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Chapter 2:

Silence reigns for a moment before a sigh passes Brooklyn's lips and he lays his head against Garland's shoulder, finding a sense of comfort in his best friend's presence. "A week ago I was cornered by three drunken men and they attempted to attack me."

"What?" Garland immediately exclaims in concern, pulling away just a little to look at his friend more clearly, his wide eyes searching for any injuries. "Are you hurt? Did they do anything?"

A chuckle escapes Brooklyn's lips and he shakes his head at his captain's typical behavior. "I said attempted, Garland. They didn't get a punch in."

Garland somewhat relaxes after that and emits a sigh of relief. "What happened?" he asks as he moves to sit by Brooklyn's side again, letting him lean against him once more.

"Bryan appeared," Brooklyn says, his lips turning into a frown as he tries to remember what happened. His memory is still a little fuzzy. It all happened so fast. "The next thing I knew he had one guy in a headlock, the other face first on the ground with his foot on the back of his neck while repeatedly punching the tallest guy there."

"Really?" Garland asks with disbelief in his voice, his eyes a tad wider than usual. He ponders this piece of information for a moment, remembering a something Spencer had once told him.

"Despite what you think," Spencer said as he stretched his long frame out on his couch. "Bryan doesn't get into fights with just anyone. He only gets into a fight when he's trying to protect someone. He doesn't go prowling the streets to beat the crap out of some random drunk. It isn't in his nature. The way his fights his battle tells you a lot about the person he's trying to protect. The faster he moves, the more important that person is to him."

"I don't really remember much," Brooklyn admits, pulling Garland out of his thoughts. "It happened so fast. One minute he's standing in front of me, the next he's wiping his hands clean."

"He moved that fast?" Garland asks with his voice has a mixture of awe and understanding. If that's the case and Spencer's right, Brooklyn must be really important to Bryan, despite all the teasing Bryan does to him.

In fact, now that he thinks about it, the teasing is probably a sign of affection from someone who doesn't know how to handle emotions very well.

Brooklyn nods against his shoulder. "I've never seen anything like it."

"I see," Garland says slowly, trying his best to take in all this information; however one thing still doesn't make sense. "But why are you so annoyed at him? He saved you, Brooklyn."

"I know that," Brooklyn huffs as he sticks his bottom lip out in a pout. "And I offered to repay him. It's the way he wants me to repay him that is getting me annoyed."

Garland blinks his blue eyes slowly, not much liking the sound of that. "What does he want?"

A light dusting of pink appears on Brooklyn's cheeks. "A kiss," he replies bluntly. "But he only wants to kiss me when he's ready."

Inwardly, Garland bristles. How dare Bryan take advantage of Brooklyn like this! Ok, so the silver haired Russian probably saved his life, but if he thinks he can get away with trying to take a part of his innocent away, he's got another thing coming! He knows Brooklyn hasn't been kissed yet.

"I see," Garland murmurs again, outwardly looking calm. "I take it he hasn't tried yet?"

"Oh, he's tried alright," Brooklyn mutters, his blush darkening in shade. "But before he kisses me he pulls back and tells me that he's changed his mind."

"I see," Garland once again murmurs, a tremor of annoyance running through his body, truly at a loss of words to what he should say. A part of him wants to pummel Bryan for even dare to ask a kiss from Brooklyn, but another part of him feels that he should thank the Russian, after all, he saved Brooklyn, if not his life, definitely his innocence.

Argh, this is so confusing!

"Well, if you don't want to kiss him, maybe you can ask him to let you repay him another way," Garland suggests.

Surprisingly, Brooklyn shakes his head in the negative. "The thought of kissing Bryan isn't exactly a problem," he admits with heavy embarrassment in his voice. "It's…"

"Yes?" Garland gently prods, knowing that if Brooklyn doesn't tell him now, he never will. "What is it?"

"I like being in Bryan's arms," Brooklyn confesses with a light blush gracing his features. "But I hate the way he seems hell bent on annoying me."

Garland pauses for a moment to gaze at his orange haired friend intently. "I've never seen you so conflicted before," he muses softly, annoyance at the silver hair Russian once again making an appearance. "Bryan is really getting to you."

Brooklyn can do nothing but nod his head in agreement, suddenly feeling tired about the whole thing.

"I tell you what, why don't you talk to Spencer?" Garland suggests with a small smile, unable to stop a light dusting of red from appearing on his cheeks at the thought of the overly tall blonde. "I'm sure he could help."

Brooklyn takes a moment to regard his silver haired captain, knowing all too well that he is just looking for an excuse to talk to Spencer. He doesn't know why Garland just doesn't tell the blonde his feelings. Brooklyn likes Spencer; he's calm, intelligent and actually really nice. It isn't like he's hard to approach or anything.

He's nothing like that infuriating Bryan, his teammate.

"Fine," Brooklyn sighs tersely, but then threatens to break out into a smile when he sees Garland's face brightens. "I guess it couldn't hurt to talk to him."

--

Leaning forward in his seat so he can rest his bulky arms on his knees, Spencer gives the two bladers before him a look of interest, his gaze subconsciously lingering on Garland longer than Brooklyn when he notices an oh-so adorable blush on his cheeks.

Who knew that someone as strong and powerful as Garland could be so cute? He'll have to tease him about it later.

"So," he drawls with a heavy accent. "What do I owe the pleasure?"

Garland shifts in his seat, silently cursing himself for the way his cheeks heat up another degree whenever Spencer turns his piercing sea green eyes in his direction. "We want to talk to you about something," he explains.

"And what would that be?" Spencer asks as he keeps his eyes locked on Garland.

"Bryan," Brooklyn answers bluntly.

Spencer lets his eyes flick towards Brooklyn. If he was surprised at the blunt reply, he certainly doesn't show it. In fact, the corner of his mouth twitches into a knowing smirk. Perhaps he has had this conversation before?

"He's giving you a spot of bother?"

Brooklyn licks his lips, trying his best to keep his frustrations in check. "You could say that."

"Oh," Spencer says as he arches an eyebrow towards his hairline. "And what has he done now?"

Drawing in a deep breath, Brooklyn proceeds, to his embarrassment, to tell Spencer everything. From the way Bryan saved him from impending doom, to his demand of payment, unable to stop the blush from staining his cheeks the entire time.

"I see," Spencer merely drawls, flicking a gaze towards Garland who merely nods his head in response, a tinge of pink marring his own cheeks. "Have you thought about talking to him?" he suggest, turning his eyes back to Brooklyn.

Brooklyn immediately bristles at the suggestion. "Do you think I haven't tried?" he asks tersely.

The smirk on Spencer's lips only seems to grow. "I mean, have you ever thought of seeking him out to talk to him?"

Brooklyn gives him a blank look before looking off to the side. "…No."

"Why not?"

"I don't know where to look," Brooklyn offers lamely. Truthfully, he has never even thought about looking for Bryan himself. He has always just waited for the Russian to appear, knowing that he would sooner or later.

He doesn't know why he hasn't thought of it before. Maybe it's because if he looked for Bryan, he won't be able to be swept up into his arms unexpectedly?

"You like Bryan, don't you?"

Brooklyn snaps his head up, surprise on his face. "What?"

Spencer simply continues to look at him with that all knowing and understanding expression. "If you didn't, I'm sure you would have put a stop to this whole thing ages ago. In fact, dare I say you might have a crush on him? Am I right, Garland?"

Brooklyn flicks his gaze to his friend and finds him nodding in agreement. He immediately looks away, feeling his cheeks heat up. A crush? On Bryan? No, that can't be true.

But, what else could it be? The want to be kissed, the need to be taken in his arms, the feeling of safety and protection he gets whenever the Russian is near and the utter irritation he feels when he sees someone else flirting with him.

"Oh, good god," Brooklyn whimpers as he holds his head in his hands. "I do have a crush on him."

Spencer leans over to give him a good natured pat on the back. "He isn't so bad. There are worst people to have a crush on, you know?"

"But why does he have to be so bloody irritating?" Brooklyn asks suddenly, unable to hold back his annoyance anymore.

A deep laugh passes Spencer's lips as his shoulders shake in amusement. He bows his head and gives it a little shake. "He's just playful," he answers as he lifts his head back up, his grin of pure amusement still in place.

Playful? Brooklyn huffs. Playful isn't the word Brooklyn would use to describe Bryan right about now.

"I know where Bryan is now, if you're interested," Spencer suddenly offers. "You can find him at his apartment. He's working on some paperwork for Kai at the moment, so he won't be going anywhere for a while. He lives a few doors down."

Garland snaps his head up and gives Spencer a look of disbelief. Bryan and paperwork? Kai doesn't trust Bryan anywhere near his work as Bryan has a habit of somehow mangling things. "Kai is actually letting him touch some paper work?"

Spencer laughs again. "Kai has a date tonight."

"A date?" Garland repeats with intrigue in his voice. "With who?"

"Miguel," Spencer replies, a smile on his lips when he notices a flicker of relief in Garland's eyes. "About time, too."

"Yes," Garland readily agrees. Kai and Miguel have been pinning after each other for ages!

While this conversation is taking place, Brooklyn sits still and silent in his seat, mulling over Spencer's suggestion. He can't keep doing this; he can't keep letting Bryan nearly kissing him before turning away all the time. He's nerves are already shot, he's been losing sleep, afraid that Bryan make break into his room and he hasn't had a decent beybattle ever since that confrontation in the alleyway. It has to stop. He's got to stop this.

He finally realizes that he has a crush on the Russian, now it's time to find out why it is exactly that Bryan seems to find pleasure in tormenting him the way he is.

"I will talk to him," Brooklyn says with a sense of determination as he takes to his feet. "Thank you, Spencer."

Spencer simply nods his head and watches as the orange haired genius leaves through the front door of his apartment before turning his sea green eyes back to Garland. "Do you think he'll do it?"

"I hope so."

Ok, so it's going to be a three-shot. Spencer/Garland and of course, Bryan/Brooklyn fluffiness in the next chapter.

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