"God, I fucking wish I could play," Hero said, rubbing his hands down his face.

"Sorry, man," I sympathetically said, shooting him a weak smile.

"Yo, I heard Josie got a modeling gig," one of the guys said, "can it be a lingerie spread?"

"Shut the fuck up," Hero said, "or I will literally knock your teeth in."

"Big bad wolf is back," Darrell Jackson said, bracing both of his hands on Hero's shoulders, "I missed you, champ."

"Fuck off of me," he said, standing up, but not before shooting him a glare, "talk about my cousin like that again and it'll be the last thing you do."

"Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me."

"My lovely bride," Eros said, standing up at the sound of Josie's voice.

"God, it smells like rejection in here," she grimaced, "hi, lover."

"Hey," Eros greeted, wrapping an arm around her neck as he kissed her forehead.

"Pre-game fuel," she said, holding the bag of food up to him.

"And this is why I'm marrying you."

She smiled, nudging my arm. "Ready for the game?"

"Always," I said, "where's my fucking food?"

"Ask Zach," she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Yo, Josie," Darrell said, placing his arm on Hero's shoulder, "you were actually the topic of conversation a few minutes ago. I heard you got a modeling gig."

"Yeah," she excitedly said, "yeah, I'm so stoked."

"And what was it for again?" He asked, lifting an eyebrow flirtatiously.

"Sherri Hill," she said, biting down on her lip with a smile, "I literally-"

"Damn, I was hoping Victoria's Secret."

"Darrell-"

"Shut the fuck up," Josie snapped, "you have literally never had a girl ever say yes to you, so you have to jerk off to magazines."

Hero laughed, wrapping an arm around her neck. "That is Josephine Fleur King, everyone."

"And I can hold my own, thank you," she said, pushing both Hero and Eros off of her.

I sat down on the bench and braced my elbows on my thighs, checking my phone.

I smiled and began to type back, but was interrupted by the sound of Darrell's unpleasant voice.

"Notice, though, how Henry didn't say a word. What happened to the man, the myth, the legend?" He asked, giving my shoulder a shove.

I stood up, smiling. "Calmed down."

"Is that what happens when you turn gay?" He deadpanned.

"Suck my dick," I spat.

"I've heard you're into that these days, so I don't know whether to take that literally or-"

His sentence was cut short by Hero's fist connecting with his face and knocking him against the lockers. I clenched my jaw and watched as Hero grabbed his collar, holding him upright.

"You got balls, don't you?" He asked, "go out there and play, I don't care if you just got your shit rocked. If you make the team lose, I'm going to beat your ass all over the parking lot in front of your mother."

Darrell pushed him off, wiping the tiny bit of blood seeping out of his lip from the corner of his mouth. "You need to calm down."

"You need to keep your fucking mouth shut," Hero said, watching as Darrell walked away from us.

"Come on, ladies!" Coach yelled, "showtime."

Hero grabbed Darrell's shoulder. "You say anything, you're a fucking pussy."

Josie pressed a kiss to Eros's lips. "Do good. If you win, you'll get laid."

Hero and I both grimaced, making her shrug.

"Even if I don't, I'll get laid," Eros chuckled, pressing a kiss to her cheek, "love you. Mean it."

He and I jogged outside together, making him look over at me. "You good, man?"

"I'm good," I said, "he's an ass."

"Yeah, to say the least."

I searched the stands for Zach, and smiled when I saw him sitting with Mom and Dad. I shot him a wink and he held up his foam hand, chuckling.

I looked over at Darrell, who was still holding his hand against his lip. I, for some reason, felt bad for him- his reaction to what I said wasn't unwarranted, was it?

Snap out of it, Henry. You've got a game to play.

"Whoo! Let's go, Henry!" I heard Dad yell, making me snap out of it. I smiled at him, nodding my head.

But I was still feeling so many emotions, when I knew I needed to only be thinking about one thing, and that was the game.

~*~

"Sensory overload," Milo muttered, taking a sip of his beer as he walked over to me.

I looked up at him, my arms folded over my chest. Everyone was over at Fred's, celebrating Henry's big win — Jo's family, along with everyone residing in his house for the time being.

I didn't really ever know what to say to Milo, but specifically now, I was more confused than ever. Milo and I were at a confusing stage in whatever we were attempting to be.

Hero chuckled and walked over to us, Lily in his arms. "Hey, C, I think you might have a future football player on your hands."

I smiled. Hero had suddenly taken an interest in the simpler things in life — a home, children, and not so many women at once. I'd watched Hero grow up, and none of those had never really seemed to be his priority.

"Hey, what's gotten into you?" I teased, "you literally looked at me, like, a year ago, and asked what you were supposed to do with that thing."

"Oh, you're talking about Lily? Well, she's my best bud now. Right, Lily?"

Lily sweetly nodded, resting her head on his shoulder.

He smiled a soft smile, gently rubbing her back.

"Suddenly interested in being a dad?" Milo asked.

Hero smiled a small smile, looking over at him.

"What happened to wanting to own a playboy mansion?" Milo snickered.

"Hey, that used to be you, and look at you now. Men can change."

"You're still young. Seventeen, at that. I don't think men change that early."

"Maybe I'm just better than you," he said, shooting him a smirk.

"Get outta here," Milo chuckled, pushing him away.

I smiled, uncomfortably shifting from foot to foot.

"Have you heard from him?"

"No," I said, "he hasn't even asked to talk to Lily."

"I'm sure he's, you know, putting himself through it. Acting like he's a teenager again."

"Yeah, but he's not," I bitterly said, "he's got a little girl."

"I know, I wasn't justifying it," he said, and the tone of his voice alone made me look over at him.

"What happened to you, Milo?" I asked, shaking my head, "did-did a girl break your heart somewhere along the way, or what?"

"A girl put things into perspective somewhere along the way," he said, "that's what happened."

"Good," I firmly said, "you needed it."

"You're tough now," he said, "it used to take a lot to get you to speak your mind."

"Well, I have you to thank for the thicker skin," I said, taking a sip of my beer.

He nodded, and we stood in silence for a few seconds.

"I wish you'd give me at least half a chance, C," he said.

"I'm still married, Milo," I said, looking up at him.

"Well, it sounds to me-"

I began tuning him out, and not even because I wanted to — but because Milo Parker was doing the exact thing I'd begged him to do twenty years ago. He was trying. He was putting in effort.

Was it just too late now?

~*~

"Ah, man," Hero said, chuckling as he dropped his arm, "dude, you're strong."

Thomas proudly stood up and flexed, looking over at me. "I just beat Hero at arm wrestling."

"Mm hmm," I said, smiling, "I see. He's hard to beat, so you must be really strong."

Thomas shrugged, fighting a grin. "Yeah, I guess so."

I looked down at Brian, whose head was in my lap. He looked to be content, a small smile on his face as he watched Thomas be a carefree child, for the first time ever.

"Brian! Look at the PJs Mrs. Lena put me in!" Charlie exclaimed, running downstairs.

"Hey, buddy, don't run downstairs, you might fall," Hero said.

I looked over at him. Were these his paternal instincts kicking in?

"Wow, dude, those look awesome," Brian said, "when'd you get those?"

"We went shopping today. She got Thomas and I a lot of clothes."

Brian knitted his eyebrows together and sat upright, biting down on his lip. "Oh."

Mom walked downstairs, rubbing Charlie's head as she walked by.

"Mrs. King, you didn't have to do that," Brian softly said.

"Oh, we had fun," she said, smiling over at Thomas.

Dad walked into the living room, smiling. "All my babies. Kinda."

He sat next to Mom, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Ah, would you look at that, Hero practicing being a dad."

"Gotta get some experience under my belt, huh?"

Not many other people could have heard the bitter undertone of the exchange, but I most certainly could. Dad made jokes to spite Hero, and Hero clapped back, without fail, every single time.

"I, um, I got paid today," Brian said, "if you'll tell me how much to pay you, for, like, rent, or anything, I will be happy to. Expenses with food, I want to help."

"Brian," Dad said, shaking his head, "you're seventeen years old, you're not paying rent."

"Well, I'm-I'm so used to, I don't really need the amount of money I have-"

"You paid rent?" Dad deadpanned, his eyebrows in a furrow.

"Yes, sir," he said, nodding, "my check always covered rent, whatever Mom got covered other things."

Dad rubbed his beard, nodding. "Yeah, you don't have to worry about that here. Thank you for offering, though."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"I'm positive," he said, nodding, "take my daughter out on a date with that."

Brian chuckled, grabbing my hand. "I was planning on doing so at some point."

I rested my head on his shoulder, deeply inhaling the scent of his cologne.

Wow. If sex has a smell, this has to be it.

"Hero, what happened to your hand?" Dad asked.

"Oh, this you know what in the locker room," he said, shaking his head.

Dad knitted his eyebrows together, shaking his head. "What the hell?"

"Little ears," Hero said, "this d-i-c-k in the locker room was being an a-s-s to Henry."

Mom giggled, resting her head in her hand. "I'm sure Henry could've held his own."

"No, this dude needed to be, like, knocked into tomorrow."

"I'm sure Henry could've done that."

"Well, I made it to him first," Hero muttered, taking a sip of his water.

"Brian, have you heard anything from, you know?" Dad uncomfortably asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Uh, no, sir, I have not," he said, "I'm not really expecting to, to be completely honest."

I looked over at him, biting down on my lip. The way his jaw moved when he talked, his side profile, his lips. God, those lips.

"Hey, Mrs. Lena!" Charlie said, pulling me out of my trance, "can you read me a bedtime story again tonight?"

"I think Jo wanted to get you to bed tonight," Mom sweetly said, "and I was going to read Thomas a story."

Thomas smiled. "Cool. Sounds good to me."

Brian smiled, letting out a sigh. "I'm, um, I'm going to go out to the pool house if that's okay."

"Yeah, sure," Dad said, "you need anything? New sheets, towels, anything?"

"No, sir, I'm good," he said, "thank you, though."

I smiled up at him as he stood up, and I watched as he walked towards the French doors.

Mom nodded towards the doors, making me jump up and follow him outside. He was already to the pool house by the time I walked outside, making me jog over to it.

He began to close the door, but opened it when he saw me walking towards him.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked.

"Mm hmm," I said, "c-can I come in?"

"S-sure," he said, stepping to the side, "yeah."

I walked inside, biting down on my lip. "Is the pool house treating you well?"

He chuckled. "Absolutely."

"Are you okay?" I asked, "you were kind of quiet today."

He sat on the couch, bracing his elbows on his thighs. "I just really don't know how to respond to it all. The kids are kids, they naturally take to that. But I don't know what to do with it."

"You don't know what to do with what?" I softly asked.

"Your parents," he stammered, "treating them, me, like that."

I sat next to him, making him scoot over. "And Fran, I can't be around you all the time."

My stomach did a somersault, and not a good one. What did he mean by that?

"I'm getting these thoughts," he said, rubbing his hands down his face, "I-I can't control them. Looking at you all the time. Being around you, the-the things you do."

"I-I'm sorry," I began, standing up, but he grabbed my hand.

"No, not bad thoughts," he said, shaking his head, "not at all. Thoughts I shouldn't be having, you know, those thoughts."

I looked down at him. "I-I have those, too-"

"Fran," he said, standing up, "seriously, don't."

He pressed himself against me, making my breath hitch in my throat.

He rested his forehead against mine. "I don't want your dad to think I'm taking advantage-"

"He won't," I said, rubbing the back of his neck, "he-he won't know."

"Yes, he will," he chuckled, tucking a chunk of hair behind my ear.

I pressed a kiss to his lips, pulling him closer to me.

"Go back to the house," he whispered, "go get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

I trailed my hands down his sides, looking down at his body. "Beautiful boy."

He rested his head in my neck, pressing a kiss to my skin. "Go."

I rubbed his back before stepping away from him, clearing my throat. "Okay. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," he said.

I closed the door behind me, letting out a heavy sigh. I smiled — at least I wasn't the only one feeling the things I was feeling.

~*~

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