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"You were up my arse about never having been to Amsterdam when you've never been to Paris? It's across the fucking channel!"
"Yeah, but it's not like me dad ever thought taking me to Paris would make me less gay, did he?"
Roy scoffed, sinking a bit lower into his seat, crossing his arms. "You know using your childhood trauma to manipulate me is a dick move."
"Not manipulatin' ya," Jamie said, turning to smile sunnily at Roy. "Just giving ya little perspective, babe."
Roy rolled his eyes as Jamie put his face back to the glass, gazing out the window as they approached Paris.
They were only coming for an overnight trip, taking advantage of their last free day before Christmas, because Jamie was a little shit and impossible to fucking shop for.
He'd managed to get Roy eight perfect gifts for each night of Hanukkah and no matter how many times Roy asked what he wanted he would just shrug and say "Don't need much, do I?"
Absolutely fucking infuriating.
What Roy could get him was quality time: a love language they shared. And Jamie being the little history nerd that he is, Roy figured they could get to Paris real quick and tour Notre Dame.
And good thing he did because Jamie had apparently never been to fucking Paris.
"I can't believe you haven't even mentioned it," Roy continued, bitchily. "We could have gone way before now."
"What, between all the training and extra champions league matches and your fucking knee surgery?"
"Yes!"
"You're a twat, we're going now.'
Roy grumbled, tightening his arms over his chest.
The problem was that Roy had been to Paris loads of times. For matches and stag parties and on ill-advised cocaine-fueled romantic overtures in his early days. He's been to the Eiffel Tower and Moulin Rouge and very very many lingerie stores. He'd eaten at the fancy restaurants and walked along the fucking seine and even put a lock on that fucking bridge before it collapsed. He'd done Paris. But he didn't know how to do Paris for Jamie.
He probably wanted to go to the cemetery and tour the sewers and of course see the bells at Notre Dame. All that history shit.
And Roy knows about the history shit but he's not a fucking tour guide. And he can't hire a tour guide because he's planning on being gay and romantic but him being gay and romantic ain't exactly public knowledge. So it was up to Roy.
And he was nervous and grumpy about it, whatever fuck off.
They got off the train and Jamie was already starry eyed. He took selfies in front of every fucking building, the hotel, French road signs whatever. They dropped their bags at the hotel and Jamie dropped the camera to kiss Roy stupid for a bit, which helped Roy's nerves.
And then they had to go to the fucking church.
The big one. With the hunchback and the tower and all that.
Recently restored, it was a fucking mad house. Roy was not confident in their ability to blend in with these fucking crowds but luckily, no one was paying attention to anyone else. They were just looking at the huge rose window or making a wish at point zero.
Speaking of: "Roy, you have to take a picture of me making a wish."
"Fuck that, there's a line."
"Roy you have to! It's my first time in Paris!"
Roy groaned. "Which is why we should have come sooner."
Jamie just looked up at him with his stupid fucking face and his big blue eyes and Roy was a bitch forever because he crossed his arms and got in fucking line to take a picture of his boyfriend on top of a fucking metal disk.
Jamie fidgeted, peering around and people watching, his hand twitching toward Roy's. Roy kicked at his shoe, giving him that bit of contact with plausible deniability. He settled.
Roy took Jamie's picture at point zero. Jamie did his cheesy peace signs and grinned with his backward snapback and the bum bag across his chest and Roy fucking loved this idiot.
The bells started to chime 2 O'clock while Roy had the camera up so he was able to capture the wonder and delight on Jamie's face as he experienced the full breadth of the sound. These were the bells that were meant to rouse all of Paris to worship. The bells that have been mythologized and novelized and fucking Disneyfied and they were experiencing them in real time.
And Roy thought that watching Jamie experience them was way more worthy of wonder and awe.
God, he was intolerable. Thank God no one else lived in his head.
"Roy, did you get that? Did you get it on video? I could put that on instagram, me live-reactin'."
Ugh, Jamie was intolerable too. They deserved each other.
"No, I didn't take a video. But I got your dumb face all jaw dropped. You can post that."
Jamie pouted but reached up to grab his phone, his fingers brushing over Roy's wrist.
"Well, you can take a video of me walking in the church. If you don't burst into flames when we walk inside, that is."
"Oy! That's antisemetic!"
"Not because you're Jewish! Because you're a bad person!"
"Well you got me there."
Jamie laughed, bumping his shoulder into Roy's as he took off toward the church doors.
Roy let himself smile while Jamie's back was turned, the little box hanging heavy in his pocket.
It wasn't a ring. No, he wasn't proposing in fucking Paris – fuck Ted and his cliches. No, they were keys. To his house. Hopefully soon to be their house.
Jamie already spent most of his time at Roy's but he still had his own place. Plausible deniability. A place for Jamie to run if Roy was pissing him off. An escape.
But Roy didn't want him to escape. He wanted to keep him, possess him, live in his skin.
It scared Keeley when Roy was like that. But somehow, Roy didn't feel like it would scare Jamie.
How's that for quality time?
"Royo! They've got the little alter boys and everything! You gotta get in here."
Roy rolled his eyes. "Those are real people, they're not just set dressing, you muppet!" And he chased after Jamie into the church.