“So, you joining my guild or not?” Jesse asked as Icarus finished filling out the updated registry. Icarus froze, and then he turned to stare at him.

“Didn’t you nearly get in a fist fight with my brother?” he asked, and Jesse snorted.

“Yeah. And? I thought you didn’t like your brother.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to dump lighter fluid on the situation that may end in half of Phoenix being leveled,” Icarus said stubbornly, and Jesse raised his eyebrows.

“What about you, Jacinto? You gonna join my guild?” he asked with a leer, and Jacinto frowned at him.

“No, thank you.”

“Our insurance covers full gender transitions, including surgery,” Jesse said, and both of them paused. That was… a good offer, and Icarus considered it for a moment, but---

“At the cost of sexual harassment?” Jacinto sniffed. “I’ve heard all the stories on Twitter about how you treat your secretaries.”

“Ah, don’t believe everything you read online,” Jesse said with a wave of his hand.

“So, it’s not a coincidence you’ve gone through six secretaries and seven personal assistants since you’ve started your guild?” Jacinto asked, stiff necked and not backing down, and Icarus was about to get wildly uncomfortable. “Kudos for the bisexuality, but come on, dude.”

“They couldn’t take a joke,” Jesse said with a sly smile. “You seem like you can’t take a joke either.”

“Then, I shouldn’t sign a contract with you,” Jacinto said and put his fingers in Icarus’s pant pocket, pulling him to him. “And neither should Icarus.”

“You don’t like me,” Jesse said, and Jacinto stared at him with flat eyes.

“I rarely like S-ranks,” he said. “I know what that kind of power turns you into.”

“Uhuh,” Jesse said, and leaned on the counter as the worker pretended like she wasn’t hearing any of this. “Jacinto Valdez, right? The A-rank that won’t stick with a team. Some say you’ve got some personality defects, too.”

Jacinto was stubbornly silent, and Jesse laughed at him.

“Jeez, you’re so uptight,” he teased and clapped his hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. I won’t take it personally.”

“Yeah, you probably hear it a lot,” Jacinto muttered, and Jesse’s hand tightened on his shoulder.

“There’s a big gap between A and S, kid,” he said dangerously. “You should remember that.”

“Okay, let’s just… Stop. Stop,” Icarus said before this could escalate even further. “Let’s not do this, okay?”

“Great. You went and scared your boyfriend,” Jesse said, and Icarus flushed.

“I’m not---! Let’s not---!”

“So, is that a no, Icarus?” Jesse asked slyly, and Icarus turned bright red, all the way up to his ears.

“I’d like… to be independent for now,” he muttered, and Jesse laughed and swept off for the door.

“You’ll change your mind when you see how hard it is!” he called, and then he pushed open the doors, where paparazzi were waiting outside for him.

“Jesse! What are you doing at the Association today?”

“Jesse! Were you just with Aiden March’s rumored little sister?”

“Jesse! What do you have to say to the allegations you staged this re-awakening?”

“What do you think about the allegations that Aiden March hid his little sister from the media out of shame?”

The doors swung shut, and the last question struck Icarus to the core.

Out of shame.

He looked down at the ground, and Jacinto sighed.

“Baby. Look at me,” he said, and Icarus looked back up with sad green eyes. “It’s not you. I know why he did it, and it’s not… What he did… He doesn’t hate you.”

“It’s hard to believe that,” Icarus said thickly. “He only came back when I was S-rank.”

“He put distance between you and him because he thought you were in danger. You understand that, right?” Jacinto said, and Icarus swallowed.

Jacinto had said this before, but he agreed with Icarus that it was an asshole way to go about it. The reason Jacinto hated Aiden was because he did it without a word, refused to talk to Icarus, but Icarus… Icarus had a hard time believing it was because he was trying to protect him. He had a very hard time believing that. That was an act of love, and Icarus didn’t feel loved at all.

Icarus was more of the opinion that Aiden was embarrassed of him. He was embarrassed of him, and it was…

Whatever. It was whatever.

“Do you want to come over and play on our Switches?” Icarus asked, and Jacinto nodded.

“Okay. We can do that,” he said, and Icarus turned for the doors. The paparazzi were waiting just outside, and Jacinto stepped in front of Icarus as they headed into the Arizona heat. The cameras flashed, and questions bombarded Icarus.

“Kayla! Are you S-rank?”

“Kayla! Are you friends with Jacinto Valdez?”

“Kayla! Are you going to keep picking?”

“Kayla! Look over here!”

“Kayla! Is it true you’re Aiden March’s little sister?”

“Kayla! Are you going to be joining Highlight Guild?”

“Kayla! What do you plan on doing?”

“Kayla! What class are you?”

Icarus didn’t fucking know, and he felt like he needed to cry. Without a word, he shoved his helmet on his head to hide his face, and the cameras continued to flash as the two of them walked towards the parking lot. His phone started vibrating in his pocket, his music interrupted by the sound of it ringing, and he felt like he was going to panic. The questions were being lobbed right and left, and he didn’t know things were going to be this bad. He knew S-ranks were a big deal, but he didn’t… He didn’t…

He was uncomfortable. He was really, really uncomfortable, and he was about ready to start screaming at people. He wanted to get out of here, and he stepped into the parking lot as they continued to surround him. Cameras flashed, and he wanted to crawl out of his skin. It was too much. It was entirely too much, and he adjusted his backpack. He reached his motorcycle and swung astride it, and cameras continued to flash. Someone took a photo of his license plate, and he started up the engine as Jacinto headed for his car. He kicked his motorcycle into gear and carefully peeled out of the parking lot, weaving around the paparazzi, and then he hit the road.

That was terrifying. He did not like that, and he rapidly realized this was just going to be his life now. This was going to be his life now, and he did not want it to be. He wanted to be normal. Why did the system do this to him? He could have… He should have kept his mouth shut on that live stream. He just panicked and didn’t know what to do. That teenager had just shoved a camera in his face, and he had to deal with it.

He wished he was at least A-rank. He wouldn’t have survived if he was A-rank, though. He had to be honest with himself.

At least the paparazzi were gone, he thought as he pulled to a stop at the red light and balanced on his bike. His tiptoes pressed into the ground, because he still hadn’t jacked the suspension down on this bike, and he sat back on his ass and studied the stop light. It turned green, and he peeled away.

It was a long drive back to his apartment, and he took that time to compose himself. He was freaked out, but this was going to be his new normal. He had to accept that. He would rather not accept that. He didn’t want to deal with it, and he was tired of all of it already. The helmet pressed snugly into the sides of his head, and he rode down the road in silence as music played over his headphones. Go Go by BTS blared in his speakers, and he rode through the streets back towards his apartment. There would be pictures of him on the tabloids. He may have to get in his Twitter again. He did not want to get in his Twitter. Twitter was a cesspool.

Or, he would have to actually post on his TikTok, and he wanted to do that even less. He had never once posted on his TikTok.

With a sigh, he pulled to a stop at a stop sign and checked both ways before he pulled forward. A truck was rolling to a halt to his left, and he rode past it in silence on the way back to his apartment. It was just ahead, and he was tired. He had Shroom and Sunny in his pockets, and he wanted to get back to his apartment to crochet already. Jacinto would probably show up in an hour or so, and he needed to clean up before his friend got there. Fold the blankets he slept under, check and see who called him, all of that.

He knew it would get out that he was a specialist. Specialists weren’t actually targeted by headhunters that often. The way it worked was they tried to focus on more established classes, like rogue, lancer, fighter, etcetera. Specialists were wild cards, and not really viewed in high standing. They could either work really well, or they could work not well at all. You had to cram them into a setting that didn’t like them to be crammed in. So, he didn’t anticipate too many offers.

Guerilla Crocheter. It didn’t really flow well. Knitter would work better, but he didn’t knit. Knitting confused him a lot, and he didn’t touch it. It just didn’t make sense in his brain. He had tried, and failed miserably. Crocheting made more sense.

With a sigh, he pulled up to the gate of his apartment building and put in the code. The gate rumbled open, and he slid in, parking his motorcycle in his spot. He needed to go to the store soon, and he wasn’t looking forward to that. He hated grocery shopping. The lights were too bright.

He pulled off his helmet and walked up the stairs, pulling out his keys and unlocking the door, closing it behind him and collapsing on his bed. He needed to clean up in here, so he peeled off his riding jacket and backpack and got to work as Sunny and Shrooms peeked out of his pocket. He shook out the blanket he slept under and folded it, and then he set it at the end of his bed. Vacuuming… should he vacuum? He had tracked mud in here at some point, so he probably should. With a grunt, he sat down and unlaced his Docs, pulling them off and discarding them before he got the vacuum out of the closet and started running it.

Time passed slowly as he cleaned. He wiped down all the counters, cleaned up the room that made up his apartment, and before long, there was a knock on the door. He answered it, and there was Jacinto with his Switch case.

“Ready?” Jacinto asked, and Icarus nodded and stepped aside to let him in. Jacinto came into his apartment and sat down on the bed, kicking off his Converse, and Icarus flopped on his belly next to him and got his Switch off the charger.

“What are you playing?” Jacinto asked, and Icarus rolled over.

“Blasphemous,” he replied, and turned his Switch on.

“Why do you insist on playing roguelikes when you’re bad at video games?” Jacinto asked in amusement, and Icarus hummed.

“I like dying,” he replied. “Dying feels less world ending when you’re playing a roguelike.”

“Fair,” Jacinto hummed, and Icarus started up Blasphemous. “Urban Crocheter, huh?”

“Fiber artist would have worked better,” Icarus muttered, and Jacinto crossed his legs under him as he brought up Pokemon Violet. Was he still playing that?

“So, what--- Ahhhhhhh,” Jacinto said and moved back along the bed as Shrooms hopped up on the bed. “I guess that solves that.”

“Powers are randomly assigned,” Icarus said. “Shrooms one shot a boss, so I’m assuming there’s some impressive drawbacks.”

His phone started vibrating in his pocket, and he pulled it out. Aiden was calling, and he declined it with a frown. It went silent, and he tossed his phone to the side. Aiden really was persistent. It was one of his worst qualities.

“That tiny thing one shot a boss?” Jacinto asked in horror, and Icarus nodded.

“He did, yeah,” he replied as Shrooms plopped in his lap. “Don’t worry. He’s harmless. Drained all my mana, though, so he’s more of a last resort thing.”

“... Okayyyy,” Jacinto said as Sunny climbed onto the bed and joined them, flopping over Icarus’s lap. “And what does that one do?”

“No idea,” Icarus replied. “Haven’t tested it yet.”

“You should probably test it,” Jacinto said, and Icarus looked down at Sunny.

“I’m playing Blasphemous right now,” he muttered, and navigated the character over the chasm, only to fall. “Oh.”

He respawned, and he sighed quietly.

“You’re bad at this,” Jacinto said, entirely unsympathetic, and Icarus shrugged.

“What matters is having fun!” he said, even though what mattered was winning, and Jacinto laughed under his breath.

“Wow,” he said, and Icarus jumped across the gorge again and actually managed to land this time, only for a monster to throw a rock at him and knock him off. He fell to his death, and he sighed. “Terrible. You’re terrible at this.”

“Leave me alone,” Icarus muttered, and Jacinto laughed and flopped next to him.

“It’s one of your more charming traits,” Jacinto said teasingly, and Icarus rolled his eyes and hit him with a pillow.

“Stop flirting with me,” he demanded. “We both know you don’t mean it.”

Jacinto studied him in silence.

“Yeah. I don’t mean it,” he said quietly, and then he focused back on his Pokemon. “Let’s see who can beat the game first.”

“That’s not a competition,” Icarus said, and Jacinto eyed him.

“Sure it is.”

“That’s a one sided thrashing.”

Jacinto snorted, and started up the game.

“Sure.”

Okay. Icarus felt a little more normal now. He didn’t feel great, but he felt a little more normal. They should have gone to pick up Dutch Bros, though. They should have done that.

Ah, maybe they would do it later.