Page 132 of The Forever Vault

“Was it a homophobic attack? Is Austin’s coach gay?”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t anything like that. The guy had a thing for Austin, and couldn’t take the hint that he wasn’t interested. Became more and more obsessed over time, let his anger consume him and took it to very inappropriate and illegal levels.”

The elevator dinged and before we could step off, Ezra grabbed my hand and asked, “Can we snuggle on the couch again?”

“Of course. You gonna get your hood?”

Ezra shook his head as I held the door open for him.

“Imma change into jammies though.”

He disappeared into his room. I knew he wanted his hood - I could tell he was reverting - but with Luke and Noah coming up, he wouldn’t wear it. I made myself comfortable on the couch and turned on Cartoon Network, hoping for something innocuous. Thankfully, Teen Titans Go! was on and I knew all of us, maybe with the exception of Noah, could be entertained with Robin’s bubble butt and Beast Boy’s snark.

Wordlessly, Ezra came from the hall and climbed over my lap only to turn around with the grace of a cat and lay his head half against the side of my stomach, half on my quad. It didn’t seem comfortable.

“You comfortable?”

Ezra sat up and shook his head. “Let me know if you don’t like this.”

I didn’t think he was about to pull my dick out, but I wasn’t sure what he meant until he half crawled into my lap.

“That’s fine, Ezra.”

I got lost in the show and must’ve fallen asleep because the brush of lips against mine woke me up to the sight of Luke’s eyes inches from mine.

“Looks comfy. Can I join?”

I smiled. “Of course.”

Luke climbed over and wedged himself behind Ezra, making him the big spoon, with his head on my shoulder. He didn’t seem to know what to do with his left arm, so I told him to drape it over Ezra.

“He’s worried about the Austin thing.”

“No need to explain, Cam. I understand the benefits of snuggling,” Luke said.

“Do you guys need me to leave?” Noah asked.

Luke and I both flipped him off.

“How are you in the village anyway? I thought it was for athletes only,” I asked.

“After the fire in London, Woodward got all of us exemptions, just in case.”

“Hmm.”

I’m not sure how many episodes we watched like that. It was a marathon and the jokes kept coming. At times, I fell asleep, and when I was awake, my attention would switch from the show to my phone and back. Later, my mom texted and called - it was a big enough story that she had heard - but I told her we hadn’t heard anything and only knew what was in the news.

“Cam.”

I felt a nudge on my shoulder.

“Cam!”

Someone grabbed my nose. I opened my eyes to see Noah reaching over me to wake Luke, so I quickly reached up to soft-punch his stomach.

“Fuck! When did you finally wake up, you little fucker?”

“Just now, when you grabbed my nose.”