Chapter Text
"Hand me that ornament—no, Jake, the other one."
"I can't even see where you're pointing, Javy. How do you know which one I'm holding?"
"Just give me the house, Jake."
Jake rolls his eyes, fetching the house ornament from inside the box and picking up the golden sphere on the coffee table on his way to the tree and Javy. He passes the house to his friend and gives a step back to see the whole Christmas tree better so he can choose the perfect place for the ornament in his hand. Jake decides on a low branch and secures the sphere there, tugging on it a little to ensure Hope won't be able to knock it down no matter how hard she tries.
Satisfied, he circles the tree to better look at Javy as he speaks to him. "Javy—"
"I'm not having this conversation again, Jake."
Jake huffs. "You don't even know what I'm gonna say!"
Javy stops fumbling with the tree to direct a stern look his way. "Javy, really. I'm glad you're letting me stay at your apartment, but you don't have to actually include me in all this."
Jake gapes.
Javy smirks. "We've already been through this so many times that it's not even funny anymore. This is not my apartment," he waves a hand around, "it's our apartment; you're my roommate."
"Sure, that's why you've insisted on me not giving you any money for rent for the last couple of months."
"You wanted to save to see your mom this year," Javy shrugs, "I can pay for this place on my own for a few months. It's no problem, man."
Bumping his shoulder to Javy's, Jake mumbles. "That's one way of putting it."
"Hey, leave it," Javy says, bumping their shoulders again. "How about you grab some garland and help me here, hmm? I want our apartment to look nice for Christmas."
Jake lets a small, hesitant smile tug at his lips, gathering the garland. It's barely the first week of December, but Javy gets really into the Christmas spirit, enjoying decorating so much because that's one of his family's favorite bonding activities for the holidays back in New Orleans.
Jake would rather leave all Christmas talk out of his life, too burned out at this point in his life, but with Javy being such a graceful host the past six months and an even better friend for four years now, Jake can do anything but let himself be wrapped up in his best friend's joy for the holiday.
That doesn't mean he'll be quiet about the fact. "Can't believe you have me decorating on December fourth." Jake sighs. "Shouldn't you be at some cast party since it was closing night for your play?"
"Nah, can't be bothered to go to another one of those."
"I wish I could turn down cast parties."
"You will, soon. Your big break is coming. I know it."
"How are you so sure?"
"I just have a feeling about it. I was you five years ago, then that gig reading poetry at the cafe got me the audition of a lifetime, and here I am." Javy points to himself, covered in garland and holding a cup of eggnog. Jake wishes he weren't so jealous of such a goofy guy. "I know it's gonna happen to you soon."
"I hope so."
Javy gives him a small smile. There's a look in his brown eyes, one Jake would have taken for pity a couple of years ago but has come to recognize as the kind of empathy only someone that has been through the same hardships Jake (or any other actor coming to New York following their dreams) has.
"Say, why don't we leave this for tomorrow and go down to Fred's piano bar?"
Jake makes a face. "No, that place is for Broadway people. Every time I go there, I feel like an outsider or like I'm piggybacking on your success."
"Piggybacking," Javy mocks. "You're my friend, Jake. We're just hanging out at a bar. Stop being so dramatic."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Besides, you had that audition last week, right? For that Cortell play."
Jake sighs happily. "That one went really well if I say so myself."
Javy smiles, teeth showing. "You're gonna get it."
Jake nods firmly. "I'm going to get it. I have to. Because waiting tables, doing plays nobody's watching, and sleeping on your couch is not how my life was supposed to be."
"It's never how it's supposed to be, man. But you gotta roll with it, 'cause sometimes that leads to better things."
The following day Jake wakes up with a crick in his neck.
"Better things, my ass," he mutters while rubbing the sore spot.
"Rise and shine, baby!"
Jake groans, letting himself plop down on the couch again. He's never going to get how Javy can be so cheerful this early in the morning when he got barely four hours of sleep.
"I have coffee and some nice beignets from the bakery two streets down ready for you, grumpy pants."
Jake reaches for a pillow and hurls it in the direction of the kitchen. The "hey!" that follows makes him smile. Right on target.
"You better get your ass up, Jake. You said you were going to drop me off at the airport."
Jake groans again, pulling the blanket around his hips up to cover his head. "It's fucking five in the morning, Javier."
"And I have a flight to Louisiana to catch in four hours, Jacob. Besides," Javy says, "don't you want your Christmas present?"
Jake can hear the smile on the other man's face, and that makes him frown. He uncovers his face, blinking rapidly at the ceiling. "Christmas is twenty days away."
"But I won't see you until the 28th. I figured this was the right time to give it to you."
"You could have waited until the 28th."
"Oh, no," Javy exclaims. "I have to give it to you today."
Jake furrows his brows, sitting up. "What is it?"
Javy sits in front of him, waving a box and placing it in Jake's lap. "Open it."
Jake does as he's told carefully, and the furrow deepens when he finds an envelope inside the box. "Javy—"
"Shush. This is the first time in ages you're free for the holidays. No rehearsals and you left that job at the diner."
"They kicked me out," Jake deadpans.
"Semantics. The point is, you said you wanted to see your mom this year, and I wanted to help however I can because I love you."
Jake takes the ticket out of the envelope. It's a round-trip ticket to Harrisburg, the flight leaving an hour after Javy's own is departing. Harrisburg, half an hour away from Potters Pine.
"Besides," Javy continues, "and I mean this in the nicest way possible, you need some Christmas spirit, and going off what you've told me about this little town you're from, they have a lot of that around there."
Jake is not tearing up. He is not.
"Javy, this is… I got you a new pair of wireless earbuds." He sniffs. "They're not even expensive ones."
"Wow," Javy says, stony. "Thank you for ruining the surprise."
They both laugh, quiet snickers ringing in Jake's ears as he stares at the ticket in awe.
"I already checked you in, so you better pack the quickest luggage of your life because you're not losing that flight. I even arranged to have a car pick you up when you land to take you straight to your mom's to surprise her."
"Shit," Jake curses, standing up so quickly that his legs tangle in the blanket, and he falls on his ass on the hardwood floor. Javy laughs while he helps him up, leading the way to his bedroom, to the little portable closet where they keep Jake's clothes.
"They expected so much from me, you know?" Jake mutters an hour later on the ride to the airport. "Back in Potters Pine. 'Most likely to succeed,' the yearbook said. And look at me now."
Javy turns to him, hand firmly pressed to Hope's cage. "You're almost there. The Cortell play is gonna be it. Mark my words."
"Yeah," Jake takes a deep breath. "Yeah, you're right. This is me being angsty, must be the holidays."
Javy bumps their shoulders together, looking ahead.