Seeing Jan shrugging on his jacket in the hallway, Nace is suddenly struck – not for the first time – by just how much he dislikes the sight of his turned back.
“I know you have to go, but...” He trails off, struck by the realisation that he has no idea what to say – it’s not like he’s planned this, after all.
Jan turns to him with a smile. “Igor’s going to change the locks if he thinks I’ve actually abandoned him.”
The ridiculousness makes Nace laugh, which in turn makes Jan’s smile widen, and for a moment he’s fully distracted with his guitarist stepping up to hug him close one last time today.
That realisation brings him screeching back to his thought.
“Fair, but... what if you bring him back with you?” he suggests, face half buried in Jan’s hair. It’s still damp around the ends and smells like Nace’s own shampoo. “Like, come back tonight with him. You’d just have to drive back to Ljubljana for practice tomorrow, anyway.”
Jan leans back to look at him properly, expression suddenly unreadable.
“That’s really kind, Nacko, but it’d be a lot of disruption for a single night.”
Once upon a time, Nace would’ve backed straight off at those words. He would have babbled some excuse and never brought it up again, all the while inwardly cursing himself for being so stupid.
But that was then. He’s still learning to accept that he really has found a place for himself, both with the band and with Jan, who has been clear about his interest ever since that first awkwardly-angled kiss over the gearstick when Nace dropped him home after a gig. It might be early days, and he might be blurting this all out off the cuff, but he reminds himself that Jan’s arms are still looped around his neck and that his lips are still within kissing distance.
“Then stay longer,” he says with a confidence he tells himself is genuine. “We’ve got interviews the day after, and that event in the evening. You might as well come over for a few days. Both of you.”
Jan says nothing for what feels like an eternity, just watches him with that same inscrutable gaze that might make Nace waver and collapse into apologies if he wasn’t holding himself so firmly by his words.
When Jan does speak, his voice is quiet. Almost uncertain in a way Nace has never heard before.
“You won’t mind?”
He shakes his head probably too vigorously. “Not at all. I’d like it.”
For a moment, Nace thinks maybe that’s wonder on Jan’s face, before he pushes the idea aside. It can’t be, not for someone like Jan.
“Well... your bed is pretty big. I wouldn’t want you to feel lonely.” Jan smirks. “I can’t guarantee Igor won’t try to smother you in the middle of the night though. In a friendly way.”
Nace laughs, thinking of all the times Igor had seemed to prefer him to the mattress in the middle of the night. “I’m competition for his dad’s attention. It’s only fair.”
“So I’ll come back about... four?”
Nace nods. There’s something bright and giddy welling up inside him, but he still can’t resist teasing him. “I’ll see you at six then.”
“Fuck off,” Jan laughs, slapping him playfully on the arm. Judging by the way he reels Nace in for another kiss – and by the way it takes him another ten minutes to get out of the door – he doesn’t actually seem to mind.
