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“Hey, Bits,” Jack said, sliding his phone in between his cheek and shoulder, turning back to the stove where he was grilling a piece of chicken.
“Hi, Sweet-pea,” Bitty replied. “I, um… I have some good news and some bad news about this weekend.”
“Oh?” Jack slid the pan off the heat and turned the burner off, giving his phone his full attention. He and Bitty both had a rare weekend off thanks to the Falc’s having a bye week and Bitty was supposed to be coming down to Providence the next evening, giving them Friday night through Sunday afternoon all to themselves.
“Um, yeah. I won’t be able to come tomorrow, after all. That’s the bad news.”
“Okay,” Jack replied, trying to not let the disappointment seep into his voice. He had been looking forward to this weekend for a couple months. He didn’t get to spend nearly as much time with his boyfriend as said boyfriend deserved. “I understand. But, what’s the good news?”
“The good news is, I won’t be there tomorrow, because—”
Jack could hear a key sliding into the door, and moved quickly out into the foyer, only to see a small, blond head peek around the doorframe. “Because I’m here tonight!” Bitty grinned wide as he hung up his phone and dropped his bag on the floor, just as Jack swooped in and kissed him.
“How— What— I don’t understand!” Jack leaned back, still cupping Bitty’s face.
“My professor for my lecture tomorrow afternoon emailed and said he was going to have to cancel class tomorrow, as his wife had to have emergency surgery today and he was up at the hospital with her.”
“Oh, no. Hope everything is okay.”
“Yeah, I took them some cookies before I left; she had to have surgery to break up some kidney stones that were causing her problems.”
Jack grimaced. “Crisse. Papa had a couple that he passed when I was young. I’ve only ever seen him cry four times in my life: the day he won his last cup, the day he retired, when my grandmere passed away, and when he had kidney stones. He said he wouldn’t wish that pain on his worst enemy.”
“Yeah, she seemed like she was on a lot of pain medication, so she wasn’t complaining too much. All that being said, I don’t have class tomorrow, so I traded my train ticket in for an earlier departure and came down a day early!” He looked kind of sheepish, glancing down at the floor. “I hope that’s okay.”
“Okay? Why would I mind that my gorgeous boyfriend decided to come see me a whole day before I had thought I’d get to see him? I mean, I’ll have to let me secret lover know that tonight’s not good, but—”
“Oh, haha, Mr Zimmermann. I just didn’t know if you had plans with Tater or anything.”
“Nah. I was just making dinner and was going to watch the new war documentary on Netflix.”
“What’s for dinner?” He stepped into the kitchen and looked at the stove. “Oh, Jack, honey, no. Just grilled chicken? You could at least put some seasoning on it!” He took his jacket off and handed it back to Jack, then reached into the small closet in the kitchen and pulled out his apron.
“Well, it was just going to be me. But, now that you’re here, I don’t want it.” He reached for the apron before Bitty could slip it over his head. “Wanna go out?”
Bitty stopped and blinked at Jack, owlishly. “Excuse me?”
“What?”
Bitty looked behind Jack and turned around in the kitchen. Jack gave him a confused look. Bitty reached up to touch Jack’s head with the back of his hand, and then slid his hands down to his shoulders, gripping them and giving Jack a small shake. “Who are you and what have you done with my Jack? You, Jack Laurent Zimmermann, being of what appears to be sound mind and body, want to go out?”
Jack smiled. “Well, now I have an excuse to; I get to take my boyfriend out on a date. A date, just the two of us, where we don’t have to hurry back because something else is going on or you have to get back to campus. It’s not that late, so we could actually take our time. Go out to eat. Do something. I’ve never gotten to actually wine-and-dine my boyfriend.”
Bitty gave him another speculative look. “Again I ask, who are you and what have you done with my Jack? Not that I’m saying no, though. I’d love to go out, sweet-pea. But, where? Nothing too fancy? Cause I just assumed we would hang out at home, so I definitely did not bring a suit.”
Jack grinned as he realized that Bitty had referred to the condo as home. “Nah, nothing fancy. Shorty was telling us about a new bar-b-que restaurant his parents found when they visited a few weeks ago. He said it was amazing, so I figured we could try it out?”
“That sounds great, sweet-pea,” Bitty smiles, wrapping his arms around Jack’s neck and pulling him down into a kiss.
Jack hummed into the kiss. “Good news, indeed.”