Title: Just Friends, Just Lovers
Author: wilchel
Fandom: 21 Jump Street
Prompt: #34 - Shadow - #100-B
Character/Pairing: Tom Hanson/Doug Penhall
Rating: PG for slash
Word Count: 565
Summary: It was all thrown out into the open now. All or nothing.
Authors Notes/Disclaimer: I don't own them. I wish I did. :
When Tom was just Doug's friend, and Doug was just a friend of Tom's, things were so much different. Tom had to pretend like he wasn't watching Doug from across the chapel, that he wasn't amazed by the simple things Doug did. He had to do so many things in secret and be separated from Doug. Tom wasn't exactly sure how it was for Doug; nor was he really planning to ask any time soon. Now that Tom and Doug were a thing, he didn't like to think about the time when they had been just friends. Save himself from the memory of the embarrassment, the shyness, the knowing he was being kept in a shadow. Doug wouldn't be so open about things as he was to him now. Tom would be staring at Doug across the room and suddenly be madly aware of the fact that he'd just made eye contact. Accidentally, but that just made it ten times worse because then he had to play it off like he had been staring at Doug for a reason. Other than, Doug, have you noticed you've got a brilliant smile, a brilliant ass, a brilliant everything really?
Didn't think so.
There was a boundary between best friends and lovers. You could be both, but most people are just one or the other. When Tom and Doug had been just friends there were boundaries they couldn't cross. They'd never been just lovers so Tom had no experience in the area. He hoped he would never have to be there. He was perfectly content in the place he held in Doug's life right now, the place that Doug held in his. He wanted to be more, yes, that was to be expected. If he could, since he wasn't going to be pushy about it or anything. If Doug wouldn't let him, that was all fine.
There had always been that shadow of doubt hanging over him when the two were just friends. Just friends was sort of like a dirty word, because when you have to use it, it usually involves regret on someone's side, or point of view. Tom always feared that there was that little detail Doug had kept out of the story, save for embarrassment or just the fact that Doug didn't want Tom to know. But now, this is what they were-- best friends, partners, lovers, and somehow all rolled up into one. There was never that hanging doubt, that imagined shadow.
It was all thrown out into the open now. All or nothing.
And even though there was still a shadow over him now, it wasn't as depressing. Not as doubtful. This shadow was cast by Doug's physical body which was hanging over him, his arms wrapped around Tom's torso, trying to pull him off the couch.
And how could Doug be melancholy?
Tom's eyes fluttered open, staring at Doug's forehead. Once he was secure in Doug's arms, the larger man bit his lip and looked back down at Tom's eyes.
"Oh," he sighed reluctantly, "you are awake."
"Barely," Tom mumbled with a stifled yawn. "What are you doing?"
"Bringing you to the bed because it's one in the morning," Doug said. "You passed out on the couch a few hours ago.
Tom conveniently forgot to mention that he had never been sleeping, just having his head finding Doug's lap rather comfortable.