The Scumbag's Guide To Heroism novel Chapter 210

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."

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