It had been weeks since Rita had last made her way through Hyperion city and to the small apartments hidden away among taller and grander buildings. She walked down the streets of the city as silently and unnoticed as possible. No matter what Junk said, she was more than capable of being quiet, she just chose not to most of the time.
It was about a ten-minute walk from her friend’s office to the apartment building, and above the sky looked like it was going to rain. Rita walked as quickly as possible and arrived in record time. Inside was just as plain and unnoticeable as the exterior, and though boring Rita had done her best not to mention it. A quick elevator ride up to the fifth floor, and a brisk walk to the very last apartment’s door.
Rita knocked softly, twice-pause-once. A few seconds later the sound of a lock disengaging was followed by the door opening a few inches. Inside it was dark, and the person behind the door had walked away. Rita pouched the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside.
Once the door was closed and locked again she let out a long breath. “Well, you know it doesn’t have to be so dark in here.”
“Maybe I like the dark.”
“Really Sasha, you don’t have to be so dark and mysterious all the time! I get that enough from Mista Steel.”
“Oh I thought you liked that about me, and Juno could never pull off dark and mysterious as I do.”
While they had been talking Rita had made her way across the room to where she knew Sasha was sitting. She set her purse down on the ground before sitting down herself with her legs set carefully down on either side of Sasha’s. It was a well-practiced dance by now, Sasha’s hands moving to hold Rita in place carefully while the smaller woman placed her hands on the back of her neck.
“So, miss Wire. What may I do for you today?”
Sasha hummed thoughtfully “Well there are quite a few things you can do for me.” Even in the dark Rita could see her smile glinting. “Though sadly I have actual work for us today.”
Rita pouted and slouched fully into Sasha’s lap, “You’re no fun”
“I know love, but we’ve got to.” Sasha said with a sigh before patting Rita on the thigh “We really do have work to do.”
“Fiiiiiinnneee.” Rita stood up and walked over to the wall, flipping on the lightswitch. “What do we have this time?”
Sasha smiled and stood as well, she gestured to a computer sitting on a small dining table. “We are going to rob Juno Steel.”
Rita walked over to the computer, on the screen was a layout of a small apartment. She didn't need it, she had helped Juno pick it out and had spent plenty of night sitting in the living-room watching streams. She clicked through to another tab where she found a grainy picture of Juno holding a small wooden box.
"What is it you wanna steal from him?"
"Something he stole from me a long time ago, I didn't even know he had it until recently. Just thought it had gone missing." Sasha stepped up until she was pressed against Rita's back, her hands began to wander as she continued to speak. "But now that I know where it is, I need you to help me get it back."
Rita smirked, "I can probably do that."
***
It was easy to distract Juno, all Rita had to do was announce to him it was stream night and turn the volume up. It took him a few minutes to settle but once he did was practically falling asleep on her shoulder. Rita looked down at her best friend with a smile, his eyes drooping closed, his mouth hanging open just slightly. She almost felt bad helping Sasha rob him.
But at the same time, he just made it so easy. And so she wrapped her arm around his shoulder, pulling him further down so he was ever more relaxed. Soon enough the lady was snoring peacefully against her while the stream played on.
A few minutes later there was a soft click and the window slid open. Sasha walked in silently, sending a wink to Rita as she slipped past the pair and towards the bedroom. Rita did her part in keeping an eye on the sleeping detective until Sasha re-emerged now holding the little wooden box from the picture.
"I see you're a little held up here." Sasha whispered, "see you back at the apartment tomorrow?"
Rita nodded, careful not to wake Juno. Sahsa left a soft kiss on her cheek before slipping back out the window.
***
Rita had the day off and had made her way to the apartment early that morning. Sasha had let her in and they had gladly spent the better part of the day making up for everything they hadn't gotten the chance to do before.
They kept the curtains drawn, sharing kisses back and forth in the privacy of the room. It was just the two of them in a simple bed, wandering hands and familiar words passing back and forth between them. Rita happily ended up laying on her side with Sasha wrapped around her from behind, humming quietly to both of them.
Sasha had stocked the kitchen with all of Rita’s favorites, and as the sun was setting they moved to the living room along with some popcorn to watch their favorite streams and cuddle.
It was almost an hour into the second Andromeda movie that there was a knock at the door. Well, Rita would have called it more of a bang. Both women jumped at the loud noise and turned to the door.
Sasha turned the volume up just slightly, but that didn’t deter them. Instead, the banging picked up, now accompanied by a voice
“Open up Sasha I know you’re in there!” Juno sounded angrier than when Rita had locked him out of the office trying to get him to take a break “I know you’ve got my shit! I want it back!”
With a disgruntled sigh, Sasha stood up and walked over to the door. She swung it open and snapped “What do you want Juno?”
“You broke into my apartment! I want my shit back!”
“So what if I broke in? And it was mine in the first place! I was only stealing my own shit back!”
“Did you have to rope my secratary into it?”
“Who says I had anything to do with it?” Rita piped up from her place on the couch.
Juno just glared at her “I want my shit back Sasha!”
“I already told you, it’s not even yours! You took it from me in the first place, I’ve just taken it back!”
“No you know what! Yeah I stole it from you, becasue it was rightfully mine!”
“It was not ‘rightfully yours’ Juno, I won fair and square!”
Rita looked over at them confused “I’m sorry won?”
“Yeah,” Juno sighed, annoyed “Did you not even tell her what you were stealing? Rita, Sasha’s go you all roped up in this over some dumb trophy she didn’t deserve in the first place!”
“Well if she won it, trophies are real important to a whole lot of people.”
“She didn’t win it! She stole it from me! I took it back!”
“You’re just angry you wern’t the fastest runner! And it’s not like only I beat you, if it wasn’t me Benten was also in front of you!”
“Um...when was this race exactly?” Rita asked tentativly.
Juno scoffed, an embarrassed flush apearing across his face. “Well, you know it’s not that important when and-”
“Seventh grade! PE class” Sasha smirked. “Juno just can’t let anything go.”
“You’re the one who broke into my apartment to steal it back yesterday!”
“Well, it’s rightfully mine!”
“You could have asked for it!” Juno finally walked into the apartment and out of the doorway “It’s not like I was actually using it for anything.”
Rita giggled as he sat down next to her on the couch with a humph. “Why don’t you two figure out later, right now I wanna finish this stream!”
Sasha sighed, “Fine, but I’m not giving it back.” She flopped down on Rita’s other side, pulling her close.
Before Juno could manage to pick up the argument again, Rita grabbed the remote and turned the stream back on to full volume.