ezekiel jones (ezekieljones) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-06-25 15:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | ezekiel jones, jake stone, raven reyes |
WHO: Ezekiel Jones, Raven Reyes, & Jake Stone
WHERE: San Francisco, CA: Pride Parade, later a club.
WHEN: June 24th, 2018 (Backdated)
WHAT: Ezekiel is a kissing bandit and starts something unintentionally between himself, Raven, and Jake
WARNINGS: Kissing and drinking.
STATUS: Complete
Ezekiel Jones didn’t come to Pride to not go all out. White Converses covered in rainbow glitter and rainbow soles, rainbow suspenders attached to tight white shorts. Shirtless, of course, and the bi pride flag painted across his back...he was embodying a Look and he was utterly unashamed. It was the beauty of these celebrations. He could go all out and absolutely no one would be judging him. He had been having a great time, there with some of the Blackpoint group, though he was mostly spending time with Raven and Jake. Most of the parade he had spent his time complimenting others that had dressed up and scouting out the best food, but it was getting a little later in the day and the drinks were flowing. Ezekiel was flushed red and there was a good chance he was more than a little buzzed, which is what he would later blame the kissing on. Kissing? Of course there was kissing. Most of his friends had gotten quick little makeouts or kisses throughout the day and the drunker he got, the more bold he was with it. He drew the line at Sulu because Sulu was scary, but everyone else? Fair game. Pushing a newly full cup of beer into Jake’s hands as they strolled down the crowded street, Ezekiel loudly spoke to be heard over the music and general crowd noises. “You want to stay the night here before we go back to Texas? Because I really don’t want to go back right away after experiencing this!” Here, he gestured with his beer at the amazing collection of people of all sexualities, ethnicities, and colours gathered there to celebrate love. The last few years of Jake’s life came with new experiences outside the pages of books and documents, a near middle age revolution that came with stepping outside the boundaries of the small town he grew up in, away from his father and the family business, the people who thought they knew him since he was born. The lies he lived in order to pursue what he loved without letting his family down, guilt and obligation holding him back long, long after he realized he wanted to be elsewhere. The Library, the family he made there and the fight they waged, gave Jake the freedom to not only explore the world he’d only read about - and freedom to be himself, not just the role he’d gotten so used to playing. That task became more daunting than the battles with fictional characters, villians, and magic that becoming a Librarian routinely had him facing. Especially when it came to no longer running away from the inkling that he wasn’t all that straight. It occurred to him before, before the Library, before Blackpoint and Bellamy, but in his small town, that was signing his own exclusion, making him an outcast. Very few would have understood, much less accepted, Jake’s bisexuality, especially not his own father, so he couldn’t himself. This rainbow plaid shirt had been a surprise, an attempt to call Ezekiel’s bluff that ended up working out. While Ezekiel went all out, a standard for the parade as Jake observed, he’d limited himself - and honestly, he was comfortable in jeans and boots. His apprehension on arrival quickly gave way to curiosity and wonder, the same passion that drew him to art and history and cultures around the world drawing him into the festive atmosphere of his first Pride parade. No one here would judge him, condemn him. He was with people who understood, some strangers, some his fellow Blackpointers and new portal travel acquaintances, and a friend from home. Well, friend, coworker, cause of confusing emotions that Jake steadfastly refused to look at after the Veela issue that made him none too subtley pine after Ezekiel. Most of it came from the whammy itself and thankfully his ability to access centuries of romantic poetry had disappeared elsewhere for the duration of that event, but something had been there before and now he was steadily trying to push it to the back of his mind. Ezekiel seemed pretty happy with what he had going on, most likely not interested. Somewhere he’d lost track of beers, feeling pleasantly buzzed as he accepted the glass from Ezekiel and took a drink. “Nah, man, it’s my first time at one of these. Let’s do it right,” he said, raising his voice enough that Ezekiel would hear him over the crowds. “I’m having a good time.” As he spoke, someone turned from the group they were passing, having caught the last of his statement. A hand rose and Jake enthusiastically high-fived it, pointing at the man as they strolled past. Ezekiel’s terrible history with romantic situations had sufficiently scared him off from relationships. His weird thing with Cindy, his disaster of a break up with Jim...well, it was all pretty bad and had kept him from getting too close to anyone in the romantic sense. He was still pretty comfortable with having friends and calling some of them family, but opening his heart in other ways? No thanks. After the last time it had been broken, he just wasn’t ready for anything more. Friends with benefits? Yeah, sure, give him all of those. Sex and love were two completely different things. But dating? Fuck that. He was young, he could try to find a life partner later in life if he ever decided he wanted that. He was content and that was what mattered. Except… Except he was pretty sure he was starting to feel something more for Jake. He wasn’t exactly sure what it was - mere attraction? Familial love? - but there was something stirring there and he wasn’t sure what to do with that. Yeah, he loved the guy, he had been through too much with him to not love him, but these days he was starting to notice the cut of Jake’s jawline, the way his jeans clung to his ass. At first, he kept putting it off to the fact that Jake was good looking, no one could deny that. But then it became apparent that it was more than that when Ezekiel went pink in the face whenever Jake threw an arm around his shoulders or surprised him with a hug. Even now, as they were pressed in close as they walked with the crowd through the streets, Zeke knew that there was a flush that had nothing to do with the heat or beer spreading on his face. “Alright, I’ll book us some rooms! Be right back, gonna let Raven and the others know they’re staying too!” Ezekiel quickly headed in her direction, where she was dancing with Bucky in their amazing Pride outfits. Was he using this as an excuse to escape Jake’s proximity for a bit? Maybe. After a minute or two of exchanging words with Raven and Barnes, Jake would have been surprised to see Ezekiel grab Bucky the face and give him a pretty thorough kiss and then proceeded to do the same with Raven, who got the additional ass grab. She, of course, shoved Ezekiel, but they were all grinning. Nearby, where Sulu had Demora up on his shoulders as they watched a band play music, they could see the former leader of Starfleet rolling his eyes at their antics and shooting Ezekiel a warning glance, just daring him to try something. Ezekiel saluted them all instead and returned to Jake. “They’re good to stay!” It was obvious Jake had a little too much to drink when he swung an arm up to throw it around Ezekiel’s shoulders and stumbled when the thief was suddenly gone, shouting something about booking rooms and heading in the direction of the others. It took a little more than the usual to right himself, the beer sloshing around in the glass, which he found himself more invested in keeping in the glass rather than not falling on his ass. Of course, the alcohol had lowered his inhibitions enough that as Ezekiel moved away, Jake’s head tilted slightly, admiring a view he didn’t allow himself to all that often. Was Ezekiel moving away fast or was it the alcohol making everything seem slower around him? Jake shook his head once and took another drink, lowering the glass just in time to see him plant one on Bucky, then Reyes. Ezekiel was free to do as he wanted but that didn’t stop the scowl Jake shot in their direction, gaze hopping from Bucky to Reyes and then to Sulu, but Ezekiel pulled up short there (which Jake mildly disagreed with as he’d always found Sulu attractive) and returned his way. Jake motioned towards Sulu with the hand holding the glass of beer casually. “You sure? You missed locking lips with someone to make sure,” he replied dryly. “Sulu?” Ezekiel asked, glancing back at their former boss. Turning back to Jake, he wrinkled his nose. “Gross, no. Not only is he scary and our boss, but he’s Jim’s friend. That’s 2 for 2, never going to happen.” Objectively, he knew Sulu was good looking. But hell no. “Anyway, don’t be lame, it’s Pride. You saying you wouldn’t want to make out with them?” Ezekiel motioned back at where Raven and Bucky had been, who had moved along and disappeared somewhere into the crowd. Ezekiel turned back to Jake and shrugged, still grinning. “Loosen up, Cowboy.” Throwing an arm around Jake, he toasted Jake’s cup with his own and chugged the drink like the frat boy he would have been, if he had bothered with college. Beer spilling a bit down his chin and onto his chest, he finished, and chucked the empty plastic cup into a recycling can as they passed it. And because he was an animal, he didn’t cover his burp and wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand. Napkins were for losers. And excuses were for losers too, so he turned and pressed a kiss to Jake’s lips, pulling back with a wide smile after. “Happy? Now everyone’s been kissed.” Ignoring the burst of warmth in his chest wasn’t for losers though and so that’s exactly what he did. Jake arched an eyebrow at the explanation, then shrugged a shoulder, face screwing up in subtle sympathy. When he put it that way, Jake could certainly see the reasoning behind it. He wasn’t about to deny knowing Bellamy was around, one who didn’t know him, stung and he’d take any steps to scuddle around possible awkwardness. “I don’t make out with everyone, Jones,” he added, “even if they are attractive.” All right, so maybe there would have been a time that he’d take a woman home or follow a woman home from the bar when she beckoned back home. There were expectations there and it wasn’t like he didn’t enjoy it. Still, the changes in his life meant changes in what he found comfortable and that, that was steadiness of a partner. Which again drew his attention back to Ezekiel, who wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Pride-themed frat party (if any frat could wrap their minds around throwing one) right then. “I am loose. I’m very loose,” he protested and, as if trying to prove that to both himself and Ezekiel, he knocked back the rest of his beer and tossed the cup into the same bin that Jones had a moment ago. “Man, you keep that up, you’re gonna start reminding me of - “ Whatever words were about to come out next stopped when Ezekiel’s lips pressed against his, the taste of beer strong between the two of them. It was brief, all too brief, and Jake found he couldn’t move when Ezekiel pulled away, his breath caught in his throat, heart thrumming along in his chest, looking like the metaphorical deer caught in the headlights. Sure, Stone, you don’t have any feelings for Jones. None at all. Damn it, move something! Oh shit. Did he break Jake? Great, he’s made things awkward. “Uh,” he said, staring at Jake with wide eyes. “Earth to Jake, you in there, Cowboy?” He waved his hand in front of the other man’s face, hoping to spark some sort of response out of him. Oh man, that had been a terrible idea. Why didn’t he think things through? They were friends and now Jake was going to get awkward around him. This is why feelings sucked. Ezekiel was going to quit them. Give him ancient languages, architecture, history, or mythology and his brain processed them easily, putting together the pieces of a puzzle that intrigued him. This feeling of his brain screeching to a halt though, that was new and a feeling he wasn’t fond of, not when it led to him freezing like this. Come on, man. Get it together. “Yeah,” he said, finally able to get the word out, nodding slowly as if to emphasize it. “Yeah, I’m fine, I just, uh, wasn’t expecting that.” There was that mental block again, trying to figure out how to proceed without either making things awkward or playing it off too casually. “It wasn’t bad,” he added, tilting his head. “What a delightful review,” Ezekiel said dryly, rolling his eyes. And just like that, he was back to normal and bumping his shoulder with Jake's. “Quit overthinking it, I was just making sure you weren't feeling left out in all the kissing that was happening.” Then pulling out his cell phone from God knows where, considering he was wearing very little, he waved a hand in the general direction of ‘forward.’ “Go catch up with the others, I'll find us some overly priced rooms.” His face had lost most of the pink flush from earlier, only the smallest hint of it remaining. He was doing his very best not to make it anymore awkward than it had been. “How generous of you,” Jake deadpanned, trying not to give away that he was a little disappointed. ‘Not left out’ was a tad different than ‘wanted to’. His head tilted as Jones pulled out the phone from - well, he had no idea. He should have been used to it by that point, Ezekiel’s talent with sleight of hand and such something he’d been a witness to for a few years now, but it still boggled him occasionally. “You know, just something where we don’t have to worry about when the last time the sheets were washed is fine,” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. Starting to take a few steps towards the rest of the group, he suddenly stopped, arms out. Gathering a little bit of courage, reminding himself that the man who said nothing was a Jake that he was trying to leave behind, he said, “It was nice, man. Thank you.” Okay, the ‘thank you’ just didn’t sound right. “You're a strange cowboy, Cowboy,” Ezekiel said, shooting Jake a strange look, though the words were said with a certain fondness. But then he returned to his screen, to finish finding rooms for them. Raven danced along the side of the road, careful not to lose sight of Bucky because, haha, she was not being abandoned in this huge-ass city even if she did know her way around. She knew that more of their friends were somewhere, so after about the eightieth time of checking behind her, she finally just tugged on Bucky to let him know she was going to backtrack. “Don’t go far!” She warned as she turned to go find the men she lived with. It didn’t take long to see Zeke with his head down and Jake a few feet from him, the vibe just sort of off. Not by much, but enough for Raven to overcompensate for it by almost shouting, “what’s up, boys?” and looping an arm around each of their necks in a makeshift hug, following it up with a quick smooch to each of their cheeks. “You’re slow as fuck.” “So people keep saying.” The words echoed a similar statement from Jenkins after Jake interpreted one of his statements. This time, he didn’t blame Ezekiel, not after he thanked him for a kiss, which sounded odd even to him. Someone didn’t just thank people for kissing them, especially not when there were feelings involved. Raven’s appearance helped take a little bit of awkwardness out of the situation thankfully. “Just drinkin’ and...stuff,” Jake replied, managing a small smile over at her. “Taking in new experiences. You having fun?” “Cool, cool,” the woman laughed, a wide smile splitting her face. “So much!” She lifted a hand to someone passing by them in a toast, blowing a kiss to them quickly. Ezekiel only lifted his head briefly to acknowledge Raven’s presence with a grunt, before peering down at his cell phone again and continuing his search. Finally, securing their rooms - because honestly, who was surprised that the city was all booked up for Pride? - he slipped his phone away to God knows where and slipped an arm around Raven’s waist. “Night accommodations secured, where do you guys want to go next?” He was pretty determined to ignore the awkwardness of earlier that he had with Jake and latched onto Raven in hopes of nothing seeming out of the ordinary for him. Because there wasn’t. It was just a Pride inspired kiss. “You owe me dinner, you ass-grabber,” Raven teased, the hand near his shoulder pinching him not-so-gently. “I need so much bread, okay? So much.” She shimmied them further along the way, Ezekiel’s arm tacky against her sweaty abdomen. The crush of people raised the already elevated summer temps, but she wasn’t complaining. It was Pride and they were there to celebrate. “And then we can go out dancing, yeah?” Her head was turned towards Jake as she asked the question, because she was sure Zeke wouldn't need much convincing. “It’ll be fuuuuun,” she promised. “I don’t really...dance.” Maybe he’d done a little boot scootin here and there to impress a woman back in Oklahoma, usually dragged onto the dance floor against his better judgement. There wasn’t much to it anyway. He doubted it’d be anything that simple here, people packed in tight, grinding against each other, a lot of...touching. Then he made the mistake of turning his head just enough to see Raven looking at him and damn it, despite misgivings, he had a really hard time saying no to her or Ezekiel. (The only misgivings usually came about when whatever they had planned sounded likely to lead to property damage, which he doubted this would, so there was that.) She’d fit in seamlessly with them, the third member of their trio, her personality vibing just right with theirs. Jake closed his eyes, groaning quietly. “All right, I’ll go dancing with you,” he relented. “I just...don’t want to hear a word about how bad it is.” Here, Ezekiel grinned bright and wide. All teeth, he promised, “Oh no, you’re definitely hearing about how terrible it is. That’s okay, we can teach you. You’re still young enough to learn.” This is what he loved about Raven, why he had missed her so much. Not only was she his go to partner in crime, but she could easily talk Jake into things that he couldn’t. A pretty smile here or just the right amount of pouting and Jake was usually done for. Zeke wouldn’t lie and say he wasn’t a little jealous of Raven’s skills, to get Jake to bend to her will so easily. And he wouldn’t lie and say he wasn’t a little jealous of the fact that Jake got the sweeter side to her. Not that he didn’t like the other, loud, bossy side to her, of course. Not that it mattered what he preferred because he came to the same realization that Jake had been struggling with - they were going to be dancing in a club packed to the brim probably. And if Jake’s reaction to this random kiss was anything to go by, this was going to be a disaster. And yet, any sense of self preservation was beyond him as he still pushed forward with the idea. “I’ll buy you a pizza after and we’ll call it even, yeah?” He asked, pressing a kiss to Raven’s cheek and squeezing her to his side a little tighter as they pressed through a thick section of the crowd before coming out the other side with a little more breathing room. “Be nice,” Raven reprimanded without much bite, waggling her eyebrows at Ezekiel. “He’s right, Jake, you’ve still got some life in you. If I can do it, you can do it.” It had taken a while for her to get used to how things were done on this earth initially, or that no one really cared that her rhythm was off because of some old injury. Dancing had quickly become one of Raven’s favorite activities, the anonymity part of the appeal. Away from the center of the action, it was easier to breathe, but Raven remained sandwiched in between the two, comfortable where she was despite the heat. “Just follow what we do,” she recommended, twisting her hips in the limited way she was able to. “You’ll feel better about it after pizza.” This was normal, this was familiar. This was something Jake could work with, the two of them giving him crap about his age relative to theirs and all that it entailed. “Here I thought I’d be considered too old to learn,” he stated dryly, lifting his arm from Raven’s shoulders for just a moment to reach over and ruffle Ezekiel’s hair. “I like to think I still got a lot of life in me, it just didn’t involve shimmying before.” Which it would tonight. He wanted new experiences, well, the night was proving that he was going to continue to get more than he asked for and he was surprisingly all right with that, be it the help of the alcohol in his system or the company. Maybe both. “I think pizza is like Jones’ Klondike bar. You can probably get him to do anything for a good slice, yeah?” Jake mused, grinning, unable to help teasing his fellow Librarian now that he’d gotten his share of it over his dancing. “I think I’m gonna require another beer for this too. Really loosen up.” “You just don’t understand the beautiful relationship pizza and I have. It’s the only thing that has never betrayed me,” Ezekiel said, making a face at Jake ruffling his hair like he was some kid. Slapping Jake’s hand way, he ducked out from under Raven’s arm and danced away from them. “I’ll get another round, you guys go find the others and that 100 year old amnestic super soldier before he wanders off.” There would still be many hours before tonight and until then, there was a lot of celebrating left to do. “Fucking rude!” Raven called after him, taking Jake’s hand and lacing their fingers together as they headed off on their mission. “We can’t miss him, he’s way too glittery.” So maybe one round had turned to two, which turned to three and by the time they were about ready to get into the cool night air again, it had pretty much been decided that a nice even number was necessary so there went round four. Even so, Raven wasn’t feeling particularly hammered, though her words weren’t coming out as easily as they had been. That was probably because she was laughing, too, loose from the drinks and the safety that her current company provided her. She could let go, which she still wasn’t completely used to, having the somewhat tragic backstory that she did. “C’mon, Cowboy,” she teased the man in front of her, settling her hands on her hips. She glanced behind her, finding Ezekiel easily, and motioned for him to come closer. “You don’t have to be shy.” Jake had a high tolerance for alcohol but after losing track of the number he’d had before the club, then the rounds at the club, he was feeling pleasantly buzzed and on the tipping point of his ass meeting the pavement at regular intervals when his balance betrayed him. The world became a whirlwind of bright colors, loud music, bodies gathered around and pressing in, perfumes, colognes, and the smell of sweat assailing his senses. It was impossible to not get caught up in the euphoric feeling. “Who said anything about shy? ‘m not shy,” Jake replied, stumbling over the words a little as he pointed to himself. He couldn’t leave his drink unattended so he knocked back the rest of his beer and rose to his feet, a little unsteady but still managing to keep his swaying to a minimum as he moved towards Raven and Ezekiel, opening his arms to sling around their shoulders. “No reason at all to be shy.” Ezekiel had been close enough that when Raven beckoned, he could hear her reassurances to Jake. He dropped his chin down onto her shoulder, peering over at Jake with half lidded eyes. He was drunk beyond all doubt and when he was drunk? He was cuddly. His hands found their way to Raven’s hips, “Think he’s drunk,” he mumbled into her shoulder, right before Jake dropped his arms around them. Swaying a little with the force of his added weight, Ezekiel snorted and pulled them all toward the dance floor. “Let’s see what a little liquid courage does for you!” He shouted over the thrum of the club, the pounding of the music and the sounds of people having a good time. “You just said ‘shy’ like a million times,” Raven laughed to Jake as Ezekiel’s words tickled her skin. She patted his hand, a sign of her comfort and affection, resting her own against his as they made their way back onto the floor. “More than a little!” She sang as the beat picked up, leaning heavily into Zeke for a moment as she got her footing, a proud aha! her victory cry. “Let’s go, Stone. Amaze us!” It took very little pull from Ezekiel to get Jake to stumble after, part familiarity and part lack of anything resembling resistance. At that moment, he could suggest they go rock climbing in the Grand Canyon and he would have agreed with little to no protest. “I do not need liquid courage, I have courage,” Jake stated loudly. “‘cause I’m not!” Once they hit the dance floor, he came to a halt, not quite sure what he was supposed to do us. “Amaze - “ he started to say, looking over both his shoulders at the people close by, trying to get an idea of what it was he was supposed to be doing. “So do I just…” Arms up, he started to move his hips like the couple close by. So maybe they were all a little drunk, which was the only explanation for why Ezekiel did the following: Groaning at the sight of Jake’s awkward shuffling, he said, “No, like this,” before pulling Raven’s back flush against his front and swaying easily with her in beat with the music. This was maybe a little more closer and intimate than what they were used to, but it wasn’t too far of a jump from previous clubbing experiences. Except now they had an audience watching and the audience being Jake may have been a little more intoxicating than normal. Whoops? Any inhibitions Ezekiel might have had about this had disappeared around the third drink they had after entering the club. Her body had already been humming from the drinks and the music, and it only amplified as she moved backwards, the space between her body and Ezekiel’s nonexistent. If it took her off-guard, it didn’t show, following his lead easily, eyes closed as she felt the energy surge through her. “See? Easy,” she informed Jake a few beats later, a hand extended towards him in an invitation to join them. A sly smile had spread across her face, her eyes darker than normal in the club. “C’mere.” He felt like an idiot trying to dance like that, all too aware of his inability to move his hips in anything resembling the rhythm making the dance floor vibrate beneath them. Throwing his hands out, he stopped and scowled at Ezekiel. “Said I don’t know how to do this, man.” His words were drowned out by the music though and instead, Ezekiel was pulling Raven closer. Jake felt a little odd at first, watching the two of them, like he’d stumbled on some intimate moment. Honestly, he’d never considered the idea of the two of them together, but the way they moved, there were definitely sparks of something else. He stared at the hand offered to him for a moment before taking it, letting his body make unconscious decisions instead of overthinking them, moving closer to Raven. Ezekiel didn’t speak now, just lost in the music and sensation of dancing so close to Raven and Jake. He didn’t even think it was weird anymore, an attestment to how powerful the atmosphere was right then. It was easy to see how with the right lack of inhibitions, the right people, and the right mood could make a person do something they never would have dreamed of in years. Because before that moment, he never truly thought he was attracted to Raven or Jake, didn’t think about them beyond “friends that are really hot.” Sure, he had considered for a second, when he had first met Raven, to put a move on her, but then she had opened her mouth and a prank war had ensued. After that, she had stayed in that friend category of his brain for years. But now, with her pressed so close and Jake on the other side of her, hands on low on her hips and that uniquely Raven smell filling his nose, he really wanted to get out of there with her. But he resisted because Jake was there and the poor man was really trying to keep up and Zeke wasn’t so cruel to leave him there like this. He slipped around Raven to come up on the other side of Jake, so that he was sandwiched between them and said, “Yeah, I think you’re starting to get the hang of it,” as he leaned in pressed his forehead to the back of Jake’s neck, eyes closing as they just moved. It wasn’t as though Raven was blind, alright? She knew that her friends were attractive, were hilarious and generally humored her whenever she felt so compelled to follow some random thought to a new project, but that’s where the thoughts had ended. She cared for both Ezekiel and Jake, far too much to even consider stepping over the line that had been drawn. A few weeks before, when Bucky had asked her about a thing between her and Zeke, she had laughed as she texted him back, but now, with Jake between them and her nerves alight, nothing seemed all that ridiculous. Which was probably a dangerous thought, but who cared when Jake’s hands were on her and she could feel Ezekiel behind him? “Good,” she agreed, throwing the little caution she possessed to the wind and pressing her lips to the side of Jake’s neck. So many cultures Jake read about over the years, dance was more than just an activity, it was a ritual. A display for the gods or marking a significant event within the community. The music may have been different but beneath it all, the bass pulse remained similar over the centuries, working its way from toes to head, Jake becoming lost in it, letting his body, Ezekiel, and Raven take over. It almost felt like an out of body experience. As Ezekiel slid up behind him, Jake reached back, hand running along bare skin while the other remained on Raven, keeping them close. All thoughts of what they’d been before drowned in the music. Her lips on his neck, that subtle feeling, just about drove him crazy and Jake closed his eyes, focusing on her body in front of him, Ezekiel’s behind him, moving with their rhythm, the movement becoming less awkward and much more natural. “This feels right,” he murmured, not sure who he was talking to. Ezekiel and Raven, the universe, no one at all. Some kind of switch flipped, seeing Raven’s lips on Jake’s neck. With Jake reaching back to touch him, Ezekiel craned his head back and then pressed his face forward into the palm of Jake’s hand. He brushed a kiss to his palm, before moving forward to join Raven at Jake’s neck. He really, really wanted more of this, wanted to grab them and go somewhere much more private. But he also didn’t want to move away from them, from this moment, afraid that whatever was allowing this to happen would break like a wave and dissipate. The choice was taken out of his hands though, when someone bumped into them roughly, the stranger having had too much to drink. Reluctantly pulling away from Jake’s neck, it finally occurred to him that he was practically climbing Jake like a tree, that Raven wasn’t far off from it either. A small rush of coolness washed over her, causing Raven to take half a step back, unsure of what had just happened. She took a thumb to the corner of her mouth to catch any rogue lipstick while she took a breath, glancing from Jake to Zeke with a calmness that she knew wasn’t real. Her heart was still racing, a thin sheen of sweat made her skin glisten but the reality had set in. It didn’t matter that a stranger had party fouled them or that the two men in front of her looked a little dazed because all she kept thinking was, “I want to go home with you.” There would be no mistaking what she meant, her voice sure as she clarified, “Both of you.” Jake exhaled softly, a long sigh of contentment that came from the close proximity of Raven and Ezekiel. The days spent in the Library, scouring the corners for new knowledge or conducting experiments, explosions and magic. Just as natural as those days were, this became as well, his desire to keep Ezekiel close matched only by the same desire to keep Raven close as well, bodies moving under fingertips, becoming one person. The feel of Ezekiel’s lips against his palm, the way Raven ran her thumb along the corner of her mouth. This wasn’t an ‘in the moment’ feeling that would dissipate after tonight, it was the full realization of what these two meant to him, usually locked away to the back of his mind for fear of overthinking it or ruining something. But right now, it was obvious that wasn’t an issue, not when the three of them were willingly there, together. The corner of his mouth turned up in a gentle smile as he pulled away from Ezekiel just enough to see the two of them, hands resting gently on the back of his partners’ necks as he looked between them. “Me too,” he added, speaking just loud enough to be heard by the two of them over the music. “Both of you.” There had been a certain chilling effect of being interrupted in middle of their dancing and kissing. While it hadn’t been enough to cool the other two off, it left Ezekiel realizing exactly how close and personal he had been getting with his friends. His brain still fuzzy with the drinking he had been doing and the music still just as distracting, but now it was no longer adding to the lust filled atmosphere of a few moments ago. It was bringing reality crashing down on him. Ezekiel ran a hand through his hair - which was matted with sweat and glitter at this point - making it stick up all over the place. Biting his lip, he took a hesitant step back. There was a reason he didn’t do relationships or mess with his friendships like this. It would, undoubtedly, all go to hell. “I...I gotta go.” He started to turn, to do what he was so good at: to run away. “Hey, what the hell?” Raven interrupted, grabbing Zeke’s arm so that he couldn’t walk away. She may have been small and lean, but years of fighting for her life and compensating for her leg meant that her arms were much stronger than they appeared. “Where do you think you’re going?” She wanted to sound demanding and in control, but it came out much softer than she intended, the words coated in the affection she usually denied she held for him. “Stay here,” she suggested instead, tugging him closer in order to hug him- a very uncharacteristic move. Raven wasn’t an idiot, she remembered just how much pain Ezekiel had been in when the portal closed and his last relationship has gone crashing down. “Don’t go without us.” Thankfully Raven was a little more on the ball than he was, grabbing Ezekiel before he could take off on them. Jake blinked a few times, running his hand through his hair, trying to push past the mental fog to the situation at hand. In all the time they’d spent together, Ezekiel wasn’t one to volunteer a lot of information of the personal kind, but Jake learned to watch for certain things. He knew it’d hurt Ezekiel bad enough the last time he dared try to have a relationship. He rest a hand on Ezekiel’s back as Raven hugged him, expression softening. “‘cause we’re not going anywhere without you, Jones,” he added, catching Raven’s eyes and nodding once. “Not gonna disappear or leave you behind.” The reminder that he had been dropped like trash the last time he had agreed to a relationship, hadn’t even been eased into the thought of it ending, had made quite the impression on Ezekiel. It had been years later and he still could remember the hurt and betrayal he had felt at finding out Jim had decided to go back to his own world. The man hadn’t even bothered to reach out to him privately to inform him of the decision, had just answered his post saying he was going home. No other explanations, no pretty words about it being a difficult choice. So he had been forced to play along with it, to wish him a safe journey home, and that had been that. He hadn’t even gotten a goodbye kiss, hadn’t been invited to see him off. Years later and even thinking about him made him want to do something dumb like cry. But here he was now, with the two people he considered his best friends in the world, being told he didn’t have to run anymore, that they would be here for him. He wasn’t stupid, he knew that they ultimately had no choice if the portal decided to send one or more of them home, but knowing that if they had to choose, that they wouldn’t do it without him, eased some of those worries for him. Still...as he sobered up as more time passed, he became unsure if he was willing to change the status of their friendship on some half-drunken whim. As impulsive as he was, they were more important. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” he admitted, as he laid his head on Raven’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “I don’t want things to get messed up.” He sounded very young then, completely unlike himself. “We’ll figure it out,” Raven suggested calmly, because that’s who she needed to be at the moment. Whether she was aware of it or not at times, she had the ability and knowledge to say what people- mainly her closest friends- needed to hear. She hugged Ezekiel closer, their unit at a standstill in the throng of the club, but it seemed that their stillness made people give them more space than any jabbing elbows or trodden toes, which was all good. “If you seriously think there’s anything that could get broken that we can’t fix, then you’re a bigger idiot than I thought.” She knew that he’d be able to feel the laugh that accompanied it even if he couldn’t hear it over the music. “We’ve got you, Zeke, and I know that you have me,” she promised, looking to Jake for backup. Over Ezekiel’s shoulder, Jake snapped his fingers and pointed at Raven with a big grin. “That,” he stated, finding the response perfect for her and Jones, given their penchant for destruction and rebuilding in the lab. Sure, they sometimes ended up on a roll, blowing up doors and putting a hole here and there in the wall, but they fixed it. It never deterred them. He slipped his arm around Ezekiel’s shoulder and pulled him in closer. “You’ve got me too.” And sure, he could be grumpy at times about things Ezekiel got into or did, but it meant he cared. He cared a hell of a lot. He lifted his free arm for Raven to step into. “You got both of us, man, and this isn’t some little thing right here. Maybe we’ve all had a few but...hell, it’s been happening for a while and it might’ve been the nudge we needed to ease into it. We’ve got your back, man, and your front.” Burying his face into Raven’s shoulder and grabbing Jake around the waist to keep them both close, Zeke spoke just loud enough to be heard. “You're both corny and I have no idea why I hang out either of you. Probably because I'm shallow. Can we just dance and figure out the rest if this later?” “Because you’re stuck now,” Raven pointed out, the grin evident in her voice. But she nodded, allowing the seriousness fade back into the beat, starting to move alongside of it, flowing back into herself as those few intense moments quieted. “Let’s dance.” Jake lightly squeezed Ezekiel’s shoulder with a big grin. “I’m sure that’s it,” he drawled but let it go. That they’d come this far tonight, that they’d convinced him to stay, that was a pretty big step itself. Following Raven’s cue, he nodded once and withdrew his arm, but stayed close. “I think we should. You two teaching me, I’ll get this in no time.” |