Chapter Text
Two days ago, Colt’s car had broken down. Sucks for him, but it gives Jody a convenient excuse to see her boyfriend every morning as she picks him up for the drive to work.
She doesn’t let him drive her car. She values it too much.
They’ve done their best to work through their difficulties. Things had been rough, especially at the start, but after the whole ‘Tom Ryder framing her (at the time ex) boyfriend for murder’ thing, they’d manage to overcome said difficulties surprisingly quickly. All's fair in love and war, and all that.
Parking her car outside the complex, Jody makes her way up the elevator and pulls Colt’s spare key from her pocket, quietly pulling his apartment door open. It’s surprisingly silent. Success.
Jody can spot her boyfriend in the corner of her eye. He’s standing in his kitchen with his back turned, busying himself with the coffee machine. He doesn’t notice her presence, and she sneaks closer slowly.
When she’s just behind him, she leans against the counter with a teasing grin: “Hey.”
Colt nearly jumps out of his skin, whipping around so fast he elbows her in the side and spills his cup of (lukewarm) coffee all over both him and the floor.
“Holy fudge,” he says, and— Holy fudge? Since when did Colt start saying that? “I’m so sorry, I had no clue anyone else was here— You okay?”
Jody waves a dismissive hand, ignoring the throbbing pain beginning to blossom near her rib. Yeah. Definitely going to bruise.
“I’m fine,” she says, and then blinks up at her boyfriend, taking in his appearance. “Did you change your hair?”
He frowns and lifts up a hand, almost self-consciously, running it through short blonde hair, “No? Why does it look bad?”
“Well, it looks…” she trails off, “I mean this with the most love possible, you look like a massive nerd.”
Colt blinks, looking down at the remaining coffee in his mug before he takes a sip, looking mildly offended, “Sorry?”
“Still hot though,” she reassures with a smile, “No need to fear.”
Colt chokes on his drink. He doesn’t look reassured. He looks anything but. An awkward silence falls between them, the only noise that of water running, and—
“Is someone here?” Jody asks, tilting her head in the direction of his bathroom, “I think the shower is on.”
He nods, apparently giving up attempting to salvage his drink as he dumps the remaining liquid down the drain, “My brother. He takes the world's longest showers, and he just got in, so you might have to wait a bit for him, sorry.”
“Wait a bit for him?” she echoes, confused, “We’re waiting for your brother? Is— wait, hold on. You have a brother? Since when?”
Now it’s Colt’s turn to look confused. “Yeah, didn’t he… you didn’t know?”
“No I didn’t know!” Jody’s voice raises incredulously, “Of course I didn’t know! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Was I supposed to?”
“Well, you’d think it’d come up! Maybe, you know, at one point over the time we’ve known each other, you could’ve said, hey, Jody, did I ever mention that I have a— what, older? Young—”
“Twin,” Colt informs, “Older, I guess. By twelve minutes. Barely counts.”
“You have a twin brother,” Jody continues, somehow more incredulous, “And you never told me?”
He looks guilty, but in a strange way, like he doesn’t think he should be guilty, but he is nonetheless. Which, rude, because he most certainly should feel guilty. Christ, there was no way Colt could possibly be this dense. She pushes away the flurry of emotions she’s feeling to be a later problem, because she’s not having this argument when Colt’s mysterious brother is in the room beside them, with a chance to overhear.
She huffs, pushing a strand of blonde hair out of her face, “Okay. Fine. It’s— fine. Your brother is coming on set with us? Why?”
He rubs at the bridge of his nose, before putting on a pair of glasses and— okay, what was going on? Was Jody going insane? “I mean— he works there, right? He should be going?”
“He works there?” She’s not certain her eyes could open any wider. They were practically popping out of her head at the moment, with the expression of pure surprise on her face, “Your brother works on set and this has— never come up? And why the actual hell are you wearing glasses? Since when did you do that?”
“Why would it have come up?” he asks, his own voice rising in pitch and confusion until he was practically mirroring her, “I’ve always had glasses!”
“I have never seen you wear glasses before,” she shakes her head, “Are you messing with me? Is this some sort of strange prank?”
“It’s not a prank!” he says, and then, insistantly, once again, “I’ve always had glasses!”
“What, do you just wear contacts, then? Is this like some insecurity thing? Because, and I hate to break this to you, but the hair is actually making you look nerdier than the glasses are,” and as an afterthought, Jody adds, “And the shirt, really.”
Colt looks down at his shirt, which has a cartoon drawing of some sort of beaker with a face on it saying ‘You’re overreacting!’. It looks extremely out of character for him. And though she’d never admit it to his face, it also looked rather endearing. He looks back up at her, wounded.
“What’s wrong with my shirt?”
Before Jody gets the chance to answer, she’s interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door opening. And Colt peeks through, soaking wet, with a towel wrapped around his waist, and— Hold on, Colt?
“Ryland!” he shouts over, “You used the last of my shampoo, asshole! Do you know how much that stuff costs? It’s— oh, hey Jody!”
She doesn’t respond, mouth opening and closing like a gaping fish. The man she’s been talking to— not Colt, apparently, smiles guiltlessly at the other, who is apparently Colt. And oh my god, she just called Colt’s brother a nerd.
She’s never getting invited to any Seavers family reunion.