#x jp

This was going to be a problem. That was what Leo kept thinking as he at a table close to where JP was working. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the man, felt impossible to try, and the longer he looked at his ex, the more desire he felt for the man. Fuck…why had he thought this was a good idea? Seeing JP looking so damn hot in his formal clothes, perfectly fitted to his beautiful body, well…it was literally making Leo feel hot under the collar. All he wanted to do was walk over to JP, kiss him fiercely, and see how much better those formal clothes looked on the floor. It didn’t matter that they were at a public event; they could find somewhere private to go and let off this tension. 

But Leo needed to control himself. This was a fucking wedding, he couldn’t go making a fool of himself and start thinking with his dick. But that was the thing: when it came to JP, he never thought with just his dick - he thought with his heart too. And that was what made this whole thing truly dangerous. Still, Leo couldn’t resist anymore, so he downed half of his beer before striding over to JP. “Hey, looking good,” he told the man, touching his back lightly. And Leo couldn’t help himself: he leaned in and whispered, “And by good, I mean super fucking hot.”

Leo hated that he was feeling like this right now. It had been 22 years - why was he still getting so worked up? His parents had been dead for well over half his life now, yet just a brief conversation about them with Ryker had been enough to make him feel like he'd been stabbed in the gut, his insides spilling out all over the floor. This kind of thing shouldn't still be happening, and it made him feel weak. On the other hand, there was a part of him that just kept thinking, Leo, my guy, you really need therapy. That was definitely a true statement. But that was something to worry about later. Right now, Leo's focus was on keeping himself from completely losing his fucking mind. Get your shit together, Leonidas, he kept thinking, smacking himself in the face as he glared at himself in the mirror, just hard enough to sharpen his senses and ground himself. Yeah...he definitely had some issues with regulating his feelings.

And now Leo had pulled JP into it. It was bad enough that Leo seemingly couldn't stop flirting with him despite JP being unavailable (Leo was no homewrecker...well except for one time, but he didn't know the guy was married until after). But now JP was driving roughly two hours from his trip to LA just to calm Leo done. He felt like...such a child. The least he could do was have the pizza that JP wanted (even though Leo was not a fan of mushrooms). He ordered the largest pizza he could as well as the largest order of breadsticks available, and when the food arrived, he was a bit stunned. I'm not sure what you expected, he thought as he set the food down on the kitchen counter. Now all he had to do was wait for JP to arrive, telling himself to not flirt (or at least not a lot - he was still him). That wouldn't be as hard as usual though because right now, Leo's mind was racing and his heart was pounding.

Yeah...he needed therapy.

The first time that Leo saw him, he caught his eye immediately. It wasn't just that he was handsome - though he was, exceedingly so - but rather that he looked so familiar. Even at a distance, Leo had that sense that the two of them had met. While unlikely, it wasn't impossible. Leo had traveled all over the country, had been to all 50 states (yes, even Hawaii and Alaska, though the latter visit hadn't gone as planned), so there was a low but non-zero percent chance of running into someone he'd met on his travels. But what were the chances? It wasn't like Carroll was some social hot spot or trendy locale. It was nice, but it didn't feel like the place people would escape to, except for some celebrities Leo was learning. And if this guy were a celebrity, he had kept that to himself. But Leo didn't think so. If it was who he thought it was, this guy had been much more grounded. And if it were that man, then...well, he was incredibly memorable for all the right reasons. Just thinking about that was making Leo more than a little turned on.

It wasn't until the two men finally saw each other up close that Leo realized he was right. It was his break, and normally Leo would go out back to smoke, but this time there was a very rowdy bachelor party blocking the exit that way. And sure, Leo could have moved them out of the way, but he was just not in the mood for that right now. So Leo went out front, which meant he went past the bouncer. Cigarette in his mouth already, Leo went to walk by while rummaging in his pocket for his lighter, and when he looked up, the two of them made eye contact, and Leo immediately recognized him. "Holy. Fucking. Shit!" Leo exclaimed, surprised by how immediately he smiled. "JP! Fuck, I never thought I'd see you here." Leo was similarly surprised that the man's name came to him immediately, but again, JP had been memorable. "What are the chances of this?" Leo asked, regaining the little bit of composure he'd lost upon recognizing JP, playing it cool now (hopefully). "You want one?" Leo asked, holding his pack out to the other man. All the while, Leo's skin felt like it was on fire being this close to a man who had rocked his world enough to remain a strong presence in his memory even a year later.

This was like something out of a nightmare. That was what Leo had been thinking every waking second since he'd found out that JP was in the hospital. Sure, Leo knew about the man's heart problems, but It was always one of those things that seemed to be just a minor concern, not something to really devote a lot of energy to. But that was done now; from now on, Leo would worry about it frequently, if JP woke up that was. When he wakes up, Leo corrected silently. He's going to wake up.. Sitting next to JP's bed, Leo looked at the man, speaking aloud this time. "You hear that, John-Paul?" he said. "You're going to wake up, okay? You don't have a choice." If Leo had any say in it, he wasn't going to let this be it for JP. But the problem was that Leo didn't have a say in it - this was all up to JP now.

Visiting JP had been hard because he didn't want to intrude on other peoeple's alone time with him, plus there were rules about visitation. Often Leo came and spent hours here, but a lot of that ended up being in the waiting room, staring at the TV on the wall but not really seeing it. It was wild that Leo couldn't fathom a life where JP no longer existed when he hadn't even seen the guy in a long time. Leo had voluntarily left, yet now the mere thought of never seeing JP again was too much to bear. Leaning forward, Leo took JP's hand in his own and pleaded urgently, "Please wake up." He was not surprised to feel tears running down his cheeks.