Klutziness and Big Feet
"She's happier right now, right at this moment, than she's ever been, but she doesn't know how to tell him that." Nadia, Weiss, and bowling.
A short, un-betaed fic for the missing Nadia/Weiss bowling scene in "Welcome to Liberty Village".
~*~*~
"That's your sixth hot dog."
"Your point?"
"There's no way you should be able to look like that and eat six hot dogs," he says, looking impressed and baffled all at once.
She knows there's a compliment buried in there somewhere, so she settles for slapping him on the arm before standing up to take her turn.
"Any tips?"
"Yeah. People don't normally like it when you bowl into their lane."
"I'm never living that one down, am I?" she sighs as she grabs her ball.
"Not in this decade."
She turns and makes a mocking face at him before focusing back on the lane. Step, step, step, roll--
"Damn it," she mutters, stomping her foot slightly as the ball rolls just to the left of the pins. She turns back to Weiss, cocking an eyebrow. "OK. Aside from the hot dogs and the disco ball, I'm not really seeing the fun here."
He takes a sip of his beer before standing up and crossing to the ball return. "Fine, fine. C'mere." He hands her ball back to her. "You're pulling your arm to the left after you release, that's all." He grabs her shoulders and points her back to the lane. "Step, step, step, release, and keep your arm straight ahead. We'll try it slow." She steps and he follows, his hand resting on her right arm.
"Now release, good--OW!" Her right foot hooks behind her left as she lets go, catching his ankle and knocking him off-balance. He attempts to keep himself upright, succeeding only in pulling her down with him. They collapse in a tangle of arms and legs, Nadia letting out a little shriek as they hit the floor.
"Way to go, klutz," Weiss says.
"Look who's talking, big feet," she shoots back. They stare at each other wordlessly before breaking out into simultaneous bursts of laughter. She rests her head on his chest and laughs until she's gasping for air, until the occupants of the surrounding lanes are staring suspiciously at them, and somewhere in the back of her mind she knows she hasn't laughed like this in far too long.
"Look," Nadia says after she catches her breath, pointing to the end of the lane, "eight pins. Not bad."
"Yeah, well, nine if you count the bump I'm gonna have on my head," Weiss replies, pulling himself to a sitting position.
"And to think, this is supposed to be less dangerous than work." Leaning over, she places her hands on his head, feeling for any bumps. "Are you alright? Really."
"I'm fine. My pride, what was left of it, has taken a horrible beating." He reaches up to brush a piece of hair out of her face. "But it's worth it to see you smile like that."
She grins at him and gets a brilliant smile in return. She's happier right now, right at this moment, than she's ever been, but she doesn't know how to tell him that. She smiles most when he's around, but she can't tell him that either. There's not much that she can say, but it doesn't seem to matter as he leans in, his smile fading. She meets him halfway and kisses him softly, hesitantly. Later on, she won't quite be able to believe that their first kiss happened on the lacquered floor of a 24-hour bowling alley, the strobe light swirling around them and cheesy 80s music pounding in her ears. But right now, she just can't seem to care.
"So, I've changed my mind." she whispers as she pulls back.
"About what?"
"Bowling," she says with a devilish grin. She kisses him again. "I love bowling."
end
Posted by Carrie on 06:05 AM