I was going to make this another one-shot, but decided to make it two chapters instead.

Title from Pink's Raise Your Glass

Head's up, this is the 11th part in a series. You don't need to read the others, but it's highly recommended since I reference a lot of events that happened in other parts. My author's page has a complete list of all the previous works in the series, with full summaries and tags, along with word counts. All the stories are both here on this site and on AO3, where you can link stories into a series.

This series name is A Book Half Unread

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Luke watches from the couch as Jess tosses down his book and stretches. Unfolding himself from his bed, his nephew heads over to the bathroom and starts rooting around the medicine cabinet. This has become almost a nightly ritual the past few weeks, and Luke is starting to get a little worried. Not for what's wrong, since he's pretty sure he knows what the problem is, but to try and talk Jess into how to fix it.

"Another headache?" He asks casually as Jess crosses back over to his side of the room.

"Yup. Must be that darn Ayn Rand, I might just be allergic. Rory will be so sad I can't finish this piece of garbage."

Luke sits up a bit more, turning off the tv. "You've been having a lot of those headaches lately."

Jess starts digging in the fridge for something to eat. "Yeah, so?" He asks, distracted.

"And I've noticed you squinting a lot recently too."

Jess sniffs something before putting it back. "Okay…"

"So that got me thinking, when was the last time you got your eyes checked?"

Jess spins around, with the fridge still open he might add, and points at him. "I don't need glasses."

Luke holds his hands up, figuring he'd get this reaction. "I'm not saying full time, maybe just a reading pair."

"Luke, I'm eighteen, not forty. I don't need reading glasses."

"That's fine, if I'm wrong, great, but with the amount you read and coupled with the squinting and the headaches lately, I just think you should get your eyes checked out. One of two things will happen, you get glasses and stop getting these headaches, or you don't get glasses and everything stays the same. What'd ya say?"

"Ugh, fine, whatever." Jess shuts the fridge and grabs his jacket. "I'm going out to eat, see you in an hour." Not waiting for a reply, Jess heads out.

Luke feels like celebrating. He just talked Jess into doing something he doesn't want to do and neither one of them raised their voice once. He really is getting this parenting thing down.

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...And Luke spoke too soon. The next day, it took a long time of fighting and then bribing to get Jess in the truck so they could go to the optometrist.

Just as he suspected, Jess needs reading glasses after all the straining of his eyes. Now getting the kid to actually wear them will be a whole other problem. Luke remembers when he was a kid he needed to get a retainer. Like most kids, the second his parents turned their backs, he would take the thing out and hide it. Knowing Jess as well as he does, he has a feeling he will want to do the exact same thing.

"How about this," Luke offers as soon as they get upstairs. "I won't force you to wear the things downstairs or at school or anything, but when you are reading up here you wear them."

Jess dumps the bag on the table, slouching in place. "What if someone's up here? I don't want anyone seeing these stupid things."

Luke sighs. "Honestly, I really don't think any of your friends would make fun of you for wearing them, but fine. If Oliver or anyone else is over, you don't need to wear them."

Luke watches as Jess thinks it over, pawing at the bag before taking a breath and pulling out the case holding the simple black frames Jess picked out. "Fine, I'll wear the dumb things, but only up here when no one is around." He plops down on his bed, grabbing a book and making an over exaggerated show of putting the glasses on. "There, happy?"

"Thank you. You look very cute in them." As a joke, Luke ruffles Jess' hair, which unsurprisingly causes the kid to lash out and bat him away.

"Freak." Jess spits out as he fixes his hair.

Chuckling, Luke heads down to the diner.

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As much as Jess loathes to admit it, after the first week of letting his eyes adjust to the new glasses, his headaches stopped. Sure, he still gets them after school or when he reads downstairs, but he'd rather deal with the pain than have to wear the glasses out in public. Word is already out that he tutors Dean and that he aces all his honors classes, if people found out he wears reading glasses too then his reputation would officially teeter on the side of nerd. The only things keeping him afloat are when the rumor spread that he went and got drunk at a party in New York, and that fight he had with Dean in gym.

Although it would be nice not having to squint as much. Not squinting would be really nice. And he is in the library for study period and no one is around.

Taking one more look around, Jess reaches into his pocket and pulls out the case, slipping his glasses on. Wow, that really is so much better. God, he hates it when Luke is right about something.

"Hey. Whoa, nice specks." Lane sits down across from him, making him jump.

In a haste, he takes them off and puts them away again. "Shut up." Man, now he's back to having to hold the book away from his face to be able to make out the words.

"You do realize you're talking to someone that's been wearing glasses since the first grade." He keeps his head down and stays focused on his book. "Seriously? Jess, hate to be the one to break it to you, but if you keep squinting like that you're gonna have wrinkles by the time you're twenty-five."

"Then I'll moisturize when I get home."

Lane sighs. "Jess, just wear the glasses."

"No, I don't really need them, Luke made me get them and I wear them on occasion to humor him."

"Right, sure. And I'm planning on quitting the band so I can spend more time with my mother at bible study."

Jess shrugs. "Hey, if that's what you really want to do, then who am I to say no."

"You are the most stubborn person alive, you know that?"

"I'll be sure to tell Lorelai she's been dethroned. Can I get back to what I was doing before?"

Lane gathers up her stuff. "Causing yourself a migraine? Sure, knock yourself out." In a huff, she leaves the table and goes back over to her dance group she was talking to earlier.

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"Alright, you stubborn donkey, get over here." Lane barges into the apartment after school, dumping a tote bag on the kitchen table.

"Wha- You can't just come in here whenever you feel like it. What if I had been naked." Jess turns the tv off, making no move to get up from the couch. "And did you just call me a donkey?"

"Yup, because that's what you are. A stubborn, butt-faced, donkey." Lane crosses her arms.

"Oh, so now I'm a butt-face too? I'll be sure to add that to my resume." Marching over, Lane grabs him by the arm and drags him to the table, sitting him down. "Ow, I think you pulled my arm out of the socket. I better go lie down."

When he tries to make a move to get up, she pushes down on his shoulders to keep him seated. "No way, mister. Now give me your glasses case." She holds out her hand in waiting.

"Are you going to call me another name again if I don't?" She slaps his arm with a glare, gesturing for him to hand it over. "Okay, fine." He hands it over, mostly wanting her to stop glaring at him. She looks too much like her mother when she does that.

"Okay, here's what you're gonna do. I brought over as many different band stickers that I thought you'd like, pick out your favorites and put them on your case."

She sets the case in front of him and then dumps all the contents of the tote. She wasn't kidding with the stickers either, there are enough here to cover the entirety of the Great Wall of China. "Jeez, did you leave any stickers for the rest of the east coast?" Honestly, he's not entirely opposed to the idea as he digs through the pile. "What made you think of doing this little arts and crafts moment anyway, Martha Stewart?"

Lane shrugs as she helps him sort out the mess on the table. "It's like I said, I started wearing glasses when I was in the first grade. And if you recall first graders are some of the meanest people you will ever meet."

He chuckles. "Oh, yeah. You don't have to tell me twice."

"One day after school I was crying because Larry Miller had teased me about it at recess, and Lorelai found me. After finding out what happen, she brought me back to the Inn and told me, 'You are going to have the cutest glasses case in the world. Everyone will be too busy admiring it to tease you about it.' Then she gave me a bunch of Hello Kitty stickers and told me to go wild."

"And it worked?"

"No, Larry still teased me about it, but it was still the cutest glasses case ever so I just ignored him. I figured you'd feel better about wearing them if you got to punk yours up a bit with some rad stickers. I didn't think Hello Kitty would really be your scene."

He pouts at her. "You wound me. But I guess I'll make do with the Ramones and Rolling Stones."

"Great, I'll leave you to it." Making sure the tote is empty, Lane takes it with her to the door.

"Thanks." Jess admits begrudgingly without turning around.

"No problem." She pauses. "Why do you have one of those cheap bears from the winter carnival on your nightstand?"

"Alright, I can take it from here, goodbye now!" He chases her off, face burning up.

She laughs at him. "Okay, jeez, man, no need to get so defensive about it. Maybe I should have brought the Hello Kitty stickers." She mutters the last part.

"Out!" He points at the door, glaring until she leaves.

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Luke hands back a customer their change, telling them to come again soon. Glancing down the counter, he does a double take at Jess. He's starting to question if he needs glasses himself, because he swears he sees Jess wearing his glasses. Downstairs. While other people are also downstairs.

"Not a word." Jess growls, not looking up from his book as he leans forward on the counter.

"I wasn't going to say a thing." He assures him. Mirroring his posture, he grabs his glasses case that he left out on the counter, turning it over to study all the stickers on it. "This is pretty neat. Think of this yourself?"

Jess snatches the case back, stuffing it in his pocket. "It was Lane's idea, now don't you have a diner to run?"

Luke pats him on the back, giving him his space and standing back up straight. Looking across the room where Lane and Rory are having lunch together, he takes the coffee pot over to refill Rory's mug. Making eye contact with Lane, he mouths 'Thank you.' to her. She gives a little shrug, nodding back to him.

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Jess parts ways with Dean and Lane, making his way to Casa de Gilmore. Lorelai's garbage disposal isn't working again and Luke oh so kindly volun-picked him to fix it. He never should have had Rory pressure him into fixing that toaster for Luke, because now he knows that Jess knows how to fix things and will send him on errands for Lorelai when he's too busy to do it himself.

Rounding a corner, he stops short to find freakin' Chuck Presby blocking his way. "Seriously, man? I'm not in the mood for our usual little song and dance. How about you have your people call my people and we can schedule it in for some time next week." Jess goes brush past him, but only gets stopped again.

"I need help."

Jess scoffs. "Hell yeah, you do. But the kind of help you need can only be given by the friendly men in the white coats."

Chuck blocks his way again, getting more frantic. "Trust me, you're the last person I'd turn to, but I've already tried with everyone else. Please, just hear me out and if you still say no then I'll leave you alone for good. Promise."

Against his better judgement, Jess sighs. "Fine. You have two minutes, go."

"I'm failing half my classes." There's a shock, Jess internally thinks. "My dad is pissed and threatening to throw me out if I don't get better scores on the finals coming up. Please, I've tried everyone else and no one will help me."

"That sounds like a you problem."

Chuck stands there in shock as Jess passes him. Like that bullshit little sob story would work on him? He was thrown out for just existing, does the guy honestly think Jess would help him fix a problem he started to begin with? "For real, dude? And here I thought you owed me." Chuck called out to his back.

In a blink of an eye, he drops his backpack and pins Chuck against the wall by the labels of his shirt. "You must be a special kind of stupid to come to that conclusion. Let's recap shall we? Where to start… how about when I called you out for calling Rory a snob and then you took a swing at me. You're lucky Dean came to break up that fight or you would've walked away with more than just the bruises. Then there was the time you assaulted all the girls in our class, I stood up to you again, and you gave me a black eye. Oh! And let's not forget my favorite part where you threatened me and called me a fag. So, please, enlighten me, where in the hell did you get the idea that I owe you?"

Chuck shoves him back and runs a hand through his hair. "I didn't mean it like that! And I didn't mean all that other stuff either! I was just playing it up for my friends."

"Then get better friends."

Chuck grabs the crook of his arm as he tries to leave, growing more and more desperate. "Come on, man! Everyone knows you're the smartest one at our school. I've heard you get this stuff better than the teachers. Please, if I get kicked out I have nowhere else to go. I'll pay you even, here," He digs into his pocket, pulling out a wad of crumpled bills. "This is everything I have. It's all yours if you help me pass these tests."

Jess picks up his backpack from the ground, brushing the snow off it, and eyes the wad of mostly ones. Taking in the waves of desperation flowing off this guy, Jess thinks back to how lucky he was to at least have Luke to fall back on after Lizzie got tired of him. From the sound of it, Chuck here won't have anyone.

This damn town and the guilt associated for not helping out at least a little bit. He better not regret this. "Keep your money and follow me. You say one thing to piss me off or make one move out of line, and you're gone, got me?"

"Yes! Thank you!"

"I'm serious. Don't make me change my mind."

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Getting the spare key out of the turtle, Jess leads Chuck inside and through to the kitchen, dropping his bag on the table. "What's your worst subject?" He asks, getting straight down to business. The sooner they get this done, the sooner they can go back to ignoring the other's existence.

"Chemistry." He answers, sitting at the table.

Jess leans back against the counter sighing. "Okay, then we'll start with math."

Chuck pauses as he pulls his textbooks out, brow furrowed. "Why? I literally just told you chemistry is my worst subject."

Strangling people is wrong, strangling people is wrong, strangling people is wrong. Jess chants over and over in his mind. "Yes, you did. Glad to know you at least have some form of recall. Chemistry, if you had paid attention in class, is basically just math with physical reactions. You get math down, chemistry gets easier."

"Okay, we're starting with math then."

Once Jess gets caught up on where Chuck is and what specifically he's struggling on, he clears some things up before having him practise on his own while he gets to work on the garbage disposal. Shedding his jacket and watch, he takes a flashlight and looks down the drain. Great, looks like Lorelai turned on the disposal with a plastic fork down there, shredding the thing and clogging up the blades.

Opening the bottom cabinets, he crawls down with some tools to start taking apart the thing.

"What are you doing?"

"Building a gazebo." He answers sarcastically. With one last grunt, he gets it loose and brings the disposal to the table. Wiping his hands on a rag, he brings 'Burt' over so he can start taking the whole thing apart to get all the pieces of plastic. Noticing Chuck still staring, he rolls his eyes and tilts the thing so he can see. "Little tip, if you really want to piss someone off, stick a plastic fork down the sink and turn the disposal on."

He nods and gets back to his math problems as Jess starts taking it apart. Every so often Jess will chip in with some advise or answer a question, but for the most part he stays silent.

This lasts for about an hour until he hears a car drive up. Knowing it's way too early for Lorelai to be back, he figures it must be Rory and Oliver back from working on the Franklin. Shit, he forgot they had plans to watch a movie when the two got back from school.

Telling Chuck he'll be right back, he races to the door and meets them on the deck, shutting the door behind him. "Hey, you're back."

Rory gives him a strange look. "Yup. Right at four like usual. Are you going to let me inside anytime soon, or are we just going to keep standing here on the porch reenacting The Little Match Girl?"

"It is such a nice day, I thought we could just stay out here. Get that vitamin D doctors are saying is all the rage now."

"There's snow on the ground and it's cloudy. Now move, I'm not in the mood." Rory shoves past him, heading inside.

"What crawled up her ass?" He asks Oliver. "And why didn't you stop home to change out of your uniform like you normally do?" Oliver groans, pushing past him as well without a word. "Seriously? 'Hi, it's nice to see you, Jess' 'Oh, hi, Oliver, it's great to see you too.' Is that so hard?" He grumbles as he follows them in.

As soon as he enters, he gets stopped by Rory in the foyer, who stares him down. "Why is Chuck Presby at my kitchen table?" She hisses.

"See, that's what I was trying to tell you before you bulldozed past me."

"Jess, I'm already planning Paris' murder, it won't be that hard to add you to the list as well, now why the hell is Chuck Presby sitting at my kitchen table?!"

"I'm sorry, I think I'm missing something." Oliver cuts in between the two. "Who exactly is Chuck Presby and why are we mad he's at the kitchen table?"

"Because he's a jerk, that's why!"

"He needs help passing his finals. No one else would help him so he asked me. What's wrong with you, usually you're all sunshine, and rainbows, and 'Always see the best in people'. This is like a creepy Freaky Friday moment going on here."

Rory turns to Oliver, trying to get him on her side. "He's a jerk. Him and Jess have already gotten in two fights, one of which caused Jess to get a black eye right before seeing Grandma and Grandpa."

"And that was in the past." Jess tries to deflate the situation. "Look, if he doesn't pass his parents are going to kick him out. I happen to know a little something about that and let me tell you, not fun."

Rory crosses her arms with a quick exhale. "I hate it when you play that card. God, fine, do whatever you want. We'll see what Mom says about it when she gets home."

Jess raises his voice high like Lorelai's. "Oh, wow, Jess, that's so nice of you to put aside your differences and help him out like this. You're Mommy's favorite now. What's that? Rory who? Oh, she's just the evil child who's the spawn of satan."

"Okay," Oliver pushes them apart. "This is quickly spiraling into nothing, so I'm putting an end to it. I've played enough referee today with you and Paris, I'm not doing it here too."

"Whatever," Rory gives up. "I'm going to change and then head out for a bit. Call me when John Bender's gone." She makes a beeline for her room, slamming the door.

Jess turns to Oliver with a sigh, exhausted from today and just wanting to hide away with Oliver and a good movie. "Want to fill me in on what happened between Thelma and Louise?"

Oliver lets out a sigh of his own, leaning his head against Jess' shoulder. Jess pats him on the back, not caring that his vision is partly obscured by blond hair. "Remember when Rory was telling us about Francie on student counsel?"

"The one that's senior class president that had a fit about wanting to raise the skirt hemlines? Vaguely."

Oliver pulls back a little. "You called her a discount Molly Ringwald."

Jess fights down a smirk. "Oh, yeah. I did, didn't I. So, what did the discount Ringwald do to piss off Princess Goodwill?"

"Got in Paris' head. Made her think Rory's staging a coup and that Rory told everyone at school about Jamie. The whole school knows about him now. And now, working the Franklin is a nightmare with those two because they won't speak to each other, so that makes me Switzerland. I spent the entire time sending messages between the two and making sure their cold war doesn't get hit by another heat wave."

Any humor Jess found in the situation vanishes at that. "Another? They fought already?"

"In gym yesterday. We're in the middle of our fencing unit."

Fencing-? Nope, Jess isn't going to open that can of worms. He's just going to mentally sort that away for another time. Damn rich schools. "Great, I'm sure that was a real Star Wars moment there."

"I sensed a disturbance in the force, that's for sure."

Jess rests his hands on his shoulders, massaging him a little. "Well, I'm sure Paris will find someone else to be mad at soon and those two will be right back to plotting world domination together in no time. How about this, I'll wrap this up for the day. Lorelai left some take-out money, so we'll order something of your choosing, and then you can pick any movie you want. Rory's leaving and Lorelai won't be back 'til later, so we'll have the whole place to ourselves. What'd ya say? Sound like a plan?"

"That sounds perfect. I have a change of clothes at your place, is it okay if I run over real quick and change?"

"Of course. I know how much you hate that uniform."

Oliver kisses him before heading to the door. "I swear, the second I graduate, I'm burning this thing."

Jess reaches out, gently holding the tie while biting his lip. "Even the tie? Because I gotta say, it makes it a lot more convenient to do this." Using the tie to reel him in, he steals a small kiss.

"Maybe not the tie then." He winks. "But everything else goes."

Jess keeps a hold of the tie. "Couldn't agree more."

"Please save the flirting and eye sex for after I've left." Rory barges through, causing the two of them to pull back like shrapnel.

"Yes, goodbye, Rory." Jess grits out without making eye contact.

Rory scoffs. "If you don't want to be embarrassed, then save it for when you aren't standing in the middle of the foyer. Excuse me, Oliver, you're blocking the door."

He jumps out of the way, face red. "Right, sorry! I was on my way out anyway. I'll be back soon."

Jess gives him a small peck on the lips to help lessen his embarrassment. "Don't take too long." He turns his attention to Rory. "Go hug a unicorn or something, I was serious about the personality swap being creepy."

"Whatever." She lowers her voice like his. Heading out with Oliver, she continues to tease him, this time more lightheartedly.

Closing the door with a sigh, Jess rests his eyes for a millisecond before heading back into the kitchen. "Okay, time to go."

"I didn't know that Rory chick was your sister. No wonder you went berserk last year." Chuck doesn't make a move to pack up his stuff.

"Well, you really do learn something new everyday. Now beat it, we can pick this up again tomorrow." To get him moving, Jess starts to clear the table, putting all the tools away. "And lay off her, she isn't usually like that. She's just had a bad week. Month really." He corrects, knowing the break up with Dean hit her a lot more than she's been letting on.

Sitting sideways in his seat, Chuck rests his chin on the back of the chair. What the hell is it going to take to get this guy gone? "Her and Forester were dating, right? And now he's dating that psycho Lindsay?"

"You writing a novel or something?"

"So the rumors are true?" He switches subjects since he wouldn't bite on the Rory one. "You play for the other team? I am assuming the guy at the door was your boyfriend and that's why you're itching to get me out of here."

"The door is right over there, feel free to use it any time." Jess takes the tool chest to the counter after pointing at the door, not knowing how much clearer he can be.

"Honestly, man, I really didn't mean anything about the whole fag thing. I wouldn't have said it if I knew you were actually gay."

"I'm not gay." Jess keeps his back to him and bites his tongue for letting that slip out. If there's anything he knows well, it's that if you want someone to leave, don't engage with them.

"I'm confused, you just said you have a boyfriend. How can you not be gay and still have a boyfriend? One of you secretly a girl?"

Jess chuckles dryly as he crosses his arms and leans back against the counter. If he wants to play this way, fine. Two can play at this game. "Trust me, I know for a fact that neither of us is a girl. Intimately." It takes a few beats for it to sink in, but once it does it takes everything Jess has to not burst out laughing at Chuck's look of disgust. Ha! Serves him right, ask intimate questions, you get intimate answers. "And for the record, I'm bi, not gay, dumbass."

That finally gets the desired result of Chuck packing up his things and buttoning his jacket up. "Whatever you say, dude."

Jess forces a smile as he herds him toward the door, not wanting to encourage him any more than he already has. "I'll meet you outside the school tomorrow, try and get a study guide from each teacher so I can prioritize what you need to know versus what you should know. You can thank Bush for those two things being different." Chuck pauses before leaving, not getting it. "You'll understand that when we get to social studies, but spoiler alert, it's all about his stupid No Child Left Behind policy."

Shutting the door behind him, Jess finally has a moment of peace. Exhausted, he heads into the living room where he dives head first onto the couch.

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Oliver shows back up about ten minutes later, Ghostbusters in hand, announcing he wants pizza. Jess shakes his head with a chuckle, taking the movie and getting it set up in the VCR as Oliver calls in the pizza order.

Everything set, they collapse on the couch as they wait for their food, not wanting to start the movie until after the food arrives.

"So," Oliver gets his attention, turning sideways to face him on the couch.

"Yes?" Jess mirrors him, resting his head on his hand.

"Rory told me something interesting on the way to the diner."

"She finally has proof that Paris is a robot? Because I've been saying that since day one."

Oliver snorts, slapping his arm. "No, it had to do with you." All the joking leaves his face. "You and Chuck to be more specifically."

Jess runs his hand down his face as he winces. "Ah, jeez. What exactly did she say?"

He starts picking at a loose thread on the couch. "That you've kissed. That you initiated the kiss between the two of you."

"Yeah," Jess admits with a sigh. "Yeah, I did. But I did that because he had been doing it to all the girls, including Lane, over some bet, so I was just giving him a taste of his own medicine." Oliver keeps messing with the thread, not looking any better. Jess takes his hand before he unspools the whole couch. "Hey, look at me. What's wrong?"

Oliver scoffs, shaking his head. "Nothing, it's stupid…"

"What is it?"

"It's just… I thought we were both each other's first kiss is all. I don't mean first first kiss, I know you've had girlfriends before, I just thought I was your first kiss with a guy. I told you it was dum-"

Not sure what to say, Jess goes for the next best thing and pulls him into a deep kiss. Oliver moans, gripping Jess' shirt. "Just for the record," Jess manages to say between kisses. "I really wish you had been my first kiss with a guy."

"Enough about Chuck already." Oliver pants, pulling Jess back into a kiss.

With a smirk, Jess pulls away, much to Oliver's disappointment. "Wait, are you jealous?"

"What? No." His voice raises an octave.

"You're jealous. I've never seen you jealous before. It's kinda hot."

"Alright, I'm officially leaving now." Oliver tries to get up, but Jess grabs his wrist and pulls him back down. Oliver lets himself be brought back to the couch, looking around everywhere but at him. Jess takes his hand and interlocks their fingers.

"Hey, listen, you have nothing to worry about. You are the only one for me, okay? The only one."

Oliver looks down at their hands, then up at his face. "Yeah?"

"For as long as you'll have me. Plus, you have a huge advantage of never giving me a black eye. Those are a big turn off in my book."

"So no seeing any Rocky films, got it." He tries to joke, finally looking better about the whole thing.

Jess squeezes his leg. "Seriously, nothing will ever happen, I promise. If you looked up hetersexual in the dictionary, there would be a little picture of Chuck, that's how straight he is." Jess gives him a tamer kiss to help make his point. "Now. By my calculations, we still have another ten minutes until that pizza arrives. How ever shall we spend the time waiting?"

Oliver smiles coyly, wrapping his arms around his neck. "I can think of a few things we can do to keep ourselves busy."

"Yeah?" Jess asks, positioning it so he's hovering over him, straddling him.

"Yeah."

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It's almost nine by the time Jess hears the crunching of gravel outside and keys turning in the lock. Lorelai silently waves at him, heading into the kitchen. Despite Oliver picking the movie, he had knocked out about halfway through it and has been busy drooling on Jess' shoulder ever since. He doesn't blame him though since he spent the whole day at school trying to keep Rory and Paris from killing each other. Rory got back about an hour ago and has been holed up in her room ever since.

Jess shuts his book and takes off his glasses with a sigh. Careful not to wake Oliver, Jess replaces his shoulder with a pillow and as an added touch grabs the folded blanket from the top of the couch to drape over him. He doesn't so much as stir the whole time.

Tiptoeing into the kitchen, he finds Lorelai digging through the fridge for leftovers. "Hey, last one standing I see." She greets him in a whisper, gesturing to Rory's closed door and no sliver of light underneath. She sniffs a take-out box, making a face. "When's the last time we had Italian?"

"Pretty sure since before John Paul II became the Pope." With a shudder, she dumps the container and starts rummaging through the fridge again. "And last I checked, plotting murder and trying to prevent said murder from happening are both very taxing activities."

Settling on the leftover pizza from this afternoon, Lorelai puts the box on the table between them, motioning if he wants a slice. With a shrug, he takes a seat and digs in as well. "Rory stopped by the Inn and told me all about what happened. Real nice girl that Francie." They sit in silence eating their cold pizza, both tired from the week, and it's only Wednesday. "So," Lorelai strikes up a conversation again. "Rory also told me what you were up to today."

Jess leans back, tossing his crust back into the box. "Not you too. Why can't you people just trust me? I know what I'm doing."

"Hon, we do trust you. It's the guy you've already been in two fights with that we find sketchy." Brushing the crumbs off her hands, Lorelai switches gears. "Look, I really am proud of you for stepping up to the plate and helping this kid out, but I just want to make sure you're careful too. I don't want to see you getting hurt. Black eyes are not a good look on you, my friend."

"I'll be fine, I promise." He assures her.

Taking a deep breath, she nods, accepting his answer. "Okay, I trust you. But maybe, just to be on the safe side, keep these little study sessions here. I don't think Luke would be quite as understanding as me."

Jess scoffs. "Chuck would be dead moments after entering the diner, Luke is such a mother hen."

Lorelai puts the pizza box back into the fridge, snapping her fingers. "That reminds me, if you're staying here tonight, don't forget to call Luke and let him know. I don't need him accusing me of child abduction again."

"Again? What did you do to make him accuse you of that before?"

She stops behind him on her way out of the kitchen and plops her hands on his shoulders, resting her head on top of his. "That is a story for another time. Just know it's because we both love you very much." She plants an over exaggerated kiss on top of his head with a loud smack. "Night, kid."

He rolls his eyes, fighting back a grin. "Yes, goodnight." He says to her back as she heads upstairs.

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FYI, I'm not a plumber. I have no idea if any of what I wrote made sense. Just go with it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯