Together Let's...

By the time the end of the day had finally rolled around, Jack was nothing less than completely exhausted. Not only had he been up for nearly twelve hours on only about six hours of sleep from the night before, but he'd had maybe just a little too much cotton candy (after lunch because Alex had yelled at him and said that he had to have at least something of a decent meal before further indulging his inner child) and, while that gave him energy at the time, only made him crash that much harder as soon as he buckled himself into the passenger seat of their car.

Alex was tired, too, but he figured that with Jack all but passed out in the front seat, he could take a short detour on the way home. Nowhere that out of the way, but it was kind of necessary if he wanted to get the next two things on the list done when Jack woke up. He knew the elder wouldn't want to drive out to the store the next day when Alex could've just done it that night.

Jack didn’t budge as Alex parked the car in the parking lot of their local Market Basket, and the younger man made sure to move as quickly as possible. When he returned to the car, a single plastic bag in hand, Jack was still asleep, but snores had started to fall from his agape mouth.

With a fond smile, Alex drove them home, only encountering a slight struggle with practically dragging the elder male up to their bedroom before putting away his purchases and retiring for the night as well.

--- ---

When Jack awoke next, it was two in the morning. Alex was sound asleep beside him, curled up in all of the blankets despite it being a steady eight-five degrees in the house for whatever reason.

He wasn’t sure if it was the heat or something else, but after twenty minutes of staring restlessly up at the darkened ceiling, he stood to his feet and made his way through the house, finding himself in the kitchen.

The light above the stove was flicked on, as it was most nights, and Jack began to rummage through the cabinets and pantry in search of something worth his time. It was in the fridge that he found something he hadn’t seen in the house in what felt like years—a tube of chocolate chip cookie dough.

Jack couldn’t remember buying it, and he couldn’t remember having seen it there before, but he could feel his mouth begin to water at just the thought of the taste. Screw salmonella, he was going to eat it just the way it was.

After cutting the top off with a pair of scissors and grabbing out a spoon, the twenty-two-year-old made his way into the living room, turning on the TV to a random channel and digging in.

Upstairs, Alex rolled over onto his side. His arm hit a little too harshly against the mattress, and he was jolted awake by the feeling. He was a bit disoriented at first, and that only became worse when he realized that Jack was no longer in bed with him. Stumbling to his feet, the young man began the search.

At the top of the stairs, the light from the TV could be seen, and he followed the source, rubbing tiredly at his eyes.

“Jay, what’re you doin’?” he mumbled when he was close enough to see his boyfriend’s head against the bright lights flashing from the device.

Jack jumped at the sound, turning to wave Alex closer. “Couldn’t sleep,” he dismissed, focusing his attention back onto the brightly-lit screen.

Alex shuffled around, throwing himself onto the cushion on Jack’s left and cuddling into the elder. He stopped, though, when he realized what Jack was eating.

“Is that my cookie dough?” he questioned, giving the taller the benefit of the doubt due to his haze.

“Oh,” Jack said, looking down at the half-empty packet in his hand as he lifted another spoonful to his mouth. “Sorry, dimples. You want some?” The spoon was offered, and Alex sighed.

“We were supposed to make cookies with that tomorrow,” he grumbled, reaching for the spoon and dough before digging in for himself.

Jack shrugged. “They’re much better like this, anyway,” he dismissed, throwing his arm around his boyfriend and pressing a kiss to ruffled hair.

Alex, with his mouth full and his eyes beginning to droop again, merely muttered a tired, “Whatever,” and lifted a spoonful up to his boyfriend’s mouth before taking another bite for himself.