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“Just once we could sleep in,”Aida grumbles as she swings her legs out of bed and stretches her arms above her head.
Melinda rolls her eyes, smile not completely hidden.“I’m not stopping you from staying in bed, you know.”
“I know.” Aida gets dressed quickly.“But what’s the point if you’re not there?”
She leans in and kisses the corner of Melinda’s mouth.
“You’re such a clingy softie,”Melinda says, then pulls her in for a proper kiss.“Time for tai chi?”
“If I can’t convince you to come back to bed...”
Aida winks, already making her way to the door as she says it. She knows the answer; her Melinda is a creature of habit.
She opens the door and gestures for Melinda to go ahead, which she does. But she stops after only two steps.
Aida follows out of the room to see what is wrong.
“Oh, hello, Daisy,”she says. The young agent is as frozen as Melinda is, so Aida pleasantly adds,“You’re up early.”
Daisy makes an odd sound at the back of her throat and Aida considers offering medical assistance when suddenly Melinda comes out of her stupor.“This isn’t what it looks like!”
She sounds very flustered; Aida gently places her hand on her elbow in support, though she isn’t entirely sure what Melinda thinks Daisy must think.
Daisy’s eyebrows shoot up, her eyes widen.“Oh? Because it looks like you’re hooking up with our residential reformed murder-bot.”
“She’s not a murder-bot,”Melinda snaps.
At the same time, Aida says,“In that case, it is exactly what it looks like.”
She’s very pleased the confusion could be cleared up so easily, and she knows Daisy just likes teasing everyone. She stuck ‘reformed’ in her description, so it’s friendly banter.
Instead of them all going about their day, two sets of incredulous eyes turn to Aida.
“Oh dear,”she says, her shoulders sagging. She looks to Melinda and gnaws on her lower lip.“Was she being rhetorical? I said the wrong thing, didn’t I?”
“It’s fine,”Melinda hurries to assure her, taking her hand and rubbing her thumb across the back of it.“Don’t worry about it.”
Then she turns to Daisy.“So. Exactly what it looks like but -”
“You wanna keep it on the down low,”Daisy finishes. She mimes locking her lips and throwing the key.“I got you.”
“I don’t think the key worked if you can still talk,”Aida says.
Daisy guffaws, then clears her throat awkwardly.“Uhm, no, see, it’s just -”
“She’s messing with you,”Melinda says.
Daisy blushes, then laughs.“Didn’t know you’d developed a sense of humour.”
“Well, one of us had to,”Aida says, jerking her head to indicate Melinda,“and grumpy pants wasn’t about to.”
Melinda does her best to glare at her, the corners of her mouth twitching.
Daisy remains for a few seconds longer, somewhere between bewildered and amused, then says,“Well, I’m off to bed, then.”
“Sleep tight,”Aida says. She doesn’t need to warn her about bed bugs, the base is very clean.
They take off in opposite directions, neither Melinda nor Aida speaking for a while.
“You’re still holding my hand,”Aida points out eventually. They usually confine such things to their rooms, or occasionally the deserted gym.
“I know,”Melinda says, and still doesn’t let go.
Aida studies her profile, trying to make sense of it all.“So does that mean we’re - on the up high?”
“I’m a bit out of touch with the youth lingo but I don’t think anyone calls it that,”Melinda deadpans. She stops, and Aida with her, and they turn to face each other in the silent corridor. Melinda’s free hand moves to cup her cheek.“But I’d like to be official, if that’s alright with you?”
“Perfectly alright,”Aida says and kisses Melinda.
Her Melinda. Officially.