Page 68 of Defended By Love

Grant scowls. “I know it was your wife calling in. Not funny.”

The way the other two guys look at each other leads me to believe that they very much so think it’s funny. In fact, the way they’re holding back laughter until they’re turning red makes me realize just how accurate the term ‘tickled pink’ is.

“Do you guys all know about the Crimson Streak stuff?” There’s a chance I’m completely blowing his cover, but what else are time loops for?

“Garnet Defender,” Grant huffs beside me to himself. “The Crimson Streak sounds like…” He glances up at me and blushes. “Never mind.”

The rest of the table bursts out in laughter.

“Well, we have a bit of experience with weird,” Darwin says when their laughter dies down, exchanging a look. The DM’s girlfriend blushes a furious red that no one seems to notice. If this were an interrogation, I’d be pressing her hard. Since it’s a friendly board game night, I won’t.

For now.

“What do you mean?”

Darwin sighs and leans back in his chair.

“Here we go,” Grant mutters under his breath.

“Not to brag, but some ghosts conspired to get me and my wife together,” he says.

“Is that a brag?” I ask.

Darwin looks puzzled for a moment, like he’d never considered that it might not be a brag.

“I was his wingman,” DM adds.

“You most certainly were not.”

The DM puts his hands out like he’s shushing the already quiet table. “Okay, okay. Well, I always sort of suspected that Phee had a bit of a thing for me, but I could tell you liked her, so I let you have her. Besides”—he puts an arm around the still blushing girl beside him—“I knew there was someone else out there for me.”

Some bickering breaks out amongst the guys. I can’t help but start to smile. I can’t remember the last time I hung out socially, with no intent of kissing ass or climbing ladders. All table conversation that I’ve had for the adult part of my life has been friendly, polite, superficial. It’s amazing how pleasant the bickering is.

“I can’t weigh in,” Grant says to something the DM asked. “Before my time.” He turns to me. “My mom is friends with Darwin’s girlfriend. That’s how I know these idiots.”

“Idiots?” the DM gasps in fake hurt. He picks up another egg snack and throws it at Grant, who sends it flying right back at him with his whole gravity thing. “He’s just mad because everyone likes his mom more than they like him, the dork.”

The guy with the shield laughs. Considering the fact that multiple people are spattered with egg, while playing a game about knights and trolls, calling someone a dork feels like a bit of a pot and kettle situation. Except… except, I’m fully into it?

“I have to agree on that. His mom is way better than him,” I say. No, I tease. I’m teasing him, and it’s actually a lot of fun. And I’m fun. I tease people.

Grant clasps a hand to his heart like he’s wounded, but his eyes sparkle. The rest of the room erupts with stories about how awesome his mom is. Grant doesn’t look at them or chime in. He only has eyes for me right now.

The feeling of delight grows until I feel hot around the collar and slightly unable to breathe. This isn’t love, I remind myself. This is temporary infatuation that will wear off.

“So you’ve only known these guys for a short time and yet they convinced you to tell them that you’re the Garnet Defender?” I ask, tearing my eyes away from Grant’s sparkling stare.

Darwin smirks again. “The trouble wasn’t with getting him to admit it, it was with trying to get him to shut up about it.”

“Do you think capes are still cool?” mocks DM in a falsetto voice.

“If I fly over top of people, will they all be looking at my junk?” continues Darwin in a similar voice.

“Do I need to start wearing glasses as a disguise?”

“Why are all the good superhero names taken?”

“What’s another synonym for red?”

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