𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 james x alex

mistakes

Alex has to pee. Really badly. He climbs out of bed, the world swinging dizzily for a few seconds. He's not sure if he's just that hungover or if there's still liquor coursing his veins. It might be a mixture of both, to be honest. He's surprised he didn't get alcohol poisoning.

Never again, he thinks. Also, he might just murder Erling.

He stumbles, exhausted, to the bathroom and leans his head against the wall as he focuses on aiming at the toilet and then washes his hands and it's then that he notices something.

He's got lime-citrus and cucumber-melon scented soap in his hands and he looks down and notices a silver ring on his finger. His left ring finger.

Which, that might not be so bad. He could have just drunkenly decided he should start wearing jewelry and bought it and not remembered. But he thinks he remembers something else, Will jabbing his index finger at two silver rings sitting side by side in a jewelry shop and saying something about him and James and then something else, papers being signed, the neon pink glow of a sign that reads "OPEN 24 HOURS", a white chapel, Erling laughing hysterically as he encourages them to go in, oh god -

- Alex goes still, hands running under the water until the tap turns from warm to hot, scalding him, and he gets jerked out of his trance, and he turns it off hastily, shakes them off, wiping them dry on his clothes even as he walks as quickly as he can manage back into the room to see James still asleep.

And yeah, James's got a matching silver ring on his own left ring finger. There's a piece of paper on the bedside table next to them. Alex reaches for it with shaky fingers.

It's exactly what he's dreading. It's a certificate that proclaims in garish, elegant script that he and James were married at exactly 1:34 AM in that tiny white chapel in Las Vegas.

He thinks his blood goes cold. His body gets hit with a chill and his breath sort of stutters to a stop inside of him as his legs turn to jelly.

He married James. While extremely drunk and apparently under the encouragement of Erling and Will, he married James. He stares at the words that refuse to come together in his brain, despite knowing what they say, what they mean. He's married to James.

He's definitely going to murder Erling.

"You're up."

Alex turns slowly to face George, who is sitting there, face decidedly nervous.

"How much do you remember?" George asks. Alex shrugs wordlessly, picking up the paper. "Do you remember anything?"

"I 'member getting to the chapel and that's it." Alex mumbles. He doesn't want to know what happened. He doesn't want to think about it. He's so fucked. Maybe marriage in Vegas doesn't count in the UK, maybe it's only valid in the US and they can have a laugh about this later.

"Erling n' Will are a dangerous combination," George says quietly. "I think me and Hannah and Fraser didn' think you'd really go through with it. Tyler and Chris laughing and tellin' you two to get licenses - you got there at just past eleven and they said they closed at midnight, and Erling rushed you through it, then screamed for a cab to take you to the nearest chapel."

"It's not valid right?," Alex gasps out finally, as his brain finally signals to start breathing regularly again. His brain thrums over that fact. It can't be valid it can't be valid it's okay it's just a hilarious in hindsight thing you did.

"Actually," George goes tense. "It is. I mean there's paperwork and stuff you have to fill out when you get back to the UK but if you're married in Vegas, you're married. I, um. I couldn't really sleep. Wasn't sure how to take all this in so I just did some research. Still gonna be valid when we get back home."