Bellamy dropped heavily onto the futon in his shared apartment and slapped the gel ice pack onto his forehead. It was so cold that it made his skin sting. For the first time since he saw Orion Pendleton’s face at VADR, Bellamy felt a burst of clarity cut through the fog in his head.

If he were searching for silver linings like his mom always told him to, there was one very obvious one: At least, with Orion at VADR, Bellamy was no longer alone. 

Being two thirds done with his internship, he couldn’t afford not to bury the hatchet with Orion. A shitty run-in at a nightclub with his new coworker-slash-superior would be the stupidest possible way he could ruin his internship, and he could not allow that to happen.

The rest of the day with Orion was, all things considered, uneventful. Bellamy had worked in admin in a community mental health center before grad school, and wound up doing a fair amount of the orientations there. This time, at least, he didn’t even have to teach his new colleague everything from the ground up. He just had to identify specific aspects of being a therapist working for VADR as well as how that influenced documentation and relevant diagnostic information.

Despite how productive they quickly became, Bellamy went home with the impression that he’d been hanging out with an iceberg all day. Orion’s frosty demeanor with him wouldn’t have been as obvious if Bellamy hadn’t gotten to see him brighten up as soon as he was around Edie or interacting with clients.

It was clear that, unless Bellamy wanted to spend his last few months of his internship very uncomfortable, he was going to have to go out of his way to right things with Orion.

As Bellamy dragged himself into the kitchen to get something to nibble on, he shot over a text to Edie.

He got the response almost immediately.

He groaned, making him realize he was secretly hoping that Edie would have left him on open, or told him this was a bad idea.

Alas. He was stuck. Taking a deep breath, he opened a blank text, and then paused and thought of what his practicum professor always said. Important conversations should be saved for a phone call.

She obviously didn’t understand neurospicy Gen Zers.

Bellamy felt his body vibrating with unease as he lifted his phone to his ear. Maybe he’d get lucky and—

“This is Orion.”

Heart: Straight through his feet. Down through the floorboards. Into the underground city where the photophobic supernaturals lived. Then on into hell.

A steady ringing in Bellamy’s ears made it take a moment before he realized Orion was asking, “Hello?”

Bellamy started pacing immediately, gnawing on his fingernail. “H-Hey Orion! It’s… Bellamy. From—”

“Yes, I’ve never met another Bellamy,” Orion interrupted irritably. “How did you get my…” He exhaled loudly. “Edie. What do you need? Was there another group to run that I didn’t know about?”

“No, no, you’re good,” Bellamy said hurriedly. Orion clearly wasn’t happy to be hearing from him. He swallowed his prickling pride. “I was wondering if you’d be willing to meet up with me tonight.”

There was a long silence. Bellamy’s pacing got faster and tighter until he slipped on the kitchen linoleum and barely caught himself on the counter.

“Are you still there?” Bellamy asked dumbly.

“Listen,” Orion said stiffly, “I am perfectly agreeable to having an effective working relationship. But…”

Bellamy cut him off. “I insist. I was an ass to you last night. You deserve an explanation.”

This pause was shorter, restrained. “There’s an explanation?” he asked dryly. “It seemed pretty straightforward to me.”

“Come get a milkshake with me at Mickey’s,” Bellamy begged. The irony of begging to meet Orion after telling him he “wasn’t desperate enough” to talk to him the night before… that smarted. “Please?”

“Mickey’s is like, an hour away from me.”

“Really?” Bellamy squeaked. He could see it out his apartment window just by leaning his forehead against the glass.

“No.” The edge of a rumbling laugh was briefly heard through Bellamy’s earpiece, raising the fuzzy hairs on his cheek. “But it was a bold move for you to throw out a place to meet when you don’t know where I live.”

“I mean,” Bellamy muttered with a roll of his eyes, “you are an elk shifter, so can’t you get basically anywhere quickly?”

“I won’t just shift just for a milkshake,” Orion retorted. “Ugh, are you always this argumentative?”

“I’m not argumentative!” Bellamy felt his cheeks twitching as he tried to suppress a smile. “I mean, yes. Yes I am. So, what do you say?”

Orion sighed, long and slow. “Fine. But you’re buying. I’ll be there in twenty.”

“Oh, I need, like, an hour to get ready—”

“You can have thirty or we don’t meet.”

Bellamy grinned. “Fine.”