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Johnny didn't hesitate to dig into his burger with gusto while Jack retained a much slower pace. The chatter of other people, the sizzling of the grill and the gentle screech of silverware meeting plates surrounded the odd pair in their silence.
"So...Johnny?" Jack asked, swirling his straw in his steadily melting milkshake. Johnny glanced up through his shades, his full attention shifting from eating to the man across from him.
"Yeah?" His cheeks ballooned around the colossal bite he'd taken of his burger and Jack couldn't help but smile.
"About what happened...back in my classroom?"
Johnny swallowed thickly. "Yeah?"
The history instructor had no idea why Johnny seemed so scared all of a sudden.
"I was just going to ask...what are we now?"
"Whadda you mean?"
"I was inquiring as to the state of our...," Jack trailed off, taking Johnny's free hand in his own. "Relationship."
The word hung heavy in the already noisy air and Johnny's face steadily reddened.
"I-you-we!" He stammered, looking between Jack's patient eyes and the hand holding his. Johnny threw down his burger, freeing a hand to grab his soda and knock back its contents. The icy sweetness helped steel his nerves, if only a bit.
"Are you alright?" Jack asked, a bit concerned.
"No! I'm fine! I...," the blond looked around, making sure that no one was looking their way before grabbing Jack's other hand as well. "I'd like it if we...would you consider...being my..."
Jack decided to take pity on him. "Your boyfriend, Johnny?"
The blond nodded, his mouth in a hard, grim line and cheeks still blazing.
"I have considered it. Quite often actually."
Johnny's brows perked. "And?"
Jack squeezed Johnny's sweating hands. "I will answer your question if you will answer one of mine in turn."
Johnny's guard was up again. "Okay?"
"This will probably sound very juvenile, but I'm curious. It is no secret that you've always considered yourself quite the ladies man."
Johnny's natural cockiness surfaced, unconsciously showing on his face. "That's true."
"And I am not doubting your feelings for me now. I am simply interested to know when you opened yourself to the idea of being with me romantically."
The cockiness instantly melted away, vulnerability taking its place in his chest. Jack was asking him to share his...feelings. To discuss something that Johnny himself didn't even fully understand yet. Even though they had, only hours ago, been so intimate, the idea of saying how he felt about his coworker made him want to run screaming. But if that was what it would take to make this beautiful man his, Johnny felt as though he had to try.
"Do...you mind if I order another soda first?"
"Of course, Johnny," Jack replied with a warm smile. "Whatever you like."
They unwound their fingers and Johnny flagged down their waitress, asking for a refill on his coke. She happily agreed, disappearing into the back to fetch Johnny's drink while Jack returned to sipping at his nearly liquid shake. Johnny just looked at his half eaten burger.
"So, uh...just the when?" Johnny questioned, crossing his well muscled arms over his chest.
Jack was a bit confused by the wording, but agreed. "For now, yes."
Johnny chuckled nervously. "Well that's easy. I considered it the day we met."
This took Jack by surprise. "On the day I almost shot you with an arrow at the cultural exposition?"
"No, not exactly then," Johnny said, scratching the back of his neck and looking around, embarrassed. "I said on the day."
"I must admit I do not understand."
Johnny took a breath and grabbed Jack's hand again.
"Okay, so, here goes. On the day of the expo, I was doing my usual thing: finding fly honeys who wanted to get with me."
A quick flash of ice bolted across Jack's almond eyes so Johnny decided to quickly gloss that part over.
"Yeah, and then I was chasing one right across your line of fire, which almost got me killed."
"Yes, I remember that." Jack stroked the inside of Johnny's wrist tenderly. "You seemed so frightened, I had been certain that I had struck you. I felt terrible."
"And I think that's what at least got my attention."
"I'm sorry?"
The waitress brought Johnny his refill and he thanked her, releasing Jack's hand again to sip.
"I mess up doing stupid things like that a lot. Like, almost too often. And most of the time I scream a high, girly scream, people laugh and we all go on with our lives. But you didn't laugh. You didn't even think it was funny. And then you offered your hand to help me up."
Johnny turned their hands and began drawing small, unseen patterns on the back of Jack's.
"Every ounce of me sensed "cool guy" when I looked at you and we both know how I feel about coolness. Your attitude, how you held yourself, your muscles, your elegant man bun, your smile lines, your-"
Johnny cleared his throat when he looked up to see Jack's heating cheeks.
"Well, um, anyway. You offered to help me up, which I thought was unbelievably nice, but you were a lot smaller than me, muscle wise. I thought that there would be no way that you could actually get me off the ground, but you did. And you made it look so easy. Like I wasn't burdening you at all," the blonde drawled.
"You weren't," Jack insisted, quietly.
"Yeah, but I felt like I was, so seeing you be so easygoing about it was probably strike two against my heart in as many minutes."
Jack raised a shapely brow. "Is there a third?"
Johnny smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. There is.
"So, we introduced ourselves as teachers, right?" He continued. "And I got really happy that someone so awesome was going to be working with me. I wanted to ask you more, but you had to move on to another portion of the expo. We said goodbye and the girl I'd originally been looking for was still nowhere to be seen, leaving me with nothing to do but think. Which is never a good thing, by the way. There's a reason I tech P.E."
Jack gave a small chuckle and Johnny laughed with him. His stomach was suddenly doing flips over the fact that something he'd said had produced that wonderful sound from Jack.
"I thought about the girls I'd seen that day, then about what kind of girls you liked. What I was going to do for class the next day, then about what you would do for your class. About getting some cotton candy, then about if you liked cotton candy. All of my thoughts would always circle back to you and I couldn't understand why."
Jack nodded in an encouraging way, prompting Johnny to continue.
"So since you were so heavy on my mind, I thought I'd go watch your demonstration. I took a seat in the bleachers where you were scheduled to be demonstrating and when I didn't see you, I felt...oddly disappointed. I thought I'd missed you."
Jack glanced away shyly with a smile. Johnny started getting flustered himself. "Hey, should I stop? I feel like I'm embarrassing you."
"No no," Jack reassured. "Please, continue."
Johnny tried to shove down his own embarrassment.
"That's when they announced that you were coming out and I felt, just, crazy relieved that I would get to see you perform after all. Again, no idea why. You came slowly onto the field, looking chill as a cucumber while huge crowds of ladies screamed your name from the sidelines and bleachers around me. But you didn't seem to care. You just stayed focused and didn't move, your robes fluttering in the breeze as you held onto your sword's hilt. It got quiet as you finally drew your blade and suddenly, you were a blur!" Johnny said excitedly. "You ran and jumped and swung and ducked, fighting imaginary enemies for the crowd. Everyone was impressed, including me. Your helpers on the side started throwing things that you either cut or dodged and the girls in the stands started squealing."
"That's when I realized...I was jealous," Johnny quietly confessed, not sure if he was confessing to Jack or to himself. He tried to clarify. "Not of you getting those girls' attention, of the girls fawning over you. I wanted to be the only person who got to cheer for you, to be there for you and see you looking so cool. That was strike three."
Jack stared amazed at Johnny as the blond took another bite of his lukewarm burger and finished the rest of his soda. Jack didn't even attempt to drink what was left of his shake. It was all but melted at that point.
"And that's the when," Johnny offered between bites after Jack stayed silent.
He leant forward, ever so slightly, to touch Johnny's arm on the table's surface.
"Johnny? Look at me."
The blond did, his eyebrows arched above his sunglasses in vulnerability. The surrounding noise seemed to muffle in his ears.
"I would be happy to be yours. For as long as you will have me."
Johnny was beside himself at the words, breathing a huge sigh of relief...which accidentally fed into a small burp. He slapped a large hand over his blushing face and mouth in horror. "Oh, geez. 'Scuze me."
The intimacy of the moment was broken beyond repair and Jack started laughing freely, sliding back into his hard plastic seat and showing off those smile lines Johnny had come to like so much.
As long as he'd have him, huh?
Deal.