Building Love out of Legos: Chapter 7: The People You Meet On Busses
Previous chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
Notes:
Tamara-Human name for the Czech Republic
Lien- Human name for Vietnam
“Well you’re certainly home early,” Lukas quipped, extracting himself from a make-out session with Matthias as Emil walked through the front door.
“It was only the first date, Lukas,” Emil sighed as he took his shoes off and sat down on the couch, “It’s not like I was going to spend the night. And anyways we both had to leave and get ready for the after school care shift, I mean why else would we have gone out so early in the day?”
“Because you’re a square,” Matthias answered, “And speaking of which, how was your nerdy aquarium date Mr. Quadrilateral?”
“It was good!” Emil replied, ignoring the other man’s jab at his personality, “We went to the seabird exhibit and Alfred didn’t even seem annoyed when I started talking about puffins.”
“Really? Oh Emil, marry him now while you still have the chance.” Lukas mocked, throwing a hand over his forehead in a fake-dramatic pose, “Who knows if you’ll ever meet another man who can handle your puffin obsession.”
“Oh shut up Lukas,” Emil grumbled, crossing his arms in a huff, “Can’t I like a guy without you making snide jokes about it?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Ugh! Fine. You know what? Make fun of me and my date. I don’t care,” Emil huffed as he got up from the couch and started to stomp out of the room, “I’m going to go get ready for work.”
“Can’t you stomp more quietly? You’re disturbing the neighbors,” Lukas called after him. Emil ignored him, opting instead to slam his bedroom door shut and flop down on his bed.
The problem with him and Lukas sharing an apartment, Emil thought bitterly, was that the money he saved by staying with his brother didn’t always make up for the teasing sibling rivalry he had to put up with. That being said, renting an apartment by himself with his income just wasn’t a realistic possibility. He would just have to put up with his brothers teasing for now.
He sighed and buried his head into his pillow, allowing himself to wallow in self-pity for a few more seconds. Then he rolled over reluctantly and sat up in his bed. He really did need to get ready for work.
*****
The bus lurched to a halt and Emil toppled into the person standing next to him. An event that greatly sullied Emil’s already unpleasant commute to work.
“Sorry,” he said as he regained his balance.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s not your fault,” The girl he had run into replied, as she readjusted the pink flower clips in her hair. She was just about done fixing her hair when suddenly she stopped to look at him.
“Hey, I know you!” she exclaimed.
“You do?” Emil asked without thinking.
“Yeah! You’re that guy that my girlfriend's brother is trying to get with.”
“What?”
“You know Alfred right?”
“Um...yes?”
“Well, I’m his sister’s girlfriend, Mei. He sent his sister Michelle a snapchat of the two of you at the aquarium this morning while I was over at her place. That’s how I recognized you.”
“Oh...okay,” Emil replied cautiously, “Well um, hi, my name is Emil.”
“Nice to meet you, Emil!” Mei exclaimed enthusiastically. Then she decided to go on a tirade that Emil was by no means ready for.
“So Alfred huh? I mean I know he’s got nice abs but what do you see in him? It can’t be his sense of humor. The only jokes he ever tells are bad puns. Is it his money? Because I know his dads are rich, but they’ve kind of insisted that their kids at least try to be financially independent, so he doesn’t have that much cash. He has the personality of a store brand paragon, so it can’t be that. Is he good in bed? I just don’t get it.”
“Wh-what,” Emil spluttered, “ Abbs? Rich fathers? What on earth are you talking about? I’ve only been on one date with the guy, I don’t even know if I really like him yet.”
“Oh, well I guess that makes sense.Too bad though,” Mei murmured as she pulled a business card out of her wallet, “Here, text me sometime. Let me know if you ever find which of Alfred’s personality traits makes him tolerable. And really do text me too, my curiosity just is insatiable. Well, anyways this it was my stop. Nice meeting you, bye!”
Emil could only stand there, mouth agape, as the bus doors swung open. What the hell had just happened.
“Next stop 35th and Hetalia st,” a computerized voice droned through the bus.
Realizing his stop was next, Emil straightened up and slipped the bubble gum pink business card that labeling Mei as the assistant manager of the city's most popular comic book shop into his pant pocket. He would just have to ask Alfred about it later.
*****
“So….” Emil began as he and Alfred knelt on the floor together picking up legos, “I met your sister's girlfriend on the bus today.”
“Which one?” Alfred asked as he pulled a Playmobil out of the lego pile.
“What do you mean which one?” Emil replied a little bit dumbfounded, “Do you have more than one sister?”
“What? no,” Alfred laughed, “I mean which of Michelle’s girlfriends are you talking about? She’s dating like five people, and most of them are ladies.”
“Oh my god, she’s cheating on her girlfriend!?”
“Um, no. She’s polyamorous dude. All of her partners know she’s dating other people.”
“Oh, uh, I guess that’s fine then...um, well yeah well I definitely met one of them,” Emil floundered, realizing that the conversation had come to an unpleasant stopping point.
“Okay, but you didn’t answer my question. Which one? Was is Lien? Tamara? Mei? Oh wait, was it Katyusha? Because they’re actually agender, but a lot of people mistake them for a girl,” Alfred interjected, crawling under the table to retrieve a pile of red and yellow lego blocks.
“Um, I think she said her name was Mei.”
“Oh gross,” Alfred groaned, “Mei is just the worst.”
“Really? She seemed pretty okay to me,” Emil countered as he went to pick up a group of legos that had somehow made it all the way to the other side of the room, “a little talkative yeah, but she seemed nice.”
“Humph, well sure she’s nice when you’ve only just met her, but let me tell you, I’m friends with her cousin Yao and from what he’s told me I can tell you that she’s a pretty nasty person. Michelle could do better.” Alfred concluded. Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, “And you should stay away from her. She’s bad news.”
“Well,” Emil said with a huff, “I appreciate your concern, but I think I’ll decide on her character for myself. I try not to make snap judgments about people based on 3rd hand information.”
“Suit yourself, but Yao said-”
“Wait, hold on a second. This Yao you’re talking about wouldn’t happen to be Wang Yao would it?”
“I-uh...yeah,” Alfred admitted.
“The same Wang Yao who runs what is probably the sketchiest gay bar in the whole city?”
“...yeah.”
“Didn’t he rent out his bar to a bunch of tankies one time?”
“Well, he did but-”
“And didn’t he turn a blind eye to an illegal wrestling ring that was happening next door to him for almost three years?”
“There’s no proof of that!”
“And you want me to believe a bunch of dirt this guy made up about his cousin?”
“Listen, man, Yao’s given me some really good advice when I needed it. I trust him. And anyway, how do you know all that stuff?”
“I’m best friends with his younger brother.”
“Oh..well, yeah I guess you would know about all that stuff then,” Alfred conceded.
“You know for a daycare provider you certainly seem to hang out with an interesting group of people,” Emil smirked.
“Oh please. I’m not some secret bad boy if that’s what you’re thinking,” Alfred said in exasperation, “Yao and I knew each other in high school. We were lab partners and the only two queer kids in our AP chem class. That’s why we’re friends. No other reason.”
“Yeah whatever you say store brand paragon.”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s what Mei called you,” Emil explained.
“Ugh!” Alfred cried, “She really is the absolute worst!”
“Yeah I sort of got the feeling she wasn’t your biggest fan either buddy,” Emil laughed, “Now come on, help me move these lego’s back into the storage closet.”
I know BelaLiech is already p popular but gosh I love it
But SeyTai, man (or as I call it, Fish n’ Flowers). So good. You have two tropical, optimistic gals. They’d be great buds/girlfriends, and they need more love imo
Here is a Taiwan/Seychelles fic for Day 3 of aph rare pair week 2017, theme Childhood! Sorry I’m a couple days out! No warnings, it’s basically pure fluff with a nanosecond of not, 1446 words, and on Ao3 here
Summary: Taiwan is apparently worn out after meeting Seychelles' class, and though Seychelles herself is used to them by now, she’s more than happy to lie here and cuddle, dreaming out loud about a kind of childhood they weren’t destined to have.
“Wow,” Taiwan sighs as she flops down onto the first seat she comes across in Seychelles’ house, “I haven’t felt this worn out in ages!”
Seychelles laughs, amused by the exaggerated way she’s spread her limbs out across the cushioned wicker sofa, lying on it as though it’s a bed rather than a seat for two. She’s not convinced that Taiwan’s actually that tired given the way she’s practically skipped all the way here from the school, talking a mile a minute about each of the wonderful children she’d met - but then again, it can take a lot to keep up with a bunch of endlessly energetic seven year olds, especially if not used to them.
She slips off her sandals and pads over to her ‘exhausted’ guest, leans down to press a kiss to her forehead and delights in the way her eyes crinkle at the corners as she smiles, wide yet soft and ever so slightly bashful at the same time.
It’s one she now knows well, one that comes so readily with every loving touch.
“Here,” Taiwan says as she pulls her arms and legs back into her body, shuffling onto her side so that there’s just about enough room for Seychelles to lay alongside her. It’s barely enough; she has to squash fairly close to her to stop from rolling onto the floor, which makes them giggle because they know it’s silly, they could just sit up and cuddle, but who cares, there’s no-one here to judge them.
Not to mention it’s hardly a problem - in fact she still doesn’t even feel she’s close enough. There’s forever a desire inside to hold her nearer, to wrap her arms around her tight as can be.
She moves to nuzzle Taiwan’s neck, the familiar feeling of her soft skin, the comforting scent of her surrounding her senses as she breathes in deep. She feels Taiwan shiver - the good kind she hopes - and then her feels her arm come to rest across her side, as if she too wants to stop her from falling, from moving just an inch away.
It’s a warm cocoon, and at this rate she might just end up dozing herself.
“You really should be proud, you know,” Taiwan murmurs after a while of quiet, “you’ve raised a beautiful class. So many different personalities there, but so many bright minds!”
Seychelles shifts so she’s eye level with her again, sees the sincerity in those honey flecked eyes and feels flattered once more. She heard it all on their walk back, but the praise hasn’t lost its touch. “Ah, thank you. But I can’t take all that credit, I’ve only been there temporarily. And anyway, you were the star, they really loved you! To think you were nervous that they wouldn’t...”
The class might have been shy when she first gathered them round to introduce her special friend from Taiwan, but once one brave soul had spoken up that had been it; question after question came for her, from sensible to silly to sweet, (“What do you eat for breakfast in Taiwan? Do you have the sea in Taiwan? What’s your favourite animal? Is everyone in Taiwan as pretty as you?). And as if answering all these weren’t enough, she’d got stuck right into playing with them, hop-scotch to football, drawing pictures and even managing to coax a shy little bookworm into telling her all about her story - before being whisked off for another.
Ok, no wonder she needed a rest!
Seychelles herself hadn’t had any doubt the children would love her, but it warmed her heart even so, to watch her laughter blend in with their toothy grins and giggles. Too often for Seychelles’ liking would she hear an undertone of weariness in her voice when they spoke long-distance, or an offhand comment about something displeasing that of course, she never elaborated on, rarely being one for complaining.
“It was easy when they are so lovely,” Taiwan interrupts her thoughts, “but you were the real natural, Madam Seychelles,” she speaks the title in what Seychelles can only guess is supposed to be a stern teacher-like voice, which in reality sounds nothing like her; she raises an eyebrow but can't help smiling nevertheless. “They’re lucky to have you. It’s funny how often you seem to be in the right place at the right time.”
“Yes…there’s something that guides me there, you know? I think, it’s almost like a call…like somebody is calling out and it travels straight to me.”
It was true; so often had she woken early, earlier than the dawn almost, feet carrying her out of bed before her mind could catch up, taking her to wherever she was needed. It had been the same a few weeks ago; somehow when she got up she'd just felt that she had to tie her up in a bun, and had found herself heading towards a school about to be told multiple teachers had come down with a virus, and was she free to help out?
She loves to float around like this, to wherever and whoever; she is fortunate, she thinks, for the relative freedom she has from being tied to meetings and offices like some of her fellow nations. She knows Taiwan for one would enjoy doing more of the same.
“They don’t need me much longer, but I will miss them. Tiring as they can be, they do keep me young at heart!”
Taiwan hums in agreement, tracing gentle patterns across her back. “I was almost jealous today, of all that fun. Sometimes I wish I could be a kid again! Like, a proper one.”
Yes; not born into politics, seen as land, treated like a prize or bargaining chip once they were discovered. Seychelles had vague memories of being small, but there were more moments of wandering alone than fun with other children, learning things the tough way rather than through fun discovery and bright classrooms.
“I know what you mean. But then just think, if we weren’t who we are today, we might not have met!”
“Ah, but maybe we could have!” and in Taiwan's eyes is that gleam of wonder, of possibilities and imagination, “Maybe we’d end up being pen pals! Or, one of our families would move, and we’d be neighbours! Or end up at the same school, wouldn’t that be fun!” she grins. “What do you think we’d be like?”
“As kids?” she pauses to muse as Taiwan nods, “Oh, I don’t know…we’d probably be full of energy too! Maybe the type to always get into adventures, make our mums despair when we wandered off to explore something that looked cool…and I bet we’d want to be friends with everyone, even as toddlers. And if we were at school together we‘d be best friends of course! The teachers would tell us off for talking too much,” they laughed, because they’d been told as much at world meetings before, “And I think we’d be pretty sporty, too. But you would go home with skinned knees from playing football with the boys, and still want to play dress up, and the grownups would always laugh.”
“And as we grew up," Taiwan carried on, "we’d still stay inseparable, even through teenage drama and stuff. But we’d be good students, probably not graduating top of the class, but good enough. And we wouldn't be able to wait for summer, to have even more fun!” She sighed, happy and almost sounding faraway, “Sounds good, right?”
“Right!”
Yes, it did. But at the end of the day, that wasn’t their life to live.
Taiwan moves forward to kiss her briefly, but softly, and when they pull back, Seychelles just can't stop herself from saying, “But you know something? I wouldn’t trade having you here now with any other life in the world.”
She feels rather than sees Taiwan's smile as she is kissed again; she brings her hand up to brush her cheek, stroke her hair, happy to be here for the rest of the afternoon if that's where the time takes them.
A rumbling stomach, however, suggests otherwise.
“Oops,” Taiwan murmurs against her lips, “I guess my stomach’s decided it’s done with resting!”
“Seems so! What do you say we head to a market?”
Taiwan nods, and pecks her on the lips again.
“I think that sounds good. But it can wait for a bit longer, too.”
And so they lie there together for moment after moment, and it’s so easy, to lazily chat, dream up lives together, steal a kiss or two; it’s always easier to just be, whenever Seychelles is here with her.
I was like "yeha cyberpunk! ...I know like three things about cyberpunk." but then I realized quite some books I really liked when I was younger definitely fall into the genre so then I was like "Okay Yeha Cyberpunk!" and then it became... not very cyberpunk. but I tried.
also I have named things after this song before (most notably my blog) but I just love it a lot :'D
of tomorrow
part III of the femslash Sonata Arctica AUs
Slowly we become the new species of tomorrow
Mankind lives or dies by its boundless dreams
- Take One Breath
characters/pairings: Seychelles (Angélique)/Taiwan (Mei), Australia (David), New Zealand (Riley)
word count: 2921
summary:
An unwanted visitor is sent home to her comfortable life, but Angélique thinks she’ll miss Mei even if she promises to come back someday.
“Angélique, come on! Hurry up a bit, will you?”
She keeps her eyes straight ahead and her fingers on the keys. Numbers flash by like lightning.
“I’m almost there,” she says through gritted teeth.
“Almost how? Almost—”
“David, kindly shut up,” she interrupts him, and ignores his grumbling when she hits the right file. She copies the contents quickly, then turns to David, who’s bouncing on his heels and peering down the brightly lit hall, where Riley is keeping watch.
“I’m done now,” she announces.
“Oh, thank fuck. Riles!”
Riley skids over to them, dirty shoes slipping on the glossy floor, eyebrows raised.
“Yes,” David confirms. “Now let’s get the hell out here. I can’t believe we’re going through this much trouble for a bloody wight.”
“Don’t call her that,” Angélique says.
Riley sighs and opens the door at the end of the hall, gesturing the both of them outside. Angélique tugs her bandana down from her hair and over her mouth. Her eyes water as she gets used to the heavy air and the ever-strong heat, but she blinks and follows David and Riley as they dash to the fence and clamber over it, careful not to touch its electric parts. It’s routine. They’ve done this before, though they have never actually gotten into the control building itself. The security has always been poor. No one expects those living here to be capable of even coming up with the idea of getting in here.
Joke’s on them, Angélique thinks, even if that’s far from the truth, if the ‘bloody wight’ hasn’t been telling lies.
Riley goes up front through narrow, dark streets. People scuttle away as they pass, watching from behind dirt-caked windows but never asking questions. You don’t ask questions. Questions only lead to answers, and that’s the last thing anyone here needs. Plausible deniability is where it’s at.
The tiny house the three of them share sits crammed between two other just like it, all unappealing angles and time-blackened walls. Angélique knows the neighbors actually tried to clean their house once, unveiling a surprising red color, but it had gotten just as bad again a week later. They haven’t bothered since. It’s like that most of the time.
All the city’s filth accumulates here. David would probably say that that is true in a figurative way as well. He has his cynical moments.
Mei is sitting where they left her two hours ago, back straight and knees pressed tight together. David scoffs at her and disappears upstairs. Riley sighs again, and when Mei’s eyebrows knit together, they shake their head, brown curls flopping from side to side.
“Don’t worry about Dave. We got what you need.”
She presses her lips together. The glossy pink lipstick she was wearing when they found her has long since worn off from all the worrying at it.
“He doesn’t like me.”
“He doesn’t need to like you,” Angélique replies, sitting down on the edge of the low table, facing the other woman. “We’ll get you back where you belong and you can both forget about each other.”
Mei’s perfectly symmetrical dark brown eyes search Angélique’s grimy face, and a slender, slightly tanned hand reaches out to tug the bandana down from her nose and mouth. Angélique forgot she was still wearing it; it’s become second nature over her life. She casts her own gaze down, letting her dark curls fall in front of her face.
David’s return is heralded by his heavy boots clunking down the stairs. Mei quickly drops her hand back into her lap, and all three of them turn to David when he steps into the room. He squares his jaw and fixes his gaze on Mei, who bites her lips again but looks back steadily.
“We’ll get you out,” he says, “but don’t expect anything beyond that.”
Angélique clenches her hands into fists and rises, but Mei only nods, stands up, brushes off her pleated pink skirt, and tosses her glossy black hair over a shoulder.
“What are we waiting for?” she asks. “Obviously, you want me gone.”
David opens his mouth, eyes narrowing, but Riley forestalls him.
“It’s still daytime. We’re going to have to get you to transport station when it’s dark.”
At this, Mei’s eyes widen. “It’s day still? But – it’s…”
Riley and Angélique exchange a confused glance. Riley shrugs.
“Well, never mind that,” she continues. “Thank you, whatever the case. You could have just as easily left me when you found me.”
A sharp look at David prevents him from making a snide comment. Angélique doesn’t understand what his problem with Mei is. Sure, she might be a… A ‘bloody wight’, but she by herself doesn’t pose any danger to them. Then again, for all her years of friendship with David – and Riley – there are still a lot of things she doesn’t know about either of their pasts.
She also still isn’t sure what they are to each other, exactly, but there are more important things in life than her friends’ relationship. And really, contrary to popular belief, Angélique does know when to leave stuff alone.
“We should get some sleep,” Riley says. “I’m sure we’re all pretty tired anyway.”
“Are you all coming along?” Mei looks up at David, who sighs, but nods.
“To get in there, we’re gonna need all three of our areas of expertise. So yeah, we’re gonna have to put up with each other for a while longer.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Mei says, perfect lips pursed in exasperation. It’s nice to see some emotion on her face, Angélique thinks. Usually, in the four days she’s been here, she has been unreadable, somehow perfectly serene. Her skin is flawless, and so is everything else about her. Her fingers are long and elegant. She works as well with her left hand as her right. She has perfectly straight white teeth set in a mouth with full lips and the slightest hint of dimples in her cheeks when she smiles.
Angélique didn’t understand why all this concerned David so much, unless he was jealous, which he’s never been the type for. He started glowering as soon as they got Mei cleaned up. It only started making some semblance of sense when she saw the real tipoff that Mei wasn’t human, at least not entirely. A barcode-like brand on her right hip, one of the only asymmetrical features of her body.
It hasn’t become entirely clear to Angélique what exactly sets Mei apart from people like herself, but Riley managed to tell her some vague speculation about a combination of genetic enhancement or manipulation and high-tech, before David began muttering about ‘wights’ again. He’s usually so chill about everything. There has to be something more there, but… Questions, answers. She might be better off not knowing.
Still, Mei has been nothing but an excellent guest despite his hostility. Angélique has wondered if all those David would call ‘wights’ would be like that, never complaining or asking unnecessary questions, or if that is something that is uniquely hers. It’s an admirable trait.
“Of course,” says David, and he stomps off again. Riley rolls their eyes, shoots Angélique and Mei an apologetic look, and goes after him.
“Well,” Angélique starts, “as I’ve said before; he’s really a good guy, usually.”
At this, Mei actually smiles, steepling her fingers absently.
“I will take your word for it, Angélique.” She folds her hands together, sitting back down and clasping them between her knees. “I wonder if they miss me back home.”
Angélique leans her hip against the wall, pushes her bandana back up into her hair.
“Why wouldn’t they? You said you have a brother, right, and you’re pretty close? He must be worried.” She scratches at her nose, catches some dust flaking off on her fingers. “And I think I’ll miss you when you go.”
“I suppose. Thank you. It’s just…” She furrows her thin eyebrows. “Now that I know all this…” A gesture at the gloomy room, the dirty air outside and the old furniture that’s nearly falling apart. She starts chewing on her lower lip.
“Now that I know that you live here like this, not only you three but so many people, I can’t help but feel that it’s unfair to just – return to how I was before. It was an accident that I ended up in the lower town, but I want it to be good for something. Like a lesson learned. I’m sure my brother would help me.”
“Help you with what?” Angélique asks, intrigued. She’s never thought of herself or her friends as a possible charity case – as far as life in this town goes, they have it quite well. They’ve got a house, and none of them have caught any of the nasty diseases that circle the population from time to time. But the stories Mei has told about life in the upper districts were fascinating. Some sounded made-up, but Mei swore high and low that she told nothing but the truth.
All around town, the upper districts are considered a nearly mythical area; no one ever goes there, no one ever comes out of them. Yet Mei is about to become possibly the first person who does both. Vaguely, Angélique is proud to be a part of it.
“I just mean that there must be something we can do to make life here better,” Mei is explaining. “More comfortable, you understand? This is simply inhumane. I can’t allow any friend of mine to live in all this dirt and outdated… Everything. I know people who have pull. And people will listen to me as well.” She smiles a suspiciously asymmetrical smile that has Angélique’s heart jumping. “David might not like it, but I was conceived to be trustworthy.”
Angélique grins back, then says, “But we really should get some sleep before dark, I think.”
Mei nods, and so they do.
Night has long since fallen by the time all four of them are awake and ready to go. It’s not a long trip to the transport station, an although there is some danger of being caught in the last leg, the real tricky part is getting Mei back to the upper district of Aintza Town, where she lives, preferably without anyone noticing until morning. That part is, nerve-wrackingly, also the part Angélique is responsible for; she’s the only one of them any good with computers beyond basic skill. But she’s never smuggled something out of town before, let alone a person.
It’ll be a challenge.
Getting to the station is easy. Mei has dressed in some of Angélique’s clothes, which are a little big on her but stand out less than her – supposedly fashionable – light skirt and blouse, stained as they are after her week here. No one asks where they’re going. Mei doesn’t lag behind to gawp at people and buildings and whatever else she finds extraordinary like she did when she first passed through here.
David, who is second behind Riley, seems to have calmed down some, and he is concentrated when they reach the station and he has to open the gate.
It doesn’t matter if someone sees them slipping in under the meager light of a street lantern, so long as it isn’t someone who works at the transport station. For all the people out on the streets at this hour care, they might as well be invisible.
“Here we are, then,” David announces, gesturing them into the dark, looming shadows of the brick building that houses the control room. Or so they assume, at least. Riley said it would be logical, and Riley has a good eye for things like that.
They get inside without trouble, and to Angélique’s relief, there are signs pointing towards the different parts of the building and indicating where they can find central control. Mei just looks baffled by the very existence of the signs, calling them ‘quaint’ under her breath so only Angélique can hear. She snickers, just as softly. It must be a bit of a cultural shock if even half of her stories about the upper districts are true.
No one seems to be around at this time of night. It would be, Angélique thinks, extremely easy to take over control of the lower town, but then who’d want to do that? There’s nothing of value here. The only thing the people here are good for is manning the factories, putting things together without even knowing what it all accumulates to.
Mei seems fascinated by the computers they find in the control room, letting her fingers ghost over the keys without pressing them and tapping at screens expectantly.
“I haven’t seen anything with buttons since history class,” she marvels when David has left the room to be lookout, Riley trailing behind. “And screens, really.”
Angélique hums noncommittally, focused on the buttons and screens in question. The directories are different than the ones at the control building, but she manages to wade through the layers of timetables and security measures to find what she’s looking for, and gestures Mei over. The woman hovers close to her back, which makes her shiver despite the dry heat. She somehow still smells sweet. Angélique has to stop herself from inhaling it deeply just because she knows it’ll be gone in a few short minutes, if all goes well.
“Look, if you can get on this carrier…” She points, and Mei nods, hair brushing Angélique’s cheek. “I can start it, and it’ll take you to the Aintza transport station more-or-less directly.”
It’s strange how many other stations there are; it’s never really occurred to any of them that the world is so much bigger than the lower town.
“More-or-less directly sounds good enough. I don’t know how to thank you, Angélique.”
“You’re not there yet,” she mumbles, standing up a little straighter, breath catching when Mei doesn’t move back, pressing them together.
“I can’t thank you when I’m there.”
Well, she supposes that’s true, yes.
“I can come back,” Mei whispers. Angélique closes her eyes and swallows. “And I will, if you want me to. I need to do something.”
“I’m not a charity case,” Angélique protests, fingers clenching over the keyboard. She shivers when she feels Mei’s long fingers slide down to her wrists. They spread over her hands, contrasting sharply against her own dark skin in the flickering light from the monitor.
“I know you’re not. It’s not because of that. It’s because I trust you, and I like you, Angélique.” She puts her chin on her shoulder. “And maybe it’s selfish, but I want to see you again.”
Angélique huffs, and Mei laughs softly, as if in wonder about something.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been selfish before. I didn’t think that was part of my makeup.” She strokes small circles on Angélique’s knuckles. “Guess you learn something new every day.”
“Lique!” David urges from outside in the hall, and Angélique snaps out of the Mei-induced reverie. Mei herself snaps back as well.
“Yeah!” she shouts back. “Sorry, Mei. I got… I got caught up.”
Her eyes have widened, as if she feels the same. “Yes. Of course. Sorry. Should I go now, are you… Are you ready?”
“Yes. I am. You should.” Angélique runs a hand through her dark curls, biting the inside of her cheeks. “But I do hope – selfishly – that I’ll see you again.”
“Selfishly,” Mei repeats, smiling. “I think that’s a very good motivation for both of us. I think we have more in common than it would seem, Angélique.”
Angélique nods, and Mei turns to the door, walking towards it briskly.
“Wait,” Angélique says. She glances at the screen, just to check, then hurries over to the other woman, who stills and turns back, and reaches up when Angélique catches her shoulders to tug her towards herself. The skin of her cheek is smooth and warm underneath Angélique’s lips. She smiling lopsidedly when they pull apart, then reaches up to kiss Angélique’s cheek as well, a thumb stroking her cheekbone.
“See you,” she says. “Take care.”
And she’s gone.
David enters the control room soon after she’s left, with Riley being the one in charge of getting her out to the right carrier. He hovers behind Angélique in a familiar, reassuring way, his steady presence returning now that the unknown factor is well on her way to gone. Angélique isn’t sure how to feel about it.
The icon for the carrier lights up, and all she has to is press start to let it go. She takes a deep breath and does it. Maybe Mei will come back. Maybe she won’t. It’s nothing she won’t get over, she tells herself. You don’t get this far in life in this town if you let things get to you.
“I hope she makes it home safe,” she does tell David.
He sighs a little. “Because you’re in love with her.”
She looks up at him. He seems resigned.
“Because I think she’s a good person, who deserves the life she’s told us about.” And, when David’s thick eyebrows rise and the familiar spark of humor lights in his green gaze, “The fact that I’m in love with her is secondary.”
She laughs and pushes at his shoulder affectionately, and then they’re off into the lower town once more. They’ll see where they end up, same as always.
