RHYSIE:
shuffling away from his seat in the booth, rhys nodded and went up to the line to order coffee. of course, from everyone having noticed who it was, who he was with, rhys was bumped up the line fairly quickly. rhys felt too guilty to say that no, they weren’t together anymore, and he didn’t know if they would be again ( did he want that? maybe. but for now rhys had no clue ) any time soon. simply grabbing ‘the usual’ for the both of them, rhys returned quickly and slid jack’s drink towards him, shuffling back into his seat only semi-awkwardly.
rhys cradled his coffee, letting it warm his hands as he sipped it. this coffee store was good, at least better than the coffee he got in any one office at a time. hyperion’s in-house coffee machines were garbage, but then again so were the ones where he worked. the two of them sat in silence, or at least rhys did. not really knowing what to say, or what he should use as a conversation starter. it felt too intimate to ask anything personal, but too impersonal to ask the small talk questions of ‘how was work?’. “i’ll be honest with you, i have no idea what i should say right now.“ this was the one time rhys prayed jack would have started moving into talking about himself without reservation —— but that… hadn’t happened? and from what rhys was observing from him… jack was actively trying not to do very typical jack things. it was perplexing, to say the least.
“but uh… how are you?” are you okay? what have you been up to since i was gone? how’s hyperion? i miss you — he cleared his throat, taking another shaky sip of his beverage.
as rhys got up and got in line for coffee, jack couldn’t help but stare. the other man looked as beautiful as ever. so elegant, even as he was doing such simple tasks such as walking up to the line and ordering a few drinks. he stayed where he was, tapping his fingers anxiously on the table as he waited.
and when rhys came back, the awkwardness settled. the two of them both didn’t know what to say. they haven’t spoken like this in almost a year. it was so strange, to foreign and yet so familiar and even relaxing to be with rhys again. he listened to him, trying to spark up a conversation but even as time has passed, he was still as awkward as ever. it almost amused jack.
he smirked a bit at rhys’s question, deciding to just ignore it entirely. they had more time to ask how they’ve been. he wanted to get to the meat of it all. the topic they’ve both been avoiding.
“i’m sorry,” jack then said, practically bursting out of his chest. said chest tensed up and he stared down at his drink before looking back at rhys, a slightly frown on his face. “what happened. i’m sorry. but i miss you. so much, rhysie.”
if rhys didn’t want to say it, jack would. he wasn’t the same jack as he was a few months back, but some characteristics stayed. he still didn’t have a lot of self control. maybe in their current case, that was good.












