Jack doesn't check who's calling when he picks up the phone, he already knows. He has a sixth sense about it, can always feel Robby before he's there. Even over the phone, even thousands of miles away, he always knows when it's Robby.
"Hey, sexy," Jack says as he picked up the phone.
Robby sputters out a laugh in that way he does sometimes. It always makes Jack grin.
"Pretty sure that's sexual harassment," Robby says and Jack smiles into the stew he's making.
"We're not at work," Jack points out, sliding the sliced carrots into the crock-pot.
"I'm not sure that's how that works."
"What are you gonna to do, report me?" He's grinning now, not even bothering to keep cooking. Just leans back on the counter and takes a relieved inhale.
"This sounds like the start to a bad porno," Robby laughs, and Jack can hear a car drive by in the distance.
"Guess there's only one way to find out and that's by coming back." They haven't fucked before, but it's always seemed inevitable- the ultimate terminal of their relationship. Eventually they will fall together and never fall back apart. "Where are you?"
"Oklahoma. There's this giant concrete whale in a little pond. Old Route 66 attraction. It's got a baseball hat on."
"Sounds cute." He's happy that Robby's on Route 66. The farther away he is from Head-Smashed-In, the happier Jack will be.
"It's kind of creepy actually- It's got one eye half-closed so it kind of looks like it's leering at you." A pause. "I'm inside of it right now."
"And what are your thoughts in the belly of the whale, Jonah? You regret giving God the run-around yet?"
"Not yet." A pause. "I like it. No one else is here, it's peaceful."
"Sounds nice. I wish I was there." He would go see as many dumb tourist attractions as Robby wanted as long as he knew he was safe.
"I'll bring you a t-shirt." And Jack likes the sound of that. Robby returning to bring him souvenirs from the trip means that Robby is returning. The anxiety in his chest eases a little.
"Demanding," Robby tsks. "Do you even put magnets on your fridge?"
"I will if they're from you." He'd take as much useless shit as Robby would give him as long as it means he's here. "What's next?"
"Museum of Osteology. Probably more Route 66 after that."
"Nerd. You haven’t seen enough bones in your life?" Jack scoffs.
"These are animal bones," Robby explains. Jack doesn’t point out that humans are animals too. "They have a blue whale skeleton."
"I see how it is. You emerge from the belly of the beast and want to see it's corpse hung from the ceiling. Didn't know you were so heartless." Robby laughs again and Jack grins in triumph. "A whale skeleton does sound cool. Get me something from there, too."
"Bossy and greedy, a real winning combination."
"What can I say, I'm a catch." Jack pauses. "I miss you."
"I miss you too. I think this would be more fun with you." It hits Jack square in the chest. Robby, normally so evasive, actually being honest for once. And then: "I mean- really, who's supposed to take my picture with this cement masterpiece?"
"You want me to fly out there to be your camera man?" It's a real offer; Jack would do it, in a heartbeat. He has the time off banked.
"No need for all that. But maybe one day we take a road trip together. They sell these National Park passports."
"Do they now? Sounds like something we need to invest in." A road trip together sounds good. His breath is coming easier than it has since the minute Robby rode off.
"We can argue about what stickers to put in it."
"Oh, there are stickers now? Sounds very official."
"It's how the book's set up." Robby explains. "You get the stamp from the park and there's space for a sticker above it."
"More things for you to buy," Jack points out. "But let's do it. I have very intense sticker preferences, you know."
"You have very intense preferences about everything. You'll probably come back as a ghost to argue about the way we threw your funeral."
"You just want me to haunt you, I can feel it. Can't be without me for a minute, you just gotta drag me back from the dead."
There's a pause. "You've done that for me before. Just trying to return the favor." And then, in typical Robby fashion, he decides to bail when things get a little too close to the truth. "I'm gonna go, I want to get to Oklahoma City before dark."
Jack doesn't mind, he's just happy to have been called at all. "Okay, Jonah. Give the whale a kiss for me before you go." It's utterly unconscious, the way he says the next part. "I love you."
"Love you too." And then Robby's gone. And Jack thinks. Well, at least there's that, sorted. The words are out there now, and miracle of miracles, Robby said them back.
He returns to his cooking, and a minute later his phone buzzes with a message. A picture of the whale, which is very charming, even with it's squinted eye. And then a second picture, of Robby kissing it's cement mouth. Jack grins.
