Page 103 of Static/Cling

“We need you,” Kassian said, bringing Bjorn’s attention back. “Sal’s awesome on comms but being in charge is too much.”

Sal nodded. Lines of exhaustion etched what were normally smile lines deeper into their face around turned-down lips. They looked a lot like Bjorn felt right then.

“I thought you had a boss,” Gerome said.

“One who didn’t even bother to show up and make sure we all made it back in one piece. She’s—I actually don’t even know how to end that sentence.” Kassian huffed. “It doesn’t matter. We need you.”

“Fine. But doesn’t someone have to approve that, or something?”

“I’ll take care of it,” Sal said. They glanced around. “For all of you, yeah?”

Rufus nodded, clearly relieved, like having a purpose was necessary, and now that he’d accomplished his original goal—sort of—he’d been worried about what came next.

When he nodded, Randolph followed suit.

“You don’t have to,” Rufus said quietly, mouth close to Randolph’s ear.

“You need me to keep you from doing anything else so dumb people think you’re the bad guy.”

“Shut up.”

Randolph grinned, and the transformation took Bjorn’s breath away. Kassian was handsome, for sure. But Randolph, and presumably Rufus, if he ever smiled, was stunning.

“Hey,” Kassian snapped, smacking his arm.

“What?” Bjorn looked at him, and the absolute mix of annoyance and fear on his face made Bjorn’s heart skip. “Oh.” He returned the kiss Kassian had planted on the side of his head.

A spark—the first one since he’d released all that energy into the server bank—snapped and sizzled between them.

“Ow!” Kassian jerked, then shivered and grunted softly. “What was that for?”

“He’s pretty, but he’s not you.” He kissed his cheek this time, lingering, letting a low, slow release of static zing between them. “Take us home,” he whispered.

He was really going to love hearing these inarticulate grunts from Kassian, even more, seeing how many ways he could drag them out of him.

“Thought Leif was the bossy one.”

“He’s busy in his head, so I’ll have to cover for him.”

“You don’t sound all that concerned.”

“Trust me, if he’s still like this tomorrow, you will see the full force of my freak out. Right now—” He pulled in a breath. “—I’m it.” He leaned more heavily on Kassian. “But I can’t?—”

“You don’t have to. Come on.”

Between Kassian and the handrail, Bjorn didn’t have to put much weight on his feet at all, and still, settling into the van was a relief.

Leif roused enough to strap himself into the seatbelt, but flaked out again even as Kassian started the van’s engine. He was about to drive away when Rufus appeared, opening his door.

“What?” Kassian glared at him.

“Just move over. I’ll drive. We need the van back.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” They rearranged themselves, and Bjorn tuned them out as the van pulled away from the curb.

The next thing he knew, Kassian was shaking him awake in front of the apartment building he and Leif had left what felt like a lifetime ago, but in fact, had been less than twenty-four hours before.

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