7 hours later James and Gaz sat in the same position, except this time they were eating dinner that was so kindly prepared for them by Anselm.
"So, tonight you two will pack the suitcases. I already promised money, more medical supplies, weapons, and some clothes. Will you need anything else?" Anselm asked, listing off the items he was providing easily.
Gaz nodded along to what he was saying before chewing some of the chicken Anselm had cooked for them.
"That's it. We'll pack and then I'll cut James's hair." She remarked easily, making James turn to her.
She paid no attention to him and didn't bother arguing since she was determined to cut his hair anyways.
"Are you going to dye it too?" Ans teased, a beer in his hand.
James glared back at the man.
"I don't think a haircut will do much to mask his identity," Gaz muttered, continuing to eat her meal.
"Then why do you need to cut my hair?" James asked her, his brows furrowed.
She turned to him, the slightest trace of a smile on her lips, "It's too long, you look like a pedophile."
Anselm burst into laughter at this, his joyful laugh filling the room and making Gaz let out a breathy chuckle.
"Wow, thanks," James remarked, looking at the woman with a slight smirk.
He hadn't smiled, or almost smiled, in a long time.
It felt good.
"But, a very kind pedophile." She nodded, suddenly realizing that what she said was insulting.
"Gaz, those don't exist." Anselm cackled.
James merely shook his head with a sigh.
Gaz began to open her mouth to say something else but James interrupted her, "Just stop with the pedophile analogy. I'll let you cut my hair."
Anselm found this only added to the hilarity and by the time he had finished laughing, there were tear tracks on his cheeks.
"God, you two are hilarious. How are you so emotionless yet so funny?" He asked, shaking his head at the pair.
"I smiled at least once." Gaz defended, finishing her meal quickly.
"Yes, yes, suddenly you are the master of emotions," Anselm said, his hands raised defensively.
Gaz rolled her eyes for the first time and Anselm exclaimed at the action.
"There! That was some emotion! I'm chipping away at that brick wall, G, I sure am!" He said victoriously, sending Gaz a white toothed smile when she looked up to glare at him.
"I'm gonna go pack. You wanna help?" She announced, addressing her question to James.
James looked up at her as she stood, examining her expression which had turned back to unreadable.
"Uh, sure." He said weakly, standing and then having to look down at her since he was much taller.
"Just dig through my closet for whatever clothes you need. I'll wash up here." Ans told them, watching as they exited the kitchen.
Gaz knew the way to Anselm's bedroom and she led James there easily.
They were silent as they walked, the kind familiarity she had with Anselm disappeared once the two of them were alone.
James followed Gaz as she entered the small bedroom and immediately walked towards the closet.
She opened the closet door, wheeling out a suitcase easily and then addressing James, "Can you put it on the bed? That way we can just fold what we need and put it directly in there." She asked, explaining her plan.
James nodded wordlessly, picking up the suitcase with ease and unzipping it for her.
"You can choose your own stuff." She told him, opening the closet door wider so that he could stand beside her in front of the closet.
James did as she wanted him to and stood next to her, examining the clothes as she dug into the back.
She pulled out two black shirts, which he noticed were identical to the one she wore currently.
"Have you stayed here often?" James asked her curiously as she scanned over a pair of black jeans which James believed to belong to her since they matched the length and thinness of her legs.
"These aren't mine." She told him, referring to the jeans which she folded up anyways and placed inside of the suitcase beside the two black shirts.
"Still… Have you stayed here often?" He repeated his question as she began to look some of the shirts that belonged to Anselm.
She shrugged, "Often enough to leave two shirts here, apparently." Was her vague response.
She held a gray long sleeved shirt in her hand and she turned to James, changing the subject, "This should fit you." She told him.
He grabbed the shirt since she was offering it to him.
Then, she turned back towards the closet and pulled out more pants and shirts that looked like they belonged to women.
James was occupied pulling the shirt over his head when he heard Gaz mutter, "Looks like Ans has been busy,"
Her tone revealed nothing about how she felt on the subject and James too afraid to ask her so he remained silent.
Gaz turned back to James, examining the way the shirt fit him and the way it covered his metal arm.
"A bit tight," she remarked, eyeing his muscles, "But it will do."
During the thirty minutes they spent in the bedroom, Gaz had given James multiple long sleeved shirts and two hoodies while she had selected a hoodie of Anselm's for herself and another pair of jeans,
"He won't mind that we took all of this stuff?" James asked as he helped Gaz fold all of the clothes neatly into the suitcase.
Gaz shook her head, "He'll just buy more. Apparently, he's loaded." She remarked, thinking back to the unreasonable amount of money her friend had revealed to her several hours previous.
James didn't respond to that. Instead, he zipped the suitcase and lifted it into his arms, waiting for Gaz to lead the way.
"We left the other stuff in the bathroom, I'll just grab it and then we can pack in the living room." She said, leading him out of the bedroom and back down the hall where the bathroom was.
Gaz simply retrieved the backpack which held all of her things and the shirt and knife which James had placed beside the backpack.
Once she had all of the things she had brought with her, she led James back to the kitchen before taking a left, revealing a room which he had yet to see.
The living room was quaint, like the rest of the apartment. It held one couch and one old tv, along with a rug that seemed to have a couple blood stains on it.
Gaz looked down on the dried blood before sheepishly looking back up at James, "That was the last time I was here. He's too lazy to clean it, I guess." She said vaguely before gesturing for James to put the suitcase on the floor.
While James put the suitcase down and unzipped it, Gaz put down the backpack, the shirt, and the knife.
"You two finished raiding my closet?" Anselm asked, prancing into the room carrying a black duffel bag.
Gaz looked up at him, her straight-faced stare appearing on her face.
"What's in the bag?" She asked bluntly.
Anselm let out a small laugh, "Medical supplies. Ever heard of paranoia?" He asked her.
Gaz let out a light sigh, "It's ok to be paranoid when people are actually out to kill you." She reasoned easily, starting to fold the shirt that James had been wearing when they first arrived at Anselm's.
"Touché." Anselm remarked, before starting up speaking again, "That is the English word, right?" He asked for confirmation.
Gaz gave him a nod before handing the folded shirt to James so that he could put it in the suitcase.
She turned to the backpack, pulling out the two other shirts she had packed and tossing them to James, unfolded.
He folded them himself easily and placed them with the other clothes.
"What supplies do you have?" Gaz asked, starting to separate the things in her backpack into two piles.
One pile consisted of the things she would be carrying with her in the backpack, the other pile were the things that would be packed away in the suitcase.
The suitcase pile consisted of her thigh holster, a knife, most of the money, and her catsuit.
The backpack pile contained the first aid kit, her two other knives, the sewing kit, the water bottles, protein bars, and a small amount of the money.
"I thought you'd never ask," Anselm said, throwing the duffel bag onto the couch and beginning to remove medical supplies from it.
First, he took out an actual stitching kit, which Gaz happily took.
Secondly, he removed a surgical kit full of useful tools, another kit that Gaz easily took off of his hands.
Following that, Anselm took out several IV bags which Gaz was a bit skeptical of.
"When will I need this?" She questioned, holding the liquid bag in her hand.
"When one of you gets beaten to a pulp and is unconscious. Pack it in the suitcase." Anselm insisted, giving her two more.
Next, Anselm gave her a full bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some sterilizing wipes.
After that, he took out two boxes of bandages which Gaz was pleased with.
"Ah, here's the good part." Ans remarked, removing at least a dozen pill bottles from the bag.
Gaz looked at the pills suspiciously but decided against asking questions, instead she grabbed the pills and passed them to James who packed them neatly in the suitcase.
"Enough supplies?" Ans asked as Gaz started giving James the pile of things she designated for the suitcase.
"We're good on medical," she informed him, eyeing the suitcase which was packed wonderfully.
"Good job," She told James suddenly, turning to pack the backpack.
James looked at her, a bit confused, before responding, "Uh, thanks."
Anselm watched this exchange and tried not to cringe, he had never seen two people with worse social skills.
"I'll bring out the weapons," Anselm said, leaving the room promptly to retrieve the rifles from the bin that he had shown them.
"You didn't pack your rib holster." James observed.
Gaz didn't look to him as she said, "I didn't pack my knife belt either,"
"I have returned with my state of the art artillery." Ans announced, entering the room carrying the large bin in his arms.
Gaz looked to James instinctively before turning back to Anselm who had already placed the bin on the floor and was pulling guns from it.
"I don't think all of those will be necessary," Gaz spoke up, watching as Ans removed large rifles from the bin and placed them on the floor beside the bin itself.
Anselm looked up at her, a look of slight disappointment on his usually cheerful face.
It didn't take long for Gaz to sigh and say, "Yes, fine, we'll take some. Do you have any handguns? Anything that's not military grade?"
Anselm frowned slightly at this, "Of course I don't have anything that isn't military grade. Do I look like an amateur?" He questioned her, taking out three handguns which were all identical.
"Here, I have these HK45's. 5-inch barrel, polymer grip, .45 caliber." Anselm listed off, passing both James and Gaz a gun.
James held the gun tentatively, examining the aspects of the gun and testing how it felt in his hand.
Gaz merely held the weapon, not caring much about the feel or the power.
As long as it shot bullets, she would be fine.
"Yeah, we'll take these. No rifles, though, ok?" Gaz reasoned, slipping the gun into the backpack which she was almost done packing.
"You're so boring. Why don't you want rifles? I thought you would love this stuff." Anselm criticized, watching as James removed the gun that Gaz had given him from his waistband and replacing it with the gun Anselm had just given him.
Gaz rolled her eyes, turning away from her friend as she said, "You know I prefer knives."
Anselm looked at Gaz, a slight smirk on his lips.
"Well, I do have a kit you may be interested in," Anselm remarked, his arms going back into the bin and then coming out carrying a black leather case.
Gaz turned back to him once she heard him say he had a kit and her eyes widened when she saw the leather wrappings in his hands.
"Should've led with that, Ans," Gaz said, shaking her head as she approached her friend.
He handed her the case, watching anxiously as she opened it.
"Damn," Gaz remarked, opening the kit to see that it held at least eight different knives that all varied in size and shape.
"I knew I would have something that would interest you," Anselm smiled, taking in her reaction.
Gaz shook her head as her fingers ghosted over the handles of each knife, the handles were smooth but she knew they would be perfect in her grip.
"All yours." Ans announced, sending her a small smile.
Gaz looked up at him, seeming slightly surprised at his offer.
"I can't. They look so expensive, I have to give you something back for this." She spoke, closing the case and wrapping it up.
Anselm rolled his eyes at her suggestion, "Don't be ridiculous. Just get out of this alive and maybe call me once in awhile. Send over a snow globe from whatever country you end up in." He shrugged.
James let out a chuckle at this and Gaz turned to him, a slight smile playing on her lips.
"We'll send the most expensive snow globe we can find." Gaz decided, zipping up her newly packed backpack which included the new gun, her new knife kit and some new medical supplies, all provided by Anselm.
Beside the backpack lay her knife belt which held her two trusty knives that she had brought with her.
She was serious when she told James she wasn't packing it.
James zipped up the packed suitcase and turned to Gaz, watching as she slung the backpack over her shoulder.
"The snow globe better have diamonds on it or it won't be worth it." Anselm quipped.
Gaz gave him a look before turning to James, "I think we should keep the suitcase near where we're gonna be sleeping. Just in case."
James nodded, his hand on the handle of the suitcase, ready to pick it up at any time.
"Plan to sneak out during the middle of the night?" Anselm teased, starting to collect his assault rifles and place them carefully in the bin.
Gaz shrugged, "Maybe," She said simply.
"Blatant disregard for my hospitality." Anselm shook his head dramatically before looking back to Gaz and James.
"The spare room is just across the hall from my room. You two can stay there. There should be blankets and pillows and all of the necessities." Anselm informed them, pointing towards the hallway which the rooms were.
Gaz nodded and gestured for James to lead the way.
James rolled the suitcase behind him, remembering the way to go in order to get to the room.
Gaz began to walk by Anselm but stopped momentarily, James hadn't noticed and had simply just kept walking.
"Thanks, for this." She told him, her voice sounded slightly awkward from trying to convey sincerity.
But, Anselm didn't need her to sound sincere in order to know that she was sincere.
"Anytime." He told her with a small smile.
She tried to return the smile but it didn't exactly come across all the way.
She turned, beginning to catch up with James.
Anselm's voice stopped her, "Oh, and Gaz? Take a shower."
