»opulence{miles kane x alex turner}

i n t r u s i o n

this is a bit short, but i'm trying to update more frequently

would you all prefer long waits and long updates, or short waits and shorter updates? this one is shorter by about half, maybe a bit more. 

enjoy lads

-georgia

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As soon as Alex's eyes opened to the shards of cold light that were slicing through the curtains and playing knifing patterns on the carpet, he realised he was alone. There was no shape beneath the duvet on the other bed, the bathroom door lying open and showing to him in an instant that the only person in this room was himself. 

Quite why that made him so instantly and utterly uncomfortable, his hungover mind was not articulating. It was hardly a surprise that Miles wasn't in bed, with the clock on the bedside table flashing at 11:30 and the business accounts still in as bad a state as they were yesterday. It was hardly like he'd been left alone- he could hear several voices echoing from downstairs- but this was the first time that a night in which he'd made his own decisions resulted in something like this. He was still in the bedroom of his highly influential and arguably very dangerous new business partner, and he was very, very hungover.

Alex's head seemed intent on pounding in a rhythm that turned his stomach. Had he really been that drunk? Any memories of the previous night were definitely hazy but they were there and he could remember them at least, although actually fathoming what they meant was a different matter. They'd been to a casino- those recollections were the clearest- black-clad businessmen and elegant women who were probably drinking themselves to death and gambling away their life savings. He'd not been too taken with the idea of gambling, despite it being a market he'd bought into less than 48 hours earlier.

Alex rolled over, a thin whine escaping his dry lips. He'd been hungover before- actually this wasn't even nearly the worst time- but the circumstances were concerning him more than his aching head. Was he going to have to go downstairs in the crumpled remnants of his suit like some kind of forgettable one night stand? What was he going to do about his breakfast? Was he supposed to sit here and wait for Miles to come back, or was this on him now? The years that he'd gone without any real interaction were showing- quite pathetically clearly.

Often, Alex's naivety could be endearing- indeed that was one of the main reasons that Miles found him so easy to like- but times like these, he cursed it. There was no trace of Miles left in this room that wasn't even his- no phone plugged into the wall, no jacket hung on the back of the chair. Someone had painstakingly made the bed and the balled-up clothes that he'd discarded into the corner were gone. When Alex cast his mind back to last night, that sodden conversation on the roof of Canary Wharf and the low, secretive stolen glances were the only things he could properly recall. That and something else about Miles, like he'd found out some secret about his elegant partner. His perception seemed to have changed, there was some tiny, hidden association that he couldn't put a name to that swam to the forefront of his mind when he visualised that gas-lit expression that Miles had worn all last night. Something had changed- something beyond the gilded aura and the bladed shards of wit, more than he exchanged in glances with Jamie and more than Miles had actually realised he was letting on. 

Something had changed, and Alex couldn't remember what it was for the life of him.

A shaky hand emerged from the covers, groping at the bedside table for his phone. It was exactly where he had left it, but nothing happened when he tried to turn it on. With another dissatisfied groan, Alex rolled onto his back- the duvet a knotted mess at his feet and tangled in his legs. A thumping headache and a phone with no battery. The charger that had been plugged into the wall was gone- in fact the room looked as painstakingly tidy as it has when they'd arrived. There was no difference, besides for Alex.