wine stains

only if you're mine, too

Jack feels like he can not get to his apartment fast enough. It is Friday, and traffic is as bad as it can get. He decides on parking the car a block away and grabbing everything he needs. That is his wallet and phone, the carefully crafted bouquet, the earrings, the bottle of wine, and the dessert.

The curly head stuffs the earrings, wallet, and phone in his pockets and practically runs to Zach's building. The elevator could not move fast enough for him. Walking down the hall to his apartment felt like walking through the desert. Jack somehow manages to ring the doorbell. He can practically smell dinner. Time suddenly slows down.

Zach opens the door, and it takes everything within Jack to not drop everything and kiss him to death. The brunet was in sweatpants and a shirt with a pretty pink apron over his clothes. It hugged his figure perfectly.

It's Jack who breaks their stare-off. He breathes in and smiles. "Hey." He hands him the bouquet. It was a fairly simple arrangement. It had three burgundy roses and three white roses. The rest was mere foliage to enhance its overall beauty.

The brunet cracks the pearliest of smiles as he accepts the bouquet. "Hey there. Come in." He steps aside and allows Jack to enter. Only now does Jack notices the white bunnies on his slippers. Adorable. "There's some slippers for you too." He points at the ground, and sure enough, there were some slippers.

Jack quickly toes off his sneakers and puts on the matching bunny slippers. "Lovely slippers." They chuckle.

Zach closes the door and guides Jack to the kitchen. He sets the bouquet on a jar and carefully caresses the petals. "You didn't have to." He looks at him.

Jack sets down the wine bottle and the dessert and shakes his head. The table was carefully set with a vanilla scented candle slowly burning and a white table cloth over the plates. "What kind of person would I be if I didn't give my date some flowers?" He questions him.

Zach blushes lightly and goes to the stove, where the pasta was cooking. Jack gets behind him and lightly pins him to the stove. "Are you sure you don't need help?" His tone was teasing. He was messing with him.

The brunet's breath hitches, and he freezes as he feels Jack's presence behind him. "Y-You can open the wine if you want to."He says quietly.

Jack nods and steps out of his personal bubble. Zach points at the cutlery drawer so he can pop open the bottle. The lawyer carefully opens the wine and pours them two glasses.

He hands one to Zach, who sips a bit. He hums, delighted at the taste. "How much did you spend on this wine? It's really good." He looks at the color it's almost burgundy. "It must be very old, from the colour..."

"It was a gift. I had it laying around at my place. I think it was the mayor who gave it to me." He furrows his eyebrows, trying to remember who offered it to him.

Zach turns off the stove and mixes the pasta with the pan that Jack has been oggling for the past minutes. He sets it on the table, and they both sit in their respective places.

"Mr. Avery," He starts. "This is my speciality..." Zach serves him. "Melt-In-Your-Mouth chicken. Enjoy." He serves himself, and they clink each other's glasses.

Jack takes a bite. It does melt in his mouth. Zach looks at him expectantly. A deep groan echoes out of Jack's mouth. "Fucking hell." He grunts. "It's like my taste buds are having an orgasm."

Zach chuckles, a slight blush in his cheeks. He, too, takes a bite and quietly hums.

Jack tries his best not to inhale his food. "It's like my grandma's cooking, but better."

The brunet smiles widely. "My grandma did teach me some stuff." Jack hums and keeps eating. They eat in a comfortable silence.

Once they're done, they start cleaning up. Zach moves to grab Jack's plate and ends up accidentally knocking the wine glass when he gets too close to the candle.

The burgundy liquid creates a small splosh and infiltrates in the fabric of Jacks hoodie. "Oh no!" Zach gasps. Jack lifts the glass and quickly moves to clean the mess.

"It's fine, really, we can still clean it." Jack tries to scrub it away. However, it wouldn't budge.

Zach looks at him, absolutely horrified. "I'm really sorry! I should've been more careful!" Jack grabs him lightly by the wrists.

"It's fine. It was looking too plain either way." He smiles lightly as he sees Zach's expression slowly softening. "I have tons of hoodies like these. It'll be okay." He reassures.

"But I ruined it." He pouts.

Jack kisses his forehead. "You personalized it and gave me an awesome memory from our date." He points out.

Zach looks at him with a never seen before tenderness. "And you're sure it's fine?" He asks. Jack nods. Zach nods back, understanding.

They go back to cleaning their dishes, with Jack insisting on doing the dishes. Once he's done, he sets the dessert on the table as Zach grabs two smaller plates.

Jack pauses before he opens the box and pushes it to the side to have a full view of him. "Before we eat dessert..." He hesitates to continue but pushes all nerves away when Zach looks at him with warm brown eyes. His gaze sets on Jack's shaky left hand that rests on the table. The curly head nervously sets a small box in front of Zach.

The brand was engraved on the top of it. The brunet looks at it, and Jack can see the exact moment it clicks for him. He decides to get it out before Zach can even think of formulating a word.

"Be mine." He isn't even sure if it was actually him who said the words. He can see Zach's eyes shine as his eyes water.

The brunet sat there, completely frozen in place, staring back at Jack's nervous form. He blinks once, and his brain reboots.

Zach opens his mouth, and a huge grin settles on his face. "Only if you're mine as well." He whispers.

Jack smiles too as he lets go of a breath he didn't know he was holding. He stands up and lunges at his now boyfriend. He presses their lips together in a languid kiss. Both couldn't stop smiling into it.

They pull away, and Zach opens the box. He gasps. "Jack!" He covers his mouth."They're so beautiful!" He hesitantly touches the studs.

Jack smiles widely. "Great. That way, you can match." He withdraws one from the box. Zach quickly removes his earrings and allows Jack to put in the new ones. The curly head kisses his temple.

Zach grabs his face. "Stop being so cute, I'm gonna die of embarrassment. He whines.

The curly head chuckles and pecks him. "Dessert is waiting." He smiles.

Zach sits up on his chair and allows Jack to open the box. It was a small red velvet cake decorated with strawberries on top.

***

They sit on Zach's couch as the brunet turns on his television. Jack pulls him to his chest and covers them as the brunet chooses a movie.

"Maybe this one? I love movie adaptations of Jane Austen's books."

Jack nods, just happy to have him beside him. Zach plays the movie and makes himself comfortable against Jack.

Mid-way through the movie, Jack yawns and does the classical move of putting his arm around him. Zach chuckles as he turns to him. Jack could perfectly see how the stud diamonds reflected the TV light. It illuminated his face in such a beautiful way.

Jack moves his free hand to caress his face and they slowly lean in. He sees the exact moment Zach closes his eyes and braces himself for their kiss. Jack smiles but doesn't kiss him just yet.

The brunet cracks one eye open and huffs. "Jack." He whispers. The other man hums. "You were supposed to kiss me." He pouts adorably.

He hums once more. "If that's what my darling boyfriend wants..." Zach's breath hitches in his throat. "Who am I do deny him?" He joins their lips in a gentle way.

The brunet hums in a content way as he lets himself be engulfed by Jack. He goes as far as even pulling him more towards him by the hoodie. They part breathless and keep kissing as they sharply intake air into their lungs.

"Stay." Zach requests between kisses. "I don't want tonight to end."

Jack nods as he grabs him by the back of his neck and kisses him harder.