The darkness of the factory with a tint of green from the poor lighting and the discolored metal had become a certain shade they were both accustomed to. A favorite color, even, because it reminded them of this place. The whirring of the supercomputer with the stream of code spiraling up and down the screen, the clacking of fingers against plastic keys as two, half-asleep blondes sit before the computer and work on something, anything, to give them another step ahead.
This was not a new routine. In fact, this was a very, very old routine—for him, at least. And even for her none of this was new. It was everything she'd ever dreamed of, everything that made her doze off in her tedious classes and tune out the drone of Mrs. Hertz's voice. In fact, everything on the screen before her was an absolute dream come true. And, for once, she was the one sitting at the computer, and he was the one standing next to the chair. His wrists were cramped and his fingers were tense, and she was so giddy to take up the driver's seat that he was more than willing to go for the passenger's. After all, he, of all of them, could use a break.
Besides, she really knew what she was doing. And she was a lot faster than him, too. He wasn't sure if he should feel angry—jealous, threatened even, or if he should take it with a smile, be thankful for her skill and desire to help. Maybe an unusual and discomforting mixture of both is what generally plagued him, but right now, as he stood next to her ready to collapse onto the cold, concrete ground, he decided to go for the latter. So he smiled and nodded along to everything she said. Was he even paying attention? Perhaps not. He was really tired. The exhaustion didn't usually get to him like this, but mostly because it was overcome by his determination to code and to program, to finish what he'd started. Tonight, Laura was in charge. It wasn't his job.
That felt really nice to say. It wasn't his job this time.
In fact, she was a really huge help. And that was what he needed the most—help. Aelita? Well she was wonderful, too, and she could run the computer almost as well as Jeremie…almost.
Most of the time she just sat there when he invited her over to help. Jeremie did most of the work. Although, it didn't bother him entirely. He'd bring her over for a reason, and at least having someone around who knew what you were talking about was nice.
But when Laura was around, there was no time for friendly conversation even. She'd get straight to it. And actually, he admired that. Someone who knew how important it was to work, how crucial the mission at hand was. She mumbled something about the code she was about to try out, and Jeremie yawned, half covering his mouth, and nodded along. He wasn't sure if he had understood what she had said over the sound of his yawn or not, but he honestly assumed she knew what she was doing.
Let's be honest—there was never a time when she didn't.
He sighed, tapping his finger against the armrest of the chair in unison with the tapping of her fingers against the keyboard. His eyes were locked on her hands and how graceful they were, how fluidly they moved across the keys. There was no hesitation or backspacing, everything just flowed perfectly. Like if she were to be playing a beautiful song on piano, except, well, it was a keyboard. And she was typing binary. Could Laura even play piano? He expected her to not really have any musical ability. Not like Aelita, at least. In fact, computer science seemed to be her only interest. What else did she like?
There was a buzzing in his pocket, and upon answering his phone brought a soft voice he was more than accustomed and also delighted to hearing on the other side of the speaker. But her intentions were not as delightful. To Lyoko? For what? Often Aelita wanted to go to Sector 5 and be near the spot that her father—seemingly—had perished. And moreso lately, to go straight to the Cortex and see if she could discover anything else about him, any possibility of his whereabouts, any proof at all that he may still be alive.
But no, not the Cortex. Not tonight, and certainly not alone. Sector 5, though…well, fine. He sighed.
Laura had been eavesdropping, of course. Possibly the nosiest person on this entire Earth was the little blonde now standing in front of him. He nearly yelped when he turned around and saw her out of the chair. It was late, for all he knew it could've been a Spectre. She asked about the call, who it was and if they'd have to wrap up their programming session so quickly, with a frown almost. Jeremie shrugged and simply told her the truth. That it was Aelita, and she was on her way to the lab because she wanted to go to Sector 5 and be with her father. Laura rolled her eyes, and that nearly made him sick. That she could be so careless to a situation as sensitive as that. But all the while, was it any of her business? No, it wasn't. Kindly, he told her that she didn't have to leave if she didn't want to. That she could gladly stay here and finish whatever it was they were working on—what was it, anyways? He'd lost track. Oh, right. A new program for the Skid, something to frequently update him on the condition of its shields, something to prevent XANA's most recent ploy. Maybe he should make an anti-virus while he's at it.
If only it were that simple. XANA is a virus, anyways. If only Jeremie could simply code up an "anti-virus" for XANA.
She shot him that smug little grin that was always stuck on her face and turned around, heading back to the computer. But something stopped her in her tracks; she brushed her fingertips against the armrest, but did not take a seat. Jeremie waltzed around with his hands in his pockets, occasionally glancing at the elevator and waiting for the doors to open, or waiting for Aelita's voice over the speakers saying she was ready for transfer. And Laura remained standing in front of the computer, glancing over her shoulder and tracking Jeremie's pace in her peripheral vision.
He noticed, of course.
"Are you not going to sit?" he asked. She turned around and looked at him, her lips ticking upwards into a cute little smile. He wondered what that look was for, and stopped pacing. "Do you want me to take over?"
She shook her head and did not respond—not with words, at least, and took a step forward. A small step, but big enough to give Jeremie that weird feeling of being threatened. Slowly she inched towards him, and as the space between them shrank Jeremie found himself growing a bit uneasy. More than a bit, actually. A lot.
Suddenly, she asked a very odd question, one that was not the least bit relevant to the task at hand. Not about Lyoko or XANA, or coding, nothing like the questions she usually riddled him with. No, of all things, she asked about Aelita. To be specific—him and Aelita. But he was not sure what she meant by it, and he raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to elaborate. She asked exactly what it was between them.
Between him and Aelita?
Truthfully it was a question he didn't really have the answer to, when he thought about it. But he didn't think about it. He spat out the first thing that came to mind, that they were just friends.
"Oh," Laura whispered. Oh? Oh what, exactly?
He did not like where this was going—he did not like how close she was getting, and he did not like the fluttering in his chest.
"So," she continued, still hushed, "She wouldn't mind if I did this?"
"Did…what?" he choked.
He stared at her for a moment. A long moment. And in this moment, with the closest he'd ever been to her, he was able to see a bit more of what was behind the woman who loved computers and sciences more than he did. He could see pretty, blue eyes—even bluer than his, and according to Aelita, they were pretty blue. Glorious eyes that had the same tint of purple around the corners that he did, presumably from how late she stayed up since joining the group. In fact, he wondered if those were there before she had wanted to be his friend so badly and begged to join the warriors. Was she happy to be his friend now, now that her beautiful eyes had been cursed with bags that may never leave the soft skin of her face?
He didn't have much time to think of anything else, because he felt sudden pressure against his lips. Pressure that made him squeak against her own lips. And to her, it was funny. It was funny to him, too. He was laughing. He was smiling.
Wh—why? Why was he smiling? This was not right. His heart was racing inside of his chest, ready to burst outwards, but it was not right. He liked it. Her lips were as soft as they looked, and he liked the feeling of her little smile against his mouth. Even with as sudden and forceful as the kiss had been… it was still gentle. He rather liked it.
And that wasn't right. Because he had Aelita. Well, no—he didn't. Technically. But he liked Aelita! Now his mind was racing in sync with his heart, his cheeks flushed and the anxiety was making him go light-headed. He was panicking, almost. Panicking for liking something that wasn't right. He was supposed to like Aelita. With as long as he'd known her, everything he'd ever done for her, and her for him…this wasn't how it was supposed to be.
He should've pulled away sooner, but he spent too much time with his lips interlocked with hers and his mind beating itself up to realize that the elevator door had opened already.
Then he pulled away. And he felt his heart drop down to his stomach, because he had forgotten about Aelita. That she was on her way, that she always ran to the factory and took no time getting here. It was too late. She had seen, and she was not happy.
Furious, even. But what he saw the most was sheer heartbreak. He saw a lively, happy girl with a personality as bright as the pink of her hair, standing in the middle of the laboratory with her fists clenched at her sides, her breathing rapid and her eyes glossed with tears. Tears that quickly were streaming down her face. He saw what he saw when she woke up from nightmares, when she went to the Hermitage. He saw what he saw when XANA had sent a Spectre of her mother to Earth and used her most secret pain to fool her. He saw her break. And he was the one who had broken her, because he should have pulled away. And he didn't.
When he called out to her, she didn't listen. All she did was run off. He chased after her, running as fast as he had ever done, whether in P.E. or when he was being hunted by a Spectre. He tried to catch up with her, overwhelmed with desperation and also fear. Fear that he had just ruined one of the most important things he'd ever had. He grabbed her wrist, begged for her to listen, but all it did was earn him a brutal smack in the face.
He stood in the middle of the bridge; rubbing the sting against his cheek and watching her disappear into the forest. And all the while, Laura had been left alone with the computer. Laura was never supposed to be left alone at the interface, with all the events that had happened in the past. But now she was in the basement, running it herself, and putting in codes that Jeremie would not have approved of.
She was getting what she really wanted.