Summary: Syl & Krit find Max & Alec on a bed together. What happens now?
Disclaimer: All belong to the boat dude and Eglee. Not sayin' more coz I ain't profiting from this very time-consuming gig.
A/N: I'm SO SORRY that it takes me SO LONG to update. The thing is I've been on holidays and I don't write well if I'm not pressured. I'm back to college now but since this is only the first week, I haven't had much pressure. So you have no idea how long it takes me to write this chapter! Anyway, to make up for my long update, I'm posting two chapters at once!! I was gonna put them up as one chapter but thought that it was too long. The story is progressing VERY SLOWLY, but that's just how I write. I'm a detail freak. Hope you like 'em. And hope anyone's still reading.
A/N2: Fichic, Iceman's younger bro is indeed played by the same actor who plays young Ben. His name's James Kirk and he's also in Final Destinations 2 with the actress who plays Rain in Love in the Vein. So there you go. A bit of trivia on me. And Suki, thanks for mentioning me in your A/N. It's really flattering.
A/N3: I notice that there hasn't been many new M/A stories. Come on guys, we need to keep up the good fight.
Dedication: to Cloudburst who's always been my loyal reader and thorough reviewer. Your review is the one that motivates me to write this chapter.
Chapter 12: Cute.
Syl and Krit have never seen anything so… cute. They can't believe that they're using the word 'cute', but there's simply no other term for it.
As soon as the two X5s got into TC that morning, they immediately went looking for Max. After five days missing and nothing more than a hastily-scribbled note to explain their whereabouts, Syl and Krit did not expect Max to be happy.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) they never got a chance to get their heads chewed off because Max wasn't in this morning. She wasn't in her apartment and she wasn't running around TC, barking orders at the occasional trannie.
Syl and Krit were confused. There was only one place to check and only one other person unaccounted for. But Max WOULDN'T be there, would she?
But alas, what other sight should greet them as they enter Alec's bedroom but that of Max and Alec, caught in something that can only be described as an embrace. They are both lying facing each other, with their faces only inches apart. Max's head is resting on Alec's outstretched left arm while his right arm is hooked possessively around her waist. Their legs are tangled. Both look VERY comfortable. Syl and Krit can't bring themselves to wake them. They just look so, well, cute! So the two 'siblings' just stand there and wait, each suppressing an amused grin.
While Syl and Krit are standing around looking like they've been hit over the head by the happiness hammer, Max begins to stir awake. She slowly opens her eyes and finds herself staring at someone's face. It takes her approximately eighteen seconds to register that that someone is Alec.
Considering the proximity of the two bedfellows, and given the 'uniquely volatile' nature of their relationship, one would think that Max would immediately jump and bolt away from that bed – tripping ungracefully on the sheets, if need be – as soon as she recognizes Alec next to her.
But alas, since this has been such a strange morning for all those currently awake in Alec's bedroom, Max instead spends the next minute staring silently at Alec. She looks like she's in a daze. She can feel his steady breaths blowing against her face and finds them strangely relaxing.
Max decides that she likes seeing him sleep. He looks so innocent. Just like Ben did when we were back at Manticore…
And it also helps that smart-ass retorts are not shooting out of his mouth.
She continues to examine him. You know, you really ARE kinda cute when you're quiet.
Max is just about to brush away a stray hair that falls across his eyes when the implication of what she just thought suddenly strikes her.
Cute? Did I just call Alec 'cute'?!? Oh My God!! What the hell is Alec doing in my bed anyway?
She retracts her hand from its hovering position above Alec's face and abruptly sits up. She looks down at herself and Alec.
Clothes. Good. Clothes are good. And we are wearing them. Okay, everything seems intact and nothing looks, uh, 'exposed'.
She looks around the room.
OK, blue bed-covers, big-ass TV, assorted breakfast cereal boxes, Syl & Krit smiling like idiots in the corner, leather jacket tossed carelessly over a chair… Definitely NOT my room.
Wait, what was that one before the jacket and the chair?
Max quickly averts her gaze to the corner and, to her horror, finds herself facing her two grinning siblings.
"Good morning, Maxie. Had a nice nap?"
"We didn't wanna wake you, lil' sis, what with you being so cozy with Alec there."
"Yeah, we can only GUESS what you two were doing ALL NIGHT."
"Wh… Wha… What are you two doing here?" After several seconds of stuttering, Max finally finds her voice and, at the same time, leaps out of bed. She ends up tripping ungracefully on the sheets.
The combined impact of her fall and her subsequent, uh, 'verbal pollution' is enough to waken the last sleeping transgenic in the room.
Alec – cute bedhead and all – slowly rises from bed and takes a look around: Max is looking all red and violated on the ground while Syl and Krit are grinning smugly in the corner. Alec just shrugs, "Syl, Krit. Back already? How's the outside world?"
"Oh, you know, desolation and decay at every turn. 'Can't complain, really. But it looks like we missed out on the excitement here." Krit slightly nods at him and Max – who's still busily untangling herself from the bed sheets – with a wink.
Alec looks at Max and nonchalantly answers, "What? Me and Max? Yeah, Maxie here kinda got lonely last night and decided to pay me a little midnight visit. Ain't that right, Maxie? You just can't keep away from this hot body?"
Syl cracks up when Max starts to fume. When asked later of the incident, the three trannies swear that they saw steam coming out of Max's ears.
"I… did not… get… lonely." Max finally emerges triumphant from her battle with the rogue sheets. She gives Alec the dirtiest look she can muster. "First of all, I needed to see you about Nina. Second of all, I fell ASLEEP cause I was so bored watching your dumb-ass movie. Why the hell didn't you wake me up anyway?!? And third of all, 'hot body'??" Max pauses to find something to insult about Alec's body. But since she irritatingly finds none, she has to settle for, "You wish, pretty boy!!"
"Max, max, why'd you have to go and insult my assets? You just looked so cute with that drool sliding down your cheeks…"
"I do not drool."
"…that I couldn't BEAR to wake you up. It was a Kodak moment, really. 'Wish I had a camera handy. Besides, how could I wake you when you were using me as a human pillow?"
As Max delivers her acid reply, Syl whispers to Krit. "Do you think we should leave? Give these two love birds some privacy?"
"Guys…" Krit whistles to catch the feuding X5s' attentions. "We can always come back later, you know, if you guys want to, uh, get on to business."
Max turns to look at the two X5s, her eyes flashing and her nose flaring. "Not so fast. Where the hell have you two been? And what the hell were you doing, standing around there like idiots?"
Syl grins, "Nice to see you too, Maxie. We're fine, by the way. Almost got nabbed by sector police this morning, but we're good."
"Where the hell did you go anyway? And why didn't you tell me that you're leaving?"
Krit exchanges several glances with Syl. "Yeah, sorry about that. Well, like I said in the note, we had some, uh, urgent business to take care off."
Before Max can question them again, Syl says excitedly, "Actually, that's why we're here. We got you a present!" She throws a thin, rectangular-shaped box to her sister.
"You too, Alec" Krit hurls a similar-shaped box at Alec.
Still pouting, Max opens her box. Inside is an orange-colored cocktail dress. Alec finds a matching suit in his box. Both X5s look curiously at Syl and Krit.
"Uh, thanks guys, but we're not planning any TC Ball anytime soon, though I'll make sure to pitch in the idea with Mole."
Syl just rolls her eyes, "That's not all, smart-ass. Krit, show them the rest of their presents."
Krit pulls a piece of paper from his pocket and hands it to Max. She reads the squiggly writing printed on it, "Mr. Riley Fox requests the pleasure of your company to attend a Masquerade Ball to be held on the 31st of October on his estate in the… You're planning a heist, aren't you?!"
"Happy Halloween, Maxie!"
Alec whistles, "I don't know fellas. This Fox guy's a pretty big fish to fry. Guy's security's supposed to IMPOSSIBLE to crack. Probably 'cause no one ever gets close enough to see it."
"Which is why we're going to waltz in there with these babies and do a little recon first." Krit holds up another invitation card.
Max turns over the card, "This is addressed to 'Ms. A. Cassidy and date'."
Syl nods, "That's your cover, Maxie. We snagged the invite when we were lifting this diamond-studded lingerie from that Cassidy chick. She's off to Europe somewhere getting a botox, so you're in the clear. And Fox's invited every big player in Seattle. It's gonna be packed. I don't think he personally knows each of them by face."
Max waves her invite, "That was your 'urgent business'? You were pulling jobs?"
Krit shares a look with Syl before answering, "Sure… Anyway, our fence has given a nice lil' shopping list for this Fox gig that can fetch AT LEAST 10 mill." Krit shoves another piece of paper at Max and Alec. There are about six items listed. "I figure the four of us can split up in two and take three each. We'll be in and out in an hour."
Alec whistles, looking at the list, "This is pretty impressive… First-edition Tolkien manuscript, last surviving Pollock, Garland's shoes… But, hey, who am I to say no to a challenge, huh?"
Max frowns, "We can't leave Terminal City to pull a job! Not all of us. There are too many things to run."
"Oh, come on, Maxie. You've been holed up in this dump for too long. And when was the last time you pulled a heist? I know you missed it." Syl remembers Max telling her and Krit of her thieving days. Both couldn't help notice this little spark in her eyes. That's why they planned this out for her. Their little sis needs a break from this 'running her own nation' gig.
"Yeah, these folks don't need babysittin', Max. No lame-ass military is gonna shut this party down anytime soon." Krit adds, "Besides, we'll be back in three, four days tops."
"I don't know…"
"Don't tell me you're scared, Max? I mean, you ARE kinda rusty in this cat burgling gig. Last time you got me stuck me in a closet for like, what, an hour, an hour and half?" Alec yanks the invitation card from Max's hands. "Maybe we better let you sit this one out. I'll find someone to go in your place."
That clinches it. Max isn't backing out anymore. She glares at Alec and hastily grabs the card back from him. "I'm nailing this bitch."
And then she walks out, leaving the rest of them to follow.
A/N: I followed a suggestion from an anonymous reviewer about having Syl and Krit do a heist. Obviously I think it'd be awesome if the four of them can do this heist together. I decided that Max's dress should be orange because I want it to be a color that's unusual (as opposed to white, black, red, or blue). I thought Max's complexion would look great in orange. What do ya think? Also, I don't have, um, high class sophistication so I wouldn't know what kind of items would fetch well in the black market. So I have no idea if a Pollock, a Tolkien manuscript, and Dorothy's shoes are really worth that much. Anyway, hope people are still reading this. I still have tones of great ideas. I think I'm becoming too ambitious.