Toxic Valentine. (Fransykes)

“You know what?” Vic muttered softly, watching his brother exhale smoke across the room, mid conversation with Tony and Jaime, of which whatever conversation was extremely passionate. “I think they might’ve fucked,” Kellin, who had been the receiver in this conversation, spat out his Monster everywhere, choking on the remnants as he looked down at his Mexican friend. His lips parted to speak, but the voice that actually sounded was too British to be his.

“And I think you should stay out of other people’s business, Fuentes,” There was a cold layer to the rough Sheffield accent, a pair of dark eyes peering down from his perch in the sky. Oli wasn’t a cold person, though recently it appeared as though he had developed into one, yet he was aware of Vic’s ability to gossip quietly and didn’t intend for the smaller to find out the details of that night. No matter how close he already was. The smaller fidgeted uncomfortably and nodded silently, squirming under the piercing look that the illustrated man was giving him.

“Thank you,” And then he was walking off elsewhere, his boots occasionally dragging the dust.
Vic had actually slept the ride over here, but was at a little loss why he had agreed to do the entire tour anyway, maybe it was because he had nothing exciting to go back to, or maybe it was because he missed spending time with Kellin. Once again profiling people without intention, he wondered why Kellin had agreed to stay the entire tour, he had Copeland and Katelynne to get back to (And he mourned their lack of presence every night, so this stands to reason). But he didn’t ask, he knew better than to interrogate his friend, he was too complex a person to approach whilst studying. Now the same ebony haired boy glanced down at him over the rim of a Monster Energy Drink.

“Are you going to listen?” He asked knowingly, his piercing cerulean eyes studying Vic with a unease for the answer. He knew the answer of course before his friend’s expression split into a cheeky grin, eyes glimmering with mischief. Pushing a strand of his hair back into place he shook his head with the answer that was already unspoken yet known.

“No,”
--
Alex was uneasy. This wasn’t a new thing as someone with Anxiety. But the things he was uneasy about were rapidly changing into something that he hoped he would never have to be uneasy about; Josh and Oli meeting. So there was that. Jack, like the good soul that he mostly was, was trying to calm his best friend down but with little avail as he ranted and rambled about how Oli was making a massive mistake getting married and that he was going to regret it, and that he can’t start a family because that’s all going to go wrong. Jack agreed, but wondered why Alex was so passionate about this in the first place, why there was so much pain and knowing in his voice and why he was on the brink of hysteria. The Essex born boy was almost trembling with emotion before he collapsed on the edge of the couch, a fraction closer to telling his best friend how he really felt for him and the complicated emotions that were involved every time he saw his face. But he didn’t, he couldn’t. He had a fiancé to think about.

Instead, he pushed Jack’s comfort away from him, stood up and walked away; leaving a confused Baltimore boy in his wake wondering if he had done something wrong. Alex almost felt bad for leaving him back there but his resolve was crushed and crumbling and if he stayed in that suffocation one more second then his secret would have spilled, and he had seen from Oli and Josh that best friends confessing their love for each other never really ended quite well. And then there was the fact that it was 100% unrequited, or so he hoped, because if Jack felt the same way then it would be Lisa receiving the backlash of his problems. She had been his best friend; he didn’t want to hurt her, not after everything she helped him through.
--
Josh sat back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling with an interest in it that he had never shown for a ceiling before, possibly for the best, if it wasn’t the breaking plaster that he found of interest then what would be? His fingertips brushed the cerulean sheets that he lay back on, feeling the rough texture and remembering how soft the sheets had felt compared to Oli’s hands. Which seemed strange, because the other boy wasn’t a guitar player, was barely even a singer but his hands felt like that of someone who pressed indents of guitar strings into his fingertips. Like Alex, Alex’s hands were like that, so where Jack’s, but again that was a long time ago.

Not that he ever screwed Jack or Alex, but whilst he had come crying to them, they had done something similar to him at different times for the same reason, of which he had to keep a secret whilst watching two best friends dance around each other until one of them made a mistake. That…that sounded too familiar.

He remembered the way Oli had spoken to him, cautious and commanding in a way that set his bones on fire and heart hammering, he remembered his touch was firm and demanding, he was good at telling people what to do, he loved it even. But then there was the vicious anger problems that everyone was aware of, including himself, and that had scared Josh as much as a relationship scared Oli, resulting in the two of them separating further and further away, both of them with their own fears and memories. Both of them wanting the same thing, but too afraid to ask for it. But the Sheffield boy straightened himself out, just not for Josh.

Notes

So an update on the ships!

By now you should figure out the Jalex thing.

Obvs Fransykes, and don't worry next chapter there will be some more progress on them, in fact alot of pregress.

Kellic isn't going to be a ship ship...you'll see anyway!