Wade, looking like a victim, saunters over to me.

“You look like hell.”

“Thanks to you. What the fuck was that?” He sounds irritated, which, granted, is fair.

“I needed to be somewhere.”

“I’m your friend. Best friend. You don’t fight dirty with me. Not cool.”

“I’m sorry, I really am. Next round together, I’ll go easy.”

He rolls his eyes, “No, I’m not a bitch. Just play fair.”

Terry, looking a bit disheveled, walks up to us. We were standing on the side of the gym. The next round of matches was beginning soon.

“Wade, you look like shit. Ten, not cool.”

“I know, I know! I said I was sorry.” But as all the students file in to watch the fight, and I catch a glimpse of Noah, my words feel less honest. I would’ve done it again and I would do it again to be with him.

This time, The General is here. It’s his usual routine. He spends the majority of the day watching the new CAU students, and then joins the Cybat’s second rounds. Most people did that. Watching the best of the best fight was a spectacle.

“Ten and Pike, let’s go.”

Kody Pike was one of the best fighters I had ever seen. He not only had a massive, yet agile body, but he also was insanely attentive and was always a step ahead of his opponent. He’s bested me a few times, though, this time wasn’t going to be one of them.

“I didn’t see you all day, man. Glad to see you now.” Pike was also one of the kindest guys in the unit. He reaches for my hand and pulls it in, slapping my back in a friendly manner.

“You too, how was your summer?” We purposely took our time wrapping our hands.

“Awesome. I assume yours was crappy? You know, the usual?” He gives me a pitiful smile.

“You know it.”

“Boys, talk after.” Commander Johns loses his patience and blows his whistle. The General, though the head of SFAMS, lets the commander give the orders. He was good at balancing his power. The CCIU was under Johns and that wasn’t going to change because The General was here.

“You gonna take it easy on me?”

I laugh, “Never.”

We square off for a few seconds, practicing our footings before Pike makes the first move. If possible, I never made the first move. It was something I had always done. I didn’t do it because I was nervous, I did it because I liked to see what I was dealing with. Now, I know how Pike fights, but every fight is different. He could’ve had a bad night’s rest and was going to fight weaker than usual. The first punch told me it was not the case. I didn’t bother ducking, instead, I let the jab follow through, whipping my head to the side. I assessed the strength of the blow. And then, because I could tell he was energized, I forced myself to fall to the ground, the onlookers slightly gasping, trying to hold back their shock that the great Ten was thrown to the ground in one punch. But when I fell, I made sure my hands protected my head, and for a split second when my head was looking outside of the ring, I saw him. He had a confused expression on his face, curious as to what the hell I was doing. But that was simple. As Pike stepped forward to make sure I stayed down, I swipe my legs across his ankles, grab his hand he puts out to catch himself, and throw myself up, his hand now in a fairly compromised position between my legs, vulnerable of being snapped in half with one single twist of my hand.

“Shit,” he mumbles as I let go, allowing him to stand up. Play fair Ten, I remind myself. 

“Hey, I’m playing fair, I can go easy if that’s what you’d like,” I can tell this pisses him off. As nice as he is, no one likes being taunted during a match. It’s distracting and annoying as hell, precisely why I do it. The thing about Pike was emotions. He was filled with them. While to the average person he was well controlled, I knew better. When provoked, he could lose his footing, his rationality weakening. Logic was his strength, and by taking it away, I made it his weakness.

The match ends after a few minutes with one of my knees holding him in place on the ground. He taps out and I help him up.

He grunts, “I hate fighting you.”

“Everyone does.” He walks off the mat and I follow to where Wade and Terry are standing. They hand me some water. I grab a towel from the bin and wipe off my sweat.

“You’ve never done that before,” Terry says referring to the leg sweep.

“If I did the same thing every time, you’d figure it out.”

“The new CAU’S are practically gawking at you.” Wade sighs in annoyance.

I turn around and see them all eyeing me, some with smiles of their faces. Excitement, I presume. I search for Noah but turn up empty. 

“Who are you looking for?” Wade says as he opens his phone.

“No one. What happened with Maddy?”

Terry bites back a snicker as Wade says, “She thought you were also into girls.”

“Wade, I think you’re missing the point. Is she not your girlfriend?”

“She said she wants an open relationship.” He says it casually.

“Is that what you want?”

“No, but what can I do? I’m never there. It’s not fair of me to ask her to remain exclusive. Girl’s got needs.”

Terry and I don’t respond, knowing that Wade, despite being a total dumbass, needs to make his own decisions.

“Well did you tell her that I’m not bi?”

“No, if she’s going after another guy, I’d rather it be someone she has no luck with.”

Terry snorts, “idiot.”

“Aye, blonde boy!” Wade calls out and I go still.

Despite there being tons of blondes in the room, I know which one Wade called on. Wade smirks at me, knowing I had a weird interest in him. 

I hear Noah jog up to us. I turn to my side, glancing at him as his steps into the circle we naturally formed.

“Yeah?” His face is flushed, lips looking redder than usual.

“You’re Noah?”

I try to make nonverbal communication with Wade to tell him to stop whatever he was about to say.

“Yeah, Noah Finley.”

Terry speaks, “I’m Terrance Edwards, though, people call me Terry. This idiot is Wade Jordan. And I’m sure you know Ten. Cybats.” 

“Nice to meet you,” he puts out his hand to shake Terry’s and I try to restrain myself from being jealous that he gets to touch him. Wade also puts out his hand. Noah takes it, giving him a short but firm shake.

He turns to me but doesn’t put out his hand, “That was impressive. Good match. Glad I came.”

“How did the rest of yours go?”

“Fine. Won.”

We stare at each other for what I assume was an awkward amount of time before Terry lets out a forced cough. All four of us look at each other, not sure where to go from here. I pull out my phone to see that I have a text from Maddy.

“Oh fun, open it.” Terry peers over at my phone.

I groan but I do. And I regret it immediately because she sent me a picture of her tits. I watch as Noah takes in the sight, brows furrowed.

“Wade. I’m going to tell her, this is ridiculous.”

“Just send her a pic back, please?”

“I’m not fake cuckolding you. That’s so immature.”

“Who is Maddy?” Noah understandably invested in this conversation.

“Wade’s girlfriend who is in love with Ten.” Terry offers up a lame explanation that doesn’t seem to ease Noah’s confusion.

“She’s not-“

“No, I think she is,” Wade says as he runs his hand across his face.

“She doesn’t know me.”

Wade mumbles, “she knows how you look and that’s enough, apparently.”

“Whatever, I’m not becoming a detour so she won’t actually cheat on you.”

“It’s not cheating if it’s an open relationship,” Terry points out.

“Are you going to text her back?” This time, it’s Noah who speaks.

“No.”

“Ten, please. Just give her something so she doesn’t go out looking for more.”

“Wade, this isn’t high school. If you’re not enough for her, maybe you shouldn’t be with her at all.” Too harsh, Ten, shit. Wade looks embarrassed so I pull out my phone and text Maddy: Hot 🔥

I flip my phone to show him. He smiles and says, “Thanks. She’s gonna want a pic of the goods. Send her one.” He waits as if I’m going to send her a dick pic right in the middle of the training center.

“What? You think I just have a pic like that in my camera roll?” I watch as Noah is fully attentive to this ridiculous conversation.

“In fact, I know you do. Send it. You owe me for this morning”

I look at Wade and Terry, then at Noah, then at my phone. Is this going to happen? Fuck.

“What if I just let you beat the shit out of me?”

“No way, I wouldn’t get a punch in.”

“I said I’d let you.” 

“No. Send it.”

Now, if Noah wasn’t here, I would send it without hesitation, but he’s standing right next to me, looking at my phone.

“This is going to go south when she finds out.”

“Finds out what?”

“That this is Wade’s idea,” Terry says.

I scroll through my camera roll, making sure to hold it away from Noah. I watch as he tries to subtly peek over my shoulder.

“Fine. I sent it.”

“Which one?”

“A random one.”

Terry shakes his head, arms crossed, “Show me.”

“You have more than one dick pic saved to your phone?” Noah asks quietly.

I ignore the question and pass Terry my phone. He looks at the text with the picture and cackles, “Wade, she’s going to dump your ass.” He hands Wade the phone.

“Shit.” He stares at the picture. Noah looks like he expects the phone to be passed to him. Wade seriously goes to hand him my phone so I grab it mid-pass.

“No fucking way,” I say as I lock my screen.

He tries to hide his disappointment but fails.

“Ten, are you shy?” Terry says after watching the two of us.

“No, I just don’t go around showing people that kind of pic.”

“You showed us,” Wade inserts unhelpfully.

“You’re my best friends. Besides, you’ve seen me naked.”

Noah, absolutely wonderfully flustered says, “Your phone is vibrating.”

I open the text from Maddy: How soon can you be in L.A? 

I show him my screen, “Now what do you want me to say to that?”

Wade thinks for a minute, “You could FaceTime and have like virtual sex?”

“What the actual fuck, Wade?”

“I’m confused,” Noah sounding more frustrated than confused.

“And how would that work,” I say hating that I’m adding more fuel to this conversation.

“I don’t know. You both touch yourselves while FaceTiming.”

“Okay, but I’m not even attracted to her! You want me to fake jerking off?”

“But she’s pretty,” Noah’s mind must be running in circles.

“If you like women, then sure. But I don’t.”

“You’re gay?”

“What? I-“ I watch as Terry and Wade wait for me to answer.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Yikes,” Wade adds another unhelpful comment.

“Yeah, I am.”

And then Noah laughs. The three of us look at each other, thoroughly astonished. Why was he laughing? Why the fuck was he laughing.

But then he says, “I just got your joke. You know, the one about being called a dick and an asshole.”

Terry and Wade look at me concerned because I must look like a puppy in love at this point. But he was laughing and it was so so beautiful. 

“So why does Wade want you to seduce his girlfriend?”

“Because she wants an open relationship and he’d rather her pursue someone who isn’t interested in her.”

He thinks for a moment and then says, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Wade frowns while Terry and I laugh.

“You’re right.”

“I won’t forgive you for today unless you play along.”

“What did you do?” Noah turns to face me.

“I didn’t fight fair.”

“Fair?”

“Dirty boxing. Used my elbows, held him in place.”

“That’s why you finished so quickly? Why would you do that?”

“Because he had somewhere to be, or so he said.”

“You fought dirty because you wanted to watch the CAU fights, right? But you said you didn’t like watching the fights.”

I shrug, “just wanted to see the new fish.”

He pauses for a moment, “You only stayed for a little over an hour.”

“I got bored.” 

Terry looks at me with the realization of what was happening. Wade, God help him, didn’t have a clue as to what was going on.

“Bored? But-“

I turn to Wade, “There’s no way I’m having virtual sex with your girlfriend.”

“It will be fine, I’ll help you.”

I make a disgusted face, “What the fuck does that mean?”

“I’ll talk you through how to-“

“I know how to have sex-“

“Virtually? With a girl?”

“I don’t know how different it would be. I mean-“

“So you’ll do it? Great.”

“No. I won’t.”

“All you have to do is jerk off. Maybe some dirty talk.”

“We can even be there with you, as support,” Terry adds in jokingly.

“Wade, you sound insane. Just break up with her.”

“I don’t want to. I like her. A lot.”

“Can’t we do this in Ten’s room? It smells like blood and sweat.”

“You have your own room?” Noah perks up.

“Yeah, and it’s massive. Has a couch. Can we?”

“Alright, come on.” I gesture for us to leave.

I notice Noah awkwardly standing there, unsure if the change in location was open to him.

“Noah, come with us.”

He gives me a small smile, thankful for breaking the tension.

“Ten, can I borrow your phone for a few? Have to make a call.”

“Sure, but don’t text Maddy.”

I hand him my phone and we walk back the Morge in silence as Terry makes a call that I assume is to a family member based on what he is saying.

When we get to my room, I pull out my key and unlock it.

“Shit, it is massive.”

“Terry, give me my phone back- oh…” I stop mid-sentence because I realized Noah was talking about my room and not the picture I sent Maddy. No one else seems to notice my slip-up so I let it slide.

“Noah, welcome.”

He takes in my room, eyeing the randomness of the decor.

Because SFAMS was my home, I was given this room and was allowed to do anything with it. Well, not anything. But the decor was something I could and did have permission to change. I had painted the entire room myself, a dark blue, navy color. I had random things on my walls, some posters, a few drawings and such. There was also a decent size couch, one that I fought to get. It was a dark grey fabric, with three cushions. It was placed close to my bed. Wade jumps on the couch, leaving little room for another person when it should fit three. Terry pushes his feet to the side and sits next to him. I choose to sit on my bed, leaning against the wall it was cornered into. I realize Noah doesn’t know where to sit so he is just standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

“Come on,” I say as I pat on my bed.

Terry and Wade look at each other when Noah sits at the edge of my bed. I know what the looks are for. I never let anyone sit on my bed. It was a strict rule. But honestly, I wouldn’t mind breaking a few rules for Noah. I give them a warning look to keep their mouths shut.