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York grinned evilly as he snuck into the room that Wash and Maine shared, clutching an air horn in one hand and a water balloon in the other.
Everyone else had already gathered in the rec room, except for Wash. So now he had to pay the price.
York watched Wash sleeping peacefully, his back against the wall, soft snores escaping his mouth in little puffs, buried under his and Maine’s blanket (Wash had a habit of taking people’s sweaters or blankets. It’s like having a girlfriend but without the benefits), looking so content that York almost felt bad for what he was about to do.
Almost.
York pressed the button for the air horn, and the high pitch wailing had Wash lunging out of bed. Unfortunately for him, he got tangled up in the blankets and went crashing toward the floor.
In Wash’s moment of confusion York hurled the water balloon at Wash, nailing him in the head.
Wash yelped at the shock of the cold water and the sting of the balloon popping on his face.
He wiped the water off his face, sputtering, and he spotted York, grinning like an idiot.
“You’re late to game night.” Was the only explanation York gave him.
Wash grabbed one of Maine’s shoes that he had left there and chucked it at York.
York danced out of the way, laughing, and yelled, “Don’t be even later or South is coming in next time!” as he ran back to the rec room.
“GO FUCK YOURSELF, YORK!” Wash hollered after him, making York laugh harder.
York was still chuckling as he walked into the rec room, the rest of his team already gathered, milling about.
“What did you do to the rookie this time?” North sighed from the couch, having been a victim of York’s antics.
York grinned and was about to answer but a wet Wash trudged into the room, a sour look on his face.
“Water balloon. Excellent choice.” Connie grinned and York bowed.
Wash grumbled and plopped down next to Maine who was tapping away on his data pad, shooting daggers at York.
“As much as I love picking on the rookie, can we start game night already?” South demanded. Wash frowned and crossed his arms, deciding to pout for the time being. Wash would say he's brooding but he's really pouting. Maine chuckled and ruffled Wash's hair, much to Wash's dismay.
“I still don't understand why you make us do this.” Carolina narrowed her eyes at York.
But York was not deterred by her look. “Team bonding, Lina.” He answered cheerfully as he pulled the giant box of board games and video games out from the cubby.
“Wait,” Maine said roughly. “One more person.”
York furrowed his brows. “What do you mean? Everyone’s here.”
Maine nodded at the door. “Waiting on-”
Whatever he was going to say was cut off by the door opening with a hiss and Niner standing at the door, her hair sleep-tousled, a fierce scowl on her face, pj’s and… fuzzy pink bunny slippers?
“It is almost 1 O'clock in the goddamn morning and I get an emergency text from Maine, telling me to get here now. So what is the emergency?” Niner demanded.
There was a beat of silence.
Then… “Game Night?” York said, holding up a game of Twister.
Niner looked at the game for a good minute then glared at Maine. “I hate you.” She hissed.
Maine just chuckled.
“C'mon, Niner, join us!” York grinned. “The more the merrier!”
Something flashed through Niner's eyes before sighed and marched over to Maine, her slippers squeaking.
“First person to make any sort of comment on my slippers that my 11-year-old sister got me is getting a personal demonstration on how the evasive maneuvers are performed.” Niner threatened before anyone could say anything. South promptly–and wisely–shut her mouth.
“Now,” For the first time ever, York had an evil glint in his eyes. “Let’s begin.”
Guesstures was the first victim. And it was going about as well as everyone expected it to.
“Shirt!”
“Yellow!?”
“Beer?”
“Why the hell would you say beer?”
“He literally has the words Lone Star Beer. ”
“Fair.”
Everyone was shouting answers as fast as they could before the final card dropped and it was madness. It was Wash’s turn and he was pointing furiously at York
“Man!?”
“Human!”
“A disappointment!”
“Hey!”
“Really South?”
“What?”
But Wash’s eyes brightened and made a keep it going motion.
“Oh fuck yeah! Loser! Waste of space! Idiot! Failure!-”
“Yes!” Wash shouted and snatched the card before it could fall.
“HA!” South whooped and Maine put another tally under her name on the whiteboard.
“Fuck you, Wash.”
Wash looked far too smug for York’s liking. Which is probably why York threw his shoe at him.
Maine didn’t often smile or laugh out loud like other people, but the ridiculousness of the situation was too funny for him to not smile. The next game that had been chosen was a pillow fight but with blindfolds. Or in some cases, hoodies that were put on backwards, hood up.
It was hysterical.
Somehow, the twins managed to team up and were currently tied with Carolina, who kept finding her teammates with her bloodhound-like senses and spared no mercy with her brutal take-downs.
Surprisingly, Wash was in second place. Currently, Wash was balanced on the spinny chair they had, his ears prickled as he listened for his teammates.
But in Maine’s opinion, the best part about all of this is that the person who kept getting hit was Wyoming. No matter how quiet he was or how carefully he moved, the rest of the team kept finding him and smacking him.
Maine grinned as Connie located Florida and swept his legs out from under him, sending him to the ground with a loud oof.
It was probably a good thing that everyone unanimously banned Maine from playing. Maine was already pretty quiet and with his size, he would’ve broken a few ribs by now.
Maine snickered when York hit Wyoming with his pillow with a very loud whomp , sending Wyoming over the edge of the couch that he was standing on with a high-pitched, “Bloody wankers!”
Oh, it was going to be so fun to watch the video later.
“Florida, how the fuck are you doing that?” York grunted as he gaped at Florida staying on the two red dots with only his hands, his legs crossed beneath him, not touching the floor. And the more infuriating part, he didn’t even look like he was struggling
“Yoga!” He replied cheerfully.
“Of course.” He huffed, using every power in his core muscle to keep himself up. He somehow got wedged between Maine, Connie, and Carolina in a plank position in the tangle of limbs that was the Alpha squad of Project Freelancer. Not that he was particularly complaining about the latter person.
“Wash, if you kick me in the head, I’m going to hurt you.” Carolina huffed, eyeing Wash’s foot which was dangerously close to her head.
“Sorry boss,” Wash said, wincing from where he was draped over Maine like a weird bridge. The amount of blood rushing to his head did not feel good.
“South, left foot in the air,” Niner called, an amused smirk on her face. Niner had been elected as the color caller since everyone wanted to see who the bendy of them was.
North grinned and reached out to tickle the inside of South’s leg that was still on the ground. ”Godammit North!” South flailed her arms for balance, accidentally kicking Wyoming in the face with the foot that was in the air.
Ignoring South’s dilemma and North’s laughter, Niner called out the next move. “Maine, left hand to red.” She said and mumbled, “I sure hope I’m calling these right.” To herself.
Everyone in the room paused as they simultaneously remembered that Niner was particularly colorblind.
Wash couldn't take it any longer and finally passed out, collapsing on top of Maine.
Karaoke was either York’s best idea or his worst one. He was leaning towards best.
“Tequila,” Maine said flatly and the catchy music returned. Just about everyone was clutching their stomach from laughing so hard or wiping away tears of laughter from the ridiculousness of it. Even Carolina was shaking her head and chuckling.
It wasn’t long before Maine finished the song and passed the mic to Carolina. York noticed a couple of grimaces on some of his teammates' faces.
York remembered listening to Carolina sing when the group was on shore leave at a bar and it… was not the greatest. But he was drunk, so it couldn’t be that bad, right?
It was. It was so bad.
“'Cause I've got friends in low places, where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases my blues away.” Carolina sang. Sang was being generous. The sound of a bunch of horny cats wailing was more accurate. Not that York would ever tell her that.
Especially since she looked so proud of herself. York shot her a thumbs up and prayed that he would never have to listen to her sing sober ever again.
In retrospect, Mario Kart probably wasn’t the best game choice for a group that was arguably the most competitive group York had ever met.
“GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO!” South hollered in North’s ear as his avatar reached second place.
“Yelling in my ear isn’t going to make me go faster, South!” North scolded South and awkwardly shoved her away.
“Throw the shell now Lina! Throw it, throw it!” York pointed at the TV furiously with one hand, his other clutching the back of the chair with tense energy.
Carolina threw the shell and successfully knocked North out of second place. South howled with rage and threw her pillow at York, who yelped at the sudden attack.
At the end of the race, it was Maine and Niner who won, with Maine controlling the vehicle and Niner whispering words of advice in his ear.
York sighed as he threw another controller that Carolina accidentally broke in a burst of anger into the trash. Only two broken controllers this time. New record. York thought, amused.
“Well that was fun,” Florida said pleasantly, stretching his limbs. “Anyone up for another pillow fight?”
“NO!”
Rather than retire to their room, everyone opted to just sleep in the rec room. Which was hilarious because of the places everyone slept. Wash was draped along the back of the couch like a cat, Connie leaning on the armrest, her face resting in her hand, Carolina sitting next to her, her head tipped back and resting on Wash’s waist. On the floor were Florida and Wyoming laying on the side of the couch, North laying in front of the couch, using his arm as a pillow, and South sprawled across him as siblings do, Maine was on his side with Niner tucked under his chin.
York raised a brow at the last pair. Looks like the Maine and Niner are dating or at least fuck buddies pool is turning in my favor. York thought smugly as he took the empty seat next to Carolina.
He leaned on the armrest and turned towards Carolina as she sighed sleepily and rested on York.
He smiled happily and put an arm around her.
“Not a chance, York,” Carolina mumbled, stopping York from pressing a gentle kiss to her head, her eyes still closed.
York chuckled softly and said, “You got it, Boss.” He tightened his hold on Carolina, which she didn’t object to. If anything, she nestled closer to York.
York’s smile grew bigger. Life is good. He thought, savoring the moment. In their line of work, you never know if you'll come back alive and get more moments like these.
He looked around the room once more before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep, the nightmares that usually plagued him nowhere to be found.
(FILSS cleared their schedules for the rest of the day tomorrow and locked the door to the rec room so her freelancers could sleep and get some well-deserved rest after watching them for a while to make sure they were fine. No one could say that she wasn’t a mother hen.
The Director spent most of the next day trying to get a hold of them and figure out if there was a glitch in FILSS’s programming. You can’t call being protective a glitch.)