Long Live Us

The effect of the pain killers Zack had given Alex were slowly fading away and Alex could feel the pain forming in his hip again. He rolled over in bed expecting to see Jack, but only finding empty sheets. He buried his face into the pillow and groaned. It was bad enough that he was sick, now his hip was burning in a fiery pain. He couldn't even get up to get his own medication. He groaned louder and louder until Jack heard him and came running into the bedroom. He hurried over to Alex and felt his forehead.

"What's wrong? Are you gonna throw up?" Jack asked, checking Alex's temperature and kissing his head.

"My hip hurts," Alex whined, pulling Jack's shirt. "I need more medicine."

Alex is so cute when he's cranky, Jack thought. He smiled and went down the hall to get Alex's medicine. He pulled out the bottle of pills and noticed there were only two left. Jack took them anyway and gave them to Alex. He sat down on the bed, and Alex moved so he could sit in Jack's lap.

"My shoulders hurt too," Alex whined, looking at Jack sweetly. "Rub my shoulders? Please?"

Jack couldn't say no to that face and ended up rubbing Alex's shoulders, smiling when he heard Alex's delighted noise when his shoulder popped. After a while, Alex fell asleep from Jack's hands and the medication in his system. Jack smiled and tucked him in, kissing his cheek gently and leaving him so he could rest. He walked down the hall to find Zack reading some comic books.

"Hey," Jack said, leaning in the doorway. "We need to get Alex more pain meds, he ran out."

"Okay," Zack said, closing his comic and stretching. "Rian and I will go find some more after I go take a shower."

"Do you want me to go too?" Jack asked.

"Nah, it's fine. You should stay with Alex," Zack looked up at Jack and sighed a little. "I think Alex might be infected. I'm not sure, so don't freak out. But if he is, then you should probably spend time with him. He does love you, you know. He told me so."

Jack smiled and gave Zack a hug. He went back to the bedroom and found Alex fast asleep, drooling all over his pillow. Jack smiled and wiped up some of the drool so he could lay down with him. Jack brushed Alex's hair from his face, and grinned when Alex smiled in his sleep. He silently prayed that Alex wasn't infected. He couldn't be infected, he just couldn't be.

* * * *

An hour later, Jack woke up to Alex throwing up all over him. Even though it was really disgusting to have Alex's vomit on him, he didn't yell at Alex or anything. He just stripped down to nothing and took Alex with him to take a shower. Jack washed himself, then washed Alex. He tried really hard not to get soap in Alex's eyes or his bullet wound. It was relaxing though, just him and his boyfriend taking a shower together without a worry in the world. It was the best feeling both of the boys had felt in a long time.

* * * *

Jack and Alex had been sitting on the bed singing and playing guitar when Alex started squirming. He looked really uncomfortable and couldn't sit in a position where it didn't hurt.

"Baby," Jack said softly. "Are you okay?"

Alex shook his head and rested his head in Jack's lap.

"It hurts again," he whimpered.

Jack threaded his fingers into Alex's hair and sighed. Zack and Rian had left a little less than an hour ago, and Jack knew they probably wouldn't be back for a while. He combed Alex's hair with his fingers and it seemed to soothe the sick boy.

"Play me something," Alex whispered. "Play me Blink."

Jack smiled and began to play What's My Age Again?. Alex smiled and sang along quietly for the first couple of verses, but then started to fall asleep. Once he was asleep, Jack quietly put his guitar down and tucked Alex in. He leaned down and kissed him softly.

"I love you," Jack whispered.

Alex started drooling, but Jack was pretty sure it meant "I love you too."