The days and weeks went by, and despite having said otherwise, North indeed started to settle in domestically together with Ala, feeling this fuzzy feeling to grow inside him with everyday passing he was living here with her.
South hadn't shown up so far, obviously heard from Kyle about the rather embarrassing chat they had some time ago and deciding to leave her lovesick brother figuring shit out by himself.
She only used to shoot him a text every once a while, all of them sounding akin to the first.
I'm fine asshole, no need to worry.
What North suspected though was South having something to do with the Leaders of the Project never searching for him. He couldn't put a finger on it, but he supposed that she really had her hands in that since he once witnessed how fast the Project was at tracking down their members when they tried fleeing.
This once happened with Agent Rhode Island, him trying to run away after his best buddy, Agent Delaware died a useless dead during a mission without a real target and no intel to retrieve. Agent Rhode Island had deactivated the tracking signal and all other things which he could be trackable, but the Project found him nonetheless through their contacts.
Which, in the end led to one conclusion. The Project was too good at keeping their Agents in line, so there was no chance they wouldn't be searching for him unless there was another reason. And North had the distinct feeling that South was the reason why.
"Acho!" For the umpteenth today Ala sneezed loudly. "Holy fuck, someone really must hate me." She muttered while cleaning her nose. She felt like another sneeze would come up, but decided to try to ignore it as long as possible.
"How's that? Because you're sick?" North asked, observing the black haired woman beside him.
"I'm not sick." She replied miffed. Plucking another tissue out of the box, just in case. They were both lounging on the couch together, another rainy day outside and they were watching another movie. Pacific Rim.
"I just sneeze a lot. Whatever reason it has, but I am not sick." Ala immediately added when North wanted to retort that the reason was that she was sick. "My mom often used to say that you sneeze when people talk ill about you." She then explained her previous statement.
"And who would hate you that much?" he asked then, curiously, watching the black haired attentively.
Ala sighed. She couldn't bring herself to tell him that she suspected South to do since she had been pretty hostile against her during the time he had been unconscious.
"I don't know. Maybe some of my classmates during Highschool." She replied then, since she knew that there were some girls being pretty jealous of her for her looks and who teased her about her decision to enlist in the army after school. So it wasn't much of a lie then. And considering the time, she suspected that there would be some kind of big gathering of her old classmates soon. It was rather plausible that they would talk about her not being around. Maybe not with the best choice of words.
"I see, so you hadn't been the class' favorite then?" North asked.
"Nope, not really, but it's long gone." She replied curtly, making clear that she didn't really want to talk about it anymore.
It was silent for a moment, both of them watching the part where Mako Mori started chasing the Rabbit during her drift with Raleigh Becket.
North sighed deeply all of a sudden, as if having made up his mind. "I thought about going out to a bar since we don't have another mission coming up until the day after tomorrow." He started. "Would you join me?" He still was staring straight in the TV, and Ala was damn sure that she was hallucinating since she thought she would see a blush creeping across Norths cheeks. But it was hard to tell since there was a fight going on the screen and the flickering lights made it hard to tell.
But she couldn't shake the feeling that… was he really… was he asking her out on a date?
She felt her cheeks starting to turn red too at that, making her cough awkwardly.
"Uh sure, why not? Going out once in a while for a nice drink is a good idea." She then replied trying to desperately focus on the movie playing across the screen.
"Okay." This sounded more like a relieved sigh than an answer in Alaska's ears. She could see him checking the clock, before asking. "How about we start around eight? We could have dinner before."
"Definitely, I am not keen on drinking shit on an empty stomach or I'm going to be plastered before nine." She replied dryly, what made North grin.
"Wouldn't be opposed to see that." He then muttered under his breath, Ala not really being sure if those words were meant for her to be heard.
In the end, she decided to hit the shower and get ready to prepare dinner.
While cooking, North went to take a shower, since they both were sweaty and sticky from sparring and working out after lunch.
When they had dinner and cleaned up the mess, Ala took some time longer in her room to change a top she had soiled during dinner. Seriously, she was so nervous she couldn't even eat properly!
She didn't know if she was imagining things, but she felt like this was a date and she was hopeful. She had long ago realized that it wasn't her libido being on rampage when she felt strange, but more slowly but progressively had fallen for that gentle and adorable dork sitting in the living room – and she had fallen hard for him.
Sighing, she snatched her favorite blue tank top out of the drawer, the one with the white streaks and decided to go with it.
Opening her braid, while walking to the bathroom, she shortly brushed her hair again and walked out of the bathroom while braiding her hair again.
This whole braiding thing was so used by now, that she did it without really thinking about it.
"Good to go." She then announced, just seeing the news ending. "Heard anything new?" She asked, leaning against the backrest of the couch.
"Nothing much." Replied North calmly, getting up himself after shutting of the TV. "Another shooting in New-Shanghai but aside of that, nothing new." He muttered, sounding a bit sad. Probably because there aren't any news about the Project and the crashed ship about half a year ago and North subsequently not knowing about the whereabouts of his fellow team members.
"I'm sure they're alive." She muttered, patting his back awkwardly when they both started putting on their boots.
"I know…" replied North, but Ala didn't buy this answer as it was more a reply he wanted to believe in than making her buy it. He desperately hoped for it, but he couldn't be sure.
She knew that feeling. She had been as lost as him when she didn't know about Noble Three for a long time, until she got word from Hollaway that there was a new sniper instructor on their planet, shortly called Jun, and when he asked him about Elbon he whether denied nor affirmed the question.
Wanting to believe in the fact that this guy was the guy she had been with for about half a year before shit hit the fan.
Standing up, she wanted to grab her sukajan jacket, only to find it missing. Blinking a bit taken aback, she heard North chuckle beside her.
"You looking for that?" he asked, holding up the jacket to her.
"Actually, yes." She replied, trying to snatch the jacket.
"Here you go." He then muttered, slipping behind her and helping her putting it on.
Just in this moment, Ala was happy that she had her back towards him so he wouldn't see a blush dusting her cheek.
"Uh, thanks." She muttered a bit awkwardly, zipping the jacket up and taking the keys from the low sideboard at the side.
As always, she would let North out first, before closing the door and locking it for good measure. Finally, she would open a fake fire hose case to activate the alarm system.
After that, they took off towards their regular bar, about twenty minutes of leisurely walking away from their shared apartment.
Arriving there, they found one of the velvety booths empty and decided to spontaneously take it up.
It took only moments for the waitress to appear, asking for what they would be taking. Ala settled on a White Russian, while North opted for a beer.
Slipping out of their jackets, they threw them on the seats whilst Alaska slipped towards the middle, close to North and having a great view on the dancefloor.
There were a lot of people, more or less drunken and/or stoned, but everyone enjoying the time they had.
She snorted, tearing her eyes away from the dancing people when the waitress reappeared with their drinks.
Paying, and giving some tip, the waitress left again with a thanks and Ala focused back on the people dancing.
After this song, the tune of a special song started playing up. It became something like hers and Norths song, both of them loving the song itself and the rhythm.
That was, when North suddenly got up, extending a hand to her. "May I have this dance?" He then asked overly formal, a smile spread across his lips and his cheeks seemed dusted with pink. And this time was no denying or thinking of a hallucination. North was blushing and it made Ala blush thinking of North blushing because of her.
A happy smile spread across her face. "I'd love to." She replied with a happy laugh, grasping Norths hand and letting him pull her to her feet.
Together they walked over to the dancing floor and started dancing, the rhythm not really allowing close contact, so they danced freely, if only a bit closer than absolutely necessary. But neither of them complained.
Too soon, the song ended, and North wanted to leave the dance floor, but the black haired woman held him back. "Would you stay a little bit longer?" she asked then, her voice would have sounded timid if she hadn't have to shout to drown out the music.
It was a slower tune, where you would dance closer than in the previous song and needed some practice in dancing.
Which North didn't seem to have since he suddenly started to fiddle nervously with his fingers and saying something along the line of. "I can't really dance."
This caused Ala to giggle lightheartedly, making North look at her like she grew a second head. "Don't worry, I had some dancing lessons. I can lead. Just follow." She replied then, grasping his hand tighter and pulling him back.
North complied after a while, coming back and letting her lead him through the song. Surprisingly, even for Ala, it went extremely good, North stepping on her foot only one or two times. She didn't care the slightest however. He tried and was here with her, and that mattered. It was their date, Ala thought for herself with a happy smile.
It felt like a date, so she decided that it was a date.
They stayed five or more songs longer than the two they originally wanted to dance, obviously neither of them caring.
But after what felt like the tenth dance, they needed to go drink something. They both felt thirsty.
When coming back to their booth, they sat back down, neither of them caring to check on their drinks, since Ala had kind of a reputation around here and people respecting her. Since they all knew that she could take them down with her hands tied on her back.
So nobody dared to mess with her or her stuff.
They sat close to each other for what felt like hours and only talked, laughing and giggling along their talk. Those were no heavy subjects, only light ones, making both of them grin until the muscles in their jaws and in their abdomen hurt from laughing.
Ala just came back from the bar with another White Russian and a beer when she saw a woman sitting there.
She had long and curly brown hair, dark eyes and a dark Latino skin. So a rather dark type. She was well built. She had curves and even more chest than she did. She always had been rather flat, having only a B-Cup, okay?
Alaska knew her name. It was Sugar. Nobody knew her real name. But they all knew that she was the local hoodrat of this district of New-Bangkok.
She was sitting beside North, leaning on his shoulder, just like Ala did moments ago, and letting her fingers wander over his skin.
She was talking to him lowly, Ala not able to make out a single word. But what she knew was the way North smiled at her and she smiled at him.
Again, fingertips wandered over his bare forearm and Ala felt like puking when she saw fucking goosebumps appear on his skin.
The buzz she had acquainted through the last hours, disappeared immediately. It felt like someone dumped a bucket of icy water on her and made her sobering up within seconds.
When Sugars hand wandered up over his hand and turned Norths head to kiss him, the black haired had enough.
Not really quietly, but still undetected by the making out couple, she approached the table, putting down the drinks, making North and the girl jump.
"Hey Sugar, nice to see you around." Her voice sounded neutral, as was her face schooled into a neutral expression.
"Oh Alaska, I didn't know that this handsome guy is with you." She replied, again leaning on North and letting her hand trail over his forearm whilst said man looked shellshocked.
"Don't worry about that," Ala replied, grabbing her jacket from the booth, "I was about to leave anyway. I feel like getting sick and prefer going home and crash." lied Ala, taking the constant sneezing today afternoon as an excuse.
"Enjoy your time," she then turned to North. "I guess you still remember where to find the spare key. Since I am going to go to sleep right away, I will lock the door." Her eyes narrowing a bit when she noticed North just nodding without saying something.
"Oh and Sugar?" Said woman looked up. "Yes, Alaska?"
"Don't go too hard on him. He's still new around town." A fake smile appeared on her face, but Alaska remembered to crinkle her eyes a bit too to make sure it looked real.
"I won't, since he's your friend." She replied, still letting her hand wander over the left forearm of the shellshocked North.
Ala didn't know if she wanted to puke or hit he woman. Probably both.
"Well then, have a nice evening you two." She said, turning around and walking off leisurely, although breaking into a jog soon after leaving the bar, which soon ended in a run as fast as she was able to, until she reached her home. Some when during the run, tears started falling down her cheeks at the burning in her chest. It wasn't raining anymore, the sun having come out for about one or two hours, drying up everything.
She fucking thought that was a date! The way they had been together during the last weeks, how he looked so at ease with her, how he seemed to blush every now and then when he complimented her or something else, probably embarrassing happened which was easy to interpret as affection. The fondness in which he used to watch her when he thought she didn't notice.
How he smiled happily when he saw Theta and her interacting.
How they often used to sit together, helping Theta find sleep by either walking around in town or Ala telling him a story she's been making up just then when he asked for it.
She had fallen in love with that idiot that was for sure. And that was the reason why it hurt so much when she saw Sugar kissing him and he didn't do something to push her away.
Entering her apartment, she closed and locked the door, slipping out of her shoes and jacket since they felt confining.
Without even knowing, she found herself on the lounge, curled up in the quilt and still crying. Looking up in the starry sky and trying desperately not to get crushed by the heart and gut wrenching pain she felt.