Work Text:
Leo and the President had assembled the senior staff in the Residence late Thursday night. What was meant to be a quick polish on a few key statements for tomorrow’s news cycle had devolved into rewriting pretty much everything. For once, everyone was working pretty silently, with only a few mummers between colleagues every now and then.
“Leo”, Jed says quietly, nudging Leo with his foot. “What?” Leo asks and Jed nods to where Josh and Sam are standing, going over some of the rewrites. Josh has his hand casually on Sam’s lower back as they work. “God, I hope we’re never that obvious,” Leo says and Jed replies, “Do you think they realize it yet?”
“Realize what?” Leo asks
“That they’re in love,” Jed replies ever the romantic.
“What makes you so sure that they don’t already know that?” Leo says and Jed rolls his eyes and says, “If they knew there wouldn’t be so much unresolved sexual tension in the Residence right now.”
“Really don’t need that image in my mind, sir,” Leo deadpans and Jed chuckles. “What if we help them out a little?” Jed suggests, wagging his eyebrows suggestively. “No. Sir, we don’t have to do that-“ Leo starts but the President interrupts him “Of course we do. Why don’t we break up into teams? I’ll talk to Sam and you can talk to Josh.”
“Wait! No, sir, please don’t make me do this!” Leo hisses as Jed winks and stands saying “I think this will get done quicker if we break off into groups. CJ and Toby you can work on the education sections, Josh and Leo, you can work on the legislative agenda, and Sam and I will work on the economic policy. Let’s come back in an hour.” Sounding every bit like the professor he used to be.
With a chorus of “Yes, sirs” and “Thank you Mr. President” the team splits into their assigned groups.
CJ and Toby wander out of the sitting room to find an alcove to hunker down in and Jed sees Leo usher Josh out as well, glaring daggers at him while doing so, as Sam strides over and says “Thank you, sir. This is an honor.”
Jed grumbles “Yeah, yeah. Give it a rest Sam,” and he’s happy to see Sam relax a little more in his presence as he sits. This isn’t going to work if Sam’s on edge. “So I was thinking that we could look into the tech sector and how we can deliver on our promise of two hundred thousand new coding jobs,” Sam says, excited to get started. “We’re promising two hundred thousand new coding jobs?” The President asks “We might have to discuss that first, sir,” Sam replies, and Jed slowly nods, “Yeah. That might be a good place to start.” Sam then launches into why this promise is the best thing not just for the economy but for the country at large. They work for 45 minutes when they reach a natural stopping point and Jed launches into his line of attack, “Sam, how are things going?”
“Uh, things are going great, sir. Why do you ask?”
“You’re out there dating? Doing things that young men do?” The President continues.
“Sir, are you really interested in my love life?” Sam asks as if he knows what the answer will be.
“Yeah. I think I actually am, for once.” The President replies.
Sam looks shocked at Jed’s bemusement but recovers quickly, “Oh! Thank you, sir, that’s very kind of you. As a matter of fact, I am seeing someone.”
Now it was the President’s turn to look surprised, “Good for you, Sam. I know it’s not easy with the hours that we keep.”
“No, sir. It’s not. But we’re making it work.” Sam says eagerly.
“Okay, okay.” The President says feeling he knows too much as it is and puts his glasses back on. Sam thankfully takes the hint says “Thank you Mr. President” and goes back to writing.
When Jed is convinced Sam is engrossed in his work he gives the young man a soft smile, confident that he got his point across.
Leo leads Josh out of the sitting room and into the dining room, pissed as hell at Jed and the position he put him in. He really didn’t give a shit about any of this. Josh was already talking about how they could beef up the bill and Leo thought a direct approach would be better than playing some weird ass games, “Leo, so I was thinking that we could perhaps use the goodwill we earned with Stackhouse to add an amendment to the education section-“
“Josh, what the hell is going on with you and Sam?” Leo interrupted
“Me and Sam?” Josh asks, blinking in confusion.
“Are you sleeping together? I really don’t care if you are but you have got to be more subtle at work,” Leo says as he sits at the dining table and puts on his glasses.
“Leo, are you really asking me a) about my love life and b) if I’m gay?” Josh asks shocked
“Yes. I am.” Leo says gravely before looking down at the papers they’re supposed to be working on. The room goes uncharacteristically quiet and when Leo looks up he finds that Josh’s face is bright red.
Shit.
Josh opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out. He shuts it again and starts pacing. Leo sees his eyes have gone a little hazy as Josh dives deep into his inner world.
Leo hates it when Josh gets this way and in a moment of compassion, he grabs Josh’s arm and sits him down at the dining table.
“Josh?” Leo asks softly and when Josh looks back up at him his eyes are clear. “Yeah. We’re sleeping together.” Josh says quietly.
“Right,” Leo says “Well, like I said, don’t be so obvious in the office moving forward and we won’t have a problem.”
“Leo?” Josh asks
“Yeah?”
“How did you know? I mean why are you asking me this now?” Josh inquires a little awkwardly.
“You had your hand on Sam’s lower back when you were working a few minutes ago. The President pointed it out to me.” Leo says as he’s shifting through different congressional reports.
“The President saw that?” Josh asks, fidgeting in his seat.
“Yep,” Leo responds sparing Josh (and himself) the humiliation of why the President suddenly decided to pair them all off.
“Leo. I didn’t know. I mean. I didn’t realize I was doing that. It didn’t even cross my mind.”
“I figured. Which is why I’m having this hellish conversation. Can we get back to work now?” Leo asks, looking back up at Josh.
“Uh yeah." Josh says and then a beat later says, "Leo?”
“Yeah?” Leo grunts looking back up at Josh
“Thanks. For you know, what you said before.”
Leo gives him a soft smile, “Don’t mention it. Now you were saying something about Stackhouse?”
“Uh, yeah,” Josh says as they dive into work.
Later that night, Sam and Josh are walking back to Sam’s place when Josh says “I had the weirdest conversation with Leo tonight.”
“Yeah? Well, I had a pretty weird conversation with the President tonight.” Sam counters
“Let me guess. He was oddly interested in your love life after showing no interest in it ever before?”
Sam stopped in his tracks, “Yeah. That’s exactly it. How’d you know?”
“I had a similar but I’m guessing less cryptic conversation with Leo,” Josh replies turning to look at Sam.
“Less cryptic?” Sam starts and then realization dawns on his face, “Oh no.”
“Oh yes,” Josh replies as they continue walking, “Leo hit me with the good old ‘are you sleeping together’ line of questioning.”
“And what did you say?”
“I said yes.”
“Josh you didn’t.”
“I did. Trust me there wasn’t much wiggle room”
“How’d he know?”
“Apparently the President saw my hand rest on your lower back when we were working tonight.”
“It was? I didn’t even notice.”
“Me neither. I guess we have to be more careful.” Josh stopped walking when he noticed that Sam had stopped again. His brain obviously going a mile a minute.
“Sam?” Josh asks gently and Sam starts to come back online “The President pointed it out to Leo that your hand was on my lower back?”
“Yeah, that’s what Leo told me at any rate.”
“This is mortifying,” Sam says as he starts walking again.
Josh can’t help but grin and Sam shoots him a look, “It’s not funny, Josh”
“It’s a little funny.”
“No. It’s not.”
“I mean Leo and the President got all bent out of shape by a little lower back touching. Imagine if they had walked into your office last week.” Josh teases reminding Sam about the late-night rendezvous they had.
The color drains from Sam’s face, “Oh, God. That would be way worse.”
Josh wraps an arm around Sam’s shoulders, “way, way, worse” he concedes.
Sam groans and Josh laughs as they walk the rest of the way to Sam’s apartment.
Jed pours himself a scotch and Leo mineral water, “so you think they got the hint?” he asks as he walks back over to Leo, sitting the drinks down on the coffee table and taking a seat.
“Yeah, they got the hint,” Leo says, still engrossed in a report he’d picked up on the way out of the office.
“Are you really still pissed at me about this?” Jed asks exasperated
“Am I still pissed at you? Sir, I am livid that you put me through that.”
“Leo, do you really want them doing what we did? Waste decades pining for each other, not knowing that their feelings are reciprocated only to find out that they are 30 years too late?”
The response startles Leo and he reaches over and grabs Jed’s hand, “30 years too late? Jed, is that what you think happened with us?”
Jed nods and gives Leo a sad smile. He squeezes Leo’s hand and takes a sip of his scotch. “Jed,” Leo says interlacing their fingers, “we are not 30 years too late. This. Us . It happened at the absolute perfect time. I wouldn’t change anything about our story for the world.”
“You wouldn’t?” Jed asks
Leo squeezes his hand before letting go, “Not one line. And you don’t have to worry about Josh and Sam. They’re sleeping together.”
“I knew it!” Jed shouts and Leo glares, “I’m still mad at you for making me find that out.”
“Then let me make it up to you,” Jed says, leaning over, taking the report from Leo’s hands, and kissing him deeply.
The next morning, Sam and Josh can’t look the President in the eye and he and Leo exchange knowing looks. At the end of the Senior Staff, Leo calls Josh and Sam into his office.
“I hope we don’t have a problem gentlemen,” Leo says as he goes over the new reports Margaret has put on his desk.
Josh opens his mouth to speak but Sam beats him to it, “No, sir. No problem.”
“Good.” Leo says and finally looks up at them, “Just be careful. I don’t want to read salacious stories about you two in the Post.”
“Yes Leo,” Sam and Josh say in unison.
“Now get out of my office,” Leo says and once the door is shut behind them, Leo can’t help but smile and shake his head. Those two were going to be the death of him. He takes a sip of his coffee and sees a report labeled “President Bartlet’s Review on the National Budget” and rolls his eyes. If Jed doesn’t kill him first.