Matchup (+1)

A/N: Cover image courtesy of parveziswanmohamed. I just love it! I was so touched that they spent time making it because they like the story, I wanted to share it with you all~

"It looks like... a Suzanne? Who names their kid Suzanne in this day and age?"

I pause my icing of my shin to shimmy closer to Lev. I look at the screen of his laptop. "That's a 'Z.' Zu-zan-na," I squint at the tiny letters in the matchup table, "Yeah, Zuzanna."

"Who names their kid Zuzanna?" Lev continues to glare at the screen suspiciously. I look at the last name. Brzęczyszczykiewicz.

"It looks like some Eastern European name. Maybe her parents are Slavic or something," I say as I put my ice pack back on my shin. I'm still feeling the bruises from my match with Gabriel a couple of days ago. He really went at my legs with no mercy.

"Or they're one of those parents who want their kid's name to be 'different' from everyone else's, even though it sounds the same as the normal version," Lev's taken to waving his hands around dramatically and I start shuffling back away, "just to make spelling even harder than it already is for everybody."

"Says Levente," I say as I throw him a look. "Also, we're in Canada – diversity is supposed to be our thing." He sighs and waves me off. I change the subject. "Who's Evren against?" Honestly, after Nevaeh showed me that video of Evren and her uncle sparring and after that difficult fight against Gabriel, I know that I need to pay more attention to everyone's fights. Evren's human, right? She'll have to slip up in one of them, even if she doesn't necessarily lose it. When she does slip, I need a field agent to witness it.

Lev swipes his screen to get to the left side of Round Two's matchup chart. "Damn!" he elongates the word. "Kevin. One of the heights figure dudes, but a good one."

"They're all good, Lev," I interrupt. He ignores me and continues.

"The best one. He's scary, man. That should be a fight fun to watch."

"You think Nevaeh'd agree to a little spying if I asked her nicely?"

"Spying?" He turns his head to give me his 'I highly doubt it' look. "Yeah, right. Scouting, though... Now that you might be able to swing." I can tell by the tone in Lev's voice that he's coming up with something devious. ""Hey, Nevaeh, I trust you more than anyone else on the planet."" That start, though, is concerning me... ""I am but a young babe, fresh adult walking amongst older and wiser foes."" ...The fuck? ""You, however, are an experienced and strong fighter with quick wits and mad smarts. I can't find Evren's weakness, but if you watch her, you might. And with that, you could be the coach that felled the Commander of Space! Legendary!" Oh, I could also play an mp3 of a crowd cheering in the background." ...Maybe I overestimated him. He's finally lost his mind.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure Nevaeh's not an idiot. She'd know I'm trying to pull something on her. She's set on watching my every move so she can give me her feedback later. She says it's to make me stronger, a better fighter, but I'm pretty sure it's half an excuse to nag me. Also, "young babe?" Are you sleep-deprived?"

"Appeal to her ego and you'll succeed. Besides, you're not tricking her. You're just asking. I'm pretty sure competitors ask their coaches to watch their rivals all the time," he answers. "As for sleep-deprived, totally. I'm always sleep-deprived. That's the engineer's struggle."

"When was the last time you went outside?" I ask, concerned. He's not answering. Oh, now he's looking away. God, how is he functioning? "Ok, intervention time. We're going outside," I say as I drop my ice pack and grab Lev by the arm. He's whining and resisting me. Really? He thinks he can win this strength contest?

"Jesus, Aika! Watch the laptop!" he trips over himself as I easily pull him up, "Ok! I'm going!"

Ah, it's nice and cool outside. I love fall weather. It's pretty calm today, which is a nice change. It's usually a little windy, and the colourful leaves spin around in whirls. Today they're just lined along the street, like someone artfully placed them there.

"I'll be so sad when all of this gets buried in two feet of snow," Lev groans as we take a walk around the crescent street he lives on.

"We still have some time," I say.

"Not really. November's already next week. Ugh, I need new snow boots..."

I laugh, but I completely sympathize. Fall never lasts long here.

"Hey, but before November 1st there's Halloween!" Lev says. He grabs a leaf from a low tree branch by the sidewalk. "The Haunt should be awesome this year; I heard Lillian's dressing up as some sort of plant person, from a video game or something?" He's putting his leaf on his head like a hat. I don't think that's what Lillian's going to be going for. "What are you going as?"

I honestly don't know. I usually just throw something random on (because they don't let non-costumed people through the haunted haystack maze, and that's my favourite event). I shrug. "Not sure, probably the same as last year. I didn't get that witch hat too dirty."

"That's boring!" Lev elongates his vowels and is shaking his head at me. I roll my eyes. "Honestly, do you ever not wear a shade of black? Halloween would be a great time to throw something with colour in there. Just sayin'."

I sigh. "Ok, then what are you going as?"

"That, my friend, will be a surprise."

His surprises are usually obscure references to some '80s TV shows whose original runtimes he wasn't even alive for, but I humour him. "I look forward to it."

"No need for the sarcasm, wow," he says. Maybe he should go as a drama queen; that would suit him. "Oh, but hey, since we're both officially adults now, they'll let us into the dance hall in the evening. That party's legendary; the best costumes are always there."

That's true, I hadn't thought about that. I guess I've been so busy with the NCC and non-stop hellish training sessions with Nevaeh that I forgot that I can go this year.

"I heard that most of the NCC competitors are going," Lev says. I spin my head around. "Oh-ho, that got your attention!" He laughs at me but I just go to smack him. "Ow! All right! So violent! Lillian is the one who told me. She's almost as avid an NCC-watcher as I am. Almost. Of course, I was the one who searched all the competitors' social medias to confirm their attendance."

"You internet-stalked them?"

"I researched them! It's not stalking if they keep all that stuff public, anyway. Anyway, I'll cut to the chase since you're getting scarily close to me right now and I don't want another broken hip. Justin and Emily are a confirmed go. Same with Gabriel. A couple of competitors aren't going because of injuries in Round One, but pretty much everyone who isn't too injured is."

I immediately wonder if Evren is among them, but then I mentally slap myself. Of course she's going, how could she be injured? She's unstoppable.

"Evren should be there, too, so that should be interesting." Sometimes I wonder if Lev can predict my thoughts. "Apparently her last fight was one of the fastest, ending in under fifteen seconds. She'll have a lot of fans asking her stuff..." Lev trails off, but I can tell from the tone of his voice that there's something more he wants to add.

"What are you planning, Lev?" I ask hesitantly. He just grins at me. Uh-oh.

"Well, I might have messaged her asking if we could meet up, since I'm a fan..."

"Ok..." I have a feeling that's not the whole story though. Lev keeps avoiding my eyes. "...And?"

"Well, uh, I might've used your name as a bit of leverage..."

Oh my God. "Lev!" I immediately round on him and panic. "Are you serious?!"

"Hey, chill! You just have to stand there while I interview her! Hey! Stop swatting at me, oh my God. Aika!"

I stop swatting and am now just standing in front of him on the sidewalk, glaring at him. It is so like Lev to pull something like this. I haven't even gotten time to study her and I'm already meeting her face to face. I am not even remotely prepared. What do you even say to a champion?

"Relax, she's nice!" Lev says, although he's still not looking directly at me. Yeah, he'd better be intimidated. I am not happy. "You might even make good friends!"

I groan. I feel like pulling my hair out. Evren is my competitor. The top of the top. She's on a whole other plane of existence. "Lev, she'll just think I'm boring. All I do is fight and train and sleep, and repeat."

"With that all-black witch getup, too, yeah, totally," he says. Not helping, Lev. "But," he finally looks me in the eye, "If you add a bit more flair, you might be able to impress her. And she could let you in on some good gossip. And secrets."

Lev can't possibly think that I'm going to fall for his buttering-them-up scheme. But I do admit that he has a point. This could be my chance to get to know the Commander of Space. Who ever gets a chance like this? Maybe she'd let me spar with her, or even come to watch one of her fights or training sessions... as a friend. Yeah... I think that that might work. I can see the mischievous twinkle in Lev's eyes but try to ignore it and sound nonchalant. "Maybe." His smile is even bigger now. Damn, I haven't fooled him at all.

"All right," he says excitedly. "Let's get planning!"