You Mean The World To Me

Wednesday

...

  Jeremy sets off from the apartment to meet with his team's coach. He arrives at the restuarant right when Kevin does, practically bumping into him at the door.

"Kevin! Hey!" He steadies himself and grins at the tall man in front of him.

Kevin looks up from the ground at the person he almost collided into, "Jeremy." He's breathless, having not seen him in person in so long.

"It's good to see you." He steps in and reaches his arms up for a hug. Kevin meets him halfway and tightly wraps his arms around his waist.

Jeremy reluctantly pulls away and then extends his arm towards the restaurant, "Ready for this?"

"Yeah. Let's go." He opens the front door and motions for Jeremy to go inside first. They walk to the table with their coach. The man stands up from his seat to shake their hands.

Once everyone is seated, he explains, "It's nice to meet you two! You understand I wanted to sit down and talk with our team's new big shots."

"Of course." Jeremy listens intently.

"I will be seeing you guys tomorrow at our facility. We'll introduce you along with some other newbies to the whole team and our staff. And we'll get some practice in."

.

They enjoy their lunch as they get the rundown on their contract, schedule, rules, and everything.

Their coach shakes their hands once more when they're done. He walks out of the restuarant ahead of them.

Jeremy and Kevin slowly make their way outside as well.

"Can we talk a bit before we go our separate ways?"

"Sure." Kevin puts his hands in his pockets and follows alongside Jeremy on the street.

"So do you have a place?"

"I'm in a hotel right now. My agent has suggested good places but... money is a big factor."

"Mm, yeah. You should get some roommates to split rent with, like me!" Jeremy smiles up at him and shields his eyes from the sun with his hand, "Is the hotel good at least?"

"It's decent actually."

"You are gonna come over sometime for dinner, right?" He slightly nudges him with his shoulder.

"Yeah. It's okay if I do?"

"Of course Kev! We're all friends."

He nods slightly. The idea of Jean considering him a friend is hard to wrap his head around. He supposes they could be friends like old times, yet better now.

But then there's Alex, does he really consider Kevin a friend? Things seem complicated from his perspective. Maybe for Alex it's not. He guesses it's not a bad thing to try and be friends. If he can handle Neil, who is one of his closest friends, then he can handle Neil's much nicer brother. Speaking of Neil, he hasn't talked with him since he has left PSU. Or Andrew, or any other fox for that matter. Only texting his dad, and Jeremy. He's been sulking in his hotel room, lost in his thoughts, if he's completely honest.

"...Kevin." Jeremy stops walking and turns to him.

"What?"

"I said I should get home- it's this way." He points around the corner, "How are you getting back?"

"I'll take a taxi."

"Is that what you've been doing?"

"Yeah, it's efficient." Normally he loves walking and getting easy exercise but he's spent his nights in the city so far, out drinking at bars. And getting taxi rides back to his hotel. Sometimes he doesn't want to deal with the loud noises and annoying people along the way.

"Okay then. I'll see you tomorrow?" He looks up at him expectantly.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He nods and gives Jeremy a genuine, soft smile. After receiving a smile back he watches him disappear around the corner.

.

When at their place Jeremy searches for Jean and Alex. He peeks in their room and finds them on their bed.

"Hey!" He didn't realize how much he missed them in the short time he was gone.

"You're back!" Alex turns to see Jeremy, "Come in."

"You guys go on that date?" He pushes open the door and walks to the bed.

"No, we're just hanging out here. How was the meeting?"

"Fine." He gives a thumbs-up to them.

"Yeah?" Alex smiles and pats the bed on his left, "Lay with us." Jeremy happily climbs up and lays in between the two.

"How's Kevin?" Jean questions from next to him.

"Oh, he's good, yeah. It was nice seeing him, and I get to see him again tomorrow!"

Jean turns his head and gives a small smile to Jeremy, "Good."

"Um guys, are we going to tell him?" The idea of explaining that they're dating pops into his head.

"About us? I don't know. Why?" Jean scans his face.

"Well I mean I'm finally with you guys. Let's say we're hanging out with Kevin and I forget to keep my hands to myself, I wouldn't want to freak him out!"

"Well he's not homphobic." Jean outright says. Alex barks out a laugh from beside them.

"That's good to know. But... I'm not even worried about that."

"What are you worried about?" Jean nudges him with his leg to explain.

"He won't be jealous, would he?"

"What?" Jean blinks at the ceiling.

"I guess because we're all dating and stuff."

Jean briefly wonders whether to get into Kevin's... large 'admiration' for Jeremy. He decides against it.

He grunts, "I don't know if he's that petty. But, we can just wait to tell him."

"Yeah. We'll get to it eventually." Jeremy feels more reassured.

"Wait." Alex speaks up, "Jere you said you're 'finally' with us?"

"Well yeah. I guess I've had a crush on you guys for a while now and we're finally together." He fiddles with his hands.

Alex laughs and turns on his side, "Really? Did you like us from way back when became friends?"

"I did think you two were hot when we first met. And now look at us!" Jeremy turns and threads his fingers in Alex's hair. Alex pulls him in and plants a kiss on his forehead. He raises his eyebrows at Jean.

"Look at us now."

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