AN: This one's so much shorter than the last one. Thank you again to those who faved, reviewed or read the last instalment. Comments are love. :D
10 drabbles set to the theme of bathroom, or the items typically found in a bathroom. Can be read individually or as a whole. Take your pick.
Pairings: JDox, references to Turla and Jordan/Perry
Genres: Romance, Fluff, Drama, Family, Humour
Warnings: Mild swearing, sexual references. Nothing major, though
Disclaimer: I own naught but a laptop.
Brush
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
Children weren't supposed to die of cancer before their parents have a chance to watch them exceeded their expectations. Brides weren't supposed to have heart attacks before they walked down the aisle. Sons shouldn't have bury their fathers before their time.
And he shouldn't have had so many die before fucking lunch. Four people, one only a little boy, so very much like Jack...
JD swallowed hard and dumped the last of his charts in front of Laverne, who, thankfully, merely cocked an eyebrow and stayed quiet for the first time in living memory. These days... these were the days where the thought of leaving the medical profession didn't scare him. Retiring young, getting a research position, becoming a live-at-home father to Jack... it didn't make his stomach clench like it normally would have.
A white blur passed behind him, and a large, calloused hand gently stroked over his neck as the figure passed. Perry wouldn't say anything, try and spout useless platitudes, like some partners would to cheer up a hurting lover. Not yet. JD would need them eventually, need to hold their son and have Perry prod him with gentle teasing and a girls' name. But for now a tiny brush of skin-on-skin was enough.
Shower
The car-park was flooded by the time they reached home, and just running from the car to the door of the building had them both soaked to the skin.
Still, the younger of the two had to admit, the weather provided ample opportunities. Drying each other off, maybe bathing together, snuggling up for warmth, because dammit the cold was fun when his mentor was around... suddenly the thought of he and Perry hiking along an icy desert was leaking into his brain.
Cox would look damn cute, too, all rugged up with puffy earmuffs, and JD was whispering "He'd pull off fluffy boots," when a sharp whistle sounded and the older man's gruff tones broke through the drumming rain.
"If we're going anywhere with snow, Ice Princess, there had better be enough to bury you in."
Sometimes having someone who read him so well was a mixed blessing.
Faucet
The bathroom was not what one would consider a romantic location for a marriage proposal. The time wasn't exactly optimal either- just after dinner while the rain that had been persistently pouring over the past week hammered at the windows like a belligerent ex trying to get in. And really, he'd only asked then because if he didn't do it then, he'd chicken out and never would.
His Newbie was sufficiently distracted with attempting helping him fix the plumbing in the sink, metal parts strewn around them from the faucet, and they'd both looked grimy, dressed in work clothes- blue jeans and old white T-shirts, soon covered in grime and soap scum. But they were comfortable, and the situation felt homey, the moment perfect, and it felt right to ask now, when he realised that there was no way JD wouldn't say yes.
"Say Newbie... wanna be a bride?"
Ne couldn't remember ever seeing JD so thrilled.
He'd had the ring on order- a simple white-gold circlet that wouldn't arrive for a week- so the washer rim, still covered in slime and rust, had been used as a substitute. But JD had looked at it like it was diamond encrusted, and it seemed like he'd never take it off.
Tap
Who the hell was suicidal to come knocking at- he glanced sideways at the clock on his chest of drawers and growled- 2:19 am?
JD was murmuring, "Saltines later, man, I'm tired..." before nodding back off, nothing but deep breathing coming out of his mouth as the banging on the door continued.
With a series of muttered curses that made him sincerely thankful Jack was soundly asleep, he dodged the foot of the bed, and the various items of still wet clothing heaped near the door for the laundry the next morning, and managed to stumble to the door, flinging it open with a snarl.
"Heeeeeey Coxie. Johnny in?" The oldest Dorian brother glanced down, and Perry heard bubble gum pop in his mouth. "Duuuuuuude... might want to start wearing pants when you open the door, right chief?"
Bath
Dan was now sleeping fitfully on the couch (JD's puppy dog eyes were the only thing that prevented his brother being tossed back out on his ass into the rain again) and Jack, after hearing the commotion had awoken and risen to join in. Now, once again curled up on his belly and his stuffed seal Billy tucked against his side, the little apartment was quiet. The light snoring of the still-damp Dan and the beating rain outside was all that rang throughout his home. Home, with his fiance, his almost-brother-in-law (God help him) and his sleeping son.
Perry had rarely experienced this peaceful calm, even in his own home. When he was young he could always hear his father's drunken shouting, his mother's yells of fright. With Jordan there was movement and commotion all through the night, her insomnia worsening after Jack's birth . Not like JD. His energy would be spent flitting like a bird all over the hospital all day and keeping up with their young son at night. Sleep came easily to him.
Now, Perry could bask in the quiet, and the contentment of a warm place to sleep.
Gel
Dan was sticking to him like glue. Asking him every question he could think of- about Jack, about Perry, about their sex lives, about boobs, about Elliot's boobs, about yelling 'Stat' during emergencies, about rectal exams and pudding flavours and if working in the hospital was anything like M*A*S*H.
"Dan, for the love of god, why are you even here? I thought you had that great job you were trying not to get fired from, huh? Why not go back to it?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I was invited. Bite me, little brother."
"By who, who the hell invited you?"
Dan waggled his eyebrows at something- someone- down the hall behind his younger brother, and JD spun on his heel. Tiny lines wrinkled his forehead at who he saw yelling at an intern.
"Why would Perry invite you down here- he doesn't even like you. And the wedding isn't another seven weeks."
Dan shrugged. "He said something about him and me and knowing Anne of Ohio Gables' family. I dunno, he was ranting a lot and I was watching girls volleyball- hey, how about him, have you had your hand up his butt?"
Sink
Many men in Perry's position, with three weeks left until their wedding, would consider the impending loss of freedom frightening, but there was none to lose, really. JD was virtually his husband already- they even had a son. No, he wasn't afraid of becoming chained down. He already was.
Really, marriage for them was just the last validation- a piece of paper that said they owned each other.
It was only that lingering memory of Jordan that haunted it all. The fighting, the cheating, the spite behind it all. The vindictiveness of the final months... it soured the few good memories he had left of her.
That, and the knowledge that it was all his damned fault it fell apart.
He couldn't do it again. Lose a spouse because of his own pigheadedness. He couldn't do that to himself, or John, or Jack.
All he could do was count the days, and hope JD wouldn't allow him to fuck up again.
Mirror
"JD, stop fiddling. You look fine." Carla soothed lightly. She was enjoying her role as a grooms-woman far, far too much, the young man mused. He looked back at his reflection, running his fingers through his hair yet again, trying to get the style right- messy but deliberate, in just the was Perry liked it.
The Latina nurse's hands slapped his away from his ruffled coif, and he yelped in shock. Carla shook her head, amused at his antics, and took his face in her warm hands gently.
"You. Look. Wonderful." she said firmly. "And you know he wont care how you look. Not today"
JD smiled. He could show up in a potato sack and Perry would still think he looked good.
"Let's do this, then." He steeled himself and turned to head into the hall.
Drain
By midnight, little Jack was yawning like crazy.
He'd insisted and pleaded to his fathers to be allowed to stay up for the fun, dancing around with his Aunt Paige, laughing at his Uncle Dan and Uncle Turk's silliness. By ten o'clock, his blue eyes had been drooping rather comically, and by eleven thirty he was clinging to his father's hand and leaning against his leg. By the time Elliot had puked all over her dates' shoes Jack had been swaddled up in pillows on a little couch in the corner, JD's suit jacket spread over him, thumb suckled into his open mouth while music and laughter whirled around him like wind.
The last sight in his line of vision before he closed his eyes for the night was his father slumped in a chair, rubbing a ring-adorned hand over his face and smiling at JD from where he stood across the room.
Mat
"I'm only going to say this once, Wifey, so those cute little earring'd ears better be perked up like Bugs Bunny's during hunting season- I am not carrying you over the threshold. I am not having 'it's our wedding night so let's get sticky' sex until my heartburn goes away, and there will be no crying our gay love to the world- the vows and sweet talk are over, Honey Bunny. No matter what I call you at the time, We. Are. Men. Married men, but still... men. And guess what- the Brokeback Mountain declaration of devotion is not coming, even if I really did wish I knew how to quit you. So not a compliment, sweetie." He added when JD smiled slightly.
He continued undaunted. "I am tired, filled with crappy food and cheap champagne, and it's a miracle I haven't heaved all over those sparkly pumps you just had to have for the big day. Now can we please just go to sleep and leave sentimental crap that make me want to cut myself for when we arrive in Zurich? Pretty please?"
JD pouted just a little. "But carrying the bride over the threshold of the marital home is tradition. We have to do it. And it's not like I weigh much. You wont throw your back out or anything."
"A pretty white dress is traditional too, but did ya even consider trying one on?" He flicked his husband's ear lightly. "And watch it with the old man jokes or I'll make myself a widower."
"Plea- whoa, shit!" His words ended in a yelp as Perry suddenly lifted him over his shoulder and dumped him, rough and unceremonious, through the doorway into the apartment.
"How do ya like tradition, now, Vera?"
"Not a fan so much, any more."
"Yeah, thought so."
AN II : 'Faucet' is a reference to an episode of another popular sitcom that John C. McGinley guest starred in as a plumber. If anyone can tell me which one, I'll write 'em a Scrubs fic of their choice :D.