Today was going to be a bad day. No, a horrible day. Dammit, even that didn't even fit it. He couldn't tell you why, but it just had that feeling of dread to it, and he couldn't place why. God damn days, he hated days like this. They could go screw themselves for all he cared.
Alright, so it was obvious he wasn't in a good mood. Really, though, hardly anyone got to see him when he was in his good moods. His kids, sure, they saw it often, but how could he be his normal hard-ass towards his kids? Then you had Grant, of course. That man was his best friend, had been for fifteen plus years now. He had been there for him through all his ups and downs. Of course he saw his good moods!
But the rest of the crew? Hardly. They had to see that tough side. How else was things going to get done around the office? If he wasn't there to boss Steve and Tango around, the equipment would either get lost or broken, never arrive at the location, or the two would never stop messing around in their office. And he couldn't even pretend to want to know what kind of 'messing' around they were doing. As he had said on more than one occasion: 'those two are more perverted than a fifteen year old going through puberty'.
"Fucking hell, dude!" He called out of the open window of his vehicle, his fingers flicking the ashes from the burning cigarette in his fingers out into the cold wind. His eyes narrowed at the vehicle in front of him, the one that had just cut him off. Yes. It was definitely going to be one of those days.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He knew he had been standing there for a while, staring at the side of the TAPS office. It was taking him that long to process what he was seeing, though. Some whacko was hiding in the bushes outside the TAPS office, holding a bouquet of flowers. It took Jay another couple of seconds to realize that the whacko also happened to be his tech manager
"Steve! What the fuck are you doing?"
He watched as the younger, tattooed male turned, face flushing instantly as he tried to hide the flowers behind his back. So maybe he had sounded a bit harsh, but he wasn't going to apologize for it. No way in hell.
"Jay, hey there, dude. I was, uh, just…"
With a roll of his eyes, he motioned for Steve to walk over to him, clapping his friend on the back when he was within reach. Hard-ass or not, he knew what this was about, and even he couldn't poke fun at his friend right now.
"Flowers may have been a bit over the top, Steve, but he'll appreciate the gesture. May kick your ass for buying him something, you know that, but he'll appreciate it. Just go inside and give them to him, alright?"
Without waiting for a reply, he moved forward, jerking open the door to the office, stepping inside after banging the snow off of his shoes. Instantly, the smell of hot chocolate hit his nose, making his stomach turn. It just hit him now that he hadn't eaten or drank anything all day. Fuck his grouchy mood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Fuck! Tango, why'd you h-"
Jay glared up at the door to his office, both uneasy and unsure about the sudden silence that cut off Steve's shouting. He hadn't expected Tango to take the flowers well, even if it was for a stupid, silly, romantic thing like the day they had met each other. But the sudden silence…
He doubted the younger man would do anything to harm his boyfriend, he had seen them fight so many times and it just seemed to brush off both of them. That didn't stop him from getting up, grumbling the entire time about 'his children were at home, not here'. In all honesty, more often than not, he felt like a dad both at his house, and here with the Crew. He was the dad, Grant was the mom, and the rest were the kids.
As soon as he opened the door, he growled out, looking around for the closest thing to throw at the two. Finding a stack of post-it notes, he took them in his hand, chucking them at his Tech Crew, managing to snag Steve right in the ear. The moment they looked at him, both faces flushed but unable to stop smiling, he rolled his eyes.
"I don't give a fuck what today, or that you two are in 'love'. This is the office, and you keep that shit either behind your office door, or at your place, got it?"
Seeing them both nod, he turned, moving back into his office, though he didn't close the door. He stood near the opening, listening to the quiet talking from his crew out in the next room.
"Do you think he's that pissed?"
"Tango, did you see his face? We're fine, he wasn't that mad."
"He sure as hell sounded pissed."
"He's just having an off day. You know what?"
"He always has those. What?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, stupid. Come on, let's go to our office."
"Oh? For what now, Mr. Tango?"
"I think you know, Mr. Gonsalves."
Once the door to the office clicked close, he glanced back out into the room, his eyes instantly locking with those of his best friends. Something in his stomach flipped, and he knew why today was a bad day. It was Steve and Tango's anniversary of meeting. They were a couple, after only five years. Yet, the way he felt had been a secret for over fifteen. He wanted what they had, and it pissed him off. He was used to getting what he wanted.
"Hey Jay, what was with them two?"
He shook himself mentally, rolling his eyes and jerking his thumb at the now-closed office door.
"Thing One bought Thing Two some flowers for their anniversary. I wouldn't open the door any time soon."
For the first time, seeing the look of disgust and laughter pass over his friends face made his own lips pull up just the fraction of an inch.
"Come on, GW, we've got some footage to go over for SyFy."
