Jesse Joe Hartley (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
slowsouthernstyle) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
dreamlikenewyork2014-11-29 12:32 am
slowsouthernstyle) wrote in dreamlikenewyork2014-11-29 12:32 am
"When you're too in love to let it go..."
Who: Jesse Hartley and Jace Turner
What: Morning after
Where: Turner Home in Chicago
When: Morning after THIS and THIS
Jesse ended up staying out with Christian most of the night. After going to the school crossing and losing track of how long they were actually there, Jesse was a mess, and he still wasn't ready to go back to the Turner home to face head-on what had happened when Jace had the seizure. Christian did find a diner that was open all night and they called a cab to take them there. Jesse had one cup of decaf and then switched to tea because the coffee tasted like shit. He and Christian talked a lot, but about different things unrelated to just what had happened that night. Jesse told Chase more about what it had been like growing up with a homophobic and deeply religious family, the struggles he faced first coming to New York, and how he regretted his first time sex with a guy being drunk because he had been upset and lost.
In turn, Christian told him about how he grew up and they talked about the vast contrasts. Jesse talked more too about his own struggle with epilepsy and how stress made it worse for him. Then finally how important nursing was to him, and the value he got out of it during the hardest times of his life. It was the most they had sat down and talked, and felt even closer to Christian by the time Jesse decided he needed to get home to see Jace. He was exhausted and he was getting a headache. All he wanted to do was finally curl up with Jace like he did whenever Jace had seizures, and once that was done, he just wanted to go home to New York.
He was glad no one seemed to be awake when they got home. Jace's bedroom door was open, with his family probably taking shifts during the night to check in on him. When he went into Jace's childhood bedroom, he closed the door behind him. Maybe it was symbolic on some level of showing his family he had this, but really, all he wanted was time alone with Jace to remind himself why they were so good together and why he could handle this without needing permission to do so.
Jace was asleep and Jesse felt the weight of the large gap of time he hadn't been here to know how he had been in the wake of the seizure. Though, precedent of Jace's most recent bouts of fitting said that he probably barely work yet. Like Jesse, Jace's whole body shut down after a fit and they both needed sleep after it. His eyes barely left Jace as he took his shoes off and undressed so he could change into something more comfortable to sleep in. Jace was dressed in a top he hated sleeping in, but Jesse wasn't going to nitpick. He might resort to re-dressing his fiancé in what he did prefer to sleep in, but only if Jace woke up and wanted it.
He carefully sat down next to Jace on the bed and then leaned over to kiss his cheek softly, hugging him as gently as he could. Not wanting to leg go, he just sat there with his arm wrapped around Jace, stroking his hair and their cheeks resting together. He had probably cried enough the night before, but a couple of stray tears still escaped while he held Jace and told him he loved him in a barely audible whisper.
That was when the bedroom door opened slowly and there was Paul. It must be his turn on the Jace babysitting roster, and guy seemed to have drawn the short straw over this whole mess. Jesse only had to give him a look once the door was open and Paul was holding his hands up in surrender. "Sorry," he murmured apologetically. "I didn't realise you had come back. I'll leave you to it. My room's just across the hall if you need anything."
When Paul was about to back out again, pulling the door back closed, Jesse stopped him with a soft, "Paul?" Paul stopped, sticking his head back around the door. "I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to be an ass."
"No, we're sorry, Jesse. We screwed up, we didn't think. The last thing any of us wanted to do was upset you and when Jacey gets back on his feet and realises, he's going to tear us all new ones. It's just been a lot for us to process that he's getting married. We never thought he would even make it into his teenage years, let alone fall in love and get married. That's no blight on you. It's all of us that need to stop and realise that there's someone who can take just as good care of him as we do... if not better," Paul told him with a faint smile.
"Thank you," Jesse said softly. Nothing more was said after that. Paul just gave him a nod of understanding and left again, closing the door over quietly again in his wake. He looked back to Jace, the sickly pallor of his face he got when he was ill that would take a few days for the colour to come back into his cheeks. His head was foggy, his eyes stinging, muscles aching from the cold. He sat watching Jace sleeping for a few more minutes before he got into bed with him, cuddling up close so he could hold him. He had just settled when Jace's eyes fluttered a little with a tiny mumble of, "Jess'?" like clockwork; like Jace always asked for him after a seizure.
Jesse took Jace's hand and loosely laced their fingers. "I'm here, darlin'. Get some more sleep." Jace was back out in moments, and he probably wouldn't even remember waking. He never did, not when his mind was still scrambled like this. That didn't stop Jesse staying with him, but this time, with the memories of that crossing near the red letterbox and little statue of a scotty dog still so fresh in his mind, he silently cried himself to sleep as he laid there and held him.
NARRATIVE, COMPLETE
What: Morning after
Where: Turner Home in Chicago
When: Morning after THIS and THIS
Jesse ended up staying out with Christian most of the night. After going to the school crossing and losing track of how long they were actually there, Jesse was a mess, and he still wasn't ready to go back to the Turner home to face head-on what had happened when Jace had the seizure. Christian did find a diner that was open all night and they called a cab to take them there. Jesse had one cup of decaf and then switched to tea because the coffee tasted like shit. He and Christian talked a lot, but about different things unrelated to just what had happened that night. Jesse told Chase more about what it had been like growing up with a homophobic and deeply religious family, the struggles he faced first coming to New York, and how he regretted his first time sex with a guy being drunk because he had been upset and lost.
In turn, Christian told him about how he grew up and they talked about the vast contrasts. Jesse talked more too about his own struggle with epilepsy and how stress made it worse for him. Then finally how important nursing was to him, and the value he got out of it during the hardest times of his life. It was the most they had sat down and talked, and felt even closer to Christian by the time Jesse decided he needed to get home to see Jace. He was exhausted and he was getting a headache. All he wanted to do was finally curl up with Jace like he did whenever Jace had seizures, and once that was done, he just wanted to go home to New York.
He was glad no one seemed to be awake when they got home. Jace's bedroom door was open, with his family probably taking shifts during the night to check in on him. When he went into Jace's childhood bedroom, he closed the door behind him. Maybe it was symbolic on some level of showing his family he had this, but really, all he wanted was time alone with Jace to remind himself why they were so good together and why he could handle this without needing permission to do so.
Jace was asleep and Jesse felt the weight of the large gap of time he hadn't been here to know how he had been in the wake of the seizure. Though, precedent of Jace's most recent bouts of fitting said that he probably barely work yet. Like Jesse, Jace's whole body shut down after a fit and they both needed sleep after it. His eyes barely left Jace as he took his shoes off and undressed so he could change into something more comfortable to sleep in. Jace was dressed in a top he hated sleeping in, but Jesse wasn't going to nitpick. He might resort to re-dressing his fiancé in what he did prefer to sleep in, but only if Jace woke up and wanted it.
He carefully sat down next to Jace on the bed and then leaned over to kiss his cheek softly, hugging him as gently as he could. Not wanting to leg go, he just sat there with his arm wrapped around Jace, stroking his hair and their cheeks resting together. He had probably cried enough the night before, but a couple of stray tears still escaped while he held Jace and told him he loved him in a barely audible whisper.
That was when the bedroom door opened slowly and there was Paul. It must be his turn on the Jace babysitting roster, and guy seemed to have drawn the short straw over this whole mess. Jesse only had to give him a look once the door was open and Paul was holding his hands up in surrender. "Sorry," he murmured apologetically. "I didn't realise you had come back. I'll leave you to it. My room's just across the hall if you need anything."
When Paul was about to back out again, pulling the door back closed, Jesse stopped him with a soft, "Paul?" Paul stopped, sticking his head back around the door. "I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to be an ass."
"No, we're sorry, Jesse. We screwed up, we didn't think. The last thing any of us wanted to do was upset you and when Jacey gets back on his feet and realises, he's going to tear us all new ones. It's just been a lot for us to process that he's getting married. We never thought he would even make it into his teenage years, let alone fall in love and get married. That's no blight on you. It's all of us that need to stop and realise that there's someone who can take just as good care of him as we do... if not better," Paul told him with a faint smile.
"Thank you," Jesse said softly. Nothing more was said after that. Paul just gave him a nod of understanding and left again, closing the door over quietly again in his wake. He looked back to Jace, the sickly pallor of his face he got when he was ill that would take a few days for the colour to come back into his cheeks. His head was foggy, his eyes stinging, muscles aching from the cold. He sat watching Jace sleeping for a few more minutes before he got into bed with him, cuddling up close so he could hold him. He had just settled when Jace's eyes fluttered a little with a tiny mumble of, "Jess'?" like clockwork; like Jace always asked for him after a seizure.
Jesse took Jace's hand and loosely laced their fingers. "I'm here, darlin'. Get some more sleep." Jace was back out in moments, and he probably wouldn't even remember waking. He never did, not when his mind was still scrambled like this. That didn't stop Jesse staying with him, but this time, with the memories of that crossing near the red letterbox and little statue of a scotty dog still so fresh in his mind, he silently cried himself to sleep as he laid there and held him.
NARRATIVE, COMPLETE