Work Text:
It Just Popped Out
Lily Padd
They were arguing loudly in the halls when it happened. Sam was three paces ahead of him as they left the Senior Staff meeting about an upcoming speech announcing a new energy bill. Flanking him slightly, CJ and Toby followed closely behind, Leo trailing after them, as he had a meeting on the Hill.
“Come on!” Josh moaned at the back of Sam’s too-expensive haircut, “You have to see that dropping the condemnatory language in the B section will lead to…”
“Losing votes from the left and garnering contempt from the environmentalists?” Sam shot back over his shoulder.
“Gaining more votes than we’d lose!” Josh completed his thought overlapping Sam.
“And I think you’re wrong!” Sam said. Josh could feel CJ and Toby exchanging annoyed looks behind his back, “I think that Freidman, Casey, and DeMilo would all be incredibly supportive of…”
“If we use this speech to come out swinging against the oil lobby during the Midterms, we’d lose the votes of every single Democrat from the Midwest and Pennsylvania,” Josh interrupted.
“I still think you’re underestimating the weight of the environmental lobby!” Sam said.
“You’re underestimating the oil lobby, Sam!” Josh dragged his hands up and down as he spoke, “You’ve got to understand that the only way we can pass this bill…”
“A vague and pointless bill without…” Sam started.
“It's not pointless, Sam,” CJ sighed.
“It’s not pointless if the point is we have to start somewhere!” Josh yelled, “And we can’t pass it if people start thinking of it as the Up Yours, Valero Bill.”
“Josh is right,” Leo pushed past all four of them, “We need to hold people accountable, not hold their hands to the fire.”
“An oil fire in the Gulf,” Sam muttered.
“The President didn’t like the line, Sam,” Toby added, “Let’s move on.”
“I’m not married to that particular line, we can change the line!” Sam ranted. “But we have to frame this bill as an admonishment of big oil if we want to campaign on how we stood up to big oil next election!”
“It’s not about the line, Sam,” Josh groaned for the fifteenth time.
“Then what is it about?” Sam went on, “Snuggling up to big oil so the party doesn’t look two-faced when we take their money for the Midterms?”
“No, babe, stop it, it’s about not creating a pinch for Midwestern Dems who are in tight enough races as it is without having to either come out against the most powerful coalition in their states or distance themselves from the President and Hoynes, and each option could cost them their seats to Republicans ready to vote down any measures we try to make on renewable energy the minute they walk through the door, and frankly…” Josh only stopped when he processed that Sam and Leo had swiveled around and were staring at him with eyes wide. He spun to see that Toby and CJ had stopped in their tracks behind him, eyes equally bugged out of their faces.
Slowly turning back around, he internally retraced the steps of his diatribe. His heart lurched when he met Sam’s eyes and saw that, behind the shock, there was a tiny, triumphant flicker there. Then he felt his own jaw drop in horror when it occurred to him what had popped out of his mouth.
“What did you just call him?” Toby asked, his voice hitting that tone like a kettle that had just started steaming but could, at any moment boil over.
Sam titled his head at Josh ever so slightly and raised an eyebrow an almost indiscernible amount, just for Josh. This expression alone was enough to say without the need for words, “Yeah, Josh, what did you just call me?” dripping with Sam’s special brand of sarcasm.
Josh’s own eyebrows shot up towards his hairline, which he decided would recede a further inch by tomorrow due exclusively to this moment. He took a second to look at Sam, who was completely frozen but for the thousands of little twitches that only Josh had ever gazed at him long enough to see and interpret. Wide-eyed shock. Fist-clenched fear. Lip-curled fondness. Dimple-tweaking amusement. Finger-shaking helplessness. Chest-puffed indignation.
They had spent years in the closet of overcorrection, Josh’s paranoia always the one to break a lingering hug first, to lower his voice when they made dinner or travel plans, to leave an extra centimeter of space between them in the Oval Office, to look over his shoulder when they got home together, or stole a private kiss behind closed office doors. It was always Josh who would whisper, “Not so close, Sam, somebody’ll see,” or “Not here, there could be people,” or “Don’t look at me like that in public,” so certain that any false move could leave their whole best friends façade crumbling around them.
Sam understood Josh’s caution. And respected it. Always been more careful than he thought necessary to quell Josh’s concern. So for Josh to be the one to carelessly slip on a term of endearment left them both blinking at each other in complete and utter bewilderment, unsure which one of them was more surprised.
“Y’know, like how guys talk to each other,” Josh fumbled, “Come on, babe, let’s go shoot some hoops.” He reached to shove Toby’s shoulder in a half-assed attempt to be manly, but the pairs of eyes fixed on him just got even wider, and Toby’s hand flew up to block the gesture. Sam’s amused smirk was twisting into his trying-not-to-laugh face. With a low exhale, Josh raked his bottom teeth across his lip, looked away, and declared, “I’m gonna go walk into the Potomac now.”