Impractical Jokers: [Joker]x[Joker] Collection

The Early Hour of Nine (Joe/Q)

       Waking up to Q is still something he has to adjust to. In all of the time knowing this wreck of a man, Joe had never anticipated dating him to be a possibility until a drunken night with a drunken kiss had filled his awareness, consumed him so thoroughly that he'd begged and pleaded with the other to let it continue, even if only for a little while.

Large brown eyes stare at him as they lay on their pillows facing one another, as if assessing him, and it has Joe pulling the covers up his shoulders a little more so that he doesn't feel as terribly exposed. A large hand suddenly sweeps up the distance between them, yanks him closer to him as if it pains the other man to be any further away.

"Good morning," Brian mumbles, voice slick with sleep. For a moment, Joe doesn't know what to say. Does he even have to say it back? Waking up to him, in his arms and breathing in the smell of him, could it be anything BUT a good morning? "Did you sleep all right?"

Foreign beds have never settled well with Gatto. In hotels he tosses and turns for hours. At friend's houses, he squirms and squabbles with duvets and blankets and pillows that don't smell like home. But lying beside Q, in his bed, with his covers pulled up to his chin and his head buried into his pillow, he's never felt more content.

"Yeah," Joe replies quietly, clearing his throat to rid it of sleep. Huskiness is a given, and as he meets Q's eyes in the tangle of sheets, a tiny smile has the corners of their lips lifting upwards in the form of tiny smiles. He reaches a hand out, brushes unruly hair out of his eyes; watches his brow dip with a level of skepticism, as if to say 'really bro?'. It makes him smile bigger. "Hold on. I gotta take a piss."

Q nods with an amount of sympathy, watching as Gatto takes his leave. When he's finished, he thinks to trail downstairs. He's still getting used to having cats under his feet, still adjusting to the fact that, until his dogs learn to not antagonise them, they can't be part of the household (they're currently with his sister while he figures out what the fuck to do with his life), still adjusting to the brewing of tea at the early hour of nine. But then the kettle clicks and he's pouring the ingredients into a mug as if he's been doing it all his life. Trailing back up the stairs with a searing hot cup of tea in his hands, Joe presents it to the curious man and watches as those beautiful brown eyes roll theatrically.

"Really, Joey? You're bringing me things now? We've been dating two weeks."

Gatto ignores him, seats himself on the edge of the bed and yanks the corner of his pillow against the headboard; Brian works to correct himself comfortably, hands accepting the hot cup as he takes a sip, swallows and then looks up at the other man with a look of impressed bemusement.

Joe takes the initiative, "It's two sugars, right?"

"How the fuck do you know that...?" Q murmurs, taking another swig - and then another, just for good measure, as if trying to pinpoint the exact moment in which the drink passes its prime and declines into sub-par mediocrity.

The Joker simply smiles, ocean eyes lighting up as if they are the sun. "I just listen to you, you dope. I know how you like your tea. We may have been dating two weeks but I've known you for a whole lot longer."

The sentiment isn't lost on Q, and as he slowly puts the mug down on the bedside table and grasps at the man's forearm to urge him closer, their lips touch with an amount of hesitation found in two lovers who know nothing about the degrees of intimacy. All the experience they could have gained in the world and they'd have still been clueless when it came to one another. What was acceptable? Hands find each other's faces, beverage forgotten as Q tugs the other man closer to him still, easing him back against the bed. He never thought kissing Joe would be on his agenda... but he'd also never thought that he'd be brought tea at nine in the morning out of the sheer goodness of somebody's heart.

"You're a brilliant man, Gatto," Brian murmurs, all grumble as they pull away to breathe. "You're my brilliant man."

The bearded Joker can't help but grin as he feels Joe smiling against his mouth, head nodding.

"I know."