You're Electric

The sun was shining down hard on Garrett's back, beating relentlessly until he could feel it like a blanket over him. He was standing with his back to the crowd, playing his bass with a wide stance and hunched shoulders. He turned to face the audience side on, facing Jared with a mock glare as they played. Jared spun away, lifting his guitar in the air and Garrett finished their song with on top of an amplifier. Before the next song, Garrett ducked to the side of the stage to grab a drink from one of the bottles waiting there.

“How’re you all doing tonight?!” John called out through the microphone. The crowd screamed back loudly; straining forward and waving their hands just to get closer to the band. One scream broke out over the rest – “I love you John!” – and soon more came. Girls called out to all of the band members; growing louder and more explicit as the carried on.

"Hey, looks like you're getting a lot of attention there Kenny. 'Course, I'm way more popular, huh?" At John's sentence, at least half of the crowd roared back, egging him on as he adopted a cocky, relaxed stance.

Kennedy replied, grinning into his mic as he spoke. "I don't think so." The roar grew louder at that comment, and Garrett could hear Pat laughing at the back. The crowd in front of them loved the banter, and John was just drinking it all in. He raised his arms and beckoned for more noise, grinning smugly when he got it.

“So who wants to hear something older?” The crowd cheered back at John. “The boys they have their eyes all over you...”

---

John left the signing table with a brunette on his left and a redhead on his right who he handed off to Jared with a sly smile, "This one's a major fan." He walked back to the bus, sending a cheeky grin back to his band and a vulgar hand gesture behind her back. Her walk was bouncy and shook her ass violently like a small rowing boat on a stormy sea, but she wore her hair down past her hips in a curly fashion that Garrett both admired and hated.

Through the fans chatter Garrett couldn't help but think about John and the girl. Where they on the bus now, fucking on the sofa that everyone had to sit on, or had they fallen into one of Kennedy and Pat's lower bunks? Living on that bus would be torture now because his mind would be constantly imagining John having sex. It wasn’t even imagining John having sex that was bothering him, but it was bothering him that it was someone else, or worse, a girl, that he was imagining John with. Garrett avoided the bus until the last minute before they left town for the next venue, glad that by the time he made it back the girl was gone and John was playing video games shirtless with Pat.

He moved to the back, where the fridge stood, and dipped his head inside to search for something to drink, mainly as a distraction from John’s bare skin. It was practically empty, as per usual when on tour, and there were only bottles of water and soda to choose from, but Garrett took his time. The game was playing loudly, and from the noises Garrett could tell it was the new zombie game Jared had bought. He kept his head in the cool fridge, hoping to stay hidden there for as long as possible.

“Garrett?” Kennedy was standing behind him with an amused look on his face, one that spoke volumes about how Garrett must have looked. “Com’on man, why don’t you just ‘fess up?” Kennedy knew about his ‘man-crush’ on John, and liked to claim that he knew all about how to handle the problem, but in reality he preferred cracking jokes in front of the others that made Garrett want to curl up in a hole and die.

“Shut up Kenny!” Garrett hissed, whipping round with a water in his hand, and kicking he fridge shut gently with his foot.

”Just tell John, please Garrett. It’ll be so much better out in the open and you’ll be happier. I hate seeing you pissed off like this and knowing I can’t do anything about it.” He looked sincere, fixing desperately wide eyes to Garrett’s and smiling sadly at him. But Garrett shook his head in reply, ducking away to the bun area and slipping silently into his bunk. The bus was quiet, painfully quiet and Kennedy realised with a pang of horror that the game had stopped playing.

“Tell John what?” John’s voice was cold and hard, betraying nothing. “Kennedy?” No response came from Kennedy, and John barged past to find Garrett with lengthy strides and anger in every movement.

Garrett lay in his bunk, not daring to breathe. Kennedy spinning a story about a secret birthday present they need to know his sizes for, but John’s not buying it for a second. It doesn’t help that Pat’s asking stupid questions and Jared’s laughing really loudly in the background. Maybe he can escape through the bathroom window, but that would involve sneaking to the back of the bus and Garrett’s not good at being quiet. Even hiding like this is a struggle.

"Garrett?" John walked through the bus, calling out. He pulled Garrett's curtain back and peered in. Garrett didn't move for the longest moment, watching John's face with calculating eyes. "Garrett, what the hell is wrong with you?"

The silence stretched on. John blocked all view out of the bunk and Garrett couldn't tear his eyes away to find some escape. "You want to know what's wrong John? This."

Eyes closed, a nervous smile playing on his lips, Garrett met his mouth with John's and hoped for the best.