Shelter

Alex woke up early the next morning with an enormous headache. He moaned, sitting up and looking around the room sleepily. Jack was nowhere to be seen, making Alex worry for a moment. Then he realized that the water was running in the bathroom, so he settled back down under the covers to try and fall back asleep. It was too early to be functioning.

He was startled awake again by Jack yanking the covers off of him, saying loudly, “Wake up!”

“Six thirty in the morning is too early!” Alex groaned, pulling a pillow over his head. Jack pulled it away.

“We have a flight to catch at ten. You need to get your ass out of bed or I’m going to leave you here,” Jack said shortly, pulling clothes on as he spoke. He had just gotten out of the shower.

Alex sat up and rubbed his head, pouting slightly at Jack. “Why do you have a stick up your ass this morning? What happened last night?”

“Well, for starters, you tried to hook up with me,” Jack began, and Alex’s eyes widened.

“You’ve got to be joking. Please tell me that’s not why my ass hurts.”

Jack laughed, his annoyance lifting a bit. “No. I didn’t let you go any farther than making out because I knew you’d regret it. You got mad and stormed out of the room, and you ended up falling down the stairs. That’s probably why your ass hurts,” he explained.

“Oh. Well… thanks for stopping me. I would have been upset with both of us if we actually had sex,” Alex admitted, cheeks reddening a little.

“Don’t worry. It’s always reassuring to hear that the person you love would regret having sex with you,” Jack said bitterly, tossing things into his suitcase.

Alex rolled his eyes and stood up, hugging Jack from behind. “Oh, shut up. You’re overdramatic. I’ll make it up to you.”

“What?” Jack asked, eyes wide as he turned around.

“I didn’t mean in a sexual way, pervert. I’ll buy you a cake or something if it’ll make you forgive me.

“I do love cake…” Jack mused, and Alex leaned up to kiss him on the cheek lightly.

“I’m sorry about last night,” he apologized, stepping away from him.

“I’m sorry that you didn’t get some of this,” Jack said with a smirk, motioning down his body and rolling his hips at Alex. Alex groaned, rolling his eyes and walking toward the bathroom. Jack laughed. “Yeah, go shower. You smell like booze.”

--------------------

“Have I ever mentioned how much I hate airplanes?” Alex grumbled, crossing his arms.

Jack sighed, pushing Alex toward the waiting area. They had already gone through security and given up their luggage, so now they were waiting for their delayed flight. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’ve been on a hundred planes.”

“And I hate them every single time,” Alex said stubbornly.

“Would you rather take days driving across the country, back to Baltimore?” Jack asked in exasperation.

“Yes.”

Jack rolled his eyes and pushed Alex down into a seat by Zack, who was also sulking about having to fly home on a plane. “There. You can both sulk together. I’ll be getting coffee if you need me, because it’s way too early to deal with both of you.”

Alex watched as Jack started to walk away, pouting and yelling, “Bring me a coffee!”

“Maybe!”

Alex looked up at Zack and sighed. “Life would be easier if we could just drive everywhere.”

“I think that would be a bit expensive. But I definitely agree; I hate flying just as much as you do,” Zack agreed.

“I hate it more,” Alex protested, and Zack rolled his eyes. “Well you never get anxiety attacks while sitting on a plane!”

“I have some sleeping pills with me if you want to take some before we board the plane,” Zack offered, pointing at his carry-on bag. “I use them so I sleep through most of the flight, but I’ve heard that they help anxiety too. Mostly because you’ll relax and fall asleep.”

“I dunno…”

Zack leaned over and pulled the little pill packages out of his bag, handing them to Alex, “Seriously. It might help you.”

Alex frowned and looked down at the pills, considering it. He wanted to prevent having anxiety attacks on the plane, but he didn’t want to take medicine. Jack came walking up to them a few minutes later, two drinks in hand. “What’s that, Alex?”

“Zack’s trying to make me do drugs!” Alex whined, pointing at Zack accusingly.

“What?”

Zack’s eyes widened and he shook his head, “No way, dude. He’s complaining about the plane so I offered him some sleeping pills to take before we get on the flight. I figured it might help his anxiety.”

“He has a point,” Jack shrugged, sitting down beside Alex. “Here’s your coffee.”

Alex took the cup from Jack, taking a drink and sighing in content. “Thanks. And I don’t know if I want to take these stupid pills. I don’t want medicine.”

“It’s your choice, Lex. It might help,” Jack said, patting the older boy’s knee as he took a sip of his coffee. Before Alex could respond, they heard their flight announced over the intercom. “Finally! Let’s go.”

Alex trudged along behind them, looking down at the pills one last time. He ripped the package open and took one with his coffee before running to catch up with the others.

About half an hour after they had boarded the plane and taken off, Alex finally started to feel less anxious but really tired. He rested his head on Jack’s shoulder with a heavy sigh.

“You’re not gonna puke, are you?” Jack asked, looking at Alex cautiously. He was known to puke on the plane when he got a little over-anxious.

Alex shook his head, mumbling, “No, I don’t feel sick. Just really tired. Stupid fucking pills.”

“You took them?” Jack asked, a slight smile on his face.

“Yeah. I caved in and took the pills because I didn’t feel like having major anxiety for hours,” Alex said, rolling his eyes at Jack and Zack’s smirks.

“Told you they would work!” Zack said triumphantly.

Alex flipped him off and Zack just laughed, going back to watching his movie. Alex leaned against Jack again, nuzzling his head into the crook of his neck. “I’m going to sleep on you, okay?”

“That’s fine,” Jack chuckled, putting his hand on Alex’s knee and squeezing it. “I’ll wake you up when we land.”