Alive

By: Aviantei

14 mph


Whenever most people meet celebrities, I'm sure they get distracted by what it's like to see them in person, not as an image on the screen. I, on the other hand, am too busy getting distracted by seeing Jan Michel and Dew Urbina in full color. Jan's hair is this dirty blonde that's even darker than my own, and his dark eyes seem like they're hiding some sort of joke. Dew has this youthful air to him that stretches out his tanned skin into a grin. His hair is a bit lighter blonde, bordering right on the edge of being brown. Like Cunningham, they both seem to have a penchant for baggy clothes. If you saw them standing in a line, you wouldn't guess they were three of the most famous men in the whole sport.

Except that everyone knows who Team Velshtein is, so maybe that's a bad comparison.

"Kirsten, you made it," Alexander says and waves a hand at me. His teammates perk up as I cross over to them in the bar lobby, both trying to figure out just what I look like as I size them up myself. Alexander just smiles and gestures to them. "I'm sure you know, but this is Jan and Dew, my teammates." They both seem to read some sort of unspoken signal, because they wave at the same time. "Guys, this is Kirsten."

"Sup?" Jan says, and offers me a hand to shake. Part of me worries that this is still some sort of dumb trap, but I shrug the thought off. Mariya may be worried about me hanging out with Alexander, but it's not for anything like that.

Dew steps up next, and I clasp his hand in mine. "It's nice to actually put a face to the name," he says, voice filled with an almost soothing quality. "Cunningham talks about you a lot."

"Oh, he does, does he?" I smirk in his direction, and Alexander looks sheepish for a second. "I didn't know I was so popular. Now I feel bad for not bragging about you to my brother more." I haven't had the time to call Nate in a while. I'm sure he'll be fuming if I hold out on him much longer. At the trio of confused looks aimed in my direction, I put on a smile. "He's studying to become a mechanic for mechs. He's liked IGPX since he was, like, this tall." I put a hand up to about my hip. Damn, kids grow up too fast.

"Well, whoever's bragging to who, I'm sure it'll be better done inside," Alexander says. I can see his mind running at over two-hundred miles per hour, but he turns around before I can figure out what it is. "I take it you've had enough of watching crowds clamor over my attention, right?"

Jan makes a half-assed whack at Alexander's arm. "You're not the only one who's gonna attract attention, you know?"

"Yeah, but Kirsten hasn't seen you guys flounder around yet."

"You're an ass."

Without waiting for any more prompting, we make our way into a private booth on the second floor of the bar. A large brown table takes up most of the space, with comfortable looking velvet red seats all around. I sink into the cushions. It's about the level of Alexander's couch, but not quite the rank of his car. Still, it won't be a bad place to drink my ass off for the evening.

Once we've ordered our first round of beer and some appetizers, there's a moment where I debate starting the conversation before the awkward silence sinks in. Dew beats me to it. "So," he says from across the table, "can we get the story of how you two met from you? Because this guy—" He jams a thumb in Alexander's direction "—hasn't told us a damn thing."

Jan's face lights up in a troublemaking smile. "An excellent point, Dew," he says. If we can all bond over giving Alexander shit, then I think we can get along just fine. "Just one day we were like 'What'd you do over the weekend, bro?' and he was like 'Oh, I went mountain climbing.' Then we had to pester them to find out who the hell he went with."

Considering we met when I broke into their team's hangar, that was probably a smart move. I flick my eyes to Alexander and put on an innocent-looking smile. "You didn't tell them?" I ask, sounding way more cheerful than I feel. My insides are too busy twisting up in a mix of relief and suspicion. I'd rather be walking on a tightrope set over a pit of snakes.

Alexander scratches the back of his head. "Well, I figured you wouldn't appreciate coming off like such a fangirl. I mean—" he smirks, and I hate him "—you put in a lot of effort just to meet me, right?"

I clench my fists under the table. That's how you wanna play it, huh? "Well, it was really just a coincidence. I consider myself lucky." Lucky that I'm sitting here waiting for some beer instead of in a jail cell. "I mean, you almost didn't recognize me the second time I talked to you. I was worried." Alexander almost pouts at the accusation. I smile more, turning back to his teammates. "We pretty much happened to cross paths a couple of times. I told him he looked bored, so he should do something fun with himself. That's the gist of it."

"That's boring, but fine," Jan says, and it seems our bullshit explanation has worked. It's not as if the actual story sounds any more likely. Maybe some day Alexander will tell them the truth. Our server finally comes back with our drinks, and I start right away on downing my beer. It's not my tab. "I guess we should just be glad he's actually going out and doing something."

"Hey," Alexander says. "I do things."

Dew rolls his eyes. "Yeah, like come to practice and fence and watch the same gladiator movies over and over again," he says, and Alexander conceals his grimace behind his beer. I don't bother to hide my snicker. This was a good idea, after all. Dew flashes me a thumbs up. "So, even if he hasn't said it, thanks for making Cunningham have a little fun for once."

He has said it, but I don't feel like discussing the circumstances of that conversation just yet. "Oh, no, the pleasure's all mine," I say. "I'm sure you guys try your best, too, as his teammates. Hopefully I haven't stolen him away from you or anything." Because if our relationship is starting to look too cozy to anyone besides Mariya, I'll have to back off a bit.

"Nah, it's all good. We usually hang out with him like this."

Jan nods, clearing out space on the table as our first round of overabundant appetizers starts to hit the table. I snatch up a stuffed mushroom, almost burning my tongue in the process. I think it enhances the flavor. "Besides, we get enough of this guy during practice," Jan says with a laugh.

"I am right here, you know," Alexander says.

I elbow him in the side. "Yes, you are," I say, "but I talk to you all the time. I thought the whole point of this was that you wanted me to get to know your teammates." Or at least that's what I guessed. Alexander didn't really elaborate.

"I didn't anticipate that getting to know my teammates would involve taking constant shots at my lifestyle." He eases back into his seat, a chicken wing between his fingers. "Besides, you all know about me. I think we should have a nice conversation that I can participate in."

"Sore loser," Dew says at the same time I do. Jan almost snorts beer out his nose, and no one's even drunk yet. I trade off a high five with Dew as Alexander heaves another dramatic sigh. "But fair enough," Dew continues. "Cunningham's only told us a bit about you. We were convinced he was trying to keep you a secret or something."

"Maybe he just doesn't want to admit I beat him in that mountain bike race," I say, and then, before Alexander can protest, "It counts."

"You're impossible," he says.

"And yet you hang out with me anyway." I snatch up my second stuffed mushroom and let Alexander sulk a little. "But, yeah, I mean, there's not too much to know about me. I got way too lucky when I was younger, so I was able to retire early." Hell, I could've let Dad retire, too, but he was too stubborn to take the offer. "I'm mostly a thrill seeker. If there's something wild and adrenaline inducing, that's probably where you'll find me."

"Sounds like a good time," Jan says around a mouthful of chicken wing. "At least Cunningham sounds like he enjoys it."

I flash Alexander a smile. "You brag to your friends about me, I see."

Alexander puts down his beer and shrugs. "To be fair, hanging out with you is what I've been doing these past weeks. I don't have much else to talk about, and you're easily the most entertaining part of my free time." Jan exchanges a glance with Dew, but I don't care. They can think whatever they want, especially once I'm drunk off my ass. "But you said you had a brother? Younger? Older?"

"Oh, yeah, I was gonna ask about that." Dew leans over the table, a brilliant grin stretched across his face. With their combined looks, it's no wonder Velshtein's popular, even though they've dropped their five-year run as IG-1 champions. "I've got a couple of siblings myself. I'm the middle child."

I nod. "I'm the oldest," I say, holding up a peace sign. "I've got two baby brothers. Though at this point, I guess they're not really babies anymore…" Sheesh, when the hell did those kids grow up? If I wasn't such an adrenaline junkie, I'd feel old.

Jan brushes some hair out of his eyes, accidentally flecking a bit of wing sauce on his forehead. "Well, if I guess we're sharing, I've got a sibling myself, though I'm younger. Only by a year, though."

I flick my eyes over to the seat beside me. "And you, Alexander? Might as well finish the sharing circle."

"I was raised an only child," Alexander says, and I down the last of my beer like I don't already know that his parents decided to have another child after wonder boy over here decided to run off and become an IGPX pilot. What's it like for him, having a little sister he's never met? Sheesh, Mariya needs to learn when someone asks for intel, there's honestly a limit. Alexander builds himself a lettuce wrap like it doesn't bother him at all. "I'm sure you guys have a lot more exciting stories to tell than I do about growing up."

I snort just as Jan decides that there's nothing better to do than stare down the table's worth of food. I wonder how many drinks it'll take him to crack. "Ha," Dew says, digging in his pocket. "I've got a good one for ya. But before that…" He pulls out a compact digital camera, nice and shiny. "Kirsten, you said your bro is a fan, right? Why don't you take a picture as a souvenir? While we're still sober, preferably."

"Oh, that sounds great! Nate will love it!" He'll also hate me at the same time, but that's what siblings do. Without any instruction, we're all bunching closer on the booth as Dew maneuvers his camera for a group selfie. "If you print a copy, it'd be even better if you'd signed it."

Since I'm pretty much smooshed into Alexander's side, I feel his chuckle almost more than I hear it. "Weren't you saying all this celebrity stuff was stupid?" he asks.

I hold my grin for the picture (it's easy since Jan has thrown up bunny ears behind Alexander's head) and wait until Dew gives us the go to separate. "It is stupid," I say. "But it'll make Nate happy, so who cares?" I brush my hand over the shaved part of my head as our server opens the door to our private room. "Oh, perfect timing! Can I get a refill, please?"


[Author's Notes]

Jan and Dew, built entirely on headcanons because they get like a combined twenty minutes of screen time in canon, at best. Because OCs need to hang out with other canon characters besides their pairings.

I'm currently working on drafting this story out to the end, so I hope to do that sometime around August. We'll likely start to see weekly updates around then.

I'm also in the slow progress of transferring my works over to AO3, where my username is still Aviantei. I only have so many hours in the day, so this fic will take a bit to get over there, but I'd appreciate your support over there regardless.

Next time, more drinking! Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[07.08.2019]