“Call. Them.”
“Fine!” Wren threw his hands up. “Fuck, you’re annoying.”
“I do try,” Midas said as Wren took his phone out and video called the group they’d created for moments when they needed to talk as a team. It only rang once before Midas said, “Don’t tell them I’m here.”
“Wren.” Fix answered first, face screwed up in worry. “Is everything okay?”
The rest of the team picked up soon after.
“Whassup!” Ash threw a peace sign at the camera.
“Stop screaming, I’m trying to sleep!” Black said from his bed, cocooned in a mountain of pink and purple blankets, a tuft of golden curls the only visible thing.
“Its three p.m., for fuck’s sake,” Ash said.
“Language.” Hart shook his head.
“Midas says hi!” Wren turned the camera toward Midas, throwing a middle finger in for good measure.
“Fuck you,” Midas said.
“You two are together?” Fix asked.
“He had a case close by and Blu sniffed him out and dragged him over,” Wren said.
“Sick,” Black said, sticking one hand out to sign without ever showing his face. “Hey, we should totally all do a road trip together.”
“Pass,” Ash said.
“Hard pass,” Midas signed.
“The logistics would be quite complex,” Hart said, but Wren could see the corner of his planner already on his desk.
“Wren.” Fix ignored the road-trip mayhem and focused on him with that steely blue gaze of his that always felt warm, despite the cool color.
Wren swallowed and looked up at Midas, who just gave him a sharp nod before looking away again. As if giving him privacy. As if he didn’t already know everything Wren was about to say.
“I…” he said. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Okay.” Fix nodded and Wren saw Hart putting his markers away. Black emerged from his blanket and Ash pulled a lollipop out from somewhere and put it between his lips.
He had their attention. Now all he needed was words.
“When we were in Nexus…” he started awkwardly. “Like, in training, Te—Damir and I were…we were together.”
The silence stretched too long. Midas shifted on his feet, Black’s eyes got impossibly round and wide, and Ash’s lollipop fell out of his mouth.
“Wooooooow,” Black said. “Tea!”
“Like…togethertogether?” Ash made a weird meshing motion with his hands, twining his fingers in front of his chest.
“Yes,” Wren said.
“Ah. I must say I suspected something.” A sad smile flashed over Hart’s face. “So that’s why.”
“Why what?” Ash asked.
“Why Wren hated me when we got matched,” Hart said.
