The moment that Emily stepped in their flat, she knew that there was something going on.
"Lena? Who's this?" Emily threw a questioning glance at the rather tall, red clad man that stood with his arms crossed. He wore a red jacket over a black shirt and black pants. He was taller than the both of them, which was exacerbated by how confident he stood.
She hadn't seen this man before, nor did she know that Lena knew someone as unique-looking as him - what with stark white hair that was all natural by how she couldn't see any off-colored roots.
"Emily!" Lena cheerfully waved her over, "Lemme introduce you to Archer over here!"
"Kiritsugu Emiya." The man, Kiritsugu apparently, interrupted Lena's excited waving, "But please, call me Archer. I was just about to leave." He gave a glare at the pilot, who seemed to not even be fazed by it.
"Oh come on, I told you you could sleep here, right?" Lena rolled her eyes, while Emily turned her eyes to her fiance.
"Sleep here?"
"Yeah, Archer's place got wrecked during the Null Sector attack, and me and my unending compassion," A snort from Archer, "Shut. Offered to let him sleep on our couch for a while."
"And I keep telling you I can find another place. " Archer rebutted, "Besides you didn't even tell miss…?"
"Emily O'Hara."
"Miss O'Hara here that I'd be staying over. I would be remiss to intrude any more than I already have."
"Oh for-Emily, c'mere." Lena motioned for her. Emily threw a wary glance back towards Archer. Having a friend of Lena's come over was fine for the most part. But there was just…something about this Archer guy that didn't feel right. How Lena could withstand that glare, she would never understand.
After a moment's hesitation, she followed the still waiting Lena into the kitchen.
"Alright, spill." Emily didn't waste any time, "Who's that guy and why'd you want him to stay?" She wasn't one to jump to conclusions. She'd listen to the pilot before deciding anything, she figured.
At her question, Lena sighed. All at once, the persona that Emily, and probably everyone was familiar with, fell. The woman in front of her was completely different now from the normal Lena. It looked as if the world fell on her shoulders.
"He saved my life, Em." The whisper was solemn, "I…I don't think I can tell you in a way you'd understand, but I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Archer." She sat down on a stool, "This? Giving him a place to stay for a bit? It's the least I can do to repay that."
Emily stared at Lena. She hadn't heard any of that before. Had it happened when Null Sector attacked? Had Archer been at Overwatch, and had gotten Lena to safety? With how the pilot was surprisingly tightlipped about it, she wouldn't be finding out any time soon.
Was it even the truth? Did Archer really save Lena in the first place, or was she just covering for him?
Emily mentally shook her head from that train of thought. Lena hadn't lied to her about something this important. And it was possibly the most important thing that she'd ever told her, right next to her proposal. The weight that Lena exuded, the look in her eye, Emily was hard pressed to believe that she was capable of acting any of that out.
"Alright, he can stay." Lena perked up immediately, "BUT!" Emily stopped the bear hug that the smaller woman was about to do, "He has to help out around here. I'll let him stay, but I'm not letting some layabout live here, 'kay?"
"Aye aye ma'am!" The grin on Lena's face and the subsequent hug was a relief for Emily. Seeing such a despondent look on her features was just unnerving, unnatural. Lena Oxton was supposed to be an energetic, outgoing, and all around happy person.
Whatever Archer did, she may never know, but she was thankful.
"Oi, Archer!" She watched as Lena excitedly called out and ran back in the living room, "You're staying over!"
"What?" Archer looked completely flabbergasted. She couldn't blame him. Had it just been a friend of Lena's, then she would've insisted on having them leave. As much as she loved Lena, they would need to discuss having someone sleep on their couch first.
For Archer, as someone who'd apparently helped Lena in the past, she'd make an exception. For now.
If he did try anything untoward, then the taser she always kept on her would do just fine.
"That's right." Emily nodded with a small smile at Lena. Sometimes, the pilot was just a bit too much like a golden retriever - way too excited for their own good. She watched as Archer frowned, despite the apparent good news.
"I really should go." He insisted, "I-"
"Archer, for the love of God, you're staying."
"Oxton, it's not appropriate f-"
"Blah blah blah, Em already said you're good. Just help us around the flat and you'll be fine."
Archer glared at Lena one more time, to which the pilot stared back with a raised eyebrow, daring him to talk back. It was kind of funny, watching a tiny woman stare down a man two heads taller than her. It was even better when the man sighed in frustration and raised his hands in defeat.
"Fine, fine." The despondent acceptance in his voice made Emily cover her mouth to hide her laughter, "But I'm making dinner tonight."
"Wait, you can cook?"
"Oh, I can cook alright."
It took a grand total of twenty minutes to set the table. It wasn't because they had trouble finding any spare plates. It wasn't because they were lazing about to do it last second. No, it was because both Emily and Lena couldn't help but stop and just smell the appetizing aroma coming from the kitchen.
Emily didn't know what Archer was cooking, but at this point, the rumbling in both her and Lena's stomachs couldn't get any louder.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Archer came out with the food.
Hurriedly, the two of them sat down, all the while staring at the plate of food, "Dinner's served." Archer smugly called out, "A foil-steamed, buttered salmon, paired with some buttered mushrooms for your dining pleasure."
The smell was way too aromatic for its own good, and without even noticing, Emily had already plated her own.
"Holy shit Archer. You made this in what, thirty minutes?" Lena asked, as she reached to put some of the salmon on her plate.
"Of course. And stop, that isn't for you." Lena's hand froze just above the foil. Archer's voice was calm, but the aura around him seemed to quiver forebodingly. He brought out a smaller bowl from the kitchen, and this one was no less aromatic than the salmon.
"Here. Mapo tofu just for you."
Lena stared at the dish as she took a deep breath, "Damn that smells good! Thanks Archer!"
"Don't mention it."
Emily halted her attempt to take a bite to watch Lena. The lilt of amusement in Archer's voice just told her to sit by and watch. Both she and Archer watched as Lena happily took her first bite.
"HOLY FUCK-"
Lena started shoveling the mapo tofu down while she spoke, "Archer you bloody bastard, this is so fucking spicy!" Regardless of what she said, Lena kept on eating. Emily could see her face growing redder and redder.
It was less than a minute later that she finished her entire bowl. As soon as her spoon hit the bottom of her empty bowl, Lena had shot up from her chair and sprinted to the fridge. From their dining room, Emily could hear the pilot drink from the carton of milk they had.
All the while, Archer smirked smugly. Calmly, the man started plating his own food and started eating, "It's better when hot, by the way." He nodded to Emily, whose food was almost left forgotten on her plate.
Pushing her half amusement and half worry for Lena aside, Emily took her first bite. She was fully prepared for the onslaught of spiciness that Archer had put into the mapo tofu he made. Contrary to that however, there was no spice.
Instead, she was assaulted by the best damn fish she had eaten. Period. Almost mechanically, her hand shoveled down spoonful after spoonful of the food. Soon after, she had finished her entire plate, and was still ready to go for seconds.
Lena came back as Emily was halfway done with getting more food. The pilot was sweating profusely, her face red, and had a carton of milk in one hand, "Was-" She gasped, "Was that really necessary, you ruddy bastard?"
"Yes." Not pausing in his meal, Archer calmly replied, "And you can't tell me it wasn't good."
"That was the best bloody meal I've ever had, but holy shit was it spicy."
"Hmm. I was right in making it only mild then."
"There's no way that was just mild."
"Oh yes. I knew a priest that liked his mapo tofu spicy enough to kill tastebuds. Literally, in some cases."
"That's." Lena cut herself off, before she took another gulp of milk, "RIght, call me when the dishes need to be washed. I'm just gonna lie down for a bit."
The pilot stumbled into the living room, presumably to rest after the assault her tastebuds had fought. That left Archer and Emily at the dinner table. Swallowing the last piece of salmon she had, Emily raised an eyebrow at Archer, "Was that necessary?"
"Of course it was." Archer chuckled, "Think of it as a little payback for earlier."
"Payback?" Emily was confused. Lena rarely made anyone angry. If she did, it was for good reason. Archer giving payback was a worrying thing to behold.
"Contrary to what you may believe, I didn't find out about her plan to make me stay here until two minutes before you did."
"What? She just…dragged you over here?"
"Yep, pretty much." Archer leaned back in his chair as they conversed, now done with his own meal, "I was just helping her move some stuff around when she told me I could stay here. Can't imagine why, though." He shrugged, "I'm perfectly capable of finding my own bed for the night, but Oxton has a way with words."
Emily let a small, fond smile slip on her face, "Heh. She really does." She sobered up quickly though, and stared at Archer. With Lena still in the living room, she could ask just about anything to Archer.
And she did.
"So how did you and Lena meet? She's never mentioned you till now." She couldn't ask him anything too personal immediately, Doing so will just let the man know she was technically interrogating him..
"We met a couple of days ago, not much else to say. She helped me, I helped her." Or maybe not even that; the man had already clamped his mouth shut on any details.
'Alright, blunt it is.'
"What do you want from us?"
"From you? Nothing." Archer shrugged, "I owe Oxton though, and if nothing else, I'd like to repay that."
"Lena said that you saved her life." Emily frowned. Archer owing Lena was one thing - but coupled with Lena basically saying she owed Archer was another entirely. Someone was either lying, or both of them were telling the truth. Neither of which would give a concrete answer.
"...Ah, yes, I suppose I did." Archer scratched the back of head, "You'll have to ask her about that. It's not my place to tell." The both of them sat in awkward silence for a moment, neither really knowing where to proceed.
It was broken when Archer sighed once again, "Alright, I get it, you don't trust me. Frankly, I wouldn't trust myself either." That really didn't inspire confidence in Emily, "But again, I owe Oxton, and you can trust that I would rather die than betray that debt by doing something stupid."
"That's a bit extreme, y'know?"
"It's still the truth." He nodded resolutely, "You have my word that I'll watch out for Oxton, especially with how she seems to get put into the worst situations imaginable."
"...Fine." Emily relented. She'd already let the man sleep in their flat, so while she was still somewhat uncomfortable with his oddly weird presence, she could accept that he was being sincere in his words.
"Now that that's out of the way, I find it odd you haven't checked over Oxton after she almost got hit by a truck earlier."
"She WHAT?!"
A/N: If you like what I do and want to support me, check out my P-atreon at P-atreon•com(slash)Almistyor.
Huge thanks to: Oliver vazquez. Lemme just say, y'all really do help me a ton.