Team Building with Jack Landors (SPD, A Squad, #8, T)
characters: SPD's A Squad (Sky/Jack)
prompt #8: too much
word count: 1300
rating: T (for language)
summary: Jack may be king, but Sky is not amused.
Team Building with Jack Landors (too much)
by *Andrea
The mess hall was loud and raucous by the middle of lunch time, but never let it be said that Jack couldn’t make it more so. The arrival of his team prompted cheers and a standing ovation for the squad that had been on duty or on call for thirty-six hours straight. And, okay, they all had morphers and two of them weren’t even human, but half the cadets on the base now had never had an A Squad to worship before. They were ready to make Jack’s team their idols.
Sky didn’t stand up. He didn’t applaud, even when Z laughed at the commotion and dropped her fork to join in. Syd turned in her seat to see what was happening, and she and Dan did get to their feet when they realized who had just come in. Even Bridge whistled, which made Sky wince and glare at him, because Bridge’s whistle was piercing even when you weren’t sitting right next to it.
“All right!” Jack’s voice joined the general chaos, and Sky wondered how he could make himself heard over the noise. “So, let’s see! That’s five hostages rescued, three people pulled out of a collapsed building, and electricity restored to a house of four! How many does that make, Sophie?”
She must have answered, because he shouted, “Twelve! Add twelve to our side of the board!”
The “board” was something Sky never would have allowed, had anyone actually asked him before putting it up. He still refused to acknowledge the skyrocketing tally that compared A Squad to B Squad in terms of quantifiable results. The rest of his team, unfortunately, was unfailingly faithful about updating their side of the damn thing. And somewhere over the weekend, someone had snuck in and changed the header from “criminals apprehended” to “civilians helped,” the practical upshot of which was that Sky’s team had gone from a slight lead to a noticeable deficit.
“Thank you!” Jack was yelling now. “Thank you; you’re a great audience! We’ll be here all week! Thank you!”
Z cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Down in front!”
“What!” Jack had obviously heard her, because when Sky glanced up grudgingly he could see Jack with a hand to his ear, pretending to squint in their direction. “Was that an invitation to grace your table with my presence? Thank you! I think I will!”
“Bring tribute!” Z shouted back. “No invitations without a hostess gift!”
The roar of the hall was subsiding a little, possibly due to an effort to overhear their banter, or possibly just because Jack had yielded the floor. How he held their attention, Sky would never know. He had been a figurehead ever since taking over B Squad, soon to become the highest-ranked Ranger on base in Charlie’s absence, but his popularity had mushroomed in the wake of the battle for Earth.
“Okay,” Syd was saying, as the rest of the table returned to their seats and started to shove down in anticipation of Jack’s team joining them. “They’re off this afternoon, right? That’s our chance to catch up!”
“Technical assistance,” Z agreed, leaning forward over her tray like they were plotting. “We should be on the lookout for electrical or optic problems while we’re on patrol--those can affect hundreds of people at a time.”
“Can we fix those?” Dan asked skeptically. “I’m not an electrician.”
“I am,” Bridge put in. “I mean, I’m not, but I could be. I mean--well, I could probably fix things like that.”
“Hi!” Jack’s exuberance hadn’t faded in the slightest as he slid his tray onto the table next to Sky and threw himself down in front of it. “Are you plotting to steal our title? You’ll never catch us now!”
“It’s not a competition,” Sky snapped, refusing to look at him.
“Of course it’s not a competition.” Jack sounded suddenly affronted and so serious that Sky almost looked up. “But we’re winning!”
Someone clattered into the seat on the other side of Jack, and it had to be Boom. No one else could make that much noise just sitting down. “Hey, guys,” he declared happily. “What a great morning, right?”
“Isn’t it great?” Jack agreed. “City temporarily saved, law enforcement reinforced, and hey! We get to have lunch with the other best team on base!”
“What,” Sky said sarcastically, “not the second best team on base?”
“Wow, how quickly I forget your obnoxious ways,” Jack teased. “You’re such a charmer, Sky. I don’t know how I got through an entire morning without you.”
“You must have gotten a lot of practice last night,” Sky snapped.
“Ooh,” he heard Z mutter, but Jack just laughed.
“It was still hard,” Jack promised. “I’m gonna steal you from B Squad if they’re not careful.”
“Why?” Sky demanded. “You don’t want to have one on each team?”
“Whoa.” Jack stopped, blinking at him. “What?”
“Why don’t you ask Ally if she wants me training with you before you talk about promoting me,” Sky told him. “I wouldn’t want to interrupt your rigorous one-on-one practice schedule.”
“O-kay...” Jack glanced over at Ally as she took the seat across from him and set her tray down. “Ally, we have to break up. Sky doesn’t want me having affairs anymore.”
“Uh-huh.” Ally didn’t sound at all perturbed by this news. “Bridge, where did you get yellow jello?”
“Ooh, secrets of the jello stash.” Syd jumped up, waving at Ally to follow her. “I’ll show you.”
“I’ll go too,” Z said quickly. “I must have forgotten to get mine.” There was a green jello cup sitting on her tray next to her juice.
“Forget it,” Sky said, pushing his chair back. “I’m done.”
“You said you were fine with Ally,” Jack reminded him. “I asked you, and you said it was fine. My team, my decision. What am I supposed to do, not train her?”
“Just ignore them,” Z advised, pulling Ally away from the table. “We used to think getting Sky to go out with Jack would make him easier to get along with, but it turns out he’s just neurotic about different things.”
“Make your own decisions,” Sky told him, “and I’ll make mine.”
“All right,” Jack agreed, and something about the way he said it made Sky pause. That was his mistake. If he’d picked up his tray and started walking, Jack would never have been able to do what he did.
Climbing up on his chair, Jack yelled, “Hey! Everyone! I have a question for Sky! You wanna know what it is?”
Sky froze, staring up at him.
Jack held out his hand, maybe to pull him up on his own chair, maybe in some bizarre delusion of a romantic overture. “Schuyler Tate,” he said loudly. There was no doubt that most of the room could hear him now. “Will you take my hand in marriage?”
Sky managed to find his voice, and how it came out sounding the way he’d meant it to he would never know. “Fuck off,” he said, cold and completely serious. He didn’t bother with his tray, just turned and headed for the door. It was a walk not unlike the gauntlet, surrounded on all sides by Jack’s admirers, but he kept his eyes straight ahead and eventually it had to end.
Jack, curse him, could still be heard over the sound of the whispers and the growing gossip. “That sounded like a yes,” he was saying, and Sky could hear boots on the floor as he jumped down from his chair. “Did anyone else think that was a yes?
“Sky!” he called, not waiting for an answer from his cronies. “Wait up!”
Sky strode out the door and into the hallway without a backward glance.
prompt #8: too much
word count: 1300
rating: T (for language)
summary: Jack may be king, but Sky is not amused.
Team Building with Jack Landors (too much)
by *Andrea
The mess hall was loud and raucous by the middle of lunch time, but never let it be said that Jack couldn’t make it more so. The arrival of his team prompted cheers and a standing ovation for the squad that had been on duty or on call for thirty-six hours straight. And, okay, they all had morphers and two of them weren’t even human, but half the cadets on the base now had never had an A Squad to worship before. They were ready to make Jack’s team their idols.
Sky didn’t stand up. He didn’t applaud, even when Z laughed at the commotion and dropped her fork to join in. Syd turned in her seat to see what was happening, and she and Dan did get to their feet when they realized who had just come in. Even Bridge whistled, which made Sky wince and glare at him, because Bridge’s whistle was piercing even when you weren’t sitting right next to it.
“All right!” Jack’s voice joined the general chaos, and Sky wondered how he could make himself heard over the noise. “So, let’s see! That’s five hostages rescued, three people pulled out of a collapsed building, and electricity restored to a house of four! How many does that make, Sophie?”
She must have answered, because he shouted, “Twelve! Add twelve to our side of the board!”
The “board” was something Sky never would have allowed, had anyone actually asked him before putting it up. He still refused to acknowledge the skyrocketing tally that compared A Squad to B Squad in terms of quantifiable results. The rest of his team, unfortunately, was unfailingly faithful about updating their side of the damn thing. And somewhere over the weekend, someone had snuck in and changed the header from “criminals apprehended” to “civilians helped,” the practical upshot of which was that Sky’s team had gone from a slight lead to a noticeable deficit.
“Thank you!” Jack was yelling now. “Thank you; you’re a great audience! We’ll be here all week! Thank you!”
Z cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Down in front!”
“What!” Jack had obviously heard her, because when Sky glanced up grudgingly he could see Jack with a hand to his ear, pretending to squint in their direction. “Was that an invitation to grace your table with my presence? Thank you! I think I will!”
“Bring tribute!” Z shouted back. “No invitations without a hostess gift!”
The roar of the hall was subsiding a little, possibly due to an effort to overhear their banter, or possibly just because Jack had yielded the floor. How he held their attention, Sky would never know. He had been a figurehead ever since taking over B Squad, soon to become the highest-ranked Ranger on base in Charlie’s absence, but his popularity had mushroomed in the wake of the battle for Earth.
“Okay,” Syd was saying, as the rest of the table returned to their seats and started to shove down in anticipation of Jack’s team joining them. “They’re off this afternoon, right? That’s our chance to catch up!”
“Technical assistance,” Z agreed, leaning forward over her tray like they were plotting. “We should be on the lookout for electrical or optic problems while we’re on patrol--those can affect hundreds of people at a time.”
“Can we fix those?” Dan asked skeptically. “I’m not an electrician.”
“I am,” Bridge put in. “I mean, I’m not, but I could be. I mean--well, I could probably fix things like that.”
“Hi!” Jack’s exuberance hadn’t faded in the slightest as he slid his tray onto the table next to Sky and threw himself down in front of it. “Are you plotting to steal our title? You’ll never catch us now!”
“It’s not a competition,” Sky snapped, refusing to look at him.
“Of course it’s not a competition.” Jack sounded suddenly affronted and so serious that Sky almost looked up. “But we’re winning!”
Someone clattered into the seat on the other side of Jack, and it had to be Boom. No one else could make that much noise just sitting down. “Hey, guys,” he declared happily. “What a great morning, right?”
“Isn’t it great?” Jack agreed. “City temporarily saved, law enforcement reinforced, and hey! We get to have lunch with the other best team on base!”
“What,” Sky said sarcastically, “not the second best team on base?”
“Wow, how quickly I forget your obnoxious ways,” Jack teased. “You’re such a charmer, Sky. I don’t know how I got through an entire morning without you.”
“You must have gotten a lot of practice last night,” Sky snapped.
“Ooh,” he heard Z mutter, but Jack just laughed.
“It was still hard,” Jack promised. “I’m gonna steal you from B Squad if they’re not careful.”
“Why?” Sky demanded. “You don’t want to have one on each team?”
“Whoa.” Jack stopped, blinking at him. “What?”
“Why don’t you ask Ally if she wants me training with you before you talk about promoting me,” Sky told him. “I wouldn’t want to interrupt your rigorous one-on-one practice schedule.”
“O-kay...” Jack glanced over at Ally as she took the seat across from him and set her tray down. “Ally, we have to break up. Sky doesn’t want me having affairs anymore.”
“Uh-huh.” Ally didn’t sound at all perturbed by this news. “Bridge, where did you get yellow jello?”
“Ooh, secrets of the jello stash.” Syd jumped up, waving at Ally to follow her. “I’ll show you.”
“I’ll go too,” Z said quickly. “I must have forgotten to get mine.” There was a green jello cup sitting on her tray next to her juice.
“Forget it,” Sky said, pushing his chair back. “I’m done.”
“You said you were fine with Ally,” Jack reminded him. “I asked you, and you said it was fine. My team, my decision. What am I supposed to do, not train her?”
“Just ignore them,” Z advised, pulling Ally away from the table. “We used to think getting Sky to go out with Jack would make him easier to get along with, but it turns out he’s just neurotic about different things.”
“Make your own decisions,” Sky told him, “and I’ll make mine.”
“All right,” Jack agreed, and something about the way he said it made Sky pause. That was his mistake. If he’d picked up his tray and started walking, Jack would never have been able to do what he did.
Climbing up on his chair, Jack yelled, “Hey! Everyone! I have a question for Sky! You wanna know what it is?”
Sky froze, staring up at him.
Jack held out his hand, maybe to pull him up on his own chair, maybe in some bizarre delusion of a romantic overture. “Schuyler Tate,” he said loudly. There was no doubt that most of the room could hear him now. “Will you take my hand in marriage?”
Sky managed to find his voice, and how it came out sounding the way he’d meant it to he would never know. “Fuck off,” he said, cold and completely serious. He didn’t bother with his tray, just turned and headed for the door. It was a walk not unlike the gauntlet, surrounded on all sides by Jack’s admirers, but he kept his eyes straight ahead and eventually it had to end.
Jack, curse him, could still be heard over the sound of the whispers and the growing gossip. “That sounded like a yes,” he was saying, and Sky could hear boots on the floor as he jumped down from his chair. “Did anyone else think that was a yes?
“Sky!” he called, not waiting for an answer from his cronies. “Wait up!”
Sky strode out the door and into the hallway without a backward glance.