BANG. BANG.
Maximilian burst into the room like a storm, wild-eyed and panting, a sleek black pistol clutched tight in his hand.
Leonardo flinched. "What the hell took you so long?!"
Maximilian didn’t even look at him. "My dad changed the code on the locker. Took a while to guess it."
Xavier didn’t flinch. Didn’t move.
Maximilian raised the gun, aid it right at Xavier’s face, and fired.
But Xavier’s head tilted a split-second before the trigger even clicked.
The bullet whizzed past, cracking into the wall behind him.
Leonardo dove for cover. "Holy shit—!"
Xavier stood up slowly, dusting off invisible dirt from his shoulder, the lenses of his glasses flickering faint blue, drawing a clean arc midair — the bullet’s path, traced before it even fired. Like he’d already seen it happen.
"You really shouldn’t be playing with guns if you don’t know how to shoot," he said, cocking his head.
Bang!
Another shot. Another miss. Xavier sidestepped casually, like he was dodging a fucking mosquito.
Maximilian growled, "I’m a gold dallist in precision shooting, you bastard!"
"Yeah?" Xavier cracked his neck, unbothered. "Looks more like you bought that dal with your daddy’s money. That, or the targets stood still and begged to die."
Before Max could fire again, the house system chid — a shrill ding that echoed through the room.
[Incoming call from: Dominic Hart.]
Xavier’s smirk widened. "Answer it."
The ceiling unit blinked and Dominic’s holo burst to life in the middle of the room — life-sized, fully uniford, and already yelling his lungs out.
"Maximilian! What the hell do you think you’re doing?! I’ve got patrol units sending footage of you crashing signals, running reds, nearly mowing down half the city! What the hell’s gotten into you?!"
Maximilian didn’t flinch. "I don’t have ti for this! I’m going to kill Xavier!"
That shut Dominic up for a second. His virtual head snapped in confusion.
"What the hell did you just say?"
"Dom," Xavier called out lazily, still holding the cup of coffee in one hand as he leaned on the counter. "You look a bit buffed up in the holo. We were just talking about you."
Dominic turned, eyes narrowing as he finally saw Xavier, alive and standing, sipping on sothing that definitely slled better than the bullshit Max had been brewing all day.
"What the hell are you doing there?!"
"Just hanging out," Xavier said, raising the mug. "I ca here with his girlfriend to have so fun. Thought I’d catch up with the studies since he is suspended. But then he pulled a gun. Rude, right? You know what would happen if sothing were to happen to , don’t you?"
Dominic’s face twisted. "Don’t even joke about that."
Bang!
Another shot. Another clean dodge. Xavier barely even blinked.
Dominic lost it. "Maximilian, STOP! Put that gun down, right now! Don’t do sothing stupid! Don’t touch Xavier. I swear to God—"
"I have to kill him!" Max shouted back. "Scold , beat , ground or take away my pocket money. I don’t give a fuck! But I’m gonna fucking kill him!"
Dominic’s holo glitched as he stepped closer, his voice like thunder now. "Don’t touch him! Not even a scratch! I’m on my way back. You so much as graze him, and you’ll wish you had a family. I will kick you out of my house!"
The hologram cut off.
Silence followed, broken only by the quiet slurp of Xavier taking another sip.
He wandered back to the couch, dropped onto it like he owned the damn place, and sighed.
"This is actually good coffee," he muttered. "Yo, Max... what brand is this?"
Maximilian’s hand trembled, gun pointed, finger twitching on the trigger. His jaw clenched so tight it looked like it might snap off. But he didn’t fire.
Leonardo stepped in, hand on Max’s arm. "Co on, man. You heard your dad. Don’t be dumb."
"He’s right here..." Max growled, voice low, boiling. "He’s right fucking here..."
"And he’s not going anywhere," Leo added. "Just wait. Your dad will handle it."
Max’s eye twitched.
Xavier took another long sip, eyes still on the ceiling.
"Yeah," he said, lips curving slightly. "Let Daddy co."
Xavier drained the last sip of his coffee, set the mug down on the table, and reached for the remote. The TV flickered on as he flicked through channels like it was his own house.
Nothing good.
He leaned back with a bored groan. "Tch. What’s taking Dominic so long?" he muttered, eyes still on the screen. "You think he’d teleport or sothing."
Neither Max nor Leonardo said a word.
Xavier tossed the remote aside. "Hey, Max. You got any gas or sothing? The VR set in your room was still running. I turned it off."
He paused, then added with a lazy grin, "Also wiped the cloud. Data’s gone. All your saves, records... poof."
Maximilian’s hand tightened around the gun, knuckles pale. But he held himself back, barely.
’Hah... he fears Dominic more than he hates ,’ Xavier thought to himself. ’Good to know.’
He yawned, stretched his arms. "So what should I do till Daddy Hart gets ho, hmm?" His eyes drifted upstairs. "Maybe I should go wake Cindy up and fuck her again. I an, I’m recharged now. Got at least one more round in ."
The gun clicked.
Maximilian had raised it again, eyes burning with fury. But Leonardo caught his arm just in ti and pulled it down.
"Don’t," Leo warned quietly. "Don’t give him what he wants."
Xavier clicked his tongue. "Tch. This is boring now."
He took out his phone and unlocked it casually.
"Maybe I’ll just send the videos to Lucas and Ethan instead," he said, as if he were deciding whether to order pizza.
Maximilian snapped. "Don’t you fucking dare!"
Xavier blinked, then tilted his head. "Why not? They’ll love it. Their expressions when they see your girlfriend choking on ?" He grinned. "Chef’s kiss."
"Don’t... please..."
"Then shoot ."
Maximilian froze.
Xavier stood up, walking a few steps closer. "Go ahead. You want to stop , don’t you? Shoot. Kill . Or those videos are going out."
Leonardo looked at Max in panic. "He’s bluffing. He doesn’t have a—"
"I’m not bluffing," Xavier cut in. "I set a tid send. One minute. Countdown’s already on."
Maximilian’s breath caught.
"Destroying my phone won’t work either. Tir’s cloud-synced. Kill ? Link goes out. Smash the phone? Link goes out. You only have one option left."
"...What?" Max asked, voice small.
Xavier’s grin returned, wicked and quiet.
"You want to stop the upload?" he said slowly. "Then shoot Leonardo."
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