Work Text:
Maybe it was just recency bias(he had only just woken up, after all), but James felt hard pressed to name a feeling better than that of waking up to find Aiden Brooks in his arms.
He had seen him like this more times than he could count, by now, but it still filled him with some fuzzy, nerve dulling sensation to see him so at ease- shoulders lax, smiling faintly, as if draping his arms around his boyfriend was really enough to ease all the worries from his mind.
And he was gorgeous, with his messy split dyed hair sprawled out on the pillow below him, with the slight furrow in his brows, with the little bit of drool trailing down his chin-
It was really quite the show of self discipline that he managed to tear himself out of bed and away from him each morning. He had to get to his job, after all, and his current director had some annoying affinity for early morning shoots.
…James didn’t dislike acting, by any means. He liked doing something, and it was easy enough to adapt to the industry, given his previous experience. And he was certainly in high demand. He wasn’t a fan of the demanding schedules, of the lack of freedom, of the grouchy old people he was stuck working alongside. He couldn’t say he found it particularly fulfilling, but it was a good experience, and his parents seemed to approve of this far more than his influencer career (as if this was somehow any more stable, he thought dryly).
…Aiden had been thrilled when he had told him about this particular offer- and he had mostly mentioned it as an afterthought, really, because he hadn’t really even considered taking them up on it. Something about his reaction, his blinding smile and eager praise, had effectively convinced him he really ought to give it a try.
There really wasn’t any reason not to let Aiden sleep in till later in the day, especially considering the way he had seemed so stressed out trying to land a job of his own, recently. He was hardly getting enough sleep, anyways. James grimaced at that thought, leaning down to press a quick kiss against his forehead.
He reluctantly pushed himself out of bed and over to the bedroom door, letting it close slowly, as quietly as possible behind him, catching one last glimpse of Aiden’s slowly rising and falling form before going off to get ready for the day.
-
James came back into the bedroom no more than a half hour later to grab the phone charger he had forgotten to find Aiden still curled up in their bed, although it seemed he had woken up by now. He held his ratty little teddy bear tightly in his arms, and he was glaring intently at the wall opposite from him before noticing James’ entrance and letting his attention wander to the door. His eyes seemed to soften a little when they landed on him.
“Aiden? Are you ok?” Something about the sight before him made his stomach flip, although he couldn’t really place why.
Aiden flopped over onto his back dramatically. “No. I feel like I’m dying. Get over here. Please?”
James wasted no time doing as he was told, walking up to the bedside and offering a hand to Aiden’s head. He eagerly leaned into it, letting James run his fingers through his hair. His eyes fell shut at the contact. “What’s wrong, Baby?”
“I don’t know. My head feels like it’s going to explode. I-” He let out a huff through his nose. “I’m going to die here. There’s only one thing that can save me… Come here? What are you doing out of bed instead of cuddling with me, anyways?”
…So dramatic, even now. To think he used to be shy about this kind of thing. Maybe he really was about to die. He could feel a fond smile spreading across his face, in spite of himself. “...I have to leave for work soon, Baby.”
Aiden blinked an eye open. “...Oh, shit, you’re right.” He chuckled softly, and James hated how dull it sounded. “How much trouble do you think you’d get into if you didn’t go?” He said it like it was a joke, but his voice was a little off, a little too quiet.
“Mm. I’m contractually obligated to be there, so… You’d have to read through the contract, I guess.” He let his thumb trail over his jaw.
Both of Aiden’s eyes shot open. “You didn’t??”
“Is there anything I can get for you? Do you need to take any medicine, or-”
The other man shook his head. “No, I already took something.”
“Are you sure you’re ok? I can stay home if you want me to.”
“God, no, don’t do that.” He took another deep breath before pushing himself to sit up. James let his arms wrap around him, and Aiden leaned his weight onto him. “I’m fine, really. I’m sorry for being so dramatic. Don’t let me mess this up for you.” He let his own arms wrap around James’ body tightly, as if he was trying to absorb all the comfort he could possibly hold to last him the rest of the day. “I’m just going to fall back asleep soon, anyways.”
James raised an eyebrow, but Aiden’s face was too far pressed into his chest to see. He was pretty damn sure he wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep in this state- his shoulders were set, and his voice sounded strained. He could tell he was in far more pain than he wanted to let on, and he hated that he felt the need to be so elusive about it now. He took a deep breath. “...Ok. I’ll be home in… By five. Are you sure you don’t need anything before I go?”
Aiden let his arms drop, tearing himself away from James like there was some magnetic force keeping them pressed together. “Really, I’m ok. Just go kill it today, ok? I’m really proud of you.”
James hummed softly, leaning down to press a soft kiss against Aiden’s cheek. The idea of leaving him like this made him feel uneasy. “Mm. I’ll see you later, Sunshine.”
-
The door clicked shut behind James, and once again there was nothing to distract Aiden from the pounding in his head. It felt like every little sound was making the aching worse. Even the light from his phone made him want to rip his eyes out of his skull.
He felt around for his Teddy, after a couple moments of silence that dragged on for an eternity. It helped to hold onto something. Squeezing onto his tattered little body seemed to relieve some of the pressure, at least. Maybe.
He really was so proud of James. He knew more than anyone how difficult securing this sort of job could be. Aiden knew better than anyone else how hard James had worked to get to where he was- this success was absolutely what he deserved. The only thing that bothered him about it was that James always acted so weird about it, as if he thought the whole thing would leave a sour taste in Aiden’s mouth just because he had something that he had wanted first.
… And maybe it did, just a little, but it wasn’t as if any of that was directed at James. There was a reason only one of the two of them was able to land any jobs, and it was fine, and- his mom had always told him not to put all his eggs in one basket, so really, he should have been prepared for this.
He just couldn’t wrap his head around why James didn’t seem more excited about it all. He seemed happy, certainly, but his enthusiasm seemed so much more dulled than he expected. Aiden couldn’t imagine not being thrilled about that kind of opportunity.
He nearly jumped out of bed when the door opened for a second time. “...James? Aren’t you going to be late if you don’t…”
“Ah, well. It turns out the director had a bit of a family emergency. They sent out a message about it a while ago, but I guess I didn’t check until now… They rescheduled today’s shooting, so I don’t have anywhere to be.”
Aiden could hardly believe what he was hearing. His first thought was that it felt terribly unlike James not to check his phone for that long, but that notion was almost immediately overwhelmed at relief at the thought of James climbing into bed next to him. “Oh, wow. That sounds almost too good to be true… you have no idea how badly I want to just…” He reached out with an arm, all he was willing to sacrifice out into the cold air, and made a weak grabbing motion. “Come back to bed?”
James smiled so sweetly it almost dulled out the throbbing in his head. “Of course, Baby.” He clicked his tongue a couple times as he dug around a pocket of his work bag. “In a second.” Aiden flopped over so he could watch as James emptied the contents onto the bedside table- a cold water bottle, a scattered collection of snacks and chocolates he had scavenged from the kitchen, apparently. “In case you get hungry,” he said nonchalantly. “And I know you aren’t drinking enough…”
Aiden buried his face in his hands. It felt so weird, to be worried over like this, and he felt a guilty twinge at the thought that he had made James feel obligated to tend to him. Although mostly, in the moment, he was feeling warm, a sense of relief and exasperation and gratefulness. “...Thank you,” he said softly, so genuinely it made his teeth ache. “I’m going to get crumbs in the bed.”
James shrugged. “I think we’re overdue to wash the sheets anyway,” he said simply.
Aiden exhaled, resigning himself to let his eyes droop lazily as his boyfriend reached for the hem of his shirt, pulling it up and over his body. His arms stretched over his head, and he enjoyed the way the muscles in his arms moved. He couldn’t wait to wrap his arms around him, and he couldn’t wait for James to stop smirking at him so knowingly, like it was any secret he was blatently checking him out. It wasn’t like he had any reason to be embarrassed by it, at this point. His cheeks were burning up anyways.
He finally felt the familiar dip in the bed as James climbed up to join him. Aiden was wrapped around him in an instant, and he felt like he could melt at the feeling of hot skin and steady breaths against him.
He buried his face in James’ chest, and James went about combing his hands through his hair, in the familiar way he knew he liked so much. Aiden hummed appreciatively.
“Thank you for staying with me,” he mumbled into his chest.
James was silent for a moment. “Of course, Aiden Baby. Where else would I be?”
Aiden pushed his head up just enough to uncover his eyes, so he could look into James’ far too soft gaze. He could almost convince himself the pain was seeping out of his body, the longer James squeezed onto him. He could think of quite a few places James might rather be- he could still hardly believe someone like him would rather waste his day curling up with a half-present version of himself instead of, well, anything else. He smiled weakly, pulling himself closer to him. It made him feel fuzzy to have James paying all of his attention to him. He wasn’t even holding onto his phone- and now that he thought about it, he could hear it vibrating behind him, the distinctive pattern of a phone call, one, two- a few times.
“...Do you need to check that?”
“I’m sure it isn’t important. Don’t worry about it.”
…It was easy enough to oblige with that. Aiden let himself sink a little further into James’ arms, drowning out any outside noise, focused only on the gentle sound of his breaths.