First Date

By: KellyCRocker59

The second fluff story for what is becoming my favorite couple ever! I really wish there were more stories about these two; please review, I love encouragement (or constructive criticism if necessary)!

Holden looked out the window of the Hummer thoughtfully, watching the building pass by as the vehicle followed its course from his apartment to the restaurant that they would be attending that night. The other male in the vehicle was none other then Sean Jackson. While Holden wasn't too into sports, he did in fact know who Sean Jackson was. Now, however, as he rode with the other male in his extremely expensive car, he wondered if he truly knew the other man at all.

This whole thing started last week, when he had decided to accompany his sister to a football game; she was way into sports, and had begged him to come with her. It had been sweltering hot outside and after the game he had been walking down to use the bathroom when he bumped into someone bulkier then him, the impact knocking a bit of breath from his lungs. He looked up and saw Sean Jackson, garbed in a tight white t-shirt and shorts, in front of him.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The football player said.

"It's fine, I wasn't really watching where I was going; you're Sean Jackson, right?" Holden asked, being sure that he hadn't mistaken him for someone else.

"I guess you're not much of a football fan, are you?" Sean responded with a broad smile.

"Well…not exactly. I mean I just came because my sister was begging me to. Why are you out here anyway? Shouldn't you be celebrating your victory in the locker room or something?"

Sean laughed; it was a full, deep sound. It also kind of made Holden's stomach leap a bit as he smiled back at the other man.

"Usually yeah, I guess; I came out this way though because my manager told me that she overheard a big group of girls talking about sneaking in and bombarding me as I was showering." Sean explained.

"Oh; I'm sure you're used to all the women being all over you." Holden replied with a slight smile.

However, Sean gave a sort of sour smile back.

"What, do you not like all of the women? I mean I'm sure that's one of the benefits for a lot of football players." Holden continued, intrigued by the taller male's response.

"Would you like it if women were all over you all the time?" He countered, his eyes now containing a questioning nature that Holden didn't know whether or not he was comfortable with.

This was Sean Jackson and he was a nobody…why not tell a big football star the truth?

"Well, not exactly…I'm kinda not into women…" Holden said, eyes averted downward to the pavement; it was more difficult then he thought it would be telling this almost-stranger that he liked men.

Sean was silent for quite some time, then spoke.

"Would you want to…go out with me sometime?"

Holden was absolutely shocked. His head jerked up to looked into the other male's eyes, which were sincere, banishing any possibility of a joke. Sean Jackson was gay. It was then that Holden realized Sean was just kind of staring at him, still waiting for an answer.

"Oh, sorry, it just caught me a bit off guard. Yeah, sure." He said, not wanting to sound too eager.

He wasn't one to gush, but Sean Jackson was one very sexy man.

Sean smiled, "Good; here, can you give me your phone number?"

He fished in his pocket, then the other, and made a face.

"Dammit; I forgot it in the locker room."

"That's fine, here…" Holden said, reaching in his pocket and finding a pen that had been complimentary with his purchase of a water bottle earlier that day.

He reached down and grabbed Sean's hand, something far more forward then he would normally do. The football player's hand was large, callused, and warm in his as he scrawled his number on the other male's palm. Once he was done, he let go of Sean's hand and put the pen back in his pocket. He smiled up at the football player, who smiled back.

"I'll call you as soon as I can get my manager to free up a night; I promise I won't be a douche about it." Sean said, grinning now.

Holden chuckled and nodded, "Good; I'm not sure I could go on a date with a douche."

And now here he was; Sean had called him that night and apologized that it would take a week to be able to go on the date, but Holden said he was fine with waiting. He looked over now at Sean, whose eyes were on the road.

"Where is it again that we're going?" He asked.

"Just this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that I discovered a little while ago. It's Greek; is that okay?" Sean asked, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to look at the other male.

"Yeah; I haven't had a lot of Greek but it sounds good." He replied.

The rest of the ride was spent with a bit of small talk, but overall it was fairly quiet. Holden just couldn't seem to find anything to say around the football player; it was like anything in his life would pale in comparison to the other male's celebrity routine.

They arrived at the restaurant and were immediately seated under Sean's reservations. It was a very nice place, though there were only one or two other couples in the small vicinity. The two were seated at a table and placed their drinks orders, both ordering water. As they were waiting, Sean spoke.

"So, I really don't want this to be awkward." He said slowly, looking at Holden.

"What do you mean?" He replied, trying to act like he didn't know what he was talking about.

"It's just…I don't want this to be the kind of first date where all we talk about is my life and football and stuff like that." The football player explained.

"I don't know the first thing about football so don't worry about that." Holden said, smiling at the other male.

Sean chuckled and the mood was immediately lifted, now light and carefree.

"So, tell me about you." Sean said as their drinks arrived.

Holden did so, telling the other male about his family and how close he was with his sister. He told him about his job and how much he loved it, and how he hadn't been on a date in a really long time. Sean listened, seeming interested the entire time and asking questions when they came to him.

"But what about you? And it better be things I can't read out of Us Weekly." Holden said jokingly after they placed their meal orders.

Sean went on to tell him about how he had been playing football since he was little and loved it, even though his parents had definitely pushed him to go pro. He told him about how his parents didn't know that he was gay and had been waiting a long time for him to bring home a nice girl. He also explained how only a few very close friends knew about it, and that they would never tell anyone.

"It must be difficult meeting people when you're always in the spotlight." Holden commented.

"Yeah…that's why when I bumped into you and made sure to find out if you might be interested; it's very rare that I ever see someone as sexy as you at a game." Sean said with a smile, though his eyes showed that he was being totally serious.

Holden blushed deep red and reached for his water, but a server was walking by and bumped into his elbow. The beverage, half-full, spilled all over his lap. Holden, already flustered, gasped at the cold liquid that saturated his pants and grabbed a napkin, hastily trying to wipe it up. Sean popped out of his seat and stopped the server, telling him that he better 'watch the hell where he was going' and then pulled the clean towel that draped from the man's hip and walked over to Holden, handing it to him.

"Thanks." He said, using the towel with much better results then he had the napkin.

"No problem; it's not your fault that jackass doesn't know how to walk." Sean said, kneeling beside Holden.

Finally, once he had picked away the cubes of ice and placed them in the wet towel, Sean took the towel and stood, walking back to the kitchen. He returned and sat back down.

"They will have another water out in a second." Sean said.

Silence ensued, before Holden finally spoke.

"Well…that was kind of awkward."

"I'm sorry; I wouldn't have brought you here if I knew the new workers didn't know how to actually do their job." Sean said, glaring at the server that had bumped into Holden.

"It's fine, really; it was probably my fault anyway." Holden said as their food arrived.

The two ate in silence for a bit, and then Sean spoke.

"So, now that you've been on a date with the great Sean Jackson are you gonna watch a little more football?" He asked with a smile.

"Maybe if I know you're playing." Holden replied, smiling in return.

The rest of the date was filled with small talk and just enough laughs to make everything seem easy. Holden found it extremely easy for him to open up to the football player; he wasn't self-absorbed and was light-hearted just enough to be fun. The ticket arrived, and while Holden had brought his wallet, Sean snatched it up and pulled out his, placing the required amount of money in the pocketbook.

"Did you like the food?" Sean asked.

"Yeah; it's definitely the best Greek food I've ever had." Holden replied.

"Are you sure it wasn't just the company?" Sean joked.

"Maybe it was." He replied, both joking and serious.

They left a few moments later and got into Sean's Hummer, heading back to Holden's apartment.

"So…if you don't mind me asking; do you date very many guys?" Sean asked.

"Well…" Holden thought about what exactly to say, and settled on the truth, "no. The way I see it is that if I can't see myself with someone for the long haul, then why would I want to waste my time for the short term? I know a lot of gay guys tend to have a hard time being monogamous but I've never seen what's so difficult about it."

"Does that mean you can see yourself with me for the rest of your life?" Sean asked, smiling.

Holden blushed, not realizing that that was exactly what he had said.

"Because if so, I definitely feel the same way." Sean continued, and Holden blushed an even darker red.

Sean looked over at him and grinned wide, "You know, you're really adorable when you're embarrassed."

"Yeah, you seem to make a habit of making me that way." Holden replied, not angry but not exactly joking either.

That was when he felt his hand taken in a warm, firm grip. He looked over to see Sean gripping his hand, the football player's eyes still on the road as their joined hands rested on Holden's leg. Holden gripped the hand back, comforted by the warm, firm callousness of the other male's grip. He eyed Sean's expression and felt his heart thump heavily when a smile broke the other male's expression, eyes still on the road.

The rest of the drive was silent, but in a nice, comforting way. Like neither one of them needed to say anything; they were content to be in one another's company. Sean walked Holden to his apartment door, no one else in the hallway. Holden unlocked the door and then turned toward the football player, leaning against the frame so that he could be comfortable. Sean smiled down at him, and then spoke, hand resting on the frame of the door slightly above Holden's head.

"So…do you want to do this again sometime?" He asked.

Holden nodded, trying to speak but realizing that his voice was caught as his eyes locked with Sean's intense gaze.

"Good, because I don't think I've ever wanted to stay around someone so much in my life." Sean said.

And then he was leaning down, and their lips were together. It was the most amazing feeling Holden had ever experienced; the stubble along his jaw against his chin, Sean's hands moving to rest securely on his body, one on his hip the other on his neck. Holden reached up and held Sean's face, feeling the ruggedness in his fingers. That's exactly how the football player tasted; rugged and yet clean, tough and manly, yet gentle. He smelled of pine wood mixed with a calming earthy scent that was intoxicating.

Finally, they pulled apart, both gasping for air. Their foreheads were pressed together, and Sean smiled brightly, something that Holden had gotten used to in the short time and didn't want to ever have leave his mind.

"So; I'll see what I can do about getting myself free for tomorrow night?" He asked.

Holden nodded, "Yeah, that'd be…great."

Sean chuckled, and leaned down, placing a final gentle kiss on the other male's lips before pulling back and straightening up.

"Have a good night's sleep, Holden." He said, smile immediately back on his face.

Holden blushed and smiled in return, "You too, Sean."

Sean went to leave, but then turned back around, "Will you…say that one more time?"

"You have a good night's sleep too, Sean." Holden repeated.

Sean smiled even wider (if that was possible), "I'm not used to being just Sean. I like it, especially when you say it."

Holden blushed as Sean turned and left. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it for a moment, just taking in the night. It could very well be the first night of the rest of his life.