I'm in a writing mood.

Wow already a review, too. I'm so happy! To my one reviewer, I hope you like the rest, and I haven't found too many fics for this pairing! DX

Clicking

Glad

There was something Irina didn't like: boredom. When she had no work to do all day, she felt out of place, lonely, sad… It had been two days since her last mission, and even that was a small backup detail for another team. Every three or four hours she would go to the mission board, but nothing was doable for her, because the rest of her team were busy. And that begged the question: where was Gwin? The previous two days he wasn't really around. She noticed that he slept late into the morning and wouldn't be there when she returned after trying to scrounge up a mission to do. She didn't think too much on it, though, because Gwin had friends he liked to hang out with…unlike her. Sure she had a few women friends, but she didn't like to laze around with them. She didn't like to do that with anyone.

Irina made her way back to her barracks. She had been at Elma's barracks, asking if there was a mission she needed help with, anything at all, but Elma's team were actually getting ready to head off to Cauldros. They didn't need another person on their team, and Irina accepted it. Sure there was a ton of work to do for the human race, but most of the jobs in the past few days required more than one person or less than four, and she just couldn't find partners to go with. She supposed she could take one of the gathering jobs, but it wasn't really her shtick, besides she would need at least one comrade to go with her just in case.

When she entered her home, she sighed heavily, knowing that she couldn't be alone for much longer. Memories…bad memories…always chased her…as emo as that sounded… She hated dwelling, but she couldn't help herself. Her grey eyes glanced around as she observed the clean living space of their barracks; there was nothing left for her to straighten up or scrub down.

Then she heard a faint rustling, and she quickly walked to the hallway that hosted each bedroom door. She reached for Gwin's door, but she caught herself. Why was she suddenly excited? And surly he wasn't there; he was out when she left an hour ago. Another rustle was accompanied by the door opening. Irina now stood face-to-face with Gwin. He looked a mess as if he slept all day. His hair was ruffled, his eyes lowered, his casual shirt wrinkled, and he wore long cotton pants. She crossed her arms, "I thought you were out all day."

He blinked a few times, "oh…no, I took the day off-"

"Day off?!" she snapped loudly. "While you're in bed, the Life Core is gradually losing power!"

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant," he murmured shamefully.

She shouldn't have been taken aback by his lack of…sass, but it was normal for him. What wasn't normal for him was sleeping the entire day. "So you really slept in all day?" she asked.

His frown only grew, and his eyes shifted away from her. His hand lifted to rub the back of his neck.

There it was again…his frown…caused by her words. She felt bad again, but she couldn't help herself, "whatever, you hungry?"

He smiled rather reluctantly, "oh sure. Did you want to go eat?"

She thought him to be a nice distraction from her deep thoughts. She would rather spend time with him than to wallow, and that was okay, right? It was strange… Was she using him? And if so, was that the source of her guilt? "If you want to stay in, I can cook," she told him.

Hesitation coated his voice, "how about…we order in?"

It was no secret that her cooking wasn't super great, but it did irk her when he wanted to get out of it. "Do you have any extra credits for that?" she muttered.

He hummed, "sure."

"Hm," she sighed. "You know Gwin…you should really think about saving your money."

He smiled nervously, "wh-why are you dogging me out for that?"

She smirked, "oh, I don't know. What if you need new weapons or something? You need to think about stuff like that. Considering…when was the last time your gear had maintenance?"

Staring at her blankly, he answered, "I'm not sure…maybe a few weeks ago."

"We have done a heavy mission since then. You need to seriously think of these things. What if your gun gums up on you? What if your sword cracks?" she began to scold him.

"Yes ma'am," he piped, putting on a stronger smile.

Her eyes softened; he always brightened up at her…even when she was laying into him. She wondered why, but inside she sort of knew. It was one of two reasons or both: he wanted to take care of her as owed to Leon or he…loved her. Of course she noticed his affections, his happiness to be by her side. She wasn't oblivious.

"I'll get dressed and head to the Industrial District," he added.

Her turned heel and huffed, "next time be responsible enough to think of it yourself, okay?"

"I'll do my best," said as he closed his bedroom door to get ready.

She smiled to herself and walked into the living area to wait for him. She was going to accompany him, maybe go to the café afterwards. It didn't take long for Gwin to get ready—one of his strong suits was being there in a flash. She noted that he was in his civilian clothes, which were a hoodie and shorts. His hair was combed, and his appearance looked fresh once more. He had his longsword on his back, and his gun in a holster on his hip.

They made their way to the Industrial District and dropped his weapons off for cleaning, repair, and anything else the mechanics might want to do. Irina was always the type to stay while her weapons were being tended to, but Gwin never did. He was so trusting, so happy to let people help him. She, on the other hand, micro-managed too much.

It turned out that neither of them were actually hungry, so they ended up sitting at one of the numerous park benches in the Commercial District, eating a sort of gelato treat. Irina liked berry flavors; Gwin liked chocolate. But that didn't matter. What really seemed important to Irina was that she felt better with someone…maybe being with him was an added bonus due to the fact he knew her too well…or maybe because he submitted.

"What did you do today?" Gwin asked before spooning more of the frozen dessert into his mouth.

She sighed, watching the people walk across the way, "nothing really…not for lack of trying, though."

He smiled, "well, it's nice to have a free day every once in a while, right?"

"I spoke to Eleanora, though. As soon as a mission opens up for me, I'm outta here," she mumbled.

"Yeah, you never liked to stay idle for long," he agreed. "Well, whatever the mission is, I'll go with you…I mean, if you want me to." He leaned back on to bench, "I feel like I'm getting stronger, so maybe I can get to your level. I mean, to the level that you are now, because of course you get stronger every day. Not that…I mean…" He chuckled awkwardly, "never mind."

She smiled at him, "well, if you want to come along so badly, there's a few gathering missions on the board. Destination Sylvalum."

"For what?" he asked curiously.

"Well, one is for Jagitos Copper," she answered.

He sighed, "I suppose Sylvalum is better than heading further up North."

She huffed, "stop trying to complain. We'll split the reward; deal?"

"Yeah sure, Lieutenant," he smiled before eating more.

It wasn't exactly happiness; maybe she was just plain glad to have him agree, not that she had doubts. It was strange to explain, but she remembered details of missions better when Gwin was along; she thought probably because of his stupid voice and stupid vocabulary. He reminded her so much of her Leon… Was that why she loved being around him? …loved…

"What time are we heading out? In the morning?" he asked.

Long ago she trained herself to be alert always; she heard what he said even though she was deep in thought. "We have about five hours until sundown. We could go now and just set up camp if we run late."

He was quick to respond, "set up camp? Wouldn't you rather wait until tomorrow morning? Like maybe dawn or something?"

Irina stood up, "nope, you got me excited now." She could hear him sigh as she walked away from the bench. It didn't take a few seconds for her to hear his footsteps behind her. She wondered if he wondered why she was always so set on staying away from seclusion as much as possible. Perhaps he knew already why, and why wouldn't he? They both lost her little brother. But she knew Gwin didn't feel the same about the loss. Leon was his best friend, but he wasn't his brother. She figured Gwin slept at night, every night.

She began to recall being at home when she was younger, making sure her brother was fed, even if he didn't like her cooking. She would scold him, order him around, and remind him she was in charge. She could remember waiting for he and Gwin to come back home after they goofed off all day. She could still feel herself sitting on the couch, watching the clock, worrying about him. She could hear the ticking…more like clicking…

Click…..click…..click…click…

She often scolded Leon and Gwin for returning too late.

Click…click…click…click…

The minute hand always moved so slowly and quickly at the same time. What if something happened to them on their way home… What if they are being stupid… What if they are at a party… Or with girls…

Click click click click

Leon and Gwin were a horrible pair, always so carefree and into trouble. Gwin always brought that out in her brother, who was usually on point with his life.

Clickclickclickclick

That noise wasn't in her mind. She halted her footing, unable to take the clicking any longer. Gwin accidentally slammed into her. She stumbled forward and whirled around to snap at him, "what are you doing?!"

He flinched, his hand on his side, "ah! I'm sorry!"

She waited for the clicking, but it was gone. She glanced around, trying to find what could have made the sound.

"What's wrong?" he asked nervously.

She frowned, "nothing, I guess I was just thinking too hard."

"About what?" he asked quickly.

"About how stupid you are," she muttered, turning around and walking on.

"Aw…" he whined as he followed again.

She was all too glad to enjoy that kind of submissive sound from him. It was cute.

I'm thinking this plot takes place in the middle of the game. Before Chapter 12 at least.