Monday

"Hey, Elise," Aris called as he spotted her crossing the courtyard, the autumn wind carrying the scent of dying leaves.

"Oh, hey, Aris." She looked up from her phone with a perplexed expression, offering that familiar smile. "How are classes going?"

"Same as always," he said, his bag strap almost coming off his shoulder. "You?"

"Same as you, I suppose."

They stood there for a moment, the conversation playing like ping pong before eventually hitting its usual wall. Around them, students hurried past with the same determined expressions, heading to the same lectures.

"Well," Elise said, "I should probably—"

"Yeah, me too."

Thursday?

"Hey, Elise," Aris found himself saying again, like he was reading from a script he'd memorised.

She was in the courtyard again or still? The bench, the book, the way she tucked her hair behind her ear when she looked up.

"Classes treating you well?" The words came out automatically.

"Could be worse," she gave a careless shrug. "How about you?"

"Same old, same old." —Bleh, when have I started talking like that? he realised.

The same back-and-forth conversation followed by the same pause. With the slightest variation of students walk the same paths. Even the clouds looked identical to yesterday's, grey, heavy, unchanging.

When is day?

"How's everything going?"

—Was this conversation or just muscle memory?— Aris felt like he was watching himself from outside his body, going through the motions of an interaction he'd had a dozen times.

"The usual," Elise replied. "You know how it is."

—Do I really know the usual?— His thoughts dripped in sarcasm. —When did this become the usual?—

There is day

"Hey—," Aris started, but something made him stop mid-script.

She was walking with more purpose than usual, a folder tucked under her arm, checking her phone like she had somewhere important to be. Not the usual wandering pace of someone killing time between classes.

"Oh, hey, Aris." She looked up, but kept moving. "Sorry, but I'm running really—"

"Where are you going?" The question surprised them both.

Elise paused, blinking like she'd been expecting their usual exchange about classes and weather. "I... what?"

"You seem busier. Like you actually have somewhere to be instead of just..." he gestured vaguely at the courtyard where they'd had the same conversation a dozen times.

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "You're implying I'm lazy? Got nowhere else to be?" she said mockingly. "I'm just kidding, I just have to sort something out before our round of small talk about how nothing's changing?"

"Yeah, somewhere along those lines." Aris felt something loosen in his chest—when was the last real conversation?—"So where are you going? What's keeping you so busy?"

"Have you got anything to attend to?"

"No," the old Aris would've said otherwise and let the conversation end there and return to their comfortable, meaningless routine, but today? He's adventurous. Assignments be damned!

"Really?" Elise shifted the folder to her other arm, considering him with new interest, and her expression brightened. "You want to come help with mind-numbing errands?"

"It's better than what I had planned for the day," Aris shrugged as he fell into step beside. "So what sort of errands are you running?"

"I've been helping Phoebe with her project. You know, the machine?" Aris nodded in understanding. "She needed an extra pair of hands, and honestly..." She shrugged. "It beats bed rotting between assignments."

"You've been working with Phoebe?" Something about that stirred unease in him, though he couldn't place why. "What kind of help?"

"Deliveries mostly. Maybe some housekeeping if she's feeling especially unbothered. Nothing too exciting, but it's something to do." She glanced at her phone again as she walked through the usual hefty doors with accustomed ease.

"Honestly? It sounds better than whatever I was planning to do." Which was true, another afternoon of staring at textbooks and articles instead of scratching the itch caused by the last proper conversation with Phoebe. "Plus, I barely got to see the lab properly last time."

"Alright then." Elise started passing through the halls with her updated access. "Fair warning, though, Phoebe gets very intense about her work."

"I know."

"No, I mean she'll probably quiz you about every question you ask."

"Can't be worse than White." He said with an edge of scorn.

"Oh, my sweet boy," Elise laughed. "You don't know the half of it."

After making it through the last stretch of halls, they made it to Phoebe's office.

Opened boxes lay in a pile in the far corners of the room, but cable management remained pristine, books piled and stacked on each other barely staying upright, but the workbench was clear of any fuss. And then Phoebe sat at her computer, after being rearranged to be behind the machine.

"As helpful as you've been, being late isn't acceptable; I'm not lacking in wanting assistants after all." Phoebe scolded.

"It's just the one time, plus take it with the metro. I did what I could." Elise complained.

Phoebe turned her chair to face Elise from her desk to eat at her further, but sees a surprise visitor and stops herself, making her face softer, more 'lady-like'.

"Oh, Aris, hiiiii," Phoebe dragged out her words, voice pitched up. "It's been too long since we last talked. I was starting to wonder when I'd next see you, dear."

"Yeah, it's been a while," Aris said nervously.

Aris and Phoebe caught up with each other, or Phoebe caught up with Aris on her happenings, and Aris barely got a word out. Seeing the two conversing, Elise decides to take it as her toilet break.

Elise waves to Phoebe, signalling her momentary leave. Phoebe waves back frantically, practically begging her to leave. With the last roll of her eyes, Elise leaves.

The conversation between Phoebe and Aris continues, and once she ran out of things to say, the two face each other in silence. Aris leans against the wall, and Phoebe awkwardly returns to her workbench, circuitry spreading throughout it.

In the silence, Aris pondered his classes with Malcolm, barely keeping his head above water, and the lingering possibility of his parents' involvement; the chain of anxiety continued to spiral. Unable to decide what to do with his unoccupied body, he browsed mindlessly around Phoebe's lab.

Phoebe's gaze drifts towards him as she catches his fidgeting in her periphery, unable to commit to whether to question his actions or continue working on her machine. She couldn't decide, but her proficiency made her tinkering feel automatic, leaving space for wonder. wonder about why Aris is the way he is, unusually erratic, as if not knowing what to do with his body. The thoughts bubbled that her focus had strayed, making the wiring shoddy. She looked over at the invention's outlet, seeing that it was off, she let out a relieved sigh.

She took deep breaths, collecting her thoughts.

—Why am I in such a rush to finish this? And while Aris is here, too?

Elise returns to the room, and four eyes dart towards her. Aris hopes to find a stop to his spiralling thoughts, while Phoebe looks at her as if she has interrupted something. at her blankly like deer in headlights.

"What.. happened while I was out?" Elise questioned, feeling their eyes study her.

Aris speaks up first with some stutters, "N- nothing, we were just talking about how the machine is almost ready for testing, that's all."

"Yeah..." Phoebe said slowly.

"Sure..." Elise replies, matching her tone. "So what is it that you need me to do?"

"Well, since I have you both, it seems we can get this done sooner. I will need some assistance with changing its form to be more," she catches herself already returning to work. With a sigh, she continues, "Streamlined. As it is, it's a perfect prop for the first avenger, but not quite as chic." She waves the two of them towards her computer. " I for one don't care for form so long as functionality is perfect, but investors think otherwise, after all, 'a bug is a feature'," her last statement said with dread. "So might as well tackle their roadblocks before they start getting too handsy with my baby."

The group inspects the updated design, which can be summarised as a hyper-ergonomic open casket with some accentuation on the spinal region.

It abandoned the capsule concept, for the most part. Aris pointed that fact out, and Phoebe reasoned. "I added some attractors and induced a magnetic field that will act like an invisible capsule or cover, for lack of better words, keeping it all contained. I haven't finished engineering the parts yet," she nods at the workbench, "but once I do finish, the rest will solve itself." Phoebe looks directly at Aris with a self-satisfied grin, "Plus, I can make the capsule editions the more 'budget-friendly' option."

"So what will we be doing if we don't have the containment mechanisms ready?" Elise enquires.

Phoebe clicks her tongue, annoyed, "We'll leave space for what's missing, obviously," she answers begrudgingly.

With some discussion, they began reconstruction. The work was methodical, following Phoebe's instructions, fitting components together. For the first time in weeks, Aris felt useful rather than scrutinised. No one was grading him, no one expected him to be anyone but himself.

With the machine's new design mostly assembled, they had completed today's objectives. With everyone exhausted and Phoebe deciding to take a break longer than a minute, they all departed the campus. Phoebe made her way home to the outer city suburbs while Elise and Aris made their way to the city centre.

They make their way to the metro station, and while they wait for their train, Aris stares at his phone, Elise's contact open, his thumb hovering over the message box. He ends up reading her birthday, which was automatically populated when they shared contacts. His stomach drops when he reads October 21st, barely days away, without a plan.

The train arrived with aged brakes squealing. The post-rush-hour car was mostly empty.

"Say, Ari, do you ever get that feeling of deja vu?"

"More so recently, yeah. Today was a nice change of pace, though."

"I was thinking we'd keep mixing things up and spend your first free night as my treat," Elise said as they sat.

Aris waves the offer away, "You don't need to do all that, the thought is enough, plus—"

"Bitte, Aris, das geht auf mich," Elise responds in German. Aris gives her a clueless expression, and she translates it, adding a bit more than before, "This one's on me, Aris, so please enjoy it."

"You really don't have to—"

"Then accept it as my birthday treat." She gives a cheeky grin as she watches Aris begrudgingly accept. "And as a bonus, I'll treat you again on my actual birthday."