Early on Sunday morning, the doorbell rang while Raymond was in the middle of pouring over his books. Getting up with a sigh, he knew his neighbor was in the mood for a chat. She'd been dogging him for the past few weeks and now there was no way out, he groaned.
Opening the door with a cheerful smile, his face fell into a blank expression, seeing a smiling Jackson.
"What exactly are you doing here... Again?" he asked in exasperation as a frown settled on his brow. These visits were becoming too regular.
"I've come to see if you wanted to spend the day together since yesterday didn't start out that great." His jaunty grin was still in place.
"Come inside," Raymond mumbled, walking to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee, while Jackson took a seat at the kitchen table, watching him.
"Hitting the books, huh?" He flipped some of the books over to look at the covers. "Eh, what exactly are you studying?" He asked in surprise looking at books in front of him, filled with diagrams and math calculations.
"Explosives Technology." He responded matter-of-factly, "Why?"
"Seems a bit unusual for an Executive Secretary of a billion-dollar company to study blowing things up, isn't it?" He frowned as he looked closer at the textbooks before Raymond started moving them out of the way.
"You never know when it might come in handy when trying to close a deal." He smirked. "No, I'm curious. And I get curious about all sorts of things, so I like to study or read up on them. Keeps the mind young and fresh." He grinned while tapping his head.
"I hope you got to enjoy a little of what we did yesterday, at least." Jackson changed the topic. Raymond had been quiet for most of the day, after they'd left the restaurant, caught up in his thoughts. If only he could get through to him, then things might ease up, Jackson thought. Maybe he needed to pull out all the stops to get Raymond to bite.
"Well, after the morning we had, anything after that was a welcome break."
"Why do they call you Odd Job Ray?" Hopefully, he'd be able to get some more information out of him other than his usual shrug and deflection. So far, it has been an uphill struggle to get the tiniest bit of information out of him, since he always played his cards so close to his chest.
"It's a funny story, actually." He gave a strained smile, picking up his cup.
"It didn't look like it was funny for you." He prodded quietly.
"I did a bunch of odd jobs when I was in high school, to get some extra cash." He shrugged his shoulders. "So they saw me around town a lot, doing a lot of odd jobs, while they were hanging out. It sort of became their joke and they would place bets on where they'd see me next."
"Sounds like a bunch of assholes to me." His mouth turned down in distaste. "So why did you have so many jobs? Even when I looked at your CV, they were all part-time work."
"I won't bore you with my whole sad backstory." He grimaced. "Suffice it to say, it was a means to an end. And now, well I only take on short jobs because that way I get to spend more time with Skye." It was true in essence. He always took on the shorter jobs at Damon's to make sure that he had enough time for Skye, it was just that his main job was to have all these smaller jobs to find what they were asked to find.
"Come on, let's get out of here and you can bore me with your sad backstory. Who knows, maybe we can share some campfire stories." His grin was back in place. Getting up, he waited expectantly for Raymond to move.
"Where are we going?" He asked suspiciously.
"We'll take a trip around the harbor, get some fresh air, and more importantly, we can't run into anyone you know!"
"Fine, fine. I'll go on your little adventure." Raymond agreed after a while. If Jackson wanted to share camp stories, then he would be more than willing to listen. He was still certain that everything he was looking for started with Jackson. He just couldn't figure out why.
When they reached the harbor, Jackson led him down the to the jetty to where the boats were moored.
"This is going to be fun." He smiled at Jackson, feeling like something was finally going his way. Turning, he shaded his eyes from the sun to look around him. "You've got to be kidding me!" He exploded, looking in horror at the group of people approaching.
"Hey look! It's Odd Job again!" One of his classmates called out loudly, bringing the group to a standstill in front of them. "You working on one of these?" He guffawed. Not waiting for Raymond to respond, he continued.
"We thought we'd make a weekend of it, so we're going on my father's boat for the afternoon. Why don't you ditch work and come with us?" He chuckled again, smirking at Raymond.
"Actually, we were on our way to a little surprise I have for Cook. Why don't you join us? I'm sure it'll be worth your while." Jackson spoke up, stepping closer to Raymond, and grabbing his elbow. These people really pissed him off and shoving it in their faces was about all he could do other than beat them to shit.
"Follow me." He confidently took Raymond's hand and led them down the jetty.
Raymond looked up at the impossibly impressive and sleek piece of machinery wondering if Jackson ever did anything at a normal scale. A trip around the harbor in a boat, right, he thought in irony. He looked over at Jackson, who seemed to be carefully watching the reactions of his classmates, a look of grim satisfaction on his face.
"Ta-da!" He grinned, holding his arms open. "A little gift for you Cook!" He exclaimed, while Raymond stood with his mouth open, surprise clear on his face, pointing to himself in consternation.
"He said no to all the others, so I bought the biggest one I could find." He explained to the others who were looking between the two of them in shock. "Do you like it?" He pulled Raymond closer. "Come on, step on board, I'll let the captain know there are a few more of us." Following behind them Raymond tugged on Jackson's sleeve.
"You're making things worse again! It's a yacht! Nobody is going to believe that you're giving me something like this!" He gestured toward the yacht. "Can't we just leave?" He moaned.
"No! We're shutting these little bastards up once and for all!" Jackson pulled him along. "Now, play the loving boyfriend, won't you?" He teased.
For the rest of the cruise, Jackson kept the group entertained and pulled out all the stops, even inviting them to get into the hot tub on the yacht that had the perfect view. Jackson of course looked like James Bond in his black trunks that looked like they were painted on him. Perfect hair, perfect smile, and perfect body. Raymond groaned at the impossible beauty. Is it normal to be so perfect?
He almost laughed at Jackson's clever ploy of having every guy compare themselves to him. He really knew how to be an ass, and Raymond had to admit that he did it in style. After a while of sitting and enjoying the sun, Raymond realized that Jackson had been away for a while. Things going quiet when Jackson was around wasn't a good sign, that much he knew.
"I want you to stop calling Cook by that stupid nickname." Jackson was addressing two of the guys who seemed to take the most pleasure out of torturing Raymond.
"It's just a bit of fun." One laughed loudly. "He doesn't mind."
"Well, I mind. So you either stop and get all your other friends to stop or I will buy that silly little company of your father's and I'll give it to Cook as a gift." He leaned closer to them. "I think you get my point gentleman. I'm rich and I have enough time to make your lives miserable." Stepping back, he laughed loudly, clapping one on the back before moving past them.
By the time they'd returned to the peer, everybody was a bit more subdued, and bidding the others farewell, Raymond sighed in relief as they got into Jackson's car. Another nightmare day done with. So much for his peaceful weekend.
"Thank you for what you did back there." Raymond looked gratefully at Jackson.
"Nobody but me gets to mess with you." He grinned with a wink.
When they got to Raymond's flat, there was an uncomfortable moment, with Raymond not really wanting to invite Jackson in, and Jackson really wanting to be invited in.
"Do you want to come inside for a bit?" He heard himself asking, cursing his mom and her insistence on proper etiquette.
Hanging up his coat, Jackson sat on the couch, while Raymond got some cups out in the kitchen. Waiting for the water to boil, he thought about what Jackson did to help him save face. In his own odd way, he was making himself a spot in Raymond's life. This was a moral conundrum for him. Jackson is part of an investigation, but he was also a nice guy who seemed to be serious about dating.
Can he be objective if they got involved, though? He'd never been in a situation like this before. He liked Jackson, who wouldn't if you only looked at the packaging, and overall his heart was in the right place. Even if it was misguided sometimes. What to do now? Maybe if he shared some of his own life in exchange for some of Jackson's, then it would be a fair trade, he tried to convince himself.
Finishing up the tea, he walked into the living room, to Jackson passed out on the couch, his head at an awkward angle. Smiling, Raymond set the cups down and walked over to him. Gently pulling the pillow from his head, he laid it down flat, pulling Jackson gently along. Putting his legs up on the couch, he took off his shoes and threw a blanket over him.
"You're an odd one." Raymond lightly brushed his knuckles over his cheek,