Tell Me How To Feel Like We Did When We Were Young
Alex was sick again, sweat trickling down his forehead because of his high fever. His mom wanted to be home with him like she always had when he was little, but she couldn't. When he was a kid she used to make him a steaming hot cup of warm chocolate with whipped cream, marshmallows and cinnamon on top, and she would make him anything he wanted. It usually ended on a slice of toast, or pop tarts.
Sometimes she would even go out and buy him new movies he could watch or a cartoon. Before he had learned to read she would read him the same books as her mother did when she was a kid too. It was nice being just the two of them sometimes. Sure enough Alex's dad felt bad or not being home so much, but they had to get an income from somewhere, and it wasn't an easy task to find a decent job in England. If his mother or father wasn't at home with him his grandmother would come over and babysit him.
When they had moved to America, Baltimore to be exact, things had changed. Alex had to learn how to be independent at a young age and his mother couldn't be at home with her son anymore when he was sick. It sucked, but she had stocked up on cartoons and warm chocolate and marshmallows in the cupboards, so it was fine. It really was. He liked being alone, being able to do whatever he wanted.
When he moved from the private school to a public school in eight grade, he met Jack.
Jack was the complete opposite of Alex, in every way possible.
Alex had blonde hair, Jack had black hair. Jack was tall and skinny and Alex was more of the kid that wasn't fat but had that teeny tiny layer of puppy fat on his stomach, and he was a bit shorter than Jack. Alex liked Bob Marley, Jack liked punk rock. Alex was shy, Jack was loud and didn't really care about what people thought about him. But somehow they had clicked after a while and Jack persuaded Alex to form a tiny band with him.
The band wasn't much, they didn't even have a name. All they did was to cover Blink-182 songs. Of course it sounded shit when Jack barely knew how to play guitar yet and they didn't have a bass player or a drummer. But that's how they spent their days, sitting in their rooms together playing and singing. They liked it, hoped it was something they could do in their future. College and sitting in an office all day didn't sound too tempting to either of them.
With the two man band they became close. Closer than other teenage boys. Some would say it was weird, others cute. The two of them didn't really care about it, because they had each other and they were happy with being just the two of them. Then Rian came along.
Rian with his mop hair and baggy pants. Rian who was a drummer. A great contribution to their band. Rian had joined after Jack had talked him into it, much like he had done with Alex. Only Rian was easier to get into the band because Rian was dying after playing in something else than a marching band. Sure he had learned things about drumming, but it was boring and he didn't get to play the things he wanted to. When Jack told him they covered Blink for the most, Rian agreed on the second.
After around a month of being just the three of them, Ben, a close friend of them told them about this guy who knew who played bass. Zack was his name. He didn't go to their school, but he sounded like a nice kid, so Jack decided to hit him up on the Internet and Zack didn't want to at first because he had to think about school. He was already hanging in a thin line with his parents about his grades, but eventually agreed.
'You don't need the grades when we become big,' Jack had said and Zack had just shook his head, because really? How many garage bands actually make it out in the real world? Let alone a cover band. But he had agreed nonetheless.
They had a blast doing what they loved, and they actually got to play a few local shows and it was all so nice. That was until Jack and Alex had been laying in Alex's bed with a bottle of beer each. They had arrived back from a friends birthday party, being way too drunk than what would be considered healthy.
Jack's breath had been warm and moist over Alex's dry lips. His eyes had searched for Alex's hazel orbs, calloused fingertips stroking carefully down Alex's jawbone before pulling him closer. He had brushed his nose carefully against Alex's nose, testing the water.
'We just had our first Eskimo kiss,' he laughed, still not moving his face away.
Alex just smiled, shutting the tiny space between them. It felt good, and most of all it felt right. Like this was what he was meant to do. It felt like their lips were made for each other, as cliche as it was. Alex's hand had rested on Jack's hip, and the room that before was freezing because of the A&C was now warm.
'We just had our first kiss,' Alex smiled, laying himself closer to Jack, his head resting on his tiny chest. As he places the bottle of beer on his nightstand he couldn't help but worry how it would affect their friendship in the morning. A thousand questions he knew would give him a head ache in the morning were circulating through his brain.
Would Jack be angry at him? Would Jack avoid him? The questions kept him awake, but soon he drifted off to sleep, listening to Jack's steady breathing and even heartbeats.
They woke up in the morning in a position that made Alex's hand hurt. Wondering what it could be he noticed he was laying on his stomach and his rm was splayed out on his right side, Jack laying on top of it.
'Jack, get off,' he mumbled, trying to wriggle his hand out, but it just caused it too much pain because his arm was already sleeping.
'Tired,' Jack mumbled, turning to face Alex. His eyes were still tired, his hair falling in front of his eyes, and as cliche as it was, he looked perfect. It was definitely something Alex could wake up to every day.
'You're hurting me, Jacky,' Alex whispered, nudging him with his leg.
'Sorry,' he mumbled back, getting off Alex's arm. It felt really good to get the blood back in his arm again, and as Jack scratched his head, clearly thinking about yesterday Alex got nauseous. He leaped out of the bed, ran into the bathroom and threw himself over the toilet bowl, getting rid of everything from yesterday.
Jack came into the bathroom quickly after, wearing one of Alex's t-shirts. He found a towel and wet it with water at the end, wiping Alex's forehead first, then around his mouth.
'You should shower,' Jack said, helping Alex up from the floor when he was done. 'I have to shower after you so don't use up all the warm water,' he said, walking out of the bathroom.
'Last night was nice, Lex,' Jack said when Alex had made himself some toast.
'I-it was,' he stammered back.
'I don't mean the party, Lex. I mean that the kiss was nice,' he said, avoiding Alex's gaze.
Alex nodded, not really knowing what to say, but settled for an agreeing yes.
*
And that was basically how their little tradition started. The tradition being one of them skipping school when the other was sick. Small kisses being shared under the blankets, while they watched crappy re-runs of shows from the eighties. Sometimes Jack would bring Home Alone and he would talk about how nice it would be if the two of them bough the Home Alone house and lived there together.
'J-just the two of us?' Alex had asked.
'Maybe a dog or two, but yes, just the two of us,' he had answered and kissed Alex. That was one of the best memories Alex had with Jack. When it was just the two of them, not having to share him with thousands of others.
Although no one had seen it coming they had made it in the real world. All Time Low, as they had called their band, had a record deal. They had given out EP's, CD's and DVD's. They had fans. They had other listeners than their parents. It was amazing. They did an amazing job every night they played a show. They gave all of themselves in every show, making each show a memory the fans would never forget.
And with the fame and fans came the groupies. With the groupies came the offers, naturally, and when you're on tour it tends to get lonely and especially when there's alcohol in the picture the temptation can be too much. But as the band became bigger they realized that they couldn't keep going as they did. They had a responsibility, not only to themselves, but also to the fans.
They had to prove themselves to be worthy, if you can put it that way. They had to prove that they were serious, and sleeping around with random girls didn't exactly prove that they were serious about it.
When they started touring they started off in a van. It was hard cuddling when they were tired. It was hard being the two of them on their own. It was hard doing anything without getting caught, so more than one time they had to hide in bathroom stalls at random junk food places. That was their special time. Making out in a bathroom stall.
When they finally got to upgrade to a bus things got easier. Bunks, meaning they could sleep well without waking up every fifth minute because of someone else was nice. Bunks meant more privacy, which meant more Alex and Jack time. There they could be in peace, doing whatever. Almost.
Alex used to think about those times when he got sick after a tour had ended. It was like finally when his body could relax he would get sick. And at the second day back from tour when Jack had gotten some sleep in his own bed he would bring over pizza, soda and movies. He never brought new movies, he always brought movies they had watched about a hundred times before together, being able to recite almost everything to perfection.
Today was no difference. The tour had ended two days ago and Alex was laying on his parents couch, watching reruns of Cops when the doorbell finally rang. Alex didn't bother to open the door because Jack knew that he could just walk in there like he lived there himself. Which he did very much.
He walked into the living room, seeing Alex having his own pity party with a bag of chips and an old cartoon magazine.
'Hey,' Jack grinned and pressed a kiss to Alex's tiny lips. 'You look really sick today,' he sighed, sitting down next to Alex's stomach.
'Yeah, I feel sick too,' he smiled back, gesturing for Jack to lay down beside him. Jack just shook his head and walked to put on a movie he had brought and to make them some warm chocolate with whipped cream, marshmallows and cinnamon.
'How's your voice?' he asked when he came back, two cups filled with the steaming drink.
'Shit,' he said, thanking Jack for the cup. 'I'm so scared, Jack,' he said, resting closer to Jack.
'Hey, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. You're my Alex and you always get through stuff like this without a scratch,' he smiled, kissing Alex's cheek affectionately. Even after all these years even the slightest touch from Jack would send chills down his spine and butterflies would erupt in his stomach.
'Right,' Alex nodded, not quite believing it, but he decided that he wouldn't argue with Jack or worry him unnecessarily, so he kept quiet, watching the movie that was playing.
'I love you,' Alex said fast, not quite getting where the sudden courage came from. They had said 'love you' when they had talked on the phone and on stage, but never like this. Never when they've been intimate.
'W-what did you say?' Jack asked, positioning himself so he was looking at Alex. His face was colored a deep red, and his eyes were glistening.
'I said... I said I love you.'
'That's good, 'cause I love you too,' Jack smiled, pressing his lips to Alex's.
'So, what about that toast?' Alex grinned.
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A/N: If you read all this, congratulations. Leave a comment k thanks ily bye youre perf and all that for commenting and reading it! :)