#fictober25

"Trust me, this will work!"

I stared straight into the eyes of my best friend, Benedict Bridgerton, willing him to believe what I was saying. He raised an eyebrow, and I could see the doubt in his eyes, but to his credit he was still standing in the small hallway alcove with me.

"...I suppose I've trusted you this long. One more leap of faith isn't too much to ask, with all of that considered."

I grinned at him. "Thank you. And just think about the expression on Anthony's face when my plan goes off without a hitch!"

Benedict shook his head, but he smiled nonetheless. I smiled back, leaning my shoulder into his.

Technically, we were far too close for propriety. But we'd been joined at the hip since we were children, and we were in Aubrey Hall with no one besides his family and the staff. I wasn't about to let my best friend sit out of shenanigans because society had recently decided we weren't allowed to exist within two feet of each other.

In pall mall yesterday, Anthony had completely cheated to prevent me from winning, and I was not about to let that stand. So, I'd come up with a plan to get my revenge, via a bucket full of water balanced over a doorway I knew Anthony would be walking through shortly.

"I hope you have a plan for the moment after the water hits its mark," Benedict muttered, so close to me that I could feel his breath on my neck. I repressed a shiver, and immediately after, repressed any analysis of why I might've felt a shiver coming on.

"The plan is to hide here," I said. "Where we'll see him and he won't see us."

"And if he does see us?"

"Then I'm going to run, at least fast enough to be faster than you."

Benedict scoffed and rolled his eyes, and I responded with a grin. Before either of us could continue our conversation, however, the trapped door swung open with Anthony's typical level of force, sending the perilous bucket of water tipping over and straight onto his head.

He gasped, already scowling, as my hands shot to my face to try to stifle a laugh. Just behind me, Benedict wasn't quite as successful as I had been. A horrible, half-muffled snort escaped him, and Anthony's head whipped instantly in our direction.

All three of us froze for a moment, and then all hell broke loose.

"Run!" I shouted, whirling around and shoving Benedict ahead of me as Anthony bellowed our names, clearly having realized we were to blame.

Just ahead of me, I could see Benedict shaking his head as the two of us sprinted through the hallways of Aubrey Hall, like we had when we were kids. Despite the situation, I couldn't keep a slightly manic smile off my face.

"Come on, Ben! I know you can run faster than that!" I called, putting on just enough speed to pull ahead of Benedict. I heard him huff behind me, and I could tell he wasn't quite as amused as I was.

Of course, to be fair, his brother would probably actually punch him if he caught up to Benedict first. He'd be more likely to pick me up and drag me all the way outside to throw me in the lake in retaliation.

"We need a better plan than just running!" Benedict called, still just a half-step behind me. I hummed. He was right. Luckily for both of us, I'd practically grown up in this house, too, and I'd spent a lot of time exploring these hallways, including after Anthony had to step up and do real work instead of spending time with Benedict and I.

"Just follow me," I huffed, quickly turning a corner and then yanking Benedict after me through a door to a servant's supply cupboard. I knew Anthony had no idea it existed, and honestly, I doubted whether Benedict knew, either.

I tugged the door shut behind us, putting my back to the wall in the small, dark space with Benedict just in front of me. I wished I could pretend that my heart was only racing from the running and the adrenaline.

"What a-"

"Sh!" I hissed, putting a finger to my lips to silence Benedict as quickly as possible. We stood so close to fit both of us in the closet that my finger wasn't far from touching his lips, too.

A moment later, we heard Anthony's footsteps go thundering past outside. Neither of us so much as breathed, staying absolutely still and listening as carefully as we could. Mercifully, it sounded like Anthony had gone right past us without a second thought.

I met Benedict's eyes, huffing a quiet laugh as a small smile of relief pulled onto my face.

"I think we're in the clear," I said, still smiling, although I wasn't totally sure why anymore. It took a concentrated effort to keep my eyes on Benedict's face.

"All thanks to your brilliant quick thinking," he muttered, sounding a little breathless himself, as his eyes roamed my face. My heart kicked up an extra beat, and against the better judgement in the back of my mind, I followed the impulse to let my hands drift up to rest on his arms.

Almost reflexively, like it was the most natural thing in the world, Benedict's hands came up to rest lightly on my waist. Slowly, he leaned forward, until our foreheads pressed together. He'd given me plenty of time to pull back, but I hadn't moved an inch.

"I... am about to say something that will greatly complicate our friendship," he said. I smiled, meeting his eyes as we remained face to face.

"By all means, do so."

He chuckled, a relieved smile growing on his own face. My heart sped up in my chest in anticipation of what I thought Benedict was about to say.

"I have been feeling this way for some time... I've thought about saying this to you for a long time, too. I should be more eloquent, but I'm struggling not to trip over my words..." My smile grew as I huffed a short laugh. Benedict, usually one of the most poetic and well-spoken people I knew, was struggling not to trip over his words. He huffed a little laugh, then continued. "I... have feelings for you. To be more precise, actually, I... I love you. I'm in love with you. And I think I have been for... for longer than I'd realized. You are such a wonderful and important part of my life, and you have been for so long. I can't imagine life without you, I- oh, please tell me I haven't just ruined our relationship."

I laughed, especially at the worried look on his face. He looked slightly more relaxed at my reaction, but not completely. I moved one of my hands from his arm to his chest, just above his heart, and gave him a soft smile.

"You haven't ruined anything, Benedict. I've been feeling the same way for at least as long as you have. I was too scared to ruin our relationship myself, so I never said anything... I'm glad you finally did."

He let out a gigantic sigh, relaxing backwards to rest his head on the opposite closet wall as his shoulders slumped.

"Oh, thank goodness. I can't imagine what I would've done if you hadn't felt the same way."

I giggled a little, leaning into him as he straightened up and pulled me closer. This time, I didn't stop myself from glancing down at his lips, which also meant I didn't miss the way they curved into a mischievous smile.

"...Does this also mean I can finally kiss you?" he asked. My eyes snapped back up to his, and I quickly nodded my head.

"I'll be incredibly disappointed if you don't."

Benedict grinned again, then wasted no time leaning in to close the distance between us. I met him halfway, and fireworks exploded in my chest as soon as our lips met.

I leaned even farther forward, into Benedict, and he pulled me closer as we deepened the kiss. My head spun, my entire world narrowing to the man I loved, who I knew loved me back, who I finally got to kiss. I don't know how far we would've gone before society's hovering rules floated back into our minds, but the door to our hideout swung open before we got the chance to find out.

My stomach swooped, this time with panic rather than butterflies. Benedict and I jerked apart, putting as much distance as possible between us in the tiny space, and I got ready to shove Anthony over if he'd somehow managed to find us. After blinking a few times while my eyes adjusted to the sudden light, however, I found a different Bridgerton sibling staring at the two of us.

Daphne stood framed in the doorway, her hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised. I glanced at Benedict, and found him looking just as shocked and sheepish as I felt.

"I was wondering how long something like this would take the two of you."

Benedict and I both stumbled over a few half-formed words. I had absolutely no idea what to say, and clearly, he didn't either.

"I came to tell the two of you that Anthony gave up. He's due for a visit to one of the neighbors, and he had no choice but to leave a few minutes ago. You two are safe, at least for now."

"...Thank you, Daphne." I managed to choke out. She nodded and then slowly, a grinned pulled onto her face as she glanced between me and Benedict again.

"You know, the two of you are very lucky both Anthony and I have been in similar situations before. And that I'm the one who found you."

"I take that to mean you won't be telling anyone?" Benedict finally managed to ask. Daphne shook her head.

"No. Although I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say I'm relieved the two of you finally realized the feelings you've been ignoring for far too long."

With that, she turned on her heel and walked away, leaving the closet door open behind her. Benedict and I turned to each other slowly, sheepish grins in place as he rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Well..." I started. "I suppose my idea for revenge on Anthony worked out better than imagined."

Benedict snorted, the tension and nerves finally breaking between us. He reached out and pulled me into his side, although with the door wide open, we didn't go farther than that.

"...I'm afraid that if I agree, I'm going to find myself running from my siblings after you've decided to prank them more often than I already do."

I grinned up at him, leaning into his side a little more. "That's a guarantee regardless, Benedict. If we act on these feelings and court, then-"

"There is no if."

I stopped short, the teasing grin falling from my face at the seriousness of Benedict's tone. He met my eyes steadily, absolute sincerity conveyed through his posture, tone, and expression.

"So long as you agree, I intend to marry you. I know we may need to court officially first, and that we can't simply be married tomorrow, but... for me, it's a when, not an if."

I straightened up slightly, smiling at Benedict more earnestly.

"Then you will definitely need to be prepared to run from your siblings with me after I've pranked them, much more frequently as my husband."

Benedict sighed dramatically, throwing his head back and slumping a little. I brought a hand up to my face to hide a laugh, especially as Benedict straightened up again and fixed me with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Well, at least then, we'll be able to do what we want in the closets we hide in without fear of social scandal or violation of propriety."

I laughed, lightly whacking Benedict's shoulder as he grinned. The two of us wandered back into the rest of Aubrey Hall together, lighter and happier than I'd ever felt before.

Not even the looming issue of Anthony's return could change that feeling today.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989 @space-helen @misshale21 @diego42 @crepuscola

I hummed to myself as I headed outside, the sun shining even brighter now that I was finally done with classes for the day. Other than a few assignments on the distant horizon, I had nothing to do, either, which left me completely free to enjoy the last of the beautiful fall weather.

Without the looming dread of unfinished assignments hanging over my head, the world truly felt like my oyster. I could take a walk in my favorite park, read a book and relax in the sun, maybe call a few friends to help me build a gigantic leaf pile-

I stopped short when I noticed the familiar form of none other than Jonathan Byers, standing near the tree line just past the parking lot.

I smiled, even though he hadn't noticed me yet, and headed in his direction.

Jonathan and I had been in classes together since high school, and we'd always been friendly, if not quite friends outside of school. I'd always had a bit of a thing for him, but he'd been pretty hung up on Nancy Wheeler, and our scheduled had never really aligned for the opportunity to hang out and get to know each other better.

That had finally started changing, now that the two of us were taking classes at the local community college.

We weren't really in any of the same classes, but the school wasn't gigantic, so we ran into each other all the time. It was nice to have a familiar face around, at least for me, and I'd been getting the impression Jonathan felt the same way.

"Hey! Jonathan!" I called, once I got close enough. He jumped, clearly surprised, and whirled around at the sound of my voice, but he smiled as soon as he recognized me.

"Oh, hey! Did you... did you just get out of class?"

I nodded. "Finally. I've got a free weekend for the first time since the semester started, too, and I can't tell you how badly I needed it. How about you? How are your classes?"

"They're not too bad," he said with a shrug. "I've had a few free weekends, but I know that's going to change in a few weeks. Once our projects get started, I'll be busy until the end of the semester."

"Exactly why you need to take the time to enjoy the nice weather and your freedom while you can."

"Exactly."

We shared a smile, and my heart skipped a beat. I tried to ignore it, and more importantly, to hide it, as I cleared my throat and nodded at the camera in Jonathan's hands.

"So... what are you working on? Photography and stuff, right?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Photography and stuff," he said, giving me another small smile, his shoulders shrugging as he brushed it off. I took a step closer to him, smiling right back at him, mine much wider and more sure even if I didn't totally feel that confidence.

"Tell me about it?"

"...It's rather complicated."

I frowned, the butterflies in my chest dying off almost all at once. I'd heard similar things from plenty of men in my classes, now and at Hawkins High School, as they assumed whatever they were doing would go right over my head if they tried to explain it to me. But I'd never gotten the impression Jonathan was even the littlest bit like any of those men.

"So, what?" I asked, not bothering to try to keep my voice playful. "You think I won't be able to understand it?"

"What?" Jonathan had been staring at his shoes, but his head snapped up at my words, his eyes wide as they met mine and caught my meaning. "No! No, of course not. I'm sure you'd understand, you're... that's not what I meant at all."

Some of the angry wasps buzzing in my chest in place of the butterflies quieted down, and I dropped my scowl to a more neutral expression. Still, I raised an eyebrow, not completely convinced.

"...What did you mean, then? Because you wouldn't be the first guy to jump to the 'she wouldn't get it' conclusion, Jonathan."

"I know! I- I remember watching you shut down and embarrass, like, half the guys in our class after they said something like that. It was great." A tiny smile tugged at the corner of Jonathan's mouth, and I couldn't stop myself from doing the same. He took a deep breath, then continued. "It's just... most people lose interest pretty quickly when it comes to hearing me talk about the details of photography, and how the development of the film and all works. I didn't want to bore you with it all."

The last of the wasps died down and the butterflies returned as my heart melted. Jonathan had gone back to glancing at his shoes, so I took a deep breath and then took the leap to step closer to him, putting one hand carefully on his forearm. He looked up at me immediately, eyes wide again, and I thought I saw a faint blush creeping up his neck. I smiled.

"I'm sorry I jumped to the conclusion I did. You've never given me reason to think you're like those other assholes I mentioned, and I get where you're coming from. But I promise, I would love to hear all about photography and the details of how it all works."

"...You would?"

"Very much, yeah. Maybe we could even take some pictures together? And you could show me how to develop them?"

"I- I would love to do that."

"Okay, good." I smiled at him, and a slightly more hesitant smile grew on his face. I took a deep breath, then took the biggest leap I'd taken all day by reaching out to take Jonathan's free hand. He smiled a little wider, and didn't let go. "Come on. I know a really cool spot on the edge of campus that looks gorgeous when the sun starts to set."

Jonathan absolutely beamed back at me.

"Lead the way."

I grinned, then turned to pull us both towards one of my favorite spots on campus, deliriously happy as I held Jonathan's hand and he followed behind me. This rare free weekend was turning out even better than I'd hoped.

****************

Everything Taglist: @rosecentury @kmc1989 @space-helen @misshale21 @diego42 @crepuscola

I sighed, taking a sip of my coffee as the main character in my book made a frankly ridiculous decision. I understood why they'd come to the decision—it was incredibly in character—but that didn't mean I had to be happy about it.

Luckily, I got a perfectly-timed distraction in the form of my boyfriend, Scott McCall, sliding into the seat next to me on the couch at my favorite coffee place.

"Hi," I said, setting my book aside and turning to him with a smile. He smiled back, returning my hi and leaning in to give me a quick kiss. When he settled into his seat, though, I noticed more tension in his shoulders than I would've expected for our relaxed, casual date as planned.

I frowned. I hadn't known Scott all that long—I'd transferred to Beacon Hills from Mystic Falls for my senior year when my family had moved—but I'd known him long enough to pick up a few of his tells when something wasn't right.

"...Are you okay?" I asked. Scott sighed, glancing around the cafe before turning back to me. I frowned.

"I'm sorry. There's a new supernatural in town, trying to cause problems. I just got done talking to Stiles and Lydia about it... we're going to have to deal with them sooner than later."

I sighed, setting down my coffee and flopping back into the couch. Of course, we could never go more than a few weeks without some new supernatural threat or problem coming up. It had been the same in Mystic Falls, but I'd been seriously hoping Beacon Hills would be different. I was starting to think I was the problem, with some kind of supernatural magnet curse I wasn't aware of.

"...Do we have a plan?" I asked, cutting right to the chase. Scott sighed, his shoulders tensing, but he nodded.

"Yeah. Not everybody's happy with it, but... we're going to start by trying to talk. If they don't want to talk, we'll reconvene, but the general idea is to make it clear that they're not strong enough to beat us. They can play by our rules and stay, or they can leave Beacon Hills. There's no third option."

I just stared at Scott, blinking as I processed his words. He held my stare, looking more worried every second I stayed silent.

"What's the matter?" he finally asked. "You don't think it'll work?"

I shook my head. "No! No, that's not it at all. It's a great plan. And I fucking love you so much."

Scott frowned, looking incredibly confused as a beaming smile pulled its way onto my face. Genuinely, my chest panged with how much I loved Scott McCall and how grateful I was to have found him.

"Scott, do you know how hard I had to work in Mystic Falls to keep everybody from killing everybody else as their first and only go-to solution to problems?" I asked, still smiling as I tried to alleviate some of my boyfriend's confusion. "It was a constant fight, and it was frustrating as hell, and I rarely won. So I just... I really appreciate you, and the fact that your plans always involve saving people and protecting life instead of defaulting to killing them, no matter how big or scary they may be."

Scott's confused frown had morphed into a smile while I'd been speaking, and the sight of him beaming at me on the couch made that same little muscle tug in my heart again.

"I love you so fucking much, Scott McCall," I said. Scott huffed a little laugh, absolutely beaming, as I leaned into him. He put his arm around my shoulders, squeezing me tight.

"I love you too. I know you didn't really want to be in the middle of all the supernatural stuff again, but... I'm glad you're part of the pack, part of helping us. And that you don't default to just killing people, either."

I grinned. "We probably wouldn't be together if my default was killing people."

"Maybe. But it's not."

"No, it's not. And can I just say? If I have to have a bunch of supernatural craziness in my life, I'm glad it's your supernatural craziness instead. I don't mind Beacon Hills and the werewolves and the banshees, and the werecoyotes and the kitsune, honestly. You're all good people, and I'm happy to be part of the pack. Now Stiles has a second human to give him company."

Scott smiled. "I'm glad the supernatural stuff isn't ruining your Beacon Hills experience."

"Never." Scott and I shared another smile, then I leaned in to his chest. We stayed like that for a few long moments, sitting together in comfortable, relaxing silence. Finally, though, I glanced up at him and spoke again.

"So do we have time to do our chill coffee date as planned? Or do we need to get a move on to deal with this new supernatural?"

Scott's hesitation told me everything I needed to know, even if I hadn't seen him grimace, too.

"Sorry. But we probably need to go."

I gave him a little smile, leaning up just enough to kiss him. He wrapped his arms tighter me, but after a moment, I leaned back.

"No need to apologize. Let's go deal with this problem, and then we'll make sure to schedule our next date for, like, right after we're completely sure the problem is dealt with. We usually get at least twelve hours between problems, so we should be golden as long as we're within that range."

Scott laughed. "Let's hope so. With our luck, this might be the first time ever we get less than the usual twelve hours."

I leaned forward immediately and knocked on the top of the wood coffee table two times, then turned back to Scott with a beaming grin.

"There. I just anti-jinxed my jinx from talking about the twelve hours out loud."

Scott huffed another laugh and shook his head, a bright smile that I absolutely adored staying put on his face.

"You think that'll work?"

I shrugged. "Everything else supernatural or suspicion-based has been real so far. I'm not taking chances on whether this is, too."

"Probably a good call."

I shot Scott a wink, and the two of us shared another smile. Then, I downed the last of my coffee and shoved my book back into my bag. We had work to do, after all, and apparently it couldn't wait. But as much as I'd been looking forward to having a nice, relaxing afternoon with Scott, I didn't mind as much as I could have that we were leaving to go deal with something crazy, especially since we'd be dealing with it together.

****************

"I'm just saying, it wouldn't kill you to put, like... one plant in here."

Derek rolled his eyes so far to the ceiling, I almost lost sight of his irises.

"I'm going to stop hosting these pack meetings if all I hear about is how much you hate the way my apartment looks."

"And I'm going to break in here in the middle of the night to add at least two comfortable, non-gray pillows to your sofa so this place stops looking like it belongs to the epitome of a nonfunctioning male stereotype."

Derek flashed his red wolf eyes at me, and then it was my turn to roll my eyes.

Luckily for Derek, when I did my most dramatic and over the top eyeroll, I caught sight of Chris Argent standing to one side of the loft as everyone else chatted and gradually filed out. He had his arms crossed and stood with a deep frown on his face, looking more than a little off. No one else seemed to have noticed yet.

"Alright, this conversation is not over," I said, looking back to Derek and pointing at him. "But I'm going to drop it for now."

"I will throw out any brightly colored pillows you try to bring in here."

"I have lots of pillows and infinite patience," I said, waving him off over my shoulder as I turned and headed towards Chris.

The former hunter and I had been close and getting closer lately, especially as he'd started working with the werewolves more formally. Despite decades of training to hate werewolves on principle, a little exposure to Scott and his pack (and to some of the more terrible tendencies of his extremist family members), Chris had come around to joining the support team, especially for the McCall pack. It'd been nice to have him around, and even nicer to have him on our side for a change.

"Hey," I called, coming to a stop just in front of Chris and mimicking his cross-armed posture. "You good?"

He sighed. "I'm fine."

"...Okay, and then if you'll just say that one more time like you actually mean it?"

Chris huffed and rolled his eyes. I just waited him out, letting him take as much time as he needed to get to the point of sharing an actual answer.

"It's just... this is all very new for me, sitting in on these meetings and working with all the supernaturals in this town. Sometimes I wonder if I'm actually making the right decisions."

I raised an eyebrow, then shot a pointed look at Allison, who stood across the loft talking to Scott and Stiles. "I thought the men in your family just blindly followed whatever the women said, with no independent thought whatsoever?"

Chris shot me a look, so I sighed.

"Alright, didn't you say Allison gave you a new family mantra? And that you liked it, and were proud she'd come up with it? And isn't it pretty much exactly in line with what Scott's always trying to do?"

Chris took a long, deep breath, and then let it out in a heavy sigh as he nodded. He knew I was right, but for whatever reason, he was still struggling. I reached out to put a hand on his arm.

"Chris, I can't imagine it's been easy to change literally everything you've been taught for your entire life. That would be incredibly hard to do. But you're doing the right thing."

"Am I?" he asked, meeting my eyes and holding my stare intently. "Supporting the werewolves, and the banshees, and whatever else this town keeps throwing at us instead of the humans? In my experience, werewolves have always been pretty good at protecting themselves."

"Some of them, Chris, sure. But it's not as simple as protecting or helping one or the other. It's a balance. We don't back people based on human or werewolf—or man or woman, by the way—we back people based on whether they're trying to hurt or help people. And right now, there's a bunch of werewolves and I guess a fucking evil druid trying to hurt people. So we're helping the werewolves, and the humans, and the banshees, and whoever else wants to join the team in stopping the ones trying to hurt others."

Chris took another deep breath, nodding even as I could see him clenching his jaw. He leaned into me a little bit, and I leaned back, bumping my shoulder against his. After a moment, he nodded.

"...You're right. I know you're right. It still feels strange, but... you're right."

I smiled, leaning into him again to try to help with the reassurance. Then, after a moment, I shot Chris a more subtle grin.

"You know, just for the record, if Scott ever goes off the rails and starts murdering people, I'll help you stop him, too."

Chris snorted, then lifted his arm and threw it around my shoulders. He shook his head as he spoke, which only made my grin widen.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but... I don't think that's ever going to happen."

"I mean yeah, me neither. I just wanted to make a point."

He huffed another little laugh, his arm squeezing my shoulders lightly. I smiled at him, leaning into his side, then after a minute I decided to take a leap I'd been thinking about making for some time now.

"So... now that the pack meeting's over, do you want to go grab dinner or something?"

Chris didn't respond right away, and suddenly, nerves that hadn't existed around him in a long time came rocketing back. I thought we'd been getting closer heading in this direction, but if I'd misread something about him or the situation-

"You know what? I'd really, really like that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Let's do it."

I nodded, leaning into him again with a smile. Chris kept his arm around me as we headed for the door of the loft, two of the last people still here as the rest of the pack had slowly but surely filtered out. I caught Derek and Peter giving me incredibly judgey looks as I headed out with Chris, but I ignored them both.

If someone had told me a few years ago I'd be going on a dinner date with a werewolf hunter, no less an Argent, I would've called them crazy. But a lot had changed in the past few years, and despite the pack of alphas and the evil druid, on the whole, I didn't mind how they had changed one bit.

****************

I took a deep breath, bobbing my head in time to the music as I lost myself in it. I kept my eyes closed, but I could feel the vibrations from the base through the floor from where my forearms pressed into it.

Soon, I'd be rejoining the world and strapping myself into the cockpit of one of the fasted vehicles in the world, for a simulated dogfight no less. But right now, I was intentionally not thinking about that.

Being selected for Top Gun had been a dream come true, especially when I'd found out my girlfriend, Natasha, had been selected too. But it had also been crazy intense, just about every day since we'd arrived. I needed to take a break to breathe and meditate before throwing myself back into the middle of things.

Thankfully, I had a long enough break between my last time getting taken down by Mav while he completely humbled the other Top Gun pilots to grab a speaker and post up in an empty room, doing what always worked best for me: a forearm stand with a little support from the wall while I blasted music and forgot about everything other than the physical sensations in the moment.

I took another long, deep breath in, then let it out slowly. I hummed along to the music, and got another few moments of peace before I heard the door swing open.

I didn't open my eyes right away, and the person who'd come in didn't speak up to take me out of the moment, instead pausing to give me as much time as I needed to respond. From that alone, I knew exactly who'd joined me without having to open my eyes.

"Hi, Nat," I hummed, eyes still closed. I heard her huff a little laugh.

"How did you know it was me?"

"You're the only person on the base who's willing to wait patiently for me to look up rather than talking to me before you'd even completely cleared the door."

Nat chuckled, and I finally opened my eyes in time to see her shaking her head.

"Well, when you put it that way, it's not a very impressive deduction." I grinned, enjoying the upside down view of my girlfriend's wry smile. A moment later, though, it morphed into a frown. "So... what are you doing, exactly?"

"Meditating."

"Upside down? With music turned up loud enough to shake the base?"

"Yup!"

"Okay. And... does this help you? Like, for real?"

"Like nothing else! Honestly, I can't believe you've never seen me do it before. I do it often enough, and we've been together long enough. It's surprising the timing's never lined up."

I saw Nat fighting a smile again as she nodded. I smiled, too, then pushed off the wall to find my feet again. I shot her a beaming smile once I landed right side up, then moved to turn the music down.

"So, did you just come to say hi? I'd love it if that were the case, but I also know we're probably getting close to time to head back out there again."

"Close enough that it's time to start getting suited up and ready. And guess what?" She grinned, so I raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?"

"Assignments just came out. You're my wingman for this run."

"Seriously?" Nat nodded, still grinning, and I let out a 'whoop' and punched the air. "Finally! I was starting to think Mav was never going to let us team up against him."

"We've been talking enough smack for long enough that he doesn't really have a way out of it anymore."

"Hell yeah."

I grinned, holding out a hand to Nat, and she didn't miss a beat before giving me a high-five. Rather than pulling apart, though, I caught her hand in mine and pulled her closer, bumping my shoulder into hers.

"Mav may be good, but that old man doesn't stand a chance against us."

Nat snorted and shook her head, but leaned into me. I paused long enough to throw an arm around her shoulders, and she wrapped one around my waist, pulling me in for a side hug and a quick kiss. We both pulled back smiling, stupidly happy for the amount of off the charts training and serious mission prep ahead of us.

"If anybody stands a chance at taking him down, it's probably you and me," she said. I nodded.

"And Bob."

"And Bob."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go show Hangman what effective teamwork looks like."

Nat snorted again, and I wrapped my arm a little tighter around her shoulders as we headed back out to join the rest of the base, to return to training and the challenge of taking down Maverick. No one had been able to beat him yet, but I completely agreed with Nat. We made a fantastic team; if anybody stood a chance of finally taking him down, it was us.

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