Disclaimer: Don't own the characters or places.
Flirt
John Paul walked into the SU Bar and looked around. Craig wasn't due to arrive for a while yet, but he couldn't help wishfully thinking that he would have arrived early instead. Walking over to the bar, he was more relaxed than he'd been for over a week due to the wedding fiasco and having to deal with his Nan. All in all, he was surprisingly glad to see that he would have some quiet time to himself before having to deal with his and Craig's relationship.
He was brought out of his musings when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he was surprised to see a nervous but determined Spike standing behind him. "Hey John Paul," he said calmly. His voice was strong but John Paul was glad to hear no hint of confrontation in there.
"Spike," he greeted. "How've you been?" John Paul fought back a wince. 'How have you been'? How lame could you get? 'Oh yeah, I know the last time we talked, I dumped you after acting really off with you and didn't give any reason why, but now I'm gonna just act all chummy'.
Luckily, Spike didn't notice that John Paul was having a heated mental rant at himself; or if he did he didn't mention it. "Yeah, I've been… alright," he answered. Saying he had been fine would be a lie, but telling the truth would lead to an argument that he really didn't want to have right now. "How about you? Seen much of Craig recently?"
Hearing Craig's name, John Paul's head shot up. Why would Spike ask specifically about Craig? 'Easy now John Paul. Don't say anything suspicious – just act normal' he told himself. "I've been good thanks," he smiled. "Merce and Tina's double wedding was… interesting so I haven't had much time to see my friends. We're meeting up here in a bit though."
Spike nodded and opened his mouth as if to say something before closing it again. He wet his lips before trying again. "So things have been going well between you?" John Paul's eyes met Spike's again as he stared incredulously at the other boy.
"What do you mean?" he asked, trying to keep his voice level but failing miserably.
Spike simply gave him a pointed look as an answer but decided to elaborate when John Paul continued to simply stare at him with a confused look on his face. "I'm not stupid John Paul. I know there was something going on between you two." His voice grew slightly smaller and although he tried to hide it, his smile faltered slightly as he continued with his sentence. "That's why you broke up with me, isn't it?"
John Paul looked down in shame as he nodded. It had never really registered before that what he had been doing was cheating. He knew that what he'd done was wrong but he had never thought of all the consequences. It had just been about him and Craig.
"Hey – cheer up!" Spike laughed as he poked him. "I just wanted to tell you that I know and I understand why you did it; why you did all of it. Obviously I don't know the full details of what's happened and I don't particularly want to." This was a complete lie, but Spike felt that saying 'please describe everything in minute detail because I bet it's really hot' wouldn't be appropriate in this circumstance. "I just want to know that he's treating you right. He has split up with Sarah, right?"
At this, John Paul let out a sigh of relief. Here was someone he could actually talk to about all of this and wouldn't judge him for it, at least not until everything that needed to be said had been said. It was for this reason that he found himself fifteen minutes later playing on the game machine with Spike, finally finishing his story about what was happening about him and Craig, when the boy in question finally walked through the door.
"Hey, Craig!" John Paul's face lit up as he walked as quickly as he could without seeming suspicious over to him. Spike noticed that Craig's face lit up also as the greeting was returned and the two of them walked over to him.
Ignoring the face that Craig pulled when he noticed him, Spike smiled warmly at them both. "I've just had a go – want to see if you can beat my score?" he asked, conversationally.
Craig scowled slightly but moved to start the game, muttering something under his breath. Spike met John Paul's eyes and gave him a look which said 'what on earth do you see in him?' to which John Paul replied with a smile and a shrug before turning to look at Craig, his eyes glazing over slightly.
As Spike saw how his ex looked at Craig, he slowly found himself letting go of those final few strings that tied him to the blonde. Most of it had been achieved over the previous three weeks but he knew that after today he would be completely and utterly over John Paul McQueen. Maybe not quite enough to find himself a new boyfriend, but certainly enough to be happy that John Paul had… as long as Craig sorted himself out.
"Quite an impressive victory!" John Paul congratulated Craig on the score that was quite a lot higher than the one Spike had achieved. Craig thanked him for the compliment and rubbed his hands together looking incredibly smug.
Spike opened his mouth to say something that would wipe that smirk off his face, but one look from John Paul silenced him. Instead, he ignored him and turned to address John Paul. "Your turn mate – loser buys the beers," he challenged before walking off to find them a table. It was obvious the two of them needed some privacy.
As soon as Spike was out of earshot, Craig looked at John Paul, his demeanour demanding answers. "So, what's he doing here?" he asked, obviously jealous.
A couple of weeks ago, John Paul would have simply reassured Craig that there was nothing going on between him and his ex, but after the conversation with Spike earlier, during which Spike had advised him to 'make him earn John Paul', he decided to play dumb. He paused, as if he were trying to think why Spike might be there "I think he's having a drink: same as you." It was all he could do not to laugh at the expression this caused on Craig's face.
Craig was seething. Why was John Paul pretending not to know what he was talking about? How dare he just laugh off the way Craig felt when he saw John Paul laughing with Spike the way he should be laughing with him? "Right," he started, keeping his voice calm. "Are you two getting back together?" he blurted out, half wanting and half not wanting to hear the answer.
John Paul simply looked at him confused. "No," he answered coolly, making Craig feel a bit idiotic.
In order to save face, he continued with his accusation. "Could have fooled me," he shot back, sniffing slightly. It just wasn't fair. John Paul wasn't meant to do this to him. John Paul was meant to be the one thing that he could rely on.
Getting rather annoyed at the way Craig was attacking him for simply talking to someone else, John Paul looked at him angrily. "Well we're not, alright? So you can quit attitude."
"Attitude?" Craig repeated, feeling his rage grow. After the way John Paul had been getting on with Spike during their date, he was the one with the attitude problem. "How do you expect me to feel when you're flirting with him like that?" he hissed, partly because he didn't want to be heard but mostly because he was so angry.
"Flirting?" John Paul echoed incredulously. This was ridiculous. All he had been doing was having a laugh with Spike. Besides, what right did Craig have to say that when he was still with Sarah? When he voiced this out loud, Craig gave him an almost scandalised look and went to say something but John Paul beat him to it. "I don't have to put up with this you know. And you know what else? That wasn't flirting, this is." With that he walked up to Spike, putting a hand on his shoulder as he sat down before pretending to eye him up and whispering his plan into his ear.
Craig watched as John Paul sauntered up to Spike and leant in to say some disgustingly lewd comment to him. The thought that his John Paul was acting this way in front of other men made him feel hurt and angry, but most of all sick because he knew deep inside that the reason this was happening was because of him. He wanted to look away, but found that his eyes were glued to the scene in front of him, much as they had been the night of the DJ competition at The Dog where he first started realising how he felt about John Paul.
Now Spike's hand was on John Paul's thigh. When had that happened? That thigh belonged to Craig… in fact all of John Paul belonged to Craig. His teeth ground together as he realised that John Paul was blushing and laughing softly at something the older boy had said; definitely not removing that hand.
"Oh he's definitely looking," Spike assured John Paul who they had agreed should not look at Craig. "That's more than just a hint of jealousy on his face – he looks so angry," he continued, sliding his hand further up the blonde's thigh.
John Paul bit his lip nervously. "Do you think this has gone too far? I don't want him to be angry with me…" What if this stupid stunt made him lose Craig?
Spike turned his chair so he was completely facing John Paul with his legs straddling the other's. "Hell no. Didn't you know? Angry sex is the best." He chuckled as John Paul's face turned bright red, causing John Paul to laugh in turn. "Although you could go and ask him to come and have a drink with us – I have a couple of things I need to say to him." At John Paul's wide eyes, he shook his head to show it wasn't anything serious. "Trust me, I'm not gonna ruin this for you. I just know what guys like Craig are like and I know exactly what to do to get your desired result."
John Paul looked at Spike with a hint of amused suspicion before his mouth widened into a grin and he nodded, kissing him on the cheek and walking over to Craig, pretending not to notice that Craig looked away quickly and scrambled to appear as if he had been doing something for the past five minutes other than what he really had been doing as he saw John Paul approach.
Spike sighed, just about resisting the urge to touch his cheek where John Paul's soft lips had just been. He contented himself by blatantly staring at John Paul's incredible arse as the younger boy made his way over to Craig. There was no harm in looking after all, despite the glare Craig was giving him that suggested he felt differently. Although John Paul had officially dumped him three weeks ago, this would be the day that would mark the end of him and John Paul and it would happen in style.
Craig sat down scowling as John Paul went to fetch drinks for the three of them. After somehow being convinced that leaving now would look suspicious, he was being forced to make inane conversation with Spike of all people. He was startled out of his dark rant when Spike asked him a question. "Why don't you ask Sarah to come and join us?" he asked.
'Oh yeah, you'd like that so you could get all couple-y with John Paul, wouldn't you?' Craig thought, sneering. "She's busy," he replied shortly. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't be too snarky to Spike as not only would it be very suspicious, but more importantly it would upset John Paul. Wait, no that was the other way round. As much as he loved John Paul, keeping his cover more still more important than John Paul's eternal happiness… right? Right. Of course it was.
"Really?" Spike raised an eyebrow. "When I bumped into her this morning, she said she wouldn't be doing anything," he returned off-handedly, smirking inside as he saw Craig's scowl deepen.
"Fine," Craig spat. "I'll call her."
After he returned his phone to his pocket, scowling yet again because Sarah wouldn't be long as she was already nearby, Craig looked up to see John Paul making his way over with their drinks. Unfortunately, his smile was completely ignored, as John Paul was too busy gazing at Spike. Seriously – there was something wrong here as even when John Paul and Spike had been going out, Craig had always been given at least some attention.
For this reason, Craig was partially thankful when Sarah turned up as at least it would mean he had a chance at competing with John Paul over who could make who the most jealous; however not even this went as planned as after warmly greeting Sarah, John Paul went to buy a fresh round and Sarah started rambling on to Spike about her modelling.
Just before John Paul returned, Sarah finished telling her story and Spike quickly asked her a hushed question. "Do you think you could keep it quiet about bumping into me earlier to John Paul?" Craig could only just make out the words.
Sarah nodded while smiling knowingly. "You two getting back together?" she queried in her usual gossip-gathering way. Spike was pleased to notice that although he looked annoyed at the question, Craig also seemed anxious to hear the answer.
Not knowing how he should answer this, Spike looked to John Paul. Did he want to all-out lie or was he going to say something that could possibly ruin the plan? John Paul's face was flushed as he floundered for some words to say. "Well I don't think we're going to rush into anything serious again," at this Craig breathed out in relief. Seeing this, John Paul's eyes hardened. 'Screw him,' he thought. "But I don't think either of us want to rule it out entirely… we'll just see where it goes."
Craig looked at him sharply. Surely he must be joking, but looking at the two of them pushing imaginary stray hairs behind ears or removing invisible flecks of dust from t-shirts it just looked far to real. He pushed himself back into his chair and stared at the beer in his hand.
He didn't know how long it had been going on for, but it seemed like forever. The live band had started playing and John Paul was up on the dance floor with Spike, along with several other people who were dancing. He wouldn't exactly class what John Paul and Spike were doing as dancing however; it looked rather more like vertical sex.
John Paul's chest was pressed up against Spike's back and Spike was rather sensuously rubbing his backside against John Paul's groin with one hand over John Paul's, dangerously close to his own. John Paul's other hand had sneaked it's way up the front of Spike's top and Spike's other hand was tangled into John Paul's hair, his head tilted back onto John Paul's shoulder as he let out a moan.
"John Paul," Spike moaned as his ex ran a finger up the centre of his chest.
"Mmmm?" John Paul hummed back questioningly. Who knew making someone insanely jealous could be so much fun?
"Don't… don't panic or anything but…" Spike gulped. "What you're doing with… oh god!" he fought to get his breath back under control as John Paul gently tweaked his nipple. "If you don't stop touching me I might… I might forget… that this is fake. Ok?" John Paul's hand quickly retreated so Spike grabbed it. "Woah woah woah! Not so fast – that'll look weird. I just thought I should warn you before I did something stupid," he explained.
John Paul blushed and nodded. In his excitement about making Craig go crazy about this, Spike would be willing to bet anything that his own very high attraction to the blonde had all but been forgotten. "Timing is really important here, ok?" Feeling John Paul nod again, Spike moved them surreptitiously away from the larger crowd and towards the tables.
Craig was absolutely fuming and was gripping the edges of his chair so hard his knuckles had turned white in an attempt not to storm over there. "Craig?" a small voice to his right shook him out of his reverie.
"What?" he snarled back, turning to face the idiot who had spoken. Seeing Sarah's hurt face, he felt a slight twinge of guilt.
"Are you alright?" she asked. "You've been ignoring me all evening and you've had such a face… Craig! Are you… listening?" the final word trailed off as Craig had jumped out of his seat aggressively, leaving her talking to herself.
For Craig, what happened in those few moments happened in a whirr. One second he was sitting next to his girlfriend who appeared to be annoyed with him for some reason; then he was jumping out of his seat and taking the two strides over to where Spike had attached his lips to John Paul's and the two were sharing an incredibly passionate kiss. This definitely wasn't just a friendly kiss; it wasn't even a 'I kinda fancy you kiss'. This was a 'I'm going to fuck you right now kiss'. Then, Craig used strength he didn't even know he had in him to pull Spike off of John Paul and raised his arm to punch him. How dare he kiss what was his?
In that moment, John Paul finally realised the full extent of how much thought Spike must have put into that plan. He grabbed Craig around the arms and pulled him away from Spike before he could hit him and swung him round so they were facing each other. "Craig," he whispered before Craig smashed their mouths together in a kiss that managed to beat the one Spike had given him in intensity, although knowing Craig's competitive attitude; that was almost certainly intentional.
Looking around, he saw that Spike had manoeuvred himself to a position so he had been able to take Sarah away from the action while she still saw what had happened. "Wanna go back to mine?" John Paul asked breathlessly.
Craig nodded desperately and dragged John Paul out of the SU Bar; John Paul mouthing a quick 'thank you' to Spike as he did so, something that was not missed by Craig. "You planned all this, didn't you?" he accused him as soon as they were outside.
John Paul gaped at him, not quite sure how to respond. After all that dancing and kissing, he was so horny and really needed to get home and to bed with Craig. After a moment of deliberation, he went for the truth. "Honestly, not really… but I think Spike did," he admitted.
At his mention of Spike's name, Craig's face twisted into a sneer. "Well he planned something alright! He knew we were meeting up here tonight and I bet he came to try and get you back!"
John Paul rolled his eyes at this exclamation but decided not to argue right now – there were far more important things to be getting on with, something which he told Craig while sneaking his hands into the other boy's back pockets and groping that delectable arse. "How about we forget about who planned what and just enjoy this time that all the plans have given us, hmm?"
Their lips met again but before long, Craig pulled away. "You made me come out in front of the entire SU Bar!" he complained.
What on earth was going on? Normally Craig was the one practically begging him for sex, and now Craig kept talking about other things! John Paul decided to try more time before resigning himself to a night alone with his right hand. "Yeah, but you have to admit that the way you did was rather enjoyable…" he grinned, him smile widening as he saw Craig grinning too.
"True, very true… hang on!" Oh great. What was the hold up this time? "Did you say something about going to yours?" John Paul nodded, not quite sure where Craig was going with this. "And I kept talking?" Another nod. "I'm an idiot, and don't you dare nod again! Come on – we have some lost time to make up for!"
With that, Craig took off down the road towards John Paul's house. John Paul shook his head slightly, laughed and then ran off after him. This was going to be a great night.