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Jaime was not a fan of this house.
Not that it wasn’t nice, it was, but it was definitely haunted. At least that’s what some people said, and it’s certainly what it felt like.
One of the very first nights in the house he woke up to his bed shaking.
Oh, hell no.
Jaime jumped up, nervously glancing around the dark room. He frowned. The room hadn’t shook, just his bed. No way in hell that was a train. Was there even a train here?
Am I losing my mind? He thought. And then his second thought was Tony.
He was just checking on him, of course. As a friend. Making sure the same thing wasn’t happening in his room. Tony’s room was next door, it only made sense.
Plus, it’s not like he was scared. He totally wasn’t scared of the dark, or ghosts, or things he didn’t understand – not at all.
Jaime crossed the hallway, pushing Tony’s door open slowly. In the dim light of the room he could see Tony sitting up, squinting at the doorway.
“Jaime?”
“Dude, was your bed shaking?” Jaime asked.
“I- I think so, maybe, I couldn’t tell…” Tony frowned.
“Huh. Weird,” Jaime said. “I, uh, wanted to see if it was just me. Good morning, I guess,” he laughed awkwardly, closing the door and sighing.
Opening his own door, he looked around the room again. Nope, nope, nope, he couldn't do this.
He thought about going back to Tony’s room. Why did that make him nervous?
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to think about it too hard, and was met with flashes of Tony holding his hand backstage instead. Kissing him in his bunk late at night.
Oh.
He swallowed, walking back to Tony’s room and pushing the door open slowly.
“Can I…” he trailed off.
Tony was sitting up fully now. “Dude, you can come in,” he said, a strange little smile on his face.
Jaime closed the door behind him, moving to sit on the edge of Tony’s bed awkwardly.
Jaime thought again about his bed shaking the way it did. He couldn't get rid of the idea that it had felt like a person standing there rattling his bedframe.
Tony frowned. “Are you… shaking?”
Jaime looked down at his hands. Oh. He was trembling just a little bit.
“What? No,” he lied.
Tony shifted closer to him, reaching his hand out, and Jaime’s knee was just centimeters from his fingertips.
Jaime sighed. “Okay, maybe that… freaked me out a little bit. I was just here to make sure you were fine though. That’s all.”
Tony exhaled through his nose. “Jaime. I know you’re not the… the biggest fan of the dark…” he started, pausing.
“I- come here,” he said, and Jaime could tell Tony’s mind was wandering to the same place his was.
Jaime shifted, making eye contact with the other man. It felt like Tony’s dark eyes were piercing his skull.
Tony let his fingers touch Jaime’s knee this time, and Jaime didn’t move away like Tony was afraid he would, instead taking Tony’s hand in his. His hands were still shaking the slightest bit, and Tony said, “Was it just that? The thing that scared you?”
Jaime only hesitated for a second before answering. “I mean, yeah… it was… shit like that freaks me out, man, I don’t know.”
“Were you nervous to come in here?” Tony asked, and Jaime froze a bit.
“Why would I be nervous?”
“Well, I don’t know why, that's what I’m wondering. I mean, it’s not like we’ve never… y’know…” Tony trailed off.
Jaime’s cheeks had just the slightest pink on them at that. He let out a soft laugh under his breath. “Yeah.” He paused. “Okay, well, maybe I was. A little bit.”
“This doesn’t have to mean anything, you know,” Tony said and he knew that wasn't really true, but he could tell Jaime was still on edge, and in all honesty he really wanted to just hold him. Tony’s hand moved up Jaime’s arm, holding him by the shoulder now, and Jaime was leaning into it, already feeling better from just that small comfort.
It only took a few moments for Jaime to be under the covers too, his head resting on Tony’s chest as Tony ran a hand through his hair. His heart wasn't pounding anymore.
The two of them laid in comfortable silence for a while, Tony petting Jaime’s soft curls. The silence grew less comfortable eventually though, and when Tony’s hand stilled on Jaime’s head Jaime could tell Tony wanted to say something.
Jaime looked up at Tony, tilting his head.
Jesus. Jaime was looking up at him like a lost puppy. He’d picked up that Tony had something on his mind so fast.
They both tried to talk at the same time.
Slightly nervous laughter filled the room. “You go ahead,” Tony said.
“No, I was — I was just trying to ask you what you were gonna say.”
“Oh. Well… I was gonna ask you why you came to me. Y’know. Why me specifically?”
Jaime’s heart pounded in response to that. He didn’t have to tell Tony anything, really.
Because every night all I want to do is sneak off to your room.
“I wanted to see you,” Jaime said truthfully. “I was… nervous, and I knew you’d probably be best at, you know. The whole taking care of me shit, I don’t know,” he mumbled.
“If you just wanted someone to take care of you, you’d go bug Vic,” Tony pointed out.
“Okay, well…” And for once in his life Jaime didn’t have anything to say.
Suddenly he was so close to Tony and Tony’s lips looked so … soft, and he felt his cheeks heating up as Tony scooted impossibly closer to him.
“Is this… are you…” Jaime was now embarrassingly flustered which was ridiculous considering the fact that all Tony was doing was looking at him.
No, he was looking at his lips. That was really all the invitation Jaime needed, leaning in and letting his face hover maybe a centimeter from Tony’s.
Tony closed the gap, and his lips were warm and soft against Jaime’s. He pulled Jaime in by his shirt as Jaime kissed him back and squeezed his hand before they pulled apart, Jaime nuzzling his face into Tony’s neck.
“Was that why you came in here?” Tony teased.
“No!” Jaime squeaked, burying his face even more as if he could hide from Tony. He groaned. “I have been wanting to do that for… a while though,” he said, choosing his words slowly.
“A while? Like, a couple months?”
“You remember the last time we, uh, y’know?” Jaime cringed.
Tony giggled. “Yeah, that was —” He leaned back so that he could look Jaime in the eye. “Wait. You mean you’ve been — since then?”
“I mean, not like, constantly, but I’ve… thought about it…?”
Had he seriously just admitted that? That he’d wanted his best friend for nearly a decade?
“Oh my god, you were fucking pining over me!” Tony exclaimed, and now it was his turn to get flustered because Jaime was leaning into him, and his hands were sliding up Tony’s waist — when did that happen? — and he was kissing Tony again.
He didn’t know how long they kissed that time, but he knew by the time it was over he was gasping for air and his lips were sore. He made eye contact with Tony, grinning at Tony’s red lips and flushed face and all he could think about was that he was so in love with him.
“So, do you feel better?” Tony asked.
“What?”
“You were scared of whatever was happening in your room? You know, the whole reason you came in here in the first place.”
“Oh,” Jaime said, somewhat sheepishly. “I honestly kinda… forgot about that.”
Tony smiled. “So what you’re saying is you need to come in here more often.” He wrapped his arms back around Jaime who was making little contented noises as Tony started to scratch his head again.
“Mm, yeah, I think I do.”
A moment passed in comfortable silence before Jaime added, “So about that whole, ‘this doesn’t have to mean anything’ thing…”
“Well, that was before I knew that you came in here ‘cause you had a crush on me. So,” Tony said.
“Ugh, asshole,” Jaime giggled, punching him in the shoulder weakly.
“For the record, I have a crush on you too.”
“I mean, you just made out with me, so I was kinda figuring you did?”
Tony snorted. “Seriously though, we don’t have to figure it out right now. We have plenty of time,” he said, kissing Jaime’s forehead.