Lucky:How did you get a recommendation for a survey team?
She didn’t answer. I felt neither victorious nor defeated. There had been a change, albeit short, and that’s all that mattered. Progress was progress, right?
Except I could fuck up that progress with a single word, and knowing me, I probably would.
“Shall we partake in friendly competition that will definitely not turn violent within the hour?” Arana suggested after dinner, where Roys hadn’t been present either.
He must be busy with paperwork or something,I told myself to prevent my gaze from drifting to the barrack doors.
“Only if I don’t have to play against Lucky,” Ryker replied. He yelped when I reached over Lilea to pinch his chest. “Don’t touch me, pervert!”
“The other day you were trying to get me to say you’re my type,” I teased while reaching for his leg.
Ryker released an exaggerated squeal while swatting at my hand. “Yes, a verbal confirmation, not a physical one. I don’t want you tainting me.”
“Why must I be stuck in the middle?” Lilea muttered, though made no attempt to flee.
Ryker threw himself off the couch to escape my grabby hands. I leaned forward to get him, but Lilea shoved me back. Ryker and Arana took to the viz first. The screen projected against the wall showed the fighting arena to the room that lazily filled with curious onlookers. I wondered if Roys would bother to join us, let alone play a game.
Probably not. He was such a stick in the mud… unless it involved us being nude.
Except an hour later, Roys passed the threshold of the barracks. Arana had her arms around him in an instant, begging for a game. He agreed without a fuss, sounding genuinely thrilled to do so. Our captain playing a game wasn’t exactly an everyday occurrence, so the team watched with unusually rapt attention. He had a smile on his face, nothing like the ones he used to tease me. Not crooked and imperfect, either, but something playful and otherworldly bright. His energy bled through the room, and soon, everyone was hooting and hollering.
My teeth tore into the side of my cheek.
Roys showed off his skills, beating Arana five times before she admitted defeat. Ryker stepped up next. A foolish decision on his part because Roys was better in every way. Ryker made it to the third round, where I barely resisted the urge to cheer Roys on.
After his defeat, Roys slapped his hand on Ryker’s shoulder during their banter. Roys didn’t need to keep his hand there that long…
I cracked my neck to the side. Roys released Ryker, and the tension fell from my shoulders. The captain took a gander at the high-score champion and shot a playful look over his shoulder.
“I should have known.” He wagged his finger. “Come here, Lucky.”
026
ItwasstrangehearingRoys call me Lucky. I had tried, to no avail, to get him to call me by that name since we met. For him to do so without me putting up a fight was a tad disrupting, mildly concerning, even. The name had a dangerous connotation, where I expected the walls to come caving in as the end of the world descended upon us.
“Do it,” Ryker whispered from where he lay on the ground, huffing and puffing. “Avenge us.”
“If you insist.” I got up from the couch to join Roys.
We stood side by side. He handed the headset to me. Once on, the viz scanned your body and the virtual world came into view. We stood on a platform in the middle of a colorful skyscraper landscape. In the virtual world, Roys stood across from me decked out in full body armor. He took the blue set, while I always wore purple.
“Let’s see if you can defend your title,” he goaded with a beckoning hand.
“I doubt my luck has run out yet.” I shook out my shoulders. “Besides, my combat scores are better than yours.”
“Individually.”
“That’s all this game is about.”
Which was why I was so proficient at it. I didn’t take well to the team games.
We circled each other, waiting for the first one to make their move. Roys came in fast and hard. I ducked and brought my leg up. He caught my ankle, leaving his face open. I cracked my palm against his nose. If this were real, his nose would be broken. He didn’t let go of my leg and swung me onto the ground. We wrestled, using one move after the other. In reality, all we had to do was think of the move and the viz did it, so long as we kept our bodies moving in some way. The others hooted and hollered in the background. Arana, that bitch, cheered for Roys’ to win. Maybe I was wrong, but I thought Maddy chimed in, cheering for the captain too.
Rude, the lot of them!
We got out of the wrestling position for a good ol’ fashioned fist fight that had us both panting. Not our usual way to make the other breathless, but I couldn’t deny that we were having a new kind of fun. He was good. Most of my hand to hand combat over the last decade happened against privates I won against a hundred times before or in the virtual world. Roys had genuine experience. He didn’t mess up simply because I got a hit or two in. He didn’t get cocky or start acting out of hand. It was a challenge that I wanted to take seriously, to prove I could beat him, and hear what he had to say afterward, if he were impressed or…
