Work Text:
"Okay, this is killing me." Nathan groaned, pressing his fingers firmly into his temple.
"Can't imagine why." Responded Jack with a huge grin as he nibbled at his lower lip to avoid laughing. Stark turned to Carter, his eyes squinting suspiciously. Jack shrugged and pointedly looked at his daughter. So, the movie wasn’t the sheriff's idea of torture but rather his teenage daughter. He tried staring the girl down. Nathan knew his glare had been noticed, but Zoe did not actually turn to look at him; instead, she only allowed a smirk to rise on her lips.
"I assume this is the kind of movie that you learnt from when you were learning the basics of science," Carter didn’t dignify that with a spoken response. Instead, he wiggled his eyebrows at the other man, who once more seriously wondered why he was sleeping with the sheriff. "How old were you again? Like Twenty-five?"
"Thirty-seven, actually; I feel I am doing a pretty good job, having only been learning science for 2 years."
Nathan snorted and stole a kiss before pulling Carter until he leaned further against Stark.
"You guys are so cute!" Pilar squealed.
"Gross" muttered Zoe.
"If it didn't involve your dad, you would totally agree" The other teen grinned.
“We are far too old to be cute,” Stark said, sounding bewildered and mildly horrified.
“Mr Stark, when two people smile at each other like you two do it is cute no matter the age.”
From where Jack leaned against him, he could see the other man's face turn red and feel the warmth that suddenly came off it. Pilar’s words had affected both of them. Nathan's thoughts swirled with his own embarrassment and insecurities; this started as a one-night stand. Then he had turned up when he had had a shit day and wanted to let off some steam. A few days later, Carter had come to his office and blown him. As revenge, Nathan had gone to the sheriff's office when he knew Lupo would not be there and jerked them off together. They went back to his after that and fucked.
It just tumbled on from that. There wasn’t even a discussion about telling Zoe; to Nathan, it seemed like one day she just knew. Maybe Jack had a conversation; maybe the bright girl figured it out. He doesn’t know cause they didn’t discuss it, nor have they discussed if they are dating. It has been 4 months, and they have been together nearly every night for the last month. And yet, somehow, they hadn’t talked any of it through.
Nathan certainly couldn’t say why he had agreed to this movie night; Zoe had asked and said it would be them and Pilar. He wasn’t even fully listening. He just nodded at the girl and now found himself watching an awful Sci-fi movie with teens who had just once more turned to look at him, giggling. Honestly, it showed how distracted he was that he had taken so long to figure out Zoe had chosen the movie. She had been looking at him and snickering all evening.
There were a couple of extra crazy things about this whole situation. Firstly, somehow, the whole town had not found out yet, with only Zoe, Pilar, Lupo, and Lupo's boy toy in the know. Second, it was normal and easy; no other relationship had ever felt so simple, and they weren’t even officially in a relationship. Finally, he loved spending time with Jack Carter, who could have possibly seen that coming.
He didn’t know what they were, and this was the first time it had genuinely occurred to him that he needed to find out—to have the Talk. For now, he tightened his arm around the Sheriff's body and pressed his face to his hair. He tried not to blush as Pilar let out a soft aww and turned his eyes back to the movie. He managed to stay silent for two whole minutes.
“The science is sooooo bad.” He whimpered, managing to sound like a teenage girl, while the teenage girls themselves fell about laughing.
-
Later, as they were getting ready for bed, Nathan thought it was time to bring it up. So he did the smartest thing he had ever done and told him, “If Allison asked me out tomorrow, I would say yes.” Did he say smartest? He meant dumbest. “wouldn’t? I wouldn’t say yes; I would say no.” He blurted and stumbled and babbled and wanted to fall through the floor because shit he had messed that up.
“Right.” Carter sounded amused, but his face flushed; Nathan couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment, amusement, or maybe even hurt and upset. “So, let’s play this out. I will play the role of Allison. Hi Nathan, I have been thinking, and I wanna give us another chance; what do you say, Nathan?”
Nathan knew he was being teased, yet he played along. “Sorry, Allison, that isn’t what I want anymore.”
“But why did you literally come back to town for this.”
“I have been seeing someone.”
“And?”
“They make me laugh, and I look forward to spending time with them. I think their daughter is funny and smart and brilliant. I might be a bit more attached to them than I thought I would be.”
Jack stopped and bit his lip before mumbling, “Okay, game over.”
“Sorry.” Nathan wasn’t sure what he was apologising for, but if he had to pick, it would be saying he would say yes rather than no if Allison asked him out a few moments ago because, honestly, that was bad; how did he mess it up so bad, he was a genius for Newton’s sake.
“Not sure I have ever heard you so fumberly, very out of character.” Jack smirked.
“Stop making up words.”
Jack reached out a hand and skimmed the back of it down Nathan's cheek before messing around with the other man's collar. “I am pretty attached to you, too. Are we making this official?”
Nathan nodded, his smile bright, and if you were to ask Jack, very beautiful, “I think it already was.”
“Well then, Scientist, I guess that is that.”
Once Jack had finished speaking, he fell silent. To Nathan, it didn’t feel like an end-of-sentence quiet but like a, ‘Huh, something just occurred to me’ kind. The smile that had been on the Sheriff's face flattened, and it didn’t take a genius to know that meant something negative was on his mind. Nathan reached out a hand to catch his.
“Jack, is everything okay?”
“You know I will never be able to keep up with you.”
It took a moment for Nathan to figure out what the other man was talking about because he definitely kept up in bed, but when it clicked, he was mad at himself, as he was likely one of the key reasons Jack felt that way.
“Maybe that is true in some ways, but Jack, I have had some of the most fun and exciting conversations with you these past few months, more so than with anyone else. Jack, you make me think of the craziest ideas, and I know you might think that the stuff we make is already insane, but you give me the best ideas. Our conversations always leave me with different ways to look at things. Maybe you don’t have as high an IQ as others in this town but I think you might be smarter in many ways.”
“Are you even allowed to be this nice to me Stark?” The man was smiling softly as he spoke.
“We are having a serious conversation, so yes.”
“I could love you.”
“I might already love you.”
“Huh.” Jack moved from foot to foot, and Nathan started to panic that he had gone a step too far; his fear was quickly alleviated. “We should fuck now.”
“How civilised of you.” Nathan snickered, but he did step forward, his fingers undoing the top two buttons of Jack’s shirt; he skimmed his hands under the shirt, rubbing Carter’s shoulders.
“Well, you say something romantic then.”
“I will watch films featuring absolutely awful science with you forever, Sheriff.”
“Fuck Scientist, that is practically a proposal.”
“Nah, when I propose, I will just present you with a dress.” He finished undoing the rest of Jack’s buttons, removing the shirt and throwing it onto the floor.
“I am not wearing a dress. Also, how come my clothes always end up on the floor while yours get nicely placed into the cupboard.”
“Mine are worth more.”
“You are worth more, you ass.”
“I can make you a kept man.”
“I could shoot you.”
“Don’t worry. I always spray myself with a special spray I invented that works like a bulletproof vest before I come to visit,” Nathan retorted as he removed and hung up his clothes. Jack, for all his moaning about his clothes, had made no move to pick them up and had dropped his trousers on the floor to rejoin their companion. He now lounged naked on the bed, probably enjoying the show. Not that Nathan had deliberately slowed his undressing to draw his attention; he wouldn’t do that.
“Well, I know that bullshit; you have proven to be a worry wart recently. If you had such a thing, you would spray me every hour.”
At last, undressed (and with clothes neatly hung up), Nathan moved to be on top of Carter, whose hand instantly went to squeeze his ass. He pressed a kiss to the man's lips. “Please, like I would invent something that needed reapplication every hour.”
“Top or bottom,” Jack replied. Nathan rolled his eyes; yes, the other man was not an expert in romance by any means.
“Surprise me Carter. Somehow, you always do.”
“Might be my lack of smartness. I know to you, not being a genius is as weird as if I were an alien.”
“Shut up, Carter.”
“Make me Boyfriend.”
Nathan groaned, not from the statement, though it easily could have been due to that term seeming childish, but because the sheriff had wrapped his hand around both their dicks. “Shhhhh, Allison.”
Jack snorted, “God, you such an ass.”
“You love me anyway, and I must love you because I just sat through the equivalent of two hours of someone screaming in my ear.”
Jack grinned and flipped them over. Nathan let go and allowed the other man to completely control his body. His mind, on the other hand, was in two places at once. Part of him was in the moment with Jack, and the other was in the future. He could not say for sure what it held, but tomorrow, he would make sure Allison knew, he would report it to whoever he needed to tell, he would hold Jack's hand in public, and he would eat with him at Café Diem. One day, if he were fortunate, he would find a nice simple ring, maybe he would make himself, and ask the idiot who was blowing him to spend the rest of their lives together, but for now, he really needed to return to the moment he was in after all Carter was doing exceptional things with both his mouth and his fingers that deserved his full focus.