Long Distance.

Jack’s quiet at breakfast the next day. What strikes Andrew as weird is that Alex seems completely unaffected by it.

Jack’s not eating anything, so he sits down beside Andrew and stirs his coffee while staring languidly into the distance over Daniel’s head. Alex occasionally flits a glance over at him, but doesn’t seem overly concerned by the way Jack is acting.

It’s twenty minutes later when they’re outside Aled’s flat again -having muddled their way around the city to get there.

Josh opens the door and lets everyone in, and when they’re all sitting in the central room again, Aled appears from the kitchen and flops down into the seat beside Josh.

Aled surveys them all and he sees that Jack’s just trying to be invisible, as he’s shrinking away into the sofa.

“Jack, can I talk to you for a second? In private?” Aled asks. Jack looks over at him sadly and nods, pulling himself up and following him into the kitchen.

“Are you okay?” Aled asks, looking up at Jack. Jack sighs a little and shakes his head.

“What did he say to you?” Aled demands.

“Nothing… We just had a fight.” Jack says quietly. Aled raises an eyebrow.

“Jack. You and I both know that when you get like this, it’s not ‘just a fight’.” He says.

Jack sighs quietly.

“We had a fight and he said… he said some things I’m sure he didn’t mean. But he hasn’t talked to me all morning, so they’re probably all true.” Jack says, quieter than ever as he bites his bottom lip.

“Hey, come on. He loves you. I can tell just by the way he looks at you.” Aled replies, pulling him into a hug.

“He hasn’t told me so lately.” Jack says quietly into Aled’s shoulder.

“It’s not about how often he tells you, Jack. It’s about whether he means it or not.” Aled sighs gently.

“I… I’m not sure if he means it at all.” Jack blinks back a few tears and buries his face in Aled’s neck.

Aled raises an eyebrow.

“We’re supposed to be moving in together soon, and he said to me last night that maybe it’s not such a good idea. That he doesn’t know if he could stand me twenty-four seven.”

Aled frowns.

“He seriously said that to you? Do you want me to break his nose again?” Aled asks quickly. Jack shakes his head immediately.

“Please don’t say anything. It’ll sort itself out.” Jack says, pulling away from him.

Aled sighs, and pulls Jack to the kitchen door and they walk back into the sitting room.

Aled sits back down beside Josh and Jack goes back to shrinking away beside Andrew.

“So, what’re we doing?” Aled asks Josh.

“I was thinking a scenic tour of Cardiff.” Josh replies with a grin. Aled raises his eyebrows.

“Seriously? What the hell is there to see in Cardiff?” Aled asks incredulously.

“We’ll find something.”

*

“I have to go to Tesco to get some stuff.” Josh announces after they’ve been wandering the streets for about half an hour.

“What, a copy of Men’s Health so you can wank over it when Shay won’t give it up?” Aled smirks. Josh smacks him upside the head and starts to walk off. Aled smirks and watches as the younger eventually stops a few meters down the road. He stomps back over and glares at Aled.

“Take it back.” He grumbles, and Aled sighs.

“Fine.”

“Good.” Josh grins, “Now c’mon Andrew, come with me.”

He grabs Andrew by the wrist and pulls him down the street. Aled hangs back and falls into step beside Alex.

“Could you please talk to Jack? I don’t know what happened with you two, apart from a fight of some description, but he’s really upset.” Aled says.

Alex looks sideways at him and sighs.

“I know. I just don’t dare say anything.” Alex says quietly, “I just know that I hurt him.”

“Trust me, Alex; he wants to talk to you. He thinks you don’t love him.”

Alex freezes.

“Seriously?” His lower lip wavers, “Oh God.”

“I told him you do. Now you just need to tell him yourself.”

Alex nods, and catches up with Jack -who’s a few feet ahead with Daniel- and pulls him away to talk.

Daniel waits for Aled to catch up, but neither says anything when they eventually fall into step beside each other. Aled looks at him, and stammers over his words when he considers saying something.

“So.” He says finally. Daniel stops walking and glances over at him.

“What?” Daniel asks, brushing his bangs out of his eyes. Aled watches him, and it suddenly hurts to know that he left this behind -that this will leave him behind.

Aled bites his lip -hard- and takes a step towards Daniel. The American just watches him.

“I… I missed you.” Aled says, staring down at the floor, “I missed you a lot.”

“I know.” Daniel replies, and he opens his arms, pulling Aled into a tight hug, “I missed you too.”

Aled hugs back and buries his face in Daniel’s neck. And then it suddenly hits him just how much he’s missed this -how much he’s missed Daniel.

“You okay?” Daniel asks, patting Aled’s hair flat.

“I… Yeah.” Aled says quietly. He looks down the street and sees Alex pressing a light kiss to Jack’s lips and he smiles.

“We should catch up with them.” Daniel says, and he starts to head off down the street. Aled smiles a little more and follows him.

Maybe it’s not the big romantic reunion he always pictured, but it’s a reunion nonetheless.