Space Between You & I

Matt wakes early, expecting Alex to be next to him in bed. He grumbles, reaching for his boyfriend blindly, but finds only empty space. Then he remembers that Alex is in New York, recording. He should be there, too, but Keith has made him stay behind in Baltimore. Something about Alex not being able to sing with someone else’s tongue shoved down his throat and planning tours, or some such nonsense. It’s lonely in the bed without Alex. He’s used to waking up with Alex’s chest pressed against his back, arms wrapped firmly around his waist. For some reason, Alex is incredibly possessive of him at times. It’s not like he’s suddenly going to get all interested in someone else and leave. So yeah, Matt misses waking up in his boyfriend’s arms. He grabs his phone off the nightstand, hoping it’s at least a decent hour to be awake. It isn’t.

He replaces it with a sigh, finding no new text messages. It’s a little pathetic that he’s lying awake at three in the morning, hoping to hear from Alex, but he’s lonely as hell. This is the longest stretch of time they’ve been apart since they started dating. He wonders if Alex misses him too. Their bed seems far too big for him alone. But he’s not about to go snuggle up to Rian and Cassadee; the last time he wandered into their room unbidden he saw more of both of them than he’d ever wanted to see. Miserably, he burrows even further under the covers, squeezing his eyes closed. If he tries hard enough, he will probably fall asleep again. He misses the comfort of Alex’s body, close and familiar, next to his in the bed.

When he wakes next, it’s to the klaxon sound of his cell phone ringing. It’s not the ring he’s assigned to Alex – because he does totally cheesy stuff like that, yeah – so he really does not want to answer it. He’s expecting a couple of calls about the upcoming tour, though. “Nnngh,” he grunts into the phone. “Hello?”

“Where the hell is your boyfriend?” Keith explodes at him. It is way too early for this. “He was supposed to be at the studio an hour ago, Matt.” And an angry Keith is not something Matt wants to deal with, but he can think of no explanation for this. Why would he know where Alex is, anyway? They’re not even in the same city. If they were, he sure as hell would not be waking up alone.

Matt sighs. “I have no idea,” he says, trying to remain calm. Of course, he’s in the clutches of panic, because he needs to know where Alex is. What if something horrible has happened? “Have you tried his cell?” The panic creeps up his spine and makes itself at home in the back of his throat.

“He’s not answering,” Keith grumbles. “I thought you might know where he is, considering you two spend most of your time necking.” If not for the seriousness of the situation, Matt might have laughed at that comment.

He sits up in bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I haven’t heard from him since yesterday,” he replies. This entire conversation is worrying him. It’s not like Alex to just disappear. “I’ll call you if I hear from him,” he promises Keith, flipping the phone shut. He can hear sound filtering up from the kitchen; Rian and Cassadee must already be awake. Thankfully, she’s only down for the week before Hey Monday goes out on tour. Any longer than that and Matt would probably strangle her. Being without Alex is making him extremely cranky, and the chirpy little noises she makes when she and Rian have sex are enough to make Matt homicidal. He dresses quickly before joining them, taking his coffee black because he’s too tired and worried to care.

Rian smiles at him sympathetically from across the table. “You look like shit,” he says.

“Thanks, Ri,” Matt bitches. He probably does, though. He hasn’t been sleeping well; he’s been waking a lot in the night when he hasn’t been kept awake all night by the sound of the happy couple’s love-making. “I miss Alex,” he whines. He sucks his lip ring into his mouth sullenly, crossing his arms over his chest. There’s nothing to do in the house without Alex. Cassadee is calmly doing the puzzles from the entertainment section of the paper. It’s almost a normal morning. Almost being the key word; Matt and Alex are never up this early. Alex Gaskarth is not a morning person.

“He’ll be home soon,” Cassadee says, as if to reassure him. “I’m sure he misses you just as much as you miss him.” She and Rian exchange a knowing look. Matt ignores them, instead choosing to grab the sports section of the paper and stare blankly at it. The Baltimore papers are always plastered with information about the stupid fucking Ravens. Alex never fails to gloat about this fact.

“He’s in New York for another stupid week,” Matt complains. This is cruel and unusual punishment.

Rian says, “There’s nothing stopping you from getting on a plane and going there. It’s only a two hour flight or something.” It’s easy for him to say that; he flies to visit Cassadee all the time because their relationship is primarily long-distance. When he’s accustomed to having Alex by his side all the time, nothing else will do. God, he sounds like a sulky teenager. “Stop pouting, Flyzik. It’s not becoming. Your boy loves you and you know it. He’s barely stopped texting me to bitch about how much he misses you since he left.”

Matt groans. “So he has time to text you, but not to call me or tell Keith where the fuck he’s going? ‘Cause Keith called me in a rage because he’s late for the studio, and... and... and...” He can feel himself getting worked up over it. Between the shitty sleep he’s been getting and missing Alex, he’s going a little stir-crazy. “Fuck, I should just go there and leave you guys the house.”

“You know, he could just be busy. I mean, you talked to him yesterday... at length...” Rian reminds him, looking none too happy about it. “There is this wonderful thing that exists. It is called a lock, and I highly recommend you use it the next time you and Alex decide to have phone sex in the middle of the afternoon.” Matt grins. It’s payback for having to hear him and Cassadee in the shower the previous morning. He makes a mental note to convince Alex to shower with him once he gets home. They haven’t tried that yet. “Matthew! Stop thinking of new sex positions to try with Gaskank and pay attention. I swear to God, you two are like fucking rabbits... Listen, we’re going to be gone for most of the day, so don’t burn the house down or anything.”

He rolls his eyes. As soon as they leave, he’s going back to bed. That is, as long as Keith stops harassing him with text messages about Alex’s whereabouts; he still doesn’t know, and so his phone is still sitting upstairs beside the alarm clock. Within twenty minutes, he’s curled up in bed with a Disney movie playing. He hears someone come in the house, but he assumes it’s just Rian having forgotten something. Matt is too warm and sleepy to care much. So when he hears the bedroom door open, he’s a little confused because he is almost asleep. He groans, pulls a pillow over his head.

“Go away,” he grumbles. “I’m trying to sleep.”

His response is met with amused chuckling. “Hey, babe,” says a familiar, albeit hoarse, voice. Alex is sitting at the foot of the bed, looking exhausted. Something about this doesn’t quite add up. Because Alex is supposed to be in New York, recording. He is not supposed to be here, snuggling up to Matt and making adorable sleepy noises. “I missed you,” Alex says, kissing Matt’s ear.

Matt mumbles, “You’re going to be in so much trouble,” before he whines, pressing himself into Alex’s arms. He’s not as mad as he should be about this. “Keith called me and yelled at me.” Alex kisses his forehead softly. This is exactly what he’d been missing – not the sex, although there’s that too... He buries his face in Alex’s neck, inhaling the familiar scent of his boyfriend greedily. Yeah, he’s stooped low enough to engage in what can only be called boyfriend-huffing. A week of sleeping alone can have that effect, apparently.

“Fuck recording. I fuckin’ hate sleeping alone, I haven’t slept in days,” Alex grumbles, nuzzling him tiredly. “I love you so much. Am I even making sense right now? ‘Cause I haven’t gotten any sleep in, like, four days so I decided to come home because I missed you and I love you and I’m tired.”

“Please tell me you didn’t drive,” Matt sighs, pecking worriedly at his neck and jaw. “You need to get some sleep, baby.” Alex lets out a squeaky little yawn; he’s already falling asleep and it’s making Matt feel bad. He should’ve just stood up to Keith and gone to New York anyway. Either way, it’s okay now, because Alex is home. Once Alex is asleep, he presses his lips to the singer’s jaw affectionately and whispers, “I love you, you idiot,” snuggling into his shoulder comfortably. Yeah, his boyfriend is an idiot, but he’s an idiot who means well. He ignores his phone the next time it rings, knowing that it’s Keith and that Keith is going to be pissed.

They’ve been sleeping for maybe two hours when they get woken by a lot of very high-pitched squealing. “Nooooooo,” Alex moans, clinging to Matt’s waist. “My Matty... Fuck off, dragons.”

Matt tries to stifle his giggles, but can’t. “Alex, love, you’re dreaming,” he murmurs.

Alex stares at him sleepily. “Why aren’t we in Narnia?” he asks. It’s all Matt can do to contain himself trying to guess what his boyfriend has been dreaming about; he has a very imaginative subconscious, especially if he’s been deprived of sleep for a couple of days. “Hi,” Alex whispers. “Is someone killing small birds downstairs?”

“I would guess that Rian just proposed,” Matt says. “Go back to sleep, babe. You still look dead. I wouldn’t want to keep you away from the dragons, either...” When Alex looks confused, he just shakes his head and leans up for a kiss. His fingers twist into Alex’s hair without a thought; their relationship has become second nature to him. After a few minutes of lazy kissing, he pulls away to tell Alex, “Never leave me again, okay?”

Alex rolls his eyes. “I’m going to fucking kill Rian when we get up... He wasn’t supposed to do it first.” Before Matt can question this statement, he’s leaning in for another kiss. Maybe later they can have late-afternoon morning sex. Keith needs to get laid or something and stop calling Matt’s phone. Doesn’t he know that they’re trying to sleep? Anyone that tries to separate them is just stupid.

Matt wakes up to the familiar sensation of Alex’s lips on his collarbone. He squirms slightly – it’s been a long, long week with his left hand for company – and tries to bite back his moans. The walls in Alex and Rian’s house are paper-thin. “Baby,” he sighs. “I missed you this week.” Alex comes back to kiss him sloppily, pressing hard with his tongue and teeth until Matt can’t hold back anymore. He gives in to the continued ministrations, arching his back and moaning quietly when Alex’s mouth moves along his neck, sucking and biting at the sensitive skin. It’s nearly dark; they’ve slept the whole day away, but neither of them is complaining.

“Hey, sexy,” Alex purrs. “D’you feel like maybe calling Keith and assuring him that I’m not dead so I don’t get kicked out of the band?” He rubs Matt’s hip suggestively, which does nothing to make Matt want to speak to the band’s manager at the moment. The only thing he wants is Alex, preferably on top of him, although underneath wouldn’t be half-bad either.

Matt looks at his boyfriend very seriously. “Unless you want him to know what you sound like when you orgasm, I don’t think I’m going to be calling him for a few hours.”

Alex licks his jaw. “Are you telling me that sex takes precedence over the future of your job?” he breathes, flicking Matt’s nipple gently. The only response Matt is capable of is closing his eyes and moaning loudly as Alex takes his nipple in his mouth, biting and sucking at it hard. “You’re going to marry me some day, Matt Flyzik,” he announces suddenly. “I love you.” So Matt is only mildly annoyed when Alex abandons his previous course of action for more snuggling, because he knows that once the singer is fully awake, they won’t be getting out of bed for a good, long time.