Work Text:
“Oh, you’re the best …”
David exhales slowly, trying his best to control his emotions and his facial expressions so that the entire town didn’t see what he was feeling, now that his boyfriend had stopped singing at him. His mother stepped into view, having finally released his arm.
“Oh David.”
He shook his head at her, unprepared for whatever ridiculous statement might come out of her mouth.
“It seems that despite your various imperfections, Patrick desires a real relationship with you.”
“Mmm, okay.” He rolled his eyes. “Please never refer to desires and Patrick in the same sentence again.”
Moira pats his cheek with a smile and walks away.
David busies himself, straightening the breath mints and lip balms on the counter, unwilling to look directly at Patrick just yet, trying to process what he’d just seen and heard. What he’d felt while Patrick was singing to him in front of half the town.
He sends a quick text to Stevie:
Did you know about this
She texts back with microphone and guitar emojis and he knows she was in on it. That Patrick had told her.
Knowing that makes him feel warm inside. He hates them conspiring at his expense, but likes that two of the most important people to him are friends. He shakes off the sincerity. Stevie can never know he thought that.
David looks up to find Patrick watching him. His eyes are so fond that David has to look away. When he looks back, Patrick is smiling at him. David can’t help it, the small sideways smile that appears in response, making his dimple pop.
He fights the instinct to school his expression into something more indifferent. He can give Patrick this much; the openness in his face even though there are other people here, after Patrick had sung to him. A song he was sure he’d only mentioned once, on a vendor trip.
They’d been driving, listening to one of David’s diva playlists when The Best had come on.
“Listen to the lyrics Patrick, they’re beautiful! Everyone thinks it’s just a great song to dance to but listen. It’s a love song!”
“Okay, David.”
Finally the last performer leaves the stage. David does his best to usher people out of the store so that he can finally be alone with Patrick.
Shooing a slightly tipsy Ronnie out the door, “Brewer’s got it baaaad for you”, he closes the door behind her and locks it.
When he turns around Patrick is standing by the register. David closes the distance between them in a couple of quick strides and envelopes him in his arms. Patrick’s arms are solid on his back and David breathes him in smiling, as he presses a kiss to his neck, the spot that Patrick had claimed as his own.
“So what did you think?” Patrick murmurs against his neck.
“That was … unexpected. Mom was ready to pull the fire alarm but it turns out that was unnecessary.”
“David, you thought I was going to be terrible?”
“I thought this was going to be really awful and cringy. I was … pleasantly surprised.” He pulls back just enough so that he can look at Patrick, eyebrow raised, a small smile on his face.
“I can’t believe you remembered what I said about that song!”
“I remember everything you say, David-“
“But not-“
“-I remember the important things.”
“Correct stock placement is important!”
“I meant it, David, every word.”
David can’t hold it in anymore. His smile stretches across his face, his eyes sparkling as he draws Patrick closer again, pressing their bodies together.
“Thank you.”
He kisses Patrick, gently at first, then deepening the kiss, sliding his hand up to the back of his neck, pouring what he can’t say into the kiss. All of the feelings that he can hardly define for himself, everything he’d felt while Patrick had sung to him - in public - hoping that Patrick would somehow know.
David pulls back, breathless and a little afraid of what he might say if he wasn’t careful.
“You know everyone can see us David.”
He untangled himself from Patrick and walked towards the back room, throwing a wink and a smirk over his shoulder.
“Well it would be incorrect to do what I want to do to you where Roland can walk past and see.”