"My wildest dreamings could not foresee lying beside you with you wanting me..."

[warble_on_jeff]

Who? Nick Matheson and Jeff Hinton
What? That awkward moment when you slept with your best friend
When? The morning after
Where? Nick's place

The first thing Jeff was aware of when his eyes fluttered open to the buzzing sound of an alarm clock was that it wasn't his alarm clock, waking him up to loud music. And the second thing was that this most certainly wasn't his room or his bed. And as he gradually got his wits about him a little more, he realized that he had a warm body pressed close to him under the blankets, and his mind caught up, filling in all the blanks for him. He was with Nick. Nick, who was curled in against Jeff's side under the blankets with his arm around Jeff's middle. Swinging his arm... the one that wasn't wrapped around Nick's shoulders, over to the side, Jeff managed to make contact with the alarm clock's snooze button before the obnoxious buzzing woke Nick. It was surprising in and of itself that it hadn't woken him. Being a dad meant that Nick would be a light sleeper, but maybe last night's activities had made him more tired than usual. Either way, there was no sound from the baby monitor, which Jeff noted with relief before he moved his hand to gently stroke Nick's hair out of his eyes. The dark haired man next to him was beautiful lying there asleep, and Jeff hated to wake him, though he knew that Nick was on shift in a few hours, and he'd have to get up and get ready for work before long.

With a deep breath to steady his nerves, Jeff turned on his side to face Nick. God, he hoped that Nick didn't regret what had happened last night. That could be a giant awkward moment. But he'd very much seemed willing, and it wasn't as if either of them had been drinking or doing anything to lower their inhibitions. They'd thought it out, done it because they wanted to, and because they were both on the same page. But Jeff had to admit... he had no clue what was coming next. What did this mean? Neither of them wanted it to just be random casual sex. But what was the step they would take next? "Nicky?" he whispered, his hand gentle on Nick's side, right below his ribcage. "Nicky, babe, you have to get up for work soon."

Comments

[nickthewarbler]

Nick freaked. It was pretty much the only appropriate way to explain it. As soon as he heard the voice close to him, he got the biggest fright, shot awake and leapt out of bed completely stark naked, like he had to somehow defend his whole house from an epic invasion. It was where his sleep-hazy mind took him because he was a father and it was his job to protect, and why was there a voice talking to him in his bed when his son could barely string a line of baby babble together yet? No one spoke to him in bed. No one was even in his bed these days, save for a tiny person who wouldn't fall asleep in his own some nights. He had been sleeping peacefully, but as soon as that was even the slightest bit disturbed, he was on high alert but slightly disoriented because he had no idea what the fuck was going on. Maybe it was a weird dream, until his eyes planted back on his own bed that he had just vacated rapidly to find Jeff lying there... and it all came flooding back to him when his mind clawed back some freshly-woken clarity. His heart was thumping in his chest and he had been holding his breath. He wasn't even sure how the fuck he would have protected anything completely naked and without any sort of weapon, but whose brain thought anything even remotely clearly when they just woke up? Plus, he hadn't had sex since before Rory was born, so maybe all those endorphins had set off a weird chemical reaction to block brain receptors or something. But he was a nurse, and even that sounded like bullshit to him.

"Work. Shit!" he cursed, frantically looking around for pants or anything to cover himself up with now he was feeling abruptly exposed. He started to scramble around, tripping over some clothes lying on the floor, and grabbed up his watch to see what time it was. "Oh holy fuck, I'm going to be late! I have to get Rory up and fed, and I'm not even going to be able to have a shower! I should have remembered to set the goddamn alarm!" It had been set all along, but he had been so out of it, he hadn't heard it. Or maybe he was just in denial over the fact he and Jeff had sex that he was trying to focus on everything else but what they had just done and what it was supposed to ultimately mean. Whatever it was, though, he did still have a two year old to get up and there was even an evil part of his frazzled brain tempted to call in sick right now. That bed looked awfully warm and comfortable and he had gotten hardly any sleep last night...

[warble_on_jeff]

Even as Nick panicked, Jeff realized that he probably should've expected that. Nick had made it very clear that sex and dating and simply having a lot of people around were well off the menu with Rory here. It would throw Nick off completely to have another person not only in his home, but in his bed, and Jeff would just have to wear that for the time being. Carefully, he extricated himself from the tangle of sheets and blankets and got out of bed quickly, moving over to where Nick was standing. "Nicky, it's okay... The clock only just went off a few minutes ago. I hit snooze so I could wake you myself. I really didn't mean to scare you, though." The thought occurred to him that maybe Nick was thinking this wasn't a good idea after all, but Jeff just couldn't be one hundred percent sure of anything, so he waited and kept his cool for the time being. He and Nick were going to need to talk about this one way or another. It just didn't seem that right this minute was the time for all of that, not with Nick in a state of near full-on panic.

"Hey, it's okay," he assured the other man again, his tone soothing as he spoke. "I'll put my scrubs back on and get Rory up and fed. Just tell me really quick what he eats for breakfast and I'll get it for him so you can shower." He wouldn't deny it, though. There was a part of his mind that was in the same place as Nick's, thinking how nice it would be just to curl up in bed again, go back to sleep, and maybe talk this whole thing out once they'd gotten settled back in, and once Nick's breathing had returned to normal. Quietly, Jeff reached over to grab Nick's hand, giving it a small squeeze. "Nicky, it's all gonna be okay. Just tell me what you need. What Rory needs... Anything I can do to help, just tell me." Shit, he really hoped that they hadn't managed to really make things weird. That had been the last thing he wanted. In fact, as they'd fallen asleep last night in the afterglow of what had been a very long and tender session of sex, Jeff had found himself wondering if there was a possibility that this could become his norm... having Nick in bed with him when they were both off together, Rory sleeping in the other room. It had just felt right being there with Nick. But now they were facing the morning after, and Jeff would be naive to think there weren't a million ways this could go.

[nickthewarbler]

Nick's eyes were a little wider than usual and he glanced to the side, wondering if he should just make a bunch of excuses here and bolt from the whole situation as a protective mechanism. But he became extremely aware that Jeff was standing there right in front of him buck naked and with linger morning wood, and everything from the night before came rushing back to him. Instead of bolting, he found himself grabbing Jeff in a hungry kiss, knocking them both back onto the messy bed amongst the pile of sex and sleep ruffled sheets. So, apparently it was looking more and more likely that he was going to call in sick? And so what, too. He hadn't had a sick day in at least a year and that had only been because he got a gastro bug off Rory and couldn't disengage himself from the toilet for three days, no matter how much he had wanted to. He had been so sick, Blaine had to come stay and look after Rory for him whilst Nick got better but also the fact he had to be super careful with his diabetes because he hadn't been able to keep anything down and Blaine kept him on a medically-safe level of electrolyte fluids the whole time. But that was neither here for there right now, because it was gastro, it was his tongue very much down Jeff's throat and he just didn't feel like stopping right away.

Until he heard a noise and he pulled back quickly, still straddled over Jeff with him pinned to the mattress beneath him. He was panting and he strained his ears. "Did you hear something?" he asked, and made a grab for a baby monitor to hold it to his ear. It was early and Rory had been put to bed late, and with the teething, the toddler was still sleeping. Nick could hear his little congested breaths through the monitor. He got all snotty with the teething, so for now, his son was okay. Nick put the monitor back on the bedside table and then looked back down at Jeff, biting on his lower lip. "I think I'm going to call in sick," he decided, pausing to see if there was any guilt building in his gut from saying that but there wasn't even an iota.

[warble_on_jeff]

There was very much a feeling at first that Nick was going to just keep freaking out. He had that panicked deer in headlights look, even when he realized it was Jeff there with him, and if he were honest, the blonde couldn't really blame the other guy. If you were used to waking up alone, and you woke up in bed with your best friend, that would be somewhat of a surprise, to say the very least. What Jeff hadn't expected at all was to suddenly have Nick on top of him on the bed again, with their mouths pressed to each other again. His hands came up to gently rub at Nick's back as they lay there together, completely naked, and tangled up in each other instead of the blankets. Jeff didn't care. Right now, he didn't care about anything the rest of the world had to offer. It was all Nick, and the hunger and desire that awakened within him as the other man kissed him. Back in school, they never would've dreamed their friendship would lead them here, but Jeff certainly wasn't complaining.

But then Nick kicked immediately into Daddy mode, and Jeff fell silent, understanding that making sure Rory was okay would always be Nick's number one priority. And if they were going to try to continue this thing... Go further than just one night, which was what both of them had wanted and expressed... That was an understanding that would come with it. Nick was a father first and foremost, and being a good one to Rory was without a doubt the most important thing to Nick. But when Rory was fine, and Nick was talking about calling in, Jeff just offered him a playful grin. "Nicky, you rebel!" he teased lightly. He'd been about to ask Nick if he was okay with everything and how things were going, but he was pretty sure that question had been well answered when Nick had all but kiss!tackled him into the bed. "I like your rebel side," he continued, letting his fingers brush lightly down Nick's sides. "It's totally hot."

Jeff sat up on the bed enough so that he could wrap his arms securely around Nick's waist and hold the other man close to him. "Hey," he said softly, still making with the silly smile between feather soft kisses peppered over Nick's neck and shoulder. "We can spend the morning together, and then when Rory wakes up, we can all three hang out together, right? I mean... watch cartoons or try and play with him if he feels like it." The fact was that Jeff did want Nick. God, he wanted him, and he couldn't deny the feelings he was having for his old friend. But more than that, Jeff had very quickly developed a soft spot in his heart for Rory. The little boy had stolen his heart the moment that Nick had let Jeff hold him, and there was no going back from that, either. Jeff was very much in this thing, and hoping like hell that there was a chance this would really be something that would go somewhere for them in the long run. Because he really could get used to waking up like this.

[nickthewarbler]

Nick really wasn't looking at it as rebellion right now and more just trying to wrap his head around what the hell was going on here. It was moving very fast, and there was a part of him that felt like he should be completely freaking out and slamming the door closed on all of this before it progressed. Normally, that was the only way he could guarantee protecting his son and his own heart from being hurt. Because his own heart had seriously been stomped all over in the past and he didn't want to expose Rory to any of that potential pain. Damn, he was going to be an epic pain in the ass dad by the time Rory got to the age he wanted to date. No girl or guy was going to get through about being made to run the gauntlet and prove their worth for his little boy. He had spent a long time now sacrificing his own needs or wants for Rory, though, and whilst he would never stop actually doing that, could he really spend the rest of his life being lonely and miserable because of it? Fuck, this was Jeff, though! His best friend in high school and it should feel so much more fucking weird than this, but it just didn't. "Wait, it just... just... it feels too easy. I feel like I'm waiting for the axe to drop or something. You and me, we're mates. This shouldn't be making sense. It should be all complicated and messed up and... and..." He didn't know what else. He still wasn't really freaked out, he was just confused now they were in the wake of sleeping together about what it was supposed to mean and if it had potential to mean anything.

He looked down at Jeff, a tiny frown of confusion on his face. "What are you even looking for? You said you're single and have a free life, all of that. Are you even looking for anything? There's no way you could have factored in being with a single father and a toddler into your life plan, because that's what we are. We come as a package deal, and it's very much not always happy families. Sometimes, it's just plain hard. Or was this just sex after all? Do we just go back to being friends now? Maybe that's just the easier thing. I don't... know if we can make this work into something. Does that even make sense? It's just been me and Rory for so long, and it can be tough sometimes. Do you really want to buy into that? One morning of playing cute happy families and feeding my kid breakfast is far, far from what it would actually be longer term."