Therapy Session (Mac Prison)

Thirty Three: "Date"

(SOOOO sorry for the lack lately. Writers block had been a bitch.)

Throughout the day, Mac avoided Jesus pretty thoroughly. Every time he saw the younger man he'd go in the opposite direction as him. Despite his talk with Rick earlier, he wasn't sure if he'd be ok being seen with Jesus out in public. Ok, he knew he wasn't ok with being seen out in public being intimate with another man. But fuck, his conscience had been nagging him to go see Jesus in the library. And he had told Trisha about his problem, and she had advised him to go meet up with Jesus. This entire situation was frustrating to Mac, and he hated being frustrated.

He was walking casually down the corridor towards his cell block when he heard the telltale sound of crutches hitting the floor. He growled mentally, but before he could turn around, he heard laughter, including one voice that Mac knew well.

Negan.

When Negan and Jesus rounded the corner, all smiles, Mac froze. Shit, he couldn't just ignore Negan.

When Negan caught sight of Mac, his smirk widened as he strode with Jesus. "Liquor Store Mac! How are you doing?" He demanded, broad smile brightening his face.

"'M good." Mac mumbled. "You?"

"I'm doing alright. Just talking to Paul here. Come, walk with us." Negan invited, smiling at Mac, though Mac knew that this wasn't an invitation. It was a demand.

Mac fell into step on Negan's other side, and they walked in silence for a few seconds before Negan turned to glance at Jesus. "Do you two know each other?"

Mac urged his body to control itself and to keep his cheeks from tinting pink. Oh yes, they knew each other. A little too well for Mac's comfort.

Jesus smiled a little. "Yeah, we're cellmates, actually." He said.

"You lucky bastard." Negan laughed. "Getting bunked with the funny guy."

Jesus chuckled. "Yeah," then he glanced at Mac. "Hey Mac, do you still have that book you borrowed? I kinda need that back soon."

Mac knew this was code for "do we still have a date". Mac bit his lip, and knew that Negan was watching. He couldn't fuck this up. He had been debating on whether or not he should go, and he was mostly leaning to not go. But Trisha's words wouldn't stop echoing in his head.

"I think that what you're going through is just a need to rely on someone, a need to be able to tell them anything whenever something pops into your head. And maybe Jesus is that person you want to trust."

But he couldn't meet Jesus in public. There was too much risk for that to happen. Maybe they could meet up in their cell? After all it was a private place.

"Uh yeah, I do. I'll give it to ya tonight. I'm on the last chapter and I kinda wanna finish it." Mac said, glancing at Jesus and hoping he'd catch the hint.

Jesus nodded in understanding. "It's a good book, right?"

Mac snorted. "If it weren't I wouldn't be readin' it."

Negan glanced between the two of them, just as Dwight and Eugene were walking forward. He smirked, and glanced down at the other two guys. "Well I hate to run, but I gotta. I'll see you two later." He said, speeding off to Eugene and Dwight.

Mac avoided eye contact with Jesus and just kept walking. Eventually they passed the rec. room, so Mac slipped inside and closed the door, letting out a sigh of relief.

Some time later that night, everyone was called to their cells. Mac was already in his, and was sitting on his bed, shifting uncomfortably. His "date" was soon, and fuck, Mac had no idea what to do or what to expect. What did Jesus expect? Were they going to talk, and if so, about what? Would Jesus want a make out session? Mac found that thought to be a little ok, and that he wanted to kiss him just a little bit. But just one, no more.

Suddenly the cell creaked open, and Mac shot up into a sitting position. Jesus swung his way into the cell, carefully closing the door before smiling friendlily at Mac, and taking his seat on his bunk. Mac didn't know where to look or how to sit or whether or not he should breathe.

Paul, on the other hand, was smirking softly at Mac's awkwardness. He arched an eyebrow at the older man, who's cheeks were getting a red tint to them. He chuckled a little, which seemed to make Mac tense up. In truth, he really had been excited to meet Mac in the library. But now, seeing Mac extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed, he realized that maybe Mac was feeling pressured into being around him.

"Hey, Mac," Paul murmured. Mac grunted low in his throat, almost too softly to be heard. "You don't have to hang out with me if you don't want to. You know that, right?"

Mac took a deep breath. "I-I wanna." He whispered. "Jus', um, not all at once."

Paul smiled softly. "Of course. I understand."

"And, uh, not in public." Mac added, almost softer than his last statement.

Paul chuckled a little. "Again, I understand."

Mac shifted and kept his eyes fixed on his lap. Paul leaned back and set his crutches aside, resting his head on his folded arms as he gazed up at the ceiling. The air was quiet and stiff, and Mac was still sitting up uncomfortably. Paul glanced over and bit his lip. "You ok?"

"Yeah, uh, I jus' dunno what I'm doin'." He mumbled.

Paul sat up. "What don't you get?"

Mac shrugged. "What I am, what we are, ya know."

Paul nodded thoughtfully. "It's ok to not know. You can alway learn."

Mac nodded and laid down. Paul laid down as well, closing his eyes. He would be lying if he said that he wasn't a little disappointed that the date wasn't more exciting. But Mac needed to take things slowly, and Paul was ok with that. Though he knew that he shouldn't expect too much from Mac. He had a nasty habit of hiding his emotions from the world.

Just as he felt his mind slipping into the bowels of the dream world, he heard Mac whisper softly.

"Friends?"

Paul smiled softly.

"Friends."

To make up for the lack of updates, here is my very fat dog.