Azusa woke up at five in the morning, fully expecting to be the only one in the laboratory awake. She pulled the dressing gown Marie had lent her around her frame as she walked out into the main room of the lab. She was greeted by a tiny, orange glow and she sighed.
"You're looking ominous this morning, Stein." Azusa said, and completely unfazed eyes flicked to her.
"I do try." he replied, blowing smoke out of the corner of his mouth. Azusa narrowed her eyes to find the couch in the darkness.
"Do you always sit in the dark?" Azusa asked. Azusa could make out Stein cocking an eyebrow in the darkness.
"It would be odd if I had all the lights on at five, Azusa." he said. Azusa sighed and nodded.
"Fair enough." she exhaled gently, and after blowing out another puff of smoke, Stein spoke up again.
"Did you sleep?" he asked, and Azusa shrugged.
"On and off." she replied despondently. She played with her hands for a moment before looking back to the place where she could vaguely make out Stein.
"Can I have a cigarette?" she asked, suddenly. Stein did not move.
"You don't smoke." he said.
"I do-"
"Spirit does."
The room was silent for a moment before Azusa spoke up.
"Nobody knows that." she replied.
"I do. And apparently, so do you." he remarked. Azusa sighed and dropped her hands back to her sides.
"When does Marie usually wake up?" she asked.
"It's a Sunday. Not before eight." he said. Azusa gave a heaving sigh, then another. After a good fifteen minutes of silence, bar Azusa's tiny sighs and occasional exhales of smoke, even Stein caught on. The doctor butted out his cigarette before standing up, switching on a lamp next to his computer. It was still dim, and yet it gave the meister and weapon enough light to see one another.
"What are you doing?" Azusa asked, and Stein sat down again, clasping his hands in front of him.
"Know in advance that I will forever deny this conversation happened." Stein said, and Azusa raised an eyebrow.
"Look. I've seen Spirit with pretty much all of his girlfriends. With you, he's… he's different. And considering I am notoriously awful at detecting the nuances of human behaviour, that must count for something." Stein said. Azusa sat forward.
"And yet we still had the fight. You and Marie don't fight." she sighed, and Stein shook his head.
"We fight all the time. She tried to kick me out of my own lab the other month." Stein remarked. Azusa's eyebrows furrowed as Stein exhaled.
"Look, Azusa. As I've said on many occasions, my weapon is an idiot. But he isn't a big enough idiot not to come back for you." Stein stated. Azusa blinked for a second.
Then, to Stein's surprise, she broke out into laughter.
"What are you laughing at?" he asked, incredulously, and Azusa shook her head and crossed her arms.
"What happened to us?" she asked, and Stein's expression was still quizzical.
"We used to be intimidating. I was never emotional before, and you never gave advice." she said.
"You can take that one up with Marie." he replied, his face falling back into its usual apathetic gaze. Azusa sighed.
"But… thank you." she said. Stein stood from the couch and sighed.
"I had to suffer through years of living with Spirit. Figure I may as well put it to some use."
"Do I look okay?"
"Really? Who are you and what have you done to my best friend?"
"What if he meant what he said?"
"Remember, he's an idiot."
Both women turned their heads to look at Stein, and Marie clicked her tongue and frowned at the silver-haired scientist.
"Tell me I'm wrong." he remarked and continued walking past the doorway, and Marie sighed, grasping Azusa's shoulders.
"You look wonderful. You really haven't done any of this before, have you?" Marie asked, and Azusa shook her head.
"I wouldn't be half surprised if he came crawling back on his hands and knees." Marie said, and Azusa exhaled gently.
"This is ridiculous. I shouldn't be like this." she murmured, and Marie sighed and shook her head. She crossed her arms.
"There are people you react differently to, Yumi, and you know that. You can't play the scary disciplinarian with everyone." Marie said.
"Why not?" she almost pouted, and Marie laughed.
"Because that isn't who you are. With me you're different, and with Spirit, you two are like a normal couple." Marie explained. Azusa frowned and crossed her arms.
"I don't know if I like the sound of that." she remarked, and before Marie even had time to laugh, they heard a knock on the doors and Marie saw Azusa's eyes widened.
"It's okay." she said, gently, and Stein emerged in the doorway.
"Should you get that or will I?" he asked Azusa, and she blinked up at him.
"You." she barely managed, and he gave a nod before heading for the door. Azusa swallowed hard and Marie placed her hand on the younger woman's back.
"You're alright." she gently rubbed circles into Azusa's back, and felt her trying to control her breathing.
Stein opened the door to the sheepish-looking redhead and stepped back.
"Morning." Stein said, and Spirit nodded.
"Just how hungover are you?" Stein asked, and Spirit sighed.
"I'm okay." he groaned, and Stein nodded.
"I do hope so." Stein replied, and Spirit rubbed at the nape of his neck before looking back to Stein.
"Is she okay?" he asked, trying to hide the slight croakiness in his voice. Stein shrugged.
"You can ask her yourself." he remarked, and Spirit stepped into the lab just as Marie managed to get Azusa out of the room, and their eyes locked for the first time since Spirit had walked out.
"Hi." Spirit said, quietly, and Azusa was rendered wordless for a moment. A prompt came in the form of a gentle tap on the back from Marie.
"Hello." she said, her voice barely a whisper, and even hearing her speak to him again calmed Spirit.
"Do you want to go outside?" he asked, and resisting the urge to flick her eyes to Marie frantically, Azusa instead nodded and walked towards the door, exiting to the front yard. Spirit cast a small grateful not at the two still in the laboratory before leaving and shutting the door behind him.
"Do you think they're going to be okay?" Marie asked. Stein turned to the blonde and shrugged.
"I don't know," he began, "but if there's one thing that Spirit's good at, it's covering his own ass." Marie frowned and crossed her arms, and Stein sighed.
"I'm sure they'll be fine." he said, and Marie exhaled gently.
"I hope so." she murmured.
"So…"
Nice start, Spirit. You're an idiot.
"Yes?" Azusa asked, and Spirit exhaled. He dropped his arms to his side and looked at the raven-haired woman.
"I'm so sorry." he murmured, and he saw the look in Azusa's eyes soften.
"I was stupid and I shouldn't have left. I was just mad." he said, and Azusa nodded.
"I know you were mad. I didn't mean to mention Ka-" Azusa stopped herself and Spirit sighed and gave a small laugh, pushing a lock of hair behind his ear.
"I can't go off every time someone mentions Kami. It's not fair to you." he said, and Azusa sighed.
"I know, but I shouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry." she replied, and Spirit laughed again.
"Never thought I'd get an apology out of you." he smirked, and Azusa crossed her arms.
"I can take it back if you'd like." A smile threatened to emerge, and Spirit shook his head and slowly walked towards her.
"You shouldn't take it back," he said, finally reaching her and draping his arms around her waist, "but you didn't have to give it in the first place. It was my fault." Azusa tipped her head up and cocked an eyebrow.
"I thought that making up after a fight was supposed to be a long, drawn-out process." she remarked, and Spirit smirked.
"Well, we've been fighting since grade school. We've sorta streamlined the process." he grinned, and Azusa rolled her eyes.
"That and you're awfully charming when you want to be." Azusa remarked, and Spirit's grin did not waver.
"You know it. I ooze charisma. Feel it? Oozing charisma," his hands ran across her midsection, lingering where he knew she was ticklish, "'cause I'm so damn charming."
"I will hit you!" Azusa tried desperately not to laugh, writhing in Spirit's grasp, but after a few seconds a giggle escaped her lips despite her attempts. At that, Spirit stopped and pulled her to him once again, and he glanced gently down at her.
"I am sorry." he said, and Azusa clicked her tongue.
"I know." she gave a tiny smirk, and Spirit's eyes widened.
"Come on! Where's my apology?" he asked.
"I gave you one and you made fun of me." she replied, and Spirit sighed.
"Well, I apologise for making fun of your apology." he said, and Azusa sighed and shook her head.
"You're an idiot." she remarked, and the redhead sighed and nodded.
"Yeah. I am." he murmured, and she tipped her head up.
"No, Spirit, I didn't mean-"
"I know you didn't. But I am." he said, and Azusa frowned.
"Don't. You're going to make me feel awful." she said, her voice small and quiet. Spirit sighed and dropped his arms.
"Not doing very well, am I?" he asked, and Azusa sighed.
"You're doing fine." she said, gently, and Spirit gave a tiny smile.
"We should probably go and inform Stein and Marie that we haven't killed each other." Spirit said, and Azusa nodded.
"But first, this." he murmured, and before Azusa could even enquire he had his lips pressed against hers. Her arms snaked around his waist, and she couldn't quite believe just how much she'd missed him after only a day and a half. She hadn't seen him for years before Asura's reawakening, and now she felt like this.
Spirit pulled back and kept his forehead against Azusa's, bringing his hand up to cup her jaw. She gave a gentle exhale which earned a grin from Spirit.
"Come on." he extended his hand and she took it, and they headed for the laboratory, sufficiently patched up.
"It's kind of awful how much I missed being here. And I was gone, what, not even two days?"
"It is. I don't know what's happened to you, Yumi." Spirit clicked his tongue and shook his head, a
"Good to see you've broken out the sexy lingerie for your first night back."
The redhead smirked as the raven-haired woman rolled her eyes.
"My pyjamas are insulted." she crossed her arms and Spirit laughed, sitting down beside Azusa and watching as she swivelled to throw her legs across his lap.
"I love your penguin pyjamas, babe." he smirked, and Azusa sighed and propped her head up with her arm on the edge of the couch.
"Tell me you didn't call me babe." she remarked, and Spirit clicked his tongue.
"I could, but I don't like lying." he said, and Azusa shook her head.
"How old are you?" she asked, and Spirit nearly pouted.
"Twenty-one." he replied, indignantly, and Azusa shook her head and gave a tiny laugh.
"You've been twenty-one for about ten years now, Spirit." she said, and Spirit's grin didn't waver as he rolled his eyes. He reached over to grab the TV remote and sat back with a sigh.
"Anything good on tonight?" he asked, and Azusa cocked an eyebrow to glance at the scythe.
"When did we become domestic?" she asked, watching as Spirit almost instantaneously put the remote down and screwed up his face.
"Domestic?" he asked, turning to Azusa. She shrugged in response.
"Kind of." she replied. The look in Spirit's eyes changed and he turned over to sit up on his knees. Azusa's eyes widened slightly and Spirit smirked.
"I don't know if you got the memo," Spirit edged closer to Azusa, her legs moving to the side t let him in close, "but Spirit Albarn doesn't do domestic very well." Spirit's grin was infectious, and Azusa couldn't help but give a small smirk in return.
"Spirit Albarn's also taken to talking in third person." she remarked and Spirit propped an arm over Azusa's shoulder, bracing it against the arm of the lounge.
"Give me a little bit and I guarantee you won't care." he murmured before pressing his lips to her neck.
He was quite right.