“That was fun!” Dantae had a wide grin on her face as we walked across the massive Brooklyn Bridge. She had grabbed and was hugging my arm on my left, while Angelina did the same to my right and Alison followed closely behind me.

Per usual, I garnered a lot of stares, although I had a feeling that this time it wasn’t due to my standout fashion sense, but the beauties that had circled me.

“Can you three try to be a little less clingy in public?” I complained, but Dantae just scoffed at me.

“No. No we can’t. I have to show other people,” she said, staring at Angelina, “that you belong to me.”

“What are you talking about, he belongs to us. US!” The two had started making a commotion and pulling me back and forth. Alison grabbed the back of my shirt as well.

Even more people had taken notice of us, and even those who had ignored us before were starting to look. I could even hear their whispers starting to circulate through the crowd.

“Is he three timing them!?”

“No, it looks to be consensual…”

“I’m so jealous of him!”

“I’m so jealous of the girls!”

*Click*

That last one sent a shiver up my spine and I looked around, causing the crowd to slightly disperse, but most of them still remained.

Finally I had enough. I strongly flicked Angelina and Dantae in their foreheads, causing them to bend over clutching their faces in pain.

Alison took that as a message and put some distance between us, but not much. “What was that for you ass!?” Dantae shouted with a slight grin on her face.

“Come on, we’re supposed to be incognito, in disguise, undercover… right? We can’t really do that the way you’ve all been acting.

“Fine.” Angelina pouted and crossed her arms. I gave her a light kiss on the cheek to show my appreciation, then pointed off the bridge.

“Look. The fog’s starting to roll in, let’s get to Rob’s safe house, ok?” As we left the bridge, I made sure to take note of a person wearing a black trenchcoat who had been staring at us the entire time, clutching their concealed firearm all the while.

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———

“It took you assholes long enough!” Rob frowned then ushered us into the house, angrily holding the door open all the while.

“I can’t believe you, you were supposed to be here three hours ago! What happened!?” He huffed and stormed into the living room, leaving us to take off our coats and shoes at the door.

The house itself was a small square-shaped building, and the interior reminded me of a one bedroom apartment in size.

“Calm down Rob. We decided to enjoy the city a bit. Leo took us to Rockefeller Center and then to Central Park.” Angelina sat on the couch and threw an arm around the grumpy Rob to console him.

I sat down in a chair and glanced at the man in question. “So, where’s Maria?”

“I’ll be a minute!” Maria’s voice rang out from the kitchen. I gave a questioning look to Rob and got up to see what was going on.

“Rob, I’ve already told Dante what we’re here for, so can you fill Anghelina and Alison in on what you told me. I’ll go check on what Maria’s up to.”

I walked out of the small living room and into the even more cramped space of the kitchen only to find Maria staring at a cookbook as if it were an equation for her to solve.

“Oh, great you’re here. Oh master chef, please save me!” She gave me a pleading look and held out a ladle in my direction.

Sighing, I took the instrument and checked the soup Maria was making. I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye but she was staring at my hands intently.

As I put salt and pepper in the concoction, I spoke to Maria. “How are you feeling? I haven’t really interacted with you that much since Thanksgiving.”

“Haha yeah. I’m feeling better, it was really embarrassing that I cried like that but I think it helped.”

“Alison told me about your past, and then I used your file to fill in the rest. You had a tough life, it’s fine to take it slow once in a while.” I placed some cilantro in the pot, and began to stir.

“Is that why you were late coming to the house?” I stuttered in my motion, causing her to giggle.

“You seem a bit…”

“Different?” Maria asked. “Yeah, I feel like I don’t have to play the fool with you all anymore. Thanks for that.”

“Dinner’s ready!” I called from the kitchen and all the members of my team came into the room.

“Hm… as I thought, it’s weird.” I looked around the table and muttered to myself.

“What is?” Alison asked in between spoonfuls of soup.

“Us. I want to unite us under one name, but I don’t know what to choose.”

“Leo’s harem.” Maria muttered, earning her a pinch from Alison.

“Ow! What, you can’t tell me it’s not true!” Maria protested.

“How about Void Platoon?” Rob mused.

“Too direct. How about Voidwatch?” Dantae offered up.

“Ooh! I like it!" Angelina agreed, and a small nod from Alison also gave it acceptance.

“Alright then! Voidwatch it is.” I smiled and poured another bowl of soup.

“Now we just need codenames.” Maria mentioned.

As I looked around at our makeshift family, and the smiles ranging from awkwardly forced to beautifully heartfelt, I thought that seemed like a task best left for tomorrow.