RECOGNIZE YOU

Raj tried to move directly past Zephyr, feeling that the time was about to hit zero.

"Hey," Zephyr reached out and put a firm hand on Raj's shoulder, his frown turning more dangerous. "I said to stop. That's my woman in there, who do you think you are?"

Raj froze, blinking once, then a second time.

The anxiousness in his gaze dimmed, and in the end all that was left was irritation.

He didn't like the feeling at all. His heart sunk to the pits of his stomach and his mind felt like it was whirring. He didn't even know what the emotion was, it was mixed in with too many things.

It was rage, but not quite rage. Sadness, but not quite sadness. Even embarrassment, though not quite that either. He had come here with his brothers, just to find out the girl he thought about more than he wanted to admit was with another man?

Was that why she had reacted like that? It wasn't his face at all, but rather that she was embarrassed to be caught in a situation like this?

No, what would she have to be embarrassed about? The two of them were so stubborn that they never really put any official labels on their relationship, and how long had it been since they saw each other?

But he had thought that things would stay the same... hadn't it stayed the same last time?

He had literally died in a war and disappeared for decades from Yuri's perspective, but after they met again she acted like nothing had happened at all and that they were still together.

He had thought that that meant that she was his ride or die. He never said it, but how could he not be a bit jealous about what Leonel and Aina had going on? A lot of times he would prefer to hang out with his wife than them, and Raj couldn't really blame him.

And now, Raj stood in confusion, a stranger's hand on his shoulder, and a great deal of hostility surrounding him.

Why could she wait decades before, but now barely more than a year was too much? Was it because before she was surrounded by humans she always looked down on, and now she was surrounded by people she thought were on her level so she could really cut loose?

She had always been arrogant like that.

"You arrogant son of a-" James started to roll up his sleeves like he was about to burn the tree house down, but Leonel suddenly pointed at his chest.

James looked down to see what was wrong, only to get a flick at his nose.

On the one hand, James felt embarrassed he had fallen for a preschooler's gag, and on the other, he couldn't help but look at Leonel as though he was a bastard.

"After this I'm going to beat your ass," James hissed.

"You're free to try it, short stack."

"As if-"

James' whisper stopped in his throat. He had been so used to being taller than Leonel, for so long he had been at least three inches taller than the latter. But Leonel was no longer than 6'3" academy senior, he stood at almost 6'10", towering over him who was still 6'6".

"... Fuck you," James muttered.

Leonel held back his laugh, waving a hand at everyone and grabbing Aina's wrist. Surprisingly, Aina had reacted before even James had, but this time, he chose to take a step back and let Raj handle it.

Everyone had been stuck in the Segmented Cube for too long. They felt stifled, and they felt too reliant on him.

It wasn't that Leonel didn't want them to rely on him. If it was up to him, he would take all the weight on himself and carry his brothers and family to the finish line.

But he knew that they didn't like it. They were all men at the end of the day, although they had all grown up together, the reason they were all such close friends was because they shared a fondness for one another's backbone.

If his brothers didn't have such fiery spirits, they wouldn't be his brothers to begin with.

Sure, he could kick Zephyr's ass for Raj... but would Raj even want that? Even if he didn't say anything like he normally wouldn't, that didn't mean it wouldn't eat him up inside.

Raj was his left tackle, the man who had protected his blindside for his whole football career. He took pride in that.

But these days, he wasn't able to protect anything.

That said, when he was pushed too far...

BANG!

Raj suddenly moved, striking a palm at Zephyr's chest and pulling on the hand the latter had placed on his shoulder.

Zephyr felt the world turn upside down around him and his vision blurred.

Milan whistled, but it sounded like he was reffing a game rather than cheering Raj on. And his next words only confirmed that.

"Flag on the play! Textbook holding call! You can't pull on his arm like that, tubby!" © content.

The group fell into a laughter that was doused in their own inside joke. There was no way the people who weren't of Earth would recognize it, but that wasn't a martial arts move nor was it a technique of this world. That was a move only an offensive lineman would make. It seemed to teleport them all back to the field.

Zephyr was a hint disoriented. He thought he had perfect control over Raj and didn't expect to land on his ass like this.

"Get the fuck up. I'm going to beat you until your mother doesn't recognize you, then I'm going fuck her up too."

Zephyr was still disoriented, but when he heard this, his eyes flashed with rage.

The surroundings Spirituals and Half-Spirituals were about to take action when they felt several dangerous auras lock onto them. In that moment, they felt as though they had been drenched by their own sweat.