Here It Goes, Merry Christmas (One-shot)
Titled: Here It Goes, Merry Christmas
Author: chasingxrabbits
Pairing: Jalex
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Alex stays with Jack through Christmas, and cuddling ensues.
Disclaimer: I don't own the boys, only the story and plot.
Beta: My adorable boyfriend, Elijah
Dedications: morningsmile12
It's not like they were dating; Jack would be the first to admit that. He was never one to really tie himself down anywhere, he enjoyed floating around from person to person, not really caring about "putting a ring on it" so to say.
That's why he liked Alex, his best friend since freshman year. Alex loved Jack, and vice-versa, but Jack loved that they both got sick of each other after a while and it was easy to take breaks with each other because it wasn't like they were married or even dating. Jack could tell Alex he was a cock-sucker, and Alex didn't get mad like his other girlfriends had, and Jack loved that.
Still, there wasn't a person on this Earth that Jack loved more, in every single way, so knowing that Alex was coming for Christmas break made his stomach flutter like a kid looking through a candy store window.
The first day, they'd just kind of gotten everything put away and pulled out the couch into a bed for Alex to sleep in since his flight was late and he'd gotten there around eleven.
He'd complained of being completely wiped so Jack just kind of left it at that, and by the time he was going into bed, Alex was out cold on the bed-sofa in front of the fire.
---
When he woke up the next morning, there was a fresh coat of snow on Baltimore's features. Alex was still completely zonked out, snoring lightly in the living room.
He sneaked through the house, making a fresh pot of coffee and pouring Alex a cup before tiptoeing his way to the living room. He sat next to Alex haphazardly, rubbing a gentle circle into his best friend's back, as he was laying on his stomach.
"Alex," he cooed, setting the man's cup of coffee down on the side table. "Lexy."
"Hmmph," Alex groaned into the pillow Jack had provided.
"Wakey wakey," Jack replied with a grin, poking a boney finger into Alex's side.
"No," Alex said simply, smiling after a second with his eyes still closed.
"Lex, it's already noon. We have shit to get done today," Jack demanded, swinging one leg over Alex's body, mounting himself on his back like Alex was a horse.
"Get off," Alex whined like a child, stretching his arms out.
"I did last night," Jack teased. "On your face. Now let's ride horsey!"
Jack decided it would be a good idea to grab two chunks of Alex's hair, thrusting on top of him in a "riding a horse kind of way".
"Jack," Alex laughed, out of breath due to Jack's weight on his back. "Quit it."
"Just once, Lex," Jack pleaded with a goofy grin. "Please."
Alex rolled his eyes before droning a, "Nay."
--
"Are those done yet?" Alex asked, leaning over Jack's shoulder to look into the pan of scrambled eggs on the stove. "I'm starved."
"Two minutes," Jack answered. "Wanna toast the bread?"
Alex nodded, pressing a little kiss to his best friends cheek. "Yeah. How'd you sleep?"
"Pretty good. I was pretty excited though," Jack replied, rubbing a spatula through the fluffy yellow eggs in his pan. "I know how you slept."
Alex giggled as he spread a pat of butter on the third slice of toast. "I was so fucking tired, Jacky," he admitted. "I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before."
"Oh yeah?" Jack prompted, switching the stove off and moving the eggs to one platter.
"Yeah," Alex continued. "I was kind of excited too."
His honey-colored eyes wandered over to his best friend sheepishly to realize that Jack was already staring at him back.
They didn't really need to say anything, they both knew what the other was thinking, so they enjoyed the moment of comfort.
-
"Well, I kind of like this one," Alex said, pointing to the tallest of the trees on the lot. Jack rolled his eyes.
"Lex, that won't even fit in my living room, much less through the door," Jack laughed, wrapping his arms around the slightly-shorter man's boyish hips.
"I guess," Alex answered, a little disappointed for obvious reasons.
"Besides, why do you have to have the biggest one?" Jack asked, pulling away from him to point at a smaller one, just a little taller than Jack's own height. "What's wrong with this one?"
"Nothing, I guess. But this one's bigger."
"Who give's a fuck?" Jack asked with a grin. "We're getting this one."
Jack had kind of knew better than to take Alex Christmas tree shopping; Alex wasn't the type to just pick a tree and let it go.
"This one?" the man asked, dressed up like a stereotypical Christmas tree farmer - or at least what Jack had expected, which pretty much was just a dirty lumberjack.
"Yeah, that one," Jack agreed, admiring it a bit more.
"I'll cut it down and you two can go back inside and help yourself to the coffee and cookies," the man directed with a genuine smile as raised the axe in his hands and struck the lower trunk of their tree.
Jack smiled and put his arm around Alex's shoulders, pulling him close as they trudged through the snow, back to the quaint little building.
There was another little couple in the corner of the building, obviously waiting for their tree as well, as they both flipped through older magazines than the present date.
"Hey, what do you think about sea foam green?" Alex asked quietly, as to not disturb the others in the small room. Jack quirked an eye brow as he poured himself and Alex a steaming cup of coffee.
"As the theme?" Jack questioned, stirring in some cream before handing the bottle to Alex.
"Yeah, like the color," the other answered. "It's different, and not really traditional like red and gold."
"Hey, remember when we were in Brazil and there was like...purple and silver everywhere for Christmas?" Jack asked. "Maybe we could do like...sea foam green and silver and teal!"
Alex nodded. "Yeah, I like that," he agreed, giving Jack a genuine smile that made his bright, honey eyes light up. Jack's heart did this pitter-patter thing that made his legs a little weak.
Alex didn't really seem to catch it, taking a sip of his hot coffee, enjoying the warmth on his face.
Jack eyed the pair of green mittens hanging out of Alex's black, fleece jacket pocket and gave him a little smile. He couldn't deny that it made him truly happy to see them again, considering Jack had actually given them to his best friend a few years back, along with the green scarf tucked around the man's neck.
Jack reached out and into Alex's pocket, Alex watching his hand along the way. He stroked his fingertips along the "bunny-fur" soft fabric.
Alex was going to say something, but the bell on the door was jingling, the owner coming back inside with his axe slung over his shoulder.
"Okay, guys," he said cheerily. "Your tree is all ready to go."
Jack nodded thankfully, meeting him at the front of the room where the register was at.
"How much do I owe you?" Jack asked.
"Well, that's 25 dollars and I hooked it up to the top of your ride for free," the man said, pushing a few buttons on his old-school register.
"Oh," Jack answered, a little surprised. "Well, thanks a lot."
He handed the man thirty and told him to keep the change before thanking him again and walking out.
---
"Okay, that one goes there," Alex said, reaching as high as he could, even jumping gracefully until he could reach the tippy-top of the tree, hanging a shiny, turcouise orniment there. Jack's nose scruntched up as he watched Alex loose his balance, wobbling. The younger instinctivly reached his hands out, placing them on the barespot of Alex's hips where his GlamourKills tee shirt was lifting up.
Alex wobbled a bit more due to the surprise of Jack's cool hands, but ultimately realized what he was doing and relaxing back into his chest.
Jack pulled him back a little, smiling genuinely and laying his chin on top of Alex's redish hair.
"Looks great, Lex," he praised, as he looked over the tree. He was honestly surprised at how well it turned out; how perfectly the teal colored bulbs made the twinkly lights shine brighter off their reflection, how great the little strips of silver garland sparkled as they hung off the furry branches.
"I think so too," Alex agreed, turning around to face his best friend, leaning into him and burying his cold nose into the crook of Jack's neck.
Jack glanced to the left eyeing the warm fire that roared in the fireplace.
When he turned back around, the funniest thing happened; he caught the side of Alex's mouth with his lips, a little puckering noise sounding when they pulled away.
"Oops," Alex said, instantly turning away from his best friend like it was the most embarassing thing in the world.
Jack gave him a sheepish smile. It wasn't like he was a stranger to kissing Alex, it was just that it wasn't something they did other than on stage or when drunk. Really drunk.
"Sorry," Jack apologized. "Want hot chocolate?"
"Sounds good," Alex agreed, the tops of his cheeks a little flushed as he messed with his dark hair nervously, still not meeting Jack's gaze.
The younger rolled his eyes with a smile as he worked his lanky legs toward the kitchen, getting the ingredients for the best cup of hot chocolate out and laying them onto the counter. The milk was being added to his cup as he spotted Alex, hanging off the frame of the door, and all of his body beside his hand and face being hidden by it. He was watching Jack's hands work with a bit of a curious look on his face.
It took a second for their eyes to meet but when they did, he looked away like he hadn't just been sneaking around. He made his way into the kitchen with a sheepish smile on his face.
He made his way into the kitchen, laying his head on the his best friend's shoulder with care and went back to watching his work from a closer distance.
"What are you doing?" Jack asked with a skeptical look; it wasn't like Alex to be so clingy, but Jack would take what he could get when it came to him.
"I don't know. It was lonely out there," Alex answered.
"But I've only been gone for a few minutes, Lex."
"Can we cuddle?" Alex asked, compeltely ignoring what Jack had said. "And maybe watch a Christmas movie?"
Jack quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah," he answered, putting their glasses into the microwave and turning it on. "Let me just finish this."
Alex nodded wordlessly, grabbing and putting the milk jug back into the fridge to make the process go quicker.
Whent he drinks were done, and everything was put away, they sat down on the couch in a mound of blankets to watch Home Alone. Alex had seen it at least a thousand times, Jack even more, but it was just one of those movies one couldn't get sick of, especially seeing Jack's face light up everytime something mildly exciting happened. Alex was pretty sure that he even caught Jack saying lines, but by the time the movie was over, Jack was out cold with his head laying on top of Alex's where it was rested on Jack's shoulder.
"Jack," Alex whispered, poking at his best friend's arm with his forefinger. He giggled a little bbit when Jack opened his mouth, letting out a long yawn.
"Jack," he tried again, repeating his actions, this time, one of his best friend's dark eyes opened experimentally. He hummed a little, just snuggling in more.
"The movie's over," Alex complained as he watched the credits roll. He wondered why anyone would ever name their son Macaulay, but he didn't dare ponder that out loud.
He rolled his eyes when Jack didn't respond. He went to move to at least put in another movie, but the younger foiled his plans, pulling him back in, even tighter.
"Jack," Alex whined, trying to shrug out of the vice grip, but failing. "Quit it."
Jack was lips-closed, grinning misceviously as he burried his cold nose into Alex's warm side.
"Stay," Jack said simply.
"Can I at least pull the couch out into the bed thing?" Alex asked.
"No," Jack replied, holding a teasing smile.
Alex rolled his eyes fondly, giving him a good shove as he ignored Jack's annoyed noises.
"How do I even do this?" Alex asked, staring at the couch. Jack asnwered something like "lever on the side", or at least that's what Alex thought he said, either that or something about "otter slide".
Sooner or later, Alex figured it out, though it was a little hard to pull it into a bed when Jack absolutely refused to move from his spot.
" 'Mere," Jack demanded, face burried into a pillow, with only one open eyes peeking out above the fabric.
"Hold on," Alex laughed, pushing his hand away when Jack reached to pull him in. After scrounging around Jack's bedroom, Alex settled for pulling the pillows and comforter off the mattress and dragging them along the hardwood floor to the living room. Taking the first pillow, Alex raised it above his head and brought it down on Jack as hard as he could.
Jack made this surprised "umph", eyes popping open as he shot up, scowling.
"Alex!" he exclaimed, grabbing the pillow from his, laughing, best friend and hitting in the side with as much force as he could muster.
Alex couldn't stop cracking up. Even when his bottom hit the hardwood floor, he burried his face in his hands, laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath.
Jack was leaned over the side of the couch bed, grin on his face as he stared at Alex.
Alex's face was completely red when he lifted it out of his hands to look up at his best friend.
"Sorry," he managed, leaning in and rubbing his nose against Jack's.
Jack didn't say anything, just reached out further and pulled his best friend in, hard, pressing their lips together.
Alex's eyes shot open wide with surprise, and he could barely register things like "we're not drunk" and "what the hell" and "seriously, what the hell". But in honesty, he didn't care.