The Face with Two Skeletons
By: Tropicwhale
Disclaimer: Hehehe I wish.....but they're not.
Author Talk: 3:] Someone called me a genius....I promise not to let it go to my head......oops...too late.
Chapter Five
Once at home Booth jumped right into the shower because he stunk. It had nothing to with he was curious about if Zack actually was good at basketball. He's an honest kid but…what if he was hitting on Booth in his own way? Then he could be just putting up a front to impress Booth and he sucked at being a forward. But then why would he invite Booth if he wasn't assured of his skills? More importantly, why did Booth care? Booth was not into guys even if Zack was. Booth shook his head clean of those thoughts and soaped down quickly, functionally. He washed his hair and got out of the shower fast. A towel wrapped around his waist he went to his closet to pick out something to wear. It took him five minutes to realize that he was staring at his work/date clothes on a Saturday morning while getting ready to hang out with Zack Addy of all people. Booth scoffed at himself and went to grab a pair of boxers, jeans and a tee shirt. He threw on his clothes, grabbed his favorite pair of socks, put them on, stuffed his feet into his sneakers, grabbed his keys, jacket, and sunglasses on the way out of the door, whistling. He stopped and realized that he didn't know where he was going. He unlocked his apartment door and went back inside, booting up his laptop on the way and had to dig Zack's map back out of his dirty hamper. He quickly MapQuested the park and was back out the door in a matter of seconds…until he realized that he forgot to print out the directions.
Over at the park Zack was warming up with his teammates while he tried to not glance over at the stands. Glancing over would ruin his concentration. Zerbrowski passed Zack the ball and he nearly didn't catch it in time. "Hey, Effron, get your head in the game." Their teammates chuckled. It was an ongoing joke with them. Because of Zack's youthful appearance and the fact he could sing and dance his team had taken to making High School Musical jokes. Zack was not exactly sure what that was but he knew his friends did not mean it to be cruel. Zack passed the ball back to Zerbrowski and the team did a basic zigzag pass drill up the court until Zack could shot the ball. He made the basket, no net. There was still no sight of Booth.
There was no sign of Booth because, at that moment, Booth was stuck in traffic halfway across town behind a three car accident. Booth exhaled angrily through his nose and checked the time. It was 10:45 am. He was so going to be late.
The referee blew the fifteen until time whistle and Zack sighed. "Don't worry. He'll show." Zerbrowski sat next to Zack heavily. Zack looked over at his friend and teammate. Zerbrowski was fairly common in appearance. He was a little shorter than Zack with brown hair and blue eyes, a fairly broad, defined mandible and a strong personality that made him seem larger than he was physically.
"I don't know what you are talking about, Zerbrowski." Zack looked over at the other team. The Devils were tough and known for fouling quite excessively. Zack's team, the Potomac Copperheads, had their work cut out for them.
"Oh, don't you?" Zerbrowski chuckled in a way that reminded Zack of a cartoon villain. "Hey, boys, Zaddy had a bunk buddy last night…from the FBI." Zerbrowski had the rest of the team's attention in a matter of a few seconds.
"Way to go, Zaddy. Is she hot? Tell me she's hot." Bailey, also known as Bailout, said. He was young, about his early twenties and Zerbrowski said that Bailout reminded him of a puppy that hadn't been housebroken yet. Zack assumed it was because Bailout had a bad habit of wriggling around when he was excited and often had to run to the bathroom when he was on the bench. Bailout was definitely smaller than Zack and of Aryan descent.
"It was a guy." Zerbrowski said slyly, drawing out the word 'guy' into something that made Zack's skin goose-pimple. Zack tried to block out the conversation but it wasn't working.
"A guy? Oh, yeah. That's right. Zaddy's bi." Bailout looked confused and thoughtful until Zerbrowski feinted throwing the ball pass him. Bailout looked at where the ball should have been but wasn't then growled at Zerbrowski for the trick.
"Yes, I am. There is only ten minutes until game time. Perhaps we should focus on strategy?" Zack stated as Bailout jumped onto the seat right behind Zack's left shoulder.
"Game plan Beta, Zaddy." Robbie said. He was team captain with short dark brown hair, dark tanned skin and a quiet disposition compared to the rest of his team.
"So I'm not starting…okay."
"But I am. Sweet." Bailout was wriggling in his seat again.
"Down boy." Robbie said. Bailout stuck his tongue out at Robbie so Robbie reached over to hit him light on his head with a half-opened fist. "Use it or lose it, Bailout." Bailout slurped his tongue back into his mouth. "So tell us about the new sexual interest, Zaddy." Zack looked up at his team captain.
"Booth isn't a sexual interest. He drew the short straw and we ended up back at my apartment watching the Blazers/Pistons game that I had TiVo'd. I ate ice cream and he had a few beers so by the end of the night he was tired so I told him that he could spend the night and drive home in the morning."
"Huh-uh." Williams, a middle-aged man of African descent said. His nickname was 'Othello'. Zack liked William's nickname because it suited him. Othello was a professor of Shakespearean studies at a local university and had performed the role for local theatrical companies four times since Zack had met him. Zack had gone to each production. All the Copperheads had gone. Othello made Shakespeare make sense for Zack. It was a scope that Othello used to look at humanity in general. Othello had told Zack that humans are capable of great evil and great good and sometimes you weren't sure which was which even within yourself. The combination of logic, reason, ambition, and emotion are enough to confuse anybody so Zack wasn't as bad off socially as he presumed. Othello tended to speak that way. Zack did not necessarily believe him. "He spent the night in your bed?" Othello was also very shrewd.
"No. He slept on the couch." Zack was calculating wind speed and air pressure.
"But you like him?" Keg, who was a slim half-Arabic/half-Greek man, asked.
"I work with him. Whether or not I like him is negligible."
"I bet he's better in bed than that Naomi from Paleontology is." Wineskin said. Wineskin was Greek and looked it.
"Naomi said that I was the one who's sexual prowess was questionable not hers."
"We told you Zaddy-of course she'll say that. She doesn't want to admit that she's bad in bed." Bailout said.
"No. I am pretty sure that it was me who-" Whatever Zack was about to say it was cut off by the blowing of the starting whistle. Robbie and the other players stood and stretched out their limbs
"Time to play." Zack's captain said.
"Alright. Beta. So, me, Keg, Wineskin, Othello, and Bailout. Court. Now. Zaddy be ready to trade out with Bailout and Zerbrowski with Keg." Zack nodded to show that he understood and Zerbrowski gave Robbie the middle finger and a grin. Robbie took his fore finger and his middle finger and flicked them at Zerbrowski with his palm facing inward. Zerbrowski found this incredibly funny and laughed when Robbie turned his back and took a guard position.
"Okay. Look. It's kinda obvious from the fact you invited him into your apartment for a game-"
"And ice cream and beer." Zack added.
"A basketball game, ice cream, and beer." Zerbrowski conceded. "Then you let him stay the night so he doesn't have to drive. And then you invite him to our game. Dude probably thinks that you hit on him."
"Booth is a heterosexual. He does not like males in a sexual sense." Zack said, staring down a few players from the Devils that were staring him down as well. "Those Devils are glaring at us." He observed. Zerbrowski glanced over at them.
"Wanna mess with their heads?" Zack looked at his friend.
"How? I don't see a way to-" Zerbrowski kissed Zack on his lips and laid a hand on his inner thigh. Keg and Wineskin catcalled from the court. Zerbrowski pulled back to quirk an eyebrow at Zack. "Oh. You were inferring a psychological ploy." Zerbrowski nodded, still staring at Zack. "Did it work?" Zack asked curious but not looking away from his friend. Zerbrowski looked over at their opponents.
"Yeah it worked."
"You're a cocky sonofabitch, Zerbrowski." Zack said. Zerbrowski seemed to enjoy the comment.
"Zerbrowski! Zaddy! Quit flirting and get ready to change up!" Zack nodded to Robbie and took a drink from his water bottle. He stood, waiting for a call from the referee. Three Devils that were on the court and two that were preparing to sub in for their teammates glared at Zack and Zerbrowski.
"Uh-oh, I think we hit a nerve." Zerbrowski was grinning.
"A metaphorical nerve, correct?"
"Yeah, Zack. Metaphorical." The ref blew his whistle and Zack and Zerbrowski subbed in for Bailout and Keg. Zerbrowski was a guard while Zack was a forward. It only took thirty seconds for Wineskin to pass Zack the ball and thirty-three seconds for Zack to shoot. It was at thirty-four seconds when the Devil that he was paired off against barreled into Zack sending scientist and ball sliding across the concrete of the court.
"Ow." The ref immediately blew his whistle.
"FOUL-RED-34-BLOCKING-ORANGE-17-FREE THROW!" Zerbrowski stepped up to help Zack stand.
"You okay, Zaddy?" Zack showed Zerbrowski his skinned forearm.
"Ow. I'll be okay." Zack looked over at 34 who snarled at him as the referee handed him the ball.
"You okay, son?" The older man asked as he handed the ball over to Zack.
"I'm fine. Thank you." Zack stepped up to the foul line and eyed the basket, making the correct calculations as the others lined up along the lines along the free throw lane. Zack bounced the ball once, made a slight adjustment to his body when the wind picked up and threw the ball. It went in without touching the net. The ball was handed back to him. The other players prepared to catch the rebound and Zack shot again. He made it, again, and the Devils got possession. Zack raced with the other players down the court, calculating all sorts of things. He noticed a variation that would cause their lead to be lost. "Robbie! We need to switch to Delta!" He shouted.
"Alright. Do it!" Robbie replied and the Copperheads changed their orientation. Robbie got possession of the ball and passed it to Zack. Zack saw the Devil coming at him, dribbles a couple of steps, pivots, passes it back up the court to Zerbrowski. Zerbrowski dribbles horizonally along the court. Two Devils close in on him. He does an overhand pass to Wineskin who passes it to Othello. Othello dribbles it between his legs and shifts to do a bounce pass through 27's legs to Zack. Zack dribbles it down to the three point line and does a straight pass to Robbie. Robbie shoots, misses but Zerbrowski gets the rebound in. The Devils call time-out. Robbie signals the others over to the bench. "Okay. We have a six point lead." Zack disliked when Robbie stated the obvious but he understood that Robbie did it so to keep the thoughts in his head straight. "So the Devils are going to start to get tough. Zerbrowski?"
"Yeah?"
"I want you to start to piss them off."
"What do you mean start?" Zerbrowski was a bit of a smart ass in Zack's opinion.
"Don't get caught. Othello, how's your heart doing?"
"I can play circles around these boys."
"Great. You and Wineskin I want playing a Zeta variation defense. Zaddy, I want you to take a break. Keg, see to his arm, okay?" Keg nodded.
"My arm is fine."
"It's bleeding and I don't want you to get an infection. You gave us our lead. Now all we have to do is make sure they don't score until after half-time. Bailout…you're in."
"You just want me to bail you out." Bailout grinned.
"That just sounds so wrong." Zerbrowski said. Bailout gave him a friendly push as the ref called time-in.
Author After Talk: So there's was this thing with the Devils that I wanted to use from the basketball game in the rest of the story but I can't remember how I structured it in. Also? I'm pretty sure I'm taking the story in a different direction. We shall see.
Tropic