"Give me a break?" Fallon coughed up as she sat down on the bench with Chris crossing his arms. 

     "It was barely two hours, we still have tonight." He reminded her holding his signature intimidating stance.

     Fallon enjoyed all the training she'd received the entire time she stayed with the boys, the way Myles had taught her about coding really showed just how hard he worked. The more she trained with Chris, the more she felt that Lloyd was going too easy with her, with Chris she noticed that he was always challenging her. Somehow, she liked the idea of being challenged, it's like this entire time she was in her comfort zone but feeling the taste of something harder was addicting. 

     She was starting to understand why Chris liked the feeling of pain and getting used to it.

     "Shit," He looked at her hands as she unwrapped the cloth, they were all bruised up and he felt an instant feeling of regret hit him. "I didn't realize— You didn't say anything—"

     "I'm fine." She shook her head and chugged down a water bottle. "They're not as bad as yours."

     "I think it would be best if we took the rest of the day off, I don't want to overwork you." He frowned almost reaching out to her but stopped.

     She threw away the water bottle pushing her hair back before smiling back at him, it confused him how she kept a positive attitude even if he could see she flinched now and then from the pain.

     "I'll take that break, I heard the group wants to train later though— We can try again later." She looked at the clock now signaling it was around four.

      Chris had his eyes fixated on her with a softer look before furrowing his eyes, "You want to train with the group?"

     "Yeah, seems like fun I don't think I've seen Myles throw a punch at someone." She snorted as she made her way to the door with him following almost looking a bit lost, he held the door for her as she walked up the 4 flights of stairs. "Sounds intriguing."

     "I don't know..." He scratched the back of his head contemplating whether he should continue his sentence or not- It was so hard to control his language when it came to her, like any wrong words could make it or break it. "I'll be in my office then."

     She nodded, both of them spread out like a disease contaminated them and they wanted to distance themselves as quickly as they could. Fallon never even noticed how she was practically holding her breath and as soon as he disappeared down the hall she let her shoulders rest. 

     "Please, don't flaunter your flirting in front of me," A voice interrupted her thoughts, she whipped her head to the right seeing Kian stop in front of her with a glass in his hands. He had his eyebrows raised at the front door opened, in walked the boys that filled up the room with laughter. It didn't make Kian's eyes falter once though, he kept a mischievous smirk falling on his lips before taking a sip of his green drink. 

     "That's not flirting-"

     "The denial is quite amusing, I thought you were smarter- unless you're purposely trying to mask it-"

     A soft punch made contact with Kian's arm as he let out a chuckle for what seemed like the first time in a long time, it halted the boys at the entrance and captivated them. The smile on the boy's face was something they valued so much and the fact it was Fallon's doing somehow? She's got to be magic- no a miracle! 

     "Get your ass upstairs," She scolded as he snorted before shaking his head, he walked his ass upstairs just like she ordered without another word. 

     She turned her attention to the boys who stared at her still in shock, Myles was the one who changed his lips from an 'o' to a sly smirk, he stood beside her patting her shoulder softly. "If I knew all it took was leaving you guys alone, I would've left you guys alone a long time ago!" 

     "Me next, give me hope and luck for the year!" Cameron cried getting on his knees and clasping his hands together. 

     "What the hell?" Fallon crossed her arms sending him a glare. "Get up, it's not like that."

     "She raised her voice at me," Cameron pouted getting up and tattling to Liam. "The bad energy has shifted inside of her." 

     "Not in the mood," Fallon huffed before heading up the stairs with Lloyd trailing behind, as soon as she made it to the front of the door Lloyd had held her arm to spin her around.

     "What did he mean by denial?" He questioned with a look on his face that Fallon couldn't explain, she'd never seen him with this look of... desperation? 

     "Nothing that matters, thanks for the invite by the way," She retorted rolling her eyes and entering her room, she flopped on the bed with Lloyd closing her door and crossing his arms. 

     "Attitude much? Did Kian's bad energy possess you-"

     "I'm just annoyed," She sighed resting her arms over her forehead and staring at the ceiling, her chest raised with every breath and she didn't look at Lloyd while she hid in her thoughts. 

     "About what? Flirting?" He raised an eyebrow at her. 

     She groaned before sitting up in her bed and finally turning to him, "No, Lloyd. It's not flirting! I don't even know how- It's just stupid!"

     "Are you into Chris? Be honest," He dug his hands into his pockets standing a bit closer to her, she furrowed her eyebrows quite quickly before scoffing at him. "No! Why would you even ask that? What does that even mean?"

     "I saw you guys cuddling in the morning," Lloyd confessed still not changing his dull expression but he broke the eye contact and looked around her room.

     "Yeah, nothing weird with that," She frowned crossing her arms. "He just makes sure no one else enters my room and acts weird with me, it's his responsibility as a leader- and we weren't cuddling we were like far apart!" 

     "I don't like the way you guys are getting closer," He scratched the back of his head. "I just want to make sure you're safe."

     "I am, I promise," She hummed turning on her TV. "Don't act weird about this, it's literally nothing I don't know how stuff like that even works it overwhelms me." 

     She was visibly distraught at the accusation which made Lloyd feel guilty about even bringing it up, he slowly walked next to her and ruffled her hair gently with a small smile forming on his face. "I'm sorry, I won't overwhelm you with this topic... I forgot your feelings and emotions are almost foreign to you." 

     She sighed at his response, which signaled him to smile contently and leave her alone. The rest of the night went smoothly surprisingly, the boys were really supportive regarding her combat skills but Fallon felt that she could be challenged more with Chris's support. He hadn't come down though, he was stuck in his office probably dealing with paperwork and working on the next mission. 

     She spent around five hours just practicing with the boys only to head upstairs to the hangout room, the big TV shined bright across the room with the popcorn machine making noise. 

     "Coraline? I ain't watching that shit," Liam nagged at the boys looking at Fallon wincing just a bit. "No offense."

     "None was taken, I haven't watched that movie," She shrugged as the boys stared at her with widened eyes.

     "For someone who stayed indoors most of the time, I would think you'd take your time to educate yourself with movies." Kian snickered almost falling off the cough when Fallon hit his side, the sight of them playfully fighting was still shocking for the boys to see. They didn't want to make it awkward by staring at them so they tried to mask it by staring at each other and giving each other the same look of acknowledgment. 

     Fallon became a bit worried about Chris though, he still wasn't back and it's not like he said he'd join them at the hangout room but it always felt better with the whole team there. "Hey, is Chris going to be joining us?"

     The boys were in their conversation except Myles who was still scrolling through the movies, with his head still facing the screen he muttered a quick "no" like it wasn't a bother to him. How could they just let their leader not join them? This was fun, right? Why won't Chris join them?

     "I'm going to invite him," She got up from the long couch and sneakily left the room, she shut the door so softly but it's not like the boys could hear under all the chatter. 

     She slowly walked in her slippers towards Chris's room, her fingers gently caressing the staircase balcony as she stared at Cameron's room before locking eyes with Chris's. Chris had two different doors, his office was connected with his room but his office room was on the wall next to Cameron's door. Chris's bedroom door was adjacent to the office door which didn't make much of a difference when knocking but Fallon decided she still wanted to knock on the office door. 

     She waited patiently outside the door with a small smile on her face, she was calm and polite in her stance she knew to get Chris to come she'd have to be confident and considerate about it. She hoped she was able to get him to have fun with the others in the end.