Two days later, Marshall woke up in the guest room alone…again. AJ had drunkenly convinced him to sleep with him yet again, telling him it was the only way to keep the nightmares away.

Marshall rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, wondering what the fuck was going on between him and AJ. He wasn't like any other male friend Marshall had ever had. He'd never kissed any other guy friends, he'd never gotten turned on by them either, and he sure as fuck had never slept spooned against them because of nightmares, or for any other reason for that matter, and doubted he would even if asked.

What was even more confusing to Marshall, was how much he liked falling asleep with AJ in his arms. It felt...nice…comfortable…right. Waking up in the morning alone confused him even more, because it actually bothered him. That was just…fucked up in his opinion.

Hell, he never even felt that way about women he'd went to bed with…with the exception of Kim, and even with her, toward the end he'd been relieved to wake up in the morning to find she was already gone. Not this morning with AJ though, and not the other two mornings since the party either for that matter. He was sort of…let down not to wake up holding AJ the way he'd fallen asleep.

Sighing, he climbed out of the bed and headed out of the room, wondering where the hell he'd find AJ this time. The day before last, after their fight in his room, Marshall had locked himself in his studio for hours. When he'd come out, AJ had been passed out on the couch with the CD player on but stopped. Marshall figured he must not have hit the repeat.

He'd woken him up to eat some dinner and AJ had woken with bloodshot eyes mumbling something about hang-overs and making his way to the kitchen to grab another bottle of alcohol from the supply he'd bought himself. Marshall had just shook his head and walked out of the room, no longer hungry.

That was something else that confused him. Why he gave a fuck that AJ was drinking nearly non-stop. Sure, he pretty much considered AJ a friend now, but he'd never been the kind of person who got all up in his friend's business and thought he knew better than they did what they should or shouldn't be doing. Where his friends were concerned, he usually lived by the motto, 'Live and let live.'

Later that night, after working out for a while in his weight room, Marshall had again searched AJ out and found him passed out in a lawn chair in the back yard near the pool. Marshall had woken him up and made him go inside and take a shower, giving him some clean clothes as AJ bitched about being mothered.

That had given Marshall pause. No one, no one, had ever accused him of fucking mothering them before, but he realized with a start AJ was right. He was mothering him.

Immediately he had vowed to himself to stop, but a mere hour later, he had found AJ sitting on his skinny little butt in the hall, too drunk to stand on his own and he'd stopped to help him up, convincing AJ to go to bed. AJ had agreed, but only if Marshall would stay with him again.

Marshall had said no at first, still bothered by what AJ had said to him earlier, but as if AJ could sense that, he'd apologized and sworn he wouldn't act like that again. Marshall had been skeptical, but he figured time would tell and since AJ really looked upset by the thought of sleeping alone, Marshall had given in.

Marshall sighed and sat up in the bed. Yesterday had been more of the same, and it was wearing on his nerves. AJ was spinning out of control and he had no fucking clue what to do about it. Climbing out of the bed, he headed for the bedroom door, wondering where he'd find AJ today and how drunk he'd be.

Marshall stepped into the kitchen minutes after leaving the guest room, finding AJ standing at the stove making what looked like scrambled eggs, an open bottle of JD sitting on the counter next to him.

AJ turned his head when he sensed eyes on him and caught sight of a disheveled Marshall. His heart skipped a beat, once again thinking how sexy the man was in the morning. He'd woken up about fifteen minutes ago wrapped up in Marshall's arms and facing him.

He'd stared at the other man for long minutes, wanting badly to kiss him, to press himself against him and show him just how great they could be together. But he knew Marshall wouldn't want that, and he was never going to be like Kevin and force himself on someone, so he'd gotten out of bed before he did something stupid then made his way to the kitchen to drink and eat.

"Hey." AJ said as he turned back to the eggs in the pan and worked them with a spatula. In a casual tone belying what he'd just been thinking about, he asked, "Hungry?"

"Um, that depends." Marshall answered hesitantly.

"On what?" AJ glanced back at him and quirked a brow.

"On if you can cook drunk."

AJ smirked. "Not drunk yet, just buzzing. Takes the edge off the hangover."

When Marshall just stared at him for a minute, AJ asked, "What?"

"How can you just talk about it like that?" Marshall asked curiously.

"About what?" AJ asked in return, having an idea, but not wanting to get into it.

"About drinking. Being drunk. Hangovers. How can you just talk about it like it's no big fucking deal?" Marshall asked, irritation creeping in his voice.

AJ stiffened, catching the tone in Marshall's voice. His drinking problem was not something he wanted to think about. He'd been doing a pretty good job of pretending it didn't exist, that he was just like any other person and could take the alcohol or leave it, no problem.

Irritation creeping into his own voice, he commented, "If you're going to lecture me, maybe it's time I went back home."

The locks had been changed and the code for his alarm system had been changed too, so in reality, there was nothing really keeping him there…nothing but wanting to spend more time with Marshall.

Marshall stiffened too. He didn't want AJ to go home. Not like this. Not when he was spiraling downward fast. There was no telling what he'd do to himself all alone.

In a quiet voice he said, "Not a lecture, just a question."

"On a subject I don't want to talk about." Turning the heat on the stovetop off, AJ pulled the pan off and started dumping eggs out onto a plate. "Do you want some breakfast or not?"

Marshall contemplated for a second, but the smell of the eggs reached his nose and his stomach made the decision for him. "I guess."

AJ pulled another plate out of the cabinet and dumped half the eggs on it. Picking both plates up, he made his way to the table and set them down. He eyed his JD on the counter for a minute, but decided against picking it up. He was going to prove to both Marshall and himself that he could stop anytime, and he was going to start by not drinking while he ate his breakfast.

Marshall watched him glance at the bottle longingly and was pleasantly surprised when AJ didn't go over to get it. Turning to the refrigerator, he opened it and asked over his shoulder, "Want some orange juice?"

AJ looked up, his eyes involuntarily pausing on the JD again, before fully turning to Marshall. He realized suddenly he hadn't had anything else to drink besides alcohol since he'd started drinking again.

Nodding his head, he said, "Yeah, sure."

Marshall caught AJ's quick glance at the bottle. His stomach sank a little. He had a feeling AJ's self-imposed break from alcohol was going to be short lived. He grabbed the juice and two glasses and headed back to the table, sitting across from AJ.

For long minutes, AJ pushed the eggs around his plate as Marshall watched him. Grabbing his juice, he downed it in almost one gulp, thinking how much better it would taste with some vodka mixed in. He frowned at the direction his thoughts kept taking and poured himself another glass of orange juice, downing that too.

Ten minutes and two more glassfuls of juice later, AJ was still pushing his eggs around his plate, taking an odd bite here and there and glancing over at the JD on the counter. Marshall watched him, knowing all too well the struggle he was going through right then. He continued to watch as AJ lifted a forkful of eggs to his mouth. His fork was shaking. Actually, the hand that was holding the fork was shaking.

AJ fought to control his shaking hand as he lifted it to his mouth. When some of the eggs fell off his fork just as it reached his lips, he snapped. He could feel Marshall watching him and he was aching to grab his JD and take a long pull off it.

Slamming down his fork, he shot up out of his chair, knocking it over as he mumbled, "Fuck this."

Marshall remained silent as he watched AJ stalk over to his bottle, grab it, and turn toward him as if challenging him to say something. When Marshall didn't, AJ lifted the bottle to his lips defiantly and took a long drink before lowering it from his mouth and walking out of the room with it.

Marshall heard the sliding glass door to the back yard slam shut a minute later and sighed, pushing his plate away. He looked at his phone for a minute before making his decision. His long standing rule of not getting involved in his friend's problems was about to be broken wide fucking open.

Half an hour later, Marshall found AJ out in the back yard where he'd expected him to be. What he didn't expect was how he found him. AJ was laying on his back staring up at the sky with his sunglasses on, mere inches from the edge of the deep end of the pool. The bottle of JD was laying in the grass nearby, turned on its side, JD soaking into the grass. His socks were off and one foot was tapping against the surface of the water, kicking up little droplets into the air and making ripples on the surface.

Marshall walked over to him, standing over him and snapping, "Get up."

AJ glanced at him before turning his sunglass covered gaze back to the clear blue sky. "Fuck you. I'm comfortable."

"You're lying on the fucking cement. How can that be comfortable?" Marshall reasoned.

AJ shrugged. Marshall was right, but he felt like being stubborn. He'd come out here intending on getting blasted again, but the alcohol had just left a bitter taste in his mouth as he thought about the disappointed expression on Marshall's face minutes earlier in the house. He'd ended up dumping the rest of the booze in the grass, then dropping the bottle there too.

"Just is." He said defiantly, cringing inwardly at how child-like that comment was.

"Get up." Marshall repeated sharply.

"Go away." AJ retorted.

Marshall crossed his arms over his chest. "Not until you come somewhere with me."

That piqued AJ's curiosity, and he glanced over at Marshall again. "Where?"

"It's a surprise."

AJ looked away again, focusing on a lone cloud that was sailing slowly across the sky. "Fuck surprises. Don't like 'em."

"Get up, or I'm going to get you up." Marshall warned.

AJ looked back at him again, studying his expression for a moment before asking, "You're serious?"

Marshall nodded. "As Britney Spears about being a virgin."

AJ fought back a chuckle as he struggled to stand, not quite making it in his slightly drunk state. "Fuck, that is serious."

Marshall rolled his eyes as AJ fell back and knocked his head on the cement.

"Ouch. Mother fucker that hurts!" AJ exclaimed.

"Take my hand." Marshall said, holding out his hand.

AJ reached out his hand and grabbed onto Marshall's, using it to pull himself up. Marshall braced himself as AJ pulled on him. Finally AJ was standing and Marshall relaxed his stance.

AJ started to let go of Marshall, but the alcohol he'd already ingested that morning, mixed with the fact that he'd been laying out in the heat of the sun in a sweatshirt and sweatpants made him dizzy and he grabbed onto him for support. Vaguely, he felt Marshall loose his balance and heard him swear, then they were both falling.

AJ barely had time to suck in a deep breath before they hit the water with a loud splash. AJ felt himself go under and in his drunk state, couldn't seem to get back to the top. He struggled and struggled, but the material of his oversized sweat suit just seemed to soak up water and weigh down on him.

A second after they hit, Marshall reached the surface. He waited a few seconds for AJ to come up, but when he didn't he turned in a circle to locate him. His heart stopped at what he saw. They were in the deep end and AJ was about ten feet from him, underwater, clearly struggling to get to the top but unable to.

Marshall started to swim toward him, but his baggy clothes made it difficult. Without a second's hesitation, he yanked his wet shirt over his head and undid his jeans, wiggling them down his legs. He kicked free and started off again toward AJ, who was still underwater and struggling and somehow heading toward the middle of the pool.

He got to him a second later, and managed to pull AJ to the surface. AJ grabbed a hold of him, holding onto his shoulders as he sucked in large gulpfuls of air.

After a second, he gasped, "My pants…stuck…can't swim…"

Marshall looked down and saw AJ's pants half off and tangled around his legs. Wrapping one arm around AJ's waist, he reached down with the other hand and tried to pull them free. It didn't work though, and after a minute, he stopped.

"I have to let you go so I can use both hands."

AJ shook his head violently. "No."

"Alex, I can't haul you all the way back to the edge like this. You're dead weight, and fuck, you're bigger than me." Marshall reasoned.

AJ knew he was right, but he didn't want to go under again, and he knew that's what was going to happen when he let go of Marshall.

Marshall watched the indecision in his eyes and said, "Trust me."

AJ looked into his eyes for a long moment, then nodded slowly, letting go of Marshall and taking a deep breath. Marshall took a deep breath too and dived under the water to work on his pants.

AJ felt himself go back under and fought his urge to panic. Instead, while Marshall worked on his pants, he pulled at his sweatshirt, managing to get it off at the same time Marshall got his pants off.

He started to kick toward the surface, but before he got there, he felt Marshall's arms around him, pulling him with him. They broke the surface at the same time, gasping for air. Instinctively, AJ wrapped his legs around Marshall's waist and his arms around his shoulders, holding on for dear life.

Marshall stiffened for a second at the way AJ wrapped himself around him, but relaxed a little, treading water as AJ leaned his forehead against his and mumbled a thank you.

"Welcome. Let's get out of here."

AJ nodded, but didn't move. Marshall chuckled. "Alex, I can't swim with you doing your imitation of cling wrap."

AJ started to chuckle too, but then their eyes met and the laughter died on both their lips. AJ stopped breathing as Marshall leaned toward him. When Marshall's lips touched his, AJ's heart all but stopped. It was the first time Marshall had initiated anything sexual, and AJ was worried that maybe he was hallucinating.

The first tentative touch of Marshall's tongue to his lips dissuaded him of that notion though and he opened his mouth to him willingly. Quickly, they were engaged in a deep kiss, tongues tasting and licking, hands roaming. AJ slid his hands up and down Marshall's wet back as Marshall's hands found their way to AJ's ass.

AJ moaned into Marshall's mouth at the contact, lost in the moment. Right then Kevin and what he'd tried to do to him was the furthest thing from his mind. He rubbed his boxer-clad erection against Marshall's stomach and was rewarded by a throaty moan from the older man. As they continued to kiss and touch, Marshall leaned back, and soon AJ was almost lying on top of him as Marshall floated on his back and kicked his legs, moving them toward the shallow end of the pool despite his earlier protests that he couldn't swim holding him.

Once there, Marshall straightened and stood and AJ started to lower his legs. As he did so, he slipped down slightly and suddenly his erection wasn't against Marshall's stomach, it was against Marshall's own very prominent erection. AJ pulled his mouth away from the other man's and stared into his eyes.

Marshall stared back and squeezed AJ's butt, pulling him tighter against him and grinding their cocks together. AJ's head dropped back and he moan, rotating his hips against Marshall's. Marshall licked his lips and leaned in, licking a line up the side of AJ's neck, toward his jaw.

"Shit." AJ mumbled.

Marshall ground his hips into AJ's even harder, loving how abandoned AJ was in his arms. He wanted more. He couldn't fight it anymore, was through denying it. He wanted all of him and he wanted it right then. He wanted to bury himself deep inside AJ and make him scream his name in pleasure.

AJ held on tight as Marshall continued to grind into him. He shuddered as Marshall licked and nipped his way to his ear, then captured his ear in between his teeth.

Marshall let go of AJ's earlobe and mumbled against his ear, "God you're so hot when you're all turned on."

AJ tensed immediately. That was what Kevin had said to him that night. Suddenly, the whole thing slammed back into his head and he frantically started pushing at Marshall, suddenly feeling trapped and panicked.

Marshall felt the change immediately and let go, watching as AJ stumbled backwards in the water, fear in his eyes. Marshall cursed himself. He shouldn't have done that, for more reasons than one. First, it was too soon after what Kevin had done to him, and second, he'd just come on to a guy. A fucking guy…with a dick, just like him. What the fuck had he been thinking? He decided he must be loosing his mind.

"Fuck. I shouldn't have…" Marshall started, wanting to reassure AJ that he didn't need to be scared of him.

AJ swallowed hard, his heart slowing its rapid beat as he realized Marshall wasn't going to force him into anything.

Interrupting, he said, "Not your fault. I shouldn't have led you on that way." He was thinking more about the night with Kevin, when he'd made out with him before changing his mind and saying no, but right then that and what had just happened with Marshall seemed to blend together, no matter how much he wanted to separate them in his head.

"You didn't…" Marshall started.

AJ interrupted again. "Yeah, I did."

Marshall tried again. "We just got caught up in the moment. That's it."

AJ shrugged and looked everywhere but at Marshall. "Well, whatever it was, it's done, right?"

"Yeah." Marshall said, not sure why that bothered him so much. He should be glad AJ had backed off, otherwise he might have had sex with him right there in the pool.

AJ nodded and headed for the steps to get out of the pool. "Good."

Marshall watched him climb out and head soaking wet toward the house. "Where are you going?"

AJ stopped by the sliding glass door and reached down, wringing as much of the water out of his boxers as possible. "Thirsty. Need something to drink."

Marshall started out of the pool, but before he could respond, AJ had disappeared inside. Marshall sighed, looking at the door, then looking back at the pool and their clothes laying at the bottom. He'd have to get them later.

Heading in after AJ, he found him standing in just his wet boxers, hands braced on the counter, staring at an unopened bottle of booze.

"Don't do it." Marshall said, staring at AJ's back.

Without looking back over his shoulder, AJ asked, "Why do you care anyway?"

"I…I just do." Marshall said, not ready to admit why to himself, let alone the man across the room.

AJ shook his head. "Not good enough."

"It shouldn't have to be. You should not do it for you ." Marshall responded.

"Fuck. Don't lay all that AA shit on me right now." AJ muttered irritably.

"It's not AA shit. It's the truth." Marshall defended.

"It's textbook AA." AJ insisted.

"Wouldn't know, never been to a meeting."

"Oh." AJ pushed away from the counter and reached for the bottle, fingering the top of it.

Marshall swallowed, knowing his next sentence might prove disastrous. "If you do, I want you to leave. I can't watch you do this to yourself anymore."

AJ tensed. He never had been one for ultimatums. Slowly, he opened the bottle and turned to face Marshall, defiance in his expression. Lifting the bottle to his mouth, he paused for a second and stared into Marshall's blue eyes, filled with hurt and disappointment, and suddenly he couldn't do it. He closed his eyes, inhaling the familiar scent of the alcohol. His mouth nearly watered for it, but Marshall's hurt blue eyes were emblazoned in his brain and he just couldn't do it.

Slowly AJ lowered the bottle from his mouth without taking a drink, and reached out, tilting the bottle upside down over the sink as he opened his eyes again and stared at Marshall. They stood that way, staring at each other while the alcohol poured out of the bottle and splashed into the sink, disappearing down the drain.

When it was all gone, AJ set the bottle down and licked his lips. "That was the last of what I bought."

Marshall nodded. "I'm glad."

"What now?" AJ asked, suddenly unsure and nervous. He'd just poured the last of his crutch down the sink and he didn't know what to do next.

"Now we get washed up and dressed. I still have someplace to take you." Marshall said matter-of-factly.

AJ reiterated what he'd said earlier. "I fucking hate surprises."

"Too fucking bad." Marshall retorted before turning on his heal and heading for his bathroom, leaving AJ to glare at his back.


Chapter Thirteen
COMPLICATE ME Contents