Coffee's For Closers
--
When Jack woke up for the umpteenth morning in a row with his face in Alex’s armpit, he pushed Alex out of his bunk. Which, considering he was on the bottom bunk, wasn’t all that far. Alex rolled out and onto the floor, without stirring. Jack turned over, and went back to sleep. Alex shook him awake some time later.
“Why was I on the floor?” He asked.
“Why were you in my bunk again when I woke up?” Jack responded. “Seriously, dude, you’ve been in my bunk every morning for the past month. You need to shower, by the way. Your armpit smells like ass.”
“Your mother smells like ass,” Alex responded, standing up to walk away. “My ass.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” Jack said, crawling out of his bunk. Alex moved away, flipping Jack off. He pulled a shirt out of his bag, smelled it, shrugged, and put it on.
--
Alex was weird for the rest of the day. He kept to himself, mostly staying in his bunk. When Jack went to bed that night, he hadn’t seen Alex all day. He could hear him shifting every now and then in his bunk, before he threw his pillow onto the floor in frustration. Jack rolled out of his bunk, picked up the pillow, and climbed into Alex’s bunk with it.
“What are you doing?” Alex asked.
“Saving you the trip,” Jack answered, lifting Alex’s head to place his pillow underneath it.
“Fuck off,” Alex snapped, shoving at Jack.
“I was a douche this morning,” Jack said, grabbing Alex’s hands. “If you want to go around smelling like ass, that’s your business. If you want to smell like ass in my bunk, that’s fine too. Don’t wait until I’m asleep next time, ok?” Alex grumbled in response, but lowered his hands and relaxed.
“You’re an ass,” Alex murmured, closing his eyes.
“You fucking love me, dude,” Jack replied. He pulled Alex into a hug, and fell asleep soon after.
--
“Did you do something to Alex?” Zack asked the next day. They had pulled into their venue in the early hours of the morning, and Alex had been first off the bus - Jack had woken up alone.
“No,” Jack answered petulantly. It was two in the afternoon, and Alex had yet to resurface. “I’ll go see if Hey Monday knows where he is.”
“He was pissed when he left, dude. I’d leave him to chill for a while,” Zack said. Jack ignored him, and made his way over to the Hey Monday bus. Cassadee was sitting on the steps, bowl of cereal in hand.
“You seen Gaskarth?” Jack asked her. Cassadee nodded, her mouth full of cereal, and gestured over her shoulder. Jack ruffled her hair on his way past, and found Alex sitting on the floor next to Mike, watching a movie. Jack stepped over them, settling next to Alex, slinging an arm around his shoulders. “We miss you.”
“I’ve only been gone a few hours. Sometimes a dude just needs time away from his band,” Alex replied, shrugging Jack’s arm off.
“Since when? You haven’t needed time away from us in forever,” Jack said.
“So now I do,” Alex responded, turning his attention back to the television. Jack watched him carefully for a moment, before walking off to sit with Cassadee on the bus steps.
“Alex being a bitch?” She asked, holding out her bowl to Jack.
“Nah,” Jack replied, taking the bowl and eating some cereal, “he just needs some me-time. With other people.”
“I get that,” Cassadee said, smiling. She took back her cereal bowl, and tipped the remaining milk onto the ground. Jack ruffled her hair again, and walked back to his bus.
--
At the show that night, Alex behaved as usual. The show went well - one of their best ones on tour so far, Jack thought. When they got back to the bus, though, Alex went straight to his bunk. Jack kicked the couch in frustration, before flopping onto it.
“What did you do?” Rian asked, sitting next to him. Jack scowled, ignoring him. When he went to bed that night, he eyed Alex’s bunk, contemplating. He pulled back the curtain, and found Alex fast asleep. He pressed his thumb to the corner of Alex’s left eye, and crawled into his own bunk. Jack slept uneasily that night, and woke up alone again.
--
That day went pretty much the same as the one before. Alex avoided Jack, returning in time for sound check.
“Are you seriously avoiding me, Gaskarth?” Jack asked, cornering Alex once they’d come off stage after the show.
“No,” Alex said, trying to push past Jack. Jack held him in place, squeezing his biceps.
“You can’t climb into bed with me three mornings in a row and then get all shitty when I tell you not to wait until morning,” he said, crowding into Alex’s personal space.
“I can do whatever I want,” Alex replied, pushing Jack again. Jack responded by pushing Alex against the wall, plastering his body against Alex’s.
“Even if you’re being an asshole?” Jack asked. Alex dropped his gaze to the floor, shrugging his shoulders.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I promise we’ll have awesome heterosexual cuddles tonight.”
“Hey, don’t be so quick to rule out the gay,” Jack leered, rolling his hips against Alex’s. “The gay is awesome.”
“I would never rule out the gay,” Alex said, pushing his hips back against Jack’s. He leaned in and ran his tongue up Jack’s neck, biting down on his jaw. Jack exhaled heavily, and took a step back. “Bus?”
“Great idea,” Jack answered quickly, both of them hurrying towards the bus. They passed Rian and Zack on their way.
“Engaging in awesome gay cuddles, interrupt us and die,” Alex said, tugging Jack’s hand.
--
Once they got back to the bus, they stripped down to their boxer shorts and climbed into Alex’s bunk.
“You smell like ass,” Alex said, wrinkling his nose. Jack shrugged, resting a hand on Alex’s hip.
“You’re the one who was so desperate to get me back here. I didn’t have time to shower,” he said. “When’s our next hotel night?”
“Thursday, I think,” Alex replied. “So. By our usual standards, these cuddles are pretty fucking tame.”
“Are you challenging me to up the gay, Alex Gaskarth?” Jack asked, shifting closer. Alex pressed his nose against Jack’s neck.
“Maybe,” Alex replied. He leaned back slightly, watching Jack.
“Is this like some private session of gay chicken, or are we actually doing this?”
“Up to you,” Alex murmured, “I know what I want.”
“Don’t get all cryptic on me,” Jack said, swallowing loudly. He pressed his forehead to Alex’s, bumping their noses together. “What do you want?” Alex surged forward, pressing his lips against Jack’s. Jack sighed, pressing closer still to Alex, pulling both their boxers down at the same time.
“Ok,” Jack whispered, breaking for air, “ok, yeah.”
--
When Jack woke up, he was alone. He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palms, pressing until it hurt. He fished his boxers out from underneath the covers, pulling them on before heading out to the lounge.
“Alex?” He asked Rian.
“Getting coffee,” Rian answered, not looking away from the television. “We pulled into a gas station around ten minutes ago.”
“I think he mentioned stocking up on Red Bull,” Zack said. Jack plucked a shirt from behind one of the couch cushions, and threw on a pair of jeans that was crumpled on the floor, and made his way off the bus and into the store. Alex was at the counter, with four coffees. He startled slightly when Jack clapped him on the shoulder, dropping his change.
“Red Bulls?” Jack asked.
“Damnit. I knew I was forgetting something,” Alex said. He left the counter, and returned with several four packs of Red Bulls, condoms and lube. He blushed slightly as he placed them on the counter.
“Assuming much?” Jack laughed, nudging Alex with his elbow. Alex shrugged, payed for his items and gathered them up.
“We used the last of them last night,” he said, making his way to the door. Jack left the store laughing, as the clerk wrinkled his nose. Halfway between the store and the bus, Jack grabbed the back of Alex’s shirt, hauling him into an awkward hug. “Dude! Armful of groceries and hot coffee here! You could at least take something for me.”
“Maybe I just like watching you squirm,” Jack murmured, mouth close to Alex’s ear. He took the tray of coffees out of Alex’s arm, and pulled him in for a one-armed hug. “Hi.”
“Hey,” Alex replied softly. “Sorry you woke up alone. Caffeine emergency, you know?”
“I get it,” Jack replied. Zack and Rian ran off the bus and over to them, grabbing a coffee each.
“We’re gonna crash with Hey Monday until we stop for lunch,” Rian said, walking towards the other bus in the parking lot.
“Huh,” Jack said, “that’s strangely convenient.”
“Alex threatened us with death if we didn’t leave the bus free today,” Zack replied, smirking. Jack and Alex boarded their bus, depositing the energy drinks into the fridge.
“My back is so fucking sore from last night,” Alex groaned, flopping onto the couch.
“You’re sore?” Jack said incredulously. “You’re not the one who took it up the ass. All you had to do was some small acrobatic moves to manage it in the bunk.”
“I’m sorry; did you not want a repeat performance?” Alex asked, pulling Jack into his lap. Jack scowled, but settled comfortably, resting his head on Alex’s shoulder.
“Maybe tomorrow. I think I need to give it a day or two,” he said. “It’d been a while.”
“It can’t have been that long; didn’t you sleep with that tech a few weeks ago?”
“Not exactly,” Jack said, shifting uncomfortably. “He freaked out and ran.”
“Really? Because he looked pretty pissed off the next day. I thought maybe you’d fucked and ran,” Alex said.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Gaskarth,” Jack snorted. Alex shrugged, digging his fingers in to Jack’s sides. “He had some massive revelation of ‘oh my god, I’m not into dudes’ and ran.”
“Doesn’t explain why he was so pissed off,” Alex said.
“He may have been the one who ran, but we both didn’t get off that night,” Jack said, scowling. “Plus, I may have told him that he had to find another band to work with.”
“Speaking of getting off,” Alex murmured, lifting Jack’s shirt. “Is this mine? I wore this for a week and then couldn’t find it, where - this smells fucking nasty.”
“It was behind the couch,” Jack replied. Alex pulled it off, tossing it onto the floor.
“Dude, are those my jeans as well? I haven’t washed them in over a month,” he laughed. Jack frowned and stood up, in front of Alex. “Hey come on, I was kidding. Your ass looks great in them.” Jack nodded, before unbuttoning the jeans and dropping them unceremoniously to the floor.
“But they look better on the floor, right?” Jack asked, straddling Alex.
“Right,” Alex answered breathlessly as Jack rolled their hips together. “I thought you were sore.”
“I am,” Jack replied, sliding onto his knees on the floor.
“So what are you doing?”
“I’m about to blow you, are you seriously complaining?” Jack said incredulously. Alex shook his head, throwing his head back as Jack tugged his pants off.
--
After the show on Thursday night, Alex pinned Jack to one of the beds in their hotel room.
“So, I know I promised you a repeat of the other night,” he said, pressing his lips against Jack’s collar bone, “but I was thinking we could flip positions.”
“Oh,” Jack breathed, surprised. “Have you ever, before?”
“Bottomed?” Alex asked brashly. “No. But I trust you.”
“Right,” Jack said. “You know it hurts like a motherfucking bitch, right?”
“All the time? Because if that’s the case, you’re one kinky fucker,” Alex snorted.
“How’s your back?” Jack asked, pushing himself up.
“Still a bit sore, why? What does that have to do with it?”
“If you’ve never done this before, then trust me when I say that you’ll want to be totally relaxed and not in pain at all before we even think about attempting this,” Jack said, pushing Alex to the side. “Not that I don’t want to fuck you, dude. Because I do, trust me. I just don’t want it to suck for you.”
“Would you just fuck me already?” Alex asked, pulling his pants and underwear off. He straddled Jack again, sucking at the pulse point on his neck.
“Ok, ok. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, fuck,” Jack said in a rush. He reached for his bag, pulling out the lube and condoms Alex had bought a few days beforehand.
“Just,” Alex hissed as Jack slid a lube covered finger inside him. “Fuck. Don’t. Just.”
“I’ll go easy on you, don’t worry,” Jack murmured sincerely.
--
“Ow,” Alex groaned when he woke up the next morning. “Fucking ow, fuck.” Jack was still asleep next to him, drooling onto the pillow. Alex slipped slowly out of the bed, walking towards the bathroom. He took a long shower, just hot enough to turn his skin an angry red. Jack stumbled sleepily into the bathroom as Alex was drying himself and pulling his underwear on.
“Dude, just one morning, it’d be nice if you’re still there when I wake up,” Jack grumbled, reaching past Alex to turn the shower back on. “I’m starting to feel like a whore.”
“I. What?” Alex sputtered.
“You’re in my bed every morning for a month, then nothing. Then you fuck me, and I’m still waking up alone.” Jack stepped into the shower, pulling the curtain across.
“I was. I. Fuck. Sorry,” Alex mumbled. Jack stayed silent, and Alex exhaled a heavy breath, before pulling his underwear off, climbing back into the shower. He wrapped his arms around Jack’s waist from behind, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. Jack grunted, but turned around and bit down gently on Alex’s collar bone.
“Sore?” Jack asked.
“So fucking sore, fucking shit,” Alex moaned. Jack huffed out a laugh, licking over the bite.
“Worth it?” He asked. Alex recognised the tone in his voice - Jack was trying to pass the question off as flippant and casual. Alex knew better.
“So worth it,” he replied, smiling. Jack made a pleased noise in the back of his throat, pressing his lips against Alex’s.
--
After the show that night, back at the bus, Alex tumbled into his bunk straight away, lying on his stomach. Jack slid in after him, teetering dangerously on the edge of the bed. Alex made a muffled sound of discontent, before rolling onto his side to allow Jack more room.
“You smell clean,” Jack murmured, nose buried in Alex’s hair.
“I managed to grab a quick shower after the show,” Alex replied, yawning loudly. Jack nodded, trailing one hand down Alex’s side.
“You’ll be here when I wake up?” Jack asked softly.
“Yeah,” Alex replied, “yeah, I’ll be here.”
--
When Jack woke the next morning, Alex’s elbow was digging into his side and there was drool on his shoulder. Jack sighed happily, rearranging Alex’s arms, and fitted himself along Alex’s back. Alex slowly blinked awake, and turned over to smile groggily at Jack.
“Hi,” he said.
“Morning,” Jack replied with a grin. Alex’s mouth tasted sour when he kissed him, but Jack didn’t really care.