You're the Only Sound

Zack hadn’t really put too much thought into how difficult it would be to maintain a relationship while he was on the road and touring for a majority of the year.

Well, no, he had, but he hadn’t thought about how difficult it would be to maintain a relationship when the other person was on the road and touring for a majority of the year as well.

Jack and Alex made it look so simple, as did Rian and Cassadee, but there was just something different with him and Jordan. Maybe it was the fact that Jack and Alex were with each other nearly all day, everyday, or maybe it was how, with Cassadee and Rian, they at least lived together and, with Cassadee not touring too much yet since she was still rising to fame, they spent a lot of time together as well.

Zack and Jordan’s touring schedules always seemed to be complete opposites of each other, and with them being on the other side of the world at any given moment, phone calls were few and far between. He really didn’t understand how Rian and Cassadee did it on a day-to-day basis, and, if he was being honest, he’d slowly started to resent Jack and Alex.

Not in any serious way, of course, but why was it that they could sleep in the same bunk every single night if they so desired, yet he had to make do with late-replied texts and missed phone calls? Why couldn’t he just have one tour, one night, where he could see Jordan?

He’d tried to talk to Flyzik about a possible tour, and he’d talked to the higher-ups over at the Hopeless Records headquarters, but he’d always gotten the same ‘Maybe sometime soon’s and ‘Well, you don’t really have the time for that right now’s. It just wasn’t fair.

Nevertheless, he persisted. If Hey Monday could tour with All Time Low when they were still together, before Cassadee had decided that she wanted to go solo, then why couldn’t The Ready Set? He’d get them on a tour together if it was the last thing he ever did.

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“Dude, great show tonight,” Jack said over the roar of the crowd demanding a third encore from the connecting room.

“Always is,” Zack retorted, pulling the skinny man into a one-armed, sweaty hug. At that moment, Alex decided to join the fun, throwing himself on his boyfriend and best friend, pressing sloppy kisses to both male’s slick hair—the adrenaline always got to him the most.

It dwindled down after a moment and soon he was hopping from where his legs had awkwardly wrapped around both Jack and Zack, instead opting to wrap his arms around the youngest man’s torso, squeezing tightly and leaning in to press a sweet kiss to the side of his boyfriend’s neck.

“Come shower with me, baby?” he asked, pushing his nose against where his lips had just been, not the slightest bit concerned with how disgusting Jack smelled or how there were still thick beads of sweat rolling down his smooth skin. They’d both gotten used to it long ago, after all.

Jack hummed, turning his head to get a proper kiss before Alex was untangling his arms and reaching for Jack’s hand, their fingers lacing together easily.

“We’ll be out in ten, tops, so you can shower then before we go out to meet fans, okay?” the elder man informed Zack as they began to walk away, and it was as they were finally out of earshot that Zack picked up on Rian, stretched out on one of the two couches in the room, head leaned back over the armrest and phone pressed to his ear. He was busy talking about how the show had been, and the grin that was plastered across his face let Zack know that he was talking to none other than Cassadee.

And while he was still a little pumped about how awesome the show had been, that overwhelming loneliness crashed down on him again as it did most nights. He was considering grabbing his phone from the coffee table between the couches and giving his own boyfriend a quick call while he waited for his turn to shower when the device started to ring of its own accord anyway. He recognized the tone immediately—Soular Flares by The Ready Set because he was sappy like that—and all but jumped towards the center of the room.

“Jo?” he questioned excitedly before the phone had even been fully lifted to his ear. His inquiry was met with a relieved sigh and a small laugh that had his heart aching pitifully. “I was just gonna call you, babe.”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d still be onstage or if you’d have gone to bed already,” the younger man confessed, and Zack could hear the smile in his voice.

“Have I ever ignored you for sleep?” Zack retorted, to which he received another quiet laugh. “How are you, baby? How’s Warped Tour going?”

“It’s great; I’m great,” Jordan assured, tone shifting just that little bit as he continued on. “I miss you, though. Do you ever, like… look at the sky at night and wonder if I’m seeing what you’re seeing?”

The question took Zack a little off-guard. “What do you mean?”

“Like,” Jordan started, pausing as he thought of a way to ask his question. “Did you see that shooting star tonight? Were you dazzled by the same constellation?”

The bigger man couldn’t help but grin at how cute that sounded, how precious the younger man could be. As if he wasn’t cute enough, he had to go and ask if Zack had been dazzled by the stars.

“I did,” he finally decided, figuring he could tell just a small lie. “They reminded me of you.”

Jordan felt his heart skip a beat in his chest, teeth pressing hard into his bottom lip as he held himself back from making some stupid noise of affection. Instead, he changed the subject again, asking, “When did you say you were coming back to the States?”

“Next month,” Zack answered solemnly, “but you’re still gonna be on tour then, and I’m gonna be over in Japan by the time you get home.”

“Maybe you could come see one of my shows or something while you wait to go? Or… or you could spend a few days on the road with us until you have to leave again?” Jordan asked, sounding so hopeful that Zack couldn’t even think of declining. How could he? He wanted to be there just as much as Jordan wanted him to.

Of course, he decided to have a bit of fun with his answer. “I don’t know, Jo… will you give me as many kisses as I want?”

“What kind of a question is that?” Jordan said around his first true, genuine laugh. “Do you even have to ask that? Maybe we’ll be able to a stop at a hotel or something one of the nights you’re here.”

Zack hummed and nodded. “Well, since you put it like that, I think I could find some time just for you.”

A grumbled, “You better,” and then the line was silent on both ends. They didn’t have to be talking to be happy, just as long as they could hear the other breathing. One of Zack’s favorite things to do was close his eyes and imagine his boyfriend was right there, laying with him. It could never compare to the real thing, but he would take whatever he could get.

The peacefulness between them ceased when Jordan jumped on his end of the line, exclaiming an, “Oh!”

Zack was a little startled, more concerned than anything, and he was asking a rushed, “What happened, baby? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, I just remembered something really important,” Jordan gasped, and it almost sounded like he was biting at his lip for whatever reason.

“Care to share what you just remembered?” Zack pressed, and he listened as his boyfriend hummed a ‘no’ on the other end of the line. “Why not?”

“Go talk to Flyzik,” he instructed simply, and Zack groaned before standing to his feet from where he’d practically lain himself along the coffee table to go off in search of his tour manager. He wasn’t too difficult to find, what with just helping take down and pack up all of the lights and speakers on the stage as he did every night.

“Fly, you gotta minute?” he called, and the manager looked up right away, nodding his head as he dropped a large roll of wires onto the ground in favor of stepping toward the bassist.

“Give the phone to him,” Jordan said through the phone, and when the tour manager was close enough, Zack held the device out to him, not offering up a word of an explanation.

Zack watched on with curiosity as the older man talked with his boyfriend, offering a hello down the line before his face lit up, a series of “Yeah, yeah, of course” leaving his lips. His tongue poked out to rub against his lip ring as he listened to whatever Jordan had to tell him, and then he was letting out a laugh. “I was gonna tell him later,” he confessed, and that just had Zack getting all the more impatient.

With a quick farewell, Flyzik was handing the phone back.

“What was that about?” Zack asked as the device was returned to its previous position, and Jordan ‘sh’ing him had a sigh falling from his lips.

“Well, you know how you’ve been trying to set up an All Time Low, The Ready Set tour?” he inquired, and Zack could feel his jaw drop at those simple words.

“No,” he said, tone disbelieving and far too breathy for his liking.

“Yep,” both Jordan and Flyzik said, like they’d been practicing behind his back for just that moment.

“After the little Japan tour, you’re going to do a two-month-long US tour together,” Flyzik affirmed, and Zack was suddenly so hyped that he felt like he could just swim back to the States to celebrate the news with his partner. That, or piss his pants right where he stood. Either would work, really.

“How long have you known about this?” he suddenly demanded, not caring who would be the first to answer.

“I learned about it this morning,” Jordan answered. Flyzik didn’t even bother with one, instead turning to head back to finishing up with the packing of the wires he’d had before. “I can’t believe he didn’t tell you about it earlier.”

“Me either,” Zack grumbled, sending a faux glare at the elder’s back. “Maybe I should fire him for that.”

Jordan laughed as Matt flipped him off from across the room. Zack turned with that, heading to the back lounge again to check and see if Alex and Jack had made it out of the bathroom without any… interruptions.

When he saw that they were cuddled up on the couch parallel to Rian, hair dripping and new clothes clinging to their skin, he continued on into the bathroom.

“So, I think me and you should kick everyone off of my bus when tour starts and take it all for ourselves,” Jordan said, the grin on his lips evident in his words.

“The bunks on my bus are always really big because usually Jack and Alex share,” Zack pointed out, holding his phone between his ear and shoulder as he reached down to shimmy out of his shorts and briefs. “We should take my bus instead.”

“That sounds like a plan,” Jordan decided. “What are you doing now? What time is it there? Do you have to get going soon?”

“I’m about to take a shower now,” Zack answered, doing his best to pull his shirt off of his body with one hand and keep his phone up to the side of his head with the other. “Then I’m gonna go meet fans, and then, since the next venue isn’t that far, everyone else might go out drinking, but I’ll stay on the bus and call you back.”

“Will you look at the stars with me?” Jordan inquired, and Zack nodded without a second thought.

“Of course, baby,” he agreed feeling his body flush as his next words rolled off of his tongue: “and I’ll tell you just how much they, I mean you, dazzle me.”