“Why did you drag us here?” Talon asked. “Are you just trying to show off?”

“No, it’s a team event. I thought if we combined all of our knowledge, we could win,” Aria replied. “The prize is a bar T-shirt and bragging rights.”

“Wait. I gave up my first night alone with Emerson all week so that you could win a T-shirt?”

“We’d all get T-shirts, Tal,” Aria said and turned toward her girlfriend, who was sitting at the other table. “But I’m really in it for the bragging rights.”

“This is a turn-on for you, isn’t it: competing against London?” Ellie suggested before she took a sip of her drink.

“Oh, yeah,” Aria answered.

On their side of the bar, they had Ellie, Talon, Scarlet, and Aria. Weston and Annie were busy, and Paisley was out of town, as always. Sitting at the other end of the bar were London, Carmen, Mariah, and Janet. There were several other teams in the bar, too, but Aria only cared about beating one of them.

“Okay. Round one. Let’s get started. Buzz in if you know the answer. If you get it wrong, another team can steal. If you get it right, your team gets the point. Here we go,” the bartender and trivia host said. “What is Hawkeye’s real name?”

Talon buzzed in and said, “Clint Barton.” 

“Correct.”

Aria looked at her, surprised.

“We babysit Emerson’s nephews; they love Marvel movies.” Talon shrugged.

On it went, with them answering a question right about technology, thanks to Scarlet, and London’s team getting one right about medicine, thanks to Janet. Round one ended with Aria’s team up by one and two other teams being dismissed, leaving a final four for round two.

“The Young Victoria was a movie in which this British actress starred as Queen Victoria.”

Ellie buzzed in and said, “Who is Emily Blunt?”

“It’s not Jeopardy, El,” Talon noted.

Aria stared across the bar at her beautiful girlfriend, who was staring right back at her and giving her a wink. Round two ended with London’s team down by two and Aria feeling pretty confident about her team’s chances of a win and her chances of getting a back massage from London later that night. 

“Final two, and we’re in the lightning round. You have to select one person from your team to come up and represent all of you. I’ll ask five questions, and whoever has the highest score at the end wins.”

“Well, it’s you, obviously,” Ellie said to Aria.

“Talon’s got the hot hand on the buzzer, and Scarlet has the big brain.”

“Hi, you’re the one who cares the most. I think I care the least. Ellie’s here because Carmen’s here, and Scarlet’s being supportive, as always. Take the buzzer and have trivia foreplay with your girlfriend, weirdo,” Talon replied.

Aria took the red buzzer and walked up to the host. London walked up from the other team and stood next to her.

“Ready to go down, Bancroft?” London taunted.

“Yes. On you,” Aria said.

London laughed.

“Okay. First question. Buzz in when you know it. Our final category of the night is food.”

Aria’s eyes went wide.

“She’s fucked,” Talon commented from the table behind her.

The host looked down at his note card and asked, “From which country does anpan - a sweet bread, usually filled with bean paste - come from?”

“What?” Aria said to herself.

“Japan,” London said after buzzing in.

“Correct. Next question. What popular sandwich has pork or ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard?”

Aria went to buzz, but London was faster.

“Cuban,” London said.

“Correct. That’s two. Here’s question three. One ostrich egg is equal to how many chicken eggs?”

Aria didn’t know this one, so she just waited and heard London’s buzzer.

“Twenty-four,” London said.

“That’s three straight. You’re the winner!”

London turned to Aria.

“That was in no way fair,” Aria complained.

“I’ll take my back and shoulder massage tonight and the other thing you referenced earlier tomorrow morning before work.”

“I want a rematch.”

“Name the time and the place, Bancroft.” London moved to Aria and kissed her quickly on the lips. “I plan to be a two-time champ.”