Doug opened up a new internet window on his laptop and forced himself to ignore the laughter coming from the wedding committee enjoying themselves in the lounge. He loved those guys, but he wasn't the best company right now so he figured the best thing he could do was keep out of their way. Instead he was Googling sandwich filling combinations to try and find a few new ideas to add to the deli menu, and resolutely ignoring his phone every time it rang.
John Paul had finally started returning his calls, and Doug had a whole list of missed calls and texts to prove it. He just wasn't quite sure he was ready to listen – or forgive – John Paul yet, so he was ignoring all calls so that he couldn't be talked around.
A few minutes after he'd let yet another call go to voicemail, there was a knock on his bedroom door. He ignored that too.
"Doug," Leanne's voice called out. "I know you're in there."
He didn't answer her either, and instead of going away as he'd hoped she would, she just came right in. "Hey!"
"Oh whatever, it's not like you're naked. And even that wouldn't faze me." She shook her head and smiled brightly at him. "You've got a visitor."
"I'm not in the mood for company, Leanne, I-"
"It's John Paul!" She interrupted in a singsong voice, an annoying smirk on her face.
He scowled and turned his attention back to his laptop. "Tell him I'm not home."
"Um," John Paul's voice came from somewhere behind Leanne even as her face dropped, and Doug sighed as John Paul's head appeared over Leanne's shoulder in the doorway. "I'm not sure I'll believe that." He stepped fully into the room, his hands in his pockets and a somewhat apologetic look on his face. "Can we talk?"
Leanne forced another smile. "I'm going to leave you to it!" She looked between the two of them and then scampered from the room before Doug could object or yell at her. Or possibly throw something – he was definitely considering throwing something.
Instead, he sighed again and closed his laptop, dropping it down beside him on the bed and swinging his legs over the side, looking for his shoes. "Fine. Let's take a walk." He didn't want to say it to John Paul, but he was afraid if they stayed in his room they'd end up either doing no talking and just having sex again, or arguing and ruining the memory of the good night they actually did have in there.
John Paul just nodded and Doug grabbed his jacket, leading the way out of the apartment and slamming the front door for good measure. At least Leanne would know he was pissed off.
They walked in silence until they reached the Dog. Doug slowed to a stop and leant on the railings overlooking the pond, waiting for John Paul to say something. He was the one who wanted to talk, he would have to be the one to do the talking. Eventually, John Paul cleared his throat.
"Look, I just- I'm sorry."
Doug's head snapped round to look at John Paul and he raised his eyebrows incredulously. "That's it? That's all I get? What exactly are you even apologising for? Are you sorry for sleeping with me and then standing me up? Are you sorry for ignoring my calls for almost two weeks and not even replying to a text? Or how about for not bothering to tell me you were back in town and then being a complete jerk about it when you finally got caught out by running in to me?"
"All of the above." John Paul shifted a step closer to Doug so that they were pressed side by side, and at least Doug didn't move away. "I'm a giant idiot."
"Yeah. You are."
"Do you feel better after that rant?"
Doug considered the question. His outburst had made him calmer, weirdly. He also thought he ought to thank Leanne later – while he'd been insistent he hadn't wanted to talk to John Paul yet, or forgive him, being forced to do the first had made the second one come a lot easier than he'd expected. "Actually yeah. A little. But I still want an explanation."
John Paul nodded. "Fair enough." Doug watched as John Paul pressed his lips together, staring out across the water while he gathered his thoughts. "I guess I just... I'm not very good at relying on people, and I'm very good at running away. I've always been a bit act first, think later and as soon as I left I knew it was a mistake. I didn't answer your calls because I didn't want to admit that I'd fucked up, and I didn't know how to explain it. I still don't. But I promise you, knowing you were here was part of the reason I came back so soon, even if I wasn't sure you'd speak to me."
Doug sighed. Maybe he was being harsh. "Listen, I know there's a whole thing going on with your family and Mercedes right now, and I don't expect you to put me before them. They're you're family, and we're barely even dating, so I get it. But you can talk to me about stuff." He reached across the railing and linked his fingers through John Paul's, squeezing his hand. "And by 'talk', I don't mean yell at me and run away, okay? Your 'thing' might be running away, but mine is always assuming I've done something wrong and being completely cut off after I thought we had such a great night just made me a little crazy."
"We did have a great night." John Paul smiled a little at the memory, and then sighed. "I really am sorry about all of this. When I do something wrong, I don't just do it a little bit. I go the whole way and layer mistake on top of mistake." He ran his thumb across the back of Doug's hand, their fingers still joined together.
"Okay. I think I can bring myself to forgive you," Doug finally let himself break into a small smile, because really things could be a lot worse. He was still standing outside on a nice day, holding hands with a hot guy who likes him back. Three months ago he wouldn't have seen this in his near future, that's for sure. "Look, I know we both have shitty recent pasts when it comes to relationships so I'm not expecting instant miracles, but you can trust me and I want to be there for you. And I'm really sick of scowling. I'm sure I'm getting frown lines – am I getting frown lines?"
John Paul laughed and twisted so that they were facing, reaching out to touch the skin beside one of Doug's eyes with his free hand. "Nope. Smooth as a baby's bottom. And I should know."
"I'm not sure that was as reassuring as it sounded in your head. You just compared my face to your son's ass."
John Paul nodded slightly, considering this. "Fair point. But definitely no frown lines."
Doug smiled again, stepping right up into John Paul's space so that they were pressed together. He reached out, grabbing a fist full of John Paul's shirt to pull him closer as they simultaneously moved in to kiss. Doug let himself melt against John Paul, deepening the kiss as John Paul's hand snaked around his back.
"Wanna go back to my place?" Doug mumbled with a smile, resting his forehead against John Paul's.
"Nope," John Paul smiled, and Doug instantly felt the frown back on his face, almost a reflex. John Paul laughed and kept one hand tight around Doug's back so that he couldn't pull away. "Let's go into town and get something to eat. A real date, not just drinking or sex."
"Sounds great. Provided sex isn't entirely off the table at the end of the night." Doug grinned. "Your treat, right?"
John Paul threw his head back and laughed as they started to walk in the direction of the bus stop. "I'm unemployed, mate!"
"Don't care. Your idea, you're paying. Besides," Doug added. "I was thinking, you're not the only one who disappeared on me lately. Ste's gone too, to see the kids I think - not that he actually told me, so I'm just guessing. How about you come work with me for a little while? I can pay you, so it would help you out, and I really could use an extra pair of hands around the place." He moved his mouth closer to John Paul's ear. "And we could make out when there aren't any customers around."
"Sounds perfect."