Page 4 of Full Body Hit: Part 2
“On the couch!” Chase interjected as Auston tried to grab a stool.
“But—”
“This is done anyway. I’ll plate it up.Sit.”
“Okay, okay.”
Auston went to the living room, head spinning at the sudden switch in Chase’s demeanour.
It didn’t get any more normal. Chase gave him his food, barely pausing to eat his own before going off to grab blankets and pillows to stuff around Auston.
“For support,” Chase explained, and Auston wondered if he was lying or if he genuinely didn’t realise he was building Auston a nest.
It hurt to watch him do it with such care, knowing what nesting meant to the kid.
Chase settled eventually, the frenzy gone, although the concern remained on his face. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Auston said truthfully. Chase had brought him his pills, water, had him in a cloud of pillows and soft things.
Yeah, he was more than okay.
Chase fidgeted with the edge of a blanket. “Do you want me to turn the TV on? I can leave—”
“No,” Auston blurted loudly, reining himself in a moment later. “I mean…no, that’s okay. Unless you want to.”
Chase sat back, frowning slightly—probably because Auston was acting insane compared to his usual self.
“Sorry. I just…don’t want to watch the TV right now.”
“That’s fine.”
Silence fell, awkwardly shaped, digging into Auston’s side.
Jesus Christ, why was this so difficult?
“You, uhm…you mentioned you didn’t have much family?” Auston asked, a selfish question.
Chase didn’t owe him anything he’d confessed as Charlie.
And yet, part of him wanted to scratch at the scab, to see it peel away and bleed again. Wanted to feel out the differences between Auston and Aunix, press into all the mistakes he’d made in the real world.
Chase nodded slowly. “Oh, yeah. Just me and my mom, really.”
“Right. That must have been lonely?”
“I mean…we’re, you know. We spent a lot of time together, I guess.”
The truth behind that statement—that Chase’s mom pestered him with critique and never balanced it with affection, made Auston’s guts sour.
“Um. What about you? I know you have a sister, but…”
Auston stared at him. “How do you know that?” Auston was sure he’d never shared that with Chase.
Did Chase already know who he was? It had never crossed Auston’s mind that maybe Chase had figured it out before him. That there was no real secret. That—
“Oh. I read it in an article?”
Right. Reality coalesced. Chase had been a fan of his way back when—he probably knew all there was to publicly know about Auston.
