La Luna (BoyxBoy)

The Question Game

La Luna's dining hall was a mix between a cafeteria and a hotel buffet. Several large round tables were scattered through the huge room, each able to seat at least eight people. Along the sides of the room sat trays of hot foods, soups, salads and everything in between.

As the pair began to grab their trays, Gear noticed a young dark-haired man waving from the corner of his eye. "A friend of yours?" he asked Cyl, gesturing with his head toward the table.

Cyl looked up from the selection of roast vegetables. "Oh, um..sort of?" He mumbled, offering an awkward wave in return. "His name's Mika. We chatted a little on our first day."

Gear watched as another pair went to sit with Mika and his partner. "It looks like they're saving seats for us."

"Seriously?" Cyl looked up again and sighed. Gear got the feeling he'd wanted to quickly grab food and head back up to their room.

"Come on," Gear coaxed, wrapping an arm around Cyl's waist and guiding him to the table. "Let's get along with our colleagues. Introduce me."

Mika beamed as the pair approached, his baby blue eyes glinting happily. "Hi, Cyl!" he chirped. "You got your partner today too?"

Cyl nodded slowly as they sat, eyeing the man next to Mika. Dirty blond hair fell into his fox-like features, and his thin neck gave the impression that he was probably quite lean under his white oversized sweatshirt.

"This is Kah," Mika began, and the skinny man smiled and nodded politely. "And then we have Shin and Zu. We're all on the third floor together."

Zu was a large man with soft platinum blond hair and indigo eyes. Cyl recognised him from the second group of Hearts he'd met on his first day from the mean look in his eyes.

"Sorry about the resting bitch face," the brunette beside him, Shin, apologised with a smile, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "He can't help it, but he's a sweetheart underneath."

Cyl wasn't convinced.

"I'm Gear and this is Cyl, as you know," his partner chuckled. "Lots of Heart-Spade combos, huh?"

"You have no idea," Mika grinned excitedly. "Counting you guys, there's ten new couples to come out of today alone!"

"We'll probably see similar numbers from Diamond-Club pairs," Shin added enthusiastically. "Isn't it fascinating? Why do you think he's done it?"

"Who?" Cyl asked.

"Satzki, of course!" Mika answered, hushing his voice to a whisper. "Do you know how many same-suit couples there are so far?"

Cyl shook his head.

"Spades had three," Shin explained, now also whispering.

"And Hearts have two," Mika finished for him. "Do you know who they were?"

Again, Cyl shook his head.

"Remember Honey and Bunny? The two guys we were all convinced were brothers or cousins or something? It was them. Them and their partners are the only two Heart-only combos. There has to be a reason for that!"

Cyl and Gear glanced at each other, unsure what kind of conspiracy theory discussion they'd gotten themselves into.

"Personally, I think he's trying to sell them off together," Mika muttered. "It's all about selling fantasies here, right? Surely there's a few guys out there who want the 'share a pair twins' threesome."

"Or maybe it's like a social experiment," Shin added. "They're the control and we're test subjects for some jaded compatibility hypothesis."

"Or," Zu interrupted gruffly, clearly annoyed by the conversation. "A little blond Heart who has had nothing but Heart experiences is a popular request and he wants to be able to provide one on each night?"