Page 5 of Make the Play
Theo flips him off, his smile familiar and safe.
“Excuse me,” Alec interrupts, draping himself across Theo’s lap with a self-satisfied grin. “The only person who gets to call Theo ‘Daddy’ is me.”
“Gross,” Jason groans, covering his ears. “Fuck off.”
“I did earlier, thanks.” Alec leans back, resting his head on Theo’s shoulder and giving him a smug smile that Theo should be discouraging. Instead, all that happens is that Theo blushes while wrapping a possessive arm around Alec’s waist to keep him in place. It’s as sickening as it is sweet, and Jason is never going to get used to it.
“If it helps,” Theo starts, directing his attention back to Jason, “Alec doesn’t call me Daddy. He’s just fucking with you.”
It does not help because the seed has been planted, and Jason does not want a single mental image of his best friend and baby brother fucking. He doesn’t say that though because he strongly suspects Theo might start filtering himself for fear of bothering Jason. He’d rather deal with unwanted mental images than lose another part of his relationship with Theo.
“So what were you two talking about?” Alec muses. “Let me guess, me?”
“I know this is hard to believe, but the world does not revolve around you,” Jason points out.
“Excuse me, but if I’m not the center of my own fucking life, what is the point?” Alec says, reaching for Theo’s hand. He links their fingers, pulling it up over his chest looking happier than Jason’s ever seen him. The thought sets off another rush of unwanted emotions churning in Jason’s gut. He does not want to be jealous of his baby brother or his best friend. They both deserve this.
“So, tell us more about this team of yours,” Theo prompts, offering Jason a welcome distraction.
Relief floods Jason at the chance to focus on something besides himself, and he feels a smile pull at his features as he starts to talk. Charlie and Andrew join them a moment later, hanging on his every word like he’s talking about the NFL and not a high school football team, but it feels good, a sense of stability settling in Jason’s chest as thoughts of relationships and loneliness fade into the background. This right here, an evening surrounded by his favorite people, is all he needs.
2JASON
Jason wakes slowly,body heavy with sleep and his mind fuzzy. The promise of more sleep is tempting, but the sunlight streaming through the open window is bright enough to have Jason frowning and covering his eyes, well aware it's time for him to wake. All it takes is a little movement from him to alert his four-legged companion that he’s no longer sleeping before a warm, wet tongue drags across his jaw.
“Really, Freddie?” Jason groans. “I just woke up.”
The bed shakes under Freddie’s happy pitter patters and Jason can’t even be mad. He was such a scared little shithead when Jason first got him, eating his shoes, yelping for hours and pissing on everything when he got nervous, which was multiple times a day.
It’d taken hard work and a lot of patience to get Freddie to trust him after Alec found him at the pound. Somehow he accidentally turned Freddie into the world’s most spoiled dog, but considering his start in life, Jason thinks he deserves it. Freddie is the happiest dog alive now, even if he is still scared of most people and sometimes even his own shadow.
Freddie licks him again, a sure sign that if Jason doesn’t get out of bed, he’s going to be covered in dog drool soon. Removing his arm from over his eyes, he’s met with Freddie’s adorable, crooked smile. Jason returns the smile, and Freddie takes this as permission to lick his cheek.
“Buddy, no,” Jason says, making sure to keep his tone happy so Freddie doesn’t think he’s in trouble. If there’s one thing Freddie hates, it’s raised voices.
Freddie barks, his tail wagging happily before he licks Jason’s face again. Sprawled across the end of the bed, his other four-legged companion, Stella, copies him by barking for no other reason than because she can.
“Who needs an alarm clock with you two?” Jason grumbles, shaking his head before sitting up and throwing off his blankets.
He’s barely pushed his feet into his slippers when his alarm goes off, not that he needs it. Between his internal alarm clock and his dogs, he’s usually awake before it has a chance to sound. It’s always better to be safe than sorry, though. Jason was late to orientation his first year teaching after he overslept, and ever since his body is determined to ensure he never makes the same mistake.
“Up and at ‘em,” Jason says, but Stella and Freddie don’t move so he tries another tactic. “Time to eat.”
That does the trick, sending both dogs racing out of the bedroom and down the hallway, the sound of their claws on the tile floor all too familiar. Jason spares a few seconds to relieve himself in the bathroom and splash some cold water on his face before heading to the kitchen. Though it took him less than a minute, by the time he walks through the archway into his kitchen Stella is, for reasons unknown to Jason, somehow on the goddamn kitchen island. Jason has a lot of questions about whoever owned Stella before him, most of them surrounding why a seventy-five pound husky mix thinks she’s a cat.
Unlike Stella, who delights in climbing up to places she definitely doesn’t belong, Freddie is safely on the ground. Not surprising since he’s still too scared to even climb on the couch alone. While he might be waiting where he belongs, he isn’t doing it quietly, howling at his empty food bowl like he hasn’t been fed in a year.
“You know, I think Alec picked the noisiest, neediest strays he could find for me.” Despite his occasional complaints, he wouldn’t trade his loud babies for anything in the world. “Alright, alright, I’ll feed you.”
Ignoring the way his body is screaming at him for its morning coffee, he fills both of their bowls with kibble and fresh water first. Only once they’re happily eating does he shuffle towards his coffee machine. Bleary-eyed and definitely not entirely awake yet, he jabs the power button before popping in a coffee pod from the drawer. He’s not even sure which flavor he chose, nor does he care. All he wants is caffeine and food. While the coffee brews, he takes two breakfast sandwiches from the freezer, popping one of them in the microwave while he gets everything ready.
He all but inhales his first breakfast sandwich, too hungry to even care that the center is still a little frozen while gulping down his coffee. Come next week he’s gonna have to be up at four-thirty if he wants to have time to walk his dogs before work, so he supposes getting up at seven today isn’t so bad. He probably should’ve tried to adjust his morning routine sooner, but sleeping in over summer is so damn nice.
He makes a second cup of coffee and scrolls through his email, making sure to keep an eye out on any pertinent work stuff. The only thing of importance is a staff memo about Mrs. Schumaker, the freshman English teacher, needing to leave already this year for personal reasons, meaning they’re going to be bringing on a new teacher. Slowly sipping his coffee, he scrolls down for more information but finds none.
Well, today is definitely going to call for donuts if he wants to get any information. Technically, Jason always brings donuts for everyone on the Friday before school starts. He feels like it starts the year off right. Who doesn’t like donuts? Still, today is extra important, and if Jason wants the 411 on this new teacher, he’s gonna need to drive across town to get Mabel’s favorite donut. The fact that her favorite is the same as his best friend’s but they’ve got a forty year age gap never fails to amuse Jason, who takes his coffee as he moves to the front door.
He hasn’t even reached the hook with the leashes near the front door before Freddie and Stella are following along. Jason grins. Today is going to be great.
