The next morning

Bam! Bam! Bam!

I jumped forward from the bed, landing on my face, and the door to Luke’s room opened, revealing a laughing blond woman. From what I read in Luke’s bio, her name was Isabelle Lindsey.

“Wow! You’re getting easier to scare very day, babe!”

As I was still processing what she just called me, Isabelle walked up to me, kissing me on the lips.

Oh shit oh fuck oh shit fuck! Why didn’t his bio tell me he had a girlfriend?!

“What? At a loss for words,” Isabelle asked teasingly.

“I… yeah. You’re just… so beautiful…”

“Damn right.”

Please tell me they don’t… you know. It’s one thing to pretend to love someone… it’s another to have sex with a gender you’re completely not into.

“Hey… Luky? You alright? I know you don’t normally like to talk about your feelings… but you’re also never this silent.”

Right. Gotta mimic his personality.

I silently gulped, then replied “Of course! I’m always alright when you’re around!”

Isabelle giggled.

“You goofball. C’mon. We need to go train. We apparently have a new member.”

“Oh…? Who do you think I-Is joining our team,” I asked, as we both walked out of Luke’s room.

Fuck. Please don’t notice the stutter.

“Heard they’re called… Steve Barking? I dunno, they have a weird-ass last name.”

His last name is Berkan, you insensitive asshole.

Woah! The mouth on you. We might need to put you in timeout! Raen mocked.

I… I’ve never even felt that much anger… and all over a simple mistake.

Damn. You caught the love bug bad.

“So,” Isabelle trailed off, lowering her voice as we stepped into the elevator.

“You haven’t told any of the others yet, right? Not even Rose?”

I nodded instinctually.

“Good… look. You know I love you. It’s just… you know.”

Right. The whole forbidden attachment thing. Never understood why the government did that. You can be a soldier and have someone you love.

Maybe whoever made that rule just is a big fan of Star Wars, Pemo suggested, sounding quite serious, though with those two, I couldn’t tell sometimes.

“I don’t want to make Rose jealous.”

Oh… never mind.

“Why is that, babe?”

“You already know.”

Shit.

Isabelle sighed, and continued, saying “Then again, that was quite a while ago… basically, I don’t want to make her jealous. You know how she struggles with men…”

Oh no… please don’t say she’ll…

“Heh. Chances are, she’ll immediately start crushing on this new recruit.”

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She better not fucking hurt Steve…

Finally, we arrived at a metal sliding door, with a sign above it with glowing white neon lights that spelled out Training/Simulation Room B.

“This is it…” I mumbled.

“Yep. Time to see this recruit turn out to hold us back even more.”

Isabelle started walking into the room, but I grabbed her arm, looked her in the eyes, and asked “Hey, what do you got against new recruits?”

Isabelle pulled her arm away, glared at me, and said “I told you never to ask me that.”

As she walked into the training room, I just stood there, completely confused.

Welp. She has problems.

Shut up Raen. We all do.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped through the doorway… yet, Steve wasn’t inside. There were other people, two of them slightly familiar, but not Steve. It felt like my entire heart was dropping.

“Ah, Luke, get over here, you rascal!” a woman greeted from afar.

I turned around, and saw a black woman standing next to Isabelle. I measly raised my hand, and the woman beckoned over for me.

When I walked over to the group, with a smile, the woman pulled me into a tight, yet comfy hug.

“Wow. You have a crush on him or something, Rose,” Isabelle teased.

Once Rose walked back from the hug, she looked at Isabelle, and glared angrily at her, before smiling.

“I can hug friends without crushing on them, idiot,” Rose replied, in a weirdly friendly tone.

“Yeah, sure.”

I glanced behind me, and saw the door sliding open. That very small time, waiting for it to open… was the longest moment of my entire life.

Eventually, the door was open, and behind the doorway was the one person I was waiting years to see again. Steve. My legs wobbled, my heart pumped hard, and all my other senses were drowned out except for my hearing.

“Hey. I’m Rose Myers. I hear you’re the new person joining us?”

He’s here… I can actually see him again.

“Sure. But just because I recently graduated, don’t assume I’m inexperienced.”

I can’t do this.

“Oh, really?”

“Don’t mind Isabelle. She’s a little rough around new recruits.”

I don’t deserve to see him.

“And there’s a reason for that.”

No. I need to do this. I have to have this moment… I won’t be able to live if I miss this chance.

“My friends call me Izzy, but you can just call me Isabelle Lindsey, as you’re not my friend.”

I waited for Isabelle to step back from their handshake, and ran up and pulled Steve into the biggest hug I could possibly give.

Barely remembering to keep the illusion alive, I exclaimed “Hi! I’m Luke Tinnel!”

“Hi…”

“But him,” Rose said, “He’s kind of the opposite. He’s like a dog with how much he loves new people.”

The hug didn’t last very long, but to me, it felt like an eternity of dreams coming true. But, once it was done, Steve gasped for breath, and I mumbled a quiet apology.

“How you doing son,” Dylan asked.

“Oh, aside from nearly losing my ability to breath… I’m fine,” Steve joked.

Rose giggled, and Steve gave her a cocky smile.

Don’t you fucking dare hurt my man.

…

You okay, Rowan, Pemo asked, concerned.

Yeah… I guess.

“So… how long do you think it’s gonna be before I manage to leave this unit?”

“Look, Steve,” Dylan said, resting his arm on Steve’s shoulder, “Like it or not, you need to learn how to work with others.”

“I know how… when the situation requires it.”

Suddenly, a voice rung out through the white void on what sounded like an intercom.

“Alright, looks like everybody’s here. Welcome to your first training simulation together! This will test your skills as a team, and see how you are able to work together.”

“This time, we’ve decided to take you all to one of the most blood battles in history. D-Day. The day marking the beginning of the Allies’ attempt to storm Normandy.”

“Your goal will be to infiltrate the bunkers, clear them, and then hold them for the rest of the time. You will have one hour to keep every bunker secure, assuming you instantly capture each bunker. Good luck! You will have five minutes to prepare!”

Then, a frameless monitor appeared up above, showing a picture of a beach with six bunkers. Two to the right and left, which were closest to the water, one giant combination of two bunkers in the middle, somewhat behind the first two, and two bunkers beside the middle one.

“Alright, I say we have one person each attacking a single bunker, and then Dylan, Steve and I will go around the bunkers placing defenses before going back into battle ourselves,” Rose suggested.

“Hmm. Good plan,” Steve complimented, making Rose blush, which sparked an untamable fire in my heart.

“But, unfortunately, that won’t work. Dylan and Issac have to be near each other, because if something happens to Issac, aside from me, Dylan will be the only one able to repair his body.”

“Wait!” Isabelle said angrily, stomping up Steve, “Why can’t Rose repair Issac?!”

I swear… if you try to hurt Steve.

“You’ve been on the same unit with Dylan and Issac for a year. Haven’t either of them explained why?”

“No. I never asked them.”

“Well, basically,” Steve started to explain, walking past Isabelle.

“His suit is very… specific, and unless you’ve memorized the exact blueprints… you won’t be able to repair him.”

“Oh… alright.”

“If you don’t understand, tell me now before I lose the will to repeat it.”

“You over arrogant…”

“What? I don’t have room for incompetence. So if you can’t understand what I say, then we shouldn’t be working together.”

Suddenly, green, grey, and dark blue colors filled the white void, until we were on long metal boats with World War 2 soldiers crowding us, as the boats approached a beach with bunkers embedded into dark green hills.

Out of the dozens of boats approaching the shore, there were only two of us in 1 boat each. Steve and Rose in one, the two familiar men in another, and Isabelle and I in a third boat.

I don’t deserve him…

Why do you say that?

We’re not even dating yet, and I’m getting jealous over anytime a girl talks to him.

Well… that’s just what being in love does to people, Raen reasoned.

Drama!