FIC - LoveSick

[xrockoutx116.livejournal.com]

title- LoveSick

author - me

pairing - brad/chip, one-sided greg/jeff

rating - 17+

summary - the aftermath of the kiss.

Greg burst into his room, feeling nauseous. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. Brad stood over his own bed, staring at a gasping Greg.

 

“What the hell is the matter with you? You look like hell,” Brad asked, dropping whatever had been in his hand onto his bed.

 

“Jeff. Jeff. He…he kissed me.”

 

Brad’s eyes bulged out of his head. “Hold the phone - WHAT? I thought I'd heard big news until now...”

 

Greg nodded, taking a deep breath. He walked to his bed, taking a seat on it. “It all happened so fast. He and I were just sitting in his room. He was talking about Ryan, who he figured out I was in love with, then he was suddenly in his shirt and boxers, and he couldn’t get his shirt off. When I went to help him, he kissed me.”

 

“Did you stop him? Did you push him away, tell him he was out of line?” Brad asked, his voice growing his volume. When Greg didn’t answer and simply looked at him, Brad rolled his eyes. “Greg, no wonder the kid did that. You’re sending him mixed signals like crazy. He’s drunk, he’s delirious, and after your little showdown with Ryan tonight, he may just have bit of a crazy notion that, oh, I don't know, you have feelings for him?! So what's he going to do in this instance? He just figured out you've been miserable for the past seven years, and all he wants to do is make it better. If it's to appease your feelings, he'd do it..”

 

Greg remained silent.

 

"You two are so ignorant. You haven't realized that Jeff is hopelessly in love with you, Greg. He's smitten with you, and he has been ever since he moved in. Over this past week though, it's only intensified from a schoolboy crush...to something much deeper," Chip piped in, walking out of their bathroom.

"Do you have feelings for him?" Brad asked quietly.

 “No. No. I don’t. I can’t. I mean, Brad, he’s 28. I don’t even understand why he did it. Why would someone like him kiss…me, or even want to be involved me?” Greg asked, looking back and forth from Chip to Brad in a frenzy. The room felt like it was spinning around him. Everything was coming crashing down upon him. He'd had a great night, and now this. He'd finally gotten closure with Ryan, but Jeff had to start this. It didn’t make any sense to Greg. Jeff was gorgeous. He could have anyone in the world. Why in hell would he want someone like Greg?

 

Brad looked at his friend, who looked terribly confused. “Right now, it doesn’t matter how old you are. What matters is that Jeff likes you. A lot. And you have to decide on whether or not you want to return those feelings. Who cares if you’re more than fifteen years older than him? He doesn’t, and neither should you.”

 

Greg began to undo his grey vest. He started shaking his head. “I can’t do this. I – I can’t deal with this anymore. I'm only starting to put Ryan behind me. Jeff is so young, too. I can’t keep doing this to him anymore, either. He’s my friend, and by sending him ‘mixed signals’ is only making it worse. We can't keep living like this.”

 

Brad raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Throwing his arms up in the air, Greg responded, "Brad, you're right. I'm sending him mixed signals. It's not fair. And I can't make him leave for something I'm doing."

Brad remained frozen. He had a feeling he knew what Greg was going to say, but he didn't want to say. "You can't possibly mean - not after - it's - we've -"

Greg sighed regretfully. “What I mean is…I’m moving out.”

 

---

Brad walked into Jeff and Chip’s room to find Jeff’s bed empty, and the door to the bathroom shut. He put his ear to the door, only to hear Jeff throwing up.

 

Brad leaned against the wall, waiting from Jeff to come out. As he did, he wondered how he was going to break the news to the kid. This was some pretty heavy stuff. Brad didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news…but Greg was set in his idea. No matter how much he and Chip had tried to talk him out of it last night, he remained steady in his idea that this was the only way to go about fixing the problem.

 

As Jeff walked out of the bathroom, his face pained, Brad gave him a smile of pity. Jeff’s white t-shirt was hanging on him loosely, and was covered in sweat. Jeff made his way back to his bed and climbed back in, pulling the covers over him. Brad sat down on Chip’s.

 

“How much did I drink last night?” Jeff asked, squinting at Brad. He placed a hand on his forehead, still in pain.

 

Brad chuckled. “You actually didn’t drink that much. Ryan, however, kept buying you martinis until you were quite tipsy, then tried to take you back to his apartment to – erm – show you the view.”

 

Jeff groaned disgusted. “Oh God. Why didn't I know to stay away from him?” Then, like something had clicked in his head, Jeff stopped. He pulled his hand off of his forehead and opened his eyes. Propping himself up on his elbows, he looked over at Brad suspiciously.

 

“Why are you here?” Jeff accused.

 

Brad shrugged. “Because I wanted to see how my good pal Jeff is holding up.” He awkwardly patted Jeff on the shoulder.

 

Jeff shrank away. “No. I don’t mean that. What I mean is - what are you doing here? Where’s Greg?”

 

Brad looked down at the floor. “Jeff, do you remember what happened last night? After you and Greg got home?”

 

Jeff blinked a few times, trying to remember,  before his eyes became wide. He looked to Brad, shaking his head. “It didn’t happen…did it? Tell me it didn't...” Brad nodded, frowning. “Ohno. Ohnoohnoohnoohnoohno. Please tell me that didn’t happen. I thought that was all a dream. I thought Greg hadn’t come back into my room. Everything after you guys left the booth is all in a fog,” Jeff exclaimed.

 

“Thank Ryan for that,” Brad muttered.

 

“So he’s freaked out? He doesn’t want to see me anymore?” Jeff asked, becoming angrier by the second. 

 

Brad stood up, trying to calm him down. “Now Jeff, try to understand. You did –”

 

Jeff shook his head. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I kissed him. He didn’t have to kiss me back. He did. He could've stopped me at any time.” Jeff looked down at the blankets fuming. “Tell him I want to see him. Now.”

 

Brad nodded, leaving the room. Jeff was right, so it was the least Brad could do.

 

A few minutes later, Greg walked uneasily into the room.

 

“You sure have a way of confusing people,” Jeff snarled before turning towards Greg. He didn’t care how he looked in the green button down. He didn’t care at all now.

 

Greg leaned against the wall, knowing he deserved it.

 

Jeff glanced at him. “I thought- I thought after yesterday, things were different. After what you did for me, it meant something. You - you were so upset after what had happened - I just wanted to make you happy. So I kissed you. And you didn’t pull away. Like any normal person, I thought that meant something,” Jeff exclaimed, his voice trailing off. Greg walked over to Jeff’s bed.

 

“You have every right to be upset with me. What happened last night…I was wrong to do that to you. But this can’t go on anymore. It’s gone too far,” Greg responded shrugging his shoulders.

 

Jeff looked at him perplexed. “I don’t under –”

“I’m moving out at the end of this week. I’ve spent enough time here. It’s time to move on to bigger things. And you deserve something better. You’re only 28,” Greg explained.

 

Jeff groaned. “That’s so like you to bring the age thing into it. So what if I’m twenty-eight. So what if I was thirty-eight? Forty-eight? Would you still have issues?” Jeff asked, pulling himself out of the bed so he could be face to face with Greg.

 

Greg remained silent. Jeff clicked his tongue. “You hated what Ryan did to you. Because it made you bitter forever. Now, you’re doing the same thing to me that he did to you. And I thought you cared about me…” Jeff stated.

 

“You know nothing of what went on between myself and Ryan. All you are is a kid," Greg shouted, walking up closer to Jeff. His face began to grow red, but he wasn't sure what was causing it. Anger? Regret? The fact that the slightly sweaty Jeff was turning him on a bit?

 

Jeff's mouth dropped open. "You swore to me that you would never call me a - a 'kid'. I hoped that you would see me as more than some teen by now, Greg! We live in the same house! We work together, on the same level! And you know what...whether you were wrong or not...you kissed me! Would you kiss a - a kid?"

 

"Shut up! You are a kid! A smart-ass kid who thinks he can do what he wants and act how he want and pretend he older than what he is. But the truth it, Jeff, you’ll always be a child. You’ll never understand anything about me, no matter how hard you try to. You and I will never be that close,” Greg shouted, jabbing Jeff hard in the shoulder.

 

Jeff stood there, a bit stunned by Greg’s outburst. Those words had stung him, and the look on his face made it obvious to Greg. Jeff took a deep breath. Calmly, he replied, “Fine. You want me to act like a child, I’ll act like a child. I don’t ever want to see you again, Greg. I hate you, and I never want to see you again.” With that, he turned and was about to get back in bed when his legs gave out from under him. Greg caught him under the arms. Once Jeff was steady, he pulled away from Greg. “Get the fuck out,” Jeff muttered.