Page 2 of Uncharted

“I thought he was always about beavers,” Jake said as he dropped below me with enough force to send stray leaves out in a soft explosion. I could never figure out if he was an oaf who learned how to fake being a gentle giant in a world of smaller folk, or if he was a gentle giant who had learned how to be an oaf when he needed to be. Maybe both.

“Liar,” I repeated, leaning back against the tree and glancing at him as he picked a dried, brittle pine needle from his pants and tossed it aside. “You called them out like…the first week.”

“Naw,” he said lightly, and I smiled at how little he resisted me. I had my suspicions why, but Jake really didn’t like it when people noticed he was more aware than you thought at first, or that he was more vulnerable, more intelligent, more clever, more gentle, more thoughtful, more…a lot of things. I could get away with it sometimes, for whatever reason. “Well, maybe. I kinda wondered.”

“I don’t remember the exact quote but I remember you asking me why it felt like Xander was giving Colin the most confusing amount of ‘fuck me’ eyes you’d ever seen,” I said with a chuckle as the beavers went about their business now Jake was settled down. They had grown used to human presence ever since I’d found out about their existence months before, and although Jake was a lot scarier, they’d grown used to seeing him as much as me.

“It was weird!” Jake exclaimed with a laugh that sent the beavers backing up. “I mean, I knew Colin was into the dick; I saw the way he looked at me in the shower.”

I sighed, turning my face away, so he’d think I was exasperated with him bothering the animals rather than my, I don’t know, annoyance? “Because he was checking you out, and you didn’t care because you’re the coolest straight guy who ever straight guyed.”

He snorted. “Nah, not the coolest…but pretty cool.”

I smirked. “Keep telling yourself that.”

“I’m not that stupid,” Jake said with a huff. “Don’t get me wrong, Colin was pretty good at hidin’ it. Mika an’ Aidan were too.”

I was startled, glancing at him. “Huh?”

Jake blinked at me. “I, uh…I mean, c’mon, they were both⁠—”

“Both what?” I asked, trying not to sound wary but still confused. It wasn’t too weird to think that the latest addition to our dysfunctional, weird-ass brotherhood of SAR members at the outpost had ogled Jake, but my brother too? “Mika?”

Jake cleared his throat. “I mean, yeah, not like Colin, but⁠—”

“Not like him, how?” I asked, uncomfortable in a way I didn’t know how to explain, but also insanely curious.

“I mean, Colin saw me naked on his first day. I’m already good in clothes, so out of clothes? Poor guy,” he said with a smirk.

“Lord have mercy,” I said with a roll of my eyes, knowing I was playing the right part for the moment. Jake was not oblivious, despite all the pretense otherwise. And he wasn’t exactly lacking in self-awareness; he knew his sheer size was a flag of caution for your average woman, but it was catnip for gay men. I’d once asked Mika why there was a difference, and the look of pity on his face was so condescending I threw a spare keyboard at him because, like hell, was my often emotionally stunted brother going to look down at me for something.

“What?”

“What, what?”

Jake poked my forehead. “You thought about something; what was it?”

I rolled my eyes. “Mind reader. It was something I asked Mika once, and now with this…I’m wondering if there was a reason he had an answer but didn’t wanna give it.”

“He, who?”

“Mika.”

“Oh. You mad he was into me? Or was until, like a few weeks ago.”

“A few weeks…” I began, stopped, then made the connection. A few weeks ago, Mika had been his normal self, and then Aidan showed up. An ex-boyfriend from college, I had known very little about, showed up out of nowhere. Since then, Mika had been…different, and while I liked Aidan, he was fun, there was tension I knew came from my brother. There was history between them I didn’t know about because it happened at a time in my brother’s life when I wasn’t involved with him.

“Yep,” Jake said lightly. “Suddenly stopped feeling like Mika was sometimes sizin’ me up to me being just some hot dude in the background.”

I couldn’t help but laugh; he knew he was good-looking and wasn’t afraid to admit it, but also never let it go to his head. “Not the background character.”

“Yeah,” he said, and glanced at me. “What was it you asked Mika?”

“Oh,” I said, and shrugged. “I asked him why some girl would be scared of you, but a gay guy wouldn’t be.”

“That’s easy.”

“Is it?”