Jalex Standalones [boyxboy]

When You Fall Asleep Tonight, They'll Be Waiting For You

Title: When You Fall Asleep Tonight, They'll Be Waiting For You

Author: alex_g4askarth

[ http://alex_g4skarth.livejournal.com ]

Pairing: Jalex

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: None

P.O.V: 3rd

Summary: Five years, one month, two days, six hours and twelve minutes.

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They had been together for four years, ten months and sixteen days.

And seven hours and fifty-five minutes.

Approximately.

Time had always come easily to Jack. He calculated time the way that some people kept track of the weather or the moon cycles or astrology. It was an instinct.

The same way that he knew time, he also seemed to know when things were about to start and when things were about to end. He'd never been wrong.

At least, until Alex walked out.

It had been so unexpected that the action hardly registered. One moment, he had been in the kitchen, attempting to coax their daughter into eating a bowl of cereal. The next thing he knew, Alex was dragging a suitcase down the stairs behind him, crying about how I can't do this anymore, it's too much, Jack, I'm so sorry.

Jack tried to stop him - really, he had. He tried to reason, he tried to argue, he even tried begging.

However, Alex wouldn't listen to a word he said, simply swept past him into the kitchen, kissed Jo's forehead, and was out the door to a cab waiting by the curb.

It was so sudden that the heartbreak didn't register. Even the tiny timer in the back of Jack's mind that tracked their relationship kept ticking, waiting for Alex to walk right back in the door.

He didn't.

But Alex's absence didn't stop Jack's clockwork routine- he still found himself making two plates, even when he ate alone. He still would call for Alex sometimes, as if the blonde was in the other room, when Jo took a tumble and scraped her knee or stubbed her toe. Jack would walk into the room, expecting to see Alex on the floor with their daughter in his lap, Baz by his side as he read a brightly coloured picture book aloud.

Jack still found himself reaching for him at night, even when Alex's side of the bed had long since gone cold.

He missed him. He missed the silly little arguments that they would have over what movie to watch on Saturday nights. He missed their impromptu cooking-induced food fights in the kitchen while Josefine sat at the table, giggling while she scribbled with her crayons. He missed the way Alex looked in the summer while he held Jo in the shallow end of the pool, smiling like he didn't have a care in the world.

He missed the way that Alex would walk around the house in boxers and Jack's shirts. He missed the way Alex's hair had a slight wave to them on the days he didn't take the time to straighten it, and how he would complain about missing Alex's natural hair colour.

He missed the nights when Jo was asleep that they would lounge around in their bed, Alex sitting between his legs, reclining into the younger boys chest as he read a book, Jack busying himself with pressing kisses to him neck and shoulders until Alex would roll his eyes and give in.

Jack just missed him.

Jack promised himself that it wasn't for Alex that he left their door unlocked during the day, the deadbolt open even at night. Anyone he should be worried about would hardly be stopped by a locked door, so what did it matter? And who did it hurt if he left the light on in the front hallway every night?

And, well, if when Jo asked, "Dad, where did Daddy go?" he replied with, "He'll be home soon, sweetie," it wouldn't hurt her. Jo would accept the answer with a nod and toddle off to play with her toys.

Really, Jack was only fooling himself when he dreamed about Alex standing at the airport, turning around before he got on the plane and coming straight back to them.

Alex's absence was potent somedays, and those were the worst. Those were the days that Jack would sit up in the kitchen until the small hours of the morning, simply because he couldn't face the bed they used to share. Those were the days that he convinced himself he wouldn't even be mad when Alex came home - because Alex would. Alex had to.

Jack was so sure of this that he didn't look for him. He didn't try to go after Alex - it would be a waste of his time, anyway. Alex had managed to escape him for over a year so far. Now, Jack would never find him, even if he wanted to.

So he waited.

If he maybe, sort of, possibly let a few tears go the night of Jo's fifth birthday when Alex wasn't there, well, no one had to know.

He still left the door open and the light on.

Five years, one month, two days, six hours and twelve minutes.

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