Page 16 of Make the Play
“Well, your grandma is wrong,” Emerson replies. “All books are reading.”
He says it in a way that leaves no room for argument, as if it’s just a fact.
“If there are no more questions, we’re going to go around the room and introduce ourselves. I’m pretty terrible with names, so I’m going to need you all to give me one unique fact about yourself to help me out. Think you can do that?”
There’s a chorus of replies, but Jason is prevented from further eavesdropping by the two-minute warning bell ringing. It's a stark reminder of exactly where he is and what he’s doing—spying on Emerson while his own students are waiting for him.
With quickened steps, he jogs across campus to get to his own class, sending thoughts of Emerson into the background.
* * *
Case of beerin one hand and two pizzas poised under the other, Jason kicks at the front door with his sneaker. When there’s no immediate answer, he does it again harder. He waits a minute or so before sighing, shifting the case of beer onto the top of the pizza boxes so he can knock on the front door with three firm, swift raps of his knuckle.
“You two better not be fucking,” Jason yells. He waits a solid thirty seconds before another knock, at which point he raises his voice enough to be heard through the door. “If you don’t answer the door in two more minutes, I’m using my key to get in. But fair warning, if I have to see anyone’s pasty ass again, I’ll fucking riot.”
“My ass isn’t pasty,” Alec replies, opening the front door with a sly grin. Considering he’s wearing nothing but his boxers and one of Theo’s sweaters, Jason chooses not to analyze his expression. Then again, looking like the cat that ate the canary has become Alec’s default look lately, and after his traumatic car accident last year, it’s a sight for sore eyes, even if the reason for it is something he prefers not to think about. Those first few months after he got hurt were rough.
Along with the return of his smile as he healed was the return of his sass, something which seems to have magnified tenfold since Theo proposed. He’s absolutely insufferable and Jason kind of loves it, willing to endure anything if it means his baby brother is safe and happy. Not that he will say that out loud. Alec’s incorrigible enough as it is.
“Your ass on the other hand,” Alec says with an insufferable tone. “Well, let’s just say you got Mom’s complexion. Your ass is so pale it makes the moon hide.”
Alec isn’t wrong. While Alec got their mom’s freckles and curly hair, he’d taken after their dad andabuelain complexion like the twins had. Between the four of them, Jason’s always been the one who was the most white-passing and in turn who took all the ribbing for how sunburned he’d get in the summer while his brothers simply turned a sun-kissed brown.
“You’re just salty because I took all the height genes,” Jason retorts, falling back on his favorite insult.
“Fuck off,” Alec huffs, making a show of grumbling as he throws his arms around Jason in a hug.
“I love you too,” Jason grins, unable to resist annoying Alec by messing up his curls.
“You fucking—” Alec starts, only to be interrupted by Theo stumbling out of the hallway wearing noticeably more clothing than Alec is. He smooths the front of his sweater down before offering Jason a bashful smile.
“Sorry, we were um, making the bed.”
“Making the bed,” Alec echoes. “That’s a good one. I like that. I’m going to use that on Mom and Dad next time they come over for dinner and get here early like they did last month.”
“Only if you want them to spontaneously combust,” Jason snorts.
“Please,” Alec scoffs. “Mom and Dad know me and Theo have fucked.”
“We all know you and Theo fuck, that doesn’t mean we need to be reminded so often.” Jason arches an eyebrow, unsurprised when Alec’s smile merely widens. At least Theo has the decency to appear abashed. “Now move your scrawny ass out of the way so we can get this pizza night started.”
“Alright, cranky pants. We all know you get hangry,” Alec says, moving out of the doorway before scooping up Rio who immediately lays herself across Alec’s chest and purrs loudly. The only other cats Jason has been around for any length of time are Charlie’s, which isn’t much to go by since his outdoor cats are two of the most antisocial little fuckers he’s ever met and his nearly blind senior cat doesnt like anyone but Alec or Charlie. He had no idea a cat could be as clingy and affectionate as Rio. Or at least, she is with Alec. She mostly just tolerates everyone else.
“I’m not hangry,” Jason protests, but the grumble of his voice betrays the truth. He had lunch at eleven forty-five and then got so busy with classes and practice that he hasn’t eaten since. Unless you count the bag of trail mix Jason got out of the vending machine at two, which he doesn’t. That’s a tasty little treat, not something to sustain a man who weighs two-hundred fifty pounds.
“Let the man sit down,” Theo laughs, dropping a kiss to the top of Alec’s head on his way to the sofa. He lowers himself into the corner while Jason sets the food and beer on the coffee table before plopping in the center of the couch. It’s amazing to think this is the same house that used to be mostly barren aside from Theo’s prized—and in Jason’s opinion hideous—rug and his never ending stash of beverages in every room.
Gone is the bachelor pad vibe, now replaced with new signs of life, and of Alec, everywhere. Glancing around, he can’t help but notice all the little ways it’s changed over the last few months. Alec’s extensive sneaker collection lines the shoe rack by the door, a half-drunk can of Coke sits on the coffee table along with a stack of his textbooks, and there are several pencils, all chewed up at the ends, on the edge of the TV console. Most noticeable of all, there are photos on the mantle and walls, not just of Alec and Theo but of the entire King family, Jason especially. One of him and Theo when they were in first grade, a few from high school and even a new one on the end table from Alec’s birthday last month.
“That’s new,” Jason notes, pointing out the frame on the end table. Even after watching photo after photo appear once Alec moved in, Jason still isn’t used to seeing them displayed. Theo never once put out a single photo before, almost as if acknowledging the Kings were his family might somehow make it too real—make it something he could lose.
“It was Alec’s idea,” Theo offers, because of course it was. Alec didn’t just fill their house with photos of him and Theo, he filled it with all the people who love Theo. Hell, there are more photos of Jason and Theo together than with Alec, and knowing that Alec did that—made sure to remind Theo with tangible proof he’d never lose Jason—means more than he will ever be able to explain.
“Of course it was,” Alec smirks, dropping into Theo’s lap. “I’m a fucking genius. Should’ve gone into interior decorating but no, I had to decide to switch my major and go for a doctorate of physical therapy, and now I’m going to be in school until I die. Unless I expire from studying first, which is a definite possibility.”
“If it’s that bad, why did you pick that major again?” Jason asks, still not entirely sure he understands.
Alec shrugs. “I had some really good physical therapists after my accident, and I thought it might be nice to find a way to help other athletes remember they can have a life after an accident too, you know? That they’re more than just their sport. It’s easy when you push your body that hard to think that’s all you are, and I just want to help. Instead, I’m going to die from studying too much.”
