'Hit the Floor'~Bounce

Not Business as Usual

When Jude opened his eyes and slowly pulled back, he looked into Zero's eyes momentarily before both remembered where they were. He could hear the crowd...cheering?! He looked around and realized that everyone was focused on the two of them. To his left he saw a dumbfounded Jelena, the raised eyebrows of Terrence and Pete, a look of realization cross Derek's face, while Lionel's read 'I'll be damned.' He then looked up and realized they were on the Jumbotron.

Then suddenly they were swarmed by reporters shouting 'Zero!' 'Mr. Kinkade!' and the flash of cameras. It was all pretty much a blur, but he vaguely recalled Emile and another of the assistant coaches, towels in hands, coming up to them at the orders of Pete and moving them through the onslaught. They made their way off the court, surrounded by security.

Suddenly, Lionel was at Jude's side. "So, this is who you've been in a twist over the entire time?"

"Yeah."

"Daddy issues much?"

"Zero, Jude! We got a car waiting at the loading dock," Pete informed them, cutting through all the mayhem.

Jude and Zero looked at each other. 'This is it!'

"Go, I'll hold the cameras down. Go, go, go,' commanded Lionel with a gesture of her arms.

" Come on, guys, come on. Excuse us!" Pete then ushered the agent and baller out.

"Guys..." she said, turning and raising her hands against the onslaught of reporters.

~~~

Once Pete, Zero and Jude were safely in the back of the car, a dark tinted Range Rover with a driver up front. The three looked at each other. "So...where to?" asked Pete.

Jude looked at Zero. "My place?" It made sense. Everyone knew Zero and where he lived. No one knew Oscar's son. So, per usual they drove to Studio City.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Hey, it was still something of a big deal back in the 90s when Sloane and I got together...," volunteered Pete.

They looked at each other, then back at him. It remained silent.

Jude's phone pinged. Again. Unsurprisingly, the press who at first had constantly asked him about Oscar, now pivoted to Zero. He had a ton of missed calls. They may not know where he lived or really anything about him. But, they had his phone number. However, this time it was Lisa.

"Hey! Mom..."
~~~

"I can't believe you did that," Jude said as he and Zero lay in bed, the next morning. "Kissing me in front of millions of people. Now that everyone knows about us, we can go wherever we want." Jude knew he was being naïve, but he just wanted to bask in this moment. In them. Together. Out.

"Except we kinda can't." Zero, then reached over to the nightstand and showed Jude his phone. Zero had, had his assistant stop by the arena extra early and pick up his things from his locker to include his wallet and phone. "That's a hundred interview requests since last night. SportsCenter's had us on a loop for the past 12 hours."

"What are you gonna do?" He had a few ideas, from an agent perspective, but he decided to just listen, instead of trying to fix things.

"Every move I've ever made has been planned out in advance. Kissing you was not...But it's all gonna have to wait."

"Why?"

"Because, I'm busy." He then pulled Jude on top for a long, lingering kiss.

~~~

"Devils Nation is about inclusion. We support Zero and Jude as employees and as a couple..." read Zero, days later from KEJM Channel 13's website, on his phone. He gave Jude a doubtful look as he leaned against the bathroom sink, wearing only a towel.