"I'm going to kill you."

Ice Bear rolled his eyes. Nothing new, just Yana threatening his life. Not like that didn't happen every other day.

They walked into a 24/7 café, lit by the few lightbulbs that were bothered to be working. It wasn't nice, but they'd been working all day and needed a pick me up. "You know what I want, right?" Yana looked to Ice Bear as they let the door fall behind them, and he nodded. She walked over to a table that was semi-clean and sat down. She pulled out her phone while he got their drinks, planning to text her roommate that she would be home in a few days, and that she shouldn't worry.

"Nice hair."

Yana looked up from her seat, finding a towering, well-built, smirking guy about her age across from her table. She rolled her eyes. "Back off."

He put his hands up in defense. "Look, I'm sorry, alright? I don't usually talk to girls, but I couldn't help but notice that you have a world map phone case. Do you travel often?" He sat down across from her, and Yana took a look where Ice Bear was still getting the drinks.

"Yes."

He nodded and pulled out his own phone, revealing that he had the same case. "We match. Where have you been?"

Yana smirked. "More places than you have spikes in your hair." She wasn't lying, the man's hair was spiked like a porcupine. It looked deadly to the touch.

He laughed, and his eyes displayed respect. The tiny, very tiny, girlish part of Yana's head told her the guy was pretty cute. The rest told the first part to shut it. "Nice. I'm Adam, by the way."

"Yana."

"Have you ever seen Tokyo?"

She nodded as soon as the word it the air. Tokyo was her favorite place that she'd ever been. The lights of the city, flashing like paparazzi in neon colors might annoy some people, but it put her usually tense mindset at ease. "It's my favorite city."

He leaned forward on the table, giving her a soft smile. "It's a beautiful city. Just like you."

Now, you have to understand, Yana didn't mean to blush. It just…happened.

Before anything more could happen, however, Adam found himself being roughly picked up by Ice Bear. "Leave Yana alone."

Adam shrugged Ice Bear's grip off and glared. "Dude, chill. I was just talking to her, what's the deal?"

Yana wasn't going to intervene, at least not yet. She would let Ice Bear do his thing, yell at him later, then they would grunt their apologies when they'd cooled off. It was a system, and she wasn't going to mess with it. Yet.

"Ice Bear told you to leave."

Adam scoffed. "I don't have to leave if I don't wanna. Yana can make her own decisions. Right?" He nodded in Yana's direction to make his point.

Ice Bear turned to her, giving her the silent 'back me up and let me kick this jerk to the curb' look with his eyes. She looked to Adam, who had the 'come on, tell your jerk of a friend to cool it' in his. She shrugged. She had three options: Agree with one of them, just let them figure it out on their own, or make them battle to the death for her. "I don't care."

Ice Bear grunted. He handed Yana her coffee, and she smiled her thanks.

"Hey, uh, Yana," Adam said as he smirked at Ice Bear. "I know we just met, but are you free for coffee sometime tomorrow? We can go somewhere nicer than this, obviously."

Yana was about to answer, but Ice Bear had other ideas. She watched as his eyes shot open, he grabbed Adam by both wrists, led him outside, and shoved him to the curb. She could just catch Adam shout something crude before storming off.

Yana stood up and stared at Ice Bear. "What was that?" she demanded. "What did he do?"

Ice Bear shook his head and grabbed her hand. "Ice Bear and Yana are leaving."

"No, we're not!" Yana yanked her hand away. "What's with you? I get that you don't like the guy, but he wasn't bad! He was nice!"

Ice Bear grunted again. "Ice Bear does not have to explain."

Before Yana could either kill him or at least injure him, her phone beeped. She read the message faster than the speed of light.

Big black-market deal going down tonight. Warehouse on Melbury Road, downtown. Be fast. Bring Ice Bear, you can't do this one alone.

Yana rolled her eyes. "We've got to go." She showed him the message, and he somehow read it in the three seconds she let him see it. "I may hate you right now, but I need your help. Let's go."

They went to the car, drove, and walked into the warehouse in silence. These were two of the most stubborn individuals in the universe. If they each believed they were right, it was going to be a long, long time before either apologized, let alone admit if they were wrong.

The warehouse was a beast of a building, they felt like ants looking up at the tallest man. Yana beckoned him to follow her, and they hid out behind some boxes to wait. "You're the most annoying person I've ever met, you know that?"

Ice Bear rolled his eyes.

Yana jabbed him. "I wouldn't kill you to be a bit more talkative. Why did you have to throw Adam out like that?"

Ice Bear didn't want to answer that, so he didn't.

"I can't deal with you. If you're too good to even talk to me, you can save the day on your own." She stood up and spun on her heel, leaving him in the dust. "I'm done."

He didn't watch her leave. He couldn't. Two thick hands grabbed him from behind. His eyes shot open. It wasn't long before unconsciousness had him in its grasp.

#

Yana was storming down the streets of Halifax, venom in her steps. He could be such a jerk sometimes! "I don't need him. I'll let him solve his own problems."

Just as she stepped into the lobby of their hotel, her phone buzzed.

What happened?! I just checked out the scene, your friend is being held hostage. I expect better from you. This is not a one-person job, but now it's gonna have to be. Don't blow this.

Guilt. Yana hated that feeling. It was a crummy emotion and had no use in her life. She contemplated just how long he would be mad at her after this was all over on the way back to the warehouse. Sure, she would be able to save him, no problem.

She waltzed past the guards that were not there before and into the warehouse. After some brief wandering about the aisles, she spotted Ice Bear, being held by two guards and looking quite bored. She smirked, only he would look bored being held hostage.

"Listen," a slow, frothy voice said. Yana traced the sound to a tall, hooded figure. It wasn't like a wizard robe, just a hoodie. "I know your friend knows about our operation. So, until you tell me where she is, I ain't letting you go."

Yana rolled her eyes. She stepped back a little and lighting-texted on her phone for backup. They would be here in ten minutes, she just needed to get Ice Bear out of there before that happened. It was just hoodie-guy, Guard 1 and Guard 2. Easy.

She tucked away her phone, took a deep breath, and slid into Hoodie-guy's legs like they were home plate. She avoided several gunshots from the guards, and in the process, they let go of Ice Bear. She got one guard, and he knocked out the other. Honestly, you'd think they'd be a bit more prepared.

Unfortunately, Hoodie-guy wasn't as unconscious as she thought. "Snezhnyy Mishka, can you…"

He nodded, and in a few swift motions, had Hoodie-guy pinned to the ground. Yana had to smile at his speed. "Nice. I would've been here sooner, but I needed to call for back-up. And, y'know, coffee."

Ice Bear grinned and nodded.

Police and back-up came a few minutes later, and after telling Ice Bear and Yana they could get home, got handcuffs on Hoodie-guy. Yana smirked and grabbed Ice bear's arm. She yawned and gave him a smirk. "I'm tired, there's a café right down the street."

"Ice Bear already picked a café two blocks away."

Yana rolled her eyes. "Fine, I can't stand one more fight, we'll go there." She turned her head to look as the police read Hoodie-guy his rights, and one pulled off said hoodie.

The breath was sucked from Yana's chest.

Underneath that hoodie was porcupine-spiked hair.

Ice Bear tugged on her arm. "Is Yana coming?"

Yana stopped and looked at him. He knew. They stared at each other for a few seconds, contemplating whether they should bring it up.

She shook her head. "Yeah, let's go." With one last look to Adam, she walked with her partner out the door.

As they walked down the barren streets with wind pushing them closer to their destination, Yana got a beep on her phone.

Nice job. And the great part is if you need to rub something in his face down the road, you can brag that you saved him.

Yana smiled softly with a glance at Ice Bear, who was trying to figure out just where that coffee shop was. Maybe he saved her, too.

THE END