Venus was rolling back up some bandages. She placed it gently into the drawer and shut it, dusting her hands off and rubbing her eyes. She jumped as a voice behind her began to speak.

"Hey," she turned around to find Spider standing awkwardly with a bowl in his hands. "Um, Kiri usually helps me with this, but she's too tired, so..."

The girl looked down at the bowl and found blue paint in it. She sighed and brushed her bangs out of her face. "Yes, Spider, I'll help paint your stripes again."

He gave a lopsided smile and nodded. "Yeah, thanks." He set down the bowl on her desk and jumped up to sit. He watched as she dipped a couple fingers into the paint and began retouching his stripes.

His original plan was to spend more time with her before she became too invested in her studies and work. What he hadn't thought of, however, was the feeling of her fingers grazing his body. The situation had felt quite intimate.

For Venus, however, she hadn't felt it yet. She focused her eyes on the clean lines of his blue stripes, forgetting to look up at the boy's face.

"What are you doing later today?" She asked casually.

He stuttered. "I- um, I was planning to go explore more, if- if Lo'ak and Kiri aren't busy."

She hummed. They fell silent, one hyperaware and the other half asleep. Just as she was in the middle of painting one of his stripes, she felt a yawn coming on. With the hand that wasn't holding the bowl, she brought her hand up to cover her mouth.

She removed her hand and went to dip her fingers back into the paint. Spider saw the streak of blue her hand had left. Judging by the way she hadn't wiped it away, she hadn't realized.

"Um-" his words were caught in his throat as she looked up at him to listen. To him, Venus was so pretty when she didn't know it. "You- there's some paint on your face," he pointed, which hadn't exactly helped because she still didn't know where it was.

She set down the bowl and wiped on the wrong side. "Where?"

Spider sighed and pulled open the draw next to him, grabbing a damp wipe and apprehensively taking her face into his grasp. He turned it slightly to wipe her nose and cheek.

When he was done, she moved her face back and grabbed the wipe out of his hands, dropping it into the trash can next to them. "Thanks," she hadn't picked up on the tension between the two. Venus went back to painting the stripes onto his body.

He bit the inside of his cheek and opened his mouth again. He wanted to take every chance he got to talk to her before they went their separate ways for the day. "I feel like when I'm blue, I'm faster. Animals respect me more, you know?"

Venus let the corners of her lips perk up. "I don't think animals realize the difference, with our without your stripes." She suppressed a chuckle and dipped her fingers into the bowl, going to paint his shoulders. "But keep thinking it."

He rolled his eyes. They were both quiet again. The boy felt a little more comfortable with her touch.

She stopped her movement and pursed her lips. Spider furrowed his brows. "I know you feel different with blue stripes." She briefly looked up at him. "I've known you too long to not notice. We grew up together, if you forgot."

He nodded mindlessly. "Right, yeah."

Venus thought for a moment. If this was a moment to talk, she would like to speak as well. "What makes you so interested in the Na'vi?"

"What?" He faltered.

"Like," she sighed as her gaze met his, pausing. "You have a foster family of humans. But still, you choose to adopt the Na'vi. Why?"

Spider shrugged. "I guess I just... felt at home when I wasn't surrounded by technology." He looked down. "I'm not like you, I don't want to learn for the rest of my life. I wanna be out in the world."

Venus let a smile creep on her face. Her fingers grazed his cheek with the paint, looking back down to finish her work. His breath hitched slightly. Even if it was a little, it was quiet enough for her to hear. 

Venus met his eyes once again. For a moment, Spider was brought back to the day he saw those eyes for the first time in a little crib. She still looked just as beautiful as she did all those years ago. Nothing changed in them.

Just pretty brown eyes and a mind full of thoughts.

Her hand lifted away from his face, to his disappointment. "I'm done." She whispered, looking down at her feet and setting the bowl down. "I think you look nice. Blue suits you."

He sat there for a moment, taking in what had just happened. It seemed he was the only one who felt it. "Yeah, thanks." He jumped off the edge and grabbed his exopack. He left with the hiss of the lab door.

Spider, as he was walking away, remembered the way she looked at him and her fingers painting his chest. He shook the thoughts off quickly. For a small, stupid crush, it felt less small and more stupid than he'd liked.

Venus was totally oblivious to any form of romance. She probably wouldn't even notice how he liked her if he said it to her face.

And no matter how much he didn't want it, he was correct. Partially correct.

Venus washed her hand and rubbed her eyes, yawning more than before. When she sat down in her chair, she thought back to what Spider had said. If it were possible, she realized how different they had grown to be.

He despised books and sitting on his ass all day doing research, which was something Venus had done all the time with no complaints. 

She slipped on her lab coat and perched her head on her hand. With a textbook in front of her opened to a random page, she read. 

Venus would leave this problem to her future self, including the butterflies in her stomach when he looked at her in such a way.

this story is gonna pick up soon i promise pls trust