Nick walked inside, closing the door behind him. It was a boisterous party. Rafael didn’t make it far before Walt stopped him, and the two of them were catching up near the entryway. Despite needing Rafael to distract Walt, the less Nick heard their conversation, the better. He walked over to the table and noticed Milo looking at the minifigure of himself with his magnifying glass.

“Fascinating!” he said, holding it close before noticing the rogue. “Oh, Grizzizzik, here’s a pile of potions for you. I’ve separated them all out into multiples, so we each have an escape if needed.”

Grizzizzik made no move toward them, so Nick took it on himself to grab the bottles and force them into his rogue’s hands, watching as he placed them into his inventory.

Hraktar was studying his minifigure too, but he kept it on the table, no doubt afraid to break it.

Clarissa straightened her tiara. “Alright, we’re all here. To keep up the masquerade, we’ve got to leave now. Grizzly Bear? Milo? Are you ready?”

Grizzizzik was away from the other characters, as usual. He simply nodded. “Let’s go.”

The characters filed out of the house, some of the chaos leaving with them. Nick was by the table watching the characters go. Walt didn’t see them at all, still conversing with Rafael, catching up on his life. Smiling.

Nick’s fingers found Grizzizzik’s mini figurine, his stomach churning as he distracted himself with the minifigure. After three years of absence, Rafael returned as Walt’s favorite teenager, as always. It wasn’t as painful as before. Rafael admitting to being a jackass helped. His anger was no longer on Rafael but Walt.

Once the door closed, velvet bags appeared on the table. Nick frowned, then recognized them as the dice bag Grizzizzik unwillingly handed to him back in August. He grabbed the one at his spot and opened the drawstrings, seeing the seven dice inside. Underneath was a character sheet, full of stats written in perfect handwriting. Nick frowned, flipping it over and seeing all the notes.

“Whoa,” Derek said. Nick glanced up, seeing his friend checking out Milo’s sheet. Derek opened the bag and let the dice tumble out, his eyes brightening. “Finally! I can pre-roll!”

Nick raised an eyebrow as he watched Derek started rolling the galaxy portal dice. The way he casually treated these as regular dice surprised Nick more than anything. He was terrified of taking them out of the bag. These dice held insane power, and Derek put it through his dice tower to check its energy charge, or whatever he did when he pre-rolled.

Tyler gave Derek a bemused smile as he finished something behind his game master screen. Tyler had covered most of his build miniatures behind a sheet. Nick was in his seat because he wasn’t sure what else to do. Evelyn was on the couch, reading a book. It looked like a CCNC tie in. He didn’t know why it was so odd watching his sister reading a book. Maybe everyone was feeling anxious and doing things out of the ordinary.

Alejandra was in the kitchen, folding her arms, not watching anyone. Nick wanted to wave at her, but she looked as though she didn’t want to be here. Honestly, he’d be surprised if anyone wanted to be here. Derek was the only one who looked comfortable with all of this, but he also took drama since middle school.

Nick got up and situated himself next to Derek, who was also next to Tyler. He checked over his shoulder to make sure Walt was still chatting with Rafael, which he was. Happily. Nick turned back, dropping his voice. “For my sanity, during role play, no one refer to Akshi as Grizzizzik’s dad.”

Tyler glanced at Walt before focusing again on building the miniature. “Yeah, I can see that getting awkward.”

“What kind of relation should we refer to him as? Just so we’re all clear,” Derek said.

Nick shrugged. “I don’t know. Nemesis? Can we replace father with nemesis?”

“Fine with me.” Tyler finished building his miniature. “Do you need us to help spread the word?”

“To Rafael and Alejandra, yes. I’ll tell Evelyn,” Nick said.

They said nothing, though they both glanced at Alejandra. Nick refused to, not sure he wanted to see her frosty gaze aimed toward him again. Nick stood up, heading toward his sister.

Rafael proved to be a great distraction. He had the look of someone who’d rather bathe in a river full of alligators, but he went through with it.

Nick sat next to Evelyn, who had her nose stuck in a book. He dropped his voice. “Hey, so, Akshi is Grizzizzik’s nemesis, not his father. Make sure you don’t mention any sort of relation while we’re role playing,” Nick said, watching as Derek got up to talk to Alejandra.

“Mmm.”

He looked back at his sister, saw how rapidly her eyes scanned the page of the book. “Um… good book?”

“In the kindest way I can possibly word this, if you distract me from figuring out if Onik Underhelm retrieves the emerald, I will cut off your tongue and see if Pippa can switch it with a pig’s.”

Nick snorted. Evelyn did not. For that reason alone, he eased himself off the couch and returned to the table. He figured she got the message. If she didn’t, he’d make sure someone else told her.

“I’ll tell Rafael when he’s done. How’s Evelyn?” Tyler asked.

“I… think she got it. She’s pretty engrossed in her reading.” Nick gestured at the book.

Tyler glanced in Evelyn’s direction, then his face dropped. “Did she tell you where she was?”

Nick frowned. “Something about an Orrin Underhelm getting an emerald?”

“Ooooh no.” Tyler checked his watch.

“You’ve… read it?” Nick asked.

Tyler glanced at Nick, his eyes widening. “You haven’t?”

Nick shrugged, because he didn’t know how else to react. Tyler got up, walking to Derek. Nick, curious, followed.

“We have an emerald situation right now,” Tyler said.

Derek frowned. “Emerald situation? You mean there’s something wrong with Milo’s bracelet?”

“No. The emerald situation. Cost of Mana. Evelyn, right over there.”

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Derek turned to see Evelyn, with the book a few inches from her nose. Derek seemed to deflate. “Totally my bad. I introduced her to that series.”

Evelyn gave a loud gasp. One that even caused Walt to glance over. Tyler and Derek visibly relaxed.

“Okay, she’s at that part,” Derek said.

Tyler checked his watch again. “Another five minutes tops. I thought she was at the beginning. This makes things much easier.”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure she ends at the break.” Derek slipped away before tiptoeing toward Evelyn and easing next to her. Evelyn didn’t notice him. Tyler returned to the table, which left Nick and Alejandra in the kitchen. Nick glanced at her, receiving the frost from her gaze. There was nothing more he could do but be gracious, and not just because Walt was near. He genuinely didn’t know how to interact with Alejandra when she was this cold.

“So… things are going… good? For you?” Nick asked. The memory of Derek bemoaning how socially messed up he was trickled into his mind at that exact moment.

Alejandra didn’t look at him. Instead, she focused on the oven like she was content to watch pizza cooking. “Good. They’re good.”

“Good. Good to hear.” The silence was five seconds long, but it was seconds of agony. Nick tried to think of something to say, but he was aware Alejandra didn’t want to talk to him, and it was difficult to talk to people he knew were angry at him. “So…” He didn’t know what to say, but the silence was torture. “How have you been?”

That was the same variation of his first question. Alejandra watched him with that same amount of coolness. The coldness that brought heat to his cheeks. She remained quiet, pouring herself a glass of water before walking past him, not answering his question. Nick remained, leaning against the table, still wondering why Alejandra treated him like this. Even Rafael showed him more warmth.

If this is how Alejandra was going to act around him, he was right to break things off so quickly. He sighed, feeling annoyed. He could stand only one person in his life holding things over his head.

Evelyn shouting in surprise caused him to turn around. Derek had placed her bookmark in the crease and was slowly closing it.

“Derek! What are you doing!” Evelyn shouted.

“You’re at the end of the chapter, and it is my duty to make sure you take a break before you get into another cliffhanger. We’ve got a sesh ahead of us, and we need our princess druid focused.”

Evelyn whimpered as he took the book away. “This is all your fault.”

“I know. But here’s my deal. I have books two through five at my house right now. You stop at this chapter, and I’ll let you borrow them tomorrow, so you don’t have to suffer through that cliffhanger at the end of book one.” Derek closed the book and set it aside.

Evelyn grumbled. “Fine.”

Nick had his back to the table, folding his arms as he looked at the oven. There was nothing interesting about the pizza cooking in there, but it seemed like the thing to study when there was nowhere else to look.

“…which should take about four years to get a bachelor’s, then another two for my masters,” Rafael said.

“Incredible. Simply incredible. That’s a noble goal,” Walt said.

“Well, I find nutrition fascinating. Being able to help people with their diets to get healthier can only be a plus.”

Nick kept staring at the pizza in the oven, his face hardening. He wasn’t even sure what it was. It had been so long since he’d had a conversation with Rafael that he didn’t know what his life goals were. Didn’t ask about college. Didn’t ask about his future. But this was a different sort of pain. A pain that Walt had never asked Nick that question, either. Maybe Walt already knew about Nick wanting to get out of here as soon as possible, but no other questions. Nick didn’t know whether he was going to college, let alone what he wanted to study.

Absently, Nick grabbed a chip and placed it in some salsa before taking a bite. He knew it was abuela’s recipe the second it touched his lips. Any more obvious, and he would have eaten a flaming piece of wood. Nick choked, turned around, and spit it in the sink.

“Nick?” Evelyn asked.

“Oh, shit. Uh, Nick, I moved my abuela’s salsa from the container to the bowl!”

If Nick’s tongue hadn’t touched lava, he would have given Derek a snarky remark.

Tyler was already there, pressing a glass of milk into his hands. “Drink it. It’ll help.”

Nick didn’t need to be told twice. He downed the milk, then his entire body shuddered. “Why?” Nick couldn’t help but ask. “Why do you even bring that?”

Derek shrugged. “Because it’s delicious. And Alejandra and I love it.”

He shuddered again. “Clearly labeled next time?”

His friend snorted. “You got it.”

Nick fought the urge to grab his tongue and scrape his fingernails across it.

“Can’t even eat a chip right.”

The tone was quiet. Nick shouldn’t have heard it at all. But he did. Walt’s critical voice somehow always carried, and for Nick’s own sanity, he pretended not to hear it. He noticed Rafael’s face, though. The way his jaw dropped slightly, working overtime to keep it neutral, then the wide-eyed gaze at Nick. He forced himself not to acknowledge it.

Derek gathered the bowl and the chips. “I’ll set this down near my spot.”

Nick nodded as Tyler filled up his glass again with some milk. “My tongue still has phantom heat from the first time I tried Abuela’s salsa. And that was when Abuela herself made it. That woman openly flirts with Scoville and the rest of us get burned.”

Nick snorted and regretted it. He took another swig of milk, swishing it around.

“So, Tyler, you going to start this soon?” Walt asked, entering the kitchen.

The muscles in Nick’s shoulders stiffened as he glanced again at the pizza cooking in the oven.

“Yes, Mr. Larsen. Figured we’d wait for the pizza. It’s only got ten minutes left,” Tyler said.

“Now, are you at college?” Walt asked.

“Yes. Getting my degree in electrical engineering at the University of Arizona.” Tyler placed the milk back in the fridge.

“Oh, really? I honestly didn’t expect that,” Walt said.

Tyler frowned, confused. “You didn’t?”

“Figured you’d go to college and get some degree that teaches you how to make games or something. You’ve always seemed like the obsessed gamer type to me.” Walt pulled out a drink from the fridge.

Tyler stared at Walt, confused. “Um, do I?”

“It’s Thursday night, Tyler. You drove a half an hour from college to play a role-playing game with a bunch of high schoolers.” Walt shook his head, taking a drink. “On that note, you better get this whole thing started. These kids have school tomorrow. And so do you.” Walt left the kitchen to return to the couch. Tyler watched him go, then his eyes flickered toward Nick.

“How do you survive here?” Tyler whispered.

Nick’s stiff shoulders drooped. “I… don’t.”

Rafael walked into the kitchen, looking ragged. “You okay?” Tyler asked.

“Just… talking with Walt.”

“What’s better? Him praising all your life choices, or him critiquing them?” Nick asked.

Both Rafael and Tyler shuddered. He didn’t know why, but a small smile crossed his face.

“What about you, Tyler? Are you okay? Being game master of this whole thing can’t be easy,” Rafael said.

Tyler shook his head, grabbing an Oreo, his eyes glazing over. “I’ve been having the same nightmare since CCNC con once or twice a week. We’re in the middle of battling an enormous group of monsters when I realize I’m completely naked.”

Nick felt himself smile, with Rafael chuckling. “Sorry. It’s probably not funny,” Rafael said.

“It’s hilarious in the morning. At night, though?” Tyler shook his head. “I wake up shaking, in a cold sweat.”

Rafael smiled as he gathered up the other snacks Derek brought and took them over to the table. Nick grabbed his glass of milk, not sure he’d be able to taste any of the other snacks even if he tried. He glanced up, noticing the table, seeing Alejandra and Derek talking. Alejandra was holding her character sheet and bag of dice. Derek was asking something, and they were being quiet about it all. Evelyn gathered up her sheet and dice bag.

“You can switch with me.” Evelyn wasn’t quiet at all.

Alejandra nodded, and Evelyn placed her things down on the spot next to Nick. He held in a sigh.

“Pizza’s almost done,” Tyler said.

“Hey, Tyler?” Nick asked.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for not abandoning us. For being willing to come on a Thursday night to help us out.”

Tyler smiled. “Hey, anytime. Earth’s in danger, and it seems selfish not to do everything I can.”

“Well, thanks.”

“Yeah. And you eat chips just fine,” Tyler said.

“Ah. You heard, too?”

“Yep.” Tyler glanced at Walt, who was giving Cost of Mana a skeptical look before picking up his own book. “Sometimes I forget how shitty your dad is. Which reminds me. I need to tell Rafael about Akshi’s new code word.”

Nick stayed in the kitchen as Derek organized all his snacks on the table. Nick waited for the pizza to cook. He could sense it, right as Tyler came back and pulled on an oven mitt and brought the pizza out. Something deep in his senses told him that Grizzizzik and the others were close. He glanced at Tyler, who had a frown on his face.

“You feel that too?” Tyler asked.

“Yep.”

“Okay.” Tyler quickly cut the pizza into slices before picking it up and heading toward the table. “Let’s start this session.” Tyler placed the pan in the middle of the table. “You all have school tomorrow, after all.”