Annie woke up in the middle of the night to an empty bed. She heard a strange tapping noise downstairs that didn't match any of their normal household activities. Out of curiosity, she got out of bed and quietly went toward the sound in the kitchen.
When she got to the bottom step the sound was gone. She stepped into the kitchen and immediately realized why. Auggie was turned toward her while sitting at the bar, surrounded by empty beer bottles, half a bottle of tequila, and a few remaining peanuts. The rest of the peanuts were in the general vicinity of the stove, if not in the pot where he had been aiming.
"What are you doing up?" Auggie asked in Annie's general direction.
"I was going to ask the same question." She replied as she tried to remember if the bottle of tequila was new.
Instead of saying anything else, Auggie took a peanut and tossed it toward the pot. It hit the outside and landed on the stovetop. He dipped his head in defeat. Without looking up he spoke. "Five have actually made it into the pot. Seventeen are on the stovetop, six on the surrounding counter, thirteen are on the floor, and you are probably going to have to find the one on the carpet over there." Auggie motioned to the adjacent room, nowhere near his peanut-target.
"You taking up a new hobby?" Annie asked.
Auggie lifted a beer bottle. "Nope," He took a drink before continuing. "I've been drinking since college." After sitting the bottle down, he gave a smug grin.
"So I should be happy you didn't want to play beer pong?"
"Consider this a modified game. When I actually get one in the pot, I take a shot."
Auggie's tone was light-hearted, but Annie was more concerned. This was rare behavior for her husband. "So what's the occasion?" She asked.
Auggie shrugged. "It's Tuesday."
"Auggie," She pleaded.
He deflated a little and tossed another peanut in the general direction of the pot, but nowhere near the target. "Tuesday is gym class." He said softly.
Annie furrowed her brows and tried to put the pieces together.
Auggie rolled his eyes and threw a peanut at the pot with lots of force. It bounced off with a satisfying ping. "Austin is doing really well in gym class." Auggie said, his teeth slightly gritted.
"And this has you upset?" Annie asked.
"No," Auggie said a little more softly. "Of course not. I'm glad that he's doing well."
"Because this is how you act when you are happy." Annie said.
Auggie closed his eyes and pinched his lips. "He really likes Coach Smith."
"Which is a good thing."
"Yep." Auggie said with a pop of his lips. He carefully tossed a peanut directly into the pot and poured himself some tequila. "Swish!" He said just before putting the glass to his mouth.
"Auggie, he will always remember that you were his first coach." Annie said.
Auggie kept his gaze straight ahead. "Just for wrestling."
Finally Annie remembered the way Austin had talked about school that afternoon. He was practically glowing at how his teacher had helped him shoot the basketball with better precision. Austin had gotten six of the ten shots. Auggie had seemed excited for his son when he told the story earlier in the day.
"Auggie, what's going on?"
"Just trying to figure out how to perfect my shot." He replied as he tossed another peanut onto the stove.
"What's really going on?," Annie prompted, gently taking his hand into hers.
He freed his hand and moved it toward the hem of her shirt. He ran his fingers along the fabric far more than normal. The texture felt different under his dulled senses.
Annie put her hand on Auggie's cheek, hoping to convince him that he should share his thoughts. Instead, he leaned in and gave her a kiss.
"Nice distraction," Annie whispered as they pulled apart.
"My throwing skills are awful." Auggie said as he leaned back in to her neck. "I'm limited to sports that involved lots of touching." He added as he moved his hands to her back.
"You are good at sports that involve lots of contact," Annie replied. "But that doesn't explain double fisting on a Tuesday night."
He clumsily pulled up her shirt and caressed her skin. He spoke in her ear, "Take me to bed." His tone was both a directive and a plea. Annie considered how much he drank and, though she rarely doubted her husband, wondered how long it would take for him to find their bed on his own. She stepped away, and he pouted. A moment later she pushed a bottle of water into his hands. "I don't want Austin to see these bottles in the morning. You go on up, and I'll be right there."
"Okay," He said with a slight nod.
Annie couldn't help but smile at how much like Austin he looked in that moment. She gathered the beer bottles as he weaved toward the stairs. Once he got there, she heard him ascend quickly-stairs are easy, the next one comes exactly where you expect it to be.
A few minutes later she found him sitting at the foot of their bed in his underwear. She sat next to him. "He needs other coaches, you know."
"Yep. Because I can't help him one bit with his jump shot. Hell, I am pretty worthless at just tossing the ball back and forth."
Annie rubbed her hand on his back in encouragement.
"There are certain things a father teaches his son, and for most of my life I assumed sports would be one of them. I've never even meet this Smith guy, and he did my job."
There was nothing Annie could say to this. She knew that Auggie wasn't one to wallow in self-pity, but he had shown her that it did (on very few occasions) upset him to realize the experiences he was missing.
Auggie swallowed. "I'll be fine tomorrow." He said definitively.
"Emotionally, maybe," She said a push to his side.
"I didn't drink that much," Auggie said as his hand wanded over her thigh.
Annie laughed a breath. "It's okay. You haven't had a bad day in a while."
Auggie sighed. "I just don't like the idea of somebody else being more of a father figure than I can be." He said quietly.
Annie leaned on his shoulder, her hair tickling his back. "None of his coaches will ever replace you."
Auggie gave a small smile and turned toward his wife. Without warning, he pushed her onto the bed underneath him and pushed his hands under her shirt. Annie giggled as he put his lips to her body. He raised up for a moment and looked toward her face. "I love you, Annie."
"I love you too. Next time you are feeling down, how about you skip the tequila and go straight to this part to cheer you up?"
…
A/N: So yesterday I was emailing WillyNilly23, and I told her about this new story idea that I have. But it's long and complicated, and not-at-all formed in my head. Her response was something along the lines of "Yeah, yeah, that sounds great, but hard to write, how about this idea…" And because of that, you got this chapter.
