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Jane smiled at Cho. Cho didn’t smile back, instead staring at him.
Jane waited a minute, before breaking the silence. “May I come in?”
“Yeah, sure.” Cho stepped aside and closed the door behind Jane. “What are you doing here?”
“I brought you dinner.”
“I see that. Doesn’t explain why you’re here.”
“Okay. I wanted to see you.” Jane headed into the kitchen and Cho followed.
“Why?”
Jane shook his head with a smile. “So many questions. You know why.”
Jane looked around the kitchen before opening the cabinet that held the plates and grabbing two. He then started to dish out food on both plates. Cho just watched him.
Jane knew Cho was going over the different possible scenarios for how this evening could go. He was deciding right now whether to kick Jane out or not. At least, that’s what Jane deduced. He turned and grabbed Cho’s hand, gently placing the tea in his hand. He then turned back to the food.
Jane smiled when Cho finally took a sip of his tea. He’d be allowed to stay.
They ate dinner leaning against the counters in the kitchen, across from each other. They discussed work and Jane explained how he found the diamonds in their latest case.
When they finished eating, Cho placed the plates in the sink and turned back to Jane.
Jane watched as Cho tried to figure out what was going to happen next. Jane decided to make that easy for him and stepped into Cho’s personal space. He laid his hands on Cho’s cheeks and gave Cho a few seconds to stop him before leaning in to kiss Cho.
It started off slow, and Jane let Cho take the lead. It deepened until Jane practically felt weak in the knees. He broke the kiss, let go of Cho and stepped back. “I want to take you on a date.”
Cho’s brain basically short circuited. First Jane kissed him, now he wanted a date? Cho didn’t know what to think or what to say. All he could think was – “Why?”
“Because it’ll be fun.”
Cho’s mood dropped and he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not here to entertain you, Jane.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“I meant it’ll be fun, just the two of us. I don’t want meaningless sex. I want to try this, with you. I think we could have fun together.”
Cho thought it over. He didn’t want meaningless sex either, but did he want a relationship? What would the team think? Did he care? His parents wouldn’t likely approve, but that was a problem for another day. Did he like Jane that way? He liked the guy as a person, and thought the man to be brilliant. Could that grow into something romantic?
One date couldn’t hurt, right?
Cho could see Jane knew his answer before he himself did, because his kilowatt smile was back.
“Okay, sure.”
“Perfect. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at say 7:30? Don’t wear one of your suits, it’ll be casual for our first date.”
Cho nodded in agreement. Jane then stole a quick kiss and headed for the door. He was gone before Cho could even consider changing his mind.
They didn’t get to that date as planned, as they had a case the next morning. The two of them hardly saw each other the few days it took to solve the case, but Cho heard from Rigsby that Jane seemed to be in a better mood than usual.
When they finished the case, Jane texted Cho and told him that he’d pick him up at 7:30 that night. Cho finished his paperwork and got home with just enough time to shower and dress in navy slacks and a light gray button down, which he rolled up the sleeves. He even had time to regret his decision to agree to the date. The two of them were colleagues. They shouldn’t blur the lines between work and their personal lives. He almost texted Jane to cancel when said man knocked on his door. Too late now.
Cho answered the door and had his breath taken away with one look at Jane. Jane wore his tan slacks and white button down with the top buttons undone. Cho had to admit, Jane looked stunning. From the smile Jane sent him, Cho knew that Jane could tell what he was thinking.
“You look great, Kimball.”
Cho finally found his breath. “You too, Patrick.”
“Ready to go?”
“Sure.” Cho locked up his apartment, and they headed to Jane’s car. Jane drove them to his favorite Italian restaurant. As they waited for their table, they discussed the latest case. But once they were inside the restaurant, there was a silent agreement that work wouldn’t be mentioned anymore.
They sat down and looked over the menus in silence. Cho immediately worried that it was going to be an awkward dinner. What did they have to discuss, after all. But once they ordered, Jane asked about Cho’s latest read and conversation flowed easily. Cho was in the middle of a sports mystery book and Jane was reading the Art of War by Sun Tzu. From there they discussed books for a while, talking about their favorite novels and novels.
Then they discussed TV and movies. Jane was not surprised to find out that Cho watched crime shows just to point out the inaccuracies and he was a huge Harry Potter fan. Jane then guessed that Cho was a Ravenclaw, which Cho agreed with. Jane admitted to not having read the Harry Potter books, not mentioning that he was going to read them with his daughter but never got the chance. Cho was appalled and went on about how Jane must read them, then watch the movies that were out so far. Jane agreed, only if Cho would watch the movies with him. Cho readily agreed.
Following dinner, Jane took Cho out for desert, going to his favorite ice cream joint. As they ate their ice cream, they walked through the nearby park. Cho found himself getting distracted by the way Jane ate his ice cream cone, with slow deliberate licks. A few times Jane had to repeat himself because Cho found himself lost in the conversation.
Cho finished his ice cream first and threw the cup away in a trash can. Cho lasted only a few minutes after Jane finished his cone before he’s dragging Jane into a sloppy, open mouthed kiss, showing Jane just what eating that ice cream cone did to him. Jane kissed him back, their tongues dancing. Cho kept his hands on Jane’s chest but he desperately wanted to feel every inch of Jane’s body at that very moment.
They only broke their kiss when they heard people walking past them, reminding them they were in public and on a park path.
“Hmm.” Jane had a bright smile on his face. “I told you tonight would be fun.”
“Yeah, you did.” They headed back towards their car and Jane grabbed Cho’s hand and held it as they walked. Cho found he didn’t mind at all.
Jane drove Cho home. When they got there, Cho didn’t immediately get out of the car to head inside.
“You want to come inside?” Cho asked.
Jane did, he absolutely did after that kiss, but a pang in his chest wouldn’t let him. He thought about his dead wife, Angela, and he just couldn’t go inside. Not when he knew it’d lead to sex. He hadn’t had true sex since her death, and he wasn’t ready. Not yet.
He smiled gently, trying to hide what he was thinking. “Not tonight.” His thumb subconsciously played with his wedding ring that still rested on his finger.
Cho noticed. “Okay. I had a great time.”
“Me too.” Jane laid his hand on Cho’s neck before nudging him over into a goodnight kiss. They both pull away, smiling; a subtle smile in Cho’s case. “Goodnight, Kimball.”
“Goodnight, Patrick.” Cho climbed out of the car and headed into his apartment building.
Jane watched him until he disappeared into the building before driving home himself. The pang in his chest grew as he got closer to his house. Hopefully tonight he’d dream of Cho, not the deaths of his beloved girls.