You've Become What I Hate, Sold Yourself For A Bit Of Fame: Chapter Forty-Four
Summary: Alex has just moved for the last of many times to Dulaney High school. He has decided that this is the year and school that he will try and become "popular" but if that happened would it be a bad thing? And will finding a new friend, that may think of him as more, also affect it?....
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, sadly. Title goes to Bite My Tongue-You Me At Six, Cut goes to Dear Maria, Count Me In-All Time Low
A/N: At the End
Masterpost
Chapter Forty-Four
Alex took a deep breath to calm himself. He needed to seem calm and completely rational if this was going to work.
“You ready, Al?” Max asked him. The blonde gulped and nodded. “Follow me then.”
Alex followed his pretty much uncle with increasing nervousness. He told himself over and over, 'Be cool. Stay calm. Normal people. Gaskarth charm.'
Finally, his uncle got to an average looking door, to an average looking room and knocked on it. A moment later they heard a slightly muffled, yet still insanely recognisable, “Come in!” Alex almost ran away right then because of nerves. But at the last minute told himself no and thought of Jack. Jack was making this all worth while.
~
Jack smiled and looked over at Josh. “I can't believe we're here. We're finally here. We're going to see Blink-182 in a few hours!”
The English boy laughed, looked over at his companion and smiled. He parked his car as quickly as he could, an almost impossible task made no easier with Jack's constant, “Hurry up!!!”'s.
Soon the pair were standing almost first in line for the show. The English boy sat down leaning against the venue. They were going to be there for a while.
The Lebanese boy sat down next to him and then, after what had been about ten minutes of Jack-noise-less silence, he started up his mindless, excited chatter again.
Josh didn't have the heart to tell him to shut up, mostly because now that they were actually sitting in the quickly increasing concert line the excitement was starting to catch up to him as well.
“And, oh, we haveto get a pick or set list or drumstick or something.” He said, eyes bright with excitement.
The other boy then remembered something that he'd promised someone, and spoke up for the first time in a while. “And we definitely have to get to the front. No matter what.”
Jack rolled his eyes, “Of course, Josh. That's kind of a given. I mean, we're first in line and I've got the boniest elbows this side of the states. We're gonna be at the fucking barrier. The band will be sweating on us! It'll be perfect!”
The English boy smiled, “All right, good.”
Jack nodded and continued to fill the silence, spewing out dream set lists, stories of other times he'd seen Blink, and anything at all Blink-182 related.
Josh leaned back against the venue walls. He just really hoped that the hours would go by relatively quickly. And he wished Alex luck.
~
The blonde couldn't believe it had worked. He was shaking, he was in such shock.
He couldn't stop spitting out surprised, “Thank you! Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me!”
Everything had gone absolutely perfect so far. Everything had fallen into place.
Now all he had to do was wait.
~
After a long long wait, and multiple freak outs, Jack and Josh were let into the venue. The Lebanese boy instantly grabbed his companion and pulled him towards the stage. Josh, despite his slight annoyance at being pulled so violently, rushed to the front with him.
He knew Jack thought it was urgent they be there solely to get the best spot of the show, but he knew it was urgent for an entirely different reason.
~
“Jack, I'm just gonna go to the toilet for a minute. Okay?” The English boy said about ten minutes before the first of the two support bands was to go on.
The venue was now almost full, and Josh expected no less from a Blink-182 concert. The older boy just waved at him dismissively and continued with his fixed stare at the stage and his firm grip on the barrier.
Josh rolled his eyes and began to make his way out of the crowd of people that were making it pretty impossible. Finally, after ripping his way through heaps of bodies that were honestly, way too sweaty for fifteen minutes into the first band, Josh made it out of the crowd.
He stood at the edge panting heavily and getting his breath back then made his way to the toilet. He hadn't exactly lied when he told Jack he was going to the toilets. The other boy just didn't know the reason.
Josh went in an attempt at some quiet, and lucky for him the toilet had a much lower general volume than the room full of people.
He got his phone out of his pocket and dialled the right number.
“Hello?” A distracted voice answered.
“Hey, Alex.”
“Josh! Are you here? Is Jack with you? Why is it so quiet? Are you where you should be? Did you get a flat tire or something? Were your tickets-”
The blue-eyed boy, annoyed at the sudden barrage of questions cut him off, “Everything's all right, Alex. That's the reason I called, to tell you. Everything this end is good.”
He heard the blonde sigh, “Good, good. I guess I just want everything to go perfectly, you know?”
Josh nodded and then remembered Alex couldn't see him, “I get it. Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be fine. I should be getting back to Jack now.”
“Yeah. All right. Speak to you whenever, then.”
“Mmhm. Oh, and Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“Good luck.”
There was a slight pause before the blonde spoke again, “Thanks, Josh. And not just for that...you know...for everything. I may have been a bit of a dickhead before and not realised it, but you've been a great friend.”
The younger boy smiled, “Thanks. Now get off the phone!”
Alex laughed, “Way to ruin our moment, Franceschi,” He said, before hanging up.
Josh smiled again, braced himself, and then started the dangerous journey back to Jack.
~
It was now halfway through the concert and Josh and Jack were having the time of their lives. They sang along to every single song, every lyric, every syllable, as loud as they could. They were well aware that their voices would be gone by the end of the night for about a week, but they knew it was worth it. They were completely covered in sweat, only half of it their own and they kept feeling prods and pokes that they knew were going to bruise later on but in their moment of happiness they didn't notice a thing in the way of pain.
Jack kept glancing over at Josh occasionally to check if he was still with him or if he'd been carried away into the crowd. Usually when he did, he saw a mirror image of himself, an ecstatic teenage boy living memories he'd remember for years to come, but randomly Josh would just be standing still looking at the side of the stage or biting his lip.
The Lebanese boy didn't understand Josh's strangeness but he really couldn't be bothered to care. He decided to just ask him about it later.
Soon, after a brilliant rendition of 'I Miss You', in which Jack thought he heard the line 'We can live like Jack and Alex if we want to' rather than Jack and Sally, but figured it was just his imagination, Mark Hoppus started to speak.
“All right, guys, girls, people of any other gender and/or species that may be here tonight, we're gonna take a short break. We're gonna do something a little different. Is that cool with you?”
He paused as the crowd screamed their approval. Jack looked up at one of his favourite band members. He was standing directly in front of him, so close he swore that some of the sweat on him was from the singer.
At his words he looked up in confusion, what could this be? 'Oh well,' he thought, 'It'll be great.' He looked over at Josh and noted that his eyes were wide and bright. The Lebanese boy scrunched his forehead slightly. He turned to the front again as the speaking on stage continued.
“We've got someone who is going to come out and take over for a minute. This is really important to him and to someone else here so he really needs to feel welcome on this stage. Think you can handle that?”
He paused again as the crowd repeated their various screams and screeches.
~
He was nervous. He couldn't believe he was about to do this. He couldn't. There was no way. This was too big. He'd gone too far. This was ridiculous.
He swallowed and bit his lip. He felt like he was going to be sick and his palms were sweating.
He was about to confess his love in front of thousands of strangers. And sing for them. By himself. And he was going to play them a song that he wrote. And he was playing in front of his favourite band of all time, in the middle of their concert.
Yup. He definitely couldn't do this. He peered out into the blurry crowd of faces from his spot at the side of the stage. He couldn't tell one from the other and really, it wouldn't have mattered if he could, it's not like he knew any of them.
Suddenly, like a ghost appearing in the night, one of the faces standing right in front of the band came into focus. The blonde sucked in a breath. Suddenly, he could do this. Suddenly, he wasn't that nervous. Suddenly, he knew that this was the right thing to do.
He heard Mark say something, only catching the last few words, “...our new friend, Alex!”
He gripped his guitar and walked on stage, shaking each of the band member's hands before sitting on the stool placed there for him in advance.
~
The famous singer smiled and said one more thing before walking off stage, “Right, so give it up for our new friend, Alex!”
Jack sucked in a breath. Emerging from the shadows on the left side of the stage was a face that was burned into his brain. A perfect face that froze him in shock. This was the absolute last thing that he'd expected. He couldn't move even if he wanted to, he was completely and totally frozen.
He found that his head seemed to work though and he turned to his right and looked at Josh, he closed the mouth that he noticed had been gaping wide open in shock and then said clearly, with a clenched jaw, “Okay. What is going on?”
xxxxxx
A/N: (;
Right, so I've finished the entire fic, only two chapters after this, Should I post more later today or?
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, sadly. Title goes to Bite My Tongue-You Me At Six, Cut goes to Dear Maria, Count Me In-All Time Low
A/N: At the End
Masterpost
Chapter Forty-Four
Alex took a deep breath to calm himself. He needed to seem calm and completely rational if this was going to work.
“You ready, Al?” Max asked him. The blonde gulped and nodded. “Follow me then.”
Alex followed his pretty much uncle with increasing nervousness. He told himself over and over, 'Be cool. Stay calm. Normal people. Gaskarth charm.'
Finally, his uncle got to an average looking door, to an average looking room and knocked on it. A moment later they heard a slightly muffled, yet still insanely recognisable, “Come in!” Alex almost ran away right then because of nerves. But at the last minute told himself no and thought of Jack. Jack was making this all worth while.
~
Jack smiled and looked over at Josh. “I can't believe we're here. We're finally here. We're going to see Blink-182 in a few hours!”
The English boy laughed, looked over at his companion and smiled. He parked his car as quickly as he could, an almost impossible task made no easier with Jack's constant, “Hurry up!!!”'s.
Soon the pair were standing almost first in line for the show. The English boy sat down leaning against the venue. They were going to be there for a while.
The Lebanese boy sat down next to him and then, after what had been about ten minutes of Jack-noise-less silence, he started up his mindless, excited chatter again.
Josh didn't have the heart to tell him to shut up, mostly because now that they were actually sitting in the quickly increasing concert line the excitement was starting to catch up to him as well.
“And, oh, we haveto get a pick or set list or drumstick or something.” He said, eyes bright with excitement.
The other boy then remembered something that he'd promised someone, and spoke up for the first time in a while. “And we definitely have to get to the front. No matter what.”
Jack rolled his eyes, “Of course, Josh. That's kind of a given. I mean, we're first in line and I've got the boniest elbows this side of the states. We're gonna be at the fucking barrier. The band will be sweating on us! It'll be perfect!”
The English boy smiled, “All right, good.”
Jack nodded and continued to fill the silence, spewing out dream set lists, stories of other times he'd seen Blink, and anything at all Blink-182 related.
Josh leaned back against the venue walls. He just really hoped that the hours would go by relatively quickly. And he wished Alex luck.
~
The blonde couldn't believe it had worked. He was shaking, he was in such shock.
He couldn't stop spitting out surprised, “Thank you! Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me!”
Everything had gone absolutely perfect so far. Everything had fallen into place.
Now all he had to do was wait.
~
After a long long wait, and multiple freak outs, Jack and Josh were let into the venue. The Lebanese boy instantly grabbed his companion and pulled him towards the stage. Josh, despite his slight annoyance at being pulled so violently, rushed to the front with him.
He knew Jack thought it was urgent they be there solely to get the best spot of the show, but he knew it was urgent for an entirely different reason.
~
“Jack, I'm just gonna go to the toilet for a minute. Okay?” The English boy said about ten minutes before the first of the two support bands was to go on.
The venue was now almost full, and Josh expected no less from a Blink-182 concert. The older boy just waved at him dismissively and continued with his fixed stare at the stage and his firm grip on the barrier.
Josh rolled his eyes and began to make his way out of the crowd of people that were making it pretty impossible. Finally, after ripping his way through heaps of bodies that were honestly, way too sweaty for fifteen minutes into the first band, Josh made it out of the crowd.
He stood at the edge panting heavily and getting his breath back then made his way to the toilet. He hadn't exactly lied when he told Jack he was going to the toilets. The other boy just didn't know the reason.
Josh went in an attempt at some quiet, and lucky for him the toilet had a much lower general volume than the room full of people.
He got his phone out of his pocket and dialled the right number.
“Hello?” A distracted voice answered.
“Hey, Alex.”
“Josh! Are you here? Is Jack with you? Why is it so quiet? Are you where you should be? Did you get a flat tire or something? Were your tickets-”
The blue-eyed boy, annoyed at the sudden barrage of questions cut him off, “Everything's all right, Alex. That's the reason I called, to tell you. Everything this end is good.”
He heard the blonde sigh, “Good, good. I guess I just want everything to go perfectly, you know?”
Josh nodded and then remembered Alex couldn't see him, “I get it. Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be fine. I should be getting back to Jack now.”
“Yeah. All right. Speak to you whenever, then.”
“Mmhm. Oh, and Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“Good luck.”
There was a slight pause before the blonde spoke again, “Thanks, Josh. And not just for that...you know...for everything. I may have been a bit of a dickhead before and not realised it, but you've been a great friend.”
The younger boy smiled, “Thanks. Now get off the phone!”
Alex laughed, “Way to ruin our moment, Franceschi,” He said, before hanging up.
Josh smiled again, braced himself, and then started the dangerous journey back to Jack.
~
It was now halfway through the concert and Josh and Jack were having the time of their lives. They sang along to every single song, every lyric, every syllable, as loud as they could. They were well aware that their voices would be gone by the end of the night for about a week, but they knew it was worth it. They were completely covered in sweat, only half of it their own and they kept feeling prods and pokes that they knew were going to bruise later on but in their moment of happiness they didn't notice a thing in the way of pain.
Jack kept glancing over at Josh occasionally to check if he was still with him or if he'd been carried away into the crowd. Usually when he did, he saw a mirror image of himself, an ecstatic teenage boy living memories he'd remember for years to come, but randomly Josh would just be standing still looking at the side of the stage or biting his lip.
The Lebanese boy didn't understand Josh's strangeness but he really couldn't be bothered to care. He decided to just ask him about it later.
Soon, after a brilliant rendition of 'I Miss You', in which Jack thought he heard the line 'We can live like Jack and Alex if we want to' rather than Jack and Sally, but figured it was just his imagination, Mark Hoppus started to speak.
“All right, guys, girls, people of any other gender and/or species that may be here tonight, we're gonna take a short break. We're gonna do something a little different. Is that cool with you?”
He paused as the crowd screamed their approval. Jack looked up at one of his favourite band members. He was standing directly in front of him, so close he swore that some of the sweat on him was from the singer.
At his words he looked up in confusion, what could this be? 'Oh well,' he thought, 'It'll be great.' He looked over at Josh and noted that his eyes were wide and bright. The Lebanese boy scrunched his forehead slightly. He turned to the front again as the speaking on stage continued.
“We've got someone who is going to come out and take over for a minute. This is really important to him and to someone else here so he really needs to feel welcome on this stage. Think you can handle that?”
He paused again as the crowd repeated their various screams and screeches.
~
He was nervous. He couldn't believe he was about to do this. He couldn't. There was no way. This was too big. He'd gone too far. This was ridiculous.
He swallowed and bit his lip. He felt like he was going to be sick and his palms were sweating.
He was about to confess his love in front of thousands of strangers. And sing for them. By himself. And he was going to play them a song that he wrote. And he was playing in front of his favourite band of all time, in the middle of their concert.
Yup. He definitely couldn't do this. He peered out into the blurry crowd of faces from his spot at the side of the stage. He couldn't tell one from the other and really, it wouldn't have mattered if he could, it's not like he knew any of them.
Suddenly, like a ghost appearing in the night, one of the faces standing right in front of the band came into focus. The blonde sucked in a breath. Suddenly, he could do this. Suddenly, he wasn't that nervous. Suddenly, he knew that this was the right thing to do.
He heard Mark say something, only catching the last few words, “...our new friend, Alex!”
He gripped his guitar and walked on stage, shaking each of the band member's hands before sitting on the stool placed there for him in advance.
~
The famous singer smiled and said one more thing before walking off stage, “Right, so give it up for our new friend, Alex!”
Jack sucked in a breath. Emerging from the shadows on the left side of the stage was a face that was burned into his brain. A perfect face that froze him in shock. This was the absolute last thing that he'd expected. He couldn't move even if he wanted to, he was completely and totally frozen.
He found that his head seemed to work though and he turned to his right and looked at Josh, he closed the mouth that he noticed had been gaping wide open in shock and then said clearly, with a clenched jaw, “Okay. What is going on?”
xxxxxx
A/N: (;
Right, so I've finished the entire fic, only two chapters after this, Should I post more later today or?