Thread:Kirito Rose/@comment-27966940-20170406031452/@comment-26397825-20170406042839

Co-Author consulted, so here it is. Afternoon Nap from the  Everything is OK universe written by VedranTheII and myself.

Kolour yawned as she made her way down the street. It was only the middle of the day, but the rainbow-haired woman felt like she could sleep for a week. She’d just returned from another mission - just a standard Grimm clearance - and was on her way home for a well deserved rest. But home is so far awaaay.

She paused at a set of lights as they turned red, letting traffic continue. At least it wasn’t cold at the moment, as spring was slowly bleeding into summer and the last frost had been weeks ago. Rubbing at an eye, she glanced up at the nearest street sign to see how much further she had to travel.

Aw, she pouted, I’ve got ages to go. The lights changed and Kolour trudged her way down the road again, grumbling to herself. ''I could’ve gotten somewhere closer to the missions office, but no. I had to be cheap and get somewhere far away. Ruki would’ve just paid extra for the nicer place.''

Her scroll beeped to let her know the payment had been confirmed and was now deposited in her bank account, all nice and secure, and Kolour sighed again. Who am I kidding; I’m not going home.

She took a sharp right, ducking down an alleyway she’d gotten to know quite well since she graduated and started living in Vale itself. It cut through a section of the commercial district at an oblique angle and brought her out on 17th Street. It was easy to duck down another single-lane road around to the loading area for a few of the stores fronting 17th Street, fishing around her belt pouch as she walked.

As she approached an unobtrusive door painted a soft sea foam green, Kolour finally pulled out the key she was digging around for and inserted it in the lock. The hall behind was only softly lit by the midday sun streaming through the doorway, revealing a plain staircase and another door which led to the adjoining storage room. Kolour ignored that door, softly shutting the one she had just entered and letting the hall fall back into darkness.

She unzipped her boots as she climbed the stairs, stepping out of them at the top and leaving them in a pile just out of the way. She stifled another yawn as her stocking-clad feet padded towards the dark living room, tucking a curtain into its hook as she passed to allow light to stream in from the rear street. Ignoring the call of coffee, as she could see the coffee machine sitting on the kitchen bench from the living room, she instead flopped face down on the overly comfortable couch and let out a sigh of relief.

“Ni-night Ocean…” she mumbled into the cushion before curling slightly and falling asleep.

~*~

Ocean groaned and stretched his back out as he stood from his chair, putting down the latest commission someone had asked him for. It was finally closing time, which meant food and sleep in his nice comfortable bed, and a break from Dust infusion for the day. Locking up the shop and cleaning his workspace took little time at all and he double checked the locks on the roller doors to make sure no one was going to steal his stock overnight before shutting off all the lights and turning on the security system.

The apartment above the store was quiet, as was the norm when you lived alone, and he toed off his shoes at the bottom of the stairs before ascending.

The light streaming into the house from the setting sun reflecting off his neighbour’s window was the first thing he noticed, which made the man pause for a moment. Hadn’t he closed all the curtains this morning? A few more steps revealed the heavy-duty combat boots piled hazardously at the top of the stairs, and Ocean sighed at the sight of them.

As he crested the stairs, the black haired man pushed the very familiar shoes aside with one foot and stepped towards the living room. The back of the couch was facing the stairs, but the curtain nearest him had been hooked aside to fill the apartment with light, and fiery orange danced across pastel rainbow curls that lay draped over the arm of the couch.

Stepping up to the couch revealed exactly what he had expected to see; the sleeping figure of his old teammate Kolour, weapon and ammo pouch still attached to her belt. Carefully, so as not to disturb her or damage the couch, Ocean unclipped her weapon from the magnetic holster on her back. He placed it on the dining table as he passed it on his way to the linen closet, pulling out one of the spare blankets that was quickly thrown over the sleeping woman. A hand reached out to clutch it closer to herself, and she curled tighter into a ball in response.

With a fond smile he softly padded away, contenting himself to cold leftovers from the night before and letting his former partner sleep.