Page 10 of You're Ours

“I missed you,” Sky whispered. It didn’t come anywhere near close to encompassing all the feelings swirling in his chest, but right now it felt like the best he could do.

Jackson didn’t tease him about how they’d seen each other–a lot of each other, at that–during lunch. He didn’t try and soothe him with empty platitudes or offer unfounded promises. All he said was, “I missed you, too.”

He slowly stroked his fingers down Sky’s spine until he reached the waistband of his slacks. He deftly untucked Sky’s sweater and shirt and settled his warm palm on Sky’s lower back.

The base of Sky’s throat tightened, which would’ve been a sign pre-T that he was about to tear up. Instead, he pressed his forehead into Jackson’s neck and tried to breathe through the tightness. He’d been an emotional child, and it had carried into adulthood. He used to cry at the drop of a hat, whether because he was happy, sad, excited, overwhelmed, or moved. Right now, he felt saturated in feelings, and he wished he could get it out with a few tears. Instead, he had to actually “process his feelings.”

Sky sighed, wishing he could ignore his therapist’s words, but also knowing that probably wasn’t wise. He loosened his death grip on Jackson’s shirt and tilted his head back to stare at their ceiling. “I feel like this weekend could be a big turning point in our relationship with Tyler.”

Jackson kept his hand steady on Sky’s back as he leaned around him to retrieve their dinner. He got to work untying the bag and divvying up their dishes, thankfully pulling out two forks for them from the bottom of the bag.

“I think you might be right. He’s told us a lot about his casual hookups, and it doesn’t feel like a casual thing to get tested–”

“And show you the results in the middle of the work day?” Sky interrupted.

At Jackson’s disapproving look, Sky shoveled a bite of rich curry into his mouth and batted his eyelashes. Small lines formed around Jackson’s lips as he smiled. Those lines hadn’t been there when they’d met, and Sky liked to think it meant they’d lived many happy years together.

“Well…to be fair, that actually does sound like something Tyler would do in general, but he seemed overly eager to show me. I’m hopeful that means there was some deeper intent behind it, but I guess that remains to be seen.”

“Shou’ ‘e jus’ as’?” Sky asked around a mouthful of rice. He wasn’t sure where this brattiness was coming from, but he still felt on edge, even cocooned in Jackson’s warmth and blanketed by rich coconut milk.

“Ask what, my love?” Jackson murmured.

He placed a soft kiss on the corner of Sky’s mouth, but Sky turned his head to catch him in a real kiss. The heat of Jackson’s curry was so strong it practically cleared Sky’s sinuses.

“Wow, you’re going to be feeling that later,” Sky gasped. He panted a few times to try and clear spice out of his mouth.

Jackson shrugged one shoulder and then placed another kiss on his cheek bone. “You’re avoiding the question.”

Sky tried to stab a piece of chicken on his fork, but it shot across the to-go container. “Should we just…” He tried again, and the stupid chicken slid to the other side of the box. As he tried for a third time, Jackson braced the cube of meat with the tines of his fork, and Sky was finally able to capture it. Sky slowly looked up and met Jackson’s patient gaze. “Ask him what it means?”

Tomato and ghee exploded across Sky’s tongue as he chewed with a little more force than necessary.

Jackson tipped his head back against the top of the sofa. “Maybe we should tell him what it means to us.”

Sky swallowed and ran his tongue along his teeth. “What does it mean to you?”

Jackson balanced his fork on his box and wrapped his arms tightly around Sky. “I think you said it pretty well this morning in the car. To me, it means that we want him to be ours and us to be his.”

Sky tried to contain the excitement bubbling in his chest, but he could feel it forming a goofy smile on his face. “Our boyfriend?”

Jackson’s smile was much softer, more subdued and cautious, just like he was. “I would like that very much. What about you?”

“Hell yes,” Sky said, excitement quickly bleeding to anticipation.

They smiled at each other for a minute before Jackson gave him a quick squeeze and returned to eating.

They ate in silence for a while, Jackson’s supportive hand never leaving Sky’s back. His thoughts drifted to how it felt to have Tyler’s hand there earlier that day. He craved these quieter moments with Jackson, but after only a few weeks, he found he was wishing Tyler was here, too.

Unfortunately, as was often the case for him, anticipation could only last so long, and he felt his earlier nerves creeping back in along the edges. He worried the tines of the flimsy plastic fork over his teeth, something he knew drove Jackson crazy, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted to have faith that their relationship was heading in a good direction and that it would all work out in due time, but he felt so out of practice—both with polyam relationshipsandwith having faith in them.

Jackson finished his food first, as he always did, and he placed his empty container back in the plastic bag. He watched Sky fidget with his fork for another minute before finally taking it and Sky’s mostly empty food away.

“How about I run you a bath,” Jackson offered, and Sky’s hands reclaimed their previous death grip on his shirt. Jackson huffed out a laugh before encircling Sky in his arms. “Alright, love. How about I runusa bath?”

Sky grinned so hard, he was sure he was forming some laugh lines of his own. He was getting to the age where his religious moisturizing wasn’t going to stave them off for much longer.

He supposed that if they were formed from nights like tonight, where Jackson held him in their warm, lavender scented bath and then rubbed his back until he finally fell asleep, maybe that was okay.

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