“Akshi takes weakness and exploits it for his personal gain. By getting married, you might as well announce from the rooftops how Akshi can destroy you!” Nick stuffed the last of the salad in his mouth as Grizzizzik’s temper rose. “He’ll kidnap her! Torture her in front of you! It’s how he’ll break you! It’s what he does! If you somehow survive this wererat curse, you’ll still have Akshi to deal with! This was stupid! You’ve put us all in danger!”

Grizzizzik pushed past Ezekiel, heading for Nick’s room. The door slammed shut, and silence descended on everyone. It was then that Nick realized his parents had stopped talking about their day. Evelyn was still texting, the giggles gone, though she still had a suppressed smile on her face.

Nick drained the last of his water. Ezekiel glanced at Clarissa, preparing to talk to Grizzizzik, but Nick jumped to his feet, clearing his throat rather loudly before giving a small shake of his head. He gathered his dishes as he moved toward the sink. “Great dinner, Mom. I loved it.”

It was instinctual to make sure the dishes didn’t clink too loudly in the sink before he moved to his room. Grizzizzik wouldn’t respond to Ezekiel. He’d glare the whole time, then listen patiently as the cleric started talking about a book that had a vague similarity to his problem. If Ezekiel went in there, Grizzizzik would blow up again, and it would solve none of their problems.

Nick slipped into his room. His rogue had his hood up, his shoulders tense. He was leaning over the desk, his breathing ragged. “Go away, Ezekiel.”

“Not Ezekiel. It’s me,” Nick said, closing the door.

The rogue rubbed his forehead. “Shit, that’s even worse.”

Nick couldn’t help it and smiled. “I’ve been putting the pieces together. Let me describe what I think happened, and all you have to do is tell me if I’m right or wrong.” Grizzizzik grunted. “Or you can even grunt. That works, too.” The rogue still didn’t look at him, his breathing still ragged and getting louder. Nick leaned against the wall and folded his arms. “Something happened that got under your skin. Most likely Phantom. With the kidnapping and everything, something made you realize you’re becoming friends with these people. You’re terrified of making friends. Your father…” Nick hesitated, then glanced down. Not that Grizzizzik would have noticed. He was glaring at the wall. “Akshi makes you believe that if you show any amount of connection with another person, it’s a weakness. A weakness he can exploit. It’s easier to be alone, rather than have friends. Because of how much it hurts to think they’ll be taken from you.”

“Shut up.” Grizzizzik’s fingers curled into fists as his voice quivered. “Damn you, just shut up.”

Nick’s heart started pounding. He was right. He was familiar with that wavering tone. It made Grizzizzik realize this was, indeed, his future and he hated it. Friends. He had spent years placing a wall between him and anyone else to protect himself. To protect them from his father.

“What happened with Phantom?” Nick asked quietly, not expecting an answer.

Grizzizzik dug his palm into the corner of his eye, letting out a shuddering breath. “He threatened to kill Milo. Kill that stupid mana fusor if I tried to stab him back. And I was terrified. I was actually terrified of losing Milo. He’s—” Grizzizzik stopped short.

“A good friend?”

“I cannot stand that idiot sometimes. Too obsessed with mana. Gets way too excited with a new discovery. But damn, it would hurt. Not just because of his resourcefulness, but…”

“You’d miss him,” Nick offered. “If you never saw him again, it would leave a hole in your soul that’d be impossible to fill?”

Grizzizzik still faced the wall. “You’re talking like I love him. I don’t. I don’t fall in love with people, and I’m not the marrying type. That’s for idiots like Ezekiel. And Clarissa.”

“I never said you’d marry him.” Nick felt like he was talking to an elementary school kid. “I’m saying that… love between friends still exists.”

“And it’s a weakness,” Grizzizzik said.

“It’s something Akshi wants you to think is a weakness. Your father is forcing you into his worldview. He doesn’t want you to make friends. He wants to… isolate you.” Nick winced, glad Grizzizzik couldn’t see him.

Grizzizzik turned his head ever so slightly. Nick expected a chastisement. Few people were allowed to casually mention Akshi was his dad without getting a large, loud lecture. However, this was different. Nick saw what no one else had witnessed. There were tears of grief in Grizzizzik’s eyes. “Like what your father does to you?”

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A tennis ball lodged itself in Nick’s throat. There was a moment of quiet as Nick rubbed his upper arm. “Yeah.” Nick cleared his throat. “The only difference is I know what my dad’s doing and I hate it. Your dad is making you believe you need to be isolated. That way, you do it by yourself.”

“I do this because Akshi will torture them. All of them. And your friends.” The first of the tears fell down his cheeks. “It’s better to stay isolated.”

Nick watched his character, noticed the stiff posture, the tears. “It’s too late, Grizzizzik. This is what you’re working through right now. This is what your stubbornness is keeping you from accepting. You’re already friends with all of them.”

Grizzizzik faced the wall again. “Shit.” He rubbed his palm over his forehead, continuing to swear under his breath.

“Sorry.” Nick felt like an idiot for saying that. “But… now you know. It’s better, actually. There’re good things that come with it.”

“Like what?” Grizzizzik’s tears somehow reflected in his voice. “How could the threat of Akshi murdering them in front of me possibly have anything good attached to it?”

Nick tried to think of something specific to Grizzizzik. His grumpy, moody rogue always needed a guaranteed reward or gold coin before agreeing to anything. Nick slowly lifted his shoulders. “You now know four people will have your back. Always.”

Grizzizzik bowed his head. “You tell anyone about this, I will pull your innards out from your ears and make you hunt for them.”

Nick smiled. “Not a word to anyone. I promise.”

He slipped out of the room, knowing Grizzizzik needed to process this some more by himself. He hardly made it down the hall when Evelyn was there, still smiling. She held out her phone, a giggle escaped her.

Nick took the phone. Evelyn had scrolled to the beginning of the conversation. It was in the group text with everyone but him. She started the conversation in a quintessential way.

Omg! Omg! Omgomgomgomg!

O.

M.

G.

WE’RE AT DINNER AND PRINCESS CLARISSA JUST WALKED IN WEARING SOMEONE ELSES’ SHIRT!

Nick snorted, scrolling to see the replies.

You cannot start a conversation like that and NOT PROMISE LIVE UPDATES! That was from Derek, followed by a gif of Michael Jackson eating popcorn.

Ezekiel’s shirt, maybe? Alejandra texted, before another text came from her. Rafael said it isn’t his, because he’d marry her first.

It sure as hell wouldn’t belong to Grizzizzik, Tyler texted.

Nick snorted, scrolling through the numerous skull and laughing emojis and a few GIFs from everyone.

Grizzizzik just walked in! He hasn’t even noticed yet, Evelyn texted. OMG Nick is dying! My parents are so confused!

Nick shook his head, seeing the replies. Derek was absolutely beside himself with the juicy gossip. Alejandra asked more questions, most of them from Rafael. Tyler laughing at the whole thing.

GRIZZIZZIK JUST NOTICED!

He’s so confused!

Mark it in the books!

Princess Clarissa has made Grizzizzik speechless!

WHERE! IS! EZEKIEL! Derek texted.

Prime suspect for sure, Tyler texted.

HERE!

EZEKIEL IS HERE!

HE WALKED IN SHIRTLESS!

Derek posted every mind blown GIF in his library. Alejandra, texting for Rafael, was trying to get more information, but Derek was too busy electronically screaming. Nick smiled. It was so… them. Like they were before.

All our characters went behind our backs!

Calawit married them last night!

Milo and Hraktar witnesses!

Grizzizzik is finding out right now!

Nick scrolled through the replies and reactions, smiling. It was so lighthearted. Wholesome. He almost forgot the crazy history they all had.

Sorry. This was from Alejandra again. Really sorry, Evelyn.

Rafael’s kind of mad at me right now for mentioning his name while texting for him.

I guess I was supposed to text his replies and pretend they were me.

Sorry.

Sandwiched between sorry’s. Another quintessential Alejandra text.

I consider this a safe conversation, and you can hop on for a bit if you want to, Rafael.

His sister’s answer impressed him.

He doesn’t want to. I’ll go back to just mentioning they’re from him.

Evelyn gave a thumbs up before her next text. OMG I almost forgot how much of a competition Nick and Rafael had in making their characters more jacked. Ezekiel has ABS!

Derek had finished all his mind blown GIFs before texting. I remember that!

Because I beat them both by having a half-orc! Alejandra texted.

Evelyn sent a laughing emoji. YES!

How did you describe Hraktar’s abs again? It was from Tyler. Like eight plump hernias sticking out of his sculpted abdomen?

Alejandra sent a laughing GIF. I still stand by that!

Derek sent another text. I shall never look at Hraktar’s abs the same way again.

Have you ever considered a career in writing paranormal romances? Tyler asked.

Derek replied by sending a gif of someone spitting out their drink. Evelyn used an emoji to point to it. Literally Nick when Princess Clarissa first walked in.

He didn’t realize how big he was smiling until he got to the end.

“Figured you’d want to see,” Evelyn said.

“I did. Thanks.”

She motioned toward his bedroom door, dropping her voice. “Is he okay?”

Nick nodded. “He’ll be fine. Just needs some time to process things on his own.”

“I figured as much.” She returned to her phone. “Wanna watch something?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Let’s be down here, since Princess Clarissa and Ezekiel went back upstairs soon after you left,” Evelyn said.

“Good call.” Nick wasn’t even sure what they’d watch. He somehow knew this was code for Evelyn wanting him near so she could update him on the group text, since no one could text him.

His heart was warm as they settled on the couch. They chose a movie neither one of them would actually watch. He had Evelyn reply to some texts as him, so he felt included. Despite everything that happened, his friends were slowly patching this up. It might never be back to where it was, but for now, Nick felt like they had each other’s backs again.