There's a casual kind of intimacy to sharing that drink. An inherent trust to the act. A level of closeness. Maine acknowledges it with the same sort of pride he feels when he's watching Carolina's six.

He didn't claw his way to number three just to be near Carolina. But being on the same team as her is an undeniable perk. And he knows in his heart that Project Freelancer wouldn't be the same without her as number one.

He shrugs at the question. She's right: there had been plenty of people eager to take him down a peg. He'd flattened them all. "When you need a refill," he says with a twitch of a smirk. Then he'll go kick someone else's ass and get another drink for her.

He sobers a little after that, though, reminded of other challenges. "People keep wanting to spar," he says. "Magically."

Which he knows he's not ready to do. And oh, how that pricks his pride.