The first time Jack Abbot met Michael Robinavitch in Mrs. Glenn's 3rd grade classroom, Jack had bitten him. Robby had immediately started to cry because his mother had just died and he had to start at a new school and now the kid sitting next to him had just bitten him for no reason. He was going through a lot. Jack would later say that if he had known all of that he never would have done it, but that was probably a lie.
Jack hadn't bitten anyone since he was two, so his actions were confusing to everyone, but to no one moreso than Jack. He didn't know why he had bitten him, all he knew was that he had taken one look at Robby and bit.
Later, Jack would learn the phrase "cuteness aggression" and things would make a little more sense. After all, Robby was probably the cutest kid to ever exist.
Later than that, Parker would drop a meme into the night shift group chat which read: "when I was 7 i had a crush on a girl in my class & didnt know how to deal with it so I wrote her a letter that just said โget out of my school." And Jack would think oh. Oh no.
In spite of a beginning of tooth-based violence, or perhaps because of it, Jack and Robby became inseparable. They were close to a point that they had been viewed as a unit for practically their whole life- a single being: JackandRobby. They did the same after-school activities, joined the same clubs. Robby didnโt want to play football so Jack didn't join the team. He had no interest in doing anything if it wasn't going to be the two of them. They went to the same middle and high school, the same college, the same med school, and ended up working at the same hospital.
Robby was there for all of Jack's favorite memories, but really, he was there for all of Jack's memories, period. The time before Robby seemed as ephemeral as a dream: he understood it happened, but it lacked weight; it was opaque and almost impossible to remember. As far as Jack was concerned, his world started and ended with Robby. The longest they had ever been separated was when Jack had been deployed, a separation that felt agonizing. An essential, elemental part had been taken from their very being, like they were forced to walk around without their lungs.
Taking all of that into consideration, one might have expected Jack to realize at some point that he was absolutely, completely, irrevocably in love with his best friend. He did not. In his defense, he never claimed to be a smart man.
Jack might have realized it in college, where one night he and Robby had given each other drunken blowjobs. Robby's cock had been heaven in his mouth, the noises Jack had pulled from him were the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. He had swallowed and licked up every drop, desperate for more of him.
When Robby returned the favor, Jack came almost immediately. Robby had taken him down to the root and popped off to lick a broad stripe on the underside of his cock and Jack just. Couldn't help himself. He came all over Robby's face: his come caught in Robby's eyelashes- so long and soft-, dripping down his nose, even caught in his pretty hair. He looked so beautiful that Jack couldn't breathe. He wanted to lick him. Not just lick the come off- though he wanted to do that too- but just lick him, period.
Then they had both started laughing and the moment was carefully placed in a box in his head, never to be thought about again.
He might have realized it when Sharon kept calling Robby Jackโs boyfriend. She even put a line in her wedding vows that she was marrying Jack and Robby because Robby was Jack's first love: that wherever one went, the other followed. It got big laughs in the crowd at the time because everyone knew it was true. It was an immutable state of the universe: Jack belonged to Robby and Robby belonged to Jack and now that Jack also belonged to Sharon, Robby belonged to her as well. To love Jack meant to love Robby. It was just a fact.
Jack just hadn't realized that when she made the joke, she meant that Jack loved Robby romantically. Again, he never claimed to be a smart man.
He might have realized when Robby came back from his sabbatical and Jack was so relieved that he wanted to fall to his knees, press his face into Robby's thigh and ask him to never leave him alone again, please. He didn't do that, because that would have been weird. Instead he hugged him tight and gently, gently bit Robby's shoulder. Robby didnโt even acknowledge it, it was kind of Jack's way of saying something when words seemed too much. A call back to their first meeting, a reminder of where they started.
No, Jack only realized when Parker sent that fucking meme.
Robby had come over to finish their argument, just as he had promised and arguing turned into them kicking each other, which turned into a friendly brawl. This was common for them. They had even broken Bubbe's favorite lamp once, rolling around on the floor, trying to smack the other- something Robby paid dearly for: three whole weeks with no Jack.
They were really too old for it, but it was a core tenet of their relationship. They would probably both break their hips at 78 years old, trying to lovingly kick the other's ass. There was just something about being kids together that made them perpetually feral.
Jack looked down from where he was perched on top of Robby, trying to snatch at his hands and said: "I think I'm in love with you."
"Oh my god, shut the fuck up," Robby groaned, trying to kick him.
So Jack did the only thing he could think of. He bit him- not hard, but he didn't let go. And then, he carefully licked the skin between his teeth.
Robby immediately began trying to shake him off, all to no avail. Jack wasn't letting him go that easy. "That is disgusting, what the hell is wrong with you?"
Jack released him. "You told me to shut up, so I was speaking a language you understand."
"I understand that you're a freak."
"Seriously disturbed." Robby glared at him. "I think I would know if you were in love with me; you would have started acting different. You've been the same asshole you've been since the day we met."
Jack nodded once, with great solemnity.
Robby's eyes practically bugged out of his head. "Let me get this straight. You've been in love with me for 46 years and just realized now?"
"Well, Parker sent this meme-" Jack tried to explain, only to get cut off.
"You are not about to tell me that you realized you loved me for 46 years because Parker Ellis sent a meme."
"Okay, I won't tell you." Jack said with a shrug.
That got them tussling again and somehow that led to them making out. Robby used Jack's distraction- because kissing Robby was very distracting, actually- to flip them. He put both hands in Jack's hair and gripped his curls tight, causing Jack to whine and buck his hips up into him. They both moaned at the friction; at some point they had gotten hard, though neither was quite sure when.
Jack used the moment to roll them until he was on top again. They spent a few messy moments making out, grinding against each other, Robby letting out those small moans he had given to Jack only once before.
Eventually, they paused to breathe and Robby looked up at him through his eyelashes- still so long and soft- and asked: "Do you want to play college?"
"Fuck yeah, I do." Jack agreed immediately, almost dizzy with arousal. "There will be a different ending this time, though."
"You mean youโre not planning on coming in two seconds?" Robby teased, grinning at him.
"Oh, I probably will, you've kept me waiting so long. But no, this isn't going to be a one time deal. It's gonna be forever, baby." There wasn't a doubt in his mind. They've always been one creature, JackandRobby. Thereโs no changing that.
And Robby blushed that pretty blush and agreed.
