Outtake (S/A)
Title: Outtake
Author: emily! fumbledtouchftw
Rating: PG-15
Pairing: Jalex! If the kids don't believe, make them believe~
Summary: Behind the scenes of Straight To DVD. And a few other things, I guess.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the storyline. Except Jack and Alex ARE in love... yeah.
It was a Saturday, and All Time Low had finally had a day off from their hectic life of touring. They were far from home, so Alex had decided they should all go to the local golfing range - not to play golf, merely to ‘drink beer and hit balls at cars on the highway’, as he had stated. Everyone reluctantly agreed, and they had head off towards the town.
Jack remembers that day well. He remembers singing along to N*Sync - who the hell had brought that along? - on the trip to the golf range, windows down and smiles bright. He remembers the way Alex’s honey brown hair had blown in the wind, his eyes scrunched up from smiling so hard, pearly teeth shining as he looked over at Jack. Jack’s heart had melted at the mere sight of him. This boy, who had held his heart for as long as he could remember, would always come first. Sure, the band was a huge part of his life, and the fans, too, but Alex was his everything and more, and nothing could change that.
Jack liked to think they were the perfect couple. Jack and Alex. Alex and Jack. And honestly, Jack could say he was probably the happiest he’s ever been.
-
It’s a few weeks later when they’re looking at all the footage they’ve managed to capture while on tour, when Jack sparks up an idea.
“We should make a DVD!”
Everyone just kind of looks at him blankly, before Vinny starts laughing and Jack automatically pouts. But the idea stays glued in Alex’s mind, and almost every night he would write in his totally manly tour diary. He’d write of ideas, and concert performances, and other wonderful things.
One night, Alex was once again writing, smiling to himself and thinking about all the opportunities that lay ahead of him in that moment. In his own little world, Alex didn’t notice Jack slide into his bunk before he felt the familiar arms wrapping around his thin waist and the warm breath on his neck that sent shivers down his spine every time.
“What’re ya doin’?” Jack says, in all his eloquence. Alex replies with a quiet “nothin’” and continues writing, enjoying the calloused fingers that are slowly rubbing circles into his hip.
It’s quiet for a bit, before Jack pipes up, “These are pretty shitty lyrics Alex. Dunno about you, but I don’t reckon the fans’ll be too happy.”
Alex breaks out into a wolfish grin, before slapping the diary shut and turning to Jack. He’s quick to wrap one hand around his neck, the other moving to tangle into the younger boy’s dark hair, his lips meeting with Jack’s. They kiss for a while, slow and deep, Alex smiling the entire time. He pulls away, giggling at Jack’s groan, before he puts both hands on Jack’s cheeks and begins squishing and squeezing them, making all sorts of horrid faces in a child-like manner. Jack just sits there and takes it, doesn’t even begin to object, because he knows Alex, and while Alex is a 23-year old male, he’s still entirely capable of acting like a 5-year old when he wants to.
They’re quiet for a while, nothing to be heard but the hum of the bus moving and the occasional shout from the front lounge. Alex sighs contentedly, lacing one hand with Jack’s, the other moving to lie across the younger boy’s stomach.
“Oh, they’re not lyrics... Yeah, I don’t know. They’re... ideas? I don’t know... but they’re not lyrics. Yeah. I mean, it’s kind of stupid. You’ll probably just laugh...” Alex stops and smiles a shy smile when he realizes he’s rambling - again - as he watches jack through his fringe.
“Babe, what do you mean? Ideas?”
Alex is quiet for a bit, nervously chewing on the inside of his lip. He’s contemplating whether or not to tell Jack about his idea for a DVD that shows all the crazy shit that they do while on tour, with a live performance and everything. Alex through it was stupid at first, why wouldn’t Jack? Then again, he is your boyfriend... Alex opens his mouth to reply, but before he knows it Jack is speaking frantically, words tumbling from his mouth at a thousand miles a minute.
“Oh my god, you’re not getting a new guitarist, right? Oh god, you’ve been plotting this behind my back and everything! No, you’re dumping me! Shit Alex, I’m sorry I’m not that good in bed, look I’ll get better I just, I’m a hairy Lebanese dude, what did you expect... what the fuck are you laughing at?” Jack looks at Alex, who is practically pissing himself from laughter, trying to understand what the hell is going on.
As Alex calms down, he grabs Jack’s chin, before kissing him, just a simple press of lip on lip, and pulling away. “Kitten, do you honestly think I’d replace you? Not even Rian could replace you in bed,” he states with a wink, “Well, maybe. I’d have to ask Zack.” Which does nothing but earn him a playful slap to the head, before the younger boy takes his hand again, smiling back at him.
“Then what’s up, Lex?”
Alex is hesitant at first; he knows Jack won’t make fun of him, but he still feels a bit ridiculous, writing every night in some dumb journal about something that’s never going to happen. Now or never, he thinks, before gripping Jack’s hand just that bit tighter.
“Well, remember a few weeks ago we went to that golf course? And you suggested we make a DVD?” He’s biting his lip, and Jack lifts a hand to tentatively pull his bottom lip out from under his teeth, before nodding at him, encouraging him to continue. “Well... I think it’s a really good idea. I mean, we could just film shit, like, anything. And then we could have some big performance, too! Like, at New York or something! And we could get our parents to be in it and we could talk about how the band came together and the early days and shit like that.” Jack is quiet, deep in his thoughts, pondering on how crazy Alex really is. They’re not that big, right? Would the record company even approve of it? And he’s not too excited on letting a bunch of people see into their on and off road lives.
“Jack, just think of how happy the fans will be.” And it’s that, that sentence teamed with the complete look of please on Alex’s face, that makes Jack lean down and kiss this beautiful boy next to him, whispering an i’ll talk to Matt about it, which has Alex squealing like a teenage girl and showering Jack with kisses.
-
It’s a week later, a long week full of Alex’s insistent nagging, that Jack finally speaks to Matt about the idea.
He’s on the couch in the back lounge, beer in hand, when Matt walks in holding a box full of “MERCH PROPERTY OF VINNY VEGASSSSS”, apparently. Matt sits the box down, looking at Jack and playing with his lip ring.
“Where’s Loverboy?”
Jack sips at his beer, before informing Matt that Alex has gone with Rian and Zack to get tacos, and after promptly checking his watch, also informs him that they should be back within 10 minutes and that no, they won’t miss the show, for fuck’s sake. Managers, goddamn.
With Alex in his mind, Jack also remembers his deal with the older boy, and how he had promised he’d speak with Matt about his idea as soon as soon he got the chance. Which was probably sometime last week, but Alex didn’t need to know that.
Matt is just about to walk away to continue doing boring manager stuff, when Jack decides that now is probably a good time to mention Alex’s idea to the older male, which is exactly what he does.
Matt listens to the entire thing, wearing the same expression Jack had when he first heard the idea. Matt contemplates the idea, stroking his non-existent beard. Matt, although noting that it’s not exactly the right time to begin thinking of making a DVD for the band he works for, likes the idea. With a quick lemme think about it Matt is gone, leaving Jack sipping on his lukewarm beer, waiting for his boyfriend and bandmates to return back to the bus to break the news to Alex.
-
Roughly two weeks later, the band and crew are stopped at a venue, of which Jack can’t -currently- remember the name of. All that really matters, in the state that Jack’s in right now, with an icy can of beer in his hand and the sun beating down on him, is that he’s content. He’s mostly just pondering on how the show is going to go; considering all the different ways he can make the crowd rowdy just by simply touching Alex.
However, all those simply delicious thoughts disappear when Matt appears in front of Jack, blocking him from the comfortable warmth of the hot summer sun. Jack is quiet, waiting for Matt to speak. When nothing happens, Jack sighs and shuffles around in the sun chair he’s currently sprawled on, almost like it’s a difficult job for him to properly compute, and mutters something along the lines of spit it out or get out of my sun.
“What are we doing, Jack?”
To say that Jack is confused is an understatement. He’s not really too sure where Matt’s going with this, so he answers with the most intelligent answer he thinks possible.
“Uh... we’re touring the world... Playing shows for kids and... stuff. And drinkin’.” He states, with a prompt shake of his beer can and a shaky smile. Okay, so that didn’t come off quite as intelligent as he might have liked, but it helped to get his point across.
Matt sighs, breathes deeply, and sits down Indian-style next to Jack in the ankle-high grass, tossing his very manly clipboard aside.
“No, Jack. For Christ’s sake, what do you want me to do about this DVD thing? Alex hasn’t stopped talking about it for the past week, surely you’d know. Hell, we all know!” Matt declares, lifting the brim of his hat and wiping the sweat collecting there.
Shit, Jack thinks, I totally forgot about that.
Jack blinks down at Matt, taking a moment to absorb his appearance. Docked in a faded Something Corporate shirt, he’s sweaty and exhausted-looking. His hair looks greasy, spiking up in strange directions that can somehow magically be pulled off by the manager. His lip piercing wiggles slightly as Matt nervously fiddles with it, his tongue working to push it backwards and forwards and-
“Did you get a new lip ring?” Jack voices, and hey, that’s not random and completely out of context at all. Jack likes to think he’s good at keeping the same direction for something. Sometimes.
Matt smiles a tight, thin-lipped smirk, his hands moving up to play with the piercing and replace the movement of his tongue. “Yeah actually, a fair while ago though. Surprised you haven’t noticed actually. It’s way more comfortable for me too, y’know? I like it. Wait, Jack! Don’t change the subject! Figure out what we’re gonna do for this DVD, because your pansy boyfriend has done nothing but bitch to me about it.”
Jack frowns slightly at the insult; Alex isn’t a pansy, right? He just... cares a lot about small, insignificant things like hair products and making sure all the shampoos in the house smell like coconut and having two - not three, not one, two - sugars in his coffee and oh my god... his boyfriend is a pansy.
“I don’t know. Just... get your camera out and we’ll film shit backstage and whatever. It’ll be fun, just think about all the stuff we can get on camera. You still have that video from when me and Alex cooked that toast with nothing but deodorant, a coat hanger and a lighter, right?”
“Uh, yeah. Jack I really don’t see how-“
“Use that! Just... Use anything. Anything you think the fans will like. Now hurry up, I’m missing out on precious tanning time.” Jack says, snapping his fingers as Matt walks away, grumbling something that sounds like “stupid guitarist... band, goddamnit... pansies.” And yeah, if Alex is a pansy, then Jack can learn to love that.
-
They’re onstage, playing a small, underground show somewhere in between their hectic touring. Jack’s enjoying tonight - he’s had at least four chances at feeling up Alex onstage, and the crowd is pretty much soaking the whole thing up. It’s also a plus the crowd they’ve managed to score is approximately only 500 people, which Jack likes to think makes playing a show more... intimate. It’s not that he doesn’t enjoy playing to crowds of thousands of people, he’s pretty sure he could do that for the rest of his life (and he really doesn’t plan on stopping just now). It’s just... playing shows like this remind him of the times when he was the one screaming out those lyrics, admiring his idols from the crowd of sweaty teenagers. And yeah, he likes small shows. In fact, he likes his life, a whole fucking lot.
They play Jasey Rae as their last song. Alex sings his heart out, and thanks the crowd as they all run offstage, anticipating the hot showers they’ve waited just about a week for. Zack rip his shirt in two with a guttural roar and Jack... well, he more or less tugs at the material of his own, unable to pull apart even a thread of the garment.
Matt laughs as he catches it all on film. He smiles to himself, thinking maybe this DVD will be worth something. He’s been pondering on the thought of what would be featured in the DVD, and as bemused as he was previously when Jack mentioned it to him, he’s beginning to like the idea more and more. He’s excited about it, really. And, okay, Jack totally owes him a new stuffed Mickey for this because shit, this ain’t gonna be easy, but it’s the least he could do for his four best friends.
-
Everyone is out getting burritos, because Jack has made it apparent that that’s his ‘thing’ now. Except, the only problem is he’s too lazy to force himself all the way to the shop, and instead sends the whole crew over to shout burritos for everyone, in the mere excuse of “great show tonight boys! Burritos all round!”, which leaves Matt grumbling and adding another beloved Disney item to his mind’s list of “things Jack Barakat owes me”.
Not that Alex really chooses to complain, because the words seem to die in his throat as soon as everyone leaves the bus and Jack pins him to the nearest flat surface which... wow, the door to possibly the smallest toilet that ever existed in a bus in existence... ever. It’s a small toilet, okay.
With that immediately pushed out of his thoughts, Alex drags his hands down Jack’s sides, before falling to his hips and gripping tightly to the protruding hipbones he loves so much. Jack’s got a great body, he’ll admit that. He’s got this adorable face, and a drool-worthy trail of hair starting from his navel and leading down to... there. But it’s his hips which practically have Alex on his knees and ready for Jack any second of any day. And really, he should be ashamed, but there’s a song for that, and right now, which Jack’s nimble fingers inching their way towards the button of his jeans, he really couldn’t give a fuck.
They end up fucking right there, with Alex’s back slick and sweaty, pushed up against the toilet door, Jack riding out his orgasm and Alex collapsing against him. After cleaning himself up, Alex pulls back and smiles up at the darker haired boy, before pressing a chaste kiss to his lips, which - in Jacks’ opinion - ends far too quickly, and Jack allows himself to be dragged into Alex’s bunk, where they curl into each other and fall asleep to the sound of each other’s breathing and the feeling of calloused fingers rubbing circles into jutting hipbones.
-
The rest of the band and crew return an hour later, burritos in hand and slightly tipsy. After countless attempts to unlock the bus’s front door, Matt walks in, mumbling something about “fricken’ burritos and he’s not even awake” which Rian would laugh at, had he been not so incredibly drunk right now. He moves to Jack’s bunk, prepared to throw open the curtain, and with it, the wrapped meal into the boy’s face, when he realizes the younger boy was nowhere to be found.
Confused, Rian stands up straight, thinking hard about where Jack might be. Alex’s bunk, he whispers with bright eyes, and if it this were a cartoon, there would be a shining light bulb floating above Rian’s head right now. Before he has any more time to ponder on the thought of cartoons and other wondrous things, he moves to Alex’s bunk with a slight giggle and more than a few hiccups, sliding the curtain back and... oh.
oh.
Rian is drunk. He’s had more than “just a few”, that’s for sure, and there’s no denying he won’t wake up with a pounding headache begging for painkillers which Matt no doubt - the little bitch he is - will bring to him.
However, Rian is not drunk enough to not understand the scene before his eyes. And he seems to sober up defiantly as he takes in the naked form of his two best friends curled up together, sharing a bunk. In his still ever-present drunk state, Rian coaxes Matt’s video camera from him, claiming he needs it for “DVD purposes”, to which Matt replies with “I really don’t give a shit, just don’t break it, and let me sleep.”
And wow, Rian is just soooo fucking funny when he’s drunk, he really is. He’s trying his best not to snicker and giggle and ultimately just laugh out loud as he films his two best friends while they sleep. And honestly, he was going to stop when the idea began to get boring and just straight-up creepy, but then Alex shifted so he was facing the camera, and let out this small little sigh and another noise that Rian would like to call a moan, but he wants to at least fall asleep tonight with his sexuality in one place. However, he couldn’t seem to put down the camera when the singer began moving his legs, his hips rutting against the mattress with his mouth slightly open, emitting small whimpers. It’s then that something in Rian’s head clicks, and he’s shutting off the camera and stuffing it back into Matt’s duffle bag, leaving Alex to finish off with his... sex dream while he situates himself in the front lounge of the bus, sharing a pack of Doritos with a hardly-awake Zack and watching Rocko’s Modern Life.
-
Roughly 3 months later, Matt is back home, curled into his couch with an ice tea in his left hand. His other hand is currently moving in all directions as it toils with the touch pad of his Mac. He’s making a few changes with the DVD, and while there are a million other things he could be doing right now, he feels like he owes it to the boys to get this done, not to mention that all those other jobs involve him getting off this couch, something which he’s not too fond of in this moment.
It’s when he’s looking through all the videos captured on his camera during the tour a few months back when something catches his eye; something he hasn’t seen before, and definitely not something he filmed.
Curiosity gets the better of him, and he double clicks the small, frozen photo. He waits as the laptop slowly loads the video, the small spinning rainbow taunting him until a new window appears and an image of a sleeping Alex Gaskarth is suddenly filling his screen. Matt is about to delete it until he hears the almost-girly giggles coming from behind the camera, and he fights the urge to laugh when he remembers the night this happened. When Rian had asked him for his video camera and Matt had agreed under any circumstance that he could just sleep. However, the strangest part isn’t the fact that this isn’t his video, in reality, nor is it the fact that this is just a video one of one of his best friends filming yet another one of his best friends. No, the weirdest part is the subject of the video. It’s Alex, which would normally not stand out so much to the manager considering he sees him and has to put up with his whinging/bitching/moaning almost every other day of the year. It’s what Alex is doing that shocks the older boy so much, and without another word he closes the laptop, grabbing his keys and rushing out the door.
When he arrives at Alex and Jack’s shared house, he walks straight in, knowing that when Alex is home, there is nothing he hates more than having to get off his ass for other people. Alex is a bit of a bitch, Matt has come to realize.
He finds Alex sitting in the lounge room watching Gossip Girl, and the younger boy’s eyes move to Matt, before he’s smiling and greeting the boy. Matt replies with a quick “hey, dude” before something in the corner of his vision moves, and he turns around to see Jack stark naked - apart from a pink frilly apron - cooking breakfast in the kitchen, and it’s in that moment which Matt just kind of wants to die, because he sees enough naked Jack on tour, and said boy in a pink frilly apron is not something he delights himself in seeing. It’s something he believes should be saved for Alex’s eyes and Alex’s eyes only.
Then Matt remembers why he’s here, and he awkwardly shoves his keys into his pocket whilst trying to manoeuvre the laptop into Alex’s arms while the caramel-haired boy watches with a puzzled expression.
“Just turn it on and watch the video.” He says, arms folded across his chest as Jack moves to stand behind his boyfriend, confused also.
Alex pulls the laptop open, stuck for a moment as it asks him for a password. He types in the first word he thinks of, his skilled fingers dancing over the keyboard with practised precision.
“Mickey? Really Matt, that’s your password? Jesus Christ, anyone who knew you could get into this thing.”
“Yeah well... you won’t be laughing when you watch the video. Just hurry up.” He retorts, a faint blush painting his cheeks.
Matt hears the familiar click before both boys are watching the screen with a bemused expression.
“Awwhhhh... Sleeping Alex, Matt that’s adorable!” Jack gushes, before leaning down and placing his arms around Alex’s neck, his chin moving to rest upon his boyfriend’s shoulder.
A few moments later though, Matt hears the distinct sharp intake of breath travel from the laptop speakers, along with the rustle of sheets and a series of giggles from the ‘cameraman’. And then there’s the sound of a breathy moan and the whisper of a “what the fuck”, except Matt looks up when he realizes that it didn’t come from the speaker, that came from Alex, and Alex doesn’t look too pleased as he pauses the video and throws the laptop to the side.
“What the fuck is that? What the fuck made you think it was okay to film me while I fuckin’ slept, dude? That’s fuckin’ weird, what the fu-“
“Alex, Alex! Stop, bro! It wasn’t me! Just calm the fuck down, dude! Just... shut up for a second, a’ight?” Matt says, laughing slightly despite the tension in the air. Jack moves to stand beside Alex, his fingers lacing with the older boy’s in an attempt to calm him down. However, Alex doesn’t seem fazed as he keeps his eyes locked on the manager. Matt would say he kind of looks like he’s about to pounce, really, which would scare the older man if he wasn’t so positive he could break Alex.
“Alex,” Matt says, moving to pick up the laptop and checking for damage. “It wasn’t me, dude. It was Rian. But! Just... don’t get pissed at him, alright? He... he was drunk. Fuck, he was hammered, and he asked to borrow my camera and I honestly thought it was for something involving the DVD. I didn’t realize.”
Alex relaxes and flops back down onto the couch, bringing Jack with him as he runs a hand through his hair.
“That’s so fuckin’... weird. So... it was Rian?” he asks, and Matt shakes his head yes. “Dude... What a dick! He must’ve been absolutely wasted!” And suddenly Alex is smiling and laughing it off, and Matt releases a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “What a cockhead, he is getting so much shit for this!”
And Matt laughs too, because yeah, next time Alex sees Rian, he’s probably gonna get his ass seriously beat, but as long as it’s not Matt’s ass getting beaten, the manager couldn’t care less.
-
Weeks later, and the band are back on tour. Rian and Zack are on the bus playing Xbox, Alex is participating in some kind of hide and seek with about eighteen other bands, and Jack is doing what he does best. And no, that’s not Alex.
He’s seated on a chair out the front of the bus, beer and phone in hand, no doubt tweeting about how drunk he is. Matt sits down next to him, amusing himself with pulling out pieces of grass and knotting them together to make a bracelet.
“Hey Matt?” Jack says, and the older male squints up at the guitarist, bringing a hand up to shield his eyes from the sunlight. “Remember a few weeks ago, that whole... video thing? You know, the one with Alex... sleeping.” And Matt smiles at the pause, because it was obvious enough to both of them that Alex was doing more than just ‘sleeping’.
“Yeah, man. Why?”
Jack hesitates, before answering. “You wouldn’t happen to have like, not deleted that... or something.”
“Yeah dude, it’s gone. Alex practically forced me to delete after I had to swear upon my life we were the only 3 that had seen it.”
“... Right.” Jack says, looking back to his drink whilst swirling it around in the glass case, before taking another sip.
“Why?” Matt says again, moving to thread the newly made bracelet around Jack’s wrist with a smirk, because he’s not oblivious enough to not understand why Jack’s all of a sudden curious about the video. It’s not like the two don’t keep him -and everyone else, for that matter - up almost every fricken’ night while they go at it in their bunks. And it’s times like those that make Matt re-think is his job is really worth it.
“Uh... no reason.” Jack replies, fingers carefully plucking the bracelet as he watches Alex sprint past them, with a squealing Pat Kirch not far behind him, screaming “I found you! I found you! You’re in!”
Moments like these make Jack realize just how content and happy he is with his life, and Matt is just about to heave himself off the ground to round up Alex, when he hears a strange ‘eugh’ from beside him, and he turns to see Jack looking down at his phone with a scowl on his face.
“Who the hell is ‘hollymadison123’?”
“Holly Madison? I think she’s like, an ex-playmate or something.” With that, Jack makes another strange grunting sound, before Matt continues. “Great set of tits, too.”
And then Jack laughs, lifting his sunglasses to perch atop his head as he looks down at Matt. “Yeah, and Alex has a great ass.” He says, licking his lips and walking back onto the bus. And Matt decides that rounding up Alex can wait, as he vacates the seat Jack was previously in and watches as Travis Clark attempts to “hide” behind a bush, ultimately scaring the shit out of Alex as he pops up out of nowhere. And yeah, Matt likes to think he’s got a good life, too.
Author: emily! fumbledtouchftw
Rating: PG-15
Pairing: Jalex! If the kids don't believe, make them believe~
Summary: Behind the scenes of Straight To DVD. And a few other things, I guess.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the storyline. Except Jack and Alex ARE in love... yeah.
It was a Saturday, and All Time Low had finally had a day off from their hectic life of touring. They were far from home, so Alex had decided they should all go to the local golfing range - not to play golf, merely to ‘drink beer and hit balls at cars on the highway’, as he had stated. Everyone reluctantly agreed, and they had head off towards the town.
Jack remembers that day well. He remembers singing along to N*Sync - who the hell had brought that along? - on the trip to the golf range, windows down and smiles bright. He remembers the way Alex’s honey brown hair had blown in the wind, his eyes scrunched up from smiling so hard, pearly teeth shining as he looked over at Jack. Jack’s heart had melted at the mere sight of him. This boy, who had held his heart for as long as he could remember, would always come first. Sure, the band was a huge part of his life, and the fans, too, but Alex was his everything and more, and nothing could change that.
Jack liked to think they were the perfect couple. Jack and Alex. Alex and Jack. And honestly, Jack could say he was probably the happiest he’s ever been.
-
It’s a few weeks later when they’re looking at all the footage they’ve managed to capture while on tour, when Jack sparks up an idea.
“We should make a DVD!”
Everyone just kind of looks at him blankly, before Vinny starts laughing and Jack automatically pouts. But the idea stays glued in Alex’s mind, and almost every night he would write in his totally manly tour diary. He’d write of ideas, and concert performances, and other wonderful things.
One night, Alex was once again writing, smiling to himself and thinking about all the opportunities that lay ahead of him in that moment. In his own little world, Alex didn’t notice Jack slide into his bunk before he felt the familiar arms wrapping around his thin waist and the warm breath on his neck that sent shivers down his spine every time.
“What’re ya doin’?” Jack says, in all his eloquence. Alex replies with a quiet “nothin’” and continues writing, enjoying the calloused fingers that are slowly rubbing circles into his hip.
It’s quiet for a bit, before Jack pipes up, “These are pretty shitty lyrics Alex. Dunno about you, but I don’t reckon the fans’ll be too happy.”
Alex breaks out into a wolfish grin, before slapping the diary shut and turning to Jack. He’s quick to wrap one hand around his neck, the other moving to tangle into the younger boy’s dark hair, his lips meeting with Jack’s. They kiss for a while, slow and deep, Alex smiling the entire time. He pulls away, giggling at Jack’s groan, before he puts both hands on Jack’s cheeks and begins squishing and squeezing them, making all sorts of horrid faces in a child-like manner. Jack just sits there and takes it, doesn’t even begin to object, because he knows Alex, and while Alex is a 23-year old male, he’s still entirely capable of acting like a 5-year old when he wants to.
They’re quiet for a while, nothing to be heard but the hum of the bus moving and the occasional shout from the front lounge. Alex sighs contentedly, lacing one hand with Jack’s, the other moving to lie across the younger boy’s stomach.
“Oh, they’re not lyrics... Yeah, I don’t know. They’re... ideas? I don’t know... but they’re not lyrics. Yeah. I mean, it’s kind of stupid. You’ll probably just laugh...” Alex stops and smiles a shy smile when he realizes he’s rambling - again - as he watches jack through his fringe.
“Babe, what do you mean? Ideas?”
Alex is quiet for a bit, nervously chewing on the inside of his lip. He’s contemplating whether or not to tell Jack about his idea for a DVD that shows all the crazy shit that they do while on tour, with a live performance and everything. Alex through it was stupid at first, why wouldn’t Jack? Then again, he is your boyfriend... Alex opens his mouth to reply, but before he knows it Jack is speaking frantically, words tumbling from his mouth at a thousand miles a minute.
“Oh my god, you’re not getting a new guitarist, right? Oh god, you’ve been plotting this behind my back and everything! No, you’re dumping me! Shit Alex, I’m sorry I’m not that good in bed, look I’ll get better I just, I’m a hairy Lebanese dude, what did you expect... what the fuck are you laughing at?” Jack looks at Alex, who is practically pissing himself from laughter, trying to understand what the hell is going on.
As Alex calms down, he grabs Jack’s chin, before kissing him, just a simple press of lip on lip, and pulling away. “Kitten, do you honestly think I’d replace you? Not even Rian could replace you in bed,” he states with a wink, “Well, maybe. I’d have to ask Zack.” Which does nothing but earn him a playful slap to the head, before the younger boy takes his hand again, smiling back at him.
“Then what’s up, Lex?”
Alex is hesitant at first; he knows Jack won’t make fun of him, but he still feels a bit ridiculous, writing every night in some dumb journal about something that’s never going to happen. Now or never, he thinks, before gripping Jack’s hand just that bit tighter.
“Well, remember a few weeks ago we went to that golf course? And you suggested we make a DVD?” He’s biting his lip, and Jack lifts a hand to tentatively pull his bottom lip out from under his teeth, before nodding at him, encouraging him to continue. “Well... I think it’s a really good idea. I mean, we could just film shit, like, anything. And then we could have some big performance, too! Like, at New York or something! And we could get our parents to be in it and we could talk about how the band came together and the early days and shit like that.” Jack is quiet, deep in his thoughts, pondering on how crazy Alex really is. They’re not that big, right? Would the record company even approve of it? And he’s not too excited on letting a bunch of people see into their on and off road lives.
“Jack, just think of how happy the fans will be.” And it’s that, that sentence teamed with the complete look of please on Alex’s face, that makes Jack lean down and kiss this beautiful boy next to him, whispering an i’ll talk to Matt about it, which has Alex squealing like a teenage girl and showering Jack with kisses.
-
It’s a week later, a long week full of Alex’s insistent nagging, that Jack finally speaks to Matt about the idea.
He’s on the couch in the back lounge, beer in hand, when Matt walks in holding a box full of “MERCH PROPERTY OF VINNY VEGASSSSS”, apparently. Matt sits the box down, looking at Jack and playing with his lip ring.
“Where’s Loverboy?”
Jack sips at his beer, before informing Matt that Alex has gone with Rian and Zack to get tacos, and after promptly checking his watch, also informs him that they should be back within 10 minutes and that no, they won’t miss the show, for fuck’s sake. Managers, goddamn.
With Alex in his mind, Jack also remembers his deal with the older boy, and how he had promised he’d speak with Matt about his idea as soon as soon he got the chance. Which was probably sometime last week, but Alex didn’t need to know that.
Matt is just about to walk away to continue doing boring manager stuff, when Jack decides that now is probably a good time to mention Alex’s idea to the older male, which is exactly what he does.
Matt listens to the entire thing, wearing the same expression Jack had when he first heard the idea. Matt contemplates the idea, stroking his non-existent beard. Matt, although noting that it’s not exactly the right time to begin thinking of making a DVD for the band he works for, likes the idea. With a quick lemme think about it Matt is gone, leaving Jack sipping on his lukewarm beer, waiting for his boyfriend and bandmates to return back to the bus to break the news to Alex.
-
Roughly two weeks later, the band and crew are stopped at a venue, of which Jack can’t -currently- remember the name of. All that really matters, in the state that Jack’s in right now, with an icy can of beer in his hand and the sun beating down on him, is that he’s content. He’s mostly just pondering on how the show is going to go; considering all the different ways he can make the crowd rowdy just by simply touching Alex.
However, all those simply delicious thoughts disappear when Matt appears in front of Jack, blocking him from the comfortable warmth of the hot summer sun. Jack is quiet, waiting for Matt to speak. When nothing happens, Jack sighs and shuffles around in the sun chair he’s currently sprawled on, almost like it’s a difficult job for him to properly compute, and mutters something along the lines of spit it out or get out of my sun.
“What are we doing, Jack?”
To say that Jack is confused is an understatement. He’s not really too sure where Matt’s going with this, so he answers with the most intelligent answer he thinks possible.
“Uh... we’re touring the world... Playing shows for kids and... stuff. And drinkin’.” He states, with a prompt shake of his beer can and a shaky smile. Okay, so that didn’t come off quite as intelligent as he might have liked, but it helped to get his point across.
Matt sighs, breathes deeply, and sits down Indian-style next to Jack in the ankle-high grass, tossing his very manly clipboard aside.
“No, Jack. For Christ’s sake, what do you want me to do about this DVD thing? Alex hasn’t stopped talking about it for the past week, surely you’d know. Hell, we all know!” Matt declares, lifting the brim of his hat and wiping the sweat collecting there.
Shit, Jack thinks, I totally forgot about that.
Jack blinks down at Matt, taking a moment to absorb his appearance. Docked in a faded Something Corporate shirt, he’s sweaty and exhausted-looking. His hair looks greasy, spiking up in strange directions that can somehow magically be pulled off by the manager. His lip piercing wiggles slightly as Matt nervously fiddles with it, his tongue working to push it backwards and forwards and-
“Did you get a new lip ring?” Jack voices, and hey, that’s not random and completely out of context at all. Jack likes to think he’s good at keeping the same direction for something. Sometimes.
Matt smiles a tight, thin-lipped smirk, his hands moving up to play with the piercing and replace the movement of his tongue. “Yeah actually, a fair while ago though. Surprised you haven’t noticed actually. It’s way more comfortable for me too, y’know? I like it. Wait, Jack! Don’t change the subject! Figure out what we’re gonna do for this DVD, because your pansy boyfriend has done nothing but bitch to me about it.”
Jack frowns slightly at the insult; Alex isn’t a pansy, right? He just... cares a lot about small, insignificant things like hair products and making sure all the shampoos in the house smell like coconut and having two - not three, not one, two - sugars in his coffee and oh my god... his boyfriend is a pansy.
“I don’t know. Just... get your camera out and we’ll film shit backstage and whatever. It’ll be fun, just think about all the stuff we can get on camera. You still have that video from when me and Alex cooked that toast with nothing but deodorant, a coat hanger and a lighter, right?”
“Uh, yeah. Jack I really don’t see how-“
“Use that! Just... Use anything. Anything you think the fans will like. Now hurry up, I’m missing out on precious tanning time.” Jack says, snapping his fingers as Matt walks away, grumbling something that sounds like “stupid guitarist... band, goddamnit... pansies.” And yeah, if Alex is a pansy, then Jack can learn to love that.
-
They’re onstage, playing a small, underground show somewhere in between their hectic touring. Jack’s enjoying tonight - he’s had at least four chances at feeling up Alex onstage, and the crowd is pretty much soaking the whole thing up. It’s also a plus the crowd they’ve managed to score is approximately only 500 people, which Jack likes to think makes playing a show more... intimate. It’s not that he doesn’t enjoy playing to crowds of thousands of people, he’s pretty sure he could do that for the rest of his life (and he really doesn’t plan on stopping just now). It’s just... playing shows like this remind him of the times when he was the one screaming out those lyrics, admiring his idols from the crowd of sweaty teenagers. And yeah, he likes small shows. In fact, he likes his life, a whole fucking lot.
They play Jasey Rae as their last song. Alex sings his heart out, and thanks the crowd as they all run offstage, anticipating the hot showers they’ve waited just about a week for. Zack rip his shirt in two with a guttural roar and Jack... well, he more or less tugs at the material of his own, unable to pull apart even a thread of the garment.
Matt laughs as he catches it all on film. He smiles to himself, thinking maybe this DVD will be worth something. He’s been pondering on the thought of what would be featured in the DVD, and as bemused as he was previously when Jack mentioned it to him, he’s beginning to like the idea more and more. He’s excited about it, really. And, okay, Jack totally owes him a new stuffed Mickey for this because shit, this ain’t gonna be easy, but it’s the least he could do for his four best friends.
-
Everyone is out getting burritos, because Jack has made it apparent that that’s his ‘thing’ now. Except, the only problem is he’s too lazy to force himself all the way to the shop, and instead sends the whole crew over to shout burritos for everyone, in the mere excuse of “great show tonight boys! Burritos all round!”, which leaves Matt grumbling and adding another beloved Disney item to his mind’s list of “things Jack Barakat owes me”.
Not that Alex really chooses to complain, because the words seem to die in his throat as soon as everyone leaves the bus and Jack pins him to the nearest flat surface which... wow, the door to possibly the smallest toilet that ever existed in a bus in existence... ever. It’s a small toilet, okay.
With that immediately pushed out of his thoughts, Alex drags his hands down Jack’s sides, before falling to his hips and gripping tightly to the protruding hipbones he loves so much. Jack’s got a great body, he’ll admit that. He’s got this adorable face, and a drool-worthy trail of hair starting from his navel and leading down to... there. But it’s his hips which practically have Alex on his knees and ready for Jack any second of any day. And really, he should be ashamed, but there’s a song for that, and right now, which Jack’s nimble fingers inching their way towards the button of his jeans, he really couldn’t give a fuck.
They end up fucking right there, with Alex’s back slick and sweaty, pushed up against the toilet door, Jack riding out his orgasm and Alex collapsing against him. After cleaning himself up, Alex pulls back and smiles up at the darker haired boy, before pressing a chaste kiss to his lips, which - in Jacks’ opinion - ends far too quickly, and Jack allows himself to be dragged into Alex’s bunk, where they curl into each other and fall asleep to the sound of each other’s breathing and the feeling of calloused fingers rubbing circles into jutting hipbones.
-
The rest of the band and crew return an hour later, burritos in hand and slightly tipsy. After countless attempts to unlock the bus’s front door, Matt walks in, mumbling something about “fricken’ burritos and he’s not even awake” which Rian would laugh at, had he been not so incredibly drunk right now. He moves to Jack’s bunk, prepared to throw open the curtain, and with it, the wrapped meal into the boy’s face, when he realizes the younger boy was nowhere to be found.
Confused, Rian stands up straight, thinking hard about where Jack might be. Alex’s bunk, he whispers with bright eyes, and if it this were a cartoon, there would be a shining light bulb floating above Rian’s head right now. Before he has any more time to ponder on the thought of cartoons and other wondrous things, he moves to Alex’s bunk with a slight giggle and more than a few hiccups, sliding the curtain back and... oh.
oh.
Rian is drunk. He’s had more than “just a few”, that’s for sure, and there’s no denying he won’t wake up with a pounding headache begging for painkillers which Matt no doubt - the little bitch he is - will bring to him.
However, Rian is not drunk enough to not understand the scene before his eyes. And he seems to sober up defiantly as he takes in the naked form of his two best friends curled up together, sharing a bunk. In his still ever-present drunk state, Rian coaxes Matt’s video camera from him, claiming he needs it for “DVD purposes”, to which Matt replies with “I really don’t give a shit, just don’t break it, and let me sleep.”
And wow, Rian is just soooo fucking funny when he’s drunk, he really is. He’s trying his best not to snicker and giggle and ultimately just laugh out loud as he films his two best friends while they sleep. And honestly, he was going to stop when the idea began to get boring and just straight-up creepy, but then Alex shifted so he was facing the camera, and let out this small little sigh and another noise that Rian would like to call a moan, but he wants to at least fall asleep tonight with his sexuality in one place. However, he couldn’t seem to put down the camera when the singer began moving his legs, his hips rutting against the mattress with his mouth slightly open, emitting small whimpers. It’s then that something in Rian’s head clicks, and he’s shutting off the camera and stuffing it back into Matt’s duffle bag, leaving Alex to finish off with his... sex dream while he situates himself in the front lounge of the bus, sharing a pack of Doritos with a hardly-awake Zack and watching Rocko’s Modern Life.
-
Roughly 3 months later, Matt is back home, curled into his couch with an ice tea in his left hand. His other hand is currently moving in all directions as it toils with the touch pad of his Mac. He’s making a few changes with the DVD, and while there are a million other things he could be doing right now, he feels like he owes it to the boys to get this done, not to mention that all those other jobs involve him getting off this couch, something which he’s not too fond of in this moment.
It’s when he’s looking through all the videos captured on his camera during the tour a few months back when something catches his eye; something he hasn’t seen before, and definitely not something he filmed.
Curiosity gets the better of him, and he double clicks the small, frozen photo. He waits as the laptop slowly loads the video, the small spinning rainbow taunting him until a new window appears and an image of a sleeping Alex Gaskarth is suddenly filling his screen. Matt is about to delete it until he hears the almost-girly giggles coming from behind the camera, and he fights the urge to laugh when he remembers the night this happened. When Rian had asked him for his video camera and Matt had agreed under any circumstance that he could just sleep. However, the strangest part isn’t the fact that this isn’t his video, in reality, nor is it the fact that this is just a video one of one of his best friends filming yet another one of his best friends. No, the weirdest part is the subject of the video. It’s Alex, which would normally not stand out so much to the manager considering he sees him and has to put up with his whinging/bitching/moaning almost every other day of the year. It’s what Alex is doing that shocks the older boy so much, and without another word he closes the laptop, grabbing his keys and rushing out the door.
When he arrives at Alex and Jack’s shared house, he walks straight in, knowing that when Alex is home, there is nothing he hates more than having to get off his ass for other people. Alex is a bit of a bitch, Matt has come to realize.
He finds Alex sitting in the lounge room watching Gossip Girl, and the younger boy’s eyes move to Matt, before he’s smiling and greeting the boy. Matt replies with a quick “hey, dude” before something in the corner of his vision moves, and he turns around to see Jack stark naked - apart from a pink frilly apron - cooking breakfast in the kitchen, and it’s in that moment which Matt just kind of wants to die, because he sees enough naked Jack on tour, and said boy in a pink frilly apron is not something he delights himself in seeing. It’s something he believes should be saved for Alex’s eyes and Alex’s eyes only.
Then Matt remembers why he’s here, and he awkwardly shoves his keys into his pocket whilst trying to manoeuvre the laptop into Alex’s arms while the caramel-haired boy watches with a puzzled expression.
“Just turn it on and watch the video.” He says, arms folded across his chest as Jack moves to stand behind his boyfriend, confused also.
Alex pulls the laptop open, stuck for a moment as it asks him for a password. He types in the first word he thinks of, his skilled fingers dancing over the keyboard with practised precision.
“Mickey? Really Matt, that’s your password? Jesus Christ, anyone who knew you could get into this thing.”
“Yeah well... you won’t be laughing when you watch the video. Just hurry up.” He retorts, a faint blush painting his cheeks.
Matt hears the familiar click before both boys are watching the screen with a bemused expression.
“Awwhhhh... Sleeping Alex, Matt that’s adorable!” Jack gushes, before leaning down and placing his arms around Alex’s neck, his chin moving to rest upon his boyfriend’s shoulder.
A few moments later though, Matt hears the distinct sharp intake of breath travel from the laptop speakers, along with the rustle of sheets and a series of giggles from the ‘cameraman’. And then there’s the sound of a breathy moan and the whisper of a “what the fuck”, except Matt looks up when he realizes that it didn’t come from the speaker, that came from Alex, and Alex doesn’t look too pleased as he pauses the video and throws the laptop to the side.
“What the fuck is that? What the fuck made you think it was okay to film me while I fuckin’ slept, dude? That’s fuckin’ weird, what the fu-“
“Alex, Alex! Stop, bro! It wasn’t me! Just calm the fuck down, dude! Just... shut up for a second, a’ight?” Matt says, laughing slightly despite the tension in the air. Jack moves to stand beside Alex, his fingers lacing with the older boy’s in an attempt to calm him down. However, Alex doesn’t seem fazed as he keeps his eyes locked on the manager. Matt would say he kind of looks like he’s about to pounce, really, which would scare the older man if he wasn’t so positive he could break Alex.
“Alex,” Matt says, moving to pick up the laptop and checking for damage. “It wasn’t me, dude. It was Rian. But! Just... don’t get pissed at him, alright? He... he was drunk. Fuck, he was hammered, and he asked to borrow my camera and I honestly thought it was for something involving the DVD. I didn’t realize.”
Alex relaxes and flops back down onto the couch, bringing Jack with him as he runs a hand through his hair.
“That’s so fuckin’... weird. So... it was Rian?” he asks, and Matt shakes his head yes. “Dude... What a dick! He must’ve been absolutely wasted!” And suddenly Alex is smiling and laughing it off, and Matt releases a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “What a cockhead, he is getting so much shit for this!”
And Matt laughs too, because yeah, next time Alex sees Rian, he’s probably gonna get his ass seriously beat, but as long as it’s not Matt’s ass getting beaten, the manager couldn’t care less.
-
Weeks later, and the band are back on tour. Rian and Zack are on the bus playing Xbox, Alex is participating in some kind of hide and seek with about eighteen other bands, and Jack is doing what he does best. And no, that’s not Alex.
He’s seated on a chair out the front of the bus, beer and phone in hand, no doubt tweeting about how drunk he is. Matt sits down next to him, amusing himself with pulling out pieces of grass and knotting them together to make a bracelet.
“Hey Matt?” Jack says, and the older male squints up at the guitarist, bringing a hand up to shield his eyes from the sunlight. “Remember a few weeks ago, that whole... video thing? You know, the one with Alex... sleeping.” And Matt smiles at the pause, because it was obvious enough to both of them that Alex was doing more than just ‘sleeping’.
“Yeah, man. Why?”
Jack hesitates, before answering. “You wouldn’t happen to have like, not deleted that... or something.”
“Yeah dude, it’s gone. Alex practically forced me to delete after I had to swear upon my life we were the only 3 that had seen it.”
“... Right.” Jack says, looking back to his drink whilst swirling it around in the glass case, before taking another sip.
“Why?” Matt says again, moving to thread the newly made bracelet around Jack’s wrist with a smirk, because he’s not oblivious enough to not understand why Jack’s all of a sudden curious about the video. It’s not like the two don’t keep him -and everyone else, for that matter - up almost every fricken’ night while they go at it in their bunks. And it’s times like those that make Matt re-think is his job is really worth it.
“Uh... no reason.” Jack replies, fingers carefully plucking the bracelet as he watches Alex sprint past them, with a squealing Pat Kirch not far behind him, screaming “I found you! I found you! You’re in!”
Moments like these make Jack realize just how content and happy he is with his life, and Matt is just about to heave himself off the ground to round up Alex, when he hears a strange ‘eugh’ from beside him, and he turns to see Jack looking down at his phone with a scowl on his face.
“Who the hell is ‘hollymadison123’?”
“Holly Madison? I think she’s like, an ex-playmate or something.” With that, Jack makes another strange grunting sound, before Matt continues. “Great set of tits, too.”
And then Jack laughs, lifting his sunglasses to perch atop his head as he looks down at Matt. “Yeah, and Alex has a great ass.” He says, licking his lips and walking back onto the bus. And Matt decides that rounding up Alex can wait, as he vacates the seat Jack was previously in and watches as Travis Clark attempts to “hide” behind a bush, ultimately scaring the shit out of Alex as he pops up out of nowhere. And yeah, Matt likes to think he’s got a good life, too.