“So,” Eric said, and Jeff winced a little. Kent was gone to the bathroom, leaving just Jeff and the animals on the Skype call with Eric. Jeff wasn’t sure what kind of look Eric was giving him, not exactly, he just knew he didn’t like it.
“So?”
“Well --” Eric laughed. “Jeff, c’mon. How are things? I mean, you guys… talked, right?”
“Yes,” said Jeff, because they did. Kent told him he loved him in Stoney and Jeff was, honestly, still not over it, might never be over it. Nothing else had happened, but -- he swallowed, looked down at his hands. “Thank you.”
“Oh, you’re welcome, honey,” said Eric.
Jeff glanced back up. Surely Kent talked to Eric about it, right? Eric chewed his lower lip, fidgeting a little.
“Are you happy?”
Jeff blinked. “Yeah,” he said. “I -- of course I am. Are you?” Was it his imagination, or was the smile on Eric’s face just a little bit… off? He scrubbed his fingers over his scalp, flipped his hair out of his face a little. Eric still hadn’t said anything, and Jeff’s stomach sank. “If you’re not, you should tell him.”
If Eric told Kent he wasn’t happy with Kent and Jeff doing… whatever the hell they were doing, he still didn’t know, then Kent would end it. Jeff knew that. He’d never come before Eric in Kent’s life, not ever.
“It’s not that,” said Eric.
“You don’t really seem, like. Stoked,” Jeff said. He realized, suddenly, that he was dragging his fingers through his hair again, a nervous habit. Jeff put his hand on his ankle, stared down at it. “If it, uh. If it makes you feel better,” he offered, “nothing has happened. Like, besides the talking.”
Eric nodded. “Yeah.” He paused. “I mean, no. It doesn’t make me feel better, I mean. I -- you don’t have to hold back on my account. You know that, right?”
“I’m not really leading the charge on this one,” said Jeff. He glanced up at the camera again.
Eric’s face, a bit pink in the cheeks, was very serious. He had big eyes, Jeff realized. “Maybe you should,” Eric said.
Maybe he should? What, come on to Kent first?
That didn’t sit right with Jeff, somehow. “No,” he said, after a minute. “I wanna do it in his time.”
Eric smiled, softening. “Of course you do,” he said.
“He does what?” Kent leaned over into view.
“Nothing,” said Jeff, cheeks heating.
Kent looked at him, and it was weird, being able to see Kent looking at him on camera -- really looking at him, all soft and warm the way he looked at Eric. Jeff turned his head, smiled a little. “What?”
“Nothing,” Kent said, and on the other side of the country, Eric laughed.
