Team Building with Jack Landors (SPD, A Squad, #20, T)
characters: SPD’s A/B Squads
prompt #20: evil is fun
word count: 3500
rating: T
summary: In Jack's absence, apparently, his team replaces hard liquor with hard lemonade.
Team Building with Jack Landors (evil is fun)
by *Andrea
“This,” Syd announced, passing her a bottle, “is what happens when Cruger is distracted.”
Z grinned, accepting the drink and tipping it toward Bridge in silent question. He shook his head, but he did pick up the bottle opener for her. “Isn’t that, like, all the time?” he said thoughtfully.
“Okay,” Syd agreed, handing Sky a second bottle and taking two for herself. “So it’s what happens when Cruger is distracted and Sky is trying to pretend he’s not thinking about Jack.”
Z glanced at Bridge, and she could see they were about to say the same thing. He smiled, so she smirked back at him. “Isn’t that, like, all the time?” she repeated.
“I’m not drinking because I miss Jack,” Sky informed them. He was perched on the edge of one of the chairs, loosening his tie, and he glared up at Syd when she glided over and snatched the bottle from his hand.
“Yes,” she said, holding the hard lemonade up to the light and making a show of swishing the remainder around the bottom of the bottle. “We can see that.” She handed it back to him, touching the hand that was tugging at his tie and leaning down to kiss him on the forehead.
“Ooh, picture,” Z declared, watching Sky accept the gesture without so much as a frown. It could be some time before they saw him this dressed up again, and Jack would kill her for letting him miss it. “Don’t move!”
Across the room, she came through the door with Syd’s camera a moment later. She had an even better angle on them from here, with Sky looking over one shoulder while Syd stepped close and put a hand on the other one. “Smile!” Z said.
Sky didn’t, of course, and Syd poked him the moment Z lowered the camera. “Stand up,” she ordered. “Turn around and pose with me--and smile this time! I want a real picture.”
Z grinned, looking over at herself on the couch with Bridge. An open lemonade bottle was raised in her direction, and she lifted the camera in silent acknowledgment. She saw Bridge look back and forth between the two of them as she toasted herself, amused and very interested.
“Okay,” Syd announced, and Z held up her camera again. She took a picture of Syd posing with Sky, then another when Sky actually put his arm around her. Syd laughed, putting a hand on his chest as she leaned into him, and Z made sure she got that too.
Then Sky lifted his bottle over her head, tilting it slightly, and Syd just beamed at the camera. “Do it and die,” she said sweetly, and Z took another picture.
Sky relented, and this time he was the one to lean down to kiss her. Turning his head slightly, he brushed his lips against her hair and caught Z’s eye at the same time. She laughed, perfectly willing to push the button as many times as they wanted if they were going to ham it up. Syd pressed up against his side, hiking her skirt up as she lifted one knee to show off some skin, and Sky kissed the top of her head again.
A whistle from the door announced Dan’s return, and Syd shot a sultry look in his direction. “Wow,” he declared, clapping Z on the shoulder as he came to stand beside her. “If I’d known it was as easy as a camera, I’d have tried that before.”
“She was a model!” Z said with a laugh. “What did you expect?”
“Hey, guys,” she added from the couch. She could see Charlie and Rose trailing Dan into the room. He’d found them, then, and they didn’t look terribly surprised to see Syd and Sky neatening each other up and moving apart. Sometimes she wondered what B Squad had been like before her and Jack.
“Pose with me,” Syd was telling Dan, who didn’t have to be told twice. Z took pictures of them and directed Charlie and Rose toward the lemonade at the same time. Bridge had a six pack of root beer on the floor beside him, and when Charlie went for the lemonade Rose stopped her.
“It’s hard lemonade,” Z offered, not bothering to watch herself watch Syd and Dan. She could see them perfectly well through the camera. Bridge, on the other hand, was clearly waiting to see what Charlie would say, and his attention was interesting in and of itself.
“Thank god,” Charlie said. “Got anything stronger?”
Z had opened her mouth to say yes when Rose said, “No. Bridge, is that soda?”
“Sure is!” He offered her a root beer, which she accepted with a smile.
“Thank you,” Rose said. “Charlie will have one too.”
“Charlie will not,” her girlfriend snapped. “Charlie will have a damn beer, thank you very much.”
“Then Charlie will be sleeping alone tonight,” Rose replied, “probably in the infirmary, while the combination of alcohol and migraine meds washes out of her system.”
Charlie stared at her. “How did you--”
She managed to stop, too late, and Rose just shook her head. “You should know that anything you say right now other than ‘okay’ or ‘yes, Rose’ will be taken very badly.”
Bridge offered her another root beer without a word. Charlie snatched it out of his hand, glaring around until Z produced the bottle opener. Sky chose that moment to laugh, which could have caused problems if he wasn’t so obviously reacting to Syd’s faux swoon. As it was, he drew everyone’s attention just as she and Dan struck an obscene pose.
Sky held up a hand and turned away, which made Z giggle, because apparently he and she were the only ones who had seen the “fainting” and now no one knew what he had really been laughing at. Charlie, in particular, looked noticeably less grim at the thought that proper Sky had not only been watching this, but had been entertained by it. Rose was unfazed, though, and Bridge shrugged it off as Syd and Dan straightened up and he helped her smooth out her dress.
“We’re going to need copies of these pictures,” Z said from the couch.
Camera in one hand, she gave herself a thumbs-up just as Sky added, “If you could refrain from posting them anywhere inappropriate, I’d appreciate it.”
“Oh?” Z teased, waving the camera in his direction. “Afraid Jack’s going to see you having a good time without him?”
“I’m more afraid for Syd’s reputation,” he said dryly. “Why don’t you take some pictures of her with you while you’re at it.”
“We already have compromising pictures of us,” Syd assured him, but she came around behind the couch and draped her arms artfully over Z’s shoulders anyway. Z grinned at Sky’s expression, leaned her head against Syd’s, and smiled for the camera.
“Wow,” Syd said as she straightened up, “why am I even still wearing these!” There was a clunking sound, and neither Z had to look to know that she had just slid her feet out of her shoes. “Oh, that’s right,” she added as an afterthought. “Because I look so hot in them.”
“You look hot in everything,” Dan pointed out. “But the hot and put-together the part of the evening is over. Let’s move on to hot and disheveled.”
“Oh, well.” Syd’s fingers came to rest just above the neckline of her dress while she pretended to think about it. “If you put it like that... okay.”
Z put the camera down on the table in front of herself and reverted to the couch, just the one of her there beside Bridge. It got her out of Syd’s way, and besides, she wanted a drink. She might as well not go through more than her share. She scooted over when Rose put her feet up on the corner of their couch, knees bent and her back braced against Charlie’s shoulder, but Sky spoke before she could say anything.
“Has anyone seen Boom this evening?” he asked, out of the blue.
She turned her head to stare at him, but Bridge just said, “I think he’s in the C Wing lounge with Sophie and Ruby and some of those little solar fuel-cell remote-controlled cars. Sophie’s been helping them add miniature rocket packs and gyros so that when you steer them off the top of something really tall they--”
He stopped abruptly, hands pausing in mid-air as he realized they were all staring at him. “Uh, I think they’re working on some sort of, uh... team-building exercise?” he finished awkwardly.
Sky snorted, and Z exchanged knowing looks with Bridge. Before Sky could ask any more questions, she added, “Since when are you the Hall Monitor of Loneliness and Social Exclusion? And why Boom? You’d think if anyone could find something to do with himself, it would be him.”
Sky frowned at her, but he didn’t deign to respond directly. “I just haven’t seen him since this morning, that’s all.”
It clicked half a second before Syd voiced the thought aloud. “Aw, you’re keeping track of Jack’s team for him,” she said, sitting prim and pretty against the back of the opposite couch while Dan slouched beside her. “That’s so sweet, Sky.”
Z saw Sky glance at Charlie and close his mouth. It was Rose who said, “Either that, or he’s wishing he was down the hall building remote-controlled rocket cars.”
“Technically,” Bridge pointed out, “those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.”
“I want a remote-controlled rocket car,” Dan said, not as if he was about to do anything about it. They were all like that tonight: quiet and close and uninspired. Worn down, if Dan’s posture was anything to go by.
It probably was, Z decided, surveying the room while Syd pointed out that Dan had a SWAT flyer, so what did he need a rocket car for? She was the only one of them sitting up straight, not leaning or slumped over completely, and even Sky looked like he wasn’t sure holding his almost-empty lemonade bottle was worth the effort. Bridge and Rose were in competition for most boneless sprawl on their respective couches.
Dan was really just mimicking Charlie’s careless slouch, if it came right down to it. Head back, limbs limp in all directions as he told the ceiling, “But it’s not remote-controlled.”
“Sure it is,” Syd argued. “It has voice activation through your morpher. How much more remote do you want it to be?”
Z looked back and forth from Dan to Charlie, wondering why Charlie somehow managed to look more like one of the guys than Dan did. She had Rose beside her, whose short hair and squad gear should have made Charlie’s braids and non-regulation tank look more feminine by comparison. Dan’s contrast with Syd was bigger and in the opposite direction: his unisex fatigues were something Princess Sydney wouldn’t even consider work clothes, let alone lounge wear for a Friday night.
“I want it to be small enough to fit in this room,” Dan was saying, “and I want it to be able to push buttons and carry things, so that it can go to the synthesizer and get me some chips. Can my SWAT flyer do that?”
Syd turned her head to stare down at him. “Remarkably,” she told him, “you can do that. That’s what these are for--” And she picked up one of his hands and waved it in front of his face. “See? Pushing buttons and carrying things. And look, legs! For walking there and back.”
“Yours are prettier,” Dan said. “If you got me chips, I could watch you walk across the room and back, and that would be much better.”
“Yes,” Syd agreed without hesitation. “But if I got you chips, you’d end up with raisins, which are much healthier.”
Z glanced at Bridge while Dan considered this, and she found him smiling. He looked up when she looked over, and their eyes met. He turned his hands over and lifted them both subtly, one after the other, making a tiny weighing gesture. She tried to hide her grin by taking another swallow of lemonade.
“That’s a fair trade,” Dan said at last. “I accept.”
Charlie snorted, and Dan lifted one hand to point vaguely in her direction. “Don’t wanna hear it, Ms. Root Beer.”
“On the allcall,” Charlie said, lifting her root beer in a mock-toast, “Mr. Raisin will lose to Ms. Root Beer every time.”
“Hey, if we’re talking about who’s the most whipped, can we please include Sky?” Z gave him a bright smile when he turned his glare on her. He was brooding over there alone, and she felt kind of bad that the rest of them had paired off on couches without even thinking about it. “He’s been sleeping in Jack’s room since he’s been gone.”
Sky rolled his eyes. “All my stuff is in Jack’s room,” he informed her.
“Well, except for your clothes,” Bridge interjected. “And your gear. And your books, and your music, plus your pictures, and all your--”
“Okay,” Sky said loudly, talking over him until he stopped. “Some of my stuff is in my room, okay? I wasn’t being literal.”
“Yeah, and it sounds like it would be really hard to move your toothbrush back into your room,” Z agreed, smirking at him. “I think you’re afraid Jack’s gonna come back early and think you moved out or something.”
“What!” Sky was exactly as outraged by that as she’d hoped he would be, but when he narrowed his eyes at her the words that came out took her by surprise. “Hey, did you just make Jack the woman in this relationship?”
“What?” She tried not to laugh, but it was good to see him playing again.
“I guess technically the analogy is apt,” Bridge mused. “That is, if you assume that a couple has to include a man and a woman, and that it’s okay to say men are ‘whipped’ but not women, because that might imply some form of physical abuse and historically speaking...”
He trailed off there, glancing around the room. At first she’d thought he realized that he was rambling, but then he caught her eye and asked, “Do you realize we’re the only traditionally heterosexual couple in this room?”
“Uh...” Z looked around, but only because it seemed like the thing to do. Just lucky, really, since she was pretty sure Jack and Syd swung both ways, and who knew how Dan counted. “Yeah?”
“I’m trying to decide whether to take offense at ‘traditional’ or not,” Dan said, as Syd returned from the synthesizer and executed a pretty little spin before sitting down beside him and folding her legs underneath her.
“Hey,” he added, holding up what looked like a piece of candy. “These are yogurt-covered!”
Syd waved off his adoration with a careless flip of her hand. “You don’t expect me to eat plain old boring raisins, do you?”
“You’re beautiful,” Dan said, offering the bowl to her first.
She beamed down at him. “I know.” She carefully picked a single raisin from the bowl and popped it into her mouth. “Mmm... strawberry.”
“Okay,” Z said, and she wasn’t sure whether it was the lemonade or the exhaustion talking, but she really felt like she’d avoided the topic long enough. “So, you’re a guy.”
Dan glanced her way just long enough to be sure she was looking at him. “Yup.”
“But you weren’t...” She waved a hand in his direction, ignoring the warning look Sky shot her. “You weren’t born a guy.”
“Nope,” Dan agreed, taking a handful of raisins and shoving them into his mouth. That was all he said, and Z saw Sky shift. Since when was he uncomfortable with the obvious, she wondered?
“So why do you want to be one?” Z persisted.
“I don’t want to be a guy,” Dan said, and the look he gave her was one of tolerant amusement. “I am a guy. I just happen to have a woman’s body.”
Z blinked. She heard Bridge give a little “hmm” of agreement, like he’d been wondering too and now he had his answer. It was Rose, though, who craned her neck over Charlie’s shoulder and asked curiously, “Do you kiss like a guy?”
Z looked at her, then back at Dan, who’d turned his head to give Syd an inquiring look.
Syd caught the look and answered for him. “Yes,” she declared, as though that were the final word on the subject. “I’m trying to recondition him.”
“Guys don’t kiss differently,” Sky scoffed, getting up and helping himself to some of the raisins as he passed. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Yeah, they do,” Rose said, resettling herself against Charlie. “It’s actually kind of annoying.”
Syd pointed at her, holding another raisin just long enough to say, “I agree,” before putting it in her mouth. Then she seemed to think better of it and patted Dan’s knee, adding, “Not that you’re annoying, sweetie.”
“Didn’t hear a word,” he assured her. “Too distracted by the raisins.”
Z mentally added, “letting Syd pat him on the knee” to the Guy Column, and “mollified by candy” to the Girl Column. She couldn’t decide what to do with “sweetie.” Maybe it went in both columns.
“Kissing is a function of the individual,” Sky said from the synthesizer. “Not the gender.”
“Oh, Sky, get over yourself,” Charlie said. “You kiss like a woman.”
Z would have written it off as a diss if she hadn’t been looking right at Sky when Charlie said it. He froze, just for a moment, and when she glanced at Rose, Charlie’s girlfriend had her eyes closed... and a smile on her face. It wasn’t the look of someone who was ignoring the conversation.
“How do you know how Sky kisses?” Z blurted out.
“Observation,” Charlie replied, after an almost unnoticeable pause.
Syd coughed once, putting a hand over her mouth and widening her eyes innocently. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, when Z looked at her. “Must have had something caught in my throat. Those raisins are, um...” She waved her hand aimlessly.
“Bridge?” Z demanded.
“Well, there was this one night,” he began.
“Do we really need to tell this story?” Sky wanted to know. He took the long way around the room with a second bowl of yogurt raisins, offering them to Charlie and Rose as he passed. Charlie waved them off, but Rose stirred herself to take a handful, and Z followed suit when Sky offered them to her and Bridge.
“No,” Charlie said, but she was the only one.
“I think we do,” Syd said.
“I vote yes,” Dan agreed.
Bridge took two handfuls of raisins, and Z thought the only reason he didn’t take more was because he wouldn’t have anywhere to put them. He poured half of one handful into his mouth while she prompted, “There was this one night...”
“With a very ill-advised game of ‘Spin the Bottle,’” Sky finished. “End of story.”
“Oh, I like this one already,” Z said with a grin. “How much alcohol was involved in this game?”
“Well, someone had to empty the bottle,” Charlie said dryly.
“Dru brought tequila,” Bridge explained. “Sky and Charlie have this kind of competitive streak, see--”
“We noticed,” Rose interrupted, not moving.
“Oh, like no one else had anything to drink,” Charlie retorted. “We were not the only drunk people in that room.”
“Although it’s possible we were the drunkest,” Sky muttered, and Z couldn’t stop the delighted grin that spread across her face.
“I’m totally telling Jack on you,” she said gleefully. “Sky plus tequila equals fun and games!”
“Jack knows.” Sky crunched loudly on one of the raisins, putting another one in his mouth before he’d finished chewing, and she laughed aloud.
“Jack knows!” Z exclaimed. “Did you have the kiss and tell talk? Did you have to go back and share everyone you ever had the tiniest crush on?”
Sky eyed her over the raisins. “Yes,” he said pointedly.
It was enough to give her pause, because when was the last time Sky had bluffed? Weighing that against the likelihood of Jack telling Sky everything, she decided she was better safe than sorry. “Okay,” she said. “Shutting up now.”
Sky smirked at her.
“Are you going to eat those raisins?” Bridge asked her, propping himself on his elbow and studying her hands with interest.
“Yes,” she said, pulling them away. “Sky, give Bridge some more raisins.”
Sky just raised his eyebrows at her when she looked his way. “Get them yourself.”
Z narrowed her eyes at him, but the look on his face said there were stories he would tell and they didn’t involve him. Which was too bad, since nothing that included the words “spin the bottle” was ever not worth hearing. Except at the cost of whatever Sky thought she might not want the others to know about her best friend’s one-time crush on her.
She was so getting it out of Jack when he got back.
prompt #20: evil is fun
word count: 3500
rating: T
summary: In Jack's absence, apparently, his team replaces hard liquor with hard lemonade.
Team Building with Jack Landors (evil is fun)
by *Andrea
“This,” Syd announced, passing her a bottle, “is what happens when Cruger is distracted.”
Z grinned, accepting the drink and tipping it toward Bridge in silent question. He shook his head, but he did pick up the bottle opener for her. “Isn’t that, like, all the time?” he said thoughtfully.
“Okay,” Syd agreed, handing Sky a second bottle and taking two for herself. “So it’s what happens when Cruger is distracted and Sky is trying to pretend he’s not thinking about Jack.”
Z glanced at Bridge, and she could see they were about to say the same thing. He smiled, so she smirked back at him. “Isn’t that, like, all the time?” she repeated.
“I’m not drinking because I miss Jack,” Sky informed them. He was perched on the edge of one of the chairs, loosening his tie, and he glared up at Syd when she glided over and snatched the bottle from his hand.
“Yes,” she said, holding the hard lemonade up to the light and making a show of swishing the remainder around the bottom of the bottle. “We can see that.” She handed it back to him, touching the hand that was tugging at his tie and leaning down to kiss him on the forehead.
“Ooh, picture,” Z declared, watching Sky accept the gesture without so much as a frown. It could be some time before they saw him this dressed up again, and Jack would kill her for letting him miss it. “Don’t move!”
Across the room, she came through the door with Syd’s camera a moment later. She had an even better angle on them from here, with Sky looking over one shoulder while Syd stepped close and put a hand on the other one. “Smile!” Z said.
Sky didn’t, of course, and Syd poked him the moment Z lowered the camera. “Stand up,” she ordered. “Turn around and pose with me--and smile this time! I want a real picture.”
Z grinned, looking over at herself on the couch with Bridge. An open lemonade bottle was raised in her direction, and she lifted the camera in silent acknowledgment. She saw Bridge look back and forth between the two of them as she toasted herself, amused and very interested.
“Okay,” Syd announced, and Z held up her camera again. She took a picture of Syd posing with Sky, then another when Sky actually put his arm around her. Syd laughed, putting a hand on his chest as she leaned into him, and Z made sure she got that too.
Then Sky lifted his bottle over her head, tilting it slightly, and Syd just beamed at the camera. “Do it and die,” she said sweetly, and Z took another picture.
Sky relented, and this time he was the one to lean down to kiss her. Turning his head slightly, he brushed his lips against her hair and caught Z’s eye at the same time. She laughed, perfectly willing to push the button as many times as they wanted if they were going to ham it up. Syd pressed up against his side, hiking her skirt up as she lifted one knee to show off some skin, and Sky kissed the top of her head again.
A whistle from the door announced Dan’s return, and Syd shot a sultry look in his direction. “Wow,” he declared, clapping Z on the shoulder as he came to stand beside her. “If I’d known it was as easy as a camera, I’d have tried that before.”
“She was a model!” Z said with a laugh. “What did you expect?”
“Hey, guys,” she added from the couch. She could see Charlie and Rose trailing Dan into the room. He’d found them, then, and they didn’t look terribly surprised to see Syd and Sky neatening each other up and moving apart. Sometimes she wondered what B Squad had been like before her and Jack.
“Pose with me,” Syd was telling Dan, who didn’t have to be told twice. Z took pictures of them and directed Charlie and Rose toward the lemonade at the same time. Bridge had a six pack of root beer on the floor beside him, and when Charlie went for the lemonade Rose stopped her.
“It’s hard lemonade,” Z offered, not bothering to watch herself watch Syd and Dan. She could see them perfectly well through the camera. Bridge, on the other hand, was clearly waiting to see what Charlie would say, and his attention was interesting in and of itself.
“Thank god,” Charlie said. “Got anything stronger?”
Z had opened her mouth to say yes when Rose said, “No. Bridge, is that soda?”
“Sure is!” He offered her a root beer, which she accepted with a smile.
“Thank you,” Rose said. “Charlie will have one too.”
“Charlie will not,” her girlfriend snapped. “Charlie will have a damn beer, thank you very much.”
“Then Charlie will be sleeping alone tonight,” Rose replied, “probably in the infirmary, while the combination of alcohol and migraine meds washes out of her system.”
Charlie stared at her. “How did you--”
She managed to stop, too late, and Rose just shook her head. “You should know that anything you say right now other than ‘okay’ or ‘yes, Rose’ will be taken very badly.”
Bridge offered her another root beer without a word. Charlie snatched it out of his hand, glaring around until Z produced the bottle opener. Sky chose that moment to laugh, which could have caused problems if he wasn’t so obviously reacting to Syd’s faux swoon. As it was, he drew everyone’s attention just as she and Dan struck an obscene pose.
Sky held up a hand and turned away, which made Z giggle, because apparently he and she were the only ones who had seen the “fainting” and now no one knew what he had really been laughing at. Charlie, in particular, looked noticeably less grim at the thought that proper Sky had not only been watching this, but had been entertained by it. Rose was unfazed, though, and Bridge shrugged it off as Syd and Dan straightened up and he helped her smooth out her dress.
“We’re going to need copies of these pictures,” Z said from the couch.
Camera in one hand, she gave herself a thumbs-up just as Sky added, “If you could refrain from posting them anywhere inappropriate, I’d appreciate it.”
“Oh?” Z teased, waving the camera in his direction. “Afraid Jack’s going to see you having a good time without him?”
“I’m more afraid for Syd’s reputation,” he said dryly. “Why don’t you take some pictures of her with you while you’re at it.”
“We already have compromising pictures of us,” Syd assured him, but she came around behind the couch and draped her arms artfully over Z’s shoulders anyway. Z grinned at Sky’s expression, leaned her head against Syd’s, and smiled for the camera.
“Wow,” Syd said as she straightened up, “why am I even still wearing these!” There was a clunking sound, and neither Z had to look to know that she had just slid her feet out of her shoes. “Oh, that’s right,” she added as an afterthought. “Because I look so hot in them.”
“You look hot in everything,” Dan pointed out. “But the hot and put-together the part of the evening is over. Let’s move on to hot and disheveled.”
“Oh, well.” Syd’s fingers came to rest just above the neckline of her dress while she pretended to think about it. “If you put it like that... okay.”
Z put the camera down on the table in front of herself and reverted to the couch, just the one of her there beside Bridge. It got her out of Syd’s way, and besides, she wanted a drink. She might as well not go through more than her share. She scooted over when Rose put her feet up on the corner of their couch, knees bent and her back braced against Charlie’s shoulder, but Sky spoke before she could say anything.
“Has anyone seen Boom this evening?” he asked, out of the blue.
She turned her head to stare at him, but Bridge just said, “I think he’s in the C Wing lounge with Sophie and Ruby and some of those little solar fuel-cell remote-controlled cars. Sophie’s been helping them add miniature rocket packs and gyros so that when you steer them off the top of something really tall they--”
He stopped abruptly, hands pausing in mid-air as he realized they were all staring at him. “Uh, I think they’re working on some sort of, uh... team-building exercise?” he finished awkwardly.
Sky snorted, and Z exchanged knowing looks with Bridge. Before Sky could ask any more questions, she added, “Since when are you the Hall Monitor of Loneliness and Social Exclusion? And why Boom? You’d think if anyone could find something to do with himself, it would be him.”
Sky frowned at her, but he didn’t deign to respond directly. “I just haven’t seen him since this morning, that’s all.”
It clicked half a second before Syd voiced the thought aloud. “Aw, you’re keeping track of Jack’s team for him,” she said, sitting prim and pretty against the back of the opposite couch while Dan slouched beside her. “That’s so sweet, Sky.”
Z saw Sky glance at Charlie and close his mouth. It was Rose who said, “Either that, or he’s wishing he was down the hall building remote-controlled rocket cars.”
“Technically,” Bridge pointed out, “those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.”
“I want a remote-controlled rocket car,” Dan said, not as if he was about to do anything about it. They were all like that tonight: quiet and close and uninspired. Worn down, if Dan’s posture was anything to go by.
It probably was, Z decided, surveying the room while Syd pointed out that Dan had a SWAT flyer, so what did he need a rocket car for? She was the only one of them sitting up straight, not leaning or slumped over completely, and even Sky looked like he wasn’t sure holding his almost-empty lemonade bottle was worth the effort. Bridge and Rose were in competition for most boneless sprawl on their respective couches.
Dan was really just mimicking Charlie’s careless slouch, if it came right down to it. Head back, limbs limp in all directions as he told the ceiling, “But it’s not remote-controlled.”
“Sure it is,” Syd argued. “It has voice activation through your morpher. How much more remote do you want it to be?”
Z looked back and forth from Dan to Charlie, wondering why Charlie somehow managed to look more like one of the guys than Dan did. She had Rose beside her, whose short hair and squad gear should have made Charlie’s braids and non-regulation tank look more feminine by comparison. Dan’s contrast with Syd was bigger and in the opposite direction: his unisex fatigues were something Princess Sydney wouldn’t even consider work clothes, let alone lounge wear for a Friday night.
“I want it to be small enough to fit in this room,” Dan was saying, “and I want it to be able to push buttons and carry things, so that it can go to the synthesizer and get me some chips. Can my SWAT flyer do that?”
Syd turned her head to stare down at him. “Remarkably,” she told him, “you can do that. That’s what these are for--” And she picked up one of his hands and waved it in front of his face. “See? Pushing buttons and carrying things. And look, legs! For walking there and back.”
“Yours are prettier,” Dan said. “If you got me chips, I could watch you walk across the room and back, and that would be much better.”
“Yes,” Syd agreed without hesitation. “But if I got you chips, you’d end up with raisins, which are much healthier.”
Z glanced at Bridge while Dan considered this, and she found him smiling. He looked up when she looked over, and their eyes met. He turned his hands over and lifted them both subtly, one after the other, making a tiny weighing gesture. She tried to hide her grin by taking another swallow of lemonade.
“That’s a fair trade,” Dan said at last. “I accept.”
Charlie snorted, and Dan lifted one hand to point vaguely in her direction. “Don’t wanna hear it, Ms. Root Beer.”
“On the allcall,” Charlie said, lifting her root beer in a mock-toast, “Mr. Raisin will lose to Ms. Root Beer every time.”
“Hey, if we’re talking about who’s the most whipped, can we please include Sky?” Z gave him a bright smile when he turned his glare on her. He was brooding over there alone, and she felt kind of bad that the rest of them had paired off on couches without even thinking about it. “He’s been sleeping in Jack’s room since he’s been gone.”
Sky rolled his eyes. “All my stuff is in Jack’s room,” he informed her.
“Well, except for your clothes,” Bridge interjected. “And your gear. And your books, and your music, plus your pictures, and all your--”
“Okay,” Sky said loudly, talking over him until he stopped. “Some of my stuff is in my room, okay? I wasn’t being literal.”
“Yeah, and it sounds like it would be really hard to move your toothbrush back into your room,” Z agreed, smirking at him. “I think you’re afraid Jack’s gonna come back early and think you moved out or something.”
“What!” Sky was exactly as outraged by that as she’d hoped he would be, but when he narrowed his eyes at her the words that came out took her by surprise. “Hey, did you just make Jack the woman in this relationship?”
“What?” She tried not to laugh, but it was good to see him playing again.
“I guess technically the analogy is apt,” Bridge mused. “That is, if you assume that a couple has to include a man and a woman, and that it’s okay to say men are ‘whipped’ but not women, because that might imply some form of physical abuse and historically speaking...”
He trailed off there, glancing around the room. At first she’d thought he realized that he was rambling, but then he caught her eye and asked, “Do you realize we’re the only traditionally heterosexual couple in this room?”
“Uh...” Z looked around, but only because it seemed like the thing to do. Just lucky, really, since she was pretty sure Jack and Syd swung both ways, and who knew how Dan counted. “Yeah?”
“I’m trying to decide whether to take offense at ‘traditional’ or not,” Dan said, as Syd returned from the synthesizer and executed a pretty little spin before sitting down beside him and folding her legs underneath her.
“Hey,” he added, holding up what looked like a piece of candy. “These are yogurt-covered!”
Syd waved off his adoration with a careless flip of her hand. “You don’t expect me to eat plain old boring raisins, do you?”
“You’re beautiful,” Dan said, offering the bowl to her first.
She beamed down at him. “I know.” She carefully picked a single raisin from the bowl and popped it into her mouth. “Mmm... strawberry.”
“Okay,” Z said, and she wasn’t sure whether it was the lemonade or the exhaustion talking, but she really felt like she’d avoided the topic long enough. “So, you’re a guy.”
Dan glanced her way just long enough to be sure she was looking at him. “Yup.”
“But you weren’t...” She waved a hand in his direction, ignoring the warning look Sky shot her. “You weren’t born a guy.”
“Nope,” Dan agreed, taking a handful of raisins and shoving them into his mouth. That was all he said, and Z saw Sky shift. Since when was he uncomfortable with the obvious, she wondered?
“So why do you want to be one?” Z persisted.
“I don’t want to be a guy,” Dan said, and the look he gave her was one of tolerant amusement. “I am a guy. I just happen to have a woman’s body.”
Z blinked. She heard Bridge give a little “hmm” of agreement, like he’d been wondering too and now he had his answer. It was Rose, though, who craned her neck over Charlie’s shoulder and asked curiously, “Do you kiss like a guy?”
Z looked at her, then back at Dan, who’d turned his head to give Syd an inquiring look.
Syd caught the look and answered for him. “Yes,” she declared, as though that were the final word on the subject. “I’m trying to recondition him.”
“Guys don’t kiss differently,” Sky scoffed, getting up and helping himself to some of the raisins as he passed. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Yeah, they do,” Rose said, resettling herself against Charlie. “It’s actually kind of annoying.”
Syd pointed at her, holding another raisin just long enough to say, “I agree,” before putting it in her mouth. Then she seemed to think better of it and patted Dan’s knee, adding, “Not that you’re annoying, sweetie.”
“Didn’t hear a word,” he assured her. “Too distracted by the raisins.”
Z mentally added, “letting Syd pat him on the knee” to the Guy Column, and “mollified by candy” to the Girl Column. She couldn’t decide what to do with “sweetie.” Maybe it went in both columns.
“Kissing is a function of the individual,” Sky said from the synthesizer. “Not the gender.”
“Oh, Sky, get over yourself,” Charlie said. “You kiss like a woman.”
Z would have written it off as a diss if she hadn’t been looking right at Sky when Charlie said it. He froze, just for a moment, and when she glanced at Rose, Charlie’s girlfriend had her eyes closed... and a smile on her face. It wasn’t the look of someone who was ignoring the conversation.
“How do you know how Sky kisses?” Z blurted out.
“Observation,” Charlie replied, after an almost unnoticeable pause.
Syd coughed once, putting a hand over her mouth and widening her eyes innocently. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, when Z looked at her. “Must have had something caught in my throat. Those raisins are, um...” She waved her hand aimlessly.
“Bridge?” Z demanded.
“Well, there was this one night,” he began.
“Do we really need to tell this story?” Sky wanted to know. He took the long way around the room with a second bowl of yogurt raisins, offering them to Charlie and Rose as he passed. Charlie waved them off, but Rose stirred herself to take a handful, and Z followed suit when Sky offered them to her and Bridge.
“No,” Charlie said, but she was the only one.
“I think we do,” Syd said.
“I vote yes,” Dan agreed.
Bridge took two handfuls of raisins, and Z thought the only reason he didn’t take more was because he wouldn’t have anywhere to put them. He poured half of one handful into his mouth while she prompted, “There was this one night...”
“With a very ill-advised game of ‘Spin the Bottle,’” Sky finished. “End of story.”
“Oh, I like this one already,” Z said with a grin. “How much alcohol was involved in this game?”
“Well, someone had to empty the bottle,” Charlie said dryly.
“Dru brought tequila,” Bridge explained. “Sky and Charlie have this kind of competitive streak, see--”
“We noticed,” Rose interrupted, not moving.
“Oh, like no one else had anything to drink,” Charlie retorted. “We were not the only drunk people in that room.”
“Although it’s possible we were the drunkest,” Sky muttered, and Z couldn’t stop the delighted grin that spread across her face.
“I’m totally telling Jack on you,” she said gleefully. “Sky plus tequila equals fun and games!”
“Jack knows.” Sky crunched loudly on one of the raisins, putting another one in his mouth before he’d finished chewing, and she laughed aloud.
“Jack knows!” Z exclaimed. “Did you have the kiss and tell talk? Did you have to go back and share everyone you ever had the tiniest crush on?”
Sky eyed her over the raisins. “Yes,” he said pointedly.
It was enough to give her pause, because when was the last time Sky had bluffed? Weighing that against the likelihood of Jack telling Sky everything, she decided she was better safe than sorry. “Okay,” she said. “Shutting up now.”
Sky smirked at her.
“Are you going to eat those raisins?” Bridge asked her, propping himself on his elbow and studying her hands with interest.
“Yes,” she said, pulling them away. “Sky, give Bridge some more raisins.”
Sky just raised his eyebrows at her when she looked his way. “Get them yourself.”
Z narrowed her eyes at him, but the look on his face said there were stories he would tell and they didn’t involve him. Which was too bad, since nothing that included the words “spin the bottle” was ever not worth hearing. Except at the cost of whatever Sky thought she might not want the others to know about her best friend’s one-time crush on her.
She was so getting it out of Jack when he got back.