Work Text:
It had been a great opening night for the tour. Like Jon had said, he just couldn’t wait to hit the road again. And his prayers were answered.
They had played the final song of the encore and were bowing to and thanking the enormous crowd in front of them; David grabbed Richie’s hand, who tapped him on the back lightly, following by Tico who took Jon’s hand in his, giving him a bright smile and taking a grip on Hugh’s hand on the other side. Finally, Jon stretched out his right hand to Richie, who accepted the gesture, holding his hand strongly, lifting his arm. As Richie made the final move, all of them lifted their arms together and the crowd applauded them enthusiastically. They lowered their hands again and applauded the public when their hands separated again; all of them, except Jon and Richie.
They continued to wave and send kisses to the crowd, but their hands seemed to refuse to let go of one another, and neither of them appeared to notice this.
David went to Tico and elbowed him slightly on the ribs, pointing to Jon and Richie with his eyes. Tico couldn’t help but smile when he saw them holding hands talking to the crowd. He looked at David and raised his eyebrows as David did the same. At the same time Hugh was suppressing a laugh, trying to look at some other place and sighing with relief when he saw Bobby walking towards him.
Jon felt warmth going through his body while he still smiled to his audience, and he knew it wasn’t because of the last performance. It wasn’t a electrifying after show warmth; it was comforting. He looked at his side and saw Richie waving and blinking to his right, understanding immediately this sudden strange warmth when he spotted his hand entwined with Richie’s. He caressed Richie’s thumb, making him look at their hands, focusing later on his eyes. Jon felt his eyelids go heavy when those deep brown eyes caught his look, followed by a smile and those beautiful dimples. Jon felt like there was no one else there anymore, the only thing he could see now was Richie’s face smiling at him, and lightly winking.
He remembered the words he had said months before in an interview. He said this new album was a testament to having Richie at his side. That it was. He was so proud of him, he couldn’t put in words how happy he was for Richie, how he went through everything and ended up as the King that he was. And he was really happy he could take part in this process of recovering and re-energizing.
He remembered all those moments and felt tears coming in his eyes, the loud noise the crowd was making so far away as all his senses were turned to the man by his side now.
Richie seemed to feel Jon’s emotions and tightened the grip in his hand, bringing him closer to his body. Jon let go of Richie’s hand and wrapped up his arms around Richie’s waist, laying his head on his shoulder, closing his eyes, letting one lonely tear drop down his face, mixing with the sweat. Richie held him back, pressing him against his own chest, his head resting on Jon’s, feeling his hair tickle his face and breathing his scent, closing his eyes as well.
The crowd exploded in screams and applauses and all their band mates turned to the two men holding on to each other at the edge of the stage, looking so oblivious to everything. They applauded and patted them on their backs fondly, showing their comprehension of what was going through their minds at that moment. Richie withdrew a bit to look at Jon’s eyes. They were full of tears. He took a hand to Jon’s face and wiped those tears over his cheeks, and three words were whispered so that only Jon could hear: “I love you.”
Jon nodded, the sound of the maddened crowd and Tico’s hand tapping his back bringing him back to reality. He smiled at his friends and mouthed a “thank you” to them, really thanking them for being there with him through all these years, for taking this band so far to where it was now, for helping with the troubles, and for what seemed most important now, for understanding and supporting his relationship with Richie and their feelings for each other.
He looked back at Richie, smiling, and took his hand, turning to the crowd and bowing once more. As all of them did the same gesture again, Richie looked down at Jon and passed an arm around his shoulders, squeezing his arm. Jon met Richie’s eyes and whispered “let’s go”, so they turned to leave the stage, Richie’s hand still on Jon’s back, as they headed to the dressing room.
“It’s gonna be a great tour, guys. I can even say it’s gonna be the best one!” said an excited David, walking beside Tico and behind Richie and Jon along the backstage corridor.
Jon laughed gently, feeling Richie’s strong hands on his shoulder.
“Yea, I can feel it too.” He glanced up at Richie and met his lips for a quick peck.
Richie stared fondly at Jon, rubbing his arm.
“Then let’s go boys. We’ll have more of this tomorrow night. People are waiting to see us, so we better rest, we don’t want disappoint anyone do we?” he said, entering the dressing room with Jon.
David looked at Tico with a raised eyebrow.
“Sure, I know who will be resting tonight”.
Tico laughed and entered the room as well after David, closing the door behind him.
~THE END~