Stopping by for coffee

Thursday may 18th

Around noon

Sunny, with some clouds

@Edita

That morning Idés had come in to work to find something of a treat. Lying inside the EZPEC was a Zeal with the exact same energy output as the unstable one he had made a few weeks prior! Which meant that he may have cracked the code to how to create that sort of Zeal reliably and efficiently – which meant that he immediately had put over another batch to test if the result would be recreated a third time, which was currently being exposed within the chamber, the numbers on the machine showcasing for how long they'd been inside and the amount of energy they were being exposed to. It might just be the feeling that he was moving closer and closer to a breakthrough every moment or that the spring weather was getting to him, but he was in an incredibly good mood today.

His reading glasses nestled on his nose, he was leaning in over his work table, sketching down ideas for possible ways to put this new-found energy source to use. Scattered all around on sheets of paper laid references for runes and blueprints, anything that might spark inspiration for what the final result could be. This was his favorite part of Zeal developing, the possibilities were endless at this point. Anything was a theoretical possibility, if you could find material, form and a rune that would lend itself to it. And with this kind of energy output, it was hard not to let imagination run wild. Anything from portal guns, to powerful force fields, spy equipment, shapeshifting gear, and weapons.   Of course, it was only through experimentation that any abstract idea could become a reality and that process was often long, but this was the part where fantasy could be let loose and not necessarily limit itself to practicalities.

He was currently sketching some ideas for what could very possibly be the final result of this project, or at very least, one of them. The shape looked mostly like a watch, but it was the Zeal nestled inside of it that made it interesting. He was idly humming along to the music playing from the little speaker in the corner as his hands were busy at work making sketches and scribbling notes for himself. His brows were furrowed in concentration and he was, as he often was, completely entranced by the task at hand. It was nearing noon at this point, something he would be none the wiser about, and life was once again bustling outside his laboratory windows.

Outfit

Last week had been her last week of classes before the exam period had started. Which meant that this week she was free as a bird to do anything she’d like, as long as she just remembered to show up for her exams and hand them in on time. This exam period she had been lucky: she only had that paper about the rhetoric surrounding Zeals due on monday, which was handed in and ready to be graded by her professor, while her next exams were in early June. This meant a two week period of no stress. Although her exams were next month, she still used a lot of her time, in these two weeks, on studying for her upcoming exams. There was a lot to read, a lot to prepare, and a lot of pages to write, before she could officially go on her summer holiday. She spent a lot of time in the library with her friends, who she had explained that she indeed had not been on a date with Idés. All of them goshing over the fact that Edita and Idés were on a first name basis. Although Thomas did not join in on this goshing whenever the topic became Idés. Edita had noticed that he actually went quiet whenever Idés was mentioned. She didn’t like that, but at the same time she didn’t want to force the probably much needed conversation out of him that made him react that way…

But today Edita seemed to be alone. Thomas, Alyssa, and the rest of their studygroup had a group presentation and were occupied with that all day. Emily used the day to deepclean her and Alyssa’s dorm, and Danielle was visiting family for a birthday. So Edita was left to herself today. She had used the early hours of the day on a morning run - a habit she had whenever they entered the exam period so that she actually remembered to be active in these weeks - followed by her sitting alone in the library studying. Around noon, after having studied for a while, and made some good progress on her next exam paper, she decided that she deserved a break. She collected her things and put them in her bag, not that she had a lot of things, just her laptop, the book she was analysing, and her water bottle. She went on her way downstairs, checking her phone on the way to see if any new messages had come through. There hadn’t.


With two cups of coffee, one in each hand, she walked through the science building where Idés’ office was. She hadn’t been here since her interview with him last week. But she thought that since he was not occupied with lessons anymore, he probably didn’t mind her stopping by. Especially not if she brought him coffee as well. She could probably have sent him a text, saying that she would stop by, but when that thought had reached her she already had her hands full of coffees. [i]Oh well, he better just appreciate her unannounced visit[i], she thought to herself as she went down the hallway. She stopped in front of his door, for a moment unsure how the hell she would be able to knock, and eventually ended up kicking the door with her shoe, not too hard, but as kindly as you can kick a door. A stray piece of hair fell in front of her face, which she tried to blow away, now that her hands were occupied.

The kick on his door broke him out of his workflow and for a moment he thought he might’ve imagined it. But then he grew worried that if someone really was out there, he could be ignoring them and it might be a student with important questions about the upcoming exams, since this was technically considered his office-hours. After a moment of consideration, he put down his pen and went to open the door – surprised to find not only a person, but Edita. It was definitely a welcome surprise, but he also didn’t remember if they had agreed to meet today. They hadn’t seen each other since catching up last week and part of Idés had partially assumed that might’ve been the end of it. But here she was, proving that assumption wrong. Maybe she was just here to hang out? As she stood there with two coffees in her hands, she didn’t look as if she was here on official business. But then again, it could just be that she had follow-up questions regarding her article. A stray piece of hair had fallen into her face. It was cute, Idés noted, but he quickly shook the thought. Then Idés blinked, realizing that for a solid moment he had just been staring at her.

“Oh, Edita! Hi!” He smiled, taking off the reading glasses he had seemingly forgotten he was even still wearing. He tugged them away in the pocket of his lab coat and opened the door more, inviting her inside. “To what do I owe the honor? Follow-up questions for your paper?”

The two went inside his lab, which was somehow in an even more messy state then when she had last been here. It was the design process, he rationalized to himself, it required a lot of space to make a proper brainstorm. Most of it was samples of possible materials, blueprints, and discarded sketches. It wouldn’t take that long to clean up when he started the experimentation process. Still, he felt the need to excuse it. “Sorry, it’s still a mess in here, I-uh… Well, I’m still in a work process,” he chuckled, rubbing his neck before gesturing to the coffees in her hands. “Are those both for you, or?”

As the door opened, Edita couldn’t help but smile. She truly liked Idés company, despite them only having met once last week since their childhood. But it had been such a comfortable and pleasant time with him. The first thing Edita noticed when the door swung open was the fact that not only was it Idés, as she expected, who opened the door, but a bespectacled Idés who opened the door. She… Did not not like it. It did kinda suit him to wear glasses. As far as she remembered he hadn’t ever worn glasses back in the day, but then again, she only remembered a few instances of him back then. The next thing she noticed was that Idés looked quite surprised to see her, which she thought was reasonable. She had, after all, not written a text prior to her arrival to warn him about her intentions of visiting him. But he seemed like it was a pleasant surprise, which only made Edita smile even more.

”Hi!” She said and walked past him into the lab. ”Oh no, no follow up questions! I handed in that paper this monday. I just wanted to pop by as a break from studying at the library.” She quickly looked around the space: it was messier than last time she was here. A chill went down her spine. She couldn’t imagine herself ever being comfortable in such a mess. But it was not her mess so it didn’t really bother her. She looked at some of the blueprints on his desk, intrigued by the mysteriousness of what he was working on, before turning around to face him. ”Oh, it’s no problem.” She said and leaned up against the edge of the desk. It made sense that his workplace was messy. She eyed the blueprints on the desk next to her once again, then asked: ”What are you working on?”

As he mentioned the coffees, she looked slightly puzzled down at the two cups in her hands, trying to remember which one was the black coffee, before handing one of them to him with a smile on her lips. “No, this one's for you.” She said, taking a small sip of her own coffee, while her hand was outstretched in front of her towards Idés with his coffee, expecting him to take it.

“Oh,” he said, smiling, when Edita confirmed she had indeed come just to hang out with him. He vaguely remembered saying she could stop by anytime, but he hadn’t actually expected her to do that. But he was glad that she did. That was exciting, for reasons he couldn’t exactly pinpoint. He didn’t mind being interrupted in his work when it was her. Was that weird?

He took the coffee with a “thanks”, then moved closer to see what blueprints she was looking at. She had asked what he was working on, and truly, that was a large question. Zeal research, yes, but also, in many ways his studies came down to the very nature of energy. Sometimes it was hard to make heads and tails of exactly what he was even doing here. It was just trial and error until he found some sort of meaning in the chaos. “Well,” he said after a beat of silence, having considered how to explain. “I’ve recently made some calculations that make it possible to increase the energy intake in certain materials, beyond what’s considered the boundary of safe exposure for the model of EZPEC I have available.” He took a sip of his coffee as he looked down at the blueprints in front of him. “Which is considered unstable, of course, but there’s a lot of energy potential here, a lot higher than what I’ve seen before. I’m brainstorming which functions could be seen from this sort of energy potential, which could potentially be a huge breakthrough, if I manage to make something of it.” He gestured to the blueprints as to give an example of what was theoretically possible, before pointing to a stack of books on runes. “And, of course, the sort of runes needed to activate them properly. So… it’s mainly zeal-innovation I’m working with right now, I suppose,” he chuckled, looking at Edita as he realized he was on the verge of just ranting about his work. He tended to do that He could talk about it for hours if you let him, but he found that outside of the lecture halls people weren’t exactly keen on getting a masterclass on Zeal-engineering. Not everyone was bound to find it as exciting as he did and he had learned to accept that. “Maybe something interesting will come from this. Who knows?” He added with a shrug, taking another sip of his coffee.

“What about you?” He asked, choosing to put the focus on her before he went on some rant about something she probably wasn’t super interested in. “You must have your exams coming up?” He knew that his own students certainly did, so he assumed that it was the same for her. Which meant that if she was anything like him, this was probably amongst the more stressful times of the school year. Exams were never exactly fun, no matter how much one enjoyed studying.

She smiled grateful at him when he took the coffee from her outstretched hand. She enjoyed caring for others like that. Giving them these small gifts, that truly didn’t matter much, but would improve their day just the slightest bit. With her now free hand she finally tucked the stray piece of hair behind her ear that had been falling in front of her face this whole time. Then he moved closer to look at the blueprints beside her, and she readjusted herself, turning her torso so that she could see the papers better, although still leaning up against the desk with her front facing away from it.

She followed his gaze towards the blueprints and papers and listened to Idés explain his work. She nodded along to what he said, to show that she truly was listening and also because it did sound interesting. Actually kind of revolutionary. As he took a sip of his coffee, she glanced up at him, and for a moment she was stuck. He was clearly very passionate about his work, and that made Edita smile. For a moment she just stood there, right beside him, listening to him talk, looking at him and studying his features. His hair did have a bit of a curl to it, she noticed. Absent-mindedly she bit her lip.

It was only when Idés gestured towards the books on runes that Edita noticed she had been staring at him. She quickly turned her eyes towards the blueprints and the books on his desk, pretending to have been looking at them the whole time. Some part of her knew that she shouldn’t be looking at him like she did just seconds before. She shook the thought off of her and took a sip of her coffee. ”That’s really cool!” She said, looking first up at him and then over at the EZPEC machine in the corner of the office. ”You’ve got a good model for it too,” She gestured towards it as she continued: ”The YK354 has the most accurate reading levels of the models in the YK-series. The newer YK355 has too many off variables to use for experiments like you do.” She had to admit that she didn’t know much of Zeal engineering, but she did know a thing or two about the different EZPEC models that existed. Since Kozlov Industries always had to stay updated in their production of zeals, they always had to have the newest equipment available. And Edita had for some reason regularly looked over the reports of the EZPECs the last few years for her father.

She nodded as he asked her about her exams. ”Yes, I have a few exams soon that I’m studying for at the moment. Or not right now in this moment ofcourse. But generally.” She chuckled and looked up at him again, noticing how he towered above her as he stood there right beside her. ”I have an exam next week on modern literature that I’m not looking forward to. Modern literature is really not my thing…” She said, looking down at her hands and letting her coffee cup rest between both of them. ”But I’m sure that I will pass, I just don’t find it that interesting like I do the earlier stuff.” She smiled and looked once again up at him as if to not worry him. She was sure that she would pass. She had never failed anything or really gotten anything besides an A for all of her assignments and exams. She just didn’t enjoy every theme and topic she had to study, but she still did them, and did them to her satisfaction.

Idés had honestly assumed that Edita had zoned out during his little speech, as people often did, so he was a bit taken aback when she responded with not only enthusiasm but also shared her knowledge on the model of EZPEC he was using. For a moment he simply stared at her in awe, then he blinked, seemingly breaking out of the trance.

“Yeah,” he said, nodding in agreement. “The 55 also lacks customization opportunities and you also can’t repair it without specialized tools, which you can only get from the manufacturer,” he added. He rubbed his neck, smiling at Edita. Of course she was interested in Zeals since she had written a paper on it, but he didn’t know she knew about the production of them as well, lead alone knew anything at all about what an EZPEC actually was. That was interesting. “How come you know all this stuff?” He asked, curiosity eating away at him. He had figured the interest might purely be cultural since the paper had been on literature, but it seemed that he was wrong. He took a sip off his coffee.

Then she confirmed that she did indeed have some upcoming exams. About modern literature, which was certainly a topic that Idés only knew very little about. He nodded as she said it wasn’t her favorite subject either, so that she wasn’t really looking forward to it. As she spoke, Idés noted the way her face glowed and cheeks dimpled when she smiled up at him, noting how she wasn’t worried about her upcoming exam. He had no reason not to believe her and she seemed pretty relaxed about it.

“I’m sure you’ll do great anyways,” he smiled. Taking a sip of his coffee, noting how she had said that the topic wasn’t her favorite. He had noticed that she did indeed still seem very invested in what she was studying. Last time they had spoken they had talked about her thesis, which she had said was probably going to be about zeals to some extent and then she had spoken very passionately about it. It made Idés happy to see somebody else be invested in their own niche. “What is your favorite topic then?”

She took another sip of her coffee, still looking over at his EZPEC in the corner of the office. There was a moment of silence between them. Silence that confused Edita a bit. So she looked over at Idés, her brows ever so slightly furrowed for just a second before she saw his face. His eyes laid on her. The look seemed surprised, perhaps even astonished. She returned the look with a soft smile. But the look in his eyes was only there for a second before he blinked and seemed to return from whatever he had had on his mind to their conversation.

She nodded as he spoke. She sure had her own experience with the troubles with the YK355 model and its lack of modification abilities. And having to get the specialised tools from the manufacturer! She remembered her father had had several annoying phone calls with the manufacturer about their slow delivery times. One of the new EZPECs had broken down and they had just committed to the 55 model for their production of medicinal puth zeals against coughs - a very popular product. But with a broken EZPEC they couldnt produce as much as they needed. It had been a chaotic few weeks for her father.

She shrugged her shoulders and looked down at her cup of coffee as Idés asked how she knew all this. ”My father is the owner and director of Kozlov Industries - you know, the zeal company - you probably know them most from their medicinal zeals.” She said and looked up at him again, realising that that was not a fact most of the kids back at Baker Street had known. Vicki had known - her father had worked in the production line at one of the factories and that’s how their fathers had met back then. ”He likes to think of the company as a family business, so my brothers and I work for him. I just help out with paperwork and such; ordering things, including EZPECs and what not.” She explained. Out of the three of them, her two older brothers and her, she was probably the least involved with Kozlov Industries. Her oldest brother worked there full time, intending to take over when her father wanted him to, and her youngest brother worked there whenever they had legal cases that had to be looked at. Which was quite often. She herself was probably at her little office in the factories once a week, just to send out the orders for the following week.

“Thanks,” She said with a smile and tilting her head while looking at him. She shifted her weight and moved a bit, crossing her ankles, while sipping her coffee and looking around the office. There were so many things to look at. Everywhere she looked, she saw something new, even if she had looked there just a moment earlier. ”I really like 17th century literature,” She said, her gaze not on him but taking in all of his things. ”I just think the language is very romantic, and I quite like that.”

Her brows frowned for a moment when she looked around his office, sipping her coffee once in a while. Then she couldn’t hold it back anymore: ”Do you read fiction?”. All of the books that she saw scattered on the desk and on the shelves were educational books. Books of theories and such. Which was ofcourse exciting in themselves, but they weren’t adventures like fictional stories.

The revelation of Edita’s family business was something that took Idés quite by surprise. She said it so casually too, as if her father wasn’t in charge of one of the biggest industries in all of Ilomar. A fair number of his students would go on to work for companies like Kozlov Industries and Idés was aware of that. In fact, his own father had once been a factory floor worker for them, way back in the day. That was why his initial response only came out as a small “oh,” as he took in this new information. Did he already know this? He felt like he would’ve remembered if he had known this back when the whole gang still existed. “I mean, that is… wow, okay,” he said, nodding, realizing that wasn’t much of a response at all. He had a lot to say in regards to private companies being the manufacturers of life saving medications, but of course he wasn’t about to start that debate. He supposed he had gotten his question about where she knew all this stuff from answered, as it sounded like she was an employee too. “That sounds like a lot of responsibility next to studying.” He had to assume she was paid for the work she was doing and he understood the need to make money next to studying – he himself had been studying full time, whilst both helping out in the lab and while working at the café, so he personally got how stressful student life could get. He took a sip off his coffee. “Is it like a student job, then?”

Then he nodded as she spoke about her favorite subject. She looked up at him for a moment before her attention shifted to the various objects spread all across the room. He shifted his weight from on foot to the other, as he suddenly felt very aware of how messy it was within the lab. He followed her gaze to the various trinkets, almost missing her response. He caught that she liked romantic language, though. He wasn’t quite sure why it was that particular thing that he noticed, but it was. “That sounds interesting.”

She then got a curious look on her face as she took a sip off her coffee. Idés did so as well, as he wondered what it was she was thinking that had her looking like that. She asked if he ever read fiction and Idés paused at that, looking at the books on his work table, which were decisively only non-fiction. He blushed a little out of embarrassment and rubbed his neck. “Ah, well,” he said, with a shrug. “Not much these days, no.” It was hard to find the time for reading for leisure when one was working from early morning until late at night. Which, he supposed, had been the case since when he had started studying. Perhaps even earlier? When had he stopped reading fiction? “I suppose I should make time for that. I did read a lot as a kid, though.” Which was true. He had always been ahead of his grade and would usually spend recess reading, rather than interacting with the other children. This was way before everything happened, though. He supposed that he had stopped around the same time his mother had died? Or was it when he met Sammie? He then shook his head, realizing he got lost in thought for a moment. “Mostly sci-fi, I think. But I’ve always liked books about facts,” he said, leaning against his desk and taking a sip off his coffee.
“You’ve always been an avid reader?”

She was biting her lip and looking up at Idés as it seemed the pieces fell into place for him. She did understand the surprise. Sometimes she herself forgot how powerful her father was. For her he was just an ordinary man, her father just like everybody else had a father, and like everyone else he had family, love, and a job that so happens to put him in charge of one of the biggest industries in Ilomar. But now, when she looked up at Idés, she was nervous. What if he felt betrayed somehow? That she had never mentioned this before? She didn’t know for sure what his nodding meant, other than surprise and trying to grasp the information she had just given him.

”It is a bit wild to think about,” She said, trying to bring a reassuring smile to her lips, then explained: ”My last name being a brand and such.”

She bit her lip once more and nodded at his next question. ”Yeah it is. I’m only in the office once a week.” Obviously there was also the part of the job with the Family. But nobody knew about that… Or wait, she did have that gig back in the day when she knew Idés and the others from the gang… Maybe he could remember that? Although she was unsure if they had known that it was the mafia and not some small drug dealing gig she had herself… But he was a professor now, so she couldn’t just spring this information on him. He got out of it. She was still stuck. She took a sip of her coffee, trying to get her thoughts on something else.

Luckily Idés started talking about his reading habits. While he spoke, she looked around the room, the books scattered across everywhere - papers with scribbles and drawings of things too - kinda impressed by it all. This was his work. She took another sip of her coffee as she listened to him talk. He had a lovely voice, she thought.

”Oh, did you perhaps read 1984 then?” She asked, looking at him curiously. ”It’s kind of a sci-fi classic, and really interesting to read because it actually gets a lot of points correct about ‘the future’” She made air quotations with her free hand when she said ‘the future’, since it would be the past for now, but the points are stil relevant for their present. She also remembered having to read it in high school, but since Idés didnt go to the same high school as her she wasn’t sure if they had had the same curriculum.

Then she looked away and nodded with a smile as he asked her if she’s always been an avid reader. ”Yeah I have,” she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, still leaning up against the desk, careful not to knock anything over that might mess up his work. ”I found it comforting to escape into an adventure in a book when I was little, and I guess that just never stopped.”

From the way Edita bit her lip and looked up at him she almost seemed nervous, which really hadn’t been Idés intention. He had really just been surprised by this new knowledge, he should be the last person to judge someone based on where they came from. There was a tension in her smile that wasn’t really there when she smiled at him otherwise. Perhaps family was a touchy subject? It was like that for many. Idés didn’t want to poke at it anymore if it was, he didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable. It was a good thing they focused on literature, then, as that was less likely to inspire any sort of sadness. She asked him if he had read 1984.

“I think so,” he nodded. “I spent a lot of time at the Erast library as a kid. Pretty sure I read most they had in their selection,” he said with a chuckle, taking a sip off his coffee. “Which granted, wasn’t a lot. But yeah...” He rubbed his neck, questioning himself for why he was even telling her about the library. Something about Edita made him think about the past, which Idés didn’t completely understand the why of. Maybe because they had known each other as teenagers? It was odd to think about these eras long since past. “My favorite was Hitchhiker’s Guide, I believe. That, and uh,” he couldn’t help but smile a bit as he remembered. He had just been a kid, after all, even if he had been reading way beyond his grade level. “Animorphs.”

Then Edita explained how the books had been an escape into adventure when she had been small. Idés nodded in recognition, he had been the same way. When his family life was chaotic and hard to navigate, books had been an easy thing to escape into. There, things wrapped up meaningfully in a way that life just didn’t. Somewhere along the way, the fiction had been traded in for tinkering with Zeals and curiosity for the world around him. And now, as an adult, he was making his own sci-fi come true with his Zeals. So, he understood. He supposed the escapism hadn’t entirely stopped for him either – it was easy to get swept away by a fantasy. He supposed he and Edita had both that and their past in common. It was nice, that sense of relatability. It felt less lonely. He smiled, glad that she had decided to stop by. This was nice.

“Yeah,” he agreed. He took another sip of coffee, swishing it around to test out its slowly dwindling content. He really drank coffee alarmingly fast. Then he looked up at her again.“What about you? Which ones are your favorites?”

She appreciated that he didn’t ask about her family. It was actually very nice. She hadn’t expected that. In the few instances where people had found out, like when she had told her girlfriends, they had made a big deal out of it. And she guessed it was a big deal too in some sense. Her father was indeed the head of the medicinal empire of Ilomar, and that was a big deal. But it was not hers. As she looked up at Idés, reminded that he did not make a big deal out of her family relations made the corner of her lip pull into a slight smile.

Oh right, the library, she thought. She had completely forgotten that Erast had a library. Now that she thought about it, she wasn’t sure she had ever entered the building. Although, she did remember selling drugs in front of it back in the day. It was quite a popular place for high schoolers to buy drugs from in Erast. She looked down as she swiwelled the coffee around in her cup, weighing it a bit to see how long she could stay with the coffee as an excuse.

”I remember Hitchhikers Guide - it is very good I think, I get why it was your favourite.” She said before taking the tiniest sip of her coffee. ”Now, Animorphs...” She narrowed her eyes, looking straight ahead of her onto nothing in particular in an attempt to remember if she knew that book title. She put an unsure finger to her lip before she continued: ”Wasn’t that the one with the aliens?” She had the faintest memory of the book, perhaps it was even a book series?

It was nice that he agreed with her about using books as an escape from reality. Sometimes that was needed. It did make her wonder what he had had to make an escape from back in the day. She realised at this moment that she knew very little about his personal life. Back in the day, back at Baker Street, no one really talked about their family. They knew about Kevin and Frankie’s family since they hung out at their place all the time, but other than that everyone else was quite anonymous in that sense.

Despite her curiosity, she didn’t ask him about it. She didn’t think it was appropriate right at this moment. She had after all just come by unannounced to chat over a cup of coffee. She looked up at him once again, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, the movement making her shoulder briefly brush against his arm. In this office, they realy had chosen to stand right next to eachother, right here at the desk, instead of using the other space of the room.

“A Sentimental Journey through Glaola and Ofrya.” She said, without any hesitation, which even surprised her a little. She smiled, giggling slightly at her own enthusiasm for the subject. The fingers of her free hand fiddled with the pendant of her necklace as she continued: ”It’s this Yidsian novel from the around 1710 about a guy that describes his adventures through Glaola and Ofrya - there’s a lot of sweet anecdotes and such.” And it’s quite a spicy read, she thought.

There was something cute about the way that she looked up at him, a slight smile playing on her lips. She had a nice smile, Idés thought for not the first time. Although it probably wasn’t entirely appropriate how he kept noticing it. She had come by for a coffee, which was kind of her, but most likely not much more than a friendly gesture. They barely knew each other, after all. He took a sip of the nearly empty coffee. It was still a very welcome gesture.

“Well, uh,” he rubbed his neck, trying to remember exactly what it was that animorphs had even been about. “It was these kids who could turn into animals, basically. And then there was a war against an invasion of alien parasites, yeah. It got pretty dark for a children's book sometimes. There was this child who got permanently imprisoned in the body of a rat in one of the books, if I remember correctly.”

As he talked he didn’t realize exactly how close the two were standing, until her shoulder bumped into his arm. He smiled at her and when she didn’t move, neither did he. He didn’t mind that she stood close, nor how the feeling lingered. Again he decided not to think much of it. She started talking about her own favorite novel, which was one Idés had never even heard about. But then again, he didn’t know a lot about foreign literature. It then occurred to him that since it was a Ydsian novel and her last name was Ydsian and, if he remembered correctly, her father was an Ydsian immigrant, then it probably wasn’t anything foreign to her. Because that made her Ydsian too. Though, he wasn’t really aware if this was one of those classic novels you were just supposed to know about. The Erast public schools had many flaws and it wasn’t uncommon that he came upon something that was meant to be ‘common knowledge’ that he hadn’t been educated about and that didn’t align with the interests he had researched on his own. He didn’t share any of this, though. Instead he nodded to show that he listened and asked:

“You read that in the original language, then?”

She took a sip of her coffee as she listened to him explain the book to her. Her eyes narrowed in thought, trying to recognise the story in one of the books she might have read when she was younger. It did sound familiar. She nodded along as the story slowly came to her, a smile growing on her lips. “I do think I’ve read the one with the rat child.” She said, lowering her hands to her sides, as she must admit to herself now that her cup was indeed empty. ”It was quite a spooky story - gave me nightmares for days after I finished reading it.”

She had been rationing these last few drops, just so she could stay for a little while longer. Why did she want to stay? She didn’t quite know, but she guessed she just enjoyed his company right now. The alternative - her exam preparations - did not really attract her right now either.

She pulled her hair behind her ear, not that it was not there to begin with, but the motion of it reassured her somehow. Was she nervous? She nodded at his question. ”Yeah I did,” She said, her gaze quickly shifting towards the clock on the wall behind Idés before returning to him again. ”We speak mostly Yidsian at home, so… Yeah.” She shrugged her shoulders, not thinking much of it. The motion made her arm rub slightly on Idés’ arm, the heat of his body seeping into her. He felt nice, she thought, the warmth of him.

She shook her cup slightly, the few drops left sloshing around in it slightly, admitting that she was indeed finished with her coffee. “I’m out of coffee.” She looked up at him, an apology in her eyes. She bit her lip, held her breath to prepare herself for her evident need to leave. For a moment her free hand played with the pendant of her necklace, her finger tracing the ridge of the shell. But admitting defeat, she pulled herself together and stood up straight, intending to make her exit soon. As the touch between them faltered, she immediately noticed the emptiness it left. Her arm felt suddenly bare, despite it being clad in the sleeve of her turtleneck top. She turned towards him, a smile playing on her lips. ”I should probably go back to studying now.” She said, but stayed there for a moment in his office. Lingering.

He took the last sip of coffee as she said that they spoke Ydsian at home. When she shrugged, their arms rubbed together and he noticed once again how close they were standing. She felt warm, standing close enough that he once again noticed that slight scent of vanilla that hung around her. He didn’t mind it at all. She shook her cup slightly.

“Oh.” He shouldn’t have felt that slight tinge of disappointment when she told him she was out of coffee – he was too, so their little break probably had to come to an end. He placed the empty cup on the table, meaning to throw it out later. “Yeah, me too.”

And she looked up at him, biting her lip and he didn’t exactly know why, but he noticed exactly how big and brown her eyes were at that moment. They looked very warm, he thought, gaze tracing the softness of her features. Her fingers were tracing over the pendant of a shell, he noticed, before she pulled away and with it, broke the touch of their arms and left only the ghost of the warmth, almost like it lingered. She looked at him again, that nice smile of hers back on her lips, as she said she had to go back to studying. It made sense, upcoming exams and all. He also needed to get back to work, though uncharacteristically, part of him wanted her to hang around. That was absurd to ask, though, they both had more important things to do. He rubbed his neck.

So instead, he returned the smile. nodding, pocketing his hands in his lab coat. “I should probably get back to work too,” he agreed. “Thanks for the coffee, though. And the break. This was nice.”

She lingered for a moment and so did he. For some reason he didn’t immediately move to follow her to the door. He noticed the brownness of her eyes once again and he had to remind himself that he really shouldn’t just stand here thinking about how he thought she was pretty – it was probably weird of him and he was probably staring. He pushed away from his work desk finally to follow her to the door. “And feel free to drop by anytime you need a break,” he added, still smiling. “I don’t mind.”

His smile before he announced that he also had to get back to work, comforted her surprisingly. Which was a silly thought, given that she knew he was working. She had even disturbed his workflow by stopping by unannounced, so she should not be surprised by the fact that he had to work. So maybe it wasn’t that he had to work, maybe it was something else that surprised her… Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on…

Nevertheless, the comfort made her lips tug into a smile.

Moving towards the door, while tugging the straps of her bag with one hand, and carrying her empty cup in the other, she nodded along to Idés invitation to drop by anytime she needed a break. ”Yeah, this was very nice.” she agreed with him as they reached the door. She laid her hand on the doorknob, but did not turn it.

She looked at him, standing there, hands buried in the pockets of his lab coat, the glasses sticking out of his breastpocket. He looked so different from his teenage self, when Edita last truly knew him. And had she even known him back then? Probably not, they were so full of secrets back then - she still was… But what hit her was his eyes - his deep brown eyes. A wonder of warmth. And they had not changed since their childhood. They still had their spark. She smiled once again.

”I will,” She promised. ”I like your company.”

And with that, she turned the doorknob and exited the office.