By The Pond - A Lams Story

Chapter 24

-John's Perspective-

   John looks around, seeing that he is in some weird place. It's like the park, but the bench is in the wrong spot, and the trees are all messed up. He does, however, see a turtle and almost dies from excitement. He yeets himself over to the turtle and pets it, smiling. But the turtle has different ideas. It snaps at John's hand, and John retracts it, only to see a whole army of turtles trying to snap at him. Terrified, he runs away from them, and they chase him down the street to his not-apartment. When he gets there, the turtles disappear, and he enters his apartment, hoping for a reprieve.

   Alex is standing there, and John smiles until he notices his boyfriend is frowning. "Lex? What's wrong?"

   "I can't love you," He mutters. "Your father is right. Being gay is wrong."

   "Huh?" Confused and more than a bit scared, John backs up, right into someone. He turns around, only to see green eyes staring at him. *Father?!*

   Laurens tsks disappointedly. "John, John, John. You really must get over this problem of yours. Men are meant to like women, and to be respectable members of society, not to be artists who wear baggy clothes and date other men. For shame." Henry reaches out to fix John's hair, and John forces his eyes to open.

   John starts, and freezes as his eyes adjust. He gropes around for his phone and looks at the time. *3:19. Good. I'm not still asleep.* He hears Alex's soft breathing next to him and looks around. *Blanket fort. Mkay. Alex is here. Good. You're okay. Laurens isn't anywhere near here. Breathe.*

   He lays quietly for a while, before accepting that he's not going to be able to sleep for a while. "Evil turtles and fathers, good lord." He whispers, his drawl coming out since he's half-asleep. He also can't shake the idea that Alex may, in fact, leave him, so he hesitantly shakes Alex awake. "Lex." Alex stirs a bit. He shakes him, more insistent. "Lex."

   "Mm?" He watches as Alex's eyes flutter open. "Mm. Hi, Freckles. What time is it?"

   "Almost three-thirty in the morning," he answers.

   "Ah. Mkay. Why are we awake, then?"

   "Do you love me?"

   "Freckles, hun, you sound like Aquamarine. What's going on?"

   "Do you love me?" John repeats the question, his tone pleading.

   "As a friend, yes. As a boyfriend, umm, I'm getting there?"

   "So you don't think being gay is wrong?"

   "Of course not, hun." Alex puts his hand on John's cheek, his gaze searching. "Why are you asking?"

   "I had a nightmare, and you sided with my father, and-" John shudders. "I was so scared."

   Alex immediately wraps John in a hug. "Don't worry. As far as I'm concerned, you're the best thing that has happened to me. I'm not leaving you anytime soon."

   "Mmkay." John lets out a sigh of relief. "Okay. Good, because I was really actually nervous that you were gonna leave and then I'd have to tell the rest of my friends all the issues I probably" - he says it more like 'prolly' - "shoulda told them before, but I just wasn't ready to tell them, ya know?"

   John looks at Alex's face, which is a light pink color, going on red. "Are ya okay? You seem kinda warm..." John puts his hand on Alex's forehead in concern. "Ya don't have a fever.."

   Alex chuckles in disbelief, his cheeks still flushed. "Freckles, do you not hear yourself?"

   "Hear myself doin' what? I mean, I'm tired, but I don' think I'm doin' anything?" Alex's face is only growing redder. "Hun, what's goin'-"

   Alex cuts him off with a kiss. John doesn't complain, but he's still confused. He pulls back, searching Alex's eyes for some form of explanation. Alex sighs.

   "Do you really not get it?" He pauses. "Wait, no, you wouldn't." He chuckles embarrassedly and rubs his neck. "Freckles, your Southern accent is irresistible. I- god."

   "OH." John blushes, abashed that he didn't realize sooner. "Yeah, that happens when I'm really tired. I fall out of the New York accent and back into the normal one because I'm not thinkin' about it."

   "Well, it's incredibly attractive. Like if you weren't so obviously tired, I'd probably kiss the hell out of you attractive," Alex murmurs, and John's blush grows much deeper.

   "Y-yeah?"

   "Yeah." It takes all of John's willpower to keep in all the excited and bashful squealy noises he wants to make because of his trademark gay panic, but even that isn't successful.

   "Eeep."

   "Cute." John groans and hides under his blanket, not wanting to look at Alex because he can feel his face growing more and more flushed. He hears Alex chuckle on the other side of the blanket. He listens as it fades into a comfortable quiet, only the noise of the building's electronics, his analog clock, and the occasional car on the street nearby disturbing the silence.

   Eventually, John peeks out from behind the blanket and sees Alex laying there with half-lidded eyes and a lazy, fond smile. "There you are," Alex murmurs, and John smiles, moving over to where Alex is and snuggling up to him. Alex wraps his arms around him. "Don't worry, my Prince. I'll protect you from your bad dreams."

   John listens to Alex's breathing, slow and steady and soft, and he drifts off, slowly falling back into the abyss of sleep.