Fire & Ice | Soulmate AU 1 |

chapter seven

Finals week is thankfully coming to a close. I took my second to last exam yesterday morning and spent the rest of the day helping Atlas clean up our room. We're moving out tomorrow afternoon and I can't help but be amazed at how much the pair of us can destroy such a small surface area in only a week. We keep the room relatively neat and orderly throughout the semester every year. All bets are off, however, when finals week hits and we find ourselves going from reasonably stable to nearly crying over a bag of chips in one fell swoop.

I've just finished taking my last exam for the year and now I'm on my way to the tower for my weekly training session with Max. He's chatting with Mr. Moon when I step into the lobby instead of waiting for me up on the athletic floor like he was last time.

"Hey, Lake," Max greets as I join them by the front desk. "How's finals going?"

"Just took the last one," I reply, sighing lightly in genuine relief. "One more year and I'm out."

Max chats a bit more with Mr. Moon before saying goodbye. We get onto the elevator and I think we're heading to the training floor until he presses the button for the seventeenth floor instead.

"Where are we going?" I ask, but he just shrugs innocently and says nothing.

We get off on the floor he chose and I follow behind him in mild confusion. It looks like a large open plan apartment. There aren't any personal items or decor. Everything is quite clean and modern but also relatively untouched. Right off of the elevator is a short hallway that leads to a living room on the left and a kitchen on the right. There's another short hallway with a few doors leading off of it all the way at far end of the apartment.

"What is this?" I finally ask, looking to Max for an explanation.

"A standard issue residence suite in our tower," Max replies with a tinge of pride lining the edges of his tone. "This one would be yours if you chose to move in."

So that's what this is all about. First it was JD and now it's Max but I can't say that it's completely unexpected. Living in the tower would definitely make being on the team a lot easier. I'm also becoming increasingly aware that although Derek and I still share an apartment when I'm not in school, he's also been involved with his girlfriend, Alexandra, for a long time. They've been together long enough that they're just around the point in their relationship where they probably want to live together. It'll be better for everyone if I just avoid the conversation where he either asks me to move out or tells me he himself is moving out altogether.

"Ya know, I already told JD I would consider it," I say matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, well, you're moving outta your dorm tomorrow, right?" Max asks, shrugging as he shoves his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "I know you're undercover until further notice so you can't technically live in the tower yet, but you can just leave some stuff here that you won't need for the time being until everything is said and done." Max is rambling a bit which I've never heard him do before. It's a strange kind of vulnerability that Max never really shows around me or the team. Maybe me moving in is a lot more important to him than I think it is.

"Alright, Armstrong," I say, sighing heavily and eyeing him with an amused look, "you've got me seriously considering this, now, okay?"

"The team loves having you around," he continues. "I know the commute is starting to get to you, too."

I look around the apartment again. The entire place seems warm and comfy. I'm 21 now and although that's still kind of on the early side for kids of my generation to move away from home, I feel like it's about time.