When Ala got up in the afternoon, she felt somehow like she had slept enough to not fall asleep while sitting upright. She was still lacking sleep from tending to North. She needed some time off, but she needed money all the same.
Well, she guessed that she just had to pull through her tiredness then.
Sipping her coffee, she sat on the couch beside North and checked on upcoming missions with Kyle.
He would always give her the start time and the approximate amount of time a mission would take in total. That was pretty handy, since she could plan her days according to that info.
Pulling up the calendar on her notebook, she checked with the mission dealer and informed him about the missions that she wanted to take.
North was sitting beside her, observing her attentively although he was acting like he was watching the movie playing on the TV. It was an old movie, but still a rather awesome one: Transformers, the very first movie.
Noticing his stare, she looked over to him out of the corner of her eyes, "What's up? You want to have a mission too?"
This gave the Freelancer pause. It took some moments in which he was blinking dumbfounded at her, until he got his bearings back in check.
"Wouldn't be such a bad idea actually." He said at length. "Are there any I could take up?" he asked, looking at the screen of the notebook Ala pushed over so that he could look on it too.
The chat with Kyle was still open, and he wrote if she had already made up her mind.
Ala leaned over slightly, shooting back a quick reply.
Ala:Wait a sec. A friend staying at my place at the moment is interested in taking jobs on too.
Kyle:You mean North? South's brother?
Ala and North looked at each other in surprise that he knew who Ala was talking of, though she had an idea about where he could have gotten this information.
Ala:Let me guess. South told you?
Kyle:A bit, yes. Mainly that he has some kind of crush on you.
Ala:He's sitting beside me, asshole.
Kyle:So?
Ala growled, feeling her face heat up. She rubbed her hand over her face and then quickly shot a message back.
Ala:Just gimme those damn missions he could do. Or are there any of mine you need a second soldier on?
Kyle:First I need his specialization.
Alaska looked over to the Freelancer who had quite red cheeks now too with a questioning glance. North then shortly told her what Kyle requested.
Ala:Sniping, hand-to-hand combat, resilience... He's a Special Ops like South.
Kyle:Okay, give me a sec.
It took him two minutes until he replied, sending a list of missions that they both could take up spread over the next two weeks, starting from tomorrow night when they would have some kind of guarding job inside the huge house of a local mafia boss. Since they both were working, they would earn double and so Ala wouldn't have to work as hard to have a passable income.
The black haired woman then confirmed all of the missions and soon after there was a list coming from him.
As usual, the woman printed it out and hung it up on the corkboard hanging beside the entrance to the kitchen.
It was more unusual to work during the day.
Mostly it had been a given since Ala started working for Kyle that the missions were often during the night. Daily work was rarer, and during the next two weeks of work that they got, they wouldn't work a single day, only during the nights.
North had pulled a bit of a face when he heard what subjects they would have to guard or take out, depending on the mission.
Ala had told him that he wouldn't be able to choose who he had as a target unless he decided that he wouldn't take up missions like those.
North shook his head, saying that it was okay. He did worse stuff in Project Freelancer and would be okay with the targets in these cases.
After Kyle logged off and Ala shut down her laptop, an extremely awkward silence settled between them.
North had felt like his head would explode with heat when he read what Kyle had written so deliberately. He had the strange intention that this Kyle and South could more be twins than he and South were. They were so goddamn alike when it was about calling him out and embarrassing him.
He was just about to say something when Ala stood up abruptly and said something about having to go for the grocery run if they wanted to get something edible by today.
A bit taken aback, North nodded and followed her out of the apartment after she grabbed her wallet.
"First, we're going to get the groceries. Afterwards, we have to get you some kind of combat outfit for the missions. I guess you know best what kind of outfit suits you. I'll just show you the stores and the styles that I recommend for shit like this." She rambled on, playing nervously with the end of her braid while walking.
North had found out by now that this was some kind of tick. She would do it when she was feeling nervous, embarrassed, or was thinking extremely hard about something. It was an unconscious act. She did it without really realizing it, which made it even more adorable in his book.
Inwardly, he sighed heavily. He obviously had to talk with her if it was so obvious, even to strangers.
'I told you so.' Theta sang in his head.
'Shut up.' North commented, focusing back on the street and Ala walking beside him.
First they went to get the groceries, although they almost forgot to buy a six-pack of mugs for their morning coffee. Thanks to Theta, they didn't forget that though.
After that, she brought North to a military shop and let him browse through the clothing there until he had a combat outfit assembled consisting of black combat boots, black cargo trousers, and a dark violet shirt in the same color as his armor.
If it was chillier outside, he would wear the black leather jacket his sister obviously bought for him while he had been unconscious.
After Ala did the paying, they left with tons of bags in hand and made their way back home.
"So, how about trying out the mugs when we're home?" North asked casually while they were walking through the streets.
The sun was already setting and bathing the city in a golden and reddish light.
"First let's clean them up, okay? I prefer drinking from clean cups." Ala replied with a low chuckle.
"Right, the coffee machine takes some time anyway to brew the coffee." A small smile appeared on North's lips and he chuckled lowly.
To this, the black haired offered him a wide and happy smile.
Arriving back home, they first put the groceries away and Ala started cooking dinner since it was already around seven in the evening. Dinner was something light, since they both weren't really up for eating at the moment as neither of them had worked or did any kind of fitness training during the day.
After dinner, North started up the coffee machine and Ala started washing up the dishes and the mugs. Halfway through, she could see that North was drying the washed dishes.
The silence between the two of them just then was amicable and nice, neither of them really wanting to break the silence by saying anything.
The only thing breaking it was the coffee maker, signaling the end of the brewing cycle with a 'ping!'
"Looks like it's over." North commented with a slight smile, taking out a blue and violet mug out of the cupboard to fill it with coffee.
"How about we take that outside?"
It had been rainy during the last couple of days, which was why they were stuck inside the apartment, but today it had been sunny and warm for the first time this year. Alaska really wanted to take the coffee outside to enjoy the last warm sunbeams before it started getting chillier again.
"Awesome. I haven't seen much of the city from above." North replied, putting some sugar and cream into Ala's coffee.
She liked black coffee in the morning to boot up properly, but in the evening, or when having time to herself, she often liked having sweetened coffee with cream. Sometimes she would make herself a Cappuccino or a Café Latte, sometimes even making a creation on her own.
Of course North had picked up on that already and made her a normal coffee with a bit more cream than usual that was just perfectly sweet for her, while the woman was preparing the lounge outside. It was located on the side where she could watch the sun set.
Carrying out the cushions and two quilts, she observed the sun now hitting the horizon.
Just when she wiped down the glass table, she heard steps coming closer. Looking up, she could see North walking up to her, carrying two mugs with him.
"Looks like I am just in time." He remarked with a smile and a look over to the setting sun.
"Yep." She replied, popping the 'p' at the end for added emphasis.
Putting the mugs down on the table, he sat down beside the woman who had plopped down on the lounge just a second before him. She had snatched one of the quilts she had brought out and spread it out behind her.
"Mh…" she savored the taste of the coffee with closed eyes when she took the first sip, "That's good. Your own creation?"
"Invented it just now." the ex-Freelancer replied, looking ahead and observing the sun setting.
Ala snorted through her nose, leaning back and also observing the sunset.
"Good recipe. Make sure to remember it and show me just how you did it." Taking another sip, she again savored the taste of coffee, cream, and sugar in just the perfect blend on her tongue.
"Me showing you that?" North snorted lowly. "And what am I going to do then when you know the recipe?"
"Don't know. Come up with a new one?" she retorted, laughing lowly when she heard North laugh under his breath too.
"Yeah, right." He muttered, emptying his cup. They had been out here already about fifteen minutes or more so it was no wonder that his and Ala's cups were already starting to drain, "Before I tell you the recipe, how about I make you another one?"
"Now that sounds like a great idea." Ala emptied her cup with a low laugh and held the cup out to North.
Taking it, he again laughed under his breath and turned around to get another cup for him and her.
While he was gone, she looked into the sky where stars slowly started to appear.
Hm… Wasn't there something on the news a while ago when North had been taking a shower? Something about a solar storm scheduled to hit the planet today?
Looking up in the sky, she searched it for the telltale signs of aurora borealis to appear.
"You searching for something?"
Ala jumped with a low squeal at the question. Leaning back on the lounge she wheezed, trying to calm her hammering heart.
"Keep on doing that and I am going to have a heart attack before I even turn thirty!" she groaned dramatically.
North chuckled at that in an apologizing manner, giving her the coffee. Their fingers brushed against one another's for a moment.
"Sorry, I guess that whole stealth thing is something that is sticking with me even though I am not a part of Project Freelancer anymore."
"Figured as much." Ala replied, shortly putting the mug away to pull up the quilt and cuddle into it since it had become a bit chillier.
The sun was gone and it had gotten somewhat chilly now.
"So my assessment wasn't that wrong when I estimated you to be around twenty-five?" North asked casually while sipping his coffee, now also having pulled up the quilt since it really became somewhat chilly out there.
"That's a pretty good guess." Ala replied after taking another sip of her coffee, "I am turning twenty-five in about a month." She informed him casually, looking up to the sky and seeing a flash of green dancing over it.
"And how about you? Guess you're around, hm…" she made a thinking face as if re-evaluating her opinion, but noticed pretty fast that she was only checking him out.
Taking a sip from her coffee, and even though she knew that hiding behind the mug didn't do the trick, she tried hiding her blush that way still. When she had swallowed, she then looked over the rim of her cup into the night sky.
"I suppose you're around thirty, huh, old man?"
"Old man?" He replied, his face deadly serious. An arched eyebrow accompanying the retort.
Ala could see right through his bluff. He wasn't really mad, just pretending to be.
Emptying the cup and putting it on the little coffee table, she laid back on the lounge again and looked over to North.
"Everyone who is older than thirty is old for me." She replied with a laugh after she had swallowed and let the Freelancer glower a bit at her in mock anger.
North snorted at that.
"I am glad I am only twenty-seven then. Three years until I turn old." His dry sarcasm made Alaska starting to laugh loudly.
Somewhere in her laughing fit she heard North chime in, although he was not laughing as loud as she was laughing.
When she calmed down a bit, she laid back on the lounge, trying to catch her breath, but shuddering at the same time. It really had gotten cold out.
"Shall we go inside? It's getting chilly." North then asked, immediately picking up on her changed demeanor.
To his surprise Ala only shook her head. What caused the Freelancer's pale blond eyebrows to shoot up a bit though was her explanation as to why she did not want to go inside just yet.
"There was a sun storm some days ago. There was a broadcast in the news the day before yesterday that the storm should hit New Asia about today. Sounded like a pretty big one." she explained, and North immediately picking up on why she wanted to stay.
"You think that you can see northern lights?" he asked then, looking up to the sky too.
"Actually yes. I hoped so." She answered a bit sheepishly, ducking her head a bit in embarrassment. It sounded childish, but she never had seen northern lights and she really wanted to see them once, now that they are saying that it was very likely for them to show up tonight.
"Okay, then let's stay outside a bit longer," North said after a longer pause in which he obviously was contemplating what Ala had said.
"Another coffee?" he then asked, looking at the empty mug.
Again, she shook her head, "Probably not, or I am never going to get any shuteye this night."
North chuckled at that, emptying his cup to and putting it back down on the table too.
"Just because I don't want any more coffee, that doesn't mean that you have to stop drinking coffee too." The young ex-Special Ops then remarked with an amused smile playing on her lips.
This caused North to chuckle again under his breath.
"I know. I just have to quit drinking too. Same reasons as you. I am not going to sleep otherwise." He then replied calmly.
"Unless we aren't going to feast away the night, I suppose we both better stop drinking coffee then." She replied, still searching the sky for the telltale signs again.
"I'd prefer not. Having a regulated daily schedule is something I missed the most when I was in Freelancer. Sometimes we went several days without sleep or something akin to relaxing sleep at least." He replied, "Which is why I am enjoying this so much, living here—"
Before he was able to finish his sentence though, he was cut off by Ala pointing up in the sky.
"There it is!"
Looking up, he indeed could see green and violet-red northern lights starting to wander over the sky.
"Whoa! It's so cool!" the black haired woman cooed beside him, making him smile and a warm, fuzzy feeling to spread through his body.
'You're so whipped, you know that?' Theta asked in the back of his mind, an emotion washing over North that felt like a mix of fondness and a childish happiness that he knew something before North did.
'I know. But for now, let's just enjoy the moment, okay?' North said, enjoying the fuzzy feeling spreading further throughout his body.
'Okay.' Theta replied.
'You can appear if you want to. It's safe.' The Freelancer prompted the Fragment.
Theta didn't reply, but appeared over North's shoulder to look up to the sky himself.
During the time the three of them were looking up at the sky, Ala slid over to North until she was sitting closely beside him.
She didn't even seem to mind when North, in a moment of bravery, rested an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to share their body warmth with each other since it really had become chilly by that point.
None of the three wanted to go inside just then and miss the northern lights making a formidable light show up in the sky.