Work Text:
Jay hadn't celebrated his birthday in the traditional sense in a long time. He barely remembered the date until Brian told him “Happy Birthday” that morning, the event written down in Brian's pocket calendar along with the rest of the Marble Hornets crew.
Jay knew today was supposed to feel nicer than others, but really it all felt the same. He was tired, he didn't sleep last night, and his hands were cold. Alex was pissed off at gods knows what again and fucking hell he needed somewhere quite.
“Can you shut up alex.”
Alex turned fast to look at Jay, about to yell again until he actually looked at Jay. Jay’s hands tapping out some beat on his thigh and shaking back and forth, leg bouncing, he couldn't stand still. Alex knew Jay was overwhelmed in some way, but the worst part was Brian shouting.
“Hey go easy on him ‘lex, it's his birthday!”
Alex had forgotten Jay’s birthday, too caught up in his film.
“I know Brian. Still. Jay, can you go look over these?”
Alex hadn’t known. He ruffled around in his bag, pulling out a few scripts he had drawn up maybe a month ago for some scenes and handed them to Jay. Today was an accident, and tomorrow he was going to make up for it. Right now wasn't the time to dwell on that, right now was time to film.
Jay took the script and sat off the side on a nearby picnic bench as he read over the packet Alex had typed out and printed. His leg bounced and he felt like his skin was crawling but at least he didn't have to stand and be around all the noise. Script editing was easy, he had the format memorized and generally knew what Alex was trying to say. Alex was good at cameras, he was working in a degree for both film and photography, but his dialogue was… rough to say the least.
Jay pulls his jacket in a bit, taking a blue pen and crossing out mistakes to fix them, scanning through the whole books worth of script, making little comments here and there when he felt like it.
Tim had been the first to suggest the idea when Jay was out of earshot.
“He works a lot for you yaknow. Maybe you should pay his back a little Alex.”
Alex couldn't help but make a comment back at the snarky remark. “I will. Tomorrow.”
“Really? How? With what Alex? Are you gonna actually treat his birthday like an event or just leave him.”
Alex had to pause. Normally for Jay’s birthday they didn't do anything but chill and watch a movie, maybe take a day off. When they were kids it was the same, Jay would come over to his house and sleep over. Things are different now. Their circle of friends had expanded from just each other to what finally felt like a normal group of friends, even if it was a small groups still.
“Tomorrow Tim I expect both you and Brian at my house.”
“For what.”
“Jay’s birthday party. Start from the top, let's hurry this up.”
Alex watched as everyone said their lines over and over again, getting his few almost perfect shots and that was all for this shoot.
When Alex sat down by Jay at the picnic table, he was handed a script marked all over with blue ink.
“Thanks… hey I'm sorry about today. Wanna take the day off tomorrow?”
“Yeah…”
Alex sighed, he wasn't the best at apologizing but he felt bad about forgetting Jay’s birthday already.
“Brian and Tim are gonna come over…”
“Sounds nice ‘lexi”
“..yeah jaybird.”
They both walked back to their shared apartment in silence, trying not to think about what happened.
When they got home Jay was the first to crash down on the couch, too tired to get out his laptop and work on anything. He would make up the work later. Alex slid into the computer chair at the desk, their loud keyboard clacking away in the silence.
“Whatcha doing?”
“You’re ace right?”
“Yeah? why do you need to know- Alex what are you doing?”
“Nothing. I'll be back later, have dinner without me.”
It felt as soon as they arrived Alex was rushing out. Jay was just too tired to care as he watched Alex grab his wallet and keys and walk out the door.
Jay sighed, grabbing the remote on the coffee table and turning on the TV.
“Alex hates all these movies”
His eyes scanned the list of things they had on the hard drive, looking for something interesting. Eventually he found some older film, putting on just so he could get up and go to the kitchen to make something to eat.
“Fuck we forgot pasta sauce again…”
Whenever Jay wanted pasta they never had the right stuff for it. He settled for a sandwich and the snacks they had in the cupboard, moving slowly and taking time to stop and stare and zone out as he tried to eat. The background noise was nice, but he knew he was alone and tired.
It must have taken him an hour, maybe two, to eat, judging from the light outside. Jay looked at the setting sun, sighing, getting up to put his plate in the sink.
As he made his way back to the living room to work on schoolwork he saw alex, a paper bag in his hands as he sat on the couch and watched the ending half of the movie, judging.
“I just don't see the point in a still shot for this, She's clearly distressed and keeping the camera at one angle doesn't add anything to the distress, makes it look stupid.”
“hm. yeah. what's that?” Jay pointed at the bag.
“None of your business.”
“Fine.” Jay sat down, opening his laptop to his email. “How's the photography class?”
“Good, I wanna go location scouting again, not for the film. Just to get some nice photos to turn in.”
“Sounds fun.”
“How's your English class?”
“Could be better, I read most of these books in high school. Maybe you’d like them.” Jay reached over to the coffee table, tossing Alex his copy of ‘The Giver’
“Never read it.”
“I know ‘lexi”
Alex sighed, relaxing as he opened the book up and read the first few lines. Jay liked books and Alex was willing to read sometimes if it meant Jay would be happy. It was a nice exchange, Alex showed Jay movies, Jay showed Alex books. It worked for them.
“You write in your books”
“Yeah I own that copy”
They sat in silence together, eventually Jay got to his bed, laptop on his bedside table, plugged into the wall socket. Alex had said his good nights a while ago, retiring to his room to do whatever.
Jay pulled his covers up, letting the sound of the rain hitting his windows lull him into dreamless sleep.
Whispering had woken him up, his eyes adjusting to the light flooding his room from the windows. His alarm clock blinked at him. 8:38.
Jay sighed, depressing back into his bed before he got himself up, grabbing a new shirt and a clean pair of jeans from his dresser.
Tossing his old clothes into the laundry basket by his door as he left, Jay was met with three men in his living room.
“Jay! Happy birthday man!”
Brian stood up from the couch, happy to bring Jay into the kitchen as Tim and Alex followed along.
“birthday?”
Brian sat Jay down, everyone grabbing a chair as well. There was a cake in front of him, candles and everything. Tim lit them and smiled at jay.
“Yeah, Alex said you two haven't done a birthday party in a while so we brought cake.”
“i dunno what to say guys-”
Alex laughed. “You don't say anything, just sit down and feel embarrassed.”
Jay tilted his head, not understanding until Brian started singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and Tim and Alex joined in with giggles and smiles.
Jay felt burning embarrassment, his cheeks going red and hot. By the time they had finished Jay had sunk down in his chair.
“g- guys- this is-”
“Yeah nerd, here.” Alex tossed him a small box, not bothering to wrap it. Jay was a little more the stunned but he opened it up anyways, revealing a smaller blue velvet box inside.
“l- ‘lex?..”
“Hm.”
“What's this?”
“Open it up and find out.” Alex rolled his eyes, standing up now and leaning against the wall as Brian cut the cake.
Jay sighed, mentally preparing himself. Lifting the lid up made way for a solid black ring, simple and neat, Jay’s preferred style.
“Alex this is-”
Alex cut him off. “You're ace and all that so- I- listen it was a thing I read online somewhere. Black ring on the middle finger. I can take it back if you don't like it”
Jay was almost in tears, standing up so fast the back of his chair was pushed away and rushing to embrace Alex. His thin arms wrapping around Alex’s back, chest bumping into chest hard enough to make Alex stumble back, frozen up.
“Thanks ‘lexi”
“no problem jaybird, happy birthday”
Alex hugged back, head nestled into Jay’s neck as he leaned down a bit.
Tim and Brian let them have their moment before dragging Jay back to the table.
“Alright birthday boy, let's eat cake!”
Jay wiped his tears away with a smile, overjoyed. This was almost like a first birthday party for him, and he had a whole group of friends to share it with. There really wasn't anything better than this.
Later that night Alex helped drag a mattress into the living room so all four of them could watch movies like Jay and him used to do, one big sleepover.
Jay cuddled with Tim on the mattress, warm and happy, fidgeting with the ring on his finger as he listened to Brian and Alex talk about the movie above him.
Tim grabbed a blanket and put it over both of them, and Jay was out like a light as soon as he did. Tim didn't mind, keeping an arm around Jay.
Jay was safe here, and that's all that mattered tonight.