Frankie pats my arm. “You’ll survive. We might make a weeb of you yet.”
“He’s already halfway gone. You got him reading manga,” Sol adds.
She turns on me. “You told them?”
“You told me not to tell Za,” I say. “You didn’t say anything about the team.”
She shakes her head, smiling.
More of the lads drift closer now.
Curious and open but no weirdness.
Someone asks what she does even though they knew because I told them. Someone else says they watched her stream once and didn’t understand anything but liked the vibes. She laughs, explains without talking down to anyone. Then Sol brightens again. “Wait. You play games too?”
She squints. “That’s… literally my job.”
“Favourite Zelda?” he asks, serious.
She doesn’t hesitate. “Majora’s Mask.”
Sol makes a sound like he’s just witnessed something holy. “That’s it. We’re friends now.”
Excuse me?
I point at him. “Oi.”
He ignores me. “Tell me you didn’t cry at the ending.”
“I did,” she says. “And I’ll do it again.”
He clutches his chest. “Incredible.”
They’re already deep into it. Talking mechanics. Lore. Favourite dungeons. I stand there, listening, arms crossed.
Sol glances at me. “Aww. You jealous I have more in common with your girl than you do?”
I raise a brow. “Nope.”
“Liar.”
I step forward, hook a finger gently under Frankie’s chin, and pull her in.
I kiss her, just enough to make the point.
When I pull back, the pitch goes quiet for half a second. Then someone whistles.
Sol claps slowly. “Okay. Fair.”
Frankie looks up at me, eyes warm, surprised but entertained. “Feel better?”
“Much,” I confess.
She bumps her shoulder into my chest.
Sol shakes his head, grinning. “Mad. Absolutely mad.”
A couple of the lads laugh. Someone mutters something about me finally acting human. I ignore it, still looking down at her. And for the first time, standing there with my team and the woman I care about right beside me everything feels easy.
