Beside You

Alex packed his suitcase quickly, grabbing more than enough underwear for the four weeks he would be away for. After throwing in shirts, jeans and everything else he took on tour he double checked he had everything, closing the case roughly and pulled it to fall onto the laminate floor. He didn’t check to see if it had left marks. He pulled the handle up until it clicked and then let it roll behind him as he dragged it out of their bedroom. Upon reaching the carpeted stairs Alex sighed and reached down to take the side handle. He hauled it down slowly; afraid he might trip and fall if he moved any quicker. He left the case by the front door and went back up the stairs, petting Baz as he passed the dog on the way.

On his dresser the plane ticket and passport were taunting him, yet another reminder that he had to leave that day. Jack promised to get off work early so that he could give him a proper goodbye and Alex checked the clock to see that he should be home in around twenty minutes. To pass the time and distract himself from the churn in his stomach he sat in the living room and switched the television on, letting whatever was playing on the last channel that had been watched play. He checked his phone repeatedly, hoping for new notifications even though he knew there wouldn’t be.

The sound of the front door unlocking came and then Jack called in that he was home, making Alex stand too quickly and fumble to turn the television off. “Hey.” Jack smiled as he shrugged off his jacket, leaning against the door frame.

“Hey how was work?” Alex asked as he walked over with big strides, hands landing on Jack’s waist.

“A girl wearing an All Time Low shirt came in with her friend.” Jack replied as he linked his hands from behind Alex’s neck, forearms resting on the shorter male’s shoulders.

Alex gave a breathy laugh and raised an eyebrow. “Did they recognise you?”

“They didn’t say anything if they did.” Jack shrugged and lent down to give his boyfriend a quick kiss. “I couldn’t concentrate; I messed up three orders because of you.”

Alex pulled away as he bit his lip, trying not to laugh at Jack’s misfortune. “I’m sorry?”

“Shut up.” Jack glared but with a smile twitching at the corners of his lips. He pushed Alex’s shoulder lightly, slightly embarrassed. “I’m going to get changed because I reek of pastries and bread.”

“Okay don’t be long.” Alex chuckled as Jack strode up the stairs taking them two at a time.

Jack was smiling as he pulled his shirt over his head and opened his cupboard, pushing past the recently washed ones to find the loose pale blue one he knew that Alex liked a lot. As he was unbuttoning his jeans to put a clean pair on he noticed Alex’s plane ticket and passport sitting there and he lost his smile. Jack felt his gut tighten. He rushed back down the stairs, his shoes back on but untied, laces tangling in his rush. “Don’t ever leave.” Jack said hastily, body shaking slightly.

“Oh Jack.” Alex hurried over to his boyfriend and reached his arms out to pull him into him. “Baby no it’s okay.” Jack let out a trembling breath, trying to speak but only managing to gasp as tears escaped. “I have to go baby, you know that.” Jack nodded, eyes shut tightly and arms tightening around Alex’s waist.

“Please.” Jack begged, burying his face into Alex’s neck and shoulder. A car horn made itself known from outside, telling the pair that Matt, their tour manager, was there to pick them up.

“We have to go.” Alex sighed dejectedly, prying himself away from the embrace. Jack nodded, leaving Alex completely to take his suitcase. “I can take that.”

Jack shook his head no. “I want to.” Alex took the keys that were lying on the coffee table and closed the living room door behind him.

“I’ll go get my ticket and passport.”

***

The airport was buzzing with noise and movement as Matt lead the band and crew through it to get their luggage checked. “I’ll go wait by one of the monitors to see when security is open.” Matt said with authority in his tone.

The rest of the group took empty seats by the window of the airport, looking out at the incoming and departing planes. Jack sat next to Alex and pushed himself against the elder’s side. “I’ll call you when we get to on the bus.” Alex promised as he wrapped a protective arm around Jack.

“Okay.” Jack responded quietly. He watched as Alex’s band mates (who had been friends with Alex and Jack since high school) said goodbye to their girlfriends, kissing them and promising to call, just like Alex did. He looked away from their friends to Alex’s hand that wasn’t wrapped around him, sitting in his lap. Jack took it with his own hand and played with his fingers, catching Alex’s attention. He didn’t stop his boyfriend, he never did. He knew that Jack liked to play with his fingers, especially when they were parting for a long time. It was almost comforting for the younger.

In what felt like no time Matt approached them all. “Time to get through security,” They stood from their seats and before picking up his bag Alex took Jack’s face between his hands, leant up, and kissed him almost forcefully, pushing himself against Jack like they wouldn’t ever be able to do it again.

“I’ll miss you.” Alex whispered as he pulled away and swung his bag over his right shoulder.

“I’ll miss you too.” Jack attempted to smile back as he pulled Alex into a hug that lasted long enough for Matt to become impatient.

“I know it’s hard but we have to go.” He tugged on Jack’s shoulder to pull them apart. Jack followed the movement and untangled himself from the singer.

***

A long flight later and the band had landed in London. They got on the bus they were hiring and almost immediately went to their bunks to sleep. Alex took out his phone to see he only had twenty percent battery left on it and he was still yet to call Jack. He found Jack’s name easily in his contacts list, going there almost automatically. He pressed the green call button and waited for the other to pick up.

“Hi baby.” Alex greeted sleepily. “How’s Baltimore without me?”

“Boring,” Jack replied sadly.

“It’s boring here too if that’s any constellation. Everyone’s gone straight to bed, it’s late here.”

“Oh I’m sorry am I keeping you up?”

“No, no I want to speak to you.” Alex rushed before Jack could even begin to feel bad. He should really watch how he words things.

“Okay.” Jack smiled to himself as he paused Home Alone 2 and adjusted the blanket he had wrapped himself in. “Well how was the flight?”

“Long. Uncomfortable. I had a window seat though.” Alex heard Jack giggle and smiled sadly. He wanted to see his face while he giggled, it was an adorable sound.

“Well I’m watching Home Alone 2 with the dogs. I think I’m enjoying it more than they are.”

“Probably,” Alex laughed, “Hey my battery is really low so if I hang up on you it’s the phone, not me.”

Jack nodded even though no one could see him do it. “Okay, well I love you.”

“I love you too. I’ll call you after the show tomor-” Alex was cut short by the call ending abruptly. Jack sighed and took the phone away from his ear and placed it back on the arm of the chair, un-pausing the movie.

A few minutes later the phone vibrated to alert Jack of a new message. Phone died. So close but so far away. I'll call you after the show tomorrow baby. Jack didn’t bother replying to the text because he knew that if he did they would be texting all night until one of them fell asleep holding their phone. It had happened more than once.

***

Alex was distracted all day by the thought of Jack sleeping alone. He wanted to run off back home just so that he wouldn’t have to. He knew that Jack had laid awake a lot of the night from the number of texts he had received. When he woke up he couldn’t find the words to say how he wanted to be beside him, so he didn’t.

Another day went by and although they didn’t have a show they had a lot of press: a photo shoot for Kerrang! magazine and then an interview with them afterwards, then an interview with Rock Sound magazine after that. There was another couple interviews, Alex was sure, but he wasn’t sure who with because he hadn’t really been listening to Matt. Alex tried calling while they waited for one of the interviews to be set up but Jack was either still in bed or already on his way to work. There was a five hour time gap between them after all and their schedules didn’t match up well because of it.

That evening they were going out for dinner and Alex managed to get a hold of Jack while he was on his break at work. “How’s the tour going?” Jack asked, yawning afterwards from lack of sleep, only confirming Alex’s suspicions that he wasn't sleeping.

“It’s good so far. Are you sleeping?”

“I’ve been getting a few hours don’t worry. It’s just hard when I’m away from you.”

“I promise I’ll be home soon.” Alex knew he was making an empty promise, there were still three weeks of the tour to go, but it was the only thing he could think of saying to make his boyfriend feel better.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Jack spoke sadly, also knowing Alex’s promise was empty. He wasn’t going to be home soon.

“Yeah, talk to you tomorrow, baby. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

***

Three weeks passed and Jack had been moping for the most of it. The days he wasn’t working he spent looking up photos and videos from the tour, watching the interviews they had on days off and reading all their tweets about what was happening. The phone calls between the two became slightly less frequent as they often did as the tour went on but it didn’t matter to Jack because now it was only three days until he got Alex back.

Jack was making his dinner (macaroni cheese) when he received a text from Alex. There was no context, just a link to a youtube video. He clicked on it and was sent to a video of a song from their show the previous night. It loaded quickly and as Jack put the dish in to cook he let it play.

“Hey guys this is our last song but before we play I want you all, those of which that are not already filming, to get your phones out. I want you to record this, okay? And when you get home I want you to upload it to youtube and send me the link. I want you to do this because I have a message for my boyfriend.” The crowd cheered when he said that and Jack smiled proudly. “Jack you’re so incredibly good to wait this long for me to come home and I want to say thank you because if I didn’t have you waiting for me I’d probably go insane. You keep me grounded and- hey I know I sound like the cheesiest fuck right now stop smirking like that at me!” The camera turned away from the stage to the fan that Alex was addressing. When Alex started speaking again the camera returned back to him. “Jack I just want to say that I love you and I’ll be home in a few days and when I get home I’m going to make you feel like the most important person in the world. This songs for you baby, this is Dear Maria, Count Me In.”

The next day Jack was working which kept his mind busy from thinking about Alex but the next day, the last day before the band returned home, he had off. He forced his body to stay in bed for as long as possible until he couldn’t physically stay in bed any longer. He got up and decided that he might as well do some chores and make the house presentable for his boyfriend to return to.

He started with putting on a load of laundry, something he hadn’t done for two weeks, changed the bed sheets and all the towels in the bathroom, cleaned the bathroom, living room and kitchen and made sure to straighten everything out and making sure everything was where it should be. He even resorted to vacuuming to pass the time. When the chores were done he took the dogs for a longer walk than usual and when he got back he took a shower. He tried calling Alex when he was settled on the couch but got sent to voicemail. Upon checking the time he realised that Alex would be playing their last show right about then, of course he wouldn’t be able to pick up the phone.

***

Jack woke up early the next morning. He was showered and dressed in record time and he drove faster than he should have to get to the airport. Arriving there he found a place to wait and bought a coffee as he had woken early. The band had taken a late night plane so that they arrived home earlier. After about two hours of waiting Jack became antsy and sent a text to Cassadee, Rian’s girlfriend, to see where she was. She sent him one back saying that they were nearly there. He wouldn’t be bored for long.

An hour later and Alex’s flight appeared on the ‘arrivals’ list. “Look they’re getting off the plane come on, come on, come on!” Jack grasped Cassadee’s arm and pulled her along to where people were gathering to wait. It took another twenty minutes before people started coming through and Jack leant up on his toes to pear over the wave of people. Then he saw him, talking to Zack as he pulled his suitcase behind him.

Alex looked forward, away from Zack, and spotted Jack. His smile widened and he weaved around their friends as he quickened his pace to reach Jack quicker. When he did he let his suitcase fall to the ground and he wrapped his arms around the taller boy’s shoulders, pulling him as close as he possibly could to him as Jack wrapped his arms around his waist. “I missed you so much baby.” Alex whispered into his ear.

“I missed you too.” Jack kissed Alex’s cheek as he pulled away to look at his face. “So much,”

Alex kissed Jack on the lips, hands moving to hold his face much like he had when he left three weeks ago. “Next time I think you should come with us.”

“Really?” Jack asked as they finally let go of each other, noticing their other friends had gathered around where they were, hugging each other and giving their hellos.

Alex kissed Jack sweetly and nodded, “I don’t ever want to leave you.”