Hey guys, long time no post! Things have been crazy in my life. But please know that I haven't forgotten you guys! I hope that someone is still reading these. However, regardless of whether or not someone reads these, I am always going to post because I love writing, and sharing them. This chapter is going to be a little short because I had an idea to do a lot of little one shots based off some ideas that I've had in the time between this chapter and my last post.
Ch. 18- "Act Natural"
Yumi and Ulrich raced to see who could get to the top quicker. He was sure that back in the day, it would have been Yumi who would have beat him, but now he was much older, and still in really good shape. Not to say that Yumi wasn't in shape, she certainly gave Ulrich a run for his money. But Ulrich just barely had the upper hand on her. He was able to get to the top with just enough time to bend down and offer a hand to assist her the last few feet.
"After you..." he said in his most chivalrous voice, helping her to her feet, and gesturing to where the doorway used to be.
And in the dim light, he couldn't tell, but Yumi was turning the shade of a ripe tomato. She brushed her hair in front of her face, and tried to compose herself before they both climbed through the boarded-up entrance, and they saw that the rest of the Warriors were still there.
As the pair exited the factory, everyone started acting like someone had just whispered "act natural". Aelita and Jeremy were staring into the river, Odd was leaning against a bridge support in a very awkward looking position, and trying to nonchalantly whistle, and Seth and Sean were staring at the sky as if one of them had just shouted, "Hey, would you look at those stars!?"
"What are you guys doing here?!" asked Yumi, seeing the rest of their friends.
"Waiting for you guys," said Aelita, "Jeremy wanted to make sure everyone got out safe, and that we also made it look like we were never here. We don't know who owns this building now, but it's obvious that it belongs to someone since they condemned it to be destroyed. So we could be trespassing, or committing any other number of crimes just by being here."
Sean and Seth stepped forward and picked up the boards that the group had removed to get in. They balanced them back up on the entryway, and then stepped back to admire their handiwork. Satisfied, the twins high-fived and then walked away. THat made Ulrich pause. If someone owned the building and condemned it, then what was going to happen to the supercomputer? Were they going to lose their own ticket to explaining why they were here, and maybe helping them go back to where they came from?
"Besides, we all realized that we were too tired to drive," said Seth. It was true, he looked dead.
"Where does everyone live?" asked Ulrich.
"Close to the office, on the other side of Paris," said Jeremy, "I'm probably looking at a thirty to forty-five-minute drive. But in my state, it might as well be two hours."
"Same," said Aelita.
"Not too far away, I live pretty close between the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. Cozy little place. You all should come visit sometime," said Odd.
"Can you get there on your own?" asked Sean, raising an eyebrow at the svelte blonde.
"Yeah, I should be able to, just have to drive really slow. Might take me, eh…about twenty minutes," he replied, and Odd took off towards the cars parked on the street.
"Be safe!" warned Aelita. Ulrich felt like Aelita had become the unofficial mother of the group. But then again, she had almost always been like that.
What surprised Ulrich more was that Odd was able to afford a place like that in such a historic and probably very expensive part of town. The brunette figured as an executive at the company that Odd must make good money.
"We live way out in the country," said Sean, "Although we do have a few smaller apartment properties that we manage and rent out to people, closer in the city. Maybe we could go crash at one of those that are empty?" he said, consulting his twin brother.
"You're going to go sleep in an empty apartment?" asked Yumi.
Ulrich thought about it, this felt just like a flashback, "Guys, come stay at my place. It may be in the opposite direction, but it's closer, and would probably be safer, and definitely more comfortable than sleeping in an empty place with no bed."
"You sure?" asked Sean, "We wouldn't want to impose."
"Nah, my parents are out of town, so it won't be imposing at all," he assured the twins.
"Wait…" said Seth, "You still live with your parents?!" he teased.
Ulrich scowled, but then thought, and retorted, "Don't you guys still live at home with your parents?!"
Sean smiled, "We're just pulling your leg, Ulrich. And while we do have a couple of rooms in our parent's house, we both have about three or so other places that we call "home" at any given moment."
Ulrich rolled his eyes; the twins were in a whole different world. But the brunette pressed on, "You guys are all welcome to stay if it means you're off the roads sooner than you would be trying to drive home," he said to everyone else still gathered.
"Are you sure? Will you have room for everyone?" asked Aelita.
Ulrich did a quick headcount, with him, there were six people. But he didn't technically count towards that number because he already knew he would be sleeping in his own room. So that meant there were five. He knew that he had a couch, a love seat, and two armchairs in the living room, and a guest bedroom upstairs. That would be plenty. He could put the twins and Yumi and Jeremy downstairs, and Aelita upstairs.
Ulrich paused as he looked through the group again; he saw the way that Jeremy was looking at Aelita. Would he have to put Yumi upstairs in his own room and Aelita in the guest room to seperate the girls from the boys? But then he paused in his thoughts. He wasn't sure if he wanted Yumi to sleep in his room. Not that he was worried that anything would happen, just that she might take the advantage of being in his room to snoop around. So would that mean he would put Yumi in the guest room, Aelita in his room, and him and all the guys downstairs? He figured he would cross that bridge when he got to it. But the more time he took in figuring this out, the later it was getting, and the more tired he and everyone else was getting.
"Of course! Everyone, follow me," Ulrich said, deciding to shelve the idea for the moment, and revisit it when they got there in one piece.
Everyone voiced their tired agreements, and then walked back to their cars, except Yumi. Ulrich realized that she had caught a ride here with Odd. But now he was gone, and she looked like she didn't know where to go. She stood in the middle of the empty street, staring at everyone's cars. Ulrich thought about it for a second, not wanting to seem too forward. But then he decided to take a chance.
"Yumi, ride with me," said Ulrich, he was already standing by the passenger side door, waiting to open it for her.
"You sure? I could just grab a ride with Aelita?" she said, hesitantly, taking a step towards Aelita's pink Mercedes.
"Positive, get in!" said Ulrich.
Yumi seemed to hesitate, but then she walked over to his beater, and got in. Ulrich got in on the driver's side, and they drove away from the factory. Yumi very quickly reclined her seat and then curled up on it and fell asleep. He didn't blame her. It had been a long day. But also, he was sure that she was trying to avoid another painful conversation. He obliged her in the silence, instead preferring the purr of his engine, and the hum of his tires on the road.
It didn't take long until Ulrich was pulling up to his house. He had unfortunately lost the others at a traffic light, because he wasn't paying attention in his sleep deprived state. But Sean and Seth had already been in here in a different time, and he was certain that they would be able to find their way. And Jeremy and Aelita were following them. That left him a little bit of time alone with Yumi. He gently reached over and gave the Japanese girl a little shake.
"Hey, Yumes, it's time to get up," he said softly.
"Huh?" Yumi groggily looked up at the brunette.
"We're here."
"A-are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Yumi, looking up at him, and then towards the house he shared with his parents.
"What do you mean?" queried Ulrich.
"Well," hesitated Yumi, "Last time we did this…y'know, in the universe where I was 'Evonne'? W-we…cuddled."
"What are you afraid of? Do you think we're going to do something similar…or different this time? Like, we're skipping right past that sixth date?" joked Ulrich.
Yumi frowned, "Can we stop mentioning this whole 'sixth date' thing? It's making me uncomfortable. And I feel like if...well if you ever do get around to asking me out on a date," teased Yumi.
"Hey!" shot back Ulrich. The two of them laughed, but then Yumi got serious again.
"Well, if we ever get to the point that we go on a sixth date, I just feel like that you're going to expect…that. Correction, I almost feel like if we did get to that date, that you'd want to do that and nothing else." Ulrich blushed a little thinking about the implications of that. He had to take a second to compose himself before responding. He cleared his throat and said,
"Oh, of course, I'm sorry, Yumi," said Ulrich, "I was just giving you a hard time, and trying to joke with you. I'm sorry that I made you uncomfortable."
"Thank you," sighed Yumi, "Because let's get one thing straight, my mother would kill me if she found out that I was sleeping with guys before I got married."
"You mean besides cuddling with one for the night?" asked Ulrich, joking again.
"That was one time!" shouted Yumi, "And only because I had a bad dream. And I guess technically now it didn't happen," she said, mentioning the return to the past, and how Jeremy believed every time that happened, they jumped to a different reality.
Ulrich got serious, "Don't worry Yumes, my parents are the same way, in fact, when I turned 13, my mom and dad had 'the talk', and made me promise to wait until marriage. And they told me that if I couldn't keep to that, then they would not help pay for the marriage that I would then have to undoubtedly do, after I got the girl pregnant."
"Wait," said Yumi, holding up her hands to pause Ulrich, "Your parents basically told you that if you couldn't wait until marriage, that you'd get a girl pregnant?!"
"Straight up. Basically, insinuated that relations before marriage, always equaled a kid."
"No way!" said Yumi, "That's kind of messed up! Do they not believe in, like, birth control or anything?"
"No, they do," said Ulrich, and he watched Yumi's face screw up in confusion, "They just basically believe that whatever birth control you use before marriage is inherently going to fail, no matter what. And that by the grace of whatever power there is, the girl will get pregnant."
"That's wild!" exclaimed Yumi.
"Yeah," said Ulrich, it was kind of embarrassing to mention things like this, but he felt like it was bringing them closer together.
"So, are we agreed? There will be no 'sixth date' talk?" asked Yumi.
"Agreed," seconded Ulrich, "I'd even go as far as to say that we shouldn't talk about it unless there is a priest telling us to say, 'I do'."
Yumi laughed, and Ulrich watched as her eyes crinkled a little at the corners, and her face lit up. And then in a moment, it was all over. As she looked up at Ulrich with her full, brown eyes, her eyes softened, and it was like she was staring right into his soul. Ulrich blushed and looked away. He had only pictured that look before in his mind. It was the kind of look that made his stomach flip a little. Not in discomfort, but in the light, airy kind of way he felt back when they were in school. Maybe it was a good idea to put her in the guest room tonight...
He looked back to see Yumi hastily brushing her hair in front of her face again. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Maybe it was a style thing or something. Ulrich wasn't sure. Then Yumi's voice came out, barely in a whisper.
"Look, Ulrich, let me be honest."
"Of course, whatever you need-," started Ulrich.
"No," said Yumi, cutting him off, "Let me get this out."
Ulrich stopped talking and let Yumi continue. He nodded to let her know he agreed and was listening.
"Look, this isn't like when we were in school anymore. We kind of danced around whether or not we were ever going to say that we liked each other. And we were so busy saving the world on the side that we never really had the time to think about anything else. But now we don't have to worry about those things, and this is the perfect time of our lives to start exploring those feelings that I know that we had for each other."
Ulrich couldn't help but interject, "How did you know I have feelings for you?"
Yumi sighed, "Let's be honest, we never really were good at hiding our feelings when we were kids." Ulrich had to admit, Yumi had a point, "Plus, and this might sound crazy, but I didn't wake up starting out as a 24 year-old. I started out after that incident in the factory, waking up as a 29 year-old."
"What?!" asked Ulrich.
"Yeah, do you think we have time? This might be a long story."
OK, thank you for reading! I hope to have my next chapter up soon! It's been an idea that I've been working on for a while, so hopefully it won't take me too long to finish writing it up and getting it posted.