The sheets were tangled at the bottom of the bed, giving Jackson a full view of Elliot’s long, sinewy limbs. He let his eyes trace the length of his body, from the neon blue tape around his ankle, all the way up to the hollow of his abs where cum had pooled, to his face, where his long pale eyelashes fluttered as he blinked slowly.
Jackson could scarcely believe this was real.Precious.
“I can feel you staring, Jennings.”
Jackson grinned, Elliot’s snark grounding him back in the task at hand as he returned to the bed and passed him the cloth.
“What, you’re making me do it myself? God, you get some, and all gentlemanly tendencies disappear.” There was a teasing light in Elliot’s eyes that undercut the harsh tone of his voice, but Jackson took the hint.
“Anything for you, dear,” he replied as he took the cloth from Elliot and cleaned him with care. The worrying thing was, as the words left his lips, Jackson realised he might mean it. These were not the kinds of feelings he should be having, not now. Not when he knew that at the end of the day, Owens would happily hang him out to dry if it meant he could take his spot in the Olympics.
When he’d finished, he stretched himself out in the minuscule space Elliot had left on the edge of the bed. “Shove over,” he groused.
“It’smybed, Jennings,” Elliot replied.
Jackson nuzzled his neck. “But I want to cuddle.”
“It’s the middle of the afternoon. We can’t stay here all day.”
Jackson groaned and draped himself over Elliot. “I mean, we could.”
“You heard Anders this morning—we need to take things seriously. I can’t…I can’t do this with you if it’s going to interfere with our training.”
Jackson wasn’t sure what it was they were doing exactly, but he didn’t love the implication that he didn’t take his training as seriously as Elliot did.
“I’m not asking you to throw away your training for the occasional fuck, Owens,” he replied, possibly more coldly than he’d intended. He winced as he watched the open expression on Elliot’s face disappear.
“That what this is, then?” Elliot asked.
Jackson should have said yes. He knew he should have kept this in a neat, tidy little box labelledRivals with Benefitsand letit go. But he couldn’t lie, and he couldn’t keep his irritation up when he saw the vulnerability behind Elliot’s icy façade.
“It’s whatever you want it to be,” he sighed. “But training comes first, always.”
Elliot nodded, though the soft expression didn’t return. “I should get dressed.”
“I was going to get dinner in town tonight,” Jackson said. “Would you…would you like to join me?”
Elliot sighed as he sat up, and Jackson couldn’t quite pinpoint what he’d done wrong now. The one thing he knew was that he needed Elliot to say yes. For reasons he couldn’t quite explain, the idea of going back to his own room now felt…tragic.
“Jennings, are you asking me on a date?”
Jackson ran a hand through his hair. “Maybe.”
Elliot sighed, which didn’t feel particularly promising from Jackson’s perspective.
“I…like you, Jennings,” he started.
“Oh, call the press,” Jackson quipped. Part of him was hoping to stave off the inevitable rejection he could see speeding towards him.
“Shut up.” Elliot smirked. “But it’s true,” he said as he picked at an imaginary thread in the sheet. “We can’t be anything, Jackson. I’m not—I’m never going to come out. This isn’t like, wait a few months and see. I’m not doing it. I can’t be known for anything other than my times on the road.”
Jackson put his best nonchalant grin on, because he did get it; Elliot had made that pretty clear from the start. “I mean…it can be teammates out for a quick bite.”
“I don’t want to shove you back into the closet with me. I think I’ve done enough to fuck with your life over the years.”
“Look, Ell, I’m asking you to eat with me, not to get married. You have to have dinner sometime. Plus, you can tattle on me to Anders if I deviate from my meal plan.” That seemed to breakthe tension building in Elliot’s body as he very maturely stuck his tongue out at Jackson. “As for the rest of it, let’s keep things casual, okay? We’re having a good time, and we can continue having a good time without making a big show of things.”
Elliot nodded. “You’re sure?”
