Title: Body Language
Rating: T
Summary: Jackson reviews all of Aaron's personality quirks and body signals; he thinks he has him all figured out. Aarson. Jackson/Aaron
A/N: Number three! I promise I'll write on Snow and Ice soon. Very short. Thank you for reading. Review please.
Body Language
They'd been living together for three months. Jackson's flat had flooded and Paddy had demanded that he move in with Aaron and him. Jackson's mom had flew the coup, off to Jamaica to dance with the slim-hipped, moist-limbed dancers or Paris for a night-time romance by the Eiffel Tower. With just the three of them, Aaron's personality had improved rapidly. It also probably helped that Jackson was warming his bed every other night. Whatever the reason, even after Jackson had saved up enough money to rent another flat, he'd stayed. And though Aaron hadn't voiced it, Paddy could tell that he was happy with that.
The first thing that Jackson did, as he always did while entering a new relationship, was to scope out is quarry. Occasionally staying at each other's flats had helped with that initially but he had been given very little time before being swept up into passion. At Paddy's, things were different. Aaron didn't like showing affection in front of him, so Jackson had a chance to sit across from him at dinner and observe. He had time to sit cross-legged on the couch and watch the way Aaron's eyes flickered across the television set. Learning about Aaron seemed to be a vital thing if he wanted to stay with him. Aaron was very short-tempered and quick to lose his head. Jackson wanted to find all the ways he could to avoid that lest they repeat that nasty little incident from before.
Fights were common in the beginning with Hazel staying and poking fun at everything Aaron did. Jackson took the time to sit back and watch. The first remarks, depending on his mood, simply made Aaron furrow his brow. If they progressed, he would cross his arms, glance down, and clench his jaw, occasionally biting out some rude remark in response. That was the first stage of Aaron's annoyance, and Jackson came to value this information greatly. Whenever Aaron began that, he would make a joke or leave the room. His tactic seemed to work, and Aaron was in a much better mood when he employed it.
Second stage was entering dangerous territory. Aaron didn't like to be nettled about things over and over. His usual combatant against nosy questions was "It's got nothing to do with you." Jackson was a master at staying calm, and that made entering such a dangerous game easier and safer. As safe as one could be when intentionally bothering Aaron. He picked at him, argued with him over things that actually were a problem so as to prod deeper, in order to find out what the second stage was. It didn't take long to figure out what came after the crossing of arms and sarcastic remarks. Aaron would work the muscle in his jaw.
At first, Jackson barely noticed it. When Aaron paused and stared into Jackson's eyes as he often did when angry, the flicker of motion had caught the man's eye. He'd only ever brought Aaron into that state a few times more before he confirmed it. The working of the muscle in his jaw was as far as he wanted to go however, and he stopped immediately trying to make Aaron angry, having learned just how to avoid it.
Scoping Aaron's personality quirks and body language when angry wasn't all that he was interested in, though. He found himself hungry for knowledge, curious as to his partner's every move. He noted the way he walked. Generally, he walked with his hands in his pockets, head down, hood up, or playing with his cell phone. At work, he always had something in his hands or swung over his shoulder. When he was underneath a car working on something that Jackson would never understand, his legs were crooked out at an odd angle. He had one hand on the hood when working on an engine. During breaks, Aaron always tied the sleeves of his work suit around his waist. He had a habit of putting his foot inside of a car when trying to talk over it at someone else. He had a tendency to lean on things when in a good mood while talking. In a good mood, though, he always leaned to the side, never with his back pressed against a wall.
More and more Jackson learned, and the more he learned, the more he was intrigued. Next, he began paying attention to the way Aaron acted at home. It was a slightly more difficult to do at home because Aaron was paying attention to Jackson at the same time. Often he snapped at him, demanding to know why he was staring. At that, Jackson would make some comment about how handsome he was or that he had something on his face. That would put Aaron off long enough for him to change the subject.
At home, Aaron drank out of milk cartons or orange juice cartons. Watching him put Jackson off milk and orange juice forever. Doing that just wasn't sanitary. Still, it was endearing. Aaron also leaned back in chairs, had tea a little before noon, always ate dinner with Paddy when he could, never came home in his work clothes, dug out what he was going to wear for the next day every night, crossed his arms when watching TV, put his foot up on the desk when messing on the computer, and slept on the left side of their single bed. And if anyone ever fell out of their small bed, it was Aaron. For some reason, Jackson just had better balance.
In the bedroom was where Jackson was the most curious. Enticing Aaron was difficult. Aaron usually would just kiss Jackson out of the blue, and off they'd go to the bedroom, usually tripping up the stairs. Jackson was getting better at telling the signs though. Before a night when he wanted to have sex, Aaron was kinder to Jackson. He did something out of character, a romantic gesture. He laughed at Jackson's jokes and watched his every move. Those dark blue eyes tracked him and lingered on his mouth when he talked. Always they would sit on the couch after tea when Paddy had gone up to bed. Always Jackson would turn on the oscillating fan while they watched TV, next to each other, arms crossed, not touching at all. Then suddenly Aaron would make a comment to get Jackson to look at him. His lips would be slightly parted, eyes dark and voice husky.
Aaron's kisses were wet, frequent, and open-mouthed. He used his tongue a lot, which was not necessarily a bad thing. Jackson always responded eagerly, so what was the harm? Besides, he liked to kiss, too, so it all worked out in the end. Experience in the bedroom allowed Jackson to figure out that his stomach was Aaron's favorite part of him. He always was touching his waist, mouth trailing down it, arms wrapped around it after a night of making love. As they stumbled up the staircase at night, his arms were under Jackson's shirt, hands rubbing at the small of his back or massaging his sides. The shirt was the first thing to go. There were no exceptions. When Jackson came out of the shower, that was where Aaron's arms went, tongue lapping at the water droplets on his boyfriend's neck or in his hair. One wouldn't think he wasn't such a clingy person, but in private he was quite the needy partner, insatiable and willing.
It was all the experience he had with Aaron that led him to find all of his quirks and signs. Eventually, Aaron tried to figure out what he was doing, keeping an eye on him more frequently as well. Jackson wondered if maybe he was doing the same thing, cataloging everything he did for later. Not that Aaron would ever use that information for good. He'd probably use it to start a row.
On one night after Paddy had gone to sleep, and Jackson was staring at him again, Aaron put down his beer and demanded, "What is it? Why have you been staring at me for the past couple of weeks?"
"It's because I love you, obviously," he replied without thought and then froze. His eyes darted to Aaron, hoping not to see that muscle working in his jaw, the arms crossed, that sneer. Instead, Aaron's eyes were strangely downcast.
He mumbled something.
"What was that?" Jackson asked, huge goofy grin splitting his face.
"I said you're a complete nutter," Aaron replied, but there was no venom in the words.
"Ah, but I'm your complete nutter," he chuckled, taking a swig of his drink.
"I guess you are, aren't you?" Aaron wondered at that, shaking his head.
Jackson figured that of all Aaron's cute perks and endearing habits, his conversation was better than anything else about him.
Very short, but sweet, I hope. There will be more! Thank you so much for reading. Review, please. And why is everyone so convinced that I'm going to break them up? Are there no other happy fics about them? That's sad.