If These Sheets Were States

Jack's eyes fluttered open to the smell of bacon and freshly made toast he grinned in his light slumber; it was just like his other half to make him breakfast before work.

"There better be eggs with that bacon, Alex" Jack jokingly called out, expecting a grunt in return.

"Who are you calling Alex, sweetie?" A mature female voice called back up the stairs, "He's not here."

Jack leapt bolt upright, his eyes opening like lightning. Not here?! Where the fuck wa- Jack froze and scanned the room surrounding him. It wasn't his modern sub-urban Baltimore apartment. It was his teenage trash pit, complete with yesterday's underwear tossed lazily on the floor. He groaned and threw his head back against the pillow. Of course Alex wasn't here. He was across the country, in LA, on a training course that allowed him to earn more money. And because Alex loved his apartment more than life itself, he refused to leave his boyfriend in it alone for the mere three days he'd be away. Just to prevent a pile of rubble waiting for him on his return. Which was why Jack was lying in a tiny bed in his Mom's house, 1 year after he'd thought he'd left it for good. Not that he was complaining, Jack thought as his mom strolled in with a plateful of bacon and toast in her hand. She smiled warmly at him, before gently tapping his head and leaving without a word. He smiled and devoured his breakfast, then made the quick and naked dash to the bathroom across the hall for a shower.

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Alex lay on the shitty hotel bed, in the shitty hotel, booked by his shitty company when his phone went off all the way on the other side of the shitty room. He sighed, rolled his eyes and attempted to get up and get it. His attempt failed. It wasn't until 10 minutes later, after the second, third, forth and fifth texts had come through, that he thought that maybe he should see who needed him so bloody desperately. He turned over and carefully stood up, making his way over to the desk where his phone was laying, screen lit up like a fucking Christmas tree in the dark room. He unlocked it and opened the first message. Jack.

*"Hey babe! Just a 'good morning' text really xD thought I'd letcha know that when I woke up this morning,I thought I was still at our place! xD feels weird without you around babe... Love you loads! Jack <3"*

The next 4 messages were all very similar in content. Lots of 'I love you' s and 'I miss you' s. One even said that Jack wasn't going to work because he missed Alex too much. Alex rolled his eyes and hit reply.

*"Hey! Sorry for not replying, I got lazy. Again. I miss you too but I'll be home Monday evening when you're back from work so it's just 2 more sleeps now! Whoop! I'm gunna start this course thing this afternoon so I won't be replying, sorry :( love you loads babe! Alex <3"*

The reply was simple and instantaneous.

*"But I want you here now... Jack <3"*

Alex smiled for a second, then replied.

*"Soon babe <3"*

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Alex rolled his eyes and glanced at the clock, glaring at it when the hand didn't even move a tiny bit. He frowned at the board for a moment, where a 50-something year old man was rambling on about something to do with boosting sales. Alex didn't even know why he was on this course. His boss was making him the training to be an assistant manager in the chain music store in downtown Baltimore that Alex had worked in even since that branch had opened. Alex was only on the course because being co-pilot to a large store, like his one, meant more hours and more hours meant more money. He really didn't want to be assistant manager in a shitty music store; not now or ever. He wanted his own record label! However, Jack's job only paid him minimum wage, even though the younger boy worked his arse off as a sales assistant in the shitty mini-mart across town. This meant that the boys' needed as much money from Alex's job as possible, hence the reason why Alex was going to be the best assistant manager his boss had ever seen! Alex allowed his eyes to wander over to the clock once more. 10:37 am. Only 23 minutes until he could go back to his hotel, re-pack and get to the airport for his 12:00 flight back to Jack.

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Jack was literally bouncing. Alex was due home in less than half an hour. His flight left LA at 3:00 pm Baltimore time and it was a 5 hour flight, meaning Alex would land at 8:00 pm. It took 15 minutes to get out of the airport and 45 minutes to drive back from there to their shared apartment, meaning that if Jack had done the maths correctly, Alex would be home at around 9:00. It was 8:41 and Jack couldn't contain his excitement. Alex had allowed him to go back home instead of staying with his parents until Alex go home. Admittedly, Jack would have preferred to have stayed with his mum; he may have been able to relax a little better. But no, Jack was at home where it smelt like Alex and it just left him craving the older boy even more than he had done all weekend. He sighed and looked down at his bare, sweaty chest. He made the quick decision to shower in hope of calming himself down. Also, the thought of getting out afterwards to Alex being home and surprising him made him feel all girly inside.

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He was late. Only by a few minutes but he was late. Alex pulled off of the main road and onto a smaller housing estate road. It had taken him longer than he'd expected to get out of the airport and find his car. He took a hidden left hand turning that led to a medium sized car park outside of the modern apartment block. He parked in his usual spot, turned off the engine and grabbed his weekend rucksack. He reached into the back seat and pulled his small suitcase onto his lap. He slowly let out the breath he'd been holding since he'd pulled up. Home.

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Jack hummed an old Green Day track as he lathered, rinsed and repeated, letting the harsh power setting give him a watery massage to ease his tension. It didn't help much. He continued to stand under the warm water for a few more minutes before grabbing his body scrub and bursting into 'All Time Small Things'. He was still far to excited.

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Alex fumbled with the keys outside the door for a second before hastily unlocking it and stepping in. He left his things by the now-closed door and stepped into the apartment, unchanged since they'd moved in years ago. Such a lot had happened here, both good and bad... But the tone-deaf voice singing 'na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na, na' over and over from the en suite comforted Alex and told him that all was well. He left his keys on the worktop and walked into the bedroom. A pile of Jack's clothing lay on the floor by the bed, which appealed to all of Alex's senses right then, especially after staying in that shitty hotel. He stripped off down to his boxers, creating his own pile, and collapsed into comfort for the first time all weekend.

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Hearing the sound of his shared bed groan under the weight of someone that certainly wasn't himself made Jack nearly cry tears of joy and over-excitement. He managed to withhold them until he'd washed the last remaining soap suds from his body and slammed the shower off. He jumped out of the shower, roughly towel drying his body and the raggedy mop on the top of his head. He tiptoed over to the bathroom door and looked through the crack. He could just about make out a bare foot and one of Alex's t-shirts laying abandoned on the floor next to a pile of his own clothes. Jack's stomach instantly filled with butterflies. Alex was home!

Notes

Hey readers!!!!
This is the sequel to 'Shut Up And Kiss Me Now' by myself. Please read that story first as references to it will be made and I don't want you guys getting confused or anything. This is mysecond fan fic so critisism is welcome. I need all the help I can get with my writting beause I know I'm not the best author going. Comments are always welcome. Please tell me what you think so I now where o improve for you guys.

Love you loads!!!
Abby <3