Chapter Text
Walt let out a groan as he absently rubbed at his shoulders. Cooking for hours on end, several days in a row was utterly exhausting. Constantly on his feet and having to deal with heavy machinery, well, it was completely different from his many years as a teacher. It almost made him miss the profession. Almost.
He glanced over to the lockers where his partner was stripping off his protective gear and into his normal clothes. Not that Walt thought that Jesse’s clothes could be described in any way normal. Unlike himself, Jesse seemed to be in almost the exact same state as when he had wandered in. What was even more frustrating was that in the end, Jesse was the one who did most of the heavy lifting with Walt chipping in when necessary. It was at moments like this that Walt found himself particularly envious of Jesse’s youth. Even more so when he knew the frivolous things he wasted them on.
“Yo, Mr. White, you coming or what?” asked the younger man, staring at him expectantly.
“Just give me a moment!” he yelled short temperedly. Jesse rolled his eyes, looking completely put out.
All Walt wanted to do was go home – which depressingly for the foreseeable future looked to be his condo – soak in a bath, eat whatever he had in refrigerator and then sleep for a good ten hours. Unfortunately however, Jesse’s car was in the shop and he had reluctantly agreed to drive him to and from work. This of course only served to irritate Walt even further with Jesse being the one to tell him to hurry up. Damn kid, never did appreciate a favour.
“Finally,” Jesse sighed once they were in the car. And Walt was tempted to push him out and just drive away. Instead it was his turn to roll his eyes.
The drive to Jesse’s was mainly silently and Walt found himself wincing slightly every time he had to take a sharp turn. His shoulders really were killing him.
Finally he pulled up outside Jesse’s place. “Well, here we are. Guess I’ll pick up tomorrow at the same time as this morning. And do not be late this time.”
Although he said this, Jesse was still sat there, the car door remaining unopened.
“See you tomorrow,” he tried again, hoping to get across that Jesse was supposed to leave.
“Uh, Mr. White, do you... do you wanna come in?” Jesse asked him, sounding somewhat nervous.
“What? Oh, no, I’m pretty tired. I’ll see you to-”
“Please, Mr. White,” Jesse interrupted.
All at once Walt found himself suddenly both concerned and curious. “Is there something we need to talk about?”
“Just come in for like five minutes, okay?”
“Fine,” he sighed, and Jesse nodded, stepping out of the car.
“Do you like want a beer?” Jesse asked the moment Walt had closed the door behind him.
“No, thanks,” Walt replied his concern slowly growing. “Now, what is it you wanted to talk about?”
“Come on, you can at least sit down,” said Jesse motioning to the futon.
Walt sighed but obliging he sat down. Jesse promptly sat at the other end, two beers in his hands, one of which he placed down on the table in front of Walt despite the other man’s declination.
Jesse took a swig of his beer, not saying anything but not looking particularly worried either. With this, Walt found his patience wavering.
“Well?”
“Oh, uh, I thought you might wanna hang out or something?” Jesse admitted hesitantly.
“Hang out?” Walt spoke his words back to him in disbelief, “Jesse, what I really want right now is to be back in my condo. The only reason I’m here right is because you said you needed to speak to me about something.”
“Yo, I just asked you to come in.”
“Yes, but you said it in a way-” Walter threw his hands up in frustration. “You know what, forget it.”
A moment later, Walt found himself grabbing the beer in front of him instead of leaving which would have undoubtedly been the smart thing to do.
He thought he saw Jesse smiling out of the corner of his eye, but the younger man was taking a swig of his own beer a couple of seconds later which concealed his mouth.
“So, like, are you okay?” Jessed asked him, and Walt wasn’t sure if he was just making small talk.
“I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“Man, it’s like a frickin interrogation with you,” Jesse huffed, letting himself fall against the back of the futon. “I’m asking cause you keep touching your shoulders like you’re in pain or something.”
“Yes, they’re sore. Which is why I wanted to go home. Instead you drag me in here to ‘hang out’.”
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Sorry for being concerned, bitch!”
Walt sighed, guilt now melding with his annoyance. “They’re a little painful right now. I just need to take some painkillers and sleep and I’ll be fine.”
“What about a massage?” Jesse asked suddenly, and yet again Walt found himself completely disconnected with the younger man’s thought processes.
“It’s a bit late to go somewhere.” This was true unless Jesse was suggesting some unsavoury establishment to which if that was the case would be completely out of the question.
“No, I meant like I could give you one?”
Walt just stared. “What?”
“My aunt Ginny, I used to, you know give them to her all the time. She said it helped a lot with the pain.”
“From the cancer?” Jesse nodded.
“Look, Jesse my cancer is-”
“I know it’s in remission, but it’ll still help with the pain. I mean, people have massages for all different kinds of stuff, right?”
“Plus, my aunt, she said I was pretty good at it.” Jesse added somewhat pensively.
It was moments like these that reaffirmed to Walt how close Jesse actually was with his aunt, apparently having a completely different relationship with her than that of his parents. He felt his guilt grow and once again against his better judgement, agreed.
“Fine,” he said, shrugging his coat off. “But just for a minute. What I require is painkillers, Jesse.”
“A minute is all I need,” Walt heard Jesse say smugly as he turned his back to him.
Walt highly doubted Jesse to be any good, having an image of the poor woman enduring it so as not to hurt her nephew’s feelings.
Despite Jesse’s gusto just moments previous, he could feel the man’s hands wavering above his shoulders. “Well?”
“Yo, don’t rush me. Just give me a sec, okay?”
Walt tensed even more; a usual reaction when interacting with his partner. “Jesse, would you just-”
But he stopped, feeling Jesse’s hands pressing down on his shoulders.
“Seriously, relax. God. I don’t think my aunt was as ever tense as you and she could get super stressed.”
Walt rarely ever felt relaxed; especially these days. With everything that had happened it was almost impossible to be. Not that he had been a particularly easy-going person before all this damn business had begun. Still, any notion he had of his inability to relax was suddenly purged as he focused more on more on fingers gently pressing against his shoulders.
“Wow, this... this is really nice,” Walt admitted, unable to hide the surprise from his voice.
“See, I told you!” Jesse boasted, and Walt had no doubt in his mind that Jesse had a triumphant grin on his face.
He let out a soft contented noise as Jesse’s fingers worked further down. They didn’t speak and Walt assumed Jesse was just absorbed in the task at hand. Walt meanwhile, was simply enjoying it, so much so that he almost wanted to protest when Jesse finally pulled away.
“How’d you feel?” Jesse asked, again sounding somewhat tentative.
“Good. Really good actually,” Walt answered, once more not able to quite hide the disbelief from his voice.
“Awesome.” He felt Jesse shuffle backwards and in turn, he let his back fall against the back of the futon.
“Was it just for your aunt that you would do this for?” Walt found himself asking, somewhat curious if there was some mysterious period between finishing high school and now that Jesse Pinkman actually worked as a masseur.
“Yeah. She used to say it was the highlight of her day,” Jesse laughed.
Walt could certainly see why.
“Do you want another beer?” Jesse asked, picking up his own empty bottle.
“Uh, sure, why not.” As he watched Jesse head to the kitchen, Walt realised he hadn’t felt this light in a long time.
It looked like he had made the correct choice in coming in after all.
Walt hadn’t bothered taking any painkillers when he got home that evening, instead going straight to bed. He felt a small dull ache as he awoke that morning but nothing in comparison to the day before. Mainly he was focusing on how hungry he was, having forgone dinner for sleep.
It was only when he sat down to eat breakfast that that he contemplated the strangeness of the previous evening. How Jesse had gone out of his way to make sure he was alright and how he had actually let younger man give him a massage. Walt hadn’t had one in God knows how many years. The only person he had ever let touch him like that was Skyler. There of course was Gretchen but he had learnt early on in their relationship that massaging wasn’t one of her strong suits and therefore actively tried to avoid them.
The feeling of some strangers’ hands on him wasn’t a feeling he enjoyed and so he never sought out a professional massage. It was just one of the ways he had been able to convince Skyler that a couple’s spa weekend just wouldn’t be worth it. As such, the fact he had let Jesse Pinkman of all people give him one, was slightly baffling. While it was only out of two other people, it was still the best damn massage he had had and it had lasted less than ten minutes. Thinking back, he was rather thankful that Jesse hadn’t stuck to the only one minute he had demanded of him prior.
Glancing down at his watch, Walt realised that he was running late. “Damn.” Quickly, he grabbed his jacket and headed out the door.
“Yo, you’re late!” Jesse yelled as his Aztec pulled up in front of the house. “I’ve been waiting out here for like ever.”
“I highly doubt that,” replied Walt, then added, “There was traffic.”
“Riiight.” Jesse climbed in the car and shut the door.
The journey to work was mostly silent. Walt wasn’t entirely sure why, but he felt somewhat apprehensive that Jesse would suddenly say something about the previous evening. He didn’t however.
There had been a moment were he thought he thought he caught Jesse staring him whilst he was driving but he couldn’t be entirely sure.
Work went by normally. Or as normal a day that could be had working in a super lab located under an industrial laundromat where they cooked crystal meth.
The ache from the day before returned slightly although the pain was far duller. Still he found himself rubbing his shoulders in the same manner as the day before, and was positive that he had seen Jesse looking at him then.
As the previous evening, he pulled up in front of Jesse’s house. There was ten seconds or so of silence and just when he was going to give up, Jesse asked, “So, uh, do you wanna come in for another beer, since you’re here?”
Walt shrugged casually. “Sure, why not.”
“I can’t stay long however,” he then added, almost as a way to distract from the odd feeling of satisfaction.
He followed Jesse into his house and unlike last time instantly sat down.
“Here,” Jesse said, handing him a beer a moment or so later.
“Thanks,” he replied, putting the cool bottle to his mouth.
“So, your shoulders still hurting?” Jesse asked a few minutes later.
“What?”
“In the lab, you were rubbing at them.”
“Oh no, they’re fine.” Walt took another sip of his beer.
“Really? I mean, if they like still hurt I could you know, give them another massage or whatever.”
“Well, if you want to,” Walt replied, “You don’t need to but-”
“No, it’s fine, Mr. White.” For a moment, Walt thought he was going to say more, but Jesse just sat there patiently, waiting for him to turn his back. Walt did so and few moments later, the previous feeling of relief returned.
He gave a small grunt of approval and he could practically hear Jesse smile as a result.
“This helping?” the younger man asked, as if he didn’t know already.
“Would you mind going a little lower? My back-”
“No problem,” Jesse responded, slowly moving his hands down Walt’s spine.
Walt let out a contented sigh. Jesse seemed to apply just the right amount of pressure. He had heard that deep tissue massages were beneficial, but Walt much preferred the gentle caresses that Jesse’s fingers were offering him. Again he thought about Jesse’s possible past career as a masseur but recalled that Jesse had said he only did it for his aunt. Walt found himself strangely pleased by this, almost relieved by the knowledge that Jesse’s hands hadn’t been all over the bodies of a bunch of faceless strangers.
The kneading motions eventually stopped, and once more it felt far too soon.
“There you go,” said Jesse, sounding satisfied for an apparent job well done.
“Thanks,” answered Walt, sinking back.
Jesse grinned. “I am the master, yo.”
Walt smiled in return, feeling completely relaxed. “You certainly do have a talent.”
The younger man’s face reddened and he quickly shot up. “I’ll uh, get us some more beers.”
Walt watched curiously as Jesse practically fled to the kitchen. He has seen Jesse react with embarrassment to praise – usually unable to hide his shy pleased expression – but not like this.
When Jesse finally returned – longer than what it would usually require grabbing a couple of beers – Walt wanted to ask if he was alright. Then he remembered who he was dealing with. Chances were that Jesse would react negatively and either lash out or shut down. Neither reaction particularly appealing, Walt chose to remain quiet. He wanted this tranquil feeling of contentment to continue for as long as possible after all.
“I’m gonna put the TV on,” Jesse informed him in a way that it seemed like he was also asking for Walt’s permission.
“Go ahead.”
Jesse nodded, and grabbing the remote, the TV flickered to life. He changed the channel a couple of times before settling on some outlandish action film, the kind Walt had no interest in whatsoever. And yet he found himself staying till the very end, occasionally glancing over to Jesse, focusing on the way his face lit up whenever the supposed good guy triumphed.
He would later blame it on his peaceful state of mind following the massage but for a brief moment, more than anything, he wanted to be the one to make Jesse smile like that.