01
by Mickey
© January 2004

For saturn92103

It seemed way too early for any sort of movement, and especially for any kind of light, but when he cracked one eye open, JC could see a sliver of warm yellow shining from the bathroom. The bed dipped beside him and he made an inquisitive noise, curling around toward the figure sitting beside him, lacing up boots, as far as JC could tell.

"Time 'zit?"

"Four-thirty." Joey pressed a kiss to his forehead, then another to his lips. "Go back to sleep, JC."

He blinked blearily against the waves of sleep still rising over him. "Why're you up?"

"Livestock gotta be fed, man. They don't understand I got a hot guy in my bed." Joey gave him a warm smile and kissed him again before standing up. "Sleep a while longer, okay? I'll wake you up later."

"Mmm." He pulled the covers back up to his chin and closed his eyes, sighing when the light clicked off and the door closed softly, marking Joey's passage.

When he came awake again, it was still dark in the room, just the faint glow from the clock on the bedside table. It read five-forty-three in luminescent green. It wasn't even a decent hour yet, and Joey'd already been up for a couple of hours. JC wondered why anyone would choose this lifestyle. Then he wondered if Joey'd had breakfast...who took care of him, while he was taking care of everything and everyone else? He crawled out of bed and groped around until he found his sweats from the night before. A quick trip to the bathroom helped wake him up a little more, but he staggered a bit as he made his way down the hall to the kitchen - still dark, silent, empty.

JC grinned to himself. He didn't know jack about ranching, and he wasn't a gourmet cook by far, but he could do bacon and eggs and pancakes. He flipped the lights on and got to work, putting a pot of coffee on first, so it would for sure be ready whenever Joey came in.

When Joey blew in about fifteen minutes later, a gust of snowy wind breezing in through the door with him, JC decided it was worth getting up before the crack of dawn, if just for the look on Joey's face, and the toe-curling kiss he got, flavored faintly with coffee and sweeter than any sugar could be.