Work Text:
Young Shannon/Young Jared
Shannon stumbled up the small flight of stairs, but the twelve year old didn’t care about the pain in his knee. He flung the front door open and screamed for his Mom, the young boy practically imploding with excitement and happiness. He waved a small sheet of paper erratically, the sheet already stained with dirt and crumpled.
Constance chuckled as she ventured out of the kitchen, the woman drying her hands with a dish towel in the process. “What is it honey?”
“Look!” exclaimed Shannon, practically throwing the paper in Constance’s face.
Constance smiled and took the paper from her older son’s hand, “Where is your brother?”
“Checking the mail,” Shannon answered.
Constance chuckled, “Let me guess, you just grabbed this didn’t you and let Jay to get the rest?”
Shannon sheepishly smiled, “But, look Momma!”
Constance rolled her eyes but looked at the paper that her son chucked at her. She gasped, “Oh sweetheart, you made honor roll!” she gushed, embracing Shannon tightly, “I’m so proud of you!”
Shannon smiled into his mother’s shoulder, “I worked really hard Momma,”
“And look at what you got,” Constance said with a smile, “I’ll go order some pizzas for us, go check on your brother,”
Shannon nodded and bolted out of the small house, his little brother jumping up to close the mailbox, a small pile of envelopes in his hands. Jared smiled at his older brother, a small gap in his teeth from a recent lost tooth. “What’s up Shan-Shan?”
Shannon smiled, “I made honor roll Baby Jay,” he said with a smile.
The eleven-year-old’s smile broadened, “Yay! I’m proud of you Shan-Shan. Told yea if you did your homework you would get good grades.”
Shannon chuckled and pull his brother into a headlock, “Yeah, you did brat. Now come on, Momma is ordering pizza.”
Jared nodded and trotted up the stairs behind his brother. The eldest ran towards the kitchen, shouting toppings that he wanted the whole way there. Jared chuckled and looked at the own envelope that held his grades. Quickly, he opened it. He flipped the paper open and smiled when he saw his grade point average: 3.7; Honor roll.
With a small smile, Jared slipped the paper back into the envelope. Tonight was Shan’s night.
(Older Jared/Shannon)
From Yesterday Era – 2006
Jared frowned as he looked through the messages on his Blackberry. “Jesus Christ, they act as if I earned the Nobel Peace Prize.” He muttered.
Shannon peered up from his salad, an eyebrow raised in question. “What’s up?”
Jared shrugged, “Just the usual bullshit that is media.”
Shannon swallowed a piece of lettuce, “What are they saying?”
“Oh, “I’m not worthy of this” and that I’m a “wannabe rockstar”.” Quoted Jared.
Shannon sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “They’ll come around Jay,”
“I don’t care if they come around,” snorted Jared, “They just need to leave shit alone. I’m not causing any harm by being in this fucking band.”
Shannon frowned and stood from the booth, “It will be fine.”
“No one will listen to us if they think we’re some fucking actor band,” Jared ranted, “Fuck! I wish I never took that fucking job for that show.”
Shannon placed his hands on Jared’s upper arms, “If you didn’t take it, we would still be on the streets.”
Jared growled, “It’s caused nothing but fucking problems for us.”
Shannon sighed and hugged his brother, “We’ll get through it Baby Jay. We’ll show them that we can be a band, fuck your other job. Fuck them! We’ll be the best fucking band with the best fucking family of fans behind us, nothing can stop us.”
Jared exhaled and ran a hand through his black and red hair, “It’s just annoying. I feel like that I haven’t made any progress that everyone writes us off as some stupid, actor-fronted band.”
“We’ll get through it Jay, trust me.” Shannon murmured, the younger man resting his head on Shannon’s shoulder, “Trust me.”
Jared wrapped his arms around Shannon, “I do. You’re just not right all the time.”
Shannon lightly smacked his brother’s arm, “Shut up asshole. Now, go to bed. You’re tired.”
Jared chuckled and withdrew from his brother’s embrace, “Yes Dad, anything else?”
Shannon flicked off the chuckling man and returned to his salad. He looked at the award that was sitting innocently on the counter and shook his head. His brother would prove to the world that he was worthy of the Crossover Award, and more. If anyone could do it, it would be Jay.