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John wasn’t a emotional man. He was stark and a grump most of the time. His demeanour often caused most to avoid him or keep their interactions with him brief, which is why John is so confused on why Jack sticks around with him.
John wasn’t polite. He wasn’t generous, he wasn’t what most people considered a good man. John has always been someone to avoid, sometimes out of fear, mostly out of not wanting to deal with him.
The bell on John’s office doors rings softly as a man walks in, using his hip to open the door as he holds two coffees and a box of donuts.
“It might be cold, traffic was shit while coming back.” The man chuckled, awkwardly shifting between the door and doorframe, until he’s standing across from John.
“It’s black, bitter and soulless, just how you like it” the man slides the coffee over, before grabbing a plastic chair to sit down in. It was casual, natural.
Jack sighed, smiling at John’s direction. How did John get so lucky to get a smile like that aimed at him.
“Mhmm.” John hummed in reply, sipping his coffee.
“Told you the traffics bad around this time” John smirked behind his moustache, eyes tracing Jack
“Yeah, but still it’s meant to be a 5 minute drive!” Jack laughed, sipping his coffee which was basically a cup of sugar water.
Jack sipped his coffee, smiling as the warm liquid heats up his body. Their boots pressing against each others under the table. Grounding each other with their presence. Jack opens the donut box, picking up a chocolate sprinkled one that with get crumbs all over jacks vest, crumbs John will wipe off before they head out, mumbling about how messy he was, or maybe John was just looking for an excuse to touch the deputy. Taking a bite out of the donut, jack looked up at John, who was staring.
Jack chewed slowly, one brow lifting as he caught John staring.
“What?” he asked, words a little muffled around the mouthful, a hint of a grin tugging at the corner of his
John didn’t answer straight away. Just kept looking, his eyes narrowed slightly, not in suspicion, not quite in annoyance either. Something softer sat underneath it, something he didn’t have a name for and didn’t particularly want one.
“You’re getting crumbs everywhere,” John muttered finally, like that explained everything.
Jack huffed out a quiet laugh, glancing down at himself. Sure enough, his vest was already dusted with chocolate flakes and sugar.
“Yeah, tragic,” he said, brushing half-heartedly at it, only managing to smear it worse. “Think I’ll survive.”
John clicked his tongue, already pushing his chair back. “You’re useless.” John mumbled already stepping around the desk.
Jack didn’t move when he got close, didn’t pull back, didn’t make a joke this time. Just watched him. John reached out, fingers rough and deliberate as he brushed crumbs off Jack’s vest. It should’ve been quick. Practical. Done in a second.
It wasn’t.
His hand lingered, just slightly. Flattening fabric that didn’t need flattening. Brushing away crumbs that weren’t there anymore.
Jack’s voice dropped a notch. “You missed a spot.”
John scoffed, but his hand stilled for a second before shifting higher, closer to Jack’s shoulder. “Shut up.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke. The office felt too small. Too quiet except for the faint hum of the lights and the distant noise of the street outside.Jack tilted his head just slightly, eyes flicking between John’s face, his mouth, his eyes again.
“You always stare like that,” Jack said softly. “Or is it just me?”
John’s jaw tightened. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
“Wasn’t.”
John’s hand dropped, but he didn’t step away. Didn’t put distance back where it belonged. He stared at jacks face, those smile lines, his small unibrow, hose deep baby blue eyes that only John ever seemed to get this close to.
It hit him, sharp and unwelcome.
Too close.
John’s fingers curled slightly at his side, like he’d almost reached out again without meaning to. His gaze dragged, eyes, mouth, the faint crease at the corner of Jack’s smile before he forced it back up, jaw tightening like he could grind the feeling out of himself.
“Quit lookin’ at me like that,” John muttered.
Jack didn’t. If anything, his expression softened, something quieter slipping in beneath the usual humour.
“Like what?” Jack asked. Getting close to John.
John huffed, dragging a hand over his moustache, buying himself a second. “Like you’re waitin’ for somethin.”
Jack’s lips twitched. “Maybe I am.”
John let out a dry scoff, shaking his head like it was ridiculous, like Jack was ridiculous. But he didn’t move away. Didn’t step back around the desk. Didn’t break whatever this was that had settled thick in the air between them.
“You don’t know what you’re askin’ for,” John said, quieter now.
Jack held his gaze, steady as ever. No teasing this time. No easy joke to let John off the hook.
“Then tell me,” he said.
Silence stretched again, heavier now. Not empty, just full of everything John didn’t say, everything he didn’t let himself be.
His eyes dropped, just for a second, to Jack’s mouth.
That was the mistake.
John exhaled slow through his nose, like he could steady himself, like this was just another decision, another line he could choose not to cross.
It wasn’t supposed to be complicated. Jack was his deputy. His partner. The one constant that didn’t ask too many questions, didn’t push too hard.
And still stayed.
John swallowed. “You should eat your damn donut,” he muttered, voice rougher than he meant it to be.
Jack didn’t move.
“John.”
Just his name. Nothing else. But it stopped him colder than anything.
John looked back up.
Jack was still there. Still steady. Still choosing to stay right where he was, right in the middle of John’s mess of a life, like it didn’t scare him off.
It should’ve.
John’s hand came up again before he could think better of it, fingers brushing the edge of Jack’s jaw this time slower, more deliberate than before. His hand moving to the back of the deputy’s neck, tracing the baby hairs, Testing. Like he expected Jack to pull away.
Jack didn’t.
Didn’t even breathe different.
Jack closed the distance, their lips press together, slow at first, gentle lips moving against each other like they were made for each other. Jacks hands softly grabbing John’s waist the way that made john flinch before relaxing deeper into jacks touch. As John leaned closer, their bodies pressed together, reminiscent of nights prior.
Their tongues clash messily, John tasted like tobacco, Jack tasted like chocolate. Their teeth bumping into each other, as their hands turned from soft touches to clenching the other man’s uniform.
But it was real.
And when John pulled back, it wasn’t far.
Their foreheads almost brushed. John’s breath was uneven, his expression tight like he was already bracing for regret.
Jack didn’t give it to him.
Instead, there was that smile again.
Jack softly pulled away from John, and john went back to his seat, lighting another cigarette. Jack walked around the desk, hands resting on John’s shoulders, fingers digging into some of the tenseness in John’s shoulders.
John groaned deeply, his body relaxing, as his deputy worked his magic
“I love you” Jack hummed, kissing John softly.
John grasped one of jacks hands
“Love you too, Jack.”
He just hoped Jack would keep smiling at him