Title: Another Day
Subject: .Hack//SIGN
Pairing: Bear/BT
Chapters: 1
Status: Completed
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"So! What's the topic of today's meeting?" came a cheery voice through the thick brush of the forest.
BT looked up from her book- Annwyn; a favourite of hers- and set it aside, climbing to her feet with the instability of someone who had been sitting for a very long time. "You're late again, Bear."
"I'm sorry," the man said sheepishly, stepping into view and scratching his neck in mild discomfiture. "But I've been working on my next novel- it's about 'The World'."
"It looks like your obsession is seeping into your work," said BT disapprovingly.
"Maybe," said Bear. "But I wouldn't call it an obsession… More like me bringing play into work- making it fun. And what's wrong with that?"
BT could think of a million things but she kept them to herself.
"It's impossible," he went on, "to complete separate the lives we have here in 'the World' and our lives on the outside. Sure, we can step away from the terminal and log out, and sure, what we see here is only a mirror of a fictional character, but you shouldn't doubt the people behind them."
"Is that what your books about?" asked BT, almost mockingly. "Are you the main character, Bear? Do you save 'The World'?"
"It's called .Hack//SIGN- it's about Tsukasa."
A small twitch at the edge of BT's lips indicated her amusement. "How's she doing, anyway?"
"Well," said Bear. "Her grades are good, and she's made a few good friends besides Mimiru and Subaru."
BT nodded vaguely- in her opinion, he could have stopped at 'well.'
"Would it bore you to hear about the outside world from me?"
"Yes," said BT plainly. "But if you need to talk about it, I'll listen."
"No," said Bear. "What did you want to talk about?"
BT didn't reply, but sat back down in the grass, leaning her back against the tree behind her. Bear, also silent, joined her- sitting down so that their shoulders touched lightly.
A soft blush threatened to work its way up into Machiko's cheeks, but luckily for her, BT's were still as pale as snow. At a terminal only a few blocks away from hers, Ryo Sakuma was thinking the same thing about Bear's.
"What- I can't just call you because I want to see you?" she asked.
"You could," said Bear, "but you don't- not ever. What's on your mind? Is it the outside world?"
"I just felt like company," BT maintained.
Bear looked at her critically, "would you feel more inclined to talk to me if we went out and got coffee something?"
BT didn't say anything for a while -apparently deep in thought when in reality she was frozen at the terminal. Sure, she'd met Bear offline a thousand times, but recently she'd been getting a strange sort of thrill when he asked to see her. She forced herself to brush it aside and her hands moved the controller of their own accord- a small nod from BT.
"Sure, I'll come."
"I'll come and pick you up in five minutes," said Bear. "Then we can go around the corner and I'll buy you a BLT."
"You cruel man," said BT, smiling a little, "using my favourite food against me."
Bear just grinned and logged out. BT did the same.
-
(A/N. I was going to call them Ryo and Machiko in the 'real world' scenes but it didn't seem right, so I changed it back. If there's any confusion, just note that from here on they're in the real world, not the game but I'm calling everyone by their character names- even Tsukasa who is really a girl, lol )
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Five minutes brought Bear to BT's doorstep, hurriedly stamping out a cigarette just as she opened the door.
"I hate you doing that," she remarked, nodding vaguely at the cigarette half covered by his large black boot.
Bear grinned sheepishly, "are you ready to go?"
BT, who had left her purse by her terminal upstairs when she'd run down in her deliberate attempt to catch Bear smoking again, glanced back over her shoulder and bid him wait just a moment as she went to fetch it.
Coming back downstairs half a minute later, she flashed him a small smile and combed her dark hair out over one shoulder before flipping it back behind her and nodded. "All ready," she agreed and they left.
-
BT bit down into her large BLT sandwich determinedly, vaguely aware of Bear's eyes on her but unsure what he could be thinking. Eventually, she gave up and put it down.
"What? Is my hair sticking up or something?" she asked, frowning. She knew it wasn't- she'd checked it in the mirror before she left- but the comment had the desired effect and he was suddenly shaking his head quickly.
"No, of course not," he said. "I'm sorry for staring."
"What's wrong, then?" she asked, now reaching for her coffee as she saw him do the same.
"Nothing's wrong," said Bear. "I was just thinking."
"About what?" She was determined to hear him out- even if it was something boring, like work.
"Nothing really."
BT sighed inwardly in relief that he wasn't in the mood to go on about his work on both of their day off, but still wasn't convinced that nothing was bothering him.
Bear, however, just looked around for something to distract her with and his eyes fell on the perfect targets, "Tsukasa!! Mimiru!!"
Mimiru turned around, confused- never having seen either Bear or BT on the outside before- but Tsukasa recognised Bear, at least, immediately and tugged her over to their table.
"Hey, Bear!"
"Bear!!" Mimiru exclaimed, eyes wide. "But Bear's an oldie!!"
Bear looked almost insulted but BT just laughed softly, "Bear, she's saying that you look young- you don't need to get defensive."
Recognising her voice, Mimiru's eyes grew –if possible- even wider, "BT?!"
BT nodded, tucking a stray strand of dark hair behind her ear.
Mimiru stared in amazement for a few moments more, then an evil grin flashed onto her face and she let out a cruel sort of giggle, "Oh my God!! Are you guys on a date?!" she teased happily.
"No!" Bear protested and BT did the same, though a little less vigorously, with an almost calculating expression on her pale face.
"Tsukasa?" said Mimiru, turning back to him hopefully.
"They're not dating," she confirmed. "Or Bear would have told me."
Bear, who wouldn't have, just shrugged. "See?" he said to Mimiru.
Mimiru sighed dramatically, "Awww!"
"Awww?" Bear repeated.
"Well, yeah," said Mimiru, flopping down into an empty chair as Tsukasa dragged another one over for herself. "You're both lonely old saddos who spend all their time on an online game-"
"Hey!!" the both of them protested and Mimiru rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. I just thought it'd be cute if you two got together."
Tsukasa giggled and agreed.
Bear and BT looked at each other and each saw that the flush that had been invisible during the game came back now at full force on the others cheeks.
"Aww! Sweet! Look, Tsukasa! They're blushing!!" Mimiru cried happily.
"ARE NOT!" they both yelled, receiving some very odd looks from the other people in the café for their outburst.
A few moments passed in silence (well, excepting Mimiru and Tsukasa's giggling) and then Bear stood up, catching the waiter's attention and putting the money for the meal down on the table, before taking BT's hand (much to her chagrin, as she'd only just fought the blush away and now it was back) and pulling her up beside him. "Come on, I'll walk you home." He said gruffly and she nodded, a tiny little smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
"How gentlemanly!!" Mimiru giggled. "Are you gonna give her a kiss goodbye, Mr Bear?"
"Mimiru," said Bear warningly.
"What are you two doing around here anyway?" asked BT, noticing the strain in Bear's voice as the four of them walked towards her home and deciding to take over conversation.
"We just came to get a bite to eat before picking up Subaru to go to the movies, but this is much more fun!" said Mimiru excitedly.
"Good for you," Bear muttered and BT raised an amused eyebrow.
"Yep!" said Mimiru, not seeming to realise how annoyed he sounded.
"TSUKASA! MIMIRU!!" called a girl's voice, accompanied by quick footsteps and panting, as Subaru ran up behind them. "Tsukasa; Mimiru; You both just walked right past my house!"
Mimiru and Tsukasa looked back at it sheepishly.
"Whoops…" said Mimiru, momentarily distracted from Bear and BT's supposed love life… but only momentarily. "Hey, Subaru," she went on. "We found the real-world Bear and BT- they were on a date!"
Subaru clapped her hands excitedly, "really?!"
"No!" Bear and BT huffed together.
"Aww…" said Subaru, evidently disappointed.
The four of them arrived at BT's house and she reached down into her purse, retrieving her keys as quickly as she was able- just wanting to get away from her prying friends. As she opened the door and placed a foot in, ready to disappear inside and leave them out on the doorstep, she was stopped by Mimiru's voice.
"Come on, Bear- don't tell me you're shy!" she giggled.
"Maybe he prefers guys," said Tsukasa, catching onto her game.
"If he doesn't want BT, I'll have her!" said Subaru, in much the same way.
Bear glared at them all, muttered "fine" and moved to catch BT's arm, pulling her back around, and, eyes softening a little as he glanced at her face, he leaned forward to plant a chaste kiss on her cheek. He pulled away and BT met his eyes with a small nod, before disappearing inside- the giggles and sighs of the teenagers outside completely lost on her.
BT's thoughts were far from them- she was wondering, without quite knowing why, what would have happened if she'd turned her head to take his mouth when he'd kissed her cheek.
In the end though, she was decided. That was a story for another day, another BLT, and another long walk home. It would happen - it had to. She had three very determined teenagers on her case who weren't about to let that small kiss slide past unnoticed. So, another day -some day a long ways off from now- she'd tell him that she loved him and really give Mimiru something to tease them about.
Until then, she could handle playing around a little longer, and with that thought, she returned to her terminal and their meeting place in the forest, where she knew Bear would always turn up when she needed him- no matter how late he was.