Hudson curled his hands into fists under the table. “I’m fine.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“And you’re an asshole.”
Shaw’s mouth curved. “So we’ve established. What are we going to do about it?”
“About you being an asshole?”
“About this.” Shaw gestured vaguely between them. “Because we both know it’s not going away.”
They were actually doing this. Right here, in the middle of a training exercise, surrounded by other people who could theoretically overhear if they paid attention.
“I don’t know what you want me to say,” Hudson said.
"I want you to stop pretending."
The words hit like a punch. Hudson stared at Shaw, mouth agape.
"Okay," Hudson heard himself say. "Hypothetically. If we were going to... do this again. What would that even look like?"
Shaw smiled. "Hypothetically?"
"Yeah. For the sake of the exercise." Hudson motioned at the negotiation scenario between them. "We're supposed to be practicing negotiation, right?"
"Right." Shaw leaned forward, amusement clear in his eyes. "So. Hypothetically. Party A—let's call him H—wants something. Party B—we'll call him S—also wants something. They need to establish terms."
"Terms," Hudson repeated.
"Ground rules. Parameters. The things that make this work for both parties."
A smile tugged at Hudson’s mouth. "Okay. So. Hypothetically. What does Party S want?"
Shaw held his gaze. He was quiet for a long moment—long enough that Hudson could see him work through some internal argument he wasn’t winning. When he finally spoke, it sounded like it took considerable effort. "Party S wants Party H to stop overthinking everything and admit he wants this too."
"That's not a negotiation term."
"Fine." Shaw tapped his pen against the paper. "Party S wants... discretion. No one can know. This stays between H and S."
Hudson nodded slowly. Made sense. Smart. "What else?"
"No complications. This is physical. Nothing more."
Physical worked. Physical didn't require him to figure out what the hell any of this meant. "Okay. And it ends when Selection ends. When we finish, this stops."
Shaw nodded. "Agreed. What else does Party H need?"
Hudson thought about it. About what he actually needed to make this work without completely losing his mind.
"No questions," he said finally. "About... labels or whatever. I'm not ready to—I don't know what this means. And I don't want to talk about it."
"Fair. No labels. No pressure. Just… this."
"This," Hudson echoed.
They stared at each other, the negotiation scenario forgotten between them. Around the room, other pairs were deep in their tactics, sketching plans, debating approaches. Hudson glanced around and caught Briggs watching them intently. His stomach lurched.
"So," Shaw said, dragging Hudson’s attention back. "Are we doing this or not?"
