its funny, really, how something as simple as noah caring enough to take note of jude’s ridiculous coffee order meant so much. or, @robertisbisexual put this idea in my head and i couldn’t shake it.
Jude had always wanted to be a part of the Devil’s Nation. He’d grown up craving it, needing to be a part of the empire his father had built, wanting to sit behind a desk in the Devils Arena and be a part of it all. He had that, now - in a way he’d never have imagined, with his name on the deeds and in full control of the team, his father nowhere to be seen.
Not even thirty yet, and he owned his own basketball team.
It was more than Jude could ever have dreamed of, and he loved it, he did - he thrived under pressure, loved the challenge of being a leader, of having the responsibility that came with being owner.
He’d just imagined it all happening in a different way, that’s all - with a ring on his finger, and a husband by his side, and a house of his own. Jude had always been a fantasist, the kind of person who believed in a happy ending, because you didn’t survive growing up like he did without desperately dreaming of your happy ever after.
Still, Jude knew more than anyone that life didn’t always work out like you’d planned it too, and so he could hold his head high, and get on with it. Jude had a team to run, after all, and he’d rather be sitting in his office, going through paperwork, than sitting in a quiet apartment on his own.
He was moving on, he was - but it was slow, and Jude sometimes just craved the stability of a relationship, of having someone to come home to every night.
Silence was deafening, sometimes.
Pulling at his tie, Jude leaned back in his chair, eyes blurry as he tried to take in every word on all the paperwork strewn across the desk.
Jude looked up to see Noah standing in the doorway of his office, coffees in hand. He was clearly on the way out of the arena, wearing a sweatshirt and looking the polar opposite to the stylish, boundlessly energetic man he’d been on the court after the game, giving the Devils all the coverage and headlines they needed.
In a way, Jude sort of appreciated how comfortable Noah seemed to be around him. It was easy, sleeping with Noah - the other man seemed to know exactly what buttons of Jude’s to push, to have Jude melting in his hands. It wasn’t complicated (yet, at least) and it was fun.
It had felt like a while since Jude had fun, real fun.
“I brought you a coffee,” Noah explained, taking Jude’s smile as a ‘come in.’ It had been, if Jude was being honest. “Low fat latte with two extra shots and sugar free vanilla, right?”
Jude’s heart, embarrassingly, started thumping in his chest. He and Noah had been for coffee together all of about twice, in the past few weeks, yet here he was, able to reel off Jude’s ridiculous coffee order without a problem. “Uh, yeah - how did you remember?” he couldn’t help but ask, sitting up a little taller, gratefully accepting the coffee Noah was offering him.
Noah simply grinned, settling himself on the couch in Jude’s office. There was an unspoken agreement between them, now, that Noah tended to stay away from Jude’s desk. Noah couldn’t spill secrets if he didn’t know them, could he?
“Did you ask the barista?” Jude questioned teasingly, pulling his tie off the rest of the way and moving to join Noah on the couch, sipping at the piping hot coffee. It was exactly what he needed, if he was being honest - a caffeine hit, and a ten minute distraction from the mountain of work he needed to do now Jelena was gone, a new EVP top of his list.
“I remember the things that are worth remembering,” Noah said, leaning in closer, close enough that Jude could study every inch of his face, every freckle and line, the tiny scar above Noah’s lip Jude knew nothing about.
Noah was new. He was new, and unfamiliar, and unchartered territory, and before, it would have scared Jude, because he was a control freak - he needed to be able to map out his every move, be able to be the one in control in order to feel comfortable.
(That’s why things had been so hard with Zero sometimes, he supposed - he’d never been able to be in control when it came to him, and maybe that had been what had broken them in the end. Jude had wanted control, stability and Zero had never so much as entertained the thought.)
Jude just - well, he felt like he had nothing to worry about with Noah, really, because it was easy, it was simple. It was sex, with a gorgeous man, who happened to know his overly complicated coffee order.
Jude could embrace this as the new normal, he really could - because maybe life wasn’t working out according to plan, and there was no ring on his finger, but there was a man who was interested, a man who cared enough to take note of Jude’s likes, sitting on his couch, smiling at Jude like he was here to stay, and well - it felt good.
It felt like it could be something good.