All Kate wanted to do was get in more than five hours sleep before having to get up and go to work. Unfortunately, Life just wasn't that kind. That and some idiot upstairs had thought that 3 am was the perfect time to take up home baking.
The fire alarm in the apartment building was obnoxious and woke Kate up effectively. She looked around her room wildly, before actually registering the sound. With a groan of annoyance, she pulled herself out of her warm bed and stood up.
She'd (stupidly) left the window open when she went to sleep last night (this morning?) and the room temperature had dropped drastically in the few hours she had been asleep. Goosebumps rose on her skin and, still half-asleep, she pulled her king-sized duvet off the bed and around her shoulders, leaving her room, only pausing to stuff her feet into her fluffy panda head slippers.
Tommy was already at the door, fulling dressed.
"Come on." He urged, holding the keys in his hand and looking at Kate impatiently. She was tempted to do a rude hand gesture but instead, she simply walked past, head high, duvet trailing behind her. Tommy didn't comment.
He shut the door behind them and quickly locked the door (this was New York, fire or no fire, neither of them really wanted to leave their door unlocked) and both of them went down the stairs as quickly as possible.
They emerged onto the street to see all the other tenants milling around nervously. Tommy looked over the heads and apparently found who he was looking for because he steered Kate towards a couple standing on the edge of the small crowd of people.
"Billy!" Tommy called, making Kate wince. She still wasn't fully awake and wanted nothing more to just go back to sleep.
"You guys got out alright!" Billy said as way of greeting, waving them over. Behind him, Teddy was stood looking at the building and the fire truck that had just pulled up on the curb, one arm around Billy's shoulders.
"Shouldn't you be doing your job, Fireman Ted?" Tommy sort-of teased. Kate had a sneaky feeling that the only reason he was so alert was because he had never slept, and hat if she checked his laptop later, she would see a half-written dissertation that he'd been writing for the last month and a half.
"I'm not on duty." Teddy replied, looking at Tommy and Kate for the first time. "Is that your duvet Kate?"
Kate looked him right in the eye and said "I'm cold."
Billy and Tommy were silent for a moment before laughing quite loudly, drawing the stares of a few surrounding people.
Teddy laughed too, but only briefly. Kate kept her face impassive, watching the boys.
Mr Barton, the owner of the building and landlord, walked over as the laughter faded into a calm silence between them. Things hadn't been great recently between the four of them.
Especially since Eli moved away to go to a school upstate while the rest of them stayed, and since Cassie died in a car accident a few months ago when she and Jonas were driving and got hit by a drunk driver. Nate found out and took his anger out of Jonas, blaming him for Cassie's death.
None of them believed Nate had meant to kill him, but that didn't change the fact that now two of their friends were dead, one rarely returned their calls and one was serving a sentence for manslaughter.
Mr Barton looked at the four of them, only pausing for a brief second on Kate's bow and arrow duvet cover. They waited for him to say something about the fire or how it started or if they needed to be reminded of any rules. Instead, he asked where the best coffee place was around that was still open.
"Pardon?" Billy asked, not sure if he heard right.
"Do you know where a coffee shop is that's open at three am?" He repeated.
"There's a place around the corner that's decent." Tommy said, gesturing to where the place was.
"Can you watch my dog for me while I get some?" Mr Barton asked. At that moment, a golden Lab bounded up to them, nudging Tommy's hand with his nose. Immediately, Tommy crouched down and started making fuss of the dog, ruffling his fur gently and stroking him.
"Of course." Billy replied, watching Tommy with mild curiosity.
"I'll get us some coffee too." Teddy said, leaning over and pecking Billy on the cheek.
"I'll help carry them." Kate said, following him, her duvet still trailing on the floor. Not that she cared at 3am. And it wasn't like she could get back to sleep before she had to wake up anyway.
The coffee shop was a regular haunt for the four of them; Teddy and Tommy would stop by before morning lectures, Billy would grab coffee and lunch with Teddy before heading to his teacher's assistant job in the History wing of the university, Tommy would bring her a cup at work in the woman's centre and Kate would get some fancy iced tea on her way home to the apartment. The baristas knew them by name and sometimes even had their order ready by the time they got there. (The mysterious barista named David never seemed to be on duty when Kate stopped by, but she knew Billy wasn't too fond of him.)
The coffee shop itself was quite cozy and pretty cheap compared to the other places nearby. The saw Mr Barton leave just as they got there and he gave them a small smile, apparently rejuvenated after getting his coffee.
The two of them went inside and saw a familiar face behind the counter serving someone else. The barista looked up and nodded to them as they walked up. The woman who had just ordered looked over her shoulder at them. Her curly hair was restrained in a plait and her clothes held a faintly patriotic feel to them. Then again, most outfits consisting of a blue tank top, red and white striped shorts and starry converses would remind most people of the flag that hung on almost every corner in the USA.
"You two are up early." The barista said, making the coffee of the woman in front of them.
"There was a fire in our apartment building." Teddy said, pulling a couple dollar bills out of his wallet in preparation to pay. Kate had already promised to pay him back as soon as they were allowed back into their apartments.
"That would make three of you." The barista said, nodding to the woman.
"Mr Barton's building?" Kate asked, addressing the woman.
"Yeah." She said. Kate noticed the faint accent that seemed more diluted than covered up.
"I don't remember seeing you around." Teddy said.
"I only moved in a few days ago." The woman said, turning to face them, while still leaning on the counter.
"A hell of a welcome to the building; waking up to a fire alarm." Kate muttered. The woman smirked and picked up the coffee the barista placed on the counter for her.
"There you go Miss America Chavez." The barista said. Kate could see the scrawl of the woman's name on the side of the insulated cup along with her order.
"Gracias." She said, turning to leave. "I'll see you around the building."
"Will do." Kate said, as Teddy began ordering.
"Nice pyjamas by the way. Purple's your colour." America said, pausing at the door and giving Kate a sly wink.
The coffee's came quickly and they paid.
"How'd you get stuck with the night shift, Noh?" Kate asked, tearing the top of a sugar packet off and pouring it into her black coffee.
Noh shrugged, cleaning the machines mindlessly. Teddy slipped some change into the tips jar and they took their leave, Teddy carrying three cups in a cardboard holder, Kate carrying her own and holding the duvet up with the other hand.
When they got back to the apartment building, people were slowly starting to filter back in. They found Tommy and Billy easily (for twins, they really were distinguishable) and handed over their respective coffee's.
"We've still got a few hours before we have to do anything." Tommy said, glancing over at Mr Barton's dog wistfully. They all knew his volunteering at the local kennel was more self-indulgent than charitable.
"Movie in our apartment?" Billy suggested.
"If it's not Lord of the Rings, then sure." Kate said, sipping some of her coffee.
"Deal."
"Or the Hobbit." Tommy added.
"That was not part of the deal." Billy protested as they marched up the stairs, carefully avoiding Kate's duvet train.