Disclaimer: Hellsing and its characters belong to none other than Kouta Hirano.

Author's Note: Wishing more people would write fanfics about these two. Anyway, this is a bit of an AU. I found the prompt somewhere on Tumblr and decided to use it. Apologies for grammatical errors and misspellings.

Chapter 3: Bus Ride

It was snowing and cold and all Seras wanted was for the bus to just come so that she could go home back to her warm bed. But no, the bus just had to be late.

She tried to warm herself up by rubbing her arms and hands but to no avail. Glancing to her right, she found a couple of people standing waiting for the bus too. There was a middle-aged woman with a shocking pink jacket and groceries in hand, a businessman in a dark coat and a suitcase, and a man with the longest braid she'd ever seen with a cigarette between his lips. Seras was glad she didn't have to wait for the bus alone in this weather.

Seras perked when she heard the huff of the bus and groaned when she saw how packed it was. She was resigned to the fact that she might end up standing all the way home.

The four of them boarded the bus, searching left and right for empty seats. The woman and businessman found theirs quick while Seras had to go further to the back of the bus to find an empty seat. She hurriedly dashed towards it, only for someone to bump into her. "Hey!"

She looked up to find a pair of teal eyes and the familiar long braid. It was the man with the cigarette earlier. "Sorry, you want zis seat?" He pointed.

Seras was too surprised at the thick French accent that it took her a while to find the right response. "Ah, not really. You can have it if you want." She said, gesturing towards the seat, which the man replied with a shake of his head.

"Non, you should 'ave it."

"No, no, it's yours. You got here first."

"Ridiculous. It was me who bumped into you, zerefore you were 'ere first."

Seras frowned, somehow feeling annoyance creeping up her spine "No, you should sit there."

"Mademoiselle, you are a woman. You should sit."

"A woman?"

The man cocked his head. "You are, are you not?"

"Of course I am! But what does that have anything to do with this?"

"Well, women are much frailer zan men, zerefore you should sit," he answered plainly. Seras was gaping at him now but he didn't seem to think that what he said was wrong.

"What are you—? Are you saying that I'm weaker because I'm a woman? Is that it?"

"Quoi?"

"You said women are weaker than men! Are you saying that I'm not strong enough to stand on my own two feet for a measly bus ride?"

"Non?" At Seras' skeptical look, he denied it again. "I did not mean it like zat!"

"It sure did sound like that."

"Non, non, non, you got it all wrong," the man tried to placate. "I meant zat I am a man and we are more durable!"

"It's the same thing!"

"It is not!"

"It is too!"

The both of them continued, not realizing that they had attracted the attention of the other passengers. The man gritted his teeth and threw up his arm. "Just take zee damn seat, woman!"

"Excuse me," a frail whisper slipped past the pair and both of them looked down to see an old woman sitting down on said empty seat.

They stared at the oblivious old lady before looking at each other and burst out laughing. Seras tried to cover her giggles with a hand and glanced at the man, seeing him wiping tears from his eyes. He looked at her then, lips curling into a boyish smile. There was something familiar about him even though she was sure she'd never seen this man before.

Suddenly he offered his hand, saying, "I'm Pip."

She stared at the appendage and slowly took it. "Seras. Seras Victoria."

Both of them held each other's hand a bit longer than necessary before quickly letting go, feeling warmth creeping on both their cheeks. An awkward silence descended upon them and Seras fidgeted again.

Pip rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat. "Want to get coffee on zee next stop? I know a good place." He offered and she looked at him with wide eyes. "Zat is, if you don't 'ave anywhere else to be."

Seras smiled and didn't have to think twice as she said yes.

End Note: I'm not really satisfied with how this turned out so I'd probably edit it in the future. Also, if you have any ideas/prompts you want me to write, please do review/pm me. Thank you!