"So here's the thing," Wes said in a conversational tone as he approached the table Jackson was sitting at. "There are only two tables here, and you can't just camp out at one of them for my entire shift." He said, lifting his chin to look down his nose at Jackson and his blank expression. "You need to go." He said plainly. "I'm saying....you need to go. Like-" His gaze flickered about before it found Jackson again, narrowing on him. "Now."
Jackson frowned at this but stood nonetheless. "What time does your shift end?"
"Same time as always. Six." Wes said as he took a step back to give Jackson enough room to navigate away from the window side table in the small pizzeria. He held out his arm toward the door anyway, just in case the other man wasn't quite understanding what needed to happen. "I'm going to the bookstore afterward to get some shit to help us out."
"I'll take you," Jackson said firmly as he slid past Wes to stalk over to the door to the restaurant, leaving without another word to go over to where his truck was parked.
Wes eyed him before he turned away and rolled his eyes to go back behind the front counter to finish cleaning it up, a task he had abandoned to chase off Jackson.
If he had expected Jackson to give him more room after agreeing to their partnership, he had been dead wrong. If anything, Jackson had been even more present than ever.
Instead of waiting outside in his car and just watching, since their talk the day before last, he was always one step behind Wes. When Wes was at work, Jackson was at their little table just inside. When he went to the store, Jackson was pushing the cart (and bought the groceries). When Wes was at home, Jackson was there until he had to return to the base, returning first thing in the morning.
Wes didn't absolutely hate it, but it definitely taking some getting used to. The last time he had someone with him as much was back with Yuriy - even with his own family, people could only take him on small does, usually not more than an hour at a time before they'd find a way to get away from him. Even his grandpa would fake fall asleep after about two hours of none stop Wes time, but Jackson was going full days without willingly leaving.
So Wes figured the dude was pretty desperate, which he could appreciate.
But he didn't want Jackson inside his place of work. People were asking questions, and on the two instances when Wes half explained that he was a key and Jackson was a lock, he lost both customers - and if his manager caught onto that, it'd be bye-bye pizza job, which would just suck. He liked his coworkers, they let him get away with cursing and half assing things - but losing customers was for sure not something he could get away with.
He and Jackson hadn't really had much of a sit-down conversation as to what they were going to do just yet, but once they did, he'd for sure make his workplace a safe haven from Mr. Clingy. So far, Jackson just had him fill out some form thingy - actually, he just filled out his social security number and a few other identifying questions - so they could get paperwork or something sent to them - Wes wasn't really sure, and frankly, he didn't care.
That was all Jackson. Jackson said he'd do all the paperwork, and Wes was more than happy to let him do that.
Wes was trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do. He did a lot of googling on his phone, but so far, it wasn't anything particularly useful - everyone kept pointing him toward a couple of books so he figured he go get them today and go from there.
He knew how to go into someone's mind, but the difference between just poking into some rando's mind and actually going into a lock's head to make a bond was like, apples and airplanes. And because the last thing he wanted to do was fuck it up, because that'd do no one any good.
Fuck knows if he messed this up, his family would never let him live it down. This was exactly the sort of thing they'd milk until he'd have to find a city further away to escape their mocking.
But if he pulled this off....
Oh, the glory they would shine onto his would be so sweet!
So today they were going to the bookstore.
Because he was apparently a they now. Not yet, technically, but...yeah. If he was going to take on a lock, he would have to get used to the idea of being a them, something he hadn't been since, well...
Yuriy.
So yeah. A long while.
He'd been so used to being slightly set off from everyone else, it was going to have to take some getting used to - he told Jackson that yesterday and the other man agreed to give Wes time. Then again, Wes was pretty sure if he told Jackson to punch himself in the face, he would, given how desperate he was for things to work with Wes.
And Wes, Wes didn't mind the ego boost one bit. Felt nice being wanted, not just as something to fuck exactly once for the novelty of screwing a key, or for the fact that Wes was a hot but kind of dim young man...but for an actual service he could provide that couldn't be gotten elsewhere.
But still.
Wes was waiting for the other shoe to drop - he'd probably always be waiting for the other shoe to drop, if he was honest. Because he was pretty sure that he wasn't the kind of guy who just got a willing slave for free who would buy him shit without question and beat the crap out of anyone who messed with him.
Wes just didn't have that kind of luck!
Wes's luck?
His first girlfriend was the hottest chick in school, but she ended up giving him crabs.
When his parents finally got him the dog he always wanted, he just finished potty training it when it ran away, never to be seen again.
When he turned eighteen he went to a nice restaurant to celebrate and won the all you can eat raffle, but it gave him food poisoning that lingered for a whole week.
His best friend who he could talk endlessly to and didn't mind his bullshit ended up being a complete psychopath.
That kind of stuff.
That was Wes's luck.
With this whole Jackson situation - who knows. He purposefully avoided Locks because he didn't want to have someone dependant on him, didn't have to worry about anyone else, and Jackson was already clingy as fuck...so he was sure once the fun side of being needed wore off, Jackson was really going to get on his nerves and visa versa.
But at least he seemed to have a higher status in his family, so that was kind of worth it, at least for now. Once again, he was sure he'd lose that because he fucked up everything, but he'd enjoy it.
For now.
Wes supposed now was the time to start pushing boundaries to see what he could get away with. Also, this way Jackson could know exactly what he was signing up for when they matched and there'd be no surprises in store for the other man once they spent more time together.
Wes was difficult. Fact. He wasn't sure Jackson knew the extent of that just yet, but Wes was going to make sure he was made aware today.
It was better that way, better that Jackson didn't like him as much as he seemed to right now, better that Jackson understood right now that Wes wasn't a pleasant person to be around so they could avoid a big dramatic fallout later on.
That way, Jackson could start putting up some walls.
When he got off of work, Jackson was still there in the truck, looking like he hadn't blinked in the several hours since Wes had last spoken to him.
"So is sitting there not moving for hours a military thing, or just a Jackson thing?" Wes asked as he climbed into the back seat, sprawling out to lay down there.
"Military thing." Jackson said in a clipped tone. He adjusted the rearview mirror so that he could see Wes properly. "You need to either buckle up or sit up front."
Wes responded by pulling the middle buckle over him and sticking it under his back to lay on it. "We don't wear seatbelts in the country." He said in a bored tone as he pulled out his phone to scroll through his feed, checking to see if he made any matches on his dating profiles, because fuck knows he needed to get laid. When Jackson started to say they were in the city, Wes sighed hard and sat up, buckled himself in, and then laid sideways on the seat. "Book shop." He said, snapping a finger at Jackson. He felt Jackson's eyes on him and he looked up from under the hood of his baseball cap's visor. "When the key says to do something, the lock does it." He said slowly, blinking at him.
Jackson's frowned but nodded before he turned forward and started up the car.
Wes lowered his chin and watched Jackson for a long minute before he looked down at his phone to pull up the list of books he was going to get.
He stripped out of his visor and tossed it to the front seat before he slowly unbuttoned his black workshirt, tossing it to the front as well so that he was just in his white undershirt and black slacks. This way if he ended up getting in trouble, they couldn't connect him to his work and he was less likely to get fired. He learned that lesson the hard way...a couple times.
"So do you read books and shit?" Wes asked, looking up to the rearview mirror to find that Jackson was watching him through it.
"Doesn't everyone?" Jackson mumbled, looking between Wes and the road.
"No." Wes said, shaking his head a little as he rolled up the short sleeves of his shirt to let them rest on his shoulders, "No, they don't." Jackson gave him a puzzled look and Wes figured he'd just leave that statement hanging there. Spouting nonsense was sort of his main thing. That, and saying really stupid shit. Which he supposed might actually be the same thing?
He frowned at himself, thinking on that as he settled in his seat. After a beat he buckled himself in, picking at his teeth as he tried to figure that one out.
It didn't take long before they were parked in the expansive parking lot in front of the bookstore. A bookstore? He wasn't sure if there was another quite as big as this here, but unlike his hometown, the city was pretty big and probably had a handful.
Truthfully, Wes only frequented a small part of the city, triangulating between his home, where he worked, and where ever he was finding someone to screw. He went to the grocery store and the movies and a few other places, but those places were all within the few short mile areas he often visted.
This was...a bit outside his usual space.
Which was good, though. People who visited his pizza place would be less likely to be here then.
The inside of the bookstore was nice. Big, clean. It looked very commercial, with uniforms and a coffee shop and everything.
The last time he had been in a bookstore, things went south really quick, but before then, the book store back at home had been one of his usual hang out places. It hadn't been nearly as big as this or as nice, and the owner was an old dude who hired other old dudes, but still, they both had books and magazines.
He tucked his hands into his pocket and wandered down the middle of the store, looking around for a section for books about Keys and Locks. Jackson stayed right behind him the entire time, nearly right on top of him, but Wes chose to ignore him completely while he explored the store.
After about ten minutes he found the Key and Lock section right next to the psychology section and found three out of the four books he had been looking for. The first two were kind of thin, but the fourth was thick. When he turned it over to look at the price he whistled low.
Jackson seemed to pick up on what he was looking at and reached over to take it from him, ad when Wes turned to give him a questioning look, the Lock's expression hardened. "I said I'd pay for everything - I meant it." Jackson said firmly, holding Wes's gaze with a more intense, purposeful one.
Wes lifted his eyebrows at the other man in question. "Is that so?" He drawled.
Jackson nodded firmly. "I'll pay for anything you need. You are giving me something that is priceless, so it's the least I could do." He said softly. "All you have to do is hand them to me and I'll get it for you."
Wes slowly ran his tongue over his teeth then, smiling as he handed Jackson his other two books. "Then I got to get a couple of other things, hold on." Wes said in a silky tone, Jackson smiling warmly at him.
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