Feels Like Forever

“And... welcome home, baby!” Alex exclaimed as the flung the front door to his and Jack’s apartment open before hurrying back around to push the younger male’s wheelchair over the threshold.

“It f-f-feels like I’ve... been-en gone f-forever,” he stuttered as his excited gaze traveled the length of each wall that surrounded them in turn. “I kind... kinda m-m-m-missed it.”

“Only kinda?” Alex teased, but he leaned in after shutting the door securely behind them to press a kiss to Jack’s cheek to let him know that it was okay; he was only kidding. The Lebanese man, however, still blushed and felt the need to make up for what he’d said.

“Well, like... l-like, I got lo-lo-lonely, b-b-b-but it was kind of... nice, ha-having some... someone around to w-wait on m-me all the t-t-time. Y’know?”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed as they made it into the living room. After being sure that the chair was locked firmly into place, he moved to the front and held both hands out to help Jack stand and hobble the last few steps to the couch. “That does sound pretty damn nice, but look at it this way: now I can be your nurse.”

As the Briton set about folding the chair up like he’d been instructed to when he’d bought it only a week prior at the medical supply store, Jack laughed.

“Are you t-trying to... turn me o-o-on?” he inquired with a grin. He was more than thankful that he’d gotten at least the muscle control in his face fully back, or else he’d probably have looked nothing short of utterly insane... still.

“Yeah, I wanna be your dirty nurse, baby. Is it working?” Alex retorted, throwing himself on the couch next to his boyfriend and reaching for the remote to flick the TV on. He didn’t bother turning the volume up, nor finding a show that they’d both take some sort of interest in, and instead leaned against the younger male.

“L-Lex,” Jack said around another laugh as the elder more or less ended up in his lap, nose tucked comfortably in the crook of his neck. Alex’s eyes slipped closed as he just basked in the feeling. It wasn’t the same as it had been before the accident, but it was still nice. There was something, though, that just put everything off. He couldn’t figure it out at first, but then—

“You don’t smell the same anymore,” Alex said, opening his eyes and leaning back to pout at the taller man. “How long do you think it’ll be before you smell like my Jack again?” The younger man shrugged and Alex smiled, leaning in to press a kiss to his awaiting lips.

“Can... can I w-walk around-d the apart... apartment?” he asked, voice quiet. The Briton nodded, stood from the couch, and held his hand out to Jack. Their fingers stayed connected as the younger man hobbled around, sometimes having to stop to make sure that he didn’t lose his balance, and they eventually found themselves in the kitchen.

He was fully prepared to ask about eating since he’d only had ‘real food’ in the hospital on occasion, but then his eyes caught a familiar object stuck to the front of the fridge, at perfect eye-level with him and his boyfriend.

“You... you k-kept it?” he asked, casting the elder only a quick glance before moving towards the piece of paper with the words ‘I love you, too’ printed scribbled along it.

“Of course I kept it,” Alex remarked, as though it was more than obvious. Which, in all fairness, it was. “I told you that I was proud of you, so why wouldn’t I keep something that reminded me of how proud you make me feel?” he asked, and Jack might have blushed.

But only a little bit.

He did hear a sigh from beside him after studying the first words he’d written on his own a year prior, and he turned to see Alex already staring at him. Jack’s eyebrows scrunched together on his forehead as he waited for his partner to return to reality, and he did... after about two minutes.

Without so much as a single warning whatsoever, Alex was leaning in for a kiss, right hand dropping Jack’s own so that his fingers could tangle in the taller’s unruly, dark brown locks. In turn, the Lebanese man wrapped his arms around the elder’s waist—partly from fear of falling and partly from really not knowing what else to do with his hands.

It was deep and passionate and everything they’d both been craving for what felt like decades, but it didn’t lead them anywhere. They still stood in the kitchen, arms wrapped tightly around each other (with Jack’s legs shaking gently under his body from overuse, though he certainly didn’t pay attention to it) and foreheads leaned together. Their heavy breaths mixed between their slightly agape mouths, and then Alex was laughing, low and breathless. Jack didn’t even have time to ask what was so funny before Alex was saying, “God, I missed you so fucking much.”

The two eventually made their way back to the couch and spent the rest of the day like that, Alex practically laying on top of his boyfriend as lazy, loving—and sometimes even desperate—kisses were swapped.

--- ---

Days shifted to weeks, and soon it was coming up on the one-month anniversary of Jack officially being home. He’d made significant progress, what with actually being able to go out in public and talk to people whenever the hell he so much as felt like it, and his stutter as well as his slight limp had diminished. They were both still there, of course they were, but they weren’t anywhere near as serious as they’d been before.

Alex, while he was adoring absolutely every single second he was around the younger man, caring for him and smothering him in affection, found it was a much more difficult task than he’d originally planned for it to be. He’d known that it wouldn’t be a walk in the park, what with Jack still on the road to recovery, but sometimes it almost became too much.

Needless to say, he owed Rian for being able to swoop in and help around every day. The barely-younger male would always arrive around noon, help Alex prepare lunch for the three of them, entertain Jack while the eldest tidied up a bit, and also do his best to instruct the almost fully-mobile man in his daily therapeutic exercises with Alex leading the show for them both.

There was one day, however, where he was more than ready to lock him out of the apartment altogether.

“Come on, dude, it’s just a short walk around the neighborhood. We’ll be back before you even know it,” Rian said around a sigh. Jack was the one who’d asked the shorter man to bring him out, but that was for reasons Alex didn’t need to know at the time. “You’ll get some time to yourself, and we’ll even bring lunch back so that you don't have to do anything.”

Alex’s glare, the one that had been in place for nearly fifteen minutes, slowly slipped into a gentle lip bite, his gaze moving from his best friend and to his boyfriend. Then he sighed and stepped toward where Jack was sitting quietly on the couch, leaning over and taking the younger’s face in both of his hands. Between his words, kisses were pushed against pale skin. “You call me if you need me, baby, okay? Don’t hesitate, and I'll be right there to get you. And don’t force yourself into doing too much exercise, alright? I don’t want you to get hurt again. Tell Rian as soon as you want to come back, okay?”

Jack felt like he was a kid again, mumbling off variations of, “Yes, Alex,” and “I will, Lex.”

Finally, after hearing even more instructions and being given a set of specific rules, Jack was let go. The eldest turned to Rian next. “I swear that if he comes back in any different condition than he’s in now,” he threatened, and the shorter man waved his dismissal. With an arm around Jack’s waist to help him walk, they were leaving the apartment and making their way to the nearest jewelry store.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” Rian asked, slowly removing his grip so that Jack could get a little more practice on waking without assistance. “I mean, you haven’t been home all that long, and I know you still haven’t completely adjusted back to living with Alex yet, and this’ll be a really big step for both of you.”

“I know I’m not... not fully adjusted, b-but I know that I w-wanna do this. After everything he’s d-done for me. I love him,” Jack stuttered, looking to his friend as he held the door to Jared’s open. A worker was helping them immediately, and within twenty minutes, Jack had the perfect engagement ring boxed and stuffed into the depths of his sweats’ pockets.

--- ---

“Baby, do you wanna go to bed? It’s gettin’ kinda late,” Alex called through the apartment as he moved from the kitchen and to the living room. It was a little less than another month later, and Jack had yet to pop the question. He was going to do it that night, however. That had been the plan since the second he woke up that morning.

“Actually,” he answered as the elder stepped into the living room, patting the cushion next to the one he was occupying and turning a bit, “I was hoping we could... could talk about something im-important.”

“Yeah, of course, baby, anything,” Alex agreed, sitting where he’d been silently instructed to. He waited patiently as he watched Jack stand before practically falling to one knee in front of him. The younger’s right hand reached for both of Alex’s as his left dug into his pocket for the box.

“I know this isn’t t-the most romantic way a person can be asked... not the r-right setting... but I-I’m gonna do my best for you,” Jack began, forcing himself to make eye contact even though his heartbeat was all he could really focus on. “Alex, I’ve l-loved you since the moment I first s-saw you. I didn’t k-know it then, but I’m s-sure of it now. You’ve been there for-r me at my best and m-my worst, and I d-don’t deserve you. You’re gorgeous and talented and smart and s-so, so perfect, e-especially for me, and I... I can’t imagine ev-ever being with anyone else. I love you m-more than you’ll ever know. Al-Alexander William Gask-Gaskarth... will you m-marry me?” The ring was finally lifted into the air for the elder to see.

Alex felt like he couldn’t breathe as he nodded his head furiously, his hands squeezing tightly at Jack’s before his left was moved for the ring to be slipped onto his finger. It was simple, just a silver band, but it meant more to him than any other material possession.

As Jack stood to his feet once more, Alex pulled him back down until he was able to crash their lips together, limbs tangling clumsily. “I love you. I love you. I love you so fucking much,” was repeated more times than either could even begin to remember.

That night, lazy kisses were swapped. Shirts were lost, gently shaking hands roamed and rememorized planes of skin, taking in the raised scars and relishing in the shudders of pleasure they pulled from the others’ body. It was all kept innocent, though. As unspoken as it was, both men knew that they wanted to wait to get intimate again until their honeymoon, no matter how soon or far away it was.

It would all be that much more worth it in the end.

As the sun began to rise over the horizon hours later, one last, slow, deep kiss was exchanged between the pair before Alex, who’d made himself comfortable laying along Jack’s stretched-out body on the sofa, rested his head on his boyfriend’s fiancé’s chest and began to drift off to the sound of his lover’s heart beating.

The last thing the elder heard before his eyes officially slipped closed for the day was a quiet and (surprisingly) not stuttered, “I can’t wait to walk down the aisle with you.”