Title: Missing The Obvious
Author: Mickey Stone
Fandom: Doctor Who
Pairing/character: Mickey Smith/Jake Simmonds
Rating: FRM
Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue.
Prompt (/Summary): Mickey and Jake are best friends and are practically joined at the hip, but even though Mickey insists he's straight, their Team think different. A bet is made: How long will it take Mickey to realise he's actually gay and in love with his best friend?
Kink: Mistaken for gay (character A concludes that character B is gay based on spurious evidence, e.g., overhearing and misinterpreting a conversation; may also believe that character has a crush on him; or an ensemble believes two characters are gay and together; other similar scenarios)
Word Count: 5,358
Notes/Warnings: Strong language, Slash. Set in the AU and told through OC's. For Round 6 of rounds(underscore)of(underscore)kink on LJ

"...and I swear I caught her looking."

"You sure she hasn't just got a lazy eye, Page?"

Laughter filled the small break room and Page's foot connected softly with the speaker's knee.

"Bugger off, Jones!" He laughed, "You're just jealous 'cause she thinks I'm sexy."

"Sure she does." Said one of two women, her words dripping with sarcasm.

"Come on, Jenkins!" Page said, wiggling his eyebrows at the petite brunette. "You know you wouldn't pass up the chance to shag me."

She lifted her eyebrow, "Page, in a toss up between you and the Prime Minster, I'd take the Prime Minster every time."

Laughter broke out once more and Jenkins grinned at Page like the cat that got the proverbial cream. Page just made a face and went back to his tea, hiding his own grin behind the mug.

"Talking of office romances," The second woman in the team spoke up, "I heard Tina from Accounts was going out with one of the Alien Tech guys on the fourth floor." The room groaned and she frowned, "What? What'd I say?"

"Old news, Matthews." Jones said, propping one of his feet on the table, "That's been going on for a couple of months now."

"Bit late to the party there, gal." Page added, only to wince and touch a hand to his head when a ball-point pen bounced off it. "Ow!"

The men and women of Torchwood One's Tactical Assistance Team were spending some rare free time in the break room at the Canary Warf building. They were due to go on their next mission, but their CO and his Second-In-Command had yet to appear and they couldn't be briefed until they were present. So it was off to the break room for tea and catching up, or gossip in the case of Fiona Matthews.

"Ok, since I seem to be so far out of the loop, what's going on in Torchwood One?" The red-head asked, hair swinging in her ponytail as she looked to each of them.

"Earl the Cleaner is getting stranger by the day." Jones said with a shudder, "I swear he's out to get me."

"No, I mean the office romances, idiot!" Fiona sighed. The woman beside her chuckled but didn't say anything.

"Tim and Cathy in Linguistics." Jones shrugged.

"Terri and Helen on first floor." Page smirked, waggling his eyebrows once more. "I wouldn't mind a bit of that." Another pen sailed through the air and came into contact with his head. "OW! Jesus, woman! What's with the pens?"

She didn't answer.

"Smith and Simmonds." Holly Jenkins said casually, sipping at her tea. Three sets of eyes widened and stared at her and she arched an eyebrow. "What? You telling me you've haven't noticed that?"

"You mean they're actually..."

The brunette shook her head, "No, not yet, but I have my suspicions about them."

"You and the whole bloody department!" Page muttered, shaking his head.

"But Smith's had a string of girlfriends." The other woman said with a frown.

"Oh, he swears he's straight." Holly smirked and put her mug down, "And yes, he's had girlfriends. A lot of girlfriends. But notice how none of them seem to work out? And how each new one looks more like Simmonds than the last?"

"What about Simmonds? We all know which way he swings."

"Yeah, and right now he's swinging towards Smith." Jones said with a snort, "Not that Smith actually notices it."

"They're both as blind as each other, Jay." Said Page, "Simmonds hasn't picked up on the girlfriend thing, either."

"So, basically, what you're telling me is that Smith is in love with Simmonds, but he doesn't know it yet?" Fiona asked, eyes widening.

"Yeah, more or less."

"Wow..." She picked up her mug and took a sip of her now cool tea. "Wonder how long it will take him to figure it out."

There was a silence. Four pairs of eyes looked at each other across the table, watching the cogs in each others brains click round and bring them all to the same idea.

"How about a little wager?" Steven Page said slyly, leaning forward as if he was telling them all a secret.

"What are the terms?" Holly asked, fingers playing with the end of her French braid.

"We each guess when Smith will realise he's gay and in love with his best mate. Nearest guess wins all the money."

"How much?" Jay said, pulling his foot from the table and also leaning forward.

"Twenty quid each?" They nodded and Steven grabbed his wallet from his jacket and pulled out a twenty pound note. He threw it on the table top carelessly, "During this mission."

Jay Jones snorted and added his own money in, "July."

The third note was added with a giggle from the red-head, "September"

Holly Jenkins stood and dipped a hand into her back pocket. She pulled out two notes, a ten and a twenty, and placed them both on top of the pile, leaving her hand there as she looked between all of them with a smirk.

"The Christmas party."

Steven sucked air between his teeth and lifted his eyebrows. "That's a long way off yet, Jenkins. You sure you wanna bet thirty on it?"

Holly didn't back down. "I'm sure."

"Ok then." He said, grinning and rubbing his hands together. "Winner gets ninety quid."

"There are conditions though." Holly continued, not taking her hand off the money on the table. "We can't influence them in any way. No dropping hints, no giving them a helping hand. We let nature take its course."

"And if they aren't together by the Christmas party?" Fiona asked.

"Then nobody wins the bet." She answered, an evil smile stretching her lips, "And we lock them both in a cupboard until they get it."

They laughed once more and agreed to the conditions. They'd just taken their money off the table when the door opened and their Team Leaders entered the room.

"Right, come on you lot." Jake Simmonds said; voice still heavy with his Geordie accent. Mickey Smith stood behind him and looked at them all with a grin.

The four of them stared in silence, and then burst out laughing. Mickey frowned at them in confusion and Jake merely lifted an eyebrow as he regarded them coolly.

"What?" The dark man asked, eyeing each of them strangely. Jay Jones seemed to sober up first and he stood from his chair, gathering his gear.

"Nothing, sir." He answered, kicking at Steven's ankle until the long-haired man stopped laughing and stood also.

Jake snorted, "Well, once you've stopped piss-arsing about, you have a briefing to get to."

"Yes, sir." They chorused.

The Mission

Steven watched their Executive Officer pace the small room, fiddling with one of his many hand-held computers. It looked like he was in the process of hacking some top security codes, and Steven had no doubt that he actually was. He'd been part of this team for nearly two years; he knew what Mickey Smith's moods were like. Right now he was worried sick and engrossing himself in the reams and reams of coding to escape the harsh reality of right now. He sighed and shook his head, glancing to the other people in the room. Holly tried to give him a sympathetic smile, but it turned into a wince as the cut on her lip split open again. Fiona was next to her, resting her head on the other woman's shoulder tiredly.

The door opened and all heads snapped up quickly. Jay made an apologetic face as he entered the room, closing the door behind him with his good arm. Mickey nodded silently and went back to his codes, worry lines deepening on his forehead. Steven put his hand on Jay's shoulder and squeezed in friendly concern; a gesture Jay returned with a nod.

They'd lost count of how many hours they had been here now, waiting for news regarding their Commanding Officer. Their mission hadn't been as successful as they had hoped and Jake had borne the brunt of the surprise attack; going down hard and fast. Emergency teleports had to be activated to take them all back to Torchwood One, and from the Teleport Bay they went straight to the Infirmary; bloodied, beaten and carrying their Leader between the four of them. Jake had been the worst off; Jay had come away with a mangled arm and a few burns, Holly and Fiona had been bruised and scratched up, and Steven had a minor burn on his left leg. Mickey had been relatively unscathed and had to report back to Pete Tyler as soon as Jake had been taken away into the medical room. They'd been debriefed shortly after.

Since then, there had been no word and they all knew how worried Mickey was getting. He'd been asking the staff every ten minutes for any news until the woman had told him to sit down and not to get back up until the doctor came and told them what he knew. Steven had rolled his eyes and sat him down with one of his computers. They hadn't heard a peep out of him since.

There was a sigh and Steven looked towards the chairs to watch Fiona stand and walk over to their Commander. Both hands gently gripped the dark man's shoulders and Mickey looked up at her, meeting her understanding green eyes.

"Go home, Mick." She said softly, "Being here is doin' you no good and you need some rest."

Mickey shook his head and replied just as quietly, "No, not yet. Not until I know."

She sighed and looked like she was going to argue her point, but the opening of the door interrupted her. Heads snapped up again to see the doctor close the door behind him and Mickey pulled away from the woman in front of him and went straight to the older man. The other four followed suit, standing behind Mickey in silent support.

The doctor smiled kindly, "He's fine."

A collective sigh of relief filled the room and Mickey lifted his hands to his mouth, rolling his eyes to the ceiling and looking like he was about to fall down. Their CO was going to be ok.

"He sustained quite a lot of injuries," The doctor carried on, "but we managed to stop the internal bleeding and fix his broken arm and leg. He'll spend a few days in the Infirmary and then he can go home. He's resting now, but you can see him any time tomorrow."

"Thank you."

He smiled and patted the Second In Command on the arm, nodding and walking back out of the room.

"See?" Steven said, clapping him roughly on the shoulder and grinning madly. "I told you he'd be fine!"

"Yeah." Mickey said distantly, swallowing down his emotion and nodding. "Yeah."

"Now you can go home." The red headed woman said to Mickey, patting him on the back gently. "Get some sleep."

With a distracted nod of his head, Mickey left the four team members in the waiting room without another word, the days events finally catching up to him. Steven knew how that felt; yawning behind his hand and scrubbing his fingers into his hair, he walked back to the chairs and picked up his stuff.

"Think we could all do with some kip." He said around another yawn. The others agreed and collected their stuff, heading for the lifts back up to ground floor. Just as the doors closed behind them, Holly snorted a laugh and patted Steven on the shoulder.

"Oh yeah, Page." She said, smirking at him, "Since this mission is now officially over, you're out of the running."

There was a silence, and then Steven's head fell forward.

"Bugger."

The receptionist in the Lobby stared with a confused frown as the group of four fell out of the lift exhausted, but laughing. She hid a smile behind her hand and watched them walk out to the cars waiting to take them home.

July

"Hi."

Jay Jones could have told you who was on the other side of his front door that sticky, summer night before he even opened it. The man on his front porch stood with a bag over one shoulder, looking forlorn; like he was six-years-old and someone had stolen his favourite toy. Jay gave a small smile in reply and stepped aside, opening the door wider to let the other man in. Mickey's smile was cheerless as he crossed the threshold, heading straight for the living room and dumping his stuff on the couch.

This was the fourth time this month the dark man had turned up on his door step, overnight bag in hand and looking for a place to sleep. Jay could hardly turn him down and kindly made up the sofa-bed for him. He and Jake had apparently hit a rough patch in their friendship, arguing more often than not about...well, Jay didn't know what it was about. Mickey didn't go into too much detail and Jay was fine with that. He could only guess at the cause being their shared past; something neither man talked about much. The team learned not to ask questions early on.

"You know, I'm thinking of getting another key cut." Jay said after closing the door and following Mickey into the living room. The other man grimaced from his position on the sofa.

"Sorry, mate." He apologized, but Jay waved him off.

"It's alright, honest." he shrugged and continued to the kitchen. "Stella?"

"Yeah, if you've got one."

Jay pulled two cans of Stella from the fridge and returned, handing Mickey one and popping the top on his own. He flopped down into the aim chair across from the sofa. "What was it this time?"

An angry expression passed over Mickey's face as he drank from the can, "Vicki."

Jay's eyebrows lifted. Well, this was new. Vicki was Mickey's current girlfriend; five-five, blond and gorgeous. She wasn't exactly the brightest button in the pack, but what she lacked in intelligence, she made up for in looks and enthusiasm. They had been going out for nearly two months and Mickey seemed happy.

By the sounds of it, Jake was anything but.

"He's been slagging her off all bloody night!" He growled, "She popped into the pub and joined us for a drink, and the fucking bastard was taking the piss out of her all the time."

The man in the arm chair wondered if the woman had actually caught on to the insults, but after meeting her a few days ago, he thought not. He shook his head and pulled a good mouthful from his own beer.

"I mean, if he wants to take a pop at me, fine. I don't care. I've known him long enough for it not to matter anymore, but at Vicki? No, I'm sorry, but that's way out of order."

Jay hummed his agreement. "That's not like him."

Mickey snorted, "Oh, he can be a right pain in the arse when he wants to be."

He laughed low in his throat, "Jesus, it's like you're married already." he muttered.

Shit. He didn't mean to say that, he did not mean to say that. Oh crap, he thought, mentally smacking himself. It wasn't that Mickey would take offence over it, Jay wasn't worried about that. What he was worried about, however, was how that statement would affect Mickey's outlook on his friendship with Jake. Which would mean Mickey realising he was in love with Jake and then that would mean that Jay had won the bet.

Only the bet would then be invalid since he'd 'interfered with the course of nature'.

Fuck.

It was Mickey's turn to snort, "Bloody feels like it sometimes, an' all."

He watched closely for any signs of Mickey coming to the right conclusion and sighed in relief when there didn't seem to be one. The dark man frowned at him slightly.

"You ok, mate?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Jay answered quickly. "So what you gonna do?"

Mickey sighed and leaned back into the sofa, blowing his breath out, "Stay here tonight and go back tomorrow morning, maybe? I just can't be in the same flat with him right now...I'd fucking swing for him."

He nodded, "Fair enough," he said as he lifted the can to his lips again. He nudged the game-station on floor with his socked foot. "Wan'a game?"

A boyish grin split his face and Jay snorted a laugh as he went to set it up.

That was the last time Mickey slept on his sofa. Vicki moved on to someone else by the end of the month, dumping Mickey by way of text message. Jake apologised, but Mickey had just shrugged him off, and once again they were back on even footing and acting like they had before.

Unfortunately for Jay, Mickey still hadn't come to his senses and they still weren't together by the end of July. The two women on his team smiled sweetly at him the next time they met, eyes twinkling madly.

September

September passed in much the same way as July. Mickey and Jake were at each other's throats again, but this time the roles were reversed. Jealousy had reared its ugly head in Mickey when Jake acquired a new boyfriend, who was unfortunately stuck in the middle of their bitter feud and trying to keep the peace between them.

Fiona Matthews blew on her mug of coffee before taking another sip. It didn't seem to be working, and Mickey once again found himself sleeping in another bed. This time it was the bed in Fiona's spare room, since Jay's house wasn't really the ideal place to spend more than one night. Things had been tense between Mickey and his best friend for the past week or so. She chuckled and slowly sipped her coffee; their Second was so blind.

"What you laughing at?"

Fiona winced at the sound of the slamming door and looked up at her fiancé with a frown, "Keep it down, Keith. He's still in bed."

The light-haired man winced, "Sorry."

She smiled and met her fiancé's lips in a short kiss. "'s ok."

He placed the plastic bags down on the sideboard and clicked on the kettle, pulling together what he needed to make his mug of tea. Leaving the shopping on the side, he made his way back over to his wife and sat on the chair diagonally across from her.

"So, tell me again why your Executive Officer is staying in our spare bedroom?"

Fiona groaned, "Keith!"

The man laughed, "What? You know what I'm like!"

She rolled her eyes, "Mickey and his flat mate had a falling out, so he's staying here for a few nights until it all blows over."

The kettle clicked, signalling its finished boil and Keith went to make his tea. "And his flat mate would be...?"

"Jake." She answered, "Our Commanding Officer."

"Right, right." Keith said as though he got it. Fiona smiled into her mug; she had no doubt her fiancé would ask again before Mickey left.

Tea made, Keith reclaimed his seat. "So, what was the fight about?"

"Jake's boyfriend."

The tea Keith had been drinking nearly ended up over the table top and Fiona chuckled, reaching over to pat his back soothingly as he choked. Once under control, the man swallowed and sipped his tea once more.

"Boyfriend?"

Fiona laughed, "Jake and Mickey are very tight. They always have been as far as I can tell, but Jake..." she stopped and cast her eyes upwards, listening out for any movement upstairs. A minute ticked by with only silence and she nodded, dropping her voice a little. "Jake has been in love with him for quite some time."

Keith frowned, "And now Jake has a boyfriend?"

"Hmm, see Mickey's a bit slow on the uptake." She said, leaning in a little. "He hasn't noticed that Jake's interested yet. Or that he's actually gay and loves Jake back. So, we think Jake is unconsciously trying to make Mickey jealous by getting a boyfriend." She sipped her coffee again. "Seems to be working, too."

"So, basically..." the man started, frowning as he worked it all out. "Jake loves Mickey, and Mickey loves Jake, but Mickey doesn't realise it yet?"

There was a silence before she answered, "Yeah, pretty much."

Keith chuckled and shook his head, "Jesus." He muttered as he finished his coffee.

"We have a bet on it." She continued, "We've taken guesses on how long it's going to take Mickey to realise he's actually gay and in love with Jake."

"What was your choice?"

Fiona grinned slyly, "September."

Keith laughed, "Oh, so this all worked in your favour then. Mickey stays here and you get to drop hints until he gets the message."

"I wish." She snorted, "No, part of the bet was that we couldn't interfere with the course of nature."

"So what if he never gets the message?"

"We lock them in a cupboard and leave them to their own devices." She said with a smirk.

"My future wife: the devious cow." Keith said affectionately, earning him a soft slap on the arm.

"Watch it you—"

The phone interrupted her and she swore a little under her breath and went to answer it before the ringing woke the man upstairs.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

Fiona smirked and glanced at the man still sat on the table. "Morning, Simmonds."

"Come on, Fi." His tone was tired and almost desperate and Fiona dropped the act immediately.

"Jake." She amended, "You alright?"

Her CO snorted, "Yeah, I'm fine. Not only is my best friend pissed off with me, but my boyfriend has now left. So yeah, I'm pretty good, thanks for asking."

The sarcasm only just hid the blond man's real emotions and she sighed, sitting herself down on the kitchen chair again.

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'" Jake repeated with a sigh. Fiona heard some shuffling and muted sounds in the uncomfortable silence. She glanced to Keith, who just frowned and mouthed 'What?' to her. She shook her head.

"What happened?"

"We argued. He left." He answered simply.

Fiona rolled her eyes, "Did he say why?"

"He couldn't be in a relationship with someone who loves someone else."

Ah. Fiona fought hard not to laugh and she bit her lip, shaking her head in amazement. So the poor love had finally caught on to what was between Jake and Mickey.

"So you can tell him he can come home now." Jake carried on, "He's gone, no more fights."

"I'm sorry, Jake." She said softly.

"Yeah," He sighed, "Later."

The phone went dead. Fiona Matthews let a huge smile spread across her mouth as she cut the connection. She knew Jake was hurting over this and she felt slightly guilty at taking pleasure in his break-up, but from bad things comes good. It had to happen; it was destined, of that she was sure.

"So?" Keith said, curiously. "What's going on?"

Without answering him, she put the phone back in the cradle and made her way upstairs. She knocked softly on the door and entered slowly. It looked like he was still asleep; his dramatic colouring stark against the white sheets as he stretched out on his front. She smiled warmly and went over to him, reaching out and shaking his shoulder gently. He snuffled and lifted his head, turning to her and blinking sleepily.

"Time to go home, Mick."

The Christmas Party

Music filled the halls as cheesy Christmas songs played over the Torchwood PA system, as it had for the past week. The starting notes of "Last Christmas" echoed around the large room and Holly Jenkins' fingers twitched. She itched to strangle the person who'd come up with the stupid idea. She wasn't a scrooge by any means, but there were only so many times a person can listen to Mariah fucking Carey.

The party seemed to be in full swing; people were dancing in the middle of the room, brightly coloured lights floating above them. There were pairs and groups dotted around the room, some by the refreshments, some seated at the tables on the side and some, like Holly, who were waiting by the ladies loo's for friends to return.

She had to admit, Torchwood had out-done themselves this year. The large room at the very top of the building, usually reserved for the noblest of guests, had been lavishly decorated to accommodate their staff Christmas Party. A large tree dominated the left corner; red, silver and gold baubles hanging neatly from its branches, catching the light the glitteringly merrily. Traditional Christmas decorations hung from the ceiling and the walls; tinsel, streamers, stockings, holly wreaths and mistletoe. Then there were the non-traditional Christmas decorations; floating Cesaden lights illuminated the gathering in a colourful, shimmery glow. Tlack music spheres surrounded the room, the tinkling harmonies blending perfectly with the music whenever someone brushed passed one.

Well, this was Touchwood after all.

"Sorry, sorry!"

Holly grinned and rolled her eyes as Fiona Matthews pushed her way through the crowd waiting in the queue.

"God, it's a nightmare in there!" she said, walking with Holly as they returned to the party.

"Why do you think I'm using the ones downstairs?" the dark haired woman answered with a sly smile.

"I thought the lifts were locked."

"So does everyone else."

Fiona laughed as they mingled with the crowd once more. They talked and danced, passing the time with chit-chat and gossip. It was some time later, when the two women had split up, that Holly spotted Jay standing by the windows. She smiled and made her way over to him, sidling up to his 

left and looking out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. London sparkled beneath them; full of lights and dazzle and Christmas. It wasn't visible from this height, but Holly was sure the city was still full of people doing their last bit of Christmas shopping, thanking god that the shops were open late this time of year.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

She smiled and nodded, "Yeah, it is."

"It's strange, you know?" Jay continued, staring out at the city. "We work with alien technology and rogue cells. We've seen different planets and universes and you think you'll never see anything as beautiful." He nodded his head towards the glass. "And then you see this. London, England, United Kingdom, Earth. It's not alien, it's not grand. It's just human."

In a few short words, Jay Jones had summarized her exact feelings about the scene. He was right; they had seen a thousand different spectacular things, all amazing in their own way. But when it came down to it, human life was the most remarkable thing of all.

"That was deep, mate."

The statement was accompanied by a clap to Jay's shoulder and Holly watched as the light-haired man rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder at the speaker. Steven was grinning madly at them, pint in one hand and balancing himself on Jay with the other.

"Think someone's had a bit too much to drink." He commented.

Steven shook his head, but his fingers gripped the other man's shoulder tighter as the movement made him unsteady. "Nah, nah, this is no where near drunk."

"You sure about that?"

This time he nodded, "There's people much worse than me, mate. Saw Bradley passed out by the bogs, earlier, and it's only bloody..." he paused and looked at his watch. He frowned for a moment, "...half twelve."

"Half one." Fiona corrected as she joined them by the windows.

"Close enough." He said, waving at her in a dismissive fashion, "Point still stands. I mean, Simmonds was worse than me, for Christ's sake."

"Where is he anyway?" Holly butt in and with a frown, she turned and scanned the dwindling crowd. "I've seen him and Smith around, but they've disappeared."

"You talking about Mickey Smith?" A voice asked. They turned to see a small dark haired woman watching them; an intern Holly guessed. A nosy intern.

"Yeah." She answered, "Have you seen him?"

"He went that way-" she pointed towards the doors that led to the hallways "-with the other guy."

"Jake?"

She shrugged, "Yeah, if that's his name. Blond, spiky hair."

"Jake." Jay stated with a snort.

"Whatever." She said, "They still looked pretty cosy."

The four looked at her, eyes blinking and mouths agape. She lifted an eyebrow and stared back strangely.

"W-When did they leave?" Steven asked, swaying slightly as Jay moved.

"About five minutes ago, why?"

The nosy intern didn't get an answer as the four of them trouped passed her and headed for the doors. Steven lagged behind a little, trying to shake off his drunkenness while finishing off the beer in his hand. Holly led the other three as they entered the hallway, acting more like it was a Special Operation than it was a search for their Officers. Without a word, they split up. Holly slowly made her way down the corridor, stepping over various pieces of party rubbish and unconscious people on the way. She methodically checked in every room and entry-way leading off from the main hall until she got to the end. From there she turned right and continued to follow the polished linoleum floor round, starting the process again.

Just when she was about to give up, a small sound came from behind a door she hadn't checked. Frozen to the spot, she strained her ears to catch the sound again, and there it was; a little louder this time and easier to identify.

Moaning.

Holly Jenkins smirked and quietly made her way to the door. She pressed her ear to it; yes, that was definitely moaning. The occupants shuffled, but after that was silence. Her fingers closed around the handle to the store cupboard and pushed it down, carefully pulling the door open and peeking through the crack. And there they were. The florescent strip light cast a harsh glow over the two men on the floor, so wrapped up in mapping out each other's mouths that they failed to notice her intrusion.

A small touch on her side made her jump and she swung her head around to face Jay. The man looked down at her apologetically, but she just grinned and motioned for him to look. Fiona and Steven appeared a second later, and she had to open the door a little wider for them all to see.

The four of them had identical smirks on their faces when the door closed once again.

"Called it!" Holly said in satisfaction. She held out her hand. "Pay up, guys."

Steven groaned as he pulled out his twenty pound note, but Jay and Fiona just looked at her in amazement. "How the hell did you guess that!?" Jay asked.

She shrugged and collected their money, folding the notes and sliding them down the front of her top, trapping them between skin and bra.

"It's a gift." She answered cockily.

The door opened, this time by another hand, and the group stepped back a little in shock. Jake Simmonds stared at them harshly, eyebrow arched as he leaned on the door handle for balance.

"I'm going to say this once and once only." He said quietly, words free of drunken slur but thick in regional accent. "Fuck. Off."

The stunned foursome watched as the door swung closed again. A heartbeat later, they were down the other end of the corridor and scrambling into the lift, laughing like school kids that had nearly been caught doing something they shouldn't. The night guards watched them leave, eyebrows arched as they caught snatches of conversations between them.

"Did you see—?"

"—looked so cute together—"

"—gonna kill us if they find out—"

"No they aren't, you muppet!"

"Shut up!"

When the group was out of sight, the guards turned to each other silently, stared at each other for a few seconds, and shrugged in unison.

In the store cupboard

The bang was loud in the small room and Mickey propped himself up with his elbows and he watched Jake return, falling to his knees on hard floor beside him. Mickey's head tilted to the side and he regarded the other man quietly, lips upturned in a soft smile.

"Seems like everyone knew before us." He said; voice low and slightly husky.

Jake snorted, "Yeah well, you were a bit slow."

"Me? What about you?" Mickey laughed, "What took us so long?"

The blond man laughed and leaned forward, pressing their lips together again. Mickey shifted and lifted a hand to cup Jake's jaw as he tried to deepen the kiss again. The mouth under his resisted.

"Hmm." Jake murmured. "Tomorrow."

Mickey frowned, eyes opening a little, "Tomorrow?"

"Talk tomorrow." Jake answered, giving Mickey a smirk. The dark man rolled his eyes and leaned in once more, but Jake resisted again. "I think we can take this someplace else, Mick."

The frown on Mickey's face turned into surprised shock as the surroundings changed from the harsh angles of the cupboard to the dark of Jake's bedroom. Before Mickey could even ask what was happening, the blond cocked his leg over and straddled his waist. Jake leaned down until they were nose to nose, lips almost touching.

"Now, where were we?"

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