It’s the big finale!! I’m so proud of it, omg. I’ve been working on this one-shot for like two weeks and I just spent three hours straight finishing it and AHHH I CRIED I’M SO PROUD.
Anyway, it’s some sorta-random Javid modern au angst/fluff and, well, ta da!
Rating: T (only bc Davey says fuck like six times)
(I’m struggling w linking, but you can find it on the Newsies page or on my page on AO3; I’m “aceofsparrows”)
It’s eight p.m. and I’m lying upside down on my bed letting all the blood rush to my head when my boyfriend sneaks in through my bedroom window like some fairy-tale prince.
Well, let’s be clear, it’s not so much as sneaking as it is using the hole in the screen to open the window and then complaining about how cold it is outside as he somehow miraculously manages to wriggle his way through the window and thump unceremoniously onto my grey shag carpet.
But that’s beside the point.
“Jack,” I sigh, and although my eyes are firmly shut I know he’s fidgeting with the curtains by the way their rod rattles ominously. “Why are you here?”
“Uh, ‘cause I wan’ed ta see ya? Why else would I be here, Dave?”
I sit up, keeping my eyes closed for a moment longer so I don’t get too dizzy. “I don’t mind, Jack, but you’re supposed to text me before you come over.” And you’re supposed to use the door.
“I did, Dave,” he says, and I open my eyes to find him looking at me with an expression that’s somewhere between confusion and amused exasperation.
We both glance at my phone on my nightstand, and I reluctantly crawl across the bed to unplug it. Sure enough, when the screen lights up there’s a text from Jack:
coming over i hv a surprise
“What’s the surprise?” I ask, letting my phone fall back on the bedspread.
“I’m not tellin’ ya; it’s a surprise.” He smiles just slightly, and there’s that familiar glint in his eye.
“Jack, it’s late. I’m tired. I have a test tomorrow.”
I flop back onto the bed, closing my eyes once more. I’m so tired lately, trying to finish all my college apps before the early action deadline and do my normal homework and stage manage the fall musical at school.
And Jack, with his restless spirit and his paint-splattered jeans and his mischievous grin and his big, Santa Fe dreams? I used to feel more alive when I was with Jack, but now his signature roguish smile only radiates childish insecurity and I constantly stop to wonder whether I still love him.
Jack is avoiding my upside-down gaze when I open my eyes again, fiddling with the kiddie soccer trophy up on the shelf above my desk. He flicks the little plastic soccer ball so it spins around and around and around; the silence is heavy and important, but neither of us really wants to break it.
I’m about to ask him about the surprise again when there’s a soft knock on my door; the doorknob turns, and Sarah pokes her head in.
“Hey Day— oh, hi Jack— does Les have piano tonight?”
I sit up again, ignoring the little flashes at the edge of my vision as the blood rushes back out of my head.
“No, I don’t think so. Do you know when Mom is gonna be home?”
Sarah shakes her head. “No. She said probably around midnight, but it was later last night, so I’m not sure.”
“Okay.” Our mom is a secretary for one of the city hospitals near our apartment, and this week she’s got the night shift. With Dad upstate for a work trip all month, it’s been just me, Sarah, and Les at home to take care of ourselves most nights.
Which is another reason I don’t need Jack climbing through my window late on a Wednesday evening.
Sarah blows me a kiss and closes the door again, but not before casting a troubled look between Jack and I. As soon as she’s out of sight my phone buzzes on the bed next to my knee, and the message that lights up the screen is from her:
I type back a response quickly, glad Jack is still preoccupied by my trophy shelf and hasn’t noticed me texting.
He txted me but I didn’t notice. Says he has a surprise.
Sarah’s reply is almost instant, and it makes me sigh and roll my eyes.
Dude. Bro. Surprises are GOOD (usually lol). I can take care of Les, go hang w ur boyfriend.
Sarah only sort of knows how I’ve felt about Jack lately. She mostly thinks it’s because I’m scared of having to break up with him at the end of the year for college, or that I’m just super stressed and him not being stressed is annoying me more than usual, and while she’s partially right, it’s more than that.
But for once I suppose I should probably listen to her, since she is my sister, so I lock my phone and slide off the bed.
“Hey, you wanna go for a walk?”
vaporwave
snowghoul
turnnoffyourmind
discoholicmusic
stormborns
tangentwithtanner
yousharknotpass
