"Just give me a minute."
Aelita felt a sour pit of disappointment drop into her stomach as she heard those words. She'd heard them often enough to know what they meant: she'd sit impatiently, waiting for him to finish work that would end up taking much more than a minute. Then he would insist on her to leave if she wanted to leave, and they would go back and forth, until Aelita finally relented.
Wistfully, she glanced out his window at her friends in the courtyard. She wanted to be with them, but she also wanted to be with Jeremy. She had been trying all week to drag him away from that stupid computer.
A small sigh escaped her lips.
"Is there something wrong?" Jeremy asked absently as he picked up on it, his rapid-fire typing slowing ever so minutely.
Aelita worked up a fairly convincing mask of cheeriness that would make up for her sullen no, but then she let it drop, suddenly struck with an idea.
"Yes," she said, a little more fiercely than she'd intended, and remedied that by repeating her answer more slowly. "Yes."
Jeremy's typing broke, a sign that showed he was paying attention. "What's the matter? You can go if you'd like, you know."
And there it was. It was this time she'd get him away, though. "I would," she said, very honestly. "And I will. But you're coming with me."
"Aelita, you know I can't. I still have work-"
"-to do. Trying to defeat Xana isn't a side job," she cut him off, mimicking his serious tone and expression.
Now Jeremy turned to look at her. He had raised one eyebrow slightly, either a sign of amusement or irritation. Probably a bit of both, though more of the latter.
"If I don't work, Xana could overrun us at any minute." She raised her eyebrow, copying his current expression, then let it all drop. "Jeremy, you need to take a break."
"But-"
"-Xana doesn't take breaks," she recited in unison. "Jeremy, you work way too much," she said again, her forehead creased in concern. "You're supposed to treat your life like the main thing and Xana's defeat as a side priority. Not the other way around."
Jeremy shrugged helplessly. He was completely turned in his chair, computer forgotten. That was step one. "Well, what do you want me to do, Aelita?" He had more arguments, but she had either heard them all, or they were very poor. Jeremy wearily placed his palms up in a gesture of defeat, unable to summon the effort to bring any of them up. "Do you think I like doing this?"
"Do you think we like seeing you like this?" Aelita countered, hands on hips. "Do you think I like seeing you like this? We're just children-teenagers, but still children-we can't expected to work on this twenty-four seven. That includes you. You need a break."
Jeremy bristled, and Aelita could see she had made a mistake. "You guys always get mad at me because I'm supposedly responsibly for this. You expect me to handle everything on my own. Then you take it all back and tell me I'm not capable?" he snapped.
"That's not-" Aelita began.
"Which is it? Am I an incapable child or responsible teen?"
"Jeremy!" she barked, then hurriedly continued at his stung look. "It's not like that. Everyone just gets a little stressed sometimes, like you. Whatever you are," she said carefully, "you need a break."
Jeremy was sighing, rubbing his palms into his eyes. "Maybe you're right. I don't know, Aelita."
Her hopes had lifted at the first sentence, then dropped slightly at the second. "You need a break," she repeated for the third time, resolute.
When Jeremy removed his hands, he jerked back slightly from Aelita's face. She had crept over to him and put on a sweet smile. "Please, come out with us?"
She was a little close there. "Ah, well," he said distractedly, trying not to look at her, "I still... have some... uh." His eyes were drawn, inexplicably, back to hers. Their noses were two inches apart.
Some part of Aelita felt guilty for doing this. The rest of her squashed the guilt, stating confidently that he needed this. "Please?" she asked again.
"A-Aelita, I don't..." Color rushed into his cheeks. He managed to avert his eyes. "Are... are you feeling okay?"
"Yes. I don't know. Maybe," she said lightly, a thoughtful smile touching her lips. "I could use some fresh air. Come outside with me?"
"I, um..."
Aelita pulled her trump card. She kissed him lightly on the mouth and took his hand, smiling sweetly. He stared at her dazedly, mouth slightly gaping.
"Come on, Jeremy."
He was too shocked and unfocused to disobey. Muttering something incomprehensible-Aelita thought she heard something about suddenly feeling like it was a good idea to go outside-he stood and followed her.
Aelita cheered quietly to herself. Mentally, she chalked up the victory.
Einstein 0, Princess 1.
Written on a whim from a prompt from a friend (souljelly, who has awesome drabbles and jerlita stuff)
Yes the illustrations will be coming, but first I need to work on something for my parents' birthdays. BUT
for school we had to illustrate an idiom or oxymoron, and I chose alone together because I wanted to do something CL related (even though there was virtual reality and typically 'Odd' XD) and it immediately made me think of Jerlita, since she's all alone on Lyoko, so they're not really together when they talk. (;-;) that illustration will be coming soon.