Work Text:
Unobservant
He turned off the TV as even Fraidy Cat’s antics weren’t going to cheer him up tonight. Jake was off on a date with Callie and he couldn’t stop thinking about how jealous it was making him and how much it surprised him. He’d always thought if Callie had chosen Jake over him that he’d be a little jealous of his friend but hey he wasn’t blind he could see the appeal of Jake and the guy was his best friend in the whole world so he’d have dealt with it.
What he was having trouble dealing with at this moment was that he wasn’t jealous of Jake having Callie he was jealous of Callie having Jake. It wasn’t that Jake was a guy, he’d long been aware that he was equal opportunity when it came to potential partners it was that it was Jake. He and Jake had practically lived in each other’s pockets since they were first assigned to each other during basic training. If this was going to come up it should have come up years ago but apparently he’d had a massive blind spot to how he felt about the cat he considered his brother in every way but blood.
This new awareness of how he felt about his friend showing up right when his friend landed one of the most awesome women that either of them had ever met was incredibly frustrating. He could only wish his friend well but dealing with accepting that he wanted to be the one with Jake was going to be aggravating. He just hoped that when Jake got back and was walking on cloud nine after his date with Callie that he’d be able to keep from showing his annoyance. Jake would think it was about Callie and while it was tempting to let him think that it wasn’t fair to his friend, not that he had any intention of telling his friend what was really going on.
He was just about to start rehearsing lines to come off as supportive about Jake and Callie’s new romance when the door to the garage opened and Jake walked in looking tired and struggling to undo his tie. He had to do a double take since it had barely been two hours since Jake left and there was no way a date with Callie should have ended this fast. “Hey partner your back early?” He managed to ask. “Did something happen and Callie have to leave early?”
“No nothing happened,” Jake said tiredly. “Callie and I just weren’t really feeling it.” That was rather shocking since both of them had been nuts about Callie for years and looking back Callie had been trying to get Jake’s attention just as long.
“Were one of you not feeling well?” He asked still slightly dumbfounded but Jake just shook his head no. “Well I’m sure the next date will go better.” He offered trying to be the supportive best friend even though part of him was a bit too pleased.
“There won’t be another date,” Jake said shrugging his shoulders a bit. “Callie and I both agreed it was a mistake by the end of dinner.” His confusion and shock must have been clear on his face because Jake was starting to look uncomfortable. “It isn’t a big deal Chance, people realize they don’t fit all the time.”
“Yeah, I know that partner but you’ve wanted Callie for years and unless I’m wrong all those Bye Jake’s were her sending a pretty clear message that she wanted you too,” he said trying to get a bead on if his friend was really up set or not.
“I think we just kind of waited too long,” Jake said as he sat himself down on the couch looking tired. “I mean we were both interested at one point but you can only drop hints so long before you start to move on and the whole time at dinner I wanted it to be someone else and I think she was in a similar boat or at least no longer as interested in me as she once was so maybe you have a shot.”
He needed to change the subject from that direction quickly so he asked what he knew he shouldn’t, “oh wishing it was someone else was it Felina Feral, or maybe Ann Gora?” He could tell from Jake’s face that he wasn’t very happy with his guessing game. “Don’t tell me it’s Dr. Sinian,” he said and dodged as Jake punched at his arm. “Come on Jake, we only see so many women, I’m running out of guesses here.”
“First of all stop guessing,” Jake said clearly annoyed, “And how do you know it’s a woman anyway, you know I swing both ways.” He actually didn’t know that and judging by Jake’s face the fact he didn’t know seemed to have thrown him. “Are you serious we had this conversation back in Enforcer Academy, I was asking if it would be a problem and you said no it wouldn’t and then went back to reading a silly comic book.”
“I swear I don’t remember that conversation,” he said drawing a complete blank which was rather funny when he thought about it. “I must have been out of really focused on the issue,” he said and saw Jake smiling. “But we see even fewer guys, oh shit it’s not Feral is it cause if that’s the case then something is really wrong with you.”
“It’s not Feral, what the hell, Chance what could possibly make you say that,” Jake said and he just shrugged he had no idea why he’d said something that ridicules but Jake was still glaring at him so he just smiled sheepishly. “Look Chance I’m just going to go grab a shower and get some sleep.”
“Come on Jake, tell me who it is, I can tell you if I think you’ve got a shot or not.” Jake just shook his head and got up leaving the room heading toward the small bathroom in the living area of their garage. He found himself sitting there wondering who it could be the only possible candidates he could think of at first were Burke and Murray which was even more ridicules than his earlier bizarre choice of Feral. Feral at least wasn’t physicically unattractive though his personality killed any appeal he could ever have but Burke and Murray didn’t even have that. He guessed it could also be that poor camera man Ann Gora kept dragging into trouble he wasn’t bad looking but he didn’t know the guy’s name and he was pretty sure Jake didn’t know it either.
This was frustrating how could he be jealous of someone he didn’t even know it wasn’t like Jake hung around any else but him. He paused at that thought, on the surface it was silly to even consider it after all he and Jake were around each other all the time surely he’d have picked up on Jake having a crush on him but then again he’d been blind to his own interest in Jake for who knows how long. He tried to remember if he’d ever let Jake know he liked guys as well as girls and he couldn’t actually remember ever doing so.
He tried to think back if Jake had ever seemed to want to be more than friends but couldn’t really pinpoint any moments. Of course they already did nearly everything together to the point where they even took vacations together the few times they got away from the garage they were pretty much already married in every way but having sex. He was shaken from the rather nice fantasy that had started by Jake coming back in the room and he resisted the urge to blush at how much he’d zoned out thinking about him and Jake together. He refused to be embarrassed even as he admonished himself to get a grip since he wasn’t some horny teenager even if it had been way to long since he’d had any action aside from his own hand
He noticed that Jake had already changed into a pair of old sweat pants and a faded t-shirt that had seen better days given how threadbare it was. “Do I have something on my face?” Jake asked after a moment and he realized he was staring.
“Sorry, I just have a couple of questions,” he said deciding to just bite the bullet now or he’d chicken out and he was a swat kat not a coward. He noised Jake stiffen and he guessed Jake was bracing himself for more questions about who he had wished was at dinner. “Did I ever tell you that I also swing both ways so to speak?”
“What!” Jake’s rather vocal response was pretty clearly a no and based on the look Jake was giving him he clearly didn’t know how to take him blurting it out like that. He thought he detected a hint of a blush too as Jake stared at him so he might be right after all.
“Well that answers the first question,” he said, “Sorry about that I don’t know why it never came up.” Jake was still staring at him and it was beginning to creep him out so he charged on ahead. “As to the second were you wishing that I was on the date with you instead of Callie?”
“Why the hell are you asking me that,” Jake demanded looking incredibly uncomfortable. He was relieved it wasn’t a no but he was hoping for a better response than he seemed to be getting.
“Cause this whole time you were on your date I was sitting here dealing with the fact that instead of being jealous of you being out with Callie,” he said taking a deep breath. “I was jealous of Callie for being out with you and then you came in talking about it not working and wishing it was someone else and I got kind of hoping it was me.”
“I really don’t know what to say,” Jake said and he felt a bit crushed. “I mean it was you but I was just going to ignore it, I’ve kind of got used to doing that.” He felt himself perking up but Jake still didn’t look happy. “I mean what if we start something and it screws us up, the swat kats I mean.”
“Never happen, partner,” he said and meant it. He had no doubt that no matter what happened they were going to be partners forever. “I could make a joke about how we already do everything together so what’s a few more things but honestly I really think it might be a fresh start for us.” He wasn’t sure why he was saying this but just made a kind of sense. “I mean think about it ever since we started the Swat kats we’ve been really focused on that and neglected just living some times.”
“That’s true,” Jake said and then sighed, “You know what let’s do it.” He was then grabbed and kissed rather passionately by his partner and he forgot about anything else. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”
“Well I only know I wanted to do it for about six hours now so I’m sure you logged more hours thinking about it then I have,” he said as a joke and Jake looked a bit annoyed and then smirked at him so he was clearly starting to find it funny. “So Sure Shot why don’t you show me some of the things you’ve thought about doing while I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Believe me I’ve got a list a mile long,” Jake said with a brief laugh. “Of course for right now I just want to head for a room with a bed and yours is bigger than mine.” He laughed at that and decided not to tease Jake about how much he’d complained helping him get his bigger bed into his room. He was definitely looking forward to where things went from here.
The end