Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for original characters
Chuck
It was 5 AM when I woke, after tossing and turning for about an hour I decided to head to the training room on base to clear my head. The halls were deserted as most people were still asleep; I figured the training room would be empty as well but Emily was there when I reached it. Every time we passed, Emily and I would either ignore each other or exchange glaring looks which I wasn't bothered by but seeing her here made me start to re-evaluate my opinions of her, maybe she wouldn't be as mediocre as I expected.
To my surprise she moved with a fluid motion, tactfully striking an invisible companion. I wasn't sure what I expected from her but it wasn't that. She was too focussed to see me standing there watching her every move. After a few minutes I spoke up, letting her know of my presence.
"So you've skills now then?" I said as I walked into the room. She turned to where I stood and rolled her eyes as she saw me.
"What do you want Chuck?" She asked a little exhausted.
"To see how you fight. If we're fighting Kaijus together I need to know who I'm fighting with. From my experience you Brits lack the required refinements needed to pilot such fine machines."
"Really, haven't met anyone matching your fine skills then?" She said full of sarcasm.
"No actually I haven't, you see I have a record simulation score. Nobody has even come close." I said as I approached, boasting a little but I had good reason to.
"You did, until I improved on it yesterday. Gotta keep up Chuck." She said as she approached me with a second hanbō ready to fight. "I think your ego is too big, needs to be taken down a little." She clicked her neck and swung the hanbō around a few times before staring me in the eyes.
"Best put my ego to the test then." I said with a daring smile.
"That doesn't really make sense but I'm always happy to fight you, and besides, kicking your ass will be a good start to my day." And then she swung her hanbō at me, I managed to block it but a second strike hit me in the side. After a few blows from her I came back with force, knocking her down. She tripped me with her foot, pinning me to the floor with one end of the hanbō resting on my stomach.
"So what's your problem with me?"
"From my experience the Brits don't make good Jaeger Pilots, especially female ones."
"So you decided that because I'm British and I'm a female that I'm a shit pilot. You need to get your head out of your ass." Then we continued as I slid out from under her and got her from behind. After a few more moves from us both she took me down again, both of us breathless.
"Okay, you win." I dropped the hanbō and held my hands up in surrender.
"So do you still think I'm a shit Pilot?"
"I won't know until we're deployed."
"But?"
"But you've proved yourself a little." She did have my respect but I wasn't going to tell her easily.
"Good." She eased off, dropping the hanbō and I took that opportunity to flip our positions so that I had her pinned. She looked really pissed to start with and then we both sort of froze as something unexpected happened. I looked at her and our eyes connected in some way that held us in that moment. Something then came over me and I leant down and kissed her passionately to which she responded. I wrapped my arms around her and her arms wrapped around my neck as she ran her hands through my hair but then it ended as quickly as it had started as she pushed me away and ran out the room. My mind fuzzed as I sat on the floor, struggling to piece together what exactly had happened.
Emily
Shit! What the fuck had just happened? One minute Chuck and I hated each other and then… I'm not sure exactly what happened. He didn't like me and I shared his feelings. I'm not sure why he hated me but I wasn't going to waste my breath on him. There was no room for hatred to be a good Pilot; you needed a clear mind in the drift, so I took all my anger out in the training room.
Chuck thought he was so much better than me but he had no idea what my life had been like. Yes his mother had died in the Kaiju attacks but both my parents had been killed and since then I had worked my way to where I am now. I wasn't saying Chuck hadn't earned his place but I had sure as hell earned mine and I wasn't going to let him knock me down.
Just before Chuck kissed me I found myself looking deep into his eyes. I had never really seen him like that before, I mean I noticed his attractive appearance when we first met but I never really looked at him this way before. His deep blue eyes penetrated through to my thoughts, his rusty hair messed around but somehow still looked perfect, his face was soft no longer looking full of hatred.
Then he leant down and his lips crashed on mine, both moving as if they had been longing for so long to do this. My heart raced and I felt my pulse through my head as his arms wrapped around my body, pulling me to him. My arms involuntarily wrapped around his shape, hands entwining in his rugged hair. Then my thoughts snapped back to reality, back to the day my parents had been killed. I had promised myself I would be strong and not let myself be open to the pain again. Okay I was scared, scared of what might come of this. One moment we hated each other and now we were here. Come tomorrow he might have forgotten this even happened and I would look like pathetic girl dreaming over a mistake. Or worse, if this went somewhere and he were killed like so many others… No I couldn't think about that, I had to get out of there, so I pulled back and raced out of the room.
"You are such a girl." I said aloud to myself as I splashed my face with cold water in the bathroom, staring at my reflection in the mirror trying to piece together my thoughts. It was just a kiss, I told myself, nothing more. When I got out the bathroom Chuck was stood waiting for me.
"Sorry about that." He spoke quietly not sure what to say himself.
"Can we just, you know, be friends?" I asked and he looked up to me.
"Yeah, I'm tired of trying to out-evil-stare you." I laughed at that. We walked to the main hall together where breakfast was awaiting us, having our first proper conversation since I had been there. I kept trying to convince myself it had meant nothing but it's really hard to lie to yourself.
