We Can't Read Him

★ ★ ★

By the time the football game ended, the twins were asleep. Marlena held on tightly to Jay as she stood, while Charlie was fast asleep in Bucky's arms. The four of them, as well as Greyson and Wanda, were waiting on Mason to make an appearance. He and the rest of his team had taken off for the locker room after their win. Marlena was quite thankful they had won, given the fact that Mason often found himself in a horrible mood after a loss. She'd only ever had to deal with that mood twice after a loss, and it wasn't one she was a fan of dealing with.

The football stadium was just about clear when the football team finally appeared. All of them were exceptionally jubilant. It not only showed on their faces, but it showed in their excited howls as they ran onto the field and off again to meet up with their families.

Mason scanned his eyes over the numerous amount of people gathered at the fence, and the moment he spotted his family he smiled brightly and ran over. Bucky was the first to spot him, as Marlena was lost in conversation with Wanda and Greyson. A grin spread across his face as he looked at Mason, and he clamped a hand down onto his shoulder, all while managing to keep his hold on Charlie.

"Congrats on your win, kid," Bucky said to Mason, attracting everyone else's attention.

"Thanks, man."

Marlena turned to look at Mason and she smiled. "You played great out there, Mase."

She couldn't help but think about just how happy her mom would be were she able to see him on the field doing what he loved to do. Marlena could remember Mason being so happy about receiving a full ride to the university he had been wanting to attend since he was in seventh grade. All he wanted to do in life was play football and further his education, and he was able to do just that, but there was a time when he grew to resent it because the one person he wanted to be there during it all couldn't be. It took a hell of a lot of convincing and coaxing not only from Marlena, but Bucky, Greyson, and Wanda as well to get him to the point he was currently at. Marlena knew better than anyone that Miranda would be one proud mother if she could see him today. He'd turned into everything she hoped for him to be.

"Don't lie to the boy," Greyson scoffed, tearing Marlena from her thoughts. "I've seen three-year-olds play football better than he can."

Mason shot him a look. "The only three-year-olds you know are Charlie and James, and I'm the only reason they even know what a football is."

Greyson smirked and moved to hug Mason, patting him on the back several times before releasing him. "I've missed you, kiddo."

"Likewise," Mason responded with a small smile.

"I don't really understand what went on out there, but whatever it was...I guess it was pretty cool," Wanda said to Mason.

Mason grinned and moved to hug her. "Thanks, Wan."

"So, how many games is it that you've won now?" Marlena questioned him.

Mason shrugged and shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. "We lost two this season and we lost one last season. That's all I know. I never really keep track of how many games we play."

"What kind of quarterback doesn't keep track of the number of games played?" Bucky inquired.

"I have a really short attention span, okay?" Mason retorted, his gaze shifting to the two small figures in the arms of his sister and brother-in-law. "And, speaking of short attention spans, how long have they been asleep exactly?"

"An hour at most," Bucky answered him.

"Damn," Mason muttered. "That means they missed me score the final touchdown."

"It was nothing special, so don't get too cocky about it," Greyson teased him. "But I'm gonna meet you guys at the restaurant. I'm starving."

Marlena chuckled and waved to him as he walked away before turning back to Mason. "Are you ready to go?"

Mason pursed his lips and glanced behind him as if he were looking for someone. "Well, I was waiting on one of my friends to finish showering and getting dressed, but I have no clue what happened to him."

As if on cue, a deep voice calling out Mason's name attracted the group's attention. They turned to see a rather large-framed man running towards Mason. He didn't appear to be too much older than Mason, but he was definitely a lot taller than Mason. Even after so many years, Mason was still among the smallest of his friends. While the rest of them reached heights of at least six foot or taller, Mason was stuck at 5'9. He didn't mind it, though. The only thing that mattered to him was that he wasn't the smallest in his family as he used to be. Aside from the twins, that title had been given to Marlena, who would forever remain at 5'3.

"Hey, Kell," Mason greeted the boy excitedly.

Wanda and Marlena exchanged glances with one another after they finished studying the boy. They couldn't sift through his mind as they normally could upon just about anyone. It was something they liked to do when meeting new people to determine whether or not the person they were meeting could be deemed as a threat or not, and it was something Marlena especially liked to do now that she had the twins. Their abilities worked on everyone, yet they did not work on this one singular man. They couldn't seem to figure out why that was, though, and that made them feel a little uneasy inside.

"Guys," Mason said as he turned back to the three of them. "This is my friend Kellan. Kellan, this is my family."

Kellan turned his attention to the three of them, his eyes falling immediately on Marlena. He smiled widely and held his hand out to her, which she wasted no time at all in reaching out for. "You look a little bit too young to be Mason's mother," he chuckled slightly.

Marlena smiled politely and shook his hand. "I'm his sister, actually."

"You didn't tell me you had a sister, and you definitely didn't tell me she was so beautiful." Kellan nudged Mason's ribs and turned back to Marlena, while Bucky eyed him suspiciously from her side. "And what's this beautiful sister's name?"

"Marlena Barnes," she answered simply.

Kellan seemed almost confused with the fact that the two had different last names. "Marlena Barnes and Mason Claire?"

Mason ran a hand over the back of his neck and gestured to Bucky. "Yeah...um...she's kinda married," he told his friend.

"Very married, actually," Bucky spoke up, attracting Kellan's attention. "I'm Bucky...Bucky Barnes."

Kellan cleared his throat awkwardly and stuck his hand out for Bucky to shake. "Sorry, Bucky. It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Wanda," Wanda chirped all-too happily. She stepped forward and reached her hand out for him to shake, which he gladly accepted once he took notice of her seemingly-flawless appearance. "I'm Mason's cousin."

"It's very nice to meet you," Kellan greeted her.

Wanda grinned in response to his words and squeezed his hand tighter. She was attempting to make a mental connection with him, but she couldn't do so no matter how much energy she used to do it. She let go of his hand in an instant and looked at Marlena, shaking her head ever so slightly. Marlena only sighed in response and looked to Kellan and Mason, a small smile pulling onto her face as she did.

"Would you maybe want to join us for dinner, Kellan?" Marlena asked him nicely, much to Bucky's unspoken despair.

"Sure," Kellan answered back with a bright smile on his face.

Before anyone had the chance to respond, Jay stirred awake in Marlena's arms.

"Mommy, where are we?" he asked quietly as he raised his head up to scan the area.

"We're still at the football field, sweetie," Marlena told him.

Jay grunted and urged for Marlena to put him down. "I wanna go get food," he grumbled and rubbed his eyes.

"And who's this little guy?" Kellan asked.

Jay turned to look at the source of the new voice, his tired eyes narrowing slightly as he studied Kellan's facial features. There was something about the man that he didn't necessarily like, but he couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was. "I'm James Junior," he told Kellan.

"That's my nephew—we call him Jay most of the time," Mason told him, ruffling Jay's hair. "And my niece is asleep on Bucky—her name is Charlotte, but we call her Charlie."

"Creative," Kellan complimented.

"Uh, do you think you could take them to the car and buckle them in for me, Mase?" Marlena asked her brother as she dug around in her bag for her keys. Once she pulled them out, she handed them to Mason. "I have to talk to Bucky and Wanda about something important we had planned for you tonight."

"Sure," Mason said slowly. He moved to grab Charlie from Bucky's arms, and although confused about everything happening, Bucky still handed her over. "C'mon, Jay."

"Are we goin' to get food, Uncle Mase?" Jay asked as he began trotting away with Mason and Kellan.

"Yeah, in a little bit."

Marlena let out a breath the moment they were out of earshot and grabbed Bucky's arm. He looked down at her with an absolutely clueless expression on his face. He wasn't aware of the reason why Wanda and Marlena were acting so weird all of a sudden, nor was he aware of why he didn't already have a plate of food in front of him.

"What's going on, Marlena?" he asked her.

"That Kellan kid..."

"Okay, what about him?"

Wanda sighed and stepped forward. "We can't read him, Bucky."

"All I'm receiving from you two are vague answers," Bucky remarked. The two of them always had a weird way of communicating; it was as if sometimes they forgot they were the only two that could read minds.

"We can't read him, Bucky," Marlena repeated. "As in we cannot read his mind. Wanda couldn't even connect when she shook his hand."

Bucky only shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets. "So what?"

"It's suspicious," Marlena told him.

"Or maybe he's just one of the few lucky people immune to your weird and incredibly intrusive abilities," Bucky responded.

Wanda shook her head. "I don't think so. I think there's something sketchy going on with him."

"You're both being paranoid," Bucky said with a roll of his eyes. "There's nothing sketchy about him, okay? He's just an annoyingly nice kid with an even more annoyingly good taste in women."

Marlena groaned and brushed her bangs out of her face. "Why are you only just now deciding not to pay heed to our paranoia?"

Bucky grinned and wrapped an arm around Marlena's shoulder. "Maybe because I've lived four years or so without experiencing any kind of paranoia, and I refuse to let that streak be broken by some horny college kid, Marlena."

"Yet you can't let that streak be broken by some horny woman you call your wife?" Wanda chimed. She shook her head in mock sadness as she looked at the couple. "What a shame."

She walked away after that and Bucky looked down at Marlena.

"So...you're horny?"

Marlena scoffed and rolled her eyes at Bucky, very quickly moving away from him. "You're unbelievable," she remarked as she took off for the parking lot. She didn't care what Bucky said or how he felt about the situation. She was going to do what she could to figure out what was up with Mason's friend, and she wouldn't stop until she had the answers she was looking for.

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