Chapter 210: 210 | Platonic Friendship
I considered the question. Considered Sloane’s visit this morning, her warnings about Felicity, her instruction that I text her when I got back to my building, her kiss that had been just long enough to establish boundaries for anyone watching.
"She has strong opinions about things that matter to her."
"And you matter to her."
"Apparently."
Felicity nodded slowly, processing this information against whatever framework she used to understand relationships. "So here’s my actual question. Is she the type who thinks guys and girls can’t be friends? Because if she’s going to explode every time you talk to someone with two X chromosomes, that’s going to make the next two years really awkward for everyone in our cohort."
It was a fair question. It was also a question with layers underneath it that Felicity was probably tracking more carefully than her casual delivery suggested.
"Sloane is protective," I said. "She’s not unreasonable. She understands that I’m going to have classmates and that some of those classmates are going to be women."
"Does she understand that some of those women might actually be your friends?"
"She’s working on it."
Felicity laughed, the sound bright and genuine in a way that made several nearby students glance in our direction. "That’s very diplomatic, Lukas. Very carefully worded."
"I’m a careful person."
"No you’re not." She grinned. "You’re the opposite of careful. You did something at that entrance exam that you shouldn’t have been able to do, and you’re still doing it, and you’re counting on everyone being too polite to call you out directly."
I kept my expression neutral. "That’s quite a theory."
"I’m quite a theorist." She stepped closer, close enough that I could smell her perfume again, vanilla and flowers, the scent that had driven Sloane to demand I shower immediately. "But here’s the thing. I don’t actually care what you’re hiding. You saved my life during that exam. You pulled me out of rubble when you could have kept running and nobody would have blamed you. That means something to me."
"Felicity..."
"No, listen." Her blue eyes were serious now, the playful energy dropping away to reveal something underneath that was considerably more focused. "We’re going to be heroes. All of us, if we survive Steele’s training program and the field practicums and everything else this Academy is going to throw at us. We’re going to be working together in crisis situations where trust matters more than anything else."
She gestured at the field around us, at the scattered students hydrating and stretching and processing the implications of their public capability assessments.
"These people are going to be our colleagues. Our partners. Our backup when things go wrong in the field. We can’t afford to treat each other like competition. We can’t afford to let jealousy or territorial bullshit interfere with the relationships that might save our lives."
"That’s a surprisingly mature perspective."
"I contain multitudes." The grin returned, though it carried an edge now that hadn’t been there before. "I’m just saying. Your girlfriend seems lovely. Terrifying, but lovely. I’m not trying to steal you or compete with her or whatever she’s worried about. I’m trying to make friends with someone who saved my life, because that seems like the obvious thing to do."
I believed her. That was the strange part. Under all the flirtatious energy and the fashion-forward aesthetic and the social butterfly presentation, Felicity Hardy was fundamentally sincere about wanting connection.
"I’ll talk to Sloane," I said. "Help her understand that friendships are different from threats."
"Good." Felicity beamed. "Because I fully intend to befriend the hell out of you, Lukas Belmont, and I’d prefer to do it without getting incinerated."
"Yo!" Caden materialized beside us with the sudden appearance of someone whose Aspect probably made sudden appearances very easy. His blonde hair was messed up in a way that looked deliberate, and his hazel eyes crinkled with amusement as he took in the scene. "Are we doing a thing? Is there a thing happening over here that I should be part of?"
"We’re discussing the possibility of platonic friendship between people of different genders," Felicity said.
"Oh, sick. I’m a huge fan of that concept." Caden positioned himself so he could see both of us while also giving Felicity a full view of his profile, which I was pretty sure was intentional. "Platonic friendship is the foundation of all my relationships. Well. Most of my relationships. Some of my relationships."
"Fewer and fewer as you keep talking," Felicity said, but she was smiling.
"See, that’s exactly the kind of playful banter that builds lasting platonic bonds." Caden’s grin was shameless and self-aware in equal measure. "I’m Caden, by the way. Caden Holt. Light manipulation, general nuisance, professionally underestimated."
"Felicity Hardy. Illusion generation, fashion enthusiast, decidedly not underestimated after that demonstration."
"Yeah, that lobby thing was wild. I genuinely thought we’d been teleported for a second." Caden leaned against the water station in a pose that managed to be casual and attention-seeking simultaneously. "So how do you two know each other? Pre-academy connections? Childhood friends? Forbidden romance across social strata?"
"He pulled me out of a collapsing building during the entrance exam," Felicity said.
"Oh damn. That’s way better than my entrance exam story, which was basically ’I turned invisible and let everyone else deal with the robot.’"
"Strategic," I said.
"Cowardly," Caden corrected cheerfully. "But strategically cowardly. There’s a difference."
Felicity laughed again, and I watched Caden’s attention sharpen at the sound. He wasn’t being subtle about it. He wasn’t trying to be subtle about it. There was something almost refreshing about how openly he was flirting, no pretense or calculation, just a guy who thought a girl was attractive and wanted her to know it.
"So." Caden turned to include me in the conversation while keeping most of his attention on Felicity. "Physical evaluations next. Steele’s gonna make us run a mile, I bet. Standard hero assessment bullshit."
"A hero who can’t run a mile is useless," I agreed.
