[ a traffic jam when you're already late ]
by kHo

It started off as a fight. Of course it started off as a fight. That´s what they do. They fight. They fight every minute of every day, all the time. They have since they met. Nothing´s changed.

Except today is one of those days. It´s one of ‘those days´ for George.

One of those days where he woke up ten minutes later than he meant to which meant he had to multitask in the shower, which meant that his daily jerk off session was of course interrupted by Izzie walking in and sitting on the toilet, and sure, yeah, any other guy would´ve found that even sexier, sort of voyeuristic, kind of hot, to have a woman in there prattling on about her worries over the drone of the shower, his hand on his cock and so close, so close to coming, but this is George. George is not that guy.

One of those days where his hair was being extra flat, and yeah, so what if guys didn´t worry about stuff like that, George did. One of those days where he stubbed his toe not once, not even twice, but three times on his way to find his shoes, which had somehow wound up in the living room despite the fact that he could´ve sworn he´d gone straight up to his room as soon as he´d gotten home last night.

Where it really starts though is with rounds, where Alex, Alex, answers the questions before George can and it leaves George feeling like the world is just going to suck today and there´s no way out of it, not one single way. It´s just going to suck, upside down, sideways, and forwards. The first sign of World Suckage, George has decided, is Alex smirking and asking him if he´s on the rag, because he seems to be ‘extra bitchy´ today.

He thinks maybe he can just keep his head down and bide his time until the day´s over because he´s on rounds with Bailey and Alex is with McVomit, which is just, wow, so fitting, but no. No. God isn´t on his side today, God isn´t even neutral today, because Alex is around just about every corner George turns around with at least three snarky things to say for every breath George takes.

His patients hate him today, Bailey hates him today, and Izzie´s pissed at him because he wasn´t understanding enough this morning while he was taking a shower and he can´t even explain to her that it´s because blue balls hurt, Izzie, because, well. Everybody does it and Izzie says she´s okay if everybody talks about it, but George wasn´t raised like that. George was raised that certain things you keep to yourself, and your masturbation habits? That´s one of them.

By the time he´s halfway through his twelfth hour he´s almost wishing for a bomb to go off, again, which is just sick enough to make him hate himself even more than he hates Alex Karev.

Sheppard is making moony eyes at Meredith and Meredith is making them back. Callie is completely ignoring him, which is better than glaring at him he thinks, but only just. Addison has a pinched look on her face that makes George want to feel sorry for her except he can´t because that´s betraying Meredith, which is just patently unfair because George can´t help where his sympathetic tendencies want to arise.

Christina is looking angry and that´s really no change but she´s not talking to anyone about anything and that is. Burke is looking lost and hurt and angry too but he won´t talk to anyone but Christina and it hurts more than George thinks it should because somewhere along the line he got the idea that Burke wasn´t his boss anymore, he was his friend. Bailey is on the warpath and she hasn´t been like that, at least not this bad, since a long time ago and George knows it´s because of Izzie, and a little teeny part of him hates her for that.

So yeah. It was one of those days. And George? Just isn´t up for Alex and his bullshit.

It happens in the locker room, George slamming his locker shut only to see Alex´s face. It literally takes everything in him to not just raise a fist and sock him one, because George might be the weaker dog here but there´s something to be said for the element of surprise and he´s pretty sure he could step over Alex´s body while he´s still holding his jaw and asking what the hell just happened.

“I´m switching back to Montgomery-Sheppard.’

“Perfect,’ George says, rolling his eyes. “That´s just what I need to hear today. No seriously, that´s the best news ever. I´m so glad.’

Alex grins and God does George hate that smile. “What´s the matter, Bambi? Doctor Bone Breaker still holdin´ her panties up in the air where you can´t reach ‘em?’

George stabs a finger in Alex´s face and hopes today isn´t the day that Alex just decides to break it off. Though honestly, it´s not like it would make his day worse. It´s not possible to make his day worse, and besides, a broken finger might mean he gets to go home. “You shut up about Callie.’

“Forget about Callie,’ Alex says, and his voice dips like it does in the 2% of the time that Alex is actually being decent, and for some reason that just makes George angrier. “Seriously, George. Move on.’

“Oh, God,’ George says, throwing his hands up. “Seriously, Alex, you are the last person I want dating advice from!’

“Well you should,’ Alex yells back, his mouth twisting angrily and George almost laughs because sometimes when his face goes like that he looks like an angry hamster. “You don´t see me walkin´ around like a kicked dog 90% of the time, do you? And do you know why? I man up, and I don´t let it get to me!’

“I have had it up to here with today,’ George mutters, yanking off his shirt and throwing it on the bench, trying to turn his shirt right side out because of course it´s going to be inside out, of course it is. “No, really. I have. I´ve had it with the doctors, and the patients, I´ve had it with Callie, I´ve had it with roommates, I´ve had it with you, I´ve had it! I´ve had it, Alex, and I swear to God, if you don´t--’

“If I don´t what, George,’ Alex asks, putting his hands on George´s shoulders and shoving him a little. “If I don´t get out of your face? If I don´t shut up? What, O´Malley? What are you gonna do?’

“Did you just…’ George shakes his head, because he seriously just can´t believe this. He just can´t believe that this is his life. “Did you just shove me?’

Alex arches his eyebrows and crosses his arms, leaning against the locker. “What of it?’

George shakes his head, raising a hand to scrub at his face. “This is what you do, isn´t it? When you´re having a hard day, or when you´re hating yourself, or whatever feeling it is that you´re actually capable of, you pick fights. Isn´t it? You´re that guy. That guy that goes to a bar not to get drunk but to get into a drunken bar fight.’

Alex shrugs. “It´s better than pissing and moaning all day long like a pussy.’

“Oh, yeah,’ George says, laughing. “Yeah you´re right. It´s completely juvenile and idiotic, but yeah. It´s better.’

Alex´s face pinches. “Did you just call me stupid?’

George rolls his eyes, shoving his arms into his shirt, because screw it. The tag being on the outside is the least of his worries. “Yeah, Alex, that´s totally what I just said.’

He barely has any warning, except for the fact that this is Alex and one should always expect Alex to be aggressive, and by the time his head is poking up out of the neck of his shirt Alex´s hands are around his throat and he´s being shoved into the lockers behind him, his head banging painfully and the loud metallic clang echoing across the room and back.

“Alex, what--’

“Screw you, O´Malley,’ Alex hisses, leaning closer to him and nearly spitting in his face. “Screw you! Maybe I´ve had a hard day too, ya know, maybe I don´t want to put up with your shit either, but there you are, every god damn day, glaring at me like I killed your puppy. I didn´t kill it, okay? I didn´t even freakin´ touch your puppy, so what´s with the deathglare?’

George blinks at him. “Are you forgetting that you started this? Because I was just getting dressed.’

“I wanted to go into plastics,’ Alex says, like George didn´t even speak. “I wanted to go into it because of the tits and the ass and the money and the power. Except I get my chance and it turns out the guy´s a complete asshole, I mean just an utter sleazebag, and he´s got me calling the freakin´ DMV for him and making coffee runs, and what does he get called? McSteamy. He gets McSteamy, and I get ass.’ He punches the lockers beside George´s head and it makes George´s ears ring. “Between me and him, and I´m the ass!’

George frowns. “What?’

“Yeah,’ Alex says, his hand loosening slightly on George´s shoulder and somehow it´s turned from threatening into almost friendly and that´s just blowing George´s mind so much he can´t even comprehend it. “But that´s fine. That´s fine. They can call me an ass, and they can call me heartless, but I´m a damn good doctor, and I´m not stupid, and my hands don´t shake. Got it? They don´t shake. I might be an ass, but my hands don´t shake and in surgery? That´s all that matters.’

George shakes his head. “Are you really playing the I´m just misunderstood card?’

Alex´s jaw clenches and George wishes he´d just kept his mouth shut. “I don´t give a damn if anyone understands me, don´t you get that? That´s what I´m saying, George. I´m saying you have to stop giving a damn. You have to stop being so god damned emotional all the time, because when you get emotional you fuck up! You do, I´ve seen you. I answered all of your questions this morning because you were too busy being all goth kid to concentrate.’

“I so would have answered those questions,’ George yells, pushing forward only to have Alex´s hand tighten on his shoulder again. “You attention-hogging conceited ass! Don´t even pretend like that was you trying to be my friend!’

“We´re not friends,’ Alex says slowly, all careful enunciation. “That´s your problem. You want everyone to be your friend, to care about you, to sooth your wounds, but we´re not friends. None of us are friends. We´re competitors. Gladiators, and O´Malley, if you don´t get that you´re the one that´s gonna be bleeding in the middle of the coliseum and all the lions are gonna call you breakfast.’

George starts to spit something back but when he looks into Alex´s eyes he can see something boiling beneath the surface and he thinks somehow this has nothing at all to do with him. The words are tailor made, to George from Alex, but it´s not about him. Not at all. “What´s going on here, exactly?’

Alex´s jaw twitches and he looks away, his fingers flexing on George´s skin as he exhales loudly. “I don´t know. Sometimes you just make me want to… I don´t… I don´t even know.’

“What,’ George asks, and somehow the shit that his day has been has taken a back seat because he´s George freakin´ O´Malley and even if Alex is the king of asses, George still sometimes worries about him. “Do you wanna go somewhere and talk?’

Alex looks up at him sharply, a nasty smirk twisting his mouth. “Talk.’

George rolls his eyes. “Get drunk. I meant get drunk. Find some fratboys to pummel. Whatever.’

Alex laughs. “You. Pummeling fratboys. Please, O´Malley.’

“I don´t know, it just seems like you´re about to explode, and ya know… I´d rather you didn´t break my nose.’

Alex sighs and his fingers loosen again, pick up a pattern on George´s shoulder like he´s smoothing the wrinkles. “I have to ways of coping. Fighting and fucking. Haven´t been doing much of either lately.’

“So then go get laid,’ George says, watching Alex´s face. “It´s not like it´s hard for you.’

Alex looks at him, meeting his eyes like he´s measuring him. “It´s not.’

“Well then, there you go,’ George said, gesturing with his hand, which is trapped between him and Alex. Alex, who is standing a hell of a lot closer to George than he´d realized. “Go out and get laid. And stop being an ass to me.’

“Stop being a pussy,’ Alex says, and normally that would annoy George enough to make him push Alex away, but this is as close to affectionate as he´s ever heard Alex and somehow it makes him smile.

“You know, maybe if you stopped calling me a girl, people would think you were less of an ass,’ he says, relaxing into the locker behind him. “Or, ya know… stopped calling people names in general.’

“Yeah,’ Alex says, his voice catching on something as his eyebrows draw up, setting George´s nerves on edge. His eyes focus on George´s mouth and George has the immediate urge to lick his lips. He just barely stops himself. “You know, maybe you need to get laid too.’

George laughs a shaky breath out. “Yeah. Maybe.’

“Yeah,’ Alex says, leaning forward until his chest is resting against George´s, his eyes finally rising. The heat in them makes George hard on the spot.

George holds in the groan when he feels Alex´s knee work between his legs. “Is this the part where you call me a fag and tell me you always knew I was gay?’

Alex is back to staring at his mouth and George´s cock is really, really not minding. “Just… shut up, O´Malley.’

Alex leans forward like he´s about to kiss him and George freezes because he wants it, he wants it so bad he can´t even breathe. “I´m not sure the locker room is the best place for this,’ he says, and then he blinks, because God, is that really the only objection he´s having? “I mean… what are you doing? Stop. No, seriously, Alex, stop. We can´t do this. We´re not doing this.’

Alex pulls back to look at him and George hates himself for the feeling of regret. “You´re right.’

George lets out a breath he wasn´t aware he was holding. “Right. So. Long day. That´s what we´re gonna call this. It was just… a long day.’

“Not about that,’ Alex says, smirking at him and stepping back, pulling George off of the lockers so quickly he loses his footing and almost falls into Alex. “We´re doing this, but not here.’

Alex walks out of the locker room and George follows only because that´s the way to the exit.

Alex walks to the elevators and George follows only because that´s where he was going anyway.

Alex gets off of the elevator and George follows only because… oh hell.

He´s not even fooling himself anymore.

He follows Alex down the abandoned corridors of a wing that´s not yet finished and he´s been here before, he´s even had this thought before. Not about Alex but about Callie, about Meredith, about bringing them here and having wild dirty sex, because George doesn´t do things like this but he thinks about them.

He´s not expecting it because he´s not here anymore, he´s not inside his body, his brain is still in that locker room, so when Alex spins around and shoves George into the wall and starts kissing him, it´s a complete and total shock to his system and his hands raise to push Alex away but instead pull him forward and he can´t even hold the moan back this time when Alex´s knee brushes his now throbbingly hard cock through the scrub bottoms he hadn´t yet changed out of.

“Yeah,’ Alex says, voice low and throaty and sending a shiver down George´s spine, hand sliding down George´s side to his hip, around and lower to his ass, squeezing and pulling him forward because apparently he can´t get enough contact either, and it´s been years since George has rutted up against somebody in an empty hallway but it´s just as good and hot as he remembers it being.

Everything is fast and furious, just like their bickering is, and George doesn´t even know how long they´ve been doing this when he feels Alex´s hand squeezing him through his pants and he almost comes right then, just from the contact, but he digs his nails into Alex´s side and listens to him hiss and holds on, holds off the orgasm, because he´s been waiting for this release since five this morning and damnit, it´s not gonna be this quick.

“Fuck, O´Malley, the sounds you make,’ Alex says, and his eyes are squeezed shut so it´s okay for George to watch him, watch the way his jaw is clenching, his nostrils flaring as he steadily strokes George through is scrubs, the way his adam´s apple bobs as he swallows thickly.

“Wait,’ George says, thunking his head against the wall, “wait, wait,’ he says, reaching down and sliding his hand to cover Alex´s answering hard-on, laughing when Alex bucks into his hand and lets out a long low growl. “Only fair.’

“God yeah,’ Alex says, pushing into his hand, his own strokes quickening on George, his head lowering to George´s neck, teeth scrapping at his skin. “Yeah, yeah, faster.’

Alex comes first, which George thinks is probably pretty typical, but what he didn´t expect was for Alex to stay with it, to not even falter, pause, to speed up even, mutter encouragements, bite at George´s neck and breathe in his ear and say come on, George, yeah, come for me, he didn´t expect it, didn´t think Alex was the type to make sure his partner got off, but there he was, making George come even though it took another full minute for it to happen.

When it´s over and George can open his eyes again Alex is still there, yet another surprise, and grinning at him. “Huh,’ George says, closing his eyes again and breathing deep. “That was… different.’

“Yeah,’ Alex says, slumping on the wall next to him. “One way to put it.’

They stand there in silence for a few more minutes and Alex says something that makes George laugh.

It´s only later that George realizes that it´s the ultimate irony that at the end of the longest, shittiest day of his life, Alex Karev was the one to finally put a smile on his face.

* in case you're wondering, "McVomit" is Mark Sloane, aka McSteamy, because when the girls dubbed him McSteamy George said "I'm gonna McVomit", and ya know... I think that's what George calls him in his head. LOL.