One•Shots

jaeger + brendan

b r e n d a n *

I wake up every (weekday) morning at six. Even though I do most of my college online, I still go on campus once a week; but, by getting up earlier, I can complete my work each day earlier and I don't have to work on homework until eight PM.

I'm making my coffee this morning when the knock sounds on my door. I look at the clock on the stove, finding it reading 6:03 AM. Confused, I go over to the door and open it.
"Jae?" I ask, finding myself looking at my best friend Jaeger, or the person who used to be my best friend.
He looks at me, almost breathlessly. "Can I come in?"
"What do you want, Jaeger?" I ask him.
"You," he whispers softly stepping closer to me. He wraps an arm around my waist and uses his other hand to cup my face when he leans his head against mine.
"I just want you," he murmurs. He leans back, looking into my eyes and it's then I notice he's got dried blood on his nose, a (swelling) black (left) eye, a gash on his left cheek, and a bruise underneath the right side of his lip.
"What happened?" I ask him. "Come in," I add.
I close the door behind us and lock it back.
"Go in the bathroom, I'll be right there," I say.
I grab a bowl and take it with me to the bathroom.
"Sit on the edge of the bathtub," I tell him. I fill the bowl up with warm water and grab a washcloth.

I dip the washcloth into the warm water and dab under his lip first, cleaning off the blood.
"What happened to you?" I ask him, looking up and meeting his gaze.
"I got in a fight," he says softly.
"Why?"
"I saw Troy McDaniels at the gym. He was with a few friends and he was talking about you,"
"Jae, why did you beat him up for me? We haven't talked in weeks,"
"I still love you, Bren," he whispers. "You're still my best friend. I'm sorry for everything that happened, I shouldn't have done it, but--Bren, I miss you,"
Jaeger met a girl, they started dating, he stopped talking to me completely. When I told him I missed him and wanted to spend some time with him, he punched me and told me never to speak to him again.
"I was just doing what you told me to do, Jae," I say softly. I try to fight back the cry that wants to escape as I relive the memory.
"I know, Bren, I know, but I shouldn't--I never liked her," he tells me.
"Then why did you spend all of your time with her if you didn't like her, Jaeger? I didn't want to spend all week with you, I just wanted to see you because I missed you!" I snap, giving in to my anger.
He closes his eyes.
"I don't deserve for you to be my friend again," he says. "I don't, but I want you back in my life,"
I take a deep breath.
"How do I know you're not going to go running off to another girl, Jae? That's what you did last time you apparently didn't want to spend time with me," I say.
"I did it because I couldn't stand being around you anymore," he replies softly through gritted teeth.
"Then why did you come back if you can't stand being around me?!"
"Can we go in there?" he asks. "I promise I'll explain everything."
"You can say whatever you need to say perfectly fine in here," I tell him.
He takes a deep breath. "I never wanted to stop seeing you, but I had to make myself," he starts, looking at me. "As the days passed, I wanted you more and more, and it got so bad that I couldn't be around you without picturing the things that I wanted to do to you. It got so bad, Bren. I purposely met a girl, because I thought maybe she would get my mind off of you, but nothing could make me stop thinking about you, Bren. I had to stop seeing you because it was getting so bad and I knew you didn't feel the same way."
He pauses and looks at me.
"And just being here right now, with you, makes it worse. It never stopped. I never stopped loving you, and I-I-" he begins.
But that's all he gets out because I stand up and lean over him, cupping his face and bring my lips down onto his. He grabs at my waist, pulling me down onto him. He kisses me back as if this is the only thing that's kept him alive for the past year. He finds one of my hands with his and threads his fingers through mine, squeezing tightly.
He stands up, holding my body close to his as he walks backward. He manages to open the door without breaking the kiss. Somehow he misses the desk, too. We stumble into my bedroom and he pushes me back onto my bed, climbing on top of me. His lips feel perfect on mine, and I'm mentally hitting myself for not kissing him sooner. He said he 'knew I didn't feel the same way' but he couldn't have been more wrong, I've been feeling like that for him for four years, if not longer, now. His fingers find the hem of my shirt as I cup his face, kissing him hard.

☼

I wake back up at 8:49 AM. Jaeger has me in his arms. His eyes are closed, and the swelling has gone down a little bit. I roll over a little bit so that I'm facing him and press my lips against his to wake him up.
"Good morning," I say softly when he opens his eyes.
He smiles at me.
"Let's go make breakfast," I tell him, getting out of my bed, grabbing his wrist and pulling him out of the bed.
We get changed and then go into the kitchen.
I find my coffee from this morning and dump it out. (RIP coffee)
"Do you want coffee?" I ask him.
He nods. I get another cup down from the cabinet and make us both a cup of coffee.
We end up making scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast for breakfast.

"What are we?" Jaeger asks me a little bit after we've finished breakfast.
I look up at him from my desk.
"What?" I ask him.
He gets up to throw away a paper towel. I grab his wrist as he walks past me, pulling him down onto my lap.
"I mean, do you want to try us, or do you want to be friends with benefits," he says.
"You know my answer to that question," I tell him, grabbing his wrists and looking up at him. "I don't want to be friends with benefits, I can't be 'friends with benefits',"
"Me either," he says softly.
"Then... you're my boyfriend," I say, looking up at him.
"I've wanted to hear you say those words to me for so long," he whispers, taking a deep breath. He leans down and kisses me gently.
"I love you," I tell him.
"I love you too," he murmurs.

4/11/2020
I took the screenshots to look like the sun was rising :)