John and Rodney's first date is dinner and a movie, perfectly straightforward. Although, by the end of the evening, John's already figuring out that nothing involving Rodney is never straightforward.
It ends with them standing, rather awkwardly, outside John's apartment. For a few seconds John seriously considers inviting Rodney in, but there's light under the door-- his roommate's already home. "I had a great time with you tonight," he finally says.
"Yeah. Um." Rodney fidgets. "Me, too."
The hell with it, John decides, and catches Rodney's face in both hands to kiss him thoroughly.
"Oh." Rodney says when John's finished. "Wow. That good a time, huh?" He's beaming.
"Yeah." John grins back, hands falling to squeeze one of Rodney's. "That good."
Rodney squeezes back before dropping John's hand with evident reluctance-- John misses the warmth already. "I'll call you later, okay?" he promises, then leans back in to kiss John lightly. "Good night."
That's on Friday evening.
-----
By Saturday night, John is already checking his voice mail so often that Aiden gets jumpy and threatens, half-seriously, to move out.
"Aw, don't do that." John spreads his hands beseechingly. "There are still cooking pots you haven't burned yet."
Aiden rolls his eyes and steals the popcorn bowl from John's lap. "If this is how you treated Rodney last night, you're gonna be waiting a long time on that second date."
"If you'd met him, you wouldn't say that. His steak came underdone last night . . ." John shudders, but he can't keep back a fond smile. "I think the waiter needs therapy now."
"Okay, that raises the question." Aiden pauses to crunch thoughtfully on a handful of popcorn. "Why do you want a second date?"
John can't quite explain that, so he grabs the bowl back and puts it on the floor, safely out of Aiden's reach.
-----
"Okay, I'm really leaving now," Aiden announces on Sunday afternoon, but once he's put on his jacket he just stands by the door for a minute. "I'm getting tired just from watching you pace."
"I thought it went well," John mourns, purposely ignoring him. "Maybe it didn't. Maybe I screwed up. What did I screw up?"
"He'll call, okay?" Aiden soothes. "It's just no fun being around you in the meantime.
No, no, Rodney isn't gonna call. It's all over. John has managed to fall half in love with a guy and totally alienate him, all in one date. He flops onto the couch, wondering whether it could at least rate an entry in Guinness.
"I," Aiden announces slowly and loudly, "am going to a movie. With my girlfriend."
"Shut up," John tells him absently, and flips his phone open and shut several times out of habit. He doesn't even bother to look at the screen.
-----
At around lunchtime on Monday, John's cell phone rings, and he nearly misses the call because he knocks it off the desk lunging to answer.
"Hey," Aiden says. "Did Rodney call you yet?" He sounds ridiculously cheerful, which is only to be expected, because he never came home from his date last night.
"Keep it up," John grits. "I can always find someone else to wreck my pots-- oh. Crap." Boy, is he an idiot.
"What? What's up?"
"It's you," John breathes, horrified. "Rodney's not calling me back because of you."
"John. Please. Now you're just paranoid."
"No, really." This is it. Has to be. "It's because I have a roommate. He's worried about dating someone who's already living with another guy."
"You told him I have a girlfriend, right?" To his credit, Aiden sounds genuinely worried, although it could be more for his own reputation than for John's.
"Yeah, of course." John drums his fingers on his desk. "The exact words were 'absolutely incurably straight.' But maybe he's not sure--"
"Oh, stop it," Aiden groans. "You said Rodney was a smart guy. I'm sure he can figure out that if you already had a boyfriend you wouldn't be looking for dates with other people."
But John can't stop wondering now. "I hope you're right."
-----
When John's phone rings again, he's home for the evening and watching TV, and he literally falls off the sofa when he sees Rodney's name on the Caller ID. When he hits a button to accept the call, his finger is actually shaking. "Hey."
"Hi," Rodney says, sounding a little nervous himself, and John's already smiling just at the sound of his voice.
END