We Can Stay Young Forever

"Have you seen Alex?"

"Hey dude, have you seen Alex?"

"Fly, have you seen Alex?"

"How the hell do you manage to lose your only fiancé, Jack?" Matt said in an annoyed manner, rolling his eyes as he clutched papers in his arms.

“I have no fucking idea, man. He was in the back room, like, five minutes ago. And now he’s gone.” Jack said, rubbing his temple in frustration, he’s been looking for Alex for almost an hour. And he’s beginning to worry,

“I’m sure he’s alright, he might just be outside with the other bands.” Matt reassured the young guitarist, but it didn’t work in calming Jack’s nerves. “Yeah, thanks, Fly, I’ll just wait for him in the back. Call me if you see him, please?” Jack said, and headed straight towards the back lounge.

Little did Jack know that Alex was just behind the bus, where he was sure no one would see him. Listening and jamming to his most recent favorite tunes. He didn’t want to admit to anybody, well, obviously, his recent addiction is very much unwanted in the industry he’s in. He’s just scared that his band mates and crew would make fun of him.

It wasn’t usual for Alex Gaskarth to be obsessed with pop music, not at all. But how could you even deny the beautiful voice of that curly-haired British teenager?

It was evening that same day when Alex decided to come back inside, only to find Jack crying on the kitchenette of the bus. Alex hurriedly walked to his fiancé and cradled Jack in his arms, shushing the younger boy. “What happened, Jack? Why are you crying? Shush now, baby, I’m here.” Alex cooed.

“You were gone for 5 hours, Alex. What the hell? Where have you been even?” Jack asked, his voice muffled by Alex shirt, gasps were evident in his state.

Now, this made Alex think, this made Alex think very hard. He knows how much Jack can make fun of him, and his new obsession. He couldn’t even risk it, the thought about being the whole tour bus’ joke for months, he was Alex Gaskarth. He can’t be the joke.

"I was.. I was just out, baby. I'm so sorry for scaring you. I love you." Alex said, closing his eyes. Of all the music he can listen to, why does it have to be five teenage boys singing about a generic girl?

"Love you too, Alex." Jack replied.

Next morning, Alex couldn't even wait to be out and be able to listen to his favorite songs; he even downloaded all their songs and made a playlist in his iPod. He's pretty sure he'll get out of his current state; it wasn't the end of the world. He'll grow out of the silly pop music one day. It could be tomorrow, maybe tonight. Alex could never tell, but he just wants to savor the moment, because the tunes always, always gets him to dance like crazy and sing never-ending.

He sneaked his way out of Jack's bunk and the bus, and walked straight at the back of the bus.

Jack woke up with a cold bed alone that morning, he was beginning to suspect that Alex was always up to something, like now, it never occurred in their relationship where Jack wakes up alone, usually Alex will wake him up. The young man furrowed his eyebrows, and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, yawning.

He sauntered his way in front of the bus, seeing Rian sprawled on the couch, scrolling at the countless channels on the t.v, "Rian, you seen Alex anywhere?"

"No, dude. Haven't seen him since I woke up. I thought he was with you?" Rian replied, his eyes still glued to the television.

"Yeah, last night. When I woke up he's gone. Rian..." Jack trailed off, fiddling with his fingers,

"Yeah?" the buzz-cut male responded,

"Do you... do you think..." the young man nervously asked, eyes closed and breath hitching.

"That he's cheating? You know Alex better than I do. You know how he was with Lisa before, right? You also know what he did to Tay. And to that chick named--"

"Fine! Rian, fine. I get it." Jack said and sighed, sitting down next to Rian. “What am I gonna do? I’m losing him Rian!”

“Shut up, Jack. If you have a hunch, go investigate his bunk, I’m pretty sure if you find something suspicious, you can just ask him.” Rian said,

“Yeah, I’ll go do that. Thanks, Ri!” Jack said as he stands up and walked down to Alex’s bunk.

“Don’t mention it, you know what they all say about a woman’s intuition.” Rian added, laughing when Jack gave him the middle finger.

Later that day, Jack did a little investigation in Alex's bunk. There was literally nothing in there, not a soul nor a body. Jack couldn't confirm his suspicions without proof, he was startled when he heard Alex behind him,

"The hell are you doing, Jack?!" Alex asked,

Jack stared at Alex, with wide eyes and mouth hanging agape. To be honest, he couldn't come up with a smart alibi. He was already caught red handed anyway. Jack might as well admit it, right?

"Uh.. I-i.. I just.. Uhm." Jack stammered, seemingly lost for words, as his heart rate grew dramatically and his sweat was apparent on his skin.

"Jack, what?"

"Oh, I was.." Jack sighed and dropped himself on Alex's bunk, face first. "I-i.. was looking for evidence." he admitted his defeat, sighing to himself at the embarrassing thought.

"Evidence for what, Jack?!" Alex yelled angrily. Staring intently at Jack.

"E-evidence if you.. You were... Cheating?" Jack continued to stammer,

"Jack, I would never cheat on you!" Alex said, worry was evident in his voice, hurrying down to sit beside Jack's thin frame, "You know I'd never do that, what made you think that I was?"

"Well, it wasn't the first time you ever cheated on someone, I mean, there's Lisa, and Tay, and that girl from..." Jack continued, but Alex shushed him by turning his face and kissing Jack hungrily.

"You better shut your damn mouth, Barakat. You and I both know I wasn't serious about them. Right?" Alex explained, holding Jack's chin and looking straight to his eyes. "You know damn well that I've loved you since ninth grade, alright? So don't doubt for a second that I'm cheating on you because I'm not."

Alex ended his mini speech with a kiss on Jack's lips,

"Well, why were you always out?" Jack asked.

"Just to get my mind straight about something, I've been thinking about writing again, y'know." Alex replied, assisting Jack on sitting up next to him, and leaning his head on Alex's shoulders whilst he clutched on the older man's arm in vain.

"Let's just go to sleep, yeah?" Alex said, kissing Jack's head as he sighed deeply.

"Yeah,"

-

It was 3:15 a.m and Jack was still awake, he can't really shake the feeling that Alex was hiding something. May it be a huge or a small matter, he still needs to find out.

In the corner of Jack's eyes he could see Alex's cellphone laying face down on the bed beside Alex, he wondered, if Alex was cheating on him, he’d see the history of his fiance’s calls and text messages. Jack hesitantly reached towards the device, and when it was at his reach, he immediately opened it.

Okay, to say that Jack was weirded out about what he saw was a bit of an understatement, he never knew Alex would be into that sort of thing.

Yeah, old pop music like, Backstreet Boys or A1 was acceptable, but One Direction? Alex must be losing his mind.

Jack stifled a laugh at the screen in front of him, he tapped on the iPhone and checked the playlist on the iPod, and yes, it indeed confirmed that Alex was into One Direction. He even downloaded all the albums and bonus tracks.

And with peace in mind and a dirty joke planning ahead, he fell asleep with a sly smirk on his face.

-

Alex woke up alone that morning, which was kind of a surprise, but he guessed it was just Jack trying to get back at him. He stretched and yawned, and trudged his way to the kitchenette where apparently everyone, the crew, Rian, and Zack were all huddled all together,

"Uhm, guys? What's up?" Alex asked, but he saw Flyzik sitting on the couch looking annoyed at what was happening.

"I told him not to do it. I even told all of them to stop. But they just won't." Flyzik said.

"What are you talking about, Fly?" the singer asked,

Alex's face went pale and his throat went dry, he couldn't swallow the lump on his throat when he saw what everyone was wearing.

They were all wearing One Direction masks, each has its own. And that wasn't even the worst part, Jack started singing, "You're insecure, don't know what for...."

And they all started singing altogether like it was the funniest thing on earth, when in reality, Alex was stuck in his feet, horrified, traumatized, and absolutely embarrassed that they all found out about his guilty pleasure. Alex started shaking, and tears were slowly creeping down his cheeks, but he just couldn't move.

He actually couldn't even hear what they were singing or saying, all he wanted now was for the earth to swallow him whole. It was worse that the crew and the band knew, but what about the other bands? Alex was pretty sure they already know.

The next thing Alex knows is Flyzik yelling, "Guys, stop it! Alex is having a panic attack!"

And everyone, threw their masks off the ground and hurried to Alex, lifting him off and sitting him down the sofa, the first thing he heard again was Jack saying his name over and over again. And that was it, Alex guessed. His cries were more intense, more audible. He stood up and went to his bunk, he was just so upset that everyone had to find out about it.

It wasn't exactly his fault that he had a taste for teenage British boy bands, he just thought their songs were catchy.

He crawled into a fetal position, turned away from the curtains so whoever opened it, won't see his vulnerability.

Moments later, he heard the curtain open, followed by a soft whisper of, "Alex?"

He still couldn't reply, not really. He still just wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone at all, including Jack.

"Alex? Are you okay now? I brought you water." Jack whispered, but loud enough for Alex to hear.

"Baby, I didn't mean to upset you, or anything. I just thought it'd be fun." the younger man explained,

"Yeah, how fucking fun was that, Jack." Alex hiccuped and cried his way to form the sentence, but Jack tried his hardest to understand it. He did.

"I'm sorry, Alex. I didn't mean to, please talk to me. Just turn around,"

Alex slowly turned around, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, looking down so he won't have to face Jack.

The younger boy lifted his chin up and kissed Alex, making the older man smile for a moment.

"I'm sorry, I overreacted back there. I just didn't think you'd find out about it." Alex said,

"Is that why you were always out? Because you were listening to them?"

"You're the stupid one; I was only at the back of the bus." Alex laughed, lifting himself up so he was sitting down with Jack face to face, whilst they held each other's hands.

"I'm sorry, Alex. But that was only a joke, you know I would never judge you or hate you just because of the type of music you like? Hell, you could listen to Robin Thicke and I'd still love you." Jack said softly, caressing Alex's hands with his thumb, bringing it up to his mouth for a kiss, or two.

"I just, I was scared you'd make fun of me, I just didn't want to be the tour's joke. I'm sorry, too. I love you, baby." Alex said, bringing Jack for a hug and a passionate kiss.

"I love you no matter what, okay? Please don't forget that. You've been having these weird fetishes with Marvel’s villains anyway, I figured it wasn't too long until you find your next fetish. I just didn't expect it to be One Direction. Why 1D anyway? It could be other things like, some stupid kids’ tv show or something." Jack laughed and brought Alex into a tight hug.

“If you’d just listen closely, their songs are good! I mean, seriously, listen to it.” Alex explained, nuzzling his face in the crook of Jack’s neck and laughed.

"No, thanks. I’ll pass, I don’t want to be obsessed with teenagers like you did, that’s kind of like, pedophilia. Except, you just fantasize about them.” Jack laughed, kissing his fiancé on the lips before continuing, “But remember, whatever we do in this bus, I'd defend you from them. Yeah?" said Jack.

"That's kind of hard to believe seeing that you were the one behind this whole prank." Alex laughed, as he looked at Jack's brown eye, "But I believe you. And, Jack?"

"Yeah, baby?"

"This is, kind of, pretty embarrassing to ask but,"

"Alex, what is much more embarrassing than having to find out that you like One Direction?" Jack raised an eyebrow at Alex,

The older boy's cheeked flushed red and he subtly whispered,

"Well… Can I have the One Direction masks? I liked that Harry Styles One."