4 Roommates

Sunshine

AN: This is set during the last chapter, but goes into more detail about exactly what happened during some of it

Ollie is like the sun. Or at least Jack thinks so anyways. Their laugh, their smile, their enthusiasm just lights up the whole room and when its directed directly at you its blinding. Ollie is also very warm, like a little 5'3 space heater, and Jack is always cold, so he loves to get really close and snuggle in just to be surrounded in the warm bundle of sunshine that is Ollie. The warmth isn't just a physical thing either. When Ollie smiles or gets very excited and starts talking really fast with their hands flying everywhere, it fills Jacks body with a lovely warm feeling. Hell, just thinking about it fills him with the warm feelings.

Now if anyone could hear all these sappy thoughts that Jack is having, they'd probably think it all sounds very romantic. And well, that's just the problem.

There are not supposed to be any romantic thoughts coming from Jack, or at least not about Ollie. Jack has been dating Tyson for almost two years now and he is very happy about this fact and does not want it to change. Which brings us back to the problem at hand, the  feelings he has been developing for Ollie.

He has been trying to ignore it, but it hasn't really been working and has been bothering him more and more. And now, much to his shame, he's started to avoid Ollie. He didn't mean to but being near Ollie just felt too weird and he didn't want his feelings to be known and avoiding Ollie was the safest option. He can see that it's hurting Ollie and doesn't know how to fix it. They have been quieter lately and has started spending more time in their room. And more than once they have gotten excited about something, turned to Jack, paused, and walked away without telling anyone what got them excited. Emma has been there for them, thank goodness, but Jack should be able to be there for them and not be the one who is hurting them.

Eventually its Emma who confronts Jack about what is all going on.

"Hey fuckwad come here and sit down. We need to have a bit of a chat"

Emma is sitting at the counter and has a fresh coffee in front of her. She looks less than pleased and Jack knows he's about to be on the receiving end of Emma's mother-hen protective wrath. He hangs his head and slowly sits down on the stool next to her.

"Judging by that whole guilty puppy look you've got going on I assume you know what I want to talk to you about so I'm going to cut to the chase. I don't know what your deal is with Ollie lately or why you've been avoiding them, but you need to figure out what to do and talk to them about it. They do not need to be hurt by you when they don't even know what is going on. I don't know if Ollie said anything to you that upset you, but as far as they are aware, they haven't done anything, and yet you still wont talk to them. So, figure it out and talk to them, because the next time I find them crying over you I am going to charlie horse you so hard that Ollie won't be the only one crying. Got it?" She ends her speech with a hard look in Jacks direction, and then sips her coffee, still glaring at him from over her mug.

Jack sighs and runs his hand through his hair, "I- I know I fucked up. Really badly. I never meant for anyone to get hurt honestly. I just needed time to figure out some stuff and ended up pushing Ollie away in the process. I promise I am going to try my best to fix this and I will definitely talk to Ollie. I'm not sure if I am ready to talk to them about what is going on, but I am going to make sure it has nothing to do with anything they did. And I don't really know if I want to talk about it with you either. Its pretty personal and I don't want for you to think badly of me". Jack refuses to look her in the eye and continues to stare at his lap.

"Hey," Emma reaches over to Jack to take his hand, he looks up, "I can respect that you don't want to talk, but I promise I won't think badly of you. Yeah, I am kind of pissed that you hurt Ollie, but you seem like you are hurting as well, and I'll always be here for you if you need it."

"Oh. Well I appreciate that Emma I really do. Are you sure it's okay?" at her nod he continues, "Okay well see the problem is that I may have possibly developed not-quite-platonic feelings for Ollie and I don't know what to do about it." he says quickly, "And this is not me saying I'm unhappy with Tyson! I am very happy with my relationship with Tyson and that's why I've been so weird lately because I didn't want anyone to find out about it and ruin my relationship with both Tyson and Ollie, though I might have done that already with Ollie by avoiding them." He finishes and then looks up pleadingly to Emma, like she might have all the answers.

She leans back, "Well shit. That's quite the predicament you've found yourself in"

"Ha yeah tell me about it" he says dryly.

Emma leans towards Jack, "Okay so let me get this straight. You go and realize you are madly in love with Ollie," she hold up her hand at his sound of protest, "and instead of actually talking to someone about it like, I don't know, Ollie or Tyson or hell even both of them, you decide to just run away from your problems and hope that they will go away eventually? Because no offence dude, but that's a god-awful plan".

Jack sighs and puts his head in his hands "Ugh yes I know it is, but I didn't know what else to do." He gets up and starts to move around the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea.

"Alright so here is my suggestion. Firstly, you should apologize to Ollie and stop being a total asswipe towards them, and then when that's done you should talk to Tyson and tell him what's going on. I really doubt he will be upset, he's a solid dude and will listen to what you have to say. Its not your fault that you caught all of these feelings and he will be able to recognize that. Now during all of this you should be thinking about what you want and what your intentions are. Tyson will want to know these as well so maybe that should have been step two actually..." She trails off. Then continues, "Anyways. After that's all said and done, you need to go and talk to Ollie about what's been going on and how you have been feeling. You should let them know what you would like to happen and ask what they would like to happen and then go from there. So no more of this avoidance shit got it?"

Jack is leaning against the counter, facing Emma, and has been nodding along with her plan the whole time. "This... is a very good plan. I like this plan. Other than the fact that I've got no fucking clue what I want to do with these feelings." He pauses, "Well that's not entirely true. In a world where this is possible, which its not, I would want to tell Ollie how I feel and then have them feel the same way and then I could take them out and hold their hand and make them feel special and kiss them and it would be amazing."

"Oh dude. You are so gone for them. I think I might have to go throw up with how sweet that was" She fakes puking over the side of her chair.

"Okay you stop it! It wasn't that bad! And yes, I know I am and its terrible. How the hell am I supposed to just have everyone be fine with the fact that I am in love with Ollie as well as Tyson? I don't want to have to choose between them or loose one of them, but I can't exactly date both of them either"

Emma contemplates this for a second. "That is a tough one. Honestly, dude I have no idea how you are going to figure that out. I don't think you are going to lose anyone though. You all mean too much to each other for that to happen."

"You really think so?" he says hopefully.

"I do yes"

Jack leans over the island towards her and reaches his hand out, "Hey, you know you mean a lot to me and everyone else as well right?"

She smiles, and takes his hand, "I know love, but this isn't about me. Its about you three."

She checks her watch, "Okay so I've actually got to go so I'm going to give you a big hug before I go, and I wish you all the best. I'm here if you ever need to talk again okay?" She walks over to Jack and pulls him into a hug and gives him a big squeeze before letting go and grabbing her bag, jacket, and keys off the counter before heading to the door. "Try to figure out what you want and how you are going to make up with Ollie while I'm gone. But don't stress too much okay? Its all going to work out in the end. I love you and Ill be back before dinner."

"Okay thank you. Love you too and drive safe."

She gives him one last smile and then leaves.

Jack goes and grabs his knitting before sitting down on the big bean bag chair in the living room. He's got a lot to think about and he is going to knit himself through it.