Work Text:
Nina was running late. More accurately, she was running because she was late. She had been steadily working through combat data when she suddenly realized that it was Friday, not Thursday, and that she had a date in exactly ten minutes. She combed her fingers through her hair and pinned back a few flyaways with the bobby pins that littered her desk, then quickly closed out of and saved her analysis. Then Nina ran out the door, trying to figure out where Thursday had gone.
Her date had asked to meet next to a park on Level 3, which gave her a few minutes on the rail to prepare herself and to try to move her brain out of work mode. That was hard to do considering her entire life for the last four months had been dedicated to proving herself in her new role. If she was going to be the youngest Systems Engineer and design project manager in Anaheim Electronics’ history, she needed to know every mobile suit inside and out. They were still getting data from suits destroyed or recovered near the end of the war and Nina was working to compile it all into comprehensive combat models. Once they finished, they would know more about mobile suit combat than anyone else in the Earth Sphere. And then Nina would show how valuable she was to Anaheim.
All that to say that dating was not at the forefront of her mind. But the very cute man who called himself Anavel had asked and Nina had said yes before she remembered that she regularly worked until eight and had never moved most of her clothing out of her parent’s home because all she wore these days were her work suits or coveralls when she was in the plants.
Speaking of which… Nina loosened her tie and pulled off her jacket. She unbuttoned the top few buttons of her shirt to breathe a little easier. That would have to do. When was the last time she had been on a date? Back in high school.
She was only ten minutes late when she finally entered the park. It was getting dark, the city’s climate program was shifting from day mode to night, and the streetlights had switched on as she hurried from the rail station. Nina adjusted one of her heels where it had started to rub and then scanned the park as she straightened up.
“Nina.”
Nina spun to find Anavel behind her, standing just outside the park with his hands in the pockets of his trousers.
“Anavel!” She found steadier footing on the stone path and retraced her steps to meet him. “I’m sorry I’m late, I got the day confused and I came straight from work as soon as I realized.” She was still a little out of breath.
“It’s alright. I’m glad you’re here.”
In the lamplight, Anavel’s white hair was nearly glowing. It was tied tightly back away from his face. Like the last time she’d seen him, when she’d collided with him while hurrying out of a store so she could get back home and back to work, he seemed tired. A little sad. But still straight-shouldered and standing very stiffly. Not looking like he actually was glad that she was there, or that he was.
Nina smiled, hoping she wasn’t going to regret agreeing to this date. But she hadn’t been out of her small apartment other than to go to work in months and Anavel had looked… well, he looked the same way he looked right now, which was to say he was very hard for a woman to say no to. “What did you want to do tonight?”
“Have you eaten?”
“Today? No, I don’t think… No, I haven’t.” She’d worked through lunch when the rest of the team had gone out because she’d been in the middle of analyzing the data recovered from a Rick Dom near Side 4. She’d skipped breakfast too… Now that she had a second to think, she was starving.
“There’s a restaurant on the other side of the park. Do you like Italian?”
“Yeah, I love Italian.”
Nina let him lead the way through the park. This part of the city wasn’t as busy or bright as some of the other levels. It was mainly residential neighborhoods with lots of good restaurants and small shops. The park was quiet and lit softly by periodic lamps and the fading light. Nina could feel herself relaxing as they walked.
“Do you live around here?” she asked. She knew almost nothing about Anavel, besides the fact that he liked to buy vegetables on Saturday mornings at the same market that she did. The city had changed so much after the end of the war, with hundreds of people coming and leaving every day, that the once familiar faces she would see at her regular haunts had been replaced by strangers.
“No, I live down a level. Watch your step.”
He offered his arm as they stepped over a patch of broken pavers where leaves and acorns had gathered in the exposed dirt. Nina took it and didn’t let go even when the walkway leveled out again. His arm was solid under her hand. Warm. He was taller than her, even in the heels that were part of her uniform.
“Don’t they let you take breaks?”
“What? Oh, no! I was just so busy, we just got new data back from a new batch of mobile suits and I’ve been going through it.”
“You work with mobile suits?”
“I work for Anaheim.” Nina couldn’t help smiling. So many years and now she could finally say those words.
“What are you working on?”
“I’m just analyzing data right now, there’s so much to go through still, but eventually I want to be an engineer and design new suits. Do you know mobile suits?” Anavel had sounded different when he asked if she worked with them, with something in his voice that hadn’t been there before. Almost urgent.
“I used to pilot them.”
Nina looked at him wide-eyed and was glad that she still held onto his arm as she stopped paying attention to where she was going.
“Did you really? What did you fly?”
“Different suits, they changed through the war.”
“Oh, that’s fantastic, I’d… I’d love to learn about them.” She trailed off. “If you wanted.” Nina turned her attention back to the path. Her interest in mobile suits was more like a passion, maybe an obsession, and she wanted to learn everything there was to know so she could build them and improve them. Ultimately, though, she knew it was only academic. She wouldn’t ever fly them. Anavel had fought in the war. He could have piloted some of the suits whose data she was analyzing. Or he could have destroyed them.
Nina defused what felt like a tense moment by stepping on an acorn. She let out a small shriek as her ankle rolled and her hand slipped from Anavel’s arm but a heartbeat later, she was pulled to his chest with strong arms that encircled her waist. Heart pounding, Nina slowly unclenched her hands from where they had somehow gripped his shirt, but Anavel was still holding most of her weight and she let him.
“Are you alright? Try to stand.”
“I’m fine, I’m so sorry.” Nina inched back, only to grab Anavel’s arms when she couldn’t immediately find her footing. She was thankful for the uneven lighting because she was sure that her cheeks were a bright pink, but somehow she wasn’t looking away from Anavel and he still hadn’t let go of her waist. She finally, reluctantly, released his arms (not without noticing that they really were quite nice) and he let her go. “It’s these heels, they’re part of the uniform and they’re just so silly. What kind of company makes you wear heels? I feel like I’m practicing to be a giraffe.”
“Let’s get you onto more solid ground before you decide to practice more.” Anavel held out his hand. Nina took it. Some of his hair had come loose and he looked less severe because of it. He really couldn’t be more than a couple years older than her.
“Thank you, Anavel.”
He squeezed her hand and suddenly Nina was feeling very much like a schoolgirl again but was also certain that she would remember this moment, and that name, for a very long time.