Grit's Blind Date

Chapter 1

"…You must be pullin' my leg, son!"

Colin felt his heart sinking slightly as a pair of dirty brown boots kicked themselves up onto the table. They gave no mind to the stacks of papers that were lying underneath them, their white glow tarnished by the dried mud on the soles of the boots.

"Aw, come on, Grit!" Colin begged as he pulled up a chair, sitting down next to Grit, who was leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head. Grit's eyes were focused on the ceiling of the small war room, set out in the middle of the field amongst the encampment.

"Colin…" Grit mumbled, playing around with the toothpick in his mouth, eyes still steadfast to the roof. "If you think you're gettin' me to go on a blind date with someone, then you got another thing comin'! I ain't been on a date since my days back at Orange Star!"

Grit has always been skeptical of the idea the moment it had been brought up. A blind date, offered to every commanding officer that officially served under the Allied Nations before its disbandment. Grit had never really considered himself a man for dates. His idea of fun was shooting tin cans from impossible distances and playing around with his toothpick.

He paid little attention to Colin, who idolized him to the point that he'd hoped to bend Grit's ear on the issue.

"But it'll be fun!" Colin explained. "Who knows who you'll end up going on a date with? It's all randomly decided…a-and it doesn't have to be romantic, you can just have fun!"

Colin heard Grit let out a sigh as he put his feet off the table, sitting up straight. Colin caught the tired look in Grit's eyes; he resembled a cow chewing the cud as he moved the toothpick from one corner of his mouth to the other. His deep, almost mundane voice only emphasized the laziness he showed. He turned his head to look at Colin, gazing at him for a few seconds.

"Listen, Colin" he said after a short silence. "I stopped this whole datin' business when I left Orange Star" he explained, shaking his head slightly as he maintained his gaze. "It ain't really no secret now; you know me and Nell got some history, right?" he asked. Colin nodded in response causing Grit to nod as well. "Now, when things didn't turn out so right, I realized that there's more to life…than datin', son! You know what I mean?"

"But, sir…" Colin started. "…Didn't you have fun?"

"I did…" Grit answered quickly. He then exhaled loudly as he pushed himself up from his seat and walked towards the battle map placed up on one side of the wall next to the door. Locking his hands behind his back, he looked up at it, tapping his foot as he gazed. "But life ain't fun and games. You'll learn that when you're older"

There was a short silence. Colin looked down towards the floor, feeling defeat creep up on him. But he wasn't willing to give up just yet. As a bug crawled across one of the beams of the wooden table, he shot his eyes back up at Grit.

"…Nell's the one organizing it though" he explained. Grit remained solitary, so Colin continued. "If things aren't that well between the two of you, then she's going to know that, too. Besides, I don't think she's actually going to be participating if she's the one who's setting it up, you know?"

"Don't make a bit of difference, Colin" Grit hummed defiantly. "I still ain't convinced"

"Please?" Colin asked in his best begging voice, standing from his chair and walking up to Grit. As he stopped next to him, he saw Grit's head drop as he sighed, still tapping his foot, before he turned his head slightly.

"…Is the Ol' Bearded One doing it too?" he asked, ceasing his foot from tapping momentarily.

"Uh…no" Colin answered.

"And why is that?" Grit asked again.

"Olaf's not the kind for dating" Colin explained. "You know that just as well as I do: he's in his autumn years and he's more interested in doing work at his desk and organizing patrols and that kind of stuff…" he explained.

"Key words there, Colin" Grit said quickly, hushing Colin. "Those words being: 'not the kind for dating'. In the same way that I ain't the kind for datin' too. Understand?" Grit explained.

"But you're younger!" Colin argued. A sense of doubt started to fill his mind as Grit's reply came unheard. "…Are you?"

Grit started to chuckle in response and turned around, leaning against the wall with his shoulder as he pulled his toothpick out and fiddled around with it in his hand.

"Colin, do I look like I'm old?" he asked. Colin studied Grit's tired face and head: no grey hairs, but a wrinkle here and there. It was clear that Grit didn't dye his hair at all, but what was clear was the long nights and work were expressing his facial lines.

"…I dunno, you do look younger than Olaf" Colin concluded.

"That's because I am" Grit revealed with very little surprise, before turning to look back at the map. "Listen, even if I were interested in this proposition, I couldn't do it. You know I got to take care of this border patrol; you never know if any of them Black Hole leftovers are gonna come and cause a ruckus"

"They haven't attacked for days, though!" Colin protested.

"Just cause the war's over, doesn't means things are still feelin' a bit tight lately" Grit continued, still gazing towards the map on the wall. Colin had cracked by this point that Grit's stare was vacant. "I hear the soldiers talkin' sometimes; there's still an air of discomfort around the place. You know as well as I do, son, that the whole Allied Nations thing was tense from the start. When you're buddyin' up with other countries, there's gonna be tension because of all the culture clashes and whatnot. Sure, we were united 'gainst a common enemy and all that, but now there's no common enemy, all's we got now is leftover tension. And that, Colin, is why I ain't interested"

"You're afraid of a little tension?" Colin asked. "Sir, I know I shouldn't be speaking to my superiors like this, but…"

Grit turned around again, his expression still the same.

"I ain't your superior no more, Colin…" he reminded Colin as he turned to lean his shoulder against the wall. Colin was now a fully-fledged commanding officer on the same level as Grit was. The remainder silenced Colin, who took a couple of seconds to re-organize his thoughts before continuing.

"…Isn't this the whole point of the blind date?" Colin asked. "To relieve the tension you're talking about? Lots of people are going to do it, everyone's a little embarrassed but it's all just for…"

"You said it a million times, son" Grit interrupted, releasing a tired smile. Closing his eyes, he sighed. "Why ain't you takin' part then?" he asked.

"I'm too young…" Colin answered, his head drooping slightly. Grit waved his hand as if to dismiss Colin.

"Sorry, stupid question" he said nonchalantly.

"…Sasha's doing it, though" Colin revealed. Grit started to chuckle a little in response.

"Looks like she's the only one from Blue Moon doin' it then" he murmured. "She can be our representative, heh"

"Not if you do it too" Colin pressed. Grit tutted impatiently. He was beginning to feel annoyed by Colin's persistence; why did he want to see Grit go on a date so badly? Grit suspected that Colin was expecting some form of comedy from the move, and as a result wasn't too impressed. He folded his arms, hunching his head slightly as he looked down at Colin, whom he somewhat dwarfed with his tall, thin figure.

"Ain't you worried that I might end up datin' your sister?" he inquired, lifting an eyebrow.

"There's no chance of that" Colin explained defiantly against the raised eyebrow of Grit. "It's specifically randomised so no two commanding officers from the same country are paired. Besides, it would defeat the point of lowering tensions between the nations"

Grit sighed and walked towards the door. Grabbing the handle, he opened it, revealing the small reception on the other side of the door.

"Sorry Colin" he said. "I got a lot of work to do. Gonna have to ask you to leave now"

Colin sighed in response, kicking his feet softly against the floor. He quickly looked around, desperate to say something, but every time he looked at Grit's skeptical face, he couldn't muster any form of answer to his expression. Sighing, he pulled out a piece of folded paper and placed it on the desk above the dirtied papers that Grit's boots had previously been laid on.

"If you change your mind, then sign on that paper and send it to Orange Star HQ by the end of this week to take part" Colin explained. Grit replied by lifting his free hand and pointing to the reception. Colin watched his finger point for a second, before uttering one more impatient sigh, marching out of the room. Grit shook his head once he knew it was out of Colin's sight and quietly closed the door behind him. Staring to the floor, he exhaled quickly and shook his head again before placing his toothpick back in his mouth, proceeding towards the desk to continue his laziness.