Cole sometimes wondered how Ryan's brain worked. Oh, he admired his friend's genius, his quick thinking and his creativity. But once in a while, Ryan would come up with something so ridiculous that even Cole had difficulty comprehending how it made sense in his friend's mind.

And that was how the three of them ended up in Ryan's office. While his friend looked annoyingly serene and satisfied with himself, Cole did his best to ignore Jane who sat next to him.

Ryan leaned over his desk, hands clasped under his chin. And that irritating smile of his, brimming with faux innocence, did nothing to appease Cole. He'd spent enough time around Ryan to know that he'd planned this and knew exactly what he was doing.

"So," Ryan said, "what's the problem? I thought you'd both be pleased by my offer. I know you two. You've been waiting a long time for such an opportunity."

Sure, but not that way, Cole thought. He realized that if he voiced his concern, it would make him appear ungrateful, but really, what did Ryan expect? That they'd jump for joy at the thought of working together on a regular basis?

Thankfully, he didn't have to say anything. Jane took care of that well enough without his support.

"It's just... Don't get me wrong, I'm elated that you're considering me to design your new game—"

"I'm not considering you, I've already decided you would lead this project. Unless you don't want to design games anymore and you'd rather stick to animation?"

"No!" She burst out, then seemed to consider her reaction and cleared her throat to regain her composure. Cole found it hard not to laugh. He could relate. "Sorry, like I said, I'm really grateful for the opportunity. No, scratch that, I feel honored that you'd trust me with that project."

"But?" Ryan asked, tilting his head, his brown eyes narrowed.

Jane wrung her hands in her lap, another indication that this whole situation made her incredibly uncomfortable. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Ryan's smile grew larger as if she'd walked right into some kind of trap. His chin came to rest on his fist. "Someone else would think you're questioning my decision-making skills."

"That's totally not what I'm doing," she assured him, though her tone didn't convey much confidence.

"Of course not. So. Was there anything else?"

Cole guessed it might be as good a time as any to speak his mind. "I think, what Jane meant to say, is that... us working on this together, this wouldn't be the best of combinations."

Talk about an understatement, Cole thought bitterly.

"And why not? Explain that one to me. I mean, I don't see what's so wrong about it. Jane's worked here for many years, she could act as a mentor for you. Sure, you've had a glimpse of our work here, but you've only been here a month. You've still got stuff to learn to make sure your vision aligns with ours and that your concepts work financially speaking. This isn't Nova Tech Games. This studio is on a much, much smaller scale, but that doesn't mean we can't make awesome, addictive games too." He shrugged. "We just need to adapt."

Ryan turned towards Jane. "As for you, well, sure, you've worked for this studio ever since you've graduated, but that's just it. You haven't really had any other occasions to learn from others, especially not competitors. And if there's anyone you can learn from, it's Cole. He hasn't worked directly with Nova Tech Games, but it does belong to his family. He knows more than a little about it and as I've mentioned to you before, video game design is just as much of a passion for him as it is for you. He studied it, hell, some of the tips and tricks I know now, I got from him. So yeah, I think you'd both gain a lot from spending time together and learning from each other."

Jane's face was indecipherable. In that moment, Cole would've liked to know what she thought of all this as much as he would've loved to understand what the hell Ryan thought he was doing. Not that he cared about her opinion, but maybe Ryan would relent once he realized none of them enjoyed the idea.

"I..." Jane started to say. It seemed like she was trying to gather her thoughts. "You did think this through."

"What?" Ryan asked, his lips quirking up. The asshole was trying not to laugh over their obvious discomfort. Cole would need to have a word with him later, except Ryan was now his boss and maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all. "When have I ever made irrational, impulsive decisions?"

Jane didn't answer and bit her lip instead.

"Exactly. Why would I start now?"

And Cole couldn't even argue with this. No matter how strange or ridiculous some of Ryan's ideas sounded like at first, he always had a logical reason to back them up.

Ryan stood up, not looking bothered in the least despite the almost tangible tension in his own office. "Good. Now that that's settled, let's get back to work now, shall we? We have a lot on our plate and deadlines won't change to accommodate us right?"

The silence that followed when they left Ryan's office said it all.

Nothing was settled.

                                                                       ***

Cole followed Jane to her workspace, not because he really wanted to spend more time in her delightful company, but because they did need to start somewhere. They had a year to work with from what he had understood at the meeting, which meant they couldn't produce something overly complicated and they would find themselves rushing more than once.

But Cole craved a good challenge and damn it, he would prove to Ryan he could do this, no matter what. Even if he had to work with Jane, Miss I-Am-So-Much-Better-Than-You.

He tapped the edge of her desk with the corner of his notepad to catch her attention after she'd sat down. She looked a little dazed, as if it had yet to sink in.

"You okay?" He asked. He didn't care, not really. Nopity nope. Somehow, it just happened to be the only question that came to mind in that moment.

She snorted and shook her head. "I'm feeling great. Just as you do, I guess."

Touché, he thought with a wince.

"It is a great opportunity for us both though," he felt the need to add in his friend's defense.

"Right. I'm sure you were dreaming of working on a daily basis with me."

"Of course. You're such a joy to be around."

This made Jane laugh out loud and he should not have found her even prettier when her face lit up, how the corner of her eyes crinkled when she smiled.

Don't go there, just don't, he scolded himself.

She steepled her hands in front of her face as she propped her elbows on her desk. She didn't look his way as she said, "We'll need to plan this carefully, Cole. Look, I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm not pleased with this situation and I'm sure the same goes for you, but you're right about something. It is a huge opportunity for us to make a name for ourselves. If this works out, we could both end up getting promoted as designers. And I don't care if you do get promoted as long as I am too." She tilted her head and gazed at him with piercing eyes. "I can count on you, right? I mean, can we bury the hatchet for the time being and do our best with this?"

"No need to ask me," he assured her. "Work comes first for me. Just because we don't get along doesn't mean I won't give this my all."

She sighed as she glanced away from him. "This must frustrate you though."

"What do you mean?" Cole asked her, frowning, slipping one hand in his jeans pocket.

"That Ryan felt we couldn't design on our own, that we could only produce a game if we worked together."

He pondered that. Then, he said, "Knowing Ryan, that's not how he sees things. It's less about being unworthy of being able to work on your own and more about putting together his best assets to produce the best game possible."

She nodded. "How long have you known him?"

"Junior high." He laughed a little. "Yeah, you could say we go way back."

"Must be nice to have been friends for such a long time," she commented and she sounded... a little envious, which made Cole curious, but he didn't dare ask, because first, it really was none of his business and second, he didn't want to touch a sore spot.

She took a deep breath, as if pulling herself away from whatever had made her a little melancholic, then came back to the subject at hand. "So, we'll need to coordinate it all with the rest of the team and we'll need to plan so that it doesn't create any conflict with the production for the other games. The last thing we want is for everyone to feel stressed out. But we'll definitely need a concept to pitch to Ryan soon."

Cole took this all in and noticed a few things that made him see Jane in a new light. The fact that she took into account the wellbeing of her colleagues felt fresh to him who came from a workplace that bordered on being toxic at times. And they were both planners, so they would at least get along in that respect.

He hadn't realized she expected an answer from him until she asked, "Do you disagree with anything I've said?"

"You care about my opinion now?" He teased her.

"Not really, but I have to appear to care if we want to make this work," she retorted with a slight smile.

He tried not to laugh. Maybe this would be entertaining after all.

                                                             ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Happy New Year! Let's hope this one doesn't suck as much as 2020 did. 😅 If you've enjoyed this chapter, please vote and/or leave a comment, it would mean the world to me!