Two Heartbeats on One Page

Chapter 35

Darcey loved Jordan. He did. But Jordan was driving him insane.

Jordan was bored and lonely and Darcey knew that, and he knew that they were alike in that they both needed things to do, to accomplish, things with visible results, and lying around in bed was probably making Jordan as crazy as his constant texts were making Darcey. But... Darcey needed a break. He had no problem going over to Jordan's every day; he wanted to check up on him and make sure he was doing okay. But when he was out doing things he couldn't stop to check his phone every two minutes, especially when he was at work. Breaks were fine, but Macy frowned very strongly upon cell phone use on the clock.

But he was so terrible with words, he was afraid to ask Jordan to stop because he'd probably say it wrong and hurt his feelings. Jordan wasn't being needy or clingy. He just... texted him, all the time, any time anything happened, ever.

It was late December and Jordan's recovery was going along fine. Darcey had been so worried in the beginning, afraid Jordan would end up with an infection or a tear, but the tubes and stitches had come out and he was slowly getting on his way. The bright red where the incisions were made had faded to a soft pink, and while it was still obvious against Jordan's dark skin, in time, it would get better.

And he looked really, really good.

He was gorgeous.

Jordan had been shying away from Darcey's gaze whenever the healing incisions were visible, but Darcey didn't even notice them. He didn't think Jordan believed him when he said it, but... damn. He was much too busy looking at other things to notice any potential scarring.

He tended to catch himself thinking about it a little too much when he didn't have anything going on, during slow patches at work or long bus rides. At first he felt bad about it. Then, when Jordan got so upset the first time he caught Darcey staring, thinking he was looking at the incisions, and Darcey said God, no, you are just... fucking glorious, Jordan was so taken aback he was silent for at least a solid minute.

But then, when he'd finally smiled, big and bright and showing all his teeth, it made Darcey's heart melt, and he didn't feel bad at all for appreciating his body anymore.

It was about 7:30 on a Wednesday morning and Darcey was on his way out to work. He finally opened his phone to check the five new texts from Jordan he'd been avoiding, the last one from about a half hour previous. Four of them were along the same vein of I know you're busy getting ready for work but I just thought of this thing I wanted to tell you. The most recent simply said;

Sorry if I'm being annoying. I'm just so bored! Do you think you'll be able to come over after work?

Darcey rolled his eyes, but smiled. He closed and locked the door behind him as he texted back.

Sure. Out at 5, like always. Taking the bus today so it'll be a while until I can get there.

He paused at the mailbox, and as he opened it to make sure someone had brought in yesterday's mail, another text came through.

Awesome. Thank you so much for putting up with me and my bullshit. I love you. :)

A smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. Thankfully it seemed like he wouldn't have to bring it up at all.

Don't worry about it. I understand. I love you.

Darcey stood by the mailbox at the end of the walkway as he shuffled through the mail. Credit card offers, something about an auto loan that was probably a scam, and –

He froze. It was more of his paperwork.

He stuffed the other mail back into the box and ripped open the envelope. It was only one page, barely a paragraph.