Tonight, We Lie Awake

Matt finished his last number on stage. The audience roared. The lights dimmed. He ran offstage passing everyone that worked with the lights and the sets. He ripped off costume, ready to be free of the tight confines of his leggings.

Matt walked back to his room after he finished undressing, pulling on his hoodie and some shorts. He was tired, this was the fourth performance today. All he wanted to do was go home, chill on the couch with his boyfriend, and go to bed. He left the building, driving home in silence, only the soft beat of the radio echoing through his truck.

He arrived at his and Alex's apartment around thirty minutes later. He trudged up the stairs and opened the door, smelling Italian as he walked in. Alex must be cooking dinner, and Matt smiled at the thought. He walked into the kitchen where he saw Alex cooking and dancing around in front of the stove with headphones in his ears.

Matt walked up to him wrapping his arms around the blonde's waist. He laid his chin on Alex's shoulder, Alex reacting immediately and turning to face Matt. He pulled his headphones out of his ears and Matt kissed him lightly on the forehead.

"Hey baby..." Alex smiled up at Matt, pulling away slightly so that he could look at his lover.

"Hey..." Matt replies, kissing Alex on the nose. "You're making dinner, huh?"

"Yeah, I thought that it might be nice. I mean you've been at the theatre all day and I didn't know if you'd be up for going out or not. But I wanted to do something for you, so I made your favourite." Alex says, turning to tend to the sauce that he's making on the stove.

"Thank you, Lex. Really, you're actually kind of perfect." Matt chuckles quietly, letting go of Alex.

"I'm actually not, but I try my hardest. Now go upstairs and get changed, I'll be done here shortly." Alex smiles and slaps Matt gently on the ass when he turns around.

"Hey!" Matt squeals, walking out of the kitchen.

"Sorry love!" Alex yells.

Matt walks up the stairs and changes clothes, pulling on some pajama pants and an old t-shirt. He starts to think about his day from the beginning to the end, from Alex waking him up this morning with a light kiss to his forehead to having lunch with his fellow cast members to coming home and seeing his boyfriend cooking him dinner.

He was the lucky one really, without Alex he would be all alone. Sure, he'd be an actor, a great one at that, but he would be lonely. Alex always said that he was the lucky one in their relationship, that Matt gave him purpose and helped him through a lot of difficulties in his life. He loved the fact that he was able to come home to a loving boyfriend every night, to be able to hold someone as he fell asleep. He loved the fact that no matter what happened, Alex would always be at home waiting for him. Alex gave him a reason to want to come home at night.

He had supported him when he was just starting out on Broadway, taking him to every audition and every lesson, and now sitting out in the audience at least once a week. It meant the world to Matt, and he wanted to show that to Alex. Every minute of every day, the only thing that he could think of was what Alex did for him and all that he meant to him.

When he walked downstairs, Alex had dinner on the table, a single candle lit in the centre. He smiled to himself, walking into the kitchen.

"This looks awesome..." Matt says as he and Alex sit down.

"Thanks, I tried. So tell me about your day, huh?" Alex smiles, taking a bite of his meal.

"Basically the same shit different day, we rehearsed, performed, ate, repeat. I'm kind of getting tired of some of the people in the cast. I'll get over it though. They're just starting to get on my nerves, but I guess that's what happens when you spend like, half a day with all these people every day." Matt says, taking a bite of his meal as well. "This is delicious, thank you Lex."

"You're welcome babe, anything for you." Alex smiles, "So why don't you take a day off tomorrow? Call in sick, tell them that you're not feeling well. You can give Kyle some stage time." Kyle, Matt's understudy hadn't seen any stage time in his life. Tomorrow would be the perfect day for Matt to take off, it was a Wednesday. Not many people go to shows on Wednesdays anyway, and they only had one showing.

"Yeah, I mean I guess that I could do that. It would be nice to get some sleep in the morning, I will say that. Do you have tomorrow off?" Matt asks.

"Yeah, boss said that I could take tomorrow off because they're redoing the floors. So we could have a whole day to ourselves." He replies.

"Oh, sounds good. Okay, yeah, I'll call. Actually Lex, I had something that I wanted to ask you." Matt says, looking down at his plate.

"Okay shoot."

"Uh, what do you think about maybe, uh, starting a family?" Matt asks, looking up innocently. "I mean we don't have to right now and I don't think that we have to any time soon, I was just asking for you know, future reference if that's even something that you'd want, or if you don't want it I mean that's fine too but I was just kinda wondering what you thought about it because..." Matt's rambling gets cut off by Alex grabbing his hand on top of the table.

"Baby, stop. Of course I want to start a family with you, and I was also kind of thinking that we should do that soon if you wanted to? I know that we don't exactly have the apartment for a family but we could move into a bigger house and you know, get a bigger car and all that." Alex just smiles at the look on Matt's face. Love, adoration, excitement, hope.

"Really?" Matt asks, the excitement showing through his voice.

"Really." Alex smiles at him. They finish their dinner talking about random things, Alex's job, Matt's cast and crew, the show, their new life.

By the end of cleaning up, they're both pretty exhausted and lay on the couch to watch some TV. Alex is curled up beside Matt, his head resting on the brunette's shoulder. The gentle thumping of Matt's heart lulling Alex into sleep.

"I can't wait for our family..." Matt whispers as he kisses the top of Alex's head, smiling as he falls asleep with Alex content on top of him.