Left hand flat, tapped twice with the right.

A warning– generic, but the fact that Doug was right there would communicate that much for her.

His right hand at a mostly upwards angle, the flat of it perpendicular to the ground, and bouncing to the left.

Incomplete. His signs often were, though she couldn’t claim to be much better. Their collection of nonverbal communications were technically based on ASL, but the two of them had spent so long using it to communicate with each other exclusively that they’d long ago developed quirks and mannerisms that sometimes made it unreadable or difficult.

This one, though, was simple.

Plan.

Noun form, with no accompanying question-marker.

Great.

The approach he chose was a little strange, diverting off of the direct path to say a word or two to someone on the side before heading back. It was probably not exactly obvious to anyone else watching it, but she’d seen him do this before.

He was trying to come at them from a different angle, likely to create a different “environment” for the upcoming confrontation with Doug.

Interesting, then, that he changed sides with Emma in the process, making it so that as they approached she would be alongside him, but between Nathan and herself.

Interesting, and worrying.

Not that she let that stop her. Jade turned around, facing Doug, whose eyes were tracking the two new arrivals. He looked like he was about to take off towards them, so she spoke to distract him.

“Is her looking alright really that novel of a concept for you? You’re a lot worse than I thought, then.”

His eyes snapped to her, as expected, and changed very quickly to a glare. Less expected was the way Quince and Jess, off to her side and slightly in front as they were, also jumped to her.

And Nathan’s positioning suddenly made sense.

He was making it more difficult for Doug to actually move towards Emma by forcing any approach of her to involve Doug making himself “surrounded”.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He probably wouldn’t consciously notice that, but it would discourage the approach.

“Excuse me? Whatever the fuck you think you know about my team, you’re wrong. Especially because you’re dealing with her.”

Nathan got there, then, a big smile on his face.

“Hi, you must be Doug! Nice to meet you– Emma’s told me about you!”

Everyone but him basically froze in place. Quince went from interest to shock, Jess’s glare got harder, with a note of confusion thrown in. Emma’s eyes were wide, and she was staring at Nathan with a look that was part amusement and part betrayal. Doug’s face seemed trapped between the snarl he’d been addressing her with and a welcoming smile, cramped in a way that told almost the whole story right then and there.

“And who the… Who might you be?”

Nathan’s smile grew wider, as though he didn’t notice any of the things going on around him. “I’m Nathan! Emma’s… friend. I came to see you guys’ games today. Such a shame that you lost, really. The Six Pigeons in a Trenchcoat are really good, though!”

Jade almost cringed from that last sentence, and she could see Doug visibly wince out of the corner of her eye.

It wasn’t that the sentence was grammatically wrong, or anything, it just showed a complete and utter lack of understanding of the scene or how those last games had gone.

Really, she almost admired it. His gormless rube act was one of the masterpieces she’d yet to replicate.

Doug’s cramped smile turned predatory, and he glanced at Emma for a moment before turning back to Nathan. “You know, she’s leading you on. She won’t date you.”

Nathan’s moment of being taken aback was so accurate that even she only caught the barest hint of a smirk, and even then only as he appeared to turn to Emma, questioning.

Doug pounced on that. “I don’t know what she told you, dude, but you really need to figure out how to not be an idiot.”

Nathan turned back, that shocked look still in place. “What? I didn’t want to date her! I’m just here to support her game thing. I might be a little awkward, but I’m not a creep who’d hang around a girl who isn’t interested to try to get her to change her mind. Plus, she doesn’t even like boys!”

“Nice try, but–”

“And what would my S-O say? They’re already a little insecure about us, and that would just make it worse.”

Nathan started laughing, continuing until it was a little bit off-putting. “And seriously? Me, and Emma? What a joke! Can you imagine? Her, with some guy who isn’t nearly as smart as her and has to lean on her other friends just to get her attention? No-thank-you, I’ll just stick to people I can call up and get a few hours from without needing to schedule things out in advance or hold their friends hostage.”

Doug’s face changed color three times in as many sentences, finally settling on a white that she hadn’t seen in a while, his eyes darting between Emma, who was turned to face Nathan entirely, and Jade’s still-chuckling brother.

Without even a word, he stalked off.

Behind him, his other teammates scattered while Nathan seemed to be bothered by his conversation partners leaving.

Jade knew what came next, but she waited until they were all out of sight to rush over to her brother.

The façade dropped away, his eyes coming back into sharp focus and his shoulders notably adjusting in under a second.

He glanced around the room exactly once before nearly collapsing in on himself.

Jade caught him in a hug.

His voice was a whisper. “I… really. Fucking. Hate. That.”

“I know. Can you stay out here or do you need to leave?”

“You’re doing talking.”

“Yeah.”

“He’ll be back at some point.”

“Yeah.”