chapter 5 || diffidence

                                    

                                          
cassidy had managed to only sleep in for 3 hours. somehow, it felt like he had taken the best rest of his life. he got up, and noticed genji was still sleeping. he would usually wake up later than him, except today. genji's sleeping position was similar to being in a mothers womb, snuggling to his blanket, and holding close a pachimari plushie by his side. it was funny to see genji in a calm and innocent posture. he was known to be grumpy and at the verge of snapping most of the time. 
cassidy looked down on him and smiled, grabbing his things to go on a morning run. he left a note that he was exercising so genji wouldn't get worried on why he was missing. 
he put on his earbuds and began jogging around the headquarters. though it was only for 4 people with a few workers, it was quite massive. the main edifice, the rooms and dining hall would be the most noticeable if you ever looked at it all for the very first time. 
cole had a very chaotic playlist, with the most intense retro country music played on repeat. he hummed his way around the campus, while genji on the complete other side of the headquarters, was peacefully having his beauty sleep. good for him, cassidy thought, he deserves it.
genji was not having beauty sleep. in fact, he was having quite the opposite. brows scrunched up and his forehead drenched in sweat, he couldn't stay still in his sleep for the life of him.
his heart was beating out of his chest. he felt like he'd throw it up. holding two arms up, both made of flesh and bone, he traced them around a tall figure and grasped it tightly in an embrace. he couldn't tell much about them, except that they were stockish in build and didn't hug him back. his head stayed buried in their neck; he couldn't let go. something was telling him—no, warning him—that something bad was going to happen. that if he released them, something so unspeakable his mind couldn't process would occur, and he couldn't let that happen.
they stepped out of his embrace.
a second as slow as the existence of time itself, barely passing, he finally caught a rough silhouette of the figure as it stepped back.
he caught the sight of a strange hat.
loud thuds exploded far away, getting close and closer—
"genji," moira's voice was muffled from the door, interrupted by knocks, "don't make me break down this door."
with haste, he took off his faceplate and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. putting it back on, he dashed to the door and opened it for her. he uttered a quick apology, stating, "forgive me, i was sleeping."
"god, with how long it took you to answer, i would've assumed you were dead."
"it won't happen again," he assured, hoping to get moira off his back.
"good," she dismissed. "i'll try not to waste too much of your time, then. gabriel is still thinking about our next mission, so we have time to kill. i was thinking about training a bit together so we could work better as a team."
"i would very much like that," genji accepted, happy to have an excuse to leave bed for a while.
. . .
as cassidy slowed down his jogging to bring his final lap around the headquarter to a close, he caught two people standing out on the training field. still unnoticed by them, he walked forward and began to pick up on fragments of their conversation.
"—very fast," he made out genji saying as he caught the man drenched in sweat (or at least the parts of his body that showed skin) from, what he presumed, the aftermath of a fight. a sparring match, most likely. he walked slowly to catch up to hear more of what they were saying, taking off his earbuds and placing them in his pocket.