Trigger warning: Mention of Eating Disorders

There were no new Draugr attacks for the next few weeks. 

Why? Good question, next question. 

What did Val and Maya do during that time? 

They spent time together! (Though not in the sense you are thinking, I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THINKING!)

Because of the recent attacks, Val stayed by Maya’s side as much as possible. She accompanied her to the university and stayed nearby the buildings in case of an attack. They went grocery shopping together, in case of an attack. And following her to the bathroom, in case of an attack. 

Maya immediately shushed her out. She enjoyed spending time with Val, but there was a limit on how much effort she put into it. 

Val also continued working out, though it became evidently too much for her and her condition. Maya sat on a nearby bench while Val did her laps, but grew worried when Val didn’t return after the first one. 

She found the Valkyrie collapsed on the ground with a heavy asthmatic attack. Her lung capacity was dwindling with each day. 

So when Maya found her old gym membership, which she bought as a New Year’s resolution but never used past day one, she promptly upgraded it. 

It included a rehabilitation program focusing on increasing one’s lung capacity. Maya sheepishly held it against her lips before she was able to gift it to Val. 

She elatedly took the gift, and her health improved during the visits, although it’s evident that Maya’s support was a much greater help. 

Their casual touch increased where either’s hand would linger a few seconds longer on their arms, face, shoulder, or thigh. Maya’s face would grow heated every time, but she never could say no to it since she liked it just as much as Val did. 

Although they had yet to kiss. Something which happened increasingly more where they would accidentally stay a bit too close to one another, look into the eyes, but never go through with the notion. 

For any outsider, it was too obvious they wanted to, but had not the courage to go through it. 

Regardless, Maya was happy about the past few weeks they spent time together. She enjoyed herself more than she did in the last stressful months and years of school and university. 

“Someone seems to be happy.” 

“Yap!” responded Maya with enthusiasm, irritating Austin.

“...could you stop? It’s annoying.” 

“Never!” replied Maya as she and Austin exited the lecture. She was pumped with energy and had to watch her step when she took the stairs. “I’m just happy! You’ll never guess what happened this morning!” 

“You finally slept with one another?” 

“ALKljalfjf,” Maya sputtered, tripped, and held onto the railing from falling. “What!? No! We didn’t. Why would you say that!? We didn’t even kiss yet!” 

“Please.” Austin rolled his eyes and leaned against the railing opposite of Maya. “You’re practically overheating whenever you talk about her. Your face is red a lot these days. I swear, I won’t mop the floor when you wet your pants from all that excitement– OWW!” 

Maya kicked him against the shin, hard.

“Would you stop kicking me already!?” Austin complained, jumping up and down on one foot. 

“What did I say about crass comments?” 

“Oh please, I am not even interested in you, YOU KNOW THAT– OWW!” 

Maya fist-bumped him against the shoulder, even harder than before. 

“What was THAT for?” 

“A punch for good measure.”

Austin hesitated. “...are you done?” 

Pause. 

Maya punched him one last time. 

“Third time’s the charm.” 

“Whatever!” grumbled Austin, rubbing his arm. “Geez, that hurts! Can we please go to the cafeteria before it gets swarmed, or YOU PUNCH MY ARM OFF?!”

“Ah, sorry, I can’t,” said Maya. “Not today.” 

“Why? Are you on your diet again?” Austin squinted at her. “I’ve noticed your face looks rounder. You’re developing a double chin.” 

“I AM WHAT!?” Maya panicked and panicked, pulling out her phone to check her face. “Where? WHERE!?” 

Austin laughed. “HA! You fell for it!” he jumped out of the way before she could hit him again. “Sorry, I was kidding. You don’t have one, though I noticed you’re talking a lot about that woman’s food. Be careful because of your disorder–” 

“Shut!” Maya clapped his hand over his mouth, shushing him up. “Don’t talk about it in public.” 

Austin narrowed his eyes and bit into her hand, so she removed it. “Don’t tell me you didn’t tell her yet? You’re living together. She should know.” 

“I- I’m not comfortable telling her about it,” confessed Maya. “There’s no easy way to tell her that.”

There was more to Maya’s eating habits than she liked to address‌. “How do I tell her I have an eating disorder?” 

Ever since her childhood, Maya had an unhealthy relationship with food. She liked to eat and snack, and because of that, she was always slightly overweight and bad at sports—despite how much she and her brother caused chaos as children.

”She would grow out of it,” her parents told her. “Eventually.”

“Fun fact,” Maya thought with a frown. “I didn’t.” 

It got worse in her teenage days when she developed a Binge-Eating Disorder and became overweight. The other children bullied her because of it, worsening her condition.

Her mother tried to help her by setting up a diet plan, but it wasn’t always successful. The diets made her tired and lethargic throughout the day—or in the worst cases, stressing her out during her exam periods; leading to her least favourite thing—burnout. 

Which then led to her gaining more weight than losing it.

After school, her growth spurt and puberty balanced things out, somehow, barely. 

She regulated her diet and eventually lost weight but was prone to rebounds. Her episodes remained and returned at least once every week.

During those episodes, she would eat through her entire snack cabinet or a large family pizza in one setting—leaving her sickeningly full, ashamed, embarrassed, and, worst of all, feeling ugly and unattractive.

She wasn’t overweight anymore, at least not as much as she was in school, but the scars remained—and some stretch marks.

Maya pinched her belly fold and her thighs; She frowned, fearing what Val would think of her when she found out what Maya’s body looked like underneath her clothes—unappealing and chubby. 

So far, she was able to hide her problem from Val, but she wondered if she gained weight from overindulgence. She enjoyed Val’s food and Val seemed happy when she cooked for her. Maya didn’t know what to do.

“No use thinking about it.” Maya faked an enthusiastic smile and balled her fists. “She’s out of my league, and I simply enjoy being with her. There’s no way someone like her will like someone like me anyway, right?” 

Austin held his face in his hand and looked at Maya through its gaps. He was at a loss for words. He knew about Maya’s disorder and childhood, and how it affected how she looked at herself and subsequently blew her self-esteem. 

It was true that Austin was not interested in her, but he could tell very well that Maya’s appearance couldn’t be described as ugly—it never could.

Maya’s black skin was pretty. Her coiled afro was something most people would die for and her blue eyes were startingly sparkling like stars.

She may be chubby, yes, but her long-sleeved and striped shirt alongside her jeans complimented her figure in ways Austin didn’t know how to describe. 

If Austin was interested in women, he would have been unable to look away from her chest hidden in her shirt, or the jeans that complimented her legs and rear.

Sadly, he wasn’t, and he felt angry at Maya for how little she could see her innate beauty and bright personality. 

“Everybody would be lucky to have someone like her. She should value herself more.” Austin’s grip on his face tightened, and veins popped on his fingers. The white scleras of his eyes turned black. “I swear, if this Valkyrie breaks her heart, I will crush her.”