My Favorite Part of Every Day

Arath

I forget how much clothing I have. As I’m moving clothes around to make room for Elgin, I think I’ve only worn a third of what’s in my closet over the past three years. Maybe longer. I think I’ve come across more than a dozen pieces that still have price tags on them.

“Ara?”

Elgin’s voice is my favorite part of every day. Hearing him say my name makes me want to bend him over and rewrite science so I can knock him up.

Grinning like a lunatic with the thought, I look toward the door. “In the closet.”

He pokes his head in and the rest of him follows. There’s a laundry basket in hand and it’s filled with clean, folded clothes. He sets it on the bench and looks at me with amusement. “I’m surprised you don’t employ someone to do your laundry.”

“I’m not that spoiled,” I counter.

“No?”

Over the weeks since Empire has been eliminated and he announced he wanted to stay, Elgin’s teasing personality has come out. I love everything about it. His teasing. His intelligence. His passion for hockey. His exasperation when none of us like hockey.

He hands me a shirt and I recognize it immediately. Jalon’s. The one I’ve had for more than thirty years. I haven’t seen it since Elgin took it off the day he said he was staying. Okay, maybe I don’t do laundry frequently but with all the clothes in my closet, it’s no wonder why I haven’t needed to.

How are entire days not filled with doing laundry then?

I brush my finger over the soft fabric and hear Noaz’s wailing in the back of my mind. They were two. Maybe just two. Kairo was crying in response. Trying to cry louder and drown out Noaz. Oxley was overstimulated and sat in a chair with his knees to his chest, hands over his ears, and kept yelling at them to stop crying, stop crying, stop crying!

The noise felt like it echoed. Maybe it multiplied in volume and number of voices every time it bounced off a wall or the appliances. My teeth were on edge. Tears stung my eyes because their cries were filling the room with discomfort and frustration. I wasn’t going to cry though. I wasn’t going to add to their noise and chaos. I was older than that.

I set the plate with my toast slices covered in grape jelly on the table but it felt like my eyeballs were shaking. I missed and the toast slid off. One landed on the floor and the other fell onto my chest.

That was it. My frayed nerves got the better of me and tears streaked down my face. Not because of my lost toast but because of the jelly on my shirt.

Jalon came into the room then. He looked around and I tried like hell not to begin sobbing too. He stopped in front of me first and wiped the tears from my cheeks. He smiled, even though he didn’t speak. It’s not like I could have heard him in that noise. Getting to his feet, Jalon pulled the shirt over his head and handed it to me with a wink.

The world drowned out for a minute as I caught my breath. Carefully, I pulled the dirty shirt over my head and slipped into Jalon’s. The shirt went to my knees. The sleeves past my elbows. I loved everything about it.

When I looked up, Jalon had taken Noaz and Kairo into his arms and held them close. He was waving Oxley over and Oxley stumbled from the chair as he tried to catch his breath. Then he was wrapped in my brother’s arms too. Jalon held all three of my brothers and their cries quieted into hiccuped whimpers before dying out entirely.

His eyes met mine and he smiled, calling me over with his hand. Somehow, he managed to hug all four of us. He held us tightly to his chest and murmured that everything was fine. We were fine.

“You know,” I say as I set the shirt down on a shelf, “I’m not sure I’ve ever washed this.”

“No offense but ew.”

I chuckle. “I wore it most of that day and then tucked it away in a drawer. Over the next ten years, I’d wear it for ten minutes or so everytime I needed a boost of confidence or maybe to feel close to Jalon because I was struggling with something internally. But I never wore it long enough to get it dirty. I was afraid to put it in the wash when I was five because I knew I wouldn’t get it back and at the time, it was far too important to me to keep it.”

“That’s cute,” Elgin says. I feel his body heat beside me a moment before he steps up. “Why did you stop wearing it at fifteen?”

With a smirk in his direction, I answer, “It was too tight and I was afraid of ripping it.”

“So you cuddled it instead?” he asks. His voice is even but the glint in his eyes gives away the tease.

“No. I think… when it stopped fitting, I stuffed it away and convinced myself that I’d outgrown the need for that kind of security item.”

“It wasn’t manly?”

I hum, nodding absently. “Emotions are weaknesses,” I muse.

He snorts. “Now want to tell me why you have an entire wardrobe that doesn’t fit you?”

Leaving Jalon’s shirt where I set it, I take the basket from Elgin and begin sorting through the clothes. There’s a mix of what I wear and what I’ve been dressing him in. “Do you like them?”

Elgin looks at the clothes I’m putting away and nods as he shrugs. “I’ve given very little thought to my clothes over the years. I grab what I need for events and hockey and workouts but, I don’t know.” He shrugs again. “Clothes are clothes.”

“You’re saying that you don’t care that I dress you in whatever I want to.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say whatever you want. I’m not interested in wearing a dress or heels. Or a clown costume.”

Chuckling, I continue to sort through clothes as I find space for what he brought in. “Noted.”

“Are you still avoiding answering the question?”

Kind of, yes. “Six or seven years ago, I had a boyfriend I planned to move in with me.”

“Oh god, I’m wearing your ex’s clothes! You said I wasn’t.” His eyes narrow.

I grip his chin and kiss him hotly. “Hush and listen to me, Ellie.”

Elgin huffs.

“I hated how he dressed. It was all grunge and always looked dirty. It drove me insane. I liked him well enough and I thought maybe we were going to have a future or something. So I bought him a whole new wardrobe for the eventuality that he’d move in and I was going to lose his boxes of clothes on the way to my house.”

I pause and think about how ridiculous this all sounds out loud. Elgin must think so too because he’s looking at me with an eyebrow raised.

“When the time came that we were talking about him moving in… I despised everything about the idea. I couldn’t bring him here where I work. Where my team is. I sure as hell wasn’t going to move there.”

“Too bougie for that, huh?”

“You mock but yes. Trust me on this one. I was staring at the wardrobe I bought for him and… it just wasn’t his. It didn’t belong to him and he didn’t belong here. I broke it off and the clothes have sat in my closet ever since.”

“I have your reject wardrobe intended for another man. I feel very special.”

With a deep sigh, I tug him to my chest and bite his lip hard enough that he winces. “Don’t think I won't spank your sweet ass, Ellie. You’re getting mouthy.”

His eyes glint with mirth and the corner of his lip quirks up. Otherwise, he doesn’t respond.

“No. Actually, I think I bought these clothes for you. I’ve been waiting for you for years.”

“Sure. I believe that.”

I slide my hand around to the back of him and my finger drags between his ass cheeks as best I can through his pants. When I have a good grip of him, I haul his pelvis to mine and Elgin groans.

“You’re such a slut for my dick,” I murmur against his lips.

“And your voice. Your stupid voice strokes my balls. It’s frustrating.”

I chuckle and he shivers deliciously in response. “How many clothes do you have?”

He glances behind him at the bar I’d been working on making room for his clothes. “I have very little that needs hanging space. Just my suits for games and shit. Some jerseys because they don’t fold well. A handful of hoodies because they take up so much room in drawers.” He shrugs. “Most of my shit is in drawers.”

“Heathen,” I mutter and let him go.

We finish putting away the laundry and I take a break from the closet. At this rate, it’d be easier to build an additional closet off the back of my room. I’d cut into my view of the courtyard a little but it’d be less hassle.

We join my team for brunch and after, Elgin ends up wandering down the hall with Martin and Jordan as he gives them exasperated reasons why golf isn’t even a sport and why hockey is far superior. Honestly, I’m impressed with the lengths my team has gone to keep from Elgin that we’re actually a huge hockey household. He’s also trying to convince them that we should be watching the Stanley Cup game today.

While he’s being entertained, I join the rest of my team in the kitchen while we prep for said Stanley Cup game. The jig is up today. We all want to watch the championship game.

Forty-five minutes before the game, I track down Elgin and pull him away so the guys can set up without him seeing. Together we put away another couple loads of clean laundry and I clean out some drawers for him. I’m unsure what to do with the clothes that I’m pulling out. I can’t remember the last time I wore them. We have a guest room around here somewhere, right? I can stuff them in the drawers there.

Ten minutes before the game is scheduled to begin, Elgin levels me with a deadpan look. “I really want to watch the championship game, Ara. You going to make me do laundry all day?”

Honestly, I thought he’d give me a hard time ten minutes ago. Thank fuck he didn’t wait until the game had already begun. I’d have to give up the ruse in a different way than I had planned.

“Fine,” I say, scowling at him. “Let’s go watch neanderthals on skates slam each other into windows.”

“I’m going to expect far more enthusiastic and accurate support when my season begins again,” he says as I take his hand and lead him down the hall toward the media room where the team is set up with a buffet of gameday foods.

We round the corner and hear the television on. The anchors of Sports Spot are pretty recognizable at this point. Elgin gives me a curious look. As if I planned something.

My entire team is here. It’s game day after all. As soon as we walk in and Elgin takes in everything, he turns on me with narrowed eyes.

“You want a Montreal or Tampa Bay jersey?” Claude asks.

“I’m predicting Montreal wins,” Martin says. “Not sure how much you know about hockey but they’ve dominated this season, Elgin. They’ve dominated the playoffs in a way Tampa hasn’t. Have you been keeping up?”

Elgin crosses his arms over his chest as he stares at me.

“What? Did you really think I wasn’t a fan of the sport I sponsor? Come on now, Ellie.”

He’s not in the least bit impressed with me. He’ll find the humor eventually.

“Don’t be mad at bossman,” Sylvan says and tosses Elgin the Montreal jersey that Claude was offering. “Once we saw how horrified you were that the entire house didn’t like hockey, we couldn’t let it fall. We’ve been watching in secret.”

“You’re all dicks,” Elgin mutters but throws Montreal’s jersey back. “Give me Tampa. They’re an asshole team but they’re going to win.”

“Not a chance,” Claude says as Saul argues, “No way!”

“Just wait,” Elgin says. “And when they do, you’re all going to kiss my fucking skates next season.”

Two and a half hours later, Tampa Bay wins.