("Some days I can't get out of my head
That's just the dark side of me
Some nights, it's hard for me to fall asleep
That's just the dark side of me
If you ever ever call my name, name
You will find out that we're both the same
When the lights go out, I need to know
Are you afraid of the dark?
I'm not afraid of the dark.")

- Future and Ty Dolla Sign, "Darkside"

March, 2017

4th year, Age 17

"Seduction," Maya murmured to herself, staring at the mirror. She puckered her lips, reaching up to thread her fingers through her own hair. She pulled a hand down to twist the ends of her hair between her fingers as she smirked at the mirror and tipped her head. "I can do that."

She couldn't do that. She had absolutely no experience in this field that she was supposedly the specialist in. The extent of her exposure was in the 'emotional complications in undercover romance' unit, where she had been paired with Josh, Lucas, and Riley as romantic partners. Faking a relationship had been impossible with Josh, relatively easier with Lucas, and not very difficult with Riley. It all depended on the willingness of the partner.

Seduction, she guessed, would also depend on the willingness of her target.

She needed practice, though, on a partner who wasn't in on the game. A real target.

She turned from the mirror and unbuttoned her formal blouse a few down her chest, just enough to expose her bra. Then she slipped out of her suit pants and turned back to the mirror, messing up her hair a little as she examined her 'sexy persona'. Frowning, she went back to the dresser and opened it, scanning over her clothes.

Almost all of her clothes were training uniforms. Sports bras, leggings, sweatpants, tank tops, long sleeves that were moisture wicking and flexible. She had a few jackets that she could put over her training clothes, and the single set of formal clothes - pale blue button down blouse, black blazer, black suit pants, black heels, and a nude colored 'normal' bra that swooped down between her breasts and was held up by thin straps - this was the bra she was wearing at the moment. All of her socks and underwear were black. All of her hair accessories were hairbands. Even her pajamas were academy standard; she had loose black pajama pants and loose black pajama shorts, and a loose short sleeved shirt.

In other words, absolutely nothing sexy.

Groaning, she turned back to the mirror and surveyed herself again; pale bare legs that were topped by black underwear, formal flowing blouse just barely hiding a nude bra. It wasn't that bad, but it certainly wasn't aiming to be sexy.

"Maya," a knock sounded on the door and Maya's stomach dropped as she dashed towards her pants, "you were supposed to meet us in the lounge half an hour ago."

"Sorry," she rushed out, hurriedly pulling on her pants and buttoning up her shirt as fast as she could. She opened the door to see Josh, who frowned, looking her up and down.

"Where have you been?" He asked slowly, crossing his arms. He peered a little into the room, but Maya held the door a little more closed around her.

"I had a meeting this morning, and I totally forgot about ours in the lounge. Just let me change into something more comfortable," Maya apologized.

"Nothing is as comfortable as naked," Josh smirked, and Maya flushed red.

"Why the hell would you say that?" She demanded, and Josh reached out a hand towards her.

Part of her screamed to move away, but she was frozen in place, feeling the heat of his fingers nearing her chest. She tried to control her heartbeat, but could feel the blood rushing as Josh grabbed hold of the front of her blouse, where she had buttoned them completely wrong.

"Someone in there with you?" He suggested, obviously trying to hold back a laugh. "Or were you just-"

Maya slammed the door in his face, humiliated as she pulled off her shirt and pants haphazardly and grabbed the first pair of training clothes she could see on her floor. She made sure to put them on correctly this time.

"Let's go," she ordered, opening the door and swiftly brushing past him, knocking his shoulder with his.

He took the hit and followed her, but she did her best to stay three feet ahead of him the whole way to the lounge.

After their academic classes, Riley caught up with Maya on their way back to the girls' dorms for break.

"Hey," Maya greeted her, glancing over at Riley.

"Hey," Riley replied, then hesitated. "So Josh told me-"

"What?" Maya interrupted, freezing in her place as she narrowed her eyes. "What the hell did he tell you?"

"...that you had a meeting yesterday morning," Riley finished slowly, confusion lacing her expression. "What did you think he told me?"

"Nothing," Maya muttered, starting to walk again.

Riley frowned, but moved on. "What was your meeting about?"

"Administrations asked me if I wanted to go to my mother's funeral or grave, and I said no," Maya explained shortly.

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that," Riley confessed. She glanced at Maya out of the corner of her eye, but Maya's eyes stayed focused ahead of them as they walked. "How are you doing… with that?"

"Frankly, Riley," Maya answered, glancing at her, "I don't care. She gave up her parental rights to me when I was twelve. She hasn't been my mom for over five years, and I haven't talked to her since then either. It doesn't affect me at all, so why don't you just drop it?"

Riley swallowed, but closed her mouth. As they approached Riley's dorm, she tapped her wristband against the electronic lock and opened the door, but hesitated. She turned halfway back towards Maya and met eyes with her. "I'm here for you, if you need me." She disappeared into her room before Maya could tell her she wouldn't.

For a few weeks since getting their team outline, Eric had been putting them through mocks that were more undercover and impersonation based. And that meant that their specialties were put to the test. Riley had been used as the distraction a few times, which usually involved acting naive and oblivious to a target, asking for help with something, before taking them down. Maya and Lucas had been paired up to steal a hard drive, and their original plan had been for Maya to seduce the target and Lucas to get in and out - but that had changed when they figured out that the target was gay. They had gotten used to Eric throwing in surprises to catch them off guard and test their ability to think on their feet, but that one had been a bit of a… shock. Whenever Josh was in a mock with a partner or the team, his sole focus was fighting while his partner was the distraction - and Maya was not a fan of being paired with him alone, when she had to be the distraction. She missed the old mocks, where it was all action based.

"Graduation is in a few months," Riley commented, as the four left a mock to head towards the dorms. "You'll be free."

"Free is a relative term," Josh snorted, and Maya glanced over at him.

"You won't be constrained by a class schedule," she suggested.

"I'll be a TA," he reminded them. "I'm still attending some classes."

"But as a teacher," Lucas pointed out.

"Speaking of teachers, I really hope Eric will get out of this trend of cover mocks." Maya pulled her hair down to redo her ponytail.

"I prefer impersonation," Riley admitted. "I don't like fighting." Before Maya could question the statement, Riley bid them adieu and heading towards her dorm.

"Have you guys noticed-" Lucas began, but both Josh and Maya nodded in agreement before he could finish, as they all stared at Riley, moving across the campus.

"It's like she's shut down," Lucas said.

"Robotic, automatic," Maya added.

"That's what she was trained into," Josh stated shortly.

Maya looked over at Josh's face again, trying to read his expression. Blank. Flat. Her gaze drifted down to his shoulders, watching for tightness, and down to his hands, which were relaxed at his sides. But as he tipped his head up a little, Maya could tell how he was deliberately masking his emotions.

"Both of you," she deduced, and Josh's fists clenched, although he didn't look at her.

"We were raised into this life; it's all Riley knows and she's shut off her personality to fit into the mold," Josh explained.

"I need to get to a meeting with a teacher," Lucas said, breaking off from the pair to head towards the academic buildings.

"And what about you?" Maya asked Josh, as they became the last two.

Josh finally looked down at her. "You can try to get into my head all you'd like, but it won't work."

"I'm good at challenges," Maya smirked.

"Want to play a game?" Josh suggested, pivoting towards the operation gyms.

Maya followed. "I always win games," she reminded him.

As they entered the operations gyms, Josh dropped his bag on the floor. He nodded towards the rock wall on the far end of the gym. "How are you at climbing?"

"I'm the agility specialist," Maya grinned. "You really want to go against me on a rock wall?"

She dropped her bag and pulled off her jacket, leaving herself in only leggings and a sports bra, as she took off across the gym. It was fairly empty; most normal students had academic classes right now.

After chalking up her hands, she turned towards the wall, and nearly choked at Josh, coming toward her, shirtless.

"What the hell are you doing?" She asked as Josh nonchalantly chalked up his hands and headed towards the other side of the wall.

"I'm hot," he shrugged, smirking at her expression. "You're allowed to go around in just a sport bra, so I'm allowed to go shirtless."

Maya turned away, cheeks burning a bit as she realized she had been staring at his perfectly toned muscles and smooth skin. "Fine."

To be fair, she beat Josh by almost fifteen seconds, and as she sat on top of the wall, she stared at him coming up towards her.

He had been testing her in a distractive environment. Testing her ability to focus. Testing her interest in him.

Two could play at that game.

Maya swallowed.

A real target.

A/N: (Let's fall in love for insurance fraud?)

I'm back y'all, and I wrote this on an airplane with no sleep so it might suck. The next chapter is Josh and it will also be fairly short, just FYI.

I promise I will try to get back to Anecdoche, but in the meantime I hope you enjoy this chapter of Nodus Tollens :)

Please review! I love knowing people are actually reading what I write!

Kisses,

C