Chapter Text
Tassita sat in a large armchair against a wall in the living room of the coach's place. The other coaches—Dinah, Pearl, and Belle—had gone off to do various things with their respective partners earlier in the day. They had all hesitated to travel in the escalating blizzard.
Tassita, being the good friend he is, had assured all three of them that it would be better if they stayed where they were and didn’t risk the snowy mess outside. He'd promised he’d be fine, definitely not lonely. No, he’d enjoy the quiet. He assured each one of them in turn. They all agreed not to attempt traveling home, leaving Tassita to work on a small crocheted blanket he hadn't had time for in the past couple of months.
Sitting back in his chair, Tassita listened to the sounds of the empty house. The wind whistled outside the window, and Ashley, the brown tabby, purred contentedly, perched on the back of the chair behind his head.
Just as he got into the rhythm of working on his blanket, Tassita heard a knock at the door. At first, he thought it was just the weather and the unusual silence inside that confused him. But when the knocks grew louder and more frequent, he decided to check.
He rolled over to the door, wincing at the sharp knocks. When he opened it, he found Hydra standing on the front step, shivering.
“Can I come in?” Hydra asked.
Tassita rolled his eyes and gestured for him to enter before shutting the door behind him.
“And you’re here why?” he asked.
“Thought you’d be lonely,” Hydra shrugged. “Got tired of my siblings, figured I’d check in on how you’re doing.”
“Why would I need company?” Tassita raised an eyebrow.
“That's what I said,” Hydra replied. “But then Belle was all like ‘You know how he is with storms,’ and besides, I was getting tired of my siblings being loud, so I came here. I can leave if you—”
“—Don’t. Just be quiet,” Tassita interrupted.
“Aww, you like having me around!” Hydra wrapped an arm around Tassita’s shoulders, causing him to stumble from the unexpected weight.
“No, I just don’t want you to die from the weather. It’d definitely get blamed on me if you didn’t make it home.”
“Suuure,” Hydra grinned.
“Just go sit down,” Tassita grumbled.
Rolling into the kitchen, Tassita was irritated that his friends were still trying so hard to get him to come to terms with his feelings for Hydra. Even more annoying was that it was starting to work. After everything that happened last week, Tassita found himself leaning more and more towards giving in. Since last week, Hydra had been even sweeter towards Tassita, and it was making him think about what Pearl and the coaches had told him, maybe Hydra didn’t just see him as a game.
When Tassita rolled back into the living room, he found Hydra laying across the sofa with Ashley on his chest, purring. Of course, Hydra would get his notoriously shy 12-year-old cat to take to him almost instantly. Too likable—it was endearing, Tassita found himself thinking.
“I didn’t know you had a cat,” Hydra remarked.
“She can be prickly with large groups and strangers,” Tassita said. “So she's usually hiding back in my room.”
“Aww, like you,” Hydra teased.
“I actually spend lots of time with large groups and strangers, Pearl and Dinah don’t let me hide in my room.” Tassita said, sitting down in the chair with a huff. It was true, Pearl and Dinah did regularly insist he participate in at least watching the races, and the post-race parties were usually hosted at the coaches shed.
“And aren’t you glad they do?” Hydra asked in a remarkably similar tone to when he attempted to get Tassita to admit to enjoying parties the week before. However, unlike last week Tassita would not kiss Hydra to get him to be quiet— even though he definitely did want to kiss him. “How else would you see me?”
“Clearly you have no problem just showing up.” Tassita said, gesturing to Hydra lying on the sofa.
“Ok, I love my siblings, but this snow storm looks nasty, so I don't think you should blame me for wanting an excuse to be somewhere else during the unspecified amount of time before traveling between sheds is possible.”
Tassita rolled his eyes, but the howling wind outside made him hesitate before responding. The gusts rattled the walls, a sharp contrast to the warmth of the shed. He picked idly at the hem of his sleeve, suddenly hyper-aware of how insulated they were from the storm—just the two of them.
“Besides,” Hydra continued, stretching his arms over his head, “you should be honored. Of all the sheds I could’ve crashed in, I picked yours.”
Tassita scoffed. “Right, because being snowed in with me is such a privilege.”
“Obviously,” Hydra said with a smirk. “The other option was being stuck with my siblings, and I’d rather take my chances with you.”
As time passed, the weather outside grew louder. Tassita flinched at the whistling wind and the snow whipping against the window. Tassita put his crochet down to hold his hands over his ears, trying to cover the overwhelming sounds of the building blizzard outside. Glancing down at his crochet, Tassita found himself annoyed, he had not made finished more than half a row in the hour since Hydra had arrived. Under normal circumstances, Tassita would've blamed this on the noises bothering him and his misplaced headphones, but his distraction felt connected to a different reason.
But what really distracted him was the abnormal quiet coming from Hydra. Hydra, who was normally talking to everyone at post race parties, making comments during the monthly movie days various trains across the yard had, and always flirting with him. Now hydra was just sitting quietly across the room—petting the cat that had taken forever to warm up to Pearl when she first moved in—and Tassita found himself almost uneasy about the change. Was Hydra mad at him for something?
That was stupid, Tassita should be glad Hydra wasn’t rambling about the benefits of hydrogen or flirting loudly with him.
“You’re quiet,” Tassita remarked, realizing too late that it might sound rude but also that he was kinda always rude to Hydra, so maybe it didn’t matter?
“Thought you liked quiet? Always shushing us and everything,” Hydra responded bluntly, turning toward Tassita, Ashley chirping in protest at the movement.
Tassita felt bad again, suddenly wondering again if he'd done something to make Hydra mad. “It’s just… odd? You always have so much energy, so much noise, and now you’re just… not?”
“Can't I just want to sit here and look at you?” Hydra said, looking at Tassita with his typical stupid puppy dog eyes. “You're just pretty ”
“No—just shut up—go back to saying nothing—you always have to start flirting with me,” Tassita said, rolling his eyes and looking away from Hydra, who was grinning as he shifted back to petting the cat still sitting on him. How could someone so obnoxious be so cute, and why did the cat like him so much?
“You know—i think I’m starting to grow on you,” Hydra said, smirking, again. Seriously, what about the face was so attractive to Tassita?
“You should come sit over here,” Hydra said, gesturing to the spot next to him on the sofa.
Tassita just stared at him for a second, the sounds of the night honestly starting to get to his head, making it hard to think but also in plain confusion at Hydra’s shy offer.
“You’re right in front of the window. It’ll probably be quieter over here,” Hydra added, shifting so he wasn’t in the middle of the sofa.
Tassita hesitated, exhaling sharply before picking up the crochet he’d been trying to work on all day. He rolled across the room, keeping his eyes on the floor to avoid running over a cat, and settled onto the sofa.
Hydra, to his credit, didn’t say anything once Tassita moved, but Tassita
could feel his quiet gaze. Hydra did that sometimes—for reasons Tassita still couldn’t figure out.
Then, out of nowhere, Hydra got up and rummaged through a small basket under the coffee table. Without a word, he disappeared down the hallway toward the bedrooms.
Tassita raised an eyebrow but didn’t question it. He focused on winding the yarn between his fingers, trying to ignore the shrieking wind.
A few minutes later, Hydra reappeared, carrying a blanket from Tassita’s room and a pair of headphones Tassita usually kept by his bed—he’d completely forgotten about them before the storm got bad. In his other arm, he had Ashley, who looked thoroughly unimpressed with being carried anywhere. Hydra draped the blanket over Tassita’s shoulders and handed him the headphones before sitting back down.
Tassita adjusted the blanket, running a hand over the fabric as he eyed Hydra. “Do you spend your time here snooping?” he asked, slipping the headphones over his head.
“Are you asking about the flashlight, the blanket, or the headphones?” Hydra said. “Because I noticed the flashlight when I was helping clean before the party last week, and the rest of the stuff was in a room with an open door. You seemed cold, and I figured you'd usually have those anyway.”
Tassita opened his mouth for a snarky reply but hesitated. The wind howled, the room still shrouded in darkness. He could be an ass about this, but Hydra hadn’t done anything wrong.
“…Thanks,” he muttered instead, glancing away.
Hydra didn’t respond right away. He just looked at him, head tilting slightly—like a curious puppy.
Tassita clicked his tongue and turned his attention back to his crochet. He really should try being nicer.
Maybe.
Or maybe everyone else could just try being quieter.
“I'm not sure why everyone's pushing us to spend time together, I should have asked you first. Before showing up here.”
“Do you really not know?” Tassita asked was Hydra really that clueless about everyone’s intentions.
Hydra hesitated. “I just figured I was being kept around to get you to broaden your horizons on who you talk—have you talk with more of the freight, or something.”
“No! They all know you like me, and they think I have some sort of crush on you as well, they keep arranging elaborate schemes in order to forces us to interact and maybe get together. Especially after the party last week when we…”
Tassita froze, he had not mean to say that. It kinda ruined his idea of pretending he didn’t remember what happened at the party last week.
“Oh,” Hydra said. Then, after a beat, “Well, do you?”
“That requires a level of introspection and self-examination that I do not engage in.” Tassita said rather bluntly, and Hydra’s face afterward indicated to him that he was not getting out of this.
Hydra—very suspiciously—just nodded and started talking about hydrogen, which Tassita was starting to realize might just be a nervous tick. Tassita tuned him out to focus on the crocheting he had been trying to work on all afternoon.
How long had passed, Tassita wasn’t sure, but he eventually noticed Hydra’s silence had returned again—which had shown to be a sign of more thinking about his feelings than Tassita wanted to do at the current moment. Just as Hydra opened his mouth to say something, Tassita abruptly stood up, rolling over to the kitchen with the intention of making tea to calm his nerves or something.
As Tassita was preparing his tea, he heard the unmistakable sound of Hydra’s skates rolling into the kitchen and coming to a stop near him.
“I can leave if—” Hydra said.
“—You can’t” Tassita responded quickly. Even without the storm, he didn’t necessarily want Hydra to think he was uncomfortable around him.
“You just seem uncomfortable with me here,”
“I’m not,” Tassita said, turning and looking directly at Hydra, who was standing sheepishly by the counter in the kitchen. “Just stressed.”
“I offered to leave if you wanted me to,”
“That would probably make things worse,”
“You like having me around?” Hydra said, his happiness was genuinely so endearing and maybe a little contagious.
“You're just a comforting presence, I guess.” Tassita said, and Hydra stayed smiling like this was the greatest news of his whole life.
Hydra was about to say something in response when Tassita held his hand up to Hydra's face. It was a weak attempt to get Hydra to stop talking before Tassita fell deeper into the hole he had been apparently digging himself into all day. Hydra for his credit didn’t say anything.
However, as Tassita lowered his hand, Hydra caught it. Hydra lifted Tassita’s hand to his mouth and placed a gentle kiss to the back of his hand. It wasn’t the first time Hydra had done something like that, but after their conversations today and the post-race party last week, the typical flirty nature of Hydra felt different. Tassita turned away from Hydra to pour the freshly boiled water into two mugs and put tea bags in both mugs, staring at the water as the tea spread.
A couple of minutes of silence passed before Hydra cleared his throat. Tassita turned and faced Hydra, leaning against the counter.
“Can I ask you a stupid question, Tass?” Hydra said, looking at him,his earlier confidence gone. Tassita didn’t answer—just raised his eyebrows in a response.
“Would you like—punch me if I asked to kiss you?” Hydra said Tassta noticed him fidgeting with the sleeve of his shirt. Tassita turned back to tend to his tea, struggling with what to say in response. Clearly uncomfortable, Hydra tried to amend his previous statement. “Or i can just leave—”
“Now, if you do that? I might actually punch you” Tassita said before sipping his tea and putting it back on the counter and turning towards Hydra again. “Ask the first question again.”
“Would you punch me if I asked to kiss you?” Hydra repeated, his voice uncertain. Tassita moved closer, stepping forward so he was just a few inches away from him. Tassita rolled forward so he was closer to Hydra.
“I don’t know, but I think we’ve also established I would if you didn’t so I guess you can make your choice here.” Tassita draped his arms over Hydra’s shoulders and glanced at his lips before locking onto his green eyes.
“ Sooooo —can I kiss you?” Hydra said, his familiar flirty and confident grin returning.
Tassita didn’t respond, just placed his hands on the back of Hydra’s neck and moved towards him. Hydra cupped Tassita’s face and pulled them together for a gentle kiss.
The kiss didn’t last long and didn’t feel as rushed, frantic or desperate as their kiss last week. It was gentle, tender, sweet. Tassita leaned slightly against the counter, thinking of
nothing but the warmth of Hydra’s skin against his.
Pulling away to catch their breath, Hydra opened up his mouth as if to say something, but Tassita was absolutely not having that, he was not giving up the chance now. He pulled Hydra back in, kissing him more intense than before but still with the gentle sweetness he had come to expect with Hydra, not wanting to break the contact or let the moment slip away.
Tassita hope that whatever Hydra wanted to say could wait or was answered but this kiss because Tassita was definitely enjoying this method of shushing Hydra.