Aelita opened her eyes, seeing she woke up in a dark room, the only thing illuminating the room she was in was Jeremie's phone, and a silent alarm going off.
She wanted to look at it, only to feel her whole body, including her arms unable to move. Then, she remembered the night; and how they fell asleep. Jeremie indeed still had his arms on her waist, peacefully sleeping.
The phone stopped buzzing, its screen turned off. Since she knew Jeremie, the alarm was set at 7 in the morning, because he always liked to get up really early while they both were working on the materialization program for her. And she doubts he deleted the recurring alarm.
"Mmmmm." She suddenly heard, and felt she was being moved around. Jeremie was turning in his sleep, probably about to wake up. But since he had Aelita in his embrace, she was turning around with him.
"Morning, Jeremie." She said, hoping that he was already awake.
"Mmmorning," Jeremie mumbled and tightened the hug he had Aelita in. She just smiled, closing her eyes for a moment. She imagined how they both looked from the other point of view.
"Wakey, wakey, sleepy boy," Aelita said, hearing Jeremie giggle. She loved his laughs, which weren't heard so often since he always was either worried about the others while they were in Lyoko, or he hadn't laughed at all.
"I'm awake," Jeremie said, his voice muffled by Aelita's hair.
Jeremie slowly loosened the hold he had on Aelita but still had his hands on his waist. This allowed Aelita to turn around, to be face to face with Jeremie, who still didn't have his eyes opened. She slightly twirled around just enough to be close to his face with hers, and poked his nose with hers, instantly making him open his eyes.
"Wake up, we should go back to the campus for proper breakfast," Aelita said, as Jeremie's eyes closed again, and he mumbled something that was impossible to be understood.
"5 more minutes," Jeremie said, returning to using Aelita as his snuggling buddy, making her smile. It always made her happier when Jeremie was affectionate towards her. Well, anything that Jeremie did make her happy.
"Okay, but then we'll go," Aelita added as Jeremie hummed to it, agreeing to the terms.
Aelita tried to close her eyes to also sleep for the 5, now 4, and something minutes, but she just couldn't stop looking at Jeremie. His blond hair ruffled up because of their comfortable sleeping position. Her hair was a mess too, but she thought about it closely lately, and it resulted in her going to try to make her hair slightly flatter, which would result in it being also longer.
I want to know if Jeremie would like it though. She thought, still admiring Jeremie.
By the time Jeremie woke up again, it was way past the 5 minutes they set, but neither of them seem to care about it. Enjoying each other's presence was important for them, nothing spoken between them was an added bonus, which, for some reason, both liked.
"Okay, let's go," Jeremie said, letting go of Aelita. She rolled down from him, making him able to stand up, but something inside told her to roll back on him, so she could be with him some more.
"Aww." Aelita cooed, looking at the cat that slept beside them, still on Jeremie's sweater. "It's hers now."
"Oh, right," Jeremie said, completely forgetting why the cat was there in the first place. "And this mess..."
"No one will come here, so we could leave it like this," Aelita suggested, seeing Jeremie's face of uncertainty. "Okay, after breakfast I'll come back and pack everything up, and bring Maya to my room."
Jeremie sighed but nodded. He had almost the same plan, minus that Aelita would be doing it. Finally, Aelita stood up by grabbing his hand, and, while not so strong, he was able to stay still while she lifted herself up.
"Okay, bye Maya!" Aelita said, waving with her free hand at the kitten who was asleep. She then led Jeremie into the elevator, a bonus for having her hand in his.
It was as if Lyoko, XANA, or any danger never existed these few hours. From the beginning of the night they spent together, to this morning it all felt like this was the life Aelita dreamt of having. Not that she hated fighting XANA, it was just annoying. But she was willing to continue until they rescue her father.
Right...her father...
"Jeremie?" Aelita asked as the elevator rode up. "Is there any building named Hermitage?"
"The Hermitage?" Jeremie asked for clarification, and Aelita nodded. "How do you know that name?"
She looked at him, clearly giving him some time to think, and he did come up with an answer by himself. "Oh right, Franz."
Smart boy. Aelita chuckled. "Well, where is it then?"
"It's located far in the woods. I came across it once while I was trying to get away from Jim." Jeremie said, the elevator coming to a complete stop, and the metal door opening. "Which I think was recent."
"How recently?" "Last month?" Jeremie asked himself, while they both were walking up the stairs, still hand in hand. "Yeah, last month. We were nearly finished with the school project."
"The one where you had Ulrich stealing Yumi's clothes?" "Yeah," Jeremie said as Aelita let out a chuckle. "What?"
"Yumi told me the real story about what happened, and she was glad that he found those clothes because she was looking for them for a long time," Aelita explained, still slightly laughing. "And she wasn't angry at Ulrich. My god, how could she even be?"
Either it was that Aelita didn't know how irony works, or it wasn't meant to be ironic, but it sounded strange. Not that Jeremie would point it out, since he assumed that she was being ironic as they were laughing, and he remembered Ulrich coming back to the dorms with both hands intact after being shouted at by Yumi.
Out of a sudden, a wind began blowing right in the opposite direction they were walking to. Jeremie looked at Aelita, whose hair was being straightened up by the wind, and she was still laughing. He quickly let go of her hand, and took out his phone, opening the camera app. He stood in front of the girl, who saw that Jeremie was somewhere else she thought he would be.
"What are you doing?" She asked, giggling. Jeremie snapped a picture of Aelita and instantly added it to a special album.
"Just admiring a beauty." Jeremie smiled and offered Aelita his hand, who gladly accepted it.
Jeremie, suddenly full of confidence, spun the girl around, making her clothes and hair lift up as the air was blowing at her. After a few spins, he stopped, catching Aelita in his arms as she nearly fainted from the spins.
"That was cool!" Aelita said, lifting herself up, but not letting go of Jeremie's hand. "But I feel kinda dizzy."
"Just don't show it when we are eating breakfast," Jeremie said.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Aelita said as they were already near the campus. She didn't even acknowledge that they took the longer route, but was happy they did.
/-/-/-/
"Hey, you two sleepyheads," Ulrich said, standing in line just as Aelita and Jeremie walked behind him.
"Good morning to you too," Aelita said, kicking him lightly in the foot.
"Ouch." Ulrich said, slithgly hissing in pain.
"Where are the others?" Aelita asked, grabbing herself a butterknife and a spoon.
"Odd is already eating and Yumi needed to quickly do something, but she has her tray already at the table," Ulrich said, noticing Jeremie looking at him. "Something wrong, Einstein?"
"Nothing, just you are making a big gap." He pointed at the front. Ulrich turned around, seeing he was at the front of the line, but was far from Rosa.
"Right," Ulrich said, speeding towards Rosa, who put some sausages on his plate. Aelita walked closer, seeing the choice was bigger, and maybe tastier than on school days. She grabbed herself a yogurt, and let Rosa give her bread with butter and jam.
She took her tray and walked towards the table they always sat at, seeing Odd completely destroying about a kilo of sausages.
"Geez," Aelita said, sitting down on the other side, so Jeremie could sit down next to her.
"My words Aelita, don't steal them," Ulrich said, adding a chuckle. Soon, Jeremie came to them, sitting next to Aelita, and looked at Odd.
"I still don't understand how you keep eating this much." Jeremie shook his head and began eating the toast he had.
"Ooo, you have a toast!" Aelita said, just before Jeremie was able to touch it. "Trade."
She put her plain white bread on his tray. Jeremie didn't answer, but took the jam from her tray, and spread it out on the toast, carefully putting it right to the edges.
"What are yo-" She stopped, feeling a piece of toast in her mouth. Jeremie was literally feeding her.
Aelita took a bite, as Jeremie put it down, now on Aelita's table, while also giving her the rest of his toasts. She swallowed it and smiled, nodding as if she was telling him that she liked it.
"Ahh, young love." They both heard. Turning their heads to the side, they saw Odd and Ulrich looking at them as if they were admiring them, but rather it was them being irritated.
"Shut up," Jeremie mumbled, as his cheeks began turning red.
"Anyway, where were you two?" Ulrich asked. "Since Jim raided our room and took the snacks which were supposed to be Odd's just to ask where you two were."
"We had a sleepover at the laboratory," Aelita said, finishing the first toast, as she saw that Jeremie prepared her another one.
"And why?" "Jeremie was working there, so I stayed there, also trying to befriend the kitten," Aelita said, not wanting to give more details.
"So you are bringing the cat here?" "Yeah," Aelita said. "She's cute, isn't she?"
"Yeah, but take her to the vet before." Odd said. "I know a vet here where I take Kiwi, and she said that if I wanted another animal I should take it to her so she can properly vaccinate it and all that."
"Speaking of vaccinations," Jeremie spoke out of sudden and turned to Aelita. "We are supposed to have our yearly medical exams."
"So?" "You don't have vaccination papers," Jeremie said. "Or any official papers, just the ones we used to enroll you here."
"Oh." That was the only thing that Aelita said. "That's...a problem, right?"
"A big one," Jeremie said, but clearly not meaning that it was Aelita's fault. "Odd, when it is?"
"Um, sometime this week, I think on Friday." "That leaves us 4 days to look through your father's files on the supercomputer to try to find anything looking like your medical records," Jeremie said. "If not, then I'll just fake them for you, at least temporarily."
"Aww, you would fake legal records just for me?" Aelita said, not noticing how she made Jeremie embarrassed.
"Y-Yeah." Jeremie stuttered out, turning back to his plate, so he would probably stop being nervous for some time.
"I'm back guys." Yumi out of a sudden said as she sat down at the table. "And girl. Morning, Aelita, where did you two sleep?"
"Laboratory," Aelita said. The moment she said the word, Jeremie stood up, and walked away from the table, looking like he was in a rush. "Huh?"
"It's Einstein, he's fine," Odd said, stuffing another sausage in his mouth. "And besides, it can't be your fault."
"Yeah, Odd's right," Yumi said as Aelita turned to Yumi. "Jeremie would never get angry at you, he adores you."
"I was hoping he does." Aelita chuckled. "But I want to hear it from him."
"Of course. One day it will come and he tells you." Yumi said, as she heard a loud ding, which only could be from Ulrich's phone. He took it out and read something, showing it to Odd afterward.
"We got to go." Odd said, as they both stood up and walked away. Yumi just rolled her eyes, as only she and Aelita stayed at the table.
"Well, since the guys abandoned us, I'm inviting you to my house." Aelita smiled and nodded. "Because we must take care of the hair of yours."
"I was thinking of making it flatter, so it would be longer," Aelita said, making gestures on her head. "Because this really looks like I store the hair from my character."
"Really? Never noticed it." Yumi joked, as the two girls stood up in sync, and walked towards the exit, putting their trays away before leaving the cafeteria.
/-/-/-/
"Okay, is this all?" Odd asked, seeing the amount of stuff behind him. Ulrich opened his phone, and began checking.
"Collar, check. Leash, check. Toilet, check. Sand, check. Bowls, check. Food, check." He read aloud. "We forgot the name tag."
"Well? We are still in front of the store, grab it." Odd said, as Ulrich nodded, and ran back into the store. Odd could hear how nervous he was while talking so fast, trying to explain it had to be pink and have the exact name on it.
A few minutes passed, and Ulrich walked out, having a name tag in his hands.
"They also asked for personal details, so I just put Jeremie's there," Ulrich said. "I'm sure Jeremie will change them if needed."
Odd nodded as the two lifted the things they bought and began making their way out of the mall, back towards the campus.
Jeremie had given them some time for the shopping since he said he wanted to not be suspicious, and that he wanted to set everything up. And when he said to them to take his wallet, they didn't think twice and helped him. The request was finished with two free sodas and some snacks.
"Jeremie sure cares for Aelita." Odd said. "Letting us spend his money on these things."
"Odd, you never cared for anyone you loved?" Ulrich asked.
"I do care for Sam." "Well, you love Sam, Jeremie loves Aelita," Ulrich explained, not understanding how in the world Odd didn't know it.
"Ah, makes sense." Odd said, as they walked into the dormitory, making their way towards Aelita's room, where they saw Jeremie, standing in front of the door, a bag on his back.
"Is it really all of it?" Jeremie asked, as he unlocked Aelita's door, and opened it.
"You wanted more?" "I thought it would be more," Jeremie said. "Nevermind, you can go, I'll set everything up."
"Thanks, boss." Odd joked as Ulrich threw Jeremie his wallet back. "And don't forget about the payment!"
Jeremie laughed as the two left him in Aelita's room alone. He opened the bag, letting Maya jump out of it, and began looking around.
He began unpacking the things, filling the toilet with sand, and hiding it just behind under the table and next to the closet, so it won't be seen. He then prepared the bowls close to it, and unpacked the collar along with the name tag.
"Welcome home, Maya." He said, placing the collar around the cat's neck, and locking it. He opened an empty box he brought from his room, and filled it with the cat food, so he could hide the enormous pack down in the boiler room, where he was aware of Odd keeping food for Kiwi.
He took out the sweater that Maya used as her bed, and made a nest from it, the cat immediately laying down in it.
"Okay, hopefully, Aelita will be happy." Jeremie said, looking if everything looked okay.
He grabbed a sticky note and a pen, and wrote a message for Aelita on it, keeping it on the table so she would see it easily.
He opened the door, took all of the trash and his things out, and closed the door, locking it after.
Now we just wait.