Rhys decided that he had most definitely made a big mistake less than an hour later after Jack's decision to 'invite' Vaughn to their date (which could now be considered a sleepover, he supposed, because he most certainly would not go on a date with his bro).

This, besides being completely obvious to anyone with any sort of common sense, was highlighted numerous times throughout the night. It started when they attempted to order the pizzas. Contrary to common belief, Jack rarely ate.

Besides his slightly strange obsession with stale pretzels and a few things he cooked for the two of them he mostly just nibbled at whatever was placed in front of him. Rhys wasn't exactly sure how that worked, with the energy Jack spent running around blowing things up. Not to mention he wasn't necessarily a small man (in any aspect, besides his height and that was really just in comparison to his own). When he first began working for Jack he figured that the man just subsisted off the fear he caused in his employees.

He had soon dismissed that idea and filed the mystery away in his mental catalog of Jack's odd mannerisms that he probably would never understand.

This meant that when Jack began arguing over what type of pizza they should order, Rhys knew instantly he was doing it just to watch Vaughn squirm. He had started out by suggesting the most vilely topped pizza on the menu (anchovies, red bell pepper, and "mystery meat"), but when that failed to garner a reaction, he proceeded to ramble on insisting celery was most definitely a topping that went on pizza. This was something Rhys had seen Jack pull often with numerous clients and employees, trying to see how much he could get away with before they finally spoke up.

At first, he could see Vaughn was too afraid to say anything, and Rhys refused to say anything out of principle, so Jack just continued to ramble on, stretching out on the couch and placing his feet on their coffee table with his arms behind his head. But as Jack's prodding steadily continued, Vaughn finally broke, and what Rhys would later call the "Great Pizza Debate" took place.

It took forty-five minutes for them to eventually come to terms, and in the end, Jack had managed to spin the conversation so much that they ended up with Vaughn's first choice, but only in such a way that it felt like Jack's choice all along. By the look on Vaughn's face, he gauged that his friend knew what happened too.

During the course of the argument, they had moved from the kitchen to the living room where Jack had, as aforementioned, sprawled across the couch. This left Rhys to settle into the space beside Jack, and Vaughn perching on the armrest of a small, unused recliner. Rhys took the job of actually ordering the pizza, and they all fell into an awkward silence (well, probably not awkward for Jack, he doubted the man had ever actually felt uncomfortable in any situation).

Then, of course, as they waited for the pizza they had to decide on an actual movie choice, and when Jack got that same-damnable-but-really-fucking-attractive twinkle in his eye that he had during the Great Pizza Debate, he put his foot down. No, they were 'not' going to watch a movie about talking gerbils that were actually spies (Jack) and no, they were not going to watch some sort of rom-com (Vaughn). Instead, he chose a relatively harmless movie, something with enough ridiculous action scenes to entertain Jack while he was in his current mischievous mood, and with enough 'context' to keep Vaughn relatively engaged.

At this point, Rhys didn't actually care what they did, or who got what, but he did care about the possibility of his friend being air-locked over pizza toppings. He didn't think Jack would actually space his best friend because, well, he was pretty sure Jack cared about Rhys' happiness too (at least some of the time, he still had an issue with that every now and then). Plus, he could tell Jack had a small modicum of respect for his friend after what happened on Pandora. Nonetheless, he didn't want to take any chances. Death, dismemberment, and/or mental trauma were not on his checklist for tonight.

Thus he micromanaged.

It seemed like everything was handled for now. He allowed himself to snuggle further down into the cushions, pulling his legs up, and leaning lightly into Jack's shoulder. (Somehow, even with Jack's obsession with taking up as much space as he could on whatever piece of furniture he resided on, he managed to get his 'spot' on the couch.) The man himself barely looked away from the screen as he brought his arm from the back of the couch to rest across Rhys' shoulders. He almost found himself smiling before he remembered the other occupant in the room, who was watching him get comfortable with a wide-eyed look.

Suddenly uncomfortable, he leaned away, shrugging Jack's arm off as nonchalantly as he could, hoping Jack wouldn't notice.

But naturally, because of course, Handsome Jack would notice an opportunity to make his life a living hell, he did.

Jack's face remained casually interested in the movie the whole time yet Rhys say a myriad of emotions flash in his eyes, flickering from hurt (oh god), to anger (oh shit), and then, most terrifying of all, they finally brightened with an idea (oh fuck).

Vaughn seemed to have noticed what had happened as well, and though he might not have realized to what extent they were all fucked, Rhys prided himself on being able to read Jack better than others, he obviously sensed that something was coming. He swallowed and leaned in his recliner a little further from Jack's reach.

(Rhys couldn't stop the slightly hysterical thought that while Vaughn might be out of Jack's immediate reach, the man moved like lighting. Not to mention he still had his gun tucked away somewhere in his jacket and ohgodthiswasitthemomentwhereeverythingwenttohellhisbestbrowasgoingtodieallbecausehewantedtohaveacuddlesessiononthecouch
tonightandmaybegetlaid-)

A loud pounding noise shattered his train of thought and he flew off the couch with a slight screech, Vaughn doing much the same (except his flight concluded with him crouched behind the recliner whereas Rhys managed to stay upright).

They both stared at Jack.

He stared back for several seconds before bursting into a fit of laughter as the same banging noise rang out throughout the apartment. Vaughn's mouth dropped open as he continued to stare at the giggling CEO, and Rhys suddenly felt himself die a little on the inside as he realized the banging was the door- the pizza most likely.

Jack tried to speak but was still laughing too hard to actually be intelligible.

"Wah-oh-oh-ohmygod-you should've seen your faces-hah!" He clutched his hands to his chest as he continued to howl.

Rhys felt himself almost grow angry with Jack (and himself for being so damn tense, in the same way, that he had been while on Pandora) and marched towards the door.

Slamming his flesh hand across the button to open the door, he bit out as polite a thank you that he could manage at that point and snatched the pizza away from the miserable looking delivery guy. He slammed the button again to close the door before the man could respond and stomped back to the couch.

Jack seemed to notice his genuine anger and his chuckles finally subsided as he grinned up at Rhys, making grabby hands eagerly. He felt some of his tension melt away at Jack's childish behavior and handed the man the boxes, folding himself on the couch beside him.

Luckily Vaughn seemed emboldened at the prospect of pizza and started loading up his plate. Completely distracted by the cheesy goodness he didn't notice Jack casually knock Rhys into his side, or when Jack wrapped his arm around his shoulders once again.

Rhys allowed the touch, thinking perhaps now he could finally relax a little, but of course, he should've known better. Especially when he felt Jack lean in next to his face and nip at his ear.

"Oh kitten, tonight's gonna be great."

He suddenly remembered the strange gleam in Jack's eye from earlier and wished himself from existence.

No excuse for the super late chapter. I'll try to be better. I'd love any feedback ya'll feel like giving me. Jack is really hard to write and I think it shows through this chapter a lot but no matter what I did it never seemed better so...yeah. Thanks for reading!