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It’d been a long day, a big show with a loud crowd and a difficult performance left all of them thoroughly drained. As soon as they’d made their grand exit, and gotten into their rather-lush car (in case they ever had to live in it, Henley liked to joke), they let out a collective groan of exhaustion.
Merritt and Jack crawled into their respective sides of the back, Henley taking drivers side. Once Danny got into the passenger seat, she sprawled out, head in his lap and legs curled up against the door.
It was a brief moment of silence and relaxation, they’d had a bunch of shows and spent a lot of time driving around recently, and this was their last show for a little less than a week. They all silently decided they just wanted to sit down and play dead for a few minutes.
Jack could feel the twinges of a silence ticking down on him. Producing the groans of discomfort felt significantly less satisfying and far more tiring than it should have, and the moment he got into his seat and half leaned on Merritt he could feel that he wouldn’t be moving if it was at all possible anytime soon.
By the time Henley had sat up, locked the doors and started driving off, Jack’s eyes had glazed over and he’d fallen into a pit of his own thoughts. The drive was quiet. After about ten minutes Henley put on some quiet music, and after forty five some light conversation picked up, Daniel waking up from his short nap.
Jack continued to stay silent, Merritt having moved around causing the youngest horsemen to be fully leaning on Merritt, his back and head pressed up against the eldest’s arm. Merritt didn’t seem to mind, though Jack distantly registered the teasing he sent towards him.
It was a three hour drive from their last show to their next temporary home, another likely rundown apartment with crappy heating and uncleaned appliances. That left Jack plenty of time to stare glazedly out the window, eyelids heavy but unable to fall asleep. That’s almost all he wanted, but even when his eyes slipped shut for minutes at a time, it didn’t come.
Merritt shifted a few more times throughout the drive, the last hour left him and Jack without their seatbelts on, Jack on the elders lap so Merritt could spread his legs. He knows that he joked about being old and Jack being asleep, but the one-sided conversation falls to the wayside of Jack’s mind.
It’s comfortable, feeling Merritt’s breathing against his neck, sometimes the rumble of his voice helping bring Jack a little bit closer to reality. Never all the way, never enough to respond, but enough to listen.
It’s when those three hours are up that things become problematic. Merritt nudges him until he can get himself to move his concrete-like limbs. He feels heavy and clumsy, exhausted but not tired. He fumbles with the door handle like he can’t remember how to use it until Merritt reaches over him and pulls the lock up.
A minute or so later, Merritt shows up on the other side of the door, and Jack realizes he’s just been sitting there staring at the damp street through his window without moving. He doesn’t have the energy to wince at his own actions, it’s all he can do to stand and not collapse onto the asphalt when Merritt opens his door with a tired, wakey wakey, sleeping beauty.
He wants to grumble out a response, but doesn’t manage it. He leans against the side of the car, lets Merritt shut his door for him and slips his eyes closed while Danny and Henley pull their bags from the trunk.
“Come on, Jack.” Henley’s soft voice breaks through the haze, arm snaking over his shoulders. He lets her pull him up, blinking tiredly and trying to get his legs to work beneath him. “Let’s get you to bed.”
That sounds great. He’s glad the Eye chose him, it’d been so long since he’d slept in a nice bed before he met them. Even if it means being so bone tired at the end of a performance day that he can’t talk, can barely move. Wouldn’t be able to so much as sit up if someone wasn’t there to prompt him.
Danny and Merritt are taking the lead, Danny bearing the keys. The apartment has heating that’s already on by the time they get there, lights that barely flicker, and a queen sized bed in the master bedroom, so it’s good enough.
Jack wants his jacket off, he wants to be wearing sweats and a t-shirt, not his stage getup. He wants to take off his suspenders, the tight collared shirt, the skinny jeans, but he’s stuck staring at the wall, leaned up against the bathroom door.
Henley’s changing by the bed, never having cared much for being seen naked around them. After a few months of bonding and becoming thick as thieves, the boys never really cared, either. Or they really cared, but not in the way that she didn’t want.
Jack isn’t really taking her in, he’s looking just to her left, wondering if he could get back up if he sunk to the floor. He’s pretty sure the answers no, so he stays standing until the door is pushed against his back and he’s forced to stumble a few feet out of the way.
Henley follows him into the bathroom, her robe haphazardly thrown on and a stack of clothes that Jack doesn’t realize are for him until she sets them down in front of him. She gets in the shower, makes a comment about hot water that starts with oh, thank god and makes Jack’s lips twitch into a smile.
He’s not sure how he musters up the energy to change, but he does. He doesn’t think it’d have been a big deal if he hadn’t, if Henley hadn’t brought him clothes and encouraged him to brush his teeth. He would’ve slept in his leathers and his suspenders, and changed the next morning when he had the brainpower to do a full-length task.
He leaves the bathroom before the smog of Henley’s hot shower steam can choke him. Merritt takes his wrist before he can flop himself down onto the bed, tugging him in. He and Henley always sleep in the middle when they share a bed like this, Danny on the left and Merritt on the right.
Tonight, he’s apparently on Merritt’s side, which he’s content with. The eldest of their group is a cuddler, and he’s given up pretending he isn’t after he woke up with someone in his arms one too many times. Now, he wraps Jack up in his arms and yanks the covers over them, getting an annoyed grumble from Danny who’s sitting up waiting for their fourth rolling a deck of cards over his fingers.
Jack sinks into the warmth, and when everyone is settled in, safe, comfortable, he finally drifts off. He dreams of their first big show, due in another half year, and the group he’s come to call family.