I- Meeting
Makkari knew that she needed a new bodyguard. There had been a few attacks lately, both from sports rivals and haters, and she knew that she needed someone committed, that would be with her around the clock, that would really be willing to put their integrity on the line to protect her. Someone that had a lot of skills, and was worth the trust they would put in them. A person that would save her life, if the need arose.
And none of these people were up to the task.
Makkari's manager, Thena, a former military head honcho and incredible warrior, had been testing the canditates - and they all failed, even if they were half her age. Some of them squirmed at danger, others were just clumsy, one of them admitted that he didn't want to fire a gun. They needed someone better, but they got to the end of the list, and...
Hello, ladies, how are you doing on this beautiful morning?
There was a guy in a leather jacket with the bluest eyes Makkari had ever seen, and he knew how to sign. He'd paid for ASL lessons for the last three guys, and none of them had learnt anything past "goodbye" and "merry christmas". So she'd had to spend years just texting the men, and her eyes got tired, ok?
Having someone who actually spoke her language didn't seem like too much to ask, right?
Thena asked him something, possibly in the lines of "who the fuck are you" and "how did you get here" and the stranger drew a cheeky smile.
My name is Druig he said and made a little bow Makkari's way. Fucking charming. I heard that you were looking for personal security and since I am a fan, I decided to check how good your security was. And honestly, ladies, it's quite bad. It just took me a couple hours to get in your room, and isn't that concerning?
It kinda was, wasn't it? And it was good that he was showing them the holes in their security. None of the previous guys had done such a job good at that.
What's your experience? This was Thena, always profesional.
Well, I don't have a lot of paid experience, but I have protected people my whole life. My brothers and sisters, my buddy Phastos from high school... He was a nerd and didn't get picked on once since he started hanging out with me. I'm good, I tell you.
Thena was not convinced.
Let us talk about this for a minute.
So they went back to the room's toilet for privacy, to discuss this late addition. Makkari had to admit, she was excited.
I like him.
Just because he looks good in a leather jacket and has a cute accent, does not mean he's good enough, Makkari.
Accent?
Oh, I'm sure that the Irishness translates to his signing, somehow. And yes, I know that it's great he can sign, but remember, he's there to protect you, not chat you up.
Makkari pouted. She was tired of having to text her bodyguards, it was annoying.
It would be nice if someone could do both. Just... if he passes your little test thingies, we give him a trial, yes?
All right.
Druig passed Thena's little test thingies, with cunning, and stealth. Maybe it wasn't the way Thena would have done it... but it was a way that worked, anyways.
So he joined the team and the trial period came and went, and he stayed.
Makkari was so glad, finally someone that could understand her!
II- Realising
One of the first things that Makkari realised about her new bodyguard is that he was, paradoxically, stupidly smart. He always found the flaws in the security better than whole teams, just because he could put himself in a robber/attacker's mind, and do what they would do. And then fixed that hole. He was serious with those guys but smirked at her. Makkari loved that.
He was very good at speaking, too, which may not be supposed to be the main talent of a bodyguard, probably? But it certainly was an advantage, since she was always travelling with him. In the last few weeks he had got them suites in every hotel they've gone to, (and she was an important sports personality but most places... well, they were sexist, or racist, or ableist, or several -ists combined, and they claimed they have the suites reserved for actual stars) (they meant white men). But now some white man was out of a suite because Druig convinced the hotel manager about the many advantages of giving her the suite. Neat.
He'd also helped Thena secure a couple more sponsors, which again, was not part of his job description, but it was something to be thankful for, as they could always use the extra income. And it showed that he was invested in her well being and comfort, even beyond just looking for threats and checking that there was no one around with the intention of harming. That was also important, right?
Makkari knew that it wasn't what mattered in a bodyguard, but she loved how clearly he admired her, how much he seemed to love what she did. This had absolutely never happened with security and it was making her... well, soft, for lack of a better word. Just seeing how proud and happy he was every time she won something, broke a new record. After so many years with such cold "professional" people, just doing their jobs, it was nice to have someone that human, that warm. And who could change into the most scary looking and professional guy with the rest of the people but made her and just her feel that special. Also neat.
He also tried to cheer her up a lot of times, hiding the webpages or press with mean comments and just casually leaving the ones praising her laying around just in the page where the article about her and her achievements was. She couldn't be as fooled as some other people seemed to be by his antics, but she thought it was a nice gesture - and sometimes, this was weird because he technically was part of his staff, and nothing else - sometimes she ran extra fast and was motivated by him. Wanted to make him proud.
Not that he was catching feelings, of course.
This guy was just working for her, she was absolutely not catching feelings. They had simply become friendly after spending so much time together.
And that was it.
III -Humour-ing
At some point or other, Druig had somehow become her best friend. They spent so much time together, that they had come to know each intimately. They also had a lot of fun, which yeah, may not be what you're supposed to be doing with your bodyguard, but after a life of strict dieting and a serious mission to be the best athlete ever, Makkari was enjoying this a lot.
They played monopoly and she won even when he cheated, they had baths in hotel pools in the middle of the night (and splashed each other to an inch of their lives) and did just about everything together. The life of an olympic athlete could be lonely, sometimes. You were surrounded by mean coaches, and every other runner was a rival, even if you had trained together. It was nice to have a friend.
Druig also added his little silly comments when she translated anything for her, which always made her smile, sometimes even laugh. She didn't know how she sounded, but it must be weird because everyone looked at her. Specially when they were talking about something serious but Druig made a joke about the dude's speech, or some wordplay or....
He also referred to her as "beautiful Makkari" which Thena frowned upon, but she loved. And she could crack a few jokes, too.
Druig had just convinced some guy to give them a private room in a restaurant and Makkari was just smirking.
Who would have told me that the star wars were real?
Are you going to tell the waiter that "these are not droids he's looking for"?
He smiled, and his eyes became little blue slits when he did that, and she absolutely loved it.
She wasn't sure when she'd changed from being his friend to caring about him and finally being irrevocably in love with the guy, but that was certainly what was happening.
IV- dYING
She hadn't heard anyone sneaking in, because, well, you know, she couldn't hear anyone. But she felt the reverberation of the shot, and saw the guy falling - Druig had shot him in the shoulder, and Thena had ran from her adjoining room to get him out of the room and down into the custody of hotel security.
And that's when it happened. Druig put his hands on his stomach and they came out bloody. There had been two shots, not just one. Then he fell into Makkari, eyes closing.
They were sitting on the bed now, with Druig mostly just sprawled, and Makkari frantically slapping his face so he wouldn't pass out. She had known that this could happen, of course, there had been some angry letters lately from a disgruntled fan that "she hadn't been nice enough to" and there was enough hate in them to make everyone worried.
And now Druig was dying, right there in her arms, and she was scared like she'd never been before. Kept shaking her head, disbelieving that this was actually happening. He mouthed a very clear and easily readable "I love you" and then lost consciousness against her. She let out a hoarse scream. Why would this happen?
Thena came in to check on her and called the ambulance, but Makkari feared that they wouldn't arrive on time. No matter how much pressure she put on the gunshot wound, it was bleeding too heavily, Druig had already lost a lot of blood, and she was afraid that he would bleed out before any help came.
In the end, the ambulance did come before he full on died, but still, no one could tell her if he was going to live. Her team told her that she should go to some other "secure location", that it wasn't safe for her to be in such a public place just after a direct attack.
But she wouldn't leave that hospital.
Not when the man she loved was undergoing emergency surgery because he had saved her life.
Not when everything was falling apart because he could be gone forever, and she'd never told him was mattered most.
I love you too.
V- Happy ending
Their wedding wasn't a big affair like her friend Sersi's had been, it was mostly done in secret, a couple years after they got together in that hospital, when she was on the verge of retiring and "just running for fun" because she'd saved enough and had enough advertising deals to live comfortably for the next few years.
Sersi and Sprite, her old friends were there; Ajak, a friend of her mum's who had always treated her like a daughter also made the trip and Kingo (yes, the movie star!) who she'd met in some VIP party, and was always a blast was also there, as were of course, Thena and her husband Gilgamesh.
Everyone was happy for a moment, everyone could see that these were soulmates, and they were going to stay together for many, many, many years. It was a a moment of light in an otherwise mostly dark world. They were light. And would continue to be.
(+1
For their ten year anniversary, they went on a tour around the world.
Druig stole her a very ancient artifact so she could read it before returning it, enjoy its beauty.
Makkari got him the fees to university to study psychology as he'd always wanted.
They kept loving and protecting each other.
Sometimes, the holes in one's security system can lead to a whole life of happy moments)