Chapter 58: Behind the Smile

Chapter 58 — Behind the Smile

The endurance-trial pairings went up on the academy board just after breakfast, and Roxanne scanned the list twice before finding her name. Paired with a student named Fenn from a pack she barely knew, someone capable enough by reputation but a stranger to her all the same.

Liam found her a moment later, peering over her shoulder at the board.

"Unbelievable," he said, scanning down to his own name. "They paired me with Marcus. Marcus talks about hiking gear for fun. Actual fun."

"You’ll survive," Roxanne said.

"I’m deeply offended you weren’t allowed to choose me," Liam said, clutching his chest dramatically. "Truly wounded."

Roxanne laughed, but something in the exaggerated performance of it struck her as slightly too loud, slightly too eager to move past whatever had actually landed underneath the joke. She didn’t press it. Not yet.

The trial began that morning, teams released into the woodland stretching beyond the academy’s main grounds, tasked with navigating a series of checkpoints while carrying supplies, solving a strategy puzzle at the midpoint, and finishing with a physical obstacle course near the end.

Fenn turned out to be competent but stubborn, constantly trying to steer their decisions without much interest in Roxanne’s input. She had to learn, more than once that morning, how to compromise instead of simply falling back on the easy rhythm she’d built with the Moonstones over the past weeks. It was harder than she expected. But by the time they reached the second checkpoint, they’d found something workable between them.

Across the woods, Liam’s team was falling behind, and not because Liam lacked the skill. Roxanne caught glimpses of him at a distance, taking on far more of the physical load than necessary, carrying supplies meant to be split three ways, running ahead to scout routes alone instead of letting his team contribute.

At the rest checkpoint, she found him sitting slightly apart from his teammates, quieter than she’d ever seen him.

"You okay?" she asked, dropping down beside him.

"Never better," he said, flashing his usual grin. "Marcus wants to discuss tent poles. I’m having the time of my life."

She didn’t laugh.

Liam’s grin faltered slightly under the silence.

"I’m serious," Roxanne said. "You seem off."

He was quiet for a moment, picking at the strap of his bag. "Everyone expects me to be the easy one," he said finally. "The funny brother. The one who doesn’t take anything too seriously." He shrugged, though it looked forced. "Sometimes I think if I stop joking, people won’t know what to do with me."

Roxanne didn’t try to fix it. "You don’t have to entertain me."

Liam looked at her, something flickering behind his eyes that he clearly hadn’t expected to feel from a simple sentence.

The trial resumed shortly after, and disaster struck without warning near the midpoint course. Another team accidentally triggered a mechanism meant to reset one of the obstacle bridges, and a section of the walkway collapsed, stranding several students on the far side with no safe route back across.

The instructors called for everyone to hold their positions and wait for assistance.

Liam ignored them entirely.

He was already moving toward the collapsed section before Roxanne fully registered what was happening, his usual grin completely gone, replaced by something focused and steady she hadn’t seen from him before. She followed without hesitation.

He reached the stranded students first, calling out calm instructions, guiding one visibly panicked girl across a narrow remaining section of the bridge with careful, deliberate movements. He got her safely to solid ground, then turned immediately and went back for another.

Roxanne watched him work, something shifting in her understanding of him with every trip he made. This wasn’t the version of Liam who cracked jokes to fill silence. This was someone protective, competent, entirely present, and she realized, watching him, that his humor wasn’t a mask for not caring.

It was because he cared more than he knew how to show any other way.

Their two teams merged into one effort by necessity, Liam trusting Roxanne to scout the safest remaining path while she trusted him to physically get people across the unstable sections. They moved together with an efficiency that surprised her, falling into sync without needing to discuss it first.

Halfway through helping the last stranded student, Roxanne’s foot slipped on a loose plank, and she pitched sideways with a sharp gasp.

Liam caught her arm before she could fall, steadying her instantly.

"You hurt?" he asked, no trace of humor in his voice at all, just immediate concern.

"I’m fine," she said, catching her breath.

Only once he’d confirmed she was steady did the grin creep back onto his face. "Good. Because that would’ve been embarrassing for you."

She laughed, shoving his shoulder lightly, and the contrast between the two versions of him, the steady rescuer and the teasing brother, settled into something she found herself thinking about long after the moment passed.

The academy awarded bonus points to every student who’d assisted during the emergency, and Liam brushed it off entirely when it was mentioned later.

"Wasn’t a big deal," he said.

Roxanne wasn’t willing to let it go that easily. "I saw you out there. When you weren’t joking."

Liam’s easy expression flickered. "Don’t tell anyone."

"Your secret’s safe," she said, smiling.

He studied her for a moment, something unguarded passing behind his eyes. "I like you better when you’re not trying to figure me out."

"Too bad," Roxanne said. "You’re interesting."

That landed somewhere he clearly hadn’t expected it to, his usual quick response taking a beat longer to arrive than it normally did.

That evening, Liam found her outside the dorm, holding out her favorite drink without any preamble.

"Is this another bet?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," he said.

She waited for the punchline that usually followed.

"Just because I wanted to," he said instead.

She took the drink, watching him for a moment before he turned to leave. He made it a few steps before stopping and glancing back at her.

"Hey, Rox?"

She looked at him, waiting.

For once, he didn’t have a joke ready. His expression was quieter than she’d ever seen it, stripped of the usual performance he wore like armor.

"Thanks for seeing me," he said.

Then he walked away before she could find anything to say in response, leaving her standing there with the drink cooling in her hand and the unfamiliar weight of what he’d just admitted settling somewhere she hadn’t expected it to land.