side job

4

Life had gone really well after Jonathan came out to Ted and Charlie. They had met up with all of their significant others and had a house party, where Ezra and Jonathan snuck off to a bathroom for a sneaky link.

Everything was going great, until Ezra came over shouting at the top of his lungs. "That motherfucker!" Ezra screamed.

Jonathan jumped at the sound of the mans angry voice. He closed his laptop, forgetting about the video he was editing immediately. Ezra threw his phone onto the bed, and Jonathan snatched it up quickly.

OnlyFans was pulled up, and Ezra's subscriber list was on the screen. After a moment of skimming, Jonathan's eyes widened. "Is that your ex?"

"Not only did he subscribe, but he had the audacity to threaten to expose me if I didn't collab with him!" Ezra felt his anger turn into panic. "I don't know what to do!"

Jonathan shook his head in confusion, "Ez. You need to report him to the police, like, immediately. Did you screenshot his messages?"

The boy nodded, his lip slightly protruding as his attempt to not cry failed. Jonathan pulled him in for a hug, squeezing him as the boy sniffled. He pulled back and kissed Ezra's forehead. All he could do was try and reassure him that the police would handle everything before all of his information would be leaked.

"Contact the authorities. Try and push him away for as long as possible. If the authorities haven't handled him by then, just keep compiling evidence. You'll have to work with him until the police can get to him, Ez." Jonathan explained calmly. He needed to be the strong one in this situation, and make sure that nothing ruined their happy little lives.

Ezra begun screenshotting all the conversation that they previously had, where he had made it obvious that their personal and professional relationship had ended, and eventually the mans threats to expose his identity.

Printing them off was Jonathan's idea, because he wanted to present evidence the authorities could keep immediately. Ezra stood to the side as Jonathan put them in order and annotated them. He didn't want the police to be sloppy with this.

Thankfully the messages were through text, so the man couldn't see if they were being screenshotted. Ezra handed Jonathan a folder to put all the paper in.

Unfortunately, Jonathan had plans to spend the rest of the day filming videos with Charlie and Ted so he couldn't go to the police station with Ezra. It took a lot of convincing from Ezra for Jonathan to accept that he couldn't cancel on filming, especially since they hadn't filmed in a long time.

The pair had installed Life360 on each others phones a few months ago, after Ezra was a part of a sketchy situation while he was shopping downtown. Having the app helped them keep an easy mind whenever they were apart.

Jonathan had already let Ezra know he'd be keeping tabs on his location since he was extra nervous about the situation. Who knows what that sleezy guy has planned for Ezra. They live in LA, so wild things happen frequently.

Schlatt could not get himself to focus as much as he wanted to while filming. After they had finished an episode with Pokimane, Ted pulled Schlatt into the bathroom to talk.

"What happened in there, man? You barely talked and were a little snappy to Charlie at one point." Ted rushes, feeling like a mother scolding her son. The video would need lots of editing to make it look like light-hearted fun.

Jonathan shrugged. "Honestly, I should've just let you two do the interview and pretended to be sick. I've got shit going on in my personal life that's making me pretty uneasy. And not being able to check my phone hasn't helped."

"You know we wouldn't ever get mad at you for not being able to film, Schlatt? We're not corporate monsters, you know." Ted joked to try and lighten the mood. "Take as much time as you need to check your phone, okay? Whatever is going on that bothers you this much really must be important."

Jonathan smiled weakly at his best friend. "Thanks, man. I'll make sure to talk to Charlie to let him know it wasn't personal at all."

Ted nodded before excusing himself out of the bathroom. Schlatt locked the door before whipping out his phone and looking at Ezra's updates.

A lot of the messages were random updates that weren't important, like how the office was cold and how the investigators smelled like moth balls. Jonathan opened Life360 to see that Ezra was home, and had just arrived.

It helped the man relax more, knowing that his partner was safe at home. Hopefully Ezra could get a restraining order against his ex. That would be the only way Jonathan would worry less about Ezra's safety.

After leaving the bathroom, Jonathan returned to the filming area. Imane had already left, probably due to a busy day of commitments.

"Sorry for being a bummer today. Guess I wasn't in the best mood today. If you feel like we need to refilm I'll do better." Jonathan looked at Charlie, "And I'm sorry if I was being extra mean to you. I didn't notice until Ted told me."

Charlie chuckled and pulled Schlatt into a hug that he didn't know he really needed. It felt nice to have Ted and Charlie there for support. They didn't even need to know the situation to understand Jonathan was clearly struggling with something.

Jonathan found himself grinning as he drove home. Ezra had success reported his ex, and Jonathan's friends really showed their support even though he was being an asshole.

As Jonathan pulled into the parking lot, he noticed a random car had parked in his spot. Huffing, Jonathan took a picture of his license plate so he could call management and let them know someone was in his spot. The couple paid a hefty bill to reserve that spot. so he was absolutely going to enforce it.

Mumbling to himself about idiots in the parking lot, Jonathan fumbled with his keys as he unlocked his apartment door.

His keys fell to the ground as his hands slapped over his mouth at the sight in front of him.

Clothes were scattered everywhere. They were practically in a trail towards the living room. Jonathan slowly walked over, tears already flooding his eyes as they meet with Ezra's.

"What the fuck?" Jonathan cries as he watches Ezra scramble from on top of his ex.

They both scrambled to cover themselves. Ezra was pleading with Jonathan to just listen and that its not what it looks like.

Unable to find words, Jonathan grabs his keys and angrily storms out of their apartment.