Have Your Cake and Eat It Too|| Jordan and Burnie
"I started officially learning French in middle school and continued throughout high school and college, but my mom speaks French fluently, so I picked most of it up from her. Spanish was in high school and some of college as well, but that was for work and not pleasure… Until we created Lopez." Ah, Lopez. Burnie’s very own creation for Red vs Blue, that never failed to make him laugh with his sarcasm.
Jordan’s words made Burnie’s voice catch on his throat; a lump formed there that blocked his words. He swallowed hard, and God Burnie was about five seconds away from canceling the entire trip, telling everyone to go fuck themselves, and staying home in Austin to hold and kiss and fuck Jordan for the entire month of February. Burnie could feel something building in his chest, pulling at his heartstrings. Jordan looked so fucking upset, and Burnie knew it was all his fault. He swallowed hard again, whispering a little “Yeah, you’re right,” before turning down to his food. Squeezing Jordan’s hand as tight as he could without hurting the man, Burnie finished his filet quietly, the music from the restaurant floating in between them to fill the silence caused by the realization that they didn’t have much time left together before Burnie left.
"I was wondering," Burnie started, clearing his throat before continuing, "if you’d maybe like to come over and help me pack in a week or so. I’d like to spend at least one more day with you before I leave." It was a simple statement, but Burnie meant so much more behind it, so much that he couldn’t say right now. One more day to hold Jordan; one more day to kiss Jordan; one more day to spend time with Jordan and entangle their fingers and bodies together in passion and romance and love. God, Burnie loved Jordan; he wouldn’t say it yet, but he knew what love was when he felt it. It was too soon to admit it, but there was no law that said Burnie couldn’t think it long before it was time to say it.
I fucking love him.
Every time he looked at Jordan, every time he spoke to and held and kissed and fucked Jordan, Burnie felt love. Every time they had nights like this, full of romance, or nights where Burnie slammed Jordan against the wall in a flurry of sexual frustration, Burnie felt love. Bringing Jordan’s knuckles to his lips, Burnie murmured “Vous ne saurez jamais combien tu vas me manquer quand je suis parti, mon amour,” before kissing the back of Jordan’s hand with a gentle smile.
Jordan nodded. That'd definitely explain why the accent was so impressively, distractingly, authentic then. High school education definitely didn't cover accent work after all. If it had, perhaps Jordan would've paid more attention in those classes... but then again, it he had, he wouldn't be able to potentially have Burnie tutor him himself, which would mean less opportunities to hear Burnie use that rich and ridiculously sexy French accent of his which, really, would be an absolute tragedy. Jordan would probably cry a little.
And his lips quirked a little at the mention of Lopez. The sarcastic Spanish robot had always been one of his personal favorite characters. Happening to date the man who voiced him further down the line had just sweetened that deal.
He didn't miss the way Burnie had to swallow hard around his words as he whispered his reply, and honestly it took all the internal strength Jordan hadn't know he'd had until now to stop his resolve from wavering, simply squeezing the man's hand back in return, not allowing any of the desperate words building up on his tongue to spill forth from his lips, not allowing himself to pull Burnie in across the fancy tablecloth, and kiss him with an equal desperation. Because it wouldn't stop Burnie from leaving. In the end all it'd do was hurt them both that much more when the man had to leave anyway. Because this was Burnie's job, looking out for them all, forging relations with those other agencies, making damn sure that they'd all be that much safer because of it. It was for the best, and maybe that didn't make things any easier, but it kept Jordan's resolve from wavering all the same. Just.
He couldn't stop the obvious enthusiasm behind his nodding as the man offered to let Jordan come over and help him pack when he left, because he'd need that last day to say goodbye, he'd desperately need it, if he wanted to be able to carry himself through the following weeks without having Burnie around, "Yeah I'd love to." He finally offered softly, gently squeezing the man's hand again and doing his best not to feel guilty about the way his reaction to Burnie's news had brought down the mood of the dinner. He'd wanted to make the man happy tonight after all, and here he was already pining for the man who was sat right there, obviously feeling guilty himself for causing Jordan distress like this.
And he didn't need to. Because this wasn't Burnie's fault. It was his, for growing too attached too soon, like he was always going to, like he couldn't help doing so, because Burnie was incredibly, attractive, enigmatic, brilliant, sexy as hell, and everything Jordan didn't deserve but desperately needed all the same.
He was pretty sure if he didn't already love the man, he was already well on the way to getting there and honestly it scared him a little how strong his feelings for the man were. Because the last time he'd felt for someone else half this strong they'd ended up breaking his heart.
He trusted Burnie though. Trusted him with his everything. And goddamn was he going to miss him over this next month.
His breath caught a little as the man in question pressed Jordan's knuckles to his lips, murmuring a phrase in French that left his trousers a little tight and his face more than a little flushed, not just from the ridiculously hot way the accent curled over each phrase, but from the look in Burnie's eyes, that made it almost feel like a declaration of the kind of emotions that thrummed within his own chest. He smiled back as Burnie pressed a kiss to the back of his hand, "You know if you keep talking French to me I might have to drag you somewhere a little more private before I do something very un-fancy to you in the middle of this fancy restaurant."
