Chapter Text
His phone rang,
Once,
Then twice,
Then three times,
Until he heard that playful, bubbly voice again.
"Hey."
"GEM WE'RE LATE OUR FLIGHT LEAVES IN 2 HOURS, PLEASE TELL ME YOUR NEAR MY APARTMENT?"He hurriedly spoke.
"Yeee-p, just pulling up right now."
"Okay just gimmie a min, bye!"
He slipped his phone into his pocket and grabbed his several bags and suitcase then proceeded to run out to Gem's car.
Suddenly they were off, headed to the airport.Scott was stressing, stressing about how his flight was in 2 hours, stressing about how he needed to impress literal rock-stars, stressing because what the hell was this feeling in his chest.
Gem noticed the sudden spike in his breathing, his dilated pupils and how his leg was jumping up and down. Gem was always a very observant person.
"Scotty?"You okay?"She questioned in a soft tone, nudging him slightly with her elbow.
He turned to her, his breathe and pupils suddenly going back to normal and his leg jolting to a stop but his vision was still hazey and his head was still thumping.
"Um yeah, I-I'm just- really nervous." He said his voice croaking in the middle of his sentence.
Gem took a sharp breath, she sounded...angry? No, no that couldn't be it? Was she mad at him?
"Hey your gonna do great trust me." She carried on.
"Your the best journalist I've ever met, if you don't get that job I don't know who will!"
Scott let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in, what was that, was he really that paranoid?
He just laughed and thanked her.
"Hey wanna listen to some of the Rejects music, I like this one song called 'The Last Song?" She asked, her soft tone staying.
"Sure go on then." He smiled lightly, but he couldn't get this headache to stop.
Gosh what was wrong with him.
After that one song the car ride was filled with gossip, small talk and music from then on.
Scott was still nervous but had forgotten about it for a while, too occupied chatting with Gem. (Well forgot about it to an extent he still had that feeling in his chest.)
He did have good reason to be stressed the interview was tomorrow and he wasn't sure if he was even going to make it.
Yet his mind had found a moment of peace talking to his sun.
✹∆≈« ★ » ≈∆✹
"Jim just so you know tomorrow your our worst enemy now, more than that one time Big B tripped me up on stage!" Joel yelled whilst throwing a pillow at an unsuspecting
Jimmy but his words had no spite behind them, just sarcasm.
"Dude I was drunk, it's barely my fault!" Jim snapped back in a sassy tone.
Skizz was sat on their studio sofa, quietly tuning his guitar. "Jiggles come on, you gotta take some responsibility." He laughed.
"See even mom disagrees with you Jimmy." Big B chuckled,ew he had a mouthful of cookie, he was sat on the small counter top they had, cookie in hand.
Their studio was small but had several floors.It was also on the corner of a small street in Florida.It had vinyl floors, which were smooth enough you could slide on.
That brought many fun races with Skizz and Joel fighting over who could slide the furthest in a small corridor.(Spoiler alert Skizz cheated by wearing furry socks, Joel was pissed when he found out by looking at the video Big B made, he seemed way to caught up in the competition to notice anything at the time.)
It had the vibe of a peaceful record shop, yet the Rejects always found a way to bring chaos.
Their newest chaotic episode was Jimmy's slip up at their latest concert.
The Rejects had already made many statements saying that Jimmy's 'announcement' was just a big misunderstanding. But nobody in the band believed that would work.
Fans would do anything to literally breathe the same air as them.
You may think the band is being cocky but no it's true.
One fan tried to pretend to be a news interviewer and then stole some of Jimmy's hair from his brush to "attempt to clone him".
Sometimes Jim asked what made him become a rockstar.
A voice was heard from the corridor.
"Alright losers, you ready to go through the apocalypse tomorrow?"
"Shut up Grian." Jim said, his voice muffled from the pillow that he had stuffed in front of his face.
"Hey I'm not the one who got drunk before a concert, am I?"
Jimmy's 'bird brain brother', as Jim and Pearl would call him.
(Not Lizzie though she would "never" stoop that low, she was sophisticated.)
Was right but why does everyone have to keep bringing it up. Every time it was brung up Jim was just reminded of the real reason he got drunk.
Nope, nuh uh, he knows the real reason, it was, uhh, not being listen to about the journalist, just shut up Jimmy.
"Waffle what exactly is the plan for tomorrow?" Skizz spoke up.
"We send away as many people as possible, as this is private property, but of course we'll have to explain it's a big misunderstanding." He responded, clearly him and the rest of their legal team had discussed this.
"Also Skizz, STOP CALLING ME WAFFLE!" Grian was flaring his arms in the air.
"No can do, gotta give everyone in the team a nickname, if you don't like it you must get rid of me!" He sighed dramatically, the back of his hand on his forehead and his eyes closed as he slightly leaned back.
Joel butted in by saying,
"Gri, don't you literally call Jim, Tim and Timmy?"
They continue talking, arguing and planning but their voices soon got muffled by Jimmy's thoughts.
Jimmy felt really guilty but he couldn't help himself, nobody in the band was listening to him about any of the tour plans and he was their blumming lead singer.
So he delt with it by drinking, then going on live tv to tell the entire world his ideas, at least they would listen.
(But it wasn't about them not listening was it?
Shut up.
You know why you really got drunk that night,
No!
because all the memories were coming back because everything around you reminded you of it.)
GOSH, why won't these voices shut..UP!
He heard muffled shouts of his name, he suddenly snapped back into reality to see a hand waving right in his face.
"Earth to Timmy?"
Grian.. of course.
Some how he could interrupt anything even Jimmy's thoughts.
"Huh..what?"
"Any thoughts or ideas for tomorrow?"
Grian spoke curiosity mixed with his words.
Everyone's eyes were on him, except BigB's, who was sneakily picking up his cookie that dropped on the floor and wiping it, making sure no one saw his unhygienic 5 second rule.
Jimmy muttered a quick "no not really" but Grian could sense something wrong.
"Hey Tim you know that we don't hate you, it was a mistake, we've all made them."
Grian voice was trying as hard as he could to sound genuine and soft.
But Grian had always struggled with that, he was genuine and he was being supportive but it came out sort of.. I don't know,.. snarky?
"Yeah, I know." He flashed a smile that didn't meet his eyes.
Oblivious Grian took that smile as genuine, he would bring up Timmy's weird behavior to Pearl and Lizzie later anyways.
"Hey remember when Joel tripped on stage-"
"B literally tripped me!" Joel huffed, interrupting Grian and crossing his arms whilst sitting up.
"Anyways who wants to go get boba?" Grian spoke up more clearly now.
His voice cut through the teams rowdiness like a knife.
"G, are you saying that because you want boba or because you wanna see Scar?" Joel snarked and a snicker followed.
"Can't hear you already out the door, I'm driving!" The dirty blonde haired boy yelled from the hallway, speed walking away to hide his sudden red face.
Joel huffed out a small chuckle.
"I call shot-gun!" Skizz spoke up running towards the door.
"Oh no you don't!" Big B jumped of the counter attempting to overtake Skizz.
"C'mon babe let's join them before Big B kills him!" Joel said whilst wrapping his arm around Jim's shoulders.
"Stop calling me babe!" Jim said, swatting away Joel.
"Sorry babe, bad boys call each other babe, babe."
"I'll tell Lizzie." Jim responded a sudden smirk on his face and two eyes side eyeing Joel.
"NOO PLEASE!" Joel responded in an overdramatic yelp, his voice cracking, which caused a laugh from Jimmy.
Joel did not like the idea of his girlfriend (and Jimmy's sister) telling him off for calling Jimmy babe...again...
They scurried out before Joel could 'silence' him with a slap.
✹∆≈« ★ » ≈∆✹
"Delayed..." Scott's voice was barley above a whisper.
"Whoever I see next will be getting punched!" Gem was pissed, they had just made it in time for their flight and now this has ruined Gem's good vibes.
After a 2 hour car ride and Scott stressing about his interview those 7 big red letters in bold were way more stressful and scary.
"Hey Scott don't worry I'm sure-"
Gem was cut off by a sharp tone in Scott's voice.
"It's not fine Gem, this was a stupid idea anyways." He sighed and put his hands against his head.
If you ask Gem what happens next she'll tell you she isn't quite sure, everythings a bit of a blur but she does know that something inside of her just snapped.
She knows that it shouldn't of but come on Scott had been moping for weeks and then she brings him up this amazing opportunity.
And then he responds with more moping, every time she reassures him, but then when she tried to talk to him about her worries or excitement about the trip he would ignore her.
So do you really blame her?
"No Scott, I'm not just leaving this airport just because you don't believe in yourself and have low self-esteem, I just want to go on a trip with my best friend and then go and see my family, is that too much to ask for?"
Gem's voice was croaking and Scott realized something he should of days ago, Gem really wanted to go on this trip too but not just for him.
"Gem I-" He reached out his hand, which was abruptly pushed away.
"I'm going sitting in that cafe over there and working out if I can get my money back for your plane ticket."
Before Scott could say anything she was walking away.
Her bright ginger hair being swept away by a crowd.
Scott realized he needed to also think about Gem, she had been cheering him on for days and he was just ignoring her.
He debated going to speak to her but then thought of how after arguments, even small ones like this, she needs time to cool off.
So he grabbed his spare bags and started walking towards the employee to see if their luggage would be okay.
He walked into the crowd of people swarming the employees and attempted to get one of theirs attention.
"Hey miss...hello?..hi uhh excuse me, sir?"
It was no use, Scott was too tired for this, he assured his brain their luggage would be fine then went to a near by bench to settle down on.
✹∆≈« ★ » ≈∆✹
When he finally got comfortable, using his bag as a pillow, he started people watching.
Specifically noting down different features or clothing items, aswell as counting certain clothing items, today it was hats.
His therapist said counting and observing small things can calm you down and regulate you if anything happens where your not in the right space to talk.Scott doesn't understand why or how it works but it does, so who is he to complain.
There was three people who stuck out to our teal haired protagonist in the 30 minutes he was sat there.
This one person had a completely normal outfit, but as Scott looked them up and down he saw the person had massive spotty clown shoes on.
Then a woman that walked past had a traffic cone sat on her head and was holding a backpack with a bunch of traffic light pins on it.
Then the third and final person was tap dancing down the the terminal, slowly disappearing from Scott's view.
✹∆≈« ★ » ≈∆✹
"Okay, okay so would you rather eat a whole pack of cigarettes....orr sleep in a dumpster for a night?"
Skizz waited for a response from his fellow bandmates.
"Also wait, where's G?" Skizz said interrupting his friends 'would you rather' thoughts.
"Probably talking to Scar!" Big B chuckled.
"Dude G is so in-love with him, it's so obvious!"
Joel spoke up, disrupting their laughter,
"Wait Skizz with your 'would you rather' , is the dumpster empty?" Joel said whilst flicking a boba ball at Jimmy's face.
"No, it's filled with like, trash and poop."
Skizz responded a little too quickly.
"Firstly, it's 'rubbish' not 'trash'," Jimmy put on an American accent whilst saying 'trash.'
"And also I'd rather sleep in the dumpster, I already can't stomach a lot of food, nevermind cigarettes, Id probably chuck them up immediately bro!" Jimmy said, whilst swatting away Joel, who was still throwing boba popping balls at him.
"Nah, I could take the cigarettes, I'm built different!" Joel spoke smugly, flexing his 'muscle' whilst speaking.
"Hmm, I would eat the cigarettes, protein, am I right?" Big B laughed
"Big B I'm gonna be so serious with your right now."
Joel leaned forward, placing his chin on the palms of his hands, a very serious look was now on his face.
Big B mirrored this face and crossed his arms.
"Okay,?" Joel continued.
Big B nodded slowly.
"You don't need the protein dude, YOUR TRAPS ARE TOO BIG!"
Joel just finished his sentence before bursting into laughter.
Joel fluttered his eyes and made a kissing face.
"YEAH B YOUR RIPPED!" Skizz choked out whilst laughing.
Skizz might aswell have been on the floor of the boba shop by now but Big B was holding him up by his arm effortlessly.
They needed to calm down their "disguises" (made up of low caps and sunglasses) were only doing so much.
Big B was biting his lip holding in a chuckle, he was also very obviously flushing pink.
But Jimmy just put on a small laugh, whilst drinking?
He didn't feel like laughing. How could he it had been 6 months but it was like the "incident" (Jimmy was calling it) was eating away at him.
Maybe that's the real reason he got wasted last week and went on stage drunk, maybe it wasn't not being appreciated or listen to.
No, no, it couldn't be, Jimmy you're just being stupid again, you're just letting those voices get to you again.
Joel nudged him and gave him a look to ask
"Dude, you okay?", but Jim just responded with a not so sincere, "yeah I'm fine" look.
Skizz noticed this and chuckled,
"Golly goshers, Jiggles are you sure you and J-dog aren't dating, you two can just communicate through looks now!" He laughed out, not understanding that the looks were because something was off with 'Jiggles'.
"Am I right B?" Skizz elbowed Big B, who was eating another cooki-...wait they don't sell cookies here..HOW DOES HE KEEP FINDING THEM!
"Hah, sorry to break it to you guys but Jim's desperately in love with Tango, his precious little boyfriend!"
Joel laughed whilst putting his hands inter-locked and placing them on the side of his face, aswell as fluttering his eyes dramatically.
Oh god, why'd he have to say that.
Jimmy's stomach felt like it was doing summersaults, his vision was blurring from.. were those tears.Oh no he couldn't do this here, not in front of his best friends.
He stood up so fast that his head began to spin.
"I-I-I have to go the bathroom, brb!"
He stuttered out already walking away.
When he turned the corner, out of site, he booked it down the hall to the bathroom.
He slammed the door open, phew no one was in the stalls.
He ran into a stall, not bothering to lock or shut it, then threw up anything and everything that he had ate today.
He sat down on the cold tiled floors and was hugging the bowl, he felt so empty and void.
Usually when he threw up like this Lizzie or Pearl o-r-or Tango- was holding him, that was something he loved when people did, it made him feel cared for.
Why did Joel have to mention that-that name.
Jimmy was full on crying now, his tears stung his face like little needles, jabbing at his (now red and puffy) cheeks.
He opened his mouth to let out a cry but it was silent. He was struggling to breathe, gasping for air.
Why did he get so emotional about him, Jimmy wasn't one of those-, he wasn't a-a faggo- he didn't like guys...
That was wrong, that was wrong, that was wrong.Tango was just an experiment, he didn't love him, he didn't love that warmth he naturally had, he didn't love waking up and seeing his face smiling at him, he didn't-.
Jimmy's thoughts were interrupted by the toilet door swinging open.
He wiped his eyes but he could barely see through the tears.
He suddenly felt a hand on his back, he didn't want anyone to really touch him, although he wanted someone to care for him when he had times like this, he didn't like being touched by randoms.
His whole body felt sticky and sweaty, he felt disgusting.
He looked to the side to see who was next to him but all he saw was a blurry figure crouched down beside him, the harsh lights were shinning in his eyes.
He heard a muffled voice but it was too distorted to tell who they were.
But through his tears he saw a sympathetic look, a look that had been with him since childhood, like when scraped his knee from falling down a tree, his best friend.
Jimmy croaked out a,
"Joel!"
whilst latching on to his waist, nearly making Joel fall.
He didn't care how disgusting he felt he needed his best friend.
They sat in that position for 10 minutes, Jimmy silently strangled sobs into Joel's shirt and Joel whispering reassuring phrases into his ear. Even though Jimmy couldn't hear Joel speaking, only distorted sounds, it was still appreciated.
Luckily nobody walked in or else they probably would think they were a couple.
Soon after Jimmy stopped crying and Joels voice sounded less distorted.
"Hey Jim?" Joel smiled down at him.
Jimmy just nodded, trying to smile back, although it came out as a sort of grimace.
"Do you mind me asking why your crying, is it because of the concert?"
Jimmy stayed silent, he really wanted to tell Joel, he really wanted to tell someone.
"It's okay if you dont-"
Joel was cut of by Jimmy.
"No, no, it's okay, I want to tell someone." Jimmy's voice was hoarse, he wrinkled his nose in irritation at his voice.
Joel nodded for him to go on.
"S-Six m..months ag- ago me and Tan..Tango b-b-broke up." Jimmy's let a out a quiet cry, that was the first time he had told anyone.
'Oh Jim, have you told anyone?"
He shook his head violently, not even Lizzie knew and he told Lizzie everything.
Joel wiped a tear of Jim's cheek and hugged him.
"Hey, this was a lot to keep in for 6 months, I'm not the best at this stuff but you know what I am good at,"he paused "relationship stuff." Joel did jazz hands and gave him a small smile.
Joel wasn't lying either, him and Lizzie had stupidly obvious childhood crushes but then highschool hit.And highschool stuff happens, Joel got a boyfriend, Etho, this weird "emo" guy. And Lizzie wasn't single either she had a girlfriend/partner called Cleo, they were interesting, Jimmy feels like they hated him.
But when they were 15 they finally got together, no thanks to Jimmy though, but that's a story for another day.
"I just really miss him." Jimmy choked out.
"Yeah I know bud, you really liked him didn't you?"
Jimmy nodded, his eyes were glossing over again.
"I just, I- I don't know what I am?"
Joel tilted his head in confusion.
"With my sexuality,"
Tears were flowing again.
"Like it's all so confusing and, and I keep having these thoughts, I- I just can't take it anymore."
Jimmy burst into a cry.
"Shh, it's okay, we can talk about this when we get back to you and Liz's place, okay?"
Jimmy nodded and wiped his tears and snot with his sleeve.
They stood up and made their way out.
They lied to the band saying there was an 'hair-dye' emergency with Liz, hopefully they bought it.
✹∆≈« ★ » ≈∆✹
After this half an hour, which felt like 10 years, Scott remembered he had Gem's airpod in his pocket he pulled it out and the earbuds were still connected, he quickly chose one of the Rejects songs and put an earbud in.
Scott had, had enough of sitting and waiting, he wanted to speak to Gem. So he hastily stood up, wiping his eyes, then grabbed his stuff.He took of to the cafe he was sitting across from.
In the window he could see a red head, who looked so small, Scott rarely saw Gem like this. She was sat in a booth by herself reading, in the corner. A sense of guilt washed over him, drenching him in a weird twisted feeling.
He paused his music and walked inside sitting across from Gem.
"Hey."Scott timidly spoke, as if he was tending to a hurt animal.
"Hi." Gem responded coldly but quietly.
She carried on reading, but didn't look all to focused.
"Look Gem, I'm really sorry, like extremely sorry."
Gem looked up at him, moving her chin up of her arm.
"I've been ignoring you a lot and I'm so sorry, these past few days I've been so scared and that's no excuse for how much I've been discarding your thoughts and feelings, but I- I just really hope you can forgive me."
He was fidgeting with his flip phone now.
There was a small silence before Gem spoke up,
"Scott I forgive you, I just- please don't do that again, I get your scared but I want us to both, I don't know, be there for each other."
"God, that's so cringey." She smiled as she spoke, a real smile, a bright one.
"I'm sorry for saying you have 'low self-esteem'.
She cringed at her words.
"Hey, your not wrong." Scott laughed, he didn't mind that much.
Gem reached out her hand on the table and Scott followed suit doing the same.
They held hands for a moment before Gem spoke up and pulled away,
"Anyways we need to stop holding hands or else people are gonna think we're a straight couple." She did a fake gagging face.
Scott laughed, he's so glad he got his sun back.
"Oh yeah, I cancelled your ticket." Gem said bluntly but a smile was playing at her lips.
"Gem!" Scott said, whilst nudging her with the back of his hand.
"Joking!" Gem pulled her hands in the air in an 'innocent' motion.
"Wanna listen to 'The Last Song'?" Scott asked, he was smiling like they did when they were kids.
"Sure Scotty." Gem took the earbud from his hand.
Hopefully they could sort out this flight delayed stuff.