foxxcub | (no subject)

Ryan drives down to Missoula like once a week because he says he's sick of small town life and needs some CULTURE or something, but he always comes back complaining about the pretentious students with their literary cliques, and he doesn't really fool anybody.

I THINK SPENCER SHOULD GET LOST IN THE WILDERNESS. IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIRE. AND EVERYBODY THINKS HE'S DEAD. BECAUSE HE'S BEEN GONE FOR SO LONG AND THE OTHER FIREFIGHTERS LOST CONTACT WITH HIM AND THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO LOOK FOR A RESCUE AND IT LOOKS VERY VERY BAD.

(SPOILER: SPENCER IS NOT ACTUALLY DEAD.)

AND JON KEEPS WANTING TO JUMP IN HIS JEEP AND GO LOOK FOR HIM, BUT EVERYONE TELLS HIM IT'S TOO DANGEROUS AND FUCK, THE LAST THING HE SAID TO SPENCER WAS SOME JOKE ABOUT HOW MUCH SPENCER LIKED WATCHING FULL HOUSE RERUNS. HE'S NOT READY TO LET GO OF HIM YET. :(

WHEN SPENCER FINALLY STUMBLES OUT OF THE WILDERNESS HE IS HURT AND DEHYDRATED AND EXHAUSTED AND HE GETS PUT ON MEDICAL LEAVE, WHICH JON TAKES AN IN INVITATION TO STUCK SPENCER IN HIS BED AND KEEP HIM THERE UNTIL HE IS NURSED BACK TO HEALTH. SPENCER GRUMBLES AND TRIES TO GET UP BUT JON JUST SHOVES HIM DOWN AND SAYS, "SHUT UP I WILL MAKE YOU SOUP AND YOU WILL LIKE IT BECAUSE YOU ALMOST DIED" AND THEY BOTH PRETEND NOT TO NOTICE HOW JON'S VOICE GOES A LITTLE HIGH AND PANICKY AND HOW SPENCER'S EYES MAYBE GET A LITTLE WATERY, AND JON REALLY SUCKS AT MAKING SOUP, EVEN OUT OF A CAN, BUT SPENCER EATS IT ANYWAY AND SMILES AND SAYS "THANK YOU" ALL QUIET AND SHY AND JON JUST CAN'T HELP BUT KISS HIM.

ON THE NOSE.

BECAUSE JON IS A MASSIVE DORK WHEN HE'S IN LOVE.

THAT NIGHT, SPENCER'S WELL ENOUGH THAT JON LEAVES HIM ALONE IN HIS HOUSE TO GO DO HIS SHOW, AND HE PLAYS ALL SONGS THAT HE KNOWS ARE SPENCER'S FAVORITE. HE DEDICATES THE SHOW TO "SOMEONE WHO DESERVES SOME MAJOR R&R" AND EVERYONE IN TOWN KNOWS WHO HE'S TALKING ABOUT.

BACK AT JON'S, SPENCER LAYS IN BED LISTENING TO THE RADIO, SMILING STUPIDLY INTO HIS PILLOW. THAT SMELLS LIKE JON.

<33333333333333333333333

And when Jon gets home very very late, Spencer's already asleep and Jon's cats are curled up by his side, and Jon spends a few minutes fussing with his pillows and tucking the blankets around him and making sure the cup of water by his bed is full in case he gets thirsty in the middle of the night, and he's all prepared to go sleep on the couch but he finally decides, fuck it, and crawls into bed next to Spencer and he's worrying about whether Spencer's skin is too warm, if he's still hurt or getting sick or if it's just the memory of the fire, then he falls asleep.

And while Spencer hasn't been back to his apartment in several days, he can't quite bring himself to leave, especially when nightmares of the fire wake him up in the middle of night and Jon's there to calm him down, let him know that the room isn't on fire and the air is clean, not clogged with smoke. Spencer tends to wake up from his nightmares coughing until his throat hurts.

Jon always rubs his back and neck and waits for him to calm down before giving him some water and murmuring about how he's safe now, and Spencer always feels silly but even more than that he feels grateful, and in the mornings Jon is always sleepy-eyed and yawning but never once complains about being woken up. Spencer tries to apologize for it, once, but Jon just gets this funny look on his face, like Spencer's apology is making him sad, so after that Spencer just goes with it. It's not like his life isn't weird enough already, what with the almost dying and walking through fire and sleeping in Jon's bed and everything.

Ryan and Brendon come over to visit, and Ryan keeps giving Jon these long-suffering looks and sighing a lot. Finally, Jon kind of cracks and hisses, What?" as he pulls Ryan into the kitchen. "You've been shaking your head at me since you got here, dude, what the hell."

"What are you doing here, Jon?" Ryan asks. "Playing Spencer's nurse? Did you finally cop to all your..." He flails his hand vaguely. "Y'know, feelings and stuff?"

Jon blinks. "I haven't copped to anything, I'm just being a good friend."

Ryan sighs again. "Everyone heard your show the other night, dude. It's pretty damn obvious you don't consider him just a friend."

omg. i'm tracking this thread. there will be more, yes? *pleading eyes*

But Jon is deep in denial, because he knows Spencer isn't going to be around forever - he's just here for the summer, just to fight the fires - and Jon is going to be all alone again when winter comes and all the summer people leave. So he just kind of shrugs it off and tries to ignore Ryan, but Ryan is very insistent. (Ryan, Jon has learned, has a strangely romantic heart hidden beneath his cynical, affected exterior. Ryan believes in True Love. It would be sickening if Jon didn't believe just as much.)

Eventually Ryan and Brendon leave them alone, after a lot of eyebrow waggling and significant looks, and Jon and Spencer settle down to watch a movie ("how about Backdraft?" Jon suggests before he can stop himself, but thankfully while he's kicking himself for being an asshole Spencer is laughing and saying, "actually, I'd rather watch Splash! right now" and seriously, Jon is so gone, he's fallen for a firefighter who likes movies about mermaids).

At some point Spencer starts coughing again - smoke inhalation is SERIOUS, Jon has learned from the internet - and Jon gets all scared and worried again and accidentally says something like, "You are so stupid, don't you ever get yourself into trouble like that again." He doesn't *mean* to, he just... he doesn't have much brain-to-mouth filter when he's worried ("and in loooooooooove," says the little voice in his head that sounds like Brendon, and since when did Jon have a Brendon!conscience in his head? He's not sure he likes that.)

Spencer gives him a funny look, almost like he's *angry* or something, but all he says is, "Of course I'm going to do again, Jon. I'm a firefighter. That's what we do."

And Jon's thinking maybe they should be watching Backdraft after all, because he thinks they're having a firefighter ~moment or something, but thankfully this time he's able to engage his brain-to-mouth filter just in time to stop himself from saying, "Well that's stupid! You could have died!" Because... it's not like he didn't know that before, right? That's part of why he likes ("looooooooooooves," says his inner!Brendon, who won't shut up) Spencer so much, because Spencer really loves what he does, and he talks about it like it's a *calling* or something, not just a job. He loves the adrenaline and the hard work and the JUMPING OUT OF HELICOPTERS and why couldn't Jon have fallen for a nice accountant whose only danger of being burned came from having coffee too hot?

It takes a couple of minutes for all this to go through Jon's head, and Spencer is starting to look at him funny, not angry anymore but more... worried, and he's biting his lip and fidgeting and that won't do at all, so Jon says, "I know." And he leans over to kiss Spencer. It's a little bit awkward at first because Spencer's so surprised he forgets to stop biting his lip, but Jon doesn't care.

*chinhands*

And then?

He hears Spencer suck in a breath through a nose, and for a second, Jon panics, his heart jamming its way into his throat. He's gone too far, he's pushed Spencer, maybe, what the fuck is he even doing--

Then Spencer sighs and mumbles something that sounds like, "Shit, thank god," and all but melts against Jon, opening his mouth easily to Jon's kiss.

It's Jon's turn to be surprised. He blinks his eyes open without breaking the kiss, but they're so close, and he can see the dusting of freckles over Spencer's nose and the dark smudges of exhaustion under his eyes. You wanted this, too, he thinks hazily as Spencer splays his hand lightly over Jon's sternum, and he wants ask when and for how long and if this is just because Jon's taking care of him and Spencer somehow feels obligated. But he can't pull away to say the words, so he lets his eyes flutter closed again and leans into Spencer, cupping his jaw gently, as if Spencer will break if Jon pushes too hard.

OMG HI THIS THREAD IS MY HAPPY PLACE TONIGHT. *CHINHANDS*

:DDDDDDDDDDDD

I swear, I will never, ever get sick of reading about the two of them falling in love.

oh, man. I totally bookmarked this thread. Spencer! Jon! &them;

also, I think I will totes friend you for this. I cannot miss any more commentfic shenanigans.