Cain woke her up at dawn. They ran to the border and jumped into a car- and from there, kept switching cars until they crossed the twentieth border.

A helicopter was waiting for them on the field.

“Ready to dispatch, Colonel?”

“Aye, Captain!”

He looked up and whistled. The helicopter flew down. Luann jumped up and down in excitement. At last! Home!

“You looked like a toddler going home, Lieutenant.”

“Oh yeah?” She grabbed his hand. “Your heartbeat shows excitement too, Captain.”

Cain blushed, looking away. He jumped onto the driver’s seat.

“Woah, you can fly a helicopter?”

“Who do you think will fly it?”

“Ugh, condescending schmuck.”

“What’s that?”

“U-uh, intelligent schmuck.”

“Bratty headache.”

“What? Did you just evolve?”

“Nothing.”

The helicopter rose.

“Do you think the coup will go well?”

“We’ll leave it to them. I heard you even go the extra mile burning one of the bases, Lieutenant.”

“Ahaha…” Luann laughed guiltily, “That…that must be the wind, Captain. They have a cookout and the wind blew over.”

“Well, guess they needed to thank the wind then. The guy whose house we stayed in said it helped a lot.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Luann smiled. A weird warm feeling buzzed in her heart.

Cain’s walkie-talkie crackled.

“O-3 Cain, here.”

“You’re coming home, Captain? With the Lieutenant?”

Cain grinned, putting the walkie-talkie between them.

“She said it was the wind, Ian.”

“Woah, that’s a cap! She was flying like a squirrel throwing fire everywhere, Captain. You should have seen it!”

Luan’s cheeks flushed.

“Do you know how she did it? She dropped a cigar-“

“HUSHH STOP IT!!”

At this rate, she’s going to get a demotion!

“Do you want to join us for dinner tonight?”

“Dinner?”

“Yeah, we’d call it a couple round of drinks, but Captain don’t drink, so we call it dinner.”

Her eyes sparkled. Cheap alcohol!

“Sure, yes, I’m down!”

“Woah, from she sounded like she’ll beat us drinking, bro.”

“Yeah, hahah the Lieutenant’s a monster!”

“Oh wait, is the Captain joining?”

“I’m down.”

Ian exchanged glances at each other. Cain said yes? They cheered.

“We’ll see you both at 6 pm, then!“

The walkie talkie beeped off. Their helicopter lowered. Luann looked around. She has just been away for three days, but being back at this military base felt weird.

Cain handed her a flower.

“The base captain is waiting for you in his office.”

“Wait, what’s the flower for?”

“I found it on the ground earlier and it reminded me of you,” he walked away. “It has been nice working with you, Lieutenant.”

Luann blushed. Come on, he probably means nothing! Wait- ‘it has been nice working with you’?? Is she really getting a demotion? Fired??

She ran to the bathroom to tidy up – because she should at least look pretty at her last day at work – then ran to the base captain’s office.

“Lieutenant Luann, here, Sir!”

The base captain stood up.

“Commander Luann, you mean.”

“P-pardon?”

He laughed.

“Congratulations for finishing your promotion mission, kid! From this day on, you’ll have to change that badge to Commander. Oh, and your payment have been sent.”

Luann stared in a daze. Life sure love to troll people. She was stuck in a remote area a while ago, almost dying. And now… a promotion?

“Oh, and is that a flower from Cain? Is something finally going between you two?”

“H-huh?”

“You should thank him too. He’s the one who pushed for your promotion. I did my part, but the superiors love him.”

“R-really?”

“Ey, stop standing in disbelief before I demote you, Commander.”

“A-aye aye, Captain!”

“Off you go, then.”

She saluted and stride away, still in a daze. Just as she opened the exit door, a man pulled her arm.

She gasped. Her attorney ex!

“YOU!”

“HOW DARE YOU? YOU HAVE BEEN IGNORING MY CALLS FOR DAYS!”

“OH, I FEEL SORRY FOR MYSELF! WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO CALL ME, HUH?”

“I’M YOUR EX-“

A hand whipped his hand away. Cain stepped in.

“Hey! Aren’t you a military officer?”

“I am, but I have every right to step in, Sir.”

“And what right is it?”

“I’m her boyfriend.”

Her ex and her jaw dropped. Cain gently pulled her away, and they walked into the parking building.

“But you’re not my boyfriend, Captain.”

“Can I be, then?”

“W-what?”

He stopped and turned around.

“Would I have the pleasure to be your boyfriend, Commander-“

She kissed him. Cain closed his eyes, pulling her in.

Coffee, lipstick, and hints of mint.

Luann put her arms around him. Cain flinched. She pecks his eyes playfully.

Suddenly, the door creaked open.

A fellow soldier stood frozen. Other soldiers passing by stopped too, their jaws dropped.

“I-I’m sorry, continue what you’re doing!”

“Wait, we’re not doing anything!”

“I’m sorry, I’ll just pick up my car later!”  The door slammed close.

Cain and Luann choked. They could hear the soldiers screaming inside, ‘YOOO CAPTAIN CAIN AND COMMANDER LUANN ARE DATINGG!!!”

Luann’s face went red.

***

“Closer to the bar, you can do it!”

Luann gritted her teeth.

“Like this?”

“No, closer! You should aim for better form than more reps.”

“Do you have pull up fetish or something?”

“N-no-“

Luann laughed and jumped down, kissing him.

“Just kidding! You’re hot in your workout clothes, you know?”

Cain blushed, turning his head away.

“How many reps do we have left, Captain?”

“It was on my head, but then you kissed it away, Commander.”

“Awwwww, look at you!” Luann pinched Cain’s poor cheeks. “You know, since we’re going to go on separate deployments for a year, do you want to go to an amusement park date?”

“Amusement park date?”

“Yup, we have always gone on a workout date! Though the wrestling date isn’t bad-“

Cain’s face flushed red.

“L-let’s go to the amusement park.”

“Yipee XD”

“Ok, so let’s meet-“

“What are you talking about? We’re going now!”

“H-huh?”

“But first, I wanna go on a shopping spree – you should get changed too!”

And before Cain knew, they were at the retail store. Luann was sitting on a sofa, her face locked in focus. He went into the changing room everytime she shook her head, changed into another outfit, and went back out. Is this how it felt to be Barbie?

Cain straightened his Hawaii shirt. Hmm, this is too-

Luan clapped her hands. Cain jolted in surprise.

“It’s perfect!! Some bright colors are all you need!”

“Don’t I look like I pop out too much?”

“Pfft, what are you in, a battlefield? We’re going to the amusement park!”

She dragged his arm to the mirror.

“See?? The green shades bring out your emerald green eyes! Ooh wait- put that smile on again! ACKK, YOU LOOK REALLY HANDSOME!!”

Cain blushed.

“Do I?”

“YESS!!”

“Ahem, I’ll get this shirt then. Let’s go to the cashi-“

“Hey, a Hawaiian shirt should go with sunglasses!”

Cain’s lips went flat. The same cycle repeat. When Luann finally cheered at the tenth sunglasses, he quickly walked to the cashier.

“Ok, let’s pa-“

“NO! You haven’t picked my outfit yet!”

“I- what-?”

“Just sit!” Luann pushed him down to the sofa. She rushed into the changing room.

He doesn’t feel like he had a sense in fashion – a T-shirt and jeans would be ok… what if the outfit he picked doesn’t feel comfortable? Or how if she doesn’t like it?

“Cain!!”

“The arms are too puffy.”

“Ta-da!”

“The patterns looked a bit like carpet.”

“Wheee!!!”

“What are you, a chicken?”

“Hey, it’s elegant, ok?”

“Perhaps if others wear it.”

The changing room was quite for a bit. Cain gulped. Did he hurt her feelings? But it did kinda look like a flappy chicken wings though…

The door creaked.

“Do I look pretty?”

Cain’s heart thumped.  Luann twirled around in a bright pastel dress.

“Very… pretty...”

“Aww, really?? This is my top choice too-“

“Nevermind, you looked like a misplaced princess.”

“Hey! I caught that gaze!”

“You saw wrong.”

“Schmuck!”

“ADFJKSDFJLKSLKFDSLK”

“SFHSJDKFJKSDJFSKJ”’

Luann giggled, clutching his arm.

“I thought you didn’t like it? How did you end up buying me three variants of it?”

“A-ahem, you seemed to look very comfortable in it.”

The two then ran to the amusement park. They jumped onto the roller coaster – rerode it ten more times until a kid in line cried about never getting a seat -  then ran to the haunted house and ran back out, Luann almost choking Cain to death in panic. They then ran to the photobooth. Luann pushed a bear ear bandana onto Cain’s head. Cain protested, but ended wearing it for the whole day. They then did the challenges, Cain inevitably obliterating every shooting games. Luann giggled, trying to hold the gigantic teddy bear and popcorn prizes Cain gave her.

Cain looked at her. One more gift… what would it be? He smirked.

He dangled a keychain onto her bag. Luann screamed.

“WHAT THE HECK? THAT’S THE GHOST THAT SCARED THE HELL OUTTA ME IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE!”

“You looked kinda cute with it, the vibes matched you.”