We'll Stagger Home After Midnight (4/5?)
Title: We'll Stagger Home After Midnight (Chapter Four)
Author: lost_in_stereo7 aka Taylor
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Jalex Christ, my Lord and Savior
POV: Third, centered around Alex.
Summary: The one where Alex is a mailman who likes Blink-182 and Jack drinks coffee in his bathrobe and also likes Blink-182.
Disclaimer: Negative on the owning. However, I had a dream Jack Barakat was my my bitch. Close enough, right?
Title Cred. to: After Midnight - Blink-182
Author's Notes: I'm not sure how I feel on this chapter so I don't blame you if you don't like it.
(masterpost)
When Alex wakes up the next morning, he’s sweating and a pair of strong arms are wrapped around his waist. And he’s naked. And hungover.
He tries to roll over and get out of bed, but the pair of arms around his waist sort of prevent him from doing so. Instead of fighting it, he just settles back into the sheets and attempts to get a few more minutes of shut eye.
Of course, because Alex is the queen of bad luck, right as he’s beginning to fade out of consciousness, Jack starts to stir and buries his nose into Alex’s hair. Oh and Jack’s morning wood is also poking Alex in the ass.
Alex wiggles a little bit, trying to move away from Jack’s boner. The movement causes Jack to stir in his sleep, breathing deeply before opening his eyes and removing his arms from around Alex’s waist.
“Morning,” Jack mutters, hand swiping his bangs from his forehead before then rubbing at his eyes.
Alex merely grunts in response, rolling over to face Jack. Now Alex isn’t really a morning-after person, so he’s trying to think of the easiest way to leave without hurting Jack’s feelings. He’d prefer just to leave, no questions asked, but he knows things with Jack won’t be that simple, especially since Alex still has to deliver his mail six days a week.
Remind him never to hook up with another person on his route ever again.
Alex is still contemplating his best escape route when Jack gets up to go to the bathroom, still very much naked, still very much aroused. And holy shit, if it weren’t against Alex’s anti-morning-after code, he’d totally follow Jack into the bathroom and do god awful things to him. There’s a part of him that really, really wants to, but the bigger part - the part that follows his “code” - says this is his best change to get out unscathed.
Alex hastily pulls on his clothes that are scattered around the room, checking for his keys and wallet and phone before tiptoeing out of the house. He walks a few blocks down to the main street by the evenue and catches a cab back to his apartment.
After he pays his fare, Alex trudges into his apartment, locking the door behind him. He’s got a killer headache, his skull pounding way too hard to just be able to blame it on his hangover. He goes into his bathroom and pops a few Tylenol and brushes his teeth before going into his bedroom and laying down for a nap.
As Alex is drifting off, he thinks about last night, starting with the concert and ending with his and Jack’s…activities. He thinks about the electric feeling he got with Jack and how the taller man was reluctant to let him leave last night. He wonders how awkward it will be delivering Jack’s mail tomorrow. He also thinks about that electricity he felt last night, the connection he’s never felt before. Sex is usually just sex, and it’s almost always just about getting down to fucking and leaving. It’s been that way since high school, when Alex realized he didn’t like girls as much as all the other boys did. But there was something about Jack that keeps drawing him in, and he’s never felt as connected to someone he’s slept with, even if it was possibly just a one night stand.
All this contemplating is really just making Alex’s headache worse. He’s in way too much pain to be contemplating what will happen tomorrow, so he just toggles the off-switch to his thoughts and falls into a deep mid-morning slumber.
---
It’s Monday morning when Alex realizes he’s fucked. He’s two houses down from Jack’s, and the dark-haired male is on his porch, but he’s not alone. Alex is too far away to be able to determine the figure, but the two are sitting too close to be considered friendly.
Alex reminds himself that he is not a man of commitment, and he left Jack Sunday morning. Jack’s not his.
When Alex is walking up to Jack’s porch, he notices that Jack’s companion is none other than the muscle-man Zack, and that the two are holding hands on Jack’s porch swing, laughing about something the blonde haired man didn’t hear. His headache, ever-present since yesterday morning, seems to increase ten fold at the sight of the pair.
Alex smiles briefly at Jack when the homeowner greets him, ignoring the rude glare Zack is sending his way, and hands Jack his mail.
He pretends the pain in his heart isn’t there as he moves onto the next home.
---
Alex calls sick into work the next two days, and he’s not entirely lying. The headache he thought was caused by his hangover has transformed into a migraine, complete with dizzy spells, hallucinations and vomiting.
He’s sitting on his couch wrapped up in a blanket Wednesday afternoon watching Family Guy. His friend Rian came and checked in on him during his lunch break from work, which means Alex got questioned on his absence from work and his sulking demeanor. Alex had no other choice than to tell Rian everything about Jack (bar a few unnecessary details), to which Rian’s advice was to “man up and stop being a pussy.” Great.
Rian left about three hours ago, and Alex got a call from his friend Matt checking up on him about an hour later. After a few reassuring words that he’s fine and doesn’t need to go to the doctor’s, Alex hung up the phone and was going to take a nap, but his migraine wouldn’t allow him. So he just decided to go ahead and watch some quiet, mind-numbing television.
He’s watching the episode where Peter finds an obsession with the movie Roadhouse and is currently navigating the streets of Quahog with his feet, laughing quietly at the dry, stupid humor. The doorbell rings suddenly, the piercing noise causing him to jolt in his seat a little. He’s in no state to move, so he just yells a “it’s open!” He assumes it’s just Matt coming to check in on him or even Rian again.
What he doesn’t expect is for Jack himself to be standing sheepishly in the threshold, head downcast as he enters the apartment. Alex sits up, and at first he thinks he’s hallucinating again.
“Hey,” Jack says quietly, eyes remaining downcast. Alex knows he’s not hallucinating, then because not even his best hallucinations can capture Jack’s melodic voice that well.
“H-hey,” Alex stutters. “What are you doing here? And how did you know where I live?”
“Turns out Zack knows your friend Matt, so I coaxed your address from him,” Jack says. Alex flinches at the mention of the muscle-man, though he’s not sure why. “And I came over because I think we need to talk.”
Alex flinches at those last four words, because he knows no good can come of this. He’d prefer to do this when his skull isn’t pounding and every word Jack says feels like a hammer to his brain, but he knows Jack won’t take very kindly to being kicked out. Instead, the dark-haired man plops himself down in the chair adjacent to the couch, looking up at Alex shyly.
“What’s there to talk about,” Alex scoffs. He’s not a relationship person, of course, so he’s not really sure what can come out of this, but he doesn’t have a good feeling about it.
“Well you’ve been avoiding me since we hooked up, which sucks, because I think you’re really cool and I really wanted to try and pursue a relationship with you.”
Alex cringes at the word ‘relationship’ a little. He realizes he’s been cringing a lot, and he’s not really sure whether that’s because Jack’s choice of vocabulary so happens to be the words that Alex are scared of, or because of his migraine. He‘s going to go with the former.
Alex swallows thickly, irritation setting into his bones. Again, he’s cursing his migraine right now, because this situation calls upon him to be sensible, and that’s not something he’s good at when he’s sick.
“You didn’t like you wanted to ‘pursue a relationship’ when you were getting all cozy with Zack Monday morning.”
Okay, nice Gaskarth. Way to sound like a pathetic teenager.
Jack, however, looks taken aback by Alex’s words, before his eyes widen and a laugh escapes his lips.
“You, thi-oh god. You think Zack’s my boyfriend?” Jack can’t help but laugh loudly, and the sound makes Alex’s migraine ten more times present.
The blonde haired man is even more irritated now, but it’s overshadowed by the dizziness he’s feeling. Alex goes to stand up and kick Jack out, but as he starts to raise himself from the couch, he falls back onto it immediately, his vision fading to black before refocusing.
Jack moves from his seat and accompanies Alex on the couch, placing a hand on the blonde’s knee.
“Zack’s my step-brother,” Jack explains, chuckling a little. “He’s just really overprotective and touchy-feely.”
Okay, maybe Alex’s skills at reading at people aren’t up to par.
And in one moment Alex feels like a total asshole, hiding his head in his hands as Jack squeezes his knee.
“Alex, look at me,” Jack says, removing one of Alex’s hands and turning the blonde’s face towards his own. The taller man tangles their fingers together as they make eye contact.
“Will you be my boyfriend?”
Cue Alex’s freak-out moment. He’s not exactly good at hiding it either, because his grip on Jack’s hand tightens, his body stiffens, and his eyes blow up to the size of the moon.
Jack’s own eyes fill with worry as Alex’s mouth opens and he can feel the rejection coming. Alex sputters something unintelligible before breaking eye contact with Jack. When Alex tries to move away from Jack, the dark-haired man squeezes his hand and places his other hand on Alex’s shoulder, rubbing circles on the fabric with his thumb.
“If you don’t want to be my boyfriend, just say it,” Jack says, disappointment lacing his words.
Alex shakes his head, skull rattling with the movement. He leans his head on Jack’s shoulder, contemplating his next words.
“It’s not that I don’t want to be your boyfriend, Jack. I just don’t do relationship. I haven’t been able to hold down one since I realized I was gay. I don’t wanna hurt you because you’re such a great guy and-”
Alex’s ramble is cut off by Jack’s lips pressing hard against his. His migraine hits at full force and he falls backwards, hitting his head on the armrest as dizziness rushes over him. Jack looks concernedly at Alex before the blonde man grabs Jack’s shoulders and pulls him on top of him, kissing him hard on the mouth. He lets himself relax into the kiss, allowing Jack’s tongue to poke through his lips and tangle with his own. The dark-haired man shifts until he’s laying on top of Alex, one hand laying on the blonde’s abdomen underneath his shirt and the other cupping Alex’s face.
Alex decides he really likes kissing Jack. He feels fuzzy and warm and magical and many other girly adjectives and there are fireworks exploding in his stomach and his migraine is dissipating and the electricity is coursing though his veins and he feels like he’s going to explode. It’s a great feeling, really.
The pair break for air and Alex keeps his eyes closed and breathes. Jack leans down, panting softly in Alex’s ear, kissing the spot right behind it.
“If you didn’t feel that, I’ll leave and never bother you again,” Jack whispers.
Alex doesn’t feel the need to dignify that with a response. He just grabs Jack by the hair and forces their lips together again.
When the two break for hair once more, Jack looks at Alex and asks him if he’ll be his boyfriend again.
Alex rolls his eyes and connects their lips. It’s as good as a confirmation for Jack.
(next chapter)