You guys are for real the best for hanging around. My classes and work are going to kill me, and life is just insane. Good, but insane. So thank you a million times over for the love and support that you sling on me with every chapter. Shadow and Paggers, my ride-or-die readers, you guys don't even know how much I appreciate it. To all of my other readers, you guys are all a badass-and-a-half. Thank youuuu!
Alex stood onstage and looked up at me, hands on his hips.
"What's up?" I called down to him as I changed the gel in one of the lamps.
"Just watching."
I popped the gel in place and hooked my knees over the truss then swung my torso back, dangling by my legs from the truss, secured by my harness. Alex and the stage were upside down, his casual observance had been replaced by a look of horror.
"Hi!" I shouted down to him and waved, letting my arms hang over my head.
"John! Why are you trying to kill yourself?"
"I'm totally safe!" I combed through my swinging hair and rocked myself back and forth.
"No, I, you, no, stop it." He couldn't even string together a full sentence.
With a laugh I used my core to sit up and right myself and climbed back onto the truss, clipped myself down the length before hopping onto the catwalk and finally descending the ladder.
"Hi, darlin'," I kissed Alex when I got to the ground.
"You're a freak of nature." He chuckled to himself and kissed me again, I felt his hardness in the space between us.
My face was still hot from the extra blood that had rushed to my head, "you like it."
"Maybe a little bit." He blushed.
"Hey, got a surprise for you."
"What's that?"
"Y'know how we don't have a show Wednesday?"
"Right."
"Waitress does, got us tickets."
His face melted into a pleased pout and he hugged me, "John, you didn't."
"I did. I know you've been wanting to see it. And the Solarios are gonna take Philip for the night, and take him to school Thursday, so I also booked us a hotel for the night, we'll get dinner, then go to the show, and then we go get drinks, I take you back to the hotel and have my way with you until five minutes before our call and we walk to work. How does that sound?"
"John, that sounds amazing. Why? What's so special, though?"
"You? I don't know, we haven't had the chance to go on like a couple's weekend or anything, and I know you won't let me do something big for your birthday so this seemed like fun, want to spoil you a little bit. Don't worry, either, it's all totally cleared with Pip, he's excited to get to work the dispatch."
"I love you."
I squeezed him into a hug, "love you, too. I just want to make my man happy."
"You do. Every day, all the time. But, hey… it's not too expensive, right?"
"Don't worry about it. I just want us to have a nice night. Now go to work, ya lazy bum." I winked at him and slapped his ass lightly.
"You get to work!" He called over his shoulder.
I dashed excitedly through the bowels of the theatre and found Lafayette in his office, going over notes for the cast once they arrived.
"Laf, have I told you lately how pretty you are?"
He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and tightened his ponytail, "I'm listening."
I sat in the chair next to him at the mirror, "thanks, Alex is really excited, couldn't have pulled this off without you."
"It is nothing, mon ami, as I said before, I save up points to travel home for Christmas, but this Christmas we have shows, so I will not go, the points expire at the end of the year, someone should use them."
"Just… still. Thanks again."
"Alexander is very deserving. I am happy to help my friends."
"And speaking of helping your friends, Hercules getting any help from you?"
Lafayette's eyes went wide and he cleared his throat, "it is… how you say… casual."
"Ooh, Laf Laf Laf… you are gonna get your heart so broken."
"I will do no such thing." He tutted.
"Okay, sure." I winked at him and left the room to hole up in my booth with my sketchbook until places.
The few weeks that I'd been working with my new schedule made me appreciate everything more, I was happier to be at work because I got to do it less and it felt more exciting to be there, and I was excited to spend more time with Philip, but the most surprising thing was how each activity made me long for the other. I missed working on my nights at home, but on nights like this at the theatre I missed Philip, our routine of me getting him from school, snacks and homework help, making him dinner, us eating together and talking about our days, bedtime stories.
As call time drew closer I thought more about Philip, wondering if he'd eaten all of his dinner or if his homework was done. Alex came up into my booth and leaned against me. I pulled him into my lap and let him nuzzle into my chest. Our headsets emitted a gentle buzz at being so close together, I reached behind me and clicked mine off.
"Tired?" I asked him.
He nodded and pressed a kiss to my neck, "what are you thinking about?"
"Wondering if Philip got his science project done. I never got a chance to get him pipe cleaners."
""We can get some tonight," he sat up and looked at me, "you're really thinking about that?"
"Yeah, why's that so weird?"
"It's… not, it's amazing, I'm just amazed by you."
"Whatever," I kissed his nose.
"I'm so glad we get some downtime. How much do you know about the homework situation?"
I thought through what Philip had told me last night, "just that science project, he got math done on the train home on Friday."
"You've got him doing homework on the train?" Alex's eyes were wide.
"Yeah… is that bad?"
"No, man, I'm fucking jealous, I've been trying that shit since last year."
"What can I say? I'm awesome."
"You sure are, sweetheart."
I spent the show in my booth, working on my latest sketch of Alex, I met him backstage after the show and we walked hand in hand the train station sharing a cigarette.
"Looks like snow." He remarked, flicking his smoke to the ground before we descended the escalator.
"Little bit." I nodded.
Alex napped on me on the ride up to our neighbourhood, I scrolled through instagram with a hand on his knee, waking him once we'd reached our stop.
"Thanks for letting me nap." He smiled at me.
I nodded and we climbed up to the street, almost in front of the salon. Carmen grinned at us and went to the office in the back to retrieve Philip.
"Hi guys!" Philip hugged us.
"Hey, baby!" Alex picked him up and hugged him tightly.
"Hi John," Carmen smiled at me while Alex and Philip had their moment.
"How was your day?" I asked her.
She shrugged, "nothing too exciting. Not like your job."
"It's not that exciting." I brushed it off.
"Alright, tell Miss Carmen bye." Alex told Philip.
"Bye, thanks for looking after me."
"Any time, bye!" She poked his nose.
I waved over my shoulder at her and followed my boys outside into the blustery evening and watched Alex shiver as he set Philip down to walk on his own.
"Daddy, it's so cold!" Philip whined.
"I know! Who let that happen?" Alex started to unzip his coat.
I hurried to pull my coat off and wrapped Philip in it, the arms hung over his hands and the bottom nearly drug the ground.
"John, you'll get cold." Alex protested, teeth chattering.
"I'm fine." I promised.
The wind cut through the thin thermal henley I wore, I clamped my jaw shut to keep from shivering. Alex and I reached into the long arms of my coat and each took one of Philip's warm little hands for the walk home.
"Did we think through dinner yet?" Alex asked.
"Nope, I got nothing." I shrugged as he unlocked the door.
"Shit. Okay, I'll figure something."
"Can't we just have pizza, daddy?" Philip asked.
"You don't like sauce." Alex reminded him.
"No, I love pizza! Pizza!"
Alex rolled his eyes, "okay, sure, yeah."
I ordered us pizza with Philip input for toppings and we cuddled on the couch under a blanket watching Duck Tales while we waited for dinner to be delivered.
Philip ate almost two and a half slices of pizza by himself to mine and Alex's shock. After dinner, I heated milk on the stove and made hot chocolate. Snow began to fall outside and Philip pressed his nose to the window.
He ran into the kitchen, "John! It's snowing!"
"Isn't that awesome! First snow!"
"I love it!"
"Come here, Pip." Alex called, stepping into his Vans.
"What, daddy?"
Alex picked him up and wrapped them both in the comforter we'd drug out on the couch to warm up with. He stepped out on the fire escape and I listened to Philip's squeals of delight and the tinkling bell of Alex's laughter as I poured the cocoa, adding an ice cube to Philip's mug. I stood in the living room and stared out at them wrapped in the giant comforter, Philip reaching to catch snowflakes, Alex pointing at different things. My heart melted at the sight.
Finally too cold, Alex brought them inside and set Philip down. He ran to me on the couch and jumped up next to me, wedging his cold sock-feet under my thigh. I handed him his mug and warned him to be careful.
"Daddy?" Philip looked at Alex with a hot chocolate mustache.
"What's up, baby?"
"Can me and John listen to you play piano?"
"Nah, you guys don't want to do that," Alex brushed him off.
"Come on, daddy!" Philip pleaded.
"Yeah, come on, daddy!" I chimed in.
Alex glared at me despite his smiling eyes.
"Please!" Philip begged.
"Alright, just for a bit." Alex conceded to our pleas.
We followed him into our bedroom and he cleared his desk to set up his keyboard and unplugged the headphones. I pulled the blankets back and Philip hopped into our bed, I slid in behind him and leaned on my elbow. Philip's still-frigid feet tucked themselves between my thighs as Alex sorted through the sheet music in his hands.
"I swear to God, you both have the worst circulation." I laughed, holding Philip's chilly hands and exhaling warm air onto his fingers while he shivered against me.
Alex chuckled back and breathed on to his own fingers, wiggling them to get the blood flowing before he began to play, "yeah, that's probably true."
He started to play and Philip watched him in wonder, his head swaying side to side, little curls bobbing as he did. I twisted them around my fingers and sat us up, tucking him in my lap and starting to braid back pieces as Alex sang something I didn't recognize, whether it was his own creation or not I couldn't tell, but he played it enough that Philip sang along with him.
Once the song was over, Philip and I cheered him on, earning a blush and a plea for me to be quiet.
"Alright, Pip, you ready for this one?" Alex looked over his shoulder.
"Yeah!" Philip squealed eagerly.
I started braiding a new section and Alex stroked the first keys of the new song. Philip bounded away from me and flung himself on his knees to sit next to Alex on the bench.
"This one, daddy?" Philip pointed to a key.
Alex tenderly moved, Philip's hand over two keys, still playing with his left hand, "there ya go."
Philip nodded and stared at the music. I rolled onto my stomach and watched them. Alex started to sing and Philip tried to keep pace, I heard the conscious shift as Alex slowed the music down to sing with Philip, helping him remember the words. I laughed recognizing the song.
Excitedly, Philip stroked the key under his finger when Alex nodded to him, it always rang either too long or too short, but Alex just smiled and kept singing.
Once the song was over Philip stood up on the bench and bowed to me.
"Get down, goober." Alex hugged his boy around the knees.
Philip grew very serious, "daddy, the audience can't see our bow if we don't stand up from the pit."
"Oh, well that's a good point." Alex braced a hand on his desk and stood up on the bench next to his boy and bowed, he thrust a hand in Philip's direction and kept his other hand on Philip's shoulder while the boy bowed, hands clasped in front of him.
I pushed myself up to stand on the bed and clapped and whistled as Philip motioned to Alex with a grin and he bowed, once he righted himself, Philip threw a hand behind him, I cheered for the imaginary actors and running crew. Alex winked and gestured up before them to the lights and sound, I grinned and kept cheering. Philip jumped off the bench, likely to the dismay of the neighbours downstairs. I caught him in my arms and flung us back on the bed, both of us laughing. Alex grinned and stepped down from the bench.
"Sweeney Todd, definitely kid friendly," I smirked.
"Shut up. Not While I'm Around is sweet." Alex laughed.
"That's mean to say," Philip chided his father, "and daddy says I'm not allowed to see that musical."
"Probably not for a while." I agreed.
"Play more, daddy!" Philip cheered.
"Nah, you guys don't want to just keep listening."
Philip nodded emphatically and I agreed, "at least one more, darlin'."
"Alright, alright."
I recognized Bring Him Home from Les Mis and snuggled back up to Philip under the blankets. After a few more songs, Philip snored in my arms, Alex turned around to see him sleeping and I only hoped that he recognized the adoration on my face. Adoration of him, of Philip, of our lives.
"You play so beautifully." I whispered.
"Thanks." He chuckled.
"Play my song?"
He nodded and found the music, I listened intently as he played the song he'd written for me. Once he was done he turned off the keyboard, silencing the fuzzy electrical buzz.
"Coming to bed?" I asked him.
He bent over Philip and kissed me, "last cigarette, be right there. You want me to take him to bed?"
"I'll do it." I smiled.
Alex left and traced the curve of Philip's nose, running my finger over the bridge of freckles. He wrinkled his nose in his sleep and pushed my hand away. I giggled and slipped out of bed around him and scooped him up into my arms and carried him to bed. I tucked him in and turned on his electric blanket, keeping it on low. I kissed his forehead and he nuzzled against my hand.
"Night, daddy." He mumbled.
I didn't bother correcting him, I never did, "goodnight, baby."
Alex was already waiting in bed for me. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him.
"Tonight was fun," he admitted, "it's really snowing out there."
"Yeah? It was fun, wasn't it? Thanks for playing."
"Thanks for listening."
I kissed him again, soft and sweet in the dark, the snow muted the sounds on the street. His mouth was warm and tasted like home.
"I can't wait to take you out." I told him, our faces still touching.
"I still can't believe you pulled that off."
"Better start believing it, good old John Laurens used to be known as something of a Lothario."
"That so?"
I nodded, "oh, yeah, maybe even a sugar daddy."
"What happened?"
"I came out and my dad cancelled my credit card." I laughed it off.
"That'll do it."
"But I still try and do my fair share of spoiling."
"You do… and you spoil my kid."
"Rotten." I agreed.
"So rotten, inconceivably rotten."
He kissed me and tucked his cold hands into my waistband, I cupped his cheek and kissed him until we were both sleeping.
