Lessons In Morning After Conversations
This can be considered a sequel to 'Lessons In Pool' but you don't really have to know more than Jason and Spin had sex. There might be a 3rd part, eventually, once the plot bunny hits me. I've been working on this for a while, and I hope it turned out okay. Enjoy!
Jason wakes up feeling better than he has in months. Aside from the slightest hangover pulsing under his temples, this really isn't a bad way to spend a Saturday morning, any morning, really. The room is filled with early morning light, the cool air in the room kept at bay by the warm body pressed—Wait. What?
Then he remembers what happened last night, and why he feels so damn good. It all comes flooding back to the forefront of his mind. Spinelli. It's Spinelli in bed with him. Spinelli's bare back pressed flush against his chest. How they'd gotten into the room and under the covers, he isn't quite sure, but here they are, and they'd… he'd… Oh, boy, this could end badly.
Okay, Jason thinks, options. Option A: Get up, move Spinelli to his room, pretend nothing happened. Option B: Stay here, in bed, with him. Option A is certainly tempting. Change is not Jason's favorite thing in the world, and not sweeping this thing under the rug will surely lead to change – whether good or bad, he doesn't really want to find out. But, he doubts he can move; much less carry Spinelli down the hall without waking the other man. Which brings him to Option B. And, God, he's wanted this for a long time, and he doesn't really want to give it up, either.
Meanwhile, Spinelli isn't as asleep as Jason seems to think he is. No, Spinelli is dealing with a mental panic attack – a heterosexual freak-out by proxy, as he's mentally terming it.
This will end one of two ways when Jason wakes up, he knows. If he can sneak back to his own room without disturbing Jason, maybe they can pretend nothing had transpired between them last night – although he is certainly never planning to forget it. If he can't, though, Spinelli will probably be looking at an apartment search in his near future. And that's at the very least – thoughts of cement keyboards sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic flash in his mind. He quickly dismisses that – Jason wouldn't hurt him – and returns his attention to the matter at hand.
Jason had been drunk. Not thinking clearly… And Spinelli had taken advantage of that in order to get something he'd never expected to be able to have.
He feels Jason shift behind him, and knows it won't be much longer before one of them will have to do something here. For now, though, he'll stay in bed, it wasn't worth giving up what will most probably be his last chance to enjoy the vice grip of Jason's arms around his chest.
A pounding knock on the front door, however, was an interruption that neither man had been expecting. Whoever it is doesn't sound like they plan on giving up any time soon. And they don't seem very patient, either, for that matter. They hear the crash of the front door as it slams open, and then closed again, and, yeah, that gets Jason moving.
The older man is out of bed in a second, and he's pulling a pair of jeans on when the bedroom door slams open. "Jason! You need to—"
The intruder cuts himself off, taking in the scene. Then he turns and walks back out.
"Fuck." Jason growls, pulling a t-shirt on over his head as he starts after Sonny. "Get dressed; we'll talk about this later." He pauses to say, then takes off out the door.
Spinelli, still absorbing the shock that was Sonny's unannounced visit, clumsily climbs out of bed himself, pulling on his own jeans and stealing one of Jason's shirts – as his own is suspiciously absent, probably still out in the hall. Then he slips out the door himself.
He can hear voices from downstairs, so he stops just before the steps to listen.
"—get to barge in here and take over, Sonny!"
"The hell I don't!" Sonny shouts back, followed by the sound of a fist hitting something hard. The edge of the pool table. Whatever topic Sonny has come here to discuss has clearly vanished from his mind, for the moment. "You're sleeping with that… that freak?" Sonny demands, as if he has the right to know that sort of thing – not that he doesn't know that already, anyway, given what he has just walked in on.
Jason folds his arms over his chest, and his ice blue eyes take on their trademarked stone cold look. "I've warned you about-"
But, Sonny cuts him off. "Oh, right. You've warned me. Terrifying. Listen, you," He points at Jason as if scolding a disobedient puppy. "You don't need this. You need to be focusing on the business. Not screwing around with some needy mental case who belongs in Shady Brook."
Steeling himself from giving into the urge to just strangle Sonny now, Jason takes a deep breath. This has been a long time coming. One too many insults combined with one too many demands mix together to start the insanity that Spinelli had predicted long ago. "You don't get to tell me what I should be doing, Sonny. You gave me the business, which means I make decisions about it. You don't have a say anymore." He reminds the older man, preparing for the reaction he knows he'll get.
Unfortunately, Spinelli chooses that moment to lose his balance, tripping out from his hiding place to sprawl, very much ungracefully, across the floor at the top of the stairs. "Ugh… Greetings, Mr. Sir."
Jason knows Sonny is seething with anger even as he hops up the steps to pull Spinelli to his feet. He has to wonder just how much Spinelli has heard, because he seems kind of… shrunken in on himself. He rests a hand on Spinelli's neck for a moment, eyes fixed on the other until Sonny clears his throat.
"You two finished making eyes at each other?" Sonny mocks, and Spinelli stays just behind Jason as they near the irate man. "Get out of my sight, freak boy. Jason and I need to talk business."
Jason watched as Spinelli shrinks further into himself. "The Jackal humbly asks you to-"
"Don't." Jason tells him, trying to prevent an all out gunfight in the living room. He pulls Spinelli aside."Can you go, just for a while? I'll come find you as soon as I calm him down. Then we can talk about last night." He promises, knowing Sonny will be easier to handle without Spinelli there to taunt. Hopefully.
Spinelli nods, and he knows Jason isn't shutting him out. If there's anyone in the world who knows what Sonny's capable of, it's Jason, and if he thinks Sonny is reaching the point of no return, Spinelli should listen. And, besides, he wants to talk to Maxie about all of this. "No problem, Stone Cold. The Jackal shall go visit the fair Maximista."
Jason nods, and waits until the other man grabs his jacket and is safely in the elevator before turning back to Sonny. Then, he prepares for all hell to break loose.
"What Spinelli and I do is none of your business."
"It is when it's going to affect your judgment." Sonny retorts, venom in his eyes.
"My judgment? The only one questioning my judgment is you, Sonny." He growls, sick of the double standard Sonny holds over him all the time. "You're allowed to have relationships and I'm not? I'm not seeing how that works."
Sonny shakes his head, throws his hands up in the air in exasperation. "You're beyond help. That kid has brainwashed you or something, gotten to you. You never used to be like this. Before he came along, your loyalty was to me."
Jason sighs and runs a hand over his face. It's going to be a while before he gets to Spinelli.
"Spinelli!" Maxie calls, marching up to her friend the second he steps into the Crimson offices. "You haven't been answering your phone."
He looks sheepish, recalling that his phone is probably wherever his missing in action shirt is, as it was in the pocket. "The Jackal apologizes. I may have misplaced my phone last night." He offers her one of the coffees he bought on the way over as a second form of apology.
She rolls her eyes, but takes it graciously. "No problem. I'm just glad you're okay."
He nods, a glazed look overtaking his features as he recalls just how okay he and Jason were last night. "Most excellent, in fact." He edits for her. "Aside from the verbal persecution I've one again received courtesy of Mr. Sir."
"What?" She asks, sipping the delicious pumpkin spice latte.
"Jason and Sonny were fighting when I left Casa De Stone Cold." He clarifies, now unsure whether or not Jason would want anyone to know about their night last night. But, as his brain is going to explode if he doesn't have some idea of what is going on before Jason comes to get him, he elaborates. "I… The Jackal may be in need of your expertise, however."
Maxie motions for him to continue, sitting down across from him at one of the desks positioned in the room. "What about?"
"Uhm. Stone Cold."
"You know him better than I do. Better than anyone, probably. Maybe with the exception of Sonny." She says, wondering why Spinelli would come to her, of all people, about Jason.
Spinelli looks more nervous than before, though, and she watches his fingers press against something on his neck. Something she doesn't quite recognize immediately. "I believe I might've surpassed Sonny's knowledge of Stone Cold, in some ways, recently."
He pulls his hand away and she can now clearly tell exactly what is marking Spinelli's neck. "Is that…? Oh!" She gasps in understanding, staring at the suction bruise at the juncture of his neck and collar bone. "Way to go Spinelli!" She reaches across the desk to tilt his head, admiring the mark. "Jason seriously did that to you?"
He can't help but grin at that particular memory. "Affirmative."
"I knew you liked him!" She declares, looking quite pleased with herself, as well as suitably impressed.
"Also an affirmative." He admits, the first time he's really said as much aloud.
"So, what's up?" Maxie asks, and then she thinks she has an idea. "He didn't freak out on you, did he? Because if he did, I think I have a few dozen choice words for him…" She growls, prepared to defend her best friend, already reaching for the phone.
Spinelli shakes his head, stopping her. "No, well, no. There was no freak out. Not that either of us had the opportunity to freak out about much at all…"
"What do you mean?"
"This," He points to the darkening bruise on his neck. "Is from last night. Sonny came barging in early this morning, and caught Stone Cold and I in bed."
"Whoa, wait. Last night? In bed? Just how far did the two of you go?" She'd been operating under the assumption of a pretty heated make-out session, but it seems she was underestimating.
Spinelli bites his lip, "The reason the Jackal was not answering his phone was because my shirt has seemingly disappeared somewhere between the hallway and the bedroom… Which also accounts for the fact that I have stolen one of Stone Cold's shirts, even though it is entirely too big."
She's surprised she hadn't noticed the plain black t-shirt the second Spinelli walked in. It's not his usual style at all. "Wow, Jason works fast."
"That… is what the Jackal is most gravely concerned about. Stone Cold was… rather intoxicated when he prompted last night's events." He stands, pacing back and forth across the room like a caged animal. He looks up at Maxie after a moment, hands moving a mile a minute as he talks. "What if Stone Cold regrets what occurred last night? What if he's upset that I didn't try harder to prevent things from getting so out of hand?"
"Is Jason even affected by alcohol? If he started all of that last night, he probably knew what he was doing." She rationalizes. Jason doesn't seem the type to risk getting smashed out of his mind when he has a very lucrative and demanding business to run. Or, for that matter, to get drunk and take his best friend to bed if he didn't mean to.
Spinelli takes that into account, pausing in his incessant pacing. "Perhaps Maximista is indeed correct in her analysis. It was just all so sudden. One moment we were playing pool and the next…"
"I think you need to talk to him." Maxie insists. "Jason's mind is something far too complicated for me to try to get inside. And sitting here wondering whether he meant it or not isn't going to help, either."
He nods, resigning himself to sitting there not thinking about Jason until Jason shows up to get him.
"Get out." Jason finally demands. He's had enough. Sonny just cannot comprehend the hardly new, but recently strictly enforced, 'Spinelli is to be respected, not mocked' clause of their strained friendship. Since the start of the conversation, Spinelli's name has come up numerous times, never followed by anything good when it's Sonny making the comment.
"Jason, damn it, we need to-"
He opens the front door. "No, there is no 'we'. I don't have to listen to a damn thing you say. Now, get out. Come back when you can accept Spinelli's place here, or don't come back at all." He says, with a note of finality even Sonny won't question.
"Keep in mind that the more people you have close to you, the more targets you have on your back." Sonny warns him cryptically as he steps out of the door. And Jason makes a mental note that Spinelli is not leaving his sight for a very long time, and a second one that involves changing the locks and upping security.
"What a fantastic start to the day." He groans, preparing to go find Spinelli.
He knows the hacker will be at one of four places. Maxie's house, Crimson, Kelly's, or the coffee shop – dependent upon Maxie's current location. The latter three places he could run into Sonny, which would be a very bad thing right now. So, he takes off on his bike, and heads to check those first.
The coffee shop is clear, as is Kelly's. He tries calling Spinelli's cell, but gets no answer, which only furthers his paranoia. He speeds toward Crimson on his bike, throwing it into park outside the front doors, despite the no parking sign. And he's racing up the stairs seconds later.
"Spinelli?" He hears Maxie say, in a tone that suggests it's not the first time. "Ahem. Spinelli!" She finally barks, and then he hears Spinelli stammer out an apology.
"Sorry, the Jackal's head is elsewhere, it seems."
Maxie spots Jason hovering in the doorway and turns to her best friend. "Well, elsewhere is now here." She marches over to Jason before Spinelli can and folds her arms across her chest, fixing the mob boss with a deathly glare. "Hurt him, and you'll pay…" She growls, so low that he barely hears it.
Jason nods; glad that at least someone is threatening to injure him in defense of Spinelli as opposed to just injuring Spinelli.
"Stone Cold." Spinelli says, with his hands shoved deep in his pockets, looking all kinds of nervous. "Were you able to placate Mr. Sir's untimely wrath?"
Jason shakes his head. "If Sonny bothers either one of you, I want to know about it." He warns both of them, pointedly. Then he motions toward Spinelli. "You ready to go?"
"Of course, Stone Cold." Spinelli falls into step behind the older man after bidding Maxie farewell.
"I, ugh, brought the bike. I know you don't like it, but I didn't want you running into Sonny." He explains, when the younger spots the vehicle he hasn't touched since he crashed it so long ago.
"No worries, Stone Cold. I can't crash it if I'm not driving it." He smiles, and climbs on behind Jason.
Jason waits for him to get settled, but notes that Spinelli's hold isn't going to keep him on the bike; he adjusts the other's hands until they're in places that won't suffocate him when Spinelli finally does start hanging on. "Ready?" He asks, knowing that once the engine starts they won't be able to hear each other – which may have been another reason he'd chosen the bike over a car. No awkward conversations to be had on a motorcycle.
He feels Spinelli nod against his back and he takes off. As predicted, Spinelli's arms start grabbing onto him for dear life.
It's over quickly enough, though, and Spinelli reluctantly relinquishes his hold once the motorcycle comes to a stop in the Penthouse's garage. Jason can feel his hesitation in letting go, his hands linger just a few seconds longer than necessary; not that he's complaining. But it does give him a mental piece of evidence for the conversation they'll have to have once they get upstairs.
They go upstairs in an awkward silence, the possible outcomes of their actions last night weighing heavily on the minds of both men. Both want more, but neither knows how the other feels, which makes for this uncomfortable desire to delay the conversation as much as possible.
Finally, after stalling as much as they can justify, Jason takes a seat across from Spinelli – who is perched on the arm of the couch. "I guess we should talk, huh?"
Spinelli nods. "An inevitable conversation if one ever did exist." He muses, looking as if they've already had this conversation, as if he already knows the outcome.
Jason shifts, moving unconsciously closer to the younger man. "What do you want to happen?" He asks.
"Not to be fitted for a cement keyboard?" Spinelli says, in a sad attempt at a joke. Jason knows him too well, though, can detect the note of seriousness under it. And, really, it kind of hurts that Spinelli thinks he'd do that to him.
The look on Jason's face must tell him as much, because then Spinelli is gesturing apologetically. "Not to imply, of course, that Stone Cold would do such a thing to his Grasshopper. The Jackal's mouth is simply running away with him."
A sigh and then the elder asks again, more directly this time. "Do you regret what happened last night?"
Spinelli suddenly seems to find his shoes very fascinating. "May I inquire as to what happened with Mr. Sir?"
Jason is not oblivious to the tactical topic change, but he answers anyway. "I told him to stay away until he can respect that you're here to stay. He didn't take it well."
"You didn't have to do that. Invoking the horror that is Mr. Sir's testy temperament was an unnecessary risk." Spinelli says. "I know Sonny doesn't like me. The Jackal can deal with that."
"No." Jason steps in before any self-deprecating thoughts can worm their way into Spinelli's head. "Sonny has no reason to treat you the way he does. And it would have only gotten worse now that he walked in on us this morning. No." A deep sigh, as if a thousand pound weight has lifted off his shoulders. "I'm done enabling him."
Spinelli is still watching him intently, gauging reactions, as if waiting for the bomb to drop. Looking about as anxious as Jason has ever seen him, he speaks up. "Last night… you were… somewhat inebriated."
Jason, catching on as to where Spinelli was going with that thought, interrupted. "I wasn't drunk. I knew what I was doing." He says, and he watches Spinelli visibly relax as he does.
The younger slides off the arm of the couch, moving instead to sit on the arm of the seat Jason is in.
He's comfortable again, Jason thinks, glad they're past most of the awkward part of this conversation. Obviously, Spinelli had been pretty convinced that those four beers had seriously impacted Jason's judgment last night.
"I thought you might be rather upset with the Jackal for taking advantage of the situation last night, if Stone Cold had indeed been too intoxicated, for not stopping you." He explains, eyes downcast once again.
Jason's hand lands on his leg, which is enough to snap the hacker back into the conversation. "I'm… not mad at you. Did you want me to stop?" Spinelli gives him another opening to figure out just what the younger man wants out of this.
A long moment of silence passes, and Jason fears they're drifting back into awkward territory before Spinelli finally speaks again. "No." He shakes his head, hand moving toward that bruise on his neck, which Jason only just now notices.
"What do you want to happen?" He repeats, now noting that Spinelli is wearing one of his shirts. How did he not notice that before? Wow, that's certainly a bit of a turn-on. He focuses on Spinelli again, though; they'll be time for that later, hopefully. Right now they need to get through this conversation. Jason knows he wants this to go on, but he won't tell Spinelli as much until he knows where the younger stands. The other seems to be at a loss for words, though, so Jason asks again. "Do you want it to happen again?"
That, evidently, is a question Spinelli can answer. "Yes."
His answer is enough for Jason, who gives a slight tug on the younger's arm, enough to send him off balance and close enough to kiss. But, he doesn't just yet, though. They have one last thing to get through.
"You know the risks of being involved with me. That you'll be even more of a target for anyone who wants to get to me." A pause, they're inches apart. "If you can't deal with that, you need to tell me now. I'll keep you as safe as I can, but there are no guarantees in this business. You know that."
Spinelli nods. "I know. The Jackal… I still want this."
With that, Jason pulls him that last bit closer, and everything falls into place. Sonny doesn't matter, the business doesn't matter, nothing matters except this. And they both know this is going to work out.