Title: Big Mess
Author: Patt
Challenge #: 374 Little/Big
Warnings: Bad language, first kiss.
Notes: I’m so bored. I need a fricking life.
Summary: Jim is thinking. Working without tools again.
Word Count: 1530
Category: Pre-slash
Big Mess
By Patt
Jim was tossing things all over the loft, grinding his teeth and growling at no one in particular.
“It’s a big mess,” he said.
“What is?” Blair asked.
“The loft,” Jim answered angrily.
“Jim, what’s wrong? The loft isn’t a mess, so what is the big problem here?”
“You’ve got your shit all over the place. Don’t you ever pick anything up? I’m sick and tired of the big mess you leave in every room.”
“I don’t know what brought this on, but would you like to be more specific about what is bothering you? What is the big mess, you speak of?”
“Your room. It’s a fucking disaster. It looks like a bomb went off in there and there are no survivors.”
Blair looked through his doorway and saw his usually messed up room, but nothing out of the ordinary and wondered what was really going on with Jim.
“Okay, so I’ll clean it up. I’m heading in there now. It’ll be clean from now on, you grouch,” Blair shouted as he walked into his room and slammed the door.
“What happened to the rule about slamming doors?” Jim called out.
Blair opened his door and said, “I’m sorry I slammed the door. Now if you don’t mind, I’m busy cleaning the big mess.” This time he shut the door quietly and hoped that would keep Jim happy.
Jim was having none of it. He was in a piss poor mood and now he had no one to take it out on. “I wasn’t done telling you about the messes.”
Blair sighed loudly and walked out of his room and said, “There are more messes that you want me to clean up tonight? We do have to go to sleep sometime, or did you plan on me cleaning through the night?”
Jim ignored Blair’s question and said, “You leave a big mess in the bathroom every time you go in there. I’ve gotten to the point where I hate to go into my own bathroom.”
“I’ll clean the bathroom, next. Are their any other rooms you want me to do before I go to bed?” Blair asked sarcastically.
“Don’t use that fucking tone with me,” Jim shouted.
“Then stop talking to me like I’m 12 years old and need to be told what to do. I do my share of work around here and you know it.”
Jim glared at Blair and answered, “You could have fooled me.”
“I don’t want to say anything I’m going to regret tomorrow, so I’m going to stay busy and leave you alone in your thoughts. I would guess you have a lot of them tonight,” Blair said as he walked back into his room again.
Jim huffed and walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa with the newspaper, hoping he’d be able to read it without interruption. He looked down at the coffee table and saw a ring from Blair’s water bottle. He was going to say something about it, but decided that he might have said enough for tonight. But there was always tomorrow night.
Blair cleaned up his room, quite quickly, because it wasn’t that messy, no matter what Jim said. He worried that maybe Jim was tired of him living there and needed his space back again. Blair thought for a moment and realized that Jim hadn’t had a date in a really long while. Why not? No wonder the poor man was grouchy. Blair would have bit his head off if he had had no sex in a long while.
He got all of his laundry ready to do and took it out and set it by the front door. “I’m going to do some laundry tonight after I’m done cleaning the bathroom. Do you need anything washed?”
“Sandburg, you’re not doing laundry in the middle of the night. It would wake me up every time you went in and out the door. Just leave the basket in your room until tomorrow night and do it then. If you would plan your time out better, I wouldn’t have to tell you how to do things.”
It was Blair’s turn to glare at Jim. “You’re treating me like I’m 12 again, Jim. I don’t appreciate it, one bit.”
“Then grow up,” Jim snapped back at Blair.
“You know what? You won’t have to worry about it any more, because I’m moving. I’ll be gone by the end of the week,” Blair said heading into his room again, sadly.
“Oh right, like I haven’t heard that before,” Jim shouted back.
Blair slammed his bedroom door and threw himself down on the futon. Fuck the rules, anyhow. Why was Jim being so mean? If he was a better Guide, he might know ahead of time. But he must have fallen down on the job with that, too.
Blair heard Jim getting ready for bed and once he heard him walk upstairs, he went out and got the newspaper to look at the ads and got ready for bed himself.
He was sitting on his futon, cross-legged when there was a quiet knock on his door.
“Come in, it’s your place.”
“Blair, I’m sorry for losing my temper. I’m just in a bad mood.”
“Not a good enough reason, Jim. I think it’s time we part company, at least at the loft. We can still be partners at work.”
“For Christ’s sake, Sandburg, I said I was sorry. Do you want it in writing?”
“I want you to talk to me. What’s wrong? What’s bothering you tonight? Talk to me, I’m your Guide and I’ve missed something big.”
“Chief, I really want you to stay.”
“Well, I can’t stay and have this conversation again two weeks from now. Either talk to me or I’m looking for a place.”
“I’m in love and he doesn’t know I’m alive,” Jim said sadly, head hanging down.
“He?” Blair asked, even more surprised. “I must have missed a lot more then a little bit as your Guide.”
Jim just leaned on the doorjam and Blair could tell he was thinking, again.
“Did you tell him how you feel?” Blair asked.
“No, I think he’s in love with someone else,” Jim replied.
“But you don’t know?”
“No, not for sure, but I can’t tell him. He’s already too hard to be around sometimes,” Jim admitted.
“Oh man, you’re in love with Simon?”
“Simon? Where did that come from? I’m not in love with Simon.”
“Oh, I thought maybe because he’s hard to reach sometimes. Okay, is it someone in the bullpen?”
“Could you just agree to stay in the loft and I’ll promise to shut my big mouth?”
“Oh… It’s Rafe or Brown, right? Or is it one of the evening shift guys?”
“It’s no one you’ve mentioned. Could you just agree to stay here?”
Blair looked at his friend and for once really looked at him. Jim was tired. He probably wasn’t sleeping well and didn’t feel comfortable enough to talk to him about a same sex relationship. Jim knew that Blair was bi, so why didn’t he come to him? Blair suddenly realized who it was and smiled.
“It’s me, isn’t it?”
“Blair, I didn’t want you to know?”
“Why not?”
“I’m a fuck up with relationships. My track record is nothing to brag about,” Jim confessed.
“I love you, man.”
Jim looked at Blair and realized he meant it the same way that Jim meant it. “Would you like to go out for dinner tomorrow night?”
“Why yes, I would love to. Are you going to stop yelling at me?”
“I promise I won’t yell at you ever again,” Jim answered.
“Will you promise to talk to me about anything from now on?” Blair asked with a smile in his voice.
“I promise.”
“Will you promise to have patience with me when I make big messes around the loft?”
“I will.”
“Will you love me and no other until the end of time?”
“I already do, Blair.”
“In that case, I think you deserve a reward. You’re getting a goodnight kiss before you go upstairs.”
Jim moved over to Blair and leaned down and Blair stretched up and their lips met, making them both feel a little jolt of electricity go through their bodies.
Finally, when Jim needed to breathe, he pulled away from Blair and said, “Good night, Chief.”
“Good night, Jim. I’ll see you tomorrow. Have happy dreams about you and me. I know I’m going to,” Blair said bubbling with excitement and pleasure combined.
“I do love you, Blair.”
“I know you do. I love you, Jim. So it’s going to work out just perfectly. That doesn’t mean there won’t be a mess now and then. But hopefully, no big messes so just go and sleep well.”
Jim walked upstairs with a new spring in his step and Blair loved watching that spring from his doorway.
Big mess, my ass.
The end
