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His cell phone dinged from the side of his desk, Alrik's eyes glancing over for a brief second before returning to his current game. He'd been dropped into a competitive match and every second - every moment - was a chance that could make or break his rating.

The name Cass flashed across his phone and for a moment, his face twisted into a frown. He wanted to read what she had to say, but... but...

He was staring at his screen, Lucio skating by as he switched his character into heal-mode. Did he dare....

Swiping up the phone, he slid the screen open to see what message awaited him. Ah, jeez. He couldn't pass up a night like this, but at the same time...augh, no, he was being shot at!

Clicking the phone icon, he shoved the phone between his shoulder and cheek, fingers clicking away as he speed boosted his way out of a tank's swinging range. The phone tone rang once, twice, three times...

"C'mon, Cass, answer the phone," he muttered under his breath, inserting a curse as a Widowmaker's shot took him down to half health instantly. <******** class="quote">

“Hey, babe.”

Fingers clicked away as his mouse swiveled across the Call of Duty themed mousepad. The end of the round was nearing, his team’s control of the point slowly building up their percent. 95...96...97…

“Of course, Cassie, you know I do.”

Teeth chewed on his bottom lip as he right clicked, bumping a D.VA off the platform. “I'm healing right now, if you can keep me company for the next few minutes while I finish up, I'll let you choose what we do tonight.”

He could only hope that her desires matched up with his. Then again, just hanging out with a hottie who wanted him around was heaven on Earth, itself.

The counter hit 100% and the screen went blue. Thirty seconds until the second round would begin. Leaning back in his chair, he used his now free hand to hold the phone closer to his ear.

“So what's on your mind, babe? You know, besides yours truly.”

Across the screen, the Reaper was busy having an emote battle with the Junkrat, who was busy dancing around atop his oversized tire. The countdown to the second round was beginning, but his mind was everywhere else but in the game.

"Like I'd tell you if I lost," he scoffed, rolling his eyes as a grin spread across his face. It was always obvious when Alrik was losing a match - he had a very difficult time, suppressing his anger at his failing teammates. "For all you know, I'm the best there is. Tellin' you though, Cassie, I bet we'd be an invincible duo if you'd just caved in and became my pocket healer."

The match started and he leaned forward, returning his phone to cradle against the side of his face as he speed boosted the group forward, the majority heading for the disputed platform while Hanzo scaled up for a lookout perch.

Her words had to playback in his head, the suggestion bringing a sour look across his face. "I don't dance, but I'll take you. Does watching count for dancing? Because I could watch you dance for hours, babe."

Words came easy when his focus was split - there wasn't time to consider how he was flirting (or that he was even flirting to begin with), not when he was trying to stay out of the enemy's line of sight while he swapped his boosting over to heal mode. "Did you have a place in mind?"

He appreciated her sass, the only thing breaking his grin being the large hammer coming down on his poor little Lucio's head. It hadn't mattered that he'd pressed E only moments before - another swing of the tank's hammer and he was dusted. Biting his lip, he swallowed the curse word on the tip of his tongue - last thing he needed was to give her more fodder for teasing.

So while he waited the respawn timer, his attention returned to the rustling on the other end of the call. Another soft static noise, then her voice grew distant.

"Who's on speakerphone now, huh?"

The thought of her dancing the night away in another man's arms right in front of him was about as appealing as getting a tooth pulled. He made a face, pushing his newly spawned character back into the game as he snorted. He'd dance - he wouldn't be any good at it, but he'd dance.

Suddenly, his eighteen year old mind created its own question.

"Wait - why are you on speakerphone? What are you doing?"

He swallowed hard, his focus quickly transitioning from the screen in front of him to the phone nestled next to his ear.

“You're changing?”

The question was redundant - she'd said she was changing, so of course she was changing. Everyone changed into nicer clothing when they went out. Hell, he had intended to change his own shirt before leaving the house to spend time with her. But the mere thought of Cass standing there in nothing but her underwear (or even less than that!) had him fidgeting in his chair.

On the screen, his teammates were already making snide comments over the fact he'd left his speed boost on. Rookie move, even Alrik knew. But thoughts of curvy hips shimmying into a skirt or cut offs….

“Whatcha wearing, angel?”

His voice was getting dry, the concern for his rating evaporating. The second round had been sorely and quickly lost to the other team, but the blonde Rey was shutting down the program entirely within the next few moments without a second thought.

“You know what - I'll find out myself. Wanna meet up or do you want me to stop by and pick you up first?”

Rising from his chair, he tugged off his shirt and dug out a cleaner, neatly pressed one to replace the dingy one he'd been lounging around.

“I'm ready when you are, baby.”

That was all the encouragement that he needed.

Alrik knew it was reckless to waste his energy, especially if dancing was on the schedule for the night. So as much as he wanted to quick-change his way into his Captain form and teleport the distance it took to get to Cass's place, he sucked up the unfortunate fate also known as taking the public bus to travel the fifteen minute journey up the steps to her apartment complex.

There wasn't any way under the bright, blazing sun that he was willing to take a chance of letting her get scooped up by a handsome, probably richer stranger who'd probably be a better dancer anyhow than he was.

The phone conversation had been cut off to aid the young man in gathering the rest of himself together and fling himself out the front door. He'd shot a text to her when he'd made it onto the bus, but he was saving his grand entrance for the series of knocks he hammered out on her front door.

"Got a player one out here lookin' for a player two," he called out, still brave and cocky with the large door providing a barrier distancing him from the beautiful face of one Cassadega Bright, "Know anyone interested in playing?"

It took him a moment to recover from the sight of Cass in her street clothes (or would it be club clothes - either way, they were hot), her hand a welcomed distraction as he glanced down to watch her press a finger against him. He swallowed hard at the sight of her; how had he managed to win over the attention of a cute little number like her, again??

"Well the lady I'm seeing happens to want something that involves a little dancing." One hand fell into his pocket while the other extended out in offering towards her. "I'm not much of a dancer, but I hear it's dangerous to go alone, so figured she might as well take me with her."

A simple shoulder shrug and a grin followed his pun as he lingered in the doorway. "We can always play everything else by ear, unless you had something particular in mind, babe?"