Max

Convincing Sang

Kota cringed at the loud beeping coming from his phone. The alarm woke him after five and a half hours of sleep. That was the most sleep he had managed to grab all week, but his body protested. That wasn't enough rest.

Sleep was never high on his priority list. Sleep was currently #7. Kota had to wake up and take care of priority #3: preparedness, and #2: mission. Kota had to drive out to Charleston proper and pick up a crate of peripheral surveillance supplies: six spools of data wire, two dozen bracket kits, and three boxes of 200 count screws. This was a special delivery, because the type of brackets were specialized. The order could easily be searched up, and the paper trail traced. So Academy overkill procedure had the lot go through various proxies and holds until the trail went dead.

Luckily, he could also fulfil a favor for another team in the area and pickup another package that was going through a similar trail of being lost before it got to where it needed to go. The contents weren't his business. He just needed to stash the box in the back of the walk-in cooler at Bob's Diner. Luke, North, and any of his other brothers could keep tabs on the parcel for two weeks until someone else came to pick it up to take it to its next destination. Kota wouldn't know who to release the package to until the day of the exchange. Mr. Blackbourne would not release that intel any sooner.

Kota reached over to grab his phone and stop the alarm. His blurry vision saw a blob of blonde hair on a body lying on the floor and tucked up against the bed frame. Kota lay back down with his phone in hand, green eyes blinking unfocused at his bedroom ceiling.

Through a yawn, he mentally went down the checklist of his Academy family.

One...himself, who was home and just waking up.

Two, Nathan. He was in his home, sleeping, based on his last check in late last night.

Three, Victor. Probably pulling an all-nighter at his dragon desk to complete some other Academy work for another team. He really needed the favors.

Four, Luke. His last check in was at Nathan's where he was spending the night along with Sang.

Five: Gabriel. Sleeping at his home. Pam was spending the night away at her current boyfriend's place. There was no need to worry about him.

Six was North, and he was on the overnight stakeout job. He took over Kota's shift earlier in the night, watching the house of some Academy adoptee to see if the fourteen year old daughter was sneaking out as her parents slept.

Seven. Silas. Home with his father, Charlie.

Eight. Dr. Green got off his hospital shift sometime while Kota was sleeping. Kota assumed he went straight to his condo for sleep.

Nine. Mr. Blackbourne. Out doing whatever Mr. Blackbourne does.

Ten. Sang. Sleeping comfortably in the company of Nathan and Luke.

Then why was Luke on Kota's bedroom floor? Luke knew he could at least pull out the trundle bed and sleep there. Luke was odd.

"Luke," Kota grunted in a scratchy voice. The teen figured he was so tired, he slept with his mouth wide open and snoring again. He coughed lightly and swallowed several times to warm his throat up as he swung his pillow around to chuck it at his friend. "Luke! Why are you here?"

The blonde grunted from the pillow attack and rolled over to lie flat on his back. He was stark naked. Kota made a mental note to counsel Luke about nudity while in the company of others, then briefly wondered if his friend managed to lose a bet or a dare. That would explain his state and presence in his bedroom.