By The Pond - A Lams Story

Chapter 25

   

-Alex's Perspective-

   Alex feels the moment he is pushed out of his dream and back onto the plane of existence, and he groans a bit. *It was a nice dream, too. All flower crowns and cocoa and turtles...* He smiles at his boyfriend, who is still soundly asleep. *Laurens, I like you a lot.*

   Alex carefully unwraps his arms and goes to sit up, but John's arms suddenly latch onto him, as if John, even while asleep, is protesting him moving. It's not like he has anywhere to be, but Alex needs his coffee. He tries to move again, but he is stuck.

   "Mno." A soft sound of protest escapes John's mouth, and Alex has to bite back his laughter at how precious it is.

   "C'mon, I need some coffee," he bargains.

   "Mno."

   "Please?"

   "Mno. Stay." He can see John slowly starting to stir, and he tilts his heading, considering. Alex kisses John gently on the lips, and he feels John's surprised flinch. *C'mon, Freckles, wake up.* When he pulls back, he waits.

   "Mno."

   "What?!" Alex was sure that would work.

   "Mno. Stay. Sweep," John responds.

   "C'mon. Some of us are early risers," Alex protests. "I need my coffee."

   Alex watches as John makes a face that seems to suggest contemplation, and Alex waits for the compromise because, after all of his arguing, John is not just going to let Alex get up.

   "Another kiss," comes John's compromise. Alex smiles.

   "With pleasure." He leans in and kisses John, who kisses him back. After Alex pulls back, he feels John's arms relax and slowly let go, hugging his pillow instead. Alex takes this opportunity to slip out of the blanket fort and heads over to the island, slipping behind it to make himself some coffee. Once it's started, he just sits and relaxes in the quiet, wondering when John is going to get up. *Freckles seemed pretty against the idea of waking up, so I'm just going to sit here with my coffee and wait. Part of a sleepover is the morning after, right?*

   Once his coffee is made, Alex goes to grab his laptop from the fort and starts to scroll through the morning news, sipping at his coffee.

   About half an hour later, John emerges from the fort, his hair an absolute dumpster fire, and his posture completely slumped. Alex chuckles. "Hey, hun. You look amazing."

   John just makes some sort of weird complainy noise at him and grabs his bullet journal before sitting down at the island and scribbling in it, making some sort of list. After he stops writing, Alex watches as John disappears into his room. He shrugs and goes back to scrolling.

   When John comes back out, his hair is less wild and he's dressed in actual clothes. Alex feels his breath catch in his throat for a second. *Damn, hun.* John meets his gaze.

   "What?" He asks, confused. "Why are ya staring at me?"

   *That accent..* "Why wouldn't I be staring at someone as beautiful as you?" Alex manages to say, still very much staring at John. "Freckles, honestly. You're gorgeous."

   John's face grows increasingly red, and he bites his lip before turning around and retreating back into his room. Alex chuckles. *He's adorable.*

   John comes back out a minute later, slightly less red than before and his hair more tamed. He goes over to the kitchen area to make some breakfast. Except instead of making breakfast, he just gets himself some cereal. "Want some?"

   "Sure," Alex responds.

   John nods and pours cereal into two bowls. Then he gets out the milk and pours it, and then he stabs the cereal with a spoon. John hands Alex his bowl and slides onto the stool across from him.

   "Thanks, hun." He smiles to himself as John turns a little pink, and they sit in silence and eat. Once they finish, Alex takes the bowls and puts them into the sink, kissing John on the cheek as he does so. *I'm growing to love that blush very quickly.*

   John yawns and lays his head on the island, flipping through the notebook he wrote the list in earlier. Alex watches as John then stands up and walks around the island and hugs him from behind, basically using him as a pillow.

   "You sleepy, Freckles?" He chuckles.

   "Yeah," John responds, his accent coming out a bit.

   "Well, you wanna do another dance-off?" Alex grins.

   John's silent for a moment. "No. Too much moving."

  "Mm." Alex thinks. *Oh, that would definitely wake him up.* He turns around on the stool as best he can and kisses John. He feels John flinch, startled, but then he reciprocates. Alex pulls back a couple of seconds later, and he smiles at John's tired and dopey expression.

   "That was nice," John murmurs.

   "Mhm," Alex agrees.

   "This is nice." He smiles at Alex, and Alex smiles back.