Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 05:53:57 +0000 From: Chris Salter Subject: How I Met Jake: Chapter 48 If you're underage, it's illegal or homosexuality offends, leave! Disclaimer: I don't know Jake Gyllenhaal, nor do I know his sexuality or claim to know it, this work is fiction and his life is his own business. Chapter 48: "Morning sleepyhead." Slowly opening his eyes, Chris immediately squinted again as the sunlight began to burn his retinas. "What time is it?" Danny took a seat on the side of the bed and gently stroked Chris' hair. "Just after 10." "Jake?" Chris asked, hopeful. Shaking his head, Danny sighed. "Not yet, but he's still got 2 more hours." "He's not coming." Chris replied sorrowfully. "I know he won't show up." "Give him a chance." Danny whispered as he stood up and wandered to the wardrobe to grab some clothes for Chris to wear. Returning with a brown sweatshirt and an old pair of jeans, he dropped them on the bed. "I'm sure he will be here soon." Pulling the covers back, Chris sat up and pulled the sweatshirt over his head. "I'll be down in a minute okay?" Danny nodded his head and made his way out of the bedroom. He had gotten up at 6 to wait for Jake, Four hours had passed at he was getting pissed off. "You'd better come today....." Taking a seat on the couch, he flicked the TV on and began channel surfing. Unfortunately he just happened to be slowly flicking over E! when Chris reached the bottom of the staircase. "What was that?" Chris asked as he saw the pictures on the screen. Danny quickly panicked and tried to distract Chris, realizing it was a fruitless endeavor, he looked back. "New Hollywood couple Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon attended a Halloween party last night as an official couple." Feeling his lip trembling again, Chris began to turn away from the living room and back up the stairs. "I can't deal with this shit anymore." "Chris!" Danny exclaimed as he jumped over the couch. "Don't do this." Stopping at the bottom of the staircase, he turned around as Danny pulled him into a tight hug. "He cares about me so much that he just had to go to a party with her." "It will be for publicity, I'm sure." Danny whispered. "Or maybe Reese tried to cheer him up." "Looks pretty effective," Chris mumbled as he stared at the images flashing on the screen. "Stupid two-timing fucking...." Danny turned around so Chris couldn't see the screen anymore. "Just be quiet, you're turning into a drama queen." Chris grunted, "I know. I hate it." Sighing again, he suddenly remembered. "I'll be back; I forgot to brush my teeth." "Okay, don't be long." Danny replied as he released Chris. As he heard the bedroom door close again, Danny noticed someone knocking on the door. Feeling extremely nervous, he quietly shuffled his way over and opened it. "Hey." Danny was shaking, he was nervous for Chris. "Jake, we weren't sure you'd actually show up." "Can I come in?" Jake pleaded. There was something different in his voice. He didn't sound at all happy. Standing aside, Danny allowed Jake inside. "Sorry, I'm a little nervous." Jake flashed Danny his bright smile, "You're nervous? How do you think I feel?" "I don't know?" Danny whispered as he pointed to the television screen. "Chris saw it, it set him off again." Letting out a sigh, he explained, "It got a bit rough last night, he couldn't breathe." "My poor Chris." Jake pouted, "I miss him. I hope he gives me a chance to explain myself now." Hearing a door close upstairs his heartbeat began racing. Pointing towards the floor above, Danny whispered again, "That's him now. Sit down." Taking his backpack off and fishing something out as he sat down, Jake watched Danny bounce his way up the staircase. He was scared. Hearing some muffled voices from the floor above, he continued to pull the envelope out of the bag and placed it on the coffee table. Everything he needed to prove his case to Chris with was in the envelope. He looked down at his ring that he was still wearing. Then, pulling Chris' ring out of his shirt, he played with it for a while on the chain before letting it dangle down. He hoped Chris would take the ring back. "Jake," Chris announced softly, "Hi." Immediately jumping up, Jake made his way over to Chris and hugged him tightly. "I missed you so much baby!" Keeping his arms at his side for a moment, the feeling of Jakes body against his finally broke Chris' guard down. Sliding his hands around Jakes strong back, he too, hugged Jake tightly. However, he didn't say a word. "You had me so worried." Jake admitted. "You had everyone worried actually. Michael misses you, Sarah and Amy are miserable." Chris sighed, "I had to leave. I couldn't handle it, you hurt me Jake, and I mean you really hurt me." Noticing the screen was still focused on the Halloween photos, he continued, "I see you were really missing me too." "Last night was horrible." Jake sighed. "I wanted to fly out here earlier, but I needed to go to the party. I spent the whole night thinking about you." "I think you need to explain yourself." Danny commented. Jake looked at Chris nervously before looking over at Danny. "I know, everything I need to present to you is over there." He pointed towards the couch. Following Jake, Chris and Danny sat down on the couch while Jake grabbed the envelope and opened it. "I told you we were protecting you." Jake whispered. "Reese's manager came across these photographs just before we left for Rome, along with the letter." Handing them over to the boys, he awaited their response. Chris looked over at Jake before looking at the photographs. "What the fuck is this?" "These two," Jake pointed, "Photographs of both you and me in my backyard a few weeks ago. Remember the Sunday when you fell asleep in my arms on the lawn?" Nodding slightly, he looked at the other photographs. "These ones look like they're from my work?" "Outside your office window actually." Jake admitted, "The rest are fairly self evident." "I don't understand?" Chris replied. "What is this?" Jake sighed and sat down on the coffee table carefully. "Someone was building a media profile about you, they were gathering all this information before suddenly exposing our relationship to the media." Chris was shocked. Who could be that callous? Looking over at Danny, he could tell he was equally in shock. Grasping Danny's paw tight, he tried to hide his shaking. "I don't care if I get outed to the media, it doesn't bother me anymore." Jake conceded. "What I was worried about was the way this person had gone about their actions. They were planning on blackmailing you for the photographs and information." He sighed again, "You have no idea how viscous the media can be when they get a story like this, so Reese came up with the idea of pretending to be in a relationship with her. It worked well, as it brought half of the culprits out of hiding." "They're going to blackmail me?" Chris asked. "Why couldn't you tell me?" Jake shrugged, "I don't know. Part of me didn't want me to hurt you, but that obviously backfired." He didn't really know why. He could come up with thousands of excuses, but at the end of the day, all he wanted was to be truthful with Chris. "It doesn't excuse it, and for that I'm truly sorry. Will you ever forgive me?" "I can try to understand the situation you were in, I can forgive you for it." Chris replied. Jake smiled and bounced up and down with joy, "Great! Will you.." He then was cut off by Chris. "But." Chris interrupted, "There's one thing I can't forgive you for." Jakes smiled immediately turned from a smile to a frown, "What's that?" Chris sighed, "You keep letting me down, you leave me out of things. You invite me to things, and then at the last minute you change your mind saying you're just wanting to protect me or I will be bored." Letting a tear creep out, he continued, "It makes me feel as though I'm not that important to you." "I'm sorry Chris." Jake replied as he grasped Chris' hand. "I don't know what to say about that. You never said anything about it." "I guess I should have." Chris responded softly, "I let it build up and build up, then when I came across that magazine it seemed like I was the dirty secret of Jake Gyllenhaal, not the boyfriend." "Will you take me back?" Jake pleaded. He felt sick inside. Thinking for a moment, Chris finally spoke up. "I want to Jake. I miss having you near me." Jake smiled for a moment before realizing exactly what Chris had said. "What do you mean you want to? Are you saying no?" "That's right." Chris sighed. Looking of at Jake and then Chris, Danny was equally shocked as Jake. He didn't know what Chris was getting at, but he could see Jakes heart breaking, his eyes said it all, he had the same terrified look that Chris had the night before. "Think about it Jake." Chris whispered. "You said you've only managed to bring half of these people out of hiding. That means they're still planning on blackmailing me." Jake nodded slowly. "It looks like it." "Then getting back with you will only give them more to blackmail me with." Chris replied. "I see." Jake replied solemnly. He could feel the tears welling up. Looking away for a moment, he allowed them to creep out slowly. "I don't want to hurt you anymore Chris." Preparing to stand up, he began to push himself off the coffee table, he was surprised when Chris inched himself closer. Chris crouched in front of Jake and softly brushed his lips against Jakes. He missed the ever-inviting feeling of the soft lips within the sea of facial hair. Slowly moving his hands behind Jakes head, he began to part his lips, allowing his tongue to slip into Jakes mouth. Shifting slightly in his seat, Danny tried to look away from the embrace; however, he found his eyes being drawn back to the passion in front of him. Finally breaking the kiss, Chris smiled weakly. "I still love you Jake." "I never stopped loving you." Jake whispered as he looked over at Danny. "Does this mean we're back together? My house is so lonely without you and Boo Radley misses you." Chris sighed. Jake was so insistent and he didn't know what to do. "Jake, I don't think we should." Danny was getting annoyed at Chris' behavior, finally unable to contain his emotions any longer he leaned over and slapped Chris, "Are you an idiot or something? Jake explained himself, you've forgiven him, but you won't take him back even though it's obviously fucking broken him. I thought I knew you." "You don't understand." Chris admitted. "If we're apart, then we have the upper hand in this." Jake sighed and grasped Chris' hand. He wasn't sure where he was heading with this. Pulling Jake over to the couch, Chris continued, "I can't take you back until this thing is over. I love you, and I don't want to feel like this again." "So you're saying you won't take me back until this situation is dealt with?" Jake asked nervously. "You're right." Chris whispered. "I can't do it." Watching a tear fall onto Jakes cheek, he gently wiped it away before continuing, "What you're doing with Reese is good, but we need to catch these people." "I know." Jake replied nervously. "As long as people think we're apart, it might cause these people to think I might want to deal with this." He whispered and looked at Danny, "I want to be with you again Jake. Even if it means we have to be even more secretive for the time being." Suddenly the look of terror swept away from Jakes face, replaced with absolute happiness. "So you will take me back?" Kissing Jake again, Chris smiled and stared into the bloodshot eyes of the man he loved. "On one condition." "What's that?" Jake asked nervously. "Outside of the people who know where I am exactly, I don't want anyone knowing we're back together until this thing is sorted." Jake sighed and rested his head against Chris', maintaining the intense stare. Whispering so only Chris could hear him; he finally spoke up again, "It's a deal, baby. As long as I have you back." Chris smiled like a schoolgirl as he continued to lean his head against Jakes. Shifting slightly, he grabbed Jakes head in both hands and kissed him. "I missed you." "Well?" Danny asked, wanting to hear the response. Remembering they weren't alone, Chris turned his head and smiled at Danny, "Everything is fine." "Well," Jake replied. "Not everything." Spinning back around to look Jake in the eye, Chris enquired, "What's wrong now?" "Your finger is naked." Jake responded cheekily. Quickly unhooking the necklace from around his neck, he slipped the ring off and tucked the necklace into his pocket. Grabbing Chris' hand, he looked up at him with adoring eyes. "Will you please wear this again? It means a lot to me." Allowing Jake to slide the ring all the way into position, Chris looked down at Jake and continued to smile like an idiot. "Of course I will." Pouncing on Jake, he slipped his tongue into his mouth and began probing. Making sure only Jake could hear him, he moved his lips towards Jakes right ear and whispered, "I missed you so much." "I know." Jake replied with a smirk. "You keep telling me." Looking around, he continued, "So this is where you've been hiding?" Shaking his head, Chris explained, "Just last night. I've been living in my apartment for a few days." Jake shot both Chris and Danny a confused glance, "Where have you been hiding then, I thought you were here the whole time?" "I didn't want you to find me." Chris admitted shyly. "I've been hiding at my place." "Well," Jake enquired, "Where is your apartment?" -Chapter 49 soon- There ya go, I hope you like where I'm going with this, I'm not sure about it myself but it adds some interesting character development. Everything can't be happy for eternity, right? Anyway, thanks for reading guys! Love hearing from you! Chris