The Next Stage - 25. Strangers in a Bar

“Woah. What’d I just walk into? Did I just time travel?” Leo asks, letting himself into Jasper and Ryan’s house only to find Jasper set up on the floor surrounded by recording equipment and extension cords from every power outlet snaking across the room. On the couch before him sits Luke and Simon, revising a lyric sheet and discussing it between themselves.

With his massive headphones on, Jasper had no idea he had another guest until he looked up to ask the guys something and say them, looking behind him and talking. Expecting it was Ryan home, Jasper calls out a quick, “hey sexy.”

Leo tugs the headphone off Jasper’s ear a tad. “Hey yourself,” he whispers and Jasper turns, wrapping his arms around him with such excitement he brings Leo to the floor.

“What are you doing back!?”

“Got sick of Australia. Figured it was time to come home.” Leo answers with a grin.

“Are you here to stay?”

“Yeah. For a while. I don’t have any plans yet. What are you guys doing? Is the band back together?” Leo asks.

“Nah. They are just helping me with some demos for my course.” Jasper sighs, letting Leo go and giving his attention back to the laptop in front of him.

“Oh sweet, what are you working on?”

“I’m about to show you. Geez, a little patience, please.” Jasper clicks through the program he’s working on to get to the start of the song, then unplugs the headphones so everyone can hear.

After the first 30 seconds, Jasper pauses it and gives a disappointed groan.

“It sounds pretty good, to be honest.” Leo shrugs and Jasper gives him a doubtful look.

“Don’t come here and lie to me. It’s Ryan’s job to kiss my ass and tell me everything I do is incredible. Not yours. Give me the real feedback. Tell me what sucked and where to focus because to me the entire thing is just a big noisy failure of production.” Jasper states with a stern expression.

“No, really. It sounds good considering you recorded it in your lounge room with the equipment all over the floor. I expected it to sound pretty terrible, not gonna lie. Stop stressing.”

“If I want to have any kind of manageable career while working from home, I need this to be more than just ‘good’.”

“Jasper, no one’s first demo is more than just ‘good’. That’s why songs are always being remastered. This is just for an assessment. Your teacher will tell you where to focus and how to improve. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s just got to show what you’ve learnt to do.” Simon reassures him.

“The teacher has higher expectations for me because I’m not the average student.”

“Dude, you’re a singer. You know that side of things. No one expects you to know anything about producing songs from scratch. Simon is right. It’s just an assessment. And it is good. Like the quality is obviously limited because we aren’t in a proper studio, but even still, to make it sound that good, you should be proud.” Luke insists.

“I guess.” Jasper concedes, only on arguing. He still felt woefully disappointed at what he’d spent the entire day working on. He’d gotten to watch the production process with Mark while they worked together to bring Blake’s music to life, and the guys that worked on the songs were such professionals they gave him a false sense of how easy it’d be to just produce music.

Not having a mind for study already made it difficult, not to mention being interrupted and side-tracked by Jasmyn seemingly every time he felt like he was finally on a roll with things. None of this was working easily for him. Ultimately, though, Luke and Simon were right. Given he was sitting on the floor of his lounge room, ass going numb and the blood circulation in his legs being cut off from the way he sat. Equipment and cords and general shit all over the place and one guy with neglected vocals singing the lyrics of a song written by someone else between baby screaming fests. It was honestly impressive he’d gotten anything done at all.

“Hey babe.” Ryan calls out as he walks in the door.

“Ry. Tell me how much this sucks.” Jasper presses play on his computer.

Ryan walks over, placing a hand on Jasper’s shoulder and kissing his cheek as he listens to a 30 second vocal demo. “Was this your first recording?”

“God no, do you know how out of practice these guys' vocals are?” Jasper gestures towards Luke and Simon. “Plus Jazzy tried to test out her vocals with us. So I wasted a bunch of attempts because of her demonic tantrum screaming in the background."

"Where is Jazzy?"

"She's sleeping finally. My parents offered to take her for the day but, you know me."

"Wouldn't be you if you allowed someone to help you. I'm surprised Simon and Luke are even here."

"I'm getting slightly better at accepting help. Anyway, I know it’s far from perfect. But I’ve got to submit something. Do you think this would pass?” Jasper looks at Ryan with an expression demanding honesty as he presses play again. He himself biting his lip and frowning the entire time it's playing through.

“Are you able to edit it?”

“Of course, that’s the whole point. What would you change?”

“Well...” Ryan plays it again, listening intently, then laughing. “I don’t know why you’re asking me. I have next to no experience in this.”

“Exactly, you’re close to a regular listener, so you’ve got lower standards of what you want to hear in a song. What does it need?”

“It doesn’t sound full. Like there’s not much going on in it. Even if you’re going for simple, it needs to have something else. I’m sure you’ll work out what it needs. I have no idea what would make it sound better. It’s just not quite enough. Needs more oompf?” Ryan shrugs.

"Oompf? That's your advice. That's what's going to save me from failing this unit. Just kick the oompf factor up to 11 and it's going to be a solid A+?" Jasper's sarcasm makes Luke and Simon laugh, too. “It's a good thing you're hot, because you're not a lot of help otherwise." Jasper laughs, pushing Ryan away. "Ok, it’s a ballad, so I’m torn between writing a full piano accompanying piece, or just playing single keys along with the melody of the song. What do you think?”

“I think it’s adorable that you’re asking me for advice on piano now, because I know even less about that than I do about making music sound like music.” Ryan laughs. “I’ve gotta go for a shower, then I’ll be on baby duty and leave you guys to it.”

“Ugh, I suck at this!” Jasper groans.

“You don’t suck at this; you’re just still learning it.”

“Why don’t we try single keys to the melody like you said? If it doesn’t sound any good, then you know you need to do a full song.” Simon suggests. Jasper slowly lowers his head to the floor and lets out a long groan.

Ryan stands behind him, massaging his shoulders encouragingly. “You’ve got this, babe. Would a tea help?”

Jasper sighs in agreeance.

“Ok Jasper, what do you want us to do?”

As Luke speaks, Jasper raises his head, looking back at his computer and cracking his knuckles. “How do you feel about doing vocals in a lower pitch so I can layer your voice?”

“Sure.”

“You’re the best. Ok. I need a house full of shut-the-fuck-up.” Jasper puts on his headphones and clicks away at the computer while Luke gets set up in front of the microphone again. Jasper holds his hand up, counting his fingers down, then giving a nod.

As Luke starts singing, Jasper closes his eyes, silently pressing his fingers across the floor before him as though mentally mapping out which keys he’d play along with it. As soon as Luke finishes, Jasper gives him a thumbs up, then gets back to tapping at his keyboard.

“Basically, he does this, swears at it a few dozen times and then he’ll make us listen to it back and insist that it’s terrible and he’s a failure.” Simon tells Ryan.

“So, it’s going well then?” Ryan laughs, heading into the kitchen.

“Yeah, this is that part where we gossip about how much he’s changed. Remember band practice back when The Obsolete was a thing? Getting him to actually do any work gave me so many headaches.”

“That’s because you wanted him to work your way and somehow didn’t learn that the more persistent you are, the more fun he has making you feel like your effort is wasted.” Luke laughs.

“It’s true.” Jasper calls out, not looking away from his computer. “I was a brat before I knew what bratting was. Right, Leo?”

“Wait, you can you hear us?” Simon asks at a slightly lower than normal volume.

“Uh-huh.” Jasper takes the headphones off and disconnects them from the computer.

“Oh shit, I didn’t even notice you were here, Leo. When did you get back?” Ryan looks over, seeing Leo sitting back, staring off, deep in his own thoughts.

“Ok, tell me how bad this is. I’m going to add full piano and I’ve added an echo effect on Luke’s second set of vocals.” Jasper presses play and sits back, his eyes closed as he listens to the song. Trying to feel where it worked well and where it fell flat.

“That’s sounding better already. I think the piano will really help make it sound fuller, though.” Ryan says and Jasper just shoots him a look.

"Couldn't have done it without your professional advice, Ry."

“Now that you’ve done that, I feel like the lyrics in the final part aren’t impactful enough.” Simon walks over, taking the lyrics he’d written and staring at them.

“I felt that too, but I don’t really know what needs to be changed to give it that extra thing.” Jasper agrees, moving over to Simon's side to read the lyrics over and over.

“It’s this word that isn’t strong enough, right?” Simon points.

“Yes. The rest of it works, but that line just doesn’t quite get there. The rest of the song has too much oompf now.” Jasper smirks over at Ryan.

"Remind me to never help you again. I'm going for a shower." Ryan rolls his eyes and Jasper blows him a kiss.

Jasper and Simon both stress over the lyrics, listening to that section of the recording over and over for a painful amount of time before agreeing on new lyrics and finally getting Luke to record the last verse in three different tones to layer it and make it sound like it was all done in one take.

The tea is cold, and the sun is setting before they eventually call it for the night. Jasper saves what he’d done and thanks the guys for coming around to help. Despite claiming he felt like he wasted their time, he has a pep in his step as he turns from the front door and marches with determination, back to the piano.

“Take a break, have dinner. Have a shower and then come back to it fresh. You’ve been going all day on this. Your brain needs a break.”

“It’s due tomorrow night. I have to get it done.”

“Exactly. And if you don’t stop and let all those concentrated creative thoughts run a little wild in that head of yours, you’re not going to come up with something amazing. You’re just going to come up with something that you’ll feel disappointed by.”

Jasper sighs and gets up. “You’re right. Leo.” Jasper turns his attention to their silent guest that had been just sitting on the couch for hours, scrolling mindlessly through his phone.

“Yeah?”

“I can pay attention to you now. Distract me.” Jasper orders.

“Distract you how?”

“What really happened with the Aussie guy? You don’t get homesick, so what happened that made you come home so suddenly?”

Leo shrugs, looking back at his phone like he’s not interested in the conversation. “I breached the agreement.”

“Bullshit. You don’t breach agreements. Come on, talk to me.”

Leo shrugs again. “I got feelings.”

“Oh, you liked him?”

“Yeah. But he wasn’t looking for that. So...” Leo stares off absently towards a large printed photo of Jasper and Ryan from their wedding photo shoot, a silhouetted kiss against the ocean sunrise that projected the shine of the gold rings they both held up. He blinks and looks away again. “Wanna go out?” Leo asks.

“What, tonight?”

“Yeah. Time for me to meet new people.”

Jasper laughs. “Fuck the feelings away.”

“I don’t know. I’d like to find someone worth having those feelings for, actually.”

“And you think you’re going to find that at a club?”

“Well, I’m not gonna find that in your lounge room, am I? Everyone on Grindr is starting a conversation with a photo of their dick.” Leo smirks.

“Touche’. Might as well try your luck meeting Mr Right in a club. I want to see you in action, actually. Because you talk all this big game, but I want to see how you actually pick up people.” Jasper nods. “I’ll be your wingman, that'd be fun."

“No offence, but if I wanted a wingman, I’d not ask someone with no dating experience.”

“Excuse me?”

“You dated one guy.”

“And I was so good at it that he decided to marry me." In the kitchen Ryan raises his eyebrows at the comment. Jasper wasn't, not good at dating. But it was like Jasper forgot how much he avoided dating to begin with, and the journey it took from there to here. He certainly wasn't just so good at dating that Ryan wanted to marry him. Ryan just loved him beyond his flaws and chose to spend the rest of his life working through things. But In Jasper's eyes, yes. The absolute perfect boyfriend. "I’m a success story. Isn’t that exactly what you should want as a wingman if you’re looking for something long term?” he continues ranting.

“Yeah, but you’ve been with Ryan forever.”

“So?”

“So how exactly are you going to help me meet and flirt with new people? You haven’t had to do that in years.”

“I literally flirt with Ryan every opportunity I get.”

“Married flirting is not the same and would not work on a stranger.”

“I am very offended by everything you’re saying. Ry!” Jasper turns his attention to his husband, who looked less than thrilled to be dragged into this. “I’m a good flirt, right?”

“Yes,” he answers quickly.

“Your husband can’t be objective. He flirts like a married person, too.”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Jasper rolls his eyes.

“It’s like another language, listening to a couple flirt. It’s all inside jokes and suggestive references and pointed remarks that are only not cringe-y to you because of your history. It’s adorable to hear, but it would not work on a stranger.”

“Babe?” Ryan calls out.

“Yes, my love?”

Ryan chews his lip before giving a sigh and a fake smile. “Nothing. Make sure you look better than Leo and go have fun. You deserve it.”

“Without you there? Impossible.” Jasper replies and Leo scoffs, rolling his eyes and laughing. Ryan, on the other hand, walks over to kiss Jasper lovingly.

*** 

“What are you getting?” Leo asks as he and Jasper get to the bar.

“Water.” Jasper shrugs, giving his order to the bartender, who laughs at the suggestion and throws an ice cube at him playfully. Ignoring his order, but leaning against the bar to take Leo’s. There’s an insane amount of eye contact going on between them as the man throws around the bottles of liquor, pouring with dramatic flair into a cocktail mixer and shaking it. Leo tips him generously and asks for a glass of water for his friend. Only now Jasper earned that drink and is practically ignored when he says, “thank you”.

“Don’t be offended. He probably saw your wedding band.” Leo states as he sees Jasper’s slightly put-off expression.

“It’s fine. We’re here to get you a relationship. Not me.” Jasper shrugs, sipping at his water and turning around to look around the bar. “So, anyone catching your eye yet?” Jasper asks, glancing at Leo, who shrugs and looks away.

“Everyone.”

“Get more specific. What are you looking for in a partner?”

“Fun. Sexy. Strong personality. I don’t know.”

Jasper watches the crowd dancing around them. “Well, that’s everyone here, by the looks of it.” Jasper turns back to Leo, who is captivated by someone across the bar. Admittedly, a very cute guy that was alone at the bar looking at his phone.

Leo calls the bartender over, asking what the man who’d caught his attention was drinking before ordering another one to be sent to him, again tipping generously. Jasper watches, intrigued to be seeing Leo’s pickup act in person. As the drink is placed in front of the young man, the guy looks at it confused, then he catches Leo looking at him. Leo raises his glass and gives a smile and a nod, which is returned.

“Smooth.” Jasper laughs uncomfortably, sipping at his water again and watching as another man puts his arm around the guy and they share a kiss. “Ooh! Unlucky!” Jasper teases, nudging Leo with a teasing grin.

“Or extremely lucky. What do you reckon? Double or nothing?” Leo smirks at Jasper, downing his drink quickly. Both men are looking at Leo, the man he’d brought a drink for, gives Leo a thumbs up, thumbs down, then makes a V with his fingers. Leo does a V back and the guy nods, gesturing at Leo to join them. “Bye.” Leo winks at Jasper.

“What? Hold on, seriously?”

“Uh, yes. This is how hook-ups happen.”

“Leo, you didn't come here for a hook-up. You came out to find a boyfriend...”

“And I got two! Have a good night. I know I will.” Leo pats his shoulder and leaves Jasper at the bar. Jasper is just astonished, unsure of what to do with himself now. Part of him expected Leo would be back soon, but he also didn’t particularly feel like being out alone in the bar, especially sipping his water and reconsidering his priorities in life. He had thought this could be fun, but Leo ditched him so fast it wasn't worth having been asked to come along. He could have been at home finishing his song, or spending time focusing on his own love life.

“Hi...” A man stands beside Jasper at the bar.

Despite having been somewhat curious about hooking up with a stranger, Jasper is raising his ring finger and cutting the man off. “Don’t bother. Married.” He'd lost interest in the night and was a little annoyed that Leo invited him out. Across the bar, Leo and the two men he’d been called over by were nowhere to be seen. Just as he’s starting to feel a little anxious about being alone, Jasper's joined by a familiar voice.

“Where’d your friend go? You're too attractive to be sitting at a bar alone.” Ryan leans against the bar beside Jasper, looking the perfect mix of classy and sexy. A smile washes over Jasper’s face as he takes in his husband. Speaking of people that are too attractive to be alone, the club atmosphere just heated up and re-inspires his interest.

“Turns out he can’t be in a bar for 5 minutes without getting laid. What are you doing here?”

“You caught my eye the moment I walked in. Can I buy you a drink?” Ryan offers.

“No thanks, I’m good.” Jasper shrugs, sipping his water. Ryan smiles and turns to the bartender, ordering himself a drink. “Ry, did you come out here because you don’t trust me?”

“No, I came here because I don’t think it’s fair that Leo can just leave you alone here. And I thought just because you’re married doesn’t mean you can’t have your own fun.” Ryan accepts his drink from the bartender, then looks back at Jasper.

"Who is watching Jazzy?"

"Your parents are thrilled to get to babysit. I told them you were stressing over getting this song done and she wasn't able to sleep through the noise. Not that you were out at a club and I was going to show up with the ‘pretend we are strangers hooking up’ approach." Ryan sips his drink, watching as a smile crosses Jasper's face.

"You came out to hook-up with me?"

"Well, I sure hope you want to go home with me. Otherwise, this would be really embarrassing. Since you broke the fantasy, I’m here to let you relax and feel normal. So, if you want a drink, you can have one. I’m looking out for you and will make sure you are ok.” Ryan offers.

“No amount of alcohol could make me blow you in a dirty club bathroom.” Jasper gives a fake, uninterested sigh.

“I have to agree with you on that.” Ryan shrugs.

“Ok, stranger, I just met. What do you do?”

Ryan smiles. “I’m a hotel owner. You?”

Jasper thinks for a moment. “I’m a university student and I babysit in my free time.”

The thought of Jasper, who made his living strutting across a stage singing to a sea of fans, reducing his international success as a pop star to that, made Ryan laugh harder than he knew he should have and he has to turn away to recover himself.

“So, if you didn’t come to the club to drink, you must be here to dance, right?” Ryan takes his hand, leading him from the bar into the group of drunk, uncoordinated people on the dance floor. He spins Jasper around, then smoothly brings him in close against his body. One hand resting on Jasper’s hip, guiding him to move in time.

Jasper couldn’t deny he found this thrilling. Even if this was a fake scenario, he was very into it. He did think Ryan’s dance skills were wasted, just standing in a sweaty pit of people and barely able to do more than just move his body in seductive waves against Jasper’s. The lights in the room dance all over them, yet Jasper didn’t feel for once, like anyone was watching him.

Ryan sips at his drink and Jasper licks his lips, feeling a little thirsty himself now. “Want some?” Ryan offers. Jasper nods and reaches his hand out for the glass, but Ryan takes another sip before moving his hand to behind Jasper’s neck, bringing him in for an intoxicating kiss. Ryan’s lips were cold and his mouth tasted sweet with an after burn that made Jasper’s tongue tingle. When they break the kiss, Jasper glances at the glass in Ryan’s hand. “Are you having a good time?” Ryan has to shout in Jasper’s ear, over the music.

“Yeah, you?”

Instead of answering, Ryan presses him against the wall and takes his lips in a heated and perfectly messy kiss. One hand slips into the back pocket of Jasper’s jeans and Jasper was starting to understand how some people could hook-up in public because in this moment he couldn’t care less who was seeing this. In fact, he hoped they had people’s attention. The thought of this ending up as a headline amused him.

“Want to get out of here?” Ryan asks, kissing Jasper’s neck.

“My place or yours?” Jasper jokes, much to Ryan’s amusement.

“Yours.”

***

“Are we seriously not going home?” Jasper laughs, sliding into the back of the Uber, with Ryan climbing in behind him. Ryan gives a hotel address, but Jasper doesn’t get a chance to ask about it, because Ryan starts whispering everything he planned to do to Jasper when they got home. Combined with the way Ryan’s palm was gently massaging the obvious bulge in Jasper’s pants, Jasper had no chance to even string a coherent sentence together.

The hotel is quiet at this time of night. Though it’s almost to a point of being eerie. Especially as they enter the lobby and there are no lights on. Ryan locks the door behind them and drags Jasper to the front desk.

“Where are we? Did you get us a room or...” Jasper asks.

“I got us the whole hotel.” Ryan answers, undoing Jasper’s pants.

“I'm sorry, what? Are there people here?” Jasper asks, nervously.

“Nope. Just bought it this afternoon. Which unfortunately also means there is no furniture. On the bright side, there are also no security cameras and when else are you going to have the opportunity to fuck on a reception desk?” Ryan grins, tugging Jasper’s pants down and lifting him up on to the desk.

“Wait, did you really buy a hotel?” Jasper breaks character again, too confused to just gloss over that statement.

“Yes.”

“Ry... What the fuck? You seriously bought a hotel?”

“Babe, you’re killing the vibe.”

“Just seems like something you talk about with your husband first.”

“You bought a block of land in another country for your charity, and I’m not allowed to buy a hotel for my own?”

“Wait, this is for the homeless kids?” Jasper relaxes a little, looking around the lobby.

“Is that ok with you?”

"Since when is that your charity?"

"I've been talking to your dad about it and offered to help him get things running."

"You running a charity to save the homeless queer kids, with my dad?" This whole thing was just getting weirder to Jasper. A long way from being turned on, and yet a little bit impressed.

"Well, it was his idea."

"No, I know. But you and my dad are going to work together? Really?" Jasper asks, absolutely dumbfounded.

"I happen to feel very passionate about what he's trying to do." Ryan shrugs, but Jasper has a smile on his face like he knows there's more to the story. Ryan sighs. "Ok. I realised that your parents have been making a genuine effort for years and I'm still kinda being a dick about. That means I'm the one that hasn't changed and made the effort."

“Is it ethical to fuck here?”

Ryan shrugs. “Only until it's occupied.”

“Ok.” Jasper smiles, grabbing Ryan by the collar of his shirt and pulling him close, wrapping his legs around Ryan’s waist. “Better make the most of it then,” he kisses Ryan with fierce need as he undoes Ryan’s pants. He uses his feet to shuffle Ryan’s pants down, then he breaks the kiss and pushes Ryan off him, jumping down from the desk and shoving Ryan against it before dropping to his knees. Ryan leans his elbows on the desk behind him and throws his head back, enjoying this special treatment and the way every noise between them echoed in the empty lobby.

“Jas.” Ryan’s breathless groan of his name wrecks his self-control. He truly couldn’t get enough of the power he felt listening to Ryan lose himself. Ryan pulls him up, his eyes staring into Jasper’s. “Get in the fucking lift.”

“Is the lift even working?” Jasper asks.

“Ugh.” Ryan sighs, tilting his head back, disappointed. “The power isn’t on for the building yet.”

“If we got stuck in a lift, I will not be held accountable for the things I’d do to you.”

“I don’t know if that’s a threat, but it’s kinda making me want to rip the elevator doors open and lock us in there.”

*** 

Jasper and Ryan sneak in their front door, trying to be quiet but bubbling with mischief. They couldn’t stop laughing to themselves. Ryan uses his phone to light their path around the recording equipment tripping hazards that were haphazardly packed into the middle of the lounge room. Jasper grabs Ryan, slipping his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and Ryan fumbles his phone, dropping it in favour of caressing Jasper’s chin with one hand, the other arm sweeping behind Jasper’s back as he walks him towards the couch, distracting him under a heated kiss. Jasper feels the couch behind him and lets himself fall, pulling Ryan on top of him.

“Oof fuck.”

Jasper pushes Ryan off him and scrambles up off the lounge as Ryan smacks around at the wall to flick the light on, confused.

“Leo?” Jasper starts laughing, more than a little embarrassed. “Oh, sorry. Are you ok? Did I break anything?”

Leo is sitting up with his hands in his lap, groaning and laughing.

“What are you even doing here?” Ryan asks.

“My night didn’t go to plan, and I didn’t want to be alone.” Leo replies with a shrug, turning his attention to Jasper. “How was your night?”

“Uh. Good. What happened to yours?”

“I was home before you. What do you think?” Leo gives a sigh, getting comfortable again on the couch.

“Wasn’t love at first threesome?”

“The couple had a disagreement, so I left.” Leo shrugs.

“At what point did they have the disagreement?” Jasper asks, unable to contain his amused smile.

“Oh, you don’t want to know.”

“I really do.” Jasper sits on the coffee table, smirking at Leo.

“You know the saying, ‘you don’t know what you like until you try’? Well, turns out one of the guys didn’t like sharing his partner.”

Jasper claps a hand over his mouth, mortified.

~ “I’m not comfortable. I’m not... I can’t do this.” One of the guys gets up from the bed, grabbing his clothes and quickly dressing.

“You said you’d be open to this.”

“I know. And I was. But this... Seeing you with another guy... It’s not me and if this is what you want then, we can’t...” The man doesn’t even finish his sentence, too emotion as he turns away from them and walks out of the room.

“Sorry. Get dressed and go.” The other guy says, not bothering to get dressed, too eager to run after his partner. Leo gets up from the bed, finding his clothes and awkwardly walking past the couple in the kitchen, one crying, the other still naked and comforting. Reassuringly promising all of his love and dedication. Leo doesn’t even get acknowledged as he heads out the door." ~

“That’s horrendous. I’m so sorry that happened.” Jasper replies, though he’s laughing.

“Poly isn’t for everyone.” Leo shrugs, giving a sigh.

“Aw, Leo. Sorry I’m laughing. It’s just because I’d have evaporated into death if that happened to me. How do you even handle that?”

“I’m pretty used to it.”

“Wait, this has happened before? Aw Leo. I don’t really know how it all works with you, but maybe next time go on a few dates and see if that’s comfortable with everyone before you go getting your dicks out.” Jasper suggests, trying and failing to show pity when all he wanted was to laugh and ask more questions. If Ryan wasn't here, he'd be asking for a full detailed recount. He wanted to know what Leo had already done with this guy's boyfriend before he walked out crying.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Leo jokes.

“See the irony in you calling me lame for being married? Yet, which one of us got laid?” Jasper points to himself.

“What’s that, like 5 times this year?” Leo asks sarcastically.

Jasper just gives him the finger. “Still more than you tonight.”

Ryan asks, sitting on the table behind Jasper, massaging his shoulders. “Have you ever been on a proper date, Leo?”

“Of course. I’ve wined and dined across the globe...”

“Without hooking up?”

“The sex isn’t a problem. I assure you. I’ve never had complaints.” Leo smirks.

Ryan rolls his eyes. “People don’t say no to you enough, do they? Have you ever actually had to work for it? Earn your way to intimacy?”

“Has anyone ever rejected you, that you’ve not ended up sleeping with?” Jasper asks.

“You.”

There’s a tense pause.

“Look, just in-case I sent any mixed messages throwing Jasper on you on the lounge before, you can’t have him.” Ryan states, surprisingly not put off by Leo admitting that there was a time he'd come onto Jasper.

“Oh, rejected by two couples in one night. It is not your night. Turns out all the best guys are already taken." Jasper gets up, turning to Ryan. “I’m going to bed. I’m wrecked. You coming?”

Ryan smiles, taking Jasper's hand and giving Leo a wave as he flicks the lights off.