Fic: We Should Be Together Tonight
It was just a normal evening in America. It rained heavily and you could hear the waterdrops hit the roof. Jack sat in his chair - he had moved in a few months ago - and stared at his computer monitor intensely. He had just finished a new video, but so mething felt off. It was some new scary game with ghosts and zombies, stuff like that, but still - something about it made him cringe, and not in the good kind of way. It just felt like filming a scary video with all the rain outside was a bit of a cliché. After some thinking he sighed and closed the recording program - Robin would have to edit it tomorrow, so Jack had to wake up pretty early the next day to send the unedited video to him.
“Eh, damn it”, Jack shrugged and decided to go to sleep after washing his face and teeth. He and Signe had broken up before Jack had moved to the USA, because of the distance - unfortunately. The man was just about to hop in bed, when someone rang his doorbell. “Who the heck?” he murmured and walked to the door, opening it with a puzzled look on his face. “Arin?”
“Hi Jack”, the all-wet man answered. “I- Can I, well… Can I sleep here tonight?”
“You drove all the way to Santa Barbara?” Jack was clearly surprised. “Why didn’t you stay at Dan and Barry’s place? Or… home?”
“I need to talk to you”, Arin seemed flustered when he came inside and put his jacket away, next to Jack’s own. “Something happened at home.”
Jack immediately started to look for a place for Arin to sleep, but then remembered he hadn’t taken any mattresses with him from Brighton.’
“Fuck”, he scratched his head, “I don’t have anywhere for you to sleep in.”
“I can sleep next to you”, Arin seemed very depressed, which made Jack question everything. From all the people in the world, being depressed was not something Arin was very often. That made Jack say yes.
“Okay. But only if you tell me what’s going on.” He was very serious and got Arin to wipe his right eye.
“Shit, dry eyes”, Arin tried to laugh a bit and went to sit on the couch. Jack followed him and sat right next to him.
“Tell me what happened”, he said quietly. “What is wrong at home?” Arin went silent and looked at his toes like they were the most interesting thing in the world.
“We broke up.”
“What?”
“Me and Suzy. We broke up.”
Jack was so surprised he didn’t know what to say at all. What the heck? They were the perfect couple!
“We had this coming”, Arin continued after some awkward silence. “We tried to make it work many times, but this time… It just didn’t work anymore, you know? Everything was different. Silent and made us both feel bad. I still love her and she still loves me, though, that’s the reason we’re doing this.” There were tears rolling down his cheeks.
“Oh no”, Jack almost cried himself. “I’m so sorry, buddy.” They hugged for a long time and Jack tried to come up with something to say. “So what will you do now?”
“I dunno. I will probably stay at Brent’s for a while.”
“You can stay here too”, Jack made a proposition. “I live closer to the Grump Studio than Brent. It would be easier for you.”
“Thank you so much man”, Arin hugged him again. “You’re an actual Irish angel.” Jack smiled for the first time in days - stress had taken the best of him and had made him a bit sad.
“Love you, bro”, Jack said while yawning. “Should we go to sleep? You can pour out anything bad you have in mind in bed.”
“This is so straight”, Arin cracked up a joke and made his blue-haired friend laugh.
They lied next to each other in silence. After a while, Arin started opening up and just stared at the ceiling.
“I don’t think me and Suzy can see each other in a while. You know, I need some kind of a… a distraction. Or something. She always hangs out at the studio, what will I do? I can’t let the lovelies down.”
“Take your time, buddy”, Jack looked at him. “I’m sure people will understand. And besides, you guys have a lot of material pre-recorded. Just, like, put out two episodes instead of three per day. I am very sure that the lovelies can live with that for a while.”
“You’re right. Thanks, Seán.”
“Since when have you called me that?” he smiled widely and made Arin question himself. It took a while for him to answer.
“Since now”, Arin smiled back at Jack. They stared at each other for a minute or two, before Arin changed sides. “Goodnight, potato boy.”
“Night, American.”
“Is that really the best you got?” Arin chuckled.
“… Yes.”
Jack woke up at the middle of the night after seeing a nightmare about his own breakup, Arin’s misfortune must’ve brought it up in his mind. He noticed that Arin had rollled over and slept now with his head on Jack’s shoulder. The other man swallowed and tried to lightly tap Arin on the forehead, making him come even closer.
“Oh man”, Jack muttered to himself. ‘Since when has Arin been that cute?’ he noticed to be thinking. Jack closed his eyes and listened to Arin’s sleepy breathing - it made him happy in a way no one had made him since the breakup. It was weird, they had been friends for a long time, but this was different. Very, very different.
“Sleepy…” Arin said in his sleep, very quietly and incoherently.
“Shh, you sleep now”, Jack got frightened that Arin would wake up so he started to pet his hair slightly. Soon he was in very deep sleep again. “That was close”, Jack muttered. He didn’t know what was wrong and it made him feel uneasy. It was like someone had stabbed him in the heart repeatedly - it was almost like he had a crush for the first time in months. It couldn’t be that, right? Right…? Jack closed his eyes and thought of Arin in a warm, cute kind of way. He would make him coffee every morning. Every time Arin would see a nightmare, he would wake Jack up and kiss him on the cheek, thanking of him being there for him. Jack opened his eyes and felt blood rush into his face. “This is not good”, he shaked his head, but only a bit, so Arin wouldn’t wake up. This was only the start.
In the morning Arin had woken up before Jack, so Jack woke up to the smell of coffee in the room.
“What the -” he looked around him, only to find no one in the room.
“Oh no, you woke up”, he heard Arin’s voice from the door. Jack’s eyes jolted to him.
Arin smiled and made the other man feel all fuzzy inside.
“It’s hard not to wake up when you have coffee in the room”, he laughed and sat up. “By the way, where is it?” “On your night desk”, Arin pointed his finger at Jack.
“Oops.”
“You did like coffee, right?”
“I sure do”, Jack took a gulp. “No coffee for you?”
“Nah, too much caffeine for my taste, at least at the moment. I have to get my stuff from my place - I mean Suzy’s place.” Arin looked a bit sad again, which made Jack sad. He didn’t want anybody to be sad, goddammit!
“Do you think you will be okay?” Jack asked when Arin sat next to him on the bed. He shrugged, but smiled afterwards and opened his mouth.
“I’m happy if you are here for me.”
“Oh man”, Jack blushed against his will. “I -”
“You are all red.”
“Dammit! I blush far too easily”, Jack buried his face to his hands. Arin just laughed and patted his friend on the back.
“I know man, it’s hard to take compliments. But you, my Irish angel, need those a lot. You’re like the best guy in the world for letting me stay in here.” Jack just waved his hand and made Arin grab it. His hand was soft and warm, and made crush-having Jack want to jump out of the window at the very moment.
“Oh please, Brent was an option too”, he tried to sound casual, but noticed how Arin started to almost giggle.
“If I wanted to be at Brent’s, I would’ve driven there last night. I knew I could count on you so I came here instead.” Jack was the one who was flustered now and didn’t know what the heck to think of all of this. “Really, tho, the European tour made us a lot closer, I think. I’m so glad you decided to move to the States.”
“Same here”, Jack noticed what he had just said. Same here? A few days ago the move had broken up his life. He had lost Signe, he had lost a few friends back in the UK, he had lost a lot of stuff. But if it meant a new beginning, then it was all okay.
The next evening they both slept in the same bed again. Jack tried to not think how close Arin had been last night, and how his heart started racing every time he thought about it. Arin just stared at the ceiling again and made Jack question his life choices.
“I love this room”, Arin said suddenly. “It’s a bit too cold at nights, though.” Jack almost gasped, but luckily was able to hold it back.
“I agree.”
“It’s good we both sleep here then”, Arin smiled and closed his eyes, before - wait a second, he didn’t roll over, but stayed on his back. Jack’s head was full of warning sirens. ‘Do not fall for him. Do. Not. Fall for him.’ The Irish one had always known he’s bisexual, he just hadn’t talked about it to pretty much anyone. Signe was the only one who knew about it and that was it.
“True. It’s warmer that way”, he tried really hard to sound casual.
“Jack, I need to tell you something.”
“I’m all ears”, Jack smiled and looked at Arin. “What do you want to tell me?” Arin clearly thought about it for a second before he started talking.
“I think I know why it… why it didn’t work out with Suzy. I have never told about this to anyone.”
“Tell me”, Jack waited eagerly for Arin to continue his story. He knew what he wanted to hear, but this was something so very different.
“For a long time, I… I had a crush on Dan.”
“What?” Jack was so confused at that moment. At the same time he was happy, and at the same time he was… angry. Angry at himself for not noticing anything earlier. Should he tell Arin his secret too?
“Yeah. I know I always made jokes about it, but eventually I noticed they weren’t jokes anymore. I think Suzy is an exception. Like, I have always had crushes on boys but I really fell for her.”
Jack really didn’t know what to say. He wanted to tell him, he really did, but was it okay now that Arin wanted to open up? For a small silent moment he thought about it, and made his decision.
“Arin, I’m bi.”
“Really?” Arin was clearly a bit shocked. “Since when have you known this?” Jack counted with his fingers.
“About since I was twelve. You are the second person to know about this. Please don’t tell anyone.”
“Have you ever kissed a boy?” Arin suddenly payed great interest to this new information he had heard. “I have.”
“I haven’t. I have only been with girls”, Jack scratched his head. Thank God it was dark in the room, because otherwise Arin would’ve seen how bright red Jack’s face was at the moment.
“I want to give you a reward for letting me stay here”, Arin bit his lip a bit. “If it’s okay?” Jack nodded but realized then it was too late to say no. He had no idea what Arin had in mind and he had just basically said yes. Slowly Arin crawled closer to him and kissed Jack on the cheek. “There.”
“You know what?” Jack smiled and was redder than ever. “Thank you.” Silence. “I really want to kiss you right now.”
“Same here.” Silence. A slow kiss that started sweetly, like the first kiss between a young couple. They started switching kisses more quickly and after that Arin pressed his forehead against Jack’s.
“I really like kissing you.”
The next day Jack was the one who woke up first. He noticed that Arin had wrapped his arm around his waist and had a steady hold of him. Jack had to smile. If he could help Arin to get over his ex-wife, he would do that. If he was just a bandaid, that was okay too. He just wanted to kiss him again.
“Good morning”, Jack said softly.
“That isn’t the way you usually say it”, Arin smirked after he had had a good yawn. “Normally you sound much more… enthusiastic.” Jack had to laugh a bit before answering.
“Please kiss me again”, Jack then said in a quiet voice. Arin sat up and smooched one of his best friends properly. “I could do that all day, you know.”
“I know”, he smiled like never before. “I think this new beginning isn’t so bad after all. I mean, I get to be with you. I’ve, eh, I’ve had a small crush on you since the European tour. I know I have to get over Suzy, but if you are there to help me do that… I think I will be just fine.” Jack knew he was doomed to have this crush for a long, long time. After all, he had had some part of it inside his soul for some time already - Jack just had needed this to happen to realize it was there. ‘Do not fall for him? Fuck that. I will fall for him so hard I’m gonna break every bone in my body’, Jack thought to himself and kissed Arin again, more softly than ever before. His lips were perfect to kiss. He felt this feeling of… belonging. It was the best feeling in a long time.