to a point where they could work together well, and maybe they were even leaning into a weird, fragile sort of friendship, but Marcina could hardly see it getting that far, let alone any further. Part of her knew that Qi wasn’t quite going to see it that way, though.

She had sensed the shift in him the last few days, especially after he had bombarded her during a research session to ask her to teach him to dance. Only because she felt like she owed him, she lent a hand, but the entire situation to her just felt entirely awkward and unnatural.

Qi apparently had a different take on the events, leading to the disheveled director standing at her doorstep. Marcina didn’t really need to ask him what it was about when she met him at the gate, instead she simply waved for him to walk along with her to the Yakmel station at the entrance of town. She figured giving them something to do, even if it was just walking, would make the unrequited spilling of his thoughts a bit less awkward.

“…And so you see, based on that, that is the only conclusion I could come to.” Qi finished chattering, his porcelain cheeks dusted with a red flush. They had stopped walking a bit of time ago, though that didn’t stop the director from shifting anxiously about the area.

An unimpressed Marcina stood opposite him, her brown arms crossed over the front of her dirty builder’s vest. “It took you four different scientific tests to determine whether you have a crush on me or not?” she asked coolly.

Her words seemed to stump the researcher for a moment, who simply blinked back at her as if she made no sense. “Of course. I didn’t want to make any hasty judgements, I had to be sure. And I believe, with the time we’ve spent together recently, that this is the correct hypothesis.”

Marcina couldn’t help the scoff that left her lips. She might have taken him for earnest, had he not been wholly indifferent to an entire cabinet of scientific instruments nearly crushing her to death a few weeks before. Not to mention the way he still turned his nose up at every single commission she completed for him. Hell, he hadn’t even bothered to bring a heart knot to this… touching conversation. If Marcina was going to be with someone, it certainly wouldn't be a man who hardly took the time to acknowledge her presence.

“Look, I’m flattered and all, but we’ve been spending time together for work, Qi,” Marcina said flatly. She had a long day ahead of her, and she didn’t care to waste energy in sugarcoating her tone. “I don’t think you like me the way you think that you do. And if you do, I think it’s only because you want something new to test. Either way, I’m afraid I’m not interested.”

A couple seconds passed before Qi blinked, pushing his glasses further up onto the bridge of his nose. With a sharp nod, he excused himself, apologizing for taking up any additional amount of her time. Marcina watched him go with a slight frown, her chest tightening with the familiar discomfort that comes from letting someone down, even if her shoulders simultaneously sagged in relief.

Shaking herself, she turned to head back to her workshop from the Yakmel station. As she stepped through the dust she and Qi had just kicked up moment ago, her eyes snagged on a familiar back fleeing down the railroad tracks away from her workshop. Her brow furrowed as she instinctively quickened her pace, hoping to get within distance to stop the retreating man without having to yell.

He must not have heard her footsteps in the rough sand, because even when she was close enough to only have to gently speak his name, he still jumped out of his skin. Marcina felt her own pulse quicken anxiously as she asked, “Is everything okay, Unsuur?”

Slowly, the man turned to face her, careful to keep his hands tucked behind his back and out of her view. “Fine! I’m… fine,” he responded dutifully, though even the familiar monotony of his voice seemed to shake a bit.

A smile tilted onto Marcina lips without her thinking to allow it. She and Unsuur had been friends since the moment she came to Sandrock, and a large part of why their relationship prospered was the adoration Marcina held for him. Where others, including his only other friend, found him to be odd or jarring at times, the builder had only ever found comfort in his behavior. He spoke directly, and was all in all a pretty simple person to understand and get along with. He made her feel a little less like a fish out of water.

Marcina would always have a soft spot for Unsuur, though sometimes she caught herself wondering if it was more than just a soft spot. She generally didn’t let herself feed too much into the thought of mingling or romantic feelings, but sometimes when she’d had a long day and she found herself wanting to stop by his house for a while, she got scared. She was too busy and had too much of a public reputation on the line to risk feeling any extra type of way.

But unexpected moments like this, with him in front of her and nothing short of a flustered mess at that, squeezed at that soft spot.

“You promise?” Marcina asked innocently, though she sent a pointed look towards the item he was hiding. Unsuur was easy to spook, and she had learned through months of friendship that you had to do exactly the right amount of pushing to get him to talk without clamming shut.

Unsuur took a moment to just blink back at her, his gaze seemingly getting caught on her round brown eyes for a moment before he snapped back to attention. “I promise! I was just going to leave a letter in your mailbox, then I saw you were busy with Qi, and on second thought I might not,” he rambled, his tone hitching with nerves.

For a second, Marcina’s brow furrowed with curiosity. Then she froze. Did he say…

Her face must have betrayed her thoughts, as all composure drained from the man across from her. “Oh shoot. I just remembered I need to go home and lock myself in the closet. See ya!” With that and no further warning, he bolted into town, leaving Marcina too bewildered to call after him.

While trying to find her footing in Sandrock, the one thing that had made Marcina feel special, maybe even understood, were those silly secret admirer letters she had been receiving. At first, she was a little wary, until she realized how genuinely kind and harmless the contents of the first couple letters were. She hadn’t really let herself stew too much on the sender’s identity, assuming at first that it was likely just one of the older residents trying to boost her confidence.

Then when the last one came, and it was entirely more forward, the butterflies kicked in. Maybe Marcina should have considered then that Unsuur could have been behind the notes, but she supposed she figured that would be too good to be true. How likely was it that these letters were even legit, let alone that the one person she found herself falling for was the one sending them?

But now…

Marcina had to be sure.

Blinking away her uncertainties, Marcina marched back through the gates and into her workshop home to quickly switch out her work vest and pants for a loose hoodie and jeans. She had been elbows deep in a project when Qi came by to detail her earlier, and while she was distracted for a completely different reason now, she knew she wouldn’t be getting any real work done with her mind going the way it was. If she was going to have the type of conversation she thought she was, she could at least look a little nicer.

Cleaned up, Marcina headed down the railroad tracks towards the bridge side of town. Just as she climbed the steps to Unsuur’s house, the door to the Civil Corps beside her open, and Justice stepped into the sunlight. He caught her out of the corner of his eye immediately. “Here for a bounty, Marcie?”

Marcina had not anticipated having to speak to anyone else during this experience, and found herself fumbling even more than usual. “Oh, no, um… I’m…” Marcina struggled with her tongue as her eyes inadvertently flickered to Unsuur’s front door.

Ever the detective, Justice caught the expression, and his smile immediately shifted from good-natured to knowing. “I had a feeling this was coming. You better be good to him, Marcie,” Justice teased. He must have figured the look on her face was reaction enough, as he turned to find Truth without any more pressure, seemingly leaving her to it.

“Haven’t even talked to him yet,” she muttered at the sheriff’s retreating back, her nerves setting in tenfold as she had to prepare herself all over again.

Once she felt ready enough, she led with a tentative knock on the door, her ear pressed against the metal to see if she could hear a response. When none came, she knocked again, a bit louder. There was a thump, and then what sounded like a muffled invitation to come in.

Uncertain, Marcina pushed the door open, quietly stepping into the building. She had been in Unsuur’s room a time or two before then, but never under the current circumstance. She couldn’t help but feel a bit like she herself wanted to hide in a cupboard.

The one thing that differed from this visit to Unsuur’s house was that the man himself was nowhere to be seen. In answer to her curiosity, a familiar voice came from the corner of the room, “Did someone come in? Marcie?”

Marcina stepped a bit further into the room, bringing herself into better view of the closet. “Hi, Unsuur,” she greeted calmly. “I hope it’s okay that I came after you.”

“I’m flattered,” Unsuur answered unnaturally quickly. “One person closet though, I’m afraid. Not enough room for both of us.”

Marcina couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped her. Even as disastrous as this was becoming, she still found him so endearing. “Well, is it okay if I hang out here then? I wanted to be around you, if that’s alright,” she compromised.

She could practically feel the quiver in his voice as he responded, “You can hang as long as you want. I’ll… probably be in here a while though.”

Marcina knew when to push, and when to wait. For a few good moments, she waited, letting the familiar comfort of their dynamic return to the awkward situation. No matter where this went, it would be new and odd for both of them. But at the end of the day, there was a reason they gravitated towards each other. The was a comfort there that didn’t exist anywhere else.

Once that familiar feeling returned, Marcina gentle posed, “Can we talk about the letters?”

There was a healthy pause before she heard Unsuur clear his throat. “Still wondering about that huh? It sure has been hard to catch the guy, yknow. And this isn’t technically even a crime, yknow, so really me and Civil Corps, we really can’t do too much for you. Real sorry, Marcie.” He had never been even a half decent liar, but it was clear that emotion getting involved only made it worse.

For a moment, Marcina thought to humor him. Maybe she should just play along and pretend like the glaringly obvious facts in front of her weren’t actually there. Maybe when he’s ready they could talk about it on his terms, and Marcina could just play dumb on the whole thing until then. Maybe he’d even keep writing the letters, and she could still enjoy the feeling while the awkward conversation could be avoided for both of them.

As much as she defaulted to avoiding conflict, nothing about any of those options seemed satisfying to Marcina. She knew where’d she be if she let him pretend that it wasn’t him, that he didn’t feel anything other than friendship towards her. She’d fight the emotion and try not to let it get to her, but she knew she’d be disappointed. Beyond disappointed. At this point, her heart was too involved not to at least hear the truth.

“Could I please see the letter you were going to give me today?” Marcina asked quietly. Unsuur fumbled for an excuse, but the builder just blinked hopefully at the slats in the closet door. “I’d really like to read it.”

There was another lengthy pause before a quiet sigh broke the silence. Without another word, the letter dropped from one of the closet slats, skidding across the floor towards the door. With an excited giggle Marcina scurried after it, quick scooping the envelope up in her fingers. Her eyes were on it the second she ripped the thing open as she desperately hoped the words she wanted to read would materialize in front of her.

The letter was in his familiar writing, and detailed a very Unsuur thought process praising her work and character. He wrote about her so sweetly her cheeks burned, her heart thumping harder and harder as she got closer to the end. Surely there was only one way to end a letter of this nature. He certainly had to ask her to be his…

Other best friend?

Marcina’s heart plummeted, and it took every muscle in her face to keep her eyes from welling with tears. She kept her eyes glued to the paper long after she was done reading, until a lasting silence crept into the room.

Unsuur, who removed himself from the closet shortly after giving her the letter, teetered on his feet across from her. “Did you see where I um…” when Marcina didn’t lift her gaze, his voice quieted, “…I signed my name.”

She knew she was scaring him. He thought she was put off and going to say no. Of course she’d be his best friend if that’s all he wanted, though she didn’t think he needed to ask. She had sorta already been considering him as her best friend, and sometimes her only friend. It didn’t occur to her that best friend was a title you asked for. Now she felt stupid in more ways than one, and she didn’t know if she could meet his gaze without crying.

“I knew it was stupid,” Unsuur eventually admitted quietly, the tone of his voice only breaking Marcina’s heart further. “You can act like this never happened. I’m good at forgetting things,” he said sadly.

Marcina swallowed, and only when she was certain her voice wouldn’t crack did she finally say, “Unsuur, I’ll be your best friend.” She tried to spare a smile, but her facial muscles felt heavy.

Unsuur’s face lit up in an instant. “It would be a honor. You truly are the coolest, Marcie. This will be so…” his words trailed as he noticed Marcina’s unchanging expression, “great.” In the same amount of time that it lit up, his expression became concerned. “Marcie?”

Suck it up, Marcie. Sandrock relied on her to do her best work and focus on building, not get swept up in her emotions. It was for the best that she was just friends with everybody in town, right? Anything else would be a conflict of interest. She didn’t even want a relationship anyway. Right?

The ache in her chest throbbed in opposition. She was going to hurt no matter what. She was already hurt. Leaving things unsaid would only hurt her more, but saying what she needed to would just put their friendship on the line.

Unsuur took a step closer, raising a tentative hand to Marcina’s shoulder. He wasn’t normally one to cross out of his own personal space, but he seemed to like to make exceptions for her. His touch didn’t do anything but further muddle her head, and when his thumb brushed comfortingly against the soft part of her arm, she broke.

“I thought… maybe you liked me,” Marcina managed to finally verbalize. Instantly, she was appalled at the way she sounded. She felt like a grade schooler getting asked out as a prank all over again, and apparently she sounded like one, too.

Unsuur’s brow scrunched as he tried to make sense of her words. “I do like you,” he answered dutifully. “I like you a whole lot. I wouldn’t want to be your best friend if I didn’t.”

This time, when Marcina fixated her gaze onto his, she couldn’t focus on holding back her emotion. Her eyes welled as she quietly insisted, “In a different way, Unsuur. I thought…” Marcina paused, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. Now or never. “I thought maybe you wanted to be with me. As like, a couple. In a relationship. Not friends.”

Marcina watched as ten different thoughts and emotions flickered across Unsuur’s face before he eventually settled for a contemplative expression. Suddenly feeling exposed, Marcina’s instincts screamed at her to go home and lock herself in her room. She had never been more embarrassed, and she had evidently never read someone’s intentions so incorrectly before.

Quickly, she held her hands up, her voice racked with shaky tears as she said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking. I hope you’ll still be my friend, I should go.”

As she turned for the door, she expected him to hastily stop her, or even step in the way. Instead, he quietly and calmly said, “Can I give you something? Before you go? It’s a… a gift. I got it a while ago with you in mind, I just haven’t had the courage to give it to you.”

That made Marcina stop, her pulse quickening as she halted in her movements. After hesitating a moment, she gave a small nod. Unsuur darted across the room, pulling a small object and a slightly bigger box out of a cupboard near the sink. When he returned to Marcina’s side, he had a shy smile on his face. She held out her hands, and he pressed a small, heart shaped rock into her palm.

It didn’t seem like much, but from Unsuur, Marcina knew exactly the thought behind it. She dared to let her heart flutter hopefully as she turned the rock over in her palm, admiring the smooth edges and unusual shape of the stone.

When their eyes met again, he still wore the same shy, boyish look. “I… never thought I’d find the bravery to ask you. And I guess I was right, and I never did, since all this had to happen and you had to bring it up, but…” Unsuur sighed, trailing off for a moment before he regained his train of thought.

“I really would love that. A relationship, with you. That is what I want. I don’t think I ever even thought about it or knew what it meant before I met you. But now I kinda want to spend all my time with you.”

It was the second confession Marcina had received in the same day, though it was far more sincere and meaningful. Unsuur knew her, and showed that he cared about her, even before anything romantic was on the table. They could be best friends without being in a relationship, but they made a whole lot more sense together. There was no one that Marcina wanted to stand by more.

“I really like you Unsuur,” Marcina allowed herself to fully admit. “You’re a great friend, and I value that a lot, but you’ve been on my mind as… more than that. For a while. It’s distracting.” She felt the heat rush to her cheeks at the admission. Anyone else would tease her relentlessly.

But anyone else was not Unsuur. “I usually have been carrying that rock on my person every day. I was hoping maybe if I forced myself to have it, I’d eventually force myself to give it to you. Tell you how I feel.” The shyness returned to his voice as he scratched at the back of his neck.

He looked extra nervous for a moment before he finally held out the other box he had retrieved earlier. He watched Marcina cautiously as she took it from his hands, quietly admitting, “I… bought this a while ago too.”

Removing the lid from the box, Marcina pushed away the gift wrapping to reveal the familiar bright red shape of a heart knot. Her gaze immediately snapped upwards to Unsuur, who was watching her like an anxious hawk. “You’ve had this?” she asked incredulously.

Unsuur wasted no time nodding. “For four weeks and three days, exactly,” he added. When he could see her attempting to calculate the day in her head, his cheeks reddened. He chose to save her the wonder ny, explaining, “It was um… the first day you ever asked me to get lunch with you. When Pen and Owen made the comment about me being… different, and you kinda stood up for me and made them feel bad without making a scene?”

He looked embarrassed to admit that the moment meant so much to him, but Marcina remembered it well. She had gotten irrationally, blindly angry at hearing the two men insult him, and muttered some things to Owen that in retrospect might have been meaner than deserved. It never happened again, at least not with Marcina around, and she was happy to see it stay that way.

At the time, it was nothing more than defending a friend. Once she had time to think about it in bed at two in the morning, she realized the experience brought out a defensiveness in her she didn’t see often. She buried the feeling. Apparently, he had, too.

“You bought it after that? For me?” She asked, still not certain if she could believe the events unfolding in front of her.

Unsuur answered her with another nod. He explained, “As soon as you went home, I went to Arlo’s to buy it. It was awkward. He seemed to know exactly what I was thinking, like he could read my mind. It spooked me. I ran home and wrapped it up and then hid it away.”

There was a pause in his explanation, and his expression seemed to battle with itself. Eventually, something in his face fell, and he resigned himself to adding more context to the story. “Today, um… Today was the first day I thought I might be ready to give it to you. I was going to give you the letter and tell you. About how I got it for you all that time ago. But I got there and you were, um, busy.”

Marcina knew from his tone and the look on his face exactly what he meant, and her heart dropped. Him stumbling upon her and Qi having a lengthy heart-to-heart this morning had apparently shaken his confidence. He had no way of knowing that the whole conversation was a rejection, and Marcina could imagine that the last thing you want to see when you’re about to tell a girl you like her is another man doing the same thing.

“I had no idea you felt that way at all,” Marcina admitted. “I have for a while, but I figured I was nothing more than an honorary member of the Corps to you. Apparently Qi did too, since he asked me out this morning. I had just finished shutting him down when I noticed you leaving.”

At that last part, Unsuur perked up a bit. “You shut him down?” he asked with all the eagerness of a kid during the holidays.

Marcina giggled, “Of course. It wasn’t the nicest conversation, but it was an easy one.” She gave him a private smile. “My heart has been elsewhere for a while.”

A meek smile spread onto Unsuur’s lips as he bashfully dropped his eyes to the heart knot still laying in its gift box. “Well… you know where my heart is. It’s in your hands. Literally,” he said.

With a warm smile, Marcina took the knot from the box, gripping it tightly to her chest. “I’ll be careful with it, I promise,” she said sweetly. “I know you’ll take care of mine.”

Unsuur nodded enthusiastically, the smile on his face growing. Marcina took a brave step forward, her skin prickling with a new kind of excitement when he didn’t shy away from the closeness. Though he clearly wasn’t unwelcoming to her proximity, he seemed uncertain of what to say or do. With a sweet lilt, Marcina asked, “Is it okay if you… would you kiss me?”

His immediate response came in the form of a succinct “Okay” before he stooped his head to press a kiss against her mouth. It was gentle and tender and erased any lingering doubts from Marcina’s mind. She had struggled to make Sandrock feel like home, but every moment with Unsuur was bringing her closer and closer to belonging there.

When they separated, Marcina was sure that the goofy smile on her own face matched the grin on his. “I’ve been waiting for that for a while. Well, not waiting. That would be cocky. Just thinking about it,” Unsuur gushed.

Marcina shook her head with a small laugh. “I don’t think it would be cocky. I’ve been waiting for that for a long time, too,” she responded.

Unsuur’s smile turned bashful as he asked, “A long time?”

Marcina nodded. “Maybe a little longer than four weeks and three days,” she admitted softly.

There was not mistaking the pure happiness the spread across the man's face, and it made Marcina's heart thrum in her chest. She liked seeing him happy, she always had, but knowing that she was the one making him feel like this was a different kind of fulfilling.

Marcina had no oppositions when his arms settled around her waist, keeping her in his physical space. "Today has already been a day. A good day, but an emotional one too. The biggest day for us so far," he mused.

"Definitely our biggest day so far," Marcina agreed. While a fluttering look, she added, "it's turning out to be the best so far, too."

Unsuur was quick to agree, pressing a quick kiss against her forehead as he said, "I don't think I've ever had a better day than this."

Marcina smiled at the combined warmth of his words and proximity. Maybe Sandrock wasn't meant to ever feel like home. Maybe it wasn't about the town.

Now, standing behind the curtain and shifting his weight to his other leg, Daethius only lets Pablo put the finishing touches on his make-up, a little grateful that his face couldn’t betray his nerves.

“You remember your cue, right?” Pablo asks, then interjects before Daeth could answer, “Stupid question, of course you do. We rehearsed this a gazillion times. Okay, and the markers should still be on stage –”

“I’m sure they haven’t run away because of my face.”

Logan threw up his hands, "Excuse me for wanting to make sure my son is fully prepared for his first ever monster hunt without us."

Although his tone was light and teasing, Serena could hear the undercurrent of genuine fear in her husband's voice.  After handing the blanket over to Andy, she took Logan's hand in her own and squeezed.  He squeezed back, holding on for dear life. Andy got the blanket tucked away, then turned to his dad,

"Don't worry Pa, it'll be fine.  'Sides, I'm not going out all on my own, Elsie'll be there too."

"I know," Logan sighed. "Just...be careful? A'right?"

"I'll be careful, promise," Andy replied. Serena said,

"You'd better get going. I know you're supposed to meet Elsie soon." She took her hand back from Logan to hug Andy. He'd sprouted up recently, and was finally taller than her. "I love you kiddo."

Andy hugged her tight, "Love you too, Ma."

He turned to Logan, who pulled him into a crushing hug.

"I love you kid,"he mumbled into Andy's shoulder.

"I know, Pa.  Love you too."

Having said his goodbyes, Andy swung up onto Rambo the Second before waving over his shoulder and taking off for the ranch. Serena heard a sniff at her side.

When she turned to look at Logan, tears were trailing down his cheeks.

"Oh honey," she whispered, moving close to hold him.  Logan buried his face in the crook of her neck, and clung on tightly.

"I know he's capable and been out on hunts before," he mumbled, "but so had my Pa."

Even after close to a decade of marriage, Serena still learned new things about Logan that shattered her heart into pieces. Of course he'd be seeing the parallels between their son's first monster hunt without him and his father's last monster hunt, that was also without him.  Her mind went back to the first time Andy got sick shortly after the Duvos affair, and how strongly Logan reacted then.

"He's not alone though," she soothed, "Elsie's going with him -she's more than capable- and they're taking Daffodil too."

Logan nodded, "Yeah, you're right," he heaved a sigh and lifted his head.   Serena raised a hand to wipe the tears from under his eyes.  She was rewarded with a watery smile that tugged at her heart strings, "I dunno how ya put up with me sometimes."

Serena lifted herself up onto tiptoes and kissed his cheek, "Cause I love you."

Even after so long of being together and hearing it countless times, Logan still occasionally get the same dopey smile he'd given her the first time she said 'I love you.'  Serena thought it was the most precious thing in the world. Logan pressed a kiss to her forehead, then rested his against hers,

"I love you too, darlin'."

The moment was broken by the impatient lowing of their yakmels.  Serena sighed,

"Work calls."