White Girl Coffee, Do You Love Me?

"A hot chocolate with whipped cream and a pumpkin spice latte, please."

"Matt, I can pay for my own drink."

"I know. But I'll pay for it anyway."

"You are such a weirdo."

"I prefer "handsome stranger", but you're welcome anyway."

Tori rolled her eyes and smiled. Her teeth were nearly as white as the snow all around them. It had just stopped drifting from the sky a few minutes ago as they stood in the then ages-long queue. Tori had mentioned that she was a bit cold, and Matt had noticed the small Starbucks vendor, deciding the best way to warm up was with a hot drink.

He leaned down and adjusted the bright red scarf and woolly hat on her head. She whined in response and knocked his hands away. "You do not need to baby me, I can fix it for myself."

"I know. Wanted to do it anyway." He straightened up and grinned at the tiny norsk, who was fuming quietly as she accepted her hot chocolate. Matt took the latte.

"So, where you wanna go?" he asked, taking a sip. The latte was scalding against his frozen lips. Tori gazed at the grey sky in intense concentration, then grabbed Matt's hand and began walking.

They waded their way through a heavy snow poff and past a set of wrought iron gates, into a park covered in a heavy white blanket. Matt and Tori's snow boots sank several inches into the white powder with each step. Tori occasionally stumbled, leaning onto Matt's arm for support before pushing herself away.

There were a few groups of people milling about; taking photos of the brass monuments, gossiping, savouring their streaming beverages, selling small pendants on the side of the way.

"What are you doing?" Tori watched with a certain amount of disgust and confusion as Matt positively fell over in his haste to reach the ground.

"I'm gonna to hit that statue." He nodded excitedly to the tallest brass statue to their left, gathering a handful of snow. Tori squinted at the plaque on its pedestal.

"Its name is Henrik," she informed him in a matter-of-fact voice, happy to supply the tall ginger with that piece of useless information. "If you miss now, I'll laugh at you."

"So long as I even hit it I'll be happy." Matt brushed off the last bit of imperfect snow from his snowball, and offered it to Tori. She rolled her eyes and blew across the top of it, making Matt grin before taking careful aim.

It looked as though it would miss, but it didn't. "Yes! Oh, yes!" Matt bounced on the balls of his feet and threw his arms into the air in victory. He had knocked the snow off Henrik's chin. "Oh, could you feel the motivation?" He shook Tori lightly by her shoulders, and she couldn't hold back a laugh at the silly ginger's excitement.

"That was pure luck," she chuckled.

"Or, maybe I'm just so talented."

They continued on in a friendly silence, leaving the park and sipping their drinks, passing a row of frosted store windows as they made their way along the cold and grey concrete walkway. They looked at the furry coats, laughing at some of the ridiculous mannequin poses, criticizing the impossible proportions. They would have bumped shoulders every now and again, but Tori was far too small, and settled on hip-checking the much taller ginger, making him stumble, once making him spill a little of his drink; she called it his "white girl coffee".

There was a reason they were here in this snowy city, why Tori looked down into her steaming cup every now and then with a clouded expression. She had been called in for a meeting with some high-ranking leader in the RAF, who was based way out here in some sleet and snow-bound country far up north, to discuss some very secret things abound the Red Army. She was originally going to go alone. But when Tord mentioned he was going to do the same thing in their own world, Matt felt obliged to tag along with Tori, and to keep her company. Now that meeting was over after several long hours, and they were whiling away their time until their midnight flight back to London, and then back home.

What better way to waste time than to have an unofficial date wandering around the nearest town?

"Look at all those dogs!" Tori pointed, laughing at a young man who couldn't be much younger than them. He was wearing a grey trapper hat and a fur coat, and his light eyes were wide with concentration. He was struggling so hard due to the dozen or so dogs he had bounding around him, several leashes in both hands leading to the excited beasts. He was pulled this way and that, attempting to drag all the hounds to a building with a picture of a sitting dog on the window. He eventually made his way in, the last dogs following him inside, barking madly, and the door closed. Tori and Matt breathed once again, having been choking on their laughter.

"That was the most beautiful thing I have seen all day," Tori said at last, tossing her hair long blonde hair over her shoulder.

"I have to disagree with that," Matt answered, offering the tiny norsk his arm, which she threaded her own through with a relaxed smile, still gazing dazedly at the door the dog boy had disappeared into.

"Why's that?" she asked vaguely, hardly thinking.

"Because that is the most beautiful thing I've seen all day."

At first she thought he was talking about his little mirror, which he had whipped out and was holding in front of them. Then she thought he was talking about his reflection, which he often did, but that didn't make any sense. It was her reflection in the mirror…

Oh.

She looked away and squeezed his arm. He laughed and pocketed the mirror again shrugging against his jacket. "Smooth, wasn't tha-"

He never finished that sentence, because the breath was suddenly caught in his throat. One moment, he was towering above Tori, the next, he had run the toe of his boot into an uneven piece of pavement and started tumbling the the ground. And now, Tori was holding him in a weird sort of dip, her fingers clutching at his arms and looking shocked.

"Hey, when is the wedding?" called some passerby with a heavy accent, laughing with her friends as they made their way past. Tori dropped Matt onto the ground at the comment, and he fell with a yelp into the snow. She looked ready to fight the still-laughing girls, but ultimately decided against it, turning back to Matt and offering him her hand.

"Come on," she said, leaning over him and motioning for him to take ahold of her hand. He didn't, instead gazing dreamily up at her. "Take my hand."

"Did I ever tell you you have the prettiest eyes?" he asked with a little smirk. Her face went redder than it was before with the cold and embarrassment, and she straightened up. "No, no no don't go away, please help me up, please please pretty please?"

She relented, and allowed him back up, returning to their original positions. "If anything, that was a pretty smooth move though," Matt said quietly, smiling. They said nothing afterward, only giving off puffs of smoky breath and walking slowly down the road, arm in arm. It had started to snow again, the little white flakes drifting lazily down from the storm-grey sky.

Several hours later, they sat together on a small bench in the half-darkness of snowy dusk, waiting for the coach that would take them to the airport. Tori was fiddling absently with a loose thread on her scarf, but Matt was sitting still, his shoulders hunched and his eyes staring blankly into the snow.

"Tori?"

"Yes?"

"Tori… Do you love me?"

"Now, what kind of question is that?"

"Do you?"

Tori sighed and reached over to the ginger, turning his head to face her. Her eyes were remarkably soft, shining quietly in the light of the hidden and setting sun. She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips, a gentle thing like a word of comfort or solace. She pulled away and looked at Matt's face again, trying not to smile. Or maybe she was trying not to cry. "Did that answer your question?"

Matt grinned himself, covering her tiny hand with his own. "I don't think I heard you quite right. Do you think you could run that by me again?"

Tori laughed, but didn't deny him.

She could still taste the spice of a long gone drink on his lips.

A/N This was a request from murakami-kumiko. Sorry it's not them falling for the first time; hope you'll settle for this!

Send me a request plz and comment, you guys make me so happy I love your reaction. Fun Fact: I drew this before I wrote it! Maybe I'll add it to my AO3 (go check it out! plz).

Enjoy and always love yourself people :D

~File 13