Family Ties

Part 10

Jackson threw himself back into his office chair again. He'd been pacing for the last half hour, practicing how to ask Raymond out to coffee, but everything sounded so stupid the moment it left his mouth. Leaning his head back, he looked over to Raymond who was engrossed in his work. Every now and then his lips would move as if reading aloud and a frown would cross his brow.

He groaned again. Why was he so obsessed with a kid he didn't even know from a bar of soap a few months ago? And then it was a kid with a kid!

"Cook." He called Raymond in before his nerves gave way. When Raymond was standing in front of him with that usual smile, Jackson's mouth went dry and it felt like his tongue was glued to the roof of his mouth. "What about some coffee?" he blurted out.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll get you some immediately." Raymond responded in surprise, turning to leave the office.

"No, I meant going out for coffee." Jackson clarified, his heart still beating at a thousand miles a minute.

"Okay, I'll make a reservation for you and ask the driver to meet you outside." he smiled, pulling out his phone.

"No, I meant the two of us going for coffee." Jackson finally got his head in the game. "Do you want to go out for coffee?" he clarified.

"Oh?" Raymond looked confused at the request. "If you want to talk about work, I'll order some coffee from downstairs." he tried again, not sure what Jackson wanted exactly.

"No! Do you want to go out to have coffee with me?" Jackson said slowly, hoping that this time they were on the same page.

"Oh!" Raymond almost jumped back in surprise, finally realising what Jackson was asking.

"Well?" Jackson asked a little more sharply than he intended to. His nerves were frayed from watching Raymond standing there mulling things over, his face not giving any indication of what was going on in his head.

"Well, er... Thanks for the invitation, but I'll have some coffee while I'm going through the reports." Raymond blushed slightly. What was up with Jackson? Yes, he's mellowed out a lot, which had improved things at work and in business greatly, but he was still Jackson.

"Look, the reports can wait. Let's just go out to coffee for a change." he grinned, getting up to pull on his jacket. Raymond looked at him in surprise and automatically moved toward him to straighten his tie.

Jeez, this guy is really cute, Jackson thought as he was looking down at Raymond. His breath caught in his throat as Raymond's hands smoothed over his shoulders before he stepped back with his usual smile. The smile had Jackson staring at Raymond's beautiful mouth and full bottom lip, which he really wanted to kiss.

"Right, coffee it is then, boss." he nodded still smiling.

--

Jackson decided to cave and take Raymond to Asuka's. Hopefully, she wouldn't embarrass him at all this time.

"This is nice," Raymond observed as they were seated next to a wide window overlooking the cobble-stoned street, with people milling about, looking at shops and stalls in the pedestrian precinct. He was surprised that Jackson would even know this type of coffee shop existed, let alone go to one. It was definitely not his usual upmarket joint.

"Eh, yeah, a friend of mine runs it." he grinned at Raymond, happy to be sitting opposite him.

"So, why are you inviting me out to coffee?" Raymond cut to the chase.

"I-well, I..." Jackson was a bit floored by Raymond's direct question. "I just thought it would be nice to get out and get to know each other."

"You've seen my CV. I'm not sure what else there is to know about me." he shrugged, glancing out to the street.