#thread: jude1

[jollytalkerollywalker]

Laughter bubbled from Olly’s lips as he stared down at his phone, cheeks sore from the cheesy grin that seemed to have permanently taken residence on his face. His eyes shone with glee as he pinched the screen, zooming in on the photo that Teddy had just sent him. It was an adorable selfie of his friend – were they friends? Was that really a suitable word to describe what they had? He wasn’t sure Teddy was ready to put a label on things, so he supposed it would do quite well for now! – stretched out on his sofa, his arm braced behind his head, the gorgeously plump ginger tomcat that he’d adopted plonked firmly on his tummy. It also hadn’t gone unnoticed to Olly that his positioning was also causing his shirt to ride up in the aforementioned selfie, giving him a glimpse of Teddy’s rather delicious midriff. His cheeks burned with the blush the blood that was rushing to them, his tummy suddenly doing somersaults. 

Remembering where he was – currently leaning against the rough bark of a tree, halfway along a hiking trail that he’d dragged Jude on at the crack of dawn – Olly's head jolted up, the bright smile on his face managing the near-impossible task of stretching even wider the minute his gaze landed on his best friend. Just a short distance away, Jude found himself firmly seated against what Olly imagined was the driest patch of grass he could find, leaves scattered around him, a veritable autumnal rainbow littered across the bank. Jude had insisted on the two of them taking a break, and Olly had delighted in the prospect of getting to soak in the sunrise with his best guy. Coming to a halt at the edge of a lake, he’d watched happily as June had planted his bottom down onto the grassy bank and kicked his shoes off, dipping his toes into the water below. That’s when Teddy’s text has come through, explaining that the stray cat he’d come to adopt had been pawing at his door at some ungodly hour, begging to be let in. 

Shoving the device back into his pocket after shooting off a few Heart Eye Emojis and insisting that they were both the most handsome boys in the world, Olly bounded towards his friend, dropping down into the grass next to him with absolutely no tact or sense of self care. With an ungraceful oof sound, he followed Jude’s lead and removed his hiking boots, placing them next to him before sinking his feet into the tepid water. They’d been lucky to avoid a frosty morning, the last remnants of summer clinging on for dear life. 

Content, he reached out and let his hand drop absently against Jude’s thigh, palm up and fingers wiggling cutely as they awaited the other man’s own. Dipping his head, he pressed his cheek to Jude’s shoulder and released another, softer giggle. 

“Don’t you think this is kind of romantic?” Olly teased, biting his lip as he stared out across the water, taking in the sights. 

It was all in jest, obviously. Olly had been harboring a crush on Jude for as long as he’d known he and Marianne, but it had never truly amounted to anything. Their friendship was a little unconventional, and they certainly got a lot of stares here and there, but Jude had always been comfortable in his own sexuality and hadn’t ever had any qualms about welcoming Olly’s affection, despite how open he’d been about being attracted to him. In fact, Jude seemed to embrace the fact, and that only made Olly adore him all the more for it. He was more than content to be loved unconditionally by Jude, even if it was only in the platonic sense. Besides; Now he had Teddy to daydream about. 

“Maybe we don’t tell Laney about this,” he joked, shifting slightly to look at the other man. His nose brushed Jude’s jaw and Olly allowed himself the freedom to press a kiss to his cheek in the process. “Or Teddy – I definitely don’t want him getting the wrong idea about us!” 

[jollytalkerollywalker]

It was a little strange to think of all of the ways in which people had warned Olly away from Jude, their own siblings included. Their relationship was unconventional, often met with a sigh and a pointed glare in Jude’s direction from Marianne, or a biting remark from Ezra or Hannah – sometimes both, if they were feeling particularly in sync with one another. Olly tried to stay optimistic in those moments, forever trying to bridge the gap between all of his favourite people, desperate to find a common ground for them all to meet on. He knew the truth, even if they didn’t. Jude cared about him. In fact, Jude loved him. Maybe not in the way that Olly loved him or had so hopelessly wanted to be loved in return, but in his own way, in a way that reminded Olly he’d never be lonely ever again. 

One of the things that Olly admired the most in Jude was just how open and warm he was. He’d been called hopeless and oblivious more times than he could count, dopey the word of choice that was often used to describe his infatuation with his best friend, but he didn’t mind. He didn’t care at all, actually! When Olly was sick, a migraine drilling through his temples and deeming him unable to head into work, Jude had been there, soothing his temples with a carefully placed kiss, his hands working to gently coax Olly back down into bed. He’d brought him glasses of water, painkillers, and a cold compress to rest against his neck. After any given breakup, Olly’s chest feeling as though it was being split into two, Jude had allowed him to rest his head in his lap, fingers carding through his hair as he put on whatever movie his best friend hoped to watch, intermittently filling silences to remind him that the ex in question hadn’t ever deserved him in the first place. Jude was brave and heroic, jumping into action every day at work, saving lives and working to ease the fears and concerns of countless New Yorkers. But above all of that, he was Olly’s friend, and he made him feel loved and special and never made him feel stupid. 

Bending his fingers and flexing his bicep, Olly beamed across at his best friend as he demonstrated full use of his arm and hand. He felt a little starry-eyed as he stared at him, so content as he was to just know the other man. In all his teasing over the kiss, his tender touches and playful affection, Olly felt a wave of fondness wash through his chest, red-hot and searing as he giggled at his words. Even dating Teddy, his crush on his best friend still burned bright, but it was manageable. A constant, permanent thing that he knew would always be there, quietly bubbling under the surface. 

“Way better,” he agreed, eyes shamelessly raking in the view. His gaze lingered on Jude’s biceps, his cheeks flushed as he thought about just how lucky Lacey was. Teddy had great arms, too. Strong and bulking, hidden as they were beneath cosy sweaters. Like Superman tucked away in his Clark Kent disguise, with his dimpled smile and boyish looks, a swimmer’s torso and thighs that Olly loved being trapped between. 

He lost himself in that thought as he watched Jude turn his back on him, head tilted to the side as he allowed himself a cheeky glance at his retreating bottom. It felt like a betrayal to his best friend to admit that Teddy had a better ass – thick and juicy, as Ty often put it – but he’d be lying if he wasn’t endeared by just how cute Jude’s butt was too. He loved men in general, that was all. Nothing weird about admiring a good physique. Hell, Ty’s ass kind of knocked them all outta the park, and Simon’s arms could probably crush his windpipe if his friend had even the remotest inclination towards doing something like that. 

He sighed dreamily as Jude approached him, blinking himself back into reality when the other man held his hand out in askance of his own. 

“Okay, okay,” he giggled, clasping his own hand in Jude’s and allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. 

He stumbled forward ever so slightly on the muddy terrain, usually so steady on his feet if not for the unreasonably horny daydreaming. His chest bumped feebly against Jude’s before his free hand carefully came to rest against his waist, anchoring himself. 

“Now what? Anymore adventures or acts of heroism you wanna get into before we head back?” 

Jude huffed out a laugh at Olly’s initial answer.

“The bandage, dummy,” he clarified with a grin. When Olly realised what he meant and answered accordingly, Jude nodded. At least he could be sure that the bandage was secure and that his own ego was going to stay perfectly intact if Olly had anything to say about it.

Perhaps his little saviour act had been too gratuitous. He was always getting into trouble for his showmanship in the field, whether it be him winking at whoever it was he was treating to reassure them they were alright, or offering up a kiss to make it better. Some of his colleagues had insisted that what he was doing was harassment, but he thought they were just jealous that the bachelorette party that had ended in disaster (a catfight had broke out and someone had gotten a stiletto stuck in their fuckin’ head) had been all over him when they’d come to the rescue. Those women had no problem with kissing Jude’s cheek to showcase their thanks. Of course, the lipstick stains he’d come home with had set Lacey off, but that was the consequences of being a hero, he supposed.

No stranger to the worshipful way people tended to gaze at him when he so much as stuck a band-aid over their wound, Jude wasn’t all that surprised when Olly leaned forward to kiss him.

It was fleeting, closed-mouthed and nothing that he should rightfully have to write home about. It was just a token of Olly’s thanks, but Jude still knew that Marianne would go apeshit about it. Maybe Teddy would too. Who would like knowing their boyfriend was running around pecking innocent little kisses against the mouth of their friend who’d just MacGyver’d a bandage out of his own shirt? 

Jude felt his insides light up in what could only be described as smugness and he knew he had to be careful. He wanted to push the other man, see how far he could press, but Olly was skittish now that he had a boyfriend. He’d shy away easier than he used to. Still, Jude was used to pushing his luck.

“No tongue?” he smirked, reaching up to pat Olly gently on the cheek before he pushed himself to his feet.

He peered down at his arms now, tan and muscular, but one of them significantly more bare than the other.

“This looks stupid now,” he said, wrinkling his nose. With a put-upon sigh, he dug his fingers into the seam of his other sleeves, pulling until that came loose with a ripping sound as well. 

“Better, right?” he asked Olly, flexing his bicep in a pose he’d first learned while watching an episode of Johnny Bravo when he was way too young. He let out a laugh and shoved the ripped shred of fabric into his pocket. In case another bandage was required soon or they found themselves in dire need of a wick for a Molotov cocktail.

He stepped forward and tugged his boots back on while Olly got his breath back or sorted out his boner or whatever he had to do right now. Tugging his laces tight, he walked back over to the other man and kicked the broken shards of glass safely away from Olly so he wouldn’t be in danger of injuring himself again. Then, he held his hand out to the other man to help him up.

“C’mon, trouble. Up you get.”

[jollytalkerollywalker]

Olly whimpered a little pathetically as his arm throbbed. He’d always assumed his pain threshold was pretty high – he'd had his fair share of black eyes from mean ex-boyfriends as well as dates with guys who’d liked it a little rougher than he was used to – but now he was starting do doubt that very much. His eyes seemed to sting as they welled up with fresh tears, threatening to spill down his cheeks as a sharp sting of pain pinched at his wound. 

Luckily, he couldn’t have been in better company for such an occurrence and, heroic as ever, Jude sprang into action and leapt towards him. His hands were gentle as they clasped carefully around Olly’s, his movements tender as he moved in to take a look at his injury. Olly’s tummy swooped with a wave of... something. He wasn’t sure if he could chalk his sudden lightheadedness up to the blood loss or just how pretty Jude looked tending to him, but what he did know was that whatever blood was left in his body seemed to be rushing to his cheeks in that moment. 

“Dirty?” he found himself frowning, eyebrows knitted together in concern. He’d undergone a lot of first aid training of his own over the years, being a Veterinarian. Sure, his patients were of the furry variety, but he still needed to know the basics as far as humans were concerned, and he was more than aware of the dangers of infections. His eyes widened as Jude poured the remains of his water onto the offending limb, his throat thick as he pathetically mumbled, “You’ll get dehydrated!” 

Olly remained quiet then, watching stupidly as Jude fretted over him. There was something soothing, almost relaxing about the way the other man had jumped straight into Hero Mode. He’d rarely gotten to see him in the line of duty – thankfully, there’d never been any such emergency where anyone he knew or loved had required an ambulance – and it perfectly fit the image he’d always had of his best friend to see his hands work so deftly at his wound, features scrunched in concentration as he effortlessly worked to find a solution. Even here, out on their hike, Olly knew that Jude would figure something out. 

“Huh?” Olly mused, blinking stupidly at Jude before the answer became all too clear. 

His eyes widened comically as the blond in front of him ripped hard and fast at the fabric of his t-shirt, unleashing his biceps unto the world and stopping Olly’s heart in the process. 

Well, holy cow.  

It wasn’t like Olly hadn’t seen Jude shirtless before. He had, plenty of times. It was just about his favourite sight in the whole entire world. But this was different, somehow. This was Jude, out in the wild – or, as wild as you could get on a New York hiking trail – with his biceps bulging, veins pulsing as he closed his own hand around Olly’s arm and held him firm. Olly didn’t know if he wanted to laugh, cry, or straight up wet his pants. 

Then, as though to make matters worse – better? Worse? He had no idea. At this stage he thought he might be having a stroke – he watched as the most beautiful man in the world, his best friend and most trusted Paramedic Jude Patch, tightened his new make-shift bandage with his teeth. 

His teeth! 

“Like, insanely sexy,” Olly responded, staring back at the other man with his lips parted. 

Then, coming to, he shook his head, startling at his own silliness. 

“Oh! The bandage. It’s good, great actually. The best bandage in the whole wide world, you know,” he insisted, eyes tearing away from Jude’s perfectly sculpted arms as he finally, for the first time, looked down at the work he’d done. 

Horniness aside, he really had done a pretty great job. Olly wondered if Jude knew just how special he was, to be able to adapt to his surroundings and use whatever meagre resources he had at his disposal and still get results. He was kind of the best. 

Jude was still examining his hand, leaning in and lifting his gaze only to catch Olly’s eye, looking for any signs of discomfort or that the bandage might not hold. Without thinking, the Vet leaned forward and pressed a chaste, close-mouthed kiss to his best friend’s lips. 

“You’re kind of my hero, ya know that?” he told him, dreamily.  

He felt Olly swipe a wet thumb across his jaw. Instead of being grossed out, Jude just smirked, already knowing what the other man’s next move would be. Sure enough, Olly chased the trail of saliva with a dry kiss to Jude’s jaw, and his smile widened. God, he’d have paid anything to see that prude little swimmer of Olly’s react to that. 

It was so easy for Jude to reduce Olly to a pile of giggles, and it took even less effort to leave the man a blushing mess in his presence. Truth be told, he couldn’t remember the last timr he’d hung out with Olly without seeing that pink hue coating his cheeks. Naturally, it did everything to feed Jude’s ego, so he tried to coax those tiny, turned-on reactions out of his friend whenever he could. And while it was cute to see, it also came with an added bonus: Marianne hated it.

His fingers lightly stroked the skin of Olly’s inner thigh, trailing over the light fuzzy hair. Jude wondered how far it went, and if it got darker and thicker the further up it travelled. 

In the camera screen of Olly’s phone, he could see how red the other man was turning. It meant that, when Olly eventually took the selfie, he captured the smug smirk that Jude wore on his face, plain as anything. He just knew there was no doubt about Olly posting the photo to Instagram, accompanied by a myriad of Jude-centric compliments. He wondered what Olly’s boyfriend would think of it all. A better man would have claimed that he didn’t care what Teddy Ellwood thought, but Jude was hardly a better man. As Olly scrambled away to presumably readjust his shorts, all Jude could think about was how much he hoped their little photo would infuriate Olly’s swimmer boyfriend.

“Yeah? No need for a filter either, I’m guessing?” he called, pulling his feet out of the water and drying them off before grabbing for his socks again.

Then, he heard Olly's startled yelp and his head snapped up. He saw the broken glass first and then the trickle of blood coming from Olly’s hand and his eyes widened.

“Shit,” he muttered, tugging his socks on and foregoing his boots for not so he could jog across the grass to where Olly sat pouting. He crouched down beside him and winced sympathetically, cradling the other man’s hand between both of his own as he lifted it up to expect the cut.

“It’s not too deep,” he said. “But that’s dirty glass. You need to get it cleaned and covered up.”

He could dip Olly’s hand in the lake but that would only open his friend up to infection, so he grabbed his own water bottle and emptied the contents of it over Olly’s hand.

“That’ll do for now. Do you have… fuck, why would you have any bandages with you?” Jude sighed, looking around for inspiration.

When none came, he huffed and fixed Olly with a stern look.

“Just so you know, I really like this shirt,” he told him before reaching up and digging his fingers into the seam at his shoulder, tearing it off with a solid ripping noise. The cap sleeve came loose, the fabric a jagged cloth now as he tied the scrap around Olly’s bleeding palm in an attempt to stem the blood flow.

He kept Olly’s arm lifted up, one hand bracing the underside of the other man’s bicep while the other secured an awkward knot in the makeshift bandage. As soon as it needed tightened, he leaned in and tugged the loose end with his teeth, jerking his head back to pull it tight.

“How’s that?” he asked, slipping a finger under the back of the rag to make sure it wasn’t loose. It felt tight, secure.

[jollytalkerollywalker]

Olly gasped softly as Jude’s lips closed around his thumb, a pathetic whimper spilling from his lips. He blushed; eyes wide as he giggled at his own actions. He hadn’t intended on making that sound at any point on their hike, especially not when Teddy would be waiting for him over brunch later today. But he’d always had a crush on Jude, innocent and one sided as it was, and the sensation that filled his stomach was unrelenting, his boxers tightening in his shorts as he stared across at his friends. His lips were plump and pink, perfectly kissable and had been the subject of many of Olly’s daydreams. He was embarrassed, ashamed even, but he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t been in the shower thinking about those lips wrapped around something else once or twice. 

Clearing his throat, Olly crinkled his nose and allowed himself another, breathless laugh as he tugged his thumb free, swiping it across Jude’s jaw instead. Saliva swept across the other man’s stubble and Olly happily leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to the very same spot, absently wondering if, in some circles, this would count as kissing by proxy. He shouldn’t think so, even if his own spittle was now mingled with Jude’s somewhere down the line. 

With his free hand, Olly lifted his phone up and swiped the camera open before switching it to selfie mode. If he focused on getting a cute photo, maybe he wouldn’t think too hard about how comfortable it felt to be sprawled against Jude’s lap like this, nor would he focus on the way that the other man’s hand seemed to be edging its way up his inner thigh, tickling the skin and causing a burning heat to unfurl in the pit of Olly’s stomach. As Jude’s fingers pushed past the hem of his shorts, he released another nervous, shaky giggle, breath catching in the back of his throat. 

“You’re always sexy,” he muttered, suddenly at a loss for words. 

His eyes were wide as he stared into the camera, cheeks a damning shade of pink as his best friend graced him with a wink. His thumb tapped the screen to snap the photo just in time, as Olly suddenly found himself scrambling from Jude’s lap and clumsily shoving the phone back into the pocket of his shorts. The weight between his legs seemed to be growing thicker under the fleeting touch of the other man, and the last thing Olly needed was for the paramedic to catch sight of his steadily growing boner and tell Olly’s boyfriend. 

“Woohooo! Best picture ever, yippee!!!” Olly exclaimed without actually looking at it, frantically trying to inject some of his usual enthusiasm into his tone as he leapt backwards onto the grassy bank. 

As his bottom hit the ground, he leaned back to nonchalantly rest against his elbows, only to let out a startled yelp as a sharp pain seared through his arm. Glancing behind him, he caught sight of a mess of beer bottles and cans, no doubt carelessly littered against the muddy terrain by some late-night hikers. He hissed as he caught sight of blood bubbling at the edge of his skin – the wound was out of his sight, just above his elbow, but a fresh streak of blood was spiraling around his forearm and spilling into his lap. 

“Aw, heck! Jude, baby, I’m bleeding,” he gasped, lips puckering into a sad little pout. 

“Well, we have a sunset,” Jude said, gesturing to where the sorbet sky was streaked pink-and-orange, silhouetting the hills around them. “And we’ve got hot men. We’re two for two.”

He’d always attest to being the hottest in the room at any given moment. When people bought the hospital’s shirtless calendars every year, they weren’t doing it for Bryan from orthopedics. Sure, he could set a bone alright, but Jude knew that his spread for Mr April had tended to plenty of other bones better than Bryan could ever dream of. As much as he prided himself on his own looks though, he’d give Olly credit where credit was due. His sister’s friend was hot, in a purely objective way. He had that cute, fluffy-haired, innocent thing going on about him, but Jude knew he was packing muscle under that shirt of his. And who didn’t love a guy who could fix up an adorable animal? He’d allow Olly to share the title of ‘hot man’ on their little sunset hike.

He huffed out a laugh when he heard the way Olly reacted to his teeth grazing his jaw. The soft whimper he emitted wasn’t lost on him, the noise hitting him right in the pit of his stomach in a way that satisfied him completely. Olly might not want to rile Teddy up, but he was doing nothing to stop himself from facing the same fate.

Feeling Olly’s thumb against his lower lip, Jude smirked, casting a knowing look at the other man. Without a word, Jude’s lips closed around the other man’s thumb, taking it in his mouth and gently sucking on it, teeth nipping it gently.

Look, he wasn’t an idiot. He knew the effect that he had on Olly. Why wouldn’t he? If he couldn’t turn on a gay man then he was severely underestimating his own attractiveness, and that would just never do. Growing up, he’d never been the smart one or the funny one. He’d been the hot one, and that had suited him just fine. So people liked him for his looks - was that a crime? He’d never found reason to complain about it and even though he’d settled down with Lacey (for the time being), he couldn’t deny that there was a certain thrill that shot through him whenever he managed to successfully fluster Olly.

Maybe he just liked getting one-up on Teddy. He’d always been competitive - his time on the bench during his lacrosse days when he’d taken yet another player out was testament to that - so maybe he could boil this snide, conniving part of him down to just wanting to show the swimmer, who quite frankly had never made any sort of effort to talk to him, that he wasn’t so easily usurped as the number one man in Olly Walker’s life.

“Fine, fine. We’ll take a selfie,” he said, his hand resting on Olly’s leg as soon as it overlapped with his.

Cheekily, he let his hand inch further up Olly’s thigh, fingers skirting underneath the hem of his shorts. He turned his head to the side, giving the man a quick wink.

“Go on then, take the photo,” he said. “While I’m still sexy.”

[jollytalkerollywalker]

Olly hummed in delight as he felt the weight of Jude’s hand in his own, their fingers tangling together, a practically perfect fit. He felt cozy and warm, the soft glow of the rising sun casting a pretty hue over the two of them. He wondered if now would be a bad time to pull his phone out and snap a quick picture, his face tucked into the crook of Jude’s neck, his hair tickling the other man’s stubble. But maybe that would be too romantic. 

“Nuhuh, not everything. Sunsets are romantic, though,” Olly insisted, still daydreaming about how lovely they must look. “Sunsets and hot men, that is.” 

He giggled at his own words, positively certain that Jude would delight in the compliment. He always seemed to preen under Olly’s words of encouragement, always welcoming words of affirmation and a smattering of kisses all over his face. Olly remembered just last week when Jude had told him about an emergency he’d handled at work. He’d been so proud of his best friend he’d crawled into his lap, legs wrapped firmly around his waist, and kissed his cheeks all over until the two had eventually toppled onto the sofa in a messy tangle of limbs, Jude’s hand gripping his thigh to steady him. He’d erupted into a fit of giggles until he’d worn himself out and dozed off against the blond’s chest, perfectly content to be with his most favourite person. 

“Oh, you know,” he laughed, shaking his head. Jude was looking at him now, their noses brushing as he wiggled his eyebrows, a cheeky smile on his face. 

Olly’s crush on his best friend was no secret, not by any means, but it wasn’t something he’d spoken too openly with Teddy about. Not that he was ashamed or embarrassed, not by any means! Nothing was going on between them and Jude was as straight as a ruler – and not the floppy kind that you’d get at school that Marianne always likened him to – so there really was no competition, but he didn’t want Teddy to think he had anything to worry about. Jude had a girlfriend, and Olly just thought he was handsome. He could still be his friend and accept him as simply that. Jude could be the love of his life in the same way that Kim was Ezra’s! It was exactly the same thing. 

Olly gasped, then, as he felt Jude’s teeth graze his jaw, a flush of warmth flooding down his thighs and between his legs. His cheeks burned suddenly, the sensation causing his stomach to flip. Okay, so maybe Ezra was never at the risk of a boner whenever Kim kissed his cheek, but it was really no big deal. 

Emitting a soft whimper in response, Olly lifted a hand to cup Jude’s cheek, intending to playfully bat him away, when the other man’s words finally caught up with him. While he definitely had no intentions of riling Teddy up – certainly not when he, himself, was so riled up in entirely different ways – the other man had vocalised the very thing he’d been thinking about. 

Pausing for thought, he swiped his thumb absently over Jude’s lower lip, dipping the pad into the other man’s mouth teasingly, practically inviting him in for another nip. 

“We are not riling up Teddy because that’s mean,” Olly laughed, shaking his head fondly at his gorgeous friend. Dipping his head to side, he fluttered his lashes and shuffled in closer, lifting one leg as he draped it carefully over Jude’s lap – careful not to let the man catch a glimpse of the growing bulge beneath his shorts – and pressed another lazy kiss to his cheek. “But can we please take a selfie? You look really sexy in this lighting.” 

At first, Jude had been glad that Marianne couldn’t take the day off work to join them on their hike. There was nothing that put a downer on his day more than the sourpuss expression his sister wore when she decided he was flirting with Olly. Far more possessive of her friend than she needed to be, Jude had long since given up arguing that he wasn’t flirting with Olly. He was straight, and Olly liked the attention. It was harmless.

Still, as he whined for them to take a break and sat down heavily on the ground, leaves crunching underneath his ass, he began to realise it might have been better if Marianne had joined them. At least if he spent the majority of his time arguing with his sister, it would give him something to do. For the past fifteen minutes, he’d been sitting down, loudly huffing and kicking at the dead leaves that surrounded him while Olly giggled away at something on his phone. Probably something to do with that swimmer of his that he’d been seeing.

“He’s lovely!” Marianne had told Olly, nodding approvingly when the other man had shown them photos of his new flame. Jude had only raised an eyebrow when presented with the shirtless image of Teddy - stupid name, for one - holding a puppy. 

“That’s the kind of six pack he’s working with and I’m meant to believe he’s an Olympian?” he’d said, forcing the words out. He’d allowed his eyes to trace the deep cut of muscle carved into Teddy’s abdomen and then fucked off to spend the rest of the afternoon in the gym.

The water he’d dipped his feet into was now becoming uncomfortably icy, but he was sure it was numbing his blisters. Plus, he was a decent enough EMT to know that he wasn’t even close to frostbite being a danger so he left them where they were, flicking the water with his toes and wrinkling his nose. 

“Teddy would love this, Teddy just loooooves the water, he’s soooo - what?,” he murmured to himself in a high-pitched mimicry of Olly’s voice, up until the other man came and sat down next to him.

His eyes dipped down to Olly’s open palm, knowing there would already be an expectant look on his face. Jude made a show of rolling his eyes but eventually picked up his own hand to place it in Olly’s, the corner of his mouth tugging upwards as he did so.

“You think everything’s romantic,” he countered, pretty sure that Olly could find romance in the arrangement of someone’s sock drawer. Jude wasn’t so easily convinced. What was romance meant to be anyway? His supposed romantic encounters with Lacey were never coloured in any hue that differed from every other fragment of his life. They were just… there, in amongst the regular back-and-forth of his job and his family and friends. Biscus was probably what Jude’s mind went to when he thought of something colourful in his life, and he desperately wished that he’d argued his case and brought his dog along. But it was Lacey’s time of the month and apparently if Jude wasn’t going to stick around to cuddle her during it, then his labrador was the next best thing. He’d left that morning with the two of them curled around each other in bed, his heart twisting at the thought of leaving his dog behind and then his gaze shifting to Lacey and realising… he didn’t feel anything more indifferent at the thought of not seeing her again until the evening.

He chuckled when Olly pressed a kiss to his cheek with the addendum that they shouldn’t tell his girlfriend back home about this. Jude had to agree. Lacey, for reasons beyond Jude’s comprehension, always got pissy when he brought up Olly. And who knows what kind of fit she’d pitch if she knew how affectionate the other man was with her boyfriend.

“What wrong impression is that?” Jude said, raising an eyebrow when Olly brought Teddy up. Jude had no reason to care what Olly’s swimmer boyfriend thought about the two of them. But apparently it was important to Olly that they don’t tell him about… whatever this was. 

Jude couldn’t lie; it gave him a sick sense of satisfaction to think he could easily make Teddy jealous. 

“You sure you don’t want to send him a selfie of us to rile him up?” he teased, leaning forward to lightly and playfully bite the underside of Olly’s jaw.