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saturday nights back in cardiff were quiet for jann - usually he’d just get on GT with persol and rory, shut up in his room, or he’d go cruising in his dad’s corrado with music blaring (with permission, of course. he thinks his dad felt pity, a bit, for his lack of social life, and let him take the car some nights), or he’d tag along with coby to some gathering or other when he felt the loneliness about to consume him. it wasn’t his favourite place to be, though, among young people who just didn’t get it.
so as he sits in a circle on the floor with the other GT academy kids (the only other people his age in the world who actually get him and like him just as he is) and giggles with antonio and leah, he really appreciates all of them an extra amount. even matty, whose face is a porcelain mask; he is not sitting in the circle with them at the moment.
“found one!” says joo-hwan, coming back into the dorm, an empty gatorade bottle held aloft.
everyone turns their attention to him, and leah claps her hands. she knows that boys will inevitably be kissing each other tonight, and she’s way too excited, in jann’s opinion.
they’re going to play spin-the-bottle. jann’s never played before, because he’s a twenty-year-old virgin, but he’s pretty pumped - mostly about the fact that he has a group of friends now.
“matty!” jann calls to the other boy, looking up at him from the floor. “play with us!”
he gives matty his best puppy-dog eyes, and matty lets out the most put-upon huff before plopping himself in the circle next to jann. jann grins at him.
“god,” matty says. “sometimes i can really tell you’re the youngest of us.”
“hey!” jann protests, but antonio interrupts them.
“let’s just start, guys,” he says, giving a stern look to jann and matty. “who wants to spin first? jann?”
“okay,” says jann. he’s nervous, because he’s really only kissed one or two people before (and not for very long each time), but he thinks he would rather kiss his new friends than almost anyone else. he puts the bottle in the middle of the circle and spins. everyone watches it with single-minded focus. it lands on matty.
jann winces, scrunching his face up, and peeks at matty sitting next to him. matty rolls his eyes, because he’s just so goddamn cool and this is obviously not a big deal to him.
“well, stretch?” he teases, and kneels up in front of jann. “pucker up!”
“you don’t have to, jann,” leah chimes in. “you can pass on anyone you’re not comfortable kissing.”
she and antonio are the only ones who know the extent of jann’s inexperience with this kind of stuff, and he’s grateful for her speaking up like that.
“nah, it’s fine,” jann says, and impulsively leans his own face closer to matty’s. the older boy rolls his eyes somehow harder this time, puts his hand in jann’s hair, and pulls him into a kiss all in one motion. he’s confident in this, as in everything else, and all jann can do is try his best to kiss back. matty does not seem to be satisfied, and puts his other hand on jann’s cheek to guide him; he licks into jann’s mouth, pushy (this results in cheers and whoops from the rest of the circle), before pulling away with a nod, a smirk on his wet lips.
“not bad,” says matty, and spins the gatorade bottle. jann has to consciously close his mouth. matty lands on marcel, and they have a rather uncomfortably tongue-y kiss that makes antonio mime gagging to jann. marcel spins to leah (who gives him the gayest little peck jann had ever seen and will not do anything more). leah spins and gets jann.
“damn, jann’s getting some tonight,” antonio says, and jann feels a blush on his cheeks as leah crawls across the circle to him.
“hey, cutie,” she says, and lays her lips on his. they don’t kiss long - because they’re both too gay for that - but it’s sweet and leah smiles against his mouth before pulling away.
“do i spin again?” jann asks. leah nods.
“we’re gonna have to make a ban on kissing jann if it lands on him again,” says matty.
“aw, are you jealous?” jann asks him, leaning into his personal space, and delights in the way his face blooms with red. everyone laughs. jann has never really felt safe enough with a group of friends before to joke-flirt with them in the way he does - especially with other guys - but he likes it. even with his so-called rival, who jann thinks is more invested in the ‘rivalry’ than jann himself is.
jann spins and lands on antonio, who pumps his fist in victory.
“come to me, my love,” he says, and jann can almost imagine a rose between his teeth.
“you’re a cheese ball,” he says, but scoots over to antonio and swings his legs horizontally over the other boy’s lap. they kiss each other, unlike with either matty or leah, who had made the first move on jann. he thinks that out of the three, antonio is the best kisser - he’s sweet, he takes jann’s cues with a sensitivity that shows he’s paying attention, and he doesn’t shove his tongue into jann’s mouth the way matty did. they must kiss for a long time, because matty coughs pointedly after a while.
“somebody break them up,” joo-hwan laughs, and jann pulls away. antonio is blushing up a storm.
the rest of the game, the bottle does not land again on jann, which he’s a bit relieved about. everyone ends up getting a turn, and after a while they all get too sleepy to continue. jann has been leaning his shoulder against matty’s, trying to stay awake, and he’s surprised that matty hasn’t said a word to him about it. after all, they do have to practice tomorrow, so they decide to call it a night.
-
jann picks his way to the kitchen to put the gatorade bottle back in the recycling bin. he probably could have thrown it somewhere else, but to be honest, he’s a little overwhelmed by all the kissing he just did, and needs to process some things. he thought it was fun, yeah, but it was a lot for one night.
he almost has a heart attack when he walks into the kitchen and jack is there, leaning one hand on the counter and watching the steam from his cup of tea curl its way to the ceiling. he looks just as surprised to see jann as jann is to see him, and jumps slightly.
“jesus,” they say at the same time.
“hey, jann,” says jack. he looks tired.
“hullo,” jann says, and goes to stand across from jack at the metal kitchen island in the middle. “couldn’t sleep?”
jack shakes his head. runs a hand through his hair, and jann follows the movement with his eyes.
“we didn’t keep you up, did we?” jann asks, worried, and jack shakes his head again.
“what were you guys up to, anyway?” jack asks him. “i heard yelling. and giggling. lots of giggling.”
“uh,” says jann. he gives jack his biggest, most innocent puppy eyes. “why are you asking me? ask antonio tomorrow - he started it.”
jack snorts. “don’t give me that look. i’m asking you because i think you’re the one most likely to tell me.”
jann doesn’t know whether jack means he’s a narc, or jack just trusts him. he thinks jack means the latter.
“we were just playing a game,” jann tells him vaguely, twisting his hands together.
“what game?” jack prompts, and jann huffs a sigh.
“spin-the-bottle, okay?”
“you were not,” jack says, his expression one of glee. he’s gonna have so much material to make fun of them with. “i can’t believe people still play that!”
“it’s timeless,” jann tells him, but he’s blushing. “are we in trouble?”
“god, no,” says jack. “unless you all get sick from kissing each other, then you’re in trouble. crazy kids.”
jann beams at jack, whose expression is soft; jann can tell that despite himself, he’s really come to care about all of them. jann puts the bottle down on the island between them and spins it idly, making full eye contact with jack. jack’s cheeks dust with the lightest of blushes, and jann decides to take a chance. he spins the bottle.
jack watches it spin with dawning horror. it stops, the cap pointed directly at him, and jann’s heart leaps again. he smiles sweetly at jack.
“kid-,” jack starts. he looks like he’s about to protest what this means, like he’s going to tell jann ‘no’ or laugh it off and continue with his night. but his eyes betray him, flicking down for a split second to look at jann’s lips. yes.
“you don’t have to, jack,” says jann quietly, repeating leah’s words from earlier. “you don’t have to kiss anyone in the game who you’re not comfortable kissing.”
jack’s face twitches. he picks up the bottle and throws it in the recycling, and jann’s heart sinks back to where it previously was.
“this isn’t a game to me,” says jack and leans across the counter. he cups one side of jann’s face in his big rough hand, and jann meets him in the middle. meets his mouth in the middle.
this kiss outshines every other kiss of the night. of jann’s life, really. he’d thought antonio’s was the best, well, jack kissing him makes every kiss of the night look like kids’ stuff (which, jann thinks, it was). there are sparks between them, and although it’s not the most involved kiss jann’s had, he loves everything about it: the way their noses bump gently, the way he can feel jack starting to smile, and the way their free hands find each other and tangle together on the countertop. jack strokes jann’s cheek with his thumb, and jann wants to sob just from this. he moans (against his will), and jack pulls away with a soft laugh. jann’s heart is pounding, he realises belatedly.
jack looks at their hands, warm and joined on the counter, and gives jann a look like he can’t quite believe he’s real.
“you should get some sleep,” jack tells him softly, his eyes deep and blue. jann nods.
“we’ll talk more in the morning,” says jack, and jann squeezes his hand. the counter is still between them - for now.