Shelter

“Jack! Where are you?” Jack heard Flyzik yelling frantically and he ran out from where he was standing on the side of the stage, watching the crew set their stuff up for their set. He almost ran into Flyzik, who sighed in relief when he saw him.

“What’s up?” Jack questioned. Their tour manager looked more stressed out than usual.

“Alex. Go find Alex. He’s having a fucking anxiety attack and you guys go on stage in less than five minutes,” Flyzik said quickly, pushing Jack forward.

Jack spotted Alex over by the far wall and walked over to him. The older boy was pacing back and forth nervously, and Jack could hear him breathing rapidly when he got closer to him. He put a hand on Alex’s shoulder to make him stop pacing and Alex jumped in surprise. “Hey, what’s wrong, Alex?”

“Random anxiety attack,” Alex grumbled, trying to pull away so he could pace around again. Jack pulled him back and squeezed his hand gently.

“Just take a few deep breaths and calm down. We need to go on stage in a few minutes,” Jack told him.

Alex scowled, “You think I haven’t tried that? I’m having a bad day. I had that nightmare last night that kept me up and I’ve been on the edge of an anxiety attack all day.”

“Ranting isn’t going to make you feel better,” Jack mused playfully. Alex huffed a sigh of annoyance. “Relax, everything will be fine. We just have to go on stage, play, and come back off again. Then we can go back to the bus and chill out.”

Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath like Jack had suggested, nodding shakily when he opened his eyes. “Okay.”

Jack bit his lip before leaning forward, kissing him on the lips lightly. Alex smiled faintly and Jack blushed. Before either of them could say anything, Flyzik started yelling instructions.

“Thirty seconds! Get your asses over here and get your instruments!” Flyzik called out. The four boys got their stuff together and headed on stage as soon as Flyzik gave them the signal.

Unfortunately, Alex’s bad day continued. Jack felt bad for him, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. One of Alex’s guitar strings broke in the middle of Jasey Rae and he stumbled through the rest of the song after Danny brought him a different guitar. Later on, he tripped over a cord while walking around the stage and almost fell on his face in front of the whole crowd. Jack saw him tense up when a roar of laughter went through the crowd. At the very end of their set, during Dear Maria, Alex ran into Zack and both of them almost fell, earning more laughter from the crowd.

When they got off stage Alex stormed into the back angrily, slamming the bathroom door shut and making the wall shake. The others looked around at each other in confusion and Jack sighed, shaking his head, “He’s just having a bad day.”

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When Alex drinks alcohol, he gets angry. And when he gets angry, you have to stay the fuck out of his way or he’ll actually hurt somebody. Unfortunately, Jack never ends up staying out of the way.

Alex went back to the bus before the others. When everyone else headed back to the bus, Jack walked around, looking for Alex. He found him in the back lounge and frowned, realizing that Alex was drinking straight from a bottle of alcohol.

“Don’t drink too much of that, Lex,” Jack warned, frowning.

“I know how much I can drink,” Alex snapped. Jack sighed and rolled his eyes, leaving him alone and heading back up front.

An hour or so later, Rian headed into the back lounge to check on Alex. Jack heard Alex yell, “Get the fuck out!” and Rian scampered back up front, looking worried. Jack frowned and stood up, walking into the back again. Alex was holding a partially-empty bottle of Jack Daniels and there were a few other beer bottles scattered around on the couch.

“Did you drink all of that?” Jack demanded.

“None of your business,” Alex snapped, his words slightly slurred.

“Yeah, it is. I’d prefer if my best friend didn’t die of alcohol poisoning,” Jack scowled and walked over to Alex, snatching the bottle away from him. He backed away a little, seeing the fire in Alex’s eyes.

Alex stood up and jabbed Jack in the chest, “Quit trying to control my life!”

“I’m the reason you have a life! Do you realize how many times I’ve helped you through anxiety attacks or saved you from drinking too much? You’d be dead without me, or at least curled up in a ball, unable to do anything!” Jack exclaimed.

“Well I don’t need you!”

“Fine! Don’t come crawling to me when you have fucking nightmares from all this alcohol you drank!” Jack yelled, putting down the bottle of Jack Daniels he had taken from Alex. He stomped out of the room and slammed the door, just as Alex grabbed an empty bottle and threw it at him. It shattered against the closed door.

Goosebumps covered Jack’s skin as he processed what had just happened. Alex could have just knocked him out and seriously hurt him if he hadn’t closed the door right at that second.