At Least Pretend You Didn't Wanna Get Caught

You know, Jack considers himself a pretty flexible guy. He's easy going and usually isn't bothered by having to bend over backwards to get things done. He hates causing scenes and you'll rarely find him complaining at any given moment. Life is hard, he gets that.

But what he doesn't get, is why Max has to make things intentionally difficult for Jack, especially when he hasn't done anything to deserve it.

So when Jack's phone rings early one Saturday morning, a Saturday that he has off, and Max is demanding that he haul his ass to the restaurant to sign off on a shipment of in bulk ingredients, he's a little pissed.

Jack has no other choice but to groan out an unintelligible reply, something about being on his way, and starts to get ready.

The clock tells him it's 4:27 in the morning so Jack feels its a little justifiable when he only throws on the pair of jeans that had been crumpled on the floor all night and the light blue hoodie that usually hangs off his closet door.

Jack actually doesn't mind waking up early. Or signing off on shipments. Or supervising the delivery guys on where to stack everything. What he does mind though is not being told the day before when he's needed to do these things. Because now he's tired and rushed and just in a bad mood.

He doesn't have time to get some coffee fueled energy, so he slips on his shoes and quietly leaves the apartment to head down to the restaurant.

---

"Babe, can you flip that pancake over?"

"Nope," Alex's says, not even looking up as he folds the paper to get a better look at some article on the Turkish Prime Minister.

"Alex, come on, you're not gonna burn it," Rian pleads. He's trying to cut up the strawberries and bananas to go in their smoothies, but the pancakes need to be turned over.

Alex shakes his head, "I refuse,"

Rian groans before he abandons his fruit to attend to the pancake batter. "You're ridiculous,"

Alex just ignores the comment since its actually pretty accurate at the moment.

"You should seriously bring up those cooking lessons to Jack sometime," Rian continues to work about the kitchen making them some breakfast before he has to leave for work, "It's not like he's gonna say no."

Alex rolls his eyes at the suggestion, "I'm sure Jack has better things to do than teach me how to boil water,"

"If you want to learn than he'd be more than happy to help,"

"I'll think about it,"

Rian and Alex had spent the better half of the morning just laying in bed, huddled close together as they sleepily talked and shared kisses.

It wasn't until they got up to find Jack nowhere in sight, that they decided to shower together. Which ultimately led to Rian buried deep inside Alex while he held him up against the tiled wall, gripping his legs.

It had been satisfying yet quick since their time alone was limited.

When they had dried and gotten dressed, Rian in his office work clothes and Alex back into some sweatpants, they decided they needed some food before Rian had to leave.

This was usually how their mornings would go. Then Rian would leave and Alex would go back to bed.

By the time they finished eating Rian had to head out. He quickly shrugged into his jacket before leaning over the back of Alex's chair to meet him as he looked up for a kiss.

They murmured their 'goodbyes' against each others lips before Rian headed off.

Now that Alex was alone he really wanted to go back to sleep. He had to be up in another 3 hours to start getting ready for his shift at the hospital, so he needed to.

But he looked over at the sink filled with batter covered pans and utensils and figured he should at least soak them before they crusted on.

He slowly stood from his chair and stretched, rubbing his hands over his bare arms to try and create some heat, since he hadn't bothered putting a shirt back on after their shower.

Alex turned the warm water on and started to fill the sink with soap. Due to the running tap, he hadn't heard the front door open or anyone come inside.

Jack was finally just getting back. He had been at Jonquille checking off on all their goods they had needed to stock up on.

For the delivery men to come drop everything off, either the Head or Sous Chef needed to be their to approve and direct.

Jack and Max had begun to take turns on who would need to get up early and be there to oversee everything. The system had been working splendidly, but this time Max used his executive privilege to bail out on the responsibility, claiming that he was positive it was once again Jacks turn. It wasn't, but whatever. Jack just has to deal.

It was now nearing 10 in the morning and this particular session had taken way longer than it usually does. The company had mislabeled some cartons and it caused chaos and confusion that should be illegal that early in the morning. But it was handled and Jack triple checked that everything was taken care of before he decided to come back home. He is not giving Max the satisfaction of having an actual reason to yell at him.

When he walked through the door he could hear someone in the kitchen and decided to say hey before going to his room to sleep until he so well pleased to get back up.

As he rounded into the kitchen he couldn't help but stop dead in his tracks because holy shit, all he could see was the perfect indention of someone's back dimples.

Jack had always found dimples to be an attractive quality, but whenever they rested on the lower back of someone's body, he can't help but find it sexy as fuck.

His eyes seem to start to travel on their own after that. Making their way down lower to an ass that is shamefully covered by the baggy material of sweatpants. But Jack could just imagine what was hidden underneath.

They then head up and land on the slightly defined contours of this person's shoulder muscles, moving as their arms work on some task that Jack is too distracted to notice.

Jack has just started to admire the soft looking dark blond colored locks that swoop in every which direction, when the water is suddenly shut off and the body, that Jack is honestly unsure of how long he's been staring at, turns around to face him.

"Woah, Jack, hey. You scared the shit out of me!," Alex breathed out after he had gave a small start upon just noticing someone else in the apartment with him.

Shaking himself out of the strange trance he was in, Jack focused on Alex's eyes before replying.

"Sorry, I just got in," Jack excuses, realizing that what he said was kind of rushed and awkward. He's just exhausted, he guesses. "Actually I'm super worn out. so I think I'm gonna go crash."

Alex raises his eyebrows at the thumb Jack has pointing in the direction of his bedroom. He looks around before nodding.

"Yeah, me too,"

Jack stands there for another second before he turns around and heads to his room.

Alex then furrows his eyebrows because what the hell was that? Since when is Jack ever awkward? He seemed almost, uncomfortable.

He's too tired to think anymore on this so he just walks back to Rian's room, yawning as he goes.

Alex is peacefully sleeping within the next 10 minutes, whereas Jack is found laying in his bed staring blankly at the ceiling.

Shit.