Work Text:
Bitty wakes to the sun in his eyes and a hot guy in his bed.
Well, the hot guy in his bed is his coworker and coincidentally, also his boyfriend, so maybe he shouldn’t be too surprised.
He watches as the sun makes Kent’s hair turn into a blonde halo around his head, his mouth parted slightly, breath stirring the pieces of hair that have fallen in front of his face.
Bitty lets himself have this moment, just lets himself bask in the beauty that is Kent Parson. After a few moments, he decides he should get started on breakfast; they have a big meeting at work today and need all of the brain power and energy they can muster. He can't even count the amount of times he's glanced over at Kent during a meeting, only to see that the other man is struggling to keep his eyes open.
Even with Kent staying the night, which happens far more often than not nowadays, Bitty doesn’t deviate all that much from his normal morning routine; He wakes up, starts the coffee pot, works on breakfast, and browses twitter. There’s not much of interest there today, however that's not always a bad thing. Sometimes a slow news day is much better than doom-scrolling for an hour before he has to go to work.
He looks up as he hears some shuffling coming from the direction of his room and is slightly (very) in awe of the sight.
Kent is standing in his doorway, wearing only his briefs (albeit a pair of clean ones that he keeps at Bitty’s place for this precise reason), and a rumpled t-shirt that he definitely stole out of one of Bitty’s drawers.
It’s an old shirt from the Madison County Fair that he had received for winning the junior baker’s competition when he was twelve. At some point during the hot Georgia summers, he had cut the sleeves off, making it a muscle tee. The best part about it though, was the poorly drawn horse on the front. It looked like someone had tried to draw it in MS-paint using a mouse and having only seen a horse one time. Bitty (and by extension, Kent) loved it.
He had heard Kent giggle the first time he pulled it out of the drawer and if Bitty is being honest, he thinks it’s a mix of the shitty horse and the fact that Kent knows his arms drive Bitty crazy, that Kent continuously picks this shirt over all of the others. Seeing Kent in his old clothes though, that makes his heart clench far more than it should.
To be fair, Bitty should’ve known this thing between them was a bit more serious the second that Kent started leaving a change of underwear at his place, as well as having a favorite shirt of Bitty’s to change into post-sex. Also, maybe a toothbrush. And his favorite protein powder.
No, he’s not taking any criticism at this time, thank you.
Kent is scratching at the slight stubble on his face and squinting at the sun filtering through Bitty’s balcony window. Bitty thinks he looks prettier than he has any right to.
“Hey, babe,” He says, as he makes his way over to Bitty who is standing by the stove, waiting for the french toast to brown just a bit. “Need help with anything?”
Bitty smiles, flipping over the piece of soggy bread, “You can cut up some of the strawberries that are in the fridge.”
“Sure thing,” Kent says and places a kiss onto Bitty’s cheek before walking over to the fridge.
They’ve fallen into some weird flavor of domesticity and Bitty is kinda in love with it. He’s never been in a relationship like this, hardly been in a relationship at all actually, so this is uncharted territory for him. He’s used to having people stay the night after casual sex, but only because he’s nice enough to not make them drive home past a certain time.
He’s never had someone to shower with after sex or who helps him cook without asking or who wears his clothes like it’s their favorite thing to do. It’s different and nice and, if he’s being honest, not something he ever thought that he’d get to have.
Growing up, he never let himself think too far into the future; He’d get too sad thinking about being stuck in his hometown, forced to marry some girl from church, while his mama begs him for grandbabies. He much prefers whatever weird reality he’s living in now.
He watches as Kent cuts the strawberries haphazardly. The boy knows his way around a knife except for when it comes to cutting fruit apparently. Kent turns when Bitty giggles at the sight in front of him, a smile spreading across his face.
“What are you laughing about, Bits?”
“Nothing, just— I’m real happy,” Bitty steps over to kiss Kent on the cheek, “but also you cut strawberries like a madman, what are you doing?” He slips the knife out of Kent’s hands and starts cutting fruit with the practiced ease of someone who has practically lived in a kitchen his entire life— and has sliced through more than a few people— but that’s beside the point. Kent raises an eyebrow at the show of craftsmanship happening before him.
“Learned helplessness?” Kent supplies, which earns him a scoff from Bitty. “Or have you ever thought that maybe I just like it when you show off your skills with a knife?” Kent says as he wraps his arms around Bitty’s middle, his chest to Bitty’s back. He noses at Bitty’s neck and lets his hands travel lower and lower…
“Yeah, yeah, keep it in your pants, Mr. Parson. You know what I can do with this so,” he grinds back against Kent just a moment, before turning quickly in his arms— enough for Kent to be caught off guard— and holding the knife against Kent’s throat, “Watch yourself.”
Kent swallows shallowly and shifts his eyes down to the knife before back up to his lover’s eyes. "He smirks, pressing his throat into the knife just a bit, in an effort to bring his hips closer to Bitty’s once again.
Bitty glances down at Kent’s attempts and lowers the knife completely. He can’t help but let out a squawk, “You are incorrigible, Kent Parson!” Kent takes the opportunity to wrap his arms back around Bitty, their faces close, eyes locked, noses touching, breath mingling.
“I’m sorry baby,” Kent whispers, “but I wasn’t joking when I said I liked your knife skills.” He leans in to kiss Bitty, but finds the cool kiss of metal instead. He looks down to see Bitty smiling and holding the knife flat between their lips.
“Your competency kink and affinity for knife-play have been noted, Mr. Parson, but we do not have time to delve further into that today,” Bitty says, turning around to finish cutting the rest of the strawberries, “I’m surprised Shitty hasn’t fired the both of us for how often you make us late.”
“Takes two to tango, Bits,” Kent says as he reaches around Bitty to grab a strawberry and pop it in his mouth. Bitty rolls his eyes.
Needless to say that Kent does, in fact, make them late for work.
_X_
Work starts off normal enough. In their meeting, Shitty gives people their assignments for the week— Bitty and Kent are both on recon duty, although for separate marks, meaning that there isn’t much overlap between their assignments— and lectures the office about the importance of checking for cameras and letting Lardo know if there are any so that they can scramble the signals.
And then everything goes to shit.
Ford, the office’s secretary, knocks on the conference room door and lets herself in. She walks over to Shitty and whispers in his ear, while Bitty and Kent exchange a look.
“Oh! Right!” Shitty exclaims, “Before I forget, we’ve got a beautiful, new face that will be joining us for a while!”
Ford beacons a tall man into the room; he enters it slowly and cautiously, scoping out the room like any good hitman– eyes darting around, checking for all exits and windows. It’s practiced and professional, Bitty can tell that this man has been doing this job much longer than he has.
“I’m sure some of you know who our guest is,” Shitty begins, “but for those of you who don’t, please welcome, Jack Zimmermann.”
Ransom and Holster exchange some looks, whereas some of the younger guys look on with what can only be described as reverence, as well as some slight confusion. Bitty has heard the last name Zimmermann before, but only in passing. It doesn’t hold much significance to him.
“He will be with us for a while to help him get back into the groove of things. That being said, be nice," he says, pointedly looking at Ransom and Holster, who just turn and giggle with one another. "Alright, thank you for coming to my TED talk. Everyone please go back to work now. Jack, we can finish filling out your paperwork in my office.”
Bitty’s gaze lingers on Jack as he makes his way towards the conference room door to follow Shitty. His stride comes to a stop in front of Kent, who has gone oddly motionless since Jack arrived. Before he exits the room, he turns to face Kent, an unreadable expression on his face.
In lieu of a proper introduction he just ducks his head and lets out a resigned, “Kenny,” as if it were a greeting in itself, before he walks out the door. Bitty’s gaze lingers on the space where Jack had been for just a moment longer, before turning to Kent.
“Kenny? Since when do people call you—” Bitty pauses, his next words forgotten once he sees the look of abject fucking devastation on Kent’s face.
Bitty takes a moment to assess the situation: Kent’s blood drained face, his hands by his side gripping the hem of his shirt. He’s breathing hard and Bitty can already see the tears welling in his eyes.
What the fuck just happened?
Bitty makes up his mind fast. He moves in front of Kent and carefully unfurls his hands from his shirt and uses them to pull him towards the supply closet of the room that they are in. Great, Bitty thinks, my old friend. He pushes aside whatever aversion he may have to small, dark, enclosed spaces, for the sake of Kent. He turns the light on and locks the door, before turning back to his boyfriend.
His boyfriend who is now sitting on an overturned crate, eyes wide, with breaths coming fast. His hands are clutching the crate, hard enough that Bitty thinks if he did it any tighter there might be blood.
Bitty has never seen Kent have a panic attack before, but he’s pretty sure it looks a lot like this.
“Can I touch you baby?” Bitty asks slowly and clearly. In response, Kent’s eyes scrunch tight and he gives a single nod, breaths still coming fast.
At this, Bitty maneuvers his way into Kent’s lap in a way that makes it so that they are facing each other. He wraps his arms around Kent and feels him do the same, albeit much more hesitantly, in response. One of his hands makes its way into Kent's hair, tugging lightly in an attempt to ground him, while the other draws lazy circles on his back.
"You're okay. It's okay. Just breathe, baby," Bitty whispers, but his words can only do so much. Kent's breathing hasn't really slowed, nor have the tears stopped sliding down his cheeks.
Both of Bitty's hands come up to wipe the tears that have appeared there, before deciding to keep them there. He holds Kent's face in a way so that he has to look him in the eye. Has to focus on something that isn't whatever awful thoughts just appeared in his head.
"Hey sweetheart, do you think you can breathe with me?" Bitty asks.
It takes Kent a moment to register what he had just said, but he slowly and minutely nods his head yes, all while keeping his eyes glued to Bitty's face. Bitty's heart stutters before he remembers what he's supposed to be doing.
"Okay," Bitty says, "okay, great, um—" he closes his eyes for a moment to think. He takes one of Kent's hands and rests it flat so that it is in the middle of his chest. He continues to hold his other hand between them. "I used to do this thing? When I was stressed out— or scared, I guess?"
"Right so, we are going to inhale for four seconds," Bitty watches and counts quietly, as Kent inhales, "and then hold it for four seconds," he continues.
And bless his heart, Kent is trying to concentrate so hard, but his erratic breathing is still attempting to push through.
"Now, exhale for four seconds," Bitty says, doing it along with Kent, "and hold for four seconds again. Then we just keep repeating that."
Bitty feels Kent's hand move against his chest, as if trying to see if Bitty is still breathing along with him. Bitty's heart is hurting for all the wrong reasons, but he continues to repeat the prompts to Kent and count him down, in an effort to allow him to use his brain as little as possible in this moment. After a few minutes of this, it's clear that Kent has regained his ability to breathe properly, for the most part.
"Kent, can you look at me?"
Kent opens his eyes now, but they're glassy and faraway. Bitty feels as though he isn't so much as looking at him than looking through him, at this point.
"Hi baby," Bitty says, trying to smile a little, but he can feel that it's watery and not all there, "do you think you can make it through the rest of work today?"
At this, Kent's eyes do snap to attention and immediately get misty again. Bitty can see his lip start to tremble as he shakes his head vigorously.
"Okay, okay, hey," Bitty begins to smooth Kent's hair down, trying to tame the riot of blonde sticking up in every direction. "I'm um- I'm gonna call an Uber for you okay? And then I'll meet you at home in a little bit?" Bitty says it like a question, more so than the order that it actually is.
He orders the Uber on his phone and waits for the driver to turn onto their street before he, quickly and quietly, opens the door to the closet. He peaks out to make sure the coast is clear before coaxing Kent out and to the front of the building.
He's able to get Kent into the Uber and on his way home much quicker than he initially expected. He's confident that Kent will be able to get upstairs and into his apartment without much issue, but there's no way that Bitty is gonna let Kent deal with whatever the fuck just happened all on his own.
_X_
Kenneth Victory Parson was thirteen years old when he met Jacques Laurent Zimmermann for the first time.
“Call me Jack,” Jack muttered, sticking his hand out and avoiding eye contact.
“Kent,” he whispered, wide-eyed and holding his hand out to shake Jack’s.
Kent took his hand and never let go. From that day forward, they did everything together.
It was easy enough; Kent’s mom was always busy with work and Jack was an only child whose parents cared, but were busy running the family empire. They kept each other company during the loneliness that came with having families that operated within this business.
Inseparable as they were growing up, Kent always felt as though Jack would leave him eventually. He was the son of a crime boss; if he didn’t leave of his own volition, the family business would surely pull him away eventually.
That didn’t stop Kent from wanting— and god— did he want.
They shared everything with each other— food, clothes, the occasional training tip— and, as the years went on, other things— secrets, beds, spit moving from one tongue to another.
Those days were the happiest that Kent had ever experienced. Home school with tutors and weapons training during the day and spending time with Jack at night; It was all Kent could really ask for.
The training was rough though; both he and Jack doing much of the same, but it always had meant something different for the both of them. Jack was being primed to take over his family’s company, his father thinking that the earlier he trained, the better. Kent, on the other hand, was being trained to take over as head of security for his mom when it was time for her to retire.
They both had plenty of time before either of these things were put into place, but the future loomed over them, large and daunting.
When they turned 17, things went to shit.
Kent thinks he was partly right, when all was said and done. The family business did take Jack away from him, just not in the way that he thought it would. The pressure of taking over was what pushed Jack over the edge and Kent was helpless to do anything but just sit there and watch.
Watch as Jack would leave meetings with his father in a flurry of panic, eyes half-glazed over and breath heavy.
Watch as Jack would curl up in his bed, unmoving, even as Kent would snuggle behind and whisper reassurances in his ear.
Watch as Jack locked himself in his bathroom and took too many of his anxiety meds.
Watch as Jack’s near-lifeless body was carried out on a stretcher.
Kent’s life began to fall apart that day, but it didn’t come crashing down completely until almost a week later.
Security for Jack’s hospital room had been tight all week, having more guards than Kent had ever seen used for a single room before during the entirety of his training. They hadn’t let him in, despite his pleas, so he took to sitting in the waiting room for hours on end waiting for any news until the nurses had to come and kick him out eventually.
When he walks up to Jack’s room today though, only two people stand there to greet him.
“Kent,” Bob says, his arms wrapped around Alicia’s shoulders, “we’ve been waiting for you.”
Kent’s eyes flicker to Alicia, her eyes rimmed red and her voice hoarse. She sniffles and wipes her nose and his stomach is on the ground in an instant.
“Jack's gone, Kent. We’re so sorry. He—” She’s saying something, but Kent’s ears have filled with cotton. He’s underwater. He’s drowning.
He doesn’t want to stay for the rest of this conversation, but he can’t move. He can’t breathe.
He thinks he might die.
There are tears running down his face, but that doesn’t matter. Nothing matters anymore. He falls to his knees and sobs in the middle of the hospital hallway. Alicia and Bob are standing beside him and trying to comfort him while they’re also mourning their son.
Fuck, Kent is a horrible person isn’t he? He’s being selfish. He should be comforting them. He’s trying to get the words out, but he thinks he might just be sobbing louder. Harder.
He can’t breathe.
His chest hurts.
He turns to Bob and Alicia, but his vision is going black around the edges and he can’t hear what they’re trying to say. His ears are ringing too loud and he feels himself losing consciousness fast.
The last thing he remembers seeing are their splotchy, tear stained faces as they cradle him in their arms.
Kent wakes up in his bedroom, oddly enough. He doesn't remember getting here, but memories of the morning immediately come flooding back to him. He wishes he was unconscious again.
Before he even has time to begin freaking out, his mother appears at his side, looking more concerned than he's seen her in a long time. She reaches up to brush some hair from his face and lets her hand settle on his cheek, something she hasn't done since he was a child.
"You're not going to be okay for a long time, and that's fine," she whispers, "but one day you will be. Until then, I'm going to be here to help you pick up the pieces."
His eyes tear up a bit at his mother's words, unsure of what that entails exactly.
Karen Parson was not generally a warm and fuzzy person. She was a tough love kind of parent who worked constantly, so Kent was basically a latchkey kid most of his childhood. When they finally did get to see each other, they tended to butt heads more often than not.
Which made her words all the more shocking. He wonders what he must look like to elicit such a reaction.
Probably like someone whose boyfriend just died. Which— yeah, that's about what he feels like too.
"I feel like I'm falling apart," Kent whispers, his voice cracking around the words.
"I know," she whispers, before leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead "I know, baby."
_X_
Bitty stays at work for another thirty minutes before he ducks out, giving some excuse about allergies or a stomach ache or something like that. He’s honestly not sure what he says as he is quite literally running out of the office.
He passes by Shitty giving Jack a tour of the office and doesn’t miss the slight furrow of Jack’s eyebrows as he runs past.
Bitty drives probably far too fast for 11 a.m. on a Thursday and arrives at his apartment in record time. If he’s being honest, he’d be super impressed with himself if he wasn’t so worried about Kent. He jogs into his building, forgoing the elevator to take the stairs instead, taking two at a time before opening the door to his apartment and is being greeted by silence as he toes off his shoes and hurries down the hall to his bedroom.
The door is cracked open, a lump under the covers visible, the duvet pulled far higher than usual.
“You awake, honey?” Bitty whispers as he places a hand on the lump of blankets.
Kent makes a pained noise, but otherwise doesn't move. Bitty moves to sit on the edge of the mattress behind him.
“Hey, what happened back there? What’s wrong?” Bitty asks.
Kent is silent for a few moments before finally speaking up.
“I haven’t seen him in years,” he starts, “I didn’t even know he was still fucking alive.”
“What do you mean, baby?” Bitty says softly, almost like he’s trying not to scare a feral animal away. It doesn’t really work.
Kent sits up quickly from his position on the bed, “I mean, that his parents left me in the fucking dark. They just let me believe that my boyfriend was fucking dead.”
And— oh. Things are clicking into place now.
Kent had talked about an ex at one point. The two of them had been drinking a little bit, both of them pleasantly tipsy. Kent spoke about it slightly detached, almost as if it had happened to someone else and not him. It was all very vague and Bitty hadn't wanted to pry, but he thinks he might understand why Kent had looked like he had seen a ghost earlier– It’s because he had.
Kent starts looking a little wild around the eyes again, similar to earlier in the closet at work. He’s not in full blown panic attack mode yet though, so Bitty decides to try something a little different.
“Hey baby,” Bitty says, brushing some hair back from Kent’s forehead, “look at me.”
Kent’s eyes darted over to Bitty’s face, relaxing slightly at the sight of him.
“Can we try something? You trust me, yeah?” Bitty says, grabbing Kent’s chin.
Kent nods without saying a word.
“I want you to get undressed and start the shower, I’ll follow you in a few minutes.”
Bitty picks out Kent’s pajamas, a pair of briefs and another one of his own shirts for Kent to wear. Something soft and worn. Something comfortable.
He makes his way into the bathroom, already steamy from the shower, and strips his own clothes. He sets them in a pile with Kent’s discarded clothes on the floor.
Kent, meanwhile, is facing the mirror, arms crossed in front of him. He’s got a weird, hollowed out look on his face when Bitty moves to stand behind him and wrap his arms around his waist.
“C’mon, let’s get in the shower, sweetheart.” Bitty says, pressing a kiss into Kent’s shoulder.
Kent turns slowly and lets Bitty lead him to the shower. He pulls Kent in after him and lets him stand under the scalding water first.
He watches as Kent’s eyes slide shut, his skin turning pink from the heat. He watches as the rising and falling of his chest slows to a manageable speed. Watches as the water runs down, down, down, along with, hopefully, some of the weight on Kent’s shoulders.
Kent’s eyes are still closed as Bitty trails his fingers up and down his sides. Goosebumps follow in their wake and Kent shudders at the contact. Kent's eyes flutter slightly as Bitty’s hands find their way up to his hair. There’s a slight pop before Bitty gets some of Kent’s fancy shampoo and starts lathering into his hair, the bubbles forming quickly as the scent of lavender fills the shower.
“Breathe, baby,” he says. He hears Kent take a shaky, yet deep breath; In through his nose and out through his mouth. “Good boy.”
A small whimper falls from Kent’s mouth. Bitty can feel him start to go pliant under his hands as he finishes up the shampoo and moves onto washing Kent’s body.
Bitty lets his hands wander, massaging up and down the smooth planes of Kent’s body. He notices as Kent becomes more and more lax. Bitty can’t help it as a never ending flow of praise and reassurance tumbles out.
“That’s it, sweetheart,” his hands brush over Kent’s hips, “That’s it, let me take care of you. Can you let me do that?”
Kent’s eyes slide shut as he nods his head, mouth parting slightly.
“So good for me. So pretty.”
Bitty runs his hands down Kent’s body, washing lightly, not wanting to push things further. He knows what Kent needs and right now and it isn’t that.
“Does this feel okay?”
“Mhm,” Kent hums with a nod of his head, eyes still closed.
“Can you look at me for a second baby?”
Kent listens and opens his eyes slowly. There’s water clinging to his lashes and his eyes are rimmed red. Bitty runs his fingers across his cheekbones, smiling slightly when Kent leans into the touch.
“There’s my boy,” Bitty says, standing on his tiptoes to kiss Kent’s forehead.
“Let’s finish up and get you rinsed off, yeah?”
Kent nods his head and allows himself to be moved under the steady stream of water. While Kent is decompressing, Bitty takes a moment to wash his own hair and body. He looks up to see Kent looking at him through glassy, half-lidded eyes. Bitty’s heart pangs knowing that Kent is somewhat in his safe-place, but not under the circumstances he would normally prefer.
He quickly rinses the soap from his body and shuts the water off. After getting himself situated in a towel, he beckons Kent forward and does the same, focusing more on drying Kent off than he had himself. His hair is still dripping on the floor as he swipes the towel across Kent's body and scrubs at his hair in an attempt to dry it.
Once Kent puts on the pajamas that Bitty had set aside for him they climb into bed, already far too tired for it only being one in the afternoon.
They are facing each other when Bitty asks, "How are you feeling now baby?" His arm is slung across Kent's waist before moving up to cup his face and stroke his cheek.
"Mmm, tired and floaty," Kent hums and lets his eyes slide shut at the touch. "Thank you for taking care of me today," he whispers, as if the task of loving him is a struggle for Bitty. As if Bitty doesn't actively have to stop himself from trying to crawl into Kent's skin because of how much he loves him.
Bitty's teeth start to ache, the way they do when he's trying not to cry.
"I would burn the world down for you," Bitty answers, but Kent has already fallen asleep.
_X_
Kent calls in sick to work for the rest of the week and Bitty doesn't blame him. After he had had his panic attack, Kent ended up sleeping for a total of eleven hours that evening. He could tell that Kent was absolutely exhausted and needed to rest as much as possible and he was determined to make sure he got it.
Bitty, on the other hand, had to go back to work. Which was absolutely not what he wanted to be doing.
He never actively hated his job. In fact, he loves it more often than not.
This month, however, is testing the shit out of him.
"Bitty and Jack!" Shitty says, startling Bitty out of his thoughts, "I have you on that big fundraiser for this weekend! It'll be good to have you two on a case together."
Of fucking course.
Bitty fights the frown that threatens to break onto his face before looking at Shitty and nodding, but he can feel Jack's eyes on him. He sneaks a glance over at him, but by the time he does, Jack is already facing forward again, stone-faced.
So basically, Bitty gets to spend an entire evening with his current boyfriend's ex boyfriend. Awesome.
By the time Shitty has finished giving out this week's assignments and the meeting adjourns Bitty is exhausted. He can't believe he still has to work the rest of the day. He suddenly wishes that these meetings were at the end of the day rather than at the beginning. He makes it to the coffee maker in the kitchen and has a few peaceful moments to himself before he's accosted by Lardo.
"Hey so, what the fuck was that?" Lardo asks, as they lean against the counter next to where Bitty is standing, watching the Keurig machine fill up his cup ever so slowly.
He manages to peel his eyes off his mug, the scent of coffee finally filling his lungs and giving him the energy to respond, like a car running on gas fumes, "What was what?"
"Whatever your reaction was to being put on that case with Zimmermann. And where the hell is your boyfriend?" They say, crossing their arms and facing Bitty fully. He sends them a withering look, but they are undeterred.
"First of all, I detest the fact that you can read me as well as you do. Second of all, you know that that's a secret, so maybe a little bit of discretion? Please?" The coffee machine splutters indicating that it's finished and burns be damned, Bitty takes a sip immediately. Not the usual pain he likes to be inflicted upon himself, but he'll take it where he can get it right now.
"Bro, first of all," Bitty cringes, knowing immediately that he's fucked up, due to the tone they are using, "comes with the best friend territory, so watch the attitude, actually. Second of all, I fear that most of the office knows and just lets the two of you run around in blissful ignorance because they think it's funny that you think they don't know." Lardo pauses, looks down at Bitty's cup and back up, "third of all, did you not put any creamer in that?"
Bitty takes another scalding sip and cues up another cup in the machine, knowing he's gonna need another one after whatever this conversation is about to be.
"I put the creamer in first so that the coffee mixes it as it pours," Bitty glances at them and shrugs, "too lazy to clean a spoon afterwards."
"Fair," Lardo says, "Any response to the other two points or are you just gonna let those hang?"
"Ugh," he sighs and puts his mug back under the machine. "Do I have to?"
"Dude."
"Okay fine- I'm sorry about the attitude. I've gotten like, negative sleep recently," Lardo cocks an eyebrow at that and Bitty snort, "Not like that. Opposite of that actually. Kent's been—" Bitty bites his lip and ponders how much he should actually say. Lardo is his best friend, but they are also dating the boss. Not that that's a huge problem or anything, but this also isn't exactly Bitty's trauma to tell. Lardo wouldn't say anything to anyone, but that's besides the point. "Kent's been going through some stuff and it's not something I can just snap my fingers and fix. Seeing him stressed out has been making me stressed out. Hence, the lack of sleep and bitchiness."
"And your issue with Jack?" They ask.
The machine splutters again and Bitty grabs his mug.
"A boy can have his secrets, can't he?" He grins, but even he can feel how strained it must look to them.
"Whatever you say, man," Lardo says, patting Bitty on the shoulder. They turn to head back towards their office before stopping in the doorway to the kitchen. "Let me know if I can help with anything."
Bitty nods, but turns to face the coffee machine before mumbling, "God, I wish you could."
His coffee tastes bitter.
_X_
The mission is going fine. Or as fine as it can be really. Bitty and Jack are standing on the second floor, overlooking some elaborate fundraising gala. The floor is full of rich politicians, washed up celebrities, and billionaires who are probably planning on donating not even a fraction of their wealth to whatever fucking cause is being touted today. A real stand up bunch, if you ask Bitty. He's just about finished with his mocktail when he hears Jack clear his throat and begin to speak.
“Hey Bittle, you’re friends with Kenny, right?”
Bitty doesn’t know how to answer that question truthfully, without giving away too much information, so he settles for a mumbled, “something like that,” as he fiddles with the gun in his hand, making sure that it’s loaded for the third time.
Jack nods at his response, taking it in. It seems like he has more he wants to say, but he’s hesitating, a look that doesn't quite suit his face. After a moment he speaks up again.
“I suspect that ‘something’ is a little bit more than friends, eh?” Jack says, a soft smile gracing his face, almost like he’s reminiscing. Bitty thinks he looks better like this, rather than his usual blank stare.
“You sound like you speak from experience,” Bitty’s prying, he knows he is. He needs to stop. Kent wouldn’t want him meddling, but there’s something about Jack’s demeanor that makes Bitty want to keep talking to him.
“Yeah,” Jack scrubs the smile off of his face, “well– look how that turned out.”
Bitty is surprised he’s bringing this up now. He was, after Kent’s retelling of things, expecting Jack to deny any and all relationship claims.
Jack looks over at Bitty once more, before averting his eyes, “Did he, uh, did he tell you what happened?”
“Vaguely? If you know Kent as well as I think you do, you know how he is,” Bitty says,
“Suffers in silence, but wears his heart on his sleeve?” Jack smirks as he says this.
“That’s the one,” Bitty smiles and then looks back at Jack. “I think he also wanted to be respectful of whatever the two of y’all went through. He didn’t tell me any more than he needed to.”
Bitty can’t help but notice that Jack looks– sad? More sad than anyone who broke Kent Parson’s heart ever deserves to look.
Jack opens his mouth to speak, but looks away before speaking again.
“We- uh,” Jack starts, “We were together when we were younger, I’m sure you’ve heard that, yeah?”
Bitty nods before realizing that Jack still isn’t looking at him, “Yeah, he told me that much. I know that y’all dated until your um… accident?”
“Until I OD’d, yeah.” Jack says, finally looking up at Bitty, “It’s okay, it’s less of a sore spot than it used to be. It was an accident, but it happened nonetheless.”
“I’m sorry,” Bitty starts, “I can’t even imagine all of the shit you’ve been through.”
Jack shrugs, “Family business isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, y’know? Some people handle it better than others. Clearly I didn’t,” Jack clears his throat, “euh— handle it very well.”
“But Kent still went on?” Bitty asks. He’s still not too clear about Kent’s beginning in the business, just always assumed he had picked it up out of necessity.
“He did,” Jack says looking down at his hands, “My dad had pulled some strings for him, talked to some friends to find some positions. Not that he really needed the help. Shit, he’s got a better shot than I do and he’s meticulous as hell- and the things he can do with a knife? Unmatched.”
Bitty watches as Jack’s eyes light up as he’s talking about Kent. He feels a pang in his heart knowing that this is the way that he talks about Kent now. Which is, huh, something.
Jack is still talking about Kent’s skills when he glances over at the soft expression on Bitty’s face, “Sorry, ah, you probably already know all of these things. All things considered.”
“No, no, it’s nice to have someone gush about Kent as much as I constantly want to. I think it’s really sweet,” Bitty pauses, “I think he deserves to have people who care about him in his life, because Lord knows it hasn’t always been that way.”
They’re both quiet for a few moments, before Jack speaks up again.
“I never stopped caring about him,” Jack says, fiddling with his hands, “Not that it probably matters now, but it’s true.”
Bitty watches Jack’s face for a few moments, before he places one of his hands on Jack’s shoulders, “I think it still matters and, for what it’s worth, I don’t think Kent ever stopped caring about you either.”
Jack’s eyes screw shut and his face looks pained. He takes a few deep breaths before opening them again. Bitty hadn’t realized how fucking blue they were until right this moment.
“You guys should really talk sometime, I think you would both benefit from it.”
“Yeah, well,” Jack huffs, “I’m not sure how we can even manage that, considering the fact that Kent won’t even acknowledge my presence in the office.”
“Right, well…” Bitty trails off, “Maybe— maybe I can try to help facilitate that?”
Jack glances over at Bitty for a moment before speaking again.
“I can’t ask that of you, Eric. I don’t want to put any strain on your relationship and I genuinely don’t think Kenny wants to speak to me.”
Bitty thinks about that for a moment, “Well, give me a little bit. Let me bring it up to him and I can let you know. There’s no reason you should both be miserable about this whole situation.”
“I’d like that a lot,” Jack smiles at Bitty, but his eyes give away more, “thank you, by the way.”
“What’re work friends for, eh?”
Jack snorts at the mimicry before standing and offering a hand down to Bitty.
“Ready to kill a billionaire?" He says, a smirk lining his features.
“Why, Mr. Zimmermann, I thought you’d never ask!” Bitty exclaims, his voice bright as he takes inventory of the gun shoved into the back of his suit pants and twirls the little ring full of poison on his pinkie.
It's going to be a fun night.
_X_
The next few weeks are a blur for Bitty.
He tries to bring up to Kent the fact that he and Jack had a conversation about everything on multiple occasions, but every time he starts, he freezes up. It’s a bit awkward. How are you supposed to get your current boyfriend and his ex to reconcile? Is he even supposed to do this? Is this like, a no-no in the relationship handbook? Taboo? A bit unorthodox? Who knows.
All Bitty knows is that while Kent has been a bit better about seeing Jack at work, the second he gets home, he’s so emotionally drained from having to pretend that things are okay. He's tired all the time now and just manages to shove whatever Bitty makes for dinner in his mouth before getting into bed and immediately falling asleep. Bitty hates to see him like this, but he just can’t seem to find the right time to bring it up to him.
That is until this week's case management meeting.
"Alright team! Listen up!," Shitty exclaims, "We have a few big cases coming up, some real high profile marks. Therefore, we are going to need to be on our 'A' game."
Bitty glances over at Kent, who glances back at Bitty. His eyes have bags under them and his skin looks more pale than it used to be, but god he is still so beautiful. Bitty's heart pangs as he manages to slip a small smile on his face, which Kent returns. Maybe once they get their new marks, things will go back to normal. Back to business as usual.
They haven't had time to play their little game recently and Bitty thinks it may be about time to bring it back. Kent deserves to unwind a little bit.
"Okay!" Shitty claps his hands together and takes a clipboard from Ford, "Ransom and Holster, you're going to be working with Lardo to find an in at the upcoming fundraising gala for the mayor that's happening downtown. We need to find an entrance to get you guys in and out without being noticed and then you'll work with Camilla to put together some disguises."
Bitty looks over to find them high fiving. Ha, boys.
He finds himself zoning out for the next few announcements. That is until he hears Shitty mention a multi-week case, which are quite rare and tend to need more preparation than their normal ones. He perks up when he hears his name, which is followed by Kent's, followed by—
"—And Jackie boy!" Shitty exclaims.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Kent go rigid. Bitty himself doesn't pay much attention to the rest of the meeting. His heart is pounding in his ears and he's too busy keeping an eye on Kent without drawing too much attention to himself. He's praying for Shitty to talk even faster for once.
The moment the meeting is over Kent is turning on his heels and practically running out of the room, his eyes downcast. Bitty stares after him, debating whether chasing after him right now is a good idea or not.
He doesn't notice Jack standing right behind him until he makes his presence known.
"I can talk to Shitty and get taken off of the case," he starts, "I don't want to make Kent uncomfortable, especially on such a lengthy case." Bitty turns to look at him and realizes that Jack honestly doesn't look much better than Kent did right before he ran out.
He reaches out and squeezes Jack's arm, in what he hopes is a comforting gesture. He's not sure he succeeds though because Jack's face just gets a bit tighter and more pale. Oops.
"No honey, that's okay. Let me talk to Kent first." Bitty says, a smile, that he hopes looks somewhat genuine, pulling tight against his lips. He suddenly feels exhausted. "Maybe it's about time you two boys have your chat."
_X_
Getting Kent to agree to talk with Jack was much easier than Bitty had expected it to be. He had thought it would be like pulling teeth, trying to get Kent to say yes and well— Kent didn't necessarily want to talk, but he understood the necessity to make up enough so that no one's work was affected. Bitty was always in awe of his dedication to this job and this is no exception. Perhaps this would be the first work related reconciliation of exes in the company's history.
And so, here Kent and Bitty are, sitting on Bitty's couch, waiting for Jack Zimmermann to show up. It's awkward. More awkward than he would ever like it to be in his house ever again and it's at this exact moment that he begins to regret even bringing this idea up to Kent.
Kent's eyes look hollow and it's clear that he is more in his own head than he is present in this room. Bitty is about to open his mouth to say something, but is cut off by the buzzer for the lobby door. He buzzes Jack up and paces by the door for a few moments until there's a knock.
Bitty opens the door and Jack takes a few steps into his apartment, also looking nervous as all hell. Kent doesn't even attempt to get up from the couch, his eyes cast downward and leg bouncing non-stop.
Jack stops in his tracks when he sees how nervous Kent looks; he’s stepped into the room enough for Bitty to close it, so he does so before Jack can turn on his heels and high-tail it out of there. He flinches a bit at the sound of the door latching shut, like it’s the click of a gun sealing his fate; although if Bitty is being honest, he thinks Jack would probably prefer the gun at this moment.
Bitty sets a hand on Jack’s back and gives him a light push forward, “Go on and take a seat, Jack.” He points to a chair next to the couch, as far from Kent as it could be. Bitty thought it would be best if he sat between them for the time being, considering that he has no idea how this will go.
Bitty looks between the two boys finding their anxiousness quite evident. So much so that Bitty almost regrets bringing them together for this talk
"Okay, sooo," Bitty trails off, hoping one of them will break the awkward tension that has built up. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be so lucky today. "Right, okay— so clearly, there is a lot of history here." He glances between the two of them, both of whom are still averting their eyes. "And I'm not going to pretend to know or understand everything that went down way back when, so maybe y'all can enlighten me?"
"Well Jack died, allegedly, and now he's back, so-" Kent says, "Surprise!"
"Okay, well let's be more cordial than that-" Bitty starts, before he is cut off by Jack.
"Really, Kenny? That's real mature of you-"
"Oh because pretending to be dead to get away from your shitty boyfriend is soooo mature-"
"Fuck you, Kent! You can't even imagine what I was feeling at that time, so I don't want to hear it!" Jack exclaims, finally able to get out a whole sentence.
“You let me think you were dead! Imagine how that fucking feels!”
“I did die, Kenny. I was dead for two minutes!” Jack runs a hand through his hair and sighs, “I didn’t want to keep dragging you into my shit.’
“I was your fucking boyfriend! Your problems were my problems! I wanted to stick around, I wanted to fucking help you!” Kent yells.
Jack is quiet at this, so Kent continues, “you always thought that your burdens were so heavy and you would never let anyone help you. You wouldn’t let me help you,” Kent’s voice starts to get thick as he looks away from Jack.
“They weren’t your burdens to carry,” Jack says through a sigh, “We were both stupid teenagers with our own problems and you shouldn’t have had to deal with mine on top of your own.”
"That wasn't your choice to make," Kent says, huffily.
"Well, I made it," Jack says, "and I can't take it back now, so."
"So?"
"So, I'm sorry, okay? I couldn’t face you after everything was said and done. I’m sorry things went the way they did.” Jack continues, “I asked Maman and Papa to hide everything from you, but they didn’t want to do that to you. You were like their second son.”
Kent finally lets out a wobbly breath.
“I’m sorry,” Jack whispers, “I’m so so sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”
“Neither of you did,” Bitty speaks up now, compelled by some part of him that feels responsible for whatever heartbreak is happening right now. “I think that you were both under a lot of pressure and that wasn’t good for either of you.”
Bitty wraps his arms around a distressed Kent and watches on as Jack goes stone faced in front of him. God, there’s so much past between the two of them and the thought of this going south absolutely terrifies him.
He wants to fix this, he really does. He’s not sure he can, but he's gonna fight like hell regardless.
“You guys can’t close up on each other like this, not again. I will not allow it while y’all are under my roof.” Bitty says, hoping that he isn’t overstepping or pushing anyone’s boundaries too much. “Clearly, the two of you have a lot to say to each other, but y’all yelling over one another is not helping.” Bitty squeezes Kent’s hand and slides his eyes over Jack. “Why don’t one of you start and— and I’ll try to mediate.”
Both Jack and Kent are looking at him now, wide-eyed, willing him to continue the conversation from whatever awkward pause they’ve come to. Kent and Jack’s eyes finally meet and Jack sighs, “Kenny can start.”
Kent sucks in a breath at this, but straightens up and braces himself for whatever words he’s about to say. He takes a few moments before he starts.
“Jack.” He whispers, “What happened between us fucking wrecked me.”
It’s Jack now that straightens at this. He looks like he wants to speak, but keeps his mouth shut and lets Kent continue.
“I went on with training and people kept telling me how fucking good at this job I was going to be, but I had already failed. I had no idea how they could sit there and tell me that I was going to be this great successor to my mother, when I wasn’t even able to keep you alive and protect you from yourself.” Kent’s eyes start getting watery again, but he pushes forward.
“But it wasn’t—” Jack starts, before Bitty jumps in.
“Hold on, let him finish.” Bitty says softly, nodding at Kent to continue.
“I knew you were hurting and I knew that this business was hard on you, but I thought that if we could just make it to eighteen, we could figure it out. That we could leave." Kent lets out a heavy breath, "But then we started fighting all of the time."
"I love— I loved you so much. I lost my best friend and my boyfriend in one fell swoop and I had no idea how to deal with it. I threw myself into work, thinking that at the very least, I’d still be able to work for your parents in some capacity. I was hoping that we’d be able to help each other work through the grief, but they would hardly speak to me. I figured it was because I brought up too many bad memories, but clearly,” Kent says, smirking and gesturing towards Jack, “that wasn’t it.”
“I was hurting so badly for so long,” Kent slides his eyes over to Bitty at this and smiles wryly, “I’m doing a bit better now though. Therapy does wonders for your mental health, who knew?”
“Seeing you walk into our meeting was definitely a shock. It felt like some cruel joke that someone was playing on me and I had so many emotions all at once. I was relieved that you were alive, but also so angry and confused. Did you know that I worked there?” Kent asks Jack, finally allowing him to speak.
Jack shakes his head, “I didn’t know until right before I was pulled in for the meeting,” he says, “Ford had mentioned that I would fit right in and said I could expect to be put on a team with Bittle and Parson at some point. I had all of three seconds to gather myself before I saw you. Needless to say, it was still a bit of a shock.”
“Ha! Tell me about it! I couldn’t even look at you for the first few weeks, because I wasn’t sure if I was going to burst into tears or yell at you,” Kent chuckles wetly, “clearly, it was both.”
"Look, I don't want to hate you, Zimms. I don't want to fight. Fuck— I just fucking miss you and I want to be your friend again. I miss my best friend." Kent lets out a heavy sigh and scrubs a hand down his face, "I'm not saying that it will be easy or that I won't be a total jackass about it sometimes, but I'd— I'd like to try to be your friend again. I think I owe it to myself to at least try."
Bitty thinks his expression might be mirroring the one on Jack's face; It's something close to shock, but maybe also tinged with some hope? Bitty isn't sure.
Kent turns to look at Bitty, a small smile gracing his lips— something that Bitty hasn't seen in quite a few weeks, "Okay, Bits. I think I'm done for now."
"Well then—" Bitty clears his throat, "um, Jack? Your turn."
“First off, I just want to start by saying that nothing that happened to me was ever your fault,” Jack says, as Kent lets out a shaky breath, “and I’m so, so sorry that I ever let you think that. That anyone may have let you think that. You deserved so much better than to be left in the dark.”
Bitty sees that Kent gives a quick nod of acknowledgment.
“There was a lot of pressure on the both of us to succeed and, fuck, it just became too much for me to handle,” Jack runs a hand through his hair before starting again, “I never meant to OD. That was an accident, I swear. I never would’ve wanted to put you through that. I just— the voices in my head got too loud and the pressure became too much. I just wanted it all to stop for a little bit, but I went too far and—”
Jack pauses, clearly overcome with the memories of that night. Bitty reaches his other hand out, the one not holding onto Kent, and puts it on Jack’s knee, rubbing small circles. Kent squeezes Bitty’s hand and Jack looks surprised for a moment, before his face calms again.
He closes his eyes and starts, “When I woke up in the hospital, I felt so guilty for all of the shit I had just put everyone through. I was embarrassed, I didn’t want to face anyone after that.” Kent makes a wounded sound at that.
“Permission to speak, Bits?” Kent pipes up and Bitty huffs a laugh. He glances at Jack who gives a quick nod of approval.
“Permission granted, Mr. Parson.”
“Zimms, you have nothing to be guilty or embarrassed about, whether or not it was an accident. I never would’ve held that against you,” Kent says, “Fuck, I don’t think I would’ve left your bedside until you were better.”
“See, but that was part of the issue! I didn’t want you to wait around for me to get better. I wanted you to go and live your life, without me holding you back. I felt like a walking disaster, like if I continued the way I was going, I was gonna crash and burn even worse than I already had.”
“I didn’t want to live without you!” Kent yells, and Bitty squeezes both of their hands in response. Kent’s eyes widen as he realizes what he’s said, his eyes shifting to Bitty before settling back on Jack. “Sorry, I’m sorry, that’s not what I—”
“It’s okay, Kenny, I get it—"
"No— it's not," Kent sighs and scrubs his fists at his eyes, "I just— life was hell without you. I was in a shitty place afterwards. Having you in any capacity, whether it be a boyfriend or a best friend, would have been fine for me. Thinking you had died? That really fucked me up. "
"I told my parents not to let anyone see me. I talked them into telling everyone I didn't make it, because if I didn't exist, neither did all of the pressure," Jack says, "Obviously, hindsight is 20/20 and adult me is way more kind than teenage me. I'm sorry I even let you think that." He continues, "My dad dissolved the company after that. He finally decided that his family was more important than the business. Sucks that I had to almost die for him to realize that, but I'll take what I can get, I guess," he says with a shrug.
"I'm glad that Maman and Papa still have you around. I was so worried about them when I thought you were gone. They looked about ready to fall apart at the hospital." Kent says. Jack looks down at his hands, almost guiltily.
"They were upset about almost losing me, yes, but—" Jack pauses before he steels himself and pushes through, "You were like a second son to them. They loved you and were heartbroken to have to push you away."
"Oh," Kent says, glassy eyes wide and unblinking.
Kent and Jack are just looking at each other now, having some kind of unspoken conversation that Bitty is no longer privy to. He thinks, distantly, that maybe he should be jealous of the way they are looking at one another, but he can't really find the energy within himself to care.
"Like I said, teenage me was an asshole and I was selfish and I was just so angry at the world. I was angry at you for being a fucking natural, while I felt like I was constantly drowning." Jack scrubs a hand down his face before sighing, "It was so weird after my OD though. I was being constantly doted on by my parents all of a sudden; my mom had always been there for me to an extent, but my dad? I was lucky if I talked to him once a week and then, just like that, I couldn't get any space from either of them. It was as if they suddenly remembered they had a kid. It was annoying for a bit, but then I realized they just wanted to support me as much as possible. It was… nice, I guess, to be cared for in that way by them." Jack continues, "Once the shock of having everything put on hold wore off, life was okay, for a bit."
Jack stands and starts pacing back and forth, "But then I started to miss it. This job it— it works its way under your skin, for better or for worse, and I found myself actually missing it. I think having some distance from it and actually getting some attention from my parents worked wonders. Well, that, and therapy. I still get anxious, obviously, but less so about work stuff, specifically." Jack stops in his tracks, glances at Kent and then Bitty and then back at Kent. Bitty thinks that he can see the thoughts swirling in Jack's head, until one finally wins out and he speak it into existence.
"And then there was the lack of, well, you. I thought that if I got back into this business, we would cross paths again. Eventually.""
"What, didja miss me or something?" Kent lets an easy smirk slide onto his face, but Bitty can tell that it's watery at best.
"Of course I missed you, Kenny," Jack says, eyes wide, "How could I not?"
The smirk falls right off of Kent's face, seemingly as tenuous as Bitty had thought.
"Can I hug you?" Kent whispers, his eyes not leaving Jack's face.
In lieu of a verbal answer, Bitty watches as Jack opens his arms, his head giving a slight nod in affirmation. Kent's up just as quickly and steps into Jack's arms, his head fitting itself right into Jack's neck, almost like it belongs there. Jack's arms are quick to wrap around Kent, one hand coming up to cup Kent's head. Bitty can see the way Jack lets his fingers tangle into Kent's hair, gripping it tightly and squeezing. He can hear a quiet flurry of French and although he doesn't understand a lick of it, he hears a thick snort-laugh come from Kent, whose face is still pressed into Jack's neck, followed by a whispered "don't I know it."
They look so beautiful together, is one of the brief thoughts that crosses Bitty's mind as he watches them embrace for the next few moments. There are a few others, but those are for him to examine for himself later, thank you very much.
As he sits there he tries not to move or make a sound, for fear that he will break them out of whatever truce they have come to. His eyesight starts to get a little blurry, but he's not upset; on the contrary, he's quite happy. Happy to see Kent happy. Happy to see Jack happy. Just happy. He wipes at his eyes quickly, and as his vision clears, he sees Jack watching him. There's a weird look on his face, one that Bitty can't yet decipher, but one that, at the very least seems somewhat puzzled. Kent turns to look at him then, a small, tentative small resting on his face.
If possible, Bitty would say that Kent's face softened even more when he laid eyes on him. His eyes seemingly no longer clouded with the same amount of sadness that was there before. There's my boy, Bitty thinks to himself.
Kent turns back to Jack and says, "We can uh— sit back down now," as he moves back to his seat on the couch. Jack follows shortly thereafter, looking slightly awkward, but at this point, Bitty thinks that may just be his default. Kent takes Bitty's hand back into his, bringing it to his mouth before kissing the back of it.
"So, how're you two feeling now?" Bitty asks.
Kent and Jack look at each other now in a way that is not timid or afraid, like they are waiting each other out. They watch one another with a sort of hesitant trust, before they both turn to Bitty at the same time. The weight of their gazes upon him is heavy and and he feels warm from having all of the attention suddenly thrust at him. Bitty looks between the two of them, ping-ponging his eyes back and forth.
"Well?" Bitty asks as he settles his question firmly at Kent.
"I think— Well, I don't think everything is magically fixed per-se," Kent starts, eyes quickly shifting to Jack, "and my therapist is going to have a hell of a time next week, but I think we can work with this."
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Jack's shoulders drop just a fraction of an inch in relief followed by a shaky exhale.
"I'd like that," he says, "I'd like that a lot."
Bitty sees a smile fall onto Kent's face in response. He lets himself smile at this, which only causes Kent to break into a full force grin.
And when Bitty looks over at Jack, he can see him watching Kent with a small smile of his own.
_X_
“Kenny, can you focus please? We need to do exactly what Shitty told us to, if we want to finish this without causing a public scandal.”
“I'm actually very good at following instructions, I'll have you know.” Kent says, lining up his shot as he peers through the crosshair.
Jack snorts at this which causes Kent to huff indignantly, take his hand off of the trigger and turn to Bitty.
“Bits, babe, can you back me up here?”
Bitty glances between the two: Kent starts to line back up for the shot and Jack stares at him expectantly, waiting for an answer, one eyebrow raised.
“Believe it or not, Mr. Zimmermann, Kent is very good at following instructions,” Bitty says, his statement punctuated by a muffled gunshot.
“Fucking got ‘em, c’mon let’s move,” Kent says.
“Probably a little too enthusiastically, sometimes,” Bitty laughs, as he and Jack start to grab all of their gear. Kent is already at the door of the apartment that they were staking out in, his gun hidden in the guitar case that he has slung across his back, and taps his foot impatiently.
“Hurry up you two,” Kent starts, “and stop flirting. The feds will be sniffing around here any minute now.” Bitty meets Kent's eyes, sees a little sparkle in them and laughs. He quickly finishes gathering his stuff before he runs up to Kent and plants a kiss on his cheek. Jack isn’t far behind him with his own equipment and they leave the room shortly after, locking up as they do.
They exit through the back door as planned and don’t hear any sirens yet, which is a good sign. They all split up and go their separate ways, getting a few blocks away before they inevitably meet up with each other again.
Kent and Bitty reach the rendezvous point first: a little alley tucked between an old Chinese food restaurant and a little, secondhand bookstore.
Kent is leaning against the grimy wall with his hood pulled up when Bitty walks up.
“Excuse me, sir,” He drawls, laying his accent on thick, “Is this spot taken?” Bitty sidles up to Kent’s side and sneaks an arm around his waist, pulling Kent in to face him.
“Hey,” Kent huffs out. He’s smiling so big that it makes Bitty’s heart hurt from how much it wants to burst right out of his chest.
“Hey, baby,” Bitty says, his hand reaching up to tug at Kent’s hair. He smiles as Kent’s mouth parts slightly and his eyes go half-lidded. “You did so good today.”
“Yeah?” Kent asks, smiling slightly.
“Yeah, so good,” Bitty praises, leaning in to kiss Kent as he presses him into the wall.
“Hey, lovebirds,” a voice calls, the familiar Canadian lilt causing Bitty to laugh into Kent’s mouth, “Let’s head back to the office, eh? I heard there’s some crazy shit happening a few blocks away and I’d like to avoid whatever that is.”
Bitty pulls away from Kent’s mouth to look at Jack properly. He looks beautiful standing right outside the alley, bathed in sunlight and warmth and— and he’s smiling at them. It’s a small, closed mouth thing, but Bitty knows Jack well enough by now, that he can see the genuine happiness shining through.
In the meantime, Kent’s mouth has latched onto Bitty’s neck biting and sucking softly, seemingly more interested in the task at hand than getting back to work. Bitty feels giddy all of a sudden, the adrenaline of what they just did still coursing through his veins. He winds his fingers through Kent’s hair to pull him off of his neck and takes him by the hand instead, starting to run towards Jack, whose eyes widen slightly.
“C’mon, you two,” Bitty says, grabbing one of Jack’s hands with his free one, “Let’s go get something to eat before we head back!”
He’s steering them further down the street and away from the scene that they caused, not turning back to look at either of them until they are at the crosswalk; While they wait for the lights to change, Bitty spins to see the two of them with matching looks on their faces.
“Why’re both of y’all looking at me like that?” He asks, finally letting go of their hands, a blush rising slowly on his cheeks.
In lieu of an answer, Kent and Jack turn to glance at one another, as if they were seemingly unaware that either of them were looking at Bitty with any sort of look. They smile and Bitty can tell that they are having one of those wordless Parson-Zimmermann conversations that have been happening more and more frequently between the two of them, before turning back to him.
“No reason, babe,” Kent says, speaking first, his eyes bright.
“‘No reason’ my ass,” Bitty mutters, before he turns to Jack, who is still smiling, “What about you, Mr. Zimmermann? Care to share with the class?”
“It’s nothing, Bittle,” Jack’s eyes slide over his shoulder to see the ‘WALK’ sign begin to flash, before speaking again, “Now, let’s go. I think I saw a café a bit further up the road!"
“Jack, I swear, if you are about to walk me into a Starbucks, so help me god,” Bitty giggles, grabbing one of Kent’s hands and twining their fingers together.
“Aww, c’mon Bits,” Kent says, “Have some faith in the man! He knows you better than that.”
Bitty watches as Kent bumps shoulders with Jack as they make their way down the crosswalk and towards whatever cafe Jack has in mind. The two of them are laughing and Bitty can't help but feel a small flutter in his chest as he watches them.
Bitty smiles and squeezes Kent’s hand. Kent looks over at him and gives him a squeeze in return; On Kent’s other side, Bitty can see the way Jack is looking at both of them, a soft smile on his face. Bitty’s heart feels so full, it’s stupid. He should probably examine why that is at some point, but he is far too preoccupied to do that now.
"Okay, okay, lead the way!" Bitty says, laughing around the words, as Kent and Jack pull him towards their destination. He thinks that he would follow these two wherever they want to lead him.
And maybe that's okay.