Page 82 of Full Body Hit: Part 2
“Nope.”
“Can you get in the nest? I just can’t get it right for some reason. It’ll be easier with you in it, I think.”
“ ’Course.”
“Oh, wait—take your clothes off first. Um, you can leave your underwear, just not anything that’s touched the outside or whatever.”
Auston did as he was asked, getting on his back, propped up by a bunch of pillows, so he could watch Chase at work. His movements stopped stuttering, slowing but becoming more precise. Chase added the clothes Auston had just shed, smiling as he did so.
“Okay,” Chase said finally, more to himself than Auston. He looked at the nest for a while and then climbed in, collapsing on Auston. “Oof, thanks. I needed that.”
Auston chuckled. “Pretty sure that was all you, baby.”
“Yeah, but it helped to have you here,” Chase mumbled, mouth muffled by Auston’s neck.
Auston let it go, rubbing Chase’s back soothingly. “Feel better?”
“Mmhm.” He yawned. “Tell me more about what you talked about with Mark.”
Auston did, voice low and paced, Chase making the right noises but not contributing much until he said, “You’re gonna be a good teacher. The kids are gonna love you.”
Auston’s stomach clenched because— “Am I, though? Didn’t do the best job this year.”
“Nah, I’ve seen you with the kids waiting for autographs. And you can be really gentle and patient when you want to be.”
Auston hummed doubtfully but didn’t argue. It was his biggest fear in this whole endeavour—not the business side, not losing sponsors, but for it to turn out Auston wasn’t such a great leader after all. “Thanks, honey.”
“And you’re staying in New Orleans, which…big plus.”
Auston squeezed Chase around the middle. “I’d be staying anyway.” The admission just slipped out, and Auston held his breath as Chase picked his head up and frowned at him.
“Really? I didn’t know you liked it here so much. Wouldn’t you go back to your family?”
Auston pressed his lips together. They were meant to go slow, but this wasn’t something he wanted to keep to hidden. “Yeah, butyou’rehere.”
It took a moment for that to hit fully, Chase’s eyes going abruptly round and big, cheeks reddening. “You’d…stay here? For me?”
Auston shrugged. “I mean…yeah.”
Chase’s mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
Suddenly, to Auston’s surprise, Chase’s eyes got shiny with tears.
Chase tucked his face into Auston’s neck, obviously hiding. “Sorry. That’s…really? Just for me?”
“Yeah, baby,” Auston whispered. “Just for you.”
Chase swallowed so loudly Auston could hear the thick wetness of it. Silence settled, Chase holding Auston tightly, latched onto him like a limpet.
When Chase finally spoke, his voice was a little clearer. “I would stay for you, too.”
Auston tilted his head so that his nose brushed Chase’s hair, kissing the top of his head. He didn’t have anything to say to that, mind and heart too full.
He let both of them calm down, sheltered in their nest.
Eventually, Auston brought up the thing that had been on his mind for a few weeks. “All Stars coming up.”
“Oh, yeah.”
