Chapter Text
Eden’s gym for upperclassmen was state-of-the-art, polished to a sheen, equipped with the latest amenities that professional athletes would drool over. Despite the large number of students who used it every day, there was not a hint of that old sweat smell that many training facilities accumulated over time. The air was refreshingly cool, with the slightest edge of citrus and wood polish.
Dozens of sneakers squeaked against the immaculately smooth floor as the students ran warmup laps around the perimeter. Loid made sure to stay in the middle of the group so as not to stand out, ‘running’ at a quarter of the speed he’d usually consider a run.
A few hours into the first day, and he had already drawn more stares than he ever had on a mission. It was the worst feeling for a spy. On instinct, his mind constantly lasered in on his evac plans as if he were mere seconds from being found out by the SSS. He forced himself to breathe evenly and calm down. He was Twilight. He had hidden in plain sight plenty of times. And these were teenagers. They were the least likely demographic to suspect a spy to be among them.
As he mentally cataloged all his classmates, he also kept an eye on the one person in the vast gymnasium who wasn’t running. Yor Briar, known as Coach Briar to Eden students.
Yor was Yuri’s older sister. Athletically built and fairly tall for a woman, she looked to be in her early to mid twenties, clearly much younger than the other teachers at Eden. Twilight was surprised that someone that young was allowed to join the ranks of Eden’s esteemed faculty. In addition, it was rare for schools to hire female physical education teachers. Physical education and sports, often intertwined with Ostania’s national image as a prolific producer of Olympic gold medalists, was a traditionally male arena where egos and testosterone ran high.
Coach Briar was also highly attractive in an objective sense, as he’d heard multiple times in hushed, slightly out-of-breath whispers from the boys around him.
Hoffman’s crazy lucky. Heard she thigh choked him during wrestling practice. As a ‘demonstration.’
Damn, so he must have gotten his hands on that ass!
Nah, pretty sure he ran out of oxygen before he could.
Aw, man.
Imagine that being your last sight, man. What a way to go.
Okay, so maybe she was attractive in an unconventional sense, if the boys’ chatter was any indication. They all seemed to find her sexually arousing and brutishly terrifying at the same time.
Although she was undoubtedly athletic, she didn’t appear terrifying at all, standing there in her bright green tracksuit with her arms folded loosely across her chest. She also displayed several micro behaviors that suggested she was insecure and unsure of her standing and authority—fidgeting, a slightly nervous smile, subtly shifting her weight from one side to the other. Twilight began to see the sibling resemblance, except where Yuri glowered and snarled, Coach Briar was all bright encouraging smiles as she watched the first of her students finish the obligatory warmup and slow to a stop in front of her. Twilight soon joined them, again attempting to blend in by taking a less conspicuous spot in the middle of the crowd.
Yuri’s eyes were usually narrowed in suspicious slits, but Twilight had noticed early on that they were an unusual shade, too dark to be amber and too light to be brown. More like crimson. Coach Briar’s eyes seemed to be the same. The most unique eye color he’d ever seen. He wasn’t sure WISE’s disguise department even carried contacts of that shade.
“You’re staring.”
Suddenly Yuri’s face was in front of him again, red eyes glaring into his, blocking his view. The boy had to stand on his toes to reach Twilight’s eyeline.
“I’m looking at the teacher like I’m supposed to,” Twilight said evenly.
“You’re supposed to listen to the teacher, not ogle,” Yuri snapped.
“And if you’re in front of me, I can’t do either,” Twilight said. “Please move out of the way.”
“No, you pervert.”
“Yuri?” a soft voice called. “Is everything alright? You’re not paying attention.”
Yuri’s face instantly transformed from a mask of annoyance and suspicion into a gleaming, loving expression. Interesting.
“No problems at all, sis–Coach!” he chirped as he turned around. “Just reminding the new student of the Eden policies about respect and professionalism.”
“Oh, do we have a new student?” Yuri’s sister asked, clapping her slender hands in excitement. “That’s lovely! Why don’t you come to the front and introduce yourself?”
Twilight swallowed, finding that his mouth had suddenly gone dry. With some hesitation, he stepped forward in front of the class, about forty other students in total. In any other situation being a head taller than everyone else in the room with at least twice the amount of muscle mass would be a big advantage. However he now felt like a caged animal at the zoo with the number of eyes on him—the boys with a mix of skepticism and envy, the girls with shy or not-so-shy admiration, which only worsened his discomfort.
Yuri’s sister did not help in the slightest. Her welcoming smile had faded a bit as she studied Twilight’s appearance and was undoubtedly taken aback like everyone else he’d met so far today. Her expression was still polite, as she had to set a good example for the class, but there was a certain guardedness behind her pleasant mask of confusion.
Now, standing right next to her, he found himself hyper-aware of her physical presence as well. On a visceral level, his senses told him there was something different about this woman, something about her guarded aura that carried a hidden edge. He would normally zero in on this to determine if she might become a complicating factor or even a threat to his cover, but with the immediate pressure of the class’ attention, he could not parse out what exactly it was.
Up close, Coach Briar was even more beautiful than when he’d glanced at her from afar during laps. She had the sort of beauty that trapped you in, the kind that made you want to continue looking and explore her elegant features. Her only flaw was that she greatly resembled her brother—which was not exactly a damning comparison, as Yuri Briar was not ugly, just incredibly irritating. They had the same flowing black hair and, upon closer inspection, the same bright eyes, as Twilight had originally thought. He studied her carefully, memorizing her features for when he next had to disguise himself as a good-looking woman.
“What’s your name?” she gently prompted. Twilight realized he’d been lost in thought while looking at her. He turned to the rest of the class.
“My name’s Loid Forger. I moved here with my brother Frank,” he nodded at Franky. “I look forward to getting to know the rest of you.”
“O-Oh, there’s two new students!” Coach Briar exclaimed, and beckoned for Franky. “Come on up here and introduce yourself as well!”
Twilight didn’t like the glint in Franky’s eyes when Coach Briar called on him. He could only guess what was going on in the man’s crude mind, likely several crass comments that Twilight didn’t want to hear but inevitably later would. Franky took his place next to him.
“I’m Frank, but you guys can call me Franky,” he introduced himself, then added with a sly grin, “Be nice to my brother, Loid. He can look mean but he’s a big ol’ softie. He’s just shy.”
A wave of snickers ran through the rows of students. Twilight resolved to punish Franky later by making him clean the bathroom at home. Twice, because he never did a thorough job on the first try.
“It’s good to meet you both, Franky and Loid,” Coach Briar said cheerfully. “Where did you move from?”
“Just a small rural town outside of Berlint,” Twilight replied, returning her encouraging smile. He caught Yuri angrily glaring at him out of the corner of his eye.
“I see. Do either of you play any sports?” she asked. “We’re always looking to expand our sports teams!”
“No,” both of them replied in unison. Coach Briar tilted her head in confusion.
“Not even you, Loid?”
“I can’t say I have,” he answered with a casual shrug.
“But you’re…” she trailed off as if she couldn’t find the right words.
“I’m…?”
Her eyes flicked down his body, and she suddenly straightened up with a cough.
“…so tall!” she said finally. Her face was bright red.
“Oh.” Twilight raised a hand to his neck, a movement befitting that of a nervous teenager. “Yeah, my dad’s pretty tall. Guess I got it from him.”
Coach Briar absentmindedly hummed in response, as if her mind was elsewhere. She snapped out of it and clapped her hands together again.
“Well, let’s get started, everyone!” she said with a chipper smile.
For the first time on this mission, Twilight allowed himself to feel some optimism. Exemplary academics were a good way to get Stellas, but they were typically only awarded at the end of the semester after finals. On the other hand, opportunities for physical accomplishments presented themselves more often. He would have to prove himself, something he knew he was more than capable of. This would be easy.
—
Twilight had been right—he was in the top of his class in terms of physical capabilities. However, proving himself was anything but easy.
Apparently it was normal for ‘warmups’ to take up half of a phys ed class taught by Coach Briar. There were the typical warmups, like pushups, situps, and squats, except she’d ordered them to do a hundred of each, with barely a break between sets.
Then there was running bleachers. They went outside and promptly began running up and down the metal benches. They were supposed to do it twenty times, but some kids hadn’t even started, still taking a breather from the previous exercises. His own ‘brother’ was one of them. Served him right. He’d already begun needling Twilight about the gym teacher.
“‘Who cares about girls,’ you said,” Franky had huffed while Twilight held his feet during situps. “‘Watch me, I know how to talk to women,’ you said.”
Twilight hadn’t bothered responding, merely twisting his ankle enough to make him yelp.
Yuri Briar, on the other hand, threw himself with unparalleled gusto into every exercise. He clearly worshipped his older sister. Twilight had witnessed several more instant transformations of his ornery demeanor into a beatific, virtually sparkling smile whenever Coach Briar looked his way. It was almost…creepy.
But the ornery demeanor was now back as Yuri had somehow managed to keep up with Twilight’s brisk pace up and down the bleachers. He was red in the face and panting hard from exertion, and almost stumbled several times, but every time Twilight pulled slightly ahead, he magically gained a second wind and powered on.
The spy briefly contemplated whether he should just let the teen surpass him and have his little mental victory. He wasn’t going to earn a Stella for finishing warmups the fastest. Plus, his still-healing rib was throbbing from all the movement.
But something about the boy’s irksome, vindictive glare drove Twilight to be petty just this once. He pretended not to notice Yuri at all as he dutifully ran up and down the bleachers, leg muscles and lungs straining close to their limit by the twentieth and final rep. If anything, this was a good way to stay in shape while maintaining his cover at the same time.
“Impressive,” Coach Briar praised when he reached the bottom of the bleachers and hopped down onto the ground, followed by a wheezing Yuri a split-second later. “You’re the first student I’ve had who ran through all the warmups without stopping.”
“What about me, Coach?” Yuri whined. “I’ve never taken a break either!”
“Oh, right. You’re one of my students, too,” the woman giggled, then coughed in an attempt to maintain professionalism. “Well, Loid, you’re the second student, then.”
Twilight could practically feel the dark waves of jealousy wafting off Yuri’s form, but ignored him as he offered Coach Briar an easy smile. “I do enjoy a good challenge. I appreciate it when teachers push us to be better.”
His hunch had been right. Coach Briar beamed at the compliment, and a bit of her insecurity melted away. He supposed no students were likely to thank her for running them into the ground right before lunch period.
Twilight stood off to the side and watched the rest of the students drag themselves up and down the bleachers. Franky was among the stragglers and looked like he was about to faint.
“Pick up the pace, Frank!” Twilight cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. That was one good thing about having to act as brothers. He could take potshots like this as payback.
Franky glared at him on the way down from the top of the bleachers, and reached up to adjust his foggy glasses. Just then his foot slipped, and he pitched forward.
Twilight winced in anticipation of the inevitable bruises his fellow agent would sustain from the tumble. But then something happened that set off his internal alarm bells in a completely different way.
Faster than his eye could track, Coach Briar disappeared from where she had been standing next to her brother, rematerialized all the way up the bleachers where Franky was, and caught him by the shoulder right before he slammed face-first into a bench.
“Are you alright?” she asked in concern.
Franky blinked as if in shock that nothing was broken or bruised. “What…uh, thanks, Coach. How…how did you get up here?”
Several students around them had paused to watch the impossible feat, then shrugged and continued on their way. Twilight stared. There was no way that was normal. Even he couldn’t move that fast. But the rest of the kids’ nonchalant behavior suggested that it was indeed a normal sight. His earlier sense that there was something more to this woman returned full force.
Before he could think too long on it, Yuri snapped his fingers right in front of his face. “Hey! You’re staring again. Quit it.”
Twilight almost rolled his eyes and shoved the annoying teenager out of the way, but refrained. He did not want to rack up three Tonitrus bolts on his first day. Instead, he put on his best practiced smile, which he already knew would piss Yuri off even more.
“Your sister–”
“You will address her as Coach Briar!”
“Coach Briar is really something else. I’ve never seen anyone move that fast!” he said with measured admiration.
“Of course, she’s the most amazing person in the world! Now stop looking at her and trying to impress her. Don’t think I don’t know. I’ve had to set every male classmate straight about showing proper respect to my dear sister, and I will not hesitate to slap you with detention!”
Twilight raised his hands in mock surrender and backed away, catching the eye of a couple of other students passing by who made the ‘he’s crazy’ gesture behind Yuri’s back. Well, he’d be damned. His first moment of genuine connection with a student who wasn’t Franky, and it was due to everyone’s mutual dislike for the Student Council Vice President.
For the rest of gym, they did aerobics outdoors on the grass, with upbeat workout music blasting out of the speakers beside the bleachers. Sore and drained from the warmups, most of the class only made a halfhearted effort to follow the teacher’s brisk movements in time with the beat. Of course, Yuri made it his personal mission to bark at the students in his vicinity whenever they slacked off too much.
The fact Yuri’s attention was focused on the slackers granted Twilight a short reprieve to study Coach Briar further. She didn’t break into any more outrageous feats of athleticism, but she clearly moved with the effortless confidence of someone who had trained ruthlessly their entire life. Trained for what, he wasn’t sure. The Olympics, perhaps? Was she a former Olympic sprinter or gymnast? Maybe that was why the school had hired her.
In the last five minutes, when everyone was dying to run off to lunch, Coach Briar made several announcements, mostly about various team practices after school. Her last announcement piqued Twilight’s attention.
“We are also in need of more mentors for the All-Stars Buddy Program! Please come speak to me after class if you would like to sign up! Have a great rest of the day, everyone!”
WISE’s intel had said Demetrius was part of this program. As all the other students scattered for the locker rooms, Twilight made his way to Coach Briar to put his name in.
—
It was make-or-break time.
Lunch period.
Even freshly showered and blending in fairly well, Franky felt a deep-seated nervousness rise from the pit of his stomach with every step he took toward the cafeteria. Memories he hadn’t revisited in more than a decade suddenly jumped to the forefront of his mind.
His first year at a new school. Standing there awkwardly with a tray, looking around at the mostly full tables without a clue where to sit. The decision would cement how the rest of the year went. Maybe even the next four years. And to pile on even more pressure, he couldn’t stand there like an idiot for too long, or the other kids would notice and label him a loser, and his options would start to narrow down alarmingly fast.
Franky shoved aside the primal fears of his adolescence. He was a grown man now. He’d fought in the war, for fuck’s sake. And he’d been selected for the highly competitive Homeland program at WISE. What did these teenagers have on him?
He and Twilight had agreed to buy lunch on the first day, expensive as it was, just to get the lay of the land. They might have to infiltrate the kitchen at some point. Though infiltrations were the last thing on his mind as the two of them waited in line for the register.
Twilight was slowly getting the hang of being a teenager. He’d shoved his hands in his pockets and slouched a bit like he’d seen the other boys do. Still, he looked way too serious, as he made meaningless conversation about his honors classes with Franky while surreptitiously scanning the cafeteria for their target.
“Bro, I don’t care about whatever Frigian novel you have to read for your fancy Literature class,” Franky cut him off at some point. Twilight narrowed his eyes as if personally offended. He lowered his voice a bit. “Where are we gonna sit?”
“Anywhere,” Twilight answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“No, not anywhere,” Franky emphasized as the line inched closer to the register. “This is the most dog-eat-dog part of high school. Where you sit determines your standing for the rest of the year. Whether you’re in with the cool kids or you’re a total loser.”
“Really,” Twilight said in that deadpan, unimpressed tone Franky had gotten quite used to. “I seem to recall you failed to identify any of your backwater school archetypes this morning on the lawn.”
“No, I’m serious. Every school has a pecking order, and the clearest place to see it is in the cafeteria. Here, turn around, I’ll run down the basics.”
Franky surveyed the rows of tables, already half-filled with students. He frowned. The fact they were all wearing the same uniforms made it hard to prove his point. He studied the students’ hair and accessories instead. While those details were marginally helpful to sort out the girls, it was still rather difficult with the boys.
“Those are the jocks,” he indicated with his chin. They were the easiest to identify—tall, muscular, moved like they personally owned the space around them, probably jackasses. Sort of like Twilight when Franky had met him during the war.
“Uh-huh.”
“And those…those are the nerds.” He noticed a high concentration of boys wearing glasses in a far corner of the cafeteria. They seemed to be exchanging cards of some sort across the table.
“Uh-huh.”
“Those are the Imperial Scholars. Obviously. And…” Franky struggled to distinguish any other social groups. Everyone else just looked rich.
“Those are the heirs to the infrastructure and oil conglomerates,” Twilight took over seamlessly. “Those are the landed aristocrats, centuries-old wealth. Those are the show biz kids, mostly children of famous actors and film executives. And…there’s our target.”
Demetrius Desmond had just strolled in, flanked by two lackeys. While Franky had studied his picture as part of mission prep, the boy still cut a striking figure in person. His eyes really were disturbingly wide, like a lemur or an owl. He was quite tall, only a few centimeters shorter than Twilight, with a lean, angular frame under his Imperial Scholar cloak. His jet black hair was neatly combed and gelled, but still curled a bit at the ends, lending some softness to his serious demeanor.
The other students automatically moved out of Demetrius’ way and gave him a wide berth. All the while he barely paid anyone any attention, beelining for a mostly empty table in the back. The few students already sitting there also wore Imperial Scholar cloaks. A waiter appeared seconds later to take Demetrius’ order, a privilege that Franky hadn’t seen any other students use.
“So what’s the game plan?” Franky whispered as they placed their orders and waited. He tried not to make it obvious that he was keeping an eye on their target’s table.
“We wait and observe. Take a table nearby, but not too close.”
Franky eyed the tables adjacent to where Demetrius was sitting. The ‘show biz’ table occupied by glamorously made up girls and good-looking boys trying to impress them. And a harder-to-read table of kids with no distinguishing markers of identity or affiliation. They merely looked…bored. Bored, but almost in a self-conscious way. Several of them kept sneaking glances at Demetrius and his friends. Were they an overflow table of some sort for Demetrius’ admirers?
Twilight noticed that table as well, and as soon as they got their food, they walked over, Franky following his ‘brother’s’ lead.
Franky’s reawakened high school instincts tingled in warning as they drew closer. Some of the kids at the unidentifiable table watched them approach with expressions of half-amusement, half-judgment. The unspoken social signal that they were about to commit a faux pas. Too late, Franky tried to tug at Twilight’s elbow, but the man was moving too fast.
“Mind if we sit here?” Twilight asked.
Franky almost winced at the spy’s complete obliviousness to the subtly hostile environment he’d led them into. Wasn’t this guy supposed to be a master of infiltration and reading hidden intent? The intent here wasn’t even hidden.
It got worse. The surrounding tables quieted as other students noticed the two new kids blindly walking the plank toward social suicide. Twilight had to have noticed by now, but to his credit he didn’t falter, the pleasant smile still plastered on his face.
The biggest boy at the table, probably the same height as Twilight if he were to stand to his feet, looked at them both as if sizing them up. Franky braced himself for the imminent rejection. He could only hope that Eden kids were more polite in their delivery than the kids from his high school.
“What’re your names?” the boy said instead. It was going to be a roundabout rejection, then.
Franky could have heard a pin drop in the hush around them. He wondered if this was what it was like in the moments before a spy had their cover blown and had to fight for their life. Twilight surely knew.
“I’m Loid. And this is my brother, Franky.”
Silence, as if the boy and his friends were waiting for more.
Infrastructure. Oil. Aristocracy. Show biz.
They had to be waiting for Loid and Franky’s last name or affiliation. Whether they were from a prestigious family that might have something to offer. Franky saw the moment the students’ smiles turned openly disdainful as they realized they were just commoners.
“Welcome to Eden, Loid, Franky. Unfortunately this table’s full,” the boy said with a slight smirk, and turned back around to resume eating lunch.
It was most definitely not full, but Twilight shrugged it off and turned to leave with his tray. Franky followed, trying not to duck his head in mortification. He was a former soldier and a spy! He was on a mission with WISE’s top agent! If only these teens knew who they were dealing with, they wouldn’t dare snicker and whisper about them.
As they passed by the show biz table, one of the girls reached out a dainty hand and tapped Twilight on the arm. He paused and looked down at her in slight confusion.
“Hey, Loid, is it?” The girl fluttered her long eyelashes at him. “I don’t mind if you sit here.”
“What the hell, Alicia?” a boy sitting across from her said indignantly. His friend beside him also tensed up and glared at Twilight.
Alicia rolled her eyes and flipped her golden locks over her shoulder, then shifted to make room on the bench with a suggestive wiggle of her hips. Franky bit back a laugh at the fact a seventeen year-old was trying to seduce the most prolific honey trap master at WISE.
“That’s alright,” Twilight said with a wry glance at the jealous boy. “Looks like this table’s full too.”
“Yeah. Full of dicks,” Franky said under his breath.
Before they could walk on, a hand gripped Franky’s elbow. “Hey, midget. What’d you say?”
Twilight turned around automatically as Franky came face to face with the accusing stare of another teenage boy. This one had been sitting right next to the Alicia girl.
Franky knew Twilight well enough by now to read his expression. Beneath the veneer of brotherly concern was that familiar incensed glare over the fact Franky had caused yet another mess for him to clean up. It was the kind of look that always made Franky want to push his buttons a little more just to see how far he could go.
“I said, wherever shall we sit?” Franky said innocently.
“That’s not what you said.”
“Is so.”
“Say it again. To our faces.”
Alicia and the other girls at the table shrank back in instinctive alarm and breathless excitement at the sign of an imminent fight. Out of the corner of his eye Franky caught Twilight making a pointed hand signal at his side, three fingers extended straight. That was right. Three Tonitrus bolts if fists started flying.
“I said, I can’t wait to try these breadsticks.”
Franky couldn’t help the shit-eating grin from spreading across his face as he felt the change in the atmosphere around them. Where everyone had been looking at them in thinly veiled condescension before, now they were bemused and in awe of the new kid’s boldness. The inflection point Franky needed to turn the tide. He’d forgotten that this was the part of high school he’d actually enjoyed.
“Cut the crap, man, say it!”
“Wanna go outside for a picnic?”
The boy growled and yanked Franky close by the shirt.
“You insulted us.”
“I’m sure you just misheard,” Twilight chose that moment to step in. He’d set down his tray and raised his hands apologetically. “My brother–”
“Stay out of this!”
“Hey, look, you got me,” Franky said in a conciliatory tone. “I said, we should watch ourselves, or else we’ll get hit with Tonitrus.”
“Alright, that’s enough,” a soft, authoritative voice spoke from behind them.
Immediately the boy let go of Franky’s shirt and sat back down. A new type of quiet settled over the surrounding tables, the subdued silence of a pack of animals deferring to their leader. At some point during the confrontation, Demetrius Desmond and his lackeys had gotten up and approached them.
Franky fought not to flinch at the owlish stare boring into him as if trying to see past his skull into his secrets. Behind him, Twilight tensed, too.
“You’re pretty funny,” Demetrius said in that same low, placid tone. Then he smiled, which made him look even creepier. “I like people who aren’t afraid to speak their minds.”
He turned and gestured at the first table they had tried to join. The effect was instant. The kids shuffled further down the bench so there was plenty of room for Loid and Franky.
“You and your brother can sit there. Have a nice lunch,” Demetrius said, and went back to his seat without another word.
Slowly, the noise of normal conversation filtered back into the air as Franky and Loid slid into their new seats with their half-cold lunches. The other kids at the table didn’t look at them, including the one who’d initially turned them down, but whether it was out of newfound respect or resentment, Franky couldn’t tell. He still didn’t even know what tied this particular group of kids together.
Sitting across from him, Twilight gripped his utensils tightly as he cut into his steak and asparagus. Franky shelved his confused speculation and smirked at his ‘brother.’
Not only had he managed to touch the hot gym teacher first. He’d also made first contact with the target. Franky 2, Twilight 0.
