In the end, he hugs her.
A simplification. Because she doesn't want Soo to ask those kind of questions like when they were in high school. Because she doesn't want to make Shangqi uncomfortable. Because they’re best friends.
She doesn't say that in the end, when she walked among the destruction, he had run. She doesn't say how strong his hug was, or how long they stayed like that. She doesn't say that he cried in her neck and stroked her hair. You’re okay. She doesn't say he kissed her head, tender and soft and so, so safe. We both are.
She doesn't say much. But oh boy, she thinks about it. A lot.
There was only one other time where Shangqi hugged her like that.
"Are you close?"
“Yeah, I'm close. Five minutes."
“Great, but I can't wait, so hear me out-”
"Uh oh."
"Hey!"
"I'm listening."
“Good, because I left our résumés at four hotels in the city, the best ones by the way, you're welcome, they have flexible schedules, karaoke nights guaranteed, again, you're welcome,” Katy stops in the middle of the street, holding her cell phone between her ear and shoulder as she searches for the cards in her purse. God, she needed to buy a fanny pack or something. "We're going to make a good team, you and I."
“Trust me, I don't doubt it,”
"Then why am I feeling a but...?"
“I just... valet attendants? Are you sure?"
Katy can even imagine the way his eyebrows draw together in a dubious frown. She understands, a week ago she was in Berkeley and now...
“Well, I don't see why not! We love driving! And they offer free lunch, did you hear the benefits I said?”
“Yes Katy, they’re great. That is, if we can get in. The best hotels in the city, you said? The employee grid must be very complete, I mean..." he goes silent, probably thinking about it. She continues:
"I don't think it hurts to try, y’know-"
A scream behind her makes her jump, nearly dropping her phone.
Katy turns around and then...
And then it happens.
Or happened. She was so focused on her conversation with Shaun that she didn't even notice when it started, just that it was fast and at the same time, it lasted lifetimes.
The woman who had screamed is pointing at nowhere in exasperation, a strange dust descending to the ground, floating… all over the place, Katy watches in confusion. Just where was it coming from—
Across the street, a car suddenly invades the sidewalk, hitting a newsstand before crashing into a pole in a hard, raw impact. The high voltage wires are trembling dangerously. People scream and run and bleed and... and disappear...
Disappear like dust.
“Holy shit,” Katy gasps, taking a step back in alarm. "What is happening?!"
Was that real? She asks herself, noticing the panic seizing the avenue in mere seconds. She feels cold when a child disappear right from a mother's lap.
Katy returns her cell phone to her ear, “Shaun? Shaun, are you there?”
He doesn’t answer.
"Shaun!"
The call is still going on, but he doesn't answer.
Katy feels her heart speed up and her hands are sweating as she ends the call and tries to contact him again. It's okay. It's just the signal, she tries to convince herself. San Francisco's signal also dropped when the freaking spaceship flew over the city heading towards New York. It's just the signal, because Iron Man left the planet to settle any feuds against the aliens and it's just the signal, because Shaun wasn't responding and he always responds and—
She hits the ground hard, scraping her elbow and hitting her forehead on the curb.
“Ouch, what the hell!”
Some desperate person had bumped into her and didn’t even helped her get up!
It’s okay, though. It didn't even hurt that much. No panic. She just needed to get up and—
A teenage girl trips over her body and falls as pathetically as she did. And it was... okay, really. It wasn't the end of the world. Another person trips too, but it disappears before hitting the ground. The teenage girl starts crying out loud, and Katy shivers from head to toe as she feels more dust hit her. “Ow, uh…” Disgusting, she starts to say; but the words get stuck in her throat. She coughs, hyperventilating. Suffocating. She was suffocating.
On her knees, she crawls over to her phone. The screen cracked, someone had stepped on. Excellent! Just great.
Not really. Not great at all.
It was clear that standing there like an idiot wasn't going to do any good, so Katy quickens her step to get out of that mess. Her muscle memory is guiding her to the bus stop and there’s this adrenaline in her chest growing and growing and she needed to find Shaun, find her mother, find her brother, find her grandma and then, then, everything would be okay. They had to be.
The environment around her is very distracting though; the traffic is an absolute chaos right now, so many cars crashed... Stores are full of desperate people demanding answers, those who didn't push her in the street are actually turning to dust before her eyes. Just how long will this thing last? How long before she disappears?
Dread blinded her until she was no longer blind.
She sees him before he sees her, running through the crowd, alive.
Asshole!
God, she was going to hit him so bad when he got closer.
When Shaun's eyes finally found her, he yells her name a few times. Katy doesn't even have time to run towards him because he catches her first. Shaun hugs her tightly, taking her feet off the ground and just like that, she forgets about her anger. The cries of despair became distant and she clings to him like an anchor, feeling his heart beating against her body just as fast as hers, and when she closes her eyes the beats almost seemed to say; You’re okay. We both are. It was the purest relief in the midst of destruction.
"Shaun, what's going on?" she mumbles against his neck, and he tightens his grip even more. They're both shaking and crying and there's so much, so much fear—
"I don’t know,"
But Shaun's arms are safe as they always have been.
Still, Katy's mind is tainted with images and doubts. "Shaun, if I disappear-"
“No,” Shaun interrupts. Shaun denies it. She had never heard that tone of voice in him before. “No, you won't,” He strokes her hair and kisses her head, and he's shaking a lot less now. “You won't, alright? I won’t either. You're okay, we both are. It's gonna... It’s gonna be okay,"
She nods, and touches his face, wiping the tears from his eyes.
“We're okay,” Katy repeats, and it's easier to believe when he’s around. "God, my... my family Shaun, I need-"
“I'll go with you, don't—” Shaun pauses, and his fingertips touch her forehead very softly, lips pressed together as he notices her bruise. "Don’t worry. We’ll find them.”
"Alright..."
"Let's get out of here."
In the end, after the snap, after the reverse snap (where she and Shaun actually slept through it because they were hungover after a long night at the karaoke, thank you very much universe), and after Ta-Lo, he doesn't hug her.
Not like that, at least.
There is just no necessity. There is no despair. He's keeping her close. She's keeping him close.
So when Wong appears and opens a portal to a new future, Shangqi simply offers his arm. Katy accepts. Whatever happened, they were going to be okay in the end.