Work Text:
The crowd continues to scream before they finally dim down as the producer walks on stage. His wispy moustache shines in the blue hue of the hall, and I giggle to myself thinking about it.
“Thank you rosemeadow high! That was a beautiful act” he says, his voice chirpy and high pitched, waving his arms around in his own attempt to calm the crowd, as we begin to exit the stage. The violet curtains pull shut as the producer dashes off of stage, the blue hue gone from his thin stache, pointing and reminding the next group (of whom appears to be playing the .. flute??) that their performance is in 5 minutes, and he commands the crew to clear the stage of our things. He rushes off past us to prepare the group of teenagers going after them, dressed In funky colours and complaining about something like they get paid to argue. The one arguing loudest has red hair that almost makes it justified why he is so mad. They are practically yelling, and the producer barely manages to shush them down as they disappear onto the empty backstage. The club and I revolve to the side stage instead. We don’t wanna be near that. Not when we just did that.
Adrenaline is rushing through my veins, and everyone else’s, clearly.
Milly puts her guitar on the floor (more flings it) and dances around the room, prancing like a messy ballerina. “We did it! We did it! WE DID IT!!” She chants as she hops around, barely dodging the walls of the dressing room. Her pink hair is flinging around in the white dressing lights, and she has the widest smile I’ve ever seen.
Sean is wheezing at her, smiling like there’s no tomorrow, keeling over with his hand on his stomach, as is Luke. Even Zander wears a proud smile on his face, his hand in Luke’s as they all smile at each other. The happiness is only defined as bliss.
The only person missing is-
We all seem to realise at the same time, as everyone pauses- mid jump, mid laugh, etc- to turn around to the empty stage.
Jake still stands there, mic in his hand, staring surprised at it. He looks bewildered, in a way. The look on his face is honestly unreadable, his eyes are wider than usual, his mouth is parted ever so slightly, his cheeks have grown red, and why are his eyes kind of glossy?
“Hey, you okay?” I ask.
He looks up, slowly, and stares at us, one at a time. He doesn’t say a word. Tears start to form in the corner of his eyes, and one drops down his cheek, then to his jacket, soaking into the fabric-
“Woah woah WOAH!” Milly interrupts my thought process.
“Why are you crying man? We just basically won the competition!!” She practically yells at him, her eyes a mix of confusion and worry, her hands flailing out as if to say ‘what the fuck?’
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves milly, don’t assume things- but seriously jake, what’s .. wrong?” Zander says, looking oddly concerned for the peach haired boy who for some reason is crying after we did THAT.
More tears flow down jakes face, and drop into his jacket. They sink into the fabric of his music club jacket, yet his expression doesn’t change
“Hey, dont cry-“ I start, but I’m cut off but his giggle. It’s slight, but before any of us can process it he cracks the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. While crying. Will I ever understand this boy? Probably
Not.
“Are you okay?” Luke asks confused.
Jake sniffs, holds back a very choked out sob, and replies-
“Better than ever” and his voice cracks at the end. I can’t tell if he’s happy or not. He honestly looks kind of overwhelmed.
He wipes his eyes with his sleeve, his smile bright and wide beneath. His eyelashes are clumping together with tears, and the confusion rushing around my head, replacing the adrenaline I literally just had, is pounding. I don’t get it. Why is he-
Then it hits me. (Kind of like a slap to the face, but with a brick)
I flashback to my house, when he opened up about middle school, and everything those jerks put him through. The shoving. The punching. The kicking. The mocking. How they made him feel so weak for doing something he loved.
How he was afraid to do anything related to singing because of how traumatised he was. How afraid he was someone would do that to him again.
How afraid he was of singing infront of his goons- his friends- because he didn’t want them to turn on him the way everyone else had back then.
How he couldn’t look at a stage without remembering those nights that haunt him.
how truly haunted he was.
and he’s crying, now, while smiling because he faced his fears.
I smile at him, and Milly somehow looks even more confused.
“Why are you both smiling. I’m so confused-“
Jake laughs out loud now, his voice cracking while he wipes his tears hopelessly.
“He’s crying laughing because he- he faced his fears. Atleast, I think so.” I say, slightly
Giggling with him.
He looks at me and smiles, then nods, before crying again.
“Yeah!” He says. “I actually- I just-“ he takes a very shaky breath.
“I don’t know what to say.”
I look at the club, and it kind of clicks in their minds. I see it in how their faces soften when I make that ‘think about it’ face. (After the fight I broke down and told them about what he told me and how it doesn’t make sense that he’d trust me with it if he hated us the whole time-)
“Oh jake” milly says, putting her hand on her heart.
Sean looks like he’s about to cry. Again.
Zander looks empathetic too, for once. As with Luke.
Jake buries his face into his hands and wipes away his tears, only to cry again.
“Sorry I just- I don’t know how to stop-“
“It’s okay” I say. Stepping towards him.
I reach for his free hand and take it, wrapping mine around it, he’s shaking.
“It’s okay. You did it, see? You just did that. You aren’t letting those jerks hold you back anymore”
And with that, whatever dam was holding him back collapses, and he sobs out loud, starting to cry very hard. At least he’s smiling.
We all stand with him, or at least the club does, because I’m hugging him as hard as I can. I don’t know what he’s feeling right now, but I know it’s overwhelming. And I’m here. That’s all I need to know.
Edit: the love for this has been INSANE. Thank you so much, I appreciate it!! There’s tons more stuff I have in the works atm so stay tuned ! Love you all
-suffix