Merrells and Barrels was on Monroe, a street four and a half blocks away. Several restaurants had outdoor seating built into the cobble street with strings of winking lights and music. A group of college guys on city sanctioned electric scooters shot past, whooping and laughing. Yasuo borked back at them with excitement, ears flopping as he trotted beside Sage.
She wasn't athletic, so running was really more of a brisk walk that still made her sweat. While her stamina wasn't good, her body was in shape. Sage took two classes per week at her local boxing gym. The fluid, succinct movements were familiar and centered her raging mental state, keeping Sage tethered to reality beyond a screen. Her parents thought that was important with her… condition.
Sage huffed, blowing a loose leaf away from her face before it could get stuck in her hair. Yasuo chose that moment to run around her legs, then dart behind, and circle around again—effectively trapping Sage and near tripping her mid jog.
A garbled shout left her lips as she reached out wildly, yanking on the leash to stop Yasuo from moving as she clutched a nearby tree planted between slabs of concrete. She was lucky it was there! Sage whipped a glare toward her dog, waggling her finger.
"Damnit, Yas!"
He yelped, then whined as he sat down in front of her, head bowed. For how small and chunky he was, it gave him chin wrinkles, and Sage could never resist the sight of them. She sighed, dropping to a crouch and summoning him closer. Yasuo inched over, little legs careful to crawl as if waiting to be yelled at. It was too cute, and as soon as he was in petting distance, Sage ruffled his white chest.
"It's alright, buddy, I know you're excited," she cooed, smiling. "Here, let me untangle us, yeah? Don't move."
Sage was in her own world with Yasuo, a bubble near impenetrable unless someone had the balls to do so. Thus, it was a surprise when a deep voice shivered down her spine.
"Your cluelessness is endearing."
Did he think that would sound like a compliment? Sage grumbled under her breath as she straightened to her full height, turning a roaring glare on the intruder.
Yasuo paced between her and the nearly seven foot man on the inside of the sidewalk. His gaze was a deep emerald flecked with gold, luminous above a black mask hiding the lower half of his face.
"I don't fuck with guys who're assholes," she told him with a click of her tongue. "Are you an asshole?"
One brow arched as he tilted his head to the side, and she could just tell the guy was grinning. "I am, so it's good that I have no interest in fucking you."
Sage felt embarrassment flush from the roots of her hair to her collarbone, but she refused to show it beyond that, lifting her chin with a sneer.
"I'm not offering. It's a figure of speech! What are you, thirty-seven?"
The stranger laughed, tipping his head back, floppy blonde curls falling away from his bronzed forehead. The sides were sheared, showcasing a huge geometric tattoo below peach fuzz. She knew what it meant from her obsessive research on mythology and folklore.
Chevron - create your own reality.
Sage swallowed just looking at it, thinking of the familiar ink on her spine in a similar, but long forgotten language. She'd only seen in it pictures that had since burned, but avoided it otherwise. It brought back strange, disjointed memories from her childhood. Her palms sweat at the mere thought of it.
The man crossed his forearms over a broad chest swathed in black cotton. She tried not to watch the muscles flex, but damn was he built, and Sage needed something else to focus on.
"As if that's old. What are you, eighteen?"
She huffed, noticing how he refused to answer. "I'm out of college, but step aside already, you're blocking the door."
Behind him was Sage's destination, the flickering light of sports TVs highlighting his wide shoulders. With a snort, he pulled up his hood and moved, the fabric black like the rest of his ensemble even down to pants tucked into combat boots that hid what looked like… holy shit, are those knives?
Sage quickly averted her wide eyes, taking a deep breath and telling her brain to act like a normal, functioning human with the ability to speak without hiding behind a persona. Their eyes locked again, forcing her to count the flecks of gold he had in each iris. Five, ten, fifteen…
"You can't take dogs in there."
Why was she still entertaining this asshole, again? Over the years, Sage had gotten to know her favorite bartenders and restaurant owners. They knew Yasuo by sight and had no problem with her bringing his cute ass into the main dining area to pick up her take out. Rather than explain that to this total stranger, Sage decided to fuck with him.
"I'm only picking up, so I'll be in and out. Since Yas seems to like you, how about you watch him for a second?"
This was not true. Yasuo looked more poised to leap and take a bite out his ball sac, golden eyes narrowed on the threat. The guy glanced down, and she was sure Yasuo would nip or bark at him, but her beloved boy sat back on his haunches, head bowed and yappy maw shut. Sage almost didn't catch her jaw before it hit the floor.
"Yeah, sure," he replied.
Sage's palms felt like rivers, fucking rivers, and her already throbbing, torn up cuticles became that much more prominent, every heartbeat echoing down to the tips. Shit, not here. If this is what she thought it was, her vision would start swimming next, then the back sweat, and then… stop! Don't spiral.
"Fine, and don't steal him! He's chipped, registered, and my only source of will to live. Got it?"
Sage punctuated her request by holding out the leash, messy bun flopping to one side and brushing against her hot pink sports bra. The man blinked at her for a minute, the silence pure and awkward as all hell. Despite it, a part of Sage refused to look away, two toned eyes narrowed.
"This is a good failsafe," he finally rumbled.
Ignoring the weird comment, Sage shook the leather leash, and he took it, brushing their fingers together, her slick ones against his dry calluses. A jolt of-of-something shot up her arm to the shell of her burning ears.
Surely, he's disgusted, Sage thought miserably, but rather than cringe, the man slowly brought those fingers up to the mask and inhaled deeply while holding her attention, emerald eyes burning.
A soft gasp caught in the back of her throat, and she scrambled to rein her reaction in before it leaked free and made this mortifying situation even worse. Sage took a wobbly step back, eyes darting between the unobstructed door and Yasuo. Her corgi sat obediently at the man's feet, head tilted as if asking why she were hesitating. Traitor. Sage let out a soft huff of a laugh, glancing up to wink at the man in a vain attempt to appear nonchalant.
"Thanks, Titan. I'll be back."
She turned toward the door, reaching to push it inward when he stopped her again. "My name's not Titan."
Sage smiled, voice rising with every word that left her lips, shooting out of her like overenthusiastic lasers to blind anyone in her path with nerdiness. It was random, but the words kept going until they were all out in the open.
"I know, but you look like the massive creatures from one of my favorite anime… wait, shit. You probably don't watch anime, it's like, cartoons for adults? And before you say anything, it's not childish. There are so many worth the watch because of the sheer emotional intelligence of the characters and wide range of topics."
She glanced up and grimaced. He looked shell-shocked by her rambling. This—this was why Sage rarely left the safety of her home. With flaming cheeks, she whirled back to the door, pushing it forward, only for ice water to pour down her spine.
"Whatever you say, Kitten."
Her head whipped back as she glared. "What the fuck did you just call me?"
Banner was smiling again, or rather, smirking. "You're short but feisty, like you could beat up a grown man twice your size while chewing him out. Thus, Kitten."
Sage balled her free hand into a tight fist, trying to identify just how much trouble she'd get in if she swung. By the curt set of his shoulders, she knew he was just waiting for her witty comeback.
"If I weren't a decent person, maybe I would swing, but I like this establishment and don't want to bring it any trouble."
At that, the man jolted a bit, a flash of something crossing his eyes that Sage couldn't read. She took that as her chance to flee, flying inside and rushing to the end of the bar.