Jove lent his time to the fishing effort after dinner. He sat on the couch in the common room with a long length of monofilament rope, disassembling it down to the strand. Boring, but in a productive way that made the task feel like a step forward.
"Pass me some of that." Eve plopped down on the couch next to him, wearing a loose t-shirt and shorts.
"You want to help?" He gave her a length, but felt an odd rise of wariness.
"Sure," she said. "The sooner you're done, the sooner you're free for a vertimon battle."
"See, I knew you had an ulterior motive."
"Ulterior motives are the best kind of motive."
They shared a moment of interesting eye contact. Jove remembered how he teased her about what the reward might be if he managed to beat her, their banter even veering into the possibility of sexual favors.
He was surprised by how little had changed between them since their intense night of sharing a sleeping bag. In a sense, they hadn't really done anything except grind and grope. In another sense, they'd tested the waters, found them warm and inviting, and were overdue another swim.
"How's your knee feeling?" he asked.
She narrowed her eyes at him and pressed a finger against her lips. He couldn't help but laugh.
"God, you're so paranoid," he said. "What? You think Mom is listening with spy cameras?"
"I wouldn't put it past Andromeda to pass my secrets on to her," said Eve.
Jove glanced up at the intercom, half expecting the AI to chime in with a denial. He shrugged and kept going with the rope. It was a time consuming and delicate process of unwinding.
"How are things with Aster?" asked Eve.
Jove hesitated, feeling his paranoia mirroring her earlier reaction. "She's fine."
"I know she's fine. I'm asking how you and her are."
"Why do you want to know?" he asked.
"Why don't you want to tell me?"
She sounded genuinely curious, but Jove sensed if not heard something more in her question. Not jealousy, but interest, the way a neighbor might enquire about an unexpected visitor. That was more like Eve.
Or was it jealousy? Jove didn't know if his old assumptions about his sister were still valid in the new world they lived in. He looked at her for a second or two, and the flipside of the question suddenly came into view.
"We hung out earlier in her room," he said.
"Sounds like fun," said Eve.
"I could stop by your room sometime," he said.
Eve let out a little laugh, but furrowed her brow as though considering it. "Oh? And just what would such a visit entail?"
"You know…" He pulled the last two monofilaments of the rope apart and set them aside. "Discuss survival tactics."
He slid a little closer to her on the couch. Eve tossed her own rope aside, though she hadn't made much progress in breaking it down. She rolled her eyes and looked away from him.
"I don't know," said Eve. "This is so weird. Would you just shut up and play video games with me?"
"Yeah, sure." He pulled back immediately, even though the vibe was practically begging him to push a little more, see if he could break through the seemingly thin ice.
Jove had, in fact, spent most of the past few days doing nothing but play vertimon. It had been a distraction for him from his own guilt, insufficient to keep him from rifling through the wallet as many times as he had, but enough to occupy him in slightly less dark moments.
He found Eve in-game just outside the city whose gym leader they were both stuck on. She'd changed her in-game outfit, adding a pink visor to her otherwise lime-green ensemble that would have looked just as cute on her in real life.
"Ready?" asked Jove.
"Ready."
The familiar upbeat jingle played as the screen flashed and devolved into a turn-based vertimon battle. Jove was pleasantly surprised when his highest-level monster was able to weather Eve's first attack and retaliate.
He smiled as, for the first time ever, he managed to eke out a win. He glanced up from his phone at Eve, but stopped short of gloating. Her mouth was fixed into a thin line, eyes narrowed.
"Rematch," she said. "You wouldn't have won if you hadn't gotten that critical hit."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," he said.
"I want a fucking rematch," growled Eve.
"You just can't handle losing at anything, can you?" he said. "I feel sorry for your old ski buddies."
Eve's eye twitched in a weird way, and he wished he could take the comment back. He gave her the rematch, at the very least. It was far closer, but the impact of Jove's multiday leveling spree was too much for her to overcome.
"That move is so fucking stupid," muttered Eve, afterward.
"It's just a move," said Jove. "Relax and take the L, dear sister."
"One more," said Eve.
"No. I didn't agree to play you over and over until you won. Ask me again tomorrow."
"Oh, I get it." Eve's tone had an icy edge to it. "You have to savor one of the few victories over me you'll ever get."
Jove tried to brush the comment off, but it jabbed a little too close to scar tissue that used to coat his relationship with Eve. "Fuck off. Don't be a sore loser just because you lost to your little brother."
"I won't if you give me a fucking rematch!"
"Were you like this back when you lost in your cross-country ski races?" he asked. "Give me a rematch give me a rematch."
Eve scoffed. "You're really going to try to pocket your victory and run away? I guess you do still have a chip on your shoulder when it comes to comparing yourself to me in life."
Jove gritted his teeth, anger rising out of step with the situation. "A chip on my shoulder? More like a criminal record, all due to you ratting me out and having me arrested."
Eve rolled her eyes. "Here we go again…"
"Yeah, here we go again!" he snapped. "You never apologized! Still, to this day, you have never apologized! You expect me to just forget about that?"
"Ah, yes. I'm sure a single mark on your criminal record will be what stops you from finding gainful employment now that the world has ended."
"It's not about the criminal record!" he snapped.
"Then why'd you bring it up?"
"Why won't you apologize?"
"Because I'm not sorry."
The words seemed to hang in the air, a reincarnation of her original betrayal. Jove shook his head and stormed out of the common room, suddenly disgusted by the sight of her.
He almost ran straight into his mother, who apparently had been listening in.
"The two of you were getting along so well," she said, with a sigh.
"Not my fault," he said. "She's being a bitch."
"Fuck you, Jove!" Eve shouted after him.