Always

"The fuck is that?" Jack groaned. It was 8am, and Alex had stayed the night, and Greenday's Time Of Your Life was approaching the chorus as Alex's ringtone.
"My phone. Hello? Alex speaking." Alex put the phone on speaker, lacking the effort to hold the phone to his ear, and motioning to Jack to be quiet.
"Alex, this is Dr Geller, I interviewed you yesterday for a position as an English lecturer at Chicago University. I'm calling to discuss your acceptance into our school community. Is this a bad time?"
"Hello, Dr Geller, it's great to hear from you again. And no, not a bad time at all." Alex cleared his throat, sitting up in bed.
"Great. So the good news is, we would really love to have you on board here, but we feel like we need to know more about your situation, for example are you stable, here in Chicago?"
"Stable?"
"Yes, so, an apartment, decent friendships, a steady relationship. It's important that you feel secure in your life, before you begin teaching others." Dr Geller explained. It made a lot of sense, to be fair, but Alex didn't really want to say he had one friend, and just slept in his bed for the first time seeing him in 10 years, with a shit apartment and a family all over the globe.
"Um. Yes, I only arrived in Chicago yesterday, but I have an apartment. I know a few people that moved here after university, and um. I'm in a long term relationship, it's been 8 months." Alex lied, gulping nervously. Jack looked up at him, confused.
"Ah that's wonderful. I'm glad you're finding it easy to settle in here. What is your partner's name? Did she move here with you?"
"Um. Jack, Jack Barafa- Barakat. Um. He moved here before I did." Was he supposed to tell his potential employer he was gay? What if he was homophobic? Alex. Calm down. You wouldn't want to work for someone that was against a perfectly normal relationship anyway.
"Oh. Well I'd love to meet him someday. Congratulations Alex, welcome to Chicago University."
"FF-FFLIP YESSSS!!!" Alex knelt forward on the bed, punching the air with joy. Jack was giggling in the background, watching Alex's excitement.
"Ahahaha. See you Monday!" Dr Geller concluded, and hung up.

Alex chucked the phone to the side, and clambered on top of Jack, straddling him. "Jacky, congratulations, you are now my eight month long boyfriend." Alex alerted him, jokingly.
"The pleasure is mine, Mr Gaskarth. Damn. Mr Gaskarth. I would fucking love to have had you as a professor." Jack trailed off, thinking of Alex in sexy nerd glasses, and tight suit pants, and keeping the class in order..and being strict....
"Hellooo? Earth to the fag?"
"Hey it's not like you can talk." Jack pointed out, gesturing to their current position. "So what are we doing today?"
"Umm. Shopping, I need more smart clothes, I have like, none. And I need you to show me around the city." Alex answered, dragging Jack out of bed.
"1. There's this thing called the internet, and 2. Ever heard of a map, sweetcheeks?" Jack remarked. It was too early in the morning to be kind and caring. Alex just pouted, and then said he'd share a shower, and unsurprisingly, that was what won Jack over.

All went smoothly, Jack was keeping his soldier at bay, but then as Alex turned to leave the shower, Jack couldn't help but smack his ass, cheekily, and Alex nearly had a heart attack, he was so not expecting that.
"Fuck Jack." and gave him a death glare.
"Sorry babe, I've really missed that ass." to which Alex rolled his eyes.

Jack knocked on Valerie's door, and opened it to find her in bed with some guy, that looked weirdly familiar. Jack being Jack, screamed-
"YOU CAN'T TOUCH A BOY IT'S ILLEGAL!!!!!" and ran out flailing his arms wildly. It was one of those what the fuck moments, but Alex was laughing, laughing harder than he had since high school. He realised he really, really fucking wanted, needed, to be with Jack. Maybe they were like a time bomb. Or maybe, maybe they weren't.

The day went as you would expect, ie, instead of a normal, typical tour that makes you regret your trip, it was a Jack tour. Telling Alex all the little quirks of the city, places to be and to avoid, who to talk to and who to not. It was a lot to take in, but it was easy with such a captivating teacher.

Alex bought 5 shirts, that he would wear with the sleeves rolled up, and unbuttoned, with a white t-shirt underneath. Maybe it looked too casual, but he could always button it up if he had to see an important coworker. He just didn't want to look too far above his students, he wanted to be on their level, get them interested.

"Hey, I'm Alex Gaskarth, call me Alex, and I'm your new English lecturer. I don't know what your old teacher was like, but judging by the "I hate English" looks on your faces, I have reason to believe not very good. Or just dull as fuck. Perhaps you just detest English, and you're taking it for your parents, for a good job, I don't know. But I'm going to attempt to make this like The Catcher in the Rye, you know, inspirational teacher. Maybe you've not read it, um, how about The Dead Poets Society? Beautiful movie. Or something even more recent- Perks Of Being A Wallflower. Don't worry though I'm not going to give you extra books to read, but if you want some, id be happy to recommend. So. That's me. And I know this isn't year 7, but please, Id like to get to know you, individually. Therefore, easy yet boring task today, I need you to start reading the assigned text, I hate it as much as you do, Macbeth. You can listen to your music with headphones. I will call you out in register order to come talk to me about yourself. First up, Thomas A- I'm not even going to try to say that, but come on out!" Alex didn't think he'd ever spoken that much in his entire life, but he didn't stutter. He'd been trying to improve that at university, and it had gotten so much better and only came out when he was really emotional, or really angry. He left the room with his first student, and they sat outside, cross legged, on the floor. Trust Alex.

All of his students seemed fairly normal, and nice people, until he met this one girl, called Hayley.
"Hey Lexxxxxx" she drawled.
"Hello. So, how are you?"
"Erm well like, I'm really upset because like, my boyf was cheating on me WITH ANOTHER GUY. Which is like sooooo not cool. That's enough about me though. So are you single?" she played with a strand of her hair, and batted her eyelashes. Alex just wanted to laugh at her flirting, but obviously, despite how irritating she already was, he did feel bad that her boyfriend cheated on her.
"That's a shame, but if he's a cheater, he's not worth it, you'll find someone better. And no, I am not single."
"Ohmygod. You're so like, really clever and intelligent and wise. Like OMG thank you that is so lovely. And hmph. Ah well, I can wait." and she stood up to leave, and looked at him flirtatiously, and then reentered the lecture theater. Alex chuckled to himself.

He had another class later that day, and he pretty much ran through the same thing, as they were the same year. First years. He had a second and a third year class tomorrow.

"Yo, faggot. Can I take you out tonight, with my first salary?"
"How romantic. But yes."
"You just can't get enough. There's an Italian near the university that looks quite fancy, meet you there at 7?" Alex had definitely gotten more bold with his years away, Jack liked it.
"See you there, Gayskank." Jack winked, and then laughed at himself for trying to wink through the phone. He's a lame kid okay.