”oh, really?” ’gross,’ she might’ve said—if she were sober, but she was far from it. instead, she agreed wholeheartedly. they were on a mission, now.

”okay.”

leaning over the bar, she flashed a grin at the bartender until he came over.

”hi.” her eyes were as bright as her teeth. “two jager bombs, please.”

the bartender nodded affirmatively, spinning on his heel to go and fetch a can of battery acid. Moments later, two shots and two half-full glasses were set in front of them, awaiting their assemblage.

nina picked up her shot, and her grin was turned onto danny, waiting for him to join her before dropping it in and downing it as quickly as she could manage.

DANNY HALL

nina had not done many jager bombs, and this one sucked just as much as the last. still, she downed it without more than a small flinch. a look of disgust was passed towards danny after.

bad. good? both?

”no, that was bad,” she laughed, grin tearing through her grimace.

how many drinks had that been? it occurred to her that they’d been here now for longer than work had even taken them earlier that evening.

”danny, we’ve been here for, like, hours...” her eyes scanned other patrons before snapping back to him.

”we should go do something.”

DANNY HALL

drunk surfing was definitely a no-go, but that didn’t totally rule out the beach. the beach was always a good idea, but she wasn’t convinced yet.

”hm…” she hummed in thought, reaching into her bag for cash. ”i dunno…”

pulling out enough to cover their drinks and a tip, she placed it on the bar, and then slid out of her seat.

”let’s go for a walk. we’ll figure it out on the way.”

grinning, she held out her hand to lead him towards nowhere in particular. 

DANNY HALL

her fingers slipped easily into his, pulling him along. once out in the night air, her arm swung with a little exaggeration.

the stars were pretty, their glow radiating on his spirit. she hadn’t been on this level in a while. maybe not since the last night out with jessie—but fun times with the gang were rarer since nico’s passing.

unlacing hands with him, she took off her shoes to go her own pace in the sand.

”hm…” she considered. ”well, we all might die soon, right?” there was a casualness to it came with being in hoenn, at this point.

”do you have a bucketlist?”

DANNY HALL

perhaps darkly, nina shrugged. maybe she’d come to terms with it, maybe she didn’t take it seriously, or maybe she trusted that someone else would fix it. mostly, she pushed it to the back of her mind—which she was pretty good at, apparently, until she was drunk, and it became a reason to do something fun.

there were plenty of things on nina’s bucketlist still, but none obtainable within the barrier that surrounded them. but she had gone skinny dipping plenty of times.

”yeah,” she responded with a look as though it were obvious. ”you haven’t?”

her smile was warmed by alcohol in a way that hadn't let up, but it shifted more to one corner. very mischievous, as she tried to hold his gaze. 

”do you want to go skinny dipping with me?”

DANNY HALL

danny was maybe lucky it was too dark to see the blush on his face, but nina still homed in on the way his voice dropped to such a soft volume. considering the deep-voiced, confident air she’d seen him carry on missions, this was too good not to eat up.

please.

her smile matched his, although she was grinning much more widely on the inside. how polite of him.

”okay. you first then.”

DANNY HALL

he was right, but it was fun witnessing this new side of danny. maybe if he hadn't gone with please, she would have spared him this behavior.

with a roll of her eyes, she responded, ”fine. you just look cute when you’re nervous.”

heading off towards the edge of the water, she pulled off her shirt and threw it over to dry sand. pants came off next, and then the rest, without a beat of hesitation. she then waded in until periwinkle stands were floating across the dark surface.

for now, she gave him the privacy of now turning around.

DANNY HALL