Band Member Oneshots

You, Me and My Brother

A summary of how the plans for your "date weekend" with Jack got ruined and, incidentally, how your brother actually ended up spending more time with him that you did.

Your "date weekend" with Jack hadn't particularly gone as well as you'd hoped.

Sure, it had been agreed upon beforehand that with the recent preparation for the press involving "Wake Up, Sunshine", he'd only be able to come for three full days. That is, he'd arrive late to your home on Thursday night and leave for the airport early Monday morning.

Given the limited time you had been able to spend together recently, what with your long-distance relationship, but most importantly, your respective schooling and band-related ventures, a weekend like this could almost be considered a lifetime.

Yet, as fate would have it, Jack had actually ended up spending more time with your older brother. Granted, they fell right into a "bro" relationship, a phenomenon you were grateful of, but the fact remained was that, well, this weekend was meant to be yours.

The setback had all started on the Wednesday, then escalated into, to quote Lemony Snicket, "a series of unfortunate events."

In fact, that afternoon, you had felt the inescapable lower stomach cramps and bloating, as well as saw the red spotting in your panties, an indicator, that right on cue with your cycle, mother nature, or "the bogeyman" as you had once dubbed it, had decided to take over your lower regions for the next few days.

That, in addition, to the stress of waiting to see if your request for a new teacher's assistant, given that your professor currently was causing you more panic than actually overseeing your progress, would be approved, made it very difficult for you to fall asleep that night. Sure, you had succumbed to the day's fatigue, but you obviously hadn't gotten as much resting hours as you otherwise would have.

Despite the reassuring news that was e-mailed to you Thursday morning, that is, that one of the assistants you absolutely adored had accepted to mentor you and she had also accepted your assignment proposal, along with the almost magical properties of Motrin, the whole day had taken a toll on you.

Made worse by helping out your father empty out your late, two weeks exactly, paternal grandmother's apartment, the tiredness that had always accompanied your period certainly felt stronger that day.

Perhaps the worst part, though, was that, having your pregnant sister over for lunch at your home prevented you from continuing your debate project, due on Monday, which, you had hoped would be submitted before Jack's arrival, or at the very least, not long after.

Needless to say, you hadn't even waited for Jack's Über which had arrived towards midnight, having gone straight to bed after supper. Instead, he had gently woken you up to peck your lips, then sensing your heavy eyelids, had rapidly let you get back to your slumber, his lanky body tired from his flight also doing the same shortly after.

Although you had had more energy on Friday, and even a pseudo "Eureka!" moment concerning the embellishment of information in your paper, the progression of the latter was held the status of on and off, considering that, as the custom, you had to help your mom perform her weekly Friday house cleanup.

In the face of this, and sensing that Jack would inevitably feel bored, your father has suggested that he, your brother and your boyfriend visit your city's annual car show, downtown. It didn't take much to convince Jack, considering that there was a luxury car exhibit, even more so, a Land Rover one.

Of course, it had pained you that you wouldn't see him all day, though you'd be in the same city, your heart couldn't help but flutter in laughter at imagining your three favorite silly men roaming the heavily snowed and frigid streets of your city's downtown sector to catch the subway.

In particular Jack, who wearing his too-light black trench coat and beanie, and sneakers, couldn't be more out of place, being accustomed to the pleasant Los Angeles winter weather, and not the dread Canadian one. You knew, for a fact, that walking behind both men, he was doing so with a face pointed downwards to shield it from the wind, tight lips and half-closed eyelids, indicating his mental thoughts, "why did I decide to visit (Y/N) now, and not any other time?"

Even if things had looked brighter on Saturday, not having progressed much on the assignment in the past few days, you had announced the unfortunate news to Jack and to yourself: he'd be on his own once more.

Being your savior once more, your brother had suggested they'd go watch the newest action movie, followed by lunch, then, play for a few hours at the arcade. Jack may have had his boisterous ways, but you knew he would always treat your brother like his younger one.

By the time they came back, at suppertime, you had just finished your paper, works cited list and all, but hadn't been yet able to submit your rough draft, now waiting on your tutor's feedback.

For the first time ever, you had been able to play What Do You Meme? that night, teaming up with Jack to come up with the most outrageous answers, not to the surprise of your siblings and parents, but having the anxiety of that impending feedback in the back of your mind, your heart wasn't in it.

Refusing to leave the house until you had received said comments, you had only been able to submit the project at 1-ish on Sunday afternoon. Occupying himself, Jack had played a few rounds of Rock Band with your brother, his real guitarist skills not translating to the plastic instrument, while you watched distractively, your eyes always trailed on your phone, refreshing your inbox every few seconds until you got the e-mail giving you the greenlight.

Not having paid any attention to the weather, neither of you were expecting a snowstorm to hit, father putting a damper on your plans by having to help shovel.

All of this really shouldn't have come as a surprise, Sunday afternoon, 3:16 PM. Otherwise known as you perched against your bed's pillows, lightly snoring against Jack's shoulder, the fleece comforter radiating heat off his body to yours, the laptop placed on his knees open to Netflix, set on an episode of Archer, a show you'd started to watch together at a distance.

You really hadn't meant to. Truly, you really, really, had wanted to spend every waking moment with him, and see what would happen to Dr. Krieger and between Archer and Lana, but with this week's unhealthy combination of having your period, anxiety, fatigue, anticipation, excitement and adrenaline, it's safe to say that, well, at this very moment, nature had ordered your body to rest, damned if your long-distance boyfriend would be leaving come a few hours.

"Besides," Jack smiles while looking at your relaxed features, he'd take seeing you and hearing your voice physically, even if it was just for a few minutes every few months over seeing and hearing you over a grainy camera every day.

Anytime.