Page 14 of Uncharted

“You even chose the right colors,” Trevor added, and I turned to look at him in surprise. I didn’t know if I was more surprised because he knew what the best colors for the brothers were, or that he’d realized so quickly that I’d known too.

“Same font color too,” Mika said, as if the thought had only just occurred to him, holding his shirt up and comparing it to Reno’s. “What the⁠—”

“I told you,” Reno said brightly, giving his brother a push and launching himself at me with a laugh, wrapping his arms around my neck and squeezing. “This is perfect.”

I breathed in out of surprise and realized he had apparently been out in the woods earlier because he smelled of dirt, leaves, and moss. He always acted so self-conscious when he smelled like the woods and the earth, but I never understood why. It was a smell I had long associated with him and I didn’t know why someone whose education and literal job required him to be out in the woods so often would be so worried about completely normal smells that weren’t foul but…well, that was Reno for you, he didn’t always make sense.

And he didn’t have to make sense all the time as far as I was concerned.

There was a whoosh of air as the doors at the back of the hallway opened, and Aidan’s voice piped up. “Oh, is this a gay moment or a sentimental one?”

“Both,” I heard Cait exclaim with a snort.

“Damn, not the emotional porn,” Aidan said and walked up, peering at Mika. “What?”

“Nothing,” Mika said stiffly, holding the shirt close to his chest for reasons I didn’t understand because ex-boyfriend or not, it wasn’t like he’d done that with the rest of us.

“This!” Reno exclaimed as he turned around and showed Aidan the shirt.

Aidan read it and glanced at Mika, who was stony-faced. Aidan then turned away, covering his mouth and marching off with a snort that literally everyone heard.

Mika huffed, but Reno grinned. “Thank you, Jake, this is…perfect.”

“That’s a way of describing it,” Mika muttered, but it was exactly what I expected from him. I wasn’t ready for his reaction to Aidan seeing it, but…well, I wasn’t going to probe too deep into that.

“That’s the way I’m describing it,” Reno said with a defensive edge to his voice, giving his brother another push. Which had more intent behind it, but I couldn’t see Reno’s face to understand what he was trying to say.

Mika, though, was thoughtful for a moment before looking at his brother’s shirt and snorted softly. “It is stupidly perfect, isn’t it?”

“Damn right,” Reno said and turned to me with a brilliant smile that made me blink in the face of its happiness. “They’re fucking perfect, I love it.”

“Clearly,” Mika said as he shook his head. “Thanks…I think.”

“Of course,” I grinned, so he knew I knew I was touching on a sensitive subject but not one he had to share with me, even though he knew his brother had shared enough for me to buy something like that for them.

“Dumbass,” Mika muttered, but I wasn’t so dense I didn’t hear the smile in his voice as he walked off. And I didn’t miss his quiet, “Perfect color choice though, what the fuck?”

“What?” Reno asked when he caught something in my face.

“Gotta call my mom,” I told him with a shrug. “Wanna join me?”

“Hell, yeah,” he said brightly. “I love your mom.”

“And she loves you,” I said with a snort. “You’ve talked to her half as much as some of my other friends, and most of my exes, and she loves you three times more than most of them.”

“She has amazing taste,” Reno said as I walked with him toward the back doors.

“She does,” I agreed, and pulled out my phone as the fresh air hit us.

He stepped back as the screen lit up, and I put it on speaker. It went on long enough that I almost hung up before her voice broke through. “Hi, baby!”

“Hi, Mama,” I said, unable and unwilling to hide my happiness at the sound of her voice. “Sorry, I know I’ve been bad and haven’t called you in a while, but⁠—”

“Oh, you stop it,” she chided lightly. “I know you boys get up to all sorts of things up there, trouble and work both.”

“God, doesn’t she know us?” Reno asked softly, with a shake of his head.

“Oh, Reno’s there, good,” she said with the same brightness. “And you best believe I do after raising three boys. I know what you boys get up to when you don’t have anyone watching you. I pray for Cait’s sanity every day, woman is a saint.”