It was a stressed litany of curses that caused Zero to stir early in the morning. He was warm and content, head buried beneath the thick comforter with only a tuft of sleep mused blond hair peeking out. He knew without even opening his eyes that it was very early in the morning, much earlier than he ever bothered to wake, because the sun had yet to even begin to creep through the blinds and illuminate the room.
"Where is it?" a quiet voice whispered, urgent and strained.
Zero blinked his eyes open tiredly, listening to the frantic sound of Jude shuffling around the bedroom, obviously in search of something. His lover was clearly attempting to be quiet, to let him sleep in until he had to get up, but Jude seemingly forgot to lower his voice as time went on with no success. He listened for another few moments, noting the urgency and willing his mind to shift into gear.
Rising up onto his elbows slowly, Zero squinted through the darkness and quirked an appreciative eyebrow at the sight of Jude bent over on the floor in nothing but a pair of briefs. He was looking through a pile of clothes on the floor—the same clothes they had divested each other of in a moment of heated passion late last night. He shivered a bit as the cool morning air wafted over him through the open window when he drew the covers away, placing his bare feet onto the hardwood floor and rising with a languid stretch.
Jude glanced up briefly. "Sorry I woke you," he said apologetically, his voice a combination of remorseful and stressed out. He got on his hands and knees to peer under the nightstand and then the bed. "Damn it! Where could it be?"
"Someone is antsy this morning," Zero murmured, grinning slightly because usually Jude was already showered and dressed in a snazzy suit, ready to face the day and any obstacle in his way. Instead of that pristine image, Jude looked as though he had only woken a few minutes ago, white pressure lines along his cheek from pressing his face into the pillow in his sleep, dark hair wild and unkempt. "What are you looking for?"
Jude clamored to his feet, exhaling a long breath. "My phone," he said. "I usually have my alarm set on it, but I misplaced it last night and ended up sleeping in." He ran his fingers through his dark hair, succeeding in making it stand up even more, and cast his eyes keenly around the room. "I still need to call Lionel too. We have a meeting in an hour and we were going to go over the details."
"Lionel will understand," Zero said reassuringly, stepping forward to retrieve a pair of underwear from his drawer. He pulled them on quickly, watching Jude out of the corner of his eye, but the other man was still too immersed with his task to pay attention.
"No, Lionel will definitely not understand," he retorted desperately, spinning around in a circle, checking every single available surface. "I still haven't even gotten a shower yet and I have to leave in twenty minutes otherwise I won't even make it through traffic on time."
Zero sighed quietly and approached Jude from behind. He would never quite understand why Jude put so much effort into everything. He jumped through hoops and put himself into bad situations, often ending up a trembling pile of nerves by the end of it, and Zero wished there was some way to relieve Jude of the weights he burdened himself with. He slid his arms around his waist now, pulling him close and against his chest, feeling the tense muscles relax almost as if by reflex at his touch.
"Go take your shower," Zero instructed quietly, pressing his forehead against the back of his neck, the course hair on his upper lip teasing the sensitive skin. He grinned when he felt Jude shudder in response. "I'll look for your phone."
Jude turned around slowly in his arms. "I still need to—"
Zero cut him off with a quick press of his lips, his hands moving to splay wide over Jude's his shoulder blades. "Go," he said. "I'll handle it."
Jude smiled in gratitude, eyes bright with affection. "What would I do without you?" he asked seriously. He leaned in and pressed their lips together again for another all too brief kiss, but Zero brought his hands up and grasped either side of his neck to deepen it. Their mouths moved together with practiced ease, bodies pressing even closer as it became more heated, and they pulled apart reluctantly.
"Go," Zero repeated. He was slightly out of breath now, his eyes locking onto the way Jude chased the taste on his lips with his tongue; he knew what would happen if they continued and there was no reason to make Jude any later than he already was.
Jude retreated to the bathroom for the quick shower. Zero, on the other hand, quickly began to scour throughout the room in search of the elusive device. He went ahead and double checked beneath the bed, the dresser, and the nightstands before feeling all of the pockets of their discarded clothes from yesterday. He moved into the living room once satisfied it was not hiding anywhere in the bedroom.
The apartment was rather organized and clean considering two men lived in it. There were a couple of loose magazines scattered on the coffee table, a handful of advertisements and bills forgotten on the table where they kept their keys, but other than the mostly empty take out boxes from dinner last night, the house was in order. He made quick work of the room as well as the kitchen and had to frown when he still couldn't find the phone.
In a moment of inspiration, Zero retrieved his own phone and selected the number one contact almost unconsciously. He paused in waiting as the screen lit up with a picture of Jude from a magazine shoot they did together after they began publicly dating. He could hear the water running in the other room and idly hoped that Jude had not silenced his phone, but then a soft chiming rang throughout the room emanating from the couch.
Zero set his own phone down and began to feel along the cushions where it sounded the loudest, eventually encountering the device and trying to pry it up by pinching it between two long fingers. He grinned in success when he managed to pull it free of the couch. He turned it over in his hands, intending to end the call, only to pause at the sight of the name flashing across the screen.
Gideon.
It was an unexpected sight to see the name Zero trusted with so few, the caller identification proclaiming each letter boldly and in plain sight.
Zero felt a smile work its way onto his lips unbidden. He had never heard Jude speak it since that night. Zero had offered it that one night in the locker room so long ago, but Jude never used it again intentionally—not when they fought, not when they were in the throes of desire and tumbling over the edge together, not even when they were both upset and trembling.
The fact that Jude had programmed the contact to use that name instead of the moniker everyone else knew him by made Zero feel strangely pleased. He liked that Jude thought of him as Gideon, because Jude was the only one who ever really got to see that side of him. Zero was a facade, one that had been forced upon him as a child, but eventually became something he could embrace. He owned it and wore it proudly.
Jude had been the first person in a long time to realize that there was more to Zero than the person everyone else saw. He unknowingly chiseled away at the veneer until Zero felt raw and exposed to those soft hazel eyes. It had taken time to get to the point they were at now—they had hurt each other on more than one occasion, struggling to trust one another and themselves too, to believe that what they felt was real and worth fighting for.
Jude had seen Zero for who he was. He loved him anyway, no matter what name he went by, and Zero loved him back just as fiercely.
They were in a good place now too. The impulsive decision to kiss Jude in front of the world had changed everything for the better. Not only was their relationship stronger for it—the fact that Zero called it a relationship at all was a giant bound forward in and of itself—but they could be together without worrying how people would react. They met in public places now, sharing meals and smiling at one another; they walked down the street together, hands brushing and fingers intertwining.
They often kissed beneath the jumbotron in celebration of a victory.
Not everyone was happy with their relationship. Many had protested it, claiming that Zero was just confused, that he was just experimenting. It took several talk shows, a handful of exclusive interviews, and very expensive public relations team to calm the waters. He still had a few that claimed he was some kind of sexual deviant, but Zero had been one before coming out and had no problem owning up to it. He liked sex—sex with women and with men, sometimes both at the same time. He had admitted that in every single interview.
Zero liked sex with Jude best of all though. It was different between them, because Jude actually meant something to him. He never really thought there was a difference between having sex and making love other than one sounding more poetic. He thought he understood it now, the way Jude cried out and clung to him, falling apart in his arms almost every night, prominent in his thoughts. He had no interest in anyone else, now or ever again, and if that made him a sexual deviant then he was all for it. He made sure people knew it too.
There had even been a handful of reporters and fans that had targeted Jude specifically, questioning why the Executive Vice President of Business Operations would begin any sort of personal relationship with an employee. They handled it together, making sure the public knew that this had all started long before Jude even took that position, and it seemed to work for the most part. There were some, though, who suggested it was abuse of power—that Jude was taking advantage of him, and Zero was vicious in his retaliation.
More recently the only thing anyone ever said about them was how sweet or hot they were together. They had actually managed quite the following since their public debut, people following their every move, hoping for any scrap of information. These people could be brutal too, ruthlessly refuting any bad thing said against them, blacklisting whole newspapers and boycotting networks in a show of support.
All of it was small and insignificant to Zero though. The only person that mattered was currently washing the evidence of their most recent nightly encounter away. They might have gone through hell and back to get where they were now, but Zero would never change a minute of it. They had only grown stronger for it all, a united front—Jude and Zero.
… Gideon and Jude.
No matter which way it was spun, they were a team and that was all that mattered. He and Jude were in this together and that was all they needed.
Zero smiled as the sound of the running water cut off suddenly. He moved back toward the bedroom, the plume of steam seeping out of the cracked door of the bathroom, and for a moment he contemplated joining Jude. He had the strongest urge to try and provoke his lover into finally calling out his name—to call out for Gideon. To make Jude weep his name again and again, until it was the only thing he remembered.
If nothing else the attempt would be fun.
Then the phone came to life once more, this time flashing with Lionel Davenport, and once that woman got started she did not stop. She would probably come over personally to see what was going on if they ignored the call. He groaned to himself and hurried to hand the phone over to Jude as he came out dressed in nothing but a towel. He shook his head at the unfairness of it all and fell backwards onto the bed.
"Lionel?" Jude asked cautiously, pulling the towel away and rubbing the access water out of his hair. His body slackened suddenly. "Thank God. No, I'm just running a bit late myself. Yes. Yes, I have everything ready in my office. The files are all on my desk. No, I understand. I should be there in just a little while and we can go over everything one more time."
Zero stretched one arm over his head, enjoying the unintentional show. He supposed he would just have to wait until tonight.
"Of course," Jude said into the phone, pinching the device between his cheek and his shoulder while he tried to pull on his clothes. "You should check in with Sloane and Pete then, maybe get some more support from the dancers and the team. It would be great publicity. Great! I'll see you in a bit." He ended the call with a relieved sigh. "The representatives we're meeting were delayed. The meeting has been pushed back until noon."
Zero allowed a slow smirk to stretch across his lips. "How much time do you have?"