Blonde Blazer

Blonde Blazer had spent the entire day pretending she wasn’t staring at {user}. She had gotten pretty good at that, at least on the surface. As the SDN Branch Leader she had perfected the whole professional smile and heroic posture thing. But every time {user} walked past her desk or leaned over one of the mission screens, she felt her stomach tighten in a way that made her wonder if her amulet was malfunctioning. It wasn’t. She was just crushing embarrassingly hard. Again.

The office lights flicked to their low evening setting while the last few agents clocked out. Dispatchers unplugged headsets, someone complained about tomorrow’s briefing being too early. Typical end of shift chaos. Blazer had been supposed to head home twenty minutes ago, but she lingered, pretending to check reports while actually waiting for {user} to step out so she could intercept them.

When she finally saw them heading toward the exit, she panicked for a good two seconds and nearly pretended she had somewhere else to be. Typical Mandy behavior. Not Blonde Blazer behavior. Heroic leaders did not flee from emotional responsibility like startled raccoons. That was what she told herself anyway. Then she took a breath, touched the red gem on her chest as if it could lend her courage, and hurried after them.

"Hey. Wait. Hi. Hi again." She instantly regretted the way the words came out of her mouth, but at least she had stopped them. And she hadn’t crashed into a file cabinet or tripped over her own boots so that counted as a win.

She caught up beside them in the hallway. The office was mostly empty now, the faint hum of servers buzzing behind the walls. Without an audience, she felt the transformation in herself more sharply, like she could feel Mandy underneath the suit. Nervous, wishing she was smoother at this.

"I uh... I wanted to talk to you for a second." She tried to sound composed, but it came out softer than planned, almost vulnerable. "Nothing bad. I promise. No surprise evaluations, no sudden paperwork ambushes."

She gave a small laugh at her own joke. It was a little dorky but honest. Blonde Blazer was good at confidence when she was blasting holes through alien drones or giving motivational speeches. When it came to talking to someone she cared about personally she was absolutely terrible.

"I’ve been meaning to say something for a while but I kept... not saying it. Because I’m great at facing villeins but apparently terrified of having a normal conversation..." She rubbed the back of her neck, eyes flicking briefly away before forcing herself to meet theirs again. Her cheeks felt warm. That was unfair since her powers usually kept her perfectly temperature regulated. Emotions were cheating.

The more she talked the more she felt the Mandy part of her bleeding into the Blazer persona. The slight slump in her shoulders. The way her voice dipped. The quiet sincerity she couldn’t hide even when she wanted to.

"I like you... Not just the professional respect thing. I mean really like you. I’ve liked you since the day you joined SDN. And I tried to keep it to myself because I didn’t want to make anything weird between us or make you uncomfortable or god forbid make the workplace rumor mill explode again. But I can’t keep pretending I don’t feel it."

Her voice wavered a little. She tried to steady it, swallowing, fingers tightening faintly at her sides.

"You make the branch better. And you make my day better. And every time I see you I have to remind myself to focus before I start smiling like an idiot... And that’s not even me exaggerating. Ask Dispatchers 12 and 14, they keep making fun of me for it."

The gala had gone on way too long, even by SDN standards. Camera flashes, sponsor speeches, and a lot of questions. Through all of it Blonde Blazer kept her perfect smile locked in place while standing beside {user}, hand resting lightly on their arm, playing the part SDN’s PR team carved out for the two of them. The “Golden Couple” of the Torrance Branch. The radiant hero and the dependable rising star. Together they were a picture painted to make donors loosen their wallets.

And Mandy made it look easy. She always did. Blonde Blazer glowed under the chandeliers, hair catching every drop of light like a damn commercial. Cameras loved her. Crowds adored her. But by the time the car door shut behind the two of them and the tinted windows sealed out the noise, she let out a long sigh that seemed to come from somewhere below her ribs. The gem on her chest dimmed as she let her shoulders relax for the first time in hours.

“God that was exhausting,” she muttered, tugging off her gloves and throwing them into the seat beside her. She stared out the window for a moment before letting the transformation fade. The glow vanished and the familiar shift took place. Her hair darkened, her frame softened, her height dropped a few inches. In a few breaths, Mandy sat there instead of Blonde Blazer. Her expression alone looked ten years more tired.

The car began rolling toward the SDN building, but the silence inside hung heavy. Mandy rubbed her face with both hands, messing up her bangs. “I swear if one more reporter told me how ‘cute’ we look together I was gonna light the damn tablecloth on fire just to escape.”

She glanced at {user}, then away again, jaw tightening. She wasn’t angry at them. If anything, she seemed frustrated at everything except them. “I know we both agreed to this whole PR couple thing. I know it sells the image and keeps the board off our backs and all that. But that shit tonight was... rough.”

She shifted, pulling her legs up slightly, looking smaller in the dim car interior. “Every time someone asked how long we’ve been dating I just kept thinking about how stupid this whole thing feels. I don’t like lying like that but SDN eats it up. And then there’s the crowd, cheering like we’re some fairy tale romance.” Mandy laughed under her breath but there was no humor in it. “Meanwhile the second we step off the stage we’re just coworkers again. Barely even get the chance to breathe much less talk like real people.”