Shhhh.

The second you heard the keys turning in the lock, your stood up from the couch to welcome Vein. He might be good at having this flamboyant front and carrying his grace in most situations with a blinding elegance, but the moment he passed the threshold of your apartment, the sparks turned off.

“Welcome home,” you smiled.

He didn't wait and immediately came into your arms.

“Hi,” he sighed.

And he immediately melted. Despite daily reminding you of a phoenix, when these moment came, he looked like an exhausted but clingy kitten.

“Bath time ?” you asked.

“I’m following your lead.”

He almost fell asleep in the bathtub. Might be because of your fingers in his hair and you softly speaking soft words in his ears. Each soft scratch of your fingers in his scalp brought him nearer to a state of melted overworked diva. The bath water was an infusion of the tension he carried on his shoulders all week. It took you a lot of efforts to convince him to leave the tub. But the promise of a copious meal and cuddles was what made it. He looked fluffy in his pajama, but his exhaustion was also emphasized by his sleepwear.

“Did you at least get lunch ?” you asked.

“Er...when I can,” he shrugged, digging in the plate you’ve prepared for him.

“Surprising for a foodie,” you sighed. “You better eat lunch tomorrow morning and at lunch or I’ll literally shove food down your throat. You’ve already lost enough weight, Weiying. Or at least, take some days off.”

“The photoshoots for the new collection will end at the end of the week,” he reassured you. “I promise I’ll take some days off and we’ll go in that spa you’ve been talking about.”

You lifted your pinky finger with an expectant look. Despite the exhaustion oozing from each of his movement, he had a small smile followed by a tired yet fond chuckle. He then linked in your fingers.

“You better keep that promise,” you huffed.

Your flamboyant partner had a small chuckle as he stood up and went to put his plate in the dish washer.

“Yeah. I better.”

You rolled your eyes and walked towards the bedroom and, as expected, he followed you. You gently tucked him in bed.

“Don’t move sweetheart,” you said softly. You went to fetch cotton pads and a bottle of micellar water and with gentle movement, cleaned his face again. He had the habit of doing that before bed, and since he was too tired to even stand straight, you felt like doing it for him. And it looked like you did well because he immediately fell asleep under your ministration. “Good night, my phoenix.”

To say you were confused was an understatement. You weren't used to this kind of chaos. When Clove offered to play DnD, you expected a calm evening playing board games with your teammates, a tranquil way of bonding with your new colleagues. You absolutely did not expect the shenanigans that were happening in front of you.

“So...” you hesitated, “I just roll the dice, right ?”

“Yep,” Clove nodded with enthusiasm.

You felt someone nudging your feet. When you looked down, your eyes met with Thrash’s who gave you the puppiest look she could cast.

“Huh ?” you tilted your head.

“Aw !” Neon cooed. “Look how cute she looks !”

“Nuh-uh !” Fade shook her head, staring sternly at the radivore critter. “You’re not eating another one of my set of dices !”

“I’m sorry Fade,” Gekko apologized with guilty smile. “I don’t think she knows the difference between your dice and candies.”

“She can eat candies too ?” Clove perked up, grabbing a bag out of you didn't know where. “Oh wait here, Thrash ! I’ve got some Soor Plooms for you.”

“It’ll excite her, Clove,” Gekko tried to intervene.

“Oh ! Can I have some ?” Neon asked.

To Neon’s dismay, it was already too late, Thrash swallowed the whole bag of sweets at an impressive speed. It barely diverted her attention from the shiny dice in your hand, though.

“Oh come on !”

“So...,” you hesitantly inquired again. “Do I roll these dice ?”

“Yep !” Clove nodded again.

“No,” Fade shook her head. “If you roll the dice, she will eat them. She ate too many of my dice already.”

“Sorry about that,” Gekko awkwardly rubbed his neck. “Oh by the way, where’s Yoru ?”

“Oh he couldn't come,” Neon answered. “Said he was busy today.”

“He ran away,” Fade shrugged.

“Again ?”

You looked down at the dice in your hands, even more confused. How were you supposed to play without rolling the dice ? You then looked down at Thrash who was waiting at any opportunity to just pounce and put something shiny under her tooth.

“So...” you took a deep breath. “I don’t roll the dice ?”

“Do it,” Neon and Clove said with a single voice.

“Don’t,” Fade and Gekko said at the same time.

Liu Xiao often wondered how and why your paths crossed. He felt like your presence in his life was like the universe was being judgemental of all his actions and his core personality. While he wore a charming persona during his interactions to hide his cunning inside, you never hid yourself behind some overselling persona and was always upfront when you wanted something from someone. Even your power was more upfront compared to his. While his heightened hearing often implied a certain sneakiness during interactions, your heightened sight implied a certain directness. After all, unlike him, you had to be in front of someone to use your ability on that same person.

“For one time in your life, could you be more honest and tell me what is your long game ?” you sighed.

In front of you, Liu Xiao sipped his ice americano. The café you were in was cozy and had quite the good pastries, but nothing good enough to divert you from the smirk Liu Xiao was subconsciously trying to hide behind the movement of sipping with his straw. He wondered what you were seeing. He could hear how stable your heart was, how calm you were despite the light irritation he was causing you.

“Where would be the fun in that ?” he shrugged, flashing you with a charming smile that didn’t move you one bit.

Liu Xiao noticed with disappointment that you were indifferent to his presence.

“Where would be my help in that ?” you countered, your eyes narrowing.

You saw his pulse palpitating under the skin of his neck, the tiny drop of sweat leaking on his temple despite the temperature of the café being comfortable and when you leaned forward to grab your cup, you saw how his pupils dilated at the sudden but short proximity.

“You don’t need my help,” you said, tilting your head. “You want my company.”

Upfront as ever, Liu Xiao wasn’t even surprised by you pointing out your observation. If it was him, he would’ve kept the information and use it later. You truly fascinated him.

Yoru couldn’t help but notice how you stayed in the background compared to others. You observed them interact, practice together, plan their outings, but you never talked to anyone. It might probably be because of the language barrier. While you understood English enough to communicate during mission, but not enough to have meaningful conversation with others. You impressed everyone with your skills during missions, but receiving compliments made you feel too awkward. Not only because you were shy, but also because you could barely respond.

So you stayed in the back. He saw you sometimes with Kay/0, and that was how he discovered that the sentient robot could understand Japanese and that he was helping you improve your English.

“You’re staring,” Phoenix teased him, nudging his shoulder against his. “Why don’t you just confess to them ?”

Yoru huffed at his words, while keeping his eyes on you. Once again, you were observing the others from afar. They were playing basketballs in the court behind the main building of the base.

“Confess ?” he repeated. “Is there even something to confess ?”

Phoenix leveled him with a look that showed him that he wasn’t fooled by his persona. Yoru ticked his tongue in annoyance but remained quiet. He had to admit to himself that it was sometimes hurtful to see you so lonely. He didn’t understand what stopped him from just talking to you. Outside of operations, your interactions were inexistent. You weren’t even friends. Phoenix had a small chuckle that brought Yoru’s attention back on him.

“What are you laughing at ?”

Phoenix flashed him with a smile oh so full of mischief.

“I think you should act and pretty quick.”

Phoenix pointed in your direction. The ball had rolled at your feet and Gekko was running in your direction. Yoru had to watch you with a clenched jaw picking up the ball and giving it to the Angeleno initiator. He also had to observe Gekko thanking you in clumsy yet clearly learned Japanese. He noticed how your face brightened in delight and how Gekko’s cheeks blushed. Yoru listened to Gekko explaining to you that he asked Kay/0 to teach him basics just so he could talk to you. And it clearly moved you.

And it clearly triggered something ugly in Yoru’s heart.

Phoenix patted his friend’s shoulder with a compassionate yet very amused smile.

You barely set a single foot into Miks’ room that you were immediately yanked inside and pulled into the bed with warm arms tightening around you. It took you a few seconds to register that it was your boyfriend feeling cuddly.

“Uhm...Hello there ?”

“Hi,” he said with content sigh.

You felt him nuzzling in your neck. You had a chuckle and affectionately patted his back.

“You’re not making music, today ? You’re not feeling any inspiration ?”

A light huff warmed the skin of your neck that he lightly nipped it.

“How could I when my muse spend all their time locked up in their office ?” you could hear the pout in his voice. “You spend more time with Fade and Cypher than with your boyfriend who loves you very very much.”

You looked down at the top of his head with a thoughtful hum. It was true that you were spending more and more time in your office. Fade, Cypher and you were very busy these past few days, foraging information and data on not only Kingdom but also the Omega agents. The only times you were spending time with Miks was in the morning when you woke up and he was begging you to eat something for breakfast, and the evening when it was time to go to bed.

“I’m sorry, Adrijan,” you sighed. “I’m missing you too.”

He lift up his face, and stare into your sad eyes. He gave your lips a gentle peck then pinched your side while tightening his embrace a bit more. Your legs were now all tangled together, as if you two were about to merge into one.

“None of that self-guilting shit, ljubavi*,” he ticked his tongue disapprovingly. “I’m not accusing you. I’m just worried that you would end up losing yourself in all this work. You barely lunch and I have to remind you to take your breakfast.”

“You’re starting to sound like Cypher,” you groaned.

“Well he’s right,” he chuckled. “Learn to take a break. Please ? For me with a cherry on top ?”

“Hmm...”

“You know you’re always welcome in my arms.”

You let out another sighed, too tired to argue.

“Let’s just shut up and keep on cuddling for the moment, yeah ?”

Miks pecked your lips again.

“Fine by me.”

The tension was very present in the room. On one side, Cypher’s emanating a smug energy that was heating the room and whose chuckle sounded like a soft purr. On the other side, Sova’s cold focus doing none to intimidate the Moroccan sentinel’s amusement.

“It’s your turn,” Cypher chuckled softly.

Sova had a small annoyed huff.

You would have never thought that you would one day see Sova accepting a game of chess against Cypher. They weren’t the best of friends. In fact, they were doing an effort for your sake. You were dating the both of them, but they weren’t dating each other. They were fine with that, but it didn’t stop them from fighting for your attention. What was more attention grabbing than a duel of minds ? One was a field strategist, adapting to the event happening in front him, one was used to plan from a distance, using the information he obtained to use them on the field. One was used to the said field their were fighting on, the other, not as much.And in the middle, you, eating cookies baked by Sova and sipping tea infused by Cypher while admiring your two lovers intellectually fencing for your eyes.

“Remind me why you two started this game ?” you asked, your mouth full of cookie.

“He’s the one who wanted to prove something to himself, любовь моя*,” Sova said, wiping a few crumbs off the corner of your mouth with affection. “You know how he loves to boast.”

“Yet you’re the one who takes thing too seriously, Sasha,” you could hear the Cheshire smile in Cypher’s voice.

“Yet you’re both having an ego too big for you’re own good,” you deadpanned and stood up. “Your banter is one of an old married couple. I should maybe leave you on your own. I don’t wanna be there during you make up sex.”

They turned in your direction in sync.

“What...?” Sova almost choked on his own saliva.

You saw the shiver of disgust going through their spine. Congratulations, you made them sick and pout. Hiding your amusement, behind a bite of cookie and a sip of tea, you walked away, leaving them in their stunned silence.