"What are you thinking about?" Aelita asked, since he had been quiet and just listening to her talk for roughly ten minutes.
"I came here, with a script in my head," Ulrich said and Aelita smiled.
"What you were going to say when you found me?" Aelta asked and he nodded.
"Just so when I left you knew how painful these last five years were to me. I was going to shout...at least more. It's scary how fast old habits come back, and I'm not mad anymore. All I want to do is kiss you."
"I remember that feeling."
Everyone noticed it except for them. Some were even making wagers. They hadn't noticed that they had been eating dinner together every night for three weeks. They hadn't noticed they walked to her door every night, and talked for nearly an hour before she stepped in and closed the door behind her. He didn't notice she opened the door when he left to watch him leave, she didn't know he didn't want to.
Ulrich's first physics test was a eighty nine, so he needed more help before the finals. He arrived at the library to see she had not arrived yet. When he reached into his pocket for his phone it went off, alerting him of a text.
'Sorry, really want to finish this track, we can study in my room.'
Ulrich shrugged and pocketed his phone and walked to her room where he knocked, knew she left her headphones on so opened the door like he was already used to. The one time he casually swung it open, she was changing shirts and was topless with her breasts in full view. They both froze, before Ulrich slowly and with relative calm closed her door. Thirty seconds later it opened from the inside and she let him in.
"Did you see anything?" Aelita asked, flush with red in her cheeks.
"Yes, I'll pretend nothing happened if you do," Ulrich suggested and she nodded. While Ulrich did homework they talked as she edited the tracks and layered them, playing back and forth to find the spots that needed refinement.
At the end of the hour Ulrich packed up and asked if she wanted dinner.
"Want to listen for a moment?" Aelita asked and Ulrich smiled, walking over and placing the headphones on. He smiled as he listened, and Aelita remembered something about Jeremie from their relationship. He never wanted to listen to her music.
Aelita smiled at Ulrich who pulled the head phones to his neck.
"I think it's good, it feels like it needs to be...faster at around the one minute mark," Ulrich said and Aelita smiled wider. He actually, truly listened to it.
"I thought about a tempo increase with the strings, and a slight distortion of the bass in the same place...Jeremie never listened to my music," Aelita said and Ulrich gave a slight chuckle.
"He's missing out," Ulrich said and smiled at her.
Aelita felt herself wanting to do something, but stopped herself, turned and said, "Let's get dinner."
They sat across from each other in an almost empty cafeteria. It was Friday so most of the students were out and about. Ulrich talked about the last time he talked to Yumi and Aelita talked about the same with Jeremie.
"It wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be," Ulrich said and Aelita shrugged.
"Jeremie was awkward," Aelita said and Ulrich asked about that, "You first, I need a moment to put it to words."
Ulrich chuckled and took a bite, chewed and said, "We had breakfast a few days ago. Literally, the first time I spoke to her since the last time we slept together. I'm not exactly sure how she's doing."
"I've talked to her a few times, she's actually kind of scared of a new relationship," Aelita said and Ulrich thought about it, not exactly sure what to say.
"I was, at first..." Ulrich started, then had no idea what he was going to say next.
"And?" Aelita asked.
"I spent so long trying to get her...getting refused so many times till it finally happened. At first I didn't know what to do with myself. For a while that pursuit defined me, and then gone."
"I think you've recovered better than her, which actually surprised me," Aelita said and Ulrich shrugged.
"Have you put it to words yet?" Ulrich asked.
"Jeremie is so...indifferent about the whole thing. He'll always have a place in my life, that will never go away. It's just...I had higher expectations about the relationship.
"Think about it for a moment. He found me in a mystical world, in a tower and rescued me from an evil monster. You can't make that up. I was literally a princess in a tower," Aelita said and Ulrich laughed.
"And then...I...at first I thought he was just stoic. It took years after I got out for us to go out, and when we did. We finally went out...and...nothing. Talking to him felt like talking through a monitor again. If that's all I was getting, I might as well of never left Lyoko.
"Talking to Jeremie again, was awkward cause he was trying to convince me to get back together. It felt more like he was trying to convince himself he actually still wanted it. I think it's like when you save someone, you feel like you have an obligation to them. To Jeremie I'm more of an obligation. I'm not a damsel anymore, I don't need saving. You all gave me my life back, so I have a debt to all of you I'll never fully repay.
"Yumi and Jeremie weren't doing me favors by thinking of me more like a child who didn't know what she wanted. So thanks for treating me like my decisions mattered."
The two of them shared a look, and held it. Quietly, they both stopped eating and looked into each others eyes, both wanted to say something, and yet knew nothing needed to be said. WIth only their eyes to talk they returned their trays and he walked her back to her room. They still hadn't spoken when they arrived at her door.
For nearly a minute they just stared at eachother, until Ulrich decide to move toward her.
"Can I kiss you?" Ulrich asked, and that surprised her more than if he had just done it.
"Yeah," Aelita said with a smile after a moment and he did. He leaned in and gently kiss her, her hands slowly draping themselves over his shoulders while his hands wrapped around her waist and drew her in.
They slowly kissed for ten minutes in the hallway before they stopped at looked at each other. They both smiled and Aelita looked over her shoulder at her room.
"Want to come in?" Aelita asked and Ulrich sighed with a slight chuckled, knowing her intent.
"Not tonight, I want to wait a little for that," Ulrich said and Aelita made a disappointed look before she understood.
"Okay, breakfast tomorrow?" Aelita asked and Ulrich nodded, "Good night."
"Night," Ulrich said and kissed her again before walked to his room.