Rowing the Rarepair Rowboat: Johnny Taylor x Bailey Wharton (The Dumping Ground)
Requested by @theshslshipper
The's game final score is announced on the giant board above the pitch. Brightly-lit green numbers along with a loud horn indicate the home team as the winners. Cheers erupt all across the stadium, a sudden sea of scarves, flags, and banners.
Johnny can admit he's one of them. Some people give him curious looks as he stands well taller than most, clapping and whooping loudly for one player in particular. The stares are probably drawn by his uniform. Not many military men at football matches, he guesses. At least not while still kitted out in full camo.
'YES, BAILEY!' he shouts, and finally draws the attention of the star player of the night.
Bailey's head swivels, eyes widen, searching in disbelief for the voice. When he finally finds him in the stands, his face drops only briefly before it's cracking into a wide grin.
It's a shock to Johnny's system for only a second. It's been over a year since he last saw him, and his sixteen-year-old self briefly forgot that so much has changed. Then his heart is doing somersaults and his stomach is settling into a familiar spiral of longing and relief.
Uncertain of if he would be dragged off of the pitch, he stays where he is despite wanting to be down there with him right this second. Instead, he claps harder, cheers louder, and smiles wider.
Bailey doesn't care about possible rules. He clambers down from his teammates' grasp and uses his footballer's speed to cross the pitch in seconds. He takes the bleachers practically two at a time, winding his way through the crowd of people all trying to reach for him.
Johnny only has to take two single steps to meet him before Bailey's throwing himself at him. Not even a greeting or a pretence of hatred like they used to play up just for the fun of it once they grew out of their actual loathing of each other.
Now, Bailey grabs his face and kisses him hard. Every single missed call and text is in the kiss. Every night they spent in separate countries. Every terrifying thought of whether or not he's even alive.
For a split second, Johnny only feels pure panic; two years ago, he would never have kissed another bloke in public. Never mind in a stadium where all eyes are on him and the star player of the biggest football match in the country. Not to mention that it's televised.
But with Bailey holding onto him like he thought he was never going to see him again, Johnny can't help but melt into him. He kisses him back. He's aware of the people all around them; he can hear the whispers, the shouts, the gasps, the extra-loud cheers for them.
He doesn't care.
'This is how you choose to tell me you're back?' Bailey breathes, refusing to pull back properly. Instead, he hugs him tightly.
'Thought you'd enjoy the surprise,' Johnny replies with a light chuckle. He closes his eyes, letting himself bury his face in his shoulder for a moment and just inhale the scent of him. It's mostly sweat. 'Was I right?'
Bailey laughs into his shoulder. 'Damn right.'
'Then you'll be thrilled to know that's it,' Johnny says, and finally pulls back to look at Bailey properly. 'My deployment's finished. Honourable discharge.'
Sucking in a sharp breath, Bailey says, 'You're staying this time? For good?'
Johnny nods. His hands slip up to cup Bailey's neck. 'I'm staying.'
Bailey laughs, head tipping back, then he surges in once again and kisses him harder than before, with all of the relief flooding through both of them. His hand grasps the dog tags around Johnny's neck tightly. Never is he letting go again.
Neither is Johnny. To prove it, he detaches from Bailey and sinks down onto one knee. He pulls the ring he's kept secure in his pocket after meeting with Tee first, and looks up at Bailey.
'And since I'm staying, I can finally ask. Will you marry me?'
He wasn't going to do it here. Like this. But it feels like now or never, he doesn't want to waste another second. He's already wasted so much time with the army.
Bailey shakes his head slowly, tongue poking into his cheek as a grin curves his mouth. 'You're a prick, you know that.' Not a question but a statement. 'Obviously, I've gotta say yes now.'
'Well, you don't have t--'
Bailey cuts him off to say, 'Yeah, I do,' then pulls him up into another kiss, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as he curls a hand around the ring in Johnny's hand.
