Come Alive

Alex spent the next huge portion of his life trying to find clean clothes in his closet that he could loan to Jack. His favorite pair of skinny jeans were being preserved for himself that night and the only other option were the $400 dollar custom made pants Alex managed to steal from a video shoot a few years back.

Jack would like them.

Tossing the pants onto his bed, Alex found an intricately designed sweater he rarely wore. Thinking of Jack, Alex chucked it back in the closet, looking for a more low-key outfit for his companion. Digging through his drawers until he found a simple plain black t-shirt, Alex left his bedroom just in time to bump into a half naked Jack walking up the hall. Jack’s chest tattoo was still shimmering with the residue of his shower and the unwelcomed attention from Alex’s eyes seemed to make Jack uncomfortable as he mumbled something and pushed past Alex into the vacant bedroom. Alex shook his head, just because Alex hadn’t actually seen Jack outside of a hospital bed didn’t give him permission to gape at his bare chest. Actually, nothing gave Alex permission to gape at any man’s bare chest, but since when did Alex wait for permission?

***

He was in his living room, mindlessly answering emails on his laptop when a distressed yelp caught his attention. From the other room, Alex could hear Jack struggling with something and almost instantly Alex found himself in his bedroom looking for a way to help the other boy.

Jack, with one of his legs caught in the tight denim pants, let out a choking sound when he caught sight of Alex in the doorway, “Who the fuck are you?”

Alex stood speechless, this memory loss bullshit was quickly becoming one of the biggest annoyances in his life—and Alex had to deal with a lot of annoying shit in his life. ‘What? Jack, I’m Alex. Remember?” Sometimes that worked. Sometimes simply reminding Jack of who each of them were would bring him spiraling back to the present.

“What. No. What are you doing here? I’m trying to get dressed…” Jack went back to concentrating on his pants, his poorly balanced legs failing him and causing him to fall to the ground.

“This is my house…” Alex stood helplessly waiting for Jack’s memory to kick back in so they could get on with their evening. It was New Year’s Eve and not only was Alex hungry, but he was bored and the only way to fix both of those problems was to get Jack up and out of the big apartment.

Jack sat there in his boxers, his left leg having admitted defeat against his pants leaving the pants pulled up his right calf. Jack just sat and stared at Alex for a while. Staring, unblinking at the man in the doorway. And as uncomfortable as Alex was, he didn’t move or break eye contact. Maybe this could be their new way of Alex reminding Jack of everything that had happened in the past few days. Maybe Alex and Jack were destined to find each other because only they could save the world with their telepathic minds…

“Fuck.” The force behind Jack’s voice startled Alex out of his pathetic crime-fighting daydream. “Fucking fuck fuck fuck.” Jack said it again, this time hoisting himself up so he was standing. “I fucking hate you, Alex Gaskarth.”

What? Well that was unexpected.

Alex stared back at the taller man, what did he think he was doing? After everything Alex had done for him? Who did this Jack kid think he was anyway? “Excuse you?” Alex didn’t mean for his words to come out as bitchy as they had. Silently, Alex prayed this wouldn’t turn into a fight. Jack wasn’t exactly ready to be by himself yet and after all the time they’d spent laughing and talking in the hospital, Alex wasn’t really ready to watch Jack walk out of his life just yet.

“It’s your fucking fault I fucking did this!” Jack motioned loosely to the chest muscle Alex knew held the tiny left over scars from the gunshot.

“My fault? You’re gonna blame the fact that you jumped blindly in front of a bullet for a stranger on me?” Alex needed a dramatic end to that sentence to match his mood, but the only one he could think of was slamming his bedroom door, which would lead to nothing but a separated Jack and Alex and a broken bedroom door. “I didn’t sit there and just ask you to take a goddamn bullet for me.”

“Well it’s not my fucking fault. And now I have to sit here with who knows how long with a mental retardation and—“

“I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry that this bullshit happened to you. You of all the people, it actually hurts me to know it was you. But seriously don’t fucking blame the shit that happened to you on me because it has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with me.”

Alex nodded and was just walking out of the door when he heard a faint, almost whisper, “if you weren’t so goddamn attractive I don’t think—no I know—I wouldn’t have done it.” Alex stood frozen in the doorway.

Although he knew he probably wasn’t supposed to hear Jack’s mumbled tone he turned around anyway, “You think I’m attractive?”

Jack’s eyebrows squinted up at him, “What? Doesn’t everyone?”

“No but you?” Alex shook his head and repeated, “You? Jack Barakat?”

Jack bit his lip, “…is that bad?”

Alex shook his head, “Nope, not bad at all. Not. Bad. At. All.” And with that, Alex nodded before closing his bedroom door for good. Dodged a bullet there, Alex breathed sigh of relief, not only did he manage to escape what could have potentially been a huge fight to ruin the New Year Celebration.
Alex yawned and found himself back on his laptop, curled up on his couch waiting for Jack to come out. Alex may have dodged a bullet, but he also stumbled upon a pretty big weapon.

Jack thought Alex was attractive.