Chapter Nine: The Calm

With their only lead being from Zemerik, Sherman and Tezz set to work in studying the data Zemerik had managed to mark down about the Meta Key. There wasn't a lot that the two could find, at first, so instead of pushing constantly, Sherman set up a bunch of algorithms and programs to study for patterns and such, while Tezz, true to his nature, continued to study the data long after everyone else had given up.

The team trained, they talked, they made food together, they went grocery shopping together, but it was clear something was missing. Or rather, someone was missing, at least, for Sherman: Viv.

Jax might not have known about the BF5, but Viv had been such a constant by the time the team divided that not having her around was putting a strange strain on their teamwork. Sure, they all fell back into rhythms easily enough, but Sherman wasn't quite himself. He was lonely. He was sad.

And, in truth, Sherman knew the others could see that in him. But he tried not to let it get to him. He just wanted to fight the bad guys, find the key, and save the day so he could go home. He loved his friends, really, but he missed his other family, the one he shared with Viv and their daughters, Kiara and Mia.

He missed them so much, in fact, that the daily phone calls weren't enough and, before long, Sherman found himself setting up a video call in the rec room one night, after everyone else had separated for the night. He knew that Kiara and Mia were already in bed, but he hoped they'd be up anyway. It wasn't as if they had school, after all.

The call rang through and Viv picked up, looking a little tired from where she was perched on the couch, the laptop obviously in her lap. She smiled at him, her blonde hair pulled back into a loose and messy bun, stray hairs falling over her glasses. She was wearing the pyjamas that he'd bought her last Christmas, an oversized dark blue t-shirt with a couple of buttons and the BF5 symbol on the breast. He had the match in the same size.

"Hey, honey," said Viv, smiling at him. Sherman felt his entire body relax and sighed a bit, settling into the couch a little more. "How're things?"

"Good," said Sherman. "We're working on leads to figure out where this thing is, but nothing too concrete yet." He smiled at her, looking at the remnants of her lip gloss and the mismatched earrings she wore – one of the girls had probably stolen the other for a Barbie bracelet. "How're things?"

"Fine," said Viv, pressing the back of her hand to her mouth and yawning. "We're getting by. The girls miss you, but they understand you have important work to do." Her soft expression fell to something more serious. "Are you being careful? Is Spinner?"

"Yeah, we're fine," said Sherman. "Everything's been calm so far." He hesitated, then frowned as well. "Too calm, actually. I'm worried."

Her brows furrowed. "You know what they say about the calm before the storm," she said. Then, with a pause, she looked up over the computer and narrowed her eyes. "Girls, are you still awake?"

A pause and then, "No," came a pair of squeaky voices. Sherman snickered, pressing a hand to his mouth.

Viv sighed, shaking her head. "All right, all right, come say hi to Dad," she said, gesturing for them. A moment later, Sherman heard the pattering of two pairs of small feet smacking off the hardwood floors, then Kiara and Mia appeared on either side of Viv. Their curly hair was a few shades lighter than Sherman's, an almost perfect mix between his and Viv's. They both smiled at him, their dimples big and pronounced on their tanned and chubby cheeks.

"Hi Dada!" said Kiara. Mia just waved. Her speech wasn't quite as far along as Kiara's yet, and she often just let Kiara take the lead.

"Hi girls!" said Sherman, laughing. He waved to them and they both waved back again. "I love you."

"Wuv you!" said Kiara. Mia blew a kiss.

With a chuckle, Viv pushed the laptop to the coffee table and swung into her folding wheelchair next to the couch. "All right, all right," she said. "You said hi, now back to bed with you both." She nudged them along. Mia climbed into Viv's lap and Kiara put a hand on the chair.

"Be right back," said Viv. Then, "Oh! Jax is here, you should get Spinner and say hi." She waved at something in another room before disappearing with the girls. Sherman relaxed a little further and waited. A moment later, Jax appeared on the screen, dropping onto the couch.

They flashed a grin at Sherman, swiping a hand through their long black hair, which wasn't pulled back into its usual ponytail. There was a smug of grease under one eye that they obviously hadn't washed off yet.

"Hey Sherm," said Jax. "How goes the test track?"

Sherman fought a wince. He still couldn't believe Jax didn't know. He figured they all should have told Jax a while ago, but it had never come up and now wasn't exactly the right time. At least, Spinner didn't think they should, and seeing as Spinner was dating Jax, he was the one to listen to.

"Good, good," said Sherman. "Lots to do." He frowned and cocked his head. "You spoke to Spinner today?"

"Nope, how come?" asked Jax. As if summoned, Spinner appeared in the door, his hair hanging around his shoulders and still damp from a shower.

"Speak of the devil," said Sherman, raising an eyebrow.

"Why am I evil?" asked Spinner. He dropped down next to Sherman and lit up when he saw Jax on the screen. "Babe!" said Spinner, beaming. "Hey, how are you? Cars okay? Are you with Viv?"

Jax chuckled. "Hello, my lovely. Everything's fine. I'm helping Viv out with the girls, you know how they are. Miss you."

"Miss you too," said Spinner. "I gotta go – I've got food on. Talk later?"

"'Course, love you," said Jax.

"Love you too," said Spinner. Jax disappeared from the screen and Spinner hopped up, towelling off his hair with the towel he had in one hand. "Later, bro."

"Later," said Sherman. He waited a long moment after Spinner left the room, and, after a minute, Viv reappeared, swinging herself from the chair to the couch and grabbing the laptop.

"Hello again," said Viv.

Sherman smiled. "Hey," he said, voice soft.

The two kept talking and Sherman let himself relax. Yeah, maybe this was going to be a long, hard road, but at least he had his girls – all three of them – and his friends. As long as he had them, they'd get through this.

Zoom yawned, rubbing at his eyes as he came down the hall and into the bedroom. The shower was running and Vert was probably in it, but Zoom didn't feel much like joining him. He was tired, and sore, and he'd spent way too long running training simulations today. On the bright side, he had the new high score. A score he hadn't managed to outdo since he was twenty.

Instead of joining Vert, he flopped, facedown, on the bed, and closed his eyes, letting himself rest for a while.

He wasn't sure how much time passed before the shower shut off, the door to the bathroom opened, and he heard a quiet chuckle. The bed dipped under Vert's weight and his hand smoothed down Zoom's back.

"Hey, Zoom," said Vert, his voice soft. "Tired?" Zoom hummed and folded his arms under his head, resting his cheek on them so he could crack one eye open and smile sleepily at Vert.

"Yeah," he said, sighing out the word slowly. He hummed as Vert rubbed a hand up his back, his eyes sweeping down Vert appreciatively as he noticed Vert was completely naked and still slightly dripping from the shower. "No towels?" he guessed.

Vert shrugged. "Didn't feel like it." He flopped down on the bed next to Zoom, laying on his back, and tucked one arm behind his head, using the other to card his fingers through Zoom's hair. Zoom hummed, nuzzling closer to the touch. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm okay," said Zoom. He yawned and crawled over to Vert, flopping on top of him and nuzzling into the crook of his neck. "You?"

"Fine," Vert pressed a kiss to the top of his hair. He kept combing his fingers through Zoom's hair. "Worried, but nothing we can't handle, you know?" Zoom hummed and pressed a few open mouthed kisses to Vert's jaw and throat, pushing himself up on one elbow to lean more over Vert a bit more.

"Thought you were tired," mumbled Vert, humming and stretching so Zoom had better access.

"Never too tired for this," said Zoom, chuckling. He bit at Vert's neck and then moved his way up to Vert's lips, pressing a kiss to them. He lingered, letting the warmth spread through his body and tingle all the way through him, letting out a soft sigh as Vert kissed back.

When the two pulled back, they rested their foreheads together and Zoom smiled down at Vert.

"Love you," he mumbled.

"Love you too," replied Vert. Then, Zoom pressed Vert further back into the bed and sat up, pulling off his shirt in one smooth motion before leaning back over Vert.

Screw sleep. He had better things to do.

Like his husband.

AJ yawned and stretched, rubbing at his eyes. It was late, but he didn't want to go to bed without Tezz. He'd gotten used to snuggling up with the taller guy over the last year. It'd been nice, to have someone to sleep next to, especially someone who was known for being so closed off and well, like Tezz.

But AJ hadn't broken through all of Tezz's bad habits, and too many of them were what made Tezz, well, Tezz, so he didn't really want to. So, when Tezz went missing sometime after they all sat down and played board games – Scrabble, Tezz won, then Monopoly, in which Zoom had won, but that was because he flirted with Vert until Vert had given him Boardwalk and Park Place, then it had been over – AJ knew where to find him.

So, he'd taken a shower, dried his hair, and found some fuzzy pyjamas for the bedroom – Vert had put the AC unit in the window for him and Tezz so they didn't boil in their sleep – and then he'd gone down into the Hub to find Tezz.

What he saw made him stop and stare for a long, long moment.

Tezz had screens up all around him, displaying past battles with the Red Sentients, the Sark, and the Vandals. Images and videos of the Ancient Ones were up as well, terrifying in their raw power. Between the screens were the various data that Zemerik had sent their way. Tezz was running algorithms, or so AJ assumed, next to Sherman's, but he was still looking over all the data himself.

AJ touched down on the ground and padded over to Tezz, watching the man work with his long, slim fingers. He moved with a sort of elegance and grace that AJ had never seen in another tech genius. Sure, Sherman and Spinner had their ways, but Tezz had a sort of elegance that was more like playing an instrument rather than playing a computer.

"Hey, babe," said AJ. "Made any progress?"

"No," said Tezz. He pinched his brow and rubbed at his eyes, letting out a low sigh. "Not yet."

AJ frowned and, hesitantly, slid his arms around Tezz's waist, resting his cheek between Tezz's shoulder blades. "Don't you think it's time to take a break?"

"I can't," said Tezz.

"Of course you can," said AJ.

Tezz tensed, his entire body turning into one long line of tension and stress. "I can't." His accent was thick on the word. "You don't understand." His hands stilled, clenching into his fists in front of him. "I am intelligent in a way Sherman is not. We cover each other's weaknesses. If Sherman cannot find out what is going on, then it is up to me. And if I cannot find out what is going on…" He hesitated, taking a deep, shaky breath. "I don't want to think about it, AJ."

"Hey, hey," said AJ, releasing Tezz so he could step in front of the man and take his face in both hands. "Listen. Everything is going to be okay. The Ancient Ones aren't going to escape. We're gonna find the key. We're gonna seal the portal. And we're gonna get all of this sorted and go home. Okay?"

Slowly, shakily, Tezz nodded. Then, dropping his head to AJ's shoulder, he let out another shaky breath. "Okay," he whispered into AJ's shirt. His fingers curled into the fabric. "Can we… talk about something else?"

"'Course," said AJ, rubbing his back. He pressed a kiss to Tezz's cheek. "Anything you need."

It was probably a little after midnight when Stanford wandered outside the garage, leaning against the outside of the building and staring out at the Salt Flats. He was stripped down, his make-up washed away, his jewellery in its drawers, and his hair hanging in his face, his styling gel gone. With one hand, he slicked his hair back out of his face, slightly damp from his earlier shower, and let out a soft sigh.

He never felt more naked than he did without his make-up or his jewellery or his fancy outfits. In sweats that he used as pyjamas, with nothing but his freckles to cover his face, he didn't feel like himself. But it was late, and wearing make-up to bed was bad for his health, so he suffered this nudity, this vulnerability, for the good of his skin.

Closing his eyes, Stanford took a deep breath of the desert air. It was different from the air in London. Without smog, without smoke, without the people and the noise and the smells that never went away. Here, it smelled of nothing but sand and clean air. The lights came only from the garage behind him and the stars and moon high above. And the only noise was his own breathing and the sound of the wind as it washed over the expansive sand.

"Hey." The words were soft, but startled Stanford nonetheless. He opened his eyes to find Agura, her dreadlocks hanging around her face and bags under her eyes. She was leaned against the door frame of the garage, the big door still wide open and letting the night air in. "Mind if I stand?"

Stanford shrugged. "Fairly certain you're more of a citizen than I am, mate," he said. He was careful to keep the nicknames more platonic than usual. If Agura wanted to take an issue with his nicknames, he'd make sure not to make her uncomfortable. Even if 'mate' felt wrong for her.

He'd do anything to keep her comfortable, but, lately, he hadn't a clue what that meant. He hadn't spoken to her since Vert and Zoom's wedding, and, well, that wedding night had been… eventful for more than just the newly married couple.

If Stanford had known that a night of passion with Agura would ruin their entire friendship and everything that came with it, he'd never have tried his hand. He'd never have asked. He'd never have hoped. But he had. And it'd happened. And Stanford had no one to blame but himself.

"That's…" Agura sighed and ducked her head. "Look, I was wondering if we could… start over?" It came out as a question, though Stanford was certain she hadn't meant for it to be. "You know, forget anything ever happened between us?"

Stanford hesitated. It would have been so easy to go along with that. To forget the soft smiles and softer words. To forget that night. But he couldn't.

He couldn't forget the way Agura's laughter made his entire world light up. He couldn't forget the way her smile always made his day. He couldn't forget the way the sun caught her hair and her skin and her eyes. He couldn't forget anything about her. And, most importantly, he couldn't forget how irrevocably and completely in love with her he was.

And how much it hurt.

And how much he didn't want to let it go.

"What if I don't want to?" asked Stanford.

Agura opened her mouth, closed it, and then sighed. "I don't know, Stanford. It's not that simple."

Stanford pushed off the wall and turned to face Agura completely. "Why can't it be?"

Agura looked away. "I…" She trailed off and clenched her fists at her sides. "It's not that simple," she said, again.

"Well, I suggest you make up your mind, then, Agura, and find out what is simple for us." Stanford swallowed hard against the sour taste in his mouth. "Because I won't wait around forever for you to make up your mind."

He headed back into the garage, his eyes wet from the sting of his own lie.

She didn't know it, but he did.

He would, in fact, wait for her forever.

And that, in truth, made it all the harder to see her: so close, and yet so far. Like a comet, burning bright, illuminating all it passed, but never attainable, never touchable, never reachable.

That was Agura, to Stanford. And god, what he wouldn't give for a chance to let her burn him all over again.