Zachary Evans ♛ Jack Benjamin (tabloidprince) wrote in thereincarnates, @ 2015-02-04 02:56:00 |
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Entry tags: | noah lazarus, zachary evans |
Who: Zachary Evans and Noah Lazarus
What: Big reincarnate revelations.
Where: Noah's apartment.
When: Late Monday night/early Tuesday morning.
Warnings: Extreme drunkenness, cursing, hitting, and stupidity.
Everything seemed to be speeding up these days. With James leaving, with the fights, with dealing with family, with Xander getting out, with everything, it felt, to Zach, like a train moving fast on a track. Nothing was going to get the train to stop, even as much as he might want it to. And that was also one of the problems with his whatever this was with Noah. They'd been spending more time together, since James left, which made sense. They were the two people who, outside of his family, knew him best. Had spent time with him. Had loved him, in their own ways. So, of course they would spend time together, right?
But that was only one part of it. The other part was that he did like being with Noah. He liked spending time with Noah. The man was annoyingly likeable, when you got past some certain aspects of his personality. Like how annoyingly likeable that he could be. But Zach liked him, liked being around him, liked the time that they spent together, even when they weren't just having sex. Like tonight. Tonight, he'd come over, and they had dinner at Noah's apartment. His tiny, really, really crappy apartment, with that goddamn piano taking up so much space. They had dinner, and they'd spent time together (and yes, they'd had sex, some really good sex), and they'd even spent time together after sex, talking, which was something Zach didn't think he'd get used to doing again, either.
And at that moment, Zach had sworn that he was going to tell him. Maybe that was what this train had been speeding towards, for him to actually be truthful about some things. Maybe not the way he felt, he didn't think he could ever be that truthful, even with himself. But about Jack. That's what the train was going for, was him finally telling Noah that he had Jack. Something Jack himself didn't want to do, but maybe it was time. And then... he'd chickened out. Zach had chickened out of telling him, of revealing this big secret. He'd told Noah that he had to go, which was fine, he didn't stay over every night they were together, just a few, but he'd told him he had to go, and they would talk later, and he left.
He felt terrible. There was something in him, something terrible and vicious that was bubbling up in him, that made him feel physically sick. All of the lies he'd been telling, maybe, were catching up to him. And what Zane had told him, when he finally told his best friend all that had been happening. Why he'd been avoiding him, and the rest of the people he cared about. They'd gotten drunk, as per usual, and he'd spilled everything. About James, about the lies, about how he was feeling. About who he was seeing. And his best friend, being the kind hearted, gentle soul that he was, told him that he was being a fucking idiot, and that he should man up and tell Noah the truth, before he lost something else good in his life.
Of course, he hadn't been able to do that, and that was why he had spent the next several hours in his flat, drinking everything he could find. All right, not everything, but most of it all. Zach would have to go on a buying spree the next time he was out. Regardless, he was completely plastered, and yet, somehow, he'd managed to get onto the closest MTN, get to Noah's apartment, and was now banging on his front door. And it was two in the morning, Noah's time. And he didn't quite know why he was there, but he was there, banging on his door. He didn't even know if he was awake or not, but since he was here, and drunk, clearly that didn't matter.
------
At first, Noah didn't know why he'd woken up. He scrunched his eyes even more tightly closed in protest, trying to burrow back into the pillow, but then the pounding sound filtered in. After taking a moment to realize that it wasn't actually in his head, remnants of some strange dream, he pulled away from the pillow and sat up, stretching. His body was a little sore, but the good kind of sore, the kind of sore that brought a tiny smile to his face at the reminder of exactly how he'd gotten so sore. The night had been... nice. Really nice, the kind of night that he'd never expected when he and Zach had first started seeing each other.
Things had changed, after James. Noah had expected to go back to to being mostly on his own, since he and Zach had never spent the time together that James and Noah had, or that Zach and James had. He hadn't, though. He'd gotten more of Zach's time, and more of his attention, and they'd somehow moved from two men who had sex sometimes to friends. Friends with benefits, obviously, but it was an arrangement Noah was far more comfortable with than what they'd been doing. Whatever that had been.
Most importantly, Zach hadn't let him pull in on himself, even that first night when he'd come by to tell Noah that James was gone. After Kacie had died, Noah hadn't spoken to anyone for a month. He'd stayed silent instead of letting it all spill out. He'd been prepared to do the same, had started to do the same, but then Zach was there, not letting him get away with it just like he didn't let Noah get away with always saying they could do whatever Zach wanted, with putting his own wants aside.
The pounding had continued while Noah sat and mused, fingertips pressed to a bruise Zach had sucked into his skin. Only after he'd blinked and looked around the room a few times did he realize that it was coming from his front door, that someone was out there knocking. Probably a drunk college kid, he decided, someone at the wrong door... but he should probably open it and tell them, otherwise they'd keep knocking and wake everyone else up. Yawning, he pushed himself to his feet and stumbled toward the door, not bothering to pull a shirt on with his pajama bottoms. He doubted whoever was there would be offended by hickies.
Then he opened the door, stared a moment, and wondered if he was actually still dreaming. "Zach? Thought you had work."
------
Zach was surprised when the door opened. Yes, he was hoping for the door to be opened, but he didn't also expect it. Look, he was drunk, and he wasn't even entirely sure what he was doing here. Which was what he needed to say right then, because he was looking at Noah, but he wasn't really seeing Noah. No, he was seeing more of this sort of beam of light with a figure standing in it. For a brief moment, he thought he was looking at an angel.
Stupid, terrible biblical references. "Hi." Zach looked at him for a moment before grinning. Yes, this was a good idea, or had been at some point in his mind. So now he needed to figure out a way to... something, with it. He wanted to reach out and pet Noah's head. His head looked very pet-able right then. Like a fuzzy turtle or something. Something smooth that had some fuzz to it. He almost reached out to touch his head before he came back to himself, where he shouldn't actually be able to do that.
"Hi." Zach repeated before nodding. "Yes. Yes, I have work. I did work. I... I went home, to do work, which was why I left here hours ago and now I'm not here anymore I'm here now." He went to lean his arm against the side of the door, and managed some of it, stumbling slightly.
"Did I wake you?"
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"Hi." Noah blinked at him again, still confused. Zach was looking at him strangely, like he'd never seen him before, and then there was an equally strange grin, but... at least it didn't seem like anything terrible was happening. "Right. You're..." He lost track of the explanation of Zach's night somewhere around him not being somewhere anymore, and then finally realized that Zach was, in fact, extremely drunk. Noah had seen Zach down enough liquor to knock a lesser man off his feet and still seem fairly coherent, so he couldn't even imagine how much he'd had to be this level of bumbling and confused.
Maybe he should have lied about it, but Noah didn't really have the brain power for that, right then. "Yes, you woke me. It's..." Actually, he didn't know what time it was, and there was no clock in sight. "Late." And Noah had work in the morning, where there would be more whispering about James, and his superiors looking at him suspiciously now. The other agents on his team were enjoying it, it was what they'd been waiting for, seeing his fall from glory; not that anything about it had really been glorious at all. He needed to sleep, so that he didn't slip up at work.
He couldn't just leave Zach standing outside his door, drunk. "Come in." Rubbing his eyes and yawning, he stepped out of the way. "You should probably have water." A lot of water, or he'd be regretting it in the morning. Later in the morning.
------
"I didn't come here for water." Zach said, but he still came inside, and he managed to only sway his way inside instead of trip. Turning around, he looked at Noah again, running his fingers through his hair, which was a little bit more of a mess right now then it usually was. He'd been running his fingers through it all night, and there hadn't been any customary look in the mirror before he left.
"I didn't come here for sex either." Clearly, but in his frame of mind, that needed to be stated. "'m here because there's... I've been lying for... I lie a lot. I lie a lot for everything, for work, for my life, for everything that I... this fucking piano is in the way of everything, I always hated that." Zach slurred out, and he patted the piano, albeit gently. He didn't know what he was doing here. It seemed like a fine idea, maybe, a little, an hour or three ago, but now that he was here, he didn't know how he started this. What he was supposed to say. If he could even say it.
"'m sorry for waking you." His accent tended to get thicker the more alcohol he got in him.
------
"You should probably have some water anyway." Noah shut the door behind Zach, gently, then leaned against it to look at him. Zach looked... well. It was almost adorable, how ruffled he was, the fact that he obviously hadn't bothered to straighten up before coming. Did it mean Zach trusted him, the fact that he was willing to come over without his usual armor of perfect looks and charm? Noah thought he might like him better, this way. Disarmed.
Or maybe he was just imagining things and seeing what he wanted to see, in his half-awake state. "I don't think you could manage sex right now." Zach might surprise him, but as drunk as the man was, Noah would be shocked. Then there was something about... lies? Noah knew there had been lies. Of course Zach had lied to him, Zach and James both had. To protect him, James had said. Zach, too, when he'd confessed to some of it, after telling Noah what had happened to James. Noah had hoped... but, of course Zach was still lying. Why wouldn't he? Noah wasn't sure what to say to that, at the moment, so he took a couple of steps to lay his hand on the piano as well. "I don't have any other place to keep it."
It was impossible to be mad at Zach, somehow. Even though Noah knew he should be, that he should be angry that he'd woken him up, about the lies, about... but it was just nice that he was there. "It's okay."
------
"Don't say it's okay when it's not okay nothing is okay." Zach glared at him, at best he could glare at someone in this state. That was one thing he couldn't understand right now. Here he was, telling Noah that he lied to him, and he wasn't angry? It didn't quite register yet that there wasn't too much for Noah to be angry about. Everyone lied. That's what people did, and Zach had never said he didn't lie. He lied for work, he lied for relationships, he lied about lying. And yet there was a firmly held belief in his mind that people would be upset by his lies, even though they knew about them already.
He pressed his fingers to his forehead. "You always say it's okay when it's not okay. It's..." Zach trailed off, just taking a moment to look at the way Noah was weaving all around the room; the guy should really learn to stand still. "I had some reasons for what I did. I had... there're reasons because I didn't want to tell you and he didn't want to tell you, and you just... you just... it's not okay. Not okay." The whole sentence was a little slurred together, and he was swaying where he stood when he said it. But in his mind, it was said perfectly.
"I came here to tell you the truth, Noah, I came here because I was going to tell you before but 'm not good with this. 've never done it before so 'm here doing this now. I have something to say and I have to say it." And then he hesitated, leaning back away from the piano. There was nothing to hold him, though, so he stumbled a little before reaching out and holding onto the piano. It seemed a good focal point, for right now.
------
"Okay." Noah squinted and shook his head. "Not okay?" What was going on here? Noah was way too tired to understand any of it, but he had to try, because this wasn't like Zach. Noah didn't claim to know Zach inside and out, not nearly as well as James had known him, but he knew him well enough to know that this wasn't normal behavior for him, and there was something he should be getting from this that he was too tired to understand.
Zach wanted to talk, though. He wanted to tell him something, and that was... good? Noah considered making coffee, something to wake both of them up a little more, but he needed to be able to get back to sleep at some point. "You can say it. I'm listening." Noah wanted to reach out and touch him. He almost did, before he remembered that Zach didn't really like that, outside of sex. It was disappointing, just a little, because Noah was tired and this conversation would be easier if they were on the couch.
"Do you want to sit down?" They could still be on the couch. Noah would just remind himself not to touch Zach. "I know you can stay on your feet if you want to, but the couch is more comfortable." The bed was even more comfortable than that, but the second Noah hit the bed, he was going to be asleep again, and he needed to listen to this. If it was important enough for Zach to come to him wanting to confess the truth, Noah needed to give it his full attention.
------
Noah was tired, Zach could at least see that. He wasn't fully aware of what time it was, but it was a long time since he'd gone home and come here, so Noah should be asleep. It just hit Zach right then that he was why Noah wasn't asleep right now like he should be. It didn't make much sense, sure, but he wanted to... he wanted to... he didn't know what he wanted to do. But he didn't want it to be what he was doing now. Zach shook his head, looking at Noah.
"'m standing right here." His voice was a little softer, the words slurred together in that moment. He wasn't being very focused on things, and this statement wasn't his most proud one. Wasn't his most strong one. This whole thing was making him feel weak, and he hated feeling weak, and he was more liable to lash out if something happened. But wasn't that what he had so much to drink for? So he couldn't feel anything? So he could do what he wanted to do? He could do this.
Zach didn't say anything for a moment. "...'m Jack. 'm him, 'm... fuck, sorry, I.... I am Jack Benjamin. I lied and didn't say I had him but I do, I have him, for a long time, and that's, yeah, we're. I. 'm Jack." Zach breathed in deep and looked around. "So 'm gonna... go, now. That you know, now, 'm gonna go."
------
It didn't make sense. Noah heard what Zach was saying. The words, separately, made sense. Noah knew what all of them meant, but somehow when he heard them together, when he played them together in his head after Zach had said them, tried to find the meaning, all he got was a blank. Jack...
What he did know, though, was that Zach couldn't leave.
Obviously he could. He could walk out the door. He could even never come back, once he had, and Noah... didn't want that. Even if what he wanted wasn't important (it was Zach's right to decide if he didn't want to see Noah anymore, and Noah wasn't going to cling, that wasn't what they were), it wasn't safe. Not with the state Zach was in. Zach shouldn't leave, but when Noah opened his mouth there were no words, nothing to tell him that, everything still caught up in trying to make sense of Zach's. That was just fine. Noah had always been better at actions, anyway. He stepped between Zach and the door, stepped and stood firm.
------
That was not what Zach expected. At all. Noah was just standing there, between him and the door, and that was definitely not what he expected. Maybe if he was standing there yelling, that would have been more expected. Yelling at him for lying, for everything, for anything. Anything, but this silent staring, this unnerved him. It made him feel uncomfortable, silence was always worse then yelling. So maybe this was a good thing, the drunk part of his mind started to say. This was good.
Because the more uncomfortable it was, then that meant Noah wouldn't want anything to do with him. And that meant that, after tonight, he, and Jack, could go home and not have to worry about things ever again. With James gone, that got someone out of Zach's life that Jack was very, very happy about. It was something he wouldn't share, consciously. But with James gone, it meant that Joseph was gone, and life did not need to change for them. He didn't like change.
And he definitely didn't like that Zach was still standing there, and he urged him to go. "Get out of the way, Noah. 'm leaving." Zach slurred, but he didn't move from where he was standing, swaying slightly. "I told you, why... why aren't you yelling, don't you get it? I could have... you... " He shook his head.
"'m leaving."
------
"Wait." Noah didn't move, especially not to get out of the way. He couldn't let Zach walk out until he'd at least managed to make sense of what he'd just said, and Noah wasn't nearly awake enough for this conversation. Zach was... Jack Benjamin. Jack Benjamin was... David's Jack. David's prince.
Then, suddenly, it did make sense. It made a lot of sense. Why sometimes, something had seemed familiar. Why Zach had never said who his reincarnate was. Why he'd be interested in Noah, of all people, and he wasn't interested in Noah, he was interested in David. Because David and Jack had unresolved issues. That didn't bother Noah. Maybe it should have, that Zach was never interested in him at all, but it didn't. That might have been how it had started out, but he thought... maybe... he thought they were friends. The kind of friends that David and Jack should have been, and suddenly he and David were in complete agreement. Zach couldn't walk out on this.
Zach could have told him. He didn't. That was a lot like Jack. There was a lot Jack could have, should have, told David, but he'd kept his secrets. Noah thought back, tried to remember a single time that Zach had actually lied about who he was, where he'd given another name, and he hadn't. He'd left out an important detail, but he hadn't lied. "You didn't lie to me." Noah hadn't meant to say that out loud. "Why would I yell? Or be mad. You didn't lie. You just didn't tell me the truth." Splitting hairs, but in those hairs was a world of difference.
------
"Stop... that's..." Because that made sense. That made a lot of sense, and it's exactly what he had said to Lydia when he semi-talked to her about this. That he wasn't lying to anyone, he just wasn't telling them certain things. He was just skirting around things, instead of actually lying. What he didn't expect, and didn't like, was that Noah was saying the exact same things that he had. Yes, he'd never told anyone anything that was an outright lie. With James, he just said he couldn't talk about it without it being a problem. With Noah, he had just never brought it up.
"You should be mad. Fuck, Noah, I just woke you up at whatever time it is, and 'm... 'm really sloshed, and I never wanted to know you, you, I just, because of David, I did... did all of this because of him, and..." Zach waved a hand around and stumbled backwards, banging against the piano, and he swore. "Goddamnit I shouldn't've come here. Didn't... didn't want to ever do this, Jack told me to never do this, why did you guys have to show up?"He wasn't really talking to Noah on that one, more to himself, and Jack was vehemently agreeing with what he was saying.
"'m gonna go."
------
If Noah hadn't already considered that Zach had really just been interested in David, and accepted it, that might have stung. Since he had, on both counts, Noah didn't even flinch at the reminder. "I'm not mad," he repeated. He hadn't even asked, had he? He hadn't asked who was lurking inside Zach's head, had thought it was rude to pry if someone didn't volunteer the information. Besides, he hadn't cared, not when he'd enjoyed Zach's company so much.
And yes. Maybe Zach had stumbled in drunk and woken him up, but this was... it was obviously something he'd been holding in, for a long while. If Zach was so terrified of telling the truth that it took that much alcohol to get him to say it, and it had seemed important enough to him to come to Noah, it meant something. Maybe, somehow, Noah meant something. He was too tired to figure it all out now, but he knew it would have been a horrible idea to let Zach walk out the door. "You aren't going anywhere, not like this. You'll get yourself killed."
Slowly, he stepped forward, closer to Zach. "I'm going to take you to bed, and I'm going to call in sick in the morning, and we're going to talk about this. Sober, and rested." Maybe they'd shown up because whatever was in charge of who became what reincarnate knew that Zach needed them.
------
"I made it here without dying, that means I can make it back without dying, this, this isn't even the wost thing, 've been worse before and I made it home with my pants on." Not that the last bit was really anything, or made any kind of sense, but clearly, in Zach's state, making it home with your pants on was a huge accomplishment. "Made it through a year of cancer and stupid people and worlds and I can get home like this." He mumbled the last part, and when Noah stepped closer to him, he wanted to back up, to get away. He didn't want to be touched, not right then, not like this. Didn't he get that?
He shouldn't assume people knew what he wanted without him even telling them things. But the plan didn't sound good to him. In fact, all of those things that Noah was saying sounded the opposite of what he wanted to do. He didn't want to go to bed. He didn't want to talk about all of this. And he definitely didn't want to talk about all of this sober. Why wasn't Noah getting upset with him? That was what kept running through his drunken mind. Zach wanted him to get pissed off at him. To get angry about something, anything.
"No. No, we're not... we're not talking about this. I said my thing and I said my thing and... don't you get it? Jack... we... this was... just wanted to fuck with David, we don't care about you, Jack wanted, because he abandoned him." Zach got a furious look on his face as something finally clicked again, and he stepped forward, shoving at his chest. "And left us, him, in that fucking room, that traitor, brought him back and fucking left, so we wanted to fuck with your head, and that's all that, this, was, get the fuck out of my way."
------
The shove took Noah by surprise, sent him staggering back a step, but after that he set his heels firmly. He should have expected that, and now he would be. In his state, he doubted Zach could really move him if he made up his mind that he didn't want to be moved... and he didn't. He wouldn't. Zach might have planned on befriending Noah, sleeping with Noah, just to mess with his head, he might even honestly think that was why he was doing it, but that wasn't it. Not anymore. There were too many things that he wouldn't have done, if that was all that it still was.
"He's sorry." Noah could tell Zach, and Jack, that much. "He didn't know, he didn't know that would happen, and he's so sorry about it. It wasn't until... until now, when I watched the series, that he knew what happened, and if he'd known he would have gone back." Every word of it was true; Noah wasn't sure if it was entirely him speaking, even, the line between himself and David blurring in shared determination to keep Zach, and Jack, there. "He can never go back, but from now on, he wants... I want to do my best to make it up to you."
Noah took a deep breath. "I'm not moving, Zach. Just because you've made it through worse on your own, it doesn't mean you should have to do it this time. I... we can't lose you." Not so soon after James. Not at all.
------
"He's sorry? He's sorry?!" If he could focus on this part, now, then a little something out of all of this made sense. If he could focus on the hurt Jack had, the betrayal, from what happened, then he didn't have to think at all. It was all instinct. Jack had spent another lifetime dealing with the end of what had happened, and he'd never really dealt with it. The pain from it was just as sharp as it had been when he'd seen Silas come through that door, and knew who had gotten the man there in the first place.
"Fuck you and your sorries!" He didn't know when he had started yelling his words, but he'd gotten louder as time had gone on. "There's nothing you can do to make up for it, for what you what he did, there's nothing! Just because you stand there and say that doesn't mean anything, you're just too afraid of losing someone again like James did, you, he's gone and he's never coming back, and that's what's going to happen again, so you should get used to it, now get out of my way!"
Rearing back, Zach punched him, pleased that it actually made contact and hit him on the jaw. It wasn't the best punch he'd ever thrown, but it felt really damn good to have it hit, and Jack felt really good after it, too.
"You angry yet!?"
------
It was the alcohol talking. The alcohol, and the fact that Zach was panicking, he was trying to push Noah away. Zach didn't mean it, Noah told himself. It still hurt. The words hurt worse than Zach's fist crashing into his jaw.
He didn't show it, though. Noah kept his heels planted, kept his expression... not a smile. But neutral. Safe. "I'm not mad." He wasn't. He was hurt. He was sad. He wasn't angry. Noah didn't think he had it in him to be angry, right now. "Do you feel better?"
Though he didn't back off, Noah did shift into a subtly more defensive stance, arms hanging loose as his sides, ready to defend himself. He wasn't sure if Zach would recognize what he was doing, if it would just make him angrier.
------
And he still stood there like everything was... well, not fine. He had a red mark on his face, and he looked tired. But he didn't look angry, which was what Zach wanted. He wanted him to look angry. He wanted him to be angry. Zach wanted him to hit him back, wanted him to be so angry that he would punch him in the face right back. Would beat him up. Break him down. Beat him down. He wanted to be hurt, because didn't he deserve it, for everything Jack had done? All of the problems he himself had caused?
"No." Zach said, and he swung at him again; this time it was too wide, too off his mark, and he stumbled from it. "No, 'm not better! Fucking hit me, yell, something, you're standing there like some.. like some kind of fucking robot, what the fuck is wrong with you!?" It didn't register that he was defending himself, to his drunk eyes, it looked like he was just standing there. Not getting angry.
------
Even with his senses sleep-dulled, Noah got his hand up to block Zach's. It wouldn't have hit him anyway, the swing was wild, but it let him get his hand around the other man's wrist and control it. He used Zach's fumble, and years of training, to follow through with the move, turn him until Zach's back was pressed against his front. Then, he wrapped his arms around him in a bear hug, trapping his arms to his sides.
It wouldn't hurt Zach, being held like this, even though Noah's grip was too tight for him to really get loose. It wouldn't hurt him, it wouldn't let him hurt Noah (unless he thought to kick, or stomp on his feet, and Noah was hoping that wouldn't occur to him), and most importantly it wouldn't let him get away. "I'm not going to hit you, Zach." He still didn't sound angry. Just firm.
------
He could break the hold if he wanted to... okay, no, he couldn't break the hold if he wanted to. But he could put up more of a fight then he was right then. Because as soon as he was turned around, he knew that he could throw and elbow, stomp his foot, whatever, he could do it and keep the fight going. But Noah wasn't going to hit him. Maybe he just wouldn't hit a drunk person? Yes, that was it. He was too good of a guy to hit a drunk person. So Zach would have to wait till he wasn't drunk to finally get the fight that he, and Jack, both wanted.
"Fine. Not now." Zach mumbled, letting his body go lax. "Now let me go." Because he wasn't going to stay in this.... weird hug thing. Whatever this was, he didn't want to stay in it.
------
Maybe Noah should let Zach go... but if he let Zach go, Zach was going to leave, and that was still a really bad idea. He braced his chin on Zach's shoulder and mumbled into his ear, "Let's go to bed." Maybe if he pretended that it was just like any of the nights Zach had stayed over, Zach would go with it. He unwrapped his arms from around Zach, but he didn't let go completely. Instead, he slid one of them around Zach's waist and moved beside him.
"Please?" Begging didn't always work with Zach, but sometimes it could sway him. Noah didn't mind doing it, either. That didn't mean he was going to leave it up to him, though. He started tugging Zach back toward the bedroom.
------
Begging not during sex wasn't something Zach was particularly fond of. And while Jack knew what was going on, what Noah was doing, Zach was having a hard time fathoming the first of it. Because he was just so used to this, he'd been going to bed and staying the nights with him for a little bit now. Of course, because of the time difference, he was always awake and gone before Noah would even have thought of it, but it was a routine, nothing major. This felt routine, comfortable, and right. You had to be drunk to know how fast you could go from one thing to another, and he nodded.
"'m not staying long." But still, he was nodding. He had it half formed in his mind that as soon as Noah was back asleep, he would sneak out again. He'd crawl on the floor with Noah attached to his back if he had to, he didn't care. Breaking free from his grip, he weaved the rest of the way to Noah's bedroom, and he fell, face first, onto his bed.
------
That had been easier than expected, but Noah wasn't going to complain. He yawned and trailed behind Zach, glad that he hadn't actually pulled the covers up where they should have been. It made it easier to tug them out from under Zach, and tuck both of them under them. Warm, and comfortable, he started tugging at Zach, trying to move him onto his side. After all, as drunk as Zach was, Noah wasn't going to be surprised if there was vomit involved at some point, so, side.
Finally, once he was satisfied that he'd done the best he could, he pressed up against Zach, wrapping around him as tightly as he could. "We're going to talk about this in the morning." He kissed the back of Zach's neck, yawned again... and if Zach said anything else, he didn't hear it.