No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! Syrus kept repeating that mantra over and over again in his head. Perhaps he thought doing so would erase his previous idea of Hassleberry being "beautiful." It didn't work.
Come on, Syrus! What are you thinking? There's nothing attractive about him! He's so… He scrambled his mind looking for anything to say. The only adjectives he could come up with were positive. Brave, determined, witty… He's such a jerk! Why is this even a thing I'm thinking about? I'm gonna stop thinking about him, right now!
Of course, after he let his mind go blank and took a deep breath, the voice he was specifically looking to avoid was heard.
"You didn't really think you could defeat me usin' my fellow dinos, did you?"
Of course. His voice was loud and clear, echoing out from the arena and into the hallway. He probably should've left the building altogether if he wanted to forget about him. But the idea of leaving never even crossed his mind.
"What do you keep going on about," Rex asked.
"You don't know?"
Oh geez… he thought, is he gonna go on about having "Dino DNA" again?
"I got Dino DNA!"
Syrus couldn't hold back his laugh. He observed where he was. If he walked into the arena, he would have a perfect view of the action from the side. That means he'd be perfectly able to see Hassleberry, much better than where he sat with the others… not that it mattered though!
He peaked out of the door. He wasn't paying attention to the field. Just the person in front of him.
"You're crazy," Rex yelled.
"Am not, soldier! One day, during a routine dig, a freak avalanche came down and nearly broke my leg in two!"
As he went on with his story, Syrus focused not on his words, but his face. He'd heard the tale at least a dozen times before; Hassleberry would never shut up about it. But this was the first time he physically observed him giving this speech. Something about the sincerity in his face was almost… endearing.
He shook his head of his thoughts and slipped back behind the door.
This is nothing, he continued to tell himself. It was one stupid thought! One stupid thought! That means nothing! Everyone thinks something that makes no sense at one point or another! So this. Means. Nothing! Besides, he's a jerk! I can never like a jerk like that!
After a few seconds, he suddenly felt bad for that statement.
But… he helped me when I had that nightmare. Nobody's done that before. Not even Zane before he went… crazy. Maybe calling him a jerk is a little too mean. He's so nice when he needs to be…
...what am I saying? Stop thinking these things, Syrus! STOP!
"I gotta hand it to ya," Hassleberry laughed, "you got some toughness in ya. But it takes a little more than that for a dino to survive the stone age!"
Syrus tried to stifle a laugh. How he missed that voice…
Hassleberry, the thought, that is almost endearingly stupid… I'm so glad you're back.
He grew flustered, then bolted out of the arena as quickly as he could.
...
Syrus didn't rejoin the group right away. He was still recovering from his intruding thoughts. What disturbed him was that they might not have come up out of nowhere. They very well might have been there the whole time. Despite being so worried and scared, he couldn't avoid Hassleberry the rest of the day. He didn't want to seem heartless after all. However, that didn't stop him from eavesdropping on the initial conversation before merging into the group.
"Where'd you get that card," Jaden asked. It wasn't surprising that he'd be the one to ask that question. He was the one that helped Hassleberry create his deck after all.
"Honestly," he answered, "I don't really know. But I can sure tell ya something, it helped me in a pinch! Must've been some sudden wave of genius that came over me I forgot about!"
Syrus secretly wanted to correct him and say that it was really his "wave of genius." However, he stopped himself. Hassleberry was so undoubtedly happy at that point in time, he couldn't bear to ruin it.
It was thoughts like that that gave him pause now.
"Hey Sy," Jaden called to him.
Shoot. He'd rather have stayed hidden for a little bit longer, but Jaden saw him, so it was too late to go back. He awkwardly stepped into the group.
"Hey," he said. "What'd I miss? I'm guessing Hassleberry won?"
"Ya didn't miss much," Hassleberry chuckled. "Once I gained the upper hand, it was one turn, and he was finished!"
"Oh…" He noticed I left…? Stop it! Don't think about that! That doesn't mean anything! "Good job!"
"Thanks!"
The entire time, Syrus was still trying to downplay everything and act "normal." Just don't be weird. It's not that hard. Just don't be weird! Don't be weird!
"...you alright, soldier? You look… off."
"I'm fine! I don't see why you think I'm not fine!" He wasn't fine.