Max led the way back to the changing room and left the Pilot suit behind, after filling out a report on the shift long comfort level and essential tool accessibility of the harness. Once he got past the feeling of being nearly naked in the light body suit, it was incredibly comfortable for daily activities, and he wouldn’t mind wearing it again every day if he had to. Inside a cramped cockpit, it would be even better than the regular loose jumpsuit style, which often folded under the legs and made the pockets inaccessible while operating.

Max knew that for an extended deployment more than a few Crusader Class Pilots simply didn’t get dressed and operated in their underwear. Max had always been a bit too paranoid about something unexpected happening and causing him to end up outside or on a video chat in his underwear, so he at least put pants on, but Nico routinely delayed video links with Command until she had gotten dressed, so she was certainly operating in something less than her uniform.

He likely wouldn’t be wearing the harness during operations though, or at least not all of it. The armor plate would only get in the way of his cockpit securement, and the straps across his back would not be comfortable for long-term wear over the course of weeks.

All of that went into their notes, and they made their way back to the apartment, stopping along the way to grab a collection of groceries and other essentials. The apartment had all the cooking utensils that they could need, as well as an automated washing machine, but they hadn’t had time to stock food yet.

Max noticed that Nico was also doing some grocery shopping, getting an assortment of nonperishable foodstuffs to take home with her, despite not needing them.

“Planning on hosting a party?” Max asked, wondering at her selections.

“Special events need cake. These ingredients will make one at any time, and they are shelf stable so I don’t need to worry about how long it is going to be before a situation calls for cake.” Nico explained as if it was incredibly obvious. Perhaps it was, just not to Max.

Once they got home, Nico dropped her groceries on her counter and came over to help Max put away his much larger haul. They had left early, but they had been there for both breakfast and lunch servings in the Testing Lab, so Max decided to relax for the afternoon, watching movies with Nico.

“Why don’t we start with the Classics? I know you missed a lot of the essentials of movie culture, so we can start with the comedies and go from there.” Nico suggested. That worked for Max, comedy movies were an easy win in his books, so they settled onto the couch and put on a supposedly cult classic comedy called Space Orbs.

Max recalled the credits ending, but the next thing he knew, his alarm was going off and he was waking up with his head on Nico’s lap.

“I guess we fell asleep watching movies.” She mumbled, reaching across to turn his alarm off.

Max wondered what happened. The night before, he had tossed and turned for hours before falling asleep, but last night he was out after a single movie, and on the couch no less, not even in bed. He must have been more tired than he thought.

They didn’t stop for anything this morning, simply going to the office, where they could have a much more luxurious shower and would be putting on fresh clothes anyhow. Their arrival by hoverboard didn’t attract as much attention as yesterday, mostly because they were a half hour early and there were only a few people headed to the lab at this time, with everyone else showing up right before their shift was set to start.

After a quick shower, Max checked his work locker and found that the Pilot suit was the same as yesterday, but in a different color combination, so it might be a slightly different model or composition than yesterday’s outfit. This one had a different top layer setup as well, a soft cloth set of overalls instead of a webbing harness. They were long-legged and tucked into his boots, but sleeveless, which might be more comfortable than the webbing harness, though they looked rather odd, like he should be wearing a shirt, but wasn’t, with the short sleeves of the base layer looking like an undershirt.

“Oh, you got that one, it looks strange, but it’s way more comfortable than the webbing. Looks like your partner got something strange.” One of the pilots laughed, pointing to where Nico was looking at a jumpsuit that was more mesh than anything else.

She slipped it on and Max couldn’t help but draw in a surprised breath. “That outfit is just barely making it in so many ways. Tell me there is another layer that goes with it.”

Nico smirked and shook her head. “Cyborg combat suit version 9, optimized for cooling and defense against edged weapons. Supposedly this thing will take the blade of a Line Mecha without tearing. I think I like it, just the looks it gets are worth it.”

“I’ll tell you what though, I couldn’t wear it, and I’m partial conversion. My balls would hang out of the mesh and don’t even get me started on the chafing.” One of the other Pilots laughed as Nico grabbed a Lab Coat to wear over the suit.

“You know, you can turn down the suits if they are unsuitable for use.” One of the female researchers informed them, coming into the room too late to actually see it.

Nico turned with her coat open and tilted her head at the scientist. “It’s functional, but whoever designed it needs to get laid. I’ll have to go upstairs and have a conversation with them later.”

The researcher’s eyes bugged out at the mesh suit, and she stuttered, trying to form a response. Colonel Noor saved her the trouble though, grabbing another suit and throwing it at Nico.

“No need, either of you. I will go talk to them personally, but if you like it, you can keep it. Maybe wear it as a base layer or something.” The Colonel’s face looked furious, so she must have been watching the cameras to see if there were any issues with the day’s outfits.

“Understood Colonel. Under a crop top and skirt, it would actually look pretty cute.” The strict woman just shook her head at Nico and marched out to go verbally tear someone a new orifice.

“Well, that was a fun way to start the second day, hopefully, we get a testing station that is just as interesting.” Max joked, checking the duty roster on the wall to see where he would be. He was on X10 development testing, while Nico was back in Bay 29, doing the second day of practical tests on the [Tech Adept Toolkit].