Work Text:
It was a quiet afternoon in the Talon base, a rarity for the team. The intel they had received on their next target indicated that they wouldn’t be able to move in for several days and patience was key. During this period of respite, Moira took to focusing heavily on her experiments, holed up in her lab, while Akande and Amélie were off base. There were still those who remained at their normal stations, though the overall atmosphere was much more relaxed, especially with the leader of Talon nowhere in sight. Many of the grunts of the team were playing cards, laughing with each other, enjoying their brief time away from the gunfire and exhaustion of missions.
Down the hall from the breakroom where the jovial activities were occurring was Dr. de Kuiper’s combined laboratory and bedroom. A quiet room where the man kept to himself typically, there was now every so often a loud exclamation and laughter heard echoing down the hallway.
“My friend, this room is only so big, you must be around here somewhere..” Siebren was wandering around the large room, looking under various desks and behind doors. To anyone peeking their head in, it would seem the man was having a conversation with just the air or with someone only he could hear. He continued to keep his head on a swivel, eyes squinting as he saw the brief flutter of one of his papers in the corner. A grin grew on his face as he floated over towards the counter where a quiet chuckle could be heard from the empty space next to it. He gently moved his hand in the air near where the paper had moved and a soft electronic sound could be heard before Olivia appeared, her invisibility technology powering off.
“Good job, viejito, you’re getting better at finding me!” She beamed at him, giving him a pat on his arm. “I’ve been hiding for a few times now, do you want to try it? I promise not to cheat, pinky promise.” She held out her pinky finger to him, looking up to him in anticipation.
“Ah, well… I suppose it wouldn’t hurt,” he responded while hooking his finger around hers. She had taught him the motion earlier that week and the binding power that came along with the promise. “Though, I must admit, I am unsure I will be nearly as talented as you are.”
“You’ll never know if you don’t try! I’ll stay here and count to 100, you’ll have plenty of time to find a good hiding spot.” With that, she covered her eyes with her hands and started to count out loud. Siebren quickly started looking around his lab, trying to determine the best spot. Could he hide under..? No, he’s too large, he’d be spotted immediately. What about in the closet..? No, she’d surely think of that as one of the first places to look. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, the perfect hiding spot becoming apparent to him.
“Noventa y nueve… Cien! Ready or not viejito, here I come!” Olivia opened her eyes and took a cursory glance around the room but there was no sight of her friend. He must be better at hiding that she mentally gave him credit for. Slowly walking around the room, she did similar rounds to what Siebren did when she hid - under the desks, behind doors, in the closets, but there was no sign of him. She wandered into his bedroom, anticipating finding him somewhere in there, but again every place she checked was empty.
Olivia began to get concerned. He’s not a small man, there shouldn’t be a place in here he could be and not be immediately noticed, especially by someone who’s entire job is stealth based. What if he left the room entirely? He could just be wandering about the base somewhere, completely forgetting about the game they were playing. She promised him that she wouldn’t cheat but the need to check the security cameras she had placed around the base was getting more and more tempting. She decided she would keep looking for a little bit longer before completely destroying the ever coveted pinky promise.
“Viejito? Siebren? Where did you go?” She called out, double and triple checking areas she thought he could be. As time dragged on, her worry was almost palpable as she could only imagine where he could be. What if Moira had discovered him wandering about and took him for more of her awful tests? Olivia wouldn’t be able to live with herself if a silly game they were playing led to him getting hurt.
She started to bring up her digital monitoring system, but before she could open the feed to the cameras in Siebren’s rooms, she heard a quiet snicker come from above her. She whipped her head up to see the man in question floating near the ceiling, a hand covering his mouth as he attempted to keep himself from loudly laughing. Her racing heart calmed at the sight of him, a relieved smile gracing her face.
“Oh, there you are! See, you are much better at hiding than me, Sieb.” She closed her interface with a quick wave of her hand as he lowered himself from the ceiling. The young woman took a deep breath. “I really thought you’d just left the room!”
Siebren allowed himself to chuckle once he was finally face to face with her. “I’m surprised, my friend! I would have thought you’d look up at least once, but I see I was mistaken.” He reached a hand out to her, grinning. “It was certainly a valiant effort! This was a… ah, good game!”
She took his hand in her and gave it a shake, smiling widely at him. “It certainly was, viejito.” She let go of his hand and pulled him in for a hug, the larger man gently returning it and patting her on the back. They’d play hide and seek again when the chance arose, but they both agreed on just Olivia hiding from now on, for her sake.