Iris ran a finger over her lower lip, a human gesture she had adopted and found herself performing whenever she felt antsy. She had arrived a few minutes early, too preoccupied to put her mind or hands to anything useful while she awaited the arrival of her chosen hour and her chosen companion. Whether he would answer her summons or not was hardly certain, and that made her wait all the more agonizing.
At last, she was rewarded with the sound of heavy footsteps descending the stairwell, and then the great Maverick Hunter himself rounded the corner and came into view. The overhead lights drew lazy circles around the rondels of Zero's armour as he moved. He stopped a few steps above where Iris stood on the landing.
"I got your message," he said, simply. Zero rarely bothered with pleasantries, and his voice, though he softened it towards her, was that of a hard-bitten soldier, underlaid with barbed wire.
He stared at her expectantly, no doubt wanting to know why she had asked him to meet her here, alone, hours after lights-out. "I wanted to see you, that's all," Iris said, tilting her chin coyly. A sheaf of her hair fell across her face and she tucked it behind her ear.
"You saw me earlier today, when we were in the briefing room with Dr. Cain and the others," Zero reminded her.
Iris shook her head. "Not like this. Not alone," she added, meaningfully.
Her meaning seemed to elude him. Zero folded his arms across his chest, and his brows came together in a look of bemusement. "Fine," he said, "then explain to me what we're doing here." He paused. "Alone."
Iris pressed her fingertips into her palms. Her core began to cycle faster. "Suffice it to say … " she began, hesitantly. She looked in his eyes and found no encouragement there, but she forced on a smile anyway. "I prefer it when it's just you and me, Zero."
He blinked, and her sensors detected a sudden rush of warmth to his face. There, she thought, hopefully. Her charms might not be entirely lost on him after all. She had spent days brooding over whether he was even capable of feeling what she was trying to incite, he who had been built as a coldly calculating machine of war.
Emboldened, Iris climbed the stairs and perched on the step just above him, so that their heights were matched. Zero watched her warily. She pressed her lips together for a moment while she summoned her courage, then laid her hands on his shoulders and kissed him soundly.
Iris heard his sudden sharp intake of breath, and his hands flew up and seized hers violently. She flinched in pain and he loosened his grip at once, as if suddenly remembering himself, and Iris stood her ground. As they kissed, she relayed a signal, a message filled with her memories of moments they had shared, and coloured with the warmth and affection she had felt towards him. To her surprise, Zero began to reply in kind. Iris caught a vision of herself from moments earlier, her lips curving in a shy smile at him, and felt his overwhelming sense of fascination, and hunger —
— abruptly, he wrenched himself away. "What are you doing?" he demanded hoarsely, holding her arms at her side.
"Kissing you," Iris replied evenly. "Do you like it?"
Zero just stared at her. His eyes flickered back and forth with the vehemence of his thoughts. He parted his lips as if to speak, then pulled her closer and desperately returned the kiss.
Iris blinked in astonishment, then closed her eyes and held on to him tightly. Her joy radiated outward and shrouded them both, bathing the stairwell in its summery light.