For you, always, mate
Jackson
Can I ring?
A quick thumbs up had Jackson hitting the call button. Darius was sweaty, probably coming from a workout himself. Looking at him now, Jackson could say objectively that his friend was gorgeous, but it didn’t give him that pang of loss he used to feel when he’d realise they could never be more than friends—sporadic, occasional benefits aside. Now, though, Darius looked so settled, so happy, that it kind of made Jackson believe in happily ever after.
“You tell him how you feel yet?” he asked.
Darius rolled his eyes. “You know I’m not doing that.”
“Chase your bliss, baby”
A scoff. “Did you ring to talk about my love life or is something up?”
"I mean, I wanted to see how you're doing. You know, with your private life being splashed across every tabloid in the country."
"You know I'm fine, Jax. The press is the press, but it's good, not hiding."
That warmed Jackson's heart despite the miserable self-doubt plaguing him. "And having Jamie?" Jackson teased.
"Shut up." Darius laughed. "Now come on, mate. Why did you really ring?"
“Is it me?” Jackson blurted out. Unable to contain the feeling bubbling up inside of him. “Am I…too much? Or not enough?”
Darius squinted at him. “Who said that?”
“Nobody.” Jackson shrugged. “Everybody. I don’t know.”
“Was it Owens?” Darius asked. “I’ll fucking ruin him.”
Jackson sighed. “No, but… I hear it a lot, ok, and I thought… Was that why things with us never…”
Darius ran a hand over his short, coiled hair. “Jackson, you're my best friend, and I love you, but we weren’t… We were never a good fit like that.”
It wasn’t that Jackson disagreed, he just needed to know if he was the problem. “Because of me?”
Darius frowned. “Because of both of us. I thought we were ok, though? Friends, right? Best mates?”
“Of course we are. I…I know I can be a lot, and I’m worried I’ll never find anyone willing to put up with that.”
“The right person for you should do more than just put up with you, Jax,” Darius said. “And wasn’t that why you wanted to stop fooling around? You wanted to find the right person.”
Jackson sighed. “Do you think that was naïve of me?”
“A few months ago, I’d have said yes. Absolutely.”
“But not now?”
“Not now,” Darius replied, his composure cracking just a fraction.
“So Jamie’s it for you?”
Darius blinked. “I—maybe, yes.”
“But you still won’t tell him?”
“Could we go back to dissecting your issues, please?”
