The door burst open barely a minute later. I shot upright, thinking Aurora had returned, but it was Mera and Cheon, both loaded down with shopping bags.

"Where is she?" Mera demanded, dropping her bags and scanning the apartment. "Did you sleep with her? In our bed?"

"Hello to you too," I said dryly. "And no, I did not sleep with Aurora. She just left."

Cheon set her bags down more carefully. "What happened? Did she see the news?"

"Yeah. Front row seat to my superhero debut."

Mera flopped onto the couch beside me, her tail curling around my wrist. "So what did she do? Report you? Threaten you? Kiss you?"

I said nothing, but my face must have given me away because Mera’s eyes widened.

"She kissed you?" She sounded delighted rather than angry, which continued to amaze me about Mera. "Our little goody-two-shoes Aurora kissed you while her boyfriend was off doing whatever boring hero stuff he does?"

"She’s not actually dating Nolan," I clarified. "At least, not officially."

"Semantics," Mera waved a dismissive hand. "The point is she kissed you, which means she wants you, which means you’re one step closer to completing your weird harem quest."

Cheon, who had been listening silently, finally spoke. "Was it a goodbye kiss or a hello kiss?"

I looked at her. "What’s the difference?"

"A goodbye kiss is final. A hello kiss is a beginning." Cheon’s expression was thoughtful. "Given that she’s gone, I’m guessing goodbye."

"She called us friends," I said. "After she kissed me."

Mera burst out laughing. "Oh, that’s rich. Friends? After what I saw between you two yesterday?"

"What did you see?" Cheon asked sharply.

"When I met with her and Nolan about strategy," Mera explained. "She couldn’t keep her eyes off Rome’s neck marks. And she got all flustered when I mentioned Rome might find her attractive."

Cheon turned to me. "So she kissed you, then friend-zoned you, then left?"

"Basically."

"That’s actually a good sign," Cheon said, surprising me. "It means she’s conflicted. She’s attracted to you but feels guilty about it."

"That’s what I said!"

"Did she say she’d see you again?" Cheon pressed.

"She said ’friends for now.’"

Mera grinned. "Oh, she’ll be back. No one kisses like that and just walks away forever."

"How do you know how she kissed?" I asked.

"Your face." She patted my cheek. "You look like someone hit you with a truck and you enjoyed it."

"That’s approximately how it felt," I admitted.

Cheon sat on my other side, leaning against my shoulder. "So, to summarize: Aurora saw you on the news using multiple unregistered abilities, came over for ’answers,’ ended up kissing you, then left calling you friends."

"That covers it."

"And while all this was happening," Mera added, "you were basically outed as a vigilante on Channel Seven."

"Also correct."

"Your life is very complicated," Cheon observed.

I laughed, wrapping an arm around each of them. "You have no idea."

Mera nuzzled my neck. "At least the complicated parts come with benefits."

"Speaking of benefits," Cheon said, her voice taking on a more serious tone. "We should talk about what we’re going to do about the news coverage."

"I was thinking denial," I suggested. "It wasn’t me, I have no idea who that is, must be someone who looks similar."

"With white hair and heterochromia?" Cheon raised an eyebrow. "That’s not exactly common."

"Hair dye exists. So do contacts."

"And the stretching?" Mera added. "And the portals that look exactly like mine?"

I sighed. "Fine. What do you suggest?"

"Own it," Mera said immediately. "Say yes, it was you, and you were protecting innocent civilians when heroes weren’t available."

"That’s illegal," Cheon pointed out. "Unregistered ability use in public."

"Not if his abilities are registered," Mera countered. "Which they technically are now, as of yesterday."

Cheon nodded slowly. "That could work. We frame it as a good Samaritan act by a registered adaptive-type. The timing is suspicious, but not definitively damning."

"Plus," Mera added with a grin, "the PR would be great. Rome D’Angelo, billionaire heir and hero-in-training, saves convenience store from armed robbery."

"My father would hate it," I said, considering the idea. "Which is almost reason enough to do it."

"The NEA might want to re-test you," Cheon warned. "To verify your adaptive-type status."

"Let them." I shrugged. "By the time they schedule it, I’ll have figured something out."

My phone rang again. This time it was an unknown number, but the area code was local.

"Hello?" I answered cautiously.

"Rome D’Angelo?" A woman’s professional voice.

"Speaking."

"This is Miranda Chen from Channel Seven News. We’d like to invite you for an exclusive interview regarding this morning’s incident at Saito Market."

Well, that was fast.

"I’m afraid you have the wrong person," I said smoothly. "I wasn’t at Saito Market this morning."

"Mr. D’Angelo, we have multiple eyewitnesses and security footage—"

"Must be someone who looks like me," I cut her off. "Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m in the middle of something important."

I hung up before she could respond, then turned my phone off completely.

"News vultures already circling," I told Mera and Cheon.

"You could do the interview," Mera suggested. "Get ahead of the story."

"Or I could ignore it and hope it goes away."

"That never works," Cheon said with certainty.

"Maybe not," I agreed. "But right now I’ve got bigger problems."

"Like what?" Mera asked.

"Like figuring out what the hell I’m going to do about Aurora Fitzgerald, who apparently likes to play ’just friends’ after sticking her tongue down my throat."

Mera laughed. "I think you already know what you’re going to do."

"Enlighten me."

"You’re going to keep pushing until she breaks." Mera’s eyes gleamed. "Because that’s what you do. You find the cracks in people’s armor and work your way in."

"That sounds manipulative when you say it like that."

"Is she wrong, though?" Cheon asked quietly.

I looked between them—Mera with her knowing smirk and Cheon with her thoughtful gaze. Both women who had started as marks for my quest and somehow become something more.

"No," I admitted. "She’s not wrong."

Aurora’s face flashed in my mind—the way she’d looked right after kissing me, her eyes wide with something between wonder and fear. The way she’d said "friends for now," like she was already planning to change the terms later.

The taste of her Essentia, wild and electric, nothing like her controlled exterior.

"So what’s the plan?" Mera asked, tail swishing with interest.

I grinned. "I’m going to be the best damn friend Aurora Fitzgerald has ever had."

"Until?" Cheon prompted.

"Until she realizes she wants more."