tratie one shots, vol. i

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okay l i s t e n

this is my favorite trope of all time and i will die on this hill. enjoy the best cliche ever.

(also, thank you sO much to everyone who read fake, i appreciate your support so much!)

words: 940

. . .

Katie's legs ached as she sped her pace. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the empousa she'd tried so hard to avoid making eye contact with. The monster grinned and trailed behind her, and Katie muttered a curse under her breath.

Just perfect.

"Pssst!" A hiss came from the shadows behind the columns, and Katie whirred her head around.

Stepping closer to the voice, she yelped when a hand reached out and yanked her into the darkness. She gripped her knife to be ready to stab, but the familiar laugh that exuded made her stop.

"Heya, Katie-kat."

Huffing from both adrenaline and annoyance, she plunged her knife back into its halter and groaned. "I almost stabbed you. What are you doing here, Stoll?"

Travis shushed her with a finger to his lips and motioned for her to follow him. Though the hallway they were in was dark, the monster would have no issue scouting them out. So, Katie begrudgingly trailed behind him. They wove around the building's various columns before Travis took Katie's hand and ducked into a new area - a much more cramped area.

Katie could hardly move her chest to breathe between the wall and Travis, who was facing her with the same uncomfortable expression she was sure to have on her own face. The space between them was so little that she worried she would touch him with the smallest of movements. She blamed it on her claustrophobia that her breath hitched when he grinned. Still, she couldn't help but notice how he bit his lip as his eyes scored over her...

She shook herself. "We need to run, we should-"

"Shh." He had difficulty fumbling his hand up to cover mouth, but he did it regardless. He tilted his head to the opening of the space.

Katie glanced over, and the empousa crept down the hallway they'd just been.

"I don't wanna be back here with you..."

"You think I do?" Travis jeered, voice low and hand now pressed against the wall Katie was on. "We need to hide."

Katie harrumphed and watched the monster. She darted her eyes around, searching for her opponent. Katie sucked in her breath and waited for the monster to pass them.

She looked back to Travis, who already had his attention on her. Katie told herself that it was only because they were hiding together, and he was making sure she was being quiet. But what her excuse didn't account for was how his eyes held something more than just wariness and caution. Wonder, questioning, longing.

Longing?

He licked his bottom lip, concentrating on nothing but her. Katie quivered under his gaze, and in that second, a thousand thoughts soared through her head. Her breath mingled with that of the boy she thought was her enemy. What about their hatred for each other - surely she couldn't abandon that after one look from him? But you didn't look at someone that way if you hated them. For once, she saw something in his eyes that wasn't trickery or laughter - sincerity.

Did he not hate her?

Katie snapped out of their moment when the monster hissed and moved along without finding the pair. Sighing, she went to step out of the cramped area, but something stopped her.

That longing.

"Katie," he whispered hoarsely, as if he'd forgotten how to speak. He pressed into his hand next to Katie's head to just barely touch her nose with his, and if she thought they couldn't have stood any closer, she was proven wrong. His eyes trailed down from her eyes to her cheek, back to her eyes, and down...

To her lips.

"We should get going," Katie ventured, though she had a hard time talking as well. "Before she finds us-"

"You're right." Travis shook himself and leaned back against the wall on his side of the closure, much to Katie's newly-discovered dismay. "Yeah, we should. That's smart. Yeah."

She found it strange that he rambled; scatterbrained speech wasn't in the Stoll's repertoire. Still, he couldn't seem to focus on one thing to say, and it all fell out of his mouth. She watched as he inched towards the opening of their hiding place, and couldn't help but feel a piece of that longing herself.

So, she did what any logical mortal nemesis would in the situation: grab him by the collar of his shirt, yank him back into the space, and slam her lips into his.

He let out a strangled gasp, muffled by his own worst enemy's lips, but Katie felt a smile spread across his mouth as he shoved her back into her wall. He wasted no time working his hands up her body, one residing ultimately on her waist while the other was placed on the wall to cage her in.

Gods above.

Katie's fingers nimbly fidgeted from tugging his shirt, to running through the tangled curls on his head, to winding around his neck to pull him closer. As he dipped down to press an urgent kiss to her jaw, she gripped the fabric on his back as if it was her anchor to this fantasy unfolding.

And, Styx, she never intended on letting go.

When it became impossible for the two to breathe, they reluctantly broke the first-ever bond between them that didn't consist of pure abhorrence. Fragmented pants replaced the sound of lips on lips as he touched his forehead to hers.

"Kates," he breathed.

Eyes squeezed shut, she hummed, "Yeah?"

He exhaled a laugh. "We should hide together all the time."

And, indeed, even after they'd outsmarted the monster and returned to camp, they did a lot more hiding together.