Disclaimer: Sunrise

AN: Changing my otp...

Chapter 1 : Planning a Birthday Date

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"Representative Athha, what are you doing here by yourself?"

"Oh, Colonel Waltfeld," Cagalli looked up to see an old friend from the last war. "I'm just enjoying some time alone for my break," Cagalli grinned, putting a finger in front of her lips, asking him not to tell anyone about it.

"Sorry to intrude your time then," walking to the vending machine near the bench where Cagalli was sitting, and pushed the button for coffee. "Your secretary was sweating bullets since he couldn't find you when I passed him on my way here. He's running here and there, looking for you," he chuckled.

"I'm just taking a short break," Cagalli sipped her coffee before continuing. "The meeting had been endless since this morning, and even though he gave me some time to rest, he keeps on talking about the next meeting, continuously on phone while talking loudly, and I can't have a peaceful moment in my break," She sighed. People would think that she should be used to it by now, four years after the second war had ended, and she had been doing a pretty excellent job, even though it was by no means an easy task. But with the help of all the staff that believed in her, she knew that she was not alone, and that she had people supporting her now.

Still, once in a while, she felt like she needed just a few minutes alone to breathe out.

"The situation has fairly settled down a bit compared to a few years back, so it should be okay for you to take just one day off to rest, right?" Andrew asked; a lot of people knew that Cagalli had been working nonstop and only took day-offs when she was showing signs of bad shape. He took his freshly made coffee and turned to the Representative again, "May I sit here?" to which Cagalli just nodded.

"I will, next week," Cagalli replied as Andrew sat beside her.

"Is that so? What are you going to do? Are you going out with him?" he grinned, referring to a certain member of Orb National Defense Force, who was also one of their ace pilots.

And of course Cagalli knew exactly who he meant. And even though most of the Archangel crew members knew about her relationship with the said pilot already, it was still embarrassing to hear it be pointed out like this. On top of that, they were keeping it a secret so she was still not used to talking about it. Maybe it was okay when they were in a much more private environment and situation where the people were aware of their current relationship, but not in a workplace like this. Even if they were in a break area at one of Morgenroete hangars and no one else was there, it was still their workplace.

But quickly, she regained her composure again and answered, "No, he won't. The 6th division working with Morgenroete is doing an improvement for the AI system for the Murasames, designated so all our Natural pilots can operate them even more efficiently. After it's done, they are going to test them among our pilots, before using it at the joint training at the Carpentaria Defense Force. They are asking Colonel Zala to help with the system improvement. And he was one of the pilots who'll spar with the test pilots. So he'll be quite busy. You know him, once he gets to work, he will be really into it. "

"You guys are two of a kind, huh," Andrew mused before taking a sip of his own coffee. Both Cagalli and Athrun had the same trait of forgetting their surroundings once they were deep into work, and both of them couldn't really turn down anyone asking for their assistance. "Oh, today's coffee is slightly better than yesterday." He looked at his coffee, looking impressed.

"What? How could you know that from just one sip?" Cagalli stared at him; half-amused, half astounded. It tasted just the same as usual for her. "I didn't think you would drink coffee from the vending machine, and that you'd just made your own," Cagalli commented, remembering the time when he 'treated' her and Kira to the coffee he brewed by himself, when she knew him as the Tiger of the Desert. This guy loved coffee, to the point he could distinguish the slight difference from today's coffee from the vending machine with yesterday's one, just like now.

"I will, if I'm at my own office. I just finished with the maintenance for my Murasame unit, and taking a short break before going back there. When will the joint training start?"

"They are departing on May 20, and the test training will be around the 17 or 18, maybe. So yeah, he'll be pretty busy on that day."

On May 18th, which was her birthday, Cagalli was going to take a full day break that had been urged by the other Chiefs as well as her other office staff. At first she had always spent her birthday working as if it was not a special day, just like any other day. Last year, they urged her to leave early without staying late. And this year, since Cagalli hardly took a day-off and seeing how conscientious and hardworking she had been, all of them talked her into taking one full day off on her birthday, as a reward for all her hard work, so she could take some rest.

"That's too bad. Why didn't he decline? He could have spent some time with his girlfriend."

"But of course he will prioritize work. I know I'd do that too. Besides, I could barely see him on his birthday last year, so I can't ask him to take one day off for my own birthday." They promised each other that there were greater things they had to take care of first, and that their feelings were—currently—secondary to all of those.

"So you'll celebrate your birthday alone?"

"The servants in my house usually will make small dinners in the evening, so I'm thinking of going out for a walk by myself in town. It's been a while since the last time I went to the city."

"By yourself?" Andrew asked. Even though she had enough experience at war that she would have been able to protect herself, with her position, there was no way she would be allowed to go alone by herself.

Cagalli seemed to know what he was thinking. Shaking her head, she answered, "I'll be enjoying my time alone, but I'm sure my personal maid always makes sure a bodyguard follows me at a safe distance even though I asked her not to."

"If it's like that then you are good to go, I think." Andrew took a gulp of his coffee again, followed by Cagalli.

"What, you are saying it like I usually act recklessly," she pouted at him.

"Well, you were reckless. Who would expect to see the Princess of Orb in the middle of the desert, unprotected, and covered by kebab sauce? Ah, the boy didn't count; he might be a Coordinator but at the time, he didn't even know how to handle a gun and just kicked it like a can instead," He chuckled, recalling the first time he met her, in the town of Banadiya, with the boy who was actually her real brother.

"For real, I told him off as soon as the commotion was over. He was a good pilot, but well… He was just a civilian at the time," Cagalli tried to defend Kira half-heartedly. "Aaah, this talk about Banadiya reminds me of the kebab I had there. And at the time, I was really looking forward to eating the kebab and then you just had to come and ruin my mood and meal," she remembered the quarrel they had about which one was better, chili sauce or yogurt sauce, and then the Blue Cosmos targeting him, which made her and Kira got involved.

"It was the Blue Cosmos, so don't blame me. Besides, you should have used the yogurt sauce instead of—"

"Say what? How dare you? Chili sauce is the best," Cagalli countered before he even finished.

"Have you ever eaten one with yogurt sauce?"

"No, because I don't need it. Chili sauce can give you the spiciness that will awaken all your taste bud and make you want to go for more. That's the best sauce!"

"I won't accept that answer until you try the yogurt sauce. Have you tried the one in the shopping street in Olofath? They make good kebabs with original taste and their yogurt sauce is the best."

"Really? It's been a while since I had a good kebab, where is it? I think I want to go there on my day off next week."

"Then, want to go together?"

"Huh?"

"It's been a while since I went there too. And you are going on May 18 right? I believe I'm off duty on that day. Besides, I'm not really sure I can let you go there by yourself. Well, of course, only if you want to."

"Of course not. A meal tastes a hundred times better when you share it with people. Besides, it's even better when they have similar taste. Colonel Zala doesn't really like greasy or spicy food, though he always yields to my request without complaint," Cagalli smiled softly. Unless it was something that would risk her safety or their cover—as they couldn't be known lurking around in the city, every time they went out together, which wasn't much it could be counted with her fingers on one hand—Athrun would go along with anything she wished for, including eating the spicy kebab because Cagalli looked so excited for him to try it. Of course she didn't force him, Athrun just wanted to see her happy.

"Then I'll meet you—"

"Lady Cagalli!" Both of them jolted at the voice of Cagalli's secretary approaching. It looked like he was still looking for her, and still not knowing yet that she was there. Cagalli gulped the rest of her coffee and threw the paper cup to the bin.

"It's a promise! I'll contact you again later, okay?" Cagalli got up on her heels and half-ran toward her secretary to end his misery, while Andrew was chuckling briefly at the antics of his Head Representative.

Incoming rambles

I actually wished someone make a story with this prompt since a long time ago, and was surprised because I cant find any. After seeing Cagalli and Andrew bickering about kebab sauce, I wanted to see them enjoying kebab again in a more peaceful moment post-war. The base story will always be asucaga.

This chapter happened around 1 week before Cagalli's birthday, approximately today, and I want to try to update the next chapter as the same date when the scenes take places. So the actual birthday date chapter will be updated on the 18. But I havent written it yet, so I'm not promising anything.

See you next chapter

Cheers~