The Party Scene Has Got The Best Of Me And You (one shot)
Title: The Party Scene Has Got The Best Of Me And You
Author: crashqueen109
Pairing: No pairing, per se. It's just best friends fic between Jack and Alex.
Rating: PG. There's only a couple curse words. That's all.
Warnings: This isn't smut. This is a best friends fic. So if you just want smut, you probably won't like this.
Summary: Life has gotten to be overwhelming for Jack and Alex. They both just need a little comfort.
Disclaimer: I do not own!
A/N: This was spawned by a late night discussion with Gabe about how Alex doesn't look happy anymore. A lot of the things I said in this fic are from our conversation. It's a really sad piece, but I love it more than almost anything I've ever written. I hope you guys will love it as much as I do.
My Tumblr.
Alex hasn’t been happy since… since everything. Since his world fell apart, since his life fell through the cracks.
It’s not just about his brother, although yes, that’s a big part of it. It’s just everything, all the pressure and the constant spotlight and judgment. He knew what he was in for when he signed his first contract, but nothing could have ever prepared him for this. This first night home after tour, laying in bed and listening to Lisa’s steady breathing next to him at four in the morning. He’s been staring at the ceiling since two, and before that he’d been staring at the wall.
As carefully as he can, he gets out of bed, not wanting to wake Lisa. He’s wearing just boxers, and he’s a little cold, so he takes the unused quilt from the end of the bed and wraps it around his shoulders as he takes his phone from the nightstand and makes his way downstairs.
***
Jack has just fallen asleep when his phone vibrates in his jeans pocket, effectively waking him up once more. He blinks at his surroundings, not realizing that, oh, he’s fallen asleep on the couch, still fully clothed.
He pulls his phone from his pocket while rubbing the sleep from his eyes with the back of his other hand. The overhead living room light is still on, so the LCD screen on his phone doesn’t sting as much.
From: Alex
Time: 4:39 a.m.
Message: cant sleep, come over?
He yawns wide and rereads the message, still trying to shake the sleep away. He gets a random image in his mind, of himself sitting in his bed in the middle of the night, grinning in the glow of that LCD screen, rereading all of her text messages, beaming at her hearts and her “XO”s and her cute little pet name for him. One of many images that’s been giving him so much trouble lately, one of many images that’s been causing this weird sleeping pattern.
He’s still fully dressed, so he punches out a quick reply- “be there soon”- and leaves the house on foot. He knows the way by heart, thanks to many nights just like this one back when they were young and stupid and carefree.
***
Alex is sitting on the porch swing with the quilt pulled tight around his body, legs tucked up underneath him, when Jack walks up. Jack gives a small little wave, and Alex scoots over to make room.
The swing creaks with Jack’s added weight, and they both shift a little so the swing doesn’t tip to one side.
And then they just sit there in silence.
Jack starts shivering, so Alex offers him a bit of the quilt. Jack scoots closer, and Alex wraps one side of the quilt around his best friend. Jack’s arm loops around Alex’s waist underneath the blanket, and they are sitting there absorbing each other’s warmth. In silence.
All Alex can think about is, How did we end up this way? He wonders what happened to cause this, to cause this… this sadness. They’re not unhappy by any means. Neither of them are. They have it good, they both know that. But it’s all too much, sometimes, and that’s when you get times like these.
He looks over at Jack. The younger man is just staring into space, eyes blank, but Alex knows he’s thinking of her. Jack hadn’t been in a relationship since high school, and the first adult relationship he had was… not ideal. And the poor guy had given his all, only to have his all crumble at the beginning of tour. He’d held it together for the fans, hell, for the band and crew, too, but Alex can see the sadness behind Jack’s big dark eyes. He knows him well enough.
***
Jack is thinking about her, yes, but he’s also thinking about Alex. He’s noticed lately how his best friend has been kind of… mopey. Yeah, he was probably getting homesick, probably wanting to just wrap up the tour and get back home to his house and his dogs and his own fucking bed.
But it’s more than that. Alex doesn’t even smile anymore. Sure, he smiles, for pictures with fans or for publicity or for whatever. He gives his little half smile, just barely showing teeth, the smile that says “I am expected to smile.” The smile Jack misses, the smile Jack notices has been missing for an indefinite amount of time, is a smile, one that shows all his teeth, one that reaches to his eyes, one that shows actual happiness. Jack can’t pinpoint when that smile disappeared, and it makes him feel like a bit of a failure as far as best friends go. He’d been too wrapped up in his own life, the expectations put upon him to be “the funny one”, and then his relationship with someone he really thought loved him, to even notice that his best friend wasn’t smiling anymore.
Right now, though, right now feels like old times. It feels like when they were in high school and their only worries were girls and grades and whose house they were allowed to practice in. Back when they didn’t give a fuck. Back when there were no fucks to be given.
He’s tucked under this quilt with Alex, arm around the older man’s waist. Alex isn’t wearing a shirt, and his skin is covered in goosebumps.
And then… then Alex makes this sad little noise. It’s almost a cough, but not quite. Jack knows it, though. He knows it too well- the sound of someone’s resolve cracking.
***
Alex knows he is about to cry. He knows it, but he doesn’t want to admit it. He’s not that guy. He doesn’t cry. But he’s going to, and his best friend is going to see it. His best friend is about to see him cry. Isn’t that something guys try to avoid at all costs?
His hand flutters to his face, pressed to his eyes in an attempt to stave off the tears when a choked little sob escapes his throat. And then Jack’s arms are suddenly around him, and Jack is so warm, so warm and… familiar. They’ve both hugged so many people over the years, hell, over the past couple months, but these arms feel right. These arms feel like home.
The tears go back into hiding when Jack hugs him. Alex just wraps his arms around Jack’s torso, thinking idly, “He’s not as bony as he used to be.” He laughs a little at the fact that a thought like that might pop into his mind at a time like this.
“Whatcha laughin’ at?” Jack murmurs, his face half buried against Alex’s bare shoulder.
Alex shakes his head a bit. “Nothing.”
“Oh… ‘kay.”
They sit there in silence once more, arms still wrapped around each other. They’re just sitting there breathing deep, both of them thinking about it all. About how much they’ve been through, and how much they’ve been through together.
***
Jack is the first to clear his throat.
“Hmm?” Alex murmurs.
“Just… I love you, ‘Lex.”
He can’t see Alex’s weak smile, and the teenager in him wants to add “No homo” to the end of his statement. But he knows that Alex knows. They’re band mates, best friends, brothers to the end.
“Love you too, Jack.”
Band mates.
Best friends.
Brothers.
And as the sun comes up and the birds come out to sing, everything feels like it’ll end up okay. One day at a time.
Author: crashqueen109
Pairing: No pairing, per se. It's just best friends fic between Jack and Alex.
Rating: PG. There's only a couple curse words. That's all.
Warnings: This isn't smut. This is a best friends fic. So if you just want smut, you probably won't like this.
Summary: Life has gotten to be overwhelming for Jack and Alex. They both just need a little comfort.
Disclaimer: I do not own!
A/N: This was spawned by a late night discussion with Gabe about how Alex doesn't look happy anymore. A lot of the things I said in this fic are from our conversation. It's a really sad piece, but I love it more than almost anything I've ever written. I hope you guys will love it as much as I do.
My Tumblr.
Alex hasn’t been happy since… since everything. Since his world fell apart, since his life fell through the cracks.
It’s not just about his brother, although yes, that’s a big part of it. It’s just everything, all the pressure and the constant spotlight and judgment. He knew what he was in for when he signed his first contract, but nothing could have ever prepared him for this. This first night home after tour, laying in bed and listening to Lisa’s steady breathing next to him at four in the morning. He’s been staring at the ceiling since two, and before that he’d been staring at the wall.
As carefully as he can, he gets out of bed, not wanting to wake Lisa. He’s wearing just boxers, and he’s a little cold, so he takes the unused quilt from the end of the bed and wraps it around his shoulders as he takes his phone from the nightstand and makes his way downstairs.
***
Jack has just fallen asleep when his phone vibrates in his jeans pocket, effectively waking him up once more. He blinks at his surroundings, not realizing that, oh, he’s fallen asleep on the couch, still fully clothed.
He pulls his phone from his pocket while rubbing the sleep from his eyes with the back of his other hand. The overhead living room light is still on, so the LCD screen on his phone doesn’t sting as much.
From: Alex
Time: 4:39 a.m.
Message: cant sleep, come over?
He yawns wide and rereads the message, still trying to shake the sleep away. He gets a random image in his mind, of himself sitting in his bed in the middle of the night, grinning in the glow of that LCD screen, rereading all of her text messages, beaming at her hearts and her “XO”s and her cute little pet name for him. One of many images that’s been giving him so much trouble lately, one of many images that’s been causing this weird sleeping pattern.
He’s still fully dressed, so he punches out a quick reply- “be there soon”- and leaves the house on foot. He knows the way by heart, thanks to many nights just like this one back when they were young and stupid and carefree.
***
Alex is sitting on the porch swing with the quilt pulled tight around his body, legs tucked up underneath him, when Jack walks up. Jack gives a small little wave, and Alex scoots over to make room.
The swing creaks with Jack’s added weight, and they both shift a little so the swing doesn’t tip to one side.
And then they just sit there in silence.
Jack starts shivering, so Alex offers him a bit of the quilt. Jack scoots closer, and Alex wraps one side of the quilt around his best friend. Jack’s arm loops around Alex’s waist underneath the blanket, and they are sitting there absorbing each other’s warmth. In silence.
All Alex can think about is, How did we end up this way? He wonders what happened to cause this, to cause this… this sadness. They’re not unhappy by any means. Neither of them are. They have it good, they both know that. But it’s all too much, sometimes, and that’s when you get times like these.
He looks over at Jack. The younger man is just staring into space, eyes blank, but Alex knows he’s thinking of her. Jack hadn’t been in a relationship since high school, and the first adult relationship he had was… not ideal. And the poor guy had given his all, only to have his all crumble at the beginning of tour. He’d held it together for the fans, hell, for the band and crew, too, but Alex can see the sadness behind Jack’s big dark eyes. He knows him well enough.
***
Jack is thinking about her, yes, but he’s also thinking about Alex. He’s noticed lately how his best friend has been kind of… mopey. Yeah, he was probably getting homesick, probably wanting to just wrap up the tour and get back home to his house and his dogs and his own fucking bed.
But it’s more than that. Alex doesn’t even smile anymore. Sure, he smiles, for pictures with fans or for publicity or for whatever. He gives his little half smile, just barely showing teeth, the smile that says “I am expected to smile.” The smile Jack misses, the smile Jack notices has been missing for an indefinite amount of time, is a smile, one that shows all his teeth, one that reaches to his eyes, one that shows actual happiness. Jack can’t pinpoint when that smile disappeared, and it makes him feel like a bit of a failure as far as best friends go. He’d been too wrapped up in his own life, the expectations put upon him to be “the funny one”, and then his relationship with someone he really thought loved him, to even notice that his best friend wasn’t smiling anymore.
Right now, though, right now feels like old times. It feels like when they were in high school and their only worries were girls and grades and whose house they were allowed to practice in. Back when they didn’t give a fuck. Back when there were no fucks to be given.
He’s tucked under this quilt with Alex, arm around the older man’s waist. Alex isn’t wearing a shirt, and his skin is covered in goosebumps.
And then… then Alex makes this sad little noise. It’s almost a cough, but not quite. Jack knows it, though. He knows it too well- the sound of someone’s resolve cracking.
***
Alex knows he is about to cry. He knows it, but he doesn’t want to admit it. He’s not that guy. He doesn’t cry. But he’s going to, and his best friend is going to see it. His best friend is about to see him cry. Isn’t that something guys try to avoid at all costs?
His hand flutters to his face, pressed to his eyes in an attempt to stave off the tears when a choked little sob escapes his throat. And then Jack’s arms are suddenly around him, and Jack is so warm, so warm and… familiar. They’ve both hugged so many people over the years, hell, over the past couple months, but these arms feel right. These arms feel like home.
The tears go back into hiding when Jack hugs him. Alex just wraps his arms around Jack’s torso, thinking idly, “He’s not as bony as he used to be.” He laughs a little at the fact that a thought like that might pop into his mind at a time like this.
“Whatcha laughin’ at?” Jack murmurs, his face half buried against Alex’s bare shoulder.
Alex shakes his head a bit. “Nothing.”
“Oh… ‘kay.”
They sit there in silence once more, arms still wrapped around each other. They’re just sitting there breathing deep, both of them thinking about it all. About how much they’ve been through, and how much they’ve been through together.
***
Jack is the first to clear his throat.
“Hmm?” Alex murmurs.
“Just… I love you, ‘Lex.”
He can’t see Alex’s weak smile, and the teenager in him wants to add “No homo” to the end of his statement. But he knows that Alex knows. They’re band mates, best friends, brothers to the end.
“Love you too, Jack.”
Band mates.
Best friends.
Brothers.
And as the sun comes up and the birds come out to sing, everything feels like it’ll end up okay. One day at a time.