Alive

By: Aviantei

25 mph


The electric razor hums as I scrutinize myself in the mirror. Thankfully, tending to my hair is simple enough that I don't need to pay people to take care of it, plus the one shaved side of the head is extra quick to tend to. My bangs are gonna need a bit trimmed off the ends, too, but priorities. I only have so much time this morning before Alexander shows up, so there's no sense in dithering. I've already pulled the long chunk tightly to the side, so it's just a matter of remembering how to orient my body with my reflection and not shaving off a chunk of hair I actually want to keep.

With the most care I probably put into anything ever, I manage to trace the line of my last shave job without a hitch—arguably the trickiest part. With that done, I cleanly buzz around my ear, and it leaves that nice, fresh-shaved feeling afterwards, I savor it for a few moments before stowing away the hair clipper and fishing out the mini scissors from one of the drawers. A few more quick moments of scrutinization, and I snip off the excess bits, letting the hairs fall into my sink, dirty blonde against the white. The resulting look is a bit jagged, but I like it, and one lock I snipped a tiny bit too short curls up without the length to weigh it down.

Not bad, not bad. I'll look presentable when I head home. I do a quick sweep up of my mess and go to prepare coffee with just enough time to spare before Alexander knocks at the door. When I let him in, he's carrying a box from this bakery that sells unfairly good Danishes. I snatch it from him the moment I get the chance, and he looks askance at his empty hands. "I don't even get a 'good morning' first?"

I blink at him. "Why would I ever do something that conventional?"

Alexander taps my forehead as he passes me. "Because I can tell that you secretly like doing normal boring stuff with me."

"Don't be ridiculous. I never do anything boring." As in, ordinary stuff doesn't feel boring when it's with you. I catch sight of Alexander's smile as he turns into the kitchen, so even if I wasn't aiming for him to catch my meaning, he still managed to do so. Instead of eating at the counter like a civilized human being, I decide that, for today, pastries are best enjoyed while sitting on the couch. "But since we don't have any pilot testing to do today, is that your way of telling me you picked something potentially boring to do? Should I brace myself?"

"Maybe." Alexander's voice sounds louder than it does from the kitchen, and a moment later he comes toting our respective coffee cups in tow. Since my hands and mouth are already occupied by cream cheese goodness, he sets my mug down on the table before he sits in the spot beside me. "I figured we could go hang out on the track a bit, try not to cause a riot if we go out in public…"

"I've heard worse ideas—from you and otherwise." He mock scowls into his coffee, and I snicker. "But I won't say no to a trip to the track. It was amazing before, but it'll probably look way different know that I've been into a mech." I take a moment to enjoy the fresh feeling of the shaved half of my head, almost sighing in content from the memories of racing. I may not ever become a pro, but being the testing guinea pig is satisfying in its own way. "Though I do have a proposal for something a bit later on the agenda this week."

Mouth full of pastry, Alexander finishes chewing and swallowing before answering. "So long as it's not anything boring," he says with a straight face.

I roll my eyes. "You have the right to refuse if it's not something you're interested in or if you can't make time for it." He raises an eyebrow, questions obviously dancing in his head. If I were any other person, I'd probably be fidgeting from nervous energy, but what I'm about to say isn't worth that. "Since we're kind of an item now, I was wandering if you wanted to accompany me when I go home for Nate's birthday."

Of course, it's after I've said it that the embarrassment kicks in, but I don't look away. One, because I refuse to do that kind of shit when I'm a goddamn adult, and two, because watching Alexander blink as he processes what I just asked is funny. "Is this some sort of trap or something? I thought people usually waited longer before they introduce their dates to their parents."

"You should feel honored. You're the first date I've ever wanted to introduce to my dad." For my high school flings, it was never anything serious enough to even call dating, and everyone else after I left home—well, our views didn't match up enough to get to that point. While I'm playing the compare and contrast game, Alexander's busy trying to stop hid coffee from going down the wrong pipe. I whack his shoulder. "Calm down. I figured Nate would want to meet you, as an add-on to his birthday gift or whatever. But, seriously, if you don't want to come, that's fine."

"I've never had someone say they wanted to date me to make their little brother jealous before. You really are refreshing to have around, Kirsten." Shoving a whole Danish into my mouth, I make the best possible attempt at a bow I can manage while staying seated on a couch. Alexander runs a hand through his hair. "But, sure, I wouldn't mind. I'd have to see if I can take the training days off, but I'm pretty sure I can make it happen."

"Again, don't worry if you can't. I know this is super at the last minute."

"Kirsten, I wouldn't be agreeing if I didn't want to. Besides, we do have some vacation allowances during the off season, but I just…tend not to use them."

I nod in understanding. "Because you're a workaholic. Should I start preparing for when you can't even take me out on dates since you'll be stuck practicing."

"No, will you not." Alexander catches my hand, and I'm still getting used to the sensation of how my fingers twine into his. "I'll take you out on a date whenever you like. You won't have to worry about that." Ah, there's the embarrassment. I was only joking, but he's taking it so seriously. He leans a bit closer, our foreheads tapping into each other. "So let's finish up here, and then we'll go on the first one, okay?"


Since the plan is to eat lunch out together, our track excursion doesn't involve packing along a picnic this time. I mean, even if we were going to do that, it would take a ton of time since neither of us did the necessary prep work in advance. Then again, a change up from before is super okay with me, and it's nice that even our ordinary dates can have something as eccentric as standing on an IGPX track as part of our outings.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of dating again, if I'm being honest—it's been a hot minute since I last had a relationship, and Alexander and I are still feeling out the bits and pieces involved. Neither of us is particularly heavy touch oriented (my impulse-fueled make out session aside), but we do occasionally slip our hands together, just because we can. It's a nice relief to know that I can hold onto someone without having any expectations down the line.

It's partway because the track is empty for the day that we even have our hands linked together now. As we climb the steps towards the main entrance, Alexander lets me go first. I give his fingers a quick squeeze before looking back over my shoulder. "Race you to the top?"

I don't even wait for the answer, because that's giving him too much of an opportunity to win. Instead, I bolt for it, the echoing sounds of my footsteps soon joined my Alexanders as he clamors after me. I take the steps two or three at a time, managing to slam my hand down on the doorknob—but not able to turn it as Alexander's arm catches against my waist, effectively lifting me off the ground. What's frustrating is that he can keep me steady and still have a free hand to open the door for himself.

"Unfair!"

"You so don't have the right to say that after your false start."

"I will beat you in another race one of these days, I swear to god."

"You keep telling yourself that, Kirsten." Alexander keeps walking forward, his stride even while still supporting my weight. Realizing he's not going to put me down anytime soon, I work on twisting myself around to try and struggle as best I can—and then I realize that I can just trip him, since my legs are hanging free. "Shit—" Alexander works on reclaiming his balance as I land on my own feet, laughing all the way. "You think you can escape that easy?"

I stick out my tongue while running backwards as he follows after me. "Pretty sure I just did!"

"Wanna bet?" His grin is infectious, and I never expected that he could be so playful. It's easy to get caught up in trying to dodge out of his way, especially since he's pretty speedy, even without a mech to boost him along. Despite my best efforts of darting across the track, he ultimately catches up with me, this time both his arms catching around my waist before he lifts me up to spin around in a circle, our laughter echoing up all across the empty sky.

And awkwardly cutting off once we realize we're not alone.

Not too far away from where Alexander and I had our little picnic is a group of people—two of whom I've met before. The familiar form of Takeshi Jin reacts first, with Liz Ricarro's shout following after. Unsurprisingly, the redhead with them is Satomi's midfielder, Amy Stapleton—easily identifiable because she's holding her copilot Calico Luca. It takes me a second longer to recognize the blonde kid with a fringe: River Marque former Satomi backup pilot who swapped to Sledge Mama a couple seasons ago. I can never keep his position straight.

Not that I should be worrying about that since they're all staring at me and Alexander. Takeshi and Liz seem to be competing in the categories of who can shout loudest and who can run faster, while Amy's raised a hand to her mouth in surprise. As far as I can tell from this distance, River looks like he's squinting, like he doesn't believe he's seeing Cunningham Hume having fun with some woman. And while a couple different options spring to mind, only one of them seems viable.

Do I want to know how much I can embarrass the hell out of Alexander? Don't mind if I do.

Alexander works on setting me back on solid ground, but I snatch his hand before he can even think about shoving it in his pocket. He looks at me, and I just grin back. "You weren't about to try and pretend we're not a thing were you, Alexander?" I ask, holding my free hand to my chest in a dramatic gesture. "I'm hurt. You'll tell Jan and Dew but not your other friends?"

It's satisfying watching Alexander choke on trying to get words out of his mouth. "Come on, that's not at it at all—"

But he doesn't get much of a chance to continue to counterargue, because it only takes so long for a group of teen athletes to cross even the length of the IG track, and Team Satomi is upon us.


[Author's Notes]

Alright, the double update has happened, and we're totally on track to finish up posting the rest of this fic this year. And what better way to move into that final stage by having a transition chapter into the next arc? You'll just have to see what that's going to be about as we keep going, but for now, I hope this double update is enjoyable.

Next week is Team Satomi (plus River)! Please look forward to it!

-Avi