The first time he sees her, she's already a woman and he's some sort of clumsy teen freak, too big and tall for his nineteen years.
She's seventeen, but the fierceness in her – Blue? Green? Gray? – eyes adds years to a young face that screams Don't mess with me.
People whisper around her, words that span from admiration to jealousy to sheer cruelty. She doesn't seem to mind, though.
In fact, the meaner the insults, the smugger she looks.
She's uncrushable, and she knows. They all know.
She walks around in combats like they were stiletto heels, and, thing is, he thinks she wouldn't look this hot in heels. She's a charmer in such a rude, rough way he can barely believe he's actually started following her with his gaze.
He catches her name among the whispers and he can't help a chuckle.
Alesksandra.
Of course.
Badass girl with a badass name.
She's so much better than most of the Academy pupils in so many things it's not even interesting to watch her beat the crap out of those who try to mock her during physical training sessions, outsmart them, humiliate them, and she does it with such elegance it's almost impossible to begrudge her for being this good.
XxX
The first time she notices him, she's eating alone in a corner of the grey canteen.
He walks in cautiously, looking around as though he's not sure he's in the right place, and people stare because how could you not? He's so huge he has to bow his head to pass the doors.
A group of friends calls him from across the room and he nods at them. As he approaches them, his eyes meet Sasha's. Dark, dark eyes. How can they be so bright, then?
She stares, dares him to hold her gaze. No one ever does.
Turns out, this guy's not no one.
He stares back, which is unexpected enough without her feeling him pierce through her like sunlight through fading clouds.
To her own astonishment – and much to her chagrin – she looks away.
Somebody notices and tries to spot who did that wonder, but the giant has already reached his friends and acts like nothing has happened.
Sasha takes a sip of water and snorts to herself.
That guy elicits a weird vibe in her and this disturbs her.
She's definitely going to keep an eye on him.
XxX
It takes months before they get to train together, and by then it's already been a year since they first saw each other.
He could tell she's a fierce fighter from the very beginning, but when things get physical he realises she's not just fierce. She's fire and ice in a way nature would never allow. It must have taken a whole lot of trouble in her life to make her so frozen and so burning in the same wild heart.
And – hell, he'll never admit this, not even to himself, not even under torture – but he likes it.
The first time she knocks him down, Aleksis bursts out laughing. He's a mountain that's just been taken down by a girl in front of the whole class, and he's laughing.
He instantly gets silenced by her elbow shoved against his throat, dangerously pushing his breath away.
"You make fun of me, big boy?"
She's straddling him, her face a mere breath from his own, and – oh, shit, she's beautiful…
Sweaty strands of dark hair stick to her flushed cheeks. He can count every single freckle, outline the shards of ice in the impossible colour of her eyes.
"I would never," he chokes. Her pressure relents a bit and he finally can breathe again.
"But you laughed."
He smirks, feeling like he's venturing on ice too thin for him. Yet he goes for it.
"A little laugh wouldn't hurt you, little girl."
He feels her tights tense against his sides, and it's the most damn arousing thing he's ever experienced.
She's going to neuter me, here and now.
To his – and everyone's – surprise, there's a little amused twitch at the corner of her lips. She chuckles and raises to her feet, offering him a hand, which he confusedly accepts.
She pulls him up with such steadiness and strength that he's left speechless.
As soon as he's standing, she shakes his hand and gives him a pat on his arm with her other hand.
"Perhaps you're not as worthless as that bunch of idiots, Kaidanovsky," she whispers in his ear before turning her back to him.
And he really – really – doesn't want to gape, but how can't he?
She doesn't even notice, because she's already walking away – oh, those damn combats, his damn late sanity… - but his jaw falls, and it's not much for the (sort of) compliment, if that was even one.
No.
Hell, he's not even so easily astounded.
Thing is...
The girl knows his name.
XxX
Sasha is puzzled by the new guy.
All the other men in the Academy either try to win her with shameless flattery or despise her for the mere reason she is well out of their reach. But none of them would dare to provoke her like that.
Or so she thought.
It has been nagging her for weeks. Aleksander (of course, of course! What a name he has) Kaidanovsy is a giant of a young man and she'd thought him a lone, grumpy wolf, until he made that pun to her during training. Being taken by surprise is not something she is used to and she must concede she had misjudged the big guy.
"A little laugh wouldn't hurt you, little girl."
A jolt of irritation mixed with something else runs through her spine, like pure electricity.
She knocks the punching bag so hard the chain it's attached to cries as it swings back and forth in front of her.
Sweat damps her tank top, her face, her cleavage. Thoughts like crazy butterflies cloud her mind.
She punches the bag again and again and again, taking out her rage and that other thing she doesn't want to think about.
Kaidanovsky surely has a nerve to speak to her like that.
Left hook. Right hook. Kick. Knee. Kick. Kick.
She's never been into men. In fact, men are the least interesting thing she's ever seen: stupid, shallow, arrogant.
Not all of them, of course, but most, and, statistically, according to her own standards, she has as many chances to find a man worth her time as many she has to find a unicorn.
Knee. Right hook. Right hook. Right hook. High kick.
Drops of sweat leak down her forehead into her eyes, the salt burning into them.
"Little girl."
She caught the hint of humour in his voice and she knows it was not meant to offend, to diminish her. Though to some it may have sounded like an insult, she knows it was a quip, made to amuse, and this is what makes it different from all the other comments she's ever gotten.
Kaidanovsky did not speak to offend.
Kaidanovsky did not speak to flatter.
He spoke to tease her.
And, damn it, she almost smiled for it.
XxX
With time, Aleksis learns a lot about the fierce girl made of ice and fire.
Those closest to her – not friends, she doesn't seem to have any – call her Lexi. He thinks Sasha would suit her better.
She likes fish and vegetables. She never has meat. Sweet food often makes her grimace.
She doesn't like people, but she seems to have a thing for animals, even those usually causing more disgust to women. He sees her, once, collecting a spider from the ground before a guy can crush it and put it out of the window with a disgusted glare that makes the guy cringe and disappear in a blink.
Aleksis is impressed. He's seen girls who didn't care about insects before. What impresses him is that she took sides with a helpless creature and used her own power to save it from a terrible destiny.
She's badass, but in a good way, he muses one day at breakfast. Almost three years in the Academy and she's already one of the most respected pupils. And possibly the most promising.
There's something about her, though, that doesn't fully convince him. It must be her attitude, he reasons, the way she never seems to need anyone, alone and never lonely.
He spots her a few tables away. She' s looking at him and doesn't appear to be pleased by his noticing. By her expression, one might think she's trying to kill him with her eyes.
He can't tell if she is or not, but at least one thing is for sure: for some inexplicable reason, he has her attention.
XxX
They're the best in every sort of physical confrontation, so they're picked to confront each other pretty often.
There's a room with a 3D simulator of catastrophic scenarios where they have to wear special integral suits with sensors that translate their body movements into tridimensional pixels. They like it so much they often go in during their free time, just because it's so fun. They play against one another, sometimes, to make the game more interesting. No one else is good enough to challenge them.
"You two are so good that one can't overcome the other," says one of their trainers once as he praises them in front of the rest of the class. Then he stops and slowly looks up at them, his face wistful but unsure, as if he's had an idea that seems to crazy even to himself. "I wonder how you would do together."
They're standing side by side in the centre of the gym, sweaty and panting and sore all over their bodies.
The idea is indeed crazy.
"We wouldn't be a good match," Sasha scoffs, sharing a glance with Aleksis.
"Terrible match," he echoes her, shaking his head in amusement.
The class is dismissed shortly after and Sasha and Aleksis are the first to leave.
They leave so quickly it's almost uncomfortable, the two of them rushing away along the corridor, repeating over and over again how silly their trainer's idea was.
"Just stupid," spats Sasha, her face still red.
Aleksis nods more vehemently than necessary.
"Nonsense."
"Folly."
"Absolutely insane."
They slump onto the canteen's bench side by side and don't even realise it.
They eat together.
They complain together about the training session and any other thing they manage to complain about.
They even gossip together and share a few jokes, and it leaves them both rather dazzled.
When they leave at bedtime and part ways, something is itching in the palms of their hands, in the nape of their necks.
Once in bed, the itching is still there and won't leave them alone.
Something is wrong.
Or, maybe, something is right.
They fall into a restless, dreamless sleep.
They worry for the cracks that today opened in their walls.
There's light trying to break through.
XxX
There is only a problem: it works.
Pairing them up is extraordinarily effective.
They may be good as singles, but as a team they're invincible. No matter how many people they try to send against them, they always win. There's something about them that makes Sasha and Aleksis unstoppable when they fight together: they have a perfect sync, a stunning ability to read each other's mind and body.
This superior connection between them makes them virtually invulnerable and soon important people from all over the world come to see them fight. Opponents are brought in from abroad to test these two Russians' skills; they come, they try to fight them, they lose, they leave.
Aleksandra and Aleksander… people say it was destiny.
Sasha and Aleksis simply think what they've always thought: they're good.
XxX
Once, he doesn't even know how, he's so engaged in the chat they're having he absentmindedly calls her Sasha and she doesn't complain.
So it becomes Sasha and Aleksis.
XxX
It's Aleksis' graduation year when he and Sasha are offered a five-year special training session in Siberia for a classified mission called Project Alpha. Only those who eventually pass the session will be eligible for the next step. Very good salary, if they accept. If they make it. On one single condition: they must go and work together.
He's 22. She's barely 20.
Sasha says yes like she's accepting a glass of water. She has to graduate two years early in order to be able to go. She does. Her scores are the best the Academy has ever registered.
Aleksis just rolls his eyes when she points out she bested him by five points.
"Well, I don't have your pretty eyes, do I?" he retorts dryly.
She snorts and gives him an elbow in his side.
"Shut the fuck up, Kaidanovsky."
She simply refuses to let the smile tugging at her lips surface.
XxX
The Siberian camp is a giant bunker in the middle of nowhere. Literally.
The scouts specifically chose pairs for the program. Apparently, what they're training for is going to require an exceptional mutual understanding.
It takes chemistry, they say.
There are eight teams up for this challenge. Sasha is the only girl.
Most of the teams are brothers. Best friends who grew up together. Even a young father and a son from Ukraine.
Sasha even bets a dinner that the two thin slender boys from St Petersburg are a homosexual couple. Aleksis accepts and rises the stakes with a lunch.
He ends up fasting for the rest of the day.
The Vladimov brothers, Dimitri and Sergej, are twins: tall, muscular and handsome. The first is a sly looking jerk who likes trouble; the latter is a quiet nerdy guy who doesn't bother to socialize with anyone.
Of course, Dimitri is the one to set his eyes on Sasha.
He's got the charm of bad boys but his strutting attitude only makes Sasha sick.
He seeks contact with her, tries to get her to talk to him. To his deep frustration, nothing works. The only human being she seems willing to interact with is the damn giant who came with her.
"Come on, Sasha," Valdimov whispers to her one night, during the free hour before curfew. "Wouldn't you rather have a hot bloke like me instead of that huge freak? He's not even remotely attract–"
He might as well have asked her to kill him straight away.
In less than a blink, Vladimov is knocked down with blood dripping from his broken nose and the rough sole of a combat boot pressing his face to the floor.
"Watch your mouth, Vladimov," she hisses, oozing contempt. "I don't remember asking your opinion."
"I was just…" he stutters, but he chokes on his own blood halfway through the sentence.
She presses her foot harder on his cheek.
"Go fuck yourself."
XxX
She wouldn't have lost it, hadn't the bastard insulted Aleksis. She'll let go of anything about herself, but she can't accept bullshit about her mate. (And she curses herself because she almost thought friend.)
They've known each other for years and have spent so much time together they can tell with a look what the other is thinking.
Anybody else would call each other a friend, at this point.
Not them.
They stick to acquaintances because it feels so much easier. So much safer.
Still, Aleksis has only kept growing on her in time, day after day. She cannot deny the deep respect she has for him, the professional admiration, but, despite her being willing to deal with it or not, there is more.
One day, watching him break the umpteenth adversary in arm-wrestling, she's somewhat shocked to find herself thinking she likes him.
Not like as in liking ice cream.
It's a liking a person sort of like, and this sudden awareness troubles her enough to make her dislike him.
No.
You won't have me, Kaidanovsky.
You won't.
What troubles her most is that he's not even trying to have her like him. He doesn't even seem to care whether she likes him or not.
This is the catch: he crept up on her.
XxX
Vladimov takes his public humiliation very badly.
He starts calling Sasha names and Aleksis cracks his knuckles every time, but Sasha says it's fine.
It is, until Vladimov catches her alone one night at the gym.
When she senses his presence behind her, she curses herself for having stayed so long. The exertion has drained most of her strength, her head is dizzy for the lack of food (she skipped dinner to work out longer) and even her guard is weakened, otherwise she would have noticed Vladimov sooner.
It takes him a split second to pull her hands behind her back and push her against the wall. He presses his whole body against her.
"Well well, look who's here…" He mutters viciously in her hair. "You're not so bold now, are you?"
She writhes and pulls, but his grip on her is steel. His hand crawls up her naked arm, strokes are shoulder, brushes the hair away from her neck. His breath on her bare skin makes her sick.
"Let go of me now and I promise you'll still be able to walk when I'm done with you." Her voice is a sharp hiss, but she's not as confident as she tried to appear.
Vladimov sniggers. His fingers venture down her collarbone, towards the cleavage of her tank top.
"Payback time, darling."
Sasha grits her teeth but cannot move a muscle.
"Don't. You. Dare."
She feels Vladimov's lips grin against her neck.
"Stop me."
The sound of his voice is still there when he flies across the room.
Sasha is suddenly free. A shadow towers upon her.
"Are you okay?"
A couple of dark, kind eyes is scrutinising her so full of concern it hurts her.
"Yes," she sighs, profoundly glad it all stopped before fear got a chance to kick in. "Yes, I'm alright."
Aleksis nods and puts a hand on her shoulder. Behind him, Vladimov is trying hard t pull himself up. His nose is bleeding again and this time Sasha doubt it can be properly fixed.
"Goodbye, Valdimov," Aleksis says as he guides Sasha out.
It's a promise.
XxX
Aleksis escorts her to her room. It's totally unnecessary, she keeps repeating. He keeps replying he doesn't care.
He can see she's shaken but he knows she doesn't want to show it, so he pretends not to see.
Halfway to the dorms, she's about to pass out.
"You need to eat," he decides. He leads her to the canteen. They don't have much time, but it's still open.
"Why did you come?" she asks as he sets a tray full of baked potatoes with cheese.
"Didn't see you at dinner."
"So?"
"So I came looking for you where I knew I would find you."
She's tense. She has goose bumps all over her arms and her face is pale as a ghost.
Aleksis takes off his sweater and envelops it around her shoulders.
"Here."
Sasha flinches involuntarily. His heart cringes.
"I don't need this."
"You do."
"You don't know anything, Kaidanovsky!" she yells, jolting up. Aleksis' sweater falls to the ground.
Everyone who's around is watching them.
He knows why she's reacting like this and takes no offence. He's concerned about her but cannot help her if she won't let him.
In that very moment, Valdimov staggers in, blood all over his shirt. His brother runs to him at once, as worried about him as Aleksis is for Sasha.
"You dumb idiot," he hears him curse. At least one of those twins has some sense.
Quietly, Aleksis collects his sweatshirt and drops it next to Sasha.
"Maybe I don't know anything," he says. "But you clearly don't know me."
She clicks her tongue and folds her arm across her chest.
"Save the preaching, please! I could have worked that out without you!"
"No, you couldn't! What's so terrible in admitting that, for once in your life, you needed somebody's help?"
Sasha's eyes are glittering. Her breath is heavy.
"What I need is none of your business!"
"Fine! Go throw yourself in the arms of that jerk and let him do whatever he was going to do to you!"
Aleksis knows he shouldn't have said that. Not in front of everyone. Exposing Sasha's moment of weakness is something he can't be forgiven for.
He hates himself for letting it slip.
Before he knows, Sasha has launched toward him. The impact makes them both lose balance. His back hits the hard floor, Sasha upon him, and, breathless, he thinks at least his body softened her fall.
"Are you going to beat me, now?"
Sasha seizes him by his shirt and pulls his face to her.
"I probably should."
She's straddling him, her legs tight against his sides. He has a déjà vu.
"It's been a while since we've been this close, uh?" he teases.
She doesn't show any sign of fond memories.
"Am I too close for your comfort, Aleksander?"
She's taken a distance. Again.
Everyone has gathered around them, hoping to see them fight.
"I thought it was Aleksis, Aleksandra."
"Is Sasha suddenly too intimate for you?"
"I swear on Mother Russia I'll die before I get intimate you, Sasha."
Her eyes pierce him. Fire and ice carve into him.
"I swear on Mother Russia I'll die before I get intimate with you, Aleksis."
The crowd whistles, some cheer. If the giant is out, the more chances for them.
Vladimov is chuckling. If he's ruined their team, a broken nose is a fair price to pay.
XxX
For three days, they barely talk to each other.
They try to avoid eye contact, but there is something that seems to be drawing them toward each other, and the harder they strive to fight it, the stronger it gets.
Sasha is devoured by guilt.
Aleksis was only trying to be a good friend (yes, yes, this is what he is, dammit) and she almost clawed his face for this.
She wants to apologise but she's never done this before and doesn't quite know where to start. So she ignores him.
Aleksis is frustrated and wonders why.
It's not like he's done anything wrong and Sasha is so unpredictable – so unreadable, sometimes – that he just has no idea what to do with her now. He wants to be there for her. He really does. He only wishes he would let him.
XxX
On the fourth day, they both decide they can't go on like this.
Sasha is sorry for all the fuss she's put up and feels like she'll lose her mind is she doesn't make up with Aleksis.
Terrifyingly enough, she's afraid this needle-like feeling in her chest is not simply guilt.
I miss him.
As the thought hits her, she tells herself she's completely fucked.
XxX
Aleksis is kind of drenched in a gloomy mood that's making him numb and is Sasha doesn't drop her hostility soon, he's not sure he'll be able to pretend it's all fine much longer.
He feels lonely without her, and it sucks, because he shouldn't have become so dependent on such an independent woman.
He should have known better.
No. Who is he trying to kid? Why is he still trying to fool himself?
He did know better.
He just chose not to mind.
And here he is now, moping for a girl who's likely to hate him for the rest of his life. And possibly ever after.
His and Sasha's performances have suffered from their… whatever it was. The trainers have noticed. They've threatened to send them home if they don't get back on track soon.
XxX
Eventually, they are summoned by Irina Alianova. Everyone gasps at this and they start a wager on their imminent dismissal.
Sasha places a few bucks on herself and Aleksis leaving by evening. He clenches his jaw when she does.
Alianova is the program Observer: she supervises the training session with a folder in her hands, taking silent notes about each of the teams with a perpetual frown between her eyebrows. She's short and snobbish, around forty, and her face a marble mask when she asks them to sit in front of her in her office.
She slowly leans forward, elbows on her desk, and intertwines her fingers with a dramatic, impatient sigh.
"I should kick you both out of here right now."
They make to reply, but the Observer shushes them with a glare.
"I know what happened with Dimitri Valdimov and he will not go unpunished," she clarifies. "You will understand, however, that your behaviour cannot be overlooked, either."
Both Sasha and Aleksis already felt uncomfortable enough for what has happened without this unpleasant woman scolding them like children.
"Listen to me now," Alianova continues, even more serious than before. Her voice sounds like a threat. "I'm not supposed to say what I'm about to say, but I want you both to understand how important it is that you overcome whatever is wrong between the two of you."
They nod, even though they can't quite follow her.
"You are on the top of my list of suitable teams for Project Alpha. Meaning you would already be confirmed to be the team, hadn't this very unpleasant incident happened. I've been watching you for months, now, and your potential is so huge I cannot let you waste it for such a ridiculous issue, so, please, accept a strictly professional piece of advice." Silver grey eyes stare at each of them meaningfully. "Fix this sexual tension that's consuming you both before you kill each other out of frustration."
XxX
They've just been kicked out of Alianova's office when, after a very long pause of stillness and silence, tey turn to each other with blank expressions on their faces.
They can feel every crack in their walls deepen and widen in the emotional concrete. Light pours out in thick, blinding blades.
She's looking at him like he was a riddle she cannot solve. Her heart is heavy and aching, crushing her with her own feelings. Next to her, Aleksis is the usual himself: a constant, reassuring, solid presence by her side, as silent as strong-
She tries to imagine being without him, an empty spot where now he's standing, the sudden emptiness she finds herself in is so unbearable she has to close her eyes to erase the feeling before a shiver can shake her.
Aleksis.
Something warm spreads within her. The lightest smile paints over her lips.
Aleksis is mesmerized.
Sasha is smiling.
He could fight a tiger with his bare hands and come out as a winner, but this smile is hitting all his soft spots, piercing through him like a spear. She's so beautiful it's painful to look at her.
How can he have pretended, all these years, he didn't feel anything for her?
He quirks a smile in return to her own.
She beams.
His heart stops.
"What a pair of old fools," she half laughs.
He shakes his head in disbelief.
"Are we such terrible liars to fool no one but ourselves?"
The walls collapse, crumbling down into thousands of pieces. The light finally breaks through, shatters all barriers, erases all distances.
Sasha moves one step toward him. Aleksis doesn't dare to move.
She rises a hand to his face and gently strokes his unshaven stubble.
"We must really be."
He blissfully leans into her touch. His right hand covers hers. The left brushes her side.
Electricity fills the air. They feel it again, that old itch under their skin. They know what it is, now.
Their faces are so close they could just…
"No fucking way!"
It's a way too familiar voice startling them. Dimitri Vladimov is a few steps away, eyeing them coldly.
The moment is broken. Sasha pulls away. Aleksis lets her go.
"What are you doing here, Valdimov?"
"Summoned for a little lecture before being kicked out of the project, I guess," he explains quietly. He approaches and stops right in front of them. "What about you little oath, guys?"
Aleksis frowns.
"What are you talking about?"
Vladimov seems delighted.
"Oh, you don't remember, I see. But I do. We all do, in fact. Everybody heard you, you know." His sneer is wicked. "I clearly remember you both swearing on Mother Russia you'll die before you get intimate with one another."
Their eyes widen in shock.
"We weren't…"
"Serious? Too bad, because there are so many witnesses and you did swear on your honourable country."
It's bullshit, because it was a fight, and no one really know what they're saying during fights. They were stupid enough to come out with the worst choice of words, and now they've tricked themselves into this stupid trap.
They can't break this silly oath without automatically insulting their own country and being looked at like some sort of traitors.
"But you weren't about to kiss, of course," Vladimov adds, walking past them to knock on the Observer's door. "You two are too proud to break an oath you made in front of about fifty people."
This said, he pushes the door and walks in.
XxX
Aleksis is mortified.
Sasha is furious.
"That little sneaky bastard," she curses as she starts kicking the wall. "That son of a…"
"Sasha, stop." Aleksis grabs her by the waist and pulls her back. Literally. His hands are big enough to close around her middle and strong enough to haul her away. "You're going to hurt yourself."
"What the hell were thinking when we said those damn things?"
"We weren't thinking, I guess. Blinded by rage, remember?"
"Well, now how are we supposed to undo that?"
He shrugs.
"There's only a wait out: dying."
Sasha freezes with her mouth agape. Her eyes sparkle.
Of course.
Of course!
"Come to my room tonight," she says, so close to his face he has to muster up all his willpower not to push her against the wall and kiss her hard and deep. "We're fixing this together." She nears her lips to his ear and whispers: "Then we'll fix Alianova's problem."
Aleksis' feels a sudden heat all over his neck.
"You're scaring me."
"No," she grins mischievously. "I'm surprising you."
XxX
When midnight chimes, he's at her door.
She comes to open wearing nothing but underwear and a dangerously tight black t-shirt.
Aleksis' mouth goes immediately dry.
"Come on in," she mutters, grabbing his collar with a naughty face that makes his heart quiver.
She drags him inside and locks the door. Her lips are on his before he can utter a sound.
Sasha's kiss is so hungry and passionate that Aleksis feels flattered. He's never considered himself an attractive man, but the feverish way she clings to him, caresses his face, pulls at his hair, tells him a whole new story.
She wants him as badly as he wants her.
Could she possibly love him as much as he loves her, though?
Sasha suddenly breaks apart and sets the cloudy skies of her eyes into the night of his own.
"Yes," she breathes hoarsely, her lips still lingering on his, waiting for a new contact.
"Yes what?"
Her cool fingers trace his cheekbones, slide down his jaw, skim his lips with fond devotion. She's so tender and delicate one would barely recognise her. Aleksis, however, just basks in another shade of the wonder of a woman he knows so well.
"I love you as much as you love me."
She kisses him again, and things do not go exactly as planned.
They end up fixing Alianova's problem first. Then they bother with the other.
In both cases, he must admit she's kept her word: he's definitely surprised.
XxX
The day after, the news that Vladimov's being kicked out are echoing everywhere in the base. It's music to Sasha and Aleksis' ears.
They couldn't feel any more content.
She slept in his arms, enveloped in his warmth, her head resting upon his chest, his heartbeat singing her a loving lullaby.
He held her close to himself, rocking her so gently she had to assure him he was not going to break her. Having her cuddled in his embrace – so small, yet so important – was the most beautiful moment in his whole life so far.
Before breakfast, they go training in the 3D simulator. When they come out, two hours later, they're sweaty, sore and hungry as hell, but incredibly satisfied.
They hope they look as they feel: powerful and perfect.
Happy.
They walk in their heavy suits, helmet under their arms. When the others see them walk into the canteen, everyone gapes in shock.
They're holding hands.
As soon as he sees them, Vladimov blocks their way, his last crusade on his last day.
He's about to make a remark about how despicably hypocritical they are when he notices something too blatant to be ignored.
Their hair is blonde.
Platinum blonde.
Vladimov grimaces.
"What the hell did you do to your hair?"
The room falls mute.
A pair of identical smug grins spread across their faces as they walk past him entangling their fingers tighter together.
They don't look back as they reply loud and clear:
"We dyed."
XxXxXxX
A/N: So... my first story ever about Pacific Rim. I'm nervous, tbh. Please, not that the story hasn't been beta'd, so sorry in advance for any typos you may have found, I'll do my best to correct them all by re-reading this over and over again. Please also note that I write in British English, so do not make faces at some spellings (realise, scrutinise, recognise, honour, colour, etc). Also, I'm sort of new into this amazing pairing and some things may not be canon-compatible. I apologise for that (and for the stupid title, couldn't come up with anything better).
Obviously, the first part of the summary is an almost literal quote from Tangled. The Observer's surname, Alianova, is a homage to Black Widow.
(Did I mention that English is not my native language? Pretty please, be patient!)
P.S. Thanks to Illaine for pointing out the fault in the formatting. I fi xed it as best as I could. Should be okay now.